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Pathfinder Module: City of Golden Death (PFRPG)

3.70/5 (based on 15 ratings)
Pathfinder Module: City of Golden Death (PFRPG)
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An adventure for 5th-level Pathfinder Roleplaying Game characters.

The Price of Greed

In the center of Lake Encarthan looms the dreaded Isle of Terror, accursed land of mystery and treachery. Hidden within the island's negative energy storms, the secret treasure city of the wizard-king Tar-Baphon has lain sealed for centuries. Now masked cultists have opened the golden city of Xin-Grafar to claim the wealth of the legendary city for the Living God Razmir. Can the PCs track the cultists through the poisoned swamps and blasted wastelands of the Isle of Terror to the City of Golden Death itself? And what forgotten dangers will oppose them as they struggle to prevent a dark faith from spreading across the world?

City of Golden Death is an adventure for 5th-level characters; it is written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world's oldest RPG. The adventure features a mix of wilderness and dungeon sites and includes a race through a ruined, golden city to stop evil cultists before the city floods with molten gold!

This adventure is set on the legendary Isle of Terror in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting, but it can be easily adapted for any game world. It can be used as a stand-alone adventure or as the final chapter of the Price of Immortality trilogy, following the adventures Crypt of the Everflame and Masks of the Living God.

Written by Joshua J. Frost

Pathfinder Modules are 32-page, high-quality, full-color, adventures using the Open Game License to work with both the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and the standard 3.5 fantasy RPG rules set. This Pathfinder Module includes four pre-made characters so players can jump right into the action, and full-color maps to enhance play.

ISBN 13: 978-1-60125-225-8

City of Golden Death is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Its Chronicle Sheet and additional rules for running this module are a free download (213 KB zip/PDF).

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Adventure Subscription.

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3.70/5 (based on 15 ratings)

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5/5 —

Tough and epic slog

4/5 —

I played this adventure as the conclusion to the trilogy, and I think it's best enjoyed that way. It gives you real investment in finally beating your nemesis.

We played with a party of 4: Barbarian 6, Alchemist 4/Barbarian 1, Zen Archer 5 and Inquisitor 5. We soon started to feel the burn of not having an actual level 5 cleric as two PCs got hit by a very nasty curse during a random encounter.

The random encounters here are the special Josh Frost nasty sauce. Several of them can easily cause a TPK. We managed to run from the scariest of them. I don't think monsters early in the adventure should stand a better than even chance of causing a TPK, particularly if they're random encounters, not a storied villain. I'm docking a star for that.

The random encounters do serve a purpose in the module though: they make it clear that you're deep into territory where you weren't meant to go. The Isle of Terror is not safe territory for an APL 5 party and there's nobody to rescue you if you fail. There's no restocking CLW wands so you might want to bring a few to spare; we burnt through about three wands and half a CMW wand, and all the potions we looted. We really felt like we were operating without a safety net here; depending on how you die, Raise Dead might not cut it.

The module is very good about sticking to theme in its monsters. All the monster were clearly picked out to add something to the flavour (and body count). Some encounters were easy, but all the bosses were tough. That works well to make them stand out. That thing you see on the cover of the book is really cool hot. You don't often face dragons but this one is scary, it can kill PCs with a standard action if you make a bad move. Or kill you twice over with a good full attack routine. And it's not the only scary thing you face that day.

The module is mostly about the scary combats, in an absolutely epic setting. I know my character will never look at gold the same way again. But he really feels like a badass hero now.

Well, I was certainly terrified!

2/5 —

The next time my Venture Captain tries to send me to somewhere with a name that includes 'Terror', 'Death', or both, I'm going back to bed.

I would say this is definitely the weakest of the trilogy of modules.

Keep in mind that I played this as part of a four-person party, all level 5. Perhaps it would have felt more balanced with more people. But even though we were quite combat-optimized, we found this to be a very, very difficult module, with a lot of potential for TPK.

There was no roleplay to speak of, which is always a bit of a disappointment to me. The random encounters ranged from trivial, to challenging, to brutal. (The only reason we made it to the city itself was due to the kindness of our GM, I think.)

Inside the city there are many dangers, as one would expect. The creature pictured on the cover appears to be built to kill one PC per round, every round after the first round of combat. Ouch!

After that, the rest of the combats were fairly straightforward, and a bit of a let-down, especially after the fantastic build-up from 'Crypt of the Everflame' and 'Masks of the Living God'.

3/5 —

I've reviewed this book over on RPGGeek.com.

Memorable

5/5 —

I ran this one as a player, the main tank. I still think of this dungeon a year later. I felt a real challenge here. Very grim and tactical. Several situations that can kill players, possibly this is giving it a lower rating. The only piece of advice I have is: take a tiefling!

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Sovereign Court
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

The Price of Immortality makes all these adventures even more tantalizing! I still wish you could release more...
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8

I approve of this new, Razmir-filled direction. I loves me some Living God.

We will be watching this closely to ensure that the great nation of Razmiran and its most divine of divinities are portrayed respectfully and accurately.
Silver Crusade

I wanna punch a Razmir priest in the face. This can't come soon enough.
The Exchange
Mikaze wrote:
I wanna punch a Razmir priest in the face. This can't come soon enough.

Wouldn't you hurt your hand doing that? They all wear iron masks.

Dark Archive

I love the idea of Razmiran... in a world in which wizards and clerics can decimate armies or perform great miracles there *should* be at least a few megalomaniacs who try to set up cults worshipping them as living gods (especially as certain tyrants without any magic at their disposal have managed to do that in our own world). Regardless of whether they actually believe themselves to be truly divine or not.

Having said that, I wonder if the jewel has some magical powers, or perhaps it is even an artifact?
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

When was the esteemed M. Frost added as the author for this? Was that always there?
Paizo Employee Creative Director
yoda8myhead wrote:
When was the esteemed M. Frost added as the author for this? Was that always there?

It at one point probably said something like "Paizo Staff" or maybe "James Jacobs" or something. Standard placeholder tactics until we assigned an actual author to the project. In this case, Josh.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Yeah, it was just changed very sneakily. Vic usually makes announcements when he does that.
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

I've updated the image and description with the correct author: Joshua J. Frost. Note that it's still a mockup cover—it just has the right author now.

(I updated the text yesterday, but I didn't post about it because the image still listed Jason Bulmahn as the author, and I knew I'd be updating it today.)
The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Vic, did you also want to update:

blurb wrote:


Designed specifically for the new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules and written by the new game’s primary designer...

Or was Josh really the primary designer for the new game?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
Chris Mortika wrote:

Vic, did you also want to update:

blurb wrote:


Designed specifically for the new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules and written by the new game’s primary designer...
Or was Josh really the primary designer for the new game?

D'oh! Fixed.

Thanks...
Silver Crusade
Zeugma wrote:
Mikaze wrote:
I wanna punch a Razmir priest in the face. This can't come soon enough.
Wouldn't you hurt your hand doing that? They all wear iron masks.

A kick is fine too.

The Exchange
Mikaze wrote:
I wanna punch a Razmir priest in the face. This can't come soon enough.

Bring it!

My group of players are of two minds about Razmir, their low level character's just want the loot, while their high level character's want to take out Razmir permanently.

Being as I run a 1st edition AD&D campaign, and have since 1978, some of their high level characters are quite capable of that deed...Hmmm, I'll just have to see what they're willing to do to kill a "Living God"

I was able to take a peek at some maps and art for this one today ... and wow is this thing gonna look good!
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
Joshua J. Frost wrote:
I was able to take a peek at some maps and art for this one today ... and wow is this thing gonna look good!

You sure you aren't biased?

Dark Archive
Joshua J. Frost wrote:
I was able to take a peek at some maps and art for this one today ... and wow is this thing gonna look good!

I won't believe you unless there will be some previews... without the dragon in front of the maps, naturally! ;)

yoda8myhead wrote:
You sure you aren't biased?

Are you sure you live in Manhattan?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

I've updated the cover image and product description to match the finished product.

Looks like Dragotha's about to get the beat down!
Contributor

Note that the dragon isn't simply bone, but gold....

I'm working on a home campaign around the return of Tar-Baphon, is this product going to have much in the way of good info on the ol tyrant?
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
Prince That Howls wrote:
I'm working on a home campaign around the return of Tar-Baphon, is this product going to have much in the way of good info on the ol tyrant?

5th level seems a little low for full-on stats, but I imagine there will be a fair amount of background on Ye Olde Whisperer in here. I'm more intrigued by this new lost city, named like a capital of Thassilon, but far from the former empire's borders and not named for one of the known realms. Curiouser and curiouser...

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
yoda8myhead wrote:
I'm more intrigued by this new lost city, named like a capital of Thassilon, but far from the former empire's borders and not named for one of the known realms. Curiouser and curiouser...

That is weird indeed!

yoda8myhead wrote:
Prince That Howls wrote:
I'm working on a home campaign around the return of Tar-Baphon, is this product going to have much in the way of good info on the ol tyrant?
5th level seems a little low for full-on stats, but I imagine there will be a fair amount of background on Ye Olde Whisperer in here.

Heh, yeah I was pretty sure I wasn't going to find his stats here. Any background information would be good though.

There's some background information about Tar-Baphon, but it's not the focus of the adventure.
Sovereign Court
Zaister wrote:
yoda8myhead wrote:
I'm more intrigued by this new lost city, named like a capital of Thassilon, but far from the former empire's borders and not named for one of the known realms. Curiouser and curiouser...
That is weird indeed!

Xin was the first thing I in noticed in the description. Gorlarion just keeps getting better.

Sovereign Court
Zaister wrote:
yoda8myhead wrote:
I'm more intrigued by this new lost city, named like a capital of Thassilon, but far from the former empire's borders and not named for one of the known realms. Curiouser and curiouser...
That is weird indeed!

Hmmmmmm...

Zeugma wrote:
Mikaze wrote:
I wanna punch a Razmir priest in the face. This can't come soon enough.
Wouldn't you hurt your hand doing that? They all wear iron masks.

A Flurry of Sundering Cleaving Blows . . . .

Sean K Reynolds wrote:
Note that the dragon isn't simply bone, but gold....

Stop with the dracolich already!!

Scarab Sages

Yes!! :-)

I am organizing a new group and campaign, and I've decided to do the Price of Immortality trilogy. So I'm really keen to get me my copy!

I noticed that "Xin" thing too... I think the tendrils of the lost Thassilon empire had spread wilder and farther than initially perceived!

Hmm...
Scarab Sages

Any idea on approximately when in April this will be shipped. I'm waiting on it to continue our gaming.
Contributor

Late April:

http://paizo.com/paizo/about/schedule
Scarab Sages

Thank you Mr. Reynolds.

My local gaming store quoted me April 28th for the shipping date. So for late April, that sounds about right.

When will the PDF version be ready? looking to play this on May 1st.

thanks
Liberty's Edge

Shiny Bone Dragon + 5th level party = TPK. MUHAHAHAHAH!!!
Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

My group is anxiously awaiting the next part of the adventure. Cannot wait to get this.

Edit: I hope it ships in the next few days so I'll at least have the PDF for this Sunday... *crosses fingers*
Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8

Very interesting read. Lots of traps and Tar-Baphon was a real hand and a half sword.

I also like how many parties will die. And how the McGuffin can be destroyed. *heh*
Jeremiziah wrote:
Shiny Bone Dragon + 5th level party = TPK. MUHAHAHAHAH!!!

Spoiler:
The party is supposed to be 6th level by the time they reach the Third Ring, including the dragon. :-) See the sidebar on page 24.
Liberty's Edge
Joshua J. Frost wrote:
Jeremiziah wrote:
Shiny Bone Dragon + 5th level party = TPK. MUHAHAHAHAH!!!
** spoiler omitted **

Oh, good show. Well, they might have a fighting chance, given that. The poor fellow on the cover still looks like he's about to get chomped, though ;)

I can't wait to learn more about the Isle of Terror. Will have to get this module for sure. Thanks!
Scarab Sages

Just finished reading through this adventure last night. Allow me to say Mr. Frost...

...You are a very evil and twisted man. My party will very likely curse your name after I run them through this.

Spoiler:
An entire city of gold that they can't take with them! Oh yes, they will hate you.

Although, I've got to wonder....

Spoiler:
If you can't take any gold with you, what treasure did Asar, Kassen, and Iramine take when they visited? Did they just luck out on the stuff that can be taken? I did see some of that in there, like the trapped treasure pile and the skeletal dragon's treasure....

Also, what was the point of Tar-Baphon placing all these guardians and traps, if most of the treasure couldn't be removed excpet by him? Just being an a**+&~%?

Lastly, Isle of Terror -

Spoiler:
To start, pretty damn cool. I'd love to see something that explores it further, especially the corrupting influence it has on living creatures. I was surprised we didn't see more undead, however. You'd think a place with regular negative energy lightening strikes would be something they might enjoy.

I especially like the Shadow's Heart forest and the description of the trees. If the PCs go in there, what kind of stats could we use for a tree attack? Treant? Or, maybe something similar to the treant's animate tree ability?
Liberty's Edge

Got this in the mail a few days ago, and it looks REALLY good. Everything seems unique and deadly.

The only downside? When I ran Crypt of the Everflame in January, I didn't realize that the next two adventures were months away! So I've got to up the danger for an average party level of 9. If anyone's got any suggestions, I started a thread over here.

Three more things:

One,

Spoiler:
I may actually let the players keep whatever gold they manage to cram into their bags of holding, and cite it was unaffected as it was in an extradimensional space at the time they crossed the threshold. This is also because my players are a little behind on treasure, and to prevent a riot.

Two, now that we know what's on the Isle of Terror, it's put an end to my group's in-jokes about how it was named in sort of a "Greenland/Iceland" deal - that it's really rather nice. Or perhaps it was first mapped out by a cartographer with the unfortunate last name of "Terror".

Three, I feel the track "The Ecstacy of Gold" from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is the perfect thing to play when the PCs set their eyes on the city. That is all.
Contributor

Josh is out of the country on vacation for a couple weeks, so don't expect a reply from him until then. :)
Liberty's Edge
Sean K Reynolds wrote:
Josh is out of the country on vacation for a couple weeks, so don't expect a reply from him until then. :)

Unless he used a full withdrawl, I'm pretty sure that warrants everybody getting an attack of opportunity. :)

Scarab Sages
Sean K Reynolds wrote:
Josh is out of the country on vacation for a couple weeks, so don't expect a reply from him until then. :)

Yeah, I seem to recall something about him in Europe. No matter, most of my questions dealt with either peripheral stuff, or stuff I can figure out for myself.

Of course, none of that changes the fact that my players will hate him. Oh yes, how they will hate him.....

Hi there :)

Is there an information about the "Well Of Sorrows" included in this Adventure? I want to run a campaign, where the PCs enter the Darklands. And this Well is so full of history and adventure... I'd like to play that ;)

Sorry for my rusty english!

Regards,
Nadir
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