[PFS] GM Lithrac's The Citadel of Flame (#1-39) (Inactive)

Game Master Cyril Corbaz

This thread is for OOC discussion, rulings and other considerations. I'll ask all the players to report here now with their PFS number, and mention if they have a day job or not.

Also, please indicate here if you make any purchases before leaving.

Gameplay thread is up.

Right, PFS number which you may still have is: 85794-5

I'll need to look over purchases and leveling in the AM here - about 10-12 hours from now.

No worries Talwin, plenty of time to do it.

I also wanted to go over a few things.

#1 - Initiative and "passive" Perception checks are made by me. Please check that the scores on the Campaign Info page are correct. You can still roll Perception if you search for traps, treasure, secret doors, etc. Other rolls are made by you.

#2 - I already said it in the recruitment thread but I can't stress it enough, please post regularly. Half the players here already know me, I like to keep a good pace in my games, and this relies on your dedication to post at least once a day. If during a fight you don't post in the 24 hours following your turn, I'll reserve the right to DMPC you (if the action you'd take is obvious) or have you delay/skip your turn/take defensive measures if you're in a tight spot. If you know that you're going to be away, please notify us in the Discussion thread so that we may find a satisfying solution.

#3 - You can move your "pawn" on the battlemap, but please don't move other people/elements. If you can't move your own pawn due to technical difficulties (you're posting from your phone for instance), please tell me where you'd like to go and I'll move it for you.

#4 - Explore, Report, Cooperate... and most of all, have fun!

Hi guys.
Reporting for duty.
/flourished bow
PFS# 35561-3
No day job.

PFS # 119589-1

Thanks for the amazing chance Gm Lithrac! Should be a blast.

No day job as of yet, PFS number is posted, I should be ready to smite!

Good luck everyone!

Rowanna's PFS # is 60133-4

She has Craft (Alchemy) +8 for a Day Job.

No Purchases, and posting daily won't be a problem.

Thanks for allowing me into the game!

Checking in.. Get my info updated now.. All purchases are made..

If you didnt get it before PFS #45225-5

Great! Only waiting for Vesparo now before we start proper.

Check that about the gear.. Hearing where were going im gonna invest in a hot weather outfit and 2 extra totes of water.. 10gp spent.. Preferably sticking with the dark blue with stars motif..

Oops, sorry folks! Navigating through the Campaigns tab and was not anticipating this kicking off this swiftly! Post in gameplay coming shortly.

PFS #113331-6

Is the wall in front of us an actual wall, or an arch? Or are we not supposed to be on the map as of yet?

You're about to be. It's an arch actually, you can see the Citadel of Flame beyond.

So did I need to roll perception again at the door? Would it have mattered? Maybe you rolled for me GM.

I TRIED to check for traps. I even got a 23 on perception, but some take a DC 25 to spot. Jax and I have the best perception scores, so I'm willing to take the lead.

I guess as a matter of course we should have at least two people inspect any door before opening it.

I'll be out most of tomorrow car shopping. I'll be able to post after 5 pm eastern standard time, but if it's necessary to bot me to keep the flow then feel free!

Thanks for letting me know Ashad.

Talwin, I took your roll into account, but the door opened on its own and released the trap (for a reason I'll gladly disclose at the end of the scenario, it's really tricky) as you moved to it, so you didn't have the opportunity of inspecting it thoroughly. DC was 26, by the way.

I'll go ahead and put that in my classes line, its hard to keep track of what abilities tieflings and aasimar get with all the variants, and alternates available!

It'll definitely help, thanks!

*face palm* The dice roller is out to get me!!

Sorry if my sporadic postings is bothering anyone, I'm starting a new job tomorrow and it's taken a bit to get everything in place. As a note, I'll be driving up there tomorrow and will be unable to post until the afternoon, feel free to bot me if needed.

Since this is the final fight, people who have day jobs (Vesparo, Rowanna if I'm not mistaken) can roll below so that I can start filling out the CS.

Craft (Alchemy) Day Job: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Day Job Perform Acting: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

Wow! Oh dear, I was pretty sure falling into lava would be bad, but they were not pulling their punches with this scenario!

Can I petition for the damage for someone trying to pull something from lava to be different from falling in? I do not know how much if any wiggle room the scenario gives, but I would hope there could be room for a differentiation.

Since he's not actually going into the lava, I'd hope he would take less potential damage. I'm waiting to see the results before posting. I would surmise that the ritual we didn't do would have given immunity to the lava or, at least, fire resistance.

I doubt the ritual would give us fire resistance, nothing in the murals seemed to indicate that - the final result of following it being immolated and reborn as a fire demonthing, which I did not fancy. Generally speaking I don't think following the rituals of evil deities is a great plan.

Generally it isn't, but, on the other hand, I don't generally see a lot of lava in lower tier PFS scenarios.

The ritual did give fire resistance if performed completely. As for lava, the scenario is unfortunately very specific... Anyone who touches the lava takes 6d6 fire damage, no save, no subtier variance. It's very unforgiving in my opinion, and PFS doesn't give much leeway to avoid that situation.

Any PC touching the lava suffers 6d6 points of fire damage

Shows what I know, lol. Would you consider simply allowing Nicolae to grab a part of Ashad without the reflex? The rules seem punitive enough that leniency where permitted seems appropriate IMO. It seems very harsh for him to take that damage, and I feel terrible having called for him to do so.

Not sure if this helps, as I think Jax was rolling for DC 10, unsure about Ashad, but I found this in acrobatics...

If you fail this check by 4 or less, you can attempt a DC 20 Reflex save to grab hold of the other side after having missed the jump.

I doesn't apply to this situation, it would apply if he could cling to the other side while not touching the lava, but here there's almost no level difference between the stone ground and the lava level. Do you see what I mean?

o
\/
/\-----\___LAVA____/---------

Well that blows.. Nice insta kill for level 1s just thrown in there.. I mean that basically put heavier armored guys out of that fight unless they wanted to die instantly.. Quite redic for a level 1 dungeon imo..

I understand your frustration, but touching lava (or falling into it) has its consequences. I remember that when I played this scenario, we stacked scrolls of resist energy (fire) (1pp each) because of the name of the scenario and Moloch's known elemental affinity. A decent preparation can spare many troubles, especially in an unforgiving environment such as PFSOP.

That being said, it's true that this setup is highly dangerous for level one characters. It's by no means good news, but the fact that Jax was a previously unplayed level 1 character means that you "just" lose a number: 45225-6 can be Jax too.

That border's into your most hated metagaming though.. I didnt read into the adventure before hand and my character has no knowledge of Moloch or his affinity.. Imo that would doing exactly what you've stated not to do.. Its fine because it was only his first session..

Edit: Hard to buy a 1pp scroll with 0pp.. Just a very harsh obstacle to throw at 1st level guys.. I understand you did not write the scenerio so im not pissed at you..

I don't agree - the knowledge rolls at the start of the scenario (or the questions you ask the VC) are there exactly for a reason - to get hints of what can be anticipated.

We don't know much about the cult of Moloch, except that they believe in cleansing fire. From what the Scrolls have told me, the priests used to ask their faithful ones to endure trials by fire of all sorts. Fanatics, if you ask me. I understand that was one of the grounds upon which the Sarenraenites decided to act. Their crusade was swift and bloody - the dervishes left little standing, I understand. However, you should be wary of any lingering defenses or traps.

(Emphasis mine)

All I can say is that I seem to be discovering some really rough early-season scenarios these days. The Beggar's Pearl has some elements that are brutal for level ones. My group of level 2's barely made it.

I think that's why First Steps got introduced. Also, there are a number of RP-heavy, combat-lite scenarios. It's hard to know this as a player without some measure of metagaming (can't always make those knowledge checks), but there are ways to "safely" get characters up a level or two.

That said, I'm really sorry about your char Jax.

GM, is there any chance that my arrow hit the fire beetle? I ran a different game that had some and I remember them being pretty weak.

Ha, First Steps is renowned as killing the most characters! Ledford is deadly, knocked my alchemist into the minuses.

Hmm... now that I think about it I remember hearing that a lot. x3 crit weapons shouldn't be there at level 1!

Of ocurse, I had one PC die in a game I was running becuase I rolled a quarterstaff crit.

You're right Talwin, I didn't recall the beetle to have only 4 hp, so it dies!

As for Vesparo, how comes he's got 5 panache when his Cha mod is 3?

Ah, because I have not properly updated his character sheet on here - I just paste from herolab and he must still be set up on the old rules there. Vesparo has weapon finesse free from Swashbuckler after the rules change and has the feat extra grit - specified as working with Panache - which grants him 2 extra panache.

No more day jobs? If not I'll start sending out the CS. Please let me know if anything is inaccurate and I'll change it.

Thanks for running GM Lithrac, another great game! I think I am going to have to spend some money on those holy arrows as its hard to see why Vesparo would not love them after how they performed for him! It will be a little disappointing to go back to 1d6+2 after using those babies!

I'll be investing in portable bridges for my heavily armoured characters after this!

Thanks GM! It was definitely a fun scenario, even if a bit harsh. One of these days, I'll get to actually use my judgements in action!

And thanks Rownanna for sharing your wand. I honestly thought I had picked up a wand of CLW, but when I needed my first healing spell I realize too late that I hadn't. Definitely getting before my next game.

It's really no problem. Pay it forward, or something. :-)

Thx for the game guys. And thanks for keeping me alive Rowanna and for spending all the resources that you did with us.

*Invests in Leather Armor*

No more jumping, leaping, bounding or acrobaticing anything!

Haha, thanks for the great game. It may have been harsh, but it was amusing just trying to survive this wicked game!