Greetings forumites, and welcome to the precursor of the soon to start Pathfinder Beta test, "live" as it were, using Paizo's Curse of the Crimson Throne as the campaign vehicle.
For the benefit of messageboard readers, here's what the players got as the preliminary informative e-mail:
Character Creation Information: As requested, I'll generate everyone's ability scores using a set each generated by the Classic, Modern and Heroic die-rolling methods.
Favored Class Bonus: I recommend the extra skill point for selecting a level in one's declared favored class.
Experience Progression: Based on information at the back of the book, the campaign will be using the 'fast' XP chart.
Starting Hit Points: I agree with the idea of increasing PC survivability at 1st level. The option I'm selecting is the flat 6 hit point bonus at 1st level (the 'Flat' option). This is to avoid a few things.
SKILLS: Remember, in Pathfinder the skill system works a bit differently. Synergy bonuses are gone - but, if you peruse the skills themselves, you will notice that being trained in the skills that permitted synergy bonuses before effectively grant those benefits at 1st level. Acrobatics, as an example, if one is trained in the skill, grants the old "5 ranks or more" benefit when fighting defensively so long as you are trained in it.
More importantly, one can train in ANY skill - the class skills list are 'favored', granting a +3 bonus on top of skill ranks and the other usual bonuses. Thus, the disparity between having Perception as a trained class skill, as opposed to merely being a trained skill, is all of 3 points. This isn't a house rule - this is how the text explains it. Nice eh ?
Concentration has been rolled into Spellcraft.
Balance, Jump and Tumble have all been rolled into a single Acrobatics skill.
Listen, Search and Spot have been rolled into a single Perception skill.
Decipher Script, Forgery and Speak Language have all been rolled into a single Linguistics skill.
Open Lock has been rolled into Disable Device.
Gather Information has been rolled into Diplomacy.
Hide and Move Silently have been rolled into a single Stealth skill.
This should greatly encourage non-class skill selections. 2-point characters with a 10 INT, presuming that they are Human and taking levels in thier favored class, have 4 skills that they are trained in. (2 +1 for being human +1 for favored class - nasty...)
Starting Wealth is 'average' for your class at 1st level.
Starting Age: Ordinarily one can choose your character to be older than the standard. In the case of the particular AP I've chosen, however, the characters are all going to be standard starting age for thier race.
Channel Energy: Pathfinder Beta proposes a radical change from 3.5 in what the effect of this does. Be sure for any character who has this option to understand what this mechanism does !
CMB (Combat Maneuver Bonus): This is an alternative to the mish-mash of mechanisms emplaced in 3.5 rules, assigning a standardized baseline bonus to performing the bull rush, disarm, grapple, overrun, sunder and trip attack options. Size impacts this positively for big critters and negatively for small critters / characters. Certain racial features also have an effect on this.
CMB factors in to a DC you must meet or exceed to perform the desired maneuver. If you perform a maneuver that provokes an AoO which you take damage from, that damage is also added to the DC. (PFRPG page 150) In summary, be sure to (a) be able to perform the maneuver without provocation (Improved Disarm, Improved Sunder, etc); (b) have had an ally or allies siphon off the target's available AoO's; or (c) have effected a condition on the target that denies them the ability to make the AoO (such as blinding, dazed, stunned or other similarly unpleasant conditions).
Important Note: I am officially implementing that body armor can be targeted and sundered. It is the same size as the character or creature wearing it. Hardness and hit points are as designated on page 129. Not that this is much of a change, as page 151 describes Sunder as being able to "attempt to sunder any item held or worn by your opponent...".
HOUSE RULE: Immersion, by definition, is unaviodable. Being immersed in acid, lava or anything similarly damaging that requires neither an attack roll nor permits a saving throw damages both one's character and one's equipment. Fortunately, the 'resist' spells are an excellent way to prolong the existence of one's gear (as it applies to each item of equipment). Protection from Energy works until the character's protection capacity is exhausted. Energy Immunity does NOT extend to gear. If one encounters, say, black dragons swimming in acid or red dragons swimming in lava - and they have magical gear - that item of loot will be assumed to have been magically treated in some form or fashion to effect its existence under such extremes. Remember, Energy Immunity is NOT a PFRPG spell...
Polymorph subschool spells: Recall the many abuses of polymorphing and wild shaping. Pathfinder's solution is much simpler to implement. Druids' wild shape is still very formidable, of course, but the idiocy of the 3.5 polymorph subschool spells hopefully will have been solved by PF Beta's approach. Naturally, should the characters be so inclined, we will live-test this element of game play as the campaign progresses.
Find the Path as a spell has been greatly reduced as compared to the 3.5 write up. For all practical purposes, it is basically of use solely to effect an escape from Maze spells.
Animate Dead: Animated dead that are not animated on desecrated ground are Neutral, mindless creatures similar to animals and vermin. Thus, the [Evil] descriptor attached to the spell is circumstantial. However, it remains "officially" Evil - Good aligned characters will not animate the fallen under any circumstances, nor can Neutral characters of Good-aligned gawds that are divine spellcasters. Technically, Good aligned characters will tolerate animating fallen foes - especially Evil ones - for the attaining of a short-term goal ("clearing out this dungeon complex / fortress") but not as truly permanent servants / bodyguards. Animated dead that are created on desecrated ground are classified as Evil, with the benefits and drawbacks that this entails. For purposes of channelled positive energy effects (clerics and paladins), animated dead are always considered to be healed by negative energy and damaged by positive energy, regardless of if it is a Neutral or Evil skeleton or zombie. Animated dead can be 'dismissed' by the one who animated them, collapsing into remains at the spot they stand. One must have line of sight and line of effect to do so, counting as a standard action.
So, how many are you intending to kill in the first session with this one? :D
Depends. If I keep the same ratio, it'll be a bloodbath once more.
Maybe I should have the five players run 2 characters - so we have 10 of the 11 classes 'live testing' - and then make sure to butcher them in due proportion. Say ... 8 out of 10 ?
Ponders the horror of unleashing deathbugs in Curse of the Crimson Throne...
I'll see what the players think of the 2 characters apiece idea.
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Two characters each generally works well. I'd advise you to recommend players not play two caster classes, though, as the preparation load from that is immense compared to playing a pair of fighters or a fighter and a sorcerer. Though at lower levels it may not be so bad.
What do you intend to do if more characters survive than you'd hoped, will just continue to let the players run dual PCs until they die or are you going to have them pick one and then run with it?
Also, out of curiosity, what is a deathbug? I've seen them referred to a good bit in a number of your posts and I'm curious as to what exactly they are. They sound quite nasty.
Two characters each generally works well. I'd advise you to recommend players not play two caster classes, though, as the preparation load from that is immense compared to playing a pair of fighters or a fighter and a sorcerer. Though at lower levels it may not be so bad.
What do you intend to do if more characters survive than you'd hoped, will just continue to let the players run dual PCs until they die or are you going to have them pick one and then run with it?
Also, out of curiosity, what is a deathbug? I've seen them referred to a good bit in a number of your posts and I'm curious as to what exactly they are. They sound quite nasty.
The players should be able to handle the spellchucker load - if they don't, they will have dead characters littering the landscape. :)
I actually do want to beta-test the PFRPG with 10 PCs (2/player as things stand right now), so a high death count is likely to see names and ability scores erased on the same sheets.
'Deathbug' is the nickname I saw coined on the Savage Tide Obituaries thread (before I started running it) for a rhagodessa vermin critter in the very first adventure. In general, they are brutally nasty at low to early mid-levels ... especially with the modifications I made to them. The first session, as you know, had a group of 8 lose 7 PC's to just 2 of the bugs, although they did take one of them out before the beastie got up onto the main deck and slaughtered all but one.
As a rough estimate, I place the deathbug encounter at about a 20 - 25% accounting of total character fatalities in the STAP as a whole. ^_^
You can blame James Jacobs for that critter if you like ...
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The players should be able to handle the spellchucker load - if they don't, they will have dead characters littering the landscape. :)
Never a bad thing, mind you. :D
I actually do want to beta-test the PFRPG with 10 PCs (2/player as things stand right now), so a high death count is likely to see names and ability scores erased on the same sheets.
Ah, that works as well. It never hurts to have a reason to brutalize player characters.
'Deathbug' is the nickname I saw coined on the Savage Tide Obituaries thread (before I started running it) for a rhagodessa vermin critter in the very first adventure. In general, they are brutally nasty at low to early mid-levels ... especially with the modifications I made to them. The first session, as you know, had a group of 8 lose 7 PC's to just 2 of the bugs, although they did take one of them out before the beastie got up onto the main deck and slaughtered all but one.
As a rough estimate, I place the deathbug encounter at about a 20 - 25% accounting of total character fatalities in the STAP as a whole. ^_^
You can blame James Jacobs for that critter if you like ...
Oh wow...
I'm so going to have to pick up those issues of Dungeon. I've been wanting to kill some more PCs lately. >: )
Thanks for the info and good luck with your game.
Gene: Be sure to check out the latter end of my campaign thread, where I've posted several revised statblocks for the deathbugs.
Double post.
Oh well. Smurf, and good luck.
Turin:
I think I saw Rhagodessas mentioned in the 'Expert' box set of BECMI, which of course featured the Isle of Dread, although James Jacobs did 'upgrade' them to 3.5 Stat blocks for the Savage Tide.In the interests of Beta testing accurately, I hope that this forthcoming campaign will be 'core rules and classes only'... :D
On the Pathfinder Chronicles forum is a GM Reference thread (WARNING! spoilers) for the Guide to Korvosa where Lilith produced some summaries, and some questions about The Acadamae were answered, amongst other things.
Tbug is running an all aristocrat group through Curse of the Crimson Throne, and has posted several interesting threads to do with that, besides all the threads by 'usual suspects'.
Given that your groups tend to more than 4 players, the fast XP track might balance out, without adjustments being made to the encounters....Edited to add link.
Welcome to the new thread Sir Charles! Many thanks for the linkified goodness courtesy of Dame Lilith.
And yes, the campaign is "Pathfinder Beta book races/classes/feats/gear/rules" only, not counting the addendum from my first posting. :)
I'm figuring on a "x2.5" multiplier for the groups of foes, with solo's getting a pair plus bonuses, regarding having 10 PCs (5 players). This should provide sufficient XP gain to keep the characters at the intended level. Given the greater raw power of PFRPG characters, I don't see the need to x2.5 the loot - x2, in all likelyhood, should be more than sufficient.
Turin:
Urgent Update: *Link to Beta playtest in Curse of the Crimson Throne spotted on the boards (Spoilers, obviously)*
Potentially valuable information!
Very useful linkage Sir Charles, many many thanks!
I've not yet perused the fine details, so this is very useful indeed.
I can tell I'll need to acquire a stenobook to jot down play test notes in...
Gene: Be sure to check out the latter end of my campaign thread, where I've posted several revised statblocks for the deathbugs.Thanks for that, they'll definitely be getting some use very soon. Hopefully it'll put some fear of death back into my players.
I know the CR 9 deathbugs had several players mewling like kittens. ^_^
"CR 9 creature, five minutes.
"EL 12 with same CR 9 creatures, ten minutes.
"Two hours of meerping, mewling, whining, exclamations and expletives - timeless.
"For everything else, Immortality."
Or something like that.
This is what I get for having a busy last week...I almost miss Turin starting a thread of PFRPG death!
I am so happy to have made it in time to catch the beginning of the massacre. Do tell Turin...we want all the lurid details.
WannaBeIndy....sssshhh....
We don't know what players will be going through this horror. If its Sir Hexen Ineptus and the Crew they might have already found this thread. Lets not let them have any warnings and simply let this awesome AP unfold before our eyes.
Oh dear Mythos! I'm not sure if I want to see the Killer GM run that encounter. Especially considering that her AC doesn't include all the possible buffs she might add on. A truly scary opponent indeed.
Note in my previous post, that was tongue in cheek. Good ol' internet. I am writing this current post in reply to Sir Charles wondering where this sense of compassion for PCs had come from. Ooops. I didn't mean to imply I was worried about the PCs! The idea of that particular lady whacking an entire party was such a shocking thought that it made me wince. Not out of any compassion...just out of sheer horror.
The rest of my post much not have adequately expressed the level of sadistic glee I then felt at the thought of a PFRPG version of that particular lady raining death and destruction down upon all their heads.
Sirs Charles and Yasha,
I elected to run CotCT instead of RoTRL due to the more developed storyline. Note that if the whim strikes me, certain "entertaining" elements of RoTRL are likely to see the light of day during this AP play test.
Y'know ... the one with banjo players ...
In the meanwhile, I do not presently anticipate Sir Al of N to be GM'ing any of the Paizo AP's - he only took the first issue and did not find it to his liking. Rather a pity, as Richard Pett's "haunted house" is right up Allen's alley. RotRL has some nifty moments that, if necessary, shall be bodily transplanted to other campaigns to see the light of day and the stacking of character carcasses like so much cordwood. <weg>
Oh dear Turin unleashed on Korvosa, end of 7 days will be interesting, a completely unscrupulous DM with all those evil clerics to play with, oh deary deary me.
Welcome to the campaign thread Sir Indy. Yep, plenty of clerics. Sadly, Death Throes is not to my knowledge an element of PFRPG.
Of course, a close fascimile of that effect can still be achieved. It requires either a certain zealousness or a Lenny to pull off to full effect.
Gene: Be sure to check out the latter end of my campaign thread, where I've posted several revised statblocks for the deathbugs.Thanks for that, they'll definitely be getting some use very soon. Hopefully it'll put some fear of death back into my players.
If all else fails, apply (a) the MM 2 Monster of Legend sans revision that I hear ugly whispers about and then - at Epic levels - either the Paragon or "True" Pseudonatural templates. Note that due to the CR bump being based on HD, the CR increase is substantial enough to be scary but not so much so that it pushes the beastie actually into the so-called Epic realm.
Although the "fog" deathbugs already incorporate the Half-Farspawn template, modified due to the bugs being mindless vermin, it is possible to stack on a few more nummy templates before breaking out the really heavy artillery.
Do not be afraid to tack on a template despite the nominal "stacking rules". It behooves one, especially when dealing with participants who spend too much time memorizing The Rules, to change things up a bit - or alot, as necessary.
I think one of things Indy might be speaking about with the Clerics....there have been many discussions on the Pathfinder threads about how nasty multiple low-level evil clerics are with their Negative Channel Energy.
Drop 2-3 clerics throwing those out against a low level party and a TPK may be imminent.
Hmm...decisions.
I think one of things Indy might be speaking about with the Clerics....there have been many discussions on the Pathfinder threads about how nasty multiple low-level evil clerics are with their Negative Channel Energy.
Drop 2-3 clerics throwing those out against a low level party and a TPK may be imminent.
Hmm...decisions.
Since they will have the Selective Channeling Feat, I suspect that may prove correct. Nyuk nyuk nyuk... ^_^
Of course, if those same clerics are of insufficient CHA to exclude their allied clerics of Ebil from the blast radius, they could wipe themselves out along with the party. A truly Pyrrhic victory indeed...
An interesting development has happened: the two groups formed from the split early on in the Savage Tide are merging. The resulting player roster is a total of 8 players plus myself as the GM.
The inaugural session of CotCT / PFRPG Beta-test will see six or maybe seven out of the full roster of 8 players at the table at our local FLGS. Due to scheduling, the group will not hit its full size until early November when we move to a Saturday play date.
Sir Hexen Ineptus: Barbarian (colloquially dubbed a "Bubba" by yours truly)
Torsin: female Elf Wizard
Jade: female Sorceror
Da Fighter: Paladin
Da Pimp: female Druid
Sir Marr of Kuss: Ranger
Sir Barb of Orr: unknown
Sir Al of N: unknown
When I have more detailed information on character race, class, ability scores, feats, trained skills etc. I will post them - presumably in the aftermath of the first session.
Due to the 6 hp kicker some characters will have very high starting hit points. Statistically, for example, a Bubba (d12 HD) with a 20 CON (+5) and the kicker (+6) will hit the floor running at 1st level with 23 hit points, going to 26 with the Toughness feat.
At the opposite extreme, an arcane caster (d6 HD) with an 8 CON (-1) and the kicker (+6) will still have a respectable 11 hit points at 1st level. A lower starting CON modifier - for example, say a -4 modifier from a CON of 2 or 3 - could reduce that to a paltry 8 hit points WITH the kicker.
Given how most characters will fall in the middle - both in terms of HD size and CON score modifiers - I expect most characters to have from 12 to 20 hit points starting the campaign. This is an acceptable alternative to the usual results from 3.5 without going to the potential maximum hit points that the other suggested starting hit point methods could yield. (Constitution - on a Bubba with a 20 CON - results in a staggering 32 hit points [20 +12], going to 35 with an added +3 hp from the Toughness feat. Yikes!)
In conclusion, the 6 hit point "kicker" at first level strikes me as the best of the options on page 14. Worst case scenario hit points would be from as low as 8 hp to as high as 26 hp in the best case. The "average" character should vary from 12-17 (d6 HD), 14-19(d8 HD) or 16-21 (d10 HD) starting hit points. Bubbas should vary from 18-23 starting hit points. None of these figures accounts for the Toughness feat of course. They do presume a minimum CON score of 10.
Of course, that 26 hit points comes at the cost of a first level general feat for the Bubba. Unless said Bubba is human, they're done until 3rd level for the next feat...
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If all else fails, apply (a) the MM 2 Monster of Legend sans revision that I hear ugly whispers about and then - at Epic levels - either the Paragon or "True" Pseudonatural templates. Note that due to the CR bump being based on HD, the CR increase is substantial enough to be scary but not so much so that it pushes the beastie actually into the so-called Epic realm.
Although the "fog" deathbugs already incorporate the Half-Farspawn template, modified due to the bugs being mindless vermin, it is possible to stack on a few more nummy templates before breaking out the really heavy artillery.
Do not be afraid to tack on a template despite the nominal "stacking rules". It behooves one, especially when dealing with participants who spend too much time memorizing The Rules, to change things up a bit - or alot, as necessary.
Templates see judicial use in my games (along with non-associated class levels) so there're no worries on that front. I actually go out of my way to use monsters from third party monster manuals so that my players can't metagame even though I doubt my current group would bother.
I probably wouldn't use the Monster of Legend template, it seems like something that should be rationed (what with it supposedly being used by deities to guard artifacts). Now the ELH Paragon and Pseudonatural templates, those have gotten some non-epic use in the past (I've tacked paragon onto 'boss' monsters before and pseudonatural has been used for 'bosses' as well).
If you like templates I highly recommend Green Ronin's Advanced Bestiary. It's a book of nothing but templates (there are well over a hundred templates in the thing) and has seen judicious use in my games.
I've heard that one recommended before, although I tend to like Expeditious Retreat Press' materials a bit better than virtually all other non-Paizo OGL products. Since an advanced bestiary-type of book is on sale (half off - nice!), I ordered one to scratch that itch.
While the intent of the MoL MM 2 template is to reflect a nasty guardian critter, recall that the "stated flavor text" is not the only reason to impart one. It is well suited in most cases to reflect the late 2E "tiers" of "purer breed" monsters introduced in the Skills & Powers line of books. This last is a concept I thought was an excellent concept for the game - a precursor as it were to the template system founded in 3rd edition.
Sir Al of N: unknown
Indeed.
Indeed.
Sir Al of N: unknown
Sir Barb of Orr has elected to play a cleric.
This should leave Bard, Monk, Fighter and Rogue open as your choice of player character class come early November. :)
Indeed.
Sir Al of N: unknown
Sir Barb of Orr has elected to play a cleric.
This should leave Bard, Monk, Fighter and Rogue open as your choice of player character class come early November. :)
A poster, 'Crusader of Logic' has some interesting thoughts about the inherrant drawbacks to melee PC types (opitimized by the fighter class) in several Beta test threads I've read on the boards. His is an interesting perspective, but seems to have some merit.
The first two sessions have yielded some entertaining results. I'll post these (ideally) tomorrow evening/night - or at least some time this week - along with observations on PF Beta.
Zero (0) PC fatalities for Session 1 - at least 8 for Session 2 - wewt! The gory details will be relayed as soon as practicable.
They have concluded Chapter 1 "Edge of Anarchy". Chapter 2 will begin Sunday the 19th of October. Our Heroes are 4th level going into Chapter 2, with Sir Hexen Ineptus' character riddled with 3 diseases that they are only just becoming aware of...
Zero (0) PC fatalities for Session 1 - at least 8 for Session 2 - wewt! The gory details will be relayed as soon as practicable.
They have concluded Chapter 1 "Edge of Anarchy". Chapter 2 will begin Sunday the 19th of October. Our Heroes are 4th level going into Chapter 2, with Sir Hexen Ineptus' character riddled with 3 diseases that they are only just becoming aware of...
Turin informed me that the death toll for Sunday stood at TEN (10) player character fatalities. Never in any week/single game session of the Age of Worms did I rack up this many fatalities... Notwithstanding this, Turin is still considered the "nice GM" everyone loves to play under; and I'm considered the mean & heartless "killer GM". You see what bad PR and slanderous mischaracterizations I've gotten over the years! It's disgraceful!
Hats off to Turin in his display of game-legal carnage, without everyone tying him up along with the nearest cat in the process, ala B.A. in Knights of the Dinner Table.
Details! Either way, sounds masterfully done Turin! I raise my glass to you!
Details! Either way, sounds masterfully done Turin! I raise my glass to you!
Perhaps not so masterfully done as it might appear ...
Cast of Characters
Please note that I didn't get all the pertinents of each character, so bear with me on the gaps, gentlecritters.
Jade Jr. (Jade), Neutral, F Human Sorceror - Elemental Fire Bloodline
STR 9, DEX 15, CON 10, INT 16, WIS 9, CHA 17; 12 hit points
Fortitude +0, Reflex +2, Will +1; CMB -1 = CMB DC 14
FEATS: Harrowed, Weapon Finesse - lvl 3 to get EWP Bladed Scarf
Human Bonus = Heavy Pick Proficiency; Sorceror Bonus: Eschew Materials.
Background Trait: Missing Sibling/Child (one of her many sisters)
Skills: Bluff +7, Diplomacy +7, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Profession (fortune teller) +3, Sense Motive +3, Spellcraft +7, Use Magic Device +7
Ranco (Da Fighter), Lawful Good, M Human Paladin
STR 17, DEX 10, CON 14, INT 11, WIS 16, CHA 20; 22 hit points
Fortitude +4, Reflex +0, Will +3 (will skyrocket @ 2nd level)
FEATS: Toughness, Weapon Focus (longsword) Note that the Human Bonus Martial Weapon Proficiency is wasted on "fighter types".
Background Trait: Unhappy Childhood/Tortured (Lamm was a pig...)
Skills: Diplomacy +9, Knowledge (nobility) & (the planes) +4, Sense Motive +7
Trisha (Da Pimp), Chaotic Neutral, F Human Druid
STR 6, DEX 16, CON 13, INT 10, WIS 17, CHA 8; 15 hit points
Fortitude +3, Reflex +3, Will +5
FEATS: Mounted Combat, Martial Weapon - Lance, something else.
Background Trait: Unhappy Childhood/Religious
Skills: Handle Animal +3, Knowledge (nature) +6, Ride +7, Spellcraft +6, Survival +9
Raedawn (Torsin), Neutral Good, F Elf Wizard
STR 13, DEX 15, CON 16, INT 20, CHA 13; 15 hit points
~saving throw bonuses not recorded~
FEAT: Martial Weapon Proficiency: Elven Curve Blade
Background Trait: Framed/Dropout
Arcane Bond: Ring
Skills: Appraise +9, Craft (Bowyer) +?, Knowledge (arcana) +9, Linguistics +9, Perception +5, Spellcraft +11
Dragonof (Ineptus), Chaotic Good, M Human Barbarian
STR 17, DEX 13, CON 19, INT 11, WIS 10, CHA 10; 26 hit points
Fortitude +6, Reflex +1, Will +1
FEATS: Toughness, Power Attack
Background Trait: Missing Child (a neice)
Skills: Acrobatics +5, Climb +6, Perception +4, Ride +0, Survival +4, Swim +6
Rahed Ghostwalker (Sir Marr of Kuss), Lawful Neutral, M Human Ranger
STR 15, DEX 18, CON 12, INT 14, WIS 14, CHA 11; 17 hit points
~saving throw bonuses not recorded~; CMB +3 = CMB DC 18
FEATS: Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot (Ranger Archery Combat Style)
Background Trait: Love Lost/Orphaned
Skills: Acrobatics +4, Climb +5, Craft (Bowyer) +10, Knowledge (geography) & (nature) +6, Perception +6, Stealth +7, Survival +6, Swim +4
No Name (Sir Barb of Orr), Neutral Good, M Human Cleric
STR 15, DEX 8, CON 14, INT 13, WIS 20, CHA 17; 16 hit points
Fortitude +4, Reflex -1, Will +7; CMB +2 = CMB DC 17
FEATS: Eschew Materials, Improved Chanelling (DC 15?)
DOMAINS: Good, Healing
Background Trait: Unhappy Childhood/Religious
Skills: Diplomacy +7, Heal +9, Knowledge (religion) +5, Sense Motive +9, Spellcraft +8
Sadly, Sir Marr of Kuss missed the second session. In so doing, he also had custody of Sir Barb of Orr's character sheet. Da Pimp was kind enough to quickly put together a dwarf cleric replacement with the Magic and Travel domains for Sir Barb of Orr to use for the session. Hopefully this will not be a recurring problem...
Caveat: It is important to note that to properly run even the "smaller" 6 Chapter Adventure Paths released thusfar would require a minimum of 18 of our sessions to conclude (about 90 hours effective playing time). If one is to spend significant time to flesh out details and engage in reasonably substantive RP, I would estimate a count of 24 - 30 sessions for a 6 chapter AP. 120 to 150 hours strikes me as a more accurate assessment of total playing time.
However, our goal is to blast through CotCT in a mere 4 months so as to contribute as much as we can to the Beta PFRPG feedback prior to the information being gathered and masticated by the kind critters of Paizo.
In order to do this, one will note significant elements of the AP are given short shrift or simply have been glossed over in order to achieve 1 chapter every 2 sessions (10 hours effective playing time). This does somewhat account for the upcoming winter holiday season playing havoc, specifically the last two weekends of December this year.
Session 1 of 2 for Chapter 1: Edge of Anarchy
Our Heroes individually find Harrow Deck cards matching their alignments and highest ability scores mysteriously within their personal effects by means and persons unknown. Properly taking the adventure hook, they make their way to the domicile of a Varisian fortune teller by the name of Zellara.
Dragonof arrives as early as he can arrange that morning. He chows down on a part of one of the loaves of bread and makes himself comfortable in one of the 8 chairs at the table. Several hours later the dozing barbarian is surprised by the "bounty hunter" Rahed.
Eventually every one shows up, makes themselves comfortable in one way or another and generally make small talk to get to know one another.
Zellara herself shows up just after sunset, walking in through the front door, rifling off the flavor text and performing the group Harrow Reading. The party wound up with 3 Harrow Points apiece. Jade Jr drew the Cricket. Rahed drew the Peacock. Raedawn drew the Locksmith. Dragonof drew the Rabbit Prince. Trisha drew The Dance. No Name drew the Juggler. Ranco drew The Avalanche.
Eager to kick old man Lamm's tucas, earn some XP and maybe get some kewl swag, Our Heroes set off to arrive at his commandeered fishery late the next morning.
Our Heroes make a bit of a mess of things, however, with Rahed being handily sniffed out by the ferocious pair of very large dawgs dubbed "Bloo" by Lamm. They start barking ferociously, attempting to batter the doors open by flinging themselves into it to get at the fresh meat outside. As the carnage unfolds, Our Heroes frag two dawgs, the craven alchemist Yargin Balkp (who didn't even get a chance to utter "I surrender!" before being hewn down like so much firewood) in fairly good order. The gnome disguised as a child attempted to sneak out a side door, drew Jade Jr's attention (and literal fire) before being impressed that surrender is a Good Thing.
Sadly, the craven little gnome Hookshanks Gruller had the serious misfortune of being bite-sized to the jigsaw shark circling down below the rickety walkway. In an impressive feat of chowing down, said shark lept up through the walkway and chomped onto the sorry little gnomish cur, splashing into the mucky water below. Worse, the poor gnome survived the mastication. Trisha succeeded in briefly getting through the shark's tiny little mind that her being around should mean more food. Unfortunately for the gnome, that meant a return visit a very very short time later, with massively excrutiating dismemberment being his particular comuppance.
Giggles the half-orc chased a number of "lambs" out of the side door, then got distracted by Ranco. A melee ensued , with vicious blows traded back and forth between Giggles and Ranco. Rahed plowed through the side door and ran the sorry psychotic orc through from the rear with his guisarme, before ducking out of the way of Giggles' decapitated head bouncing down the stairs courtesy of Ranco.
Eager to mop up and frag Gaedren Lamm, Our Heroes administer some healing (via channelled energies, cure wounds spells and lay on hands) then get themselves down into the underpier.
Unfortunately for me, Druganof made it past Gobblegut the alligator's nat-1 Perception check to go tangle with Lamm. Unfortunately for Druganof, he go Bled by Lamm and generally worked over good in short order as his comrades-at-arms made their way into the underpier.
Also unfortunately for Jade Jr, SHE was easily spotted by the lurking Gobblegut and gator-chow-pounced mightily, going to negative hit points in a single go as Gobblegut chomped her calf and flipped her into the waters with him. Gobblegut had a long enough distraction by the nominally friendly jigsaw shark from outside to permit No Name to retrieve the fiery Varisian sorceress. With due focussing of the party's not-inconsiderable firepower, Gobblegut and Lamm were massacred. Gobblegut was made into accessories and personal items not too long afterwards.
28 hours later, Our Heroes emerge into the chaotic streets of Korvosa. Riots are in gear, fires are spurting smoke into the air, bedlam is everywhere and things are generally pretty nutty. They herd the orphans and themselves to Zellara's place, get the gist of their few magical goodies and generally get their heads straight.
The "A City Gone Mad" and "Long Live the Queen" are compressed into pure flavor text, concluding the first session and setting the stage for Session 2's "Welcome to the Guard".
Session 2 of 2 for Chapter 1: "Edge of Anarchy"
En route from Field Marshal Cressida Kroft's mission briefng to deal with the Cow Hammer Boys gang - and preferably return Verik Vancaskerkin alive to custody - , they found that another group of newcomers to the "Gang Life" known as the Kitty Litter Krewe were ripe for the pickings, albiet 15 in number.
They await the masses' departure from the scene - meaning, the local pissants happily taking their free cuts of fly-drawing mystery meat - then went in to discuss "the night's special cuts" with two of the 7 members of the Cow Hammer Boys. After depositing 125 gp ("half in advance") for 'beating' the 'five' members of the Kitty Litter Krewe, Our Heroes depart the old fishery.
Trisha was the only one to spot that the large bag of well-hidden kitty litter across the way from the old fishery had some one hiding inside. Being about as subtle as a falling anvil, she clop-clopped on over astride Ed the Grouch - with her Animal Domain wolf in tow - and let the Kitty Litter Krewe know of the fact that some one had hired out the Cow Hammer Boys to 'take care of them'.
Staking out the hangout of the Kitty Litter Krewe, the fourth watch of the characters' spotted the entire gang filtering out. Clad in reasonably clean padded armor and sporting nice shiny furniture legs, the Krewe collected up a couple of improvised portable battering rams and set off to the old fishery a short while before sunset. Our Heroes followed about 30 seconds behind them.
The leader of the Kitty Krewe, apparently fond of "shock assault" tactics despite the sorry lack of equippage to actually carry it out, directed the front four peons to simultaneously toss one ram through the grimy glass window while shattering the rather flimsy wooden door with the second. A melee ensued of course, as the entire Krewe poured into the old fishery. Our Heroes followed, chuckling.
During the course of the frenzied melee, the entire Kitty Litter Krewe was fragged by the Cow Hammer Boys at a loss of two of their own. Our Heroes did interesting things in their fragging of the Cow Hammer Boys, such as Trisha using Speak with Animals to convince the trio of cows facing certain literal butchery to flee the scene and head to her grove just outside of town. Trisha's wolf literally ATE Verik's face , bringing him down in a powerful lunge. Adding fatality to injury, she stabbed him with another crit card via lance through the cheek and pinning what was left of his brain to the floorboards below.
Sadly, the first character death of the campaign occured during this fight. Druganof ate an arrow from Verik, about a half-dozen crossbow bolts from the rest of the Cow Hammer Gang then disembowelled and partially eaten by one of the two charming boars the Boys kept around to dispose of the "nasty bits" thier arrangement didn't give out to the locals as free long pork cutlets.
2 months pass as they do various insiginficant tasks and stuff for the Guard and/or themselves (such as making themselves a few masterwork weapons) before they are sent off to find out what the Cheliaxian ambassador's dirty little secret is and return it to Feldmarschall Kroft. This takes them to the comparatively secure vice pit of Eel's End.
Our Heroes elect to be smart - and with a disgusting series of Diplomacy checks - find themselves engaged in Knivsies with Devargo Barvasi and his band of merry cutthroats. Observant readers of the last post will note that Durango drew the Harrow card for this encounter.
After a one-round wonder test driving the new Bubba rage goodies - specifically, he bull rushed the snot out of the mook, simultaneously knocking him off the table and nearly knocking him out.
Barvasi hopped up on the table, many gold coins were piled atop the table ... and Durango whomped him again. Our Heroes simultaneously let him have it with a Command (Flee!) and other bits of not-too-obvious unpleasantness send the man packing. A clever Trisha, just before the second game of Knivesies got underway, promptly slapped the psuedodragon's cage (with the dragon inside) atop the table.
Finding that their boss is an intolerable wuss, the gang knife him to death, the heroes retrieve swag and the really really explicit 'lust letters' and turn them over to Feldmarschall Kroft.
Between the two ships' nest of drain and dream spiders, Trisha has slowly built up herself a supply of (weak) spider venom. Due to lacking the Craft (poisonmaking) skill and the Poison Use class feature she has fared abysmally, collecting a mere 3 doses of drain spider venom for her future use.
Bringing in Trinia Sabor was a task made stupid-easy by a nat-20 & aided Diplomacy check by Ranco. They got her out of the Shingles with laughable ease, turned her over to Feldmarschall Kroft and went about thier business. Namely, retrieving Thousand Bones' grandson's corpse (or, as it turns out, the multiple chunks thereof).
Most of this complex was glossed over due to a combination of which way they went and the desire to conclude the first chapter on time. The carrion golem, however, took Druganof II to task, successfully infecting him with (as they will find out next session) THREE different diseases: Scarlet Leprosy, Rapture Pox and Cholera. Needless to say, Druganof II is in deep, deep kimshee...
Vreeg the derro necromancer gave the party much grief - including scoring a critical hit with a Vampiric Touch delivered via a sneak attacking Spectral Hand that blinded Druganof II for a round. Packing both Mage Armor and Shield, combined with his small size, +1 Ring of Protection, +2 natural armor bonus and an impressive +4 Dexterity bonus he had a VERY respectful 26 AC. I maximized his hit points, and he was schooling the party with reasonable efficacy.
Raedawn nearly decaptitated him with her Apprentice Hand swinging that nasty elven curve blade of hers , so he elected to deal with that threat first. A critical hit drawing the "Power Surge" card from the critical hit deck delivered a triple-damage critical hit, a whopping 12d6 of fire damage. Since the first 6d6 dealt 30 hit points, she was killed on the spot like the Jesse Ventura scene out of the first Predator movie.
Torsin, a tad upset about her messy smouldering demise, pulled a page out of my book and sent in a Lennette wearing nothing but a chemise and a Type II Necklace of Fireballs. 18d6 of fire damage later, the Vreeg was still standing, albiet worse for the wear, but Raedawn II was not. So she promptly sent in Raedawn III and Lenette'd once more, finishing off Vreeg (and nearly all of his swag), saving the party the trouble of bringing down foul little Vreeg.
Sir Barb of Orr had to leave at about this point while Sir Marr of Kuss had to miss the entire session.
The execution was supposed to be a spectacle not to be missed. As usual, the players had other ideas. Blackjack intervened to save Trinia Sabor, while my characters had taken to calling themselves the "Stinky Krakens". Bedlam REALLY ensued when a veritable horde of Lennies and Lennettes - a total of 8 in all - waded into the crowd bearing Type II Necklaces of Fireballs (Nonlethal Substitution). At average damage output of 18d6, that's 63 hit points of nonlethal damage. Basically, the kamikazi characters mowed down at least a hundred innocents in the successive blasts, themselves included.
The implications of openly defying Queen Ileosa, seemingly betraying their two-months-and-change association with the Korvosan Guard and declaring themselves to hundreds of surviving witnesses to be the "Stinky Krakens" have as yet to be determined...
Hey jut signing in here. Hope I give you all a good show.
Hey jut signing in here. Hope I give you all a good show.
At the very least I anticipate your disease-riddled corpse to provide some mirth and merriment. ^_^
After two weeks, the morrow sees Session #3, the first session of CotCT Chapter 2: "Seven Days to the Grave" play out.
Will Druganof II die hacking up his lungs, a hemmoraghic fever or a more humane death at the business end of damage dice?
Will Raedawn IV inflict friendly fire damage for the first time?
Will any one actually die, or merely suffer flesh wounds?
Stay tuned, same hack time, same hack channel. Well kind of... probably be Monday or something...
Starting Seven Days...this should be suitably gruesome with Turin at the helm.
Starting Seven Days...this should be suitably gruesome with Turin at the helm.
FYI I died due to level loss and 0 assistance from the only other melee oriented character. Having 3 vamps on me I knocked back one using my rage power, and then tumbled away, by 1 point, and we charged on shortly after taking 4 total negative levels killing Bubba 2. Bubba 3, the cavalier washout is now up.
Starting Seven Days...this should be suitably gruesome with Turin at the helm.
Fear not Yasha, I'll thwart Turin's malovelent ways...
Starting Seven Days...this should be suitably gruesome with Turin at the helm.Fear not Yasha, I'll thwart Turin's malovelent ways...
Alas, if my suspicions are correct, Sir Al of N will be joining Our Heroes at the opening of Escape from Old Korvosa, Chapter 3 of Curse of the Crimson Throne. Until then, I shall redouble my efforts to "Beta test".
Starting Seven Days...this should be suitably gruesome with Turin at the helm.
Session 3/ #1 of 2 for Chapter 2 "Seven Days to the Grave"
Cast of Characters:
Jade Jr (Sorceror 4), No Name (Cleric 4), Trisha (Druid 4), Raedawn IV (Wizard 4), Rahed Ghostwalker (Ranger 4) and Druganof II (Barbarian 4)
A couple of days after their escapades at the "Queen's Debacle", the whole string of fluff occurs with Vencarlo Orisini, the sick neice of Grau and all that fun flavor stuff.
They get Trinia out of town without fuss. Staying the night at a hostel about half a day's ride away from Korvosa, Druganof II's multiple diseases come into play: Scarlet Leprosy, Rapture Pox and Cholera, courtesy of the carrion golem in Vreeg's lair.
Our Heroes make their way back, deal with Ishani and his boss once more, then elect to hole up to minister to Druganof's hallucinatory leprosy. During the Harrow reading for this chapter, Druganof's player drew "The Waxworks", to which he commented something to the effect of "Hey, I know where I can get a new ear from!".
Although ability damage despite Long-Term Care between the three diseases dropped his CON to 4 and CHA to 1, the cleric and wizard managed to finally get him to kick the stuff out of his system over 2 days' game time. No means was presently available to address the 2 points of CON drain Druganof II suffered in the aftermath of the Scarlet Leprosy however. In the meanwhile, Trisha and Rahed scoured the streets, alerted to three places of interest to Feldmarschall Kroft.
Our Heroes elected to go after the wererats first. In an impressive bout of producing vorpal rabbits from nether regions, No Name's player went for "a silver dragon, surely there's an inn or tavern or something along those lines!". Rolling a natural 1 on d20, he did. As the animated silver-painted dragonhide - seemingly bound with the very spirit of whatever dragon it was that the hide had been removed from - he subsequently saved his sorry bacon with a natural 20 roll on his d20, totalling a 41 Diplomacy check. Short story shorter, the wererats were obliterated by the bemused dragonhide leaving the heroes to scoop up the swag as well as the information from Yelloweyes.
In dealing with the Perfumery, Trisha got to use her Wild Shape to assume a Small spider's form. Over the course of the night, she mummy-wrapped the sleeping lady, stole all her valuables and reported the snake oil saleswoman to Kroft for what she was.
The third encounter "The Hungry Dead", for which Jade Jr drew the appropriate Harrow card, came shortly after No Name's player departed. Some would say that Druganof II's player, comparing No Name's player as the "Evil" version of my humble self, doomed himself by theoretically driving off the usually entertaining presence of my alternative self.
Our Heroes approached Racker's Alley as the sun was setting. Rahed stealthily glided through the shadows before espying the vampire spawn peering out into the corpse-strewn alleyway from a passable crevice in the exterior wall of the abandoned toy shop.
Wisely keeping to the shadows and assorted bits of debris and a Maytag shack, he sent his eagle animal companion winging back to the party to relay the information of "something is in here, something not human".
The Vampire Spawn, making a spine-shivering hissing noise, set out to pursue the flying field ration. It literally passed right by Rahed without perceiving him. As things developed in a chaotic frenzy, a total of 5 Vampire Spawn boiled out of the toy shop.
Altogether, Druganof II was fragged as he received a total of 4 negative levels from hungry vampire spawn. Ed the Grouch - Trisha's animal companion - by all rights should have been fragged by the 3 negative levels it was clobbered with. Only the bonus HD from being an animal companion saved the mighty crabby warhorse. Jade Jr and Rahed also garnered 2 negative levels each as well during the knock-down drag-out fight lasting 9 combat rounds.
Torsin, a tad upset about her messy smouldering demise, pulled a page out of my book and sent in a Lennette wearing nothing but a chemise and a Type II Necklace of Fireballs. 18d6 of fire damage later, the Vreeg was still standing, albiet worse for the wear, but Raedawn II was not. So she promptly sent in Raedawn III and Lenette'd once more, finishing off Vreeg (and nearly all of his swag), saving the party the trouble of bringing down foul little Vreeg.
What the crap?! @.@
Do you have some sort of instant respawn rule going on? Which it looks like Raedawn/Torsin is abusing the hell out of?
If the only penalty of character death is pinging back into existance /during/ the same dang fight, with full hit points and whatever equipment they want, you're being a whole lot kinder of a DM than people call you...
My concern is that CR hardly really seems to apply when characters just can't die. And that seems like it'd kinda screw playtest data the heck up.
Or am I misunderstanding all this? My apologies if I am.
Torsin, a tad upset about her messy smouldering demise, pulled a page out of my book and sent in a Lennette wearing nothing but a chemise and a Type II Necklace of Fireballs. 18d6 of fire damage later, the Vreeg was still standing, albiet worse for the wear, but Raedawn II was not. So she promptly sent in Raedawn III and Lenette'd once more, finishing off Vreeg (and nearly all of his swag), saving the party the trouble of bringing down foul little Vreeg.
What the crap?! @.@
Do you have some sort of instant respawn rule going on? Which it looks like Raedawn/Torsin is abusing the hell out of?
If the only penalty of character death is pinging back into existance /during/ the same dang fight, with full hit points and whatever equipment they want, you're being a whole lot kinder of a DM than people call you...
My concern is that CR hardly really seems to apply when characters just can't die. And that seems like it'd kinda screw playtest data the heck up.
Or am I misunderstanding all this? My apologies if I am.
Sir Drakli,
There are a few 'missing pieces' that aren't made clear during these postings. When one has 2 ability score arrays ready to 'plug-n-play', one can get a new character put together in VERY short order. It was also VERY late into the session, the 2nd one to boot for Chapter 1 - which meant I had to get things wrapped up so as to go on to handling the "Queen's Debacle".
I'm primarily concerned with live-testing things more than anything else - and a kamikaze kablooie-fest has been such a test I wanted to see. The fact that my players did so largely on their own initiative gives me twinkle of pride in my players. (Given how I've done it myself before on several occassions over the years, I'm amazed it took this long to come into play.)
Ordinarily, in a more 'serious' campaign, Raedawn II & III would not have been available for further play until the carnage concluded regardless of how quickly a player can slap together a character. :)
]
My concern is that CR hardly really seems to apply when characters just can't die. And that seems like it'd kinda screw playtest data the heck up.
Or am I misunderstanding all this? My apologies if I am.
I suspect that this was perhaps a convenient way to 'let the players off the hook' from the horrific ability scores that Turin generated for them, that no one liked, albeit a shady means of accomplishing it by the players. Alas, with the 'Cavalier washout' characters, the ability scores are comparatively going through the roof. And I'm stuck with 8's and 10's almost across the board...
I suspect that this was perhaps a convenient way to 'let the players off the hook' from the horrific ability scores that Turin generated for them, that no one liked, albeit a shady means of accomplishing it by the players. Alas, with the 'Cavalier washout' characters, the ability scores are comparatively going through the roof. And I'm stuck with 8's and 10's almost across the board...]
My concern is that CR hardly really seems to apply when characters just can't die. And that seems like it'd kinda screw playtest data the heck up.
Or am I misunderstanding all this? My apologies if I am.
Well, what's good for the geese is good for the ganders...
And of course good Sir Allen is exaggerating his being 'stuck' with below-average to average ability scores for his four ability score arrays. All arrays are playable as per the 3.5 PHB - which isn't much, technically. However, perusal of the Pathfinder NPC villains reveals that they are clearly built on the standardized arrays for the rules sets of the time at which they were written... a point VERY often forgotten by almost all players.