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Post by Munroe on Jun 9, 2010 16:01:04 GMT -5
So last Saturday we did D&D. Had one casualty and it was such a stupid death.
The party was fighting two canoloths. (They're medium-sized, low-INT (5) dog-like yugoloths with long tongues that have grapple attacks.)
The fighter has Slippers of Spider Climb so he went up on top of the hut. The barbarian has ranks in climb so he followed him up. The canoloth was on the ground on a ledge overlooking a deep black ravine into which water flowed. The barbarian won initiative so he jumped down on the canoloth's back with his greatsword as a charge attack. He rolled a 1 somewhere in there (forget which check now) so I said he hit his crotch on the canoloth's armor plating and fell on the ground but I gave him a Fort save to resist being stunned from the impact. The fighter did nothing on his turn but jump around and make noise to draw out any other enemies that weren't out yet. (The second canoloth joined the battle.) The first canoloth attacked the druid in front of him, paralyzed and grappled him with his tongue, and drew him into his mouth for bite attacks. The ranger shot through the building (two windows) with Hunter's Mercy (automatic critical hit if the attack hits) to attack the second canoloth, then he moved around the building.
The barbarian didn't want to risk an AoO by standing up so he fought the entire battle from a prone position. The fighter finally jumped down on the first canoloth and it died. The second canoloth hit the barbarian with its tongue a couple times but failed to paralyze him. The druid, who was still paralyzed, was rendered unconscious. The cleric (an NPC that I have the barbarian's player control in battle) cast Cure Serious Wounds then moved into melee range and delivered the spell to the druid so he was up to 7 hp (crap rolls for the spell, really). The archivist (a PC, but his player wasn't there so I was controlling him) cast Panacea and delivered it to the druid, removing the paralysis and healing him 14 hp (1d8+8) so he was up to 21.
The first canoloth died.
The second canoloth was still attacking the barbarian on the ground but he was at very low health.
The druid, now conscious and healed a bit, decided to attempt to jump on the second canoloth. This meant going around the barbarian on the ledge. So he moved out on the ledge and jumped for the canoloth. He rolled a 1 on his jump check and there aren't critical fumbles on skills, but he had a horrible jump modifier anyway so I asked him to roll a Balance check. He rolled very badly on it, so I asked him to roll a Reflex save. When he failed that too, I said he fell over the ledge, and I had his turn end (trying to save him by allowing him a standard action on his next turn as he fell into the ravine).
The second canoloth died while the druid fell. His turn came back up and I asked him what he did, told him I was giving him a full action. (Pretty sure he should have only got a swift action, but I gave it to him anyway.) I suggested he use Wild Shape. He thought he couldn't use Wild Shape unless he was on solid ground so we looked and couldn't find that rule so he used Wild Shape: Shark. I tried to encourage him OOC to turn into a bird instead, as did the rest of the party, but he didn't, so he hit the water as a shark and took 10d6 points of damage (as well as 1d3 nonlethal damage, but it didn't matter).
And... typing all this up just helped me because I just realized he didn't die after all because he gained 6 hp when he Wildshaped so he was only rendered unconscious. (The fighter with Slippers of Spider Climb did immediately go down the cliff face and get his body and bring it up, so he didn't drown.)
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Post by Munroe on Jun 29, 2010 16:08:36 GMT -5
I'm so proud of you Munroe! You are a full fledged gamer now..painting miniatures and all! Haha. I haven't painted anything yet. I've been acquiring supplies and my miniatures are supposed to arrive tomorrow. OK, so I have the Doctor Lucky miniature mostly finished. I still need to give it a wash it, drybrush it, and give it a matte finish sealing coat, and before I do that, I need to repaint his spats because I got a little red in the white of them. I'm afraid I'll mess it up when I try to wash it though. The parts I am considering attempting to wash are his red pants and his brown jacket. The other miniature in some of these shots is one of the Larry Elmore miniatures that looked like the simplest miniature of the bunch. I've primed it black and drybrushed white over it in a process I read about called either antiquing or blackwashing. (Essentially drybrushing white over the dark primer so the paint colors don't come out dark on the dark primer.) I plan to leave her as-is for awhile yet because upcoming in my D&D session is a petrified person and she'll do nicely as the stone woman. The white drybrushing on the black primer looks really neat. Attachments:
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Post by Munroe on Jun 29, 2010 16:10:38 GMT -5
Above was the primed image, and this is while I was painting Dr. Lucky. Attachments:
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Post by Munroe on Jun 29, 2010 16:16:06 GMT -5
And here he is waiting for his finishing touches of the white on his spats, whatever washes I give him, drybrushing and the clear matte finish. Also pictured is the other miniature with the antiquing/blackwashing. (That's a silly name so I don't like to use it, it's drybrushing white on the black, so it should be called drywhiting.) Attachments:
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vulpex
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Post by vulpex on Jun 29, 2010 17:03:54 GMT -5
Those bases turned out rather good, allthough they look a bit like ... *cultural search american foodstuffs* Oreo crackers Neat work. I have seen someone to do very light wash over whitewashed figure to make subdued art deco look, it was kind of cool.
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Post by Munroe on Jun 29, 2010 19:08:45 GMT -5
Those bases turned out rather good, allthough they look a bit like ... *cultural search american foodstuffs* Oreo crackers Neat work. I have seen someone to do very light wash over whitewashed figure to make subdued art deco look, it was kind of cool. Well, the picture in the middle, I could see an Oreo cookie, I suppose. And I see it on the woman in the last shot but that may be a trick of perspective because it also looks like it has a creme filling if you look at it right. I decided not to leave the base black for Dr. Lucky because it was too hard to get a clean edge between the brown of his base and the black on the washers, and also because the paint doesn't stay on the washers as well (I think their metal is less porous) so another coat didn't hurt. So now in that last shot it looks like the base is a brown cookie instead of an Oreo. I decided to go with two washers glued together for a thick and weighty base. Honestly though, they don't look like cookies IRL because they're significantly smaller than a cookie. The next one I plan to start is the Reaper mini Magician's Assistant. She's made for a slotted base (unlike these two that have built-in bases) so I'll have to use Green Stuff to position her and I'm a little intimidated by the Green Stuff because I know it's epoxy and it's the big new step on the front end.
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Post by Munroe on Aug 10, 2010 18:00:53 GMT -5
Because I love The Jabberwocky, and because nobody requested it, here are the stats for a "Lesser Jabberwock" from Pathfinder Adventure Path 36 (Kingmaker 6 of 6), page 22. The Jabberwocky is going to be featured on the cover of Pathfinder Bestiary 2, due out this fall and Pathfinder AP 36 also has an illustration of the lesser jabberwock. (It's green with a long curvy neck and round head with teeth like a rodent and whiskers like a catfish.) IF YOU'RE PLAYING THE Pathfinder Kingmaker Adventure Path, DON'T READ THE STATS. This is a Pathfinder creature but it's pretty easy to read for 3.5e players too. Lesser Jabberwock CR 20 XP 307,200 CE Huge dragon (air, fire) Init +3, Senses blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +35 Aura frightful presence (120 ft., DC 28) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEFENSE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AC 38, touch 12, flat-footed 34 (+3 Dex, +1 dodge, +26 natural, -2 size) hp 387 (25d12+225); fast healing 10 Fort +23, Ref +17, Will +21 DR 15/vorpal; Immune fire, magic paralysis and sleep; Resist acid 20, electricity 20, sonic 20 Weaknesses fear of vorpal weaponry, vulnerable to cold -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFFENSE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speed 40 ft., fly 60 ft. (poor) Melee bite +36 (3d6+1d/19-20), 2 claws +36 (2d6+13/19-20 plus grab), 2 wings +31 (1d8+6), tail +31 (2d6+6) Ranged 2 eye rays +26 touch (15d6/19-20 plus burn) Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft. Special Attacks burble, burn (6d6, DC 31), whiffling -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TACTICS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- During Combat The lesser jabberwock races into the midst of the PCs on the first round to make a vital strike with its bite. On the second round, it burbles to confuse the PCs that surround it. On following rounds, it makes full attacks--preferably against the PC wielding [Kingmaker AP-specific item]. If the monster is reduced to fewer than 200 hit points, it takes to the air and circles, firing one eye ray per round with Vital Strike while it heals back up to at least 300 hit points before landing and entering melee again. If denied this level of mobility, the monster simply focuses its full atacks on single targets, hoping to take the PCs down one at a time. At your discretion, if the monster defeats the wielder of [Kingmaker AP-specific item], it could scoop up the [item] and take to the air. The gate through which [Kingmaker AP NPC] sent the creature into the Material Plane is closed, so it must return to the First World via the portal at [Kingmaker AP location]--it flies toward that site with all due haste, eager to return the hated [item] to [Kingmaker AP NPC]. Morale The lesser jabberwock fights to the death. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATISTICS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Str 37, Dex 16, Con 29, Int 8, Wis 25, Cha 22 Base Atk +25; CMB +40; CMD 54 Feats Awesome Blow, Bleeding Critical, Critical Focus, Dodge, Flyby Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (bite, claws, eye rays), Mobility, , Spring Attack, Vital Strike Skills Fly +23, Intimidate +34, Knowledge (nature) +27, Perception +35, Sense Motive +35 Languages Aklo, Common, Draconic, Gnome, Sylvan SQ whiffling -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL ABILITIES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Burble (Su) A lesser jabberwock can burble once every 1d4 rounds as a standard action. This blast of strange noises and shouted nonsense in the various languages known to the jabberwock (and invariably some languages it doesn't know) affects all creatures within a 60-foot-radius spread--these creatures must make a DC 28 Will save or become confused for 1d4 rounds. Alternatively, the lesser jabberwock can focus its burble attack to create a 60-foot-line of sonic energy that inflicts 20d6 points of sonic damage (DC 28 Reflex save for half). The confusion effect is mind-affecting; both are sonic effects. The save DC is Charisma-based. Damage Reduction (Ex) A lesser jabberwock's damage reduction can be bypassed only by weapons with the vorpal weapon enhancement. Eye Rays (Su) The lesser jabberwock can project beams of fire from its eyes as a ranged touch attack as a standard action. It projects two beams, and can target different creatures with these beams if it wishes as long as both targets are within 30 feet of each other. A creature that takes damage from an eye beam suffers burn. Fear of Vorpal Weaponry (Ex) A lesser jabberwock knows that a vorpal weapon can kill it swiftly. As soon as it takes damage from a vorpal weapon, a lesser jabberwock becomes shaken. If it is hit by a critical threat from a vorpal weapon, whether or not the critical hit is confirmed, the jabberwock is staggered for the following round. Whiffling (Ex) A lesser jabberwock's wings and violent motions create a significant amount of wind whenever it makes a full attack action. These winds surround the monster to a radius of 30 feet, and are treated as severe winds--ranged attacks suffer a -4 penalty to hit a lesser jabberwock when it is whiffling, and Medium creatures must make a DC 10 Strength check to approach the creature. Small or smaller creatures in this area that fail a DC 15 Strength check are blown away. See page 439 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook for further details on the effects of severe winds. |
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Post by Munroe on Aug 11, 2010 20:58:40 GMT -5
These two are currently incomplete, but they're very near complete. The woman is nearing completion. Except for painting the face of her playing cards, her matte finish, and adding grass to her base, I think she is done. The gorgon is a Reaper Brass Bull. I want to make it look a little more metallic yet. I also want to base the bull on a 2-inch metal circle of some kind. (Probably a larger washer if I can find one the right size.) I may end-up using it as-is though if we do D&D this weekend as the party is close to possibly encountering a gorgon. You can't see it in this picture, but the bull has white teeth, dark green nostrils, and light green eye sockets with black dots in them for eyes. Both eyes could probably use a little more black though.
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Post by Munroe on Feb 18, 2011 18:34:42 GMT -5
I could have started a new thread, but why do that when I can cast THREADSURECTION! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I got my latest shipment of my Paizo subscriptions yesterday.
Among my many subscriptions is the Pathfinder Tales novel line.
The novels so far are not linked to each other, they just all take place in the same campaign world of Golarion. I got the third novel in this shipment (Plague of Shadows, don't know the author off the top of my head). Also in this shipment, I got a SECOND copy of the first novel (Prince of Wolves, by Dave Gross). There was a bookmark inserted into it that said roughly "Thanks for subscribing. Here's a free copy of Prince of Wolves to pass on to a friend so they can experience Golarion too."
I think that's really cool. I'm trying to decide who to give the book to. I want to give it to one of my friends who will actually read it because it's quite good.
Also in the shipment? Inner Sea Poster Map Folio. It's four eight-panel posters that go together to make a huge map of the known campaign world. It's really cool.
The updated Pathfinder campaign setting (Inner Sea World Guide) comes out next month.
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On another note related to this thread, I need to take some more pictures of stuff I've painted to post up.
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theruleslawyer
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TheRulesLawyer pays heed only to Holy Source, and its iteration as The Holy Server Rules.
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Post by theruleslawyer on Feb 19, 2011 0:27:16 GMT -5
How is Golarion? Is it as rich as Faerûn?
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Post by Munroe on Feb 19, 2011 1:27:42 GMT -5
How is Golarion? Is it as rich as Faerûn? Maybe you could expand your question? I quite like Golarion. With the functional death of Faerun when 4e was launched, Golarion has supplanted it as my favorite living campaign. Golarion is published by Paizo Publishing, the people who printed Dragon and Dungeon magazines for the last years of their lives as print magazines. They publish 2 six-part adventure paths a year (each path progresses from level 1 to the neighborhood of 12 to 15), each path containing supplemental materials, including two expanded deity entries per path. They also publish extensive supplemental materials in the form of their Campaign Setting series (aimed toward DMs) and Player Companion series (aimed toward players). There's also a stand-alone modules line for people who don't care for committing to a full adventure path. The modules often focus on parts of Golarion that haven't been the subject of an adventure path yet. In addition to the printed published materials, Paizo operates an ongoing organized play system (The Pathfinder Society) that relies on shorter adventures that are published solely in PDF format and designed to be played in 4-hour sessions, called Pathfinder Society Scenarios. All of the adventure path books have contained a fiction piece. (The first 18 books contained a continuous story, the next 6 contained an unrelated 6-part story, and I'm not sure how it breaks down after that but I think they're 6-part or stand-alone.) More recently, in the past year, Paizo has started a novel line. The first book in the line is Prince of Wolves, by Dave Gross (author of the Sembia series set in Forgotten Realms) and the second book is Winter Witch, by Elaine Cunningham (Dave Gross also gets a credit on the title page). These two novels I have read and they're both good. I recommend Prince of Wolves as a good place to start though. The third book, Plague of Shadows, is by Howard Andrew Jones. I just got it and I'm reading another book right now so I haven't started it yet. Prince of Wolves is a horror mystery in the fog-shrouded realm of Ustalav. The main characters are a visiting half-elven noble from Cheliax who is searching for a lost member of his organization, and his tiefling bodyguard. The story involves werewolves, secret cabals, and ... it's a mystery story so I shouldn't say too much. Winter Witch focuses on a warrior woman from a barbarian culture who is trying to save her sister from the frozen realm ruled by Baba Yaga, and a wizard who is trying to save the girl who is the focus of his unspoken affection. Part of the story of Winter Witch takes place in Korvosa, a city where worship of Asmodeus isn't uncommon and where it's so common for aspiring wizards at the mage academy to call imps as part of their studies that the city has a notable imp population. Luckily the pseudodragons native to the area have, over the years, developed the means to covercome imp damage reduction and they're natural enemies of the imps, so the two populations of tiny flying creatures keep each other in check. The near-nightly clashes between imps and pseudodragons are a signature occurrence in Korvosa, as detailed in Guide to Korvosa, part of the campaign setting line. The "Revisited" subset of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting line is a neat set of books too. Each one takes 10 monsters and gives each one 6 pages of detail. (One of the six pages is a stat block though, in the 3.5e books it was the core creature's stat reprinted since the Monster Manual was out-of-print, in the PRPG books it is a sample creature of the type, usually with class levels or something unique about them.) Books in this series include Classic Monsters Revisited, Dragons Revisited, Dungeon Denizens Revisited, Classic Horrors Revisited, Classic Treasures Revisited, and Misfit Monsters Redeemed. Interesting fact about Golarion trolls: Trolls in Golarion have fortune-tellers called augers that read the future in their own entrails. Interesting fact about Golarion otyughs: Otyughs take a mate, but live apart from their mates, visiting them and giving gifts (usually some piece of prized junk). Interesting fact about Golarion owlbears: Owlbears mate for life and an owlbear will fight its mate, but it will also fiercely protect its mate, even if the mate is already dead. (I may be misremembering part of this one though.) Interesting facts about Golarion goblins: Goblins reach physical maturity around age 5. They often live-in and scavenge the refuse of other humanoids. They fear writing and drawings, as they believe writing someone's name or drawing their image steals their soul. They are afraid of horses. They've domesticate a large rodent which is commonly referred to as a goblin dog. They hate common dogs, considering them inferior to goblin dogs. They ride goblin dogs, and will also ride wolves or worgs if they get the opportunity. They don't see the relation between wolves and dogs. Interesting fact about Golarion flesh golems: When a flesh golem goes berserk there's a % chance that it will gain sentience, acquiring an INT score and self-awareness. Anyway, you get the idea. The PRPG-updated and expanded campaign setting hardback comes out next month: Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide.
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theruleslawyer
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Post by theruleslawyer on Feb 19, 2011 17:23:42 GMT -5
What I had meant was something along the lines of this: Most fantasy worlds, especially new ones, are a mashed up jumble of every possible D&D theme crammed into one setting, that makes it a stupid mess of conflicting themes. Eberron, for example. Floating samurai cities with wargolems that are not living, but alive. Stupid!
Faerûn has been, for the past dozen of years for me, the only setting that was, really, worth anything with regards to actually playing. Other worlds, such as Dragonlance, capture the imagination and make a fantastic novel series, but are not... opportune, so far as 3rd Edition play goes. Low magic typically makes it harder to play non-magic classes, so a high-magic setting is opportune, but there's a point where high magic slips into 'this is just stupid,' and too many settings spill over it.
So, I guess my question is: is Golarion believable as a setting? Does it make sense, or is it a ridiculous hodgepodge of fantasy themes run through a blender and poured out into a makeshift setting?
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Post by Munroe on Feb 19, 2011 22:08:48 GMT -5
Yes and no.
Golarion has a lot of various things mixed together, but they've tried to do it in a way that doesn't destroy verisimilitude.
The main area is pretty standard fantasy, I think. There's Varisia, which is mostly a large area with city-states, then Cheliax, which is sort of like Renaissance Italy except with the state religion being Asmodeus. There's Taldor, which used to be a large empire, but now it's a dwindling kingdom in ruins with a decadent nobility. Cheliax and Andorian both used to be part of the Taldorian Empire, I believe, but now Cheliax has empirical plans of its own and Andorian is a fledgeling democracy. Riddleport and Korvosa are both on the edges of Varisia. One is a thriving town of thieves and neer-do-wells, and the other is a fledgeling kingdom in its own right.
Then, slightly further away, you have Lastwall, which is a Lawful Good military city-state that is built to be the last line of defense should the Whispering Tyrant (an ancient and evil lich) ever rise to prominence again. (He's destroyed/imprisoned in his tower.) A lot of the evil of that ancient lich tainted the land of Ustalav before he was destroyed and it's sort of a Transylvania/Barovia analog where the locals are more afraid of vampires and werewolves than dragons. (It's the principle locale for the Prince of Wolves novel.) Less common horrors, more Lovecraftian in nature, have been rumored in Ustalav as well.
The reason the whole region is called the Inner Sea is because there's a large waterway that runs through the continent and in the middle of that sea is the island city-state of Absalom, the "city at the center of the world." The island on which Absalom rests was raised by the ocean by Aroden, a human who ascended to godhood and was at one point one of the most prominent gods in the pantheon, but he died/disappearred several hundred years ago in events that are still largely unknown. But Aroden built Absalom himself, and in the center of Absalom rests the Starstone, an object that fell to Golarion hundreds of years ago. Anyone who can run the gauntlet to reach the Starstone can become a god. The Test of the Starstone is a harrowing gauntlet that few survive, but occasionally it does produce a god.
One god who became such is Cayden Cailean, the CG god of heroism, bravery, and alcohol. The story goes that he got drunk one night and took the Test of the Starstone while completely wasted, woke up the next morning as a deity.
The campaign world also includes an Egyptian analog (Osirion), a Persian analog (Ketapesh), and an Indian analog (Vudra), though these are quite geologically removed from the more Western fantasy areas. (Much as their real analogs are in our world.)
The far side of the world supposedly has an Asian analog (Tian Xia) but the source material for the Asian-themed regions hasn't been released yet. The second adventure path of 2011 is supposed to be set in Tian Xia though so material for Tian Xia will probably be available closer to Christmas.
Near Varisia there are also the areas of Nex and Geb, two countries that are at war (or were at war) and both of which contain large numbers of Undead. At least one is ruled by a lich.
There's also the Worldwound, a gaping portal where demons are pouring out into the world. Many paladins have lost their lives pushing back the demons of the Worldwound.
Oh, and the Mana Wastes and the realm of Alkenstar, a large Dead Magic/Wild Magic area where people can't rely on magic so they've developed firearms.
Last but not least, there's Numeria, a land dominated by technological terrors that come from a mountain-sized spaceship that crashed there long ago. The rulers of Numeria send adventurers and salvage teams into the huge high-tech dungeon to recover new technologies so they can try to reverse-engineer them.
So is it a hodge-podge world? Yes. Do I think that breaks it? No.
The majority of the world is still standard fantasy. It's not Eberron, where they have carriages and planes powered by air elementals, jungle drow, and an elven culture dominated by good-aligned elven "undead" (deathless).
In Golarion: Drow live underground and worship demons. (Lolth is WotC IP so they can't worship Lolth, but back in the day Lolth was a demon so they went back to that.) Magic carriages are rare and treasured things. (One appears in one of the novels.)
Now I may have misinterpreted some things concerning Eberron. I have the Eberron Campaign Setting but it never really inspired me. I do like the idea of Deathless though (they're like undead but they're usually good-aligned and powered by Positive Energy instead of Negative Energy).
All that having been said, my best suggestion to you would be to read Prince of Wolves or Winter Witch for a feel for the world.
Forgotten Realms has some crazy stuff that has gone on too when you look at it. Calimshan was ruled by genies. It's an Arabian analog too. Zakhura is an Indian analog. Amn is a Spanish analog, when you compare the relationship of Amn and Maztica with the relationship of Spain and the New World. Cormyr has been compared to France and Sembia to Italy as well. FR has at least two countries ruled by wizards (Thay and Halruaa). FR has Mulhorand as an Egyptian analog and goes even further in that it has basically the Egyptian pantheon. Illuskans are the Norse, more or less. Firearms exist in FR too, but gunpowder was a gift from Gond to the gnomes. And of course Kara-Tur is Asia.
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Post by Munroe on Feb 19, 2011 22:35:33 GMT -5
Oh, also Golarion has an expansive underworld, called the Darklands that functions like the Underdark in Greyhawk/Forgotten Realms.
It's populated with drow, derro, druegar, darkfolk (dark stalkers, dark creepers), aboleths, gigantic aberrations, lost worlds, and so on.
The Darklands are divided into three areas, each one deeper than the last, with the deepest being Orv, where the weirdest stuff is. (I can't remember the names of the other two regions off the top of my head.)
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Oh, the Tarresque exists in Golarion and it's still a pain in the butt, but now it's the most well known of a class of creatures known as the Spawn of Rovagug. Rovagug is a CE deity of monsters who wants nothing more than the destruction of the world. Long go he was imprisioned deep within Golarion and it was his taint that was partially related to the creation of the drow. It took all the might of the other gods to imprison Rovagug in the earth, and is even a rare instance of Asmodeus working with the good-aligned gods for a common goal. Rovagug created a number of massive monsters before his imprisonment though. These creatures area all essentially epic-level encounters in their own right and most lie in deep slumber. The Tarresque is the most well known, but at least one or two others have been introduced since the introduction of the campaign world.
Long ago the aboleths decided that men were too powerful so they arranged for a cataclysmic event to wipe-out mankind. This was a giant meteor that was drawn to Golarion. The elves got wind of what was happening and fled Golarion through portals to another realm. Some elves did not flee Golarion and instead went deep into the earth. It was these elves, dwelling deep in the earth, that were exposed to the taint of Rovagug and warped into the drow.
Only in the past couple hundred years or so have the elves returned to Golarion and reclaimed their ancestral lands. They were appalled to learn what became of the elves that were left behind, how they were corrupted into the drow, and the existence of drow is a secret the elves keep from the rest of Golarion for now.
The event the aboleths caused was called Earthfall and it nearly wiped out humanity, forcing Golarion into an ice age shrouded in darkness. It was during this time that the orcs and the dwarves were battling for territory in the Darklands. When the orcs learned that the world above was covered in darkness, and no longer blinded them as it once had, they fled to the surface in retreat from their dwarven enemies. Dwarves followed, bringing their battles with the orcs to the surface world, and thus dwarves and orcs arrived on the surface of Golarion in its time of darkness.
Gnomes are fairly recent arrivals to Golarion, arriving later than the other races (though before the return of the elves, I believe). The gnomes were fey creatures but something happened in the realm of the fey and the gnomes left the First World to experience life as humanoids. They are no longer fey, but are still strongly connected to their fey ancestry. As long as they continue to have new and varied experiences, and a zest for life, they don't age the same as other humanoids and it hard to guess the age of a vibrant "young" gnome by looking. However, gnomes may go through "the bleaching," where their hair turns white or gray and they lose interest in experiencing the new and the trivial. (This may be the cause of the bleaching.) After this point, they're usually very serious and age normally.
I'm recalling all this from memory, so my apologies if I've got something incorrect.
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Post by Munroe on May 2, 2011 0:42:43 GMT -5
I figured it was time to post some more images of my miniatures. Then I took some very nice shots of them and in looking at them on my PC I saw some touch-ups I need to do. Anyway, it's much easier to see flaws in high resolution photos than looking at the miniatures just standing there. The three miniatures in these two shots are finished and I'm happy with the way they turned out. They've been sealed with matte finish and put away. I like the way the card faces look too. They don't actually have anything written on them, just squiggles, but you actually have to look pretty close to see that they're just squiggles. The two girls beside the construct still need some work done on them, and I haven't decided what I'm going to do about their bases yet. I think the one in the green dress is just going to get a blue and white base like she's in the snow there. The construct was entirely silver and gold at one point, except for the wood crate and barrel on this back, but then I did his chest panels in blue with red rivets then washed that section with black. I really like the way that turned out so I may add more blue and red. Some parts of him having been painted at all yet, just primed and drybrushed white. I've already used him at my table though, as a Blood Golem of Cyric. I recently bought some bronze metallic paint too, so I'm thinking I'll redo some of his screws and rivets with bronze. This one is my gorgon. I noticed when I looked at him in a high resolution photograph that he needs a little bit of touch-up here and there. He also looks pretty bland in these photographs so I'm definitely considering giving him a black wash and another layer of dry-brush. I think black wash will really help his tail look better too. He's been dry-brushed multiple layers but he wasn't given a wash and I think that would help make him more photogenic anyway. The party will be encountering him next session. As much red as I end-up using on these miniatures, you'd think my favorite color was red. It's not, I just think it looks good in these cases. This big guy in the middle is from Privateer Press's Hordes game, but I'm going to paint him up as an ogre mage. I'm just trying to decide if I want to paint him like a D&D ogre mage or a Pathfinder ogre mage. Obviously, he doesn't have a sword like an ogre mage, but that's just an item after all. I notice now that he also doesn't have horns, but I'm willing to overlook that. I'll probably postpone painting the woman on the left for awhile because she's actually one that I like a lot and I want to make sure I do her well so I need more practice first. The bobby on the right I got pretty cheap and he looks to be an easy paintjob too. I really want to get started on the undead hounds I just recently got too. They came in a three pack and I haven't opened them yet. Last night I ordered a ten-pack of Otherworld Miniatures that is 8 wolves (2 sets of 4 poses) and two dire wolves in different poses. I really didn't need wolf miniatures (I have plenty of plastic wolf D&D miniatures) but I couldn't help myself. I won't be working on those for a long time.
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Post by Malignant Naricissism on May 2, 2011 0:53:39 GMT -5
I don't know how you manage to do that well painting miniatures, maybe I just have poor coordination or something, but every time I have tried, it ends in disaster. Yours look great though!
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Post by Munroe on May 2, 2011 1:10:00 GMT -5
I don't know how you manage to do that well painting miniatures, maybe I just have poor coordination or something, but every time I have tried, it ends in disaster. Yours look great though! Thanks for the compliment. To expand on your comparison though, did you notice how *FEW* miniatures I've painted? I'm still working on some of the same ones I put up shots of last August. I will never have very many because I spend so long on each one. I think the non-human miniatures are going to be easier to paint because you have to deal with the uncanny valley when you're painting human stuff, whereas monsters don't have that big of an issue.
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Post by Malignant Naricissism on May 2, 2011 17:54:06 GMT -5
What is your experience, if any, with the Pathfinder paladin? I think they may have overdone it with smite evil; it is much, much more powerful now, and I think especially the damage bonus against evil dragons and outsiders pushes it a little too far. Even in a low-magic game, where the party had less magic for their level than usual, I found it difficult to challenge the paladin when he used smite evil. He literally would lay waste to even a pit fiend by the mid-teens, level wise.
Just curious if you've had a similar experience.
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Post by Munroe on May 2, 2011 19:02:44 GMT -5
What is your experience, if any, with the Pathfinder paladin? I think they may have overdone it with smite evil; it is much, much more powerful now, and I think especially the damage bonus against evil dragons and outsiders pushes it a little too far. Even in a low-magic game, where the party had less magic for their level than usual, I found it difficult to challenge the paladin when he used smite evil. He literally would lay waste to even a pit fiend by the mid-teens, level wise. Just curious if you've had a similar experience. They fixed the paladin's smite against evil dragons, outsiders, and undead after the first printing of the core rules. The double level to damage is only supposed to apply on the first hit. One solution to the paladin issue is don't make everything they fight evil. Smite Evil is still a conditional attack and if it's used against a non-evil target it is wasted. It still only works so many times a day, and they removed the Extra Smiting feat. I'm sure there's some good advice for dealing with the paladin smite on the Paizo messageboard. "Smite Evil is too powerful!" is a thread that pops up now and again. The current version of Smite Evil from reprints of the Core Rulebook is below, taken from the Pathfinder Reference Document (which is always updated to reflect the latest printing of the books). Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a paladin can call out to the powers of good to aid her in her struggle against evil. As a swift action, the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is evil, the paladin adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her paladin level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. If the target of smite evil is an outsider with the evil subtype, an evil-aligned dragon, or an undead creature, the bonus to damage on the first successful attack increases to 2 points of damage per level the paladin possesses. Regardless of the target, smite evil attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess.
In addition, while smite evil is in effect, the paladin gains a deflection bonus equal to her Charisma modifier (if any) to her AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. If the paladin targets a creature that is not evil, the smite is wasted with no effect.
The smite evil effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the paladin rests and regains her uses of this ability. At 4th level, and at every three levels thereafter, the paladin may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on Table: Paladin, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level. |
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Post by Malignant Naricissism on May 2, 2011 19:09:55 GMT -5
Hm, interesting, I haven't looked at the errata. I should. One problem that fixed it was this paladin was using the divine shield feat (from complete warrior), and that plus the AC bonus from smite evil was making things well, insane.
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Post by Munroe on May 2, 2011 21:30:52 GMT -5
Hm, interesting, I haven't looked at the errata. I should. One problem that fixed it was this paladin was using the divine shield feat (from complete warrior), and that plus the AC bonus from smite evil was making things well, insane. Oh yeah, if you're mixing PRPG with 3.5, your mileage may vary. I own a LOT of material for both game systems, but I'd have to give serious consideration before allowing a PRPG player to take stuff from 3.5e crunch. As for checking out "errata," you can download a PDF of the changes to the latest printing at paizo.com or you can look at the PRD for any specific questionable issue to see if it's been updated. The PRD is here: www.paizo.com/prdI think they're on the fourth printing of the Core Rulebook now, and the second or third printing of the Bestiary. Each printing they incorporate any new errata.
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Post by Munroe on May 3, 2011 0:07:16 GMT -5
I did some more work on my gorgon ( Reaper Brass Bull) and the construct (Privateer Press Warmachine Mangler Heavy Warjack) last night. I touched up some general issues with the gorgon and blackwashed him. For the construct, I painted his top red and blue, and painted a lot of rivets over his body copper, then I washed him as well. I'm not every happy with his black washing though as I think I got too much black on the top of him, especially on his right shoulder plate (on his left when you look at him head-on). More pics: See how the spinal frill seems to have more detail? That's the wash. The tail also looks a lot better. I think he's ready to be sprayed with matte finish as soon as the weather is nice for spraying. I'm not really happy with that shoulder on his flail arm. (Flail not shown as there was really no change to it.) The black wash is really too heavy on the front and too thin on the back of that top shoulder plate. The rest I'm pretty happy with, it makes the thing appear more used and weather-beaten.
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Post by Teneas on May 3, 2011 15:57:41 GMT -5
Nice stuff man. Looks good.
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Post by Munroe on May 28, 2011 11:36:21 GMT -5
Not sure if anyone other than me cares about this but... Paizo just bought out the inventory of a game shop closing in the state of Washington called American Eagles. The shop apparently also used to be a distributor back in the day and they have a ton of old stuff, including AD&D Ravenloft books. So Paizo has a bunch of AD&D Ravenloft books now that are from the inventory of the shop and they're selling the stuff at cover price. AD&D Ravenloft print products on Paizo.comOther stuff from the shop inventory purchase: paizo.com/store/sale/americanEaglesThe store blog indicates they'll be adding more items from the inventory of American Eagles to their online store on the last Friday of every month through October. I just ordered all the Van Richten's guides they put up for sale (Ancient Dead, Created, Fiends, Ghosts, Vistani, Werebeasts), as well as the Ravenloft: A Guide to Transylvania (A Masque of the Red Death Accessory) and Ravenloft: Howls in the Night, an adventure that I believe is a mystery adventure involving hounds on the moors, likely inspired by the Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles. (Cover artwork on Howls in the Night suggests to me that the monster may actually be a Howler.) Eagerly awaiting my shipment now.
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Post by Malignant Naricissism on May 28, 2011 11:49:31 GMT -5
Ooo, this is something I'll have to look into. I have the old AD&D Van Richten's Guide to....something (covers vampires, werewolves and golems, was published in the late 90s I believe), and its a fantastic book. Really different from your run of the mill D&D ideology too in regards to golems.
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Post by Munroe on May 29, 2011 13:05:03 GMT -5
Also, check out Tome of Horrors Complete. www.talesofthefroggod.com/index.php/products/the-tome-of-horrorsIt's taking pre-orders right now for an August release. Anyone that preorders before June saves $10. ($89.99 before June, $99.99 from June onward I guess.) It's a single volume collection of Necromancer Games' Tome of Horrors, Tome of Horrors II, and Tome of Horrors III numbering approximately 1,000 pages, and all converted to Pathfinder RPG rules.
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Post by Pithirendar on May 29, 2011 20:00:29 GMT -5
*drooool*
Maybe I can complete my collection!
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Post by Munroe on May 30, 2011 6:33:13 GMT -5
*drooool* Maybe I can complete my collection! Not sure which you're drooling over, the Ravenloft stuff or the Tome of Horrors Complete. If it's the Ravenloft stuff, numbers are limited and if it's the Tome of Horrors Complete, they're doing a very limited release after pre-order so it's best to get in on the pre-order. Either way, acting earlier is better than later.
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Post by Pithirendar on May 30, 2011 10:23:13 GMT -5
*drooool* Maybe I can complete my collection! Not sure which you're drooling over, the Ravenloft stuff or the Tome of Horrors Complete. If it's the Ravenloft stuff, numbers are limited and if it's the Tome of Horrors Complete, they're doing a very limited release after pre-order so it's best to get in on the pre-order. Either way, acting earlier is better than later. In my excitement I forgot to say Ravenloft books. I'm missing a couple of the Van Richten's Guides. Not for long
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Post by Munroe on Sept 20, 2011 11:29:57 GMT -5
Also, check out Tome of Horrors Complete. www.talesofthefroggod.com/index.php/products/the-tome-of-horrorsIt's taking pre-orders right now for an August release. Anyone that preorders before June saves $10. ($89.99 before June, $99.99 from June onward I guess.) It's a single volume collection of Necromancer Games' Tome of Horrors, Tome of Horrors II, and Tome of Horrors III numbering approximately 1,000 pages, and all converted to Pathfinder RPG rules. The total page count ends up being 818 pages, I believe. Frog God Games is publishing Tome of Horrors Complete. Paizo sent out an email advertizing the 500-or-so copies they bought for their own webstore, and they sold the remaining copies (it was up for pre-order before that) in less than 8 hours. A bunch of customers complained that they had no opportunity to order at all, so now Frog God Games has announced they will do a second printing, called Tome of Horrors Complete Unlimited Edition, with a different cover color scheme (gray and silver instead of the black and gold of the first printing). The content of both versions will be the same. Bill Webb, the owner/founder of Frog God Games, has said he's signing all the first printing preorders that were made directly with Frog God Games. Shipping on the first printing of Tome of Horrors Complete is this week for the preorders from Frog God Games, so I'm looking for my copy to come in the mail soon.
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