Does anyone have any alternate jousting rules? Seeing as my players have their own tournament every year, I'm finding the rules too simple (and I find it odd the many Mounted Combat feats do not contribute at all).
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Does anyone have any alternate jousting rules? Seeing as my players have their own tournament every year, I'm finding the rules too simple (and I find it odd the many Mounted Combat feats do not contribute at all).
Email me at tjaden jason at gmail dot com and I can send you the jousting rules from my original manuscript turnover.
Be warned, though, that they HEAVILY favor characters optimized for jousting. If you're a 13th level cavalier or paladin and think you are just going to waltz in and win because you're a PC, you will get your clock cleaned by lower-level jousting specialists. :)
I'm currently running Part 1 of this adventure path, but I decided to read ahead just in case. I'm glad I did. I'd like to note that this part of the adventure path is the best in my opinion (although the 6th one is a close 2nd). I'm really excited about it, and I can't wait until my game gets here.
I only have a couple of initial concerns after my read through.
1. The way things are written here it seems that the players are pretty much just destined to lose at least one of their cities while they're at the festival.
Word arrives. "Our Kingdom is under attack! Oh no!"
Well, heck. By now the players haven't had a chance to build armies. An army attacking a city (without an army to defend it) just takes the city. Or that's how I've read it so far.
I assume from some of the above posts that the attacking army still has to get through the defensive value of the city's walls/castle? Am I reading that right? How does that work?
Example:
A) Bad guy army attacks a city with a wall. They don't beat the defensive value. Nothing happens?
B) Bad guy army attacks a city with a wall. They do beat the defensive value. What happens? Damage? To what? I'm confused.
(I may consider allowing my players to build armies early, but I'm worried that maintaining a standing army might be too expensive in times of relative peace. I don't know, I haven't tested the Kingdom Building rules at all still being in Part 1 of the path. But if it works then the players will at least have a chance to have defenses set up against unforeseen attacks.)
Additionally here, it mentions that an army can do damage to another army if they beat the defensive value of the other army in an offensive roll, or if they roll a natural 20 even if they don't beat the defensive value of the other army.
Okay. So, I get that the damage done is the amount that the offensive roll beat the defensive value . . . but what if a natural 20 doesn't total high enough to beat the defensive value? There's text that says damage is done, but there is no amount of damage to assign.
2. Regarding the Rushlight Tournament, I was really looking forward to the possibility of a sword competition. Heck, a melee competition of any sort would be really nice, but particularly a sword competition.
One of my players is playing a guy with the Sword Scion trait. He's trying to master the blade obviously, and he's already taken levels (well, one level, but we just started you know) in the Swordlord Fighter archetype.
Naturally, I was hoping for an event at a tournament to sort of test him in that regard, and allow him to potentially shine, and gather some renown for his abilities with a blade.
In short -- anybody got some good rules for the addition of a melee event? Hopefully, some rules that offer competitive points like the other competitions.
Sincerely guys, there's some great stuff in this adventure path. I'm really pleased. Thank you for that, and thank you for any answers to my above concerns/question.
For some reason I can't edit my above post. Oh well. Just wanted to mention that I found an answer to one of my questions: a natural 20 does 1 point of damage.
Still curious about the other question and concern though. I'm trying to find an answer in the existing threads, but reading them all takes a heck of a lot of time.
If anyone has any answers I would appreciate it. Thanks.
1. The way things are written here it seems that the players are pretty much just destined to lose at least one of their cities while they're at the festival.
Word arrives. "Our Kingdom is under attack! Oh no!"
Well, heck. By now the players haven't had a chance to build armies. An army attacking a city (without an army to defend it) just takes the city. Or that's how I've read it so far.
Why wouldn't the players have had a chance to build armies? By part 5, they should have a relatively large kingdom, and several years of in-game time will have passed. Since most kingdoms would have armies, it stands to reason that the players (if they care about their kingdom) would have wanted to create an army. Even if they don't, one of their advisors should have mentioned the value of having armies to defend their cities.
Because:
1. The rules for armies didn't come out until after the first parts of the adventure paths were released. If a gaming group played parts one through four, and then bought five, well, heck, they didn't have the rules to have an army, and the path didn't necessitate that they did.
Assuming that the gaming group came up with their own rules for maintaining a standing army it is unlikely that their house rules match the subsequent rules that followed in part five.
And it's unlikely that many folks built their own house rules for armies because they knew part five was being released, and that it would contain rules for that.
What they didn't know was that part five was going to start with an army attacking their kingdom while they were away at a festival, and that they wouldn't have time to build up an army using these new rules.
Granted, some GM's may have considered this and allowed some time to pass before the festival while incorporating the rules, and allowing an army to be built before the players went to Pitax, but that's an area where many groups may have faltered. After all, the module, while allowing otherwise, does indicate that the festival invitation comes shortly on the heels of part four.
In the case of folks playing the modules one after the other, and in the case of a GM not providing enough time to build an army (a real likelihood) then is it presumed that the PC's will be losing a city?
Also, how do city defenses interact against armies?
2. Another reason is because the cost of maintaining a standing army is looking to be a bit prohibitive. The expense is so high that it's feasible that groups may only be able to afford the cost during times of war.
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I'm getting the impression that I should have placed this post in the "Mass Combat" thread, even though mass combat was released in this book. My bad, I'll try to repost my questions regarding this there.
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That being said, I'd still like to know if anyone has some interesting rules for the Rushlight Festival regarding a potential melee competition, like with swords.
2. Another reason is because the cost of maintaining a standing army is looking to be a bit prohibitive. The expense is so high that it's feasible that groups may only be able to afford the cost during times of war.
I think that's part of the point (to have only a minimalist army outside of wartimes -- there are plenty of modern-day parallels that illustrate how anything morecan be a bad idea), but I will admit that the consumption costs listed for armies are pretty aggressive. I'll probably end up adjusting them when my players get to this point -- not so they can get excessive, but so they can field one or two decent armies without breaking the bank. (Obviously if their economy is really rocking then that's another matter entirely...)
Any advice to get my players to go back there at some point so they learn of Nyrissa and the sword and all that jazz?Or does it not really matter, and they can just figure it out some other way.... like when the blooms just start.
Huh. It might not matter, if they find the sword in the palace. It'll be difficult to learn about, and maybe trying to Identify it will send them a vision of the Neried. Also, it's with the shawl, which could also point them back towards the Abbey.
Could also do a little side-trek after the book. Maybe some friars want to rebuild the Abbey, but it's haunted and so ask the PCs to clear it out for them.
Of course, if they *don't* find the sword, you can point towards the Abbey and the weapon once the blooms begin.
1. The way things are written here it seems that the players are pretty much just destined to lose at least one of their cities while they're at the festival.
Word arrives. "Our Kingdom is under attack! Oh no!"
Well, heck. By now the players haven't had a chance to build armies. An army attacking a city (without an army to defend it) just takes the city. Or that's how I've read it so far.
Why wouldn't the players have had a chance to build armies? By part 5, they should have a relatively large kingdom, and several years of in-game time will have passed. Since most kingdoms would have armies, it stands to reason that the players (if they care about their kingdom) would have wanted to create an army. Even if they don't, one of their advisors should have mentioned the value of having armies to defend their cities.
In my game the players built an army after Varnhold Vanishing. That part of the AP really go them thinking they need an army if some undead creature can just waltz in and take out a town.
So I just pulled out the War of River kings book and let them build an army of militia, the only thing they really qualified for at the time.
Of course when the attack on Tatzleford took place they marched their army to Fort Drelev. The players party went in ahead taking a short cut through the swamp. The army which was in Varnhold then marched to Fort Drelev. By the time the army got there the players had infiltrated the town and sent a messenger to hold the army several hexes north of Fort Drelev.
Now they are on the verge of war with Pitax and have since upgrade there army to the level 2 fighters. I've gave them strong hints at additional armies with the Kobolds and Centaurs. Should be interesting when Rushlight festival ends.
I have a bit of a problem with Irovetti's stats in this adventure.
Firstly, Irovetti's attack and damage appears to be wrong. Both appear 1 point too low. I suspect that weapon training hasn't been factored in; in fact, it's utterly missing from his stat block. Did he originally have less levels of fighter?
Secondly - and this is the big one - Irovett's stats appear to be totally off the wall. According to his gear, he has no stat-boosting items at all. Yet he somehow manages stats of 18, 18, 20, 12, 8, 22 on a 20-pt buy with 4 stat points and +2 racial? Even assuming that the 18 Dex includes the effects of a cat's grace spell, he still has to account for stats of 18, 14, 20, 12, 8, 22. He can't have started with a natural stat (pre racial mod) above 18, and has 6 points to allocate between level ups and racial. He must have applied 4 points to his Charisma and 2 to his Con. That gives his base natural stats as 18, 14, 18, 12, 8, 18. That's a...56 point buy. So what am I missing? Was he supposed to have a headband of +4 Cha and a belt of +4 Str and +4 Con? Because then the numbers would work.
Oh, and Irovetti's CMD is 1 point too low. Probably missed off haste bonus.
Ugh... yeah, for whatever reason, his headband of Charisma +6 and his belt of Str +4/Con +4 didn't make it into his stat block. (A quick adding-up of his gear bears this out; he's about 80,000 gp short of actually having 315,000 gp of gear, which is what he SHOULD have considering he's a 16th level character with PC wealth.)
Reason #25 why it's good to be caught up on the schedule = we get to spend more time editing and developing the words.
I wondered about Irovetti's stats myself. I was figuring that he had a Belt of Physical Perfection +4 and that his Charisma was where he'd put all his level-based stat increases.
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I wish I had noticed this earlier (as my last session of Book 5 is probably today) but... where is Asmerdanda? The back cover lists a quest called the "Missing Diva", where a woman named Asmeranda is believed to be somewhere in King Irovetti's palace. I can't find any mention of her in the adventure itself, however. Any ideas?
If your group accepts the quest it is suggested to place her in S2.
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I had the same thought. Especially since the text points out "this makes it an advantage to go last." And while that's still true even with the above analysis, it sounds like the Wardens were intended to be a little bit more competent.I have a question about the joust.
As written, Stage 1 looks likely to last a very very very long time if it is actually run as written.
...
Am I missing something, or is it really assumed that the first round will likely consist of dozens of easy cakewalk jousts until the vastly inferior Wardens get a few lucky 20s in a row against 3 of the assumed 5 competitors (4 NPCs and 1 PC)? Are the competitors supposed to start jousting each other in Stage 1? As written, it looks like there are no jousts between the competitors until Stage 2, but perhaps I am reading it wrong?Eric "Critic of the Dawn"
Having run this, and preparing to run it again with significant changes, I can attest to this. The Rushlight tournament was incredibly entertaining, and offered a lot of resources for the DM to control the flow and detail of the event. My players really enjoyed it...until the joust. This was made all the worse because the joust was supposed to be the climax, but had the thinnest detail and poorest rule system (I would love to see Jason's original idea). I even had the wardens stay sober (no -2 penalty)! After about 5 rounds of jousting wardens, I actually had Irovetti step in and have all the wardens thrown out of the tournament and the military for incompetence, but by then the damage was done...the joust had descended into a series of dice rolls.
I just skipped the wardens. Any interested PC can beat them all hollow, so why bother?
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In the original, it was likely to go the opposite way; that is to say, the typical jousting knight was someone who was fairly optimized for jousting within the subsystem I made up for it. If you just rolled in there as a 13th level fighter with a lance, you had a fair chance to get owned by 7th-8th level "professional jousters," and the named NPC uber-jousters were really tough to beat.
If you are running it again, feel free to email me at
well have started this mod. sort off. set 3 months before the festival so the party can actually feel some of the atmosphere that Pitax has to offer
allowing me to do some 'N'. foreshadowing while the party subtley has a snoop around. allowing the more urban pcs to have some fun, and the odd 5ft corridor is challenging the archers of doom that the parties inquistor and bard normally are!
have made up a brief Pitax In Peril interlude involving lots chaos and 4 trade houses /4 elements.....each pc with a sort of faction mission
done this as I thought the Gazateer was a bit wasted and the Pcs need some more xp to be well into 12th
Looking forward to the tourney bit in a few weeks time
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One of the interesting challenges with this adventure was what kind of guy King Irovetti was going to be. The original mentions of him seemed to conflict a bit - would he be a sly, weaselly guy (like the sort that would win a kingdom in a card game) or a big, tough, burly barbarian guy (like the kind that would sweep out of Numeria and take over a River Kingdom). When Guide to the River Kingdoms finally came out, he was a bard, in my original turnover he was a fighter/barbarian, and in the final published version (probably to make him more different from Drelev and Armag in the previous adventure) he ended up as a hybrid, a bard 11/fighter 5.
In thinking about the adventure after the fact, and after the APG came out, I came up with the idea that maybe the best way to split the difference and make him still be a bard but to maintain his martial flavor was to remake him as a single-classed bard with the Arcane Duelist archetype. I just finished running WotRK in my home game, and this guy was a holy terror. The invasion of the castle was a 3 or 4-session-long running battle, and the fight with Irovetti, a number of mid-level human minions, and his ginormous troll buddy took up an entire session all by itself and would have had massive casualties save for the heavy use of action points and some similar death-avoidance/delay tricks. Even so, he was suitably awesome as an antagonist and a memorable fight along with winding up a pretty engaging storyline for the players.
Anyway, without further ado I present to you a possible alternate version of Irovetti, now a level higher and ready to rock and roll.
Castruccio Irovetti - CR 16
XP 76,800
Male human bard (arcane duelist) 16
CN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +18
Defense
AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 20 (+10 armor, +3 Dex)
hp 149 (16d8+74)
Fort +14, Ref +18, Will +14
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 adamantine keen vicious human bane flying blade +18/+13/+8 (1d12+7/19–20/x3 plus 2d6), cold iron armor spikes +16/+11/+6 (1d6+6)
Ranged 1d4 +1 keen seeking human bane adamantine darts +16 (1d4+5)
Special Attacks bardic performance 40 rounds/day (swift action, bladethirst, dirge of doom, distraction, fascinate, frightening tune, inspire competence +5, inspire courage +3, inspire greatness, inspire heroics, rallying cry, soothing performance)
Bard Spells Known (CL 16th; concentration +22, +26 if grappled or casting defensively)
6th (2/day)—overwhelming presence (DC 24) (UM) (DC 24), waves of ecstasy (DC 24) (UM) (DC 24)
5th (4/day)—cloak of dreams (DC 23) (APG) (DC 23), greater dispel magic, greater heroism, shadowbard (UM)
4th (5/day)—dance of a hundred cuts (UM), primal scream (UM), shocking image (UC), wall of sound (UM)
3rd (6/day)—blink, charm monster (DC 21) (DC 21), confusion (DC 21) (DC 21), phantom steed, slow (DC 20)
2nd (7/day)—allegro (UM), gallant inspiration (APG), suggestion (DC 20) (DC 20), tactical acumen (UC)
1st (7/day)—cure light wounds (DC 17), disguise self, feather fall, grease (DC 17), moment of greatness (UC), saving finale (APG)
0 (at will)—I didn't bother picking any. :)
[b]Statistics
Str 19, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 22
Base Atk +12; CMB +16 (+20 trip); CMD 29 (33 vs. trip)
Feats Arcane Strike(B), Combat Casting(B), Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Disruptive(B), Exotic Weapon Proficiency (flying blade), Greater Spell Focus (enchantment), Greater Trip, Improved Trip, Penetrating Strike(B), Power Attack, Spell Focus (enchantment), Spellbreaker(B), Weapon Focus (flying blade)
Skills Acrobatics +19, Bluff +25, Diplomacy +25, Disguise +20, Fly +14, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (arcana) +5, Knowledge (engineering) +5, Knowledge (geography) +5, Knowledge (history) +5, Knowledge (local) +5, Knowledge (nobility) +5, Perception +18, Perform (act) +10, Perform (comedy) +10, Perform (dance) +10, Perform (keyboard instruments) +10, Perform (oratory) +10, Perform (percussion) +10, Perform (sing) +10, Perform (string) +10, Perform (wind) +10, Ride +4, Sense Motive +3, Sleight of Hand +7, Spellcraft +5, Stealth +4, Swim +5, Use Magic Device +18
Combat Gear potions of barkskin +5 (2), scrolls of see invisibility (2), scroll of magic vestment +4, wand of shield (CL 5th, 10 charges), ring of evasion, ring of spell turning, winged boots; Other Gear mithral medium fortification +1 full plate, +1 adamantine keen vicious human bane flying blade, cloak of resistance +5, belt of physical perfection +4, headband of alluring charisma +6, necklace of adaptation, potion of gaseous form, scroll of stoneskin (CL 7th), scroll of blur (CL 3rd)
At first glance, it doesn't look like much for CR 16. However, his hit points were effectively doubled since he had received a shield other spell from his gigantic troll ally (by way of imbue with spell ability.
Next, the mountain of buffs that he rolled up prior to combat stacked up in impressive fashion. With buffs including:
1. (bardic performance) bladethirst to add ghost touch and shocking burst to his weapon
2. a shadowbard spell to provide him with (bardic performance) inspire courage simultaneously. I ended up cheating slightly here when I forgot he didn't get +4 until 17th level and only realized later that he should have gotten +3. (then again, this is countered by me forgetting to have people save vs. his cloak of dreams spell that might have put some of them to sleep)
3. +5 barkskin potion
4. +4 magic vestment oil on his armor
5. greater heroism
6. dance of a hundred cuts
7. haste (from allegro)
8. Power Attack
9. Arcane Strike
10. tactical acumen
11. spell turning from his ring
12. stoneskin scroll
13. razor shield from his "rod of razors" (the above-noted flying blade), which gave cover vs. ranged attacks and did fire shield-type damage vs. melee attackers
14. shield from his wand
15. shocking image
16. blur
17. and, the piece de resistance, the dirtiest GM trick in the book... dust of disappearance!
Final tally with all buffs:
AC 45, touch 23, FF 36)
Fort +18, Ref +23, Will +18
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 adamantine keen vicious ghost touch shocking burst human bane flying blade +27/+27/+22/+17 (plus an extra +2 to hit, flat-footed if you can't see him, which you pretty much can't) (1d12+31+1d6 electrical+2d6 vicious/19–20/x3 plus 2d10 electrical).
Most of the palace in my version is under a forbiddance, but he was eventually able to use blink when the battle led down into the laundry below the main floor of the palace, which was very effective for him. The fight lasted so long that some of his buffs wore off or got dispelled, though he was able to re-cast a few. He did cast a few spells, notably including overwhelming presence twice; action points averted several new members of the Irovetti Admiration Society!
Anyway, there he is. Hope you enjoy!
Anyway, there he is. Hope you enjoy!
Many many thanks Jason! The timing of this is absolutely perfect! My players finished the Rushlight Tournament last session, and tomorrow night will be 'porting to Fort Drelev to find out who's making trouble for them. When the showdown comes, this is going to be Legendary...
I don't suppose you've got some inspired rejig of Nyrissa up your sleeve, do you?
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Not as such. I actually am probably going to run Varnhold Vanishing *AFTER* War of the River Kings. In campaign, one of the PCs got married to Baron Maegar Varn, and there was a subplot about their child being stolen by the cultists of Gyronna (by way of Goody Niska in #2), and at the time it seemed like piling on to go right into "oh by the way, now your husband just got wiped out, along with his whole country" mode, so we ended up veering off into a side-trek through parts of Skinsaw Murders (centered on Candlemere Island) and Hook Mountain Massacre (centered on the "lost" far-western colony in the Glenebon Uplands) before coming back to Blood for Blood and WotRK.
I think I'll give them a bit of peace to assimilate their conquest (or arrange succession in Pitax into one of the other trade families) before hitting them with VV, which in order to deal with the massive level-up vs. what's expected (i.e., the party is 16th instead of 7-9) I'm going to be doing a mash-up of VV with parts of Shadows of Gallowspire (and I am going to work in the scene at the dam from Hook Mountain Massacre as well - it's just too cool of a scene and it plays great as a relic of ancient cyclops civilization).
The whole of VV kind of comes out of left field in the flow of Kingmaker, but I think I like the idea of it coming out of left field NOW, once they have sort of resolved the kingdom-building phase of the campaign and when they THINK the next menace is going to come from an angry faerie queen, when all of a sudden the frickin ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (well, sort of) happens at the other end of the campaign.
There is also a loose tie-together, in that Lucrecia from HMM has been a recurring villain and an anarchist agent trying to bring down all of the colonies in the name of Gyronna. Willas Gunderson didn't find that map and that 'bracelet' from Vordakai's place by accident, that's all I'm sayin'. :)
Not as such. I actually am probably going to run Varnhold Vanishing *AFTER* War of the River Kings. In campaign, one of the PCs got married to Baron Maegar Varn, and there was a subplot about their child being stolen by the cultists of Gyronna (by way of Goody Niska in #2), and at the time it seemed like piling on to go right into "oh by the way, now your husband just got wiped out, along with his whole country" mode, so we ended up veering off into a side-trek through parts of Skinsaw Murders (centered on Candlemere Island) and Hook Mountain Massacre (centered on the "lost" far-western colony in the Glenebon Uplands) before coming back to Blood for Blood and WotRK.
I think I'll give them a bit of peace to assimilate their conquest (or arrange succession in Pitax into one of the other trade families) before hitting them with VV, which in order to deal with the massive level-up vs. what's expected (i.e., the party is 16th instead of 7-9) I'm going to be doing a mash-up of VV with parts of Shadows of Gallowspire (and I am going to work in the scene at the dam from Hook Mountain Massacre as well - it's just too cool of a scene and it plays great as a relic of ancient cyclops civilization).
The whole of VV kind of comes out of left field in the flow of Kingmaker, but I think I like the idea of it coming out of left field NOW, once they have sort of resolved the kingdom-building phase of the campaign and when they THINK the next menace is going to come from an angry faerie queen, when all of a sudden the frickin ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (well, sort of) happens at the other end of the campaign.
There is also a loose tie-together, in that Lucrecia from HMM has been a recurring villain and an anarchist agent trying to bring down all of the colonies in the name of Gyronna. Willas Gunderson didn't find that map and that 'bracelet' from Vordakai's place by accident, that's all I'm sayin'. :)
*stunned silence reigns*
Epic....
I wish my friends and I had the time and dedication to play a game of such complexity and immersion. As it is, we've been playing KM pretty much straight out of the modules for the last 18 months and, as I said, we're just finishing the Rushlight Tournament. We dropped kingdom building halfway through VV because it was eating up too much time.
I notice a lot of Rise of the Runelords are worked in there. Is that an endorsement of the path/modules, or just due to long-term familiarity making them easy to adapt?
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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Actually, I had never read most of them, on purpose, because I was somewhat repelled by what I heard about what seemed like the "being gross to be gross" elements in HMM and Skinsaw.
I'm not sure what led me to thinking about using RotRL. I think I started thinking about HMM, as it seemed like a natural fit for the "lost colony" (though I skipped most of the gross stuff, like at the Graul house). Also, as they looked into Candlemere, I thought a haunted house seemed like a good idea and went to Skinsaw, and it made a great situation. There is one lost Foxglove out there still who is one of the chief priests of Gyronna and the PCs still hot on her trail. I think she and Lucrecia will show up again at the Knurly House in #6 with the Gyronna priestess there so the PCs can have a final showdown.
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One of the interesting challenges with this adventure was what kind of guy King Irovetti was going to be. The original mentions of him seemed to conflict a bit - would he be a sly, weaselly guy (like the sort that would win a kingdom in a card game) or a big, tough, burly barbarian guy (like the kind that would sweep out of Numeria and take over a River Kingdom). When Guide to the River Kingdoms finally came out, he was a bard, in my original turnover he was a fighter/barbarian, and in the final published version (probably to make him more different from Drelev and Armag in the previous adventure) he ended up as a hybrid, a bard 11/fighter 5.
In thinking about the adventure after the fact, and after the APG came out, I came up with the idea that maybe the best way to split the difference and make him still be a bard but to maintain his martial flavor was to remake him as a single-classed bard with the Arcane Duelist archetype. I just finished running WotRK in my home game, and this guy was a holy terror. The invasion of the castle was a 3 or 4-session-long running battle, and the fight with Irovetti, a number of mid-level human minions, and his ginormous troll buddy took up an entire session all by itself and would have had massive casualties save for the heavy use of action points and some similar death-avoidance/delay tricks. Even so, he was suitably awesome as an antagonist and a memorable fight along with winding up a pretty engaging storyline for the players.
Anyway, without further ado I present to you a possible alternate version of Irovetti, now a level higher and ready to rock and roll.
Castruccio Irovetti - CR 16
XP 76,800
Male human bard (arcane duelist) 16
CN Medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +18Defense
AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 20 (+10 armor, +3 Dex)
hp 149 (16d8+74)
Fort +14, Ref +18, Will +14Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 adamantine keen vicious human bane...
Wow, impressive AC thnx for sharing Jason.
thx Jason
I much prefer Irrovetti to be CN, than any kind of evil
I gonna use bits of your new version, though we have banned UM/UC from the AP, as it wasnt written with those in mind.
throughout i have played up Gyronna influence. I like that lots baddies are horrid females rather than super alluring ones
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I'll be honest, in my first run through I swapped Irovetti out for one of my player's ex-characters (CR 15) from a previous campaign, which was just to fit my setting and have a nice "WTF" moment for the player. It was still a pretty epic battle (closing in on 20 rounds) leaving the party exhausted!
However, I will definitely be using the alternate Irovetti once the second group gets closer to Pitax - I much prefer the idea of a single-classed bard villain.
The Rushlight Tournament looks really nice - too bad everyone except for the Paladin and a Rogue follower is a spellcaster! Though there will be some variation I suspect, the dragon disciple sorcerer has more Strength than the Paladin, and the druid is a better archer.
I'm tempted to include one more challenge that involves spellcasting. A straight up wizardly duel sounds a bit unwieldy, but it's very hard to create an event just for spellcasters. Perhaps an area blasting tournament to score as many target dummies as possible. Or an intelligence based contest of some sort. Has anyone tried something like this out in their game?
Our group has also done away with the kingdom building system, though I suspect they will want to have control over their armies in the defence of their kingdom. I'm trying to think out a good way to narrate it all, and perhaps some way to run a mass combat system based on that - with the caster heavy party they are, they'll be throwing spells left and right, and I'd rather avoid just ignoring their efforts.
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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There is one spellcasting/channel energy contest in my original, as well as an open-ended challenge that can be undertaken by anyone (it's sort of a virtual reality combat arena, though you can actually die or lose stuff). If you're interested, email at
MY players like Irrovetti
I like Irrovetti
so not sure I want to have him at war with the party
So im thinking
-keep running rushlight as started it last week
-go to whiterose at sometime, having heard a rumour someone is trying to make WOMD there
-much of the wilderness i can still use
-i can have wyvern and barbarian armies attack under the wyvern-mother influence and silverytongue from N / her agents
Im then stuck what to do with the palace. Im thinking i could have the party rescue Irrovetti from it, and assume that bad influences have attacked him / affected his mind, this way the party dont take over Pitax and Part VI happens almost immediately
Im hoping they will generate enough xp w/o having to slay Irrovetti
/ take over Pitax
any thoughts?
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MY players like Irrovetti
I like Irrovettiso not sure I want to have him at war with the party
So im thinking
-keep running rushlight as started it last week
-go to whiterose at sometime, having heard a rumour someone is trying to make WOMD there
-much of the wilderness i can still use
-i can have wyvern and barbarian armies attack under the wyvern-mother influence and silverytongue from N / her agentsIm then stuck what to do with the palace. Im thinking i could have the party rescue Irrovetti from it, and assume that bad influences have attacked him / affected his mind, this way the party dont take over Pitax and Part VI happens almost immediately
Im hoping they will generate enough xp w/o having to slay Irrovetti
/ take over Pitaxany thoughts?
That's a pickle indeed. Consider the gazeteer of Pitax, perhaps Irovetti is unable to exercise power because of the squabbling noble houses in Pitax. So the PCs need to negotiate/fight against the private armies of the 4 noble houses of Pitax in order to liberate the city. They can then make Pitax an ally or maybe a vassal depending on the player's choice.
Thanks for input. Have done that already. they wished to explore Pitax so spent 4 sessions or so in there and saved the city in a 'Perils of Pitax' interlude
although, adding to your point. i could have one of the trade houses the party really didnt get on with, revolt against Irrovetti while he ponders the N situtaion, and perhaps they become a quest or two
have 1-2 more weeks of Ruslight to do, so have some time to give this more thought,+ listen to others.
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Thanks for input. Have done that already. they wished to explore Pitax so spent 4 sessions or so in there and saved the city in a 'Perils of Pitax' interlude
although, adding to your point. i could have one of the trade houses the party really didnt get on with, revolt against Irrovetti while he ponders the N situtaion, and perhaps they become a quest or two
have 1-2 more weeks of Ruslight to do, so have some time to give this more thought,+ listen to others.
Wow, I love how different your game went from mine.
party failed miserabley at Rushlight and came 4th
during closing cermenoy
Via diplomacey, bluff, sense motive etc irrovetti isnt swayed by her words and Pitax and PCs remain friends
Irrovetti is hit by witchfire entourage of Knurly and his contingency whisks him away, but into a trap where the naughty fey are waiting, Knurly escapes
party slay 3 witchfire coven in epic fight
bits mayhem and panic
party rushing to White rose and have befriended guards
have assumed that wyvern and other armies are under N's control
FUTURE: party assume will go back to pitax and then have dilema do they go and see how there kingdom fares or explore palace to see where irrovetti is now held captive
I get to use most of mod even though story has changed a bit!!!
So. My kingmaker group has recruited:
The Kobolds in book 1. Turned the silver mine into a town (called Drakenvale, if your curious.)
Recruited the Grande Beldane as Magister. For a while, she was the Grand Diplomat (foots in @$$es!)
Made peace with Crackjaw. Serves as a warden in that lake. Piracy on Lake Candlemere is NOT HAPPENING (also cleansed the Keep after killing 24 Will o' the Wisps).
Lizardmen of the forest are a favored trading partner.
Peace with the Centaurs was easy. They are now on their own personal nature preserve. Casinos are on the way.
The Spriggans are now populating Varnhold along with the saved commoners/survivors of Vordikai.
The long dead silver dragon was resurrected and now serves as the kingdom grand diplomat.
The PC ranger who serves as the Marshal, has created Dire Wolf cavalry.
The PC Alchemist is now a full professor at a Alchemist Academy that is part of the Acadmerium. The school is called Alchemrium.
The PC's have managed to build a great wall of kingdom all across the open plain on the south side of the starting map. Yes, ALL 8 hexes that are plains. That is a 96 mile wall that is 120 foot tall by 96 miles long anchored by the Tor Levine's. Lyres of Building are awesome in the game.
They have Ebberon style skyship factories (stats are the same however).
Tatzlford became the CIA headquarters, and needless to say when the attack in book 4 happens, its was a VERY one sided fight.
The Aasimar paladin/ Sacred Servant combo hangs out with Hound Archons and married a Lillend (balance the lawful side) and hangs out with angels for funsies (thank you Obsidian Steed and UMD checks).
The elf ranger is a drunk (and following Cayden Cailean). And under the effects of a dominate while a wisdom of 1 (thanks soul eaters) one rounds the paladin thanks to the lich.
3 wyverns are now Alcoholics who patrol the boarders of the kingdom when not drunk.
The paladin stabbed out his own eyes to destroy the occulous of abbadon. Why? Because he could.
In book 4, they took over Fort Drelev, negotiated peace with the Wizard (after nearly ripping his spine in one round) and now "consults" with the kingdom.
NOW, the recruited the biggest dang Tiger in all o Golarion, the super duper saber tooth tiger in book four. Needless to say, the Tiger Lords are not going to be a problem.
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Does anyone by chance have a copy of Jasons original rules for the tournament that has been mentioned on here and is able to send me a copy? I've tried dropping him a mail but no reply, he's no doubt rather busy with actual work so perfectly understandable, but I'm starting the tournament for my players this weekend and a chance to add in some of the extra stuff would be great.
Appreciate any help!
twilightprofet AT gmail DOT com
While at it, I'd love to enhance the Rushlight tournament, too, and would love to use your material.
Thanks in advance, Jason!
Ruyan.
*bows* Thanks, Jason!
Ruyan.
I'm a little confused about the gardener.
when a ghost has a particular connection to an item in life he gets a ghostly version as a ghost, its called grave trappings or something, check out the ghost entry in the bestiary they explain it there believe:)
There was a cleric Oni and a big troll general in the original turnover Jason handed out a few times by request. The cleric was removed and the troll replaced by the Oni Avinash Jurrg.
The Rushlight is coming up pretty soon in my game. I know this thread has been posted in in a while, but I was wondering how I could obtain the extra challenges Jason wrote. I sent him an email but I got no reply. Did this happen to anyone else?