|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
There is. We had a pretty fun and weirdly complicated discussion of the Vancaskerkin family tree, and it IS all worked out, but it's too complicated to get into here and knowing the details isn't necessary for Lullaby's role in the adventure, so for now it's gotta stay behind the scenes. But some day we'll make it public, never fear.Hey all!
So, according to my research, Orik is either the cousin or the half-sibling of Lullaby. Any official call on this?
This is begging for a Campaign Setting book, "Vancaskerkin: Varesia's First Family." It may need to be a double-sized volume.
Another thing: I hope when the heroes travel back in time, they meet a Vancaskerkin from thousands of years ago.
:D
-Skeld
|
The Runewarded Gauntlets; I'm sure this will be explained down the line, but since they're here I'll ask in this book. The description states that it suppress all qualities of a singular intelligent weapon. Does this mean only ones that would negatively affect the PCs (such as the ego checks of an evil blade) or does that include enhancement effects like bane or spell storing, essentially making it just a masterwork weapon?
I know Baraket isn't active right now so it won't be affected by the gauntlets just yet.
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The Runewarded Gauntlets; I'm sure this will be explained down the line, but since they're here I'll ask in this book. The description states that it suppress all qualities of a singular intelligent weapon. Does this mean only ones that would negatively affect the PCs (such as the ego checks of an evil blade) or does that include enhancement effects like bane or spell storing, essentially making it just a masterwork weapon?
I know Baraket isn't active right now so it won't be affected by the gauntlets just yet.
It means all of it—"all magical qualities" includes the good and the bad. While carried with them, an intelligent weapon becomes a masterwork weapon. If you want the magic bonus, you have to risk the downside.
It means all of it—"all magical qualities" includes the good and the bad. While carried with them, an intelligent weapon becomes a masterwork weapon. If you want the magic bonus, you have to risk the downside.The Runewarded Gauntlets; I'm sure this will be explained down the line, but since they're here I'll ask in this book. The description states that it suppress all qualities of a singular intelligent weapon. Does this mean only ones that would negatively affect the PCs (such as the ego checks of an evil blade) or does that include enhancement effects like bane or spell storing, essentially making it just a masterwork weapon?
I know Baraket isn't active right now so it won't be affected by the gauntlets just yet.
Wouldn't that make the weapons easier to destroy as well?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Wouldn't that make the weapons easier to destroy as well?It means all of it—"all magical qualities" includes the good and the bad. While carried with them, an intelligent weapon becomes a masterwork weapon. If you want the magic bonus, you have to risk the downside.The Runewarded Gauntlets; I'm sure this will be explained down the line, but since they're here I'll ask in this book. The description states that it suppress all qualities of a singular intelligent weapon. Does this mean only ones that would negatively affect the PCs (such as the ego checks of an evil blade) or does that include enhancement effects like bane or spell storing, essentially making it just a masterwork weapon?
I know Baraket isn't active right now so it won't be affected by the gauntlets just yet.
No. They're still artifacts. They're just treated as if they were masterwork weapons while they are carried. The gauntlets don't "turn off" their status as artifacts. Just turns off their powers.
No. They're still artifacts. They're just treated as if they were masterwork weapons while they are carried. The gauntlets don't "turn off" their status as artifacts. Just turns off their powers.Wouldn't that make the weapons easier to destroy as well?It means all of it—"all magical qualities" includes the good and the bad. While carried with them, an intelligent weapon becomes a masterwork weapon. If you want the magic bonus, you have to risk the downside.The Runewarded Gauntlets; I'm sure this will be explained down the line, but since they're here I'll ask in this book. The description states that it suppress all qualities of a singular intelligent weapon. Does this mean only ones that would negatively affect the PCs (such as the ego checks of an evil blade) or does that include enhancement effects like bane or spell storing, essentially making it just a masterwork weapon?
I know Baraket isn't active right now so it won't be affected by the gauntlets just yet.
K. but what about the non-artifact ones?
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
K. but what about the non-artifact ones?No. They're still artifacts. They're just treated as if they were masterwork weapons while they are carried. The gauntlets don't "turn off" their status as artifacts. Just turns off their powers.Wouldn't that make the weapons easier to destroy as well?It means all of it—"all magical qualities" includes the good and the bad. While carried with them, an intelligent weapon becomes a masterwork weapon. If you want the magic bonus, you have to risk the downside.The Runewarded Gauntlets; I'm sure this will be explained down the line, but since they're here I'll ask in this book. The description states that it suppress all qualities of a singular intelligent weapon. Does this mean only ones that would negatively affect the PCs (such as the ego checks of an evil blade) or does that include enhancement effects like bane or spell storing, essentially making it just a masterwork weapon?
I know Baraket isn't active right now so it won't be affected by the gauntlets just yet.
The point of the gauntlets is to suppress intelligent weapons, not to give you shortcuts to avoid the boost to hp and hardness a weapon enhancement grants. Thematically, they shouldn't, but in-game it doesn't really matter, since the difference is marginal in cases other than in-combat. Leave that decision up to your GM I guess.
|
|
One of my players is playing a character on a mission from the Therassic Spire in Kaer Maga. He is specifically interested in Thassilonian history. I told him that research he found there would have periodically mentioned Roderic's Cove as it does have plenty of Thassilonian lore surrounding it. I was hoping to give the player a hand out of what rumors he might have seen to draw him to the cove. Some accurate and some not to give him a bit of information overload so he doesn't know what to believe. I was hoping some GMs here could help me right some rumors that could mention Roderic's Cove, the surrounding area or anything even slightly related.
On another note, the same player is also taking Time Lost. But I'm still waiting for book 3 to be delivered to explain to me why he is missing time. If anyone could either answer that or at least put me at ease that him believing he was meant to be born in Thassilon isn't too far back for the trait to be relevant when the reveal happens.
Thank you for any help on either of the topics.
Could someone give me a hand on the ins and outs of the Victory point system please in this module?
For the life of me I can't find then in the module or in the players guide and the party is getting very close to some of those........
YIKES!!
Thanks
Tom
|
|
Could someone give me a hand on the ins and outs of the Victory point system please in this module?
For the life of me I can't find then in the module or in the players guide and the party is getting very close to some of those........
YIKES!!
Thanks
Tom
See page 61; once the PCs have secured Baraket and earned at least 20 VP, Sir Roderick's Ghost appears a final time, having been released to his final rest, the PCs gain XP, more for each one beyond the 20 (to a max of 34 VP.)
Thanks bud
Party has a long way to go then, they just took care of "The Traveler", finally cut a deal with the captured and kind of abused Lulabby (why does every player try Blunt force trama Diplomacy EVERY time, hell a simple bribe would have worked as I pre plotted that aspect out before their "meeting" at the river crossing, but only if captured and at least 1 of her minions still lives, LOL Compared to what was written.
All the snide hints she gave while being "talked to" went right by the party sadly, but quite entertaining I have to say.
Next they just walked into the outskirts of the Goblin cave, told once to leave by Gobo guards put on alert as party tramped right up to their doorstep plain as day and talked smack to em, They were met with a small shower of arrows, and a gobo mooning the party, but they called for reinforcements as the offended party nailed said green butt with a Ray of Frost, LOL
Reinforcements arrived and party fled after a final warning as a much more heavier shower of arrows came their way (but still land at their feet as another warning, not to kill). Left it with them scouting the Roadcrew house area as plans are hashed out at the end of session 5 last night.
:)
Good times so far
Thanks again for the info
Tom
Thanks bud
Party has a long way to go then, ***
you will probably want to read the full adventure/book.
I do know that topic has been already answered, but I still find myself in a tight spot about it so...
How did you get your player from the Peacock manor to the part 5 ? My player heavily distrust Jana - And are on a really tight lawful rope, wich doesn't help - and I feel that simply throwing a small army of fleshdregs to them will get boring quickly.
I could simply have Corstella realize what is happening, and be willing to share the information - or have it be found in her stuff, once dead - but It does come with more complication. (Why didn't she push her advantage being the first one to come)
Again, I'll be glad to hear how you dealt with that if anyone here had the same probleme.
Thanks,
Dez
Here's some ideas:
- The innkeeper at Creekside Tavern (Garleena Knodston) could "find" the entrance to the Underflume in her cold storage. This would be a good way if your players tend to hang out at the tavern & they've interacted with Garleena before.
- Some random people die near the well at the Circle. Audrahni comes to the players mentioning the strange cuts & bite marks she found when burying the bodies. She could push them to investigate around the well, or players could intuit with a Heal or Knowledge check that it is likely the Fleshdregs which caused the wounds.
- Corstela knowing is a good idea. She likely would have been investigating the Horned Fangs after their confrontation.
|
Managing Developer
|
The adventure mentions that Roderic's Cove is built at the mouth of Chavali River. Then also mentions that Lankmeer's Mill is powered by Olivia Creek. The tavern is also named 'Creekside Inn'. Is there supposed to be a distinction between two different rivers or are there two separate names for the one river?
Olivia Creek flows into the Chavali River. They are two different bodies of water. The river is along the southern part of the map and the creek runs north to south.
Audrahni and Corstella spent time together in the past in Magnimar but not much is given on their relationship now in Roderic's Cove. All there is to go on is that in Magnimar, Audrahni didn't trust Corstella and Corstella became frustrated with Audrahni when she witheld information. Were either of them surprised to see eachother in Roderic's Cove again? Do they interact at all?
They only met that once and didn’t have much of a relationship beyond that brief meeting. They are aware that each other are in town, but since they don’t get along they tend to avoid one another.
Speaking of Corstella, I have no idea what her goals or ambitions are and when it comes to running Peacock Manor, I'm at a loss to see how anything could devolve into violence. It seems like she would want to befriend the party (if any of them are at all also interested in Thassilonion history) to find out what they've learned because I don't know what her motives are beyond learning more about Thassilon. It feels like she should be approaching the party and inviting them to join the order. The adventure says that the 'Philosophers' of the Order of Resplendence "know Corstela’s goals and have bought into them completely" but I as the GM have absolutely no clue what they are. All that seems to have been presented is that she is interested in the history of Thassilon, has a demon buddy in her house that "feeds Corstela hints about legends and lore and encourages her to explore the wonders of illusion magic."
Corstela isn’t a nice person that is researching Thassilon in a purely academic and positive manner. She is very prideful of her Varisian heritage and wants to see her people take over what she believes was stolen from them by the Thassilonians. She is out for power and wants to see her pride fulfilled. It doesn’t hurt that she’s not really a good person, has a cambion buddy, is only really out for herself, and is under the subtle influence of Baraket.
Why do they wear outfits themed around the Peacock Spirit? How do they even know about it or why is Corstella interested in it at all? Is it legitimately all from the Cambion's influence over Corstella?
They know about the Peacock Spirit from some of Corstela’s research, though perhaps only her closest circle knows much. This is also another example of mistakenly appropriating ancient symbols, just as the Horned Fangs took on the symbol for wrath as their gang symbol. The gang didn’t know what it meant and just thought it looked cool.
|
Managing Developer
|
I think she could be a tragic figure rather than a wicked villain.
First, your interpretation of her motivations and how she got there is accurate. I quoted the sentence above because that was totally my intention with her. Her pride allowed her to get caught up in course of life different from where she began or intended. She's certainly a candidate for redemption.
I have a question about Cortela's spell book loot. Does it contain 12 more total spells, 4 of each level 1 to 3 or does it contain 4 more total spells from 1st thru 3rd?
|
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
|
Is Dolland Reggelore supposed to have the Weapon Finesse feat? With a 13 Strength and 12 Dexterity it doesnt benefit him in any way. Considering his willingness to try over 78 thousand combinations, I'll give him Iron Will I think instead.
Also his attack bonus with the short sword is wrong at +1. Base attack is +3, +1 from Strength, and +1 from masterwork should be +5.
Is Dolland Reggelore supposed to have the Weapon Finesse feat? With a 13 Strength and 12 Dexterity it doesnt benefit him in any way. Considering his willingness to try over 78 thousand combinations, I'll give him Iron Will I think instead.
Also his attack bonus with the short sword is wrong at +1. Base attack is +3, +1 from Strength, and +1 from masterwork should be +5.
My thought is since he is an Alchemist with a penchant for bombs, then Weapon Finesse would seem logical & on top of that, his mutagen would be geared towards Dexterity. If it were Strength, then it would adversely affect his bomb damage & amount of bombs per day, since it would lower his Intelligence score, which again I cannot imagine him doing.
So normally I am a pretty by the book guy, assume if something seems off to me the devs know what they're doing better than I do. But I have my group about to enter the goblin section of the armory and I gotta say, it seems really unfair. Level 3s already worn down by the whole roadkeeper gang suddenly finding a bunch of minions, 2 CR 4 blasters and a CR 5 witch? Who all have no reason to not instantly help each other the second the cleric casts fireball on an unsuspecting party. Am I missing something here? Are they never all there at the same time or is the level up to 4 meant to come before here or what?
My experience with this was certainly interesting. While my players were certainly a bit more powerful than most (rolled for stats), as well as having 3 full martial frontliners, the party had two things going for them.
1) They rested before hopping in the teleportation circle. They were severely down, figured it out, and then did the smart thing of making sure to rest, while they were still down. Also, they were still Level 3 at the time.
2) The goblins aren't expecting the PCs to show up. Hell, the cleric is in his room munching and lazing, and the mooks are all in the tunnels. With the Witch around the corner guarding the dwarves, with her actual tactics-as-written being to make sure to guard the prisoners until either the PCs are dealt with or they engage with her. The only one who should see the PCs as they enter is the goblin snake, and they're more likely to sneak around and watch what they do before attacking immediately.
Using this, the fight against the goblins should be one long encounter, with the various mooks and casters entering the fray at staggered entry times, giving the PCs to generally deal with each threat with not too much overlap.
That said, it's still a rough encounter. The pally in my group got dropped by a scorching ray from the goblin snake and stabilized at 1 above negative CON. And hey, the PCs can always escape back into the teleport circle, which is likely to get the goblins to leave them be while they recuperate.
Also, just realized why Corstela only has +4/+4 to hit with Baraket.
She not proficient with Rapiers. That's why she takes a -4 to hit it.
I have a question about Cortela's spell book loot. Does it contain 12 more total spells, 4 of each level 1 to 3 or does it contain 4 more total spells from 1st thru 3rd?
Just in terms of the minimum number of spells an Arcanist should know by 6th level just from free ones gained by level-up, she should have 6 additional 1st level spells, 2 additional 2nd level spells, and 1 additional 3rd level spell. As Arcanists are generally expected to learn more spells than just the minimum, adding 4 additional spells at each spell level is entirely reasonable, so I'd go with that.
As an aside, if you need a quick way to generate spellbooks, I did write a script to do that a while back. I find spellbooks are usually treated as throwaway loot despite the fact that they actually take significant time and effort on the part of the GM to prepare. Using a random generator alleviates the problem, allowing me to generate a spellbook and just swap in any specific spells I want to include.
So I've been setting up the first book to run on Roll20, and as I was doing the lighting for Peacock Manor, I noticed something: room G15, the Headmaster's Room, has no entrance. Or, at least, there's nothing marked as such on the map. Should the bottom-right of the room open into area G14a, or does the Headmaster get his kicks by climbing in through the window?
|
Managing Developer
|
So I've been setting up the first book to run on Roll20, and as I was doing the lighting for Peacock Manor, I noticed something: room G15, the Headmaster's Room, has no entrance. Or, at least, there's nothing marked as such on the map. Should the bottom-right of the room open into area G14a, or does the Headmaster get his kicks by climbing in through the window?
That's odd. On my original map sketch, I had the door to G15 be on the west wall in that 5-foot section of wall just south of that extension of the room.
That is a bit peculiar. I guess that the artist must've missed it, then. No matter, I'll just photoshop a door where it belongs. Thanks for the quick response!
|
Hey all, looking into running this one and so I’ve been reading through it. And some stuff seems. . . Off
An Attic whispered at level 1? And a poltergeist? I mean, I know they were given a partially charged wand of CLW, but still. . . This is presumably after the PCs have exhausted their resources through the rest of the house? Has any group had problems with that?
Also level 5 bard And then 5 oracle at level 2 (granted, the oracle’s stats aren’t great because she’s old)
Am I overthinking this?
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So reading through book 1, I just want to be clear on how the book is supposed to progress.
Before the start of the game:
1) Roderic found the sword Baraket, the Runelord of PRIDE's signature weapon, which the runelord of WRATH stole an placed here ages ago. He was so happy to have found it, he didn't grab anything else in the vault, including the rune gauntlets.
2) Roderic made a lead-lined case to house the sword when he figured out what it was, and hid it in his house. He later died.
3) Corstela, a Thassalon fangirl, later found the sword in Roderic's old house, and has been walking around with it ever since. She (influenced by the runelord of pride being not dead for a sec) used it to kill some rival gang members.
Campaign starts.
1) Roderic's Ghost, not wanting his town to get messed up, awakens and starts haunting the place, trying to tell people that his town is in danger. Audrahni convinces the PCs to look into what's going on, including exploring Roderic's old manor home.
2)While Exploring the area, they find the case Roderic made (that Corstela took Baraket out of) as well as a map of where he found it.
3)PC's use the map in his home to find a better map in the town hall, which tells them where the ruin is, and gives a hint/answer on how to open the chamber there (PCs. lvl 2) Also some town investigation stuff and maybe some fights.
4)PCs go to where the map says (there are two encounters along the way) there (also maybe looking for kidnapped miners?) and run into Goblins at one site or a gang of thieves at another. They fight one or the other. (PCs. lvl 3)
5)PCs discover that the map leads to some old Thassalonian Ruins, the Goblins have co-opted one half and the thieves another. Going into the vault leads them to the chamber where Baraket was kept. Also inside are a pair of gauntlets that, if worn, supress the magical abilities of any intelligent item (Side note: HOW do the PCs identify this? I mean, it's an artifact . . . Identify doesn't work, occultist abilities don't work . . .)
One of the thieves has a note on him that proves he's been working with a local order of the smarty-pants (Corstela's group) PCs reach level 4.
6)PCs go to Corstella's complex. At this point I guess they are supposed to have figured out that she has the sword? At the very least they know she's been consorting with Bandits and wanted into the Runelord's Vault. Anyway, they go to her, and try to get the sword. They may be able to talk it out of her, or may have to end up assaulting the manor and killing everyone.
7)(This is the weakest link) . . . somehow find out that the other gang in town has been taken over by a sinspawn and clear out their proto-thieves guild of monsters? Maybe hired by the person who started the guild? Honestly not sure.
8)PCs hit level 5. Audrahni tells PCs that they have to go to the Sihedron council, (who are the PCs who beat Rise of the Runelords?) in Magnamar. She may or may not go with them. End of book 1
As you can tell, I still have some questions.
|
|
5)
Identify:
This spell functions as detect magic, except that it gives you a +10 enhancement bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify the properties and command words of magic items in your possession. This spell does not allow you to identify artifacts
Spellcraft: DC35 to identify the gauntlets. I doubt the PCs will make that check.
But I guess Occultists could identify it.