
Jason Klimchok |

Jason Klimchok wrote:Got the pdf and finally got to see my baby. He's ugly as sin, but I love him anyway. *DISCLAIMER* ugly as sin is not commentary on the artwork, cuz it's awesome. He really is one ugly creature.The Fachen?
Hello fellow monstermaker.
Yes the Fachen. And hello to you, as well.

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So to those that got their pdfs already:
How's the Kaer Maga-iness of it all? :D
** spoiler omitted **
got the shipping notice today, waitan
One Eando Kline, you run into some of his old friends and enemies and get his belt of incredible dex at one point.
Two, Kaer Maga Itself. At some points in the AP it seems like there's a mention of how you should totally buy City of Strangers, on every other page. which is sort of annoying, but also completely justified.
There's a LOT on three groups, the Ardoc Family, The Troll Augurs, and the Duskwardens with a tiny bit more about the Librarians of the Therrasic Spire. You don't really encounter any other groups though.
There are also some nice touches, a magic River Paddle Boat run by a halfling serves as your transportation to Kaer Maga for instance. as well as the Thassilonian uses and History of Kaer Maga. People who like teh city will probably like this module a lot. people who don't... not so much.
Disappointingly, The sidebar about the seven swords of sin wasn't particularly helpful. It basically advises grabbing the dungeon rooms, stripping them of their story stuff, and adding them into the existing dungeon. I wanted to know how to fit the Seven Swords module's story into this one.

James Sutter Senior Editor/Fiction Editor |

Who made the ** spoiler omitted ** up? Cause it's manifestly awesome. Is it intentional that you can grab it at caster level 7 as an improved familiar but cannot craft it until caster level 12?
That was me! And the reason you have to be higher-level to make it is just because that sort of construct-building magic is complex. Fortunately, if you want to take a clockwork familiar at a lower level, there are totally folks like the Ardoc family willing to sell you one. :)

Dragon78 |

Clockwork familiar(CR2)-construct familiar with the abiity to gain special abilities from limited use magic items(scrolls, wands, potions).
Fachen(CR5)one eyed, one arm, one legged aberration that eats humaniods and it's own kind.
Polevik(CR5)fey creature with symbiotic relationship with fungus and molds, can make alchemical items, use puffball fungus as thrown weapons.

Amaranthine Witch |

I loved this issue of the adventure path. Kaer Maga is one of my favourite cities of Golarion, and any new information is always welcome.
Mr. Sutter, if a sylph wizard and construct crafter of the Kaddren family (the spellcaster nobles of Magnimar that sponsor the Golemworks) wanted to marry into the Ardoc family, do you think they would welcome his proposal?
And do the following NPC fit into the Ardoc Family?
Xio (N kitsune bard 4) who married an Ardoc brother, and her son Vasily "White Fox" Ardoc (NG kitsune oracle6/harrower1), who would be the husband of the sylph.
Also, do you have to be able to establish an arcane bond to have a clockwork familiar, or you can craft them as you would soulbound dolls and homunculi?

James Sutter Senior Editor/Fiction Editor |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |

I loved this issue of the adventure path. Kaer Maga is one of my favourite cities of Golarion, and any new information is always welcome.
Mr. Sutter, if a sylph wizard and construct crafter of the Kaddren family (the spellcaster nobles of Magnimar that sponsor the Golemworks) wanted to marry into the Ardoc family, do you think they would welcome his proposal?
And do the following NPC fit into the Ardoc Family?
Xio (N kitsune bard 4) who married an Ardoc brother, and her son Vasily "White Fox" Ardoc (NG kitsune oracle6/harrower1), who would be the husband of the sylph.
Also, do you have to be able to establish an arcane bond to have a clockwork familiar, or you can craft them as you would soulbound dolls and homunculi?
Thanks, Amaranthine! And I suspect that your construct crafter would fit quite well with the Ardocs. As for the kitsune--sure, why not? The Ardocs are mainly human, but Kaer Maga's a weird, melting-pot sort of place. And as Berkanin himself has proven, it's not unheard of for members to associate with those of more exotic races.
I don't think you need to actually have the arcane bond to hang around with a clockwork familiar--they're creatures in their own right, and some wizards might make them for sale to other folks looking for familiars, etc.

Generic Villain |
I also love how so many of the combat encounters in this adventure can be solved without combat. I didn't count, but I'd guess that roughly half of the battles here can be won with some quick talking. Another refreshing change from your typical dungeon crawl.
Also: pale stranger wth?! Weird but cool encounter.
In short, James Sutter needs to write more adventures. I hope each future AP has an issue arbitrarily set in Kaer Maga just to make sure that happens.

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I take back a bit about my 7 swords of Sin complaint in the sidebar. there are actually two separate sidebars about it. One is in the articles, which presents a very solid hook to get the PCs to investigate the dungeon using

James Sutter Senior Editor/Fiction Editor |

I take back a bit about my 7 swords of Sin complaint in the sidebar. there are actually two separate sidebars about it. One is in the articles, which presents a very solid hook to get the PCs to investigate the dungeon using ** spoiler omitted ** I just wish there was a section explaining how to deal with the 7 swords once the PCs get them. and ** spoiler omitted **
Glad we were able to help at least a little bit. :) Originally I planned to write up more about how to interlace the two, but space is always at a premium in an AP, and in the end I opted to present as much new content as I could. Still, I look forward to hearing what happens when you combine the adventures!

James Sutter Senior Editor/Fiction Editor |

** spoiler omitted **
In short, James Sutter needs to write more adventures. I hope each future AP has an issue arbitrarily set in Kaer Maga just to make sure that happens.
Thanks, GV! And while I don't expect to write another Kaer Maga adventure anytime soon--gotta let those batteries recharge--the currently-in-progress sequel to Death's Heretic is set there, so I'm still spending a lot of time living in the City of Strangers, and can't wait to share with folks!

zergtitan |

Stratagemini wrote:I take back a bit about my 7 swords of Sin complaint in the sidebar. there are actually two separate sidebars about it. One is in the articles, which presents a very solid hook to get the PCs to investigate the dungeon using ** spoiler omitted ** I just wish there was a section explaining how to deal with the 7 swords once the PCs get them. and ** spoiler omitted **Glad we were able to help at least a little bit. :) Originally I planned to write up more about how to interlace the two, but space is always at a premium in an AP, and in the end I opted to present as much new content as I could. Still, I look forward to hearing what happens when you combine the adventures!
Though this may be a bit of a stretch, you could have an updated version of the seven swords of sin adventure produced with details on how to integrate it with this adventure path.
Though this is just an option and not really a formal request. *nudge*

Mechalibur |

Hmm, I think when my players meet with Maligast...
Also, I was kind of hoping the Gangs of Kaer Maga section would have more info on gangs not featured in the AP. Actually, it could just be that I'm a bigger fan of the Arcanist's Circle, Tallow Boys, and Brothers of the Seal than the Duskwardens and Ardocs.
Another error I noticed:

Zaister |
And of course I'm not judging the adventure until I've read it.
Now that I've read it, I'm afraid I must say this is really not at all an adventure I look forward to running when I will eventually run this adventure path. Far too much bizarre "monster city" stuff for my taste. Not really the kind of encounters I want to see in my game, and I dread playing encounters like troll augurs (ugh!), cat people, bloatmages, or these disgusting sounding "caulborn". I'm not a fan of the Dark Rider creature either. I really can't relate at all to these kind of things, and for me they just don't fit into a campaign as I'd like to run it. Ah, well. Sorry about that. I can't even bring myself to read stuff like "Gangs of Kaer Maga" (and it doesn't help that the title reminds me of that awful Scorsese movie...)

James Sutter Senior Editor/Fiction Editor |

Also, I was kind of hoping the Gangs of Kaer Maga section would have more info on gangs not featured in the AP. Actually, it could just be that I'm a bigger fan of the Arcanist's Circle, Tallow Boys, and Brothers of the Seal than the Duskwardens and Ardocs.
I really wanted to do more gangs in the article, but it just didn't have the space. Instead, I tried to cover the three that are most tied to the adventure in order to maximize the utility for GMs who didn't care about the city, only the AP. But I'm glad to hear that you like the other groups as well! :)

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Holding haaaaaands
The racial features for one character and the conclusions that could be drawn concerning his race as it once was from both that and his artwork paints quite the picture of
Really dug that little bit. :D
All the myriad factions that can come into play as written are probably going to lead to some crazy wild variation between groups that run through this adventure. Also, the troll augurs are superkeen. Trolls have kind of been all over the place design-wise in their Pathfinder art, but I think these guys stand out, as far as their artwork selling their being civilized.

selunatic2397 |

I like how Luonim the Vast set off the trap by an innocent comment when they saw the jelly blob symbol thingie...
"What the hell is that?"...I have no doubt that will be the word for word quote of my own group.
Yes I know the jelly blob symbol thingie has a proper name but my module is accros the house at the moment.

Wanda V'orcus |

Is there any particular reason why the magical properties and curses of the *shard of gluttony* (and the *shard of lust* from the previous installment) don't seem to be listed in either Adventure Path?
Or am I missing something completely obvious? (Wouldn't be the first time...)
Just curious...
JohnH aka Wanda

Frumple |

I think there is an error with the Knowledge skills with the Chrestomath. (I am trying to enter it into Hero Lab :) ). Assuming the knowledge skills with +32 are class skills, there is not enough skill points (even with the +10 bonus) to get the skill totals in the stat blocks (currently it looks like it is 18 overspent). Am I missing something?

Zaister |
James Sutter wrote:No problem, you can't please everyone all the time, and there are certainly more people here that enjoy this kind of stuff, so it's perfectly all right. And of course I'm not judging the adventure until I've read it.Zaister wrote:Not a fan of Mos Eisley, er... Kaer Maga at all, which is really putting me off a bit about this AP which otherwise sounds fine. I really really wouldn't want to run adventures in Kaer Maga. Hm.Sorry to hear that, but it should be noted that the adventure itself is pretty much three different dungeons. Even if you wanted to scrub out all the Kaer Maga-specific details, you'd still have three very different dungeon romps to play with.
Zaister wrote:And of course I'm not judging the adventure until I've read it.Now that I've read it, I'm afraid I must say this is really not at all an adventure I look forward to running when I will eventually run this adventure path. Far too much bizarre "monster city" stuff for my taste. Not really the kind of encounters I want to see in my game, and I dread playing encounters like troll augurs (ugh!), cat people, bloatmages, or these disgusting sounding "caulborn". I'm not a fan of the Dark Rider creature either. I really can't relate at all to these kind of things, and for me they just don't fit into a campaign as I'd like to run it. Ah, well. Sorry about that. I can't even bring myself to read stuff like "Gangs of Kaer Maga" (and it doesn't help that the title reminds me of that awful Scorsese movie...)
Well here we are, a bit more than three year later, and I have to go back and maybe apopogize for my harsh words. I actually ran the adventure now in my Monday night game, and I must say, it was fun to run and to play and expand on some weird characters from Kaer Maga, such as the priestess of the Child Goddess for example, that I played up as very weird and mysterious when the characters went looking for clerical magic in the city. My players were also creeped out by the weirdness of the Black Fortress dungeon and its disgusting decor and treasures. All in all, the adventure was a success with my group, and everyone, including me, had a lot of fun.

Brother Fen |
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Reviewed.
I just finished running this for my mythic campaign and I have to say that this is probably the best adventure I've ever run to date. The Asylum Stone should go down in the top ten lists of greatest modules of all time.
I am a bit put off by reviewers that post negative reviews without ever running the adventure. Simply put, I don't think they know what they are talking about. Run the adventure first and then review it.