Fangwood Keep has changed hands innumerable times since its founding decades ago on the border between the warring nations of Molthune and Nirmathas. Over the years, both countries have sacrificed money and soldiers in an effort to control the fortress along the Marideth River valley, both for its tactical location and for its secure defenses. Recently, however, the battles around Fangwood Keep have dwindled to a trickle as Nirmathas has firmly rooted itself in the surrounding valley, allowing the tide of war to shift elsewhere and peace to settle at last over Fangwood Keep.
This respite was shattered by the arrival of a renegade Molthuni commander named Pavo Vos. Obsessed with capturing Fangwood Keep and unraveling the fortress’s mysteries, the defecting lieutenant unlawfully used his platoon to secure the castle, much to the ire of both the Molthuni and Nirmathi governments. Now the task of bringing Vos to justice and reclaiming Fangwood Keep for Nirmathas lies solely in the PCs’ able hands.
"Fangwood Keep" is an adventure of infiltration, investigation, and dungeon exploration for 4th-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world’s oldest RPG. This volume also contains a gazetteer of the Marideth River valley and a brand-new monster from the bizarre realm of the fey, both of which can easily be integrated into any campaign setting.
Written by Alex Greenshields.
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 new monsters, treasure, and a fully detailed bonus location that can be used as part of the adventure or in any other game!
Is it me or does this one keep getting moved back on the timeline lol. I really want this one because I love keep and forest settings. Plus 4th level is a great time for players starting to build in power, but not so much that it's hard on the GM to keep up with it all lol.
I'm looking forward to this one. Since the initial Price of Immortality Trilogy, this area of the Inner Sea (well, north of same) needed a little love -- and this one should serve to fill in the XP gap before City of Golden Death.
Finally finished reading this one today and must admit I like most of it. It has all the things I like (castles, traps, weird environment rules and HOBGOBLINS!!) with multiple ways of getting things done. A good mix of stealth, combat, social skills and crazy makes this one I'm looking forward to run. (As soon as the PFS chronicle sheets are ready for it)
With that said though there are a few things that bother me, mostly regarding the Hobgoblins.
It seems as if the author missed the update on these guys. No longer are they the lazy, chaotic barbarians they used to be and are now the most organized, regimented and disciplined of the goblin hordes. The description and tactics laid out for these guys are the opposite of what we've been led to expect from these guys (same for their other goblinoid minions). Overall with my first read through they just seem like typical disposable Orcs instead of the super-soldiers they are displayed as in the current write-up.
The second part has a bit of the kick in the door fight the monster feel to it that might get a bit old after the third or fourth door. Not saying the combatants aren't interesting and exciting just that for a 4th level party it is a LOT of combats to recover from and not many parties will have the resources to handle this regular level of combat.
So far I'm inclined to give this a solid 3.5 stars based on the read but want to see how it does in actual play.
I'm REALLY wanting to see how PFS handles the mcguffin at the end. Even in that condition it should provide an AWESOME boon.
I'm still reading it, but I have to admit I was hoping for a portrayal of Molthrune's hobgoblin regiments somewhere. These guys seem pretty unaffiliated though, so hopefully they're not really reflective of their Molthruni counterparts.
Am liking the separate Nirmathas/Molthrune hooks though. And stealthy parties could have a lot of fun here.
I very much like the adventure overall, but I have noticed a few bits of errata:
Fangwood Keep:
All "stock" Hobgoblins seem to be missing the Class Skill bonus on their Stealth (all Goblinoids treat Stealth as a Class Skill); the Hobgobln Brawler, Archer, and Sergeant each have Stealth skill rating 3 lower than they should be:
Akre Belring
Has 1 too many feats.
1 + 1 Ranger bonus + 1 Human bons = 3; lists 4 (Power Attack seems the most reasonable to remove)
Tralg
5 more hit points than I can account for
Aseri
Knowledge (local) should be +4, not +1
1 rank + 3 Class + 0 Int = +4
Elessia
Charm Person is not on the Cleric spell list; it is a Domain spell for her. As such, she cannot use a "regular" spell slot to prepare it, and so cannot have the Bouncing Charm Person at 2nd level.
Barrow Hound
The hound is not eligible for the Vital Strike feat. It has a BAB of +5, and the feat requires +6.
Fethi
As a martial artist, Fethi should not have ki points, she should instead have Exploit Weakness. Rolls at a +7.
Additionally, her stunning fist does not appear to include her +1 bonus from pain points, and so should be a DC 15.
Vic Wertz
Chief Technical Officer
spamhammer
Stratagemini
Trinite
Mathwei ap Niall
NOG the Demoralizer
The Spider
