PFS #2-19 Shades of Ice—Part III: Keep of the Huscarl King *Spoilers*


GM Discussion

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3/5

Besides a lackluster presentation of the final enemy (again, no buildup of anticipation of the final fight, typical pathfinder society), some oddities in the statblock

Melkorka Sur (1-2)

BAB +1
Divine Favor +1
Enhancement +2
Nonproficiency -4 for wielding a greataxe (Nethys favored weapon: 1/4 staff)
= Total to hit of +0

...yet she comes out with a +2 to hit. Perhaps she has an unlisted Quick Learner trait from the Arms and Armory Guide?

Melkorka Sur (4-5)

BAB +3
Divine Favor +2
Strength +2
Enhancement +2
Nonproficiency -4
= Total to hit of +5

Listed as +6 to hit

The damage appears correct in both cases (+3 and +7 bonus).

You go girl... that's why you are shadow lodge. You *cheat*.

Dark Archive 4/5

Isn't she just +1 in the statblock for the low tier? I don't see the +2. But in either case, yes, it appears her to hit is +1 higher than normal in both tiers

3/5

You're right, off by just 1. It's +1 in the tier 1-2

Todd Morgan wrote:
Isn't she just +1 in the statblock for the low tier? I don't see the +2. But in either case, yes, it appears her to hit is +1 higher than normal in both tiers

4/5

Tangaroa wrote:

You're right, off by just 1. It's +1 in the tier 1-2

Todd Morgan wrote:
Isn't she just +1 in the statblock for the low tier? I don't see the +2. But in either case, yes, it appears her to hit is +1 higher than normal in both tiers

Count me a bitterly disappointed with this mod. I'm left with the feeling that "they almost got it right". The trek through the frozen lands were kinda whatever. The final encounter was flat out lame. At the lower tier it may have been a real challenge. The high tier not so much. For our group of experienced judges playing this I feel that any combination of 2 of us could have defeated it at tier 4-5.

I'll be posting a review in the next couple of days for this mod, including what I will be doing to fix it so I am not embarrassed to run this at my next game day.

Den

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5

I agree. This was a real anticlimax to the series. I played real hardball with my Tier 4-5 players and they couldn't believe how squishy the combats were. They were really expecting a big mother of a White Dragon and all they got was a flaming great axe wielded by an incompetent cleric.

The clerics cast Endure Elements and shrugged off the cold effects. They were good roleplayers and easily charmed the first wounded barbarian and did a great storytelling so they got the big chief and friends as allies. That was completely superfluous in the final battle.

When I told them the adventure was over they were ready to lynch me. I have to run this series at Games Expo in a couple of weeks and I am not looking forward the this final instalment.

Please, please, please may I throw in some dragon eggs hatchlings? This adventure need serious revisions!

The Exchange 5/5 RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

I'm afraid I have to agree. My paladin trotted up to her and one-shotted her. I turned back to the rest of the party and apologized.


it suffers, like may do to the 'Formula'

the mod is playable by

3x4th and 1 x3rd

and

6 x 5th level

If she was a cleric 7, im sure she would have shredded the party the above weaker party

Start the combat at greater range as all her allies have bows, make the terrain more tricky to charge through

The Exchange 5/5 Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean

I've run it once, at tier 4-5 and while the players found the roleplaying side of it fun I think the last combat in particular is fairly easy as written. The major flaw though is that the second part of the series certainly sets it up for there to be white dragons or at least their eggs there.

The Exchange 4/5

I am running this at Paizo con. and after reading it several times. I have to agree it seems anti climatic. I like the idea of having the last group start combat at range to take advantage of the terrain and their bows. this would increase difficulty a small bit. but depending on party make up i am not sure that it is enough. I am thinking of adding some terrain and cover to the final battle to increase difficulty as well. it is my opinion that these are all within my powers to do so as a PFS gm. adding additional creatures however is not. this will be my first time running pfs at a con and I look forward to it even if i am not super happy about the scenario.

Sovereign Court 1/5

My group dropped the final fight at 4-5 with two fireballs and maybe a bow shot or two. At least half of the PCs buffed during the first round then the second round fireball finished the group. We were shocked.

The Exchange 5/5

I have only run this once so far, but the table likewise found the scenario a cakewalk with a single fluke exception when I rolled and confirmed axe crits on a PC back-to-back.

We need to create a "danger scale" rating system ("Hack-Factor") for the PFS scenarios so players know what to expect. I often see parties over-preparing or over-thinking scenarios, then getting shocked/disappointed when the baddies just fall over after a single hit. On the other end of the spectrum you have scenarios such as Heresy of Man, Part 2 and Rebel's Ransom that claim a lot of PCs. Perhaps each encounter could be rated on a scale of 1 (snooze) to 5 (ZOMG!), then tallied up and the total could be part of the scenario's review. For those who bother to read the reviews...

The Exchange 4/5

When I played through this, I thought it was a cake walk at 4-5. When I ran this, I've TPK'ed one party (at 4-5) and killed 3 out of 5 party members (at 1-2).

Spoiler:
APL 3, decided to play 4-5. One member got trampled to death. Down to 4 players. The rest of them manage to get all the way to the end fight. They are rolling terribly and so is Melkorka. But they never engage her, they decide to go after the henchmen. Melkorka gets fed up and starts negative channeling 3d6. Everyone fails their saves twice. The end.

Spoiler:
APL 2, had to play 1-2. This one went off the rails. In the first Act, they find the Clan guy alive and bring him to, but no one can talk to him. They get frustrated and knock him out. They then bring him alive again and ask him to draw on a chalkboard. He breaks the chalkboard using his head and then he starts to run into the woods. At this point, I say he's running into the woods and you can't track him, hopefully just to move on with the story. But the party is like "no, we move just as fast as he does and we can follow the tracks. We go into the woods after him." I then decide to have the guy climb up a tree and then start swinging from tree branch to tree branch. They decide to have someone climb up after him, despite me telling them to heed my words about it and let him escape.

In order to give the Clan guy a chance to escape, wolverines show up. Unfortunately, the oracle of the group has a standing policy to never heal someone until after combat is over because "if you drop during combat and don't survive, you're not fit for life." The wolverines also get some nasty crits off before they are finally put down. This ends with 3 players dying. The NPC Alchemist and 4th level Oracle manage to finish the scenario without a hitch.

This really went off the rails and outside the bounds of the encounter. I highly doubt


Joseph Caubo wrote:

When I played through this, I thought it was a cake walk at 4-5. When I ran this, I've TPK'ed one party (at 4-5) and killed 3 out of 5 party members (at 1-2).

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

outlines the danger as clerics as the main bad, channel negative can really pressure slightly weaker parties

In my game she got 3 or 4 off, in a battle of wills with the party cleric channelling positive and she even threw her axe once with great success

I managed to bog down the rest of the party with the henchman

Sovereign Court 3/5

My disappointment with these modules is my preparation. I use the Paizo Item Cards and give those out when the bodies are looted. Yes, I really give out 5 winter garbs. Even though I'm certain Endure Elements or the purchase of winter garbs will have been done already. So it takes a long time to find the cards, write the info on paper blocks (so I don't write on the card, I have to be able to re-use them) and all that goes along with it.
I did this with the Devil We Know Series. Part 1 was fun, but part 4 and you're fighting something you've already fought throughout the entire series and it's not even the 'king' or some massive 'cleric' or such. Just some barely beefed up creature? Wandering through Whitethrone can be cool - esp. if you have the map laminated like I do. But in the end, a raging woman with an axe isn't that special. When this is set up to be the tail end of something - and a trek through the northern portion of the world - and you just fight a woman with an axe, it's seriously blah. Fighting the barbarians would be a better fit.
And yes, Rebels Ransom is dangerous. That has to be one of the hardest modules I've played. I agree, a Hack-Factor needs to be implemented as well. But what you consider easy might be hard for a character that has more classes than the class based system of most feudal economies. Tier and APL are supposed to provide that aspect. But end module - esp. multiple scenario arcs - should have really Big Bad Evil Guy's.

- Theocrat Issak, not a Big Bad Evil Guy.

Liberty's Edge 2/5

My GM found a way to make the fight a bit more dangerous. He added a lightly armored clone of my Fighter (2H), hitting with mid 20 damage swings. It makes for a more challenging battle, and everyone seemed to like it.

The Exchange 2/5

Chris Mortika wrote:
I'm afraid I have to agree. My paladin trotted up to her and one-shotted her. I turned back to the rest of the party and apologized.

Um, yeah. My monk grappled the cleric and it was pretty much over.


teribithia9 wrote:
Chris Mortika wrote:
I'm afraid I have to agree. My paladin trotted up to her and one-shotted her. I turned back to the rest of the party and apologized.
Um, yeah. My monk grappled the cleric and it was pretty much over.

start at distance,

put her allies in front
make the terrain tricky

ran this again yesterday, at expo

kept her alive 3 or 4 rounds again

Scarab Sages

ok so im new to this all and was not a gm for this event but this seems the place to put this.

i played this with an osirion factioned pc
im not a big fan of sending secret notes to the gm, so when i got my handout i read it and decided i would do as was asked.

to be clear here is what was asked
Hero of the Ruby Prince,
Word has reached me that you journey into the realm of the Mammoth Lords. I believe that not only wealth, but also some forgotten relics of our great past lie beneath the snows your feet will soon tread upon. I must have whatever map the Ulfen sage gives you for your journey. A copy will suffice, but it must be accurate enough to retrace your steps, and preferably created without others knowing we are interested in the route you travel.

there's more but my issue is with the first part. I made a copy of the map under the pretense of not putting all the eggs in one basket so if someone got trampled by mammoths we would still have another map. the party thought it was a good idea and approved of my doing so (not knowing it was for my faction) the judge however said that because others knew i had done it i would not get the faction reward. Clearly my faction wanted this map did i get it? yes! they also want no one knowing that they want it... did i accomplish that? yes! so why does the scenario(according to the gm) require a different thing of me than the handout says? I'm not sure it does , but i know my gm did not want to listen to my reason for why i succeeded what are my options here?

my gm reads my handout and sees this (preferably created without others knowing) when it clearly should be read as (preferably created without others knowing we are interested in the route you travel)
so i lose a faction point to either a stubborn gm or an poorly written scenario

Silver Crusade 5/5

Sounds like a problem with the module, not the GM.

Anyway, I just played through it and enjoyed it, though I had two problems with it:

1: snow is interesting once or twice, but in all encounters but one (and that one being a throwaway) is annoying as hell. If the GM hadn't prodded us toward buying snowshoes, I would have had very little fun.

2: That mammoth stampede was BRUTAL. And with DC 15 climb checks, it will kill unfortunate wizards. (playing tier 3-4, btw with 7 players, one of which was 4 and the rest 3).

4/5

Alex McGuire wrote:
2: That mammoth stampede was BRUTAL. And with DC 15 climb checks, it will kill unfortunate wizards. (playing tier 3-4, btw with 7 players, one of which was 4 and the rest 3).

Or clerics waring Full Plate. lol I actually got real lucky on that stampede and happend to get up the cliff. Thank god it was masterworked full plate.

@ Igorbabyeater It sounds like the GM to me by your discription, two sides to every story and all that, however it says it would be preffered, not nessasarly required. I as GM would have let it go if just for that point. My mate actually mapped his journy on the way there and got credit.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

I've removed a post because it contained a personal attack. While we encourage discussion of gaming sessions and support GMs responding to player criticism, bringing personal conflict and long-standing grudges onto our forums is not welcome. Feel free to discuss your personal issues with one another via email or in person.

4/5

Revised reply to better comply with Forum rules.

igorbabyeater wrote:

my gm reads my handout and sees this (preferably created without others knowing) when it clearly should be read as (preferably created without others knowing we are interested in the route you travel)

so i lose a faction point to either a stubborn gm or an poorly written scenario

Stubborn GM here.

To be clear the mod is explicit on the need to not be observed.
From page 7---
Osirion faction PCs can make a DC 12 Craft (cartography) check at any point after this encounter to copy Skagni’s map, but must do so without being seen by non-Osirion faction PCs.
And again in the conclusion. ---
Osirion faction PCs who copy Skagni’s map without being observed earn 1 Prestige Award

I double checked the handout to make sure there was something indicating the need to do this without being observed. I did that because I am not beyond fixing a scenario.

You were by the way softballed on the trample encounter. I gave 4 rounds to try to climb out. The mod gives 1 plus a possible surprise round.

Back to the reason I did not want to listen. You stated your point twice. When I was explaining why I was ruling the way I did you did not hear me as you continued to shout your point at me again. Seeing how it was pointless to talk to you I gave up at that point.
You are expected to miss a faction point from time to time btw.

Den

Liberty's Edge 5/5

Honestly I thought this was just an awful climax. First issue is the final fight, if a group has a good historian or diplomat they get to add a 5th level fighter at hi teir to their group. THIS IS SERIOUSLY STUPID!!. Also no metion of the Shadow Lodge agen Carrigar(think that's right) who was mentioned as one of the elite agents sent up north.
When I played this at high teir my 4th level wizard and the other casters just creamed this fight in about 4 rounds without very little damage to our group.
So when i ran it I spiced it up and took the Cheiftan fighter and made him into Carrigar instead, give him the flaming great axe and wallah you have a much better fight(if you don't have a strong party just eliminate him). Also the placement of the archers is not good so I placed them in the towers for maximum effect. When I ran this the players had a blast and had to be much more team effective. there were no player casualties, but they thought this was a great climax to their travels.

As far as the Osirion FM, just keep the map and copy it at night when no one is around.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Cagriggar is the main villain in another scenario this year. He set off for the Worldwound with the Whitethrone Shadow Lodge's best agents and hasn't been involved in Melkorka's plans at all.

Silver Crusade 5/5

Also, remember that Pathfinders are expected to take notes on everything they can; a pathfinder could easily offhandedly mention in his notes that "Igorbabyeater had a good idea to copy the map and make sure that our eggs weren't all in one basket". He's just trying to give Igorbabyeater credit for a good idea, but someone from his faction sees that and thinks "Hmmm, Igorbabyeater. Where have I heard that name before?" checks his notes and discovers that a few adventures ago Igorbabyeater revealed himself as an Osirian to another pathfinder. All it takes at that point is a little bit of cynicism on the part of that individual to go from "What a good idea" to "What's he up to?" That is why the faction mission requires you to not be known when you do it; the Osirians want to avoid the possibility of that happening.

Liberty's Edge 5/5

Mark Moreland wrote:
Cagriggar is the main villain in another scenario this year. He set off for the Worldwound with the Whitethrone Shadow Lodge's best agents and hasn't been involved in Melkorka's plans at all.

Ahhhh, that's awesome. Hope he is nasty.

The Exchange 5/5 Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean

AZhobbit wrote:
Mark Moreland wrote:
Cagriggar is the main villain in another scenario this year. He set off for the Worldwound with the Whitethrone Shadow Lodge's best agents and hasn't been involved in Melkorka's plans at all.
Ahhhh, that's awesome. Hope he is nasty.

Check out The Sarkorian Prophecy. I've run it twice now and managed to kill at least one PC each time

5/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
David Harrison wrote:
Check out The Sarkorian Prophecy. I've run it twice now and managed to kill at least one PC each time

I can also confirm that Sakorian is a dangerous scenario (beyond the normal danger of sitting at my table). Although I tend to do the most damage in a different encounter. 175 and 170 damage in a couple of rounds to be exact.

The Exchange 5/5 Regional Venture-Coordinator, Mediterranean

Kyle Baird wrote:
David Harrison wrote:
Check out The Sarkorian Prophecy. I've run it twice now and managed to kill at least one PC each time
I can also confirm that Sakorian is a dangerous scenario (beyond the normal danger of sitting at my table). Although I tend to do the most damage in a different encounter. 175 and 170 damage in a couple of rounds to be exact.

Very nice sir!

5/5

One person survived the 175. The other person didn't survive the 170. :-) Morale of the story, don't go base to base with something that gets 5 attacks plus rend.

/threadjack

Let me chime in on this scenario (because some how I haven't yet).

The final encounter is disappointing for the conclusion to an extended series. Please pay better attention to this in the future.

Silver Crusade 1/5

Just played this module tonight. Played Low tier and our table had a great deal of fun. My only gripe was the 2nd taldore faction mission was diffrent on the handout than it was for the faction mission at the end of the module. This is another poor editing job on the part of the Pazio staff. Read the faction missions in the handouts and compare them to the Faction awards at the end of the Module. he
BTW we managed to complete all the faction objectives for the module so we got our PA.
We had a very good GM WHo read everything and made sure we had the opertunity to gain our PA.

I loved the Dino encounter we ended up playing that encounter at the 4-5 tier because of a GM mistake but we made it through the encounter and all survived it. IT was a very fun encounter.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Lou Diamond wrote:

My only gripe was the 2nd taldore faction mission was diffrent on the handout than it was for the faction mission at the end of the module. This is another poor editing job on the part of the Pazio staff. Read the faction missions in the handouts and compare them to the Faction awards at the end of the Module. he

BTW we managed to complete all the faction objectives for the module so we got our PA.
We had a very good GM WHo read everything and made sure we had the opertunity to gain our PA.

Spoiler:
I was surprised to see this comment and went back to look at the pdf to see what the discrepancy was and now I'm confused. The second mission (by which I assume you mean the one that is both mentioned second on the handout and that occurs second chronologically) is listed as follows on the faction handout:

"In addition, I know the primary purpose of your journey. The Realm of the Mammoth Lords seems far removed from the glory of Taldor, but in truth it is not. The tomb this Osirian harlot looks to plunder belonged to one of the greatest huscarls the Ulfen Guard has ever known. To disturb his rest besmirches his legacy and that of the Empire. You must kill this woman, Melkorka Skur, whenever you see fit, and let her know that she dies for this insult to Taldor. Lastly, Jedrek’s Shard must be returned to its rest and again go undisturbed."

In the final encounter with Melkorka Skur, the Mission Notes section reads:

"Taldor faction PCs should want to see Melkorka Skur dead for defiling the resting place of one of the Empire’s greatest huscarls, and should want Jedrek’s Shard returned to its resting place. Doing so earns Taldor faction PCs 1 Prestige Award."

And again, in the Faction Missions section of the conclusion, the same information is again presented:

"Taldor faction PCs who also ensure the death of Melkorka Skur and the return of Jedrek’s Shard to its rightful resting place in Act 3 earn 1 bonus Prestige Award."

So I guess I'd like more information on what the error is so we can fix it. Thanks!

Silver Crusade 1/5

Mark, I don't hink I heard the 1st part of the PA award when our GM read it. Our venue gets noisy. After reading what you posted I retract my critism of the modules PA awards.

The ax in the module is quite scary it almost one shoted my character.
Had a great deal of fun playing in both SHades of Ice II and III.
Keep up the good work.

Mark you might wnat to amp up the bad guys a little in season 3 as some of the new Classes can do alot of Damage. Ex Magus and Summoner do boat loads of damage.

Thanks for the enjoyable games that PFS supplies me.

Grand Lodge 4/5

igorbabyeater wrote:

ok so im new to this all and was not a gm for this event but this seems the place to put this.

i played this with an osirion factioned pc
im not a big fan of sending secret notes to the gm, so when i got my handout i read it and decided i would do as was asked.

to be clear here is what was asked
Hero of the Ruby Prince,
Word has reached me that you journey into the realm of the Mammoth Lords. I believe that not only wealth, but also some forgotten relics of our great past lie beneath the snows your feet will soon tread upon. I must have whatever map the Ulfen sage gives you for your journey. A copy will suffice, but it must be accurate enough to retrace your steps, and preferably created without others knowing we are interested in the route you travel.

there's more but my issue is with the first part. I made a copy of the map under the pretense of not putting all the eggs in one basket so if someone got trampled by mammoths we would still have another map. the party thought it was a good idea and approved of my doing so (not knowing it was for my faction) the judge however said that because others knew i had done it i would not get the faction reward. Clearly my faction wanted this map did i get it? yes! they also want no one knowing that they want it... did i accomplish that? yes! so why does the scenario(according to the gm) require a different thing of me than the handout says? I'm not sure it does , but i know my gm did not want to listen to my reason for why i succeeded what are my options here?

my gm reads my handout and sees this (preferably created without others knowing) when it clearly should be read as (preferably created without others knowing we are interested in the route you travel)
so i lose a faction point to either a stubborn gm or an poorly written scenario

My character just ask if he could be the keeper of the map and held on to it for the entire adventure. Problem solved.

Nathan Meyers

2/5 *

Lou Diamond wrote:
Mark you might wnat to amp up the bad guys a little in season 3 as some of the new Classes can do alot of Damage. Ex Magus and Summoner do boat loads of damage.

I'd rather see two very obvious OP classes get nerfed TBH (at least for PFS play), so we don't have such wide variation in power.

Liberty's Edge 5/5 **

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Jason S wrote:
Lou Diamond wrote:
Mark you might wnat to amp up the bad guys a little in season 3 as some of the new Classes can do alot of Damage. Ex Magus and Summoner do boat loads of damage.

I'd rather see two very obvious OP classes get nerfed TBH (at least for PFS play), so we don't have such wide variation in power.

*Cough*Told-you-so*Cough*

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Jason S wrote:
Lou Diamond wrote:
Mark you might wnat to amp up the bad guys a little in season 3 as some of the new Classes can do alot of Damage. Ex Magus and Summoner do boat loads of damage.

I'd rather see two very obvious OP classes get nerfed TBH (at least for PFS play), so we don't have such wide variation in power.

It isn't the role of our organized play program to balance the rules. If you feel that certain classes are unbalanced, those are concerns to raise to the design team in that section of the boards. If they feel the classes need nerfing or other errata, they'll include those in the FAQ, errata, and future printings of the books and PFS will adopt the new versions when they replace the previous ones.

Silver Crusade 2/5

Jason S wrote:
Lou Diamond wrote:
Mark you might wnat to amp up the bad guys a little in season 3 as some of the new Classes can do alot of Damage. Ex Magus and Summoner do boat loads of damage.

I'd rather see two very obvious OP classes get nerfed TBH (at least for PFS play), so we don't have such wide variation in power.

Its not even those two classes. A final boss, with hit points well within 1-hit-drop range? I had a zen archer monk, dropping 4d6+10 a round. If both shots hit, she's done for. A lvl 1 barbarian can drop her easily with power attack in one blow. A decent spell caster can wipe her out in a round. The most lethal thing in all three scenarios of this triology? The traps. We never had a PC in mortal danger in a fight. We *did* have PC's getting their faces stomped by wild animals and pit traps. Add in the ever loving wand of infernal healing, and PFS modules are just too easy at low tier.

1/5

Just finished playing it at the 4-5 level. Final boss was not too tough once I closed with her. However, taking a thrown Axe crit (45 points of damage) to the face put a serious hurting on my HP. Probably the worst thing she could have done to me considering the weapon used. I think at 4-5 she has a little more survivability but she still went down after 2 or so hits.

Scarab Sages 3/5

Spoiler:
The final encounter leans heavily towards the players returning the axe to the crypt, yet the axe is rewarded at the end of the scenario. If the party returns the axe should it be lined out under rewards and the money adjusted accordingly?

The Exchange 5/5 RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

Indeed,

Spoiler:
several party members can all do that, including Taldor PCs who nonetheless receive faction prestige for not keeping it. They come in six-packs, donchaknow?

5/5

So I am going to be running this series over the next few weeks and intend to play out the final fight out for my PC's as it is written (with some reservations). I would like some advice for how I can offer an alternate ending once the PC end this in 1-3 rounds.

Spoiler:

So Tier 1-2 is base CR 4 & Tier 4-5 is CR 7 I have got to think that is is based upon not getting any of the villagers to assist in the final encounter & that the do something stupid that keeps them from getting a full rest leading up to the final battle.

The ideas I was thinking was adding a better melee to wield the axe (Barbarian in tier 1-2 & Frost Giant in tier 4-5) & leveling the cleric. I would base the minion total on the level of help from the village

Or not leveling the cleric, leveling & moving shadowlodge minions up to the high ground (making one or more a musket master), adding Ranulf (The dead king) as a evolved Zombie with the axe.

I might need to tweak this to include different options depending on the level of aid from the NPC Tribesmen & was looking for some options/ideas.

Sovereign Court 5/5 Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

William Sinclair wrote:
The final encounter leans heavily towards the players returning the axe to the crypt, yet the axe is rewarded at the end of the scenario. If the party returns the axe should it be lined out under rewards and the money adjusted accordingly?

I, too, am curious about the greataxe. "If I returned the axe to the keep and buried it, again, why is it on my chronicle sheet?" will be a question I face. So, I've done some math:

If you remove the axe from the treasure list, you remove 9,160 gp (low tier), or 16,160 gp (high tier) from the overall treasure (assuming you get 50% in gold for it). Either number wipes out the total gold for the party at either tier if you adjust the cash, so I'm assuming the axe gets removed from the sheet if they put it back, or is an additional reward (not included in the cash perhaps due to the difficulty one would have selling it?) if the PCs are willing to fight their way back to Whitethrone with it. Which solves that problem, I think. Anyone who puts it back will simply be forever teased with the knowledge of what they *might* have acquired once you cross that item off the chronicle's list.

I will echo the disappointment in the ending encounter for the series, by the way. I started looking over Melkorka's stats and got to her spell list and thought, "At least she can get beefier with a few rounds prep." Then I saw the these spells are incorporated into her stat block line and went back to being sad.

One thing I can add is this: if the players win over the Snowmask Clan, there is no reason you can't make the final fight "epic" by adding in a bunch of Shadow Lodge minions. The two groups square off against each other on the fringes of the battle as the PCs work their way toward Melkorka and her bodyguards, who have hunkered down in the gatehouses. That effectively removes any "extras" from the battle and leaves the fight as written, also rewarding the players with the impression that, had they not won over the Snowmasks, the fight would have been a lot harder.

Sovereign Court 5/5 Owner - Enchanted Grounds, President/Owner - Enchanted Grounds

In case anyone is looking to enhance the stories in these three scenarios, I posted a bunch of ideas here.

I am, of course, using these scenarios in my War of the Shadow campaign, and needed to make a few changes to keep their impact at a level I like. There are no changes to stat blocks or encounters, just to story lines and their links to each other(which will not have any impact on future scenarios you may play, by the way).

Dark Archive 4/5 * Venture-Agent, Colorado—Colorado Springs

William Sinclair wrote:
The final encounter leans heavily towards the players returning the axe to the crypt, yet the axe is rewarded at the end of the scenario. If the party returns the axe should it be lined out under rewards and the money adjusted accordingly?

I'm prepping this to run tomorrow and I thought the same thing when I looked over the chronicle sheet.

Since the particular item listed is not actually named Jedrek's Shard and is just listed as a magic greataxe, I'm willing to say if someone wants one, they come across someone who have heard the stories and make an offer to craft/sell a similar weapon. Regardless, it's all but impossible anyone could even afford the weapon (in their subtier) until much later anyway.

Dark Archive 4/5 * Venture-Agent, Colorado—Colorado Springs

Well, it went well... but seemed far more exciting when I was prepping it. I couldn't resist calling the dire wolverine "Scrat" though. I even tossed in an acorn in among the gear found in that first encounter.

1/5

Does anyone know which map is used for act 1 part A? Nothing is shown in the scenario and the party fights a wolverine.

Shadow Lodge 4/5

Just doodle something. Or even better, run it without.

5/5 *** Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht

I just had an empty 10-by-10 square mat. Could've drawn something, but it'd basically be a lot of bodies and lots of effort for little payoff. I just threw down that mat and said, "imagine a battlefield strewn with bodies, and you're knee-deep in bodies. It should all be difficult terrain, but for ease of play, let's not do that."

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