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"Do you think that is a problem if they can generate some plausible story for why they want to study at the Magaambya?"
Well it is the oldest and most prominent school of magic on Golarion.
This. My party of 5 consists of 2 from the Mwangi, 2 from Tian, and 1 from Cheliax. I didn't see this as an issue, and none of the players questioned it at all.
So, My group is nearing the masking ceremony, and to make it even more special i was going to give each of their masks the effects of a specialty mask from the book. While I've figure out which masks effect to give to the others, I'm currently stuck on which mask to give to the Summoners.
I'm currently thinking of maybe giving him the Herd Mask, and giving his Eidolon one that work on Eidolon, but I'm happy to hear any alternative.
Thoughts?
I am working on prepping the campaign and I was curious if anyone had given thoughts to other downtime activities to show the PCs progress.
Crafting and learning additional spells. My thought was to include one additional downtime activity per month.
So a PC could spend their free time crafting to learning a spell or something else, even earning pocket change if they don't want to craft or retraining once they have additional levels.
I expect to have 3 -4 downtime sessions during chapter 2.
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Can anyone explain these 2 discrepancies.
1. Urbel has an attack called "kneecapper" that states you can attack a medium creature that leaves a threatened square "during a move action" but his tactics imply that if no one is doing this to shove them to create the kneecapper reaction to get the extra prone damage BUT the Shove action is involuntary movement and doesn't trigger reactions.....
2. Stone Ghost has the spell "Command(animals only)" and no way to communicate with animals.
Hi, I've just started running Kindled Magic, and I have a few questions. This is my first time DM'ing P2E, so my questions might be a little simple.
1. Calculating XP? The intro to book says (under Learning Experience): "Throughout the Strength of Thousands Adventure Path, the heroes gain XP not from winning fights, but from solving mysteries, aiding others, or even just making friends. This makes a lot of sense in non-combat quests like the 'Searching Kafesi Market' quest. But with some of the other sections, I'm less clear.
My interpretation of this statement is not that combat does not give experience but that a vast amount of experience will be available from non-combat which differs from APs in general.
So always award XP for combat and also award quest XP when the book say so.
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Hi, I've just started running Kindled Magic, and I have a few questions. This is my first time DM'ing P2E, so my questions might be a little simple.
1. Calculating XP? The intro to book says (under Learning Experience): "Throughout the Strength of Thousands Adventure Path, the heroes gain XP not from winning fights, but from solving mysteries, aiding others, or even just making friends. This makes a lot of sense in non-combat quests like the 'Searching Kafesi Market' quest. But with some of the other sections, I'm less clear.
My interpretation of this statement is not that combat does not give experience but that a vast amount of experience will be available from non-combat which differs from APs in general.
So always award XP for combat and also award quest XP when the book say so.
This is correct and confirmed (Though I can't for the life of me recall where). You still grant XP for fights. That note is just letting you know that, while there is combat, the majority of this AP is non-combat problem solving/Social/RP situations.
As for that second question, I don't think the book ever gives a total. The 9-10 you are likely referring to are those in your dorm. The school definitely has more than that, they just aren't in the spot light.
So, my group just finished up the Starday Tournament (which they loved, btw), as well as the First Masking. I know that they have plenty of XP for level 3, at this point, but I'm a bit confused about the wording for XP for the tournament.
Award the heroes 80 XP for victory in the first bout, 120 XP for victory in the second bout, and 180 XP for victory in the final bout.
Does this mean that they get 380 XP if they win all three bouts? That's way more than the value of the creatures, unless they are taking into consideration the fact that it's 2 PCs only in each bout.
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So, my group just finished up the Starday Tournament (which they loved, btw), as well as the First Masking. I know that they have plenty of XP for level 3, at this point, but I'm a bit confused about the wording for XP for the tournament.
Award the heroes 80 XP for victory in the first bout, 120 XP for victory in the second bout, and 180 XP for victory in the final bout.Does this mean that they get 380 XP if they win all three bouts? That's way more than the value of the creatures, unless they are taking into consideration the fact that it's 2 PCs only in each bout.
I mainly got these for the backstory and lore but it could be a total XP for winning some or all of the tournamanet rather than a progrerssive one.
That is if they win the first one they get 80, if they win the second they get 120 and if they win the 3rd one the get 180 for winning the whole tournament. Rather than if they win the first one they get 80, if they win the second they get 80 + 120 and if they win the third they get 80 + 120 + 180.
That's what I was originally thinking, but something about the wording just tweaks my brain a bit.
Thanks for the confirmation. :)
Anybody here has any idea how students form other parts of Golarion would have traveled to Nantambu? Especially Avistan or Absalom?
Any ideas or recomendations on running the AP with milestone advancements rather then handing out XP?
Any ideas or recomendations on running the AP with milestone advancements rather than handing out XP?
Milestone advancement works well in any AP (IMO) because the authors clearly define what levels they expect the PCs to be at at the front of each book. It also saves the GM from having to throw in extra encounters if the PCs fall short on XP relative to what the adventure as written is expecting them to have.
As a player I have always preferred the feeling of "reward" that comes from getting XP at the end of a session, as a GM I find it to be one less thing to have to worry about.
So whatever works best at your table is the best way to go!
It gives no real guidance about when the downtime activities should happen except between and among the stuff listed in that chapter which can happen at different times.
It's intentionally vague so that you can stretch or compress time.
Personally, I'm planning everything out on a Golarion calendar so that I can definitively say what day it is, how many dorm-room game nights have happened, who's birthday it might be, and when bonus content I added in happens canonically in my game.
For me it's working out like so:
4721 Arodus 4th-10th: Chapter 1
4721 Arodus 11th to 4722 Erastus 28th: Chapter 2
4722 Erastus 29th-31st: Chapter 3Quizzes or Exams every month, with 4 total Exams correlating to completion of a downtime study period. Quizzes are basically only roleplay opportunities.
Actually that doesn't fit with the chapter about Nantambu in the Mwangi Expanse book.
The Adventure starts in the rainy season which should be from 20. Kuthona 4720 to 19. Pharasm 4721.I'm still trying to figure out the seasons and the calendar.
I have a question about the centipede carcasses trap in chapter 3. The trap is described as being three trapped carcasses. Does the hazard cause a reflex save for each carcass that hasn't been disabled OR does the trap just cause one reflex save if any of the carcasses haven't been disabled?
I have a question about the centipede carcasses trap in chapter 3. The trap is described as being three trapped carcasses. Does the hazard cause a reflex save for each carcass that hasn't been disabled OR does the trap just cause one reflex save if any of the carcasses haven't been disabled?
From the paragraph before the trap's statblock on page 50:
"...Multiple traps don’t do any more damage to people in the room than just one trap—a character can be hit by only so many sharpened centipede legs each turn—but all three traps need to be disarmed or expended before the room is safe."
This implies that, even if range of multiple traps, the PC only needs to roll a single save.
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I've been thinking about the centipede trap. The trap indicates that it doesn't trigger unless the centipedes are touched or jostled. There doesn't seem to be any bait in this trap to prompt the players to interact with the dead centipedes...can bank on them just being curious. I'm thinking of putting some kind of loot in there. If the party really wants it, they can try to disarm the trap.
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Jotting down some notes after completing Book 1 a couple months ago, in case it helps other GMs here:
Koride is far less toxic. She’s more of a maverick teacher. In fact she took one of the PCs under her wing and he finds her awesomely relatable (the other players really dislike her). I think this will be better for the overall story, having read ahead.
I added teachers for each school and had PCs create personal theses with them which can also serve as character arcs. These will be developed throughout book 2 until they graduate — and then into their postgrad lives. Zuma’s personality really shone through, as I based him off Slavoj Žižek. Ahassunu is an absent-minded professor. Mafika haas a badass silk souvenir jacket from Tian with a panther on it.
No students were killed by Stone Ghost. This seemed to undermine the competence and safety of the university (really… 3 students are kidnapped and murdered weeks ago, and no one seems to have noticed!? That's inexcusable malice or negligence.).
Instead the PCs chased down Kurshkin while she tried to sabotage their rooftop party. I gave them a chance to interrogate her, make a choice to to try and save the other students while they were being taken through the tunnels on Goliath Beetles (which can serve as mounts, so it seemed feasible). Here, they also learned of plans to attack the masking in exchange for letting Kurshkin go. Wasn't an easy choice.
The above combat replaced the ceremony one at the end of part 2, and instead, had a moonlit ceremony under the stars and with Tempest Sun mages guarding them.
Kurshkin was the person who killed Uduak; I played with the timeline and intertwined their stories. The PCs ended up reluctantly “reforming” kurshkin, who sided with them once she found out Stone Ghost was her former enemy who killed all her gremlin friends. She is going to be taking fire safety classes and will be a fixture at university.
Leshy bouts will continue across book 2 as long as there’s interest; I call them “Mecha-Leshies” and they can combine into more powerful forms like Voltron.
Added lots of slice of life and side quests, like sneaking in and telling ghost stories in the boathouse, festivals with contests, etc. During these I often let PCs tell me what skill checks they are making, instead of telling them to.
Didn’t worry too much about codifying a calendar, but PCs weren’t always sure about the passage of time. Have to work on that.
Study benefits that have been unlocked are available to all PCs. I didn't want players focused on a meta-game to optimize Study; instead, they could focus on NPCs they want to befriend and not worry about losing ground.
Into Book 2
I am making an effort to continue with all the Spire Dorm students in part 2, keeping a cadence of plot/slice-of-life beats as the relationships evolve. In addition, they can include the anadi in these little narrative moments to get a small bonus. So far not every Spire student is Helpful to all the PCs (I don't know if they ever will be, I don't think they should be), which is helping push things forward now.
Book 2 doesn't provide much in the way of Spire Dorm sidequests, so thinking ahead may be worth it if your group enjoys their time with these NPCs.
I gave my group a choice of APs for our next game, and they chose this one, so I have a few prep-related questions (we want to start on Labor Day, so I need to decide where to invest my $$ and time to get the most bang out of the first few sessions. For reference, this will be my first 2e AP, but not my first time GMing.)
1) How vital is it to read the whole thing first? Like, can I run book one before I buy the rest of them, or am I really hamstringing myself if I don’t know what’s coming later?
2) Is the The Mwangi Expanse book necessary, or just a good idea? I’m gonna get it eventually, definitely, but it looks like the PCs hardly ever leave the school in book 1, so the wider world doesn’t really come into play.
3) Where, exactly, am I supposed to get all of the Giant Insect minis to run the combats in this book? Silverfish? I may end up having to reskin them because I can find precisely zero of those anywhere. And that’s a shame, because I think the art is great and the monster itself is appropriately creepy-crawly.
(Okay, that third one was just kinda complain-ish, but seriously — I like to play with minis and maps and I’m having a hard time tracking some of them down.)
From my own experience:
1) I ran/am running the books from day 1, so reading everything wasn't an option for me. But from the 2 AP's I've read, you don't "Need" to read everything. Paizo does a good job of providing you what you need in the book you need it. If you've got time, I would read everything, as knowing future events can give you additional context on current events. But it isn't required.2) Not necessary, but it is a good idea. I've used it to add flavor for my players that wanted to spend some down time exploring. You are correct that book 1 is basically just in the school, but book 2 spreads out to the rest of Nantambu. The Mwangi Expanse book can also add some flavor to book 4. Books 3, 5, & 6 don't really need it. In short; if you have it at your disposal use it, but I don't think you need to buy it if you don't want to.
3) I'm all digital, so can't help you there. But best of luck!
I made up "Influence Stat Blocks" for each of the NPCs -- do you think these look reasonable?https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pWXvUIMPrtZbElvvj_JAMytLDO3SN7soJ2G _YYPlxZQ/edit?usp=sharing
Going to the link shows a file not found page. Could you repost?
That's weird.
Okay, let's try this one:
Strength of Thousands Influence Tracker
Oh, I see. The URL in the first post actually works, but the editor puts a space into it when the text wraps (so it should be "G_" not "G _")
How silly.
That works, thanks.
In an effort to make more work for myself, apparently, I decided to try using a version of the Influence subsystem to track how "friendly" the Spire Dorm group is with the PCs. My plan is
I made up "Influence Stat Blocks" for each of the NPCs -- do you think these look reasonable?
It looks quite good.
So do you use one sheet for each PC or use the players as a group?| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There's a mistake in the map of the Tree Stump Library.
According to the text:
Seven closed doors lead to other rooms.
But there are no doors on the map.
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1. Yes, 4 secret checks. You can hear different pieces of gossip from different people in town.
2. Just the art
3. The goblins are goofy creatures and didn't have time to finish their work, so the trap placement seemed random. Run it the way you think best.
4. Yes, it's a check
5. Spending extra actions to leave and then reroll with disadvantage doesn't seem like "gaming" the system to me
6. He just shoves them is all, he doesn't shove to provokee his own reaction
7. Sure
8. Yup
9. review the Incorporeal rules.
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Wait, Stone ghost doesn't know undercommon? That seems like quite an oversight. My players know so many languages, but not undercommon, so they had some trouble with the gremlins so far. I will have to add it to stone ghost to make him a believable commander of gremlins.
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Looking at running this one for a group, and have just skimmed the book. I'm curious as to whether it's assumed the PCs are walking around with weapons and armor or what. Seems a bit odd in a school, but plenty of the encounters seem to be "you're going about your day and suddenly gremlins pop out!", which would suggest that it's assumed the PCs are equipped, but if they aren't it would mean that something like a sorcerer or oracle would be vastly more useful/prepared for something like this than, say, a fighter.
Are the rest of you just kind of not worrying about it and assuming they carry all their gear? Is it addressed in the book somewhere and I just haven't noticed yet? It is actually a case of "sorry you chose to specialize in the arquebus, guess you'll be useful in the adventuring parts of the adventure a book or two in"?
It's not addressed in the book. Our group assumed that the PCs walked around in their armor and with their weapons - but not carrying full packs, so if they suddenly needed to go off campus, they'd generally stop and think through if they needed to grab anything from the dorm. (We ended up with a running gag, pun intended, where one particular PC kept getting sent running across campus to purchase specific items from the Powderpile.)
Also, on an unrelated note, I created a quick and dirty graphic to help out my players with regards to teacher and student branch affiliations:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/819586479516811285/88242012536035741 6/Teachers_and_Student_Branches.png
Posting it here in case anyone else would find it useful.
Can you send it in DM or otherwise? This link is no longer working (or even never did as this is a typical Discord CDN safety measure.
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Magic in the masks?
I would love to understand what the AP KM creator's intentions were with how powerful the masks were intended to be after creation at the Masking Ceremony in Tireless Hall Chapter 2 of SOT, KM. Was it the creative team's intention to allow adventurers to pick from the Magical masks in the Adventure toolbox on page 73, and if so what levels?Was it the author's intention to have the masks remain unmagical unless students transferred stuff from other masks that were found, to leave it wide open to GMs to grow the masks in power as the students grow, or to use the relic system in the Gamemastery Guide?
As a new GM, I would be more comfortable with a little more guidance on intent.
I'm running this myself and played a Magaambyan Arcanist in Wrath of the Righteous who (well before this came out) carved his own mask and made it a mythic item (so imbued powers) I kind of intend for them to be able to power it similarly to that masks progression (and what I invested into it) It started as a basic wooden mask my character carved, with some investment it became an Aspect Mask (which I think is a pretty decent baseline here), then I made it into a Legendary Item (from Mythic rules) and eventually a Greater Artifact, but mind you I had to invest Mythic feats to make it that powerful. I haven't fully fleshed out how I would let them do that in this campaign as we're still getting to the masks, but it's rattling around in my head as an option. If no one is really interested in becoming their masks persona I think an Aspect Mask is fine as a start and end
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Magic in the masks?
I would love to understand what the AP KM creator's intentions were with how powerful the masks were intended to be after creation at the Masking Ceremony in Tireless Hall Chapter 2 of SOT, KM. Was it the creative team's intention to allow adventurers to pick from the Magical masks in the Adventure toolbox on page 73, and if so what levels?Was it the author's intention to have the masks remain unmagical unless students transferred stuff from other masks that were found, to leave it wide open to GMs to grow the masks in power as the students grow, or to use the relic system in the Gamemastery Guide?
As a new GM, I would be more comfortable with a little more guidance on intent.
I believe the intention is for masks to possibly become more powerful in the following ways:
1. By finding the Magical masks you are talking about as loot, and letting Teacher Ot transfer its powers to the players' own masks. This is what is described in book 1 chapter 3 at the places where such treasure is found (in the tunnels near Stone Ghost's lair).2. By choosing mask-related feats in the Magaambyan attendant archetype which is gained through the study system. The Magic Warrior archetype could also be chosen but is not granted for free.
So I don't think masks are supposed to do anything right after the masking ceremony. They just replace the beads in a more powerful way roleplay-wise, not mechanically.
That said, other people have indeed incorporated the Relic subsystem from the GMG for these masks, which I believe would also work fine if the players are okay with having more options.
Someone wasn't paying attention in orientation! The top of page 52 says the other group was exploring Warden House, next to Archhorn Library. But Warden House isn't next to Archhorn Library! Instead, they must have been exploring Verdant House. If only they had a campus map on them!
In my game on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, the party will encounter three members of that Verdant House expedition, separated from the rest of the expedition by a cave-in trap. Ignaci needs medical care due to a bee sting allergy triggered by the stinger attack of a Giant Mining Bee (the Giant Mining Bee entry does not describe venom).
Ignaci got stung by a bee and learned, quite dramatically, that he has a severe allergy to bee stings. Ignaci’s skin has broken out into hives and his tongue and throat are swollen. Okoro and Tzeniwe are too worried about his sudden symptoms to move him, and neither has the medical knowledge to help him. If left unaided, Ignaci could die.
The heroes can help if they can calm the frantic cohort and treat Ignaci. A hero can calm the trio with a successful DC 18 Diplomacy or Intimidation check, although you might allow other means to calm them with a similar DC. Once the attendants have calmed down, the heroes can either help them get Ignaci safely to the surface or treat him directly. A hero can treat Ignaci with a successful DC 20 Medicine check. The heroes can retry this check on a failure, but the DC increases by 2 each time. On a success, Ignaci is well enough that Okoro and Tzeniwe can get him to the surface without the heroes’ help if the heroes describe a safe way up through Archhorn Library (as the cave-in blocks the path back up to
WardenVerdant House). On a critical success, the hero quells Ignaci’s symptoms entirely and he can walk unaided, though Okoro and Tzeniwe escort him to the surface anyway. On a critical failure, Ignaci goes into shock; unless a hero succeeds at another DC 20 Medicine check within 1 round, he dies.
One bard PC has the Cleanse Affliction spell, which reduces the stage of an affliction by one. Thus, I would like to roleplay Ignaci's bee sting allergy as an affliction rather than as the Medicine checks described in the module.
Does anyone know of a source that describes a bee sting allergy or any anaphylaxis as a PF2 affliction?
If an Anaphylaxis affliction does not exist, then I will invent one. I will probably modify Giant Ant venom. That venom has a 1-round duration on its stages, which is too fast, so I would slow it to 1 minute. Any other suggestions?
I already statted out Ignaci for my River into Darkness side quest, and gave him Crystal Healing. He could treat himself if sufficiently coherent and unimpaired. Perhaps he knew about his bee sting allergy and learned to treat it himself. Thus, he could finish his own treatment if the PCs could get him to a sufficiently unimpaired stage.
I made my own affliction for the Bee Sting Allergy. Ignaci started at Stage 4, though for dramatic purposes I said he was turning blue already.
Bee Sting Allergy (poison,) Saving Throw DC 20 Fortitude; Maximum Durration 1 day; Onset 1 minute; Stage 1 (itchy) drained 1 (1 minute); Stage 2 (hives) 1d4 poison damage and drained 1; Stage 3 (vomiting) sickened 1 and drained 1; Stage 4 (throat constricted) sickened 1 and drained 1, cannot drink or vomit; Stage 5 (turning blue) 1d6 void damage, sickened 2 and drained 1, cannot drink or vomit; Stage 6 (cannot breathe) unconscious and suffering Suffocation.