In what year does the Worldwound Incursion take place? Trying to fill out a list noteable NPCs and a timeline for the players that aren't so familiar with Golarion.
The Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Worldwound states 4713 being the year current year. (I guess this is because the campaign was released in 2013 ;))
Ah thanks! I don't have that book yet. I was handed the Worldwound Incursion on Sunday and told I'm going to be running it because the other GM called dibs on playing in it. Fortunately, it won't be until after Kingmaker, Legacy of Fire, Curse of the Crimson Throne, or Skull and Shackles is done (which probably means in the fall) so I've got lots of time to prepare for the first few books.
I have a question about the Mongrel Lair:
Assuming the mongrelman passes his perception check and gets a shot on one of the PCs as they come down, how far would the PC fall if they failed their Climb check?
I know the DC is 5 for this check, but I have two players that have negative climb modifiers.
I have a question about the Mongrel Lair:
** spoiler omitted **
I think that I decided around 15 feet... or one die of subdual on failed rolls. I don't think its meant to be a challenge so that felt right. One of my PCs even jumped down it to pursue the ranger.
Thanks Seannoss, that's sounds reasonable.
|
I've been looking at the Exp for this book, and it says that you should get enough exp to go from level 5 to level 6 between the Minotaur, Jeslyn and the wardstone/babues. I added it up and it totals 20500, about 2500 short for to hit level 6 (per player). I'm not sure where the extra exp is supposed to come from.
Experience totals per part
Part 1: 1800
Part 2: 3300
Part 3: 5100 (varies depending on randoms)
Part 4: 5500
Wardstone/Babues: 4800
Total: 20500
I'm confused as well, but mostly by this part:
The PCs should reach 5th level justbefore or just after destroying the
wardstone fragment.
The PCs should be catapulted into
6th level by this adventure’s climactic
encounter—as part of this, they should
also attain their first mythic tier.
There doesn't seem to be anything between those two except a fight with some Babaus, how does that 'catapult' them into 6th level? Is there an uber XP award for going mythic or something? I'm definitely missing something here.
|
|
Err, no, Darkness is a second level spell and easily overwrites the level zero Light. ^^
The description of the Darkness spell leaves some room for interpretation in my mind. On the one hand, it says that it lowers the light level in the affected area by one step. That would mean that it lowers the Normal light area of the Light spell to Dim, and the Dim area to darkness.
On the other hand, it also says "Darkness can be used to counter or dispel any light spell of equal or lower spell level." Does that mean that the Darkmantles would actually have to target the object currently affected by the Light spell, and if so, does that involve a touch attack or any other kind of roll? Also in that case, since it's being used as a counter, not to actually cast Darkness, does that mean the players can just re-cast Light on their next turn and the Darkmantles advantage is negated (since they can only cast Darkness 1/day)?
Need an expert ruling here since I'll likely hit this encounter in our next session on Thursday.
Thanks.
As far as I know, if you bring a Light spell into a Darkness spell, it automatically gets dispelled.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Magical light sources only increase the light level in an area if they are of a higher spell level than darkness."
The 0-level Light spell has absolutely no effect on the Second level Darkness spell. If the ambient lighting is 'dim' or 'dark' then the Darkness spell immediately cancels out (but doesn't dispel unless specifically targeted) the 0-level spell and lowers the area by 1 step (from dim to dark, but not dark to supernatural dark).
Any spell with the [light] descriptor can be used to counter, or dispel an equal or lower level spell with the [darkness] descriptor, but only if it can be used to target something or as a readied action. For example, the spell Judgement Light, a 4th level Inquisitor spell with the [light] descriptor, can be used to counterspell 4th level or lower spells with the [darkness] descriptor, but only if the Inquisitor readies an action to counterspell a darkness spell using the Judgement Light spell, as it has a range of 'personal' and can't normally be used to target anything other than the Inquisitor casting it.
Darkness spells are weird because of some of the text in them. For instance, non-magical sources don't increase the light level, while magical sources either overwhelm, don't function, or suppress the darkness spell.
The problem comes from the fact that, unless you are outside under the sun or moon, then nearly all sources of light don't function in a darkness spell. So, if you walk into a room lit by a great roaring fire and torches and candles and you cast darkness, all of those non-magical light sources cease to provide light in the area of darkness, so that means it reverts to the rooms normal light. If there are no windows or anything like that, then, at best, this is dim light and the darkness spell drops it to darkness. At worst, it's darkness and the darkness spell does nothing other than prevent the non-magical light from functioning.
As a player, one should seek out and acquire a heightened Continual Flame (preferably to 4th level or higher) as it's a permanent light source, but also automatically suppresses all darkness spells in it's area of light.
Also note that a lot of people have noted Mythic makes the game far easier than it should. Being a level lower might not be a bad thing. That level discrepancy should vanish with the higher levels in any case.
Next problem....
Abrikandilu demons. They don't show any DR at all. Even the Worldwound book doesn't list any DR. Is this a mistake? I haven't found any/many demons that DON'T have DR. Even Dretches and Quasits have DR.
I haven't had any luck finding any errata on this, so maybe they are not supposed to have DR. They are a lot weaker without it.
Not just you, they did seem like pretty weak foes but I didn't worry about it.
With darkness, I decided the darkmantles would try to neutralize existing light sources. The first one swooped down and hit the paladin's torch. Which was subsequently thrown across the room, just as I had intended. The other one really never got a chance to try, since the poor things rolled horribly and just got massacred by a pair of greatswords. To give the PCs tactical options (and consume their spell slots) I made sure to place the ceiling at a point where an enlarge person would let a PC reach a darkmantle on the ceiling.
Now I have run myself into a potential problem, and I want to see if anyone has ideas I can poach.
My party is a bit virulently anti-demon, which is understandable, though I'm a little worried for when they meet Arueshalae. That, however, is far enough away that I can afford to not worry about it. What concerns me now is the reaction of the PCs to Aravashnial's mention of the children of the first crusaders being tainted by abyssal energies. I'm not really worried about an attack first, ask questions later approach, but I'm looking for ideas on playing the initial mongrelmen encounter, and Neathholm, if I can get them there, to dismiss the notion that mongrelmen are inherently evil. This is especially because I want to use the mongrelmen to denounce Millorn, who somehow ended up added to the roster of NPCs rather than killed.
Millorn surviving surprised me; I had him gibbering essentially madly about summoning demons and using sacrifices to power spells. However, some of the party decided he was just harmless, and thus shouldn't be killed, while those in favor of killing him were willing to accept bringing him along under watch. I would rather have him denounced for ritual murder by the mongrelmen than have the intimidated Millorn lash out (though I might have him run away if necessary.
So far, my ideas are pretty basic:
1. Hopefully the frantic attempts to rescue a trapped comrade will show them in a good light to start.
2. When Aravashnial starts getting pushy and rude, assuming he doesn't get shushed too quickly to permit a reaction, Lann will be very polite, even while Aravashnial is prodding him like a side of beef.
3. If the PCs query Lann or other mongrelmen about demonic heritage, have them express sorrow at the assumption, and hatred of demons.
4. A couple of dretch heads might be visible as trophies.
5. In an extreme case, the mongrelmen could be nursing a wounded paladin back to health; I'd rather not introduce a new NPC for this purpose, though.
I don't really care if the PCs forge an alliance with Neathholm, I'm playing fairly fast & loose with a lot of the story rules and just placing the chips where I want them. I don't intend to provide the party with backup rangers, though if they make friends, I'll have the mongrelmen launching spoiling attacks along with the crusaders, rather than accompanying the PCs.
Any other ideas? And thanks in advance.
|
I think how you have Aravashinal present the information on them can also help shape expectations. Have him present them in a tragic light. Mutated but not corrupted, and still shunned all the same. That might provide enough background that they won't be judged on their appearance.
As for Arueshalae, that's another thing with the set up, and how she presents herself. Set up in book two, and the times she's mentioned in three the right way. The jail cell in book two was a big thing for my groups. Especially if you have a follower of Desna in the group. That can help set things up for the group to listen. I had similar concerns with one of my group, as they are vehemently anti-demon. It was very tense (and I've recounted it in the Demon's Heresy thread). But even they were able to give her a chance.
Remember to use your NPC's for valuable background info, and for setting the stage. There are some high knowledge skills in there, and they can provide a lot of GM advise and hints pretty organically.
Good luck!
Unfortunately I've already had Aravashnial (in conjunction with the party's wizard, who he's taken under his wing) present the initial information. I kept it very limited, just "some of the crusaders from the First Crusade came down here to raise their children in peace", and basically described it as side effects of radiation poisoning. Basically there's no knowledge that the mongrelmen exist yet, aside from the statues in the chamber with the darkmantles.
I think that if I can't sell the party on the mongrelmen being decent, I'll just rearrange matters so that they don't even drop by Neathholm, instead running into the lair. In that case, they can encounter Neathholm afterwards, if at all.
To sell the party on the mongrelmen not being evil, I'll try most of the above, and possibly show their faith. Something as simple as Lann saying "thank the Inheritor" when he sees the holy symbol on the paladin's shield as the party approaches might start things off well.
Arueshalae is far enough away to not worry too much, and the fact that the wizard took Touched by Divinity, with Desna specifically, should help there. Though of course he's not the suspicious / hateful one; he's the one who wanted to find out what Millorn was researching. It's the shaman and the fighter/cleric of Gorum that worry me. But by then I should also have hopefully mellowed them a bit as well as learned how to manipulate them better.
All my fear here of the party slaughtering the mongrelmen, and there wasn't a single issue.
I'm not sure whether I overreacted in my own head to the party's reactions to the statues, or whether the party forgot. Either way, Neathholm was no worry at all.
And the mongrelmen became sufficient information to handle Millorn, when the shaman asked Chief Sull about him, and the Chief was able to find a warrior who had seen a dwarf run away from a flayed mongrelman corpse, and recognize Millorn as that dwarf.
And my life is made easier by the decision to leave the NPCs behind in Neathholm, though I'll make sure they insist on returning to the surface immediately, just staying here out of the way for now.
|
I don't see why additional scales can't have additional powers. It looks like each scale allows a 2nd-level spell to be used thrice a day. So have a scale cast Aid three times a day... or Grace thrice daily, or Find Traps (which may be useful if the group lacks a thief). Or even Eagle's Splendor thrice daily, and give it to the low-charisma character! ;)
With my group of 6, I gave scales with two additional powers, Grace and Status.
That's correct. Not a typo.Am I right that all of the spell-like abilities from Terendelev's scales are at Caster Level 19?
And would that mean that resist energy (I assume that "resist elements" on p. 65 was a typo) grants resistance 30 against electricity and cold?
I know that the magic items are pretty powerful in this campaign -- I just wanted to make sure I got this right.
I'm still confused, "resist elements" doesn't exists, is it resist energy or endure elements? I know it's most likely to be resist energy, but I'd still like to get this right.
Resist Energy.
Many thanks!
So, are Abrikandilu demons small or medium sized? I mean in the book it says they are medium but the pawns for this path has small pawns for them and lists them under small creatures...
they are medium according to the worldwound book too:)
you missed my dancing hut phase:)
About traits... did rest of you run with them as they are or did you adjust them? As far as I can see the guardian trait seems insanely good compared to rest of them, they too are above normal traits which is good, but guardian is basically worth 3 x toughness feat + the extras.
I allowed it, but you're right, it's pretty insane. At 6th level the fighter was over 100 HP. On the other hand, he used ALL of them in the first mythic fight in Book 2, so maybe the idea is that you're supposed to have one PC who can take massive amounts of damage.
I'll know more as they finish off Book 2 and move into Book 3...
|
|
The cleric of my group took that trait, along with Toughness and Mythic Toughness. I couldn't reasonably drop the cleric except the one time I almost got him with negative levels.
Once the cleric had the divine reach ability, my challenge became needing to one round someone or else the cleric fixed it up immediately.
Once the cleric had Mythic Shield Other on the entire party, I ended up dropping 500+ points of damage in a single round at the end of book 4 to drop JUST the cleric.
Good fight though. Hepzamirah burned through like 8 Mythic Points in a single round to do that.
For the "Riftwarden Orphan" path, it says, "Once per day, he can recharge a charged magic item by expending one use of mythic power. Doing so adds a number of charges equal to 1d10 + his mythic tier to the item, up to its normal maximum number of charges."
One of my players, being a very well-behaved player, asked, "What about wands of spells that use material components, such as the wand of Nondetection we just found?"
So how have other GMs ruled? Does the Riftwarden Orphan have to add material components to recharge such wands?
(I shudder at a wand of infinite Consecrates getting loose among the PCs...)
Yes. They do.
I never had that come up, but the ability says nothing about having to provide components. And its just as bad with the wand of stoneskin that's provided by an enemy.
It doesn't say anything about NOT having to provide components. Thus I'd say it's the GM's ruling and I advise that this AP, which has a large amount of gold and treasure available in it, is not harmed by having this ability require material components to recharge wands in this manner.
True, and it could be abusive, but we can't assume that because it doesn't say something that it means something else. A lot of rules would change if that happened. Heck, you don't even need to be a spellcaster to recharge items... that doesn't make sense either.
On a very small note, it does not require any components to recharge a staff.
And having said all of that I would probably not allow it or limit that ability too.
Basically it will delay when they can recharge it. But by the time they have enough treasure (and if you are playing realistically enough enough sold treasure) then the mythic abilities for casting spells becomes much better than recharging the wand.
For example, nondetection requires 50gp of diamond dust. Well, you have to provide 50gp of diamond dust for each charge you recharge, so potentially 1,000 gp. At 5th level (which is when the spell is available to sorcs/wizzes) that's a little under 10% of your wealth. But if you've got a couple mythic tiers under your belt, then you've got options to recharge your casting or the like. Heck, at 3rd tier an archmage can ignore any 1 component of a spell...material in this case...to just recharge without needing the material component. You can take Mythic Eschew Materials to ignore 10gp of components per tier, spend a mythic point to ignore 50gp of components per tier, or 2 mythic points to ignore 100gp of components per tier.
It definitely could be abuseable but there are already easier ways to just craft the wand without needing to pay material costs, rather than recharging it. Either way, Mythic definitely allows for some...not game breaking in this instance, rather game bending...abilities.
No, it's game-breaking. I've heard several stories of players taking wands that have almost no charges left, "fixing" them, and selling the wand for full value. In essence they boosted the value of a magic item so that what might have been an item worth 250 gold is now worth 2,500 with just a few days work.
And they can do that for every. single. wand.
I wouldn't blow it out of proportion here. Its a once per day ability, not once per rechargeable device. So at around tier 3 it would take five days to fully recharge a wand, a crafter could make 20k in that amount of time (if all the rules are allowed)
If you want to limit it, then maybe the charges only work for them like an attunement or something.
Or you require them to spend money for components to charge those wands. Then they don't just charge items to resell them. They charge them for their own use or for an actual in-game use (ie, providing a fully-charged wand to allies for defense of Drezen).
I'd probably make it that since it was recharged mythically, then a mythic creature has to use it.
Then a shopkeeper wouldn't be able to use the wand and wouldn't buy it, it's only useable for the party or others with mythic tiers.
Interesting discussion, thanks, all!
I'll discuss it with my players when it comes up; sounds like the sorceress is planning on taking mythic eschew materials anyway, so it'll be a moot point soon enough.
Has anyone bothered with Jeslyn's Animate Dead ability? I'm surprised it isn't mentioned in the Escalations, and if it gets that far I plan on using it to replace Faxxon and the Mandragora my PCs have already killed.
-Regarding this I have a few questions
--Is it reasonable to assume Jeslyn can get a corpse/skeleton for raising?
--Is it reasonable to allow her access to other Onyx gems during Escalation time? (I'm assuming these forces are coming from somewhere by request, they could bring these things along?)
---As an offshoot to this, whats to stop her from raising a 28 HD zombie by using Deradnu's Desecrate?
--Lastly considering Jeslyn's current state of paranoia and the fact that animate dead is indefinite is it reasonable that she may have already done this?
Okay, so I read more into this and it looks like there is nothing stopping Jeslyn from animating an addition 14 HD of undead (using up the onyx she already has).
Since I'll be running this this weekend, I'll stick with the setup as is and only add in new undead should there be an escalation. In addition it seems the spell requires a mostly intact corpse, something that I'm not sure is immediately present in the garrison, but would be after an assault.
One last thing, Jeslyn is immune to sickeness but acts as sickened for the encounter? Is that right, or is she immune to that?