PFS#7 Among The Living [SPOILERS]


GM Discussion

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Silver Crusade 5/5

I believe the stance is when they do look to update the scenarios, they'll go the route #0-05 Mists of Mwangi went.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

WalterGM wrote:
While "hard" it's nothing beyond the outstanding job that Mike, Mark and the rest already do for us on a regular basis. I feel like we just need to help in anyway we can to get the ball rolling. That is, if we seriously want something like this to change.

Adding extra things for Mike and I to give the once-over to and approve as official is not helping. Increasing our workload will serve one purpose, which is to decrease the amount of outstanding work you've come to expect from us.

This proposal comes up time and time again, but when it comes down to it, we're already bursting at the seams in terms of workload. Even what seems like a small think like reviewing fan conversions has the potential to be the straw that breaks us.

Truth be told, several scenarios have already been officially converted and developed in-house and simply couldn't get fit into the editing schedule. We managed to get Mists of Mwangi out the door, but the rest are buried under more pressing projects. When we have to weigh a new product and a revision to an existing product, the new product will almost always win, especially when the old product is something that we produce two new ones of every month.

Silver Crusade 4/5

The maps in this adventure are labeled as 10 feet per square. Is that correct? When I played this, I'm pretty sure we treated everything as 5 feet squares. I'm running this tomorrow, so trying to make sure I do it right.

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5

Fromper wrote:
The maps in this adventure are labeled as 10 feet per square. Is that correct? When I played this, I'm pretty sure we treated everything as 5 feet squares. I'm running this tomorrow, so trying to make sure I do it right.

Oops. I made this mistake myself. It makes more sense if you are running the higher tier as there is not enough room for the enemies. At least I have the excuse that it was my first time GMing Pathfinder.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

10' per square. Break out your big battlemat.

Dark Archive 4/5 5/5 ****

Yup... did that for yesterday..

Broke out the mondo-mat, and drew the entire first level out in all of its detail... the pews in the main theater, the tables and chairs in the bar, etc.

The players just loved it... now I wish that I had taken a picture of it before I erased the map.

I was a bit frustrated while prepping this one with its mix between 3.5 and Pathfinder rules, but it turned out really well... and the players really enjoyed it.

That Ogre zombie in the end was a BEAST!!! Guess that's why karma struck today on my playing Quest For Perfection I :)

4/5

I just finished running this tonight, with a Death by Season 0.

In my preparation for this, I tried to follow the current rules for Season 0 scenarios as best I could and run it as written:

GtPSOP wrote:
Season 0 (Scenarios #1–#28): Season 0 scenarios were written under the 3.5 rules set of the world’s oldest roleplaying game, before the release of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. In the meantime, scenarios are to be run with minimal changes by GMs, limited to adding CMB/CMD scores to NPCs and monsters and using newly combined skills such as Stealth and Perception instead of Move Silently and Spot. If a creature appears in the scenario that also appears in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 2, or Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 and maintains the same CR between both rules sets, you may use the Pathfinder RPG stats in place of the 3.5 stats. This is the only substitution allowed in these scenarios.

The BBEG for the final encounter has Death Touch, which, as far as I can tell from the above, I am not able to substitute. Further, the listed tactics for the NPC include using it on the first PC within reach.

A PC's Eidolon and another PC were the first two in front of the boss. The tactics explicitly say "first PC" (written before Eidolons were in the game, of course). So BBEG touches the PC, beats their HP total by 1, and the character dies.

Did I run this right, or should I have updated the Cleric's abilities (and tactics) for PFRPG?

Dark Archive 4/5 5/5 ****

@redward

From what I was understand, the death touch might not ought to have been used. The problem is that it does not have a corollary in Pathfinder. At least that is what my VC told me... so I did not use it.

In any case, this is a very grey area, and would be a good reason for the PFS staff to at least go through and post errata to the scenarios, if they do not have time to do a full edit.

I'd say, based on the Season 0 rules, you did not do wrong... since we are pretty much on our own for these conversions.

You must have been running at sub-tier 1-2? I ask, because for the 3-4 sub-tier, Fel Bustrani was not the greatest threat... the Ogre Zombie was... in the game I ran it took it 2 hits to take down the 2H fighter... and then it was time for it to move forward. If it wasn't for the alchemist in the party, the Ogre would have possibly done them in (they had a gunslinger who used a pistol, an archer/ranger, a sorcerer, and a druid aside from the fighter and alchemist). No one died, but at least 3 of them were in single-digit HP (or less).

Was sort of funny with the Ogre having fallen prone, and still whacking them with the great club... Zombie smash... get brains...

4/5

Silbeg wrote:
You must have been running at sub-tier 1-2?

It was 1-2. It was a party of 7, so they were steamrolling through everything. This was basically the only way someone could have possibly died (well, I did also have a crit with a heavy pick, but rolled low and only brought the PC to negatives). I rolled a 10 with Fel's 2d6, which just beat the PC's 9 HP.

I only ask because it was a pretty terrible way to die. No mighty crit, no flashy spell. Just a touch and a drop. The player was very gracious about it, but I still want to make sure it was legit. If I should have swapped the ability, I'll gladly petition to have the death reversed.

Dark Archive 4/5 5/5 ****

redward wrote:
Silbeg wrote:
You must have been running at sub-tier 1-2?

It was 1-2. It was a party of 7, so they were steamrolling through everything. This was basically the only way someone could have possibly died (well, I did also have a crit with a heavy pick, but rolled low and only brought the PC to negatives). I rolled a 10 with Fel's 2d6, which just beat the PC's 9 HP.

I only ask because it was a pretty terrible way to die. No mighty crit, no flashy spell. Just a touch and a drop. The player was very gracious about it, but I still want to make sure it was legit. If I should have swapped the ability, I'll gladly petition to have the death reversed.

Honestly, I don't know.

I'd first talk to your V-C, and see what he thinks... and the two of you might want to escalate to Mike Brock.

Unfortunately, I think that the uses was probably at least semi-legit. At least it was a first level character, so that it won't take a huge effort to replace?

And it is a heroic death... trying to save Taldor from the zombie plague! A story the player can retell over and over, how he sacrificed himself so that the eidolon could get the final blow in (I assume that's what happened ;))

2/5

Sorry for the necro, but i have a few questions.
I'm getting into the Resident Evil feeling here with this one. :)

1) I've read of 'scenery zombies', but am i to place some generic zombies that will attack the nobles at the other end of the hall?
It says a horde gets through the door and the PCs only should worry about the ones from area 6.
How many scenery zombies would one place (the PCs would likely want to fight them) and what happens to said zombies if the PCs decide to seek refuge in another room. Do they get killed by the resisting nobles?

2) If the Zyphus zombie is able to kill a PC with a lucky strike, does the PC rise or does the Zyphus zombie need time to eat a bit from him/her first?

The Exchange 5/5

In the early days I only put the exact number of zombies out on the map. After I got comfortable running it I began to get fancy. I used pennies to represent the audience sitting on the benches--lots of those laying around the house. Then I break out every zombie figure I own (around two dozen) and have them burst through every door in the theatre except for the one closest to the PCs. There's a round of confusion as no one can tell if this is part of the performance. The zombies close in and fall upon people in the audience. The blood and screams initiate a panic as people surge away from the undead. At the end of each round I take my hand and slide groups of pennies away from the zombies toward the safe exit*. As the players take their actions, the zombies stay focused on their victims until they are attacked by a PC. At the end of each round I remove a half dozen zombies that are engaged by a brave noble or bodyguard. The PCs can't cover all the exits so some zombies can chase people out of the room. What's left is the tier-appropriate number of opponents. So you have the right idea.

In the very unlikely event that a zombie takes out a PC, yes they would rise as a normal zombie (the Zyphus zombies don't pass on the disease ability). I think the "and feeds on it" part is flavor text. They'd have to take the PC to negative CON in HPs though, which would probably take hitting them after they went unconscious. If you manage to do it, please share the experience here :)

*When the 'pennies' reach the exit there is a fun moment when you can act out the pampered Taldan nobility realizing they are trapped and turning upon each other. Good-aligned PCs will want to calm them down and even organize them to batter down the doors or even face the zombies together. You can stymie these reasonable-but-game-unbalancing efforts by having the nobles decide the moment has come to settle old scores. Think Act 3 of Julius Caesar.

2/5

The most *sigh* is the 4 aoo-reach-trip monk in the party.
Being a flowing, he's going to be a pain in the ass in every scenario ^^

If anything 'very unlikely' happens, i'll post it.

2/5

I'm fearing for the party.
1 is down to 1 con dmg away from death, 1 disabled and 1 is on 1hp.

This is tier 1-2 we're playing and i have a 5-char lvl 1 party.
But the first encounter's zombies' dice have been hot, the party's been poor. :/

My assumption of this being Resident Evil in a theater was not misplaced.
-----------------------

Btw Doug, i took inspiration from your pennies and placed many scenery smilies (nobles & bodyguards) and zombie tokens on the map, taking away a number at the start of every turn.

The Exchange 5/5

Sounds exciting! I love it when the game gets tight and players really have to pay attention to the tactical side. You can't help it when the dice are in your favor. If someone dies, just make it memorable.

2/5

With some...hypothetical suggestion, they now managed to save the wizard.
I wonder if they'd thought of that if i hadn't spoken up...but i read something along the line of 'a GM is to make it memorable/exciting' approach right?

Only freebie they're getting.

Between a nice hit and a double aoo vs a zombie standing up, they have managed to finish off 2 normal zombies.

I'd say their chances have increased.
Before we started, i had shared they should come prepared to go 'Resident Evil', so they wisely did buy a wand of CLW and potions. Else they'd have been in big trouble.

I'm running this tier 3-4 for another party later, haha. ^^
That said, i'm also going to play it, hopefully my alchemist can deal some proper dmg there.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

We played this a while back at high tier with a party containing a gunslinger5/inquisitor of Gorum1; paladin 7 pregen; investigator 5 (mine, strength longspear build); and ranger archer 4.

It was fun, especially with the GM hamming up the cultists. But I should warn: these old adventures with lots of clerics in heavy armor can't stand up to gunslingers (and presumably, alchemists) that target Touch AC.

2/5

Miles wrote:
Sounds exciting! I love it when the game gets tight and players really have to pay attention to the tactical side. You can't help it when the dice are in your favor. If someone dies, just make it memorable.

I'm running a tier 3-4 atm.

Party consists of 3 lvl 3 and 1 lvl 4.
Kineticist, Monk, Paladin & lvl 4 cleric.

Unfortunately the monk got AoO clubbered by the ogre zombie, which charged the cleric on its own turn.

Which brings to my question. The ogre zombie does use his greatclub, right?

Otherwise it'd be just doing a slam for 1d8+9.
This extra d8 really did the number on him.


GM Chyro wrote:

The ogre zombie does use his greatclub, right?

Otherwise it'd be just doing a slam for 1d8+9.
This extra d8 really did the number on him.

It should have. The stat block line for the attack is this:

Quote:
Greatclub +9 melee (2d8+9) or slam +9 melee (1d8+9) or javelin +1 ranged (1d8+6)

That means that it can pick any 1 of those attacks, each turn. Also, it's assumed that a creature actually has any gear listed in its stat block, and knows how to use it (that is actually spelled out in the rules somewhere, but I don't recall where).

So the expectation would be that as long as it has the gear, it uses the gear. Once it is disarmed, it falls back to the slam attack. And since it knows how to use the greatclub and javelin, it would know to hurl the javelin if it was unable to charge.

The only time I would not use the greatclub would be if I had an absolutely new player who was sure to die from the blow. For everyone else, no coddling. They're up against a scary/tough monster, so it should be scary & tough.

EDIT: It may even be worse than that. This particular zombie has 10' reach, and the zombie's "staggered" condition doesn't block attacks of opportunity. So as the PCs close in for melee attacks, the zombie should get an AOO on at least 1 of them.

2/5

Well it died pretty fast, in no small share of the paladin critting it for 42 damage.

It briefly took down the monk, however.
They're about to get all over Bustrani now.

Grand Lodge 2/5

I don't want to read the thread as I'm playing this tonight, but from being on the forums for so long I've seen that some people have issues with some GMs more letting them bring in weapons. Is this actually how the scenario is written? If it's not, and my GM tonight plays it like this is there anything specifically I can tell him to double check that'll make him realize weapons are allowed?

p.s. this doesn't actually effect the character I'm bringing as it's a monk but I'm asking on behalf of whoever else might show up.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

@claudekennikol: The scenario doesn't say whether weapons are allowed or forbidden.

Liberty's Edge 4/5

Ah, Among the Living. I remember this scenario for my Sorcerer blowing out the whole final encounter before anyone else could reach their initiative...

Fireball!

Liberty's Edge 4/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Kentucky—Louisville

I apologize for the Thread Necro, however, I have a question, and searching has not found it answered. (To my surprise.)

The Among the Living Chronicle sheet has a: Periapt of Wisdom +2 (Cost: 4.000 gp).

Reminding myself of this item's stats from 3.5: https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Periapt_of_Wisdom

It's a neck slot item that gives a +2 enhancement bonus to Wisdom. Given that Wisdom bonus only seem to happen on Head Slots and Ioun stones, this appears to be either:
1) No longer legal item
2) A pretty special item indeed

If it was legal, would people be able to get it enhanced as they would a Headband of Inspired Wisdom? (I.e. to +4, and maybe even +6)

Just curious, because I know at least one of my players will ask.

Sovereign Court 5/5

Jacquelene Steele wrote:

I apologize for the Thread Necro, however, I have a question, and searching has not found it answered. (To my surprise.)

The Among the Living Chronicle sheet has a: Periapt of Wisdom +2 (Cost: 4.000 gp).

Reminding myself of this item's stats from 3.5: https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Periapt_of_Wisdom

It's a neck slot item that gives a +2 enhancement bonus to Wisdom. Given that Wisdom bonus only seem to happen on Head Slots and Ioun stones, this appears to be either:
1) No longer legal item
2) A pretty special item indeed

If it was legal, would people be able to get it enhanced as they would a Headband of Inspired Wisdom? (I.e. to +4, and maybe even +6)

Just curious, because I know at least one of my players will ask.

I beleave the answers will be No and No.

No, you can’t buy it (the description on the CR does not explain in detail what it does)...
And
No, there is no “Advanced” version listed in any legal source - so it couldn’t be upgraded to something (that there are no rules for). It would be like upgrading a +6 headband to a +8... no rules for it.

At least IMHO (but I am no one official... so heck, feel free to ignore me! LOL!)

1/5

3 people marked this as a favorite.

Tonya Woldridge posted here late 2016, giving up-to-date approval to J. J. Frost's post from back in 2010.

For Season 0 stuff:
1) If it doesn't exist anymore in Pathfinder, it's not available to the PCs. Cross it off.
2) If the item is different in Pathfinder, the chronicle offers the "correct" version.

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