First Taste of Seeker Play

Monday, April 25, 2016

Spring is in full swing in Seattle, causing the mercury to rise, dousing Redmond with pollen, and sending many of us into allergic conniptions. I hadn't planned it this way, but this is perfect timing to talk about what Paizo's backyard and this month's scenarios have in common: heat and flowers. That is to say we're traveling to Thuvia! This year the shipment of the legendary sun orchid elixir—a tonic capable of restoring one's youth—travels to Pashow for the first time in five years, and the city desperately needs the proceeds of their sale. Of course, the shipment needs to arrive safely to avert financial ruin and civil unrest, and the city needs outside help to ensure nothing befalls this lifeline.


Illustration by Sebastian Rodriguez

I really enjoy incorporating all levels of play into these storylines, and this month level 1-5 PCs experience a major piece of the action in Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-21: The Sun Orchid Scheme by the winner of RPG Superstar Season 9, Nicholas Wasko. Pashow is ready to perform a test run of their operation, and knowing the Society's reputation for troubleshooting tough problems, the city-state's emir and the visiting dignitary Princess Ziralia (pictured here) has contracted a team of Pathfinders to perform a non-lethal raid on one of the convoys. Hopefully the PCs can uncover any weaknesses in the convoy's defenses before the real deal. Then again, when has anything gone according to plan? Nick has written a thrilling adventure with some great twists, and I'm now all the more excited for the module he'll be writing in the future.

Finally adventuring in Thuvia is exciting. Finally releasing true seeker-level content is exciting. Combining the two was almost more than I could handle, so I called in Thurston Hillman as reinforcements. He's crafted a rousing and challenging adventure befitting Tier 12-15 with Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-20: All for Immortality, Part 1: First Taste of Eternity. The convoys carrying the sun orchid elixir have left the Citadel of the Alchemist, and Pashow's enemies are closing in. Fortunately, the PCs are on hand to help where the fighting's hottest, but they're due to uncover—and resolve—an even greater threat in the process. This adventure has one of my favorite depictions of a new villain, but I'm loath to post it here because it would spoil the surprise. I'll just let Thurston's writing and Sebastian Rodriguez's art speak for themselves when you get a chance to play this first of three adventures.

John Compton
Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

More Paizo Blog.
Tags: Pathfinder Society Pathfinder Society Scenarios Sebastian Rodriguez
3/5

Looking forward to the additional Seeker content.

Also: impressive pollen counts indeed if they can compete with us here in GA (which checking pollen.com, they can even if they fall a bit behind in WA).

1/5

The Sun Orchard Scheme sounds very interesting. I look forward to playing it.

4/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I'm totally stoked to start prepping 7-20. Running it on May 7th for a table in the MN lodge. I look forward to devouring those sweet, sweet digital pages.

Dark Archive 4/5 Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Twin Cities Metro East

Serisan wrote:
I'm totally stoked to start prepping 7-20. Running it on May 7th for a table in the MN lodge. I look forward to devouring those sweet, sweet digital pages.

SO. VERY. EXCITED!

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ***

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Can't wait to run 7-20 online and at Origins!

Paizo Employee 5/5 Contributor—Canadian Maplecakes

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Serisan wrote:
I'm totally stoked to start prepping 7-20. Running it on May 7th for a table in the MN lodge. I look forward to devouring those sweet, sweet digital pages.

The pages look forward to devouring your player's characters.

4/5

Thurston Hillman wrote:
Serisan wrote:
I'm totally stoked to start prepping 7-20. Running it on May 7th for a table in the MN lodge. I look forward to devouring those sweet, sweet digital pages.
The pages look forward to devouring your player's characters.

A fact that I'm sure Jolene also finds SO VERY EXCITING.

5/5 *****

Can you tell us if the new seeker content has a hard mode? I thought I read a rumour which suggested that was the case.

4/5

andreww wrote:
Can you tell us if the new seeker content has a hard mode? I thought I read a rumour which suggested that was the case.

The fact that it has a 14-15 subtier isn't hard mode enough? Sure, players have a lot of capacity in that subtier, but you can do some fun things in a monster budget with that.

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/5 **

Serisan wrote:
andreww wrote:
Can you tell us if the new seeker content has a hard mode? I thought I read a rumour which suggested that was the case.
The fact that it has a 14-15 subtier isn't hard mode enough? Sure, players have a lot of capacity in that subtier, but you can do some fun things in a monster budget with that.

I have yet to play a high level (12+) module in PFS that wasn't basically a rotflstomp.

That said, I'm not at all sure that I want a hard mode. Abusing some of the higher level abusive spells and monsters would likely just be a boring TPK

Paizo Employee 4/5 Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

It seems that anytime I reference the weather in the Pacific Northwest, the region begins doing the opposite just after I submit the blog. A while ago I commented on the rainy days, and the blog heralded four days of sunshine. This time I referenced the ever-warming weather, and this whole week is now projected to have a cold spell (relatively speaking).

And yeah, Tim, I remember the pollen madness of Georgia. I think the southeast was still "winning" that contest last I checked, but no matter which count is higher, we both suffer.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Paul Jackson wrote:
Serisan wrote:
andreww wrote:
Can you tell us if the new seeker content has a hard mode? I thought I read a rumour which suggested that was the case.
The fact that it has a 14-15 subtier isn't hard mode enough? Sure, players have a lot of capacity in that subtier, but you can do some fun things in a monster budget with that.

I have yet to play a high level (12+) module in PFS that wasn't basically a rotflstomp.

That said, I'm not at all sure that I want a hard mode. Abusing some of the higher level abusive spells and monsters would likely just be a boring TPK

Things I expect to see as NPCs in All for Immortality:

Note that I have NO inside information:

Gunslingers
Zen Archers
Crossblooded Orc/Draconic fireball specialized Sorcerers
Cavaliers with a griffon and Wheeling Charge
Supercharging, Composite Specialized, Metakinesising Kineticists
John's Alchemist
Lore Wardens
Bladebound, Kensai, Dervish-dancing Magi with the Dimensional Savant chain
17th level+ wizards and clerics
A host of beasts of ridiculously high CR that still somehow seem under-CR'd.
One particular CR 21 NPC (or possibly the CR20 relative) that I actually do suspect will be critically involved in the plot of at least Part 1.

The Concordance 3/5 *

Is this gonna be a Seeker Story Arc? For purposes of needing exactly 33 XP to start it and being locked in, etc

5/5 5/55/55/5

ShieldLawrence wrote:
Is this gonna be a Seeker Story Arc? For purposes of needing exactly 33 XP to start it and being locked in, etc

No, its 12-14, they learned from last time...

Paizo Employee 4/5 Pathfinder Society Lead Developer

2 people marked this as a favorite.
BigNorseWolf wrote:
ShieldLawrence wrote:
Is this gonna be a Seeker Story Arc? For purposes of needing exactly 33 XP to start it and being locked in, etc
No, its 12-14, they learned from last time...

Tier 12–15, in fact.

The Concordance 3/5 *

John Compton wrote:
BigNorseWolf wrote:
ShieldLawrence wrote:
Is this gonna be a Seeker Story Arc? For purposes of needing exactly 33 XP to start it and being locked in, etc
No, its 12-14, they learned from last time...
Tier 12–15, in fact.

Wahooooo!!!

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Netherlands

Time to level my characters so I can play!

5/5 *****

Serisan wrote:
andreww wrote:
Can you tell us if the new seeker content has a hard mode? I thought I read a rumour which suggested that was the case.
The fact that it has a 14-15 subtier isn't hard mode enough? Sure, players have a lot of capacity in that subtier, but you can do some fun things in a monster budget with that.

Honestly not really. My experience of higher level modules and AP segments is that they struggle to stand up to what high level players can throw out. This is especially the case where you allow more than 4 players into them.

It is understandable why this is the case. Scenario's, AP's and modules are written with certain expectations of what players will be bringing. That has to be somewhere in the middle to the lower end of the power scale. Most of my play is done online which has fewer "casual" players.

A hard mode which was genuinely difficult would be much appreciated by me, both as a player and GM.

The Exchange 4/5

Looking forward to tasting something alright.

Hehehe

Liberty's Edge 5/5

andreww wrote:
Serisan wrote:
andreww wrote:
Can you tell us if the new seeker content has a hard mode? I thought I read a rumour which suggested that was the case.
The fact that it has a 14-15 subtier isn't hard mode enough? Sure, players have a lot of capacity in that subtier, but you can do some fun things in a monster budget with that.

Honestly not really. My experience of higher level modules and AP segments is that they struggle to stand up to what high level players can throw out. This is especially the case where you allow more than 4 players into them.

It is understandable why this is the case. Scenario's, AP's and modules are written with certain expectations of what players will be bringing. That has to be somewhere in the middle to the lower end of the power scale. Most of my play is done online which has fewer "casual" players.

A hard mode which was genuinely difficult would be much appreciated by me, both as a player and GM.

From what I understand, modules and APs are written for 4 characters with a 15 point buy. And they are written for a home campaign. That means the typically, you get what you find or can craft. You can't just buy whatever you want. So the expectation is that the power level of a character in PFS really outstrips the expectation by leaps and bounds.

And did you play Sealed Gate or Waking Rune on hard mode? Both of those are pretty brutal.

Another point is that high level play is often a game of rocket tag.

I expect John and Thursty will do thier best to truly make this one challenging.

Silver Crusade

Now that we have two Seeker characters, my husband and I are curious if this will be offered at PaizoCon this year? If so we are bringing them! This story arc sounds amazing and we really hope to play it.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ***

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

They aren't offering it at Paizocon because they would rather wait to offer them until they are all out.

3/5

Kevin Willis wrote:

Things I expect to see as NPCs in All for Immortality:

... John's Alchemist

Now, now, Kevin let's not lose our heads over this :)

Dataphiles 3/5

Come on lets live dangerously. Let Thursty give us Seeker level Hardmode. I think a Hardmode would be a great idea. Its optional so people don't have to play it if they don't want to, but there are obviously some people who would appreciate the extra challenge. That said it would probably be the end of my character as I doubt I could resist the challenge, but I definitely don't build characters that fall into the "high end" of the player spectrum.

1/5

How dangerous could it be?

Wizards casting quickened wish? Greater invisible great wyrm red dragons?

I'm sure it would be fun.

Dark Archive 5/5 * Regional Venture-Coordinator, Gulf

As we say at the table, "yeah-yuh!"

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