The deserts of Osirion—land of pharaohs and ancient tombs—hide not just untold wonders, but also unspeakable dangers. When the vast sand dunes part to reveal the ancient pyramid of the legendary Pharaoh of Sphinxes, glory seekers from across many nations race toward it, each fighting to be the first to claim its wonders. But the storied pharaoh doesn't rest quietly within this monument, and his tomb was designed to slaughter any who would dare trespass.
A band of bold adventurers are the first to arrive, and stand poised to claim what’s risen from the sands—but they're unaware of the doom that lurks inside. With daring on their side and strange, rarely seen powers at their disposal, the heroes may be the only force capable of containing the force of evil within and defeating its curse!
"Risen from the Sands" is a dungeon-based adventure for four 3rd-level characters, written for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and compatible with the 3.5 edition of the world's oldest RPG. It also provides four immediately playable previews of exciting new classes debuting in the upcoming Pathfinder RPG Advanced Class Guide, as well as a thematic supplement to the new Mummy’s Mask Adventure Path.
Written by Rob McCreary.
Cover Art by Tyler Walpole.
This special 16-page Pathfinder Module will initially be made available for Free RPG Day on June 21, 2014. Print editions will be available for sale on paizo.com beginning July 2014; the PDF edition will be available for free at that time.
Risen from the Sands is sanctioned for use in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. Its Chronicle Sheet and additional rules for running this module are a free download (393 KB zip/PDF). Pregenerated characters are available here (1.3 MB zip/PDF).
Note: Due to the special nature of this product, it is NOT part of the Pathfinder Modules Subscription.
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
I ran this for two of my players and they each wanted to play one character so we went with gestalt rules and 25 point buy, so keep that in mind. Overall, it's a pure dungeon crawl without any real chances of talking your way through an encounter, but the players were aware of that going in so had the right expectations. My full group played through Mummy's Mask a couple of years ago so myself and the two players for Risen from the Sands were quite excited to revisit Osirion. It only took minor descriptive tweaks to have it as a follow-up with the module being affected by the events in Mummy's Mask, and the two PCs were people that were mostly on the sidelines during the events of the AP.
The descriptions of the rooms are really well done, it's a surprising amount of encounters for a Free RPG Day module that's only 10 pages of adventure, and the map is fantastic as it allows multiple ways to get to the goal. My players missed a room due to bad rolls, which made it so they didn't solve a puzzle but instead of brute-forcing their way through it they moved on and found another way through the problem.
Some of the fights allow creative players to use the terrain to their advantage, it's not all undead, and all of the encounters feel different from each other. The final fight is really hard. Thankfully there's something the players can find along the way that make it easier. Even with that they still a lot of uncertainty about the outcome.
The pregen characters are going to have a terrible time with the module so I'd highly suggest that you allow your players to make their own. As I said, I only had two PCs so went with 25 point buy and gestalt, but I'm confident that a group of 4 with 15 or 20 point buy would do about as well, possibly better, than my two players did.
This is by no means a guaranteed win for the group, but so long as the GM likes the module a group should have a lot of fun with it. We ended up laughing throughout it and having a great time, and the two players were excited that they might not survive the final encounter, especially when they both failed their initial saves.
How I Ran Area 3:
In area 3 I treated the encounter more as a trap that couldn't be deactivated than a monster. Think of it as the rolling boulder in Indiana Jones! I had to shorten the hall to the size actually shown on the map in order to have the module fit in to the events of Mummy's Mask so I put the enemy at the very end. Once a PC got far enough down the hall the enemy activated and initiative was rolled. One PC ran back to area 2, the other waited and managed to jump over the enemy (taking half damage as they made the save while it moved past them), and went for the door at the end. When the enemy was stopped by the small walls between areas 2 and 3 it was stuck for a round so the other PC ran up to the door and they started working on getting it open. When the enemy was headed back to them it ended up being 10 feet behind them and they had to really think about which option would be best. They ended up trying once more to get the door open and ran in, both failing their perception checks in their haste. One managed to jump for it, the other failed, while the enemy once again hit the doorframe and was stopped.
Running it as a monster that stays close and attacks would have lead to my group not having fun as they wouldn't have been able to do much damage and a fight against it would've dragged on forever. Running it as I did allowed the players to solve a problem while also being a really tense situation as the enemy very nearly made it back to attack them.
I was run through this module last night and I thought it was great.
I have played through a dozen or so PFS Scenarios at this point and this one was one of my favorites.
That being said, it is very combat focused.
So if you are more into the social side of things, this one isn't going to scratch that itch.
The fights were very enjoyable though.
This Pathfinder module for characters level 2-4 was released on Free RPG day in 2014 and is still free to download from the Paizo website. Even at that price point, Risen From the Sands is too dear as it'll likely cost everyone at the table their characters. What you can read about in the other reviews and forum discussions on the Paizo site is perfectly true in my experience: this module is very poorly balanced and is a TPK-generator in waiting. I ran this for four PCs and two of them died, with the other two fleeing the adventure locale after just two encounters in order to survive. To some degree this might be forgivable if the module contained an interesting story, fantastic encounter design, or a significant addition to world-lore, but it really doesn't. It's the sort of uninspired dungeon crawl that any competent GM could put together themselves in an afternoon. I would call it forgettable, but it may be very memorable indeed to the players who don't make it past the first few rooms! Really the only thing I can recommend about Risen From the Sands is the artwork--the cover, for example, is a fantastic image. Overall, this is a module that fails from both a gameplay and a story perspective and should be avoided.
A special note for PFS players: If you want to try this as a sort of "hard mode" scenario, I'd suggest you bring (fairly optimized) fourth-level PCs. The Level 3 pre-gens included in the module (which are the only Iconics that can be played) probably don't have the sheer firepower necessary to make it through without a lot of luck.
SPOILERS
The backstory to Risen From the Sands is bog standard for fantasy gaming: an ancient pharaoh ("The Pharaoh of Sphinxes") in Osirion (Golarion's equivalent to ancient Egypt) was interred after death in a remote pyramid and arose as a mummy. The pyramid has been lost for millennia until the shifting sands uncovered it, and now there's a race by archaeologists and tomb robbers to get to the pyramid and discover its secrets and riches. The PCs receive a paragraph of intro text about the pyramid's discovery and are then assumed to set out for it, with the only choice they need to make whether to travel on foot (a 7 day journey) or take camels (cutting the time to 4 1/2 days). The troubles with the module starts right here, as the PCs are told about all these groups "vying to be the first to plunder the tomb's treasures" which makes it sound like speed is of the essence, but in fact it makes no difference and PCs spending money for camels have wasted their dough (at least in terms of getting there; cursed or diseased PCs on the way home may find the purchases worthwhile!). Of equal unimportance is the purchase of any equipment to make desert travel more survivable, as the module simply handwaves the entire journey to the pyramid.
The interior of the pyramid consists of eighteen rooms, and in very old-school dungeon design, almost every room contains a trap or monsters--but what happens in one room never spills over to what happens in the other rooms. The traps are the sort of thing one would expect in an ancient pyramid--pit traps, collapsing ceilings, a swinging axe, etc. The monsters are mostly different types of undead (zombies, skeletons, and mummies feature prominently) with a couple of animated statues, a swarm, and elementals spicing things up a little. There's a heavy concentration of creatures that can inflict diseases of various types and a nasty cursed item (very difficult to detect at the PCs' level), which means that even if the PCs make it out of the pyramid alive, there's a fair chance they'll die before making it back to civilization. It all makes you feel sorry for the suckers who go in there! There's only one puzzle, which is unfortunate--more puzzles and fewer monsters would still fit the feel of exploring an ancient lost pyramid while easing the difficulty somewhat.
I don't think there's value in going through the module encounter-by-encounter. The PCs I ran this for spotted the first couple of traps (thanks to the Iconic Investigator's Trap Spotting feature) but were wrecked by the first monster: a CR 5 construct with the Trample ability, a hardness of 8, and 52 hit points placed in the middle of a narrow 750' long hallway! Through some really clever quick-thinking by one of the players, they barely escaped, only to run into the next encounter: a CR 4 mimic. Few PCs of Level 2-4 are going to make the Reflex save to keep their weapons from getting trapped by the mimic's adhesive, and its ability to automatically grapple and constrict an opponent on a successful hit makes it a pretty dangerous creature. Coming in such short succession to the construct, that was all she wrote and the survivors were lucky to make it out. If they had pushed forward, I don't think they would have made it far.
It's a very disappointing module, and I'm surprised to see it was written by someone as good as Rob McCreary. I understand from the forums that he didn't know what pre-gens would be placed in the module when he was writing it, which is fair enough. Still, even apart from that, it's just not a very interesting or entertaining module compared to other ones that Paizo has released on Free RPG Day over the years. With so many high-quality adventures out there now, Risen From the Sands deserves to be buried for a few millennia like the pyramid it contains.
Risen from the Sands is one of those adventures more experienced players warn relative newcomers about. After having played this module, I can see why. I should mention that I played it with a rather balanced 6-man party, including a character who could give ‘bane’ to a bunch of weapons. Needless to say, undead-bane helped a lot.
The basic idea of exploring an ancient tomb or pyramid isn’t exactly new in Pathfinder. Indeed, there are many scenarios and the occasional adventure path completely dedicated to such a thing. Yet few go into this much detail when it comes to a pyramid. Compared to other similar dungeons, this one is not only larger, but also more detailed and devious. Furthermore every room is a challenge in itself, be it combat or logical thinking.
The author did an amazing job making the whole module a challenge. There were some interesting twists and the combats are at the times pretty rough. The undead-bane really was useful on the rapid shot gunslinger though, and in general our tactics were rather solid. Had the Decemvirate seen this batch of recruits, they’d have been impressed. Well, except for the fact only one of us spoke Ancient Osiriani.
I rather liked this module, but it indeed can be very lethal. The first combat in particular requires you to be prepared or you’ll certainly suffer and maybe TPK. The final fight is scary, though it helped our saves were spot on. It did take us a few rounds, but we took the evil guy down as well as his pet with suffering any casualties. Our wands of CLW however did take quite a hit and without some helpful intervention, one of us would have succumbed to an evil item.
I highly recommend this module even though it has your character balance between life and death on more than one occasion. The only issue I have is that it runs really long. I guess that's what happens when there are many rooms with each and every single one of them offering a nice challenge. There are no filler rooms which is often the case in a scenario, so you’ll be on your toes the entire time. Just be sure to come prepared and maybe wait a little until you’ve got some experience. This is not friendly for new players and is very challenging, but it's a blast regardless.
I've a question... I've just looked at Quinn, and he has a Sword Cane with +4, and only a +2 BAB, I figure it's supposed to be Weapon Finesse, but a Sword Cane is not a light weapon?
Is this me missing something, or is it a mistake?
A Sword Cane can be used with Weapon Finesse.
Do you have a rules reference for that? I see nothing in the rules that would suggest that it's Finesse-able.
I've a question... I've just looked at Quinn, and he has a Sword Cane with +4, and only a +2 BAB, I figure it's supposed to be Weapon Finesse, but a Sword Cane is not a light weapon?
Is this me missing something, or is it a mistake?
A Sword Cane can be used with Weapon Finesse.
Do you have a rules reference for that? I see nothing in the rules that would suggest that it's Finesse-able.
SWORD CANE
Price 45 gp
Type martial
This slender light blade lies within a wooden container that serves as both its scabbard and hiding place. You can draw the blade as a swift action (or a free action if you have the Quick Draw feat). An observer must succeed at a DC 20 Perception check to realize an undrawn sword cane is a weapon rather than a walking stick; the DC decreases to 10 if the observer is able to handle the weapon. You can use the Weapon Finesse feat to apply your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with a sword cane sized for you, even though it isn't a light weapon. You can't wield a sword cane in two hands in order to apply 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier to damage.
Price 45 gp
Type martial
This slender light blade lies within a wooden container that serves as both its scabbard and hiding place. You can draw the blade as a swift action (or a free action if you have the Quick Draw feat). An observer must succeed at a DC 20 Perception check to realize an undrawn sword cane is a weapon rather than a walking stick; the DC decreases to 10 if the observer is able to handle the weapon. You can use the Weapon Finesse feat to apply your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with a sword cane sized for you, even though it isn't a light weapon. You can't wield a sword cane in two hands in order to apply 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier to damage.
The Core Rulebook in any case; Anything beyond that should either be included in the statblocks or found in the appropriate Bestiaries. There was a blog post which included 2 templates, in the event that you don't have Bestiary 4 on-hand.
The Core Rulebook in any case; Anything beyond that should either be included in the statblocks or found in the appropriate Bestiaries. There was a blog post which included 2 templates, in the event that you don't have Bestiary 4 on-hand.
*checks out the swashbuckler pregen* Hmmm, well, I think I have two houserules in line for that class so it is more competitive with other melee classes. I'll have to see full class description to be sure though.
1. You can use charmed life AFTER you know the result of your roll and the required save DC.
The Core Rulebook in any case; Anything beyond that should either be included in the statblocks or found in the appropriate Bestiaries. There was a blog post which included 2 templates, in the event that you don't have Bestiary 4 on-hand.
So, which books?
bestiary 1 and 4. the latter to answer some of the abilities for the mummified template.
Everything that isn't in one of these is 90% likely to be in the other or explained in the text.
I played it Friday night (4th Alchemist) with four 2nd levels. It was grueling, I ran out of bombs and we had to camp overnight in the Pharoah's tomb room (after we destroyed him), but completed it and all survived after smoking 22 charges from my Wand of CLW, 8 CLW pots and the Cleric using all her channeling and healing spells. The GM is fairly new to Pathfinder and did not know the monsters well.
The real fun came last night when I GM'ed it and truly saw what was in it. This module is a real MEAT GRINDER!!! We had an experienced group with an APL 3 and if you play the monsters to their fullest you'll get a TPK 90% of the time. The Mummy's WDC 16 is especially deadly to 3rd levels and I got 3 of 5 paralyzed for D4 rounds. Fortunately I rolled short paralysis times and they were BARELY ably to survive the room after several going down and being brought positive again. They completed the module in 5 hours with no losses but using 47 charges from 2 CLW wands and all the Cleric's channels & spells.
This module would be challenging for a 5th to 7th level party, IF the monsters were run to their max. If the writer needs monsters like these to challenge his 3rd level group, he is a very wimpy GM who runs all monsters like crippled Orcs.
I started running this yesterday, as a filler, while we wait for the last set of paper minis for my RoW campaign. We just played it with the four pregens, and have found it quite challenging so far. Something we noticed was that there seems to be no way to identify magic items. The investigator and bloodrager have spellcraft but not detect magic, and the warpriest has read magic but no spellcraft. The investigator can do potions and poisons, but they're all scared to play with any other magic stuff they find.
Conclusion next week!
Ran this last night as a PFS game. used the pregen bloodrager and warpriest, and two players brought their own rogue and sorcerer PFS pc.
two dead pregens, and two fled PCs.
very tough game for a four person party. lots of APL+2 encounters.
Looking it over, I have to agree with others about the Anubis statues.
Statues:
The additional attack should give them "2 slams +5 or mwk khopesh +6, slam +0", but the light wooden shield gets in the way. So, it should be 2 slams or mwk khopesh because you can put the khopesh in your off-hand with the shield. As far as I can remember you can't punch with a light shield equipped unless it's a bashing shield that you're attacking with.
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