Pathfinder Adventure Path #78: City of Locusts (Wrath of the Righteous 6 of 6) (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #78: City of Locusts (Wrath of the Righteous 6 of 6) (PFRPG)
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Chapter 6: "City of Locusts"
by Richard Pett

The Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path concludes with “City of Locusts,” a thrilling climax by fan-favorite author Richard Pett! The heroes of the Fifth Crusade have risen to heights of power undreamed of and have dealt blow after blow to the demonic armies of the Worldwound. As they return to Golarion from the Abyss, though, they find that their enemies are no longer sending minions after them—they've drawn the attention of not only the leaders of the Worldwound, but that of their demonic patron, Deskari, Lord of the Locust Host. The method for closing the Worldwound permanently lies within the heroes’ grasp, but in order to do so they must venture where no crusader has ever returned from intact. They must enter the crumbling City of Locusts to defeat its demonic ruler, but even this is but a stepping stone to the final battle against Deskari himself!

“City of Locusts” is a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for 18th-level characters who have gained nine mythic tiers. The adventure utilizes rules from Mythic Adventures in order to portray a campaign of truly epic potential. An exploration of the apocalyptic cult of Deskari, along with an article filled with suggestions for how to both continue this campaign and to launch a new one in the transformed Worldwound after the heroes succeed (or perhaps fail) round out this volume, along with a bestiary of several monsters (including the final demon lord to be presented during the campaign!) and part six of Robin D. Laws's Pathfinder Journal novella!

Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.

ISBN–13: 978-1-60125-587-7

"City of Locusts" is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (1.6 MB PDF).

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Out of left field

1/5

So, the PCs spend five modules building up their armies, preparing to take on the hordes of the Abyss aaaaand...

A bunch of NPCs from some novels solve a major plot point for them. They leave their armies behind to go to the center of the Worldwound and find what STRANGE MYSTERIES await them there. What crazy amazing secret lies at the center of the Worldwound, you might ask?

A demonic brothel. After five epic modules, the PCs go hang out in a demonic brothel for some weird reason.

I have no idea who decided this was a good idea, but this module was really Paizo showing its embarrassing side in every possible way. I have run this AP twice, and I always have to throw out this module entirely. I wish I hadn't even bought it, because it just takes up space on my shelf. God forbid you have female players in your game, because in addition to being a totally out of left field module, it is EXTREMELY LIKELY to make them EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE as your male players giggle about which demon they want to bang.

Look up the Storm King's stats online and write your own ending. You cannot possibly do a worse job on your own, even if you tried.


A somewhat anti-climactic end to an epic AP

2/5

Just to get this out of the way, let me start with the following obligatory advice:

Advice on adjusting the difficulty level of this AP:
Before running this AP, I was warned that the power of mythic PCs quickly outpaced the difficulty of the encounters the AP provides. Despite taking a number of precautions to mitigate this (having players use a 10 point-buy, applying advanced templates to every mythic creature, etc), I found this to be true.

In light of our experiences, and those reported on the boards, the consensus seems to be that there are two generally viable ways to deal with these problems:

Option 1: Power-down the PCs.

(a) Don't give the PCs mythic ranks.

(b) [Optional:] Use the Hero Point system introduced in the APG, and give the PCs a number of Hero Points per day equal to the number of mythic ranks they're supposed to have. (This makes players a bit more robust.)

(c) More or less play the AP as is. (Though there are a couple of encounters in book 6 that will probably need to be made a bit easier).

Option 2: Power-up the encounters.

(a) Give the PCs mythic ranks as the AP suggests (possibly with the nerfs suggested in Mythic Solutions).

(b) Use the (vastly) upgraded stat blocks presented in Sc8rpi8n_mjd's modified stat blocks document to upgrade encounters, and then further multiply the HPs given in the stat blocks by something like (creature's mythic rank+3)/3. (For more optimized players you may need to multiply HPs even more.)

Our experience, FWIW: We played books 1-4 more or less as is, and (despite my efforts to boost and combine encounters) found books 3 and 4 to be far too easy to be fun. We then adopted something like option 2 for books 5 and 6, and found that to be much more challenging and enjoyable. But we also found that combat can take forever -- don't be surprised if you find yourself needing to spend more than one session to get through a fight.

For the conclusion to an epic AP, the story of this leg of the AP feels oddly uneven. Parts feel appropriately epic -- the PCs fighting the Storm King, and working to permanently close the Worldwound. But other parts feel oddly out of place -- the players are supposed to spend a while working through a demonic brothel whose entire staff and clientele combined couldn't come close to threatening a single mythic PC at this level, and the lead-up to the finale is... a dungeon crawl filled with a number of high level mythic opponents on a par with the Storm King, who I guess were just sitting around for some reason?... An unfortunately anti-climactic way to wrap up the story in this AP.

As with the previous legs of this AP, most of the encounters in this AP are far too easy for mythic PCs. Happily, the gap here is a bit less than it was in books 4 and 5 -- for the first time in this AP we get a couple encounters that are probably too difficult for non-mythic PCs. Unfortunately, these encounters are still trivially easy for mythic PCs.

--Fun of playing this leg of the AP, as written: 1/5
--Fun of the story of this leg of the AP: 4/5
--Total score: 2.5/5 (rounded down)


An Impressive Ending For A Great Adventure Path

5/5

City of Locusts was a satisfying and exciting end for a fantastic adventure path. Its pace is quite fast, so PCs had better be ready to fight, and fight hard.

Drezen will be pretty much under constant attack, so the more troops and allies PCs have managed to make, the better off everyone will be. Even NPC companions from the first adventure can be of help in this final installment.

Encounters with the final villains of Wrath of the Righteous may prove to be emotional for players. The battle with the Storm King was deadly and horrifying. He may be one of the most powerful opponents ever encountered in an adventure path. Areelu was also a dangerous foe, and her destruction will be satisfying for any PCs who have been personally hurt by her actions. The saddest and most unexpected battle was against the fallen spirit of Terendelev. Our players were heartbroken to know their rescuer had been suffering this whole time.

By the end of the adventure, players will be very pleased with all they’ve managed to accomplish. At 20 levels and 10 mythic tiers, characters will be as strong as they could ever hope to be. The module even offers advice for what such mighty characters may want to do next, such as start their own kingdoms, organizations or religions.

I love adventures written by Richard Pett. His vivid descriptions of locations, characters and bizarre treasures are always a delight.

Highly recommended!


Great Climax

5/5

This was a solid finish for one of the best APs they've put out yet. Challenging PC's of this level isn't easy, but the Storm King made us sweat. This final adventure has so many nasty ideas stirred into the mix, yet it still moved the story forward to the satisfying conclusion.

I was sorry to read that there won't be anymore Mythic APs. My disappointment is only deepened by how well Wrath of the Righteous came to its end. This is one of our top campaigns. Only Shattered Star and Crimson Throne come anywhere close.


Don't waste your time (or that of your players)

1/5

I loved this Adventure Path. From the first book, I was hooked. That's why I find it so disappointing that it sputters out with the most boring, impossibly un-epic finale like this. Let me save you curious folk some time:

The players faff about in a brothel that's too low-level for them. Then they go to a tower and solve a mystery literally every single one of them should have already figured out, find a magical macguffin, fight ANOTHER succubus queen (as if the last four weren't enough) and then... don't even fight Deskari. Worldwound closes, peace and eternity I guess, Queen Galfrey, like, retires?? Just steps aside so a real man can do the job a lady couldn't handle or something. Meanwhile, Deskari derps around in a pocket dimension. Too bad fighting him was "beyond the scope of the path"!

You know what I - and especially my players - would have rather done than go to a wildly out of place succubus brothel? Fight Deskari. That would have saved you some precious page room, Paizo. And gah, that brothel! WHY? A brothel out in the ruined wastelands that supposedly caters to "only the most elite of the elite" and "has something for everyone, even the rarest taste" - except it has 5 chicks, with 1 disguised as a dude I guess. Really? I mean, Paizo is really progressive in a lot of ways, but there's starting to be a clear, sorta creepy hang-up about having anything sexual being exclusively portrayed by women (roughly a ratio of 99% at this rate). I dunno, I just find it really, really, really hard to believe that anyone at level 15+ could give a single fig about this brothel, much less two.

And it's out of place, so much so that the whole pace ground to a halt and people in my play group had to constantly ask me what they were supposed to do, why were they there, why weren't they out doing more productive things? They were too powerful for any of the brothel encounters so they weren't afraid of fighting, and too good to be inclined to consort - at all - with some clearly, CLEARLY evil demons. I'm so mad, because if this had been in Midnight Isles, it would have still been a remarkably lame, tame, and boring brothel, one you could take your grandmother to it's so conventional (hardly fitting for "the exclusive delight" of the entire Deskari host), but it would have made sense. Well, at least, more sense than popping up and grinding the entire campaign to a halt.

Then some other encounters happen, nothing noteworthy or meaningful, then you fight Arelash or whatever and she's basically the exact clone of any succubus boss ever (one you may have fought twice already, if your players - like mine did - angered Nocticula). Then that's it. The macguffin saves the day, your players don't even need to solve a single puzzle, the end. It's remarkable how unsatisfying an ending this book is to a campaign.

tl:dr - Even if you bought every other book in the campaign, don't buy this. You can use random monster generators to make better encounters and there is nothing at all that matters in this book.


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Lord Snow wrote:
And yeah, 6 players IS a big deal... which I think is a certain weakness in the design of what is essentialy as social game. Pathfinder DOES begin to crumble when a party has a slightly different party size. But what are you to do if you have 6 friends who want to play? not everyone can afford the time to split the groups, and many wouldn't even want to. This is a serious issue.

While I'll admit that a party of six got significantly better synergies than a party of four - what's stopping you from giving the same kind of synergies to the opposition?

Instead of increasing the number of orc raiders by 50%, add some bards and/or clerics to the band.

Instead of adding another +1 template onto the solo boss, give him a lieutenant for buffing, battlefield control, or the like.

If action economy or effect synergy is what makes the party strong, use it right back at them.

The Exchange

Midnight_Angel wrote:
Lord Snow wrote:
And yeah, 6 players IS a big deal... which I think is a certain weakness in the design of what is essentialy as social game. Pathfinder DOES begin to crumble when a party has a slightly different party size. But what are you to do if you have 6 friends who want to play? not everyone can afford the time to split the groups, and many wouldn't even want to. This is a serious issue.

While I'll admit that a party of six got significantly better synergies than a party of four - what's stopping you from giving the same kind of synergies to the opposition?

Instead of increasing the number of orc raiders by 50%, add some bards and/or clerics to the band.

Instead of adding another +1 template onto the solo boss, give him a lieutenant for buffing, battlefield control, or the like.

If action economy or effect synergy is what makes the party strong, use it right back at them.

My intention was that it's very hard and time consuming to convert a Pathfinder game designed for 4 players into a game designed for more (or less) players. If just increasing number of enemies by 50% would have worked, or something similarly simple, that would have been a major strength of the game. However, a seasoned GM with a lot of time is required to change the game enough to make it work for 6 players. And that's a rather serious problem for a game that's designed around having your friends come over for some fun, because many groups of friends include more (or less) than 5 members.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I'd say that if your group is larger, you should try running PF adventures with a game system that's more forgiving in such cases. D&D of all editions is very much tied to the idea of a 4-5 player group, and the whole math revolves around that.


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I think the issue here is that you're expecting a 50% increase from adding two players, when in reality, it can be a much larger difference. It depends on class, the player's experience, build... and the higher the level everyone is, the harder things get. So I think assuming a 50% increase is the issue. Instead you really have to gauge it with the ability of the players.

Also, my escalating minions works pretty well. It never feels like a slog, more like, well, an escalating battle. Mind you, I don't have them keep swarming until they are all dead. I do have them retreat for better positioning and regrouping.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

Honestly, I think five players changes the dynamic. That is not a popular opinion among developers and professional designers, but my actual play experience points to it. That's 20% more actions on the player side.

The Exchange

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Jim Groves wrote:
Honestly, I think five players changes the dynamic. That is not a popular opinion among developers and professional designers, but my actual play experience points to it. That's 20% more actions on the player side.

25%.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

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Lord Snow wrote:


25%.

Opens and closes mouth.

Yes, 25%.

;-D


Assuming all players contribute equally, which isn't always the case. At the risk of starting a martial/caster disparity thread, when the fifth player is a caster, spells really do change things around.

Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4

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Odraude wrote:
Assuming all players contribute equally, which isn't always the case. At the risk of starting a martial/caster disparity thread, when the fifth player is a caster, spells really do change things around.

It's true that not all players contribute equally. However, my experience is that a fifth player always makes a difference (unless they're unconscious, paralyzed, and/or the player is absent and no one is running their PC).

I can't show that to you mathematically. At best, I can say they contribute 25% more effort and that might only consist of healing and buffing the other players. Nevertheless, the reason that I posted is because I believe that makes a difference.

And I am prepared for salaried developers and everybody else to disagree with me. And I'm saying that light-heartedly and in the spirit of fun, but I really mean it. We can all agree to disagree.

However, this is a broad sweeping statement, not a hard fast rule. When I run an AP with 5 players (and I do that regularly) I bump up ALMOST every encounter due to that fifth player. There are always a couple encounters I look at and say to myself, "No, don't bump that one up. That one can handle five players just fine."

Two weeks ago I looked at three chimera and one of them had an advanced template, and I said—"no changes necessary".

Fortunately I am an empowered GM and I can do that. Paizo grants me blanket permission to do that in my home game. Astonishingly, they grant that same license to EVERYONE. :D


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magnuskn, have you considered giving all of the enemies in the AP guns and armor spikes?

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Tirisfal wrote:
magnuskn, have you considered giving all of the enemies in the AP guns and armor spikes?

And vestigal arms holding bastard swords?


Jim Groves wrote:
Odraude wrote:
Assuming all players contribute equally, which isn't always the case. At the risk of starting a martial/caster disparity thread, when the fifth player is a caster, spells really do change things around.

It's true that not all players contribute equally. However, my experience is that a fifth player always makes a difference (unless they're unconscious, paralyzed, and/or the player is absent and no one is running their PC).

I can't show that to you mathematically. At best, I can say they contribute 25% more effort and that might only consist of healing and buffing the other players. Nevertheless, the reason that I posted is because I believe that makes a difference.

And I am prepared for salaried developers and everybody else to disagree with me. And I'm saying that light-heartedly and in the spirit of fun, but I really mean it. We can all agree to disagree.

However, this is a broad sweeping statement, not a hard fast rule. When I run an AP with 5 players (and I do that regularly) I bump up ALMOST every encounter due to that fifth player. There are always a couple encounters I look at and say to myself, "No, don't bump that one up. That one can handle five players just fine."

Two weeks ago I looked at three chimera and one of them had an advanced template, and I said—"no changes necessary".

Fortunately I am an empowered GM and I can do that. Paizo grants me blanket permission to do that in my home game. Astonishingly, they grant that same license to EVERYONE. :D

Actually, I agree with you that a fifth person does make a difference. I just think that it can't really be quantified simply by a percentage like 25%.


Gorbacz wrote:
And vestigal arms holding bastard swords?

Oversized bastard swords? *ducks for cover*

Odraude wrote:
Actually, I agree with you that a fifth person does make a difference. I just think that it can't really be quantified simply by a percentage like 25%.

It really depends on who that 5th person is.

Our current CoT group (Ftr Pal Rog Sor Wiz), when complete, is having less difficulty with bumped up encounters than the same group minus one player has with standard encounters.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Tirisfal wrote:
magnuskn, have you considered giving all of the enemies in the AP guns and armor spikes?

That would only lead to the party having all the guns and armor spikes afterwards.


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magnuskn wrote:
Tirisfal wrote:
magnuskn, have you considered giving all of the enemies in the AP guns and armor spikes?
That would only lead to the party having all the guns and armor spikes afterwards.

Not if those weapons explode in daylight!

:D


Quote:
along with a bestiary of several monsters (including the final demon lords to be presented during the campaign!)

Does this mean there will be an extra bestiary for demon lords or does that mean there will be less monsters and more demon lords? or does that mean we get more than 4 monsters in this bestiary?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Odraude wrote:
magnuskn wrote:
Tirisfal wrote:
magnuskn, have you considered giving all of the enemies in the AP guns and armor spikes?
That would only lead to the party having all the guns and armor spikes afterwards.

Not if those weapons explode in daylight!

:D

Is there even real "daylight" in the Worldwound and the Abyss? :p

Exo-Guardians

The enemy's weapons exploding when they die? I'm sure I've seen that in a video game recently. "You'll take my heavy plasma from my cold dead hands"

I can tell you from running multiple AP's, group size is a huge factor in how encounters go. More than one primary caster or full BAB class and fights can go very quick. With 6 in Kingmaker and 5 in Way of the Wicked I've needed to upgrade or combine encounters to make them a challenge. Technically, if you let the PC's lag behind a bit it might help. As you are dividing the XP between 5 or 6 instead of 4 this will happen naturally. As long as you don't add extra stuff of course.

Normally encounters get modified (the advanced template is really handy for this as it can be done on the fly). And even a group with 5 or 6 can have a blind spot. Tweaking an encounter to attack that spot can spice things up.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Gancanagh wrote:
Quote:
along with a bestiary of several monsters (including the final demon lords to be presented during the campaign!)
Does this mean there will be an extra bestiary for demon lords or does that mean there will be less monsters and more demon lords? or does that mean we get more than 4 monsters in this bestiary?

There are 4 monsters in this volume's bestiary, one of which is a demon lord.


Sounds like this issue is going to be ridiculously awesome! The PCs get to fight

:
Undead Terendelev, Khorramzadeh, Areelu, Aponavicius, and Deskari all in one adventure!!

Cannot wait for this one

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Yup! Truly epic and that after the last volume where they fought

:
baphomet and the corrupted herald of iomadae
. Freaking awesome!

Shadow Lodge

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Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
magnuskn wrote:

What I fail to see is how them taking good skills makes them so much better than "average" players. I imagine the average RPG player is an above-average intelligent person and thus, when presented with a host of choices, will try to take an effective one most of the time (outside of RP choices, of course). Perception is the most important skill in the game, every AP module published will teach you that. Diplomacy is the second most important skill in the game, both for its versatility in finding local information and because Paizo seems to hate Intimidate when having people interact with their NPC's (see the first module of Wrath of the Righteous for a good example of that).

Making sound choices when choosing your skills and feats doesn't make you a power gamer. I don't imagine that Paizo thinks that their average gamers blindly flick through the feat section and choose their feats by just stabbing their fingers at a random...

I agree with 100%, but the average gamer doesn't choose that efficiently in my experience. I've played for a very long time, and DM'ed many high level games (level 20+) and find that such optimised choices are not as common as you think. I know I run into issues with a few core players in my group because of efficient character design. In fact I often choose suboptimal choices purely to keep in line with the power of the other players so we all enjoy the game, or point out other options for them to consider for their own character.

I would also agree with Mr Groves. Running games I find the difficulty at higher levels arises entirely from numbers. The only solution that seems to work for me is to alter ad-hoc, increase HP, attack bonuses, saves by a few points. Throw in some minions of 1 lower CR. My favourite is new arrivals, once PC's get on top unless they've been particularly careful I draw other monsters in to support. It means no room-to-room slog in a dungeon and feels a little more dynamic.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

All good points. I'm very interested to see what Paizo has in store for us which can deal with mythic highest level characters.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

It's weird that the cover art for the next volume has appeared on Facebook while we haven't gotten an update for this volume yet.

Damn Facebook spoilers! ;)

Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Link? You mean the final art? Dang, I really want to see the art for THIS one.

Webstore Gninja Minion

You'll see it by the end of the week. ;)


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Cat-thulhu wrote:
Link? You mean the final art? Dang, I really want to see the art for THIS one.

Yeah if you go on Pathfinder Art page on Facebook you can see it.

Here

Webstore Gninja Minion

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Product image updated!


Liz Courts wrote:
Product image updated!

Looks like Areelu Vorlesh in the foreground with Deskari in back.


Wow that cover is amazing!! Areelu is smokin' and Deskari looks crazy cool!!

Can't wait for this one!!

The Exchange

Awesome cover art, but I kind of have to wonder how it came to be decided that Deskari is not going to be the big character in front... maybe they wanted to show the iconics fighting him? Or maybe it's that he's not really a humanoid?


...does Areelu have a quasit familiar wearing spiky metal armor?


Some of my favorite cover art ever :D

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Lord Snow wrote:


Awesome cover art, but I kind of have to wonder how it came to be decided that Deskari is not going to be the big character in front... maybe they wanted to show the iconics fighting him? Or maybe it's that he's not really a humanoid?

It's mostly because Deskari's shape would end up covering up most of the artwork in the background. Pathfinder covers work best with human-shaped figures.

Also...

Spoiler:
While Deskari is sort of an "optional" bad guy at the end of the AP (you don't HAVE to kill him or survive his fight to "win"), Areelu is not optional.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Evil Midnight Lurker wrote:
...does Areelu have a quasit familiar wearing spiky metal armor?

Nope. It's more like an executioner's leather suit.


James Jacobs wrote:
Lord Snow wrote:


Awesome cover art, but I kind of have to wonder how it came to be decided that Deskari is not going to be the big character in front... maybe they wanted to show the iconics fighting him? Or maybe it's that he's not really a humanoid?

It's mostly because Deskari's shape would end up covering up most of the artwork in the background. Pathfinder covers work best with human-shaped figures.

Also...

** spoiler omitted **

In that case...:
I'm assuming that the reason for this is you need to kill Areelu to seal the portal to the Abyss, but not Deskari. But seeing as how he is the dominant demon lord of the Worldwound, won't people want to get rid of him? It just seems really weird that he's a bonus boss.
Shadow Lodge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
James Jacobs wrote:

It's mostly because Deskari's shape would end up covering up most of the artwork in the background. Pathfinder covers work best with human-shaped figures.

Also...

** spoiler omitted **

That is one awesome piece of art. I really hope Areelu gets a mini based on that artwork. Well done mr Reynolds. Now mr Jacobs

:
only fight Areelu! You wacky man you. My players will have no choice, they must fight Deskari I say. Now if they only need fight Areelu for the AP she must be a monster - taking on lvl20/tier10 PCs. Surely she rivals even Deskari in terms of power?

Seeing that locust-demon lord on the cover makes me pretty sure the Apocalypse Locust will be somewhere in the story!


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Hell we'll go after Deskari! REVENGE FOR SARKORIS!


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It's like Seoni suddenly exploded into a succubus.


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Orthos wrote:
It's like Seoni suddenly exploded into a succubus.

Thank you! I wondered if I was the only one who immediately thought 'Seoni's evil brunette identical twin a la Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.' Same dress, same tattoos, same anatomy not found in nature....


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Orthos wrote:
It's like Seoni suddenly exploded into a succubus.

Eh...kinda a cross between Seoni and Ameiko..somthing about the hair and face shape.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

I admittedly was mostly responding to the clothes and tattoos.


The cover makes it look like Deskari is playing second fiddle to Areelu. Considering her CR is 26-27, that might just be the case...


Just realized it says that the bestiary will include the final demon lords to be featured in this AP..meaning there's more than one!!! Is this a typo?


The Painted Oryx wrote:
Just realized it says that the bestiary will include the final demon lords to be featured in this AP..meaning there's more than one!!! Is this a typo?

I've wondered about that from the beginning. The question is, will Deskari be statted in the Appendix or the Bestiary? Because if he's in the Appendix, that likely means we'll get additional Demon Lords ("one in each Bestiary"). At the same time, from the beginning we've been told we're getting 6 Demon Lords' stats - Shax, Gargoyle Guy, Noctitcula, Baphomet, Goth Girl, and Deskari.

Who knows...


Generic Villain wrote:
The cover makes it look like Deskari is playing second fiddle to Areelu. Considering her CR is 26-27, that might just be the case...

I'm going to guess at CR 28. A 20th level character with 8 Archmage tiers brings her to CR 23. Add PC wealth with 25 point buy and she's at CR 25, and then +3 for her half-succubus template (half-fiend is a +3 template when on a character with HD 11+). Granted, she may not have the full 25 PB, so if she's only at 20 PB then she might drop down to CR 27.

Add in a few meat shields to soak up damage and occupy a group of four 20th level tier 10 PCs (since otherwise Areelu will probably go down in two rounds), and you'd be looking at a CR 29 challenge or so for the final battle of the AP.

(Also, I wonder if it will be possible to redeem/capture Areelu instead of just killing her outright. Or kill her and take her place, for an evil group.)


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Alleran wrote:


I'm going to guess at CR 28. A 20th level character with 8 Archmage tiers brings her to CR 23. Add PC wealth with 25 point buy and she's at CR 25, and then +3 for her half-succubus template (half-fiend is a +3 template when on a character with HD 11+). Granted, she may not have the full 25 PB, so if she's only at 20 PB then she might drop down to CR 27.

(Also, I wonder if it will be possible to redeem/capture Areelu instead of just killing her outright. Or kill her and take her place, for an evil group.)

For the majority of cases, having PC-level wealth and a 20 point buy grants a +1 to CR, so that would put her at CR 27. That's what I'm guessing. Characters like a certain dwarven antipaladin are the exception to the rule.

As for redeeming Areelu... it's possible I guess. But think about this:

spoiler:

She is the architect of the World Wound, has 10 levels in the Demoniac PrC, willingly transformed herself into a half-succubus, and has gleefully ruled a city for a century where her fellow countrymen are enslaved and daily sacrificed. If she's redeemable, you may as well try to redeem Deskari too.


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Generic Villain wrote:
For the majority of cases, having PC-level wealth and a 20 point buy grants a +1 to CR, so that would put her at CR 27.

That's why I guessed 25 PB for my +2 total rather than a +1. The players themselves will be sitting on APL 25 (20 levels, 10 mythic tiers, PC wealth or higher), so either you'd need to load up on the extra opponents to make it a boss battle worthy for the ages, or also bump Areelu herself up a few CR points. Maybe throw on the advanced template or something.

Quote:

As for redeeming Areelu... it's possible I guess. But think about this:

** spoiler omitted **

Challenge accepted. But if all else fails, force one of these down her throat and see what happens. I'm pretty sure that a lot of players will want to be killing Deskari either way, if just so they can say they laid the smackdown on a CR 30 Demon Lord.

(Or, come to think about it, somehow use this. Fresh start, clean slate. The story concept has been used before, obviously, and maybe it's just that I recently rewatched the Babylon 5 episode dealing with it, but it might be fun if just to see how it plays out.)

Sovereign Court

James Jacobs wrote:

We'll be talking SPECIFICALLY about the topic of what it means to world canon in the last WotR I suspect, since it's going to have some significant changes on the world no matter what the PC's level of success is.

But yes. Basically...it's only canon to YOUR would once your group plays the adventure. No other adventure is assumed to have occurred in Golarion yet, which means that someone who comes to Golarion today has only to buy the Inner Sea World Guide to be ready to go with pretty much ANY of our other products. That new customer doesn't have to read through 6 years of books to get caught up. And perhaps more importantly for us developers... neither do new freelancers.

Does that include Society adventures? I kinda got the impression that PFS had an ongoing storyline from Season 0 right up to the current season?

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