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Im considering options.
I am not going to crush you with unfair numbers or anything, but I might have another player join, or use the adjustment, or another option.
I have tried to contact Evil a few times and gitten no responce, (if I remember correctly). Once I get home, Ill double check and see and try again. More to follow once I get back to my computer.
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The level range is 3rd - 7th, although we do need to be very mindful that we do not accidentally bump the APL up too high and suddenly everyone is in high tier. So, for practical purposes, (as I'm going to ask someone else as well to help round out the party, lets say a level range of 3rd - 5th.
Now, also, towards the group, is everyone okay with asking a few other folks to join in?
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So, an interesting question has come up, and I just wanted to get everyone's take on it.
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An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid objects, but must remain adjacent to the object's exterior, and so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own. It can sense the presence of creatures or objects within a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance) from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. In order to see beyond the object it is in and attack normally, the incorporeal creature must emerge. An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it only has cover, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at it as it attacks. An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect.
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An incorporeal creature moves silently and cannot be heard with Perception checks if it doesn't wish to be. It has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to its melee attacks, ranged attacks, and CMB. Nonvisual senses, such as scent and blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures have an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when they cannot see.
Holy Water flasks are an odd exception, because they can not score a direct hit against incorporeal foes, (going right through them without exploding), but can affect them as a splash weapon, (unlike normal water which passes right through them without effect).
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Drawing the components of, creating, and throwing a bomb requires a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Thrown bombs have a range of 20 feet and use the Throw Splash Weapon special attack. Bombs are considered weapons and can be selected using feats such as Point-Blank Shot and Weapon Focus. On a direct hit, an alchemist's bomb inflicts 1d6 points of fire damage + additional damage equal to the alchemist's Intelligence modifier. The damage of an alchemist's bomb increases by 1d6 points at every odd-numbered alchemist level (this bonus damage is not multiplied on a critical hit or by using feats such as Vital Strike). Splash damage from an alchemist bomb is always equal to the bomb's minimum damage (so if the bomb would deal 2d6+4 points of fire damage on a direct hit, its splash damage would be 6 points of fire damage). Those caught in the splash damage can attempt a Reflex save for half damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the alchemist's level + the alchemist's Intelligence modifier.
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Alchemists can learn new types of bombs as discoveries (see the Discovery ability) as they level up. An alchemist's bomb, like an extract, becomes inert if used or carried by anyone else.
So, bombs are SU abilities, but are not Spells and are not Magical, as far as I can tell. Which means it fits into a really odd place as far as how it works against Incorporeal foes. Notably absent here is anything along the lines of "Bombs count as Magical Weapons for Overcoming DR or hitting Incorporeal Targets" like just about every other similar thing I can think of, (Monk's Ki). And, so is it SU, a Weapon, both, what?
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Treat this attack as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet. A flask breaks if thrown against the body of a corporeal creature, but to use it against an incorporeal creature, you must open the flask and pour the holy water out onto the target. Thus, you can douse an incorporeal creature with holy water only if you are adjacent to it. Doing so is a ranged touch attack that does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
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Temples to good deities sell holy water at cost (making no profit). Holy water is made using the bless water spell.
Unlike with the Alchemy Class Feature, (Extracts), Bombs are not Spells, or based off of spells.
The only thread I can really find on this seems unanswered, and I'm not seeing any FAQs that stand out.
So, question 1: does a Bomb even "hit" an incorporeal foe, or simply pass right through it?
Question 2: regardless, does the Fire Damage even affect Incorporeal foes? Is it considered "Magical Fire" (50%) or "Mundane Fire" (not at all)?
Thoughts?
I think I'm going to rule, for now, that Bombs are treated exactly like spells. So, in this case, it can hit as a spell (magic weapon), dealing 1/2 damage for both a direct hit and splash damage, but, not catch an incorporeal foe on fire. Or rather, it can, but since the fire is mundane and from a corporeal source, it deals no damage. I do not want to completely screw over Ellismus, but at the same time, Force Bombs are an option that make sense if normal Bombs are not supposed to do much against Incorporeal foes.
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Think of a bomb as the silly round little things from Road Runner cartoon with a fuse that goes *hiss* then it blows exactly at the right timing and not really because you're cracking an egg on a wall. :P
...oddly supported by Pathfinder goblin imagery! :P
I agree with your ruling! :)
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DM Beckett: does this warning apply here?
LOL
You do not fail the mission, although it does change some things in the ending. We will just have to wait and see.
It's actually kind of funny, running this one twice. Each groups is reacting to things so differently, and this final fight is so swingy. Unfortunately, all of the secret saves and checks I've made for <redacted> have been either so good or so poor, depending on what doesn't help the party out, but, I hope once things click, that might work out a little bit better as a final reveal/finale.
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I had started a thread to try to garner discussion on the Rougarou and the Naiad for next season's race options, but I think I did it a little too early on the weekend and it's dropped off a bit. (Or maybe no one cares. :P )
Anyone interested in discussing, offering their opinions, or likes/dislikes?
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So, since we are at the end, can I have everyone REpost the following information for reporting and Chronicle Sheets.
Player Name:
Character Name:
PFS ID:
Faction:
A Day Job Roll, (or other Downtime), or please say None:
Please also include if you are playing Slow Track, wanted to see about any Faction Card Goals, and include any purchases you might have made.
Secondarily, if anyone had any questions, now that the game is concluded, I have no problem answering them.
And finally, something I like to try to do is ask everyone what they thought of the how I ran the game, about the scenario, ways I might improve, what they liked, etc. . . It's not going to hurt my feelings, and it is not required, but I would like to hear what you have to say.
Once I have everyone's information, I'll go ahead and post Chronicle Sheets and Report the Game.
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Player Name: GM Aarvid
Character Name: Omar (or Wembly if we need a 6th level to qualify for high tier)
PFS ID: 9884-11
Faction: Scarab Sages
Day Job Roll (or Say "None"): [dice=perform]1d20+6Ready when others are. Let's rock (or die trying!!! :)
This should all be valid. Dayjob was 18. I thought it would bring the rolled value with the quote.
Thanks again GM. Safe travels to you and hope things settle down for you.
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HERE is a link to the Chronicle Sheets. If there are any errors, please let me know and I can edit them. Otherwise the link will remain active indefinitely in case you need to redownload them.
From the DM side of the screen, I rather enjoyed this Scenario, although there are a few aspects of it I'm not comfortable with, personally. I really dislike when a Scenario utilizes tactics that can put players out of the action for extended periods of time for a poor roll, and this one had multiple versions of it.
One of the tactics that the final boss was able to do was a Color Spray ability, for instance, as well as the ability to possess targets at will, and with a really good chance of simply ignoring protective measures like Protection from Evil.
I do not like that, as it seems like a very "gotcha" ort of build that's really just there to rob classes of their toys. I also didn't like that some of the suggestions where to give Joahd (while possessed) a free +5 or higher on Bluff because his story was very believable, which is true, but also seemed kind of there to make sure no one really got a good feel for what was really going on. I felt like the author just went out of their way to stack the deck against the group too much for the sake of their story, which was the same complaint I had for Scars of the Third Crusade.
On the other hand, I did think the overall story was pretty good, and I really enjoyed this being a second part of an overall story, and I'm a fan of horror settings.
I did find it very interesting how both of the groups I ran this for, in many ways acted very similarly, but at the same time did so many things very differently, and it seemed every time I tried to make things a bit easier for the group, unknowingly made it very difficult on themselves with their tactics, which kept it very interesting for me. At the same time, though, both groups also seemed very poorly built for this scenario, :P
I would really like to hear everyone else's thoughts on things, both on how I ran it and the scenario itself.
As soon as I get an answer from everyone about reposting their info, I'll go ahead and Report the game.
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Overall, liked the backstory, but the plot was hard to follow exactly what was going on sometimes.
Thanks for hanging in there with us. I know we struggled with the combats - especially the incorporeals. I have seen that happen with other tables too. If you have the party wrong mix, they can wipe you out.
Overall good time. Thanks for running it.