Is participation in the Tournament limited only to martial artists? Are there any rules against spellcasters participating? Can one use Arcane or Divine magic when fighting in the tournament?
After four years of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, I think 6-months of Eastern Asia was long overdo.As someone with no interest in oriental-themed adventures, I'll be glad when you folks are finally done with all this and move on to something else (I know, pirates are next. You're going to have to shine to offer more than the fantastic Freeport environment).
You've really blocked off an exceptionally large chunk of the catalogue for this one.
+1
Also, I only know of one Campaign Setting book with Golarion East Asian content; The Dragon Empires. Please point me in the right direction if there is another one because I will purchase it almost sight unseen.
2 Campaign Settings
???
Also, I only know of one Campaign Setting book with Golarion East Asian content; The Dragon Empires. Please point me in the right direction if there is another one because I will purchase it almost sight unseen.
Idem
Is participation in the Tournament limited only to martial artists? Are there any rules against spellcasters participating? Can one use Arcane or Divine magic when fighting in the tournament?
Ummm...anyone?
Is participation in the Tournament limited only to martial artists? Are there any rules against spellcasters participating? Can one use Arcane or Divine magic when fighting in the tournament?Ummm...anyone?
I haven't read it yet, but a quick glance through last night revealed several spellcasters - some with PrCs - as NPC participants in the tournament part of the adventure. Naturally, there were non-spellcasters as well.
Director of Brand Strategy
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There are some "test of skill" encounters between combats that might lend themselves more to some character types over others, but we tried to make sure that no one would be completely left out for all tests, and these are only one small element of the adventure. Anyone who can participate in combat (meaning any PC) will be able to enter the tournament and compete.
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Quick question..
Is this going to be added to PFS play using the current PFS module rules or are you going to wait to release any new Modules to PFS until the 4.1 guide comes out?
I've been wondering this as well. Because I don't see many being able to play it in PFS until long after the season is over. Our highest character is 6th, and with have the current group having only 2nd lvl chars, it will take a long long time if we can't make copies of chars like we could under current rules...
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I've been wondering this as well. Because I don't see many being able to play it in PFS until long after the season is over. Our highest character is 6th, and with have the current group having only 2nd lvl chars, it will take a long long time if we can't make copies of chars like we could under current rules...
Same here, I was really looking forward to running this as a PFS module but I can't with the Future rules, and it most likely will be a few years until I can.
Be running for 1 year 1/2 now and we only have 2 PCs level 10.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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As it is known with the Ruby Phoenix, the winner of the once per ten years tournament gets a relic from the vault... Any recommendation on what I should allow my PCs to choose from as a GM?
Whatever they want! Let them come up with something and lo and behold, there's one on the vault shelf right over there! Or, if there's a particular story item you want to propel them to the next plot hook, consider making that an attractive option for them.
I've been reading through this, and I'm a bit confused. Why are there non-exhibition matches where the PCs are only against a single opponent (like the oracle and bloatmage?)
Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere
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I bought it. I readed it. I love it! This has some magnificentn cinematic scenes and characters in it, and due to it's different nature I expect my players (Dragon Disciple,Ranger with heavy mtf crossbow, Battle Herald and hafling cleric of Cayden Caylean) to enjoy this one.
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When I saw this, my brain immediately went to the "Dark Tournament" from Yu Yu Hakusho, or perhaps Mortal Kombat. Looks interesting.
Hm found a mistake.
A lot of NPCs in this one and really interesting undead monster in there as well.
Finished reading this last night and gotta say, I'm looking forward to trying to fit this into my Jade Regent campaign. Thankfully due to it being composed almost entirely of NPCs with class levels it will be easy enough to scale if I want to include it later on...
I'm bit confused about that Test of three Towers. Are the all towers connected to each other with rope ladders and they have two platforms? if so, was there a way to get from the lower platform to the next abowe?
The map for this is on the inside of the front cover. I too had a bit of confusion at the description, but if you look at the map the towers are close enough together that it would be a pretty easy acrobatics to jump from one to the other, and the ladders are to connect the first and second level. Guessing here, but I'd say the little white semi-circles are meant to be where the rope ladders are.
Hm found a mistake.
** spoiler omitted **
Yeah I noticed that too and was scratching my head. I looked up the feat in City of Strangers, and the feat, somewhat confusingly says that it grants +1 CL with spells of the school you have Spell Focus with, that stacks with the bonus from Spell Focus; so I'm not sure what the feat is actually meant to do...
One problem I noticed myself
"The subject becomes paralyzed and freezes in place. It is aware and breathes normally but cannot take any actions, even speech. Each round on its turn, the subject may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect."
If this is for when they make their save, then what's the save DC? It sounds more like the animals should be entangled or something similar that immobilizes them, but not paralyzed.
Other than that it looks like a very interesting tournament. Some more guidelines on what limitations there are on buffing and such (only two of the events give a time period for how long the PCs have to buff before each match. I'm going to take these as a guideline and assume there's roughly a minute before each fight to buff and 30 seconds between entering the field and starting the match for round/level duration buffs) would have been nice but it's managable :)
My only other issue is the last two fights
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Answers to Peanuts's questions:
Guessing here, but I'd say the little white semi-circles are meant to be where the rope ladders are.
You are correct in that assumption.
If this is for when they make their save, then what's the save DC? It sounds more like the animals should be entangled or something similar that immobilizes them, but not paralyzed.
They are under the effectos the spell to allow the PCs and their opponent to get into position, and then the spell is dismissed so that they can act normally. For the sake of the adventure, the DC is really high, as having the animals break free before the combat was set up would ruin the fun of the event.
Does anyone else think that throwing a CR 13 fight followed immediately by a CR 14 fight (with literally no recovery time between them) at the PCs might be a bit harsh? I enjoy challenging and mayhaps even beating up my player characters every now and then, but I don't want to have a TPK because they were already half dead from fighting Gomwai
Turns out the Sisters Wu fight dirty. They attack then specifically because they expect their foes to be more vulnerable. But winning the Ruby Pheonix Tournament should be a large enough incentive for parties to pull out all the stops and use whatever resources that have left to survive.
Answers to Peanuts's questions:
** spoiler omitted **
Thanks for the reply!
They are under the effectos the spell to allow the PCs and their opponent to get into position, and then the spell is dismissed so that they can act normally. For the sake of the adventure, the DC is really high, as having the animals break free before the combat was set up would ruin the fun of the event.
That was my other thought about what was meant to happen. So the bit about drag and reposition maneuvers is so they can move them around if the animal is going in a direction they don't want them to, rather than because they're acting like an anchor for the PCs.
Turns out the Sisters Wu fight dirty. They attack then specifically because they expect their foes to be more vulnerable. But winning the Ruby Pheonix Tournament should be a large enough incentive for parties to pull out all the stops and use whatever resources that have left to survive.
Mmm, and I like that from an in-play standpoint, I'm just worried about killing my PCs and mucking up my campaign :p I guess if worst comes to worst can always have the Temple of Abadar pay for the ressurection of the tournament's champions after they recovered their bodies from the island, and add another enemy to the ones following the PCs when the sisters find out :P
An if it comes to that, Marthysan can always save the day? I think it would look cool. No? Just me?
Mmm, I can see Marthysan managing to leap into the fray if necessary and lay-on-handsing on a downed PC if necessary. Good idea.
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Found a couple more errors, so far, in the NPCs, although it might just be my confusion, instead.
Also, he appears to be over his WbL by over 1,000 gp.
The Ruby Phoenix Monk appears ot have an incorrect stat block, or maybe I just can't figure out how to make it come out correctly.
Elite stat set: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8
+2 for Human
+2 for level
Doesn't seem to want to work out for final stats of:
17, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, without any sort of stat-boosting item listed.
Either Str, Dex or Wis needs to be one lower, I would think.
Also, are they intentially over 6,000 gp low for WbL?
The WbL is for NPCs, not PCs, by the way.
Still reading the module, and those are all I have found, so far.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Found a couple more errors, so far, in the NPCs, although it might just be my confusion, instead.
** spoiler omitted **
I don't seem to have the original statblock calculations for the RPMs, but the low wealth was intentional because of the number of them faced throughout the adventure (7). Getting 7 amulets of natural armor +1 or belts of incredible dexterity +2 gets boring really fast, so their wealth value was moved to some of the more valuable prizes granted for completing different challenges. Given that they are so under-equipped, having an additional +1 to an ability score isn't a huge deal. The statblock generator would have spit out a warning if there were any deviation in them from the standard, however, so without looking at that, I'm not sure how we got the values that appear there.
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** spoiler omitted **Found a couple more errors, so far, in the NPCs, although it might just be my confusion, instead.
** spoiler omitted **
On the stat point, it may just be that I put them in the wrong stats when I "built" the NPC in HeroLab. It's not a big deal, just wanted to make sure I have things right before I try to run this next month at our local Game Day. I am gonna have enough trouble running something this high level within the time constraints.
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Okay, another question:
There does not appear to be any range specified. Is it up to the PCs what range they fire from, or is there supposed to be a set range, either 30' (giving more dedicated archers, with the Point Blank Shot feat, an advantage), or 50' (giving no benefits or penalties to most bows), or 110' (giving a bonus to composite longbows), 150' (giving an advantage to Andoran archers with the Hunter's Eye trait or archers with the Far Shot feat), or some other range?
It does make a bit of a difference.
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Another one from me :)
Are the PCs given a chance to cast spells/chug potions or what have you after they're told the details of the challenge, or is someone who picks say, the Drowning Idol meant to just have a 21 con so they can hold their breath for 40+ rounds? I'm guessing no buffing allowed or else some of these would be fairly trivial. What about magic items?
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Director of Brand Strategy
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All of the above are up to the GM. Only you know your players and what is likely to be a challenge for them. The adventure provides a guideline for the tests, but we purposefully didn't hardcode every detail into them in order to allow GMs to customize them to meet the needs of their particular game.
In the case of the Iron Body test, I'd allow buffing, if only because it will somewhat offset the "15 minute adventuring day" phenomenon that can result in this sort of event-based adventure. Since the PCs are likely to only face a few encounters during a day, encouraging them to use resources (thus making subsequent encounters more difficult) isn't necessarily a bad thing. Again, however, we don't expect GMs to be robots, and changing encounters as needed to meet your party's needs and desires is part of the equation, especially in a higher-level, nonstandard adventure like this one.
I have a quick question about re-storing spell slots between encounters
A six part Adventure Path
1 Module
2 Campaign Settings
1 Map Folio
1 Player Companion
Plus the focus of the PFS season;
And two-thirds of the Ultimate Combat classes.As someone with no interest in oriental-themed adventures, I'll be glad when you folks are finally done with all this and move on to something else (I know, pirates are next. You're going to have to shine to offer more than the fantastic Freeport environment).
You've really blocked off an exceptionally large chunk of the catalogue for this one.
I just want to say that I have waited since Kara-Tur for a quality setting like Tian Xia!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!This flood of resources, adventures, and materials makes me sooooo very happy to be a part of the Paizo Community. "A gaming company run by gamers"---amen!
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I have a quick question about re-storing spell slots between encounters
** spoiler omitted **
Note that there are circumstances possible, as listed at certain points in the module, where it is possible that the PCs might NOT get a good night's rest, like if they succumb to the poison, and when they have to do a 4th encounter (Marthysan's rescue) on the same day.
Remember that different classes have different requirements to prepare spells or regain expended spell slots. Clerics, for example, just need to spend an hour in meditation/prayer to prepare spells, and don't appear to have a sleep requirement anymore.
dot
Ok, I know this is old, but I'm getting ready run this starting next week.
One question I had. The PC's I have heading into this are not exclusively combat focused. They should have a chance (especially with some divination magic) to try and figure things out before the end. I didn't see much in there addressing what to do if the PC's decide to really try and disrupt/break the plot rather than just letting it happen to them.
Have any of you really worked up that angle?
Any particular problems or issues I should know about?
Questions all players ask that I need to have an answer prepared?
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Ok, I know this is old, but I'm getting ready run this starting next week.
One question I had. The PC's I have heading into this are not exclusively combat focused. They should have a chance (especially with some divination magic) to try and figure things out before the end. I didn't see much in there addressing what to do if the PC's decide to really try and disrupt/break the plot rather than just letting it happen to them.
Have any of you really worked up that angle?Any particular problems or issues I should know about?
Questions all players ask that I need to have an answer prepared?
So, we used this module when playtesting for Dreamscarred Press' Path of War, and the party included a cleric who did a pretty solid job of sussing out most of the subplot. It wasn't too hard to weave that knowledge into the story, and the final end battle comes out of left field a bit and isn't directly related to the subplot(s), so you should be able to progress things pretty well. Just lock it into your head that regardless of what the party uncovers, the tournament will proceed, and things should go smooth.
**EDIT** Hopefully that was a little bit helpful, I was trying to keep it deliberately vague. If you have specific questions we can spoiler the entries and talk about them.
Thanks. Yes, I'd be happy with some more direct advice.
I'll try to 'spoiler' or PM some specific questions this weekend. If you can think of anything specific before then please spoiler it or PM me. Which ever you prefer.
We are running this and getting close to completing it.
My players seem uncomfortable with one of them getting a minor artifact and the others getting not much of anything.
Has anyone tried letting each of them pick something? And then how would you limit it? I'm not going to give all of them a minor artifact.
I was thinking of the value of a +3 weapon for each of them. But then that doesn't seem special enough for the world famous Ruby Phoenix Tournament. Hmm... not sure what to do.
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Developer
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I'd look at the average wealth by level of the PCs and decide on a value that seems appropriate. If one character is severely underequipped, an item of more value might make sense for her. If they're all on target for their level, I'd let each of them select an item that takes them about 20% of the way to their next wealth tier, as long as it was a single item. It's ultimately up to you as the GM, but the PCs should feel like they have actually attained something of value and that will be useful for them as a result of their success.
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Developer
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Mark has a good idea.
One other possibility is to give each of them an item that has an interesting history and let it gain power based on campaign events, such as "realizing" that item's potential.
For example, a +2 keen battleaxe isn't too crazy at that level, but it could might be an axe crafted to behead a traitorous prince 1,000 years ago. If the PC fulfills its full potential by using it to kill a monarch, maybe it spontaneously gains the vorpal weapon enhancement. Maybe a empower metamagic rod isn't quite powerful enough to impress your players, yet they might change their tune when they learn it's actually a scepter-key that can unlock a powerful Tian wizard's tomb.
Use the treasures as a springboard for future adventures.
Hmm... I like both of those ideas. I'll have to think about it.
Thanks!
Has anyone calculated how many experience points are possible in this module or what level PCs probably would be by the end?
So, can EACH PARTY MEMBER take one item from the vault if they win the tournament or can only one item be taken PERIOD (no matter the amount of party members in the winning party)?