Slumbering Tsar, another question

[galvatron42]

I am getting ready to run ST fr my group and have a concern about one of the monsters. The Ashborne Arachnae Mother at area A8 of ST2 is listed as CR 12. My concern is her poison. DC 26 Fort, 1/round for 6 rounds, 2d8 STR damage! Is this for real? Could this be a typo? I know she is a high CR monster, but the 2d8 Str damage just seems very nasty. I can't think of any other poison that does that kind of ability damage. I've been playing for a long time, but I'm no expert in the monster department so I was hoping for some help here. Should I adjust the poison or is it correct as is written? Thanks for your help.

[Kthulhu]

galvatron42 wrote:

I am getting ready to run ST fr my group and have a concern about one of the monsters. The Ashborne Arachnae Mother at area A8 of ST2 is listed as CR 12. My concern is her poison. DC 26 Fort, 1/round for 6 rounds, 2d8 STR damage! Is this for real? Could this be a typo? I know she is a high CR monster, but the 2d8 Str damage just seems very nasty. I can't think of any other poison that does that kind of ability damage. I've been playing for a long time, but I'm no expert in the monster department so I was hoping for some help here. Should I adjust the poison or is it correct as is written? Thanks for your help.

Frog God doesn't put rubber bumpers on their modules.

[galvatron42]

So it is correct and not a typo? Just wanted to make sure it was in line with the CR before I ran it. Thanks for the help.

[ruemere]

Frog God Games believe in no-holds-barred game. In other words, their balance is often based around notion of surviving by skin of one's teeth.

Based on my humble experience, as a GM you should either bring a lot of handkerchiefs for your players OR...

... make sure they loot Wand of Restoration early in a game,
... as above, but with a scroll of resurrection, and:
... several potions of Neutralize Poison,
... a Wand of Cure Light Wounds.

This is pretty expected if you played Necromancer Games products, though.

Regards,
Ruemere

[Greg A. Vaughan]

galvatron42 wrote:

So it is correct and not a typo? Just wanted to make sure it was in line with the CR before I ran it. Thanks for the help.

It is in line with the original 3.5 monster design in a straight convert to PF RPG. That said, if Paizo was to put it in a Bestiary, they'd probably tone it down a bit, I'd guess. However, in the imperfect art of CR conversion, FGG tends to err on the side of tougher rather than easier. I think it is easier for a GM to tone an encounter down in order to tailor it to his/her players than the other way around. So if you have concerns, you should definitely lighten it up a bit. In the Slumbering Tsar playtest, I killed a ridiculous number of PCs, which is not to everyone's taste, so be sure and season it to what will be funnest for your group. I hope you guys have a blast!

[galvatron42]

Thanks for all your replies! I have never played a Necromancer product before, so I was unsure about the general no holds barred type of game play. I am very excited about running this, and after reading the opening of the series, I informed my players that there was a high potential for death and they seem to be excited by the prospect of such danger. I did allow them to make multiple characters (so they had a back up if their character was killed) and I am using hero points and I let them use a 30 point buy (if i got a good written backstory for the character). With the perks I have given them, I am planning on running everything as is, and let the chips fall where they may. If I am killing a lot of PC's and the players seem frustrated, then I'll look at toning it down a bit.

Also Greg, I wanted to let you know that though I have never purchased a Necromancer or Frog God product before, I am now on my way to owning the entire ST series and I am sure I will be picking up other things in your product line. I wanted to say thanks for giving out free copies of ST1 at Gencon 2010. When I was given it, it just went into my bag and got stuck on my shelf when I got home. Its was a few months later that I was looking something to read and happened upon it sitting on my game shelf. I picked it up, started reading, and knew half way through that this was going to be my next campaign. The NPC's and the Camp itself really drew me in. I can't wait to run it. Sorry for my babbling wall of text, just wanted you to know that giving away the free product at Indy last year has netted you at least one happy customer. Thanks again!

[Gururamalamaswami]

2d8 Str and then 2d8 Str a minute later is one hell of a difference from 2d8 Str a round for 6 rounds unless you're lucky enough to make 2 saves.

My suggestion is thus: the regular ashborn's venom in 3.5 was equal in potency to a Huge monstrous spider while the mother's was equal to a Colossal monstrous spider. Simply look at what Paizo did with the Huge and Colossal in the Bestiary and use those venoms in place of the ST version if you're not comfortable with it as written.

[Greg A. Vaughan]

galvatron42 wrote:

Thanks for all your replies! I have never played a Necromancer product before, so I was unsure about the general no holds barred type of game play. I am very excited about running this, and after reading the opening of the series, I informed my players that there was a high potential for death and they seem to be excited by the prospect of such danger. I did allow them to make multiple characters (so they had a back up if their character was killed) and I am using hero points and I let them use a 30 point buy (if i got a good written backstory for the character). With the perks I have given them, I am planning on running everything as is, and let the chips fall where they may. If I am killing a lot of PC's and the players seem frustrated, then I'll look at toning it down a bit.

Also Greg, I wanted to let you know that though I have never purchased a Necromancer or Frog God product before, I am now on my way to owning the entire ST series and I am sure I will be picking up other things in your product line. I wanted to say thanks for giving out free copies of ST1 at Gencon 2010. When I was given it, it just went into my bag and got stuck on my shelf when I got home. Its was a few months later that I was looking something to read and happened upon it sitting on my game shelf. I picked it up, started reading, and knew half way through that this was going to be my next campaign. The NPC's and the Camp itself really drew me in. I can't wait to run it. Sorry for my babbling wall of text, just wanted you to know that giving away the free product at Indy last year has netted you at least one happy customer. Thanks again!

Thanks a bunch, galvatron. It was a bit of a gamble for us to give those out in 2010, but the thinking was if just a few people bought Tsar as a result, then it was worth it. Of course, there's no way of knowing how many folks bought Tsar because of the special edition mod giveaway (I suspect most just went on the shelf like you described--heck I gave one to a WotC Magic card designer on the plane ride home), but hearing a story like yours is really fulfilling to me. Thanks for sharing your road to Tsar and getting hyped about the series. I'm excited that you're on board. I apologize in advance to your players. ;-)

[Anguish]

Here's a question Greg.

Where should we report typos and errors in FGG products so they can be corrected in future printings? I took a quick look at the FGG site and the Necro forums but didn't find any active errata threads. I could be blind.

I bring this up because - thank you for this evil creature which will inevitably eat my PCs next session - the very creature being discussed here has a typo. I strongly doubt that it gets 18d90 hit dice. Magical beasts get d10s, so hey.

Also, its Perception is listed as +31 in its Senses line but only +3 in its Skills line.

I figure if more of this kind of thing gets caught now, when the bound book goes out for printing, this stuff could be dealt with.

While I'm at it, Tome of Horrors Complete page 564, the Soul Reaper. It uses a scythe. It should be indicated as a 19-20x4 crit, where the x4 is currently omitted, implying the default x2 multiplier.

Thanks for your participating in all of this Greg. Great stuff.

[Dawn R Fischer]

Anguish wrote:

Here's a question Greg.

Where should we report typos and errors in FGG products so they can be corrected in future printings? I took a quick look at the FGG site and the Necro forums but didn't find any active errata threads. I could be blind.

I bring this up because - thank you for this evil creature which will inevitably eat my PCs next session - the very creature being discussed here has a typo. I strongly doubt that it gets 18d90 hit dice. Magical beasts get d10s, so hey.

Also, its Perception is listed as +31 in its Senses line but only +3 in its Skills line.

I figure if more of this kind of thing gets caught now, when the bound book goes out for printing, this stuff could be dealt with.

While I'm at it, Tome of Horrors Complete page 564, the Soul Reaper. It uses a scythe. It should be indicated as a 19-20x4 crit, where the x4 is currently omitted, implying the default x2 multiplier.

Thanks for your participating in all of this Greg. Great stuff.

There is an errata thread for Slumbering Tsar Saga in the Necromancer forums under the Slumbering Tsar Saga subforum. Here's the link. Greg most definately uses this thread and visits the site as often as he is able.

[Anguish]

Dawn R Fischer wrote:

There is an errata thread for Slumbering Tsar Saga in the Necromancer forums under the Slumbering Tsar Saga subforum. Here's the link. Greg most definately uses this thread and visits the site as often as he is able.

Thank you. For some reason I couldn't find it on my own. Let's go with "I'm a loser." I'll check for these two issues and cross-post if not already there.

Then I'll try again for ToHC.

[Kthulhu]

Hey Dawn, or any other FGG personnel:

Speaking of errata, what's the policy for updated PDFs? I recently found out that aplusdownload.com takes away the link to your files after 3 downloads (or at least they did so with the Complete Rulebook). If any files are updated with errata, will this count reset? And will there be some sort of notification process when these files are updated?

That is, of course, assuming that FGG incorporate errata into their PDFs with future printings.