Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by IrvyneWolfe »

Jimsolo wrote:I'm not normally one for fangirling. But...

Image

I'm so so so using these. This is amazing. Thank you Ryan!
I know, I saw these and threw out the Pathfinder Adaptation for RL I was working on and sharing with my players beforehand. I did it happily and giggling like an idiot.
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Ryan Naylor »

You're welcome! I hope you get good use out of it.
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by koesherbacon »

Would you like some help undertaking this project?

I'm not sure if you use it, but I use Hero Lab to make all my group's enemies and NPCs, as well as my own characters when I'm a PC, which is much more rare than DMing. I'm not sure how I would rank myself from 1-10 in how well I make these custom creatures and people, but my group has never complained and on more than on occasion they've asked to take home a print out of a custom creature to use in one of their own games. Since we switched back to Ravenloft from the PF Core, I have also had to convert many different creatuers from 2nd Edition to the more modern method (ie - converting THAC0 to AB and so forth).

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that if you need help creating the statblocks for any of the creatuers and/or NPCs you'd like to include in your books, I'd really like to help you out!

Additionally, if you need help writing up descriptions of whatever for your netbooks, I think I'd like to give that a try too.

Please let me know if I can help out in any way! If you'd like to PM me, I can also give you my email so we can talk that way as well.
~ Ev
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Hi koesherbacon,

This particular project is done and published on our site. but we'll keep you in mind for future projects. And you're always welcome to contribute however you see fit to our netzine, Quoth the Raven:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/vi ... f=1&t=8954
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Zilfer »

Hey Ryan if your still popping in and around, I forget did you ever make a Prestige class for Lamplighters? I forget if that was discussed back in the old topic. I know you made Knight of Shadows. Thanks!
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Ryan Naylor »

No I didn't.
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Finally had some time to read these in-depth.

random thoughts while reading:
Domains of Dread
- Fantastic work! I especially like the "What is Ravenloft?" chapter.
- ooh... half-darkling. interesting new (I think?) idea.
- No Sithican Half-Elves?
- I'm a bit perplexed by the description of Darkonese elves. I always saw them as the civilized ones (and Sithicans as the "Wild" ones). Granted, the Sithicans do have cities, but so do the Darkonians (Neblus, Nevuchar, and Sidnar) and the alien-fey-revelling-in-the-woods description certainly doesn't mesh with Alanik Ray or Trillen Mistwalker.
- Huh... Gnomes as Dwarf/Elf hybrids. Never thought about them like that, but it fits! Brilliant.
- Hmm.... it wasn't until the blurb about monstrous PCs that I noticed the lack of OR. Not a fan of that rule, Ryan?
- Mutagen having a chance to turn the alchemist temporarily evil is both completely fitting in flavor, but also seems harsh in rules. (Maybe one step closer to Evil might be sufficient?) I maybe would have put in a reminder that "evil" doesn't necessarily mean "wild rampage". The change might be subtle enough that the PC could still stay on task, but for more selfish reasons.
- I like combining the Ancestral Legacy feat with the LotB Bloodlines. nice touch!
- Death's Head: ew. I like it.
- Ah, I see OR has been replaced by the Xenophobia rules...
- I think I mentioned it in the original feedback thread, but I love the generalization of fanes! One of the gems salvageable from EtCR.
- love love love the mundane "reskinning" of potions and other small magic items, and double love love love Companion Items. Will use that for sure. (already do, in some cases, I guess, but this officializes it in a sense, and opens up other ideas for where else I might use it.)
- the admonition for PC's to avoid selling magic items makes me wonder: might it be a good idea to codify that into the land? Some superstition that magic only clings to an item if it's gifted, found, or won. Selling (whether for money or any other good or service) of a magic item taints the item, causing a chance of the item becoming cursed. If this were somehow mechanically enforced by the DPs, it would explain why Magic Item Shoppes don't exist in Ravenloft.
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Children of the Night: The lords of Ravenloft
- Strahd is higher CR than Virundus? something seems wrong there.
- Hazlik's timeline says "Elena" is his apprentice. Should be Eleni, no?
- not much else to say. There is a LOT of work that obviously went into all this, and it would be a LOT of work to dissect it. Suffice to say, I like a lot of what I see and this will be my go-to document when looking for stats for these guys. If I use one, I'll then look at it in sufficient detail to review it and comment further, but for now, WOW and thank you!
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium
- BTW, my one quibble with all of these is that I wish you'd picked titles that weren't already used by existing books. :/ Would make it easier to refer to them.
- much like the darklords book, this one is PACKED with crunch that I don't have the energy to delve too deeply into until I need it, but I'm SO glad that you've already done all this work, so I don't have to. :)
- Love the unified ghost template. brilliance.
- ditto on the "Trickster beast" compiling all the reverse lycanthropes, folding in the variant hags, the variant shadows, etc.
- wastrel... interesting.. Are they actually an offshoot of the King's Ravens? or a different lineage with similar stats/form?
- nice job on condensing a lot of the misc. creatures to simple variants of existing ones.
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

In the development thread:
Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:I dunno about the family abilities as part of ancestral legacy. I think it might be better to make them traits
Just now:
Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:- I like combining the Ancestral Legacy feat with the LotB Bloodlines. nice touch!
Heh.... guess I'd forgotten my prior objections. I thought I was reading that for the first time, and this time around, it sounded good. :oops:
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Ryan Naylor »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:Finally had some time to read these in-depth.

random thoughts while reading:
Domains of Dread
- Fantastic work! I especially like the "What is Ravenloft?" chapter.
Thank you, as always, for the feedback. :)
- ooh... half-darkling. interesting new (I think?) idea.
- No Sithican Half-Elves?
- I'm a bit perplexed by the description of Darkonese elves. I always saw them as the civilized ones (and Sithicans as the "Wild" ones). Granted, the Sithicans do have cities, but so do the Darkonians (Neblus, Nevuchar, and Sidnar) and the alien-fey-revelling-in-the-woods description certainly doesn't mesh with Alanik Ray or Trillen Mistwalker.
- Huh... Gnomes as Dwarf/Elf hybrids. Never thought about them like that, but it fits! Brilliant.
Half-darkling was because someone asked me about it, and that's what I came up with. No reason why there shouldn't be some around, surely?

Sithican elves are based on the Silvanesti, and they are xenophobic elitists who see humans as little more than monkeys. So no.

They're also highly civilised (except the wild ones/Kagonesti that live in the hills), even if they do live in the ruins of their collapsed civilisation.

The parts of Darkon where elves dominate is barbaric (Dark Ages) compared to the Middle Ages to Chivalric of the central and west. According to DoD, they're based on Celtic culture. And obviously there's actual folklore about elves in there. Together, that sparked my barbarian elves idea. The Celts did have very complex societies (and villages) though.

Also, those descriptions are stereotypes based on human perceptions; they could be completely wrong. And there's no reason why individuals can't play against type.

Or just ignore it.


The gnomes have an ancient Greek culture, according to DoD too. Everyone seems to forget that.
- Hmm.... it wasn't until the blurb about monstrous PCs that I noticed the lack of OR. Not a fan of that rule, Ryan?
I don't like unnecessarily complicated systems. Xenophobia is a much simpler mechanic that still captures the essence, I think. Also, there are some builds where a high OR is a huge benefit, and I wanted to reduce the potential for player abuse.
- Mutagen having a chance to turn the alchemist temporarily evil is both completely fitting in flavor, but also seems harsh in rules. (Maybe one step closer to Evil might be sufficient?) I maybe would have put in a reminder that "evil" doesn't necessarily mean "wild rampage". The change might be subtle enough that the PC could still stay on task, but for more selfish reasons.
I'm fortunate enough that my players can tell the difference between evil and Stupid Evil. Others may not be so lucky.
- I think I mentioned it in the original feedback thread, but I love the generalization of fanes! One of the gems salvageable from EtCR.
- love love love the mundane "reskinning" of potions and other small magic items, and double love love love Companion Items. Will use that for sure. (already do, in some cases, I guess, but this officializes it in a sense, and opens up other ideas for where else I might use it.)
Thanks again!
- the admonition for PC's to avoid selling magic items makes me wonder: might it be a good idea to codify that into the land? Some superstition that magic only clings to an item if it's gifted, found, or won. Selling (whether for money or any other good or service) of a magic item taints the item, causing a chance of the item becoming cursed. If this were somehow mechanically enforced by the DPs, it would explain why Magic Item Shoppes don't exist in Ravenloft.
I don't want to rub it out entirely, because there are some situations where it might be necessary (e.g. selling to the Vistani). This is something I'd leave up to individual GMs/players playing in theme rather than codifying as rules. As a superstition, though, it's a great addition. If magic is most commonly the result of evil forces or hag-craft, would you buy a second hand item that could be angry it's not being used by its rightful owner for its original purpose?
Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:Children of the Night: The lords of Ravenloft
- Strahd is higher CR than Virundus? something seems wrong there.
I made a conscious decision that no one was going to have a higher CR than Strahd. Even Gwydion, who is the closest to Cthulhu is power we've got, isn't higher in his normal trapped state. Strahd is the ancient, he is the Land, he is the stone around which the whole world has been built, he is a monstrously old and wily vampire, one of the top 10 most powerful spellcasters in the plane, and one of the most experienced fighters. Not even a deluded squid god in a trench gets to beat him for sheer power.
- Hazlik's timeline says "Elena" is his apprentice. Should be Eleni, no?
...Yes. Damn.
- not much else to say. There is a LOT of work that obviously went into all this, and it would be a LOT of work to dissect it. Suffice to say, I like a lot of what I see and this will be my go-to document when looking for stats for these guys. If I use one, I'll then look at it in sufficient detail to review it and comment further, but for now, WOW and thank you!
Happy to help. Let me know as you go then.
Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium
- BTW, my one quibble with all of these is that I wish you'd picked titles that weren't already used by existing books. :/ Would make it easier to refer to them.

It's an homage. Called it RVRMHC for "Ryan's" :)

If I write anything else, I'll try to give it an original title.
- much like the darklords book, this one is PACKED with crunch that I don't have the energy to delve too deeply into until I need it, but I'm SO glad that you've already done all this work, so I don't have to. :)
- Love the unified ghost template. brilliance.
- ditto on the "Trickster beast" compiling all the reverse lycanthropes, folding in the variant hags, the variant shadows, etc.
Thank you. As you can imagine, it took quite a while to compile.
- wastrel... interesting.. Are they actually an offshoot of the King's Ravens? or a different lineage with similar stats/form?
Originally a Planescape monster, but a brilliant one. It could be either - call it an Unsolved Mystery.
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Zilfer »

Yes thanks again. Waiting to sick a Trickster Beast on one of my players.... Wolfwere! :)
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Don Fernando »

Fantastic job Ryan! Thank you for the effort!
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by Ryan Naylor »

Thank you! You're welcome!
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Re: Ryan Naylor's Pathfinder version of Ravenloft

Post by vipera aspis »

This is really great work Ryan! Bravo!
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