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It may end up being overkill, but my current idea is to let them play out the final siege themselves, simultaneously to the PCs storming Grimgorge. The players would be able to swap between scaled up versions of all of their available lieutenants to defend Hillcross from waves of Burning Mammoths and frost giants while their main characters are off taking down Ivarsa...then, when both are concluded, wrap the campaign with...

Oh wow, that sounds interesting but also very intense! My players are pretty "hero centric" so I don't think they would enjoy the world turning too much without their characters. ;)

It also scratches something else that I find slightly odd about Grimgorge; Ivarsa just sitting there waiting. And given Pakano, quite visibly. I haven't found a reason for the PC's to go get Ivarsa first. And then lifting the curse would be a bit of an afterthought...

It's a bit of a shame, the only thing holding this finale back IMO. The first book does a really nice job of keeping the stakes high, but after the siege the stakes seem a bit off. The more a reason for Ivarsa to maintain an existential threat for the Broken Tusk by leading the siege! It also puts some pressure on the hexploration, which I personally enjoy. Exploring too freely gives the sessions a video game vibe where the world is waiting on you I personally don't enjoy in my TTRPGs. :)

Had good fun reading it! The settings here are all great, can't wait to play it. :) Hegremon's role is really cool as well, I can imagine his presence looming over the party.

After a quick read, I do worry my party will have a hard time making sense of Ivarsa's moves towards the keep and the final fight "after beating Ivarsa". I don't know if I can keep the stakes up as is. I'm considering making Ivarsa lead of the Siege, mounted on Pakano. The players would have to go to the keep to slay Metuak to lift the curse, and then to return as quickly as possible (maybe a teleportation lay line?) to relieve the siege with an un-cursed Primordial Flame. Ivarsa would have her own mcGuffin in the siege that could only be countered by the Primordial Flame in full power. That way, the siege at the end also makes more sense, and it's all resolved in one last Helms Deep-esque finale.

The image of Pakano on the tower is really cool though, so that's a loss.

Any thoughts on that?

Also, the image on page 1 is beyond awesome! I couldn't find the matching encounter though. Another reason to climax the game with the final siege of Hillcross; add two of those literal burning mammoth riders besides Ivarsa and Pakano during a massive brawl! Maybe Jessira and a Lieutenant help the PC's to keep the battlefield a bit even, or tone down Ivarsa and Pakano a bit with a weak template. Might become a bit too crowded, since I play with 5 PC's.

So hyped!

...

But what if the players take the spear first? The adventure describes that Pakano will also challenge them to a wrestling duel in that case, but there really does not seem to be any reason for players to agree to that.

I would make him forcefully wrestle the finder anyway. Like a real bully, just shove the finder, and start the wrestling. The outcome, then, is not so important.

If he loses, the players get to shove it to the bully.
If he wins, the party probably stops him from yoinking the spear, but he did humiliate a player, serving his emotional goal.
If he wins and the party doesn't stop him, they lose out on the magical spear and grow a grudge.

It becomes a bit more of an RP encounter, which I think fits nice here.

Maybe a bit too late, but I changed the handout a bit, saying the Heart was lost or maybe even destroyed. Later on I'm going to drop that a high priest of Nethys found a long lost item, lost herself and disappeared. I think they'll connect the dots. That way the body of the pharaoh is the next best lead. The whereabouts of the heart are only interesting once they know it's with the Cult. Talking about the disappearance of the heart helps a lot.

I've played a bit with my group, and want to zoom in on the 'Monster Hunter' Ranger archetype. One of my players was excited to play one, but it turned out a bit problematic. A short summary:

• The Monster Hunter feat itself is very unlikely to trigger, and it's not strong either.
  
• Recall Knowledge could use more cases if it's an important part of an archetype.
  
• Overall bad synergy with Recall Knowledge (INT & WIS) for the Hunter.
  
• Ranger can be quickly action starved thanks to Hunt Target.
  

We found it to:
- be a decent fighter
- be helpful in recognizing (Nature) dangers
- not being able to help/guide the the team in combat

Soon enough, aside from the biggest baddies, the player felt more rewarded by doing more strides & strikes than to Hunt Target or Recall Knowledge.

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Some suggestions:

Hunt Target is already a bloated action, but it still doesn't gel very well. Lowering the penalties is ok on bigger guys, but else it won't be worth the trouble. It is, potentially, a very nice hook for a lot of cool stuff. I would go for a more focused approach to Hunt Target, while leaving abilities open for playing a 'Monster Hunter'.

(A) Hunt Target
You designate a target within 100 feet to be the focus of your adrenaline-fueled hunt. As long as all your attacks in a round are against target you’re hunting, the
multiple attack penalty you take on the second attack is –3 (–2 with an agile weapon) instead of –5, and –6 (–4 with an agile weapon) instead of –10 on the third and any further attacks in the round. You gain +2 circumstance bonus on Perception to seek, and +2 circumstance bonus on Survival to Track your target.
When your target is defeated (slain, unconscious, or accepted to surrender) or when you pick a new target while the old target is not defeated, you become Sluggish 4 for 1 minute as you lose focus over the victory or defeat of your hunt.
You can only Hunt one target at a time. If you use Hunt Target on a new target, the old target will lose it's designation.

This will make Hunt Target much more focused on taking down 1 big evil guy, as taking Sluggish 4 is not worth it for a little goblin. Hunt Target loses it's quickness, but the extra to hit can quickly make it worth the action. You could add "and add half your WIS mod to damage" for a little extra punch.

This means that all feats that are triggered on Hunt Target should only remain triggered on Hunt Target if it makes sense that this is a 'special target'. Right now, I don't really see any of them making sense like that. :(

Recall Knowledge
To tackle Monster Hunter, you need to tackle Recall Knowledge. Specifically, it would be nice to have some good guidelines for the effects of Recall Knowledge. e.g.

(A) Recall Knowledge (Enemy Target)
DC = 10 + target level, but up to the GM's descretion.
Success - Choose one subject:

• Offenses: You recall knowledge on a target's general offensive capabilities bound by type or class. If the target is special from its peers (like a minotaur that has learned to cast some spells), you won't know.
  
• Defenses: You recall knowledge on target's general defensive capabilities bound by type or class. If the target is special from its peers (like a minotaur that has permanent Resist Fire), you won't know.
  
• Habitat: You recall knowledge on the target's common day life, giving you knowledge of things like social order, pack size, or a public agenda. Special secrets will remain unknown.

Critical Failure - Choose one of above subjects. You recall incorrect information on this subject. Once the error is triggered, it immediately becomes obvious to you that you made a mistake.

This is just a suggestion. Since Recall Knowledge has a very interesting role in the game, I think it's deserving of a more structured play.

Monster Hunter
The goal of monster hunter is to provide aid for your friends by pointing out strategies against a monster. Aside from some funny side effects (Can I recall knowledge about a Goblin for the 100st time?) it's pretty cool to tie Knowledge rolls to effects on the field. I feel more could be done in combination with other actions. e.g. Monster Hunter allowing to add some damage for all allies based on your Recall Knowledge proficiency for that monster.

It definitely should lose the Hunt Target requirement, as I think most abilities should, and Hunt Target should grant a free Recall Knowledge.

Which brings us to the problem of the Hunter as a Monster Savant - Intelligence is a low priority stat, and 3 of the 5 recall knowledges are on Intelligence. This can be fun, but it needs the Monster Hunter to give a bit more synergy with Intelligence. The other option is to make all Monster Recall Knowledges on Nature much earlier. I personally like the idea of a ranger that studied monsters instead of pure rough experience, but that might be another class alltogether.

General other thoughts
- I think the Hunter would be the primary target for upgrades to Point Out or Assist. A free Point Out on Hunt Target would be really cool.
- Fun upgrades for Hunt Target & Monster Hunter combined could be about exploiting weaknesses (add 5 to any weakness a monster has) or taking of the edge from attacks (reaction to warn against an incoming strike, allowing an extra save to an ally).
- I haven't tried Snares yet, but I imagine they make a fun combination with the Monster Hunter!

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Anyway, just some thoughts after some play. Hope it helps!

I love playing the summoner now, but the changes make the Eidolon feel more like my highest level spell slot then a companion now. It sounds way more interesting now to put more offense in my Eidolon, since durability of you Eidolon has bad synergy with your other main ability.

First, I played more like:"I want to keep my Eidolon alive, while using him, throughout the entire adventure. I can use my Summon Ability to tune up the fire power if needed."
Now, I think it will be more like:"I can't use my Eidolon and my Summon at the same time. For a fight, I must choose. Like with spells, I can better use my weak abilities first, and my Strongest ability when needed."