RPG Superstar 2013 Star Voter. Pathfinder Society Member. 4,761 posts (7,879 including aliases). 17 reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 20 Pathfinder Society characters. 2 aliases.
While I did enjoy this much more than I did the Disappeared, I would rate this a solid three out of five stars, in a good way. It had some RP, though it didn't seem nearly as much, or as great as others have implied. It is extremely railroad, essentially forcing the characters to rescue an individual that they have every reason, in and out of game not to want to ever have found.
The combats are fairly strong, with a lot of info being questionable, (one or two breath weapons, lava pits, why are we being attacked and why are the individuals we are doing a huge favor for not willing to help us at all help them against their own problems).
A lot of the plot and set up is based on some pretty shaky concepts, and in a lot of ways, the end rewards are not really worth what you have to go through to succeed. The Boon is more of a punishment than a prestigious award, can not be sold off to make up for it, and comes straight from an individual a lot of people wouldn't want a gift from.
Removing the super railroad, and allowing a way to succeed WITHOUT rescuing Zarta, as well as adding some more convincing and realistic evidence, as well as some explanation for it would make this a solid 4, possibly even a 5 star scenario, as well as let the players feel like they are actually affecting the game and world. It would also be great to give players a believable reason and motive to actually want to do this at all, and a choice that seriously goes beyond "Do I really want 1XP and 2PP that much or not", which is kind of what it comes down to. Redesigning the scenario so that it focuses, or at least has the option to allow the players to find something a lot more meaningful as actual evidence would go a long way, too.
I agree with almost everything that the previous poster mentioned (except the 3E material). There are areas I wish they had gone more in depth or expanded upon a topic, but over all, a very good book. Unlike many of the other player's guide books, this one does seem to offer options for basically everyone, rather than focus on a handfull of classes. The amount of mechanics in this book is great, and shows that it doesn't detract from the fluff material. Not too much of it is terribly etting specific, either.
The art is pretty good, particularly the cover and the center fold, while most of the other art is generally just various iconics is some sort of pose, but not really relvant to the topics.
The magic items are ok, not great. Nothing really jumps out, with a lot of it at the higher GP end.
The spells mostly look nice. I'm not really sure, (yes I know that Alchemists are their new baby and all) that the Alchemist's materail either needed to be in this book or was really thought out that well. Even at 12th+ level, a single save that can rob some clases of all class features (and can argueably require an Atonement even if it's a temp thing) probably needs to be errata'd a lot or out.
I'm very happy that Roles where not included in this book. Don't care for them. The Virtues look good, though I wish there there where more, or perhaps some of them would be switched out. I'm sad to see that they require a Feat to utilize, as I'm not sure most of them really are worth a Feat, and what's worse the main classes that the flavor really fits are generally the ones that are totally Feat-starved. About the same power level as the Knightly Traits in Knights of the Inner Sea, except in general even more situational, that I'm not really sure they are really worth a Trait. Other than that, they are great and look interesting.
All in all, a great and fun book. I would love to see more books like this, both in the amount of material presented as well as focusing on Good, heroic characters and play. I'd definetly buy a Champions of Purity 2 and 3, or a similar book that is not setting specific, but along the same lines.
I'd say a solid 4 stars, (I'm very picky about giving a 5 star). It was pretty good, and I enjoyed it almost the entire time. Of all the more RP investigatin scenario's I've played in, I think this one did it right, (with the exception of the door).
The Door <includes partial answer>:
This was really our only big hang up, where the entire party was sitting there about 10 mins straight and just not knowing what to do. Essentually its in the basement of an abandon temple of the wind and wave, sort of a burial temple chapel for sailers. The door has an inscription (in ancient varisian that apparently no one in the entire gang up above can translate, which gives the only clue. (Our DM missed that you can try to uMD it, too), but otherwise you essentually have to figure out that the potion of rage you found earlier is required to be drunk, (assuming you didn't drink it in a previous fight or turn it in as some evidence or something), AND also be able to remove an Arcane Lock on the same door. That's it, if you don't get all of that, and misng any one part is the issue, means you simply can not proceed. Period. If my character had been a level lower, we simply could not have made it, as I just happened to have Dispel Magic'd the Arcane Lock, but I bombed the Linguistics roll, and no one else had the tained only skill. We literally spent about 10+ minutes trying to find a solution (after all that), even going as far as to try to 5th Element the door with wind and water.
I really really liked the alleyway "encounter", as it is a great way for the more good and heroic characters to show, as well as a way to build up the PFS I loved that it shows to most people, Pathfinders are not heroes at all, and generally not well liked by the common man, (appropriately). The traps in the later parts sound amazing, really adding to the fluff, and really incorporating the map lagistically. I'm kind of sad that we completely bypassed one in particular, as seeing it actually go off would have been worth it. Masterfully done.
Other than that, the combats where fun, the story was interesting, and although I really don't care much for the AC/PFS/rogue SL main plot for this season, it was interesting in spite of that. In my opinion it gave the area a much better sense of ambient flavor throught the various NPCs and set up than basically any there scenario set there so far. This one, in my opinion, stands out as a good one for season 4, from a player perspective. It actually reminds me a lot of some of the earlier scenario's, in a good way, so if your a fan of those, you'll likely like this one. If your a fan of season 4, there is still a lot in this one for you, too. If your looking for a combat heavy/brutal scenario, it's probably not for you.
@ Jason S, I'm sorry you had a poor time with this one. I don't mean to argue or put down, but it sounds more like the issue was your DM than the scenario itself. Most of the time, scenarios do not include all the possible ways that could work, but rather hint r guide the GM to what should not, and leave it up to them to decide. With the spoiled portion above, I had nearly the opposite experience.
I try to reserve a 5 star ratng for truely outstanding products, and this might be the first one I would rate that high. Absolutely excellent story, very well written. Very likable and believable characters, and the author sows you more than tells you. I loved that both faith and religion where shows in very relivant and meaningful ways. By far the best pathfinder fictio, including the full novels. Well Done.
A lot of the player material is very focused and exclusive, which in my mind is a bad thing. However, in this case the book does come out and say early on that it is mostly for Rangers, Rogues, and Alchemists. It has minima material for everyone else, but like I said, to be fair, the book does mention that.
The artwork is amazing, and moreso than most other books, it really seems to be designed to illistrate what the book is talking about rather than just being placed there as a halfway related nice picture.
The material is a bit monotinous, and is really questionable as a "Players Guide". A great deal of the material is either strictly for DM's/GM's, or intended for both, but more so on the GM side who has the option to use it than for player's who may never really even have the chance, (from an out-of-character point of view).
A few kits are included, a few spells, and a few feats, but they don't really come across as must haves, and in some spell cases I really wonder why they are that high level. For example, Nature's Ravages is a 4th level Cleric, 3rd Level Witch spell that essentually does the opposite of Gentle Repose, causing things to age by 1 day per 2 CL, (max of 10 days). Seems like a good 0 level spell, (unless I'm missing something), a weaker 1st level spell, but not at all worthy of 3rd or 4th level slots. Create Holds alows you to make basically a ladder on a solid rock for 1/level, and is a 4th level Druid/Wizard, 3 level Ranger spell. Stone Shape is a 3rd level Cleric/Druid, 4th level Wizard spell that allows some really similar thing, but has lot of other uses. Shouldn't Ceate Holds then be a level or 2 lower for being less useful in general, and not as open to other classes? It itself kind of seems like at best 1st level spell material.
The good. It gives a lot of good, useful ideas and suggestions for running dungeons, particularly for a DM that likes to use a lot of flavor and create their own material. It is not really setting specific. The art is really good, including some things that can be used as either hand outs or used as examples to create your own hand outs. Guidlines on making "traps" that are not traps, and just a lot of little things like that. The new NPC/hireling material is cool, but see below. I do not remember seeing any Roles, so that is amazing.
The Bad. One thing I don't like about a lot of Paizo's books about topics is that they take some of the most obvious choices in related to the subject and continue to elevate those rather than try to give options for everyone. It creates a divide rather than allowing for more inclusive games. It boosts Alchemists, Rangers, Rogues (and Wizards I guess), but doesn't offer any ways for other classes to really fit into a campaign that is dungeon exploration/survival heavy. Nothing really for the Cavalier, Cleric/Oracle, Fighter, Paladin, Monk, Sorcerer, etc. . . that brings them in line for the playstyle the book is about. Normally this would net around a 1 or 2 stars for the review, but as I've mentioned a few times, the book does say this up front, so to be fair, what it does say it will bring it does bring. The new hirelings material is very cool, but it seems that like with the Knights book, Leadership and being able to have cohorts and hirelings is usually either banned outright or otherwise not allowed, both in home games and in PFS. Needs to be more player focused, though really to be fair this probably should have been in a more DM centric line with a small player's section.
All in all, for what it is and says it does, it's a pretty good book. If your looking either for ideas to use in building a dungeon or to be able to top of your very dungeon-explory Alchemist, Ranger, or Rogue, it's probably a good buy. If you not doing those things, you should probably skip it, though the PDF is is chap enough that it's hard to complain.
