paizo.com Recent Reviews of Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)paizo.com Recent Reviews of Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)2024-01-19T22:01:18Z2024-01-19T22:01:18ZStarfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6): An inmersive dungeon in space (4 stars)Tazerahttps://paizo.com/products/btpya0fe?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-5-The-Thirteenth-Gate2023-12-24T20:34:16Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>A huge dungeon in space full of surprises and challenging enemies! Not bad before the grand finale</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>A huge dungeon in space full of surprises and challenging enemies! Not bad before the grand finale</p>Tazera2023-12-24T20:34:16ZStarfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6): Poor Adventure, Good Back Matter (2 stars)Jhaemanhttps://paizo.com/products/btpya0fe?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-5-The-Thirteenth-Gate2021-11-01T06:25:58Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>NO SPOILERS</p>
<p>I played through Chapter 5 of <i>Dead Suns</i> with AZ102011, my Sentient Robotic Organism (Azlanti assassin robot) PC. This character (meant initially as a short-term bridging PC) was barely verbal, and in retrospect a very poor choice for a role-playing game. On the other hand, the AP had by this time made it clear that it was a 100% railroad, so there wasn’t a lot to have substantive conversations about. I had mentally checked-out of the campaign by this point and don’t really remember much of Chapter 5, but on reading it for the purposes of this review, I’m not particularly impressed with it. I understand <i>Dead Suns</i> was the first Starfinder AP and the writers were still figuring out the system and setting, but Paizo is very experienced with adventure design and this AP just keeps falling flat at every stage. Anyway, we’ll start with the non-spoilerly back matter here and then move onto the adventure itself in the corresponding section below.</p>
<p>The back matter consists of four sections.</p>
<p>· “Relics of the Kishalee” (4 pages): This section talks about the nature of kishalee technology, which is really interesting because it depended on manipulating demiplanar energies. This allowed the tech to become highly advanced (despite long pre-dating the Drift), but also dangerously unpredictable or simply inoperative when used in any place other than the Material Plane. The section introduces the game mechanic concept of relics, which are effectively unique (non-magical) items from an ancient culture that can’t be bought on the open market but have to be found (and can be sold for 100% of their value). It’s one of the few ways to really have discovering new items be exciting for players, because relics aren’t just something listed in a book they can buy in-game at the local gear shop. Kishalee dimensional comm units, disruption fusions, and more are pretty cool.</p>
<p>· “Alien Worlds and Cultures” (12 pages): This a long but interesting section that essentially functions as a sort of preview of what a book on the Vast would contain. It contains five two-page-long entries on various far-flung planets and introduces a new bit of tech related to each one. None of these planets have anything to do with the AP, so they’re perfect for homebrew GMs who want to have the PCs pick a star in the sky and see what’s around it. The planets are well-described and I’d be happy to see stories involving each of them. We get Arshalin (a poison cloud marsh world embedded with mile-high shards of metal from an orbital disaster), Elytrio (from the classic SFS scenario <i>Yesteryear’s Truth</i>, a planet and culture perfect for exploring big ideas), Primoria (a planet where invertebrates have evolved as the dominant species), Sepres VI (great sci-fi concept of a planet whose entire remaining population lives in orbit after a bioweapon made it unlivable for just that species), and Silselrik (a planet with constant gravitational fluxes and sapient oozes). There’s a lot of good stuff here, and it’s worth reading even if one has no interest in the adventure.</p>
<p>· “Alien Archives” (8 pages): This section contains one-page entries on seven new creatures. Five of the seven relate to the planets described in the previous section and have stats to make them playable PC races. So we get Ilthisarian (weird serpentlike humanoids with additional snakes jutting from their shoulders, native to Arshalin), Ghibrani (beetle-like humanoids native to Elytrio), Scyphozoan (jellyfish-like creatures from Primoria), Seprevoi (four-legged but medium-sized creatures from Sepres VI), and Selamids (oozelike creatures with no fun ooze traits from Silselrik). The new species are well-designed, but it’s clear the designers went to great lengths to prevent any type of power creep by making them more advantageous than existing Core Rulebook races. There are also two new monsters, jubsnuths (twin-mouthed predators) and oblivion shades (bland, higher-CR shadows).</p>
<p>· “Codex of Worlds” (1 page): This issue’s entry is Urrakar. It’s a dark, cold, distant world notable only for the presence of “black emeralds” that some mining companies are after. Bland and forgettable, especially compared to the planets introduced above.</p>
<p>It’s not really a section per se, but I’ll mention here that the inside front and inside back covers detail a new ship called the Modified Atech Bulwak. It’s a Tier 7 ship that is unremarkable.</p>
<p>Now, onto the adventure.</p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>NO SPOILERS</p>
<p>I played through Chapter 5 of <i>Dead Suns</i> with AZ102011, my Sentient Robotic Organism (Azlanti assassin robot) PC. This character (meant initially as a short-term bridging PC) was barely verbal, and in retrospect a very poor choice for a role-playing game. On the other hand, the AP had by this time made it clear that it was a 100% railroad, so there wasn’t a lot to have substantive conversations about. I had mentally checked-out of the campaign by this point and don’t really remember much of Chapter 5, but on reading it for the purposes of this review, I’m not particularly impressed with it. I understand <i>Dead Suns</i> was the first Starfinder AP and the writers were still figuring out the system and setting, but Paizo is very experienced with adventure design and this AP just keeps falling flat at every stage. Anyway, we’ll start with the non-spoilerly back matter here and then move onto the adventure itself in the corresponding section below.</p>
<p>The back matter consists of four sections.</p>
<p>· “Relics of the Kishalee” (4 pages): This section talks about the nature of kishalee technology, which is really interesting because it depended on manipulating demiplanar energies. This allowed the tech to become highly advanced (despite long pre-dating the Drift), but also dangerously unpredictable or simply inoperative when used in any place other than the Material Plane. The section introduces the game mechanic concept of relics, which are effectively unique (non-magical) items from an ancient culture that can’t be bought on the open market but have to be found (and can be sold for 100% of their value). It’s one of the few ways to really have discovering new items be exciting for players, because relics aren’t just something listed in a book they can buy in-game at the local gear shop. Kishalee dimensional comm units, disruption fusions, and more are pretty cool.</p>
<p>· “Alien Worlds and Cultures” (12 pages): This a long but interesting section that essentially functions as a sort of preview of what a book on the Vast would contain. It contains five two-page-long entries on various far-flung planets and introduces a new bit of tech related to each one. None of these planets have anything to do with the AP, so they’re perfect for homebrew GMs who want to have the PCs pick a star in the sky and see what’s around it. The planets are well-described and I’d be happy to see stories involving each of them. We get Arshalin (a poison cloud marsh world embedded with mile-high shards of metal from an orbital disaster), Elytrio (from the classic SFS scenario <i>Yesteryear’s Truth</i>, a planet and culture perfect for exploring big ideas), Primoria (a planet where invertebrates have evolved as the dominant species), Sepres VI (great sci-fi concept of a planet whose entire remaining population lives in orbit after a bioweapon made it unlivable for just that species), and Silselrik (a planet with constant gravitational fluxes and sapient oozes). There’s a lot of good stuff here, and it’s worth reading even if one has no interest in the adventure.</p>
<p>· “Alien Archives” (8 pages): This section contains one-page entries on seven new creatures. Five of the seven relate to the planets described in the previous section and have stats to make them playable PC races. So we get Ilthisarian (weird serpentlike humanoids with additional snakes jutting from their shoulders, native to Arshalin), Ghibrani (beetle-like humanoids native to Elytrio), Scyphozoan (jellyfish-like creatures from Primoria), Seprevoi (four-legged but medium-sized creatures from Sepres VI), and Selamids (oozelike creatures with no fun ooze traits from Silselrik). The new species are well-designed, but it’s clear the designers went to great lengths to prevent any type of power creep by making them more advantageous than existing Core Rulebook races. There are also two new monsters, jubsnuths (twin-mouthed predators) and oblivion shades (bland, higher-CR shadows).</p>
<p>· “Codex of Worlds” (1 page): This issue’s entry is Urrakar. It’s a dark, cold, distant world notable only for the presence of “black emeralds” that some mining companies are after. Bland and forgettable, especially compared to the planets introduced above.</p>
<p>It’s not really a section per se, but I’ll mention here that the inside front and inside back covers detail a new ship called the Modified Atech Bulwak. It’s a Tier 7 ship that is unremarkable.</p>
<p>Now, onto the adventure.</p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]</p>Jhaeman2021-11-01T06:25:58ZStarfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6): Okay starship combat/early combat -- bad late combat (3 stars)Leon Aquillahttps://paizo.com/products/btpya0fe?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-5-The-Thirteenth-Gate2021-10-04T14:56:27Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>I felt like the beginning and middle of this AP was better than the ending — several major personalities are basically chewed through like meat in a meat grinder in the final area of the core facility without much of an opportunity to explore them. I know that a hostile NPC's life can be measured in rounds in d20 games but I would have liked for them to have made an appearance earlier (perhaps in book 3 or 4).</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>I felt like the beginning and middle of this AP was better than the ending — several major personalities are basically chewed through like meat in a meat grinder in the final area of the core facility without much of an opportunity to explore them. I know that a hostile NPC's life can be measured in rounds in d20 games but I would have liked for them to have made an appearance earlier (perhaps in book 3 or 4).</p>Leon Aquilla2021-10-04T14:56:27ZStarfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6): Enemy at the Gate (3 stars)Cellionhttps://paizo.com/products/btpya0fe?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-5-The-Thirteenth-Gate2021-03-17T15:49:31Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>In The Thirteenth Gate, the long and perilous trail to find the location of the <s>Death Star</s> Stellar Degenerator is finally over, and the PCs arrive to secure the megaweapon before anyone else can. This adventure seems like the beginning of the action movie climax in terms of scope, but the content is surprisingly basic. Two unremarkable "modern dungeons" in the form of two facilities that the PCs explore, the requisite starship combat, and a dud of a boss. That's not to say its all humdrum, but its an odd and frankly disappointing way to cap off the Devourer Cult's involvement in the story. </p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>In The Thirteenth Gate, the long and perilous trail to find the location of the <s>Death Star</s> Stellar Degenerator is finally over, and the PCs arrive to secure the megaweapon before anyone else can. This adventure seems like the beginning of the action movie climax in terms of scope, but the content is surprisingly basic. Two unremarkable "modern dungeons" in the form of two facilities that the PCs explore, the requisite starship combat, and a dud of a boss. That's not to say its all humdrum, but its an odd and frankly disappointing way to cap off the Devourer Cult's involvement in the story. </p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p>Cellion2021-03-17T15:49:31ZStarfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6): Beginning of the climax (4 stars)CorvusMaskhttps://paizo.com/products/btpya0fe?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-5-The-Thirteenth-Gate2021-02-01T14:07:44Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>And this one is easiest to remember out of first five books due to me finishing running it couple of weeks ago ;P</p>
<p>But yeah, first four books of this scifi movie are just build up to the action packed climax that starts in this book. And its plenty noticeable because this book doesn't moments that feel like obvious filler in the same ways as previous books did. Well okay, maybe the few extra encounters in final dungeon count, but hey I found it amusing that strongest CR wise enemy in the book is locked in the toilet :P</p>
<p>Anyway, quirky miniboss squad in the book is great and memorable :D They were fun to run and I think they made more of an impact to players than last time devourer cultists appeared in the ap. And I like shenanigans you can do with Xix ;D Their mooks are also much tougher than previous cultist mooks, though oblivion spawn shades are really weak and lack interesting abilities.</p>
<p>I do have few nitpicks though: 1) bit hard to build up npc that has heroic sacrifice in same book they appear in 2) the final boss' escape sequence is cool but hard to pull off because they start as solo boss(unless they have severely weakened minibosses from previous encounters joined up with them) and its bit hard for them to run through pcs to escape 3) its kinda weird that high ranking cultists retreat to Null-9 by either running through pcs to reach her or by entering her room... From room next to her. 4) the map is labelled as 10 ft map but its drawn as 5 feet map. Also it doesn't align to grid perfectly 5) could have used atrocite in encounter where its buff abilities work better ;D</p>
<p>So yeah, not perfect book, but I do consider it best book of ap so far.</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>And this one is easiest to remember out of first five books due to me finishing running it couple of weeks ago ;P</p>
<p>But yeah, first four books of this scifi movie are just build up to the action packed climax that starts in this book. And its plenty noticeable because this book doesn't moments that feel like obvious filler in the same ways as previous books did. Well okay, maybe the few extra encounters in final dungeon count, but hey I found it amusing that strongest CR wise enemy in the book is locked in the toilet :P</p>
<p>Anyway, quirky miniboss squad in the book is great and memorable :D They were fun to run and I think they made more of an impact to players than last time devourer cultists appeared in the ap. And I like shenanigans you can do with Xix ;D Their mooks are also much tougher than previous cultist mooks, though oblivion spawn shades are really weak and lack interesting abilities.</p>
<p>I do have few nitpicks though: 1) bit hard to build up npc that has heroic sacrifice in same book they appear in 2) the final boss' escape sequence is cool but hard to pull off because they start as solo boss(unless they have severely weakened minibosses from previous encounters joined up with them) and its bit hard for them to run through pcs to escape 3) its kinda weird that high ranking cultists retreat to Null-9 by either running through pcs to reach her or by entering her room... From room next to her. 4) the map is labelled as 10 ft map but its drawn as 5 feet map. Also it doesn't align to grid perfectly 5) could have used atrocite in encounter where its buff abilities work better ;D</p>
<p>So yeah, not perfect book, but I do consider it best book of ap so far.</p>CorvusMask2021-02-01T14:07:44ZStarfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6): A improvement (4 stars)ratcatbohttps://paizo.com/products/btpya0fe?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-5-The-Thirteenth-Gate2018-05-11T06:25:44Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>This is probably the best in the ap. Finnaly it feels like the wild goose chade as ended and you get to take out one of your primary antagonists. Its also a fun dungeon crawl with villans that are fun and not forgettable. Wile i have been mixed so far on this ap this mod shows me that the team is learning and improving, and that gives me hope. The new races are cool as are the new planets</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #5: The Thirteenth Gate (Dead Suns 5 of 6)</b></p><p>This is probably the best in the ap. Finnaly it feels like the wild goose chade as ended and you get to take out one of your primary antagonists. Its also a fun dungeon crawl with villans that are fun and not forgettable. Wile i have been mixed so far on this ap this mod shows me that the team is learning and improving, and that gives me hope. The new races are cool as are the new planets</p>ratcatbo2018-05-11T06:25:44Z