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Pathfinder #6—Rise of the Runelords Chapter 6: "Spires of Xin-Shalast" (OGL)
Paizo Publishing, LLC
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Print Edition:
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$19.99
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PDF:
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$13.99
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Chapter 6: "Spires of Xin-Shalast"
by Greg A. Vaughan
Having steeped their weapons in the ancient magic of Thassilon, the PCs are finally ready to confront the newly risen Runelord Karzoug at the seat of his power. To do so, they must travel high into the mountains, to the fabled city of Xin-Shalast, where they’ll be confronted by enormous giants, dragons, and other monsters before they can finally confront the mad wizard of greed in his mountaintop palace. Yet can defeating Runelord Karzoug stop the rise of the Runelords? Or are there more terrors yet to come?
This volume also presents all the information you’ll need to run Karzoug, including several unique spells and magic items. Also detailed is an expansive gazetteer of the ruined city of Xin-Shalast; its secrets and treasures and dangers can provide for many more sessions of excitement after Karzoug is defeated.
For characters of 14th to 15th level.
Pathfinder is Paizo Publishing's 96-page, perfect-bound, full-color softcover Adventure Path book printed on high-quality paper that releases in a monthly volume. Each volume is brought to you by the same staff which brought you Dragon and Dungeon magazines for over five years. It contains an in-depth Adventure Path scenario, stats for about a half-dozen new monsters, and several support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Because Pathfinder uses the Open Game License, it is 100% compatible with the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-041-4
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
webmaster@paizo.com.
Product Reviews
Average product rating:
 
(4.6)
based on
8
reviews
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review.
This adventure has everything I like, dungeon crawling, cave lurking, city walking, arena fighting, mountaing climbing, dragon slaying, fey-sighting and more! The only thing it lacks its heavy roleplaying or social interaction with other characters (at least live-non-monster characters), but at this point that way past due.
Also after you finish the adventure you have a whole city to continue exploring! There's also plenty of material you can expand to beef up your PCs up to higher levels if you want Karzoug to be even nastier.
A great 5 start sweetness!
Hauntings that remind us of the Skinsaw Murders. A harsh search for a city lost to tales and legends of the height of Thassilon. A feel of wonder and otherworldliness at the edge of the world, with giants, lamias, magic, politics... and all sorts of ruins to explore. Riches beyond belief, and the looming, quasi-Cthulhian threat of a Runelord trapped between two worlds overhead.
This is total, complete awesomeness.
The articles complement the plot well (stats of the Runelord -I love the Classic Evil archmage feel to him- and managing harsh cold environments).
The monster roster is outstanding. I particularly appreciate the several samples of "lamia-kin" included. The Denizens of Leng are great too.
Overall, a great finale for Rise of the Runelords. I wouldn't have had it any other way!
Xin-Shalast. A treasure worthy of a successful conclusion.
Without a doubt, the best and most excellent part of this adventure comes early-on with a pair of Dwarf Brothers named Vekker, a Cabin, and the dreaded Wendigo! This part of the adventure paid for the whole price of the book for me.
The conclusion to Rise of the Runelords was very good. The lower city will cause many GMs to either gloss over it or spend hours (if not days!) of additional work making it playable. What is there is good, but not enough detail is provided.
The confrontation leading up to and with Karzoug was good, and Karzoug is indeed "one tough cookie."
The Bestiary contains fascinating creatures (especially the Denizen of Leng and the Wendigo.
Pathfinder's Journal and rules on high-altitude adventuring are also included.
The free PDF with the subscription puts this Pathfinder over the 5 Stars again!
The PCs discover the ruined capital of their nemesis and confront him directly.
The scenery and settings of this module are incredible: the ruined city, the Runelord's spire high above the realms of breathable air, the Runewell itself.
The city has over 1000 inhabitants, though, and the module can barely hint at them. Unless the PCs stick perfectly to script, a lot of additional GM work will be required. (And at least one clue deliberately sends them off script.) The module also has (for Paizo) an unusual number of editing and logic errors.
The final defense of the Spire seems sketchy, and Karzoug himself is not as colorful as I would hope. Still, it's among the most playable high-level modules I've ever seen, and well worth the price just for the city itself.
All i have to say is...Wow.
Paizo has really impressed me with its first Pathfinder adventure and i find i'm liking the world of golarion more then almost any other setting WoTC has officially put out (I put Golarion right up there with Eberron personally).
This wrap up adventure was VERY well crafted and while Karzoug himself is a bit mechanically dull, i feel it was a great way to end this adventure path.
Now i'm just upset because i have to wait another month for the beginning of the next rounds of adventures, which i'm sure will be just as amazing.
Good job Paizo!
I was very pleased with the entire adventure path, as the dungeons were all highly dynamic except for Karzoug, stuck in his box.
The fact that Karzoug is meant to be stuck in his box and is meant to be a classic "Straight out of the SRD" evil wizard actually pleases me rather than turns me off.
I loved Xin-Shalast, that is the best idea for exploring a ruined city since Myth Drannor, and that was my favorite one ever, even though Wizards worked hard to ruin it.
The fact that every module comes with a number of pages of fluff, so if you don't want to run the adventure paths themselves you can just start doing stuff in the world and do your own thing, is what really gets my jones going. If Paizo chooses to switch to 4.0 after setting up all this thematic stuff, I'll be very disappointed.
First off, lets make one thing clear. This four star rating is not given because the adventure limps in at about 75% satisfaction, but because it comes in at just short of 100% - and loses quite a bit due to (i would imagine) space constraints.
The city of Xin-Shalast is lovingly crafted, and even though i don't buy "10000 years abandoned", it feels like an ancient ruin. The new monsters are interesting enough (even though Leng is straining my Lovecraft tolerance to the limit).
What breaks off one star is, sadly, Karzoug himself. While he is beautifully characterized, and a foe you love to hate - he is mechanically uninteresting. Worse still, he feels as if he came right out of the SRD. I would have hoped to see a little more uniqueness to this ancient menace. Some personal spells, maybe. Some more interaction with him throughout the city. He feels a lot like an "end boss" in a CRPG in the early days.
Product Discussion
32
posts.
See all discussion for this product.
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I see that by Spires of Xin-Shalast, the PC's should be around 15th level. Will chapter 2 "Curse of the Crimsom Throne" be assumed to start at the same time in the same world? Does chapter 2 assume you will create new level 1 characters? If so, how adaptable is the plot so you could continue with your characters that finished chapter 1 "Rise of the Runelords"?
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Hey Bargle,
I don't think that they announced the level range of the second AP. But I'd expect it to take up 15-20 levels, which would mean this AP would start with PCs at 1st to 6th. IMHO, That would be very difficult to modify for 15th or 16th level characters.
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Bargle Lives! wrote:
I see that by Spires of Xin-Shalast, the PC's should be around 15th level. Will chapter 2 "Curse of the Crimsom Throne" be assumed to start at the same time in the same world? Does chapter 2 assume you will create new level 1 characters? If so, how adaptable is the plot so you could continue with your characters that finished chapter 1 "Rise of the Runelords"?
James Jacobs in response to a question about the level range of Curse of the Crimson Throne wrote:
Oh, and this AP will probably cover levels 1–15. Could go higher or lower. We're still working out those gory details.
-Ungoded the Answer-Dragon
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Is anyone else excessively excited for this one? An ancient city with the stylings of the Runelord of Greed, fully detailed and taking up pretty much an entire volume?
If Paizo's past efforts at this sort of thing are any indication of how cool Xin-Shalast will be, having a whole volume for them to detail ought to inspire a lot more beyond capping off the first Pathfinder AP.
Hope this one becomes a classic!
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Riskbreaker wrote:
Is anyone else excessively excited for this one? An ancient city with the stylings of the Runelord of Greed, fully detailed and taking up pretty much an entire volume?
If Paizo's past efforts at this sort of thing are any indication of how cool Xin-Shalast will be, having a whole volume for them to detail ought to inspire a lot more beyond capping off the first Pathfinder AP.
Hope this one becomes a classic!
Think of all the treasure! Mountains and mounds of gold!
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Bray Abbitt,
Ungoded,
