paizo.com Recent Reviews by zimmerwald1915paizo.com Recent Reviews by zimmerwald19152024-03-18T20:32:07Z2024-03-18T20:32:07ZPathfinder Society Scenario #3-09: The Quest for Perfection—Part I: The Edge of Heaven (PFRPG) PDF: A Player's Perspective (3 stars)zimmerwald1915https://paizo.com/products/btpy8n0o?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-309-The-Quest-for-Perfection-Part-I-The-Edge-of-Heaven2012-03-05T15:14:33Z<p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-09: The Quest for Perfection—Part I: The Edge of Heaven (PFRPG) PDF</b></p><p>It should be noted that I have not read this scenario, only played it. That said, that play-through wasn't terribly interesting. We ran it with a table of 5 (with a sixth player joining in the middle of the second fight), at tier 4-5. At our average party level, with access to second-level spells and many fist-level castings, we found the environmental factors trivial to deal with. By the time we reached the monastery, only our Paladin was fatigued, and that was down to natural 2 or 3 on his last Fortitude save. The environmental factors are probably bigger, well, factors at the lower tier, when the PCs just don't have the resources and capability to handwave them away.</p>
<p>Putting the PCs below enemies on clifftops, or between enemies and a long fall, was a nice touch for the second and third fights. The last two fights could have been handled better. Our party two-shotted most of the enemies in the fourth fight, and overwhelmed the boss with action advantage. Combining the two fights into one would have helped to mitigate this. Revealing that the "demon" living up in the monastery was something...entirely different in the opening text was also, I think, a mistake. The monastery encounters might have gone very differently if we were prepared for something other than what we found. As it was, we had three near-deaths: my wizard, the under-leveled magus, and the summoner's eidolon.</p>
<p>There wasn't much roleplaying between PCs and NPCs to be had. Our GM had the guides stay behind at the base camp without much discussion on the subject, though to be fair we got the map and we probably would have been fine with letting them stay. It didn't help that none of us could speak Tien. But that left the monsters as the only creatures with which we could interact until the denoument, and they weren't interested in talking. Having to protect the guides might have added wrinkles to the not-very-challenging second and third fights, and they could have had interesting things to say about the Two Brothers and the shrines instead of the information being revealed through Knowledge checks.</p>
<p>Overall it was a decent adventure, and to be fair it was more fun in the moment than it is looking back, but it wasn't terribly interesting or flavorful.</p><p><b>Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-09: The Quest for Perfection—Part I: The Edge of Heaven (PFRPG) PDF</b></p><p>It should be noted that I have not read this scenario, only played it. That said, that play-through wasn't terribly interesting. We ran it with a table of 5 (with a sixth player joining in the middle of the second fight), at tier 4-5. At our average party level, with access to second-level spells and many fist-level castings, we found the environmental factors trivial to deal with. By the time we reached the monastery, only our Paladin was fatigued, and that was down to natural 2 or 3 on his last Fortitude save. The environmental factors are probably bigger, well, factors at the lower tier, when the PCs just don't have the resources and capability to handwave them away.</p>
<p>Putting the PCs below enemies on clifftops, or between enemies and a long fall, was a nice touch for the second and third fights. The last two fights could have been handled better. Our party two-shotted most of the enemies in the fourth fight, and overwhelmed the boss with action advantage. Combining the two fights into one would have helped to mitigate this. Revealing that the "demon" living up in the monastery was something...entirely different in the opening text was also, I think, a mistake. The monastery encounters might have gone very differently if we were prepared for something other than what we found. As it was, we had three near-deaths: my wizard, the under-leveled magus, and the summoner's eidolon.</p>
<p>There wasn't much roleplaying between PCs and NPCs to be had. Our GM had the guides stay behind at the base camp without much discussion on the subject, though to be fair we got the map and we probably would have been fine with letting them stay. It didn't help that none of us could speak Tien. But that left the monsters as the only creatures with which we could interact until the denoument, and they weren't interested in talking. Having to protect the guides might have added wrinkles to the not-very-challenging second and third fights, and they could have had interesting things to say about the Two Brothers and the shrines instead of the information being revealed through Knowledge checks.</p>
<p>Overall it was a decent adventure, and to be fair it was more fun in the moment than it is looking back, but it wasn't terribly interesting or flavorful.</p>zimmerwald19152012-03-05T15:14:33Z