Congratulations all, you have defeated Koth'Vaul!
Having done so I thought I would tell you just what his cultists do. In normal mode only three of them have an effect. Any time he is subject to an effect that prevents him from acting one of them pipes up to activate a previously agreed wish spell which automatically clears the effect. In hard mode the other two also act as effectively shield other spells. Each of them has 80 odd HP giving him quite a nice additional battery of health.
Well done on defeating what is certainly the most complicated encounter I have ever had to run in PFS. My last group were not so fortunate. They also played high tier hard mode but had no primary spell casters. One of their main fighters ran out of flight options by the final encounter and spent most of the combat trapped in a reverse gravity being used as a loot pinata by a couple of glabrezu. It wasnt pretty.
This is an order of magnitude more dangerous than Betrayal. The first encounter can be brutal if the retrievers focus fire with their eye beams. I am not sure if the Worm that Walks was run correctly either, I am uncetain if it can actually take weapon damage given its swarm like traits. It could also have mazed a second time with its arcane bond.
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My understanding is that the WtW is only immune to weapons when discorporated, but I could be wrong.
Edit: "Note that while a worm that walks has the ability to discorperate into a swarm, and while its body is made up of countless wriggling worms, it does not itself gain the swarm subtype."
The weapon immunity is part of the subtype, which the WtW does not gain unless discorporated.
We also managed to avoid this lovely effect which happens if you get lost during the Abyssal travel section.
Hazard: The Chasm of Crawling Consumption represents the ravenous hunger of multitudes of insects. Trillions of biting and stinging insects live among its spawning network of nests and warrens. Deskari once used this place to dispose of some of his enemies, along with servants who failed him. When Deskari was still alive, those who traveled here faced almost certain destruction, and Koth’Vaul expects that this fate awaits any who follow his false trail. The swarm has weakened sufficiently that it can no longer outright destroy creatures as powerful as the PCs, but the dogged hunger of trillions of insects still poses a major hindrance. Instead of running this as a combat encounter, assume that the PCs have the resources to escape the swarm’s wrath after its initial assault.
When the swarm attacks, each PC can attempt a DC 22 Fortitude save to mitigate its effects (DC 24 in Subtier 14–15). PCs take a –1 penalty on this saving throw for each step by which their alignment differs from chaotic evil. For example, a chaotic neutral PC would take a –1 penalty, while a lawful good PC would take a –4 penalty. Divine spellcasters who receive power from chaotic evil deities take no penalty regardless of their alignment.
The insects’ bites infuse the PCs with the raw essence of the Abyss. PCs who fail the saving throw take 15d6 points of damage from the bites. Additionally, they take a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks, as well as a –2 penalty to their AC and to the DCs of their spells, for the duration of the scenario. While the PCs can heal the damage, the penalties cannot be removed by mortal means (though Deskari himself can remove it—see page 16). PCs who succeed at the saving throw take half damage and reduce the penalty from –2 to –1.
And the Hard Mode adjustment:
So, that means the loos of all holy symbols, other divine foci, spell component pouches, pants etc as well as the potential loss of very expensive equipment. Most full arcane casters, not having any armour or shields, could be facing the loss of their headbands for example.
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The final fight was tough, but I think the Nalfeshnee would have been worse if not for an obscure splatbook spell.
The untyped nature of the Dazing ability (which IIRC is 3/day) makes it much tougher to defend against than most Will saves. PCs often have bonuses vs enchantment or mind-affecting.
And Steal just makes PCs miserable.
My understanding is that the WtW is only immune to weapons when discorporated, but I could be wrong.
Edit: "Note that while a worm that walks has the ability to discorperate into a swarm, and while its body is made up of countless wriggling worms, it does not itself gain the swarm subtype."
The weapon immunity is part of the subtype, which the WtW does not gain unless discorporated.
The Worm that Walks traits do say:
Worms that walk are immune to any physical spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate), with the exception of such spells and effects generated by the worm that walks itself, which treat the worm that walks as one single creature if it so chooses
I could see physical weapon attacks being a physical effect targeting a single creature.
The final fight was tough, but I think the Nalfeshnee would have been worse if not for an obscure splatbook spell.
The untyped nature of the Dazing ability (which IIRC is 3/day) makes it much tougher to defend against than most Will saves. PCs often have bonuses vs enchantment or mind-affecting.
And Steal just makes PCs miserable.
The steal effect is really annoying. The first time I ran this I used it to grab headbands but the recalculation needed was more hassle than it was worth.
They can do the dazing thing 3/day and I would have activated it again once people started to recover but you killed them in time.
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I could see physical weapon attacks being a physical effect targeting a single creature.
Except the swarm traits call out both that and the weapon immunity separately.
A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate), with the exception of mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms) if the swarm has an Intelligence score and a hive mind. A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells.
The daze was definitely the big risk. I'm glad we weren't caster heavy like All For Immortality, we needed the damage to bring things down before they killed us.
Did KV have freedom of movement, out of curiosity? I was a little to busy healing to cast chains of light, but I was legitimately wondering if it was an option.
He did not and reflex was his worst save at about +14 I think. If the cultists were still around one could have freed him atomatically and something like that I would have used mythic surge on for an extra 1d8. That is however an immediate action so it would have prevented a mirror dodge.
The daze was definite the big risk. I'm glad we weren't caster heavy like All For Immortality, we needed the damage to bring things down before they killed us.
Oh yes, especially given it is 1d10 rounds. You were very lucky I only got a 4 and a 5.
Mirror Dodge is fun, but to use it you end up avoiding a lot of other fun toys. I learned that in Destiny of the Sands.
The only things he has to spend his power on are Mirror Dodge or Mythic Surge. He spends two at the start on getting a 20 for initiative and activating power attack and then thats all that is left really.
And now of course I entirely forgot one of his abilities which was on page two of my notes. Every time you hit him pretty much it makes a horrid screeching noise that can sicken people nearby. Wouldnt have likely changed much but something to remember.
Actually, while we are tidying up I just want to check with Sir Hendrick what you want to do about Sentry. Do you want to get a raise companion spell for him or call a new mount. As a reminder, if you call a new mount it lacks various abilities until you gain a new level.
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He gains a level after this scenario so "dismiss him and get a new one" is effective if ruthless.
But Sir Hendric is loyal. He will spring for a Raise Animal Companion spell and the Restoration spells.
(Although if Nikolai is being retired and has the PP to spend on the latter....)
Koth'vaul's other Swift/Immediate action would have been reactivating True Seeing if we had Dispelled it. With his constant use of Mirror Dodge, he wouldn't have been able to.
This points to a potential way for a Core party to handle him. Greater Invis and Dispel the True Seeing. I saw recruitment for a Core table of this for Outpost; they didn't muster a table but I think it could be possible. If you know you are up against a Glabrezu, get a decent Knowledge check, and prep accordingly.
If you have a 15th level wizard or cleric with the right domains then mind blank will defeat true seeing.
Kulik, I need a starting gold value for your chronicle please.
Two paladins, an alchemist, a fighter a gunslinger and somethign else. On paper it was very strong, in practice not so much.
HERE are your chronicles. If there are any issues please let me know.
Hello all,
I plan to report this through the online RSP support programme as I started running it after the scheme began. I do need an email address for people to report in case you win a boon. It only goes to the Online VO team in the reporting tool.
If you are happy with that please PM me your email. If not I will report under my own report number but you will need to change it on your chronciles (if you care about such things).
It was a pleasure, I am glad you enjoyed it.
This was the first ever PbP game I have run so it was a bit of trial by fire. I think I will be running more in the future.
Hi all,
The game has now been reported. I will move the campaign to inactive.
Thanks for being a great bunch of players and congratulations on beating hard mode high tier seeker content.