Lightless Depths pearls ready to blow?


Savage Tide Adventure Path


I don't have the issue here but I recall the pearls in the black bile of the world were "unfinished" and there was no mention of them being able to release a savage tide.

Now, in City of Broken Idols, area 49 goes into detail on how the pearls are created and notes a shadow pearl "is capable of creating a savage tide with a radius of 120 feet..." prior to being sent down to Golismorga.

Did I miss something in Lightless Depths? My PC's are carrying around the pearls they rescued from the black bile and I have told them they are inert. Hmm, could the DM be WRONG?!


The way I played it was that as the PC's were exploring the room that the Bilewretch lived in, the bile ickyness that the pearls were in started to harden and trapped the pearls within them, just to avoid that issue.

But, you could say that without the final black bile bath to make the 'spell' permanent, it wears off slowly. They better be careful with those pearls...


you really shouldnt be carrying them... one whack.. and you are bleeding all over.. including over the pearls.. whack two and they go off :D


Exactly! That's why they examined them and cast spells to figure out if they were dangerous. I didn't catch that they were according to the adventure (did I really miss something? or wasn't it there?). Now, I have to change their status or ignore it and keep them innocuous.


It says in the module that the black pearls are created in Thanaclan with 120' radius, and then brought to Golismorga to be upgraded to a one-mile radius. So the pearls taken from there are certainly still dangerous, just not city-devastating.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Correct. This was an error between adventures that should have been caught, but they slip through now and then. The pearls in Golismorga can still do their thing, but in a much smaller radius. The point is... you shouldn't give PCs access to fully-functional shadow pearls, since that's basically giving a monkey a machine gun.


That bad, huh? LOL.


Peruhain of Brithondy wrote:
That bad, huh? LOL.

Well, see what happens if you set off a few in scuttlecove, just as a example.

The Exchange

ikki wrote:
Peruhain of Brithondy wrote:
That bad, huh? LOL.
Well, see what happens if you set off a few in scuttlecove, just as a example.

In Scuttlecove? Would anyone notice in Scuttlecove?


Well, if I've read Tides of Dread right, there's a fair chance the PCs will end up with Vanthus's intact and full-strength shadow pearl if they're a bit lucky...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Yeah... there's certainly a chance the PCs might get Vanthus's pearl. But keep in mind that using a shadow pearl is a chaotic evil act, since you're basically doing Demogorgon's work for him no matter where you set it off. Setting one off in Scuttlecove would probably just make that adventure harder, though... and might just mess up the folk you're there to save...

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