Just Started


Curse of the Crimson Throne


Well I've just started running Crimson Throne.
The party is an "interesting one", and I know at least one player lurks here (Hello ZombieNeighbour).

The players stormed through the Fishery session and have met the Queen and are en route to see the Field Marshall.

The group consists off;-

Human Rogue - A poisoner by trade who works for the king of Spiders. She is rather attractive and knows a thing or two about interacting with nobility. She is likely multiclassing at level two in a Cleric of Blackfingers.

Human Barbarian - A Varisian native, driven by the pain and rage he has felt from his outcast status. A former thug working for Lamm, he is now seeking employment and a criminal empire to work for.

Human Monk LN- A native Varisian, trained by a wondering Tien monk, she was a former Lamm's Lamb and ran away. She was told to return to Korvosa to help deal with her past. Now that has been resolved quicker then anticpated, she is looking for something to do.

1/2 Orc Druid - Possibley, the player is not sure if they will keep this character and so more when I know about it.

So far all seems to be going well, the group have met the King of Spiders and are staying with thge Rogue. They have agreed in principle to pay lodgings for his protection, with a possible eye of at least the Barbarian working for him. Long term at least the Rogue and Barbarian want to set up their own criminal faction...

Looks like Korvosa will not know what hit it...

Scarab Sages

Mark Shelby wrote:

Long term at least the Rogue and Barbarian want to set up their own criminal faction...

Looks like Korvosa will not know what hit it...

And the players won't know what hit them.

Kind of hard to have a criminal faction when you are supposed to be the heroes of the city...
Spoiler:
Also might put a strain on the relationship with Kroft.

I'd love to see how your players handle the encounter with the King of Spiders... please post that when it happens.


I am happy for them to be a criminal gang, after all, they are acting to preserve the city for themselves... Depending on how much we get done on Sunday they will meet the King.

Should be interesting as one of the party already works for him as a poisoner and will assist in the preperation of Shiver, so while he will be well inclined to her, he will not want to give up the goods easily.

I know the Barbarian is thinking that it may be easier to take down a leader of an existing gang and replace them with one of the party and him as their main "enforcer" and at the moment, it looks like the King may be the target, granted that's the only player in the crime world they are aware of.

As for Kroft, at the moment the players are too small for her to know of their criminal pasts, the Barbarian was a minor enforcer for Lamm who, lets be honest, was a rather petty criminal at best, little more then a Fagin.

As for the Rogue, she is effectively a no-one in the crime world, other then being pretty...

Intersting times...


A criminal gang is appropriate for "heroes of the city" if it's done in terms of Robin Hood or Zorro or pulp heroes. The "outlaw" who is on the wrong side of law only because the government is oppressive. They will still need to hide their identities though - perhaps adopt an alias in certain activities.

The Exchange

My group are mostly criminals or skulking types, but I think with pushing the Blackjack element I think one of the main leaders of the group will encourage the rest onto a more altruistic path by accident more than by design.


I was thinking of waiving the following prestige classes in their general direction....

1) Kolat Master from L5R d20
2) Crime Lord from Starwars 3.5


Heya mark,

Nice to see you here. I really can't express how helpful these guys are. The Paizo forums in general are among the best i know, and the AP threads are jam packed with cool stuff. If you have any problems , ask these guys about them an i am sure they'll have answers in no time.

I don't think that not being conventional heros, effects ones ability to do what is needed to save ones home. Depending on what the queen does with the city, and how that effect the world that Elspeth(my rogue) lives in, will effect her perception of the queen. If the queen does enough stuff that makes elspeths little world start to fall appart or become disordered, then she will act out of self interest. Her methods will be different and from the point of veiw, they may be saved from one evil, only have it be replaced by another, but none of that stops the group from fighting The golddigger queen.


Well the AP certainly does not support this style of play. A good Dm with god players can possibly get around this but one is certainly playing with fire when the PCs major motivations are looking out for #1.


Jeremy Mac Donald wrote:
Well the AP certainly does not support this style of play. A good Dm with god players can possibly get around this but one is certainly playing with fire when the PCs major motivations are looking out for #1.

I doubt its going to be an issue, to be honest, as i think we all have a fairly mature and respectful view of evil. Ofcause, if we run into any problems with it, i am sure we'll let you know :)


evil does not present problems...
just more interesting solutions.


So, just back from this weeks session.

Spoiler:
Having just having butchered our way, with saps and fists, through 'all world meats.' We where a man down and it was a close fight.

I have to say, every character in the group jumped at the chance to beat up guards, even if they where deserter. Better still, to get payed an obscene amount of money to do so and have no legal reprocussions. It was a dream come true for our merry band of murders. Hey, we didn't even kill anyone.

Spoiler:
The cannablism was a nice touch.


Basically, our party has several strong motivators here, despite being evil aligned. Though our characters are selfish, they have also learned that sticking together seems to be a very good idea, as there are some powerful enemies out there that pose a very real threat.

In addition, a good few of us are Varisian and have an interest in looking out for our own and in respecting the will of Harrow readers, which works well in the Scenario.

The interest here is in helping the city to avoid disaster. Selfish and brutal as we are, we need somewhere to live and prosper and keeping that place intact is a good thing. Likewise, most of us have had terrible upbringings or backgrounds, so we are evil as a matter of survival instinct, not due to some wish to control the world etc. I guess you could call us anti-heroes.

It has been a good game so far and we are running without a healer and with non optimal characters. It has a real feeling of grit to it all and thats a welcome thing. It also leaves much room for character development and watching the party form naturally has been interesting. Without the spell support and with no healer, we nearly lost two characters in this evenings session, so each success we achieve feels very real.

Heck, my only armour is padded clothing (a sailors greatcoat) and i use a simple club or fists as a weapon (or random thrown objects as i have "throw anything"). I`m a barbarian only to reflect the fact that my character is a surly drunkard and prone to fits of anger (he is based on Bill Sykes from "Oliver Twist"). I am happy to take on armoured knights in my simple outfit and i wrestled an alligator in the first part of the scenario with some success.

If anyone should be saving a city like Corvosa, then its the dockyard scum like us. We`ll do it too, even if the means and method are none too pretty.


Things are going well and nice to see two of my players here.. (Hello)To further fill things out, the characters spent some time wondering the city before going to deal with Verik and his Cow Hammer Boys.

The Barbarian - Thed - Went to Tigers Tail to gamble and drink, where he played Knives with the rogue (Elsbeth). As the winner he pocketed a bit of cold, but arosed the interest of Vimanda Arkona, who gave him a lovely knive. By the end of the session, having seen Verik's knife turn on him, they have decided to stay away from the Arkona's and that something is up with them.

The monk - Crow - spent some time in south shore and generally wondering the city, trying to reconnect to her Varisian heritage as well as offering to work as muscle for the King of Spiders.

the Rogue - Elsbeth - spent some time with the Boss, where she got bitten by a Dream Spinner Spider and had a vision where a man in black gave her a Holy Symbol of Norborger, thus starting to pave the way for multiclassing into Cleric.

As an aside, the 1/2 Orc Druid was not enjoying his character and did not play this session, seeking inspiration for a new PC. He will now be playing a Human Ranger. More when I learn about it.

Sczarni

Mark Shelby wrote:


As an aside, the 1/2 Orc Druid was not enjoying his character and did not play this session, seeking inspiration for a new PC. He will now be playing a Human Ranger. More when I learn about it.

depending on the ranger's background, I would suggest to them not to put all of their eggs in one basket (as it were). Might want to remind him that a good portion of the campaign exists in a city which means at times they will be in cramped quarters where a bow will be a weak choice compared to a 5 foot step and attack with meelee. But there are also times when you could be in parks or public squares and only be able to help with a shot at max range. So I would suggest not totally forsaking one choice for the other if at all possible.


Well, he hasnt really said anything about his character choice to the rest of us....i dont think we have much influence on it.

Currently, a warm body is the only real class requirement i think. Though, if he could take hits and deal them out, i guess we would be ok with him being undead and thus cold bodied.

So long as he fits with the party alignment, then i`m ok with it. We are a pretty suspicious bunch, so his choice to reroll so early has probably cost him, in terms of fitting in. It's entirely possible that we simply won't accept another party member unless some major factors make him or her acceptable.

I think we would all accept a Harrow reader, without any question. We would probably be very protective of them, in fact. We would certainly see the use of any sort of outcast mage type, though would probably want the destructive sort over the sneaky sort as we are already fairly sneaky people.

The initial campaign link was that we all hated Lamm or whatever the alligator crimelord guy was called. That has now passed and he is dead. Then we had the Harrow reader who hired us....that has also now passed, so a newcomer character isnt even going to have those things to make us want to like them.

Considering that, even in a few sessions, we have been betrayed or set up a few times...we will not just pick up a passer by for convenience.

***

Archetypes the Party would probably accept:

1. The herbalist - We rely on potions to heal us, so someone with the ability to brew potions and a decent heal skill would meet our characters' approval swiftly. We are also about to stock up on potions, so it would seem sensible for the character to join now.

2. A Harrow Reader or Varisian Witch - We are a Varisian party and already did some work for a Harrow reader. We would probably be a bit fearful of such powers, which means we would show such a person a lot of respect, despite our evil alignments.

3. The Outcast Mage - Anyone capable of blowing stuff up, possibly while being a bit insane, would probably fit in. The group would appreciate their combat prowess and probably wouldnt want to mess with them. We also don't like the local mage house, so people with a grudge against them would be good for us.

4. Combinations of the above - A potion brewing, harrow reading Varisian Witch who can cast some combat spells would be very nice. If she has been badly treated by others, we can help get revenge.

5. A freak - Be it a wierd animal guy, an ugly guy, or someone with no real place in society...so long as they dont fit in with the commoners, we can probably take them in.

6. A thug - The more strong arms we can get, the better. We are basically a gang of ruffians, so another ruffian would probably find a place with us. The only thing scarier than one thug beating on you is a whole pack of thugs, so recruitment is open.

7. Someone with a plan - A new leader, one who has the charisma to replace the current one, is always an option in an evil party. So long as they can improve our riches and our sense of safety (we have many enemies) then thats a positive step for us. A less positive step for the old leader, but then, if they were good, they`d still be in charge, or still breathing etc.

***

What we don't want:

1. Someone who doesnt impress or frighten us. We don't want any weedy, helpless sorts who take more than they give. We are not a charity.

2. Suspicious people. Anyone we don't trust will probably be left or, if they hang around, killed.

3. People in good standing with the Nobility or Guards. What have they done for us, hmm? We are people of the streets and we do not take kindly to people who think they are better than us, or people who have a wierd fascination with the law and being virtuous.

4. Preachy religious types. Our characters, on the whole, are either non religious or have quiet religious belief in sneaky gods. Anyone with a big cleric/ paladin divine mandate is probably going to get slapped. The gods have not done anything for our characters, so they don't have a share in our destiny, as far as our characters are concerned.

5. Pointless people. Basically, if a newcomer is just there "because he or she is a player character", then that's not good enough. Everyone earns their place in the party, by positive or negative means. If they trick their way in, blackmail their way in, seduce their way in, then so be it. If they expect a free ride, then at best they will be told to get lost.


It is rather annoying in a way, because in truth, ranger is one of the few classes i really can't see gelling with the group. The crazy half orc, althought on occations problematic did fit with the party to some degree or another. Not to mention the fact that his magic powers made him an unknown quantity in the group. I think we would have slight feared and respected him with time. Ofcause Ranger/fighter, may just be the classes he is using to represent some other concept, though we have been given little to no infomation on what he will be playing.

I have to agree with Theds posts, i cant see it being that easy for a new character at this time.

And as for a new leader? Over my cold dead body!

Sczarni

elspeth maharan wrote:

Ofcause Ranger/fighter, may just be the classes he is using to represent some other concept, though we have been given little to no infomation on what he will be playing.

Could be favored enemy humans and be a bounty hunter... that seems like it would fit your group


Hmm, interesting suggestion, Cpt_Kirstov. An urban ranger or detective type would certainly make more sense than the traditional sort.

It's all a mystery though, till we learn more.


I'm sure Paul will come up with something interesting - personally, I thought the half-orc druid hobo was great.

A little bit about Crow, the human monk, who I play:
She's not a monk by profession (the closest she has to a profession (former) is Shingle Runner), rather she's someone who was taken in and trained by a wandering monk, then sent back to Krovosa to deal with the shackles it still had on her soul.
I describe her as Lawful Troubled, though the closest interpretation of that is Lawful Evil. She was treated badly by Lamm, then tortured and thrown out on the garbage, left for dead (she didn't run away, as one of the previous posts mentioned). That's left her with a lot of bad emotions. It was exceptionally satisfying that, in the first session, she throttled Lamm with her bare hands (while Thed wrestled the croc), then hurled his broken corpse across the room.

She'll follow the adventure and save the city because she's here to be significant, to face adversity and overcome it, to be seen as someone of power, not some cowering wretch. And if she gets to beat up some city guards in the meantime, that's just a bonus. Heck, they're even paying us for this!


Update on the new character, will be a Ranger/Fighter, so looks like no more concerns with the lack of X-bow/box sections till Adventure Path 4


So, we got around to selling a bunch of 'loot', this week, including some of what we found last week at NWM's. This was a catalist for our group to come up with a new term Theddism's, due to the player of thed having been on great form. Here are three which i managed to scribble down.

On finding out how much meat was selling for in the near staving city. 'If i'd have known, I'd have been out mugging shepards.'

On a breif visit to the Bard's end, Thed uttered the immortal lines, 'Oi, come stand just here.' to an elf who does as asked. Theds plaer then says, 'right, i punch him.'

The next morning elspeth asks thed if he is still drunk, as they head home. 'No, I'm just...busy.' he slurs.


Well, apart from talking about our group and characters, i am guessing that this forum is for talking about our findings on the adventure path too. I thought i would add in some interesting scenario related stuff that we encountered.

Elves - One of the most interesting things about Corvosa and the southern section of the city is that it has an elven enclave. Elves, in short, are bad news. They worship really dubious gods, seduce noblewomen and are responsible for an entire outcast society of half-elves. By contrast, most half-orcs get no such prejudice, but nobody really likes a half elf.

This is quite a turn around from the usual approach that 3.5 people will be used to and i found it to be quite refreshing.

Vice Tax - In Corvosa, crime is alright, so long as you pay your taxes on it. It's a registered activity to do and maintains the only legal guild in the area, ie the thieves guild. We had a run in with Field Marshall Croft, who was saying how much she hated the "King of Spiders" from Eels end, but that, because he pays his vice taxes on time, she couldnt actually touch him.

Our group, being Ruffians and scoundrels, fit in fine with this set up and, even though we are criminals, we can still feel that we are a valued part of the city. We pay our vice tax and that makes us goodly citizens.

Scarab Sages

Ok... I take back my previous comment.
It looks like it's going nicely.

Keep the updates coming.

:]


Well it was an interesting session...
Having last week dealt with the Cow Hammer Boys (and celebrating that they were being paid to deal with ex city guard) the group had the day off.

Crow spent the day training with a Monk, who serves as an acoylte to a Cleric of Irori at the Panetheon. Our newest character (sorry paul forgotten his name)is a figthter/rogue erol flyn type met with the King of Spiders and was asked to keep an eye on Elsbeth. He met with her and shorltly after started to cook and season a steak, demonstrating his cullinary prowess. Thed spent the day getting drunk and flirting with Vimada Arkona and Elsbeth quiettly prepared for a meeting at the Pantheon after curfew. The party went with Elsbeth in case of a double cross, however, she met a man dressed as a priest of Blackfingers, advising her of a secret meeting of her brothers and sisters. Now trapped in South Shore the party stayed at Bard's End. Thed brought us one of his Thedism's when an atractive male elf showed some attetion to Elsbeth.

The next morning, the party made their way back to their base in Old Korvosa, via the Citedal, having been told the field marshall wanted to see them. The new guy (the fighter/rogue) was pleased to see Orsini and that he seemed much more his old self. They agreed to see the King and gain the information on the Chelix Ambassador.

Having failed to suitabley wow the King, Thed played Knivies, almost killing the King (thanks to Barbarian rage). Suffice as to say he is not impressed, as they left, with the information in hand Thed was heard to loudly mutter that if Elsbeth had not stoped him, the King would be dead and Elsbeth may have been in charge...

As ever, their ambitions bubble under the surface but now several questinos remain;-

1) What will the Korvosan Guard get them to do next
2) What will the King do about loosing so badly at Knivsies
3) Did the King or his minions overhere Thed's comment to Elsbeth
4) Will the new party member tell the King of Thed and Elsbeth's planbs
5) What is the church of Blackfingers up to?
6) Why have the church of Iori taken such an interest in Crow
7) What about the meat "rescued" from the cow hammer boys (2 cows were slaughtered by the players)
8) What will the new guy do to help win Orsini's favour with the promise of potential 1 on 1 training available if he shows promise...
9) What is with this massive list...


[player of Crow]

> 6) Why have the church of Iori taken such an interest in Crow?

Uh oh... Crow thought the priest who asked her into the training ground was just an acquaintance of her master.

After being knocked to the floor bleeding (zero HP) when fighting the deserting guardsmen, Crow was in a bad "I wasn't strong enough" mood, so getting a chance to throw herself into sparring with some temple warriors was most welcome... though really, she wanted to see what happened when paladins of good and evil gods turned up to spar at the same time :o)

As far as the setting goes, I love it! The lawful structure of the city supports some unpleasant things, like the hellknights, and abhorrent gods being legally worshipped. It feels like it has a real context, with racial tensions between Chels and Varizians, and society both at the noble level, and the level of scoundrels and shingle-runners, and the ambiguity between them. Paizo have turned half-elves on their heads, with almost every one being due to liaisons with a small number of male elven ambassadors (one of which Thud thumped). There are plenty of other examples where, on hearing about something in the setting, I though, "that's great!"


Chris, do you see now why i rave about Paizo?

We are, i beleive getting pretty close to the end of the edge of anachy and to be honest i can not imagain us having played it with a group of three colour heros. All of the first adventure that we have played so far seems almost keyed specificially to low lifes. Certainly the clash with lamm and your involement with him would seem to encourage involvement with the underworld.

Mmm...i guess this week comming i really should kill the king of spiders...after all, the Eel's end would make the perfect
base of operations.

Right, back to leveling up elspeth i go. Mmm...a second level of rogue or a second level of cleric


*rawr* another level of Barbarian for me!

Anyway, as to my further findings on the game mechanics etc, i thought i would comment on barbarians.

Now, there have already been some very good posts on the barbarian class on the other sections of this forum, so i wont duplicate those if i can. What i will say, though, is that the class does seem to hinder multiclassing. The fact that barbarian levels give rage points, which no other class does and the fact that barbarian powers are all "adds you level of barbarian to...." basically means that you are a Babar for life, especially at lower levels.

The barbarian class does offer some rewards though, mainly in that, for a few rounds, you can be pretty godlike with the right rage powers. A good warrior is probably better, in the long run, but the barbarian is still satisfying, especially for the excessive hit points.

I guess that the barbarian is the equivalent of a 3.5 wizard. The payoff comes with dedication and after a food few levels. The low level barbarian seems to be a clumsy creature, but they get more focused the higher they go. This is especially visible in a party that multiclasses early, so in our game, its nice to be dedicated to the art of smashing things up.

My hope is that some prestige classes will appear that favour the rage mechanic and that allow it to go up while providing some alternative options. I`m in agreement that some of the higher barbarian powers in the rage list are a bit lacking, so, when the time comes to be choosing those, i may be branching out into warrior for some feats.

***

In rp terms, in the campaign we are playing, i`ve enjoyed being an "urban barbarian" thus far. It makes a big impression in the criminal underworld to be a scary bruiser type, even if your education and background are not that good.

Wenching, drinking and living life to the full are noble goals indeed!


The King is dead long live the Queen Elsbeth?
Thankfully, the criminal world is more used to that sort of action then Korvosa, the death of the King of Spiders is unlikely to create city wide riots.

All I will say is the following;-
1) Preperation is everything
2) Remember, the King is a drugs baron, so if you want to take over his empire, so this, rather then his brothel and gambling den are the main sources of his income. So ensure you are able to deal with the mnanufacture of Shiver...

That said, more power to you, I know this has been the long term goal, to become a criminal power, which is cool. Freedom of choice for my players is important to me, and I am more then happy to let them dip off the story line to pursue their own interests as this makes the game more real and less "You vill do as you are told"...

All in all, looks like Sunday will be an interesting day...


Mmm....scroll of charm person, a hireling casting it or and elixar of love...I don't want to suffer vancasterkins fate, but that last one could be cool.

I guess the biggest question is, should we go in, guns blazing drop everything that moves, stablize him, then charm him or should we finesse the situation, sneakily poison him with an elixar, talk the secrets out of him, then stab him in the back and drop him over board?


It's no longer worth it. We had a good surprise moment where it may well have worked, but i suspect we won't get another, at least not for a long time.

I`m interested to see what job the crown offers the party next. We have done a lot of minor things, but i sense that the storyline proper picks up at this point. As things are pretty stable, i suspect that something else will come along to cause trouble and cause chaos in Corvosa.

The manner of that event will dictate where we go from here.


We know that it is achievable, if we could just get the secret of making shiver out of the man, then it would be, not only within our power to do this, but entirely within the nature of the characters. I can understand why you might avoid it with thed, what with his unpredictable nature, but at the end of the day, elspeth is slow, carefull schemer, thanks to her lawful alignment.

There is after all, blood in the water now and leaving the king of spiders alive at our back after what happened last week could prove to be an entirely fatal mistake.


Well, I`ve been investigating the membership benefits of the Cerulean society, the only legal guild in Corvosa. Also known as the thieves guild.

Basically, they charge protection money from pretty much everyone and if you don't pay, they give out your details to all the thieves, so you get menaced, robbed and generally have a bad time.

There are a couple of ways to take advantage of this arrangement, in member terms. You can register territory, or a gang. If you own territory, then you pay your vice tax and can do sneaky things there, as well as leaning on the locals and collecting Cerulean protection money. By contrast, a gang gets the rights to rob anyone who doesn't pay or play ball with a territory holding member.

I`ve been in the latter part, basically using my old membership of Gedron Lamb's gang to go out and do some sanctioned robbery. It's quite nice, as you can explain to the locals whats going on and they can see the fairness of it and keep out of the way. Guards will still interfere, but you actually get legal protection and a reduced sentence should you be foolish enough to get caught. You even get a free lawyer.

For a character like mine, its a godsend, as it lets me go out and use my "profession - Henchman" to its full capacity. It also lets me dispense large helpings of violence upon the helpless without causing party problems or messing with the flow of the game. It even pays the bills and lets me get hold of shiny things, or handy gifts. In the last session i even got an expensive rug, which the likes of our party would never see usually.

It's certainly a lawful aligned city, regulating crime as it does, but that works just fine for chaotic characters like mine. We basically get channeled in a manageable way and i`m ok with that.

These are the sorts of things worth fighting for in the Corvosan way of life. The right to rob!


Theddism

'They even took the carpet.' - A watchman, investigating an armed robbery at the Opera house.


Single runner feat in Pathfinder:

Crow used to be a shingle runner when she was younger, and it would be nice to reflect that with the Shingle Runner feat. It's written for v3.5, and while the main body of the feat can be easily converted, the prerequisites are a bit more subtle.

The feat as it stands has the prereq of Acrobatic. Under v3.5, this gave a bonus to Jump and Tumble - essential skills for a shingle runner. In Pathfinder, there is also a feat called Acrobatic, but it's different, giving a bonus to Acrobatics and Fly. Fly isn't really central to being a shingle runner (except for the *really* good ones ;o), so the new Acrobatics feat makes less sense as a prereq. The feat that most closely matches the meaning of v3.5 Acrobatic in Pathfinder is Skill Focus: Acrobatics (both cover the old Tumble and Jump skills).

Personally, I'm all for options, so I'd say either feat would qualify (since Acrobatic also gives a good bonus to Acrobatics). The important thing is recogniseing that Skill Focus: Acrobatics is at least as relevant as Acrobatic, as a prereq for Shingle Runner.

I thought I'd bring this up here, as I'd like to buy Shingle Runner for Crow (eventually).


Well interesting game, last night, the body of 1000 Bones Grandson was recovered and a month of downtime occured.

My players rather enjoying celebrating their Varisian heritage while sitting with the nobles for the grand finale of book 1. I have then given 1 months down time while the stage is set for 7 Days...

However, one interesting thing did occur during downtime. Elsbeth was able to kill the King of Spiders. All thanks to some slow poison and love potion. Of course, we should ask ourselves, why when only last session she was banned from seeing the boss and several other party memebers were asked to be paid informants, the King saw her and even took a drink from her...

Somewhere, someone is laughing as their plans come together...


Thed the barbarian is in a thoughtful mood, i would say. There has been a lot of wierdness happening in the city and that sort of thing unsettles him. He may be a chaotic fellow, but he does rely on being guided by others, or by events. A henchman's function, after all.

With the recent "incident" at the execution and with the suspicious changeover of the King of spiders, Thed is probably going to keep to himself for a while. He was betrayed by Lamm and swore that such sneakyness would never fell him again, but it would seem that it is going on in large amounts.

Thed also feels sympathetic for the Queen. She is pretty, charismatic and paid him very well. He may not have political views, per se, but he frequently boasts about the time he visited the Palace, so his royal connection means a lot to him. Thed wants to make something of himself and the nobility have a sort of mesmerising effect upon him.

The encounter with the monsters we had in the recent session has also caused some thought. Thed may be a barbarian, but he fights primarily with his fists or light weapons and this means that major threats are beyond him. His rage is usually provoked and he didnt really need to call upon it in the dungeon romp that we did. In fact, through a combination of luck and good saves, he only took a handful of hit points of damage throughout.

I had hoped that the scenarios may offer some significant incentive to train, or to pick up some meaty looking dropped weapon. Neither of which has really occured (we primarily find spell or armour items). This means that, in mechanics terms, he is using a monk's style without any of the class features that a monk has, he is thus rapidly turning into a glorified hireling. He excels in the city, but in a heavy combat incident he is out of place.

In the session previous to the last, he spent some time investigating the Cerulean society and did some work sanctioned by them. Thed already distrusts the link between the party and the town guard, to the point of being paid by the party and not by the field marshall (he doesnt even go into the citadel). Thus, he will probably move away from Eel's end and its new owner, in preference to being his own man for a bit.

Thed is moving through a thoughtful, serious and self-examining stage of his life. He spent much of his life poor and, since the adventure started, not only did he defeat lamm, thus taking control of his life back, but he ended up pretty wealthy. He has slept with the most expensive woman in the area (100gp a night no less) and has been able to buy friends, clothing, drink and even status. He was in the noble box at the Queen's invitation. The question is, what now?

Revenge was the motivation that started the party going, then it became the hunt for wealth and status. We have achieved all of these in large amounts. It may well be that his story is all played out. He got what he wanted and could well drift into the background as an NPC. Alternatively, he needs new motivation, so if the coming story provides that, he may undergo some changes.

He will thus continue to talk to various npc's and groups in the city looking for some guidance on where to take his life and destiny. The Ceruleans offered him some purpose, so maybe his future involves moving up in their ranks. Similarly, the Queen is in need of help more than ever before and that would offer some options.


Wealth? Status?

Perhaps of a transitory sort with regards to wealth, but given the way he has been spending his money and lack of a concept of moneys value, i cant see the money lasting in honesty.

Status? Not at all. We still, by and large remain exactly where we started on the social scale. At the bottom, while Thed may feel he has made something of him self, will that feeling really last past the first time he gets snubbed in the street by the servant of a noble, or after the last of the gold drys up and his paid for company dries up?

Thed loves to tell stories and be popular, but after a month, when every one knows the story of the strangled gator, and the drinks stop being on Thed, will anyone still be listening or sharing in a joke or a toast to the queen?

Ascention to the throne of spiders
Well, taking on the role of queen of spiders fits like a glove, sullied only by what the comment that it was as the result of someone elses plans, way to strip all sense of achievement from it shelby ;)


I am curious.

Did you make any rolls to kill him? Or did it just happen?


Thed_of_Corvosa wrote:

I am curious.

Did you make any rolls to kill him? Or did it just happen?

It just happened. Annoyingly i had the social skills, spells, items and equipment that should have allowed me to succeed on my own merit with a little luck on the roles and ten minites or so of play next week but mmm, no it was just told i succeeded.


Well, in that case your character would probably know something is amiss. It was too easy and, seeing as his loot store included a love potion, it isn't a trick he should be falling for, seeing as he probably used such craftiness himself.

I suggest that when the party gets through the next adventure path, we turn our attention to slapping whatever machiavellian organisation is pulling all these behind the scenes strings.

It may, in fact, be worth concentrating on such things now, rather than later.


As an aside, i found out how to use the handy "alternate profile" feature of the forums, to correct the glaring spelling error in my name. I also managed to get rid of the silly lines. The picture, however, remains fitting...who actually is it a picture of? Regardless, i`m happy to say that Thed looks like this picture, when he has a beard of course. I am guessing that he is clean shaven at the moment.


I *thought* it seemed a little odd that Elspeth took out the King of Spiders, and extracted his secrets, so easily. That explains it.

Crow's aware that someone has special interest in her, too, so maybe Thed's right, and it's time we started digging.


So as the campaign moves on from Edge of Anarchy to 7 Days to the Grave some questions remain.

Who helped Elsbeth?
Why is Vimida Arkona so interested in Thed.
What is the Church of Iori up to?
Will Crow ever get a good fight?
Who is Blackjack, and is he looking for an apprentice?

Let alone what will the players do with a month of downtime?


I thought Vimida was just attracted by Thed's natural studliness ;o)

And Crow *got* a good fight - pinning Vreeg into the ground so he couldn't cast spells (or do anything else - heh) was most satisfying! Not as satisfying as throttling Lamm, but you'd have to go some to top that. I quite liked the fight with the necrophidiuses too - Crow's good saves meant that she could ignore their mind-tricks and laugh off their poisons (despite being badly nibbled), while she laid down the majority of the slap on them; despite, after moving into a position to assist another PC, having said PC run off to fight another, more injured, monster. Cue much cussing from Crow.


This is a more serious post about Thed's defficulties in major combat encounters.

In an urban setting, it's generally less acceptable to be as heavily armed and armoured as a party in the wilderness, or in a dungeon raid (though that does depend who you are). That means characters who don't rely on heavy equipment have a distinct advantage - I've found that with Crow. As a monk, no matter where we are she's always as ready to fight as she'll ever be. There are some ways that fighter-like characters can equip themselves though.

Firstly, Thed's coat. If it's really heavy, it could count as cloth armour (only +1 AC, I know). Alternatively, since Thed's a big guy and the coat's bulky, he can probably hide a chain shirt under the coat - handy for a henchman to have a little extra protection.

Exalted uses the concept of a buff jacket - a long, heavy coat of hide of strong leather. With a hefty hide or reinfoced leather coat, Thed could claim leather or hide armour, and with some metal inserts (Exalt's reinforced buff jacket), he could claim something similar to a chain shirt.

There are probably several weapons Thed could get away with using. Paul's character dresses in fancy clothing and carries a raper, which society is perfectly happy with. Having a really big coat, Thed might be able to conceal something fairly long, or even wear a sword on his hip openly (like Paul's PC does) - a cutlass? ;o) What's acceptable in Korvosa? The city has some funny laws, so you might find it's perfectly legal to carry something big and intimidating. Or perhaps there are some loopholes we can exploit (after a swift offering at the temple of Asmodeus) - perhaps claiming to be a devotee of a certain god allows you to carry their weapon as a sign of your devotion.

(It'd be especially good to get something big and two-handed, since then when Thud rages, that big strength bonus gets multiplied up on damage!)


*Slaps Oz's Optimisational tendancies like a red headed step child and puts them in the cubboard safely out of reach.* Ok, so while a two handed weapon would be good choice and the armour is something i think you should consider and have pointed out before, i can completely understand that carrying a two handed axe is completely out of character for thed and inappropreate for most perposed in the city. That said i can think of one or two items that might appropreate as weapons for thed.

Cudule(Club)
Hatchet (throwing axe)
Kindling tool and meat cleavers(kukri)
Gaffs or meat hook(pick)
Wood Axe (great axe)
Oar (Great club or quarter staff)
peg hammer(warhammer)
sledge hammer(Great club)
heavy crossbow
Cutless (rapier or scimitar)
Dirk (dagger)
Machete (shortsword)

two handed weapons on that list would certainly not be appropreate for day to day use, but when doing something where such a weapon might be a, useful & b, not damaging to suspention of disbelief, the change would be possible.


elspeth maharan wrote:
It is rather annoying in a way, because in truth, ranger is one of the few classes i really can't see gelling with the group.

Actually, if you use urban favored terrain and go with the companions link rather than an animal companion, a ranger could rock pretty well. I think, at least.


Detect magic reveals a faint aura of necromancy...

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Adventure Path / Curse of the Crimson Throne / Just Started All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Curse of the Crimson Throne