Gabriel Smith-Dalrymple's page

*** Pathfinder Society GM. 27 posts. No reviews. No lists. 1 wishlist. 21 Organized Play characters.


RSS

Shadow Lodge 3/5

Fair Warning: This is a long post, and my first blow-by-blow so it may be a tad long, and full of spoilers which is why most of it is in spoiler tags...

So I ran this Friday night, solidly in the high-tier with an APL of 10.1. The party consisted of:
Winter Witch
Tetori Monk
Zen Archer
Warpriest
Wand-Wielding Magus
Regular Magus

Intro:

Spoiler:

The intro went well, with only minor tongue fumbling on my part when it came to some of the names and locations in Tian Xia. When the party was about to leave I did offer up some information that they forgot to ask about, in particular I told them what each of the items looks like, as I felt that is something the NPC would have told them had they not asked for it in the first place. I also offered, almost as a parting thought the final question that the scenario provides:

"The point of your mission isn’t to fill your pockets by plundering our lost vaults; it’s to reclaim the flute of the fallen emperor. What reward is greater than saving all of Kwanlai? The Way may eventually reclaim the riches from the vault, but Lord Rybos’s presence in the region makes a large-scale expedition and excavation difficult. If you wrest control of Shen-Shu from the wizard, you may claim whatever relics you find within the vault as compensation. But remember, the flute is vital above all else. We will be watching."

In particular I wanted to emphasize the final line.

The Marketplace:

Spoiler:

When they got to the market and were about to buy things I told each of them that they felt a strange magic feeling start to creep into the back of their minds, and asked each person if they would allow it or not. Those who didn't want it I had them roll their saves but provided no information either way if they failed/succeeded or what happens because of their rolls

My party got the max result on the Kn(geography) check but missed the highest check for the Diplomacy/Kn(local) so they bought smart, and used their money to purchase items for water combat, and stat recovery.

This whole part took a while, because my players made good enough knowledge checks that they spent time talking about what items to get, and what is best for underwater combat.

Overland Travel:

Spoiler:

I liked how they did this. It made the weeks of travel easy, although I did feel bad denying my Pirate Captain Wand-Wielding Magus a chance to use his boat.

But the mechanics were simple, and I basically just read off the part of the paragraph that describes what the party can do and the checks they can make. They then discussed who was going to do what, and the skills they would use. This allowed them to get through with only minor penalties, and after a use of a lesser restoration scroll nobody was taking any penalties due to ability damage.

Because this was using a map to travel and taking the back-roads/crossing a swamp I allowed the use of navigational tools to provide bonuses because I felt that it was a fitting tool for the job.

Third floor:

Spoiler:

This fight was over pretty quick, the Tetori could one-handed easily grapple the Servants while everyone else would beat on them. The boggards did manage to do some damage to the Zen Archer, although they were surprised when she jumped from the docks to their door (because monk). But they were no match for the Ice Tombing Winter Witch, and soon we had bogcicles.

After some quick looting, it was off to the second floor.

Second floor:

Spoiler:

I loved this room, with the party that I had I honestly didn't even bother prepping a fight. I knew them well enough that unless the dice horribly betrayed them, or they were just having a bad night that they wouldn't just murder-hobo their way through it.

This floor took a while, but it was because we decided to role-play (imagine that) our way through it. The Warpriest wanted to try a perform oratory check but didn't get a good role so we started to recite a famous speech from an Andoran Captain but forgot everything past the opening line...so it was off to the acrobatics! Both the Wand-Wielding Magus and the Zen Archer drank their potions of tumbling and performed various acrobatic feats. One was jumping around the room, while the other from a standing position performed a jump check of 70. Both of these were highly entertaining to the Kappa to which he eagerly gave them some useful information, and he attempted to perform his own jump check getting a 71 (but he did have to blow a ki point for it). A diplomacy role later and they got all the useful information he could provide.

The Tetori and the Kappa then had a friendly sparring match with grapples, with both of use rolling natural 20's for our first rolls, his to grapple and mine to get control. It was a good time with the Tetori barely winning, and with the Kappa taking it as a sign to train harder.

When asked about the items he freely gave up the information on the flute, and the crown but was hesitant to talk about the seal, other than he had seen, yes it is in his collection, and no they may not have it. However after hearing of how the Way of the Kirin closely matched his own philosophies and the good that they do he allowed the PCs to take the seal without a fight, especially when the PCs said that they would talk to the Way of the Kirin representative about letting him maintain his custodianship of the tower, and possibly expanding it beyond his floor once the BBEG is removed.

The one thing I did add is that the PCs could easily see the large sword strapped across his back, and I gave him a blue hand-print of Irori on his chest. He didn't really chide or tease them too much as nobody was especially humble or a big bragger, and he was happy to see another grappler.

After that he let them go on, and was humbled when the monk gave him a Phoenix feather from the Ruby Phoenix tournament as a symbol of gratitude for the match, and in honor of his martial abilities, which he has proudly placed next to his most prized possessions.

This took by far the most time of any part in the scenario, with was already 3.5 hours when we finished this section. I can totally see this going much quicker with a more murder focused party, but they would miss out on a fun RP section.

At this point the table moved from the game store to a nearby location that was open later so we wouldn't have to scramble and try to take pictures, remember initiative, or any of that stuff. It was a good stopping point.

First floor:

Spoiler:

This went super fast, when the party arrived saw the door across from the stairs and decided not to open it. Kind warned them about the dangers of opening the "weeping door" since it constantly has water trickling down the cracks. They checked the office and got the good stuff from their before heading down the hole to the next level.

Basement:
A7:

Spoiler:

Because at this point we were cramped for space I didn't draw area A7 but I did describe it, and told them about the first two switchbacks and what they saw at each turn, when told them they do it about 5 more times, and showed t hem a closeup of the map to give them an idea of why I didn't draw it, and how goofy that room it.

A8 & A10:

Spoiler:

I drew out A8 and let them explore as they wanted to. They saw the barricade leading to A9 and left it for later, thinking that if the bad guys boarded it up it must be bad. I didn't draw area A10 but explained what it was and what the PCs saw when they looked it over for anything.

A11:

Spoiler:

Next is the Big Bad room. The big bad went first, but he delayed hoping to get one of the party members in the room to split them a bit. However the next person to go caste Haste and stayed outside the room so he re-entered initiative and rose up from the water. I gave a big speech about how the water bubbled, and boiled as massive tentacles rise up and crash down all around you as a massive slimy body rises from the inky muddy waters. This was all followed by me showing the party this picture and making the dumbest sound effect I could.

He got a full-attack off on the monk and almost killed him (took him down to 1 hp) before he was grappled and pinned. He also (sadly) took a face full of Faerie Fire in the first round which negated the blur he had up. The Servants in the back were taken down quickly, as one was in an Ice Prison and needed a DC 30 strength check to break out, and the other found himself full of arrow holes from the Zen Archer. Before the Servants died they saw the BBEG get grappled and were going to toss the unconscious guy into the water as a way to buy some time, but didn't get the chance to. The wand wielding magus cast unseen servant and had it spend a full-round administering a potion of air bubble to the unconscious guy, which was funny since it never got any other commands so it just kept stuffing an empty bottle into his mouth over and over again.

Soon it was rounds of the BBEG trying to break free from the grapple while getting attack on all sides by the party, funnily enough he had ink clouded earlier and while almost everybody could hit his AC almost nobody, even the guy with Blind Fight couldn't get past the miss chance. After a couple rounds they eventually killed him and dragged his corpse out of the water.

While it was kind of annoying to have the big bad shut down so quickly, considering that we were pushing almost 1 in the morning (and we started at 6:30 at night) I didn't mind too much.

Saving the ward the party recovered the flute and found out they needed to go into the barricaded room to get the crown.

A9:

Spoiler:

Into the barricaded room the party goes. As they opened the doors the party once again got this nagging feeling in their minds, just like back at the town marketplace. I did the same thing and some resisted, while others let it happen. Once that was over they sent in the unseen servant to pick up the crown, which it did and was then slam attacked by an Elder Lighting Elemental. When the other one saw it didn't work it simply took the crown from the servant and placed it back on the ground.

Combat began and one elemental went to take out the Wand Wielding Magus since they heard him command the servant to take the crown, and hopped taking him out would also end the servant (since they didn't have spellcraft, it was the most logical thing to do for them). The other had a readied action to take the crown back of the servant tried to pick it up again, which it did. A few beatings later and the party got the crown back without too much hassle...even if they did have to forcefully grapple and drag a pirate captain away from the piles and piles of treasure.

Ending the adventure around 3 in the morning after starting at 6:30 we concluded our epic quest and handed out chronicle sheets. I really did enjoy this scenario. The combat was fun, the big bad is freaking amazing, and it's fun to have the party be told to not steal "liberate" everything in there.

Sadly I did not have any Sovereign Court members at my table, but given how the party played they would have gotten the boon easily as they (almost) always showed respect and restraint.

Thoughts:
I LOVED having the bestiary in the back for the unique creatures, it made it super easy to quickly check their info (since I run everything from my Surface), and having the maps without room numbers on them is great as well. It was wonderful to see Amara Li again, and I hope to see more of her in the future.

I really appreciated how this was also an easy map to draw out as the party went from room to room, since none of it a flip-map or a map pack having simple rooms that are mostly squares or rectangles was really nice.

However I will be looking forward to the shorter 7-11's because even with 2 shut-down characters this still ran about twice as long as it was supposed to.

Edit: Removed the names of the rooms and just left in the room numbers, thought that would be best to retain some anonymity and not give away too much without actually clicking the spoiler button

Shadow Lodge 3/5

That question has already been asked in the other 6-13 thread, and we haven't heard back yet

Shadow Lodge 3/5

Presumably the DC is a Perception to save against being flat-footed vs the BBEG's attacks.

Spoiler:

His tentacle attack has a 30' reach so he could hide underwater and attack from there.

With this being a 7-11 I would also assume that the DC is most likely 25, or 30. Although that's just me guessing

Shadow Lodge 3/5

I saw some stuff too, and will provide a more thorough review later. Although I would like to just throw this out early. Does anyone know where I can find a picture, or something to represent to big bad in this scenario? I'd like to get something to truly capture their appearance but just not sure what.

Shadow Lodge

I'm looking at the Portable Prison in the ACG (page 205), I think it can have some fun applications but it doesn't give some important info to know if it's viable or not.

It says that it's a kit for a wagon, which to me means that it is most likely for a light wagon (so it's a 10'x10' base and is 5' high). I'm guessing this since one of its primary uses is by city guards to round up criminals and they won't need the extra height.

I have a couple of questions with the item. Since it doesn't actually give a description is it possible to instead get one that is 5' wide, 10' long, and 5'tall? I'm also curious as to how long it takes to set up a portable prison.

Shadow Lodge

Question:
Portable Prison on page 205, how big is it and how long does it take to set up?

The description reads that it is a kit for a wagon, so assuming that it's for a light wagon that would make it a 4 square prison, but still doesn't say how long it takes to set up.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

Whiskey Jack wrote:
Lady Ophelia wrote:
So the Blakros Museum is a Tardis? Weird.

Well, you say that because it is capable (now) of bending space... but once it does *both* (time and space), then we can compare it...

** spoiler omitted **

Then we can pack our Sonic Wayfinders and Fez of Protection +1 and head out for adventure! ;-)

Another fun thing you can do that I did at my table when I ran this is find out who has played in any of the previous museum scenarios. I then gave them a map of the museum as it was when they were there, with the caveat that it typically will change slightly from time to time depending on the needs of the exhibits.

Granted it's a total red herring, but they took to it like mad men planning on what they were going to do. It wasn't until they got inside that I revealed the actual map.

I also suggest, if you are drawing the map do the outside of it in wet erase markers, and just draw the inside with dry. Since once you are inside the size of the movable space only gets smaller.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

Disclaimer: I generally try to avoid topics that are personal on boards since it makes it difficult to stay objective.

However I have to say that it is really hard to take TriOmegaZero serious (even when he is being serious), while discussing a serious topic, when his avatar is Cayden Cailean and that smug bastard (the deity) is holding a tankard of ale just off screen of his pic.

I just find it funny, that's all. A little side distraction while I finish my prep work for PAX Prime this weekend, and am up at 1:45am my time.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

"Devil's Advocate" wrote:
Shouldnt that apply to every sort of trap they have never specifically encountered before?

Not really. Let's look at mathematics:

If you know how addition works and you are presented with 3 + 5, you know that equals 8 (and yes, we are using a base 10 counting system).

Therefore if you are then presented with 4 + 4 and as we have previously established you already have a base understanding of addition it's not like it's a brand new concept to you. You might have some trouble arriving at the solution but you already have some similar knowledge on the subject.

Now apply that to traps, assuming that as soon as you put a rank into the skill that means you have some actual training in disabling mechanical traps. Either you were instructed by a member of the Society, or someone you knew from a previous profession from the Thieves's Guild vanity taught you, it doesn't matter. You have spent time studying, and understanding how traps work. Your instructor probably gave you some example traps to try on, and gradually increased their difficulty, complexity, and lethality until they felt you were skilled enough to go out on your own.

Also if we were to take your approach we could expand that to everything in the game. Should a two martial weapons require unique checks to use them since a trident and a warhammer are used entirely different even if they are in the same weapon category.

tl;dr:
No matter how you look at anything you can just pick it apart until the game isn't fun. What I suggested in my previous post is a way to explain both in-game and through game mechanics that Numerian tech is like nothing they have seen before and I treat it as such. It lets the game continue, and puts everyone (GM and players) on the same page for how it will be treated.

Edit: Removed extra snide remarks that were unwarranted

Shadow Lodge 3/5

I'm also interested in hearing how other GMs described the hologram to their players. I tried using words the characters would understand.

Like, "a 3 dimension illusion pops up from the table, although it appears to similar to a Silent Image spell you did not hear nor see anyone or anything cast the spell. Also when you cast Detect Magic on it you detect the absence of magic. With your knowledge engineering role you can tell that this is most likely the building you are currently in."

Shadow Lodge 3/5

So having prepped and run both 6-01 and 6-02, as well as started a thread on my local forums about all this here is how I'm landing on the whole Technologist feat, and skills debate.

Since it seems to me that the current offered scenarios were being developed at the same time as the Technology guide there was some kind of disconnect that didn't get translated across.

Before Game:
I've been mentioning to my tables the existence of the Technologist feat, and what it does/means to the players prior to running the game, and letting them know that in the future they might need it to identify and perform trained skill checks against Numerian tech.

During Game:
In 6-01 you can essentially find a Numerian lockpick set, and in the description for the item it says that unless you use this item on Numerian tech any roll of Disable Device takes -5 penalty for not being the proper tools. I've been applying that to all the rolls dealing with anything from Numeria. I've also been having all my monsters (especially since we are still only in the first batch of scenarios) be Unique monsters (15+CR). Although I don't change the Perception check to notice traps, since seeing something weird is usually pretty easy to do.

What Does This Do?
It lets me inform the players of this feat and where they can get it, if it comes down that it is needed. It bumps up the checks needed for all Numerian tech to let the players get a sense of how alien this stuff really is to them. So for now all my Numerian monsters are 20+CR to identify, my Numerian tech is Craft DC + 5, and to disable any Numerian traps the check DC is at a +5.

As an example:
With Disable Device I tell the player that they will take penalties because as they go to disarm the trap they realize that where there should be rope and wire, there are circuits and cables (although I try to explain it to them using words their character would understand). So it's obvious their tools won't work as well as they should. But being trained in Disable Device they have seen all kinds of traps and have some base understanding of mechanics, even if they don't KNOW mechanics, and they can kind of logic out something, hence the -5.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Hmm...maybe it's like a hipster auction house. Where the business model is so bad that people go there ironically to support their slave buying habit. (Ok, granted that was just me being sassy)

I haven't actually prepped the Silver Crusade portion so I guess it's just there to make the players feels on edge?

Shadow Lodge 3/5

Dorothy Lindman wrote:

That's essentially why I was asking about the implied value of the slaves. If the slaves are worth significantly more than the bids, you can kind of make a case for the losers still having to pay.

In a penny auction, you pay a fixed fee for the privilege of bidding, but you don't pay off a bid unless you win the auction.

The way I kind of viewed this is a modified version of the bidding described in #3-10 The Immortal Conundrum. Where (and this is all outside the scope of the scenario so no spoilers) although there is only one bid placed by each participant in that instance all the money is collected, even from the losers.

Granted it's not a perfect way to look at it, but it's all I could come up with to justify it to myself.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

Lunar Sloth wrote:
And they need to have the Technologist feat, or they must make the skill check untrained.

I'm not sure if the Technologist feat is required for PFS. If you look at #06-01 there is an NPC who can attempt to identify technological items using Knowledge Engineering even without the Technologist feat.

I plan on mentioning the feat to my tables and asking my VC about needing this feat. If it is needed I don't plan on enforcing it for about a month since it doesn't seem fair to punish players by introducing all this cool new tech but not let them know what it does since they don't have a specific feat in a book that just came out. And PFS is run often enough where I live that it is highly likely that players can gain enough xp to get access to a new feat and pick that one up if they want to identify items.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

After looking over my copy again to see if there is any other ways to encourage the players to go down I came up with a couple of ideas:
1. Have the door leading down open and at the start of combat have the players roll a perception check to possibly hear Melaren and Shechera running down the stairs.
2. After combat (or during if they are near the door) let them make a Survival or Perception check to notice a fresh trail of blood leading down the stairs
3. Point out the thing was held down with a Tanglefoot bag and none of the bodies you've searched so far have had any on them so there it's highly likely that there are other people down here that might have some on them (and yes Meleran does have some under his combat gear)

I do like Silbeg's idea of mentioning the pull coming from deeper inside, however I wouldn't give his whole story right away unless the PC's make him friendly. It's nice to leave them with some clues and encourage them to keep talking, perhaps while healing him or something.

Another good way to force the PC's to go down is to remember that there is a vacuum effect when the doors are opened, and have familiars make strength checks not get sucked off their master's shoulder (which is where they usually sit). Granted when I ran this having the Witch's spellbook roll a -2 on his strength check caused him to almost die from Skeletons...but it did a great job forcing the party to rush after him!

So you could have Meleran while muttering about the pull walk over and just lightly brush the button next to the door causing it to open since they are swift actions in here I'd say a player couldn't stop him unless they are actively guarding the panel. Since it only causes Severe winds on small PCs and familiars will be affected.

Also since that door is the first one to have a vacuum effect the party pretty much won't be expecting it.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

7 people marked this as a favorite.

So a little off topic, but if you don't play some elevator music after cramming an entire party into a 2x2 room I think you've missed out on a golden opportunity.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

You can also bait them by reminding them that they are supposed to get whatever was in the chest and without bringing that item back they have no proof they actually completed finish line

Shadow Lodge 3/5

So I'm running this at a con this weekend and will give my report after it's done.

Paris Crenshaw wrote:


1) Summoning a fiendish chimera is an option from the Pathfinder #77 article on Baphomet (see page 75). Priests of Baphomet can summon one with summon monster VI. Although Thurl isn't technically a priest, he's a summoner who fervently worships the demon lord. It just made sense to me that he'd be able to do it, too.

I like this idea for flair, although it did make it really confusing to prep since that's not listed in available monsters. I am curious to what you think about my choice for different monsters with his access to Summon Monster VI. I wanted to pick creatures that were semi-similar to his eidolon in being multiple creatures almost fused into one, and still evil.

Paris Crenshaw wrote:


And, yes, my intent was for Tancred to drink the potion of haste at the first sign of trouble. I think I had originally given a potion to him at both tiers, but the one from the lower tier was subsequently removed.

He actually does have a potion of haste in both tiers, lower-tier is top line of page 23, second potion in his combat gear, and high-tier is middle of page 24, second listed potion in combat gear

Shadow Lodge 3/5

Pirate Rob wrote:
Gabriel Smith-Dalrymple wrote:


** spoiler omitted **
In an effort to help keep the secret, would you mind editing the second half of your spoiler out.

To help keep the secret I would have if I saw this in time, but it's too late to edit the post. Although I do feel the second half is relevant for the final caveat.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

doc the grey wrote:
Also shouldn't Tancred have a vial of acid? As it stands he's got acid spray prepped but he doesn't have an acid vial to use as the component.

I believe that is just a minor oversight on the writers part, since him throwing a vial of acid for 1d6 damage at 7-11 is kind of silly.

doc the grey wrote:
Also have they addressed Thrul's summons for his high tier encounter? As it stands it says he summons a Fiendish chimera after inhaz dies but how the hell is he getting one? Is this a typo or just something special he can do?

Since the chimera isn't an available choice I'd suggest having summon either huge elementals for damage, but since he favors creatures that are amagalmations of other creatures I'd also suggest either the Erinyes Devil or the Azata Lillen

Shadow Lodge 3/5

David Baker - Manitoba VC wrote:

Reason I suggested alternate tactics, is that he is physically unable to follow the tactics as listed. He does not have haste memorized, (and as far as I know), he has zero way of casting it. It's also an opposition school for him, so even if he had an arcane bond, (where nowhere it mentions this), he cannot cast opposition schools from it, thus his tactics as written are invalid.

A DC 5 perception check (once the PCs are in the building) gives them all the time in the world to prepare for the coming storm.

I was looking over the scenario and while Tancred doesn't have Haste memorized he does have a potion of Haste in his combat gear for both the low and high tiers. So that is how he gets the spell off. I would also assume that if he is warned of combat (which he should be) he pulls out the potion before entering combat and drinks it as a Standard action on his first round.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

doc the grey wrote:

So I actually have a really big question here that might need to be addressed.

** spoiler omitted **

Now I know that example is a little harsh and probably not my first choice but I'm interested to know if that is possible? I know people keep saying that this scenario doesn't feel big or epic enough and I would love to know that I'm given a bit more room to play in this regard. Also considering this is the freakin Worldwound the option for things to be abjectly horrifying in all aspects seems pretty on the nose.

The scenario also specifically calls out "though some rolls may present results far above the PC's capabilities" which to me basically means, if you roll something that will most likely kill your party, just re-roll it. Use common sense to not kill the party with a weather phenomenon.

Shadow Lodge 3/5

I'm with Sean on this one, I don't think it will work. I'm going to wrap the boon that the OP is talking about in a spoiler tag, to try and keep it somewhat of a secret from those who shouldn't be seeing it.

Spoiler:
You may designate one newly created PC under your Pathfinder Society number as a protege. This tutelage manifests in a +2 bonus to a single ability score of your choice at character creation.

That's the relevant information. It specifically calls out that it has to be a newly created PC, and assigned at character creation. So logically following that it means you can't apply it someone who already has credit applied to that number. This is one of those cases where the specific rules trump the general rules/

Shadow Lodge

Taenia wrote:

My Tetori was level 6, the party was a lvl 6 Alch, lvl 6 Cavalier, lvl 4 Sorcerer, Lvl 3 Ranger in a 3 - 7

Tieflings aren't persons...

I take offense at that.

Sweet Desna! Next you'll be saying that Dwarves with beards are normal! What kind crazy logic is that?!

Shadow Lodge

Ah, fair enough...sneaky bastards

Shadow Lodge

Taenia wrote:

Have to be dominate monster, person don't work, neither do vampires

Why won't Dominate Person work on your Tetori Tiefling?

Shadow Lodge

It only sucks until you Dominate the Tetori, he already admitted to having an Ioun stone that doesn't help against that. Then you just sit back and laugh as he ties up the party and you coup de grace them...

...Ok that was a bit of a snarky comment but in all honesty the Tetori class is only really good at one thing, Grapples. If you happen to have a Sorcerer or an Alchemist that can fly above the Tetori they are hosed.

As for other classes being greedy, I (at the time) had a level 2 Dwarf Barbarian using the SR racial trait run up to the BBEG in a scenario on turn 1, he casts his powerful spell against me, fail the caster level check and I one-shot with a crit. Now that same character is level 6 with a +1 Adamantine Greatsword, so when the story sets up the scenario where there is only one way out, he can just make a hole by sundering his way through any wall (and I have all the sunder rules w/object hit points prepared ahead of time)...hell one of his motto's is "There's always another entrance".

There is always a way for any one single character to completely destroy the GM's plans. But that doesn't mean he's a bad character or a dick for doing the only thing his archetype is designed to do.