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My group is exploring Magnimar and I have come across a few items that puzzle me.
1. How do you pronounce Naos? Is nAose long A? or nOWse? perhaps na Ose long O?
also, what is the significance in being the only district without an obvious descriptive name?
2. What are the stats for Paralictor Darean Halst of the Hellknights?
also, where can I find stats for a typical hellknight?
3. Therhyn Raccas is a LE half-elf rogue 9, even-tempered, one armed leader of the Night Scales thieves guild. That's very descriptive and I feel sure there is a good story there...
but male or female?
thanks for any help you can offer
Creative Director
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Although Wes, who wrote the article, might have slightly different answers, here are mine:
1. How do you pronounce Naos? Is nAose long A? or nOWse? perhaps na Ose long O? also, what is the significance in being the only district without an obvious descriptive name?
I pronounce it nOWse. Like Laos. As for why it doesn't have an obvious descriptive name, I can't say. I'd guess that it's named after someone who was important at the time but who hasn't remained important as time went on.
2. What are the stats for Paralictor Darean Halst of the Hellknights?
also, where can I find stats for a typical hellknight?
We'll be talking more about hellknights and what they are (alternate paladins? new base class? new prestige class?) this August in the Council of Thieves adventure path. Until then... if you have access to a Lawful neutral variant paladin, that's probably the best way to go if you want to stat them up and you don't just want to make them fighters.
3. Therhyn Raccas is a LE half-elf rogue 9, even-tempered, one armed leader of the Night Scales thieves guild. That's very descriptive and I feel sure there is a good story there...
but male or female?
He's male, I suspect.
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Thanks James
You always come through for the fans!
Perhaps you can field these two questions?
Two NPCs of Magnimar have the honorific Dr. before their names.
Where does one go to acquire a doctorate? and how recognizable is that throughout Golarion, particularly Varisia?
On a similar note, the Pathfinder Canayven Heidmarch of Magnimar has the honorific "Sir". Does that mean he was knighted? If so, by whom and why?
(these days pop stars get knighted so it doesn't really amount to anything, but presumably in a fantasy setting you must do something remarkable to be knighted)
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Creative Director
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Two NPCs of Magnimar have the honorific Dr. before their names.
Where does one go to acquire a doctorate? and how recognizable is that throughout Golarion, particularly Varisia?
To officially be able to call yourself a Doctor, I suspect you need to be awarded that honorific by an established Doctor. Most often, this comes from graduating from a university or other scholastic institution (of which there are a few in Varisia), but it can also come from working as an assistant for a Doctor for long enough. Also, it can be a title awarded to a character by the community in which he lives, and some disreputable folk probably just give the title to themselves. The title doesn't necessarily carry recognition and respect across the Inner Sea region, though; the Lands of the Linnorm Kings don't care at all about Doctors, for example. In Varisia, the honorific doesn't really mean much outside of the cities; in the rural areas, a lot of folk don't trust those who call themselves "doctors" and prefer to seek out apothecaries, priests, and other types of healers.
The short answer: There's no real organized Doctorate program in Golarion.
On a similar note, the Pathfinder Canayven Heidmarch of Magnimar has the honorific "Sir". Does that mean he was knighted? If so, by whom and why?
(these days pop stars get knighted so it doesn't really amount to anything, but presumably in a fantasy setting you must do something remarkable to be knighted)
Varisia is not a nation yet. It might want to be, but as of right now it's basically three powerful free cities (Riddleport, Magnimar, and Korvosa) all competing for control over the surrounding regions. Of those three cities, only Korvosa has an actual monarchy, and even then it's not a complete monarchy.
Yet all three cities do have the power to grant important nobles titles; whether or not the other two cities acknowledge those titles depends on inter-city relations at the time. There's no real organized knightly order operating in Varisia yet (the Hellknight Order of the Nail is close, but they're pretty unique and not standard knights). For the most part, the honorific of "Sir" only means that the person is nobility or a land owner in favor with either Magnimar or Korvosa (Riddleport awards its notables with the title "Captain").
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Thanks again, always good to hear it from the writer.
As a side note on Magnimar,
I am using people and places from Saltmarsh to fill any holes my players discover as they explore the city.
so far this has been an easy option and works nicely beside what is in Pathfinder 2.
(btw- DMG2 is my all time favorite D&D sourcebook.)
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In the Foxglove townhouse, the players find a ledger mentioning the Brothers of the Seven, and the Seven's Sawmill. But how can they use this information?
How common is knowledge about the Brothers of the Seven? It says thet they're a semi-secret organization, but what is that? A DC 20 Knowledge Local (Magnimar)? DC 25 for knowing about the sawmill? And how many sawmills are there anyway?
This is the only clue they get, and I find it a bit vague.
In the Foxglove townhouse, the players find a ledger mentioning the Brothers of the Seven, and the Seven's Sawmill. But how can they use this information?
How common is knowledge about the Brothers of the Seven? It says thet they're a semi-secret organization, but what is that? A DC 20 Knowledge Local (Magnimar)? DC 25 for knowing about the sawmill? And how many sawmills are there anyway?
This is the only clue they get, and I find it a bit vague.
Your party can do what mine did. They can go to the Seven's Sawmill, stake it out for a few days, see that there is night time activity, then sneak in one night. Of course, this resulted with them walking into the gathered members of the Brothers of the Seven.
Que fight. Begin massive amounts of bloodshed.
It took my table a few minutes and a little goading from me. "Where would you think a pre industrial saw mill would be?" and slid the map over to them. They looked at is and talked but got no closer. <sigh> "Where is Sandpoints sawmills?" I asked and suddenly they got it. They built it along the river. That narrowed it down enough to find it.
You might want to toughen up everybody though. The cultists or Ironbriar were not up to the job of providing a challenge to my table.
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You might want to toughen up everybody though. The cultists or Ironbriar were not up to the job of providing a challenge to my table.
Yeah, I though of that myself. I think I'm just gonna have the first or second batch of thugs calling out for help, summoning all the remaining bad guys in the mill, with Justice Ironbriar as the last one. As rougues, they really gain a lot from numbers, with better flanking possibilities and all.
Do you play with the Pathfinder Beta rules? Did you give the bad guys Slective Channeling? I think that would beef them up alot, but is it too much?
I added Tsuto as the Iron Briar condemed him to life in the hells but really just wanted him as another member of his cult
And depending on what the PCs do in town the Scarecrow might be at the sawmill also
Everything I have heard has the party sweeping the floor with the cultists and Ironbriar
I didn't think about how simple the cultists and even Ironbrian would be. The sawmill is noisy and the party is sneaky then it is one floor at a time clean up. Give them a level or two of Rogue or Fighter and don't have Ironbriar stuck in a little room where he cannot escape/cast/maneuver. It might be a better event. Even putting someone on watch would make it harder.
I thinking of not having Ironbriar in the sawmill at all. He seems too smart and interesting to waste on just a simple melee with a bunch of mooks as back-up. But I plan on extending the "once the party gets to Magnimar" bit of the AP as well. I think a couple more murders would be nice to up the anxiety level. Plus I want to obscure the path to Ironbriar a bit to allow the party to do some "crime solving" and make the confrontation with Ironbriar that much more spectacular.
CJ
It took my table a few minutes and a little goading from me. "Where would you think a pre industrial saw mill would be?" and slid the map over to them. They looked at is and talked but got no closer. <sigh> "Where is Sandpoints sawmills?" I asked and suddenly they got it. They built it along the river. That narrowed it down enough to find it.
You might want to toughen up everybody though. The cultists or Ironbriar were not up to the job of providing a challenge to my table.
A simple collect information roll should find the place. I doubt it's a big secret where the mill is.
And I have to agree. This cult isn't as tough as I could have hoped for. Though I will say that the Pathfinder cleric domain ability, bleeding touch, is nasty.
I think a couple more murders would be nice to up the anxiety level.
Xanesha and Ironbriar have other potential murderers at their disposal, of course. Getting someone else to do the killings would likely change the modus operandi though.
I think a couple more murders would be nice to up the anxiety level.** spoiler omitted **
I have added in 3 other lead cultists (lower than Ironbriar but not mooks- I have 7PC's) and hope to run the adventure as more investigative murder mystery than follow the clues to the bad guys)- and wont have an important judge hanging around in a sawmill office.
You make some good points, Werecorpse.
My group is exploring Magnimar and I have come across a few items that puzzle me.
1. How do you pronounce Naos? Is nAose long A? or nOWse? perhaps na Ose long O?
also, what is the significance in being the only district without an obvious descriptive name?
Note that "naos" is a Greek word for "temple". So maybe it just means "temple district".
(NAOI is a good Scrabble word for getting rid of a bunch of vowels.)
...and some disreputable folk probably just give the title to themselves.Like my cleric of Calistria!
Despicable!