The chase looks interesting and exciting, you could have your players on the edge of their seats.

Share your descriptions for some of the skills checks of the chase.

The chase looks interesting and exciting, you could have your players on the edge of their seats.

Share your descriptions for some of the skills checks of the chase.

Always gave a description of the obstacle first, then a skill and (DC). Also kept an open mind for quick-thinking alternative ways to overcome the obstacle - basically a good solution they presented with 10 secs of encountering the obstacle.

- "Firewalls - Difference in Roof heights" (climb or height jump-up // acrobatics down)
- "Rotten roof/loose shingles" (Acrobatic-Balance or Reflex save to avoid breaking through the spars and getting stuck)
- "Steep incline" ( Acrobatics balance or Climb check to negotiate )
- "Rack of chimneys blocking path" ( Escape artist to squeeze through or climb over the tops)
- "Cuppola-roof" (climb-over or balance around.. with bonuses for small size)
- "Jump the backroad" (Jump or couple of Fort saves for Endurance to run the long way around swiftly)
- "Ladder bridge" (Jump to bypass or acrobatics - down/ climb up.. bonus for small size given due to mass )
- "Cutting corners" (jump over intervening courtyard or run another card )
- "Slide down the laundry line" (laborious double Climb down or dashing slide on weak drying lines with fresh laundry - Acrobatics and Reflex save)
- "Narrow Gap" ( perception check to spot a narrow gap to avoid another obstacle)
- "Clouds of soot" (smoking chimney bellowing sooty smoke - perception check to pass through safely and reorient oneself or Acrobatic slide downroof plus balance check in the scuppers to bypass)
- "Picked a bad landing spot" (Jump with reflex save... followed by climbing up again )
- "Rooftop garden" ( Dashing through for some minor damage from branches and Reflex save to avoid being dazed for a round or Acrobatics - tumble )
- "Rainbarrel-Deluge" ( Trinia overturning a cistern/rainwater-barrel, making an incline slippery or washing a close pursuer off it - climb checks, plus possible Reflex )
- "Flung across the road" (very difficult - DC 25 methinks - jump, but circumvented 2 cards). Character actually proposed resolving it by using his whip as a swinging rope^^ and climbing to the roof.
- "Jump or topple" (Jump over gap or topple a rooftop shack's boards to cover it - STR-test for the later)
- "Pigeon birdcages" ( Acrobatics to avoid entanglement and pecking birds or AE effect magic to "eliminate" the hassle... or circumvent by running around this on an extra card... I also included an evilly minded birdkeeper sleepily coming out of his shack.)

My group had skills around 7 ranks (or 4 ranks in PF-RPG + class-skill boni) and pretty good stats (Dex between 14 and 18 being key), with one character having Skill Focus : Acrobatics and some minor skill boosting items available (around +3 to skills). The BETA-rules travel domain, as well as the increased landspeed offered by that easing the jumps helped the cleric of Cayden quite a bit to keep up.

so I planned difficulties between 12 (easy) 15 (no sweat) 18 (wait a second) and 21 (hold your breath). One or two really spectacular ones besides with major gains (like crossing the road) , but major risk of falling too ( we assumed approximately 40' height for the chase)

Still, the out-skilled character found the chase.... exclusive. fortunately he found fun in distracting the Hellknights who were hot on the heels of the PCs entering the house.

Two of the characters being clad in stylish black outfits with neckerchiefs and rapiers seeded some wonderful "Blackjack strikes again" rumors, too

I laid the cards out as they each approached them. Trinia was being chased by a half orc fighter in heavy armor and a paladin in heavy armor and a wizard, it was left to the wizard to catch the girl. Surprisingly, no one fell, though paladin had a few close calls, but Erun our wizard was able to catch her rather quickly. It was a lot of fun.

I laid the cards out as they each approached them. Trinia was being chased by a half orc fighter in heavy armor and a paladin in heavy armor and a wizard, it was left to the wizard to catch the girl. Surprisingly, no one fell, though paladin had a few close calls, but Erun our wizard was able to catch her rather quickly. It was a lot of fun.

I just ran my groups chase seen Saturday night. It ended up being a very dramatic chase as three members of the party are fairly acrobatic and were able to make many of the difficult DCs. Others found the chase to be entirely boring, sadly, including our Monk, Cleric, and Barbarian. None of them had the skills to keep up it seems, and the Monk kept rolling low on his checks. It was almost comical watching who should've the best at the Shingles Chase fall from the rooftops after missing his checks by 10+ on at least three occasions. The Cleric and Barbarian didn't even try, feeling that even the DC 15 obstacles were too difficult.

They managed to catch Trinia and turned her over to the guard, despite her attempts to persuade them to let her go.

Since our sessions tend to be fairly short it was the only event we managed to pull off (Bi-monthly meetings for only five hours means its taken us a long time to even make it this far into EoA). The party is eager for an actual dungeon now. Can't wait for the next part.

The patient presented with a rash, and complained of extreme sensitivity and pain in a broad area on one side of the body for the past three days. This was accompanied by a slight fever and headaches.

Oh... sorry—I thought you said "share your shingles case descriptions."

The patient presented with a rash, and complained of extreme sensitivity and pain in a broad area on one side of the body for the past three days. This was accompanied by a slight fever and headaches.

Oh... sorry—I thought you said "share your shingles case descriptions."

Oh, perhaps I could use this in "Seven Days". The doctor's diagnosis could add a very creepy aire to the game. hehehe

I added in some nifty stuff, I wanted my PCs to be able to use some of their charisma/intelligence/strength based skills.

"Rooftop Party - The PC has found themselves running through a rooftop party. The bouncer is not happy. Succeeding at a Diplomacy Check (DC 15) allows the PC to pass through the party and use the shortcut"

"Water Tower - There is a water tower on the rooftop below, if the PC swims across (Swim DC 15) it they'll have a short time of it."

"Thugs - There's a group of lowlife criminals standing between the PCs and Trinia (they like her and let her through automatically) it's a DC 15 Intimidate Check to get past them"

"Clothesline Zip - The PC grabs a nearby pair of pantaloons and zips across a clothes line which reaches over an alley (Acrobatics DC 10)"

"Clothesline Swing - The PC breaks off a nearby clothesline and swings across to a nearby building (Acrobatics DC 15)"

My group unfortunately managed to bypass pretty much the entire thing by the sorceress casting Sleep on the first round and Trinia failing her Will save :/

They did like the concept of the cards and the skill checks though, so the time I spent getting everything nicely printed and balanced wasn't entirely wasted ;)

My group was discouraged after seeing some of the DCs. Though that did not matter in the end because the sorcerer hit Trinia from the street, reducing her Strength to 2...
Two players were less then thrilled by the prospect of running along rickety rooftops and chose to take to the streets, what made them even less thrilled.
:(

DC 10-20 discouraged your PCs?

You're saying that they chose not to give chase because it seemed too hard?

Can you imagine them later in the path?