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By the way, we are moving the Society more towards good aligned than neutral so your statement that it is an active effort to reduce good is even more absurd.
This statement has me wondering...
If the Society were to be moved towards being good-aligned, I would assume that the Cheliax and Sczarni factions would be incompatible. Does this mean that these two least-good factions are the ones that are going away soon?
-Matt
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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By the way, we are moving the Society more towards good aligned than neutral so your statement that it is an active effort to reduce good is even more absurd.This statement has me wondering...
If the Society were to be moved towards being good-aligned, I would assume that the Cheliax and Sczarni factions would be incompatible. Does this mean that these two least-good factions are the ones that are going away soon?
-Matt
I wish VOs had the ability to post in character, so my Sczarni could respond to this...
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up, friend. Evil? Who said anything about evil? We're just... entrepreneurial. Think of us as those legally ambiguous people that help keep the wheels on your carriage nice and greased, for the right price, of course."
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This statement has me wondering...
If the Society were to be moved towards being good-aligned, I would assume that the Cheliax and Sczarni factions would be incompatible. Does this mean that these two least-good factions are the ones that are going away soon?
Or merely that the society will be purged of its less good characters. Come the risen rune all those bearing the mark or devices of Lissala may regret their choices. Whatever the outcome expect polarization and a purge.
Developer
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By the way, we are moving the Society more towards good aligned than neutral so your statement that it is an active effort to reduce good is even more absurd.This statement has me wondering...
If the Society were to be moved towards being good-aligned, I would assume that the Cheliax and Sczarni factions would be incompatible. Does this mean that these two least-good factions are the ones that are going away soon?
All will be revealed in good time.
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All will be revealed in good time.
Of course it will. Until then, though, we now know something about the direction the campaign is going, which tells us something about which factions will be a part of it.
It would be entirely illogical for the Silver Crusade to go away as part of this shift. Cheliax and Sczarni, though, are on the opposite end of the spectrum.
So we can say with a fair measure of certainty that if any one faction is going away, it'll be Cheliax. It's also likely that the fate of the departing factions is sealed, as the aforementioned direction choice has already been made.
-Matt
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I had three characters reject it and two accept it when I was Gming this yesterday.
There is not much to misunderstand here..."
I played a CN Rogue in the game.
My character is not to loyal to my faction or even the society, after loosing around 80+ hp points in one round in the first encounter surviving do to.Resiliency (Ex)
Benefit: Once per day, a rogue with this ability can gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the rogue's level. Activating this ability is an immediate action that can only be performed when she is brought to below 0 hit points. This ability can be used to prevent her from dying. These temporary hit points last for 1 minute. If the rogue's hit points drop below 0 due to the loss of these temporary hit points, she falls unconscious and is dying as normal.
Rogue
Rule No.1 is my character's main philosophy. After that first encounter all that mattered was No.1 .
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Oh, just wait. You haven't seen anything yet.Good mod, I like the way that we are slowly selling our souls to the rune goddess, one piece at a time. Very well done gentlemen.
As a paladin who was severely tempted to take this item, it is reassuring that the following are true.
1. That the pathfinder society is moving more towards good.
2. That there are bigger fish hooks along the way. I think resisting a feat was the hardest decision to make. Mike, you'er going to need some crazy bait if people resisted a free feat...
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I got to run this on Saturday. All the Andoran characters decided to take one of the ioun stones, proving once again that Andoran is the most evil faction. Just saying.
Andorans aren't evil, we're just into expediency. As long as it involves MORE freedom, not less.
Besides, even after enjoying your reaction to one of my crits, "You crit on a 15? How?", it'll be even more fun now that I can use Butterfly's Sting to give that crit to scythe-boy. ;)
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8
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All the more reason to play those Sczarni and Chelish characters and report your scenarios! It ain't over til it's over!
I'm really excited about what's around the corner (even though I have a character that has a very uncomfortable tattoo). Looking forward to it.
Her character wanted the marking but is always described as, "a hulking mongoloid in a loincloth, with every visible square inch of his body tattooed." So finding a place to put that brand was going to be difficult. That is, until we remembered that there was skin beneath his loincloth.
Needless to say he walked with a limp the rest of the scenario.
I just got the back of my hand branded.
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My character who is now four games from Lvl 12 has yet to play in any of these games though I'm set to run them when they become necessary. My plan for their application fits with his theme of self-sacrifice.
Though I realize others can obtain these items as well, I think of it as him choosing to bear the burden so that no one else has to. When they get applied to him and, providing he survives until then, he will become a Seeker and I envision that his self-sacrifice will be the deeds that convince the Society to promote him.
Whether or not I'll get to play/run those before the big reveal Mark keeps teasing us with is the only true question now. I can't wait to find out.
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I think of it as him choosing to bear the burden so that no one else has to.
I'm just going to the fridge and eat the rest of that incredibly rich and profanely delicious chocolate cake so none of my housemates have to bear the burden of having a slice themselves. What can I say, I'm a selfless, self-sacrificing kind of guy! ;D
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Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
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So we can say with a fair measure of certainty that if any one faction is going away, it'll be Cheliax. It's also likely that the fate of the departing factions is sealed, as the aforementioned direction choice has already been made.
-Matt
Doubtful you can say that with any certainty. And, I think you might be surprised. Fates are being decided but nothing has been determined yet. Keep reporting those successes and failures!
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Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
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So, everyone, at the table, that plays this gets to have the ioun stone? The GM that ran this for my group said that it was that only one person, at the table, could get it.
Everyone at the table has the choice to accept or reject it.
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So, everyone, at the table, that plays this gets to have the ioun stone? The GM that ran this for my group said that it was that only one person, at the table, could get it.Everyone at the table has the choice to accept or reject it.
My character used it.
As a target once the finger wigglers said was evil.
As a skeet for my gunslinger. Adamantite bullet for the win.
61 gp of win.
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Doubtful you can say that with any certainty. And, I think you might be surprised. Fates are being decided but nothing has been determined yet. Keep reporting those successes and failures!
I would love to be surprised, and instead see the interesting Cheliax stay while the Easy Mode Crusade leaves. I am merely working with the information in front of me.
-Matt
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So, everyone, at the table, that plays this gets to have the ioun stone? The GM that ran this for my group said that it was that only one person, at the table, could get it.Everyone at the table has the choice to accept or reject it.
Thanks for clearing that up Mike. I was told by a particular 5-star GM at Winter War this past weekend that since there was not a price on the AR for the item as well as the BBEG having only 1 that 1 PC could walk away with it.
Going forward, I will make sure that all the PC's get a chance to indulge in the power of Sloth. >:D
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Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator
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So, everyone, at the table, that plays this gets to have the ioun stone? The GM that ran this for my group said that it was that only one person, at the table, could get it.Everyone at the table has the choice to accept or reject it.Thanks for clearing that up Mike. I was told by a particular 5-star GM at Winter War this past weekend that since there was not a price on the AR for the item as well as the BBEG having only 1 that 1 PC could walk away with it.
Going forward, I will make sure that all the PC's get a chance to indulge in the power of Sloth. >:D
From the item description in the scenario on page 14:
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Had the first death of my PFS career (as a player, not as a GM) in this scenario.
Stupid cowardly conjurer! Just because him running out of spells turns him into a flying commoner while me running out of spells turns me into a flying fighter, he runs crying to his angel buddy and sics him on me! It's not MY fault he didn't have the foresight to become an Eldritch Knight and gain some versatility!
;)
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I was the 5-star GM to whom Nathan refers, Mike. I have prepped and run Refuge, and it seemed clear to me that everybody could handle the ioun stone, but the PCs need to decide, in-story, when there is only one stone, who gets to keep it. (And if the PCs argue about this, and fall into anger and envy, all the better for Lissala.)
I had felt that allowing every player to obtain a stone moves it into the post-game, sell-all-the-loot-and-everybody-can-buy-copies-of-the-items-with-gold Chronicle-handing-out phase.
(The item has no price on the Chronicle sheet, for example, but there is one in the text. Do PCs need to pay for it? If they get remove curse, can they sell it to get half the price back? If they decide to buy it after a subsequent adventure, how does that GM determine how much the item costs?)
I would appreciate some clarification.
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Had the first death of my PFS career (as a player, not as a GM) in this scenario.
Stupid cowardly conjurer! Just because him running out of spells turns him into a flying commoner while me running out of spells turns me into a flying fighter, he runs crying to his angel buddy and sics him on me! It's not MY fault he didn't have the foresight to become an Eldritch Knight and gain some versatility!
;)
By the way (Re: your review), the idea that the BBEG goes to get the angel isn't written into the scenario at all, though due to the fact that the angel is bound to serve him for a specified term and obey any commands he gives, it certainly wasn't out of bounds for the GM to have him go to the angel when out of spells. I suppose that since the angel is allowed by the terms of its binding to surrender at 25 hit points and not fight to the death, a kinder GM could have concluded that it could also be allowed to refuse to fight honorable folk who previously diplomacied it to prove they weren't tomb robbers.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Please don't think I'm railing against the GM; as far as I know he didn't do anything wrong, and I don't mean to imply otherwise.
Even if the scenario doesn't specifically instruct the GM to bring in the previously-bypassed encounter, it does make sense unless there are specific instructions not to, and I fault the scenario for that, not the GM. I had thought that newer scenarios were finally starting to show that there's more to being a Pathfinder than just killing everything in sight, but then this scenario just throws that in your face and reminds you that nonlethal solutions only delay the inevitable and nothing is fully resolved until it's dead.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 4
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As an aside, I had no idea so many people would read my review so soon. You're about the 4th or 5th person to contact me about it since I posted it. Go figure.
Jacob - come on, one star-review?
As Rogue Eidolon pointed out, combining encounters is not something that is written into the scenario. That was a GM call.|
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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As an aside, I had no idea so many people would read my review so soon. You're about the 4th or 5th person to contact me about it since I posted it. Go figure.Jacob - come on, one star-review?
As Rogue Eidolon pointed out, combining encounters is not something that is written into the scenario. That was a GM call.
Wow, never figured I'd attract attention from the author himself.
Well, I still haven't gotten around to reading the scenario for myself. I'll make it a higher priority to do sooner than later, and potentially edit my review. In the meantime, am I to understand that your intent was not for a bypassed angel to be able to be called upon to fight later in the scenario? Was it intended to be an option, neither specifically called for nor specifically forbidden? Was it something that didn't occur to you as something you needed to spend words on? Had you originally wanted to say something about it, but needed to cut your word count?
Help me understand your thoughts on the topic, and that will help me with re-evaluating my experience and tweaking the review. :)
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I think it would have been responsible to actually read the scenario first, especially in a situation like this, before delivering such a negative review.
In my defense, though, I had no reason to suspect any need to check the scenario, and I'm not in the habit of reading every scenario I play so that I can see if my GMs made any errors or whatnot.
Fortunately, it appears that reviews don't have the "only within 1 hour of posting" editing deadline that messageboard posts have, so this can all get straightened out if anything's amiss. :)
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Here's how things went down when I ran this scenario and I'm the evil fiend who killed Jiggy.
Our party build up consisted of Jiggy's Eldritch Knight, a kickass monk played by his brother, and the 7th level pregens Merrisel, Ezren, and Kyra.
The characters encounter the deva at the entrance and it gives its challenge. They counter by talking to it and telling it that they aren't the tomb robbers it's looking for. I put the GM screen aside for a second and tell them that they will have to make a very high Diplomacy check to bypass this guy. They need to decide who has the best score, roll the assists, and make a Diplomacy roll.
They fail
At this point I look back at the scenario and what it says about the angels binding argeement.
This is what I have to work with:
"They can pass only if they defeat the angel or convince it they come in the name of good."
"Before leaving Kaer Maga, Naroth conjured this angel with a planar binding spell and bound it to his service."
"Once at the shrine, Naroth instructed his called angel to guard the entrance to this holy site from tomb robbers. He noted that tomb robbers in this region often carry magical compasses that shed light (wayfinders) to aid in their dark delves. Naroth also instructed the angel not to divulge any information about him or the other Lissalan cultists."
"With a successful DC 34 Diplomacy check, a PC can convince the deva that combat might not be necessary, at which point it listens to the PCs’ case"
"If the PCs agree to the angel’s terms and do not lie during the conversation, the deva praises their honesty, permits them to enter, and gives them a silken pouch containing the rewards below."
So they've blown the Diplomacy roll, but I figure that with some real life roleplaying, I'll let them walk past. If they can just convince the angel that they aren't tomb robbers......
The characters start asking the angel questions, asking what it has agreed to, invite it to detect evil on them, and start to try to get a feel for what will trigger the angel letting them pass.
One of the characters hits on the idea of his faction mission and he tells the angel that he is searching for a merchant he is afraid has been kidnapped and he believes that merchant to be inside the shrine, may he enter and look for this person? The angel knows that there are people inside the shrine, so it makes him submit to the strip and detect lie, and then lets him pass.
The rest of the characters follow suite except for the monk, who at one point says to the angel that he just wants to go inside and take out the tokens. I did my best not to facepalm as the Deva raised his sword and said, "You are a thief and may not pass." The player quickly backpeddled, stripped, submitted to the spell, and promised that he would not take anything out of the shrine (unspoken was the fact that he didn't need too if his friends did) and the angel let him pass. Jiggy was the last one in and finally came up with the correct wording to satisfy the Deva and that was the end of the encounter. They blew the Diplomacy but after I managed to get some roleplay out of them, they were allowed entry.
It took quite a while and Jiggy is right, even if they Dip check their way past the guy, he doesn't leave, he's still out their protecting the place from tomb robbers.
One GM I talked to said that he allowed his group to use Dispel Magic to break the Planar Binding. I know this doesn't work since Planar Binding is an Instantaneous Duration Spell and:
The effect of a spell with an instantaneous duration can't be dispelled, because the magical effect is already over before the dispel magic can take effect.
You could potentially use Dismissal on him, but how many players walk around with that prepared?
So the group walks in and starts talking to the prisoners, getting information and doing faction stuff. Then they walk around to the statue, look at it, fail their spellcraft rolls, and decide not to touch it. In hindsight I should have docked them the GP value of not securing the items, but by the time we were done playing, I simply forgot.
They cant budge the old main entrance, but after chipping a chunk of the door out with an adamantine sword and seeing that it's caved in mostly, they leave it be.
So the next thing that happens is that the monk walks into the room with the shadow and they start dancing. You have never seen a more frustrated undead as the monks touch AC was so high that it didn't score a single hit has he beat it to "death" with his magical fists.
The next room up was the chapel and in goes the monk again. Initiative time. The graveknight wins and charges the monk for a ton of damage. The cleric opens up her spell selection with bless, while the monk barely 5 feet from her is bleeding out of two new holes and pleading to be healed. Sorry monk, this was what I planned to cast she says. LOL The fight takes a good deal of time but they manage to finally bring the GK down with no casualties, even though at one point Ezren pulled out his crossbow. I never knew how much following step could be.
The final room awaits, the party heals up while the wizard starts buffing, and it's go time.
The battle that follows is one of the longest I have ever GMed and was utterly brutal. The stinking clouds, the nausea, the party retreating, the wizard Dimensonal stepping after them, the rogue sneaking around invisibly, the fiendish bison charging and stomping people into the ground, the sinspawn who didn't want to move, and the acid, OMG the acid!
Something that I am going to note here that during this battle, not one, but TWO party members retreated out to the angel and started begging him to help them. I'm sitting there behind the screen thinking, "OK what now smart guy? They've just brought the angel back into the game." The angel stares at them, shrugs, and heals them up. When they keep pestering him, he gives them both the Aid spell, and tells them that is all he can do.
As the fight rages on, the Monk got KOed, Ezren died, the cleric got KOed, Merrisel died, and Jiggy is on his own. For the next 10 rounds or more, he solos against the wizard and his chums. He and the wizard seperate due to another dimensional step, Jiggy buffs back up, infernal healing, haste, fly, and goes wizard hunting again. Wizard is down to a few spells and his acid darts. The wizard then dimensional steps away from the flying superspeed sword of death and back out to the entryway.
The final moments are upon us as Jiggy comes barreling back out and the wizard casts around for some last ditch way to save his skin and spots...
The angel
With a blood flecked scream he commands the angel to protect him from this tomb robber. The angel sighs, shrugs, and flys up to meet Jiggy. At this point I'm going to have the angel use a slam or some other minor ability to fend him off but thats when the angel sees he's radiating evil. The angel doesn't have detect magic and is now assuming he's been duped somehow. Out comes the flaming greatsword. At this point Jiggy is desperately trying to maneuver around the angel and finish the wizard off. He and the angel are flying around eachother and the wizard, tired of this ariel dance, floats back and commands the angel to strip him of his enchantments. One Antimagic field later Jiggy is laying prone looking up at the flying wizard and angels flapping wings.
The wizard, bloody, near death, and entirely sick of this nonesense, offers to let Jiggy leave in peace if he will surrender.
Jiggy answers him by casting Dimension Door and teleporting into the small caved in entryway that they had chipped a crack into while investigating the shrine earlier. That is the last straw for the wizard, he kills the KOed Kyra with an acid dart, screams for the slothspawn in the other room to kill the KOed monk (which he does) and tells the angel to find jiggy and finish him.
The angel has a 50/50 chance now to go one way or the other, if he floats toward the statue and the entrance, he'll see the crack and find Jiggy. If he floats the other way into the chapel, Jiggy may have a few rounds to pull himself together. Unfortunately the dice were not with him as the angel flys over to the crack, peers inside with his darkvison, sees Jiggy, and with an "I'm sorry", kills him with a holy smite.
Game Over.
I find myself agreeing with Jiggy though, it's best just to kill the angel right away and get it over with. Any time you are playing on a small map like this where the encounters could run together, it's best to have a SWAT team mentality. Sweep and clear everything, secure everyone you find so that they can't sneak up on you later, and move to the next area. When in doubt, take it out.
This was my first ever TPK in PFS, I think it was a very challenging scenario and I'd be happy to run it again anytime.
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Sounds amazing to me!
Yes, indeed sounds awesome! At first I thought if I was running and the PCs beat the Diplomacy, I might have had the angel balk or pull punches to let the PCs win, but now that I heard about the fact that they didn't make the check and then the infernal healing (plus the battle going right past the angel and several other PCs getting healing), I completely agree with the GM.
In between my last post and now, I ran a group through it. Given that they had just been brutalized by Feast of Sigils while playing down, they played this down with a 10, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 group and knocked the socks off the scenario. They still had a lot of fun and were impressed by the danger and power of the enemies involved, even though they beat them pretty easily (in part they felt like they were lucky to have some of their save-or-lose Reflex spells land--in reality, the solo enemies have extremely low Reflex bonuses, so I failed on a 17 and an 18). They managed to suggestion Naroth that the battle was tiring and he should just leave and go rest. Then, at the end, with all enemies taken care of, after Osirion did his mission and received a heal, the cleric/barbarian of Gorum said, "Wow, cool! I do that too!" and I rolled...a 5. So I asked him his greatest fear. He said "A world without war." So I described to him how he saw a world where swords were bent into plowshares and he was completely unneeded. He failed both saves and died. Later he rolled really well on his Craft: Basketweaving day job, so I told him "After seeing a world without war, you realize that at least you'll still have Basketweaving, and you pursue it with a renewed vigor."
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 4
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Then, at the end, with all enemies taken care of, after Osirion did his mission and received a heal, the cleric/barbarian of Gorum said, "Wow, cool! I do that too!" and I rolled...a 5. So I asked him his greatest fear. He said "A world without war." So I described to him how he saw a world where swords were bent into plowshares and he was completely unneeded. He failed both saves and died. Later he rolled really well on his Craft: Basketweaving day job, so I told him "After seeing a world without war, you realize that at least you'll still have Basketweaving, and you pursue it with a renewed vigor."
I love hearing the trap stories. Thank you.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Another question: the scenario text says thet the ioun stone is noticably evil on a cursory examination. I don't know that parties usually cast detect evil on things like ioun stones, so, in what way is the evil of an orbitting rock obvious on a casual inspection? Does it cackle maniacally?
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 4
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Another question: the scenario text says thet the ioun stone is noticably evil on a cursory examination. I don't know that parties usually cast detect evil on things like ioun stones, so, in what way is the evil of an orbitting rock obvious on a casual inspection? Does it cackle maniacally?
The ioun stone was added in development. Cackle maniacally works for me, so does devilish whispers. Smells and sounds of hell? Scenes of evil being committed playing out inside the stone? Be creative with it.
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I have a question on the boon I took the Ioun stone s doe that change my alignment from Netural good to Netural? If I then have an atonement spell cast on me and send 2500gp on incense and persous stone does that
then change my alignment back to netural good?
What is a Seeker? I have seen this refrenced upthread but not what a seeker is.
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RPG Superstar 2012 Top 4
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I have a question on the boon I took the Ioun stone s doe that change my alignment from Netural good to Netural? If I then have an atonement spell cast on me and send 2500gp on incense and persous stone does that
then change my alignment back to netural good?
That is my understanding. Though your item still radiates evil to detect evil spells and the like.
What is a Seeker? I have seen this refrenced upthread but not what a seeker is.
I don't know. I figured Seeker of Secrets, but that doesn't seem to make sense now.
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So... can a paladin take the Ioun Stone, and get the atonement to be "okay" with it? or would he need an atonement every session he uses it?
( because its still an evil cursed item if he gets the atonement... right? so every session he wields it, he's breaking his vow, and needs an atonement? or is it just something that a one time atonement would cover? )