Mike Shel Contributor |
WalterGM RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 8 |
For those running this scenario at GenCon:
With your permission I'll be sitting in on several sessions and would be happy to answer questions for you, especially if you don't get lots of time for prep. Feel free to private message me here if you don't mind me sitting in to watch the action.
Thanks for being available Mike! I'll let you know if I have any questions once I get it in my downloads. :)
Dragnmoon |
Mike, Hope to see you sitting at my table again this year!
That said... what are the chances we will see this (and the other scenarios we are wiaitng on) given to the GenCon GMs today?
Because of odd situation I am going through right now, if I don't get it today it will be very difficult for me to be able to prep this before Gen Con.
John Compton Developer |
It's my first day back after Gen Con, and I've caught up on reading reviews. I appreciate the feedback—especially for it being predominantly positive.
Thanks for pointing out the difficulty of tying in the optional encounter and making the full Prestige award. I'll be certain to keep an eye out for that in the future.
Phillip Goettsch |
Small point, but I was reviewing this scenario to get an idea what secondary success conditions would look like (running #13 tomorrow). I really like the addition of boons to the chronicle for faction goal advancement.
The small point I really wanted to make was that the chronicle lists gear rewards for all subtiers and subtler 8-9. I'm sure this was a layout/cut paste over sight as the scenario is level 1-5.
Just thought I would point it out in case no one has said anything yet.
Rerednaw |
Played it today.
Kind of meh...in the end it seemed just like any other have this one skill or fail scenario.
On the plus side, I did enjoy the story. Pretty nicely written, thanks.
Since the rest of the party at Tier 1-2 decided 1) not to slaughter everyone and 2) could not beat a +37 sense motive with bluff we failed the mission. Also low tier has limited options in dealing with an invisible boss.
Going to see if it runs a bit different, maybe it was our GM and group.
Sior |
** spoiler omitted **
I do apologize for my part in not keeping people on track and shutting them up so others could play. I also apologize for mis-speaking.
Rerednaw |
Rerednaw wrote:** spoiler omitted **I do apologize for my part in not keeping people on track and shutting them up so others could play. I also apologize for mis-speaking. ** spoiler omitted **You lot absolutely trounced the final fight. I was left in the dust trying to catch up. Not much I could have done different with those tactics.
@Sior
Did we play the same session? As I recall, we basically popped cover and fled. :) I don't consider fleeing and module failure a big success. On the other hand nobody died which was a nice plus.
I thought your GM style was fine, BTW. That other stuff wasn't your fault.
I still have a fundamental issue with "one skill check or fail" but that's just how it's written is all. I prefer something along the lines of make at least 3 out of 4 or similar. That way when the dice pulls a Han Solo Stealth/Bluff check we can make it up. Also if it is a round of such rolls it encourages more player engagement out of combat something PFS still has some difficulty with. I guess more like the way skill challenges are done in 4th DND. :)
Renegade Paladin |
Played this about a month ago. 2nd level greatsword paladin > river drake, apparently.
Sadly the local PFS group has a few people who basically play murderhobos and made a hash out of the whole inn infiltration (you'd think it would be the paladin screwing up the bluffing, but nope, it was the rogues), but we managed to rescue the prisoners and destroyed the final encounter; I wasted smite because the cleric (I guess not a cleric from the discussion? She died too quickly to say) got completely gibbed before I could get a second turn.
Dan Houser |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
This is an actual exchange from tonight's running of this scenario.
"So what's her AC? I got a 19?"
"She's a grandma...so her AC is 9 - you hit her for nearly all her HP, and she screams and begs for mercy."
"Her AC is 9?"
"She's a grandma."
Luckily the party got the hint that while the sisters MAY be evil, hell, they may be involved in some awful things, they're NOT combatants -- I only had to explain to them one time that they were bordering on evil actions when it came to these three women.
Night Hag, witch, demons, ghosts, they were none of those things. But two members of the party assumed they were.
The Urban Ranger Tiefling with HUMAN as his Preferred Enemy - took this to mean he hates humans and so therefore felt NOTHING about beating on a defenseless elderly woman. Attempted to justify an evil act by saying 'But my character HATES humans.'
So? She's a grandma. That was my only response.
Maybe in future -- we don't put something like 'If someone from this land treats you with kindness, it's cause for suspicion.'in our scenarios, then have defenseless elderly women be kind to the PCs. Or, we actually MAKE THE EVIL WOMEN EVIL. Ratting people out to the authorities is not 'punch the grandma in the face' level of evil needing thwarting. But if you plant that seed of 'If they're kind, be suspicious' with Murder Hobos -- bear in mind they will IMMEDIATELY punch a grandma.
Irnk, Dead-Eye's Prodigal |
Quote:The Urban Ranger Tiefling with HUMAN as his Preferred Enemy - took this to mean he hates humans....Sigh.... "trained to fight against" is not the same as "hates", but it's a pity folks don't realize that.
Unfortunately, the mechanics of the class can be argued to favor the player's interpretation. When the only way you can take your own race as a Favored Enemy is be being of an evil alignment, it rather implies an antagonistic relationship with said Favored Enemy...
Iammars |
When the only way you can take your own race as a Favored Enemy is be being of an evil alignment, it rather implies an antagonistic relationship with said Favored Enemy...
[citation needed]
Favored Enemy (Ex): At 1st level, a ranger selects a creature type from the ranger favored enemies table. He gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks against creatures of his selected type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against them. A ranger may make Knowledge skill checks untrained when attempting to identify these creatures.
At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored enemy. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by +2.
If the ranger chooses humanoids or outsiders as a favored enemy, he must also choose an associated subtype, as indicated on the table below. (Note that there are other types of humanoid to choose from—those called out specifically on the table below are merely the most common.) If a specific creature falls into more than one category of favored enemy, the ranger's bonuses do not stack; he simply uses whichever bonus is higher.
"Devil's Advocate" |
It's kind of a throw back. In 2E, a Ranger had to attack their favored enemy to the exclusion of others unless it was completely impractical. In 3.0, you had t be evil to select your own race as a Favored Enemy unless they where normally evil (like Drow), (I think it was something like that). In 3.5 that mostly went away and a bit more social effects where added in. It still retains the Favored Enemy rather than something like Favored Target/Subject.
John Compton Developer |
kevin_video |
There are not stat blocks for any of these three NPCs at this time. It's possible that a future scenario might provide them full stat blocks.
Okay. So nothing in 5-01. This is how it reads right now in the 5-21 adventure:
TEMEL PASSAD
LN male human expert/prophet of Kalistrade
METELLA RAUGER
LG female dwarf expert/fighter
Tier 1-2
TEMEL PASSAD OR METELLA RAUGER CR 1
Shopkeep (Pathfinder RPG Gamemastery Guide 284)
hp 13
Tier 4-5
TEMEL PASSAD OR METELLA RAUGER CR 5
Traveling merchant (Pathfinder RPG Gamemastery Guide 285)
hp 31
John Compton Developer |
Yep, noted. The NPC Codex reference is very useful for approximating their statistics in that adventure, but that sample expert does not reflect their exact class mixes. Likewise, the differences over the subtiers (important for the adventure) make the substitution a little less satisfying in the long run. I would want to provide a definitive character level before saying that something is the canonical stat block for one or the other. Any one of them is probably in the level 5-8 range.
Might I ask why it is important to have their exact stats? Is there a compulsion or charm spell involved?
kevin_video |
Yep, noted. The NPC Codex reference is very useful for approximating their statistics in that adventure, but that sample expert does not reflect their exact class mixes. Likewise, the differences over the subtiers (important for the adventure) make the substitution a little less satisfying in the long run. I would want to provide a definitive character level before saying that something is the canonical stat block for one or the other. Any one of them is probably in the level 5-8 range.
Might I ask why it is important to have their exact stats? Is there a compulsion or charm spell involved?
Apparently it makes it easier to run. I've never ran the adventure myself, but it's been brought up a few times in the reviews, and someone on FB was in need of it for their game. Apparently a number of people required it for one reason or another.