My Sorcerer class is a work-in-progress; the AoC campaign is playtesting it. Last night it struck me that making characters save vs. corruption as a standard save vs. magic is rather more brutal than it is playable. Before they hit fourth level, almost any sorcerer is going to be irredeemably evil and showing physical signs of corruption because, let's face it, saving throws aren't easy to make in OD&D. As a stop-gap this session I told the Stygian player that as a factor of the Stygian race I am extending his enhanced spellcasting to corruption saves as well...thus, he's always saving against corruption as though he was 3 levels higher than he is, this due to the fact that Stygians have a deeper innate understanding of and connection to magic than other races. However, that's only a stop-gap. I need to come up with a way to give all sorcerers some sort of benefit when saving vs. magic. Perhaps make it wholly dependent upon the school of magic they use. Divinat...

Heretics of Tarantia, Part Two Our heroes leave the King's palace and determine to begin their investigation by seeking out Essenic, the mercenary who they were told fired the arrow which killed Urestes. Armed with rumors that Essenic spends a lot of time on the Avenue of Roses (Tarantia's "red light" district), they head out to "interrogate" some of the prostitutes who live and work in the area. As they travel, they note that word has hit the streets of Urestes' murder, and most people are placing the blame squarely on the cult of Asura. In an effort to slow down the rumors, Lukas applies his background as a seditionist to plant "counter-rumors" which suggest the Asurans might be getting set up. While no one thinks his efforts will stop people from blaming the Asurans, the group hopes that Lukas can at least keep things at a slow boil instead of a pressure cooker about to explode. One of the heroes ends up with a prostitute who was just with...

Heretics of Tarantia, Part One Note that for this adventure I am running the Mongoose adventure scenario "Heretics of Tarantia," so there will be spoilers involved Our heroes at last arrive victorious in Tarantia and deliver the tribute from King Milo to the house of Publius, the King's Chancellor. They are then paid and left to their own devices to spend their time and money (as adventurers do) throughout the city. After a shopping spree to upgrade weapons, armor, spell components, and other various and sundry supplies, they hit the taverns, where to their credit the two Aesir manage to stay out of a potential bar brawl when a drunken lout begins to badmouth the King, focusing on his parentage and barbarian blood. Eventually the city watch shows up and puts a stop to the raging (though to the PCs' surprise, their complaint is that he is threatening a riot and disturbing the peace, not speaking out against the king). Later, as they leave the bar, they witness what a...

Got back from Gen Con Sunday and needed some time to recover before writing anything about it. The short version: the con was an absolute blast. There were a TON more vendors in the dealer's room, though not a single video game vendor this year. The con in general had a sense of excitement and anticipation for the future that I haven't sensed there in a few years now. Pathfinder has taken off in a big way, which for reasons upon which I cannot elaborate right now is a very good thing. The trip out was interesting. We got stuck in a TORRENTIAL downpour just inside the Indiana border. Everything was so flat we could see the lightning hitting the ground all around us. It was pretty terrifying, actually--at one point I was a bit worried we might see a tornado form. But we turned off the highway and found a parking lot to wait it out. This was at some industrial supply company on a back road in the middle of the Indiana countryside. Thank God for the Garmin or we might not h...