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Pathfinder Module: The Gauntlet (PFRPG) PDF

2.80/5 (based on 4 ratings)
Pathfinder Module: The Gauntlet (PFRPG) PDF

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A Pathfinder adventure designed for level 8 characters.

While the lives of most Pathfinder Society field agents is brutal and short, some rise to prominence, drawing the attention of the Decemvirate. These lucky agents are invited to a little known siege castle outside Absalom where they are asked to test their mettle. Those who succeed get their choice of prestigious missions, whereas those who fail are rarely heard from again.

Written by Jason Bulmahn, Erik Mona, Jessica Price, and Stephen Radney-MacFarland.

Release: This free adventure was created as a reward for Pathfinders who supported Paizo in its quest to take the Gauntlet, a local charity competition between game companies in the greater Seattle area. Thank you and enjoy!

Note: Due to the special nature of this product, it is NOT part of the Pathfinder Modules Subscription.

Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Sanctioned Content
The Gauntlet is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild.

Download the rules and Chronicle sheets — (399 kb zip/PDF)

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Archives of Nethys

Product Availability

Fulfilled immediately.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZOGAUNTLET

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Average product rating:

2.80/5 (based on 4 ratings)

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Interesting Idea, Poor Execution

3/5 —

1 point off for being way too easy for its level, and 1 point off for the poor editing and maps.
I played this once and GMed it twice. This is a good adventure for 7th level pregen, but for lv8 characters it's a cakewalk. This module could be difficult ONLY IF none of the players bring a trapfinding character, but if they do then there's no challenge at all. Some of the monster's tactics are ridicilously stupid as well. I had a player who literary solo the entire dungeon.
Good roleplaying oppotunity though.

Poorly written, error filled, and ultimately pointless

1/5 —

This has to be one of the most poorly edited modules I have ever encountered. Some sections of the detailed descriptions are just flat out wrong and some even contradict themselves. There are multiple references to things on the map that are not present and most of it will have to be re-created from scratch in order to make it playable. One room is absolutely unusable the way it is written. I can’t believe a module of this quality got past the editors. If you like a bunch of random encounters strung together that make no sense whatsoever, then I guess you can make something out of this piece of garbage.

Needs more editing

3/5 —

I have played this and since prepped it to run. Having prepped it I can see that our GM got a lot of things wrong. Having read the module I am not surprised.

This has some of the worst editing I have seen in a very long time from a Paizo product. Sections of the adventure are literally impossible to run because key information is missing from the text. The map also looks like it was drawn by a four year old and is almost unusable as is. Expect to draw this out yourself (it is pretty big) or better yet go to the pfsprep site and use the version there.

Having said that the adventure itself does do what it says on the tin. I don't think it reaches Bonekeep levels of lethality by any means but it is an entertaining and challenging dungeon romp. Make sure to come prepared for a whole range of different challenges.

Downright devious.

4/5 —

(I played this.)

This is exactly what is says on the tin: a series of challenging traps and monsters specifically designed to kill the party. From a design standpoint, this module is excellent. Rooms with unique designs and puzzles to keep you on your toes. While some things are mostly resource-drains, there are some great encounters here, and they all test the players on different aspects. Be prepared for everything when you go in here. It's been a while since I played Bonekeep, but I'd say they're comparable. In fact, I'd say most of the encounters were easier than the traps themselves, but we did have a great frontline.

While most rooms are fair challenges, I'd say one room is just outright mean-spirited. It didn't help that the GM rolled really well against us, but we needed all the cheese we had to survive it. Other than that though, an all-star dungeon to see if your party has what it takes to be called a badass.

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Liberty's Edge
5 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

This looks super fun! I'm kinda hoping we see a Chronicle Sheet put out for it :P
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Nanu!
Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

This sounds like it will definitely become PFS compatible, I would hope? We need to get this on the schedule for PaizoCon!
Silver Crusade

Cool!

Neat-o!

Good to have some free Gauntlet adventure stuff from that previous Paizo win out there. ;)
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Hot damn, I saw this some hours ago and thought: "Nice, can't wait for that to come out".

I just now saw that: a) it's free! and 2. it's available now!
Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Well, throwing down the gauntlet in at least 3 different pun-filled ways ;)

Sounds like it could possibly get PFS chronicle sheets? I don't expect it, but that would be nice!
The Exchange
2 people marked this as a favorite.

Wow I like it and hope that it becomes PFS sanctioned. I really like the module especially its difficulty can't wait to play/ GM it.

Also its my favorite flavor... FREE!
Grand Lodge

Awesome. I just heard about it a few minutes ago. Didn't know anything about this. Since it mentions the Society I definitely hope it's sanctioned soon.
Sovereign Court
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

So Area 6 refers to switched A-F and a boxed area A, but none of those seem to be marked on the map. I can kinda piece together the encounter, but I'm not 100% sure what's going on.

I can't wait to see the chronicle sheet on this! (Surely it will be sanctioned. It's literally all about the Pathfinder Society...)
2 people marked this as a favorite.

This also needs to be an evergreen. It would actually make sense since the description suggests that the Decemvirate sends new teams of agents there on a semi-regular basis.

This would be cool as a level 8 evergreen. However, I would settle for just having the chronicle worth two prestige. I'm not sure when it was decided that free modules need to be deadlier than average with less reward in organized play.
Paizo Employee Lead Designer
10 people marked this as a favorite.
Iammars wrote:
So Area 6 refers to switched A-F and a boxed area A, but none of those seem to be marked on the map. I can kinda piece together the encounter, but I'm not 100% sure what's going on.

Yeah, that is my mistake.

The map was originally drawn horizontally, so with the way it is oriented in the adventure it goes like this...

C | F
-----
B | E
-----
A | D

I hope that solves it up...
Grand Lodge
3 people marked this as a favorite.

Any hope for a Chronicle sheet for this one?

Thanks!

Brilde
Grand Lodge
Brilde Phelon wrote:

Any hope for a Chronicle sheet for this one?

Thanks!

Brilde

Still hoping that we'll see one now that Gen Con is over.

Paizo Employee Organized Play Lead Developer
1 person marked this as a favorite.
kevin_video wrote:
Brilde Phelon wrote:

Any hope for a Chronicle sheet for this one?

Thanks!

Brilde

Still hoping that we'll see one now that Gen Con is over.

Yep, there's a Chronicle sheet for this one. I made it a few months back, and it looks like it never quite got sent up to our web staff before I had to shift my attention to Gen Con prep. We're taking care of that now.

Grand Lodge
John Compton wrote:
kevin_video wrote:
Brilde Phelon wrote:

Any hope for a Chronicle sheet for this one?

Thanks!

Brilde

Still hoping that we'll see one now that Gen Con is over.
Yep, there's a Chronicle sheet for this one. I made it a few months back, and it looks like it never quite got sent up to our web staff before I had to shift my attention to Gen Con prep. We're taking care of that now.

YES!!!

Grand Lodge
John Compton wrote:
kevin_video wrote:
Brilde Phelon wrote:

Any hope for a Chronicle sheet for this one?

Thanks!

Brilde

Still hoping that we'll see one now that Gen Con is over.
Yep, there's a Chronicle sheet for this one. I made it a few months back, and it looks like it never quite got sent up to our web staff before I had to shift my attention to Gen Con prep. We're taking care of that now.

Guess I should ask if it's being uploaded here or if it's being put on the modules column of the Additional Resources pages?

Sovereign Court

I would love to run this in PFS...
Sovereign Court

Yay!
Grand Lodge

Yes! Chronicle is out.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

Huzzah!
Sovereign Court

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I see many dead Pathfinders in my future!
Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

The store won't let this process.
Dark Archive

Is this designed for 4 or 6 players?
Grand Lodge
Claw-o-form wrote:
Is this designed for 4 or 6 players?

Essentially, yes. All games made by Paizo assumes 4-5 PCs with 15 pt buy.

kevin_video wrote:
All games made by Paizo assumes 4-5 PCs with 15 pt buy.

This is incorrect: all scenarios starting at season 4 are designed for 5-6 PCs with 20 pt. buy. These scenarios can be adjusted to accommodate for 4 players. Scenarios for season 0-3 are designed for 4 PCs with 20 pt. buy. And I won’t go into details on Starfinder, which is also a game made by Paizo.

My opinion on the Gauntlet: It will be very tough for 4 PCs at level 8, 4 at level 9 might be fine. I ran it for 6 well prepared PFS PCs, if I remember correctly their APL was at 8.
Dark Archive

Hmm, when I run this, I’ll strive for 5 players. I do have a few questions though.

rules questions:

Area 2:
Dose the gas effect stack each round as per the poison rules? poison rules
Disabling eye beams/eyelids. Is it counted as disabling a magical trap for the trapfinding class feature and dose it take 1d4 rounds? Are they potentially being hit each round by the beam (by being within 10ft of the beam)? disable device skill rules
Area 7:
Aryel and Aryeth, fly skill of 0? (+2 for dex, -2 for size, average fly speed +0) fly skill rules

Gotta say though, there is some potential for difficult encounters here, especially for ill-prepared agents. I hope to see more gauntlet style games in the future.

Link to a thread in the GM discussion forum, where some of these questions might have been answered (I have not checked).
Grand Lodge
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Magabeus wrote:
kevin_video wrote:
All games made by Paizo assumes 4-5 PCs with 15 pt buy.

This is incorrect: all scenarios starting at season 4 are designed for 5-6 PCs with 20 pt. buy. These scenarios can be adjusted to accommodate for 4 players. Scenarios for season 0-3 are designed for 4 PCs with 20 pt. buy. And I won’t go into details on Starfinder, which is also a game made by Paizo.

My opinion on the Gauntlet: It will be very tough for 4 PCs at level 8, 4 at level 9 might be fine. I ran it for 6 well prepared PFS PCs, if I remember correctly their APL was at 8.

Fine. All non-PFS specific modules. And I don’t acknowledge Starfinder.

So I just want to confirm that since there is nothing of the sort listed on the chronicle that the players do not get the 10,000gp item listed at the end of the scenario. Also that they are free to continue playing their character even if they brought out the wraithsoul.

Was this a limited-run print module, or only PDF?
Liberty's Edge

What's the run time of the module?
Grand Lodge
Qstor wrote:
What's the run time of the module?

Our group did it in about six hours. It's like a PFS scenario. More so, it's specifically like Ruins of Bonekeep except not timed.

Liberty's Edge
kevin_video wrote:
Qstor wrote:
What's the run time of the module?
Our group did it in about six hours. It's like a PFS scenario. More so, it's specifically like Ruins of Bonekeep except not timed.

Thanks

Sovereign Court

This is Bonekeep 4.

Change my mind.
Grand Lodge
Kanebaenre wrote:

This is Bonekeep 4.

Change my mind.

No argument here.

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Was this ever a print product, or PDF only?
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