Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-05: Tide of Twilight (PFRPG) PDF

Regarding the template, PCs are not restricted in their ability to use weapons, cast spells, etc. They have the ability to use claw/claw/bite attacks, but don't have to.

2. Where is the water source on Falbin's home? Does he have one? It's a farm! This seems critical, considering it's an obvious course of action. The party struggled here, with the low-int low-wis fighter trying to use his hands to cover it with dirt! And a waterskin only has so much water - maybe 1 square worth.

3. What happens if they're unable to put the fire out? It can easily spread too far for the PCs to be able to do anything if they're trying fairly mundane methods and the rolls aren't in their favour.

4. The bestial template says if it gets too low, your character is removed from play. But what's stopping you buying that spellcasting service when the scenario ends? You're not dead, are you?

5. The river: how deep is it (can you walk along the bottom?), how high are the banks (do you have to jump down/climb up if you swim across?), and where are the "intersecting tree branches" (which aren't on the generic river map)? And secondarily, the water is placid, but requires a swim check with a DC normally for rough water?

1. Does ability damage heal normally once a player goes bestial? As in, when resting overnight, do they heal 1 ability damage as normal, or does that not apply? There is only one mention of the overnight healing not happening, and that's right at the end of the book, and even that says they just "heal [the ability damage] normally".

I assume this ability damage does not heal naturally until the template is removed, as explained at the end of the adventure. But a ruling otherwise--that it heals naturally just like any other ability damage--is sensible, too. I've had a few parties use lesser restoration to remove the ability damage, and I've allowed that.

2. Where is the water source on Falbin's home? Does he have one? It's a farm! This seems critical, considering it's an obvious course of action. The party struggled here, with the low-int low-wis fighter trying to use his hands to cover it with dirt! And a waterskin only has so much water - maybe 1 square worth.

Good point! The map is tightly focused on the garden and house. I'd put a well just "off the map" if the PCs are looking for one, but getting water up out of a well is time-intensive and probably not the best course to put out a raging fire. Honestly, I don't expect many parties to put out the fire, but instead concentrate on saving the gnome.

3. What happens if they're unable to put the fire out? It can easily spread too far for the PCs to be able to do anything if they're trying fairly mundane methods and the rolls aren't in their favour.

The adventure mentions this: "The fire does not spread outside of Falbin’s garden because of the wide gravel lanes surrounding his property, but Falbin’s house may eventually catch fire as well." So Falbin loses his house and garden, but it doesn't burn Wispil to the ground.

4. The bestial template says if it gets too low, your character is removed from play. But what's stopping you buying that spellcasting service when the scenario ends? You're not dead, are you?

Nothing's stopping you. That's the only way to keep a PC stuck with the template at the scenario's conclusion in play: purchasing a break enchantment spell.

5. The river: how deep is it (can you walk along the bottom?), how high are the banks (do you have to jump down/climb up if you swim across?), and where are the "intersecting tree branches" (which aren't on the generic river map)? And secondarily, the water is placid, but requires a swim check with a DC normally for rough water?

Your first three questions are up to the GM to adjudicate; I would say you can't walk along the bottom, or else a swim check might not even be required; the river is also described as "deep." I hadn't pictured the banks as high enough to require any jumping or climbing. The intersecting tree branches are all up and down the river; in every river square, I would say, although they obviously aren't marked on the pre-printed flip mat.

Regarding the Swim DC, I selected 15 because the river isn't "calm"--as it's in motion, being a river. "Rough" seemed the better approximation for a DC here.

Effect: This is the effect that the character suffers each

time if he fails his saving throw against the affliction. Most
afflictions cause ability damage or hit point damage. These
effects are cumulative, but they can be cured normally.
Other afflictions cause the creature to take penalties or
other effects. These effects are sometimes cumulative,
with the rest only affecting the creature if it failed its most
recent save. Some afflictions have different effects after the
first save is failed. These afflictions have an initial effect,
which occurs when the first save is failed, and a secondary
effect, when additional saves are failed, as noted in the text.
Hit point and ability score damage caused by an affliction
cannot be healed naturally while the affliction persists.

Ok, so what this means is while they are under the affect, they can't heal their ability damage normally. Magical means can still heal the damage, but not from simply resting.

Essentially just before the fight with the feral loggers?

I can in no way make this work with what's just below, where, in answer to another question, the VC says "it will take almost two weeks to get to Wispil from here."

By my measurements, a straight line route from Almas, where the scenario begins, to Bellis is 840 miles. Then it's a further 280 miles to Wispil from there. Well over half the distance of that straight line from Almas to Bellis is through the forest, and all of the 280 miles from Bellis to Wispil is. Yet I've got it figured that the PCs are supposed to be making 80 miles per day?

This isn't even taking into account the liklihood that the best route is probably along roads across the Carpenden Plains from Almas to Carpenden to Sauerton and then only entering the forest for the last couple of days in Andoran southwest of Bellis. Nor does it take into account the slower travel rate one would think that "logging trails" would force compared to the roads the PCs are likely to have traveled in Andoran.

If my measurements are right (and they could be wrong—I'm basing them off the map in Andoran, Spirit of Liberty) the best the PCs could hope for (assuming an unlikely straight road from Almas to Bellis and then trails from there to Wispil) on horses presumably supplied by the Venture-Captain is a journey of 28 days. The more likely route I outlined above sees them making the journey in 31 days.

Did I measure wrong? Has anybody else looked at this? I normally wouldn't worry about it but this is supposedly a scenario where the PCs are on a very tight timeline. Should I just change that line of Brackett's to read "at least a month" instead of "almost two weeks?"

Just ran through this as a player, so I shan't put a kneejerk after-action report in the review section and call it a "review". The module was fun and interesting, but combat-heavy and brutal. The combination of claw/claw/bite enemies, the twigjack, and the enlarged BBEGs meant four out of the six encounters ended with at least a party member dropping, including a near-TPK with three of the four party members dropped. We survived due to a party member loaning my cleric a cure light wounds wand and spamming sleep and color spray. I can't speak for the higher tier, but Tier 1-2 is challenging with four players, to say the least. :3

The Paladin survived because he had a boon, and the Barbarian was killed outright in a single turn.

When we got to the encounter with the dog, pixy, and twigjack we all got TPKed. The twigjack popped in and hit us with 4d6 damge for 16 points. (DC14 Save or die) for first level characters. But wait there is more the twigjack can do his spliterspray three rounds in a row for a 12-72 points of damage over three rounds. In addition, he can dimension door around to make sure he gets the whole party in his 15foot cone. I was just curious how any group of 1st level characters is supposed to take 12-72 points of damage over three consecutive rounds?

My suggestion for the twigjack is if you are going to use a creature that has such a large variation in damage pre roll the 4d6 damage dice on the low side for lower level character and reduce the save DC. IE have the twigjack do 10 points of damage per DC12 spliterspray. 30 points of damage over three rounds is still a lot better than 72.

My suggestion for the fire would be to not have the fire start to spread until at least round 3 at lower level. This way lower level pcs would still have a small chance of killing the npcs in the first round and putting out the fire.

Both these impossible to complete encounters have really tamped down my excitement of pathfinder society play.

I believe the only way this task could be accomplished is if the players focused entirely on the fire from the start, even ignoring attacks from the bad guys to do it.

What I suggest is, pick a random direction for each fire. Then, roll to see if the fire successfully spreads in that direction - and only that direction. This makes sense as fires in the open tend to blaze in the direction of the wind, and not in a perfect circle. This is how I would have liked to have ran it, but since this is a PFS scenario I was not comfortable modifying the rules to that extent. My players had to go without that extra prestige point.

While we're skirting the RAW rule, how about making it so that Atomie weapons are dipped in Drow Poison [perhaps the Drow got the recipe from the fey]. This makes them much more dangerous as follows:

Drow Poison
Type poison (injury); Save Fortitude DC 13

Frequency 1/minute for 2 minutes

Initial Effect unconsciousness for 1 minute; Secondary Effect unconsciousness for 2d4 hours; Cure 1 save
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