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Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-21: The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment (PFRPG) PDF

4.50/5 (based on 41 ratings)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-21: The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment (PFRPG) PDF

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–5.

In order to learn about the esoteric faith of the Empyreal Lord Korada, the PCs are sent by the Pathfinder Society to explore an abandoned aasimar temple to the benevolent deity. But what they find there is anything but an opportunity for peaceful reflection and enlightenment.

Written by Ron Lundeen.

This scenario is designed for play in Pathfinder Society Organized Play, but can easily be adapted for use with any world. This scenario is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

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Temple of ZZzzzzZZ oh wait we're dead.

2/5 —

Temple is a pathfinder list of chores you need to complete, which requires role-play and investigation. Although I do enjoy roleplaying scenarios, this actual scenario didn't seem to encourage this out of the players that I could tell.

Likes:
1. I agree with the review by Jason S. that there is very little railroading.
2. Clever use of skills and paranoid players might allow one or more of the encounters to be bypassed. We did on the 1-2 sub tier.

Dislikes
1. The scenario needed more action, in the beginning and middle it was too slow, boring, and tedious, then suddenly and for no reason players died with little signal to why or even a chance to get away. (this might have been the GMing as well)
2. NPCs as written weren't interesting enough to pull me in.
3. Also the tendency is for most players to explore every area and some areas were just too deadly for the level, which seems counter, intuitive when several of the faction missions have you map the place.
4. It was very easy to figure out where this scenario was meant to go however in order to role-play you sorta feel led by the obvious fact that anything other than your list was gonna be a dead end.

One of my GMs was extremely well prepared, funny and gentle with us.
The encounters were extremely difficult for 5 players at subtier 1-2. We were mostly level 1 and we almost TPKed (two died) because of a few very powerful monster abilities, guaranteed, and through no fault of our own killed them. The big finale dragged on for tons of rounds, which was especially rough without a dedicated healer, which we did not have. I appreciate that this GM did give several warning and fudged for us to get out as many as we could before times end.

The other GM will remain nameless was not so good.
6 players at level 3-4. He killed 2 players and almost TPK'd the group, had not someone in the group insist we depart the Temple immediately. Fights either dragged out or haunts which where OP instantly killed players. Over all not impressed with the GM or the scenario. I personally am going to review the rules in this adventure closely before running it for our PFS.

Although I didn't die in either of these scenarios I felt bad for the people who did.

Length: On both occasions we finished the game in a little over 4.5 hours but mostly cause people flailed about wondering what to do and got stuck on the last encounter trying to fight the big bad that everyone was CONVINCED we could kill. We all had different faction missions, so this scenario seemed to go way longer than planned.
Experience: As a player with five (level 1-2) players at sub tier 1-2. Then as a player with 6 level 3-4 sub tier
Entertainment: The basic idea is good, however, combat intensive players will be bored as will people who want to clear the map. (3/5)
Role-play: The NPC personalities and intrigue elements weren't strong enough for there to be no action for hours at a time. (1/5)
Combat/Challenges: Fights where too hard for (non-min/maxed) low number player tables at the con. Level 1 / 3 TPKs and player deaths seen by others and my tables seemed high. (Unless a GM ignored the scenario and fudged it for the players). (2/5)
Maps: The Map was nice I thought it had potential for more encounters. (3/5)
Uniqueness: I agree with other reviewers that only few sandbox scenarios in PFS exist so it was nice to play that way, however there was nothing special the encounters just the deadly haunt, and boss who was again OP (Perhaps less HD or levels). (3/5)
Faction Missions: several of the faction missions where ridiculous even with the help of other players, poorly placed but interesting ideas (some depending on crazy high rolls or small players in the party). (3/5)
Overall: The roleplaying and NPC development did not seem strong enough to hold my interest (2/5)

Badly paced and deadly

3/5 —

Temple of EE is an investigation scenario with some roleplay elements. I love roleplaying scenarios, however I didn't feel like the roleplay or intrigue elements in this scenario were strong enough for the scenario to focus on it almost exclusively.

What I liked:

1) Sandbox design. Absolutely no railroading.

2) Skill use and intelligent play allowed some encounters to be easier or bypassed.

What I didn't like:

1) The scenario needed more action/events and better pacing. The investigation was tedious by the middle of the scenario.

2) The NPCs weren't interesting enough to be the main attraction. For example, the NPCs in "Murder on the Throaty Mermaid" were much more interesting (and there were more of them) and had information to tell us.

3) It's easy to lose almost all of the gold in the scenario if your GM interprets a 5 hour thorough search as not being significant enough (compared to searching for a few rounds) to find the majority of loot in this scenario. This happened to us. Also, it would have felt strange stealing from the temple.

4) I thought that the scenario was extremely predictable and within 5 minutes of talking to the 1st NPC, I knew what both of the combat encounters would be.

5) The scenario can be deadly in several encounters.

The encounters were extremely difficult for 4 players at subtier 1-2. If we were level 1 (instead of 2), we would have TPKed (or lost a few PCs and ran) because of a few very powerful abilities, through no fault of our own.

Detailed Rating:

Length: We finished in a little over 4 hours. The last encounter took a long time.
Sweet Spot: TBD.
Experience: Player with four (level 2) players at subtier 1-2.
Entertainment: It had moments but it was poorly paced. Combat monkeys will be bored. (6/10)
Story: If your PCs have the right skills, the story is interesting.(5/10 or 9/10)
Roleplay: The NPC personalities and intrigue elements weren't strong enough for there to be no action for hours at a time. (6/10)
Combat/Challenges: Combats were too challenging for (non-twink) 4 player tables. Level 1 PC deaths and TPKs seem highly likely to me (unless GMs are fudging). (6/10)
Maps: I really liked the map (from what I saw). (9/10)
Boons: There is a unique item which takes a little too long to be useful (1 hour?) but it was a good attempt. (7/10)
Uniqueness: There are few sandbox scenarios in PFS, so this is welcome. The encounters themselves weren't unique, although I liked the choice for the boss (but maybe with less class levels). (8/10)
Faction Missions: Our one faction mission (shadow lodge) was creative. (8/10)

Overall: The roleplaying and intrigue elements weren't interesting enough to focus on exclusively. (7/10)

Great Role Playing Material

5/5 —

This is a great mod. Lots of chances to have lots of fun. Several ways of completing the mod where the characters can trigger "optional encounters" out of free will. Playing at the lower tier seems a lot easier than from what I have heard about the higher tier.
Some great role playing oportunities which are not to be missed!

More Like These, Please!

4/5 —

Great scenario. Lots of atmosphere, with lots of roleplaying cues.

-1 star for an overly punishing, un-fun final combat which relies on frustration to challenge the players.

-Matt

Excellent adventure

5/5 —

I've played and GM'd this module and it is first-rate - very much roleplay rather than rollplay for most of the module. It played out differently, with the combats against the BBEG happening in different places with different sidekicks and different tactics, and I understand from my group that they've had other variations. My only advice to GMs is that you really need to prepare this module carefully, but it's well worth doing.

The map of the temple is one of the best I've seen - really liked it.

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Announced! Cover image is a mockup.
Lantern Lodge

Curious... Is this in the Tian Xia Region ?
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Sort of. The temple is of Tianjing origin, but beyond that I don't want to give anything away.

Now available!

Congrats Ron!
Larcifer wrote:
Congrats Ron!

Thanks, Larry! I'm excited about this adventure. Some people remarked that my ” Tide of Twilight” was a bit linear in the combats and light on the roleplay/investigation. This adventure is sort of the opposite of that.

Lantern Lodge

Just ran this for a group of five the other day and had a few questions if you're willing to answer them.

Spoilers within!:

1) When it comes to how the Heresy Points act during the encounter with Dakang, can I get some clarification on that. That one description stated 'for every Heresy Point a PC has, he must reroll twice.' That doesn't mean that if one of the PCs participated in all four heretical practices, he has to reroll the attack 8 times in the first round? The paragraph does mention 'at the beginning of combat' so does that just mean for the first round or what? I modified it during playthrough because I was slightly confused by it, and I put each Heresy representing a different trait. Herey #1 (as I'm calling it) applied to Attacks, #2 to saves, and so on. Anyways, what was your original intention with that?

Secondly, I want to compliment you on the scenario. I absolutely and 100% loved it, but being a more heavy roleplay scenario, it really pushes the boundaries of the time standards that PFS has, and as such, might easily be ran by less experienced folk. Hopefully not, but its a possibility and I just wanted to throw that out there, so people now.

Other than those two quirks, I want to compliment you one last time on an outstanding experience - for both my players and for me as GM.
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Severed Ronin wrote:

Just ran this for a group of five the other day and had a few questions if you're willing to answer them.

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:

Let's assume Valeros, a fighter PC, has 3 Heresy Points. In the final conflict with Dakang, Valeros would need to roll twice on his first 3 d20 rolls of the encounter.

  • In round 1, he charges Dakang, and thus only gets a single attack, He rolls two d20s and takes the lower of the two rolls, to which he adds his normal attack bonus. This accounts for 1 of the 3 Heresy Points.
  • When Dakang's turn comes up, he channels negative energy, requiring Valeros to make a Will save. Again, he rolls two d20s and takes the lower of the two results. This is Heresy Point number 2.
  • On the next round, Valeros makes a full attack with two weapons. Since he's already used 2 of his 3 Heresy Points, only his first attack in the round requires two rolls. So with his main hand, he rolls twice and takes the lesser of the two results, then rolls his off-hand attack normally. Now he's used up all 3 of his Heresy Points.
  • All remaining d20 rolls during the encounter are handled normally, with only a single roll.
Lantern Lodge

Without quoting a thousand spoilers, I'll simply say thank you for te clarification. I feel more confidant running it this next time.

When presenting evidence to the guards of the corruption, does the DC drop by a certain amount per piece of evidence presented?

I'm running this tomorrow and going to go with a +4 bonus per piece. If they gather everything, it should be a gimmie.
Lantern Lodge
Wraithcannon wrote:

When presenting evidence to the guards of the corruption, does the DC drop by a certain amount per piece of evidence presented?

I'm running this tomorrow and going to go with a +4 bonus per piece. If they gather everything, it should be a gimmie.

When I ran it, I gave everyone a +2 bonus per piece.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
2 people marked this as a favorite.

It should be a +4 bonus. This detail got lost in development, and is on my todo list to get edited back into the PDF.
Lantern Lodge

Thank you for clarification, Mark. Appreciated.

What terrain type is Temple? Forest, Urban, other?
Liberty's Edge

Demi-plane? just ran this and dont think any terrain types fit. It is another plane.

Is there a reason, beyond what looks like an error, that some encounter areas have CR differences in the main entry and the subtier entries that do not match?

CR Issue?:

A5. Kitchen (CR 1 or CR 4)
Subtier 1–2 (CR 3)
Subtier 4–5 (CR 6)

A13. Garden (CR 3 or CR 6)
Subtier 1–2 (CR 2)
Subtier 4–5 (CR 6)

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Because sometimes we change how hard things are in development and the changes don't get implemented everywhere and then slip through editing. Luckily, I have a small adjustment I need to make to one of the encounters in this document anyway, and can adjust these when I do that. It should be sometime next week after PaizoCon's over that I have a chance to get those implemented.

I am wounded to see my first less-than-five-star review. Wounded, I say!

Seriously, though, I'm very pleased to see this adventure received so well!

Faction Mission Question:
Can I assume the Brass Scales weigh more than 5 lbs? Or do you want a simple Mage Hand to be able to get them?
Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy

Spoiler:
They can weigh less than 5 lbs. if a player comes up with the creative solution of using magic to retrieve them instead of Escape Artist. Given that the party has to survive a pretty tough battle to get access to them in the first place, I think that allowing this sort of use of a class ability in place of a skill check is fine.

This scenario sounds interesting. I'm not going to read the spoilers, but I will be participating in this module here soon. It's funny because this involves exploring an Aasimar temple (as it said in the description), and Albireo Renos, my Aasimar Cleric, should feel right at home lol. And just to clarify, at Genghis Con earlier this year, I won a boon sheet that allowed me to create an Aasimar ^^. Either way, Albireo should be just fine. It'll definately be interesting. Can't wait! =)

-Patrick.

I'm having some trouble with the big picture.

Spoiler:
The people in the tapestry - how did they get here? The stated reason seems to be that they wandered here from other sites within the tapestry. So Hao Jin put things in her tapestry that contained living people? That sounds - capital E - Evil.

And Hao Jin disappeared 300 years ago? Wouldn't the tapestry be crawling with multiple generations of people at this point? Not the temple itself - i see how the population would stay in control there - put the countryside should be thick with people at this point.

Has anyone come up with descriptions on how the other folks got there? That seems like the first thing players would ask.

Paizo Employee Director of Brand Strategy
1 person marked this as a favorite.
DMFTodd wrote:

I'm having some trouble with the big picture.

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
Hao Jin rarely intended to move people unwillingly into her realm, at least not when she wasn't collecting creatures specifically. In this case, Dakang was rooting around in the dirt in a battlefield she collected; the inhabitants in the Wonders in the Weave series were accidentally collected when the cave network they lived in was brought along with an old ruin adjacent to it; the inhabitants of Round Mountain were brought along when she pulled a whole sphere of earth from the Darklands into the tapestry to seal off invasion tunnels from below and save a nation under attack. Where the specific folks who appear in this adventure came from isn't defined, but when you're collecting whole ruined cities, ancient temples, and geographical wonders from across the world, there are likely to be a l few people who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And whether or not this fact would be considered evil, Hao Jin was certainly not good-aligned. She was, after all, a devout follower of Abadar.

One more question:

Spoiler:
Is Dakang supposed to have an unholy symbol hanging on his neck (which the players fond of doing so will try to sunder) or does he need one at all to channel and cast spells?.
Grand Lodge

I've seen this run twice, and both times the players have been confused for the reasons DMFTodd mentioned.

Spoiler:
One gets the impression that the world of the tapestry should be deserted save for a few other explorers. Being greeted at the door of the temple and finding that it was in use was confusing. My table assumed it was some sort of time shift, while another table thought it to be phantasms or some other type of sinister illusion. In both cases the adventure slowed to a crawl because the players were afraid to trust anyone.
Grand Lodge
Zathow wrote:

One more question:

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
Since he wears it painted on his face, I say no.
Grand Lodge

It wont let me leave a review but this is a fantastic PFS module. Highly recommended.

I know this is four years late but I have to say in response to Radiostorm:

I played through this module at SCARAB many years ago and had a blast, and as you mentioned, we did slow to somewhat of a crawl! The GM role played the whole scenario perfectly though. Looking back, because of the expectation of finding nothing, our characters where very wary. This lead to hilarity and unspeakable dread. It reminded me of a mix of Scooby-Doo, Benny Hill and The Ring. Which may not sounds great to some, but believe me, we could not stop laughing at the absurdity that was fear the entire scenario!

I mean come on, when has the PFS ever sent Pathfinders to a safe "abandoned" local? :-)
Grand Lodge

Pg. 8 - Suicide compulsion haunts

Both of these haunts describe the weapon used as a jagged length of wood. Should this be considered an improvised weapon? This won't matter on the coup de grace attempt, but when attacking someone trying to prevent the suicide attempt, an attack roll would be made.
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