#4-05 The Sanos Abduction - Discussion, GM Tools, Etc.

[Justin Riddler]

This scenario is badass to the core! Starting with the awesome cover art, down to the straight-forward way the faction missions are written. The assumptions for the scenario are a wider array of bestiaries and other source material, and the GM is asked to apply templates on the their own.

To help prep the scenario, it is a good idea to pre-apply the templates on a print-out of the monster. A free rebuilding program can be found here and all of the monsters can be accessed via the PFSRD.

Most of the maps are big, open, wilderness areas. My advice is to not get too bogged-down drawing out the maps accurately. Close-enough will do for most encounters, though you may want to buy the flip-map for the last encounter.

Most of the faction missions are resolved during an evening of RP with the NPCs. While the faction missions are very straight forward from the player's perspective, the GM should read through that section carefully and think about how the NPCs will act and respond to questions - maybe develop different personalities for each. Some information about each NPC is provided in the scenario, but their statistics are scattered all over the place in that act. For some GM ease, I've assembled the vital stats regarding these NPCs in a Google-Drive Spreadsheet

Finally, the scenario deals with a common rule that some GMs still fumble over:

Spoiler:

Poisons - I suggest reading the FAQ section at the bottom of this page

Hope this helps people prep this awesome-looking scenario!

[Pirate Rob]

Sweet, I had not seen that rebuilding app thingy, I wonder how well it applies young.

[Justin Riddler]

Pirate Rob wrote:

Sweet, I had not seen that rebuilding app thingy, I wonder how well it applies young.

fairly well. It doesn't alter DCs in the paragraph descriptions (since those are programmed as pure-text) but it will alter the DCs in the stat-block itself.

[Tamago]

I've created a Hero Lab portfolio with all of the creatures found in The Sanos Abduction, including the templates. This portfolio does require all three Bestiary datafiles, however.

Sanos Abduction NPCs

[Helaman]

Justin Riddler wrote:

This scenario is badass to the core! Starting with the awesome cover art, down to the straight-forward way the faction missions are written. The assumptions for the scenario are a wider array of bestiaries and other source material, and the GM is asked to apply templates on the their own.

Love the write up and you've got my interest - that said, I am not wild that DMs have to use time prepping by needing to faff around with templates.

Of course if this means not having to redo the same stat block multiple times and leaves more room for Awesome? All bets are off and yay for templates.

[Tim Statler]

I have a question.
In Act B1: the reflex save is 24 for the low tier, and 16 for the high tier. I'm pretty sure one of them is wrong. Which one?

[Tamago]

Tim Statler wrote:

I have a question.

In Act B1: the reflex save is 24 for the low tier, and 16 for the high tier. I'm pretty sure one of them is wrong. Which one?

Off the cuff, my guess would be that they're backwards...

[Dan Luckett]

Ok, I ran this over the weekend, and the talk about templates here is making me think I missed something. Other than Marigana and her Young template in the low tier, what else has a template that wasn't included in the adventure?

[Sniggevert]

That's the only one you have to apply yourself, yes. However, I think there was at least one issue in every encounter. Some were simply issues with the combat tactics (full attacking staggered pegasi?), dire porcupines using ToH stats but listed as B3 creature, skeleton template mis-applied on both hodags and redcaps, the questionable DC's mentioned above. It was extremely frustrating for me to prep.

All in all, I think the table I ran had a good time (they seemed to be enjoying themselves), and the final fight was a blast...they were on the verge of a TPK the entire fight until a SoS spell hit the boss.

EDIT: Oh, and the pre-written "safety valve" for the party vs. the final boss to give them a couple of rounds was IMO kind of cheesy. I also, can't see how the method would work. A first level illusion vs. a creature with constant deathwatch to tell if something is alive, dead, undead, construct, etc.

[shadowmage75]

I'm prepping the game now. does it bother anyone that ignizi is described as an old, purple-haired gnome, but the pic for her is a smokin' green haired 'optional' ?

[Zehab]

Hey everyone,

I had a couple questions for the collective here. I've ran this a couple times and while this scenario is fun, engaging, challenging, and all around a good play, I feel the end fight is extremely rough on the PC's and would like some thoughts and feedback.

End Fight:

In both sub-tiers, She is a CR 6 creature with all of her spell-like abilities. In the Tactics it reads, "Before Combat: Marigana casts invisibility and nondetection,and lurks in the shadows at the edge of the cave, allowing her to maintain the element of surprise. Once her minions draw the PCs’ attention, she unleashes her sneak attack at the most opportune target. During Combat: Once in combat, Marigana uses her allies as shields while she casts spells and fires her poisoned quills at the PCs. She uses control undead on her minions to force them to guard her. If the PCs kill one of her porcupines, or simply ignore her minions and come straight for her, she casts scare on the three most deadly PCs. She might also cast ray of enfeeblement on a particularly strong PC. Note that, due to her Small size, Marigana is not effective in melee and avoids it at all cost. In addition, her spell-like abilities’ and poison’s save DCs are reduced by 2 as a result of the young simple template. Morale: Marigana fights to the death protecting her lair."

Now, here is my question, we had a table of this ran at my game day recently and the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy) was at about half health and was next to a dying PC. The rest of the party was at least 40 feet away. Would she use one of her spell-like abilities that would kill a dying PC? No where in the tactics does she say she would, however, the guide for 4.3 does state, "However, if the actions of the PCs before or during an encounter invalidate the provided tactics or starting locations, the GM should consider whether changing these would provide a more enjoyable play experience." The tactics were followed, however, using that spell in a 3-4 is extremely rough.

Thoughts? Opinions? Comments?

[TriOmegaZero]

If casting the spell would give her more benefit than launching further attacks against the enemies still threatening her, she should do it.

Ran this tonight, had a blast. Should have preprinted the adjusted stat block for the BBEG however, dang near killed a PC due to using the full CR 7 stats instead of the template adjusted ones.

[Pontificor the Great]

why is the red caps weapon changed.

the weapon should be Melee Medium scythe +10 (2d4+10/×4) they have 2d4+10/19-20

Is this correct, or what one should I use?