The Dead Heart of Xin (GM Reference)


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Wauv, thanks for the clarification, and also: Umph! Kinda powerful device .... THanks for the quick reply! These forums are awesome :-D


Has anyone statted up the Ritual of Reforging using the ritual rules in Occult Adventures?


Sorry for resurrecting what is probably a dead thread and with a question with a potentially obvious answer but I can't seem to find the answer to this question.

Spoiler:
Are all the doors in the palace "locked"? I can't seem to find a description of which are and which aren't


All standard doors in traditional maps show them white with black outline. These doors are black with a white outline. I am guessing they are all "locked".

Now my question.

I am making maps and got to area A8. According to the description there are several steps leading to a podium (of which is of course an actual creature.) In the map given in the book there are no steps. I see why there isn't the podium cuz it's a creature.

Where are the steps?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber
wordelo wrote:
All standard doors in traditional maps show them white with black outline. These doors are black with a white outline. I am guessing they are all "locked".

That is an interesting reasoning and it would be nice if that was in fact a convention in paizo's publications, but I don't believe it is. Personally, I don't see why the doors should start out being locked.

However, on page 20, "Crystal Palace General Features", last paragraph, the adventure mentions that the doors can be "locked" by Xin's spirit. I think it should cost him spirit points to do so, but I did not see any cost for that anywhere. I think 1 point should do the trick, though.

wordelo wrote:
Where are the steps?

You can place them anywhere you wish.


Just recently started running this book for my group, and I must say I'm really enjoying the amount of detail that was not only put into the story of Xin, but also that I'm able to share with my group. Props to the author!

I have a question about the final battle with the Clockwork Reliquary. The Reliquary's tactics state that it uses its Telekinesis to try and pull the Sihedron away from the party. What happens if it succeeds? Does it act as a normal disarm maneuver, and the Sihedron just falls to the ground, or does the Sihedron fly over to the Reliquary, either due to its nature or due to the telekinesis? If it goes to the Reliquary (or it gets it through some other manner), what does it do with the Sihedron? I know that Xin would eventually integrate the shards into the Reliquary and "complete" it, but I don't imagine that that's something that it could do in combat.


As far as I can see there are no special rules added to that maneuver. I wonder if possibly Mr Hodge was thinking of the 3.5 disarm, which let you hold the object if you weren't using a weapon to do the disarm attempt. You could rule that the Reliquary uses a combat maneuver (standard action) to disarm and then a move action to telekinetically bring the Sihedron into one of its claws. I think that by RAW it falls to the ground, though.


Regarding Room A5 (The Shining Children Room)

The tactics as presented have the enemies separate the party with walls of force. Based on context I imagine they are floor to ceiling (Text mention burst effects getting cut off by the walls) and the easiest way to do this is often vertically as the room is quite wide, so north to south. However, a large dining table with chairs bisect the room, and one of my players pointed out (he had correctly rolled the skill to identify the spell): "The wall must be continuous and unbroken when formed. If its surface is broken by any object or creature, the spell fails."

On the fly, I ruled that the wall succeeded (we were a round or two in at that point) however the space under the table was still open to allow them to crawl to each section and use spells and what not. Overall it seemed to work fine, though this is one heck of an encounter. If you don't get blinded, you likely go insane. The party retreated short order.

Just a note for GMs on this one, the tactics regarding the Wall of Force may be hard to implement as written.


I am about to start this final book, though it technically won’t be the conclusion of the campaign. You see, I’ve run this campaign as a sequel to our Rise of the Runelords campaign in which the PCs failed to stop Karzoug’s return. Karzoug has started his conquest of Varisia and Sheila Heidmarch has sent a new set of PCs on an artifact-assembling quest hoping that with the Sihedron we can stand against Karzoug.

So after hopefully surviving this chapter and laying Xin to rest, they will have to face off against an already-risen Karzoug who is currently attempting to use the Cyphergate in Riddleport to replicate a certain plan of his that failed in the Spires of Xin-Shalast (no spoilers but let’s say it had something to do with time and armies)

Anyone have any fun ideas on how Karzoug and his minions have changed since Rise? Most of his minions and troops were killed in Rise because it was only in the final battle that the heroes were defeated.

Also I should mention that the new set of heroes includes Runelord Alderpash, former Runelord of Wrath, who had been encountered and redeemed in another AP (no spoilers) and brought here via the Scroll of Miracle from Cadrilkasta’s horde for, perhaps, the final step towards redemption. Fun times!

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Dragonriderje wrote:

I am about to start this final book, though it technically won’t be the conclusion of the campaign. You see, I’ve run this campaign as a sequel to our Rise of the Runelords campaign in which the PCs failed to stop Karzoug’s return. Karzoug has started his conquest of Varisia and Sheila Heidmarch has sent a new set of PCs on an artifact-assembling quest hoping that with the Sihedron we can stand against Karzoug.

So after hopefully surviving this chapter and laying Xin to rest, they will have to face off against an already-risen Karzoug who is currently attempting to use the Cyphergate in Riddleport to replicate a certain plan of his that failed in the Spires of Xin-Shalast (no spoilers but let’s say it had something to do with time and armies)

Anyone have any fun ideas on how Karzoug and his minions have changed since Rise? Most of his minions and troops were killed in Rise because it was only in the final battle that the heroes were defeated.

Also I should mention that the new set of heroes includes Runelord Alderpash, former Runelord of Wrath, who had been encountered and redeemed in another AP (no spoilers) and brought here via the Scroll of Miracle from Cadrilkasta’s horde for, perhaps, the final step towards redemption. Fun times!

Would Runelord Alderpash be controlled by a player at that point?


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Lord Fyre wrote:

Would Runelord Alderpash be controlled by a player at that point?

Yes. The player’s former character (an Aether Kineticist) died at the end of Chapter 5. The party tried to use their Scroll of Miracle to bring him back mid-combat. But the player and I had already made plans awhile ago about what he wanted to do if his Kineticist dies. So the Miracle swaps in Alderpash, who had been stripped of some of his power in the process of redemption (so he’s on the same level as the PCs)

Now I wouldn’t expect the PCs to trust an obvious Runelord, deposed, redeemed, or otherwise. But since it was a miracle cast by a cleric of Desna, they have reason to believe it’s in their best interests. Alderpash is the one who will tell them how to reassemble the Sihedron. And considering what comes after, I’m sure he’ll have more revelations and helpful knowledge.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

The write-up on the Sihedron states that anyone who activates it immediately knows all its abilities. But how did you handle your PCs learning how to activate it in the first place?

Did you have them just know this, after carrying the shards for so long? Or have Sheila learn this through her research?

Shadow Lodge

I'm slightly confused and disappointed with some of what goes on in here. The ghost iron sword was supposed to be Xin's attempt at his own Blade of Conviction, but Runeforge was built long after his death; his dismantling of the Sihedron was the time for the assassin to strike, yet he only breaks it after the assassin appears. Also, Xin being also condescending in the past and bent on conquest in the present makes it look like all his talk of virtue was mainly lip service, so I'm thinking of a different take on this:

The Way I'll Run It:
During his rule, Xin realized he was a better teacher than administrator, and knew that boredom with day-to-day policy and bureaucracy was a bad habit for an emperor. So he gave more authority and autonomy to his governors, and grew more reclusive as he rested on his laurals and went back to tinkering with his hobbies. The Ghost Iron Sword was the result of requests for a personal emissary, an idea which he later discarded because he thought the idea of trial by champion was a bad method of dispute resolution. Much later on, the concept was used as a basis for the Blades of Conviction, requiring Runeforge so as to be able to forge weapons of solid sin.

He did, with help from the original seven governors, build the First Sihedron, as well as the clockwork reliquary, should he ever die before completing everything he wanted to do, then dismantled the Sihedron. Since its power would flourish when shared, he hit upon the idea of presenting each governor with their respective piece, so that they could put it together as a symbol of Thassilonian virtue and use it jointly. He also wanted to modify the reliquary to be able to use it, should his mythical immortality fail him somehow. Naturally, his reliquary would be able to interface with his clockwork army, immune to allgolthu mind-control, should they ever try to attack his empire.

Unfortunately, his isolation had blinded him to the growing corruption in his empire. The Runelords sent their giant to scry & fry him, and, in a panic, Xin flung the most destructive mythical spells at his assassin, wasn't standing at a safe distance after the giant's initial attack, and flubbed his saving throw. His Contingency went off, teleporting his remains into the reliquary, but instead of smoothly possessing it, his heartbreak at this act of betrayal (of course Xanderghul would want the only one to claim authority over him to know who was behind his murder) caused his psyche to splinter, haunting his entire palace in a state of distraught paranoia.

Now, the ghost of Xin is certain the usurpers must be stopped, and they even let that horrible, slithering evil into his basement. The PCs' approach rouses him from his mournful fugue, but his plan is to use his army to scour the land for any trace of those hateful usurpers and dismantle them (without any thought to current living conditions). He doesn't want to re-conquer the world, he's just trapped in the past with an uncompromising single-mindedness.

Also, if he sees Sorshen approach him, Return of the Runelords has material for his interruption:
"Sorshen! Xanderghul! Alderpash! Kaliphesta! Kaladurnae! Xirie! Naaft! I built the First Sihedron for you! For all of you to share! AND YOU KILLED ME!!"


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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Well, we are done with Shattered Star. Short review of the entire AP: Too many dungeons, too much combat, not enough RP, even with the occasional chance at talking to people. I consider this the "meh" middle part of the Runelord trilogy, necessary to get to the finale.

I had to start heavily buffing the enemies as of module five, which is not that unusual for high levels, although in this case I got a bunch of extra-capable characters, so lots of triple advanced templates and mythic templates were added, as well as vastly heightened hit point pools. I am very much looking forward to the next party in Hell's Rebels being easier to handle, with two Slayers, one Cavalier/future Hellknight, a Mesmerist and a budding Mystic Theurge.

As for this last module, the visions were nice, but I think my players disengaged with the story right at the start of the module, when the train tracks to get the isle of Xin to rise were just a bit too visible.

Xin Mage's Disjunction'ed the Sihedron as his last action, though, so that was pretty funny to me. ^^


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

We started this AP back on Dec 2018 and are on the verge of finishing it. Before that we played Rise of the Runelords-Karzoug actually was sent into the past...And Wraith of Righteous....Anyway the group made it to the Island of Xin and fought him, part of the group was captured and a couple were able to escape.
What would Xin now do?
Im thinking mobilizing his forces and sending them out after a period of time for him to gather what has happened in all the years. BUT this would hinge also on just how crazy he has gone....
He might also just sit around in his crazy little crystal castle and talk to himself....hmm
Ideas? Has anybody had the group defeated by Xin?

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Is there a typo in the Skymetal Vaults?

Dead Heart of Xin wrote:
To activate any of the Sihedron rune teleportation circles, a spell of the proper school must be channeled into the proper arm of the rune.... The rune in this room leads only to the Horacalcum Vault (area D1), so its horacalcum arm (the coppery-colored one) must be activated with a transmutation spell.

Horacalcum is the Pride shard, which is associated with illusion magic. None of the other vaults state what school of magic is needed. Is this a typo, and the teleportation circles should be activated using the school associated with that shard? Or is there another list somewhere that the PCs can figure out?


TomParker wrote:
Horacalcum is the Pride shard, which is associated with illusion magic. None of the other vaults state what school of magic is needed. Is this a typo, and the teleportation circles should be activated using the school associated with that shard? Or is there another list somewhere that the PCs can figure out?

There is definitively an error somewhere, but I don't know if it's in this book or the first module. Horacalcum is a skymetal which affect time (armor made of the stuff granting initiative bonus because the one in it perceive time as slower), and time magic is definitively in the transmutation school (as seen in spells like haste or time stop), so it make sense that the two are linked. On the other hand, module 1 definitively said that it was the illusion/pride shard that was made in horicalcum, and the transmutation/greed one was made in adamantine.

It's made even more complicated by the fact that the Flamma Horacalcum is made out of horacalcum, interact with the horacalcum room, and have, once again, time (and thus transmutation) magic. My guess would be that adamantium was made "greed" metal in module 1 because it's the most valuable one, while the module 6 author just assumed that the time altering horacalcum was tied to time magic and didn't double check.

The "best" solution here for me will be to switch the greed and pride shard (making the pride one in adamantium, and the greed in horicalcum), and then switch the rooms D1 and D2 to respect the order (thus the room C10 would need to be activated by illusion and lead to D2, which need transmutation and lead to D1, which need enchantment and lead to D3, etc), but it only work because my shattered star campaign haven't yet started and I haven't given out the "wrong" shard already.

If you have, well, what would make the most sense would be either to tell your player "actually I (or paizo) was wrong about the metal of the first two shard, they're switched, greed is horacalcum, pride is adamantium", and then to switch the room as normal, or to keep your mouth closed, keep the room order, and just switch the associated school of D1 and D2 (as well as their treasures).

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