APs and Advnetures for Vigilantes


Ultimate Intrigue Playtest General Discussion


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I glanced through the headings in the thread and saw nothing so clearly labelled as this.

I'm hoping for a generated list of APs and Adventures where the Vigilante's mechanics could really shine - something like Council of Thieves, where the PCs are expected both to be anonymous and famous, for example, simultaneously. Kingmaker is open-ended enough that it absolutely could be a place for them.

Unfortunately, I've already 'used' Council of Thieves and am playing Kingmaker, but I'm curious where Vigilantes, as currently conceived (the playtest as of this writing) would fit in well.

I've been curious about Curse of the Crimson Throne and Legacy of Fire as alternates. What about adventures or modules?

If you don't mind, I'd appreciate feedback from those who've looked at them. I mean, yes, of course, a Vigilante should be able to fit in well wherever (at least hypothetically), but for my purposes, I'd appreciate it if you listed a choice you felt was both solid and 'genuine' and why, but also put that information in spoilers so that those reading it aren't spoiled.

Additionally, please rate how strongly you feel the class works for that AP on a rating of 1-to-5 (least to greatest).

Though some might love the vigilante and some might hate it, give it your best assessment regardless of you're feelings of the class. Simply saying 'the class sucks, don't' or 'the class rocks, do' is unhelpful. (Though saying, 'the class sucks, here's why for <X>' or 'the class rocks, here's why for <X>' is helpful - especially the latter).

I'll go ahead and put two to demonstrate (though spoilers are actually quite minimal):

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Council of Thieves, 5-rank:
This is a phenomenal AP for an all-vigilante party. The entire premise rests upon the PCs being both known for their association as 'heroes' and gaining public renown in that manner, as well as being 'secret' heroes that go about unnoticed by the powers-that-be. The ending, in which their secret identities are revealed, could be exceptionally dramatic, and fits perfectly within the greater 'archetype' of the AP in its entirety.

Conclusion: an all-vigilante party would be perfect in this AP.

Kingmaker, 2-or-3-rank:
This AP could work quite well with vigilantes, but the value of the class rests entirely on the play-style of the table. Kingmaker is an open-ended sandbox game involving a combination of wilderness exploration (scripted), dungeon-crawls (scripted), and role-played kingdom-building (little, comparatively, scripted, as of installment 4, but some elements definitely present). If the game style caters more toward GM-created elements, and RP/intrigue the vigilante could be a five-star element; if not, it's a 1-star. I give it 2-to-3 stars because, while a strong potential contender, and it could definitely be strong at our table, the AP itself isn't built upon assumptions that automatically make a vigilante a stand-out option (though it could be, based on group-style).

Conclusion: vigilante could be stand-out, or wasted, depending entirely on the group's style and composition, and this is even more variable than normal, due to the AP's sand-boxy nature.
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Note: The spoilers above are minimal enough that I wouldn't consider them spoilers at all: the first is revealed within (more or less) the opening 'scene' of the AP (and/or the Player's Guide), while the second is merely my impression gleaned from the player's side with no specific events mentioned at all. I feel comfortable recommending people read them.

Anyway, I'm hoping for something like that, and hope this could help others, as well. Maybe even generate interesting and focused feed-back. Thanks!

Sovereign Court

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-Way of the Wicked, third party but well, the entire premise is infiltrating a good nation as evil people with a theme of revenge. Being able to not get tracked by divination, is a good thing.

-Rise of the Runelords: Would be hard to pull off, the entire premise is you are famous heroes after the first big battle of Sandpoint.

-Jade regent: Terrible for vigilante as you spend most of the time in a caravan, the relationship and constant travel, swapping identities around won't give you big benefits and you can't pretend to be somebody else when you are all in a caravan.

-Second Darkness: Mostly being an urban campaign, vigilante works well there.


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Two thirds of Crimson Throne occurs within a single city, so it would work there well. Mummy's Mask has lots of city elements in its first three books.


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The essential problem is that having a social identity with few specific abilities beyond a very mild social boost is mostly useful if your nocturnal activities would make it impossible for you to go buy a sandwich without being jumped by the cops (or the Bloods), or at least keep you out of polite society. So in Council of Thieves it could conceivably matter, but wouldn't make much sense in Kingmaker. You are the government there, you would only need to hide your activities if you were kidnapping people for blood sacrifices or something.

Likewise Legacy of Fire has a couple of adventures around a community, but not in a way that having a secret identity would matter all. Everyone likes you there, you aren't doing anything illegal, so there isn't much point. Even Curse of the Crimson Throne won't really matter, by the time a secret identity would be a boon you are headed out. I can think of maybe one point in Mummy's Mask you would want this, Jade Regent could get a bit of use towards the end as well, but it is pretty minimal spotlight time for the abilities for a full campaign.

Basically, the issue is that "urban," "sedentary," and "intrigue" aren't enough to make the base Vigilante abilities meaningful. That takes a very specific form and order of conflict, and other than Council of Thieves and maybe the upcoming Hell's Rebels I just don't see that featuring heavily in APs.

In theory one could make a specific character where they needed the special abilities to protect friends and family (in Curse of the Crimson Throne this would be very important), or get real creative with your Baker Street Irregulars (subject to however your GM makes that work), but even expanding to that... I honestly don't see a lot of utility for these adventures beyond what one could bring with another class, and thus would have difficulty making it "really shine." I think beyond the mentioned games that is going to take specifically designed campaigns and/or all-vigilante groups (or post-playtest additions, of course).


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Sounds like it's being set up for the Hell's Rebels AP.


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Maybe the Urban AP Road to Revolution by 0one Games?

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