My nephew has recently become interested in TRPGs, and I have introduced him to Pathfinder. After a few sessions he now has a Ranger 4 / archer PrC 2, and I am thinking of starting him on one of the adventure paths. I wish for advice on which would best suit as a followup to his current situation:
Recently he gained a magic bow, only to realize soon afterward that it was curst and he cannot be rid of it. Any time he reaches for any bow, he finds this one in his hand. Also, he has a strange compulsion to bath the bow in the blood of a creature recently slain by it at least once a day. Not doing so causes a cumulative -1 penalty to all attacks for each day since he last did so.
Now he is en route to an oracle that he hopes can tell him more about the bow and how to remove its curse, but instead he will learn that the bow has a fragment of a deceased (and now mostly forgotten) minor deity of cruelty, bloodsport, slaughter, and murder that is now starting to slowly awaken. If it completes its awakening at best it will be a powerful intelligent item likely more than strong enough to possess him indefinitely, while at worst it may become some kind of demideity that will seek to regain its former strength - and again will be more than strong enough to possess or kill him if it wishes.
As the bow seems to be indestructible by mortal means, he will learn that his best option is to purify the bow, but that such will entail a long and difficult process involving collecting rare materials and using them in obscure places once dedicated to the foes of that ancient deity to enact ancient and sometimes complex rituals. But with every successfully completed ritual the bow will be further purified, both reducing the power of the fragment and also little by little granting him the ability to use ever more of the full ability of the bow.
I intend the process to take about 8 - 10 levels. Whatever adventure path is chosen, I will made some adjustments to its rewards, such as - for example - instead of gaining a magic item, he might gain one of the rare materials he needs or gain permission to access a place normally off-limits where one of the rituals can take place.
The party will consist of 3 members: the 6th level Ranger / archer and two 5th level NPCs (a Barbarian seeking to become a wereboar and an Antiquarian** whose first discovery (a decocted oil that weakens the will of constructs for 24 hours after washed in it) is necessary to halt or at least greatly slow the bow's awakening).
It is a low magic party, and it is only 3 in number, so I expect they will need to be 2 - 3 levels higher than the suggested levels of the adventures in the adventure path.
Which adventure path would suit this situation best?
**:
An Antiquarian is a hybrid Bard [archaeologist] / Alchemist class with a touch of Bard [archivist] that I created a few years ago and often use as a supporting NPC. Start with the Bard [archaeologist] and then make further changes as follows: The Alchemist extract system replaces the Bardic spellcasting, but it is delayed to 4th level, it does not receive the bombs / mutagens / poison specials of the alchemist (although such can be taken via Rogue Talents gained from Archaeologist), and it only receives 4 discoveries (at levels 5, 10, 15, and 20; the first discovery is named Beginner's Luck). It receives Brew Potion at level 1, Infusion at level 4 (when extracts becomes available), and Swift Alchemy at level 7. Thus it cannot fully replace the Alchemist.
Furthermore, in a nod toward the Archivist, Magical Lore is gained at level 2, Jack of All Trades is moved to level 7, and Probable Path is added at level 10. Uncanny Dodge is moved up one level to 3rd to decrease the crowding of level 2. Finally, Woodland Stride is gained at level 8, and Improved Evasion is gained at level 14 (filling the empty level). For the remainder: medium BAB, good Fort & Refl, 6+int skill points, and a skill list that - minus the Perform skill - is a combination of Bard and Alchemist (ie: Bard + Disable Device, Fly, Heal, and Survival). Finally, mostly for thematic reasons, at level 2 he gains Keen Appraisal, which grants half his class level as bonus to Appraisal checks.
All the adventure paths start at first level, so you'd either need to skip the first couple books or pick one that ends at a lower level and put some work into scaling up all the encounters into level-appropriate ones (doable, but a lot of rewriting).
Skipping the first couple books might lead to issues in a lot of the adventure paths, where you're supposed to be finding out or accomplishing certain things, but it's possible. Some of them are a little more modular than others.
Shattered Star might be a good one, though they'd have to already start out with a couple pieces of the artifact they're trying to collect since they're meant to get some each book. Serpent's Skull is another one where the first two books kind of function as a "first act" and you could probably start at the third with some lead-up and modifications.
Alternatively, have you considered looking at some of the modules? There are some of those that start at higher levels that might suit your purposes.
