that pic in the blog is gonna become my new desktop when i get home from work.
And i always though White Dragon art was naff!!!!
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My understanding is, Freezemaw wandered around terrorizing the area for a couple centuries. Heroes went out during this time to find him, but ended up as dragon snacks. Fifty years ago he decided he had enough for now and found a nice big cave in Rimeskull.
Now that I read through it a couple times it does seem a little off. Maybe it was supposed to be 500 years ago when he settled in Rimeskull. That would make sense.
I like the artwork, but I'm actually a bit confused by the article. Freezmaw is said to have lived on Rimeskull for 50 years. But the Shoanti sing songs of the dark times some hundred years ago and of the heroes visiting his home on Rimeskull?
James, if you read this, would you mind clarifying?
Reading it it mentions he raided made many raids on two seperate areas before nesting on Rimeskull. The Dark Times are probably of the raids he did in his youth, and the heroes visiting the now older dragon only to meet with defeat.
Aye, awesome artwork.
that pic in the blog is gonna become my new desktop when i get home from work.
And i always though White Dragon art was naff!!!!
My understanding is, Freezemaw wandered around terrorizing the area for a couple centuries. Heroes went out during this time to find him, but ended up as dragon snacks. Fifty years ago he decided he had enough for now and found a nice big cave in Rimeskull.
You pretty much nailed it, but the more expansive background info you'll find in this issue of Pathfinder will clear things up.
I absolutely love the look of Golarion dragons. Whites actually look threatening now!
*anxiously awaits PDF*
I absolutely love the look of Golarion dragons. Whites actually look threatening now!
Hopefully, this old guy'll be more than just threatening. One of my biggest pet peeves as a game designer and DM is the big dragon encounters that end in like one or two rounds kinda like this:
DM: "From the heavens descends an anormous wyrm covered in dull red scales smoldering like hot coals. Smoke wafts from its nostrils and its foreclaws reach menacingly as it dives with alarming speed at you!"
**Roll for Initiative**
Player 1 (who beats the dragon on Initiative): "I cast quickened cone of cold followed by a maximized sonic orb!"
**Rolls dice. DM rolls his eyes as the first player has already reduced the dragon to half its hit point total**
DM: "OK. The dragon's turn. As it hurtles itself earthward it suddenly pulls out of its dive and flames erupt from its mouth engulfing the party as it soars over you so close that you can smell its draconic stench. Roll saving throws vs. its breath weapon and its aura of menace!"
All Players: Jumbled announcements of "made it", "immune", "I have Evasion", and "Failed one, made the other, but still alive".
Player 2: "My character is unscathed and unaffected by the dragons aura and since you said it's flying so close overhead I use my +35 Jump modifier to leap... **rolls dice"" ...Ha! Yes! I leap 8 ft. into the air and slice the foul wyrm with my dragon bane greataxe. **More dice rolling** "YES! A critical hit! **More dice rolling** "Holy crap! I just did 136 points of damage!"
DM: "The dragon leaks entrails and viscera as it hurtles into the ground several hundred feet past your position and lies in a dead smoldering heap! It's dead."
Yeah, I hope this kinda dragon encounter crap isn't duplicated in the encounter with Freezemaw. I wrote his tactics in a way that reflected intelligent planning, a good sense of self preservation, and a bit of vindictiveness. My aim was to draw this encounter out so that the players actually have to work to defeat Freezemaw.
I'd love to hear how it goes with your various gaming circles.
Creative Director
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Freezemaw can certainly get taken down by lucky die rolls, but his tactics play him pretty much so that he can be a menace throughout the entire adventure.
As for the timing of things, Freezemaw himself is an old dragon, therefore he's several hundred years old (I forget his exact age off the top of my head, but he's about 500 I think?). He kind of "retired" from pillaging 50 years ago and settled in Rimeskull, but before then is when he was doing his Shoanti raiding and menacing stuff.
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What actually confused me was this line:
and many of those tribes still sing of these dark times, and of the countless heroes who sought out his home on Rimeskull to defeat him.
This seems to imply that Arkrhyst lived on Rimeskull during those dark times which seems contrary to the statement that he settled there 50 years ago. What TheOcho said (and Steve agreed to) makes sense, though, so problem solved. :)
Thanks for the answers,
WQ
It's got me wondering if we'll ever learn about a greater history of dragons in Golarion's past. Both the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance have a rich history of when dragons and I'm wondering how Golarion became a world where dragon's didn't rule/ruin all. :)
Have you read "Dragons of Golarion" in Pathfinder #4? It's a different angle on a lot of draconic lore, but it all ties into Golarion in a pretty cool way.
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It's got me wondering if we'll ever learn about a greater history of dragons in Golarion's past. Both the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance have a rich history of when dragons and I'm wondering how Golarion became a world where dragon's didn't rule/ruin all. :)Have you read "Dragons of Golarion" in Pathfinder #4? It's a different angle on a lot of draconic lore, but it all ties into Golarion in a pretty cool way.
I loved it - a well done history of Dragons and how they came into being, etc.
I like the artwork, but I'm actually a bit confused by the article. Freezmaw is said to have lived on Rimeskull for 50 years. But the Shoanti sing songs of the dark times some hundred years ago and of the heroes visiting his home on Rimeskull?
James, if you read this, would you mind clarifying?
maybe that is why none of the heroes that went looking for him defeated him... perhaps they were going to the wrong place... they just thought he live on Rimeskull. whe he finaly did decide to settle down he decided to live on rimeskull because nobody was looking fopr him there any more... after all they had searched for his lair there for centuiries and not found it.