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My party of six is currently smashing its way through book 2... but they have created some issues for themselves. My biggest concern is that the party is going to try and bolt the city as soon as they kill X. Should I let that happen or interdict them with one of the many groups they have pissed off in Magnimar.

Here is some background:

One of the player's created a backstory that he is Garet Thrune, brother to the queen of Cheliax. He is currently a LG paladin of Sarenrae. As a boy he disagreed with most of Chelaxian practices and was exiled/ nearly murdered. Rumors have spread back to Cheliax and his dear sister sent a hunting party after him. Naturally this party was lead by his childhood best friend who grew up into a non evil Hellknight who believed he was hunting down a traitorous hellknight.

Ursion (Hellknight old friend) naturally based his search out of Magnimar. Things got.. messy. Here's the run down.

Party deals with Foxglove Townhouse (finds a wandering Tsuto) and learns about B7 and mill. Does some scouting and crafting and waits for the money drop/ ritual. Party impersonates the money drop (fools the low level guys who don't know that it should stop) BUT only sends in a single PC. PC bluffs her way into joining the ritual and the party shows up. Several Ice-Fireballs later (ice to avoid the dust explosions) everything ends.

Despite me putting a friendly abandoned stable across the street from the sawmill... the party decides to stay inside the sawmill.... with all the dead bodies and loot.

They head towards the tower down a PC and I ambush them with the Hellknight group (lvl 5 conjurer wizard, lvl 5 cleric, lvl 5 inquisitor, lvl 6/1 cavalier/ Hellknight commander, two lvl 3 rangers and 4 lvl 3 fighters. Party wins in about 45 seconds. Ursion realizes that he has been tasked to kill the Heir/rightful ruler of the throne and that his believed dead friend lives. Party lets him leave, he leaves to "think about what to do"

Also, this fight happened on the outskirts of the Bazar of Sails.. so the Princess of the Market, Sabriyya is not very happy. Hellknight hunting party killed civilians, party stole a carriage and destroyed a cabbage stand. (she's not furious, but wants recompense and can't have people slinging spells in her turf without her sanction.) The guard is maybe mildly interested. Hellkights are very very interested as they will recognize some of the dead as members of the hunting party.

So the party heads off to the Shadow clock a couple hours later down a few spells and eager to stop this strange Xenesha woman.. down some spells and smites but a party of 6 that hits pretty hard against a GM that often forgets bonuses and feats of his NPCs....

So what next. The PCs have been on the run for several days. They have several thousand gold in loot hidden inside a supposedly working sawmill. They know the sawmill is scheduled for shipment the next day so citizens / businessmen will get upset/suspicious soon. (door is locked so it would take the guard or hellknights to get in. theives just arent likely considering its reputation.) The party has basically been on the run since they entered Magnimar. They believe the nobility/ guard to be completely corrupt and possibly crazed cultists out to murder everyone.

Currently: Hellknights want the party for murder/disrupting the peace/destruction of property.

Sabriyya - Same as hellknights- more on the favor owed/ service rendered/ fine paid side than the jail side... but still.

City Guard - mostly oblivious. Sabriyya has likely notified them that her turf was attacked. Considering the magic users she could lean on Gorobos some to get some assistance from the guard.

I do not want the Hellknights to get their hands on the party. That basically means a full trial which I would prefer to avoid. I'd much rather a corrupt Gorobas just handwaive their crimes away. its both easier for everyone on time (its been nearly 2 years since we started) and it would display some of the corruption / power of Gorobas in Magnimar.

So far I like the idea of being heavy handed with the party and introducing Sabriyya with a couple men besides a platoon of City Guardsmen. The basic idea is that Sabriyya called in some minor favors to have the PCs arrested and will then ride to the barracks with the PCs (in her own carriage of course) and will question the PCs about their motives, explain their immenent peril of being tossed into the Hells and claim that she can help them if they will work for her/ do her a favor/ have a favor owed.

However, the party is currently carrying all of the skinsaw masks on them... so that could go poorly.

I am looking for some advice here. I am worried about this fight being a bit anti climatic for my group. There is a huge wall of text below. Thank you for anyone who takes the time to read it all.

The party consists of the following:

A MinMaxed monk who's AC typically reaches 27 to 28 (Mage Armor and he usually uses Ki points to increase AC. He has good saves. First time player so we let him minmax. He is the hardest hitting character in the party (mostly because he receives consistent party buffs)

A Paladin - Warrior of Holy Light archetype. Plays a sword and board tank with good AC and saves. TWF with shield bash so he can put out some damage against an evil target with smite as well.

Rogue/Ranger/Shadow Dancer - Fights with an elven curved blade. Not optimized, but in a 6 person party gets decent opportunity.

Cleric - Again not optimized but getting into a groove as more spells come online. Typically half the reason the Monk does so well.

Admixture Evoker Wizard - Fireballs, Ice Balls, Electicity Balls, Scorching rays. Has a selective metamagic rod right now. He can drop some hurt.

Support focused caster bard. The bard is finding his groove with performing and debuffing enemies with save or sucks. Generally just makes the Monk put out even more damage...

So its all this versus Xenesha. I know that Xenesha is supposed to be silly powerful, but I am worried that my party is going to mincemeat her as they have basically everything else so far. The party just wiped out Justice Ironbriar and his cult. They showed up during the meeting and completely destroyed everything. I used some reworked cultists that I found on here which gave them a mixture of class levels and abilities. Yes 3 fireballs helped, but that fight was very easy.

I am pretty sure that my party is not going to rush straight for Xenesha. They have some other issues in town to deal with..

So here is my plan, please let me know what you think.

1. Xenesha will figure out quickly that Ironbriar and his cult was killed. She has a large network, information like that will not be difficult for her to figure out. Step 2 is figure out who did it. Depending on how my party covers up their attack this will be somewhat difficult... If they cover it up well I give the party three days before Xenesha figures out who did it and where they are staying. The night of day 3 opens the door for party ambush by the Scarecrow and either gangs or faceless stalkers.. or all of the above...

2. Assuming the party acts before Xenesha, I do not see the party having trouble with the scarecrow. The paladin has multiple smites and the adamantine long-sword. Between that and hero points.. the scarecrow dies without killing a PC. I give a 50/50 that the party discovers magic immunity based on knowledge checks (we ask questions and first questions are usually "are its major resistances") If they figure it out.. then the wizard and bard will have full spells for the xenesha fight.

3. Bells and stalkers could be an issue on the stairs. With the party having hero points, they will be alright. Most likely outcome: the bell forces a PC or two to use a hero point. Potential for a fall due to stalkers/PCs collapsing stairs during a stairwell duel could force another.

4. Xenesha. Assuming that the PCs do not devise a plan along the lines of: Invisible flying assault on Xenesha's lair - she should be invisible and prepared with a major image, mirror image, detect magic, and false life all active. She can climb the walls at will. I think her primary strategy will be to climb above the PCs while invisible and strike from above with reach. Spellcasters first trying to kill them before they can cast at all, then anyone who seems able to get to her/ threaten her with ranged attacks, then support characters. She will try and turn major threats to stone and if they are near the edge, go invisible and push them off the side of the tower. (my party does not have reach so this could actually be incredibly powerful. The monk and paladin are ok with their respective shuriken / crossbow but they do not specialize.)

I am considering adding in 2 or 3 more faceless stalkers. 1 will be down with the scarecrow. His job is to either assist the scarecrow with anything that attacks and alert the others with his whistle. If the fight looks grim he is to retreat up the stairs to hold with the 3 faceless stalkers at the bell. The other one or two new faceless stalkers are part of Xenesha's rotating guard on her room. They are only guarding her room if Xenesha knows about the attack on Ironbriar. The are not actually in the room normally, they are tasked with guarding the stairs leading up. Typically they rest just inside the room with a support between them and Xenesha. If she has guests they leave the room. When she has guests they are in a humanoid form. Without guests they take the form of something visually pleasing to Xenesha, typically succubi. If the alarm is raised to the attack then they do enter the room and pose as succubi to augment her major image of a succubus flying around. (assuming the party takes 10 minutes to get up to the lair. If the party fly's up or runs up then the stalker will be stealthed in the pillows trying to transform)

I would expect for a single stalker to die in the first round (a monk full attack kills it. Paladin and rogue usually combine to kill the other) 2 stalkers could take 2 -3 rounds depending on who goes for them. That is 2-3 rounds of damage dealers not focusing on Xenesha. Xenesha's full attack sneak attack/ power attack could 100 - 0 just about anyone in the party.

Surprise round - move into position / single attack on spell caster. First round Xenesha gets a full attack on someone from invisible. First attack is against touch AC at +15 dealing 1d8+20+1d6 /19-20x3 (a crit hits for 3d8+60+1d6 (average 77 dmg) which means a PC of mine must either Hero Point or die/ drop unconscious depending on PC). Second attack is +8 and against flatfooted depending on if they have acted... Final attack is +3 and should miss most PCs unless it crits. Any confirmed critical s kill PCs.

Her second action would be to try to turn any threatening PCs to stone or a second full attack if she feels safe. Detect magic should be telling her who is the most buffed at this point. At this point there are so many variables that it is hard to know where the fight goes. I think I will run some test fights. If she drops someone round 1 the fight could spiral downhill very quickly. AoO for anyone trying to get close to attack her.

TL;DR do you think that I should add in extra, weaker enemies to supplement an already powerful boss against a party of 6 powerful PCs?

Hello! I am interested in running both the Tomb of the Iron Medusa and Academy of Secrets on Roll20, but I have map questions.

What have people done in the past for their maps when/if they have run this through roll 20? I am using and abusing the RotRL Community Created thread for info on Runelords... is there a community that I could use to supplement my modules? (and add my own content as I make it?)

I have the module PDF, but that does not seem very helpful for trying to convert to Roll20 ready maps. I will keep trying that option for now.

Hello! I have mostly been a lurker on these forums, but I have seen others who have posted questions and had great responses. Perhaps y'all can help me out as well!

I have a group of 6 PCs that are quickly approaching the Misgivings. I am extremely excited to say the least! (its taken us 1.5 years to get here...) I am trying to tailor the haunts to fit my PCs and my goal is to maximize fun. I think I have it all figured out, except there is a wrinkle.... the party has a paladin in it and he will be immune to all of the effects of the haunts. This isn't a problem per say, but I want to make sure that I am not preventing some of the most exciting/fun/interesting haunts from occurring by assigning the Vengeful Haunt to the Paladin.

Haunts - PC Assigned - Reason
Burning Haunt - Male Monk - previously infected with a rage curse (I made it up) from touching the runewell. Since became a monk of the lotus to focus on peace, but still struggles with rage. Good saves, but hilariously botches them often.

Festering Haunt - Male Halforc Wizard - This guy loves fire, but also most ok with the undead and experimenting. He allowed a party member to wear the shiedron rune without telling them what it does because he considered it to have more benefit for that person than the possibility of it going wrong. Did tell the party later on.

Insane Haunt - Male Human Cleric - This player is a bit random. The PC is the healer, but not firmly attached and loyalty of the player is somewhat questionable. PC is known to kill wantonly at times.

Obsessed Haunt - Female Human Bard - target of Aldern so appropriately placed and too late to change now. Very wrathful, would have worked very well as Wrathful Haunt... oh well.

Vengeful Haunt - Male Human Paladin - Garet "Egorian" Thrune, displaced prince of Cheliax on the run from assassins and agents of Thrune. He plans to one day return and take back the throne. In the mean time he has found himself holed up in Sandpoint and intrigued by the events occurring.

Wrathful Haunt - Female Elven Rogue - Is the only other female PC. Works for a LN order whose goal is to stop chaos from overtaking the world. Sorta betrayed in the backstory. A killer when she needs to be. Not particularly wrathful, much more methodical.

So, I think I have everyone down. I can mix it up a bit if need be. As I said above, I do not know how these playout. Vengeful Haunt for the paladin means that both the Dancing haunt caused by the piano and the Iesha's Vengance / scarf haunt will be bypassed. Seems to me like that is one save or suck and one entertaining Haunt with obnoxious ability damage removed. Is there a better place to put the paladin (assuming I can make it work RP wise) to avoid particular "not fun" haunts?

This is my first post on the Paizo forums! I think I may need some help here and I was hoping y'all could help. This may get rather long.

So Tsuto and Lyrie were captured by the party. Sheriff Belor was in Magnimaar attempting to convince people that Sandpoint needed help. The way it worked out was that the party finished the dungeon before Belor secured help. After learning about the prisoners he appealed to Justice Ironbriar for help with the sentencing.

Sheriff Belor knew that his only recourse would be to either sentence the prisoners to death or escort them to Magnimaar. Why not see if Magnimar would come to them? Surprisingly enough Justice Ironbriar rapidly agreed. Its a bit odd, but its an incredibly high profile case so it makes sense.

My issue is that reading about Justice Ironbriar he has been charmed by Xanessa. DC25 to notice the charm in the final fight. Would this be noticeable at this time? I would have to assume so. Its within his character either way, but it makes more sense to send ironbriar to Sandpoint to do Xenessa's bidding (scout out the party etc)

My concern is that the party bard has a +13 to sense motive. I am not concerned about the detect Evil as Ironbriar can cast undectable alignment.

IMO Justice Ironbriar is known as being a galvanzing force of justice in Magnimaar. He is liked by most people, particularly those in power. He is a smooth talker and quick to sentence people. Unlike most Justice's he will see cases beyond just the nobility or large business's and he is considered to be one of the less corrupt justices. He has a large following of supporters and some say that the supporters are perhaps more loyal to him than the Mayor.

What I think I plan to do is that when he comes to town he spends most of his time with the Nobles of Sandpoint "interviewing" them and accepting their hospitality. He lets his investigators do most of the digging and after they give him the report he announces the sentencing. Tsuto and Lyrie are to be condemned to the "Black Cells" (I could use a better name, essentially named such because there is no light and those who enter are never seen from again.)