PFS Scenario #5-21: The Merchant's Wake


GM Discussion

Scarab Sages

Did this one tonight/yesterday. Quest said levels 1-5. Party consisted of four level 1 characters and a single level 2 character. This was the first session for most of the characters.

We really hated this one as it was clearly too difficult for level 1 characters. I'm sure the right build would have been fine, but for random groups of new players, it just wasn't fun for us low level players.

I was not GM, but our GM was doing amazing, despite the scenario. If not for GM mercy, our party would have easily gotten TPK on this one.

We completed 3 of 4 "sections," with the forth not attempted due to time.

I highly recommend reclassifying it for higher level characters. It just wasn't fun.

4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ****

Like most things in PFS... a lot depends on the Party mix...

What was in the party?

~

If it was a group of Mental-dump fighters, you will see a bunch of issues that a balanced group won't. (Same is true for all other asymmetrical parties)

I have run this Scenario a few times, mostly for Sub-tier 1-2, each group hit different issues, all based on party mix.

I almost got a couple of TPKs in the first fight... teams with no 'big' damage. Or the right energy type...

5/5 *****

Tempest_Knight wrote:
you will see a bunch of issues that a balanced group won't. (Same is true for all other asymmetrical parties)

I don't find tis to really be true. What I find is that where you have groups with multiple less flexible classes then you have problems. A group of cleric, druid, sorcerer, wizard, alchemist, inquisitor is likely to stomp all aspects of a scenario where paladin, rogue, fighter, monk, samurai, ranger may well struggle, especially as the levels increase.

4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ****

I'll give you Alchemist and Inquisitor... But they will struggle more in some sections then a 'Balanced' party.

Cleric/Wizard/Druid/Sorcerer, especially in the 1-2 sub-tier are very dependent on build and spell selection.

Rogues would do fairly well, as long as they aren't too narrowly defined... got to love 8+Int mod Skill points...

If they aren't Dex only Dagger builds for combat, they should have decent damage output, especially if they remember to work in pairs...

~

Point is, depending on party mix, how difficult and where the difficulty arises, will be different.

This is not to say that certain classes/builds can't reduce the hurdle, just that the asymmetrical party will have hurdles that the 'perfect' 'balanced' party will have a 'better' solution to.

~

It is not a matter of 'I can build to fix that', it is a matter of the basic 'assumption' in D&D-style game design...

The party has a Healer, a Trap guy, a Mage, and some Muscle. That is the 'iconic' base to a party... this is also rarely seen, in my experience at least, in PFS play...

It is the cliché, right or wrong, that has been around since the start of the game, more or less.

Grand Lodge 4/5

I have run it for low level parties, and, other than the Cleric getting killed because the Ranger player didn't remember she could use a wand of CLW, the party pretty much rolled over most of the scenario.

And, as ever in this scenario, the party couldn't decide, initially, if they wanted to split up for the save-an-NPC section or not.

4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ****

Most of the issues I have seen have come more from bad decisions at the table and/or bad luck with rolls.

Most of the almost-TPKs I have had have been an inability of lvl 1s to get damage through the DR, modest though it might be... lots of dagger wielders and/or smalls in the party...

~

All in all, I really like this scenario, but there are a couple of spots that can get really tuff in the right circumstances...

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria

I just ran this yesterday for a group of high level characters in tier 1-2... and I really don't see this as all that dangerous for low level characters, of course any scenario can be quite tough for a group of fresh level 1 characters, having that wand of CLW and proper armor should be enough.

Scarab Sages

Tempest_Knight wrote:

Like most things in PFS... a lot depends on the Party mix...

What was in the party?

Let's see. Level 1 Elemental Sorcerer, Level 1 Cleric, Level 1 Samarui (myself), Level 1 Fighter, and Level 2 Warpriest. It was the first game with these characters for all, but the Cleric and Warpriest.

First part, which revolved around gaining social influence, was mostly left up to the cleric and the warpriest, as no other character seemed to have any social skills.

Second bit included a combat with a mummy, which wasn't overly potent, but almost half the party became permanently fatigued (Samurai and Sorcerer). My Samurai was first into the fray and spent the entire combat unconscious (16 or so damage from one mummy strike).

Third bit was a race past "dozens of zombies" which the first part heavily relied on CMB or Acrobatics at DC 22, which was fine for the Warpriest and Fighter which kept rolling natural 20s, but for the fatigued characters, it was near impossible (My samurai needed a natural 17). Apparently the module called to 1d6+1 damage at each failure, but our nice GM didn't do this, which was good because it would killed us several times over. Our cleric only got through by wasting all his channel attempts.

GM had each party member do the race individually, which I remain uncertain is if how the module intended it to function.

Third bit concluded with a combat against an assassin and some zombies, which wasn't overly difficult, but once again, my samurai was knocked unconscious as he was hit for over 20 damage by a Zombie.

Never got to fourth bit, as we ran out of time. We got a cinematic explaination of the fourth bit and concluded reasonably that it would have butchered us.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden

Murdock Mudeater wrote:
Tempest_Knight wrote:

Like most things in PFS... a lot depends on the Party mix...

What was in the party?

Let's see. Level 1 Elemental Sorcerer, Level 1 Cleric, Level 1 Samarui (myself), Level 1 Fighter, and Level 2 Warpriest. It was the first game with these characters for all, but the Cleric and Warpriest.

First part, which revolved around gaining social influence, was mostly left up to the cleric and the warpriest, as no other character seemed to have any social skills.

Second bit included a combat with a mummy, which wasn't overly potent, but almost half the party became permanently fatigued (Samurai and Sorcerer). My Samurai was first into the fray and spent the entire combat unconscious (16 or so damage from one mummy strike).

While annoying, fatigue shouldn't be crippling.

Murdock Mudeater wrote:

Third bit was a race past "dozens of zombies" which the first part heavily relied on CMB or Acrobatics at DC 22, which was fine for the Warpriest and Fighter which kept rolling natural 20s, but for the fatigued characters, it was near impossible (My samurai needed a natural 17). Apparently the module called to 1d6+1 damage at each failure, but our nice GM didn't do this, which was good because it would killed us several times over. Our cleric only got through by wasting all his channel attempts.

GM had each party member do the race individually, which I remain uncertain is if how the module intended it to function.

Yeah, he messed that up. The scenario does it like this:


  • Unlike a typical chase, the PCs are not chasing a
    target so much as they are tracking how long it takes for
    them to reach the NPC in danger. What’s more, the PCs
    overcome obstacles as a group and not individually.
    Each
    PC rolls one of the two checks to overcome the obstacle,
    taking the highest result. Any other PCs’ checks that
    result in a 10 or higher are treated as having used the aid
    another action for the higher result. The exception is the
    assassin’s trap obstacle, which only one PC may attempt.
  • If the PCs fail the check to overcome an obstacle, they
    take additional time to overcome the challenge but do
    not need to attempt the check again; move on to the next
    obstacle but track how many checks the PCs fail.
    Each
    failure grants the Dawnflower assassin in area A3 more
    time to attack his target. In addition, if the PCs fail their
    check to overcome either of the first two obstacles, the
    zombie horde deals 1d6+1 points of damage to each of
    them (2d6+6 in Subtier 4–5). Once the PCs enter area A3,
    proceed to the next encounter.

Murdock Mudeater wrote:

Third bit concluded with a combat against an assassin and some zombies, which wasn't overly difficult, but once again, my samurai was knocked unconscious as he was hit for over 20 damage by a Zombie.

Never got to fourth bit, as we ran out of time. We got a cinematic explaination of the fourth bit and concluded reasonably that it would have butchered us.

It's a couple of low-grade undead and a negative-channeling cleric. The latter could be dangerous, although most of your group should have the Will save to mitigate some of the damage.

Silver Crusade 5/5 5/55/5 **** Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria

I will have to check with the scenario in front of me , but it seems like the GM made a couple of mistakes...

Grand Lodge 4/5

A couple of things:
Healing the nonlethal damage will also remove the fatigued condition.

Desert Wind (Su):
All creatures within a 30-foot radius must attempt a DC 14 Fortitude save once per round, and each round the DC of this saving throw increases by 1. A creature that fails its saving throw takes 1d4 nonlethal damage and is fatigued, as if affected by heat stroke (Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 444). A creature that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to that desiccated mummy’s desert wind aura for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Heat Dangers
A character who takes any nonlethal damage from heat exposure now suffers from heatstroke and is fatigued. These penalties end when the character recovers from the nonlethal damage she took from the heat.

Nonlethal Damage
Healing Nonlethal Damage: You heal nonlethal damage at the rate of 1 hit point per hour per character level. When a spell or ability cures hit point damage, it also removes an equal amount of nonlethal damage.

So one CLW heals 1d8+1 lethal and nonlethal damage at the same time. Same for any healing from channels, xd6 of healing both lethal and nonlethal.

The issues with the chase were covered above, as whoever had the highest total would get a +2 bonus for each other PC that got at least a 10 total on their attempt. And only once per obstacle, so...

And not sure how a single Zombie hit is doing 20 points of damage, even if, for some reason, he had applied the Advanced template (copy and paste error on the page reference, as the upper tier ones are advanced), for 1d6+4 or 1d6+6, and they would still be staggered, so only one attack per round.

Really, with everyone working together on the chase, it goes more Keystone Cops than frustrating issue. And it sounds like your group would have done fairly well in the chase, if a lot of high rolls were to be had by even one or two players for each obstacle.

Community / Forums / Organized Play / GM Discussion / PFS Scenario #5-21: The Merchant's Wake All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in GM Discussion