Café de Nuit

Rock wrote:

Mephisto wrote:Cedrik Paddock p.322
Trans3/ FoS1/Druid5/MoMF
Transmuter3/ Fraternity of Shadows1/ Druid5/ Master of Many Forms3 (Complete Adventurer variant, p. 58)

Speaking of errata, shouldn't ole C.D. have a higher score in Knowledge (Ravenloft)? I seem to recall his modifier is +3, when he's meant to have maxed-out cross-class ranks in the skill as a prerequisite for entering the FoS Prc.

Because he is mainly a member of FoS who is looked down and focused on Transmutation and the material world I thought of giving him the minimum of Knowledge (unless I am wrong). He is still FoS lvl 1 because he focused on the Druid C. and Master of Many Forms PrC. What is your suggestion?

PS
I didn't check his stats or the FoS Prc now cause I am focused on another article Cyclop's Legacies II for next year

Mephisto wrote:Cedrik Paddock p.322Because he is mainly a member of FoS who is looked down and focused on Transmutation and the material world I thought of giving him the minimum of Knowledge (unless I am wrong). He is still FoS lvl 1 because he focused on the Druid C. and Master of Many Forms PrC. What is your suggestion?

The Fraternity of Shadows PrC appeared in QtR #10, and got some errata in QtR #13. The entry prerequisites are as follows.

Alignment: Neutral evil.
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (ravenloft) 4 ranks.
Spells: Ability to cast arcane spells of 2nd level or higher.
Special: Only illusionists are allowed to pass beyond seventh level, and necromancers are forbidden from taking any levels in this prestige class.

Because the class is written up in 3.0e style, I will provide some errata myself here of the skills list. Skills were changed in 3.5e, so some of the class skills of this PrC must be changed.

Class Skills: The Fraternity of Shadows class skills (and key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually), Knowledge (Ravenloft) (Int), Profession (all skills, taken individually) (Wis), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill points at each level: 2 + Int. Modifier.

The problem with Cedrik is that he needs 8 ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and and 4 ranks Knowledge (ravenloft) to take any levels in the Fraternity of Shadows PrC. He needs 5 more ranks of Knowledge (arcana) and 1 more rank of Knowledge (ravenloft). And note that Knowledge (ravenloft) will be a cross class skill costing 2 skill points per rank until Cedrik becomes an FoS, at which point it becomes a class skill. The other issue is that Cedrik could not have possibly entered the FoS PrC at his 4th character level. As a 3rd level character (transmuter, in this case), Cedrik has a maximum of 6 ranks in any skill. He could not have met the prerequisites. Cedrik needs 2 levels of something before he can take the FoS PrC.

I can see what you are trying to do with Cedrik. He had a short career with this kind of magic before switching druid and master of forms. Here is my suggestion for Cedrik to meet his prerequisites, and it is pretty ironic given what ultimately plays out. Here is the rationale.

Cedrik is a Paridoner. The Human Paragon PrC would be a pretty common class to take in his homeland of Zhersia, what with human perfection being the main ideology/religion over there. Cedrik would thus look like this.

Transmuter 2, Human Paragon 3, Fraternity of Shadows 1, Druid 5, Master of Many Forms 3.

Credrik in this instance casts spells as a 4th level transmuter (human paragon advances spellcasting twice over three levels). Note that Cedrik will end up with a bonus feat from human paragon and a +2 to a ability score of your choice.

Thanks I'll fix that frogman too when I have time... (before December 3rd)

Mephisto wrote: Conch Shell page 362 the adventure idea: The Shadow Kingdom is from another article (erase it ).

Probably my mistake (blame the work load to finish it on time).

Do you want me to move it to the Spawn of the Lizard article?

Joël of the FoS wrote:

Mephisto wrote: Conch Shell page 362 the adventure idea: The Shadow Kingdom is from another article (erase it ).

Probably my mistake (blame the work load to finish it on time).

Do you want me to move it to the Spawn of the Lizard article?

It is already there... (it was just doubled)
Thanks anyway!

Within "Scenes from a Starving Land", please replace the first paragraph of the "Lycanthrope, Wereleopard, Snow" write-up (currently on page 317) with the following two paragraphs:

The wereleopard of G'Henna is frequently mistaken for a werejaguar, except that there is nowhere in G'Henna where an actual jaguar would live. In truth, its phenotype more closely resembles the snow leopard than the jaguar or even the common leopard.

In most respects the wereleopard of G'Henna is identical to its counterparts from elsewhere in the Land of Mists. However, unlike the wereleopards of the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Volume III, the G’Hennan wereleopard has three aspects: human, feline, and hybrid.

More errata to follow, once I figure out how I want to clarify the confusion about the Jackal.

JOEL : THIS IS ADDED TO THE NEW VERSION

tomokaicho wrote:The problem with Cedrik is that he needs 8 ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and and 4 ranks Knowledge (ravenloft) to take any levels in the Fraternity of Shadows PrC. He needs 5 more ranks of Knowledge (arcana) and 1 more rank of Knowledge (ravenloft). And note that Knowledge (ravenloft) will be a cross class skill costing 2 skill points per rank until Cedrik becomes an FoS, at which point it becomes a class skill. The other issue is that Cedrik could not have possibly entered the FoS PrC at his 4th character level. As a 3rd level character (transmuter, in this case), Cedrik has a maximum of 6 ranks in any skill. He could not have met the prerequisites. Cedrik needs 2 levels of something before he can take the FoS PrC..

I am making the corrections to the character and while making them I realised that I have given him Knowledge (Ravenloft)+3 and Knowledge(Planes)+6 but in QtR#10 these are two are considered the same skill

Knowledge (Ravenloft) and the Fraternity of Shadows Prestige Classs
According to the Ravenloft Player's Handbook, Knowledge (Ravenloft) is considered a cross-class skill for all classes, and Knowledge (Ravenloft) and Knowledge (the planes) are considered identical skills for Ravenloft natives. Because advancing in this skill is the point of the Fraternity of Shadows prestige class, Knowledge (Ravenloft) is considered a class skill for this class.
To enter the Fraternity of Shadows prestige class the character must spend 8 skill points (4 ranks) on the Knowledge (Ravenloft) skill; this should be considered an "official" erratum to the requirements for the prestige class given in the Undead Sea Scrolls 2002 and Quoth the Raven X

-----These corrections were erased-----

Mephisto wrote: So I am thinking of giving him 2 Expert Levels to not overpower him with 3rd level Arcane spells.

I am a believer in not mixing PC and NPC classes. Have you considered the Dragonlance Master base class? It's similar to the NPC expert, but more appropriate to an NPC with PC class levels, it being a PC class itself.

tomokaicho wrote:

Mephisto wrote: So I am thinking of giving him 2 Expert Levels to not overpower him with 3rd level Arcane spells.

I am a believer in not mixing PC and NPC classes. Have you considered the Dragonlance Master base class? It's similar to the NPC expert, but more appropriate to an NPC with PC class levels, it being a PC class itself.

Thank you for the advice but he is an NPC so the Expert class I believe is appropriate, mixing OK IMHO as is Jaqueline for instance who is Aristocrat/Rogue.

Mephisto wrote:Thank you for the advice but he is an NPC so the Expert class I believe is appropriate, mixing OK IMHO as is Jaqueline for instance who is Aristocrat/Rogue.

Yes. Of course he is an NPC and I realize that. I am talking about mixing NPC classes with PC classes - and obviously NPCs can have either. As for Jaqueline, the Dragonlance Noble serves the same purpose as the aristocrat, but is a PC class.

Its no big deal either way.

I compared the two and saw that the only thing that changes are that if I make Paddock a master (sage) class as you suggest he will have 14 extra skill points and one extra feat but nothing less, so I think I let him as he is, he already has to many powers.

Hey, Meph: with one level in Fraternity of Shadows, Paddock would have Lore of the Fraternity. That means he gets a bonus rank in Knowledge (Ravenloft) as a class skill, so his score would become Knowledge (Ravenloft) +8.

Rock wrote:Hey, Meph: with one level in Fraternity of Shadows, Paddock would have Lore of the Fraternity. That means he gets a bonus rank in Knowledge (Ravenloft) as a class skill, so his score would become Knowledge (Ravenloft) +8.

Yes I have placed that too but maybe you are right, maybe I should raise his rank, so that means his
Knowledge (Ravenloft) +8
and I will take out a rank from religion
Knowledge (religion) +4

OK I will make necessary changes the red one in Paddock is the correct one. I'll make him a master (sage) after all following tomachaiko's advice (I thought of something and I need that extra feat slot for that).

You kind of need to, to qualify for the PrC. ^^;
It takes 8 ranks in Knowledge (arcana) and 4 ranks in Knowledge (Ravenloft) to qualify. Add to that Paddock's +3 bonus from Intelligence, and he'd need to have Knowledge (Ravenloft) +7 before he could even dip his toe in FoS.