I would say yes. The lock is like having shields up in my games. You can't get in or out.
Abadar's Pillar is protected by "wards set in the outer walls and the keep [that] shield the entire structure against extradimensional intrusions (as per dimensional lock)".
Do these wards only prevent extradimensional travel **into** Abadar's Pillar? Because dimensional lock prevents travel both ways.
I'm thinking yes, because the night hags use etherealness to flee if reduced below 25 HP, and that would be blocked by dimensional lock.
The night hags have teleportation glyphs that allow them to bypass the dimensional lock effect.
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I would just like to take a moment to appreciate the MC Escher work that is the ground floor of Waterhill Manor. Very fitting for an immortal madman's occasional abode! Would have been nice if I didn't have to photoshop some steps in between the dining room and the kitchen in order to avoid a random 6-foot drop somewhere, though.
I would just like to take a moment to appreciate the MC Escher work that is the ground floor of Waterhill Manor. Very fitting for an immortal madman's occasional abode! Would have been nice if I didn't have to photoshop some steps in between the dining room and the kitchen in order to avoid a random 6-foot drop somewhere, though.
Awesome
I'd pick a spot and say that is it.
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Suspicion, page 17;
"As the PCs draw attention to themselves, they accumulate Suspicion Points as a group. The group’s Suspicion Point total imposes a penalty on all Bluff, Diplomacy, and Disguise checks the PCs attempt in and around Zimar as wary locals scrutinize them ever more intensely. It also grants Zimar Sentinels and Vault and Chain templars actively opposing or investigating
the PCs a bonus on initiative checks, as they become increasingly on edge and reactionary. As the PCs’ aura of suspicion increases, they also draw additional resistance, investigations, and even assassins. The PCs’ Suspicion Point total represents a general pall over the city, rather than being tied to specific identities; the PCs maintain their Suspicion Point total even if they swap identities."
Nothing actually says what the penalty/bonus actually is. Making it equal to the point value seems a little extreme, as the table that accompanies it allows for it to exceed 20.
Considering my groups Bard Diplomatic rolls, a minus 20 is not that bad.
My issue is that the system raises itself. You earn enough points defending yourself to go to the next level.
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Yep. Yet another failed mini-game in this AP.
I'm pretty tired of having to do so much patch work on a product I paid for. I've already dropped every extant sub-system just so I can have a playable AP, and that means figuring out other ways to reward players and move the story forward. I'm ignoring everything that isn't the base rules and just hand-waving a lot of the material. Every book has unsolvable problems that just add burdensome die rolls and piles of book-keeping that serve no story purpose. If I wanted to sit around playing bureaucratic CPA in a broken arithmetic construct, I would do that. I just want to spend a few hours a week collectively telling a story with my friends, and not have to spend ~20 extra hours on prep to make sure it all actually functions.
Just my opinion. YMMV.
I am Belrik BTw
Don't always get it right on the phone.
I also don't see why, if the characters are in disguise, anyone would show up against them. It does not follow and I don't plan to use it.
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I also don't see why, if the characters are in disguise, anyone would show up against them. It does not follow and I don't plan to use it.
Exactly. Plus, there was that whole montage with the Lion Blades where they are SUPPOSED to learn the skills necessary to blend in in a large hostile city--might as well reward them by letting them use those skills without crippling penalties.
And, from a GM perspective, it's just one more thing to track that doesn't move the story forward. If the players are careless or ridiculously flashy, they can get caught, otherwise, why not let them succeed?
I also don't see why, if the characters are in disguise, anyone would show up against them. It does not follow and I don't plan to use it.Exactly. Plus, there was that whole montage with the Lion Blades where they are SUPPOSED to learn the skills necessary to blend in in a large hostile city--might as well reward them by letting them use those skills without crippling penalties.
And, from a GM perspective, it's just one more thing to track that doesn't move the story forward. If the players are careless or ridiculously flashy, they can get caught, otherwise, why not let them succeed?
I ended up skipping the montage and simply saying that it happened and I gave them some extra skill points or a plus one b a b for The Bard or plus one to will for the rogue.
To take up that time we instead had more things going on in Merritt county including them being attacked by where at assassins in their home and character sessions showed up led by rexasha.
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I also don't see why, if the characters are in disguise, anyone would show up against them. It does not follow and I don't plan to use it.Exactly. Plus, there was that whole montage with the Lion Blades where they are SUPPOSED to learn the skills necessary to blend in in a large hostile city--might as well reward them by letting them use those skills without crippling penalties.
And, from a GM perspective, it's just one more thing to track that doesn't move the story forward. If the players are careless or ridiculously flashy, they can get caught, otherwise, why not let them succeed?
I skipped the damn montage and did stuff back in Merret anyway. I had wererat assassin's and character assassins led by a Rakasha. To he group now knows they are personally on the hit lists.
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Good plan. I was thinking of doing the same thing as far as skipping the montage. It reads pretty flat in the book and the last thing players really want to do at 10th level is have to listen to "Eye of the Tiger" while I describe a training montage and they roll a few dice.
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I am Belrik BTw
Don't always get it right on the phone.
I also don't see why, if the characters are in disguise, anyone would show up against them. It does not follow and I don't plan to use it.
The way that I interpret it is that that it's not necessarily aimed directly at the PCs. The increased violence etc levels lead to increased patrols by the Sentinels which leads to a higher probability of the PCs having trouble. Obviously the higher Suspicion levels lead to direct action, but unless they have been continuously changing identities then they will slowly draw attention to themselves anyway.
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The way that I interpret it is that that it's not necessarily aimed directly at the PCs. The increased violence etc levels lead to increased patrols by the Sentinels which leads to a higher probability of the PCs having trouble. Obviously the higher Suspicion levels lead to direct action, but unless they have been continuously changing identities then they will slowly draw attention to themselves anyway.I am Belrik BTw
Don't always get it right on the phone.
I also don't see why, if the characters are in disguise, anyone would show up against them. It does not follow and I don't plan to use it.
True.
But some of the outcomes are really pointed at the PCs in particular. To make it work, I am going to show others getting harassed.
Given that there are now (as of last Saturday) corpses laying in a tea shop and a cake/coffee shop in my world, word is going to start spreading of an underground cafe war...
I fully expect that next. Already a dear Milon. My troop is already ready to hit the tea shop to take out the sisters.
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So, chapter 2 finished, a few weeks break and they're off to arrest Pythareus.
But...
I have a feeling that my players are just going to either walk through the front door (or just stand outside it) and say something along the lines of "Maxillar Pythareus, we have a warrant for your arrest." Which tye adventure really doesn't seem set up to handle properly.
As written he would enter a verbal duel with the PCs (apparently with the soldiers of the Pillar as a third member of the duel).
This will probably create a wonderful roleplaying session with/for my group, and should end with them winning both. Though this apparently won't result in him surrendering, just abandoning his claim to the crown.
Now, as such I have no real problem with this, but...
... it will pretty much reduce the final chapter to a single session. It removes all of the encounters that are scattered around the fortress from the adventure, as the group won't end up sneak/fighting their way around. They may have arrested/killed him, but that doesn't give them the right to loot the place. The lesser issue with this is dropping them behind the xp/gp curve for the story - I can fix that without you much effort. The bigger issue is them not discovering things like the existence of Maxilar's paperwork or that Stavian III lives.
So (tldr) where do you think I should go from here? (There?)
I just wouldn't have him concede. I'd instead reward the players by having some of his allies abandon him so the assault is easier but still make them go in to winkle him out
Excellent plan.
They get to whittle down his agents, maybe even Sentinels abandon him.
My group won't settle for that. He betrayed and murders the father on one of my group. They are going to flat out kill the SOB.
So... how exactly are the PCs suppose to know what Milon Jeroth's usual human form looks like (for disguise purposes)? If they kill him in the sweet shop (as my players did), they know him in only two forms: 'Gannaius" and his true rakshasa form. Now if they want to infiltrate his manor, are they going to have to wear a rakshasa disguise all the way through the streets of Paranoiamar or try putting it on nearby. Either way, seems like a rakshasa walking down the street will attract notice in a city as keyed up as that.
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Rakshasas can disguise themselves as humanoids, so I'm assuming they'd have to pose as agents of Milon's thus-disguised in order to get into the manor. Once there, maybe make it possible to find a self-portrait of Milon in his own human guise on one of the walls? The sort of self-portrait your average self-respecting Taldan noble might commission?
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The way it is written, it sounds like Milon uses all sorts of forms. That is part of the bluff.
Of course my group has just moved from site to site killing anyone who does not run. They did not get Shadowlass and Estrella since they fled when seeing how big the party was.
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Rakshasas can disguise themselves as humanoids, so I'm assuming they'd have to pose as agents of Milon's thus-disguised in order to get into the manor. Once there, maybe make it possible to find a self-portrait of Milon in his own human guise on one of the walls? The sort of self-portrait your average self-respecting Taldan noble might commission?
That makes sense, once they get to the Manor. And it's even an opportunity to hint at his 200 year ruse--like they could find portraits hidden in plain sight with other Jeroths, each of whom might bear a striking resemblance to Milon. Just a way to bring some of that backstory to the fore and clue them in that here is ANOTHER Taldan noble who appears to have lived for longer than is strictly legitimate while impersonating his own descendants.
Well, the players are ready to storm the Pillar. There is no way they will get is all sneaky like, so I expect it to be a heck of a battle.
Here is the warrant: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ypp7Ki4OMNLx8oODLHWHcgK-lRUdu4Ge/view?usp= sharing
Was there an alignment associate with the candle of invocation? The item requires an alignment for the gate ability.
It's LN
Source?
You are taking Palvos? It is in the room description.
No, this is the one that's in the cart they get at the gate the first time they enter Zimar.
I just said it was Lawful Good because it was next to a holy spear and I figured that was a decent option.
Oh, um, i made it LG to match the cleric.
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My players got a real kick out of the water elemental/bath trap in Milon Jeroth's house. They've decided after the war is over, they're going to ask Eutropia if they can have that house just for the trap.
My players got a real kick out of the water elemental/bath trap in Milon Jeroth's house. They've decided after the war is over, they're going to ask Eutropia if they can have that house just for the trap.
Mine never even tried it