I just downloaded this and was intrigued by the creature on the cover. After flipping through the scenario I have only one thing to say:

Ahem...I look forward to running this scenario as soon as I can and to discussing it further in the future. Thank you.

I said the exact same thing when I saw the art for the first time.

Seriously. You guys are right on the money when it comes to reimagining old creatures. It's more like "classic monsters reinvented". I've never wanted to use a those things in any adventure...now I do.

Of course, with the scenario available, I don't have to come up with my own adventure right away. ;)

I apologize for the super-long post. I guess I just have a lot to say.

So I ran this for my group last night (at the lower tier) and I have quite a few comments/questions.

First of all, let me say that I very much enjoyed the premise of the scenario, and I believe everyone had a fun time with it. The ship was interesting/fascinating/confusing for the players and it definitely kept them on their toes, and as stated above, the picture of the xill is great.

ACT 1
On to the issues. My first question was with the defense construct (i.e. the clay golem). My reading of "these defense constructs are identical to golems in all regards" and the fact that it said to use the stats for a clay golem meant that ... well, I used the stats for the clay golem on pg. 134 of the MM (or see HERE).

It was definitely a tough fight for the PCs. No one had an adamantine weapon (it hasn't been on any of the chronicle sheets, and adamantine is not an "open" special material), and being pretty immune to magic and crits this meant that it was pretty much up to the fighter types to take it down. Even if the players had run down to room 3 to pick up the adamantine axe there, they still would have not been able to get through the construct's DR as it has "adamantine AND bludgeoning". Luckily there were two warriors in the group and they eventually managed to take it down, but not before the construct caused quite a bit of damage to the party (it dropped the rogue in one round with a hasted full attack).

And here's my main quibble: the "cursed wound" ability. Luckily for my players, I completely forgot about this until halfway through the next act and so waved it, but if I had enforced it, it would have been nigh impossible for the players to cure their wounds with healing spells, given the DC 26 caster check that is required. Highest level PCs were 7th, so they would have succeeded on only a 19 or 20, which seems a bit harsh. In my group, there was sadly only one multiclassed cleric, who had four cleric levels, so it would have been completely impossible for him to heal the PCs. On the other hand, the ability on p. 135 of the MM states that: "A character attempting to cast a conjuration (healing) spell on a creature damaged" must make the CL check. Does that mean that this would not apply for potions, since there's no one trying to actively cast a spell, or would you use the CL of the potion? In any case, if I hadn't forgotten the rule, my party would have been unable to magically heal their (considerable) wounds from the hasted construct and would have had to find a high level cleric in Absalom (something not covered in the Guide, unless I am mistaken) or heal naturally, which would have taken days. Since this scenario is predicated on the idea that there is intense pressure from the government and the Society to investigate and deal with a potential menace to the city quickly, I'm not so sure that using this special ability is that great of an idea for this scenario. Even if my group had contained a 10th level cleric, s/he would have still needed a 16 or higher CL check to heal, which meant that she would have probably burned through most, if not all of her spontaneous castings to heal everyone up.

On to Act 2.
The ghost fight took a long time because of incorporeality, but was not a huge problem. The "Horrific Appearance" attack did some damage, though, and since no one had restoration magics there was no way to heal the ability damage. I would recommend that parties playing in these higher tier games who don't have multiple divine casters play through
WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR OTHER SCENARIOS!

ACT 3
The fight with the xill was cool, especially how they planewalk in and surprise everyone. Luckily no one was captured, which would have put a real crimp in things.

There does seem to be a typo here, though. On pg. 5 of the scenario it states that the "Transitory Portal" in room 6 transports people to room 10, which is the "Stasis Hold" that no one is the ship has access to. I am assuming that what was meant, is that it transports to the other room 6 on the "Lower Deck" (see map on pg. 7), since that leads to the helm and Act 4. Well, at least that's what I did :)

ACT 4
After describing the brass helm to the players, it was quickly labeled the "All-spark" and got a round of chuckles. After having been jumped in the last three acts my players had NO interest in releasing the night hag in the helm. If you encounter the same thing with your group, you might suggest that the hag looks weakened or something like that, since they forfeit the rewards for this act if they do not free her.

The writeup of the helm riddle was a little confusing to me, but maybe that's just me. Without the help of the hag I let them figure it out with the appropriate Knowledge rolls.

According to room description on pg. 5 you can only find the secret door with a DC 50! Search check. How many 7th level characters can make a DC 50 anything check, even when taking 20? If they can't find it, does that mean, they can't use the cube to open it? I ruled that they can find it, but just couldn't open it without using the helm, and just ignored the DC 50 check.

The "helm effect" table was harsh for my group. On pg. 12 it says that for a Tier 7-8 game one should ignore the "dream spectre" and "devourer" results, which makes sense. I'd add the "ether cyclone" and the "disintegrate ray" to that as well. The 5d10 sonic damage with the high Fort save would have killed my mage who had been ability damaged in Act 2 stone dead, no ifs ands or buts. And the disintegrate ray? 24d6 with a DC20 Fort save? Foggetaboutit.

ACT 5
Another good encounter. No issues here. Having fought them in Act 3, the players knew how to handle the xill. Knowing this I had the xill plant keeper pre-buff by casting his entropic shield, longstrider and protection from good ahead of combat. Logically it made sense, since the PCs hadn't exactly been quiet up to this point. If I had been mean, I would have had him cast bull's strength and resist energy as well.

Once the xill were defeated and the plant was killed things happened pretty quickly and the PCs got the heck out of there. I ruled that the captured humans were aware that they had been implanted with the black egg, otherwise my Cheliax faction player would have never found it. It was in them after all.

All in all a very fun adventure. Different parts let different character classes shine which always makes folks happy. If I were to run it again as written I would suggest that it not be played by a majority level 7 group. Some of the challenges are just too deadly. Not that I don't like the fear of death in Pathfinder Society games, it's just that when it comes from "save or die" effects, it seems a little unfair and anticlimactic. If someone goes down fighting in a heroic manner, I would much prefer it, but maybe that's just me again.

yup. branding opportunity sums it up very well.
i'd like to chime in that this is another high tier mod with very slim rewards.

the few items that appeared on the AR are overpriced for the personal wealth of someone at the level, and the gold given out at the 7-8 tier is 300gp more than is commonly given out at some 5-6 tier mods.

for all the effort, we should get warned to just wait and play up with these mods. i'm just going to start not playing, and ask friends when its worthwhile to start playing the mods again at the appropriate levels. the disparity in rewards is getting annoying.

I've been more than hesitant to run this, since the encounters just seem soooo deadly. Clay golem with a fire turret or two deal so much damage in a round it's, ugh, unbearable. I've instructed the locals to get their characters to level 7, wait for PFRPG and maybe THEN try to run this. I dislike having to modify the adventures, why not just throw the whole adventure to the waste bin and run something else?

I've been more than hesitant to run this, since the encounters just seem soooo deadly. Clay golem with a fire turret or two deal so much damage in a round it's, ugh, unbearable. I've instructed the locals to get their characters to level 7, wait for PFRPG and maybe THEN try to run this. I dislike having to modify the adventures, why not just throw the whole adventure to the waste bin and run something else? [/QUOTE

I loved the adventure itself, VERY cool.

I think if low tier main monster in the first fight were replaced by an appropriate level Animated Object, then the encounter would still be challenging, but not a slaughterfest.

As to the rewards, I agree with Seraphimpunk, if the weapon offered at the low tier rewards was just the basic version/or even +1 I think it would be more appropriate.

Thanks.

Clay golem with a fire turret or two deal so much damage in a round it's, ugh, unbearable. I've instructed the locals to get their characters to level 7, wait for PFRPG and maybe THEN try to run this.

Deussu wrote:

Clay golem with a fire turret or two deal so much damage in a round it's, ugh, unbearable. I've instructed the locals to get their characters to level 7, wait for PFRPG and maybe THEN try to run this.

Clay golem damage output wasn't the problem when I ran it. The problem was that it *doesn't* heal. It was literally harder than the high tier of the mod since the stone giant's con damage can be healed with restoration spells.

That was one tough @$$ mod !! Act I and the final Act gave my group of 6 a run for the money !

We had what I thought was a balanced party
with

Wiz 7 (me)
Wiz/Cleric/Mystic Theurge 3/3/1
Ranger/Thief 6/1
Bard/Fighter 3/3
Cleric 7
Fighter 7

We were bristling with scrolls and wands and hubris.

While only two characters went down for Act I, even the fighter had to 'run away, run away'.

We were lucky enough to get past Act II without encountering the ghost, but ...

The final act was ugly, four of the characters dropped and were in the negatives AND paralyzed.

Yes there were some bad rolls on our part, but this was still one tough mod !

The next time I see Greg A. Vaughan's on an adventure I'll play down ! And I thought Greg was a gentleman !!!

Mr. Vaughan, I am joking of course because I AM A FAN OF YOUR WORK SIR. And thank you for teaching me the value of humility as I lay paralyzed by something out of a B movie.

But next time, maybe have some goodies for the arcane spell casters please. Just saying.

And I thought Greg was a gentleman !!!

Sorry it was so tough (well...not really), I like to make 'em a challenge for the power gamers out there (like my players, for instance) so they can get a tad hairy for the more economically minded player. Technically, I believe they are within the proscribed ELs, but that isn't exactly a science, I know. I recommend running 6 PCs in general and shudder to think of those who don't. Glad it worked out and sorry for the near TPK. On the other hand, I ran three sessions of Slumbering Tsar at PaizoCon and killed 11 out of 18 PCs, so it may just be that I'm a big jerk.

I'll keep the arcane goodies thing in mind, though.

I'm glad you're enjoying them, if in a somewhat battered state afterward, and hope you continue to do so. Thanks for the kind words. :-)

On the other hand, I ran three sessions of Slumbering Tsar at PaizoCon and killed 11 out of 18 PCs...

But next time, maybe have some goodies for the arcane spell casters please. Just saying.

Just my two cents worth!

We ran a table through this module over the weekend and had an absolute blast.

This was the first module were we felt that we were doing something *other* than 'find person/item x', 'guard item x', or 'clean out area x'. The chance to be *real* Pathfinders for once was fantastic :-)

Overall, I really liked the module:

In terms of negatives,

In theory you can go get a cleric to help as a part of the spellcasting services portion of the pathfinder buy list.

I nearly went with 1 of the high tier instead of the low tier monster that time. I think I should've.