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So in the weird moment of the evening, the paladin in our party took pity on Berthold (I really played up the craven aspect of the ratling) and adopted him as a minion. He promised Berthold he would get him out of the Boneyard without him having to resort to the contract, but that in exchange, Berthold has to do what he says and be 'good' (as good as he can be - its a work in progress). I was having so much fun playing this craven, yorkie-sized, absolutely hideous looking cretin. And now he gets to ride on the paladin's shoulders and be the tallest. Berthold is having a blast.
Lets see how long the party can keep him alive. lol. If they can level up with him, I'll add a level of rogue to Berthold to keep pace. Who knows, there might be a ratling facing off against the Whispering Tyrant by the end.
It's these completely left field occurrences that make me love this game so much.
It's an exact copy of how it was (including everything that was in it) at the time it was dedicated to Pharasma. It's just the nature of the Boneyard to duplicate tombs and the like once they're dedicated.
This is, admittedly, extremely weird when you consider that the spectre in the crystal was duplicated as well.
This is possibly my favorite first chapter to an AP I've read. Great stuff.
That said I have a quick question - the deep red sphere ioun stone is a powerful enough item for second level characters that I was checking to see if there was errata on it. Now my players are asking me to check because they can't believe the book put it in either lol. It is what it says it is?
This is possibly my favorite first chapter to an AP I've read. Great stuff.
That said I have a quick question - the deep red sphere ioun stone is a powerful enough item for second level characters that I was checking to see if there was errata on it. Now my players are asking me to check because they can't believe the book put it in either lol. It is what it says it is?
They also give a mithral breastplate in the first dungeon. I like to think about it like this: their first chance to buy/sell anything is Book 3.
That's kinda what I thought. Thanks!
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I'm trying to figure out how the obols work with regard to non-hit-point damage they absorb.
"An obol harmlessly absorbs an amount of negative energy equal to double the character's number of Hit Dice from any given source or attack (or each round, for ongoing environmental effects)."
The damage a greater shadow deals is:
"A greater shadow's touch deals 1d8 points of Strength damage to a living creature. This is a negative energy effect."
Does that mean that a "protected" 10th-level PC at the "appointed encounter time" doesn't really have to fear the one and only attack form a greater shadow possesses? (1d8 Str [negative energy] minus 20)
Any helpful insight is welcome.
I would say it's purely protection from hp damage. "This is a negative energy effect" means that death ward protects from it.
I have a question about food, my PCs just dont have enough on them, do they need to eat in the boneyard? I dont see any food in the adventure.
IIRC the Boneyard has the planar trait of Timelessness, which means that the PCs don't need to eat, sleep, etc. Also, I think poisons and disease don't work here nor do they get HP back after resting. I'll have to refer back to Planar Adventures when I get home to check, though.
There should have been a sidebar in the AP mentioning the Boneyard's planar traits. I feel that it's omission was an oversight.
The downside to timelessness is that PCs have all that catch up with them once they leave the Boneyard. So x number of days' worth of hunger, aging, disease, poison, etc.. all occur at once. Which is partly why Barzahk's way of getting the PCs back is so crucial as she cures the PCs of pretty much everything along the way. In my group, everyone has some affliction or another and it's causing them no end of consternation. Heh. waiting to get hit is apparently worse than getting hit.
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I'm trying to figure out how the obols work with regard to non-hit-point damage they absorb.
"An obol harmlessly absorbs an amount of negative energy equal to double the character's number of Hit Dice from any given source or attack (or each round, for ongoing environmental effects)."
The damage a greater shadow deals is:
"A greater shadow's touch deals 1d8 points of Strength damage to a living creature. This is a negative energy effect."Does that mean that a "protected" 10th-level PC at the "appointed encounter time" doesn't really have to fear the one and only attack form a greater shadow possesses? (1d8 Str [negative energy] minus 20)
Any helpful insight is welcome.
No, they'll only be protected from damage from an evil cleric's channel or the breath weapon of an umbral dragon. Just negative energy damage to hp will be protected. Think of it as a negative energy version of "resist energy". Like how an ifrit has resist fire 5.
That's our intent. It would protect from the negative energy damage from a spectre, for example, but not the Strength damage from a shadow.
Dear Ron, dear Gwaihir Scout, dear kevin_video,
thank you all for your insight/explanation.
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I have to brag about my players' creativity.
Nine Eaves library. Wasp swarm. Players have realized that it's guarding the nests and won't pursue. One player applies the vermin repellent that he just happens to have bought at character creation and goes in alone. He climbs on a chair and starts hacking at the nests. He only gets about halfway through before the swarm starts making the save to be able to attack him, so the other players have to come in and help. They cut the nests down, force open the balcony door, and throw the nests outside. The swarm's written as defending the nests, so I decided it was fair to reward their tactics and had the swarm follow the nests outside.
They were able to manipulate who got attacked by who was handling the nests and got out with only moderate damage (which means no resources spent because we're using the Strain/Injury rules), and only one PC was poisoned badly enough for a lesser restoration to be needed. The alkalai flasks from the greenhouse were the only damage source they had and they wouldn't have been enough.
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I have a question about food, my PCs just dont have enough on them, do they need to eat in the boneyard? I dont see any food in the adventure.
IIRC the Boneyard has the planar trait of Timelessness, which means that the PCs don't need to eat, sleep, etc. Also, I think poisons and disease don't work here nor do they get HP back after resting. I'll have to refer back to Planar Adventures when I get home to check, though.
There should have been a sidebar in the AP mentioning the Boneyard's planar traits. I feel that it's omission was an oversight.
The downside to timelessness is that PCs have all that catch up with them once they leave the Boneyard. So x number of days' worth of hunger, aging, disease, poison, etc.. all occur at once. Which is partly why Barzahk's way of getting the PCs back is so crucial as she cures the PCs of pretty much everything along the way. In my group, everyone has some affliction or another and it's causing them no end of consternation. Heh. waiting to get hit is apparently worse than getting hit.
I talked about this problem upthread here and here.
Yep, in the end, The Passage basically made them "status quo antebellum". Of course, the food problem was only delayed a bit. They show up in Roslar's Coffer with no rations and a few hours later they start to get hungry. What are you going to do? Try the local produce? It's either mutated into Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors or is some undead monstrosity.
In the end I had the larder in the inn untouched by neither undead nor the effect of the Radiant Blast. Gotta love those lead lined refrigerators. Its a bit of handwaving, but I'm changing a bunch of other things as well, so it's all good.
It's either mutated into Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors or is some undead monstrosity.
Um...Seymour was the human in that show; Audrey II was the man-eating plant.
It's either mutated into Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors or is some undead monstrosity.Um...Seymour was the human in that show; Audrey II was the man-eating plant.
Yup, you're right! My bad. I was multitasking and it's been years since I've seen the movie or show.
Wowie zowie that note of blasting was a lot ! I'd maybe recommend GMs to keep an eye on player health and maybe fudge the rolls a bit. My groups' goblin wizard ran up and grabbed it, and the damage instantly put two out of my 4 party members at true-dead hp.
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In Mrs. Pedipalp's description it says if she subdues the party she ties them up in f2. Well due to a series of bad saves, that happened to my party. I am confused how to deal with the baddies already in f2 and why they wouldn't kill the PCs as soon as they arrive. Also, they would not get the last stamp, so I am not sure how to handle that.
Any advice?
Umble and Thoot to the rescue, perhaps?
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Reedreaper. Instead of having him be someone the party has to convince to join their side have the shabti fighter have gone to Umble and Thoot looking for the party. He is concerned for his friend Mictena and her descent into obsession... and her destruction of her gardens as she starts to push it onto the Dead Roads.
He could show up and free them, help them deal with Pedipalp and then have a heart to heart with them about whether he trusts them to help/stop his friend.
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Reedreaper.
I'm not sure he can get to them from Deathbower until Mictena moves it into the party's path. That can be easily hand-woven, but also, if I remember Book 1 correctly, he doesn't even suspect the PCs are anything other than what Mictena says they are until he observes how they comport themselves with Aydie, right?
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All three of them are fantastic!
My party really resonated with the lot of them (and since they are playing as a self-adopted Lastwall family, they offered to "adopt" Reedreaper, Umble, and Thoot into their extended family as well). I'm already planning on doing a few minor tweaks to a particular Book 6 encounter to have all three of them turn up again, in fact (we are currently nearing the end of Book 2)!
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But boy, oh, boy, do I LOVE Umble and Thoot. Maybe my favorite NPCs to write, ever.
Well, haven’t started running this yet (but we’re in the final stretch of our Hell’s Rebels campaign, so it’s coming up) and I learned that one of my players is gunning for a nosoi Improved familiar and in my mind I’m just thinking “Well, looks like Umble is sticking with the party.”
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Hi There.
My Group and I are in the late stages of finising up another AP (currently middle of its book 5, with an anticipated conslusion in November or so).
The group as a whole has decided on Tyrant's Grasp, as the next adventure they want me to run for them. I've been gaming with this group for 5+ years now, and I would really like to run a prequel adventure before starting book 1 of Tyrant's Grasp.
One of my players, a veteran PFS player&GM like myself suggested finding a way to amp up an encounter from Book 5 of Carrion Crown (that he himself TPK'd on), but I'm wondering if there are some reasonable lead-in adventures I can lean on instead?
Something where the players could play a "levelled" version of their PCs to get a feel for party dynamics would be exceptional, but I recognzie that that I would really need to make sure that their gear from the "prequel" encounter doesn't get pulled into Tyrant's Grasp book 2 though.
Thoughts? Ideas?
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I ran the pathfinder society scenario "Reaver's Roar" for my players as it is related to the starting town of the AP.
Strongly recommend this as an option. It has really important history for Roslar's Coffer that is assumed as part of the Player's Guide. It's also appropriate for level 7-11 characters.
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I ran the pathfinder society scenario "Reaver's Roar" for my players as it is related to the starting town of the AP.Strongly recommend this as an option. It has really important history for Roslar's Coffer that is assumed as part of the Player's Guide. It's also appropriate for level 7-11 characters.
Did this as well. One of the players happened to say that they cut off the reaver's head to bring back to Roslar's Coffer as a trophy. Took away the zombie's head to account for that.
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Did this as well. One of the players happened to say that they cut off the reaver's head to bring back to Roslar's Coffer as a trophy. Took away the zombie's head to account for that.
I hope you turned the Reaver's head into a Beheaded animated by the Radiant Fire for the party to fight inside Roslar's Coffer. That would have been amazing.
Did this as well. One of the players happened to say that they cut off the reaver's head to bring back to Roslar's Coffer as a trophy. Took away the zombie's head to account for that.I hope you turned the Reaver's head into a Beheaded animated by the Radiant Fire for the party to fight inside Roslar's Coffer. That would have been amazing.
PHARASMA'S CRIMSON HOURGLASS! WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?!?!
Calistril 4720, I believe? That corresponds to the approx Feb 2020 real world release of book 1 and is generally how I understand the timing to work out for these things.
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Calistril 4720, I believe? That corresponds to the approx Feb 2020 real world release of book 1 and is generally how I understand the timing to work out for these things.
I think I'm actually going to start it on New Year's Day.
In Golarian on the last day of the year, the spirits of last year's dead symbolically pass by the homes of the living. I suspect that this might have been used ironically by the Whispering Way... New Year's Day commemorates the founding of Absalom.
If TB's plot had a day to start, I think this would be a good one...
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So, I've read through the first book, and waiting on a paycheck to buy the others. The PCs have just got out of Roslars Tomb and have met Umble and Thoot, but I ended it there. How are all of you other (and probably way more experienced) GM's handling the fact that the PCs don't have access to a merchant or things of that nature? Admittedly, I can't find a fourth, so it's a 3 man party. This is compounding the issue. Should I intro Reedreaper that early?
We just entered the town. I am switching things up so that the PCs do not meet the psychopomps until after they've seen a bunch of weirdness, and then the nosoi can explain to them what's happening.
As far as no merchant, honestly, the I dunno what they'd need one for. The tomb has tons of good loot, and you can always drop some healing potions on a villain. When you get into Book 2, i plan to emphasize the 'survival' aspect of the game, but that's down the road (and you know, you don't have to eat in the Boneyard).
I think intro'ing him is fine. I think I will do it when the PCs are walking the Dead Roads. If you just introduce him at the end, the PCs are liable to just kill him, and that's no fun.
I discussed a bit of the merchant concern on page 3. Encumbrance is a significant concern, as are things like arrow count. Book 2 covers the idea of wandering merchants, but I'd really strongly recommend against that for book 1. The Boneyard is supposed to be very foreign and the whole book is designed to usher in the theme of survival horror. The first merchants written into the adventure don't show up until book 3 start, but are no longer available by act 2. The next merchants are in book 5 and are available throughout. That's literally it.
I solved the 3 player problem by upping their relative power level - my players have 25 pt buy gestalt characters. When they got into book 3, one of them took Leadership to recruit a specific NPC. That said, book 2 in particular was a bit brutal, with one character dying twice. Reedreaper could theoretically be introduced early if you think your party can interact with him peacefully. It's a significant rewrite to the adventure to recruit him early and he is VERY strong compared to the PCs.
For needed items, certainly consider swapping weapon or consumable types. My players built an archer, a rapier-wielding swashbuckler, and a 2h weapon ranger. Some loot swaps allowed these characters to actually function. I also instituted a rule that magic items could be "melted down" to crafting materials at 1/4 market value if a character had the relevant crafting feat. This allowed them to adjust their gear early, when they could reasonably spend days doing things.
As written, players should be level 3 when doing Salishara's Scriptorium, Nine-Eaves, and the Palace of Teeth. Level 4 is as they go to Deathbower. You have discretion on that, of course.
I re-read the rooms and encounter for Mrs. Pedipalp. Doesn't look like you did anything particularly wrong here. Was just a messy fight that went sideways. Book 1 is just really hard compared to many other APs.
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As written, players should be level 3 when doing Salishara's Scriptorium, Nine-Eaves, and the Palace of Teeth. Level 4 is as they go to Deathbower. You have discretion on that, of course.
I re-read the rooms and encounter for Mrs. Pedipalp. Doesn't look like you did anything particularly wrong here. Was just a messy fight that went sideways. Book 1 is just really hard compared to many other APs.
having just finished the Palace, it's a level 2 dungeon. at level 3, most parties would eat it up and spit it out.
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As written, players should be level 3 when doing Salishara's Scriptorium, Nine-Eaves, and the Palace of Teeth. Level 4 is as they go to Deathbower. You have discretion on that, of course.
As written the players should REACH 3rd level sometime while exploring the waystations.
In our game which uses a variant of staggered advancement, I did not level them to 2nd until after they convinced the townsfolk of Roslar's Coffer they were dead. After that, they moved on to the Palace of Teeth where I gave them 2 steps. This past session they decided to move to the Scriptorium instead of Nine-Eaves, and after 2 random encounters during a rest period and half-way to the waystation we left off midway through the Scriptorium where I made them full level 3.
So another step or two in the Scriptorium, then 2 more for Nine-Eaves will take them to 4th level as they enter Deathbower.
--Vrocky Horror Picture Show
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Anyone have any good tips for all the size Tiny creatures the players face? From spiders, to stirges, oozes, tooth fairies, and esipil sakhils half the combatants the PCs face provoke AoOs to even attack.
I know ganging up on a single player is smart because they generally only have 1 AoO to use. Intelligent creatures could use acrobatics to negate the attacks. But what about the single creature vs a party which is usually a bad encounter design. I'm looking at the solo esipil in Nine-Eaves greenhouse. Other than cause fear, it doesn't have much going for it once it's attacked from stealth.
--Vrocking Horse Cavalier
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Anyone have any good tips for all the size Tiny creatures the players face? From spiders, to stirges, oozes, tooth fairies, and esipil sakhils half the combatants the PCs face provoke AoOs to even attack.
I know ganging up on a single player is smart because they generally only have 1 AoO to use. Intelligent creatures could use acrobatics to negate the attacks. But what about the single creature vs a party which is usually a bad encounter design. I'm looking at the solo esipil in Nine-Eaves greenhouse. Other than cause fear, it doesn't have much going for it once it's attacked from stealth.
--Vrocking Horse Cavalier
i kept them to emphasize the weirdness factor, which I feel is more important than a more challenging combat against unimportant enemies.
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So prepping Deathbower this week and I see that Aydie will be the first opponent to use necromancy spells against the party. As such her tactics as written will fail horribly, but that will demonstrate the protection the obols provide. To keep it interesting I'll have to chain her, Gloaming, & the giant owl(s), with the gardeners encounter in F7. Once Aydie sees her touch spells either fizzle or do no appreciable damage she'll have to resort to silence, her summons, and her returning dagger plus maybe fighting defensively.
--Vrock Garden
Hey, I’m looking for help on how to pronounce Mictena. Would it be Mick-TEE-na, or Mick-TAY-na? Or even something else?