Pathfinder Society Scenario #39: The Citadel of Flame (PFRPG) PDF (based on
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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2 and 4–5).
Once the home to a cult preaching self-sacrifice by immolation in order to achieve paradise, the Citadel of Flame in Qadira's Meraz Desert was presumably wiped out decades ago after Sarenrae dervishes led a crusade to end its morbid message. An enormous sandstorm swallowed both the citadel and the army attacking it, burying both beneath hundreds of feet of sand. Thought lost forever, the citadel's rediscovery prompts the Pathfinder Society to send you deep in the unforgiving Meraz to finally close the book on Qadira's most mysterious cult.
Written by Steven Robert
This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
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I have run this a few times, and most recently, it was my first attempt at a play-by-post game. This is a bit of a dungeon crawl, but there are a few tricky areas. The boss at the end is fun, and the room is pretty dangerous. However, once you get to the Citadel, it's pretty RP free. The exception is the NPC you meet which seemed to confuse players more than help them. The faction missions were simple, as most didn't require any rolls. Just do X, and you succeed. Much different than faction missions nowadays.
I heard a lot of good things before I GMed this one. I was really looking forward to running it, but it really fell flat. Basically, no RP opportunities with mostly straightforward combats and story. Feels like a simple hack-n-slash. A GM needs to do a lot of prep work to add in enough extra fluff for this one to be interesting.
There is one encounter that is mildly entertaining, and the setting has the potential to be good – given the GM does his homework.
A couple parts are also needlessly deadly for Tier 1-2.
All in all, this was a very disappointing scenario for me.
The fighting is a little weak but the surprise and confusion that explains itself it very fun to play with. The boss fight can be awkward for level ones with a poor jump roll.
I played this in a group of five at Tier 1-2, and everyone enjoyed the flavor of the setting and how the writer incorporated that into the skill encounters. Fantastic stuff.
The combats, however, were a letdown.
Spoiler:
Three combats were against solo creatures. Two of those solos were spellcasters. Once we got past the initial barrage, the spellcasters went down fast. The other solo was on a very constrictive map, so only two characters could attack at a time.
I ran this scenario (and my first PFS game) tonight. Both my players and I enjoyed it. The story is well written and interesting. I enjoyed the mix of combat and challenges. There are a few chances for roleplaying in the adventure, but it doesn't seem to be the focus. A few of the map descriptions were a bit confusing, but not so much that it detracted from the game. It took a fair bit of prep time, but it was worth it.
Spoiler:
We played the 4-5 tier. Most of the combat encounters went off without much of a hitch. Oddly the fight against the elementals went quite a few rounds as the players dice hadn't seemed to have warmed up yet. The sorcerer got off a few licks from his hiding space before being smoked out with a smokestick and cut down in one hit by a raging barbarian (after getting off a fireball). They had problems with the magaav when they failed to find the secret door to the bridge and attempted to climb up through the hole from down below. One character flew up to be nearly mauled to death while the others struggled to climb up a rope he dropped. They almost came to blows with the dwarf when the half-orc barbarian took the lead, but the rest of the party calmed both of them down which prepared them for the last encounter. Having turned off the steam vents and not engaged in the ritual (no Chelaxian along), they caught the priestess totally unaware. She went down in 2 rounds with a crit from the barbarian.
