Sample Encounter The Fox's Flames

I hope everyone’s staying safe as it starts to be spring here in Seattle. In case you missed it, GM registrations have recently opened for PaizoCon Online, and we’ve already seen a ton of people signing up to run Organized Play adventures online. If you’re curious about trying out a Pathfinder Society (second edition) scenario at PaizoCon but aren’t sure what to expect, we’ve put together a sample encounter to give you a taste of a typical encounter found in organized play (and a preview of a few creatures from the upcoming Bestiary 2!). Everything you need to play is linked below!

James Case
Organized Play Developer

The Fox’s Flames

Moderate Encounter, Level 3

“Lately, a series of mysterious fires have plagued towns across the Varisian coast. Valais Durant, leader of the Radiant Oath faction of the Pathfinder Society, suspects the fires to be deliberately set, and she dispatched a team of Pathfinders to investigate the situation and offer aid. After some investigation in town, the PCs discovered signs of a mysterious accelerant and tracked it to a clearing in the woods, where they hope to confront those responsible.”

This encounter would appear in an adventure for 3rd-level Pathfinder characters. If you don’t have a 3rd-level character, remember you can always use an iconic pregenerated character in Society play! You can download the pregen file here.

Map: This map is constructed using flip-tiles from Pathfinder Flip-Tiles: Forest Starter Set. To create the map, lay out each flip tile so that the label in the lower-left corner matches the location on the map below—for example, rotate the piece marked 42A clockwise so that the label is in the upper left.

Creatures:
Ifrit Pyrochemists (2)	Creature 1
Fire Mephits (2)	Creature 1

Some ifrit pyrochemists and their mephit familiars have been using this clearing as a base of operations as they set fires from town to town. When the PCs enter, one pyrochemist is standing at the spot marked with a P, observing a magical array that imprisons an ember fox—a usually benevolent fire spirit—that the pyrochemists have been draining of elemental essence to empower their reagents. The pyrochemist attacks as soon as he notices the PCs. The sounds of combat alert the other enemies in the storehouse, who emerge at the beginning of the next turn. The pyrochemists attempt to use their alchemist’s fire and smokesticks to bombard the PCs from a distance and drink their elixirs of life if they are too injured, while the mephits engage in melee, unaffected by the smoke and flame. The mephits fight until destroyed, but the pyrochemists attempt to surrender if reduced to 5 HP or less.

Scaling the Encounter
This encounter is written for four 3rd-level PCs, but if you have more PCs, you can adjust the encounter with Challenge Points. Challenge Points are used by the Pathfinder Society to scale encounters for parties with up to six members or whose members are of different levels, allowing a greater variety of tables. For this encounter, use the following adjustments:

10–11 Challenge Points (5 PCs): Add one pyrochemist to the encounter.
12–13 Challenge Points (6 PCs): Add one pyrochemist and one fire mephit to the encounter.

The Trapped Elemental: As the ember fox lashes out against the walls of its prison, flames siphon from its body into various glowing vials and reagents. The array can be Disabled with two successful checks, using Thievery to scratch out the runes on the stones (DC 19) or using Arcana (DC 19), Nature, Occultism, or Religion (all DC 21) to disrupt the magic; as usual, this takes two actions, has the manipulate trait, and a critical success counts as two successes. Once the array has been Disabled, the grateful ember fox aids the party in combat against the arsonists—though it is weakened by its imprisonment and cannot fight directly, it stays near PCs and protects them with its Cloak in Embers reaction when they are targeted by fire attacks.

Treasure: The storehouse contains four flasks of lesser alchemist’s fire. This represents 1 Treasure Bundle. Treasure Bundles are used by the Pathfinder Society to easily track how much treasure the party has accumulated and ensure that all adventurers walk away with the same amount of gold—most scenarios have 10 Treasure Bundles to find!

Stat Blocks:
Ifrit Pyrochemists (2)	Creature 1

Art by Emile Denis

Bestiary 2 page 200
LE, Medium, Human, Humanoid, Ifrit
Perception +3
Languages Common, Ignan
Skills Acrobatics +6, Crafting +6, Intimidation +4, Nature +3, Survival +3, Thievery +6
Str +0, Dex +3, Con +2, Int +3, Wis +0, Cha +1
Items alchemist’s tools, dagger, flint and steel, formula book, studded leather
' Infused Items An ifrit pyrochemist carries the following infused items, which last for 24 hours or until the next time the pyrochemist makes their daily preparations: lesser alchemist’s fire (5), lesser elixir of life (2), lesser smokestick.
AC 18; Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +3
HP 18; Resistances fire 1
Speed 25 feet
Melee [one-action] dagger +8 (agile, finesse, thrown 10 feet, versatile S), Damage 1d4 piercing
Ranged [one-action] lesser alchemist’s fire +8 (range increment 30 feet), Damage 1d8 fire plus 1 persistent fire damage and 1 fire splash damage
Primal Innate Spells DC 16, attack +8; Cantrips (1st) produce flame
Quick Bomber [one-action] The ifrit pyrochemist draws an alchemical bomb with an Interact action and throws it as a ranged Strike.

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Fire Mephit

Creature 1

Art by Josef Kucera

Bestiary page 151
N, Small, Elemental, Fire
Perception +3; darkvision, smoke vision
Languages Ignan
Skills Acrobatics +7, Deception +7
Str +0, Dex +4, Con +0, Int –2, Wis +0, Cha +2
Smoke Vision The fire mephit ignores the concealed condition from smoke.
AC 17; Fort +3, Ref +9, Will +7
HP 16, fast healing 2 (while touching fire); Immunities bleed, fire, paralyzed, poison, sleep;
Weaknesses cold 3
Speed 20 feet, fly 25 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +9 (finesse), Damage 1d6 piercing and 1d4 fire
Arcane Innate Spells DC 15; Cantrips (1st) daze, light
Breath Weapon [two-actions] (arcane, fire) The fire mephit breathes flames in a 15-foot cone that deals 2d4 fire and 1d4 persistent fire damage to each creature within the area (DC 17 basic Reflex save). The fire mephit can’t use Breath Weapon again for 1d4 rounds.

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Ember Fox

Creature 2

Art by Katerina Landon

Bestiary 2 page 110
NG, Small, Elemental, Fire
Perception +8; darkvision
Languages Ignan (can’t speak any language)
Skills Acrobatics +8, Athletics +5, Stealth +8
Str +1, Dex +4, Con +2, Int –2, Wis +2, Cha +1
AC 18; Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +8
HP 35; Immunities bleed, fire, paralyzed, poison, sleep; Weaknesses cold 5
Cloak in Embers [reaction] Trigger An adjacent ally is targeted by an effect that deals fire damage; Effect The ember fox drapes itself across its ally, granting the ally fire resistance 10 against the incoming attack.
Speed 30 feet
Melee [one-action] jaws +10 (agile, finesse), Damage 1d4+3 piercing plus 1d4 persistent fire