Thursday 22 September 2016

PC Roster

1. Joe: Jarrick; Level 7 - Rogue 1 / Paladin 6; AC 21 HP 58; XP 24,159/34000
2. Judith: Sephiria: Wizard (bladesinger) 6 / Rogue 1; AC 17/22 HP 45; XP 27,969/34,000
3. Keelia: Quillax: Druid 7; AC 18 HP 55; XP 33,763/34,000
4. Francis: Neril Monk 7 AC 19 HP 52 XP 26,109/34,000
5. Adam: Elwin Cleric 7

XP Needed - Total & To-Level
6: 14000  (9000 to level)
7: 23000  (11000 to level)
8: 34000  (14000 to level)
9: 48000  (16000 to level)
10: 64000  (21000 to level)

Sunday 18 September 2016

ep 25 RSS 25-26/7/4712 - Aldern destroyed, exploring the Misgivings

Image result for diseased rat Runelords

Quillax Account
As Alden Foxglove changed back into his ghoulish form, I could just hear Elwin nearby, obviously having found the note pinned to Clank and following us down the well and to Alden's strange underground room. We didn't have a chance to do more than warn him of the dangerous mold, though, as Foxglove demanded our full attention, particularly as during the fight he tried to shapeshift into my form. However, considering as I was in my bear form, it was quite obvious to our group who was whom. We struck hard and fast, giving our all in the fight, and were soon victorious, with Jarrick having landed the killing blow.

(Private note: Aldan was wearing some odd patchwork mask, which we could not determine the use of. Additionally, Jarrick claimed his weapon, but it is so tainted, it required consecration before it could be safely wielded.)

We located some keys and as a precaution, decided to burn back the "Vorral mold" as far as we could once more, as it was slowly, but visibly regenerating. This revealed a little chime, which we collected. It seemed that the mold quivered angrily at us, so perhaps the chime had some sentimental value to Vorral. Or perhaps it was worried that we would find something it was protecting.

On our way out, we checked the pool of water, but found little of interest, so we proceeded out of the mansion back the way we came towards the well so we could rest well away from this evil house. Elwin warned us of the toxic smoke he had encountered on the way in, so we wrapped cloth around our faces as we climbed up and out of the cave into the small tunnel to the well.

Jarrick and Neril decided to check the well was still clear from enemies, and Neril quickly pulled back, warning us of the undead ravens moments before they swarmed down the well towards us. Sepheria cast cloud of daggers at our little tunnel entrance, but some of the ravens pushed through to attack Jarrick and Elwin. Elwin ended up destroying them and we proceeded out of the well and, after collecting Clank, well over a mile away from the house to be outside the radius of sickness. We found a flat rock near the moor and Sepheria cast her protective dome spell, and we rested.

Once dawn broke, we returned to the Manor and decided to tackle the house from the bottom up. We went back down through the well and returned to the staircase which led up (I did not mention this previously, but it was in the cavern where we fought the ghouls).

I had a strange and nearly overwhelming vision of Aldan Foxglove digging the stairs saying 'For you' with every strike. I also saw a swarm of ghouls suddenly crawling out of the ground and trying to drag me down' I was able to recognize this as a vision and resist it. I quickly informed the rest of the party in case there were actually ghouls nearby.

We hurried along and found a door which left this cavernous pit. It led us to a workshop with a bench covered with soggy books and birdcages containing diseased, undead rats. There were also two odd stained glass windows, which we worked out showed Vorral turning into a (failed) lich: the first one showed a skinny man drinking some sort of noxious looking green brew. The second showed the same man, obviously undead now, but in a state of celebration turning into a seven sided box (obviously the phylactery from Aldan's room).

Jarrick was affected by the sudden urge to read books. He later explained that he experienced a visions of Vorral in a method that seemed as if the stained glass had been animated and was telling the story. During this time he thought he was Cassandra, Vorral’s wife. He was trying to find her daughter, but luckily the door was locked and he could not run away from us. He attacked who he
thought was Vorral, though in real life it was Neril. It was at this point we realized he was possessed. Neril retreated so as to not draw Jarrick/Cassandra’s ire further. Jarrick then tried to break down the locked door. When he could not, he went to jump out the window. Sepheria was closest but could not stop him. Luckily, the possession wore off as he fell and he quickly regained his wits and was able to land on a ledge. We fetched him up from the ledge and he explained to us that he remembered some of Cassandra’s thoughts. She had forced open a door using her magic and this had interrupted Vorral’s lich-transformation, possibly causing him to become trapped in the mold/manor.

(Side note about the Foxglove family: Aldan had been married to Aisha, which causes a scandal as they were from different areas. He was the great-great nephew of Vorral. We later found out that Foxglove Manor was partly paid for by a certain Brotherhood of the 7, who we believe caused Aldan’s ghastly form. From what we understand, after 100 years – of which 13 are remaining – the lease would revert to this brotherhood. Additionally, Travor and Cyralie are Aldan’s parents. They moved into Foxglove the same year that Aldan was born.)

 Sepheria decided to smash the second window and the manor retaliated with what she later explained was Phantasmal killer. As only she could see the terrifying vision, we did not realize anything was amiss until she started to convulse and mutter in terror. Neril quickly walked her through some mental disciplines in the hopes of helping her through this fright and he was successful in saving her.

 Once she had control of herself, we unlocked the door and left the workroom. A narrow tunnel lead us to a chamber of decaying furniture. The ceiling appears to be wooden slats which placed us just under the ground floor of the manor in the basement. There were shelves with rotting books, a cupboard, a dead fireplace, and two large cracks that led into the basement walls.

 Sepheria cast ‘protection from evil’ on herself as a protective measure and opened a door to reveal a cupboard with empty bottles while Neril found a loose brick in the fireplace, behind which was a small urn filled with dried pinecones and some gems. Before either could do more, two swarms of diseased rats crawled out the smallish cracks and attacked them both. Both reported feeling unwell after getting scratched or bit and we suspected it was a milder case of what we have since called “Vorral’s Phage”. This is the same disease that afflicted the summoned fey/toads below, but a much less virulent and therefore slower acting strain. I shifted to bear form and attacked while Neril attacked then retreated and Sepheria struck with her green flame blade.  Even on fire, the rats stayed, leading us to believe that not only were they diseased but also insane and possibly somehow raged.

 Jarrick struck down the rest of the first swarm while Elwin burned more using his guiding bolt. At this point, the rats decide to flee but Sepheria and Jarrick destroyed them. We took a short rest to allow Jarrick to cure Sepheria and Neril of the illness before we continued our search. Sepheria sent her homunculus through the cracks and Moncey popped out from a nearby store room. Our search revealed a hidden door in an otherwise empty wine room with some good vintage behind it. The final door led to an old and obviously long-unused bedroom.

 Heading up some narrow stairs, there was a strange haunting echo as if someone was following us, but after some checks, we realized it was simply the floorboards settling oddly after having been walked upon. The stairs led to a room nearly identical to the shape of the workshop below, except it had two extra windows and also lead out into the foyer of the manor and what appeared to be the
front doors.

 All of the windows depicted monsters rising out of 7-sided boxes. In case it later becomes important, the windows in order from left to right were: a tree with an evil looking face in its trunk, a bird with blue and gold plumage, a woman with a lion body which we assume was depicting a sphinx, and a squid.

 The main room/foyer behind us had a mummified monkey head with a pull rope and a ratty throw rug hiding an oddly shaped spread of dark mold. Examining the mold closely, we realized it was not deadly but it was shaped like a swirling staircase littered with bones on the ‘steps’ in a fairly good representation of some of our previous exploration, particularly for mold.

 Having learned from breaking the first windows, Sepheria stood well back and cast protection from evil on Neril, who broke the rightmost window, the squid. He announced that he felt as if something was trying to make him afraid but he was not bothered by it. He then broke the window beside it – the sphinx – and the manor (or perhaps Vorral) attacked him with a confusion enchantment, but Neril’s training allowed him to shrug it off. Shattering the bird window, Neril struggled against what Sepheria later identified as Phantasmal Killer, the same spell that had attacked her below. But Neril was able to free himself from the spell with some struggle, which was shown as damage upon his skin. We took a moment to heal him before he destroyed the last window (the tree), which seemed to have no effect.

 After taking a moment to regroup, we moved to the room to the left of the tree window, entering some sort of lounge/drawing room. There was white fungus scattered around the room primarily around a battered couch. Dust danced on the floor but there was no breeze in the room. Fire bolts from Sepheria seemed to do little, other than to singe the damp couch and move the dust towards the fireplace. However, Sepheria suddenly ran towards Jarrick and tried to life him and carry him out. From her muttering, we realize she thought she was someone else and that Jarrick was her daughter, whom she was trying to save. Jarrick tried to restrain her but Sepheria was determined and he decided to go with her – at least to protect her from jumping out windows – and they headed for the exit. The rest of us followed from a short distance, uncertain on what to do, but as soon as they exited the manor, Sepheria regained her senses and they returned.

 She explained that she thought she was Cassandra, Vorral’s wife, and that she was trying to save her daughter, Laurie.

 Seeing as she was once in control of herself, we proceeded on our original task, wary now that anything may prompt another possession. Sepheria investigated the monkey head bell pull, which made my skin crawl, and she pointed out the other animals on the wall. In the shadows of the ceiling, she spotted a stuffed manticore hanging from ropes in the ceiling.

 Sepheria suddenly cried out that it had come alive, but to our eyes we saw nothing had changed with the stuffed creature. She started to scream as if she was in great pain, swatting at her skin before throwing herself onto the run and rolling around, small burns appeared on her skin. I cast dispel magic as I knew not what else to do and she calmed.

 While Elwin healed her, she explained that she thought the manticore had come alive and it had the face of Cyralie, wife of Travor, mother of Aldan. As per the previous possessions or spells, she had
some memories from it. Sepheria explained that Cyralie had become convinced the house was evil and had tried to burn it down, starting in the servants quarters. Travor had responded by throwing her out of one of the upper windows of the house, most likely to her death.

 She was shaken but determined to push on so we moved on to another door. It opened into a library. Jarrick quickly grabbed Sepheria before she could step inside, insisting that he go in first. Unsurprisingly, Sepheria reached in with mage hand and snatched up a fallen book. It seemed to be a book on history. Looking around, we spotted a broken stone bookend, a winged cherub missing one wing, in the fireplace. Undoubtedly, the missing wing was the one was spotted in the ghoul’s head.

 Jarrick edged into the room first, wary, and suddenly an audible shriek sounded from nowhere and a scarf leapt off the chair and attacked Jarrick, wrapping around his throat. I managed to unwrap it and it fell limp in my hands. While we destroyed it, Jarrick explained felt he as if he was Aldan’s wife, Aisha, for a moment and that Aldan was strangling him/her with her own scarf.

 In the nearby drawing room, Sepheria’s curiosity got the better of her, and she started sifting through some books. She found a tome with hand written notes in the margins, obviously recent and written by Aldan most likely. It mentioned two things of interest. The first being that it was thought the kaijitsu galleon was beached in the swamp. The second was that he was sad about the burning of Sandpoint and that Orrick (whom the hag still has) said it was unlikely that the goblins in Sandpoint would come back down and attack.

 In another room, I offered to go first and upon opening the curtains to check that the windows were not stained glass, I spotted Aisha’s reflection. She reached out beseechingly to me for a moment before she faded. Having searched that side of this floor, leaving the two sets of upwards staircases for the moment, we returned to the couch room with some trepidation. Again, I led the entrance to the room. This room appeared to be fine now and we proceeded through the side door into a narrow hall. Off the hall was a washroom, where we put a diseased and blind rat trapped in a tub out of its misery.

 From there we proceeded to the next room which seemed to be a dancing room or parlour with an open floor and an unkempt piano. Jarrick remembered that Aisha loved to dance as Aldan played the piano. I avoided the pull to play the piano and entered the room. Neril, just behind me, started tapping at the keys, which summoned up Aisha’s ghost, who wanted to dance. Though I could resist, I decided to dance with her, to see if I could get any more information from her. When nothing was forthcoming, I urged her to a halt and she suddenly changed, taking on the appearance of one being choked with bulging eyes and tongue. Then she moved on to dead with rotting flesh before she disappeared.

 Having gotten little more from her vision, we moved on and unlock the outside door with the steward’s key we picked up some time ago. We end up back in the main room where Sepheria uses magic to examine the monkey head and declares it an alarm. We decide against pulling it and we pause to discuss which staircase to take up to the next floor.

Sunday 11 September 2016

ep 24 Runelords 25/7/4712 Aldern Foxglove

PCs journey to Foxglove Manor, enter via well tunnel, kill ghoul bat, ghouls, goblin ghasts, confront Aldern Foxglove. He attempts to romance Quillax, she palms a letter. He is finally angered when Sephiria insists she should chaperone...






















Quillax's Account

We left Elwin behind as there was some Cleric-related task he wished to perform; I didn't understand the details of it, but he had to do it this day and was happy to catch up as soon as he had completed it. I believe it was some sort of protection against evil spell on a large scale. Neril volunteered to stick around for a short time longer to make certain that Elwin would be safe in our absence and to ensure that no one followed us.
Jarrick, Sepheria, and I set out, with myself in Elk form carrying the others. Additionally, should we need to flee suddenly for some reason, I would be able to carry everyone away mostly swiftly, well, except Clank, but I would return for my metallic companion.
We walked down Lost Coast Road to Foxglove River. As we crossed the bridge, Jarrick noted the goblins huddled underneath watching us but not daring to attack. We then continued for about another 10 miles to the bridge over Bleaklow Moor. This final bridge before Foxglove manor was in ill repair and after some examination, we determined that it would safely hold if we crossed one at a time, but it would still not hold up to the weight of my animal form. We finished the journey on foot, noticing the land dying the closer we came to our destination.
The manor itself was rotting and dilapidated, looking more like a condemned building then a once-stately home. The plant life was dead or dying, the area was silent of animal life, and even the air was foul. There seemed to be a miasma of death around the place, turning even the sun into a pale shadow of itself. The whole area was sickened and as a Druid, I found this distressing. It took much evil to kill so much of nature.
We crept closer, not wanting to announce ourselves if we could avoid it, checking out the nearby ruins of an outbuilding for enemies to avoid an ambush. We found an old water well, which looked in fair shape still, startling a flock of ravens, who flew weak and uncoordinated towards the house, disappearing onto the roof or into the eaves. They were silent, which was unlike ravens at all.
Sepheria was more interested in the architecture of the house than the well, but something about it had drawn Jarrick's interest. He called out softly to us that he heard noises - some sort of rustling, leathery sound - coming from inside. Sticking our heads into the well, we would smell death, the undead, and rotten meat. Sepheria sent Moncey down to investigate and found a tunnel near the water, hidden from view by a ledge. After a quick discussion, we decided to see where the tunnel went. We strapped Jarrick into the climbing harness, with Dark Vision applied, and sent him down with the support of a long rope held by Clank. Moncey went along while Sepheria and I waited above.
Sepheria relayed back that there was a drop into a cavern with some beast inside. Jarrick wished to know our plans.
It was around then I realized one of the ravens was staring at me still, not with the normal curiosity of that bird type, but with an intentness that was unnerving. I stared back and soon realized why the flock had been so clumsy - they were all dead. Or rather, undead. I looked around more closely and spotted more and more of the birds, in the dying trees, in the rafters, and rooftops; we were likely surrounded and vastly outnumbered. I relayed this to Sepheria and we decided to chance the tunnel rather than be attacked or spied upon.
We left a note for Neril and possibly Elwin (depending on how long he needed to spend on his ritual) with Clank, telling him to hold the rope and wait for our return, and to defend himself should he be attacked before we started planning our descent down the well and into the tunnel, preferably without ending up soaked.
With a bit of careful acrobatics, the use of my feather fall ring, and a lot of luck, both of us made it into the tunnel without landing in the water. Unsettled by the birds, I did not watch my path as well as I should have and I scuffed a bit of rubble as we shuffled along on hands and knees, sending a rock clattering noisily along the tunnel. I ducked my head at the chastising look from Jarrick at my mistake. From ahead of us, the shifting of the creature was more prominent. It reminded me of the large bats' wings down by the giantess' quarters some months ago.
We were just very, very quietly debating on how to proceed when there was a loud splash from the well behind us. The rustling of wings stilled then a head poked up from the hole just as Neril came crawling down the tunnel.
We were correct about it being a bat, or rather a skaveling. Jarrick took the brunt of its attacks as it ducked in and out of the tunnel. It screeched at us, a near deafening noise which sent little Moncey reeling but thankfully did little to us, before I was able to summon up a moonbeam to send it retreating back. The size of the tunnel made arranging ourselves for battle a bit tricky but we were able to ready ourselves for further combat. Neril bypassed the tunnel's small quarters all together and teleported into the cavern beyond, attacking the skaveling. Once the rest of us were prepared, I moved the moonbeam and Jarrick and I leapt down into the cavern. There wasn't room enough for Sepheria also to start, so she sat in the tunnel and prepared her spells.
Jarrick managed to knock the skaveling prone and we managed to take down the skaveling without much further damage to us. Sepheria dropped down to join us. We realized that this was also an undead beast - once a giant dire bat from the look of it. This was concerning as from the marks on the skaveling, it had been savaged by human ghouls.
As a precaution against further undead, I sent the moonbeam around the room and over all the dead bodies in the chamber then through the next tunnel until my spell was done. Finding no further nearby enemies, we turned our attention to the room. There were several rotting bodies, the normal type of dead, which we examined. One was realized was a notorious bandit lord known as Shaz Redshiv Billger, who hadn’t been heard of within the last year. We now knew why. He was recognizable by the giant pearl earring, the hat of disguise (which Jarrick gleefully claimed) and his finery. He was also known to have a bounty. Hedging our bets, we beheaded the corpse, wrapped the head in a cloth, and scrambled back to to tie it to the end of the rope that Clank held as no one wanted to put it into a bag of holding. Plus, the bottom of the well was cold, which would help preserve it for longer.
We burned the skaveling's body to be safe.
Finding nothing else of interest, we proceeded forward with Jarrick and Neril taking point, Sepheria in the middle, and myself as rear guard.
The tunnel forward lead into a small cavern, obviously carved out with metal tools. Several paths lead off this cavern; There was a distant sound like rhythmic breathing coming from all the paths. We guessed that perhaps it was waves as we were very close to the ocean. We temporarily split up to check out the tunnels. One tunnel lead to another cavern with abandoned tools, including a particularly well made axe. The other tunnel seemed to just go on for a bit. Sepheria called us over and we headed down the tunnel to the cavern with the tools. There was some kind of yellow mold there, which we managed to recognize as extremely dangerous before anyone got too close but we knew it was easily destroyed with fire, which we started to do. Neril wandered off briefly, then popped back with a warning call of 'Ghouls coming'. Jarrick stayed to guard the entrance ahead of us while Neril moved to defend the other which we had used to enter the cavern.
Sepheria requested that we block one of the choke points into the cavern to prevent us being attacked on multiple sides. I summoned a moonbeam and she threw a cloud of daggers inside of it. Anything approaching that side would hopefully think twice.
Unfortunately, our deterrent did not work on all the Ghouls. One particularly large one jumped through, despite the damage. Jarrick stepped up to engage it while Neril stood in the entrance of the other tunnel leading to our little cavern, blocking the Ghouls who had decided not to try to jump through the spells. I misjudged the height in the shadows of the cavern and accidentally struck Neril with fire, wincing at his unhappy response. Despite being singed, he continued to hold the Ghouls back and then lead them into the tunnel where they lined up nicely. Luckily, Sepheria's aim with her lightning staff was far better and most of the Ghouls were at least charred by her attack. Jarrick had destroyed his Ghoul Lord and came to assist. Those that survived us tried to flee and I gave chase. Neril chose to go the opposite way to try to cut it off and pointed out a Ghoul we had previously lost track of; it was destroyed also.
Once the area was safe, we dismissed our spells and examined the pick axe. It was dwarven-made and went into the bag of holding in case it could be of use. If we had to dig our way out, a dwarven axe against the soft limestone of the walls would be like cutting through butter. We took the time to drag the ghoul bodies back toward the well entrance and burn them. It was during this time we discovered one of these ghouls had what looked like the small stone wing from some sort of statue driven into his head. It looked as if it had been done in his pre-ghoul life. There was also one who had once been a carpenter if the rotting tools he still carried were any indication.
We continued forward after a short rest and Neril went to scout ahead. He came back quickly with the announcement of Goblins ahead, four by his count. We hurried forward but could find none. Employing the same tactics as before, we blocked one tunnel to discourage attackers and went the other way. Jarrick was immediately set upon from above by two Goblins, a third coming from behind where we had lay our magic. Neril took on the one that tried to attack from behind, unable to help Jarrick, who was paralyzed by their claws. I shifted forms and carefully lashed out at one, trying not to hurt Jarrick. Sepheria attacked where she could. We realized that these, too, were undead. A fourth one, injured, came limping around the corner and jumped on Jarrick. Sepheria blasted the area to try to chase the ghouls off Jarrick, rocking Jarrick's shield which had been parted from him but not damaging it.
We eventually managed to kill the goblins and were considering a rest when a voice spoke inside my head. I recognized it as Alden Foxglove, whom you may remember I had previous dealings with at the beginning of my Pathfinder's career. I relayed this to my companions, and also my creeping dread that this was not a place to rest, as if one slept here, one may not wake again. Additionally, I feared that the voice in my head was getting more difficult to resist, so I insisted we press on. He was very close - I could sense it.
We burned the goblin-ghoul bodies and moved on into the next room. It was an odd natural cavern, which had an entrance to the sea, where the ocean bubbled up from a hole in the centre, but the room dipped down sharply into a spiral down to the sea, like a reverse snail shell. There was a stone door just a bit further along but we had to clamber down and edge along the wall to not risk slipping towards the water. Jarrick used the Manor key he had been carrying and the door opened.
Down a small, winding tunnel, we came to a dank room, complete with rotting meat, an odd mold growth on the far wall, and a chair covered with blood. In the chair sat Aldan, whose eyes shone with madness. Jarrick cast Protection against Good and Evil on me, to help block the call of the voice. Aldan verbally called for me, but when I did not respond and we instead readied ourselves, he shifted into an odd, ghoul-like form and attacked. Jarrick went down heavily as did Neril. I tried summoning some fey spirits to assist but the mold growth bewitched them and started to infect them, turning them into ghouls before our very eyes. I dismissed them, aghast. Sepheria decided to go for the direct approach and dropped a fireball into the room, burning some of the mold, revealing an odd box on the ground, as well as torching a hideous painting of what appeared to be me painted in ichors and unmentionable substances. Luckily, it also burned the lock of what appeared to be my hair. Though how he got that, I do not know. I was unaffected by its burning, which was a relief.
Sepheria tried to get Neril out of the way and so I pushed up to the front to try to defend Jarrick also. I hoped the madness of his obsession would provide me some protection. And it did. Despite being in bear form, Aldan managed to drag me around the room in a sort of waltz, giddy with himself and the others forgotten. With no alternatives, I changed forms and aimed for distraction. That in turn caused him to change back to his human face and with a bit of pandering to his obsession, I was able to redirect his attention away from the others and even my own actions.
I dug out a bottle of liquor from the bag, hoping Sepheria would not mind, and poured it along with one of my poisons into the Djzet goblet of Lust, hoping that despite his inhuman form, this human one would be susceptible to the poison or the memory removal part of it; the cup was a backup measure, something in the drink I hoped would to give us an advantage. I noticed a scrap of paper that had survived the fire blast and pocketed it, feeling it important.
The drink must have given some small advantage as he allowed himself to be talked into providing information. About debts and curses and plagues, and his relative who had attempted to turn himself into a lich but instead ended up as a undead lichen and revealed the whole house was a (phylactery), which made me very glad we hadn't attempted to sleep inside it. I managed to get him to explain the box on the ground, which was part of this Vorral's spell, but I didn't understand it, so I played a hunch and managed to talk him into letting Sepheria and the others come into the room without attacking. Much to my surprise, it worked.
I thought Jarrick would bite off his tongue the way his jaw clenched as he held himself back as Sepheria spoke to Alden, but he heeded my subtle gesture and did not draw his weapon. Likewise, I hoped my warning look to Neril kept his fists in check as he kept curling and uncurling his hands, tense but unmoving otherwise. While Sepheria spoke, I offered my verbal support where possible, trying to keep Foxglove calm, sometimes pandering to his obsession.
Sepheria managed to get far more information out of Alden than I, but we could not talk our way out of his obsession and eventually his patience snapped and he once again shifted to that ghoulish form.
We were almost back where we started, but with more information and far fewer spells.

Wednesday 7 September 2016

5e CR, XP & Quest/Non-Combat Awards

CR    XP  Standard 1/4  DMG 'Medium' 

   0   0-10     0-2                
1/8      25        6                
1/4      50       12              
1/2    100       25                 
1       200       50              50   NOVICE (LOW)
2       450      112           100        
3       700      175           150      
4     1100      275           250
5     1800      450           500     HEROIC (MEDIUM)
6     2300      575           600
7     2900      725           750
8     3900      975           900
9     5000    1250          1100
10   5900    1475          1200
11   7200    1800          1600    PARAGON (HIGH)
12   8400    2100          2000
13  10000   2500          2200
14  11500   2875          2500
15  13000   3250          2800
16  15000   3750          3200
17  18000   4500          3900    EPIC (VERY HIGH)
18  20000   5000          4200
19  22000   5500          4900
20  25000   6250          5700

Epic CR XP Awards
21     33000 - Ancient black dragon, Lich (not in lair), Solar
22     41000 - Ancient green dragon, Lich (in lair)
23     50000 - Ancient blue dragon, Empyrean, Kraken
24     62000 - Ancient red dragon
25     75000
26     90000
27    105000
28    120000
29    135000
30    155000 - Tarrasque

XP Needed to Level & Non-Combat XP Awards (per PC)

Level Minor Standard Major Amazing XP Needed to Level
1        25         50        75     100            300
2        50       100       150     200            600
3        75       150       225     400           1800
4       125      250       375     500           3800
5       250      500       750    1100          7500
6       300      600       900    1400          9000
7       350      750     1100    1700         11000
8       450      900     1400    2100         14000
9       550    1100     1600    2400         16000
10     600    1200     1900    2800         21000 STORY AWARD
----------------------------------------------------------------------
11     800    1600     2400    3600         15000      650
12    1000   2000     3000    4500         20000      700
13    1100   2200     3400    5100         20000      750
14    1250   2500     3800    5700         25000      800
15    1400   2800     4300    6400         30000      900
16    1600   3200     4800    7200         30000    1000
17    2000   3900     5900    8800         40000    1200
18    2100   4200     6300    9500         40000    1400
19    2400   4900     7300   10900        50000    1600
20    2800   5700     8500   12700        50000    2000

Guideline XP for Investigation/Roleplay/Exploration Sessions: 
1 Minor Award at Average Party Level per hour of non-combat play (max Level 10/600). 
4 Minor Awards per typical 4 hour Session (max 2400). 
Substitute Major award (uncapped) where there is a major accomplishment.

Epic Awards (Level 20) DMG pg 231-232
1 Epic Boon per epic achievement. Typically 1-3 Boons per 64-page Pathfinder AP adventure (eg at middle & end), 
or 1 per 5 sessions/20 hours approximately for a level 20 adventure.

GM's notes
Theoretically I have enough material just from the Runelords & Shattered Star APs for about 5 years of play (Nov 2015-Nov 2020), even without counting supplementary material from standalone adventures & other APs, or homebrew stuff. 

With 5e level advancement tending to speed up in levels 11-17, it's possible that several high level adventures could be run with PCs at level 20, in which case I will use the 5e DMG Epic Boon rewards, where PCs get a Boon for completing an Epic task such as destroying an evil artifact, or turning back an extraplanar invasion. I reckon in practice that would typically mean 2 Boons per high level Adventure Path adventure (at ca middle & end).

Monday 5 September 2016

Caizarlu Zerren's Spellbook

The following spells can be understood by non-Necromancers:

(3) Stinking Cloud, Vampiric Touch
(2) Melf's Acid Arrow, Blindness/Deafness, Mirror Image, Ray of Enfeeblement
(1) Mage Armour, Magic Missile, Fog Cloud