So I picked up the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition today (I love sales!) and told my group I'm getting an itch to DM. My current DM responded in less than a minute with "NAME THE DAY!"
I've DMed a few games before, but years ago when I was more into monster slaying than RP, and the games fizzled. Do you have any advice for relatively new DM? Any advice on ways to effectively DM RotRL specifically?
Tip well.
Doesn't this sound like the title and hook of a bad porno?
1. Why did the Succubus go from a devil to being a demon and what are your thoughts and opinions on the matter?
2. What would be the 3 best ways to utilize T. Rex as a GM?
3. What is the best froghemoth encounter?
Haven't succubi always been demons?
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So I picked up the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition today (I love sales!) and told my group I'm getting an itch to DM. My current DM responded in less than a minute with "NAME THE DAY!"
I've DMed a few games before, but years ago when I was more into monster slaying than RP, and the games fizzled. Do you have any advice for relatively new DM? Any advice on ways to effectively DM RotRL specifically?
I'd like to know this as well!
Creative Director
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As I recall, Nale of Order of the Stick infamy, still had to invest heavily in negative protection potions. :) I'm not sure a succubus CAN choose to not drain a level if she gets passionate with you. It is part of their nature after all. Of course one might argue that Pathfinder succubi are different.So, here's a question. What are the best ways to avoid the harmful effects of a succubus' Energy Drain?1) Being enough of a friend that she chooses NOT to drain your life.
Depends on the nature of the game and the GM whether or not a creature can choose to activate or deactivate a power like that.
On Golarion, though, succubi cannot make that choice. Which is a plot point in Pathfinder #75.
Are you familiar with Rifftrax?
Do you think that if the iconics had access to films, they'd make their own Rifftrax?
Absolutely; been a fan and watcher of Rifftrax pretty much from when it started.
I think Lem would be a natural for Riffing.
Are you aware of the MSTing of fanfiction and literature?
Do you think it's possible that someone could write the iconics riffing Rise of the Runelords, or some other AP?
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Creative Director
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I'd say that's for the best. Once you stat Ragathiel up, people will just wanna kill him anyway.
What's the general mix of Tian immigrants/travelling traders living in Kalsgard and the Lands of the Linnorm Kings in general? Are they exclusively Tian-Min and Tian-La (those are the ones that I know have direct access to the Path of Aganhei as described in Jade Regent), or are there others like Tian-Shu or Tian-Hwan, etc?
I don't have a problem with that at all. That's the whole POINT of statting them up. One of the points, at least. :-)
There's a fair amount of Tians in the Linnorm Kings. Most of them are Tian-Min, but not all. Pathfinder #50 talks a little about that.
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Creative Director
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I'd say that's for the best. Once you stat Ragathiel up, people will just wanna kill him anyway.Well, the same goes for the three Empyreal lords that are going to be released. Why do you think they would even bother statting them up, anyway? As the antagonists of Evil campaigns?
And sure, SOME people might want to kill Ragathiel...but there are some players who want to literally kill everything that moves.
I think his point was, even good guys might want to kill Ragathiel.
In that case, they're not good. Case solved!
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Creative Director
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Doing the 'necessary' chaotic and evil thing the society 'needs' so other don't have to?
"necessary" sounds very lawful in this context. The need of others (society)....
But yeah, what would JJ's take on lawful vs chaotic be ?
It's in print, pretty much.
Compare archons to azatas. Or inevitables to proteans. Or devils to demons. Or dwarves to elves.
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Creative Director
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Wait. How DOES one befriend a succubus?So, here's a question. What are the best ways to avoid the harmful effects of a succubus' Energy Drain?1) Being enough of a friend that she chooses NOT to drain your life.
2) Death ward.
3) Being immune to energy drain (such as by virtue of being undead).
4) Being fast so that you can get away and get some restorations before you die.
If you want it to be an honest friendship? it's not easy.
Part of Wrath of the Righteous chronicles one way though.
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Creative Director
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So I picked up the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition today (I love sales!) and told my group I'm getting an itch to DM. My current DM responded in less than a minute with "NAME THE DAY!"
I've DMed a few games before, but years ago when I was more into monster slaying than RP, and the games fizzled. Do you have any advice for relatively new DM? Any advice on ways to effectively DM RotRL specifically?
Read the whole thing before starting the game, then re-read the portion you expect the PCs to go through in the coming session a day or two before the game.
Familiarize yourself with the RotR boards here; LOTS of great feedback there!
Don't rush it! if you play for 6 hours and only have one fight and the players have fun roleplaying the rest of the time, great!
Be reactive, not proactive. Let the players set the pace. If they seem to be adrift, the adventure has plenty of NPCs whom can step in and give out quests.
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Creative Director
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1. Why did the Succubus go from a devil to being a demon and what are your thoughts and opinions on the matter?
2. What would be the 3 best ways to utilize T. Rex as a GM?
3. What is the best froghemoth encounter?
1) First off... trying to contain my frustrations here...
Ahem
The succubus has been a demon from the start of the game, from the first time they were included in D&D back in the 1970s, several decades ago. There was a time during 2nd edition when the publisher got cold feet and more or less removed ALL demons and devils and their kind from the game, but they came back eventually, and succubi were still demons. They only changed into devils with 4th edition, and I'm going to offer no comment on the reasons why there. Needless to say, that's a good example of the type of changes that WotC made to 4th edition that convinced us at Paizo to go ahead with Pathfinder, because we wanted to tell the stories WE wanted to tell.
The question should be, "Why did the succubus go from a demon to being a devil in 4th edition D&D?" since she's always been a demon in D&D and Pathfinder alike. And I'm not going to answer that question because that's a better question to ask Wizards of the Coast.
2) As encouragement to keep player side conversations quiet!
3) Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. First and still the best.
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Creative Director
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Haven't succubi always been demons?Not if you're one of those people who began their adventure with D&D by playing Dragonborn (female, with boobies) Warlocks battling Shadarkai Doomslasher level 56 Solo Elite Strikers.
Easy there, pal. No edition bashing, or even hints at edition bashing, are allowed in this thread. Thanks!
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Creative Director
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Haven't succubi always been demons?Not if you're one of those people who began their adventure with D&D by playing Dragonborn (female, with boobies) Warlocks battling Shadarkai Doomslasher level 56 Solo Elite Strikers.Then you should be asking Gygax or Johnathan Tweet, because Succubi were demons as far back as AD+D First Edition and they stayed that way through 3.5, which is where Pathfinder forked off.
On the other hand, Third Edition introduced us to Glasya, the lawful evil daughter of Asmodeus who has much of the succubus look, although she's served mainly by erinyes.
In fact, Glasya was introduced to the game back in Dragon Magazine, I believe, in Ed Greenwood's excellent Hell articles; she was later stated up in the 1st edition Monster Manual 2.
No one fiendish race has exclusive rights to any one shape of fiend, in any case.
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Creative Director
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Are you familiar with Rifftrax?
Do you think that if the iconics had access to films, they'd make their own Rifftrax?
Absolutely; been a fan and watcher of Rifftrax pretty much from when it started.
I think Lem would be a natural for Riffing.
Are you aware of the MSTing of fanfiction and literature?
Do you think it's possible that someone could write the iconics riffing Rise of the Runelords, or some other AP?
I am aware of it. And I think it's something that, if done well by talented people like Mike Nelson and his crew, against a show that deserves the riffing, it's SUPER AWESOME HILARIOUS.
But done poorly, or done against a great movie? It frustrates and annoys me.
So I picked up the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition today (I love sales!) and told my group I'm getting an itch to DM. My current DM responded in less than a minute with "NAME THE DAY!"
I've DMed a few games before, but years ago when I was more into monster slaying than RP, and the games fizzled. Do you have any advice for relatively new DM? Any advice on ways to effectively DM RotRL specifically?
Read the whole thing before starting the game, then re-read the portion you expect the PCs to go through in the coming session a day or two before the game.
Familiarize yourself with the RotR boards here; LOTS of great feedback there!
Don't rush it! if you play for 6 hours and only have one fight and the players have fun roleplaying the rest of the time, great!
Be reactive, not proactive. Let the players set the pace. If they seem to be adrift, the adventure has plenty of NPCs whom can step in and give out quests.
The Reactive vs Proactive is entirely counter-intuitive, that's a nugget right there. I'll definitely look through the boards.
Doing the 'necessary' chaotic and evil thing the society 'needs' so other don't have to?
"necessary" sounds very lawful in this context. The need of others (society)....
But yeah, what would JJ's take on lawful vs chaotic be ?
Law Enforcement breaking the laws they protect, Vigilante are more prone to this.
The Reactive vs Proactive is entirely counter-intuitive, that's a nugget right there. I'll definitely look through the boards.So I picked up the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition today (I love sales!) and told my group I'm getting an itch to DM. My current DM responded in less than a minute with "NAME THE DAY!"
I've DMed a few games before, but years ago when I was more into monster slaying than RP, and the games fizzled. Do you have any advice for relatively new DM? Any advice on ways to effectively DM RotRL specifically?
Read the whole thing before starting the game, then re-read the portion you expect the PCs to go through in the coming session a day or two before the game.
Familiarize yourself with the RotR boards here; LOTS of great feedback there!
Don't rush it! if you play for 6 hours and only have one fight and the players have fun roleplaying the rest of the time, great!
Be reactive, not proactive. Let the players set the pace. If they seem to be adrift, the adventure has plenty of NPCs whom can step in and give out quests.
If you don't want to railroad, improvisation is useful, knowing the players and how they think is useful, etc...
Catfolk don't worship rakshasas. On Golarion... rakshasas have animal heads... the one we put in the main book has a tiger head, but just as many have bird or ape or reptile or whatever heads.
Oh, does this mean that a Rakshasas blooded Tiefling can have pretty much any animalistic features on their head?
I am so sorry for causing that mess... I hastily wrote my question while at work and misworded it terribly. I was much more concerned with the T. Rex, and didn't put near enough thought into the succubi question. My apologies, I thought you might have had an insight into the 4th edition change. I actually started with AD&D and have never played 4th.
Do you have any stories of great T. Rex encounters you played in/run?
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Creative Director
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Catfolk don't worship rakshasas. On Golarion... rakshasas have animal heads... the one we put in the main book has a tiger head, but just as many have bird or ape or reptile or whatever heads.Oh, does this mean that a Rakshasas blooded Tiefling can have pretty much any animalistic features on their head?
yes.
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Creative Director
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I am so sorry for causing that mess... I hastily wrote my question while at work and misworded it terribly. I was much more concerned with the T. Rex, and didn't put near enough thought into the succubi question. My apologies, I thought you might have had an insight into the 4th edition change. I actually started with AD&D and have never played 4th.
Do you have any stories of great T. Rex encounters you played in/run?
HA! No worries.
If I had to guess... they made the change in 4th edition because of the branding idea that devils should look humanoid and demons should not. Whatever the reason, it was in my case the single greatest reason I lost interest in D&D's 4th edition. Anyway. Let's move on and leave that subject behind!
Best T-Rex encounter I can think of off the top of my head was in Jason Bulmahn's Eberron game. We were exploring Xendrik's jungles, and James Sutter's character got himself swallered by a T-Rex. He was in it's belly at –3 hp... not only unconscious, but at a point where the MINIMUM DAMGE done by the dinosaur's swallow whole of 13 points would autokill his character.
See the next post for how Zulshyn, my character, saved him!
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So the Kid got swallowed whole and I knew he was gonna die. I went next. I took a move action to run around in front of the tyrannosaurus and provoked an attack of opportunity. I willingly went flat-footed to more or less ensure it would hit me, and it did. When it bit down and swallowed, I didn't put up a fight; I let it swallow me. I ended up in its belly pressed up against the Kid who was bleeding out. I still had a standard action left, and used it to activate my cape of the montebank and dimension doored out of the dinosaur with the kid, getting him to safety so he could be healed before he was digested.
HEROIC, if I do say so myself!
I have 2 questions.
1) Was reading about the Realm of the Mammoth Lords in the Inner Sea World Guide and the failed Pathfinder Society ventures and it made me wonder, how good are the odds of seeing a Journey to the Center of the Earth style AP about journeying into the Darklands? Because the Earthnavel just seems to good an idea to miss out on
2) Having just read King of Chaos
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So the Kid got swallowed whole and I knew he was gonna die. I went next. I took a move action to run around in front of the tyrannosaurus and provoked an attack of opportunity. I willingly went flat-footed to more or less ensure it would hit me, and it did. When it bit down and swallowed, I didn't put up a fight; I let it swallow me. I ended up in its belly pressed up against the Kid who was bleeding out. I still had a standard action left, and used it to activate my cape of the montebank and dimension doored out of the dinosaur with the kid, getting him to safety so he could be healed before he was digested.
HEROIC, if I do say so myself!
Awesome!
In my encounter with a T-Rex, we were outclassed by it. So we set a spiked pit trap and the Orc barbarian led it into the trap.
We killed it from the safety of the pit edge, removed it's teeth and wore them with pride. From that moment on our group was called 'Hell's Teeth'. : )
Okay! That's pretty darn cool!
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Creative Director
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I have 2 questions.
1) Was reading about the Realm of the Mammoth Lords in the Inner Sea World Guide and the failed Pathfinder Society ventures and it made me wonder, how good are the odds of seeing a Journey to the Center of the Earth style AP about journeying into the Darklands? Because the Earthnavel just seems to good an idea to miss out on
2) Having just read King of Chaos
** spoiler omitted **
1) The odds are relatively good.
2) He's a VERY special case. I don't think Dave and James have decided what his bloodline is yet.
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Creative Director
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Okay! That's pretty darn cool!
I thought so!
I made Zulshyn for that campaign after my 3 previous characters were killed because Jason really likes supercharging the damage his monsters and NPCs do. With Zulshyn, my primary goal was to build the character with the highest hp and damage output possible... and of course, since I can't resist a challenge and do so love unoptimized characters who are nonetheless optimized, I made her a race with a Con penalty.
She killed a lot of monsters and took a lot of damage, but made it to the last session without ever really being endangered by death, I'm happy to report!
Awesome! Way to champion unoptimized characters! It's nice.
Did you ever play an Eberron halfling?
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Creative Director
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Awesome! Way to champion unoptimized characters! It's nice.
Did you ever play an Eberron halfling?
Nope. My only Eberron characters were in Jason's game: they were...
1) Chuko the tengu (Killed by critical hit from a goblin chieftain's axe)
2) Willarue the shifter (Killed by a cheating maximized quickened scorching ray)
3) Someone whose name I can't remember the changeling (Killed by troll rend)
4) Zulshyn the barbarian drow (UNDEFEATED!!!)
(Killed by a cheating maximized quickened scorching ray)
What's the level adjustment for the cheating metamagic feat? :D
(Killed by a cheating maximized quickened scorching ray)What's the level adjustment for the cheating metamagic feat? :D
That sounds like a Jason question. Be sure to include something about armor spikes.
James,
I'm currently DMing the Serpent's Skull AP. I find it interesting that the initial island the PCs begin can be so deadly but only at the level they are. If they were higher level, the island wouldn't be a challenge at all (as written), yet the lore speaks of how deadly this island is considered. Would you say this about a lot of places in Golarion? That they are only considered dangerous based on their lore and not in reality?
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(Killed by a cheating maximized quickened scorching ray)What's the level adjustment for the cheating metamagic feat? :D
+0, and it reduces the level adjustment of other metamagic feats applied to the base spell to +0 as well, hence, cheating.
It would have been a 2nd level twinned repeating maximized empowered quickened cheating scorching ray, but the bad-guy didn't have all those feats.
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Creative Director
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(Killed by a cheating maximized quickened scorching ray)What's the level adjustment for the cheating metamagic feat? :D
It was actually an artificer. He had an ability that let him apply Metamagic feats to wands by expending extra charges when using the wand. So... the bad guy artificier, who was 7th level, basically got to throw a 9th level spell at us by spending half the charges in his wand. It was pretty lame.
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Creative Director
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I'm currently DMing the Serpent's Skull AP. I find it interesting that the initial island the PCs begin can be so deadly but only at the level they are. If they were higher level, the island wouldn't be a challenge at all (as written), yet the lore speaks of how deadly this island is considered. Would you say this about a lot of places in Golarion? That they are only considered dangerous based on their lore and not in reality?
Remember that the VAST MAJORITY of the people of Golarion aren't high level. Most of them are 5th level or lower, with their levels skewing toward the low end, and most of them are NPC classes. Furthermore, the thing that's really deadly about Smuggler's Shiv that causes its reputation isn't the power of the monsters and dangers on the island as much as it is the deadly nature of the surrounding waters. The island is avoided because it kills the hell out of most ships that get too close, and as such it's developed a reputation.
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I'd say that's for the best. Once you stat Ragathiel up, people will just wanna kill him anyway.
What's the general mix of Tian immigrants/travelling traders living in Kalsgard and the Lands of the Linnorm Kings in general? Are they exclusively Tian-Min and Tian-La (those are the ones that I know have direct access to the Path of Aganhei as described in Jade Regent), or are there others like Tian-Shu or Tian-Hwan, etc?
I don't have a problem with that at all. That's the whole POINT of statting them up. One of the points, at least. :-)
There's a fair amount of Tians in the Linnorm Kings. Most of them are Tian-Min, but not all. Pathfinder #50 talks a little about that.
I've gotta stop asking you questions about stuff I could find out myself by just looking through two-and-a-half shelves of Pathfinder books I have.
On that note...um...what's your favorite color?
I noticed the original Runelords player's guide is much different that the one for the anniversary edition. Was the new one made to be supplimentary or does it reflect changes to the layout?
Should I recommend both to my players?
Would checks such as concentration checks be considered ability checks with respect to adding in bonuses that apply to skill and ability checks such as "display of intelligence" from the Mythic rules?