A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for Levels 1–5.
As the Pathfinders approach the village of Nesting Swallow in the Tian nation of Shokuro, they find it besieged by a gang of tengu bandits. Before their contact in the village will aid them in restoring the Iroran relic that brought them hundreds of miles to the isolated town, the PCs must repulse the attackers, using every ounce of tactical mettle and military strategy they possess to train the villagers, augment their defenses, and ultimately face off against the bandits' charge.
Written by Sean McGowan, RPG Superstar 2011 runner up.
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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Seperated into two parts, the skill-focused first part, and the combat-focused second part.
Has some great opportunities and rewards for skill monkeys. And the last part of defense the village is such a heroic and epic time.
Why makes it out of 5 stars? I think in RAW, the combats can be too easy, villagers just shoot off most mobs, PCs won't engage many enemies. I would stronly suggest play the optional encourter, can be challenging but not deadly.
I finally got round to play the last part of the Quest for Perfection yesterday. It had been something on my to-do list for quite a while now and I was neither impressed or charmed by it.
The idea is nice: go to a village, set up adequate defences and then try to weather the storm of onslaught. It sounds simple in itself. However the resource allocation mini-game can easily backfire. It's easier to play that portion out of character and address it more as a number's game. It can break the flow a bit and ruin the immersion. Needless to say, that's quite unfortunate.
In the end my party finished the majority of the tasks and set up a more than adequate defence. When the waves of enemies approached, we were then confronted by the fact that most of the enemies were unable to reach us in the first place. Those that did make it to the walls were vastly outnumbered and were dispatched off within a single round. It wasn't all that challenging. Even the final boss ended up being hardly a challenge. Create Pit really made him unable to do anything while our party had enough time to get ready to deliver the final blow.
If we hadn't done so well with the defences, the fighting would have been much harder. In hindsight I would have probably preferred to have done a worse job at the preparations just to have some challenging fights. This just felt too easy.
All of that said, it's a nice and potentially epic way to end a three-part storyline. Especially when the GM adds some flavorful descriptions it can be a really enjoyable session. And above anything else, and regardless of how easy or difficult the ending may be, you will feel a certain level of accomplishment: you will be an actual savior. You've done something that helped a whole lot of people. You will actually be a hero.
I played this at tier 1-2. This review does not contain spoilers.
The meat of the scenario is a resource-management minigame, which affects a village's readiness for a siege and mass battle. Unfortunately, given the racial and ethnic makeup of the average party of Avistanian PCs versus Shokuro villagers, what it amounts to narratively is Mighty Whitey swooping in and saving the bowing and grateful brown natives.
Seriously, this isn't a case of "the PCs are special and the villagers just happen to be brown." Not only do they turn over complete control of the village to you, to the point where you decide how many people will work the fields versus shoring up the defences, but mechanically, one PC can do the work of five villagers ... even when that work is harvesting rice. In an agricultural village where that is their livelihood. I thought Profession wasn't usable untrained?
It was when I realized this that I said, flat-out, "this is really racist," and the GM was like "yes, it is."
I tried to explain away some of the implications by saying that my PC (a kitsune shrine maiden of the goddess of rice) was performing a harvest ritual or something, while our half-orc fighter could do the work of ten farmhands just because of how strong he was. But it just seemed really unfortunate that these people had no agency and were being reduced to playing pieces ... which was a theme I felt like I had seen in the other Dragon Empires adventures, where the whole continent was exoticised and existed only for "western" people to have an adventure in.
Finally, it may just be that we aced the resource management part. But the epic battle some reviewers liked felt more like shooting fish in a barrel, because this overwhelming force seemed to attack in such tiny waves. I get the impression they were going for something like Dynasty Warriors, and I'm wondering if our GM was just having trouble describing the action.
I don't have a ton to add beyond the other reviews, other than that is one of few scenarios that really feel "epic." As a player (and vicariously as the GM), I love the feel of facing down impossible odds and grinning.
This is not your standard murderhobo/golden retriever fare. Here at Nesting Swallow you actually get to play a real hero.
As a side-note, the preparation mini-game can be tedious if run poorly, but frantic and exciting if done well.
If you have a vanilla Gm that does not put extra into a scenario this may be more bland. The villian has flavor the town has flavor, it is a great mold to work with.
The idea is the seven samurai with a brutal series of attacks on the town. It can be difficult as the village gets hit very quickily in succession.
If you choose to DM this take the time to develope everything. I had the town give the PC a feast in the mornings and would have a giant crow with a message from the villian descrbing how he anticipates the battle and will write ballads of the PCs defeat.
Does the multipart boon allow you to purchase the animal regardless of class, or does it merely add it to the list of available companions for classes with such a class feature? I've currently ruled that my players barbarian needs to take a level in cavalier to gain access to it, but I have other players who would like to know before they multiclass.
Does the multipart boon allow you to purchase the animal regardless of class, or does it merely add it to the list of available companions for classes with such a class feature? I've currently ruled that my players barbarian needs to take a level in cavalier to gain access to it, but I have other players who would like to know before they multiclass.
It simply adds it to the list of available animal companions/mounts. A character who isn't granted either class ability needs to gain the class ability before this boon can take effect.
Also, does the braid give non monks improved unarmed strike? Can the user go from lethal to non lethal damage?
If the braid granted a bonus feat or changed the way unarmed strikes worked, those effects would be listed in the item description. Since neither is listed there, the magic item does not impart those benefits on the wearer.
So I have a question about the mount. Is it simular to the riding bird outlined in dragon magazine 323? because i've always wanted to run a mounted paladin type character.... though PFS kinda has issues with mounted characters. or at least combat for the most part
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