#5-06 You Have What You Hold


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Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ***

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

First of all, I just want to say that this is an awesome chronicle sheet. I love the piecemeal armor on the sheet, and that's a really cool boon. I want to work for VC Smine more often!

Let's talk about the Sczarni Faction Mission for a moment though. This is the first time that a faction has really changed over the course of the season. In Wardstone Patrol, the Sczarni figures out that someone has put a hit out on Guaril Karela and now is acting on that information. This is not in the letter from the beginning of the season. My thought was to tell Sczarni players this at the beginning of the session whether or not they have played Wardstone Patrol. Kosher?

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

Quandary aside, allow me to contribute that factions will receive updates from their respective leaders in the future revisiting the earlier goal(s), assessing whether it's still the goal, and detailing any new standing orders. As you might imagine, Sczarni faction PCs will have an interesting read.

I feel it would be productive to ask, much as it was valuable to ask a similar question during much of Season 2. Knowing that <redacted> had done <action> was sometimes an important assumption tied to a scenario's premise. Even so, the Sczarni mission doesn't explicitly require that those PCs know about the development in The Wardstone Patrol; it simply deepens the appreciation for what the PCs discover partway through the scenario. This is something that the author and I considered when writing and developing the adventure.

Grand Lodge 3/5

The blurb has a note in it that this is a special scenario for Sczarni. I'd leave it at that and not ruin anything for someone that hasn't played Wardstone.

There is something Sczarni can find to point them in the right direction during the scenario.

Dark Archive 4/5

Questions about the armour: Is it upgradeable? Could a character eventually have it as +3 piecemeal armour? Can someone who has played high-tier buy the low sub-tier version?

Liberty's Edge 3/5

A quick note on the Stat Block for the T6-7 Silver Slayers; I think their AC should be one higher. They have a +2 shield bonus for their +1 Light Shields, but the bonus for Shield Focus feat is not included.

Grand Lodge 3/5

Adam Mogyorodi wrote:
Questions about the armour: Is it upgradeable? Could a character eventually have it as +3 piecemeal armour? Can someone who has played high-tier buy the low sub-tier version?

Part A) According the rules for them I would say yes.

Part B) Yes, the title on that section even says All Tiers.

Slartibart wrote:
A quick note on the Stat Block for the T6-7 Silver Slayers; I think their AC should be one higher. They have a +2 shield bonus for their +1 Light Shields, but the bonus for Shield Focus feat is not included.

Yes it doesn't look like the feat bonus was added.

Dark Archive 4/5

Well good. My paladin will be scrapping that slow full plate for some new duds! :D

The Exchange 4/5 5/5 *

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber; Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber

Where are people having the contestants start? At opposite ends of the arena? That seems to really be a poor choice for the BBEG.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4

Trevor Burroughs wrote:
Where are people having the contestants start? At opposite ends of the arena? That seems to really be a poor choice for the BBEG.

As written, the PCs enter through the western gate and Helkit & the Silver Slayers enter through the east. I don't think it's explicit in the scenario, but the original intent was that Shocrote is raised into the 20x20 area in the center of the arena via a lift for her fight- you could do that or have her enter through the opposite gate as well.

It's not optimal for Helkit's melee-based group, no, but dumping her and the PCs into close proximity to start the fight felt too arbitrary. That is part of why I had the PCs start off deprived of (most) pre-cast buffs, though, to even the field a little there. My trial run on this (with, admittedly, not the most tactically optimized group of players) had the PCs spend the first round on ranged weapons and getting their own short-term buffs up. Admittedly, that's not going to be everyone, and I'm sure lots of groups will see it as a great time to nuke Helkit from orbit, as it were. I'd say if you're concerned, it would be probably be legitimate to rule that contestants can take a move action into the area during the emcee's introductions, so when the fight starts each group could be up to 30-40 feet into the arena. (That was sort of my intent, but I don't think I ever made that clear in the text.) That would put most of the Slayers within charging range down the non-trapped center 'aisle' of the arena.

Dark Archive 4/5

Are the hazards a passive Perception check to notice, or do you have to spend a move action searching for them? It's a major advantage to the gladiators (who know what to look for) in the event of the latter, whereas it's far less threatening if it is the former.

Dark Archive 4/5

Also: the Arena-trained Scallywags seem to have too few hit points. NPCs with class levels get full hit points at their first level, unless their first level was an NPC class.

The low-tier scallywags should have 21 hp, and the high-tier ones should have 36 hp. The silver slayers' hit points are calculated correctly, so I'm assuming it's a misprint for now.

Dark Archive 4/5

Darn, just missed my edit window!

Helkit Silverbane should not have a 40 ft. movement speed at either sub-tier. She is wearing heavy armour, and a barbarian's Fast Movement explicitly does not work while wearing heavy armour. The only way around this is if the piecemeal nature of her mithral chain torso causes her armour to be heavy for proficiency's sake but medium (light?) for the sake of class features.

Also: I've updated the Shared GM Prep folder with statblocks.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

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I'm compiling responses to some of your queries, Adam.

Hazard Perception: Unlike traps, my reading of pages 244–245 of Pathfinder RPG Gamemastery Guide suggests that a PC can spot a hazard reflexively. Keep in mind distance penalties.

Scallywag hit points: Hmmm...I don't know why those ended up the way that they did (looking back at the design notes from the scenario), but for whatever reason they did. Yes, feel free to use the corrected hp totals.

Helkit's fast movement: As insidiously innocuous as the evasion ability's differing lines about what armor prohibits the ability and which not, it is. Yes, you are correct about Helkit's speed being reduced by heavy armor.

Dark Archive 4/5

My biggest concern when I played this is that the majority of the fights had low will saves, meaning that our casters went to town.

The first encounter killed themselves due to confusion while we only had to deal with a druid, an animal companion and a summon, and the last encounters will saves were not any better thus leaving them open to the same spell (a few lucky act normally rolls was pretty much the only saving grace for some of the monsters).

We all had fun with the roleplay in between though so we did not mind that the encounters were so easy I think I burned 1 heal spell and 2 channels in the whole scenario.

I also think it would have been nice to have the option of going a whole 10 fights to become "bloodied" we asked our GM about it but apparently there is nothing in the scenario about it.

4/5 RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

I played at the same table as Caderyn over the weekend. Thoroughly enjoyed it, although he's right in pointing out the weakness of the majority of the foes in the scenario. I've had a chance to read through it now in preparing to run it later this month, and man, +0 Will saves in tier 6-7 makes me sad for the poor mooks.

A little disappointed the +30 knowledge check about Helkit doesn't seem to be true information or have any relevance to the scenario:

Spoiler:
30+ The name Silverbane is believed to refer to Numeria, Helkit's homeland from which she fled more than 20 years ago. Some suspect she keeps a cache of Numerian devices that she uses to win her battles.

I do enjoy the flavour of the scenario. There's some good opportunities for roleplay, and I'm sure the fights would be tough for a spellcaster-lacking party. It's a little amusing when a level 7 bard can - for the most part - demolish a scenario.

Oh, and the gelatinous cube cameo is fantastic.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

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Caderyn wrote:

My biggest concern when I played this is that the majority of the fights had low will saves, meaning that our casters went to town.

The first encounter killed themselves due to confusion while we only had to deal with a druid, an animal companion and a summon, and the last encounters will saves were not any better thus leaving them open to the same spell (a few lucky act normally rolls was pretty much the only saving grace for some of the monsters).

A druid, a cleric, and a superstitious barbarian combine to make a healthy Will save group if not an extraordinary one. Yep, the scallywags don't have the mightiest Will modifiers, but such is the nature of gladiatorial combat.

Quote:
I also think it would have been nice to have the option of going a whole 10 fights to become "bloodied" we asked our GM about it but apparently there is nothing in the scenario about it.

I've been critiqued by folks for making scenarios too long, and with only light-hearted snarkiness intended, I imagine tripling the number of combat encounters would not go over well. Perhaps we'll see an opportunity to become Bloodied should we return to Tymon in the future.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

ubiquitous wrote:

I played at the same table as Caderyn over the weekend. Thoroughly enjoyed it, although he's right in pointing out the weakness of the majority of the foes in the scenario. I've had a chance to read through it now in preparing to run it later this month, and man, +0 Will saves in tier 6-7 makes me sad for the poor mooks.

A little disappointed the +30 knowledge check about Helkit doesn't seem to be true information or have any relevance to the scenario: ** spoiler omitted **

No relevance today does not mean no relevance ever. I appreciate laying the foundation for prospective developments later.

Quote:

I do enjoy the flavour of the scenario. There's some good opportunities for roleplay, and I'm sure the fights would be tough for a spellcaster-lacking party. It's a little amusing when a level 7 bard can - for the most part - demolish a scenario.

Oh, and the gelatinous cube cameo is fantastic.

Good to hear.

Dark Archive 4/5

John Compton wrote:


A druid, a cleric, and a superstitious barbarian combine to make a healthy Will save group if not an extraordinary one. Yep, the scallywags don't have the mightiest Will modifiers, but such is the nature of gladiatorial combat.

Quite true I guess, I think it just did not make as much sense considering that the barbarian got to pick the rules for combat herself that she would not put greater limitations on magic within the combat considering her group was not the most magically inclined.

Once again though I am not saying the scenario was bad in any way it was actually extremely enjoyable and I played with a great group of people, I just think that when you challenge someone to a duel and they set the rules they should probably be stacked against the party more than it was.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

Caderyn wrote:
John Compton wrote:


A druid, a cleric, and a superstitious barbarian combine to make a healthy Will save group if not an extraordinary one. Yep, the scallywags don't have the mightiest Will modifiers, but such is the nature of gladiatorial combat.

Quite true I guess, I think it just did not make as much sense considering that the barbarian got to pick the rules for combat herself that she would not put greater limitations on magic within the combat considering her group was not the most magically inclined.

Once again though I am not saying the scenario was bad in any way it was actually extremely enjoyable and I played with a great group of people, I just think that when you challenge someone to a duel and they set the rules they should probably be stacked against the party more than it was.

Were Helkit to accept a duel in a non-public venue, I would agree; however, she must abide by the rules of the Arena of Aroden as closely as anyone else.

From a design perspective, it's risky to tell PCs that they can't use a major ability such as spellcasting. Sometimes it goes over well and feels like a temporary but interesting limitation. Sometimes the players perceive it as an arbitrary and unfair punishment. In this case, Sean and I erred toward the permissive.

Dark Archive 4/5

Ran it tonight.

First off, the barge fight and the pirate hideout fight have a TON of mooks, and along with the ship movement speeds, combat slowed to a crawl. It is possibly my inexperience with the scenario, but it was a relief when the PCs used AoE attacks.

I can't report on the optional encounter because we were severely running out of time. As for the final fight, the cavalier had purchased a casting of water walk for his horse as a precaution against the sand hazards. He rolled a natural 20 on initiative, going before any of the enemies; challenge + charge + Spirited Charge plus a good hit took Helkit from full health (non raging) to dead. Oops.

On the bright side, it was an awesome achievement for the player; however, no boon for any of them. I expect to have a bit more information about the scenario when I run it again next week. I'm hoping that Helkit gets to take a turn at least! :)

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4

ubiquitous wrote:
Oh, and the gelatinous cube cameo is fantastic.

That particular bit made me cackle out loud when I came up with it, so glad it justified its inclusion!

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4

Adam Mogyorodi wrote:
As for the final fight, the cavalier had purchased a casting of water walk for his horse as a precaution against the sand hazards. He rolled a natural 20 on initiative, going before any of the enemies; challenge + charge + Spirited Charge plus a good hit took Helkit from full health (non raging) to dead. Oops.

While I'm a bit saddened to hear of the ignominious demise of Ms. Silverbane (and your players subsequently being boon-deprived), I'm pretty impressed at your player's forethought, there. Good thinking; if only he hadn't rolled so well...

4/5 RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

John Compton wrote:
No relevance today does not mean no relevance ever. I appreciate laying the foundation for prospective developments later.

After re-reading the scenario, I noticed that you track whether she lives or dies. Excellent! I hope many a group is as forgiving as ours, as I certainly wouldn't mind Ms. Silverbane turning up once more in the future. Especially if strange Numerian tech is involved...

Adam Mogyorodi wrote:
As for the final fight, the cavalier had purchased a casting of water walk for his horse as a precaution against the sand hazards. He rolled a natural 20 on initiative, going before any of the enemies; challenge + charge + Spirited Charge plus a good hit took Helkit from full health (non raging) to dead. Oops.

As awesome as it is to pull that off as a cavalier, if you want to avoid this happening to her again, just have her enter the arena with her mooks arrayed in front of her to block any potential charge lanes. This also gives her a chance to imbibe whichever potion she wants to start her fight with.

DankeSean wrote:
That particular bit made me cackle out loud when I came up with it, so glad it justified its inclusion!

We handed over one of the pirate leaders to the authorities - the druid managed to escape - and were rewarded with getting to spectate his horrific ending. My hat's off to you for that piece of fiendish genius.

I have another question, though it's more just about the design/development process: I'm curious as to Ms. Silverbane's somewhat unusual class selection. It's certainly a unique combination. How much of that is: "I have this idea for a foe" vs "This class/archetype is under-utilised in PFS scenarios" vs "We need to make sure she doesn't TPK parties" and so on?

For the record, Ms. Silverbane almost one-shot my poor cavalier with a greataxe crit when she managed to act normally for a round, so she's definitely no slouch of a brawler.

Dark Archive 4/5

ubiquitous wrote:
Adam Mogyorodi wrote:
As for the final fight, the cavalier had purchased a casting of water walk for his horse as a precaution against the sand hazards. He rolled a natural 20 on initiative, going before any of the enemies; challenge + charge + Spirited Charge plus a good hit took Helkit from full health (non raging) to dead. Oops.
As awesome as it is to pull that off as a cavalier, if you want to avoid this happening to her again, just have her enter the arena with her mooks arrayed in front of her to block any potential charge lanes. This also gives her a chance to imbibe whichever potion she wants to start her fight with.

I actually did, but I neglected to put her two spaces behind her Slayer allies. Being one behind was just fine for the guy with the lance.

Anyway, I'll play with the way they're arranged next time to make that fight last longer. I'll also endeavour to make the barge fights MUCH shorter.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

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I think the creation of Helkit went something like this. I'm sure Sean can chime in with his recollection and any corrections to my paraphrased summary.

The development of Helkit:
Outline: BBEG is a martial NPC that should have a gladiatorial feel to her and may be middle-aged. Give her piecemeal armor, and feel free to make use of the performance combat feats. You might include a simplified version of the performance combat rules as a sidebar, because the whole system is a little too massive to explain for a single fight.

I was expecting a pit fighter or a gladiator archetype fighter. Needless to say, I was amused by the expanded outline.

Sean: How about an animal companion? I like the huntsmaster cavalier archetype, and it would be cool to have a thylacine.

John: Hmmm...a thylacine is mechanically very similar to a dog, and based on [Kingmaker-related talk] it could fit the setting. Sure, go for it.

[a week later] Sean: I also like this mad dog archetype. Would it be OK if I stacked them?

John: Well, that's starting to stretch some PFS rules. It's rules stretching in the name of cool, but it is stretching. Go ahead and write it up, and I'll tinker with it during development if it seems to be an issue.

Sean: Awesome!

[during development] John: Awww...a mad dog huntsmaster with a thylacine! It would be a crime to change you. I'll...I'll add a sidebar, and we'll keep this rather memorable NPC as she is. Yep, that sounds good.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4

ubiquitous wrote:
I have another question, though it's more just about the design/development process: I'm curious as to Ms. Silverbane's somewhat unusual class selection. It's certainly a unique combination. How much of that is: "I have this idea for a foe" vs "This class/archetype is under-utilised in PFS scenarios" vs "We need to make sure she doesn't TPK parties" and so on?

Your curiosity has spawned the scenario writer equivalent of 'let me tell you about my character!'; my apologies in advance.

It is an odd combo, yes, and it's almost entirely based on my idea of what I wanted Helkit to be like in the arena. First of all, I figured the silver slayers would have the deck stacked against them since they were spellcasterless and potions only go so far. (At one point I contemplated adding a counterspell-focused caster to their group just to lend some frustration, but it threatened to lead too much towards an epic-level casting of Wall of Stat Blocks). Animal companions are always a nice, cheap way to even out numbers and action economy without raising an encounters CR, so Helkit having a pet was part of the plan from early on.

Barbarian was a must; besides my really wanting her to have a savage-ish Numerian background, it also fit the story I had in my head of her working her way up in the arena and slowly evolving from savage chopper to tactical genius to shrewd businesswoman. Having recently fallen hard in love with the Animal Archive archetypes, Mad Dog presented itself as a sweet option. But since I did want to present an evolution of her arena combat style, I definitely wanted a chance to use some tactical feats as well. Fighter would have been my first choice, but I wasn't content letting her animal companion lag behind in levels, so the Huntmaster cavalier archetype presented itself as a worthy substitute. Originally I felt a little bit bad about double dipping from the AA, but in practice that just meant making Helkit's statblock a tad monstrous with reprinted rules.

TL;DR- it was all about the convoluted path in my head to get her to the role I saw her taking. Not so much about getting little used classes/archetypes into play, and the opposite of avoiding a TPK (since I was technically trying to make the fight slightly tougher.)

Edited to add: after reading John's summation, it is possible I have the order that I picked the archetypes out in reverse, or else the difference represents the time differential between my having an idea and getting around to mailing my developer for feedback.
He was very, very kind to my over-enthusiasm, I will say. ;-)

4/5 RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

DankeSean wrote:
Your curiosity has spawned the scenario writer equivalent of 'let me tell you about my character!'; my apologies in advance.

That's perfectly fine: I did ask! Thanks to you and John for indulging my curiousity and taking the time to write that up. I don't have anything to add, other than that I enjoyed reading about how her character came together. I'm glad she made it into the scenario intact.

Hopefully Ms. Silverbane will have her chance to shine when I get to run this scenario in a couple of weeks' time.

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/5 **

Adam Mogyorodi wrote:

Anyway, I'll play with the way they're arranged next time to make that fight last longer. I'll also endeavour to make the barge fights MUCH shorter.

In fairness, we also "wasted" a lot of time at the beginning with some fairly silly (and hence extremely entertaining) roleplaying :-)

Dark Archive 4/5

Paul, I enjoyed that part quite a bit. In fact, I was kicking myself for all of the ways I could have improved that aspect on my way home! :)

By the way, a few of my players rolled very low on skill checks to look bad, and I was trying to figure out a way to make them realize they had failed without just saying "You rolled low so you didn't get the cookie." So what I plan to do next time is have people react as though the PCs are way tougher on a failed check.

As an example, the fighter in the party attempted to make himself look like a fool by falling twenty feet with a very poor Acrobatics roll. I regret to say that I didn't react enough to it, other than giving him some damage. What I feel I could have done was have some react like this: "Wow, you must be ridiculously tough to take a fall like that and get back up! No one is gonna want to mess with you when I tell my buddies about this!"

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East

Question on the chronicle. Is the free weapon supposed to be Masterwork? I don't see anything saying it is, but based on the description it certainly feels like it should be.

1/5

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

It's a minor quibble, but the values listed for (Subtier 6-7) Deremin's Trip CMB don't appear to include the +2 from his Gauntlets of the Skilled Maneuver (trip) - those combined with Improved Trip should give him +4 to his CMD and CMD (+12 / 22 total respectively) for Trip maneuvers, and it only lists +2 (presumably from Improved Trip). Granted, this assumes I'm not missing something else as to why he wouldn't be using the Gauntlets, which is entirely possible!

1/5

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Also, to add two potentially stupid questions - given that throwing shield is an enhancement you can apply to an existing non-tower shield, is it intended that their heavy steel shields are the throwing shields, or do they have an additional shield as well that they're throwing? IE, does throwing their shield to potentially trip up the PCs strip them of their shield AC? Beyond that, is it a free action to remove the shield and an attack action to throw it, or is it in fact a free action to remove *and* throw? The latter seems really unlikely, but that's what the entry for Throwing Shield says, so... bit confused on that.

I have to say though, I'm loving the flavor of this scenario so far, from reading it. Looking forward to running it tomorrow!

EDIT: Followup stupid question - does Outflank stack with Pack Tactics to give her and her animal companion +6 to their attack rolls when flanking, or does Outflank only grant the "Crits allow AoO from others with the feat" part? Both abilities say they raise the flanking bonus to +4, they don't say they add another +2 to it, so I'm not sure if I should combine the two or not.

Liberty's Edge 2/5 *

Incidentally, a Thylacine is also known as a Tasmanian Tiger. Sadly extinct now (or are they?).

There is research going on about trying to recreate them via cloning technology but so far no new Tigers!

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4

thistledown wrote:
Question on the chronicle. Is the free weapon supposed to be Masterwork? I don't see anything saying it is, but based on the description it certainly feels like it should be.

My answers, especially on any chronicle or boon related issues, are unofficial, but with the understanding that John can correct any misreadings on my part:

Assuming you're talking about the 'Smine's Best' boon, my reading is that there isn't a free weapon involved, but rather that you can cash in the boon to add the 'Smine' property to a weapon you do purchase later. (Or upgrade an existing weapon with it for 2 PP.) I assume that means you could add it to a non-magical, non-masterwork weapon you buy if you so chose, but I'd say that would be a waste of the boon. (And Holgarin Smine would definitely sniff derisively and mutter sarcastic sentence fragments at putting his signature touch on such shoddy work.)

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4

JimmySC wrote:
It's a minor quibble, but the values listed for (Subtier 6-7) Deremin's Trip CMB don't appear to include the +2 from his Gauntlets of the Skilled Maneuver (trip) - those combined with Improved Trip should give him +4 to his CMD and CMD (+12 / 22 total respectively) for Trip maneuvers, and it only lists +2 (presumably from Improved Trip). Granted, this assumes I'm not missing something else as to why he wouldn't be using the Gauntlets, which is entirely possible!

Deremin is definitely meant to be using the gauntlets, and my assumption was that yes, it should stack with Improved Trip. I am pretty sure your math is right; comparing my turnover and the final product, I think the issue may have been that my Deremin stat block was a tad messy at that tier (I had edited him from an earlier build focusing on disarm instead of trip and apparently forgot to switch all the little bits that should have been updated to tripping.) It's very possible inaccuracies resulted from my error. Apologies.

Quote:
Also, to add two potentially stupid questions - given that throwing shield is an enhancement you can apply to an existing non-tower shield, is it intended that their heavy steel shields are the throwing shields, or do they have an additional shield as well that they're throwing? IE, does throwing their shield to potentially trip up the PCs strip them of their shield AC? Beyond that, is it a free action to remove the shield and an attack action to throw it, or is it in fact a free action to remove *and* throw? The latter seems really unlikely, but that's what the entry for Throwing Shield says, so... bit confused on that.

Throwing shields were a development add-on, so I'll have to defer to John as far as the intended equipment. (Though throwing shields are listed separately from their regular shields in the gear section, so my gut would say that they have back-up shields. Even if they don't, I think it would be definitely worth tossing the shields and lowering their ACs because it's such a cool image and these guys aren't supposed to last many rounds anyway...)

I've never played with throwing shields and have no idea if this is a common reading of their entry, but I would have to assume that 'allow you to unclasp and throw it as a free action' means 'can be unclasped as a free action and then thrown as a standard,' because I'm pretty sure the intent isn't to allow you to make infinite (or at least, equal to the number of throwing shields you have on you) attacks for +50 gp per.

Quote:
Followup stupid question - does Outflank stack with Pack Tactics to give her and her animal companion +6 to their attack rolls when flanking, or does Outflank only grant the "Crits allow AoO from others with the feat" part? Both abilities say they raise the flanking bonus to +4, they don't say they add another +2 to it, so I'm not sure if I should combine the two or not.

I had assumed Outflank and Pack Tactics would stack; I hadn't even considered they might not. So while the intent was for Helkit & Brimstone to give each other a nice double boost for flaking, if that's not the case I sadly admit to being hornswaggled by the rules.

RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32, 2011 Top 4

Matthew Pittard wrote:

Incidentally, a Thylacine is also known as a Tasmanian Tiger. Sadly extinct now (or are they?).

There is research going on about trying to recreate them via cloning technology but so far no new Tigers!

Thylacines are easily one of my favorite extinct non-dinosaurs, so I was ecstatic over the chance to drop one in here. (Where it will presumably be killed by bloodthirsty PCs. Mixed message on my part?)

And in spite of some inherent leeriness over the idea of playing god with genetics, I fully endorse any aberrant, freakish use of technology that would bring back thylacines. Or mammoths. I want some damn mammoths.

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East

DankeSean wrote:
thistledown wrote:
Question on the chronicle. Is the free weapon supposed to be Masterwork? I don't see anything saying it is, but based on the description it certainly feels like it should be.

My answers, especially on any chronicle or boon related issues, are unofficial, but with the understanding that John can correct any misreadings on my part:

Assuming you're talking about the 'Smine's Best' boon, my reading is that there isn't a free weapon involved, but rather that you can cash in the boon to add the 'Smine' property to a weapon you do purchase later. (Or upgrade an existing weapon with it for 2 PP.) I assume that means you could add it to a non-magical, non-masterwork weapon you buy if you so chose, but I'd say that would be a waste of the boon. (And Holgarin Smine would definitely sniff derisively and mutter sarcastic sentence fragments at putting his signature touch on such shoddy work.)

Huh. I think you may be right. My table read it as "get a free weapon with a nifty mod or pay 2pp to get the nifty mod on an existing weapon" but re-reading, it seems to just be "buy a new weapon and get a mod put on for free or spend 2pp to put it on an existing weapon."

That's... very disappointing. So much for the exciting boon.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Matthew Pittard wrote:

Incidentally, a Thylacine is also known as a Tasmanian Tiger. Sadly extinct now (or are they?).

There is research going on about trying to recreate them via cloning technology but so far no new Tigers!

Matthew why are you reading and commenting on the spoiler-filled GM thread for the scenario before you have even played it? It takes a fair amount of the surprises out of adventuring, don't you think? :{

Scarab Sages 4/5

Played this last night and really enjoyed it. There's some interesting opportunity for roleplaying, especially in the "make yourself look bad" section. My Vow of Truth Monk with a negative Bluff had a particularly challenging time coming up with something to do. I would say, though, the most difficult part of that section was figuring out that you had to appear to be inept without actually being inept. Our wizard kept wanting to do things he had no chance at succeeding at. It's an odd mechanic that our GM had to essentially explain to us to get us back on track.

The encounters were interesting. We ended up with a 4 player out-of-tier group, so playing 3-4 with the 6 player difficulty. For the most part my 6th level monk was a little over powered for the minions (trouble hitting my 26-34 AC depending on the situation). But each of the bosses posed some interesting challenges. I accidentally killed Deremin, because I didn't realize he was staggered before my last hit.

The final fight with Helkit, however, could have gone extremely badly for the group. Our wizard really made the difference. Thanks to my monk's move speed, we were able to pin Helkit and her animal companion back in the entrance, which kept them from flanking with each other, though she did get to flank with her minions. A glitterdust from the mage, though, and a color spray really turned things around.

So Helkit... I think I'm going to start referring to her as Ledford part 2. As soon as I saw the Great Axe, I knew there was the potential for trouble. Still, my monk's whole job is to frontline and keep the lower level characters from getting slaughtered, so I ran up to her right away. Not, however, before she had time to drink her Enlarge Person Potion. She had, thankfully, failed her save against the Glitterdust, which became important, as she promptly rolled a 20 on her first attack, then confirmed against my 34 AC (There was some debate about flanking when blind, but I think the end result was yes, and she would have confirmed). She failed her miss chance for being blind, however. We later rolled the damage just to see, and at 3D6+10 for a large Greataxe while enlarged, raging, and I think with a Challenge on me, x3, she would have done 62 points, which would have one shot killed my Monk (47 hps and a 14 con, for a magic number of 61). I can't imagine many level 3-4 characters surviving that. I anticipate the occasionally unlucky crit death in this scenario. At least in this tier, a Raise Dead is a possibility, unlike First Steps. Here, I actually enjoyed the danger. Meanwhile, after the accidental murder of Deremin earlier in the game, I was hitting her with non-leathal, and we eventually took her down.

From a roleplaying perspective, I particularly enjoyed playing my Andoran Nagaji Monk, a former slave to the Dark Naga. Despite having a negative charisma modifier and never having a swift action free to even try a perform check (not that he would show off like that, anyway), the mechanics in the last fight were fun. Plus, at the end he got to turn to the crowd and attempt an eloquent speech about how the games were barbaric and that the creatures should be set free (He'd also non-lethaled the Manticore and Helkit's pet). Of course, having no Charisma, I don't think he quite got his point across.

Overall a very fun scenario. I've glanced through it today, and the mechanics and background information are interesting. I look forward to running it soon.

Plus...

The Sczarni Mission:
TORCH!!!

Grand Lodge 4/5 ** Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver

Throwing Shields. So, the Slayers throw them to try to trip opponents? What is the range increment on a throwing shield and does it do damage when making a trip attempt?

Scarab Sages 4/5

After looking through the scenario a little more, I do have to say one disappointing thing unrelated to the scenario itself is that you don't seem to report the Sczarni success or failure at obtaining the information from Helkit. That's... disappointing. I haven't looked through the other season 5 scenarios that I've played, but is that similarly the case with them? I really like the idea of having a running thread for each faction throughout the season, but with prestige no longer tied to faction missions, I'm confused at how the tracking of those missions happens. It's nice to be able to get a boon. It would be nicer to know you're having some impact on your faction's future. The conditions that appear to be tracked are whether or not Helkit is killed, and whether or not Karvis or Deremin escaped. I can see how those would be important for determining whether or not to include those NPCs in future scenarios. But, isn't it even more important to know whether or not factions are succeeding at their missions? In this case in particular, with only one faction mission, there's an unused D success condition box (I think) that could have been applied to it.

I searched around to see if their was a thread discussing this in general, but I haven't found one yet. If anyone knows of one and can point me to it, I'd appreciate it.

<EDITED to fix a typo>

Grand Lodge 4/5 ** Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver

roll4initiative wrote:
Throwing Shields. So, the Slayers throw them to try to trip opponents? What is the range increment on a throwing shield and does it do damage when making a trip attempt?

I figured it out. 10' range just like an improvised weapon and trip attempt or ranged damage, not both.

Liberty's Edge 2/5 *

Played this on the weekend. Enjoyed it a lot!.

We had a table of 6 and I must say our toughest fight was the first one on the boats. #%^##!! Crocodile. Man it took a beating and kept on eating. People were flanking it, and I thought doing large amounts of damage but it kept on going. Creatures were summoned and we did take some nasty hits.

The last battle was quite interesting. We actually let them come to us and whilst we got a large Helkit and my Paladin was flanked, we didnt go too badly. We were playing 5-6.

A Very enjoyable scenario, sadly probably thematically it made it difficult for a Paladin to bluff in the early parts (although he was an incredibly poor sailor!) and he got caught minus heavy armor in the boat battle.

I very much enjoyed a side scene of my Paladin of Iomedae throwing down his gauntlet to challenge Helkit as part of the Law of Grievance.

Scarab Sages 1/5

I got to play this last weekend a couple thoughts.

They are dumb as bricks to allow spell casting and not bring a caster of their own in the final gladiatorial fight. A level 1 evoker who readies an action to force missile the first person he sees casting each round would have done a ton for these guys. Possibly have made it an interesting fight.

Also, its a shame that an opponent of her stature hasn't the friends to get a raise dead cast after a lucky paladin smite-crits her into oblivion. Seems a kinda random way to loose out on a boon as our GM claimed she had to be alive at the end to grant it.

Otherwise it was a fun mod.

Shame my level on Scarni character can't play any missions in their story line.

Liberty's Edge 5/5

roll4initiative wrote:
roll4initiative wrote:
Throwing Shields. So, the Slayers throw them to try to trip opponents? What is the range increment on a throwing shield and does it do damage when making a trip attempt?
I figured it out. 10' range just like an improvised weapon and trip attempt or ranged damage, not both.

Its a mundane quality you can add to your shield and gives it a 20' foot range increment and the trip quality.

Silver Crusade 2/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I got to use my new lightning bolt spell five whole times! Two of those times, there were 5 or more people all lined up! I really did good! Mom always said I was talented! *does happy dance*

Silver Crusade 4/5

I ran this on 11/17/13 onilne.. So this episode was a lot of fun. And quite the shocker for my table full of Sczarni's.

But I do have a question concerning the boon: Does it apply to guns? I ran it so the PC who is taking it in question is a Gunslinger. So I was wondering if she count.

If I can get it MW too, that would be nice. :D

Liberty's Edge 2/5 *

I dont see why not. In fact a gun would of been a heck of a lot of smoke and flash for the Arena.

Liberty's Edge 3/5

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Just ran this on the weekend. I love all of the “if X, then Y in the next part.” I think this is a valuable storytelling tool that we’ve been seeing more of this season. I balked at situations in other scenarios where it was necessary to declare that if the party fails to do X, like failing to catch a character during a chase, give them the unmodified results of succeeding at the chase anyway. Having the success or failure of certain tasks modify parts of the scenario instead of acting as gate keeper to the rest of the adventure gives so much more weight to the decisions that PCs must make, and I think this scenario should be seen as the blueprint for how similar situations should be written in the future.

3/5

So I got to play this, last weekend we had a blast. I heard it was an arena scenario so we got 3 monks and a sorcerer.

The second fight we found most fun as we used our addy brass knucles to punch through the walls of the house after the enemies. Because doors? where we are goign we don't need doors!

My 23 demolarize monk/thug made a point to scare off one of her goons with a demolarize right after she talked up how brave they were.

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