Seven Days to the Grave (GM Reference)


Curse of the Crimson Throne

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Hopefully others can use this thread to clarify questions arising in this adventure. If you happen to see another thread, please link post a link in this one to try and keep things tied together.

Chapter 1: Edge of Anarchy
Chapter 2: Seven Days to the Grave
Chapter 3: Escape from Old Korvosa
Chapter 4: A History of Ashes
Chapter 5: Skeletons of Scarwall
Chapter 6: Crown of Fangs


"In the next week or so, we're expecting to ship the next volume of your subscription."

So, if you happen to see anything that can be linked back here, be sure to post them!

Enjoy!

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8

The Grey Maidens have Precise Shot, but do not qualify for it, as they lack Point Blank Shot. I recommend replacing Quick Draw, but it's a matter of personal taste.

Lawgiver's listed fly speed in his stat block is 60ft (poor), but one of his special qualities is that he grows wings (implying that it doesn't have them otherwise) and gains a fly speed of 60ft (perfect). Which is it?

Not exactly an error, but are the wererats afflicted or natural? With the exception of Girrigz, it doesn't say. Seems that PCs without silver weapons would be very interested in the answer...

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Demiurge 1138 wrote:
The Grey Maidens have Precise Shot, but do not qualify for it, as they lack Point Blank Shot. I recommend replacing Quick Draw, but it's a matter of personal taste.

Quick Draw is a good choice... as is Point Blank Shot.

Demiurge 1138 wrote:
Lawgiver's listed fly speed in his stat block is 60ft (poor), but one of his special qualities is that he grows wings (implying that it doesn't have them otherwise) and gains a fly speed of 60ft (perfect). Which is it?

When he flies, the Lawgiver has perfect maneuverability.

Demiurge 1138 wrote:
Not exactly an error, but are the wererats afflicted or natural? With the exception of Girrigz, it doesn't say. Seems that PCs without silver weapons would be very interested in the answer...

The wererats are natural wererats... they use the standard wererat stat block on page 173 of the MM, which lists their DR as 10/silver.

Scarab Sages

James Jacobs wrote:


Demiurge 1138 wrote:
Not exactly an error, but are the wererats afflicted or natural? With the exception of Girrigz, it doesn't say. Seems that PCs without silver weapons would be very interested in the answer...
The wererats are natural wererats... they use the standard wererat stat block on page 173 of the MM, which lists their DR as 10/silver.

But on the upside, hopefully they'll still have that silver dagger from All the World's Meat ;)

Dark Archive

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber

I may be missing a few bodycounts but I have went through 3 times and only come up with being able to save 2800 people. Is there supposed to be more bodycounts or am I just missing the numbers?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

damnitall22 wrote:
I may be missing a few bodycounts but I have went through 3 times and only come up with being able to save 2800 people. Is there supposed to be more bodycounts or am I just missing the numbers?

Looks like 2,800 is the most you can save to me as well. There was, at one point, a sidebar that talked about how GMs might want to add additional encounters into the adventure to give the PCs additional chances to increase their body count score, in which case they could have exceeded the adventure's expected maximum of 2,800 souls saved. The campaign itself continues on the assumption that the PCs hit the Local Heroes level, in any event; hitting the Saviors of the City level should be VERY difficult... indeed, it's impossible unless the PCs go above and beyond with additional adventures and encounters provided by the GM. Actually, if your players come up with some incredible plan to help the city (say, for example, they spend days of their own time and resources crafting wands of remove disease, casting remove disease, organize a ship to Magnimar to buy out that city's remove disease magic, etc.) that goes above and beyond what the adventure suspects, you can award them a body count award of 300 to 600 or so for each such act.


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

This is just a nitpick, but here goes:

The filename in the "One File Per Chapter" version is 006057PZO9008anarchy.pdf - the page range is right, but it probably should have said "SevenDays" instead of "Anarchy" for those who intend to keep their copies all in one folder. (We can rename our own once we download it, so not a big deal.)


damnitall22 wrote:
I may be missing a few bodycounts but I have went through 3 times and only come up with being able to save 2800 people. Is there supposed to be more bodycounts or am I just missing the numbers?

Well, remember that you have the opportunity to save Brienna Soldado in the first part of the adventure. That brings the total up to 2801...enough to gain the Saviors of the City tier. Brienna should definitely be counted in the total, as well as any other people the heroes heal during the story. It's still difficult to gain that recognition, but it's not impossible even without extra story elements.

Liberty's Edge

A player wants to take Trinia as a cohort, but it seems there are other plans for her later in the adventure? Anything you could let us in on to make a decision with?

Sczarni

Coridan wrote:
A player wants to take Trinia as a cohort, but it seems there are other plans for her later in the adventure? Anything you could let us in on to make a decision with?

I'm in a similar situation here

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Coridan wrote:
A player wants to take Trinia as a cohort, but it seems there are other plans for her later in the adventure? Anything you could let us in on to make a decision with?

Remember... you can't take a cohort till, at the earliest, 6th level, so this isn't a worry till after the second adventure ends, pretty much.

THAT SAID.

Yes. We are setting up Trinia as a cohort possibility. She gains a few levels between now and then, though, and the adventure doesn't suspect she'll be a cohort until the fourth adventure, when she's reintroduced to the party and the adventure sets her up as being a cohort.

You can certainly have her become a cohort earlier though. You'll need to do a few adjustments to where she goes and what happens to her, though.

The Exchange Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6

Minor error - the wererat with the silver rapier doesn't have the silver penalty factored in to his damage. He should be doing 1d6+3 (page 30).

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Russ Taylor wrote:
Minor error - the wererat with the silver rapier doesn't have the silver penalty factored in to his damage. He should be doing 1d6+3 (page 30).

That might be an error... but I HEARTILY encourage folk to not correct it. Silver weapons doing one point less damage is stupid. It's a needless attempt to add "realisim" to the game, in my opinion. It's not anything about game balance. It's needless complexity.

I'll be crusading to have this little rule stricken from the record in the Pathfinder RPG for sure.


I have a question about Blood Veil. It says at the end of "Seven Days to the Grave" that the reason certain Varisians show immunity to Blood Veil is that they are the descendents of Kasanda Foxglove, wife of would-be lich Vorel Foxglove. Blood Veil is derived from Vorel's Phage, and since Kasanda's spirit still watches over those of her blood and protects them from the depredations of her former husband, this is how the immunity is explained. However, Kasanda's daughter (presumably only daughter) Lorey is given out in "The Skinsaw Murders" as dying with her mother and all the servants in Foxglove Manor some seventy to eighty years ago in the first outbreak of Vorel's Phage. Did Kasanda have other children, or did Lorey actually survive the plague, or did her protection extend to all of the Foxglove line, not merely her own children and their descendents?

Probably a little nitpicky of me... of hand I would say that the answer is that she had other children, and that they were away visiting relatives, conducting apprenticeships, or being fostered with other families when Vorel died and posthumously murdered his wife and daughter. Alternately, Lorey could have made it out before the disease took hold. Is there any canonical explanation for this?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The fact that Kasanda and her daughter perish to Vorel's Phage is in fact the reason her spirit now protects certain Varisians of her bloodline, in fact. And by her "bloodline" we don't necessarilly mean her offspring (although it's absolutely possible she had other children to other lovers before she married Vorel). Varisians have a much looser definition of "family" than most people; Kasanda's "bloodline" thus means all of her extended family. Her parents, her brothers, her sisters, her cousins, and beyond that, the parents and brothers and sisters and cousins of the other biological families who were a part of her community before she left that world behind to become Vorel's wife.

Her spirit does not follow a strict biological roadmap, in other words, to determine who she protects from blood veil. We probably could have been a bit more clear on how this works out in the text, I suppose, but it's already a pretty crunchless bit of flavor that the PCs are very unlikely to discover in the first place that its vagaries won't really impact actual play of the campaign.

RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32

James Jacobs wrote:
I'll be crusading to have this little rule stricken from the record in the Pathfinder RPG for sure.

Good!


James Jacobs wrote:

The fact that Kasanda and her daughter perish to Vorel's Phage is in fact the reason her spirit now protects certain Varisians of her bloodline, in fact. And by her "bloodline" we don't necessarilly mean her offspring (although it's absolutely possible she had other children to other lovers before she married Vorel). Varisians have a much looser definition of "family" than most people; Kasanda's "bloodline" thus means all of her extended family. Her parents, her brothers, her sisters, her cousins, and beyond that, the parents and brothers and sisters and cousins of the other biological families who were a part of her community before she left that world behind to become Vorel's wife.

Her spirit does not follow a strict biological roadmap, in other words, to determine who she protects from blood veil. We probably could have been a bit more clear on how this works out in the text, I suppose, but it's already a pretty crunchless bit of flavor that the PCs are very unlikely to discover in the first place that its vagaries won't really impact actual play of the campaign.

Thanks, that actually makes good sense to me, especially when the fact that Kasanda is Varisian comes into play (what's up with the Foxglove men and their fascination with Varisian women? Are they that alluring? ;D). It really isn't something anyone but the most obsessive player would notice, and I just wanted to know it for the sake of internal consistency (at least in my own mind) when I eventually run CotCT.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Marusaia wrote:
...what's up with the Foxglove men and their fascination with Varisian women? Are they that alluring?

Yes.

Yes they are.

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
Marusaia wrote:
...what's up with the Foxglove men and their fascination with Varisian women? Are they that alluring?

Yes.

Yes they are.

Look at Seoni, for goodness' sake!

The Exchange Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6

James Jacobs wrote:


That might be an error... but I HEARTILY encourage folk to not correct it. Silver weapons doing one point less damage is stupid. It's a needless attempt to add "realisim" to the game, in my opinion. It's not anything about game balance. It's needless complexity.

I'll be crusading to have this little rule stricken from the record in the Pathfinder RPG for sure.

I was thinking that'd be a good idea when I posted. It is bad enough for slashing weapon (on the theory that silver can't hold the edge steel does, even though we never worry about folks sharpening their weapons), but for piercing and especially bludgeoning, it is simply inane.

I also recommend allowing mithral weapons to bypass DR silver.


Timespike wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
Marusaia wrote:
...what's up with the Foxglove men and their fascination with Varisian women? Are they that alluring?

Yes.

Yes they are.

Look at Seoni, for goodness' sake!

Heheheh, yep, I know what you mean (I was speaking facetiously in my earlier post). If Seoni is any indication, I don't doubt that at least half the Chelish men who show up in Varisia quickly "go native," because damn that girl's hot!

Incidentally, that's what initially got me interested in Pathfinder, when I saw the cover of "The Skinsaw Murders" with Seoni on the cover. I took one look and thought to myself, "Pathfinder, eh? I don't know what it's about, but it has pictures of pretty girls on the cover, so I'm in!"


Russ Taylor wrote:
I also recommend allowing mithral weapons to bypass DR silver.

I detailed some rules for mithral weapons. Feel free to use it if you like.

Mithral Weapons are masterwork finesse weapons that deals silver damage, benefits from greater hardness, and weighs half as much as its steel counterpart. You can use Weapon Finesse with a mithral weapon, even though it isn’t a light weapon for you. If you can normally use a steel counterpart of the mithral weapon proficiently with weapon finesse, then you can use the mithral weapon with a non-magical +1 competence bonus to hit. A thrown mithral weapon increases its base range incremented by one-half.

Item cost modifiers:
+20 gp for ammunition,
+500 gp for a light weapon, a thrown weapon, or a buckler;
+1,000 gp for a one-handed weapon, one head of a double weapon, or a light shield;
+2,000 gp for a two-handed weapon, both heads of a double weapon, or a heavy shield.

You can also make mithral versions of wooden weapons. They would weight the same as their wooden counterparts and only benefit from being masterwork weapons that deal silver damage with the hardness and hit points of mithral. A mithral tower shield only benefits from improved hardness and hit points. No reduction in armor check penalty or increasing of the maximum Dex bonus to AC limitation.


Acadame Funding, First three posts.


I can't seem to see why Ramoska's Special attacks (p.89) have a DC 19 instead of a DC 17. The DC is suppose to be 10+1/2HD+Cha Mod. Ramoska has 8 HD and a Cha of 17, which means the DC should be 10+4+3 = 17. Am I missing something? Some kind of ability focus feat or something?


Seems as if the pages have moved. Here's the revised listing.

Chapter 1: Edge of Anarchy
Chapter 2: Seven Days to the Grave
Chapter 3: Escape from Old Korvosa
Chapter 4: A History of Ashes
Chapter 5: Skeletons of Scarwall
Chapter 6: Crown of Fangs


Ok... this isn't a question about the adventure. Just an observation about the art, maybe an indication that I'm a little crazy.

But any way. Am I the only one who thinks that the portrait of Dr. Davalaus looks a bit like Nicholas Cage? Every time I flip past it in the book, it strikes me.

So, does anybody else think this. Or am I just going loony.


*Link to Guide to Korvosa (GM Reference)*

Scarab Sages

Just doing some prep for my game and Girrigz statblock seems really weird to me. He appears to be on the none-elite array despite being in a PC class, but his strength is two points too high for that, his saves are all one or two points too high, he has an extra hitdie (Wererat only has one, he also seems to have received a full hitdie for his first Fighter level, which I didn't think creatures with racial hitdice did in Pathfinder adventures), his BAB is a point too high, his Climb should be +13 not +4 and his ACP on Hide, Move Silently and Swim don't seem to be taken into account.

It looks to me like he's the Warrior 1 Wererat example in the MM with two points higher dexterity (plus statbump from level 4), however if this were the case and he was a Warrior 1/Fighter 5, then he's short a level worth of skillpoints and his Ref and Will are still too high.

I've put together a version on the elite array with the extra hitdie taken out (though I'm tempted to either put it back in as a corrected level of Warrior or replace it with an extra fighter level so he keeps the iterative attack). If people are interested I can post it tomorrow.

Course, this is where it turns out I'm massively misunderstanding something :D.

Grand Lodge

Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for the "modest gifts" and item(s) the PCs receive for the "Family Friends" and "Good Samaritans" reward at the end of the adventure? I could just go through the DMG and pick out random items that equal the appropriate items, but I found that too be a bit boring. Also, just straight up giving them the gold doesn't seem right (why would the families and friends just bring a big sack of gold pieces?). So I'm trying to find something unique for each PC that's within the gp range (plus or minus a few). Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations? Or anecdotes of what you did in your own adventure? Thanks!

The Exchange

Hsuperman wrote:
Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for the "modest gifts" and item(s) the PCs receive for the "Family Friends" and "Good Samaritans" reward at the end of the adventure? I could just go through the DMG and pick out random items that equal the appropriate items, but I found that too be a bit boring. Also, just straight up giving them the gold doesn't seem right (why would the families and friends just bring a big sack of gold pieces?). So I'm trying to find something unique for each PC that's within the gp range (plus or minus a few). Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations? Or anecdotes of what you did in your own adventure? Thanks!

I'd certainly be looking in books outside of DMG. For example book of Eldritch Might has some interesting and characterful magic items that I'd be looking at.

You want to give something that comes with a bit of history to make it all the more worthwhile for the players.


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I'd give them flavor text stuff like home cooked meals, a pair of chickens, a newly born foal from a prizewinning horsebreed, the bottle of vintage wine or cognac they've been safekeeping for a while. the locket or other token given to their grandparents by Blackjack as thanks for hiding him for a while, good linen and silverware, the fattest pig they have, a bag of free groceries, brand new pair of shoes the cobbler just made for them, etc.

Grand Lodge

The Black Fox wrote:
I'd give them flavor text stuff like home cooked meals, a pair of chickens, a newly born foal from a prizewinning horsebreed, the bottle of vintage wine or cognac they've been safekeeping for a while. the locket or other token given to their grandparents by Blackjack as thanks for hiding him for a while, good linen and silverware, the fattest pig they have, a bag of free groceries, brand new pair of shoes the cobbler just made for them, etc.

That's a neat idea, but do you think that giving them "flavor" stuff will cheat PCs out of getting actual "useful" items like magic items or things that can be sold for hard cash (gp)? I suppose if they're currently at the appropriate wealth level, I shouldn't be too concerned...


I consider flavor text gifts and "real" treasure to be two entirely different things. If you think the PCs want/expect "real" treasure, then by all means give it to them. But purely based on the description in 7 Days, I'd give them the flavor text stuff. I find that PCs often love that kind of stuff - especially if they like roleplay.

But don't skimp on the "real" treasure if you feel they need it.

If you really want to combine the two, then pick certain magic items and build a history for them. The magic dagger that Blackjack gifted the young couple who hid him from corrupt authorities. The heirloom ring of wizardry from the first graduate of the Acadamae. That kind of thing.

The Exchange

Maybe even something with a Shoanti past that will help set up History of Ashes.

Grand Lodge

Cool! Thanks for all the ideas! I ended up giving them flavor gifts for the 250 gp reward, and the 1000 gp reward I came up with nice little unique magical items that weren't too overpowered but tailored to each party member.


Maybe I missed this and it's actually in the book but does anyone know how many consecutive saves it takes to recover naturally from blood veil? Or is it one of those annoying ones where no amount of saves can save you?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Susan Draconis wrote:
Maybe I missed this and it's actually in the book but does anyone know how many consecutive saves it takes to recover naturally from blood veil? Or is it one of those annoying ones where no amount of saves can save you?

Blood veil's just like most other diseases; it takes two saves to recover naturally.


James Jacobs wrote:
Susan Draconis wrote:
Maybe I missed this and it's actually in the book but does anyone know how many consecutive saves it takes to recover naturally from blood veil? Or is it one of those annoying ones where no amount of saves can save you?
Blood veil's just like most other diseases; it takes two saves to recover naturally.

Awesome, thanks.


The links for the various adventures just seem to return to this thread.

Where did the big, long thread on the Direption go to, my Search-Fu is failing me. (The one about the sinking of the ship not making much sense).


Racker's Alley is described (twice) in the text as being in North Point, but the map places it in Old Korvosa. It feels more like Old Korvosa to me so I'm going with that, but which is intended?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

tbug wrote:
Racker's Alley is described (twice) in the text as being in North Point, but the map places it in Old Korvosa. It feels more like Old Korvosa to me so I'm going with that, but which is intended?

It should be in Old Korvosa.


Some Seven Days to the Grave links:
*thread looking at the ‘verisimilitude’ of some aspects of the module, including shipping on tidal rivers in ‘medieval’ cities.

*thread analysing what blood veil is in ‘real world’ terms*
*thread examining the maths regarding the spread and likely fatalities caused by blood veil*
*thread about bloodveil and people with Heal skill in Korvosa*


I have another question on blood veil. Just a fluff thing by now but is it possible to build up an immunity to blood veil? I've got some characters who caught it then recovered naturally through fort saves upwards of five times. Not even kidding.

I awarded said (un)lucky characters a bonus to future blood veil saves just for the hilarity. I doubt they'll ever be used since they've just about escaped from Old Korvosa but it's funny.


The Andaisin’s vicious scythe deals 1d6 points of damage to her? This isn’t written in her stats...

Other question. The rogue draw the card “The survivor” during the choosing. Does he gain the harrow bonus during the encounter with the Urgathoa’s daughter, or only while Lady Andaisin live?

Sorry for my poor English :(


Need some help with something here.

Spoiler:

In Seven Days to the Grave, Lady Andaisin's "During Combat" entry says that the effects of divine power have already been factored into her stats (p. 55). However, the spell description for divine power indicates that the spell grants a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength (PHB p. 224). I don't see this strength bonus in her stats. Am I missing something?

Running this tomorrow, so please help me out! Thanks in advance!


This is a mistake. The attack of Andaisin is Melee +2 vicious scythe +16/+11 (2d4+6/x4 plus 2d6 and 1d6 herself)

Attack: +9 BA (for divine power), +1 str +2 for greater magic weapon +1 for aid + 3 str for divine power = +16

Can you answer my questions, please?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Yeah; Andasian's vicious scythe does do damage to her. That's not something we generally include in stat blocks, but in the future I'll consider it. And it sounds like the divine power bonus to Strength wasn't applied in the stat block either; go ahead and bump her Str as appropriate.

As for the rogue card, the whole Harrow thing is left a little vague so that the GM can "roll with the punches" a little. In other words, it's up to you if the bonus lasts through Andasian's reincarnation into undeath; I suggest you do let it last, since it's all pretty much one combat and the PCs will probably need all the help the can get there.


James Jacobs wrote:

Yeah; Andasian's vicious scythe does do damage to her. That's not something we generally include in stat blocks, but in the future I'll consider it. And it sounds like the divine power bonus to Strength wasn't applied in the stat block either; go ahead and bump her Str as appropriate.

As for the rogue card, the whole Harrow thing is left a little vague so that the GM can "roll with the punches" a little. In other words, it's up to you if the bonus lasts through Andasian's reincarnation into undeath; I suggest you do let it last, since it's all pretty much one combat and the PCs will probably need all the help the can get there.

Many thanks!


Thak you, James. Yes, the PCs need all the help the can get. Yesterday Rolth killed a PC...

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