Even as the adventurers find sanctuary in the Fangwood Forest, dire threats encroach on their woodland haven. The black dragon Ibzairiak the Scar-Maker, leading a contingent of Ironfang troops, has broken the back of the legendary Chernasardo Rangers who once defended the woods—and he has claimed the southern Fangwood as his own. With the Chernasardo Rangers gone, all of Fangwood Forest's deadliest inhabitants are again free to stalk and revel as they please, with the adventurers and their vulnerable refugees trapped in the middle. Alone and desperate for allies, the adventurers must siege the Rangers' fallen fortresses one by one, taking them back from the monsters that now infest them. Can they rescue what remains of the once-unstoppable freedom fighters, or will they too fall to the ravages of Ibzairiak?
"Fangs of War," a Pathfinder adventure for 5th-level characters, by Ron Lundeen.
A detailed article on the Chernasardo Rangers, legendary freedom fighters who protect the Fangwood, by Michelle Jones.
A lineup of additional hobgoblin threats—both individuals and organizations—to add extra menace to your Ironfang Invasion or any other campaign, by Mark Moreland.
A bestiary packed with forest-dwelling dangers, by John Compton, Adam Daigle, Crystal Frasier, and Ron Lundeen.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-932-5
"Fangs of War" is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (2 MB zip/PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
If you turn Fort Ristin into the 'social' part of the early parts of the AP, then it is lots of fun.
There are quite a few errors and I have struggled getting the various land maps to match up, but it doesn't stop the enjoyment.
If you like a loose plotted sandbox, with players able to make choices , and the GM can tweak to suit, then this is for you. Basically if you loved Kingmaker, you should try this. The party is very martial, and all human
My group are thoroughly enjoying this AP thus far.
GOOD:
The artwork is mostly pretty good.
Fort Ristin is fun and offers lots of roleplaying opportunities.
The page 14 map is great.
The Korrigan club is nice.
The two "lone heroes" hobgoblins are very flavorful, Mark Moreland should really write a Pathfinder Tale with Qa`al!
The Bestiary is solid.
BAD:
The map of the Chernasardo forest on page 7 would be much better as a hexploration map. The Dragon has Spellcraft +10 and should wear the belt of incredible dex and not let it lie in his hoard.
The map on page 38 is much too big to fit on any flip-mat or even a big chessex mat.
UGLY:
Multiple errors are in the book:
-page 8: "C. Hobgoblin patrol" is supposed to be marked multiple times on the map, but isn´t.
-page 11: Malignant Nolly: The source for the "Blighted Fey" template is given as Bestiary 6, which wasn´t available as of printing, it should have said "Inner Sea Bestiary".
-page 12: The "Tainted blood" ability is refered to be reprinted below, but isn´t. The Diplomacy DC given for Longfrond should be 21 and not 26.
-page 13: The descriptive text says that "slim arrows protude from the throats" of the corpses, yet they have been torn apart by trolls.
The tracks can be discovered with survival, but it should be perception.
The Knowledge (local) check should be a knowledge (nature) check.
page 15: Both the acidic breath of the dragon (10d6) and the hobgoblin bombs (much less damage) wouldn´t have been able to bring down the tower or wall as described, as the average damage is 35 which is divided by two (17) and then the hardness (8) is subtracted. The walls have 480 hp - go do the math.
page 16: The basidirond is hiding (given a +5 stealth), which is impossible as it has no int stat and no skills.
page 20: This is nit-picking from me, but in line 13 "best" should be "beast".
page 23: The large trap-door in the ceiling of J13 is not on the map on page 14, but all others are.
page 26: The illustration of Cirieo Thessadin is totally different from the one he gets on page 57.
page 40: L1 says the river is lazy, but on page 42 it´s described as swift (the two tributaries are switched).
page 41: The "Ironfang Forest Soldiers" stat block is wrong, it has 2 hp too much and ride should be -2, not +2 (1 skill point too much).
page 49: The prison text says there are 14 other prisoners, but there are 13 others, 14 total.
page 50: (nit-pick again): The second line in the third paragraph says "this", but should say "his".
Now i get that every book has some errors, but the amount in this one is way too much for a $25 book and should have been largely caught by the editors (I havn´t actively searched for any, but after a while more and more became apperant while i was reading the book, so i made a list).
The adventure is still good in the beginning (parts 1 & 2), but parts 3 & 4 are grinds without any roleplaying opportunity as written.
This book introduced the world to Qa'al, the greatest fantasy anti-hero since Conan.
Fact: Qa'al has an excellent hat!
Fact: Qa'al has coolguy shades!
Fact: Qa'al is on a neverending quest for vengeance against the man who betrayed him, while simultaneously being pursued for a crime he didn't commit!
Qa'al will someday appear on a rainslicked rooftop, torn between his need for vengeance, and his sense of justice.
Qa'al is the hobgoblin we may not deserve, but is the hobgoblin we need.
Oh, and the adventure also has a dribbly dragon in it and the bestiary has Trollrangutans.
I want this issue to sell out so that Paizo knows how much we need more quality Qa'al content.
I am curious if Fangwood Keep from the Module of the same name will play a role in this...
Fangwood Keep is on the other side of Nirmathas from where this AP takes place, and while GMs are welcome to transplant it to the region if they like, it and its history don't have much to do with the Ironfang Invasion as-written.
I like the idea of this. You've saved the survivors, found a safe location, now you can gather supplies and soldiers to form your own army to strike back at the forces of General Azaersi and his army of monsters. This is easier said than done, since your forces probably consist of women, children, tradesmen, and a handful of militia. You need some trained soldiers to bolster your relatively small band of professional soldiers. And even those need food and equipment to survive the Potential of fighting the war afterwards, with some also being attacked by dragons, monsters and so-on. Being a nomad general is tough.
I hope this includes some real drama where the PCs have to make decisions which have dire consequences for those in their charge! And of course dramatic chases!
Oh my gosh! Second issue for this AP already posted! (with mockup cover, but still...) This AP looks like a good Gygax-style kick-in-the-door dungeon+forest+hidden-soon-to-be-revealed-weirdness crawl. I've never run an AP but this is the sort of AP I'd run.
I like the idea of this. You've saved the survivors, found a safe location, now you can gather supplies and soldiers to form your own army to strike back at the forces of General Azaersi and his army of monsters. This is easier said than done, since your forces probably consist of women, children, tradesmen, and a handful of militia. You need some trained soldiers to bolster your relatively small band of professional soldiers. And even those need food and equipment to survive the Potential of fighting the war afterwards, with some also being attacked by dragons, monsters and so-on. Being a nomad general is tough.
"General Azaersi and her army of monsters."
Fixed that for you :)
And I'm not sure why having a bunch of women among your survivors would make building a fighting force out of them more difficult.
Will this AP have ideas on how to better incorporate PCs with armies? I'm not a fan of the ultimate campaign mass battle rules and this AP looks to have armies or larger scale fights in mind.
I like the idea of this. You've saved the survivors, found a safe location, now you can gather supplies and soldiers to form your own army to strike back at the forces of General Azaersi and his army of monsters. This is easier said than done, since your forces probably consist of women, children, tradesmen, and a handful of militia. You need some trained soldiers to bolster your relatively small band of professional soldiers. And even those need food and equipment to survive the Potential of fighting the war afterwards, with some also being attacked by dragons, monsters and so-on. Being a nomad general is tough.
"General Azaersi and her army of monsters."
Fixed that for you :)
And I'm not sure why having a bunch of women among your survivors would make building a fighting force out of them more difficult.
It wouldn´t at all. Brave kurdish women just showed that to the IS.
Will this AP have ideas on how to better incorporate PCs with armies? I'm not a fan of the ultimate campaign mass battle rules and this AP looks to have armies or larger scale fights in mind.
This AP has guerilla-scale combat in mind--generally just the PCs and their immediate followers--with the army encounters largely being narrative backdrops. We understood going in that some people aren't as fond of the mass combat system and opted to leave room for it to be easily incorporated by groups who enjoy it, but not require it.
Personally, I don't think exploding bridges are a bad thing when used in moderation. They can make for some interesting scenarios. The problem is when every bridge explodes, because then every one the pc's come across becomes and exercise in sequence breaking.
Actually, I would love a sidebar on incorporating Fangwood Keep module into the AP as a side quest. Reign of Winter had this for the Frostfell module. Maybe something to dump in the new section?
And is it too late to ask for this AP to be hex crawl kingdom builder 2.0? 'Cause if it is, I'm not afraid to make some modifications under the hood. A little N02 if you will...
Actually, I would love a sidebar on incorporating Fangwood Keep module into the AP as a side quest. Reign of Winter had this for the Frostfell module. Maybe something to dump in the new section?
And is it too late to ask for this AP to be hex crawl kingdom builder 2.0? 'Cause if it is, I'm not afraid to make some modifications under the hood. A little N02 if you will...
It is waaaaay too late at this point. The text has long since been turned in by freelancers and we're well into development and art at this point.
But you're not the only one who would've loved to see some hex-crawl kingdom building
Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
Indeedy. I too would like some hex crawling kingdom building goodness. I shall settle for bridge deconstruction instead. Alright I'll admit collapsing bridges and the top of falling airships are my favourite encounter areas.
I think it's N2O you want under the hood, NO2 is it's less user friendly cousin.
On a different note General Azaersi must be the Queen Badass of Badassdom if she can hold together that mongo...err hobgoblin horde. Nice idea. Up until now pathfinder hobs have always had that patriarchal feel to me. Can we get an art preview now? Or do we have to wait 7 months...
Hex exploration and kingdom building were well represented in Kingmaker and have had additional rules support added since then. They are great systems that I'd like to use more, but it seems easy enough to take the existing rules/examples and apply them to this AP.
I'd like to see some of the newer sub-systems get some 'in play' representation. For example, the heist rules in Ultimate Intrigue seem interesting, but the text write up is kind of dry and nebulous on many details. Incorporating a complex heist in an AP could do a lot to make that system really come alive. Similarly, the pursuit rules would have been a great addition to Serpent's Skull and could be incorporated into a future AP with a similar 'race against other team(s)' factor. Et cetera.
Ok, I am also wanting more hex crawls and kingdom building. However, I am also looking forward to troop scale combats as an interim. On topic though, the extra-large examination of the Chernasardo Rangers I am really looking forward to.
Actually, I would love a sidebar on incorporating Fangwood Keep module into the AP as a side quest. Reign of Winter had this for the Frostfell module. Maybe something to dump in the new section?
And is it too late to ask for this AP to be hex crawl kingdom builder 2.0? 'Cause if it is, I'm not afraid to make some modifications under the hood. A little N02 if you will...
It is waaaaay too late at this point. The text has long since been turned in by freelancers and we're well into development and art at this point.
But you're not the only one who would've loved to see some hex-crawl kingdom building