Skeld, PDF Prophet |
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I'm still waiting for mine. Skeld, can you tell us what the monsters are this go around?
Sorry it took so long to reply; I've been out of pocket for a little while.
Prydanu (CR16, Large, CG azata)
Fluxwraith (CR17, Medium, incorporeal undead)
Ioun Golem (CR17, Large, construct)
Sea Linnorm (CR22, Colossal, aquatic dragon)
-Skeld
Skeld, PDF Prophet |
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Thanks Skeld! Mind giving us an overview of the monsters you listed (i.e. what they look like and what sets them apart from others of their type)?
I can try.
Prydanu look like stony angels with sparkly flecks in their skin. They are champions of the oppressed and work against tyrants.
Fluxwraiths are incorporeal undead that were displaced in time or in stasis when they died. They look like whatever they were in life. Their abilities are time-based (such as a slow aura).
Ioun golems are neat looking; lots of arms in the art. They have ioun stone sockets. Ioun stones can be inserted and the golem gains the stone's benefit (and temp HP). There are some other benefits to the stones grant the golem as well.
Sea linnorms have a dangling light source, kinda like an angler fish, that it can use as a lure (it's a fascination mechanic). In the art, its black with red markings.
-Skeld
Rysky |
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Malefactor wrote:Thanks Skeld! Mind giving us an overview of the monsters you listed (i.e. what they look like and what sets them apart from others of their type)?I can try.
** spoiler omitted **
-Skeld
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thurston Hillman Starfinder Society Developer |
CorvusMask |
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PDF get, I love one of bonus articles :D
:'D Thank you for author of that article
Samy |
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Re: Curse details
As for bathing in blood, it should have no effect, as the curse requires full immersion in specifically water.
Creon Vizcarra |
I've read through the adventure, and may have to re-read it, but there are somethigs that are not clicking.
Having said that, isn't the giant hole in the wall that leads to the female Antipaladin's wing a huge security breach, making it easy to enter the Compass?
Why can't the arcanist ghost who was the head of the Spindle Solution just travel incorporally through the walls to do what he needs to do?
Thurston Hillman Starfinder Society Developer |
7 people marked this as a favorite. |
I've read through the adventure, and may have to re-read it, but there are somethigs that are not clicking.
** spoiler omitted **
Spoiler questions with spoiler answers!
The wall breach is a security breach, but the underwater surrounding the Compass is intended to be pretty difficult to access. The portal at the base of the Drain (area B7) magically keeps everything but water out of this area. Only a handful of creatures know about the existence of the submerged space surrounding the compass facility. So, if anything, once the PCs learn about this, sure, they can access the facility via teleportation effects, but that should just help them and not be useful to other creatures. There aren't other living creatures who know about the existence of the Compass.
Jazradan's interactions with the Synchrony Device are left a bit vague in that regard. The intent was that his ghostly statues prevented him from activating the device, but that once Ochymua (or another suitably living creature) pressed the right buttons and got the thing operating, then Jazradan could "assume direct control" using telepathic and vocal commands, thanks to the PCs' having entered his specialty bypass codes. Given the already lengthy size of the final encounter, I had to cut some of that text for the final submission.
Extra Special Bonus Points: My original intent was to place a Deep Sea Serpent in the water outside the Compass. This would have been an added threat, explained why the whole "teleport in and go through the breach" was a bad idea, and given PCs a tough challenge that they could overcome to get an easy teleport in/out route. Word count prevented this, but you could totally add it in for your game!
Hopefully this helps!
Creon Vizcarra |
Thanks Mr. Hillman, it did help. I think some of the confusion stems from me not quite understanding the mechanics behind the Drain. I will just have to re-read it more carefully if I end up running the AP (my group has just finished part A of the fifth installment of Mummy's Mask -the whole campaign thus far been a 2.5 year endeavour-, so I will be putting up the next AP up for a vote probably within the year).
The final scene was very dramatic by the way, I really enjoyed it.
Thurston Hillman Starfinder Society Developer |
2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Thanks Mr. Hillman, it did help. I think some of the confusion stems from me not quite understanding the mechanics behind the Drain. I will just have to re-read it more carefully if I end up running the AP (my group has just finished part A of the fifth installment of Mummy's Mask -the whole campaign thus far been a 2.5 year endeavour-, so I will be putting up the next AP up for a vote probably within the year).
The final scene was very dramatic by the way, I really enjoyed it.
Thanks!
Discussions surrounding the final encounter came up a lot while working with other freelancers and our Supreme Overload Developer. In the end, I managed to work in a whole bunch of crazy requirements that were shuffled in and out of the original outline and that mutated during the course of our Basecamp discussions. I wanted a final encounter that would be memorable, and something that would give the GM "A LOT" of ammunition if the PCs decided to take things off the rails.
While everyone likes "winning" one of my most successful campaigns was a Second Darkness AP that ended with the PCs getting a Pyrrhic victory in the final encounter. High-level play allows for some pretty ridiculous encounters (boy do I have stories) so you want to make sure that finales can provide great stories: win or lose.
Robert Brookes did an awesome job of following up on the potential aftermath of the final encounter in his "continuing the campaign" article. Meanwhile, I'm pretty pleased with how the final encounter really encapsulates the conflict between the alghollthus and Azlant, with the PCs stuck in the middle and essentially fighting for the "modern world."
Creon Vizcarra |
It's always interesting to hear about the development process. I actually have a small question related to that; I've noticed across various APs that there are very few final encounters that involve enemies that can reliably use 9th level magic, while PCs tend to have access to it. Is that intentional or just a coincidence?
Regarding Beyond the Veiled Past specifically...
CorvusMask |
they should know that attacking Aboleths like that would trigger rather apocalyptic war against them :P Considering they did the first Earthfall, there is nothing that would suggest to them they can't do it again. And do note that besides Munavris, the plan would flood most of darklands killing a lot of non aquatic darklands creatures including the slaves and non evil creatures there like svifneblins
Thurston Hillman Starfinder Society Developer |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It's always interesting to hear about the development process. I actually have a small question related to that; I've noticed across various APs that there are very few final encounters that involve enemies that can reliably use 9th level magic, while PCs tend to have access to it. Is that intentional or just a coincidence?
Regarding Beyond the Veiled Past specifically...
** spoiler omitted **
Funny story...
When I got involved with RoA, I had a whole slew of aboleth-related lore in my head, and the premise of cutting the Braid worked its way into the final script. As for the munavri element, well, as the person who's currently written the most printed material about the munavri, I think it'd be a pretty epic event, especially considering what they've built their society atop of...
As for 9th-level magic, I think that—barring wish spells—NPCs should have some 9th level backup. By this point in a PC's career, especially if this adventure is _the_ finale, then the villains should pull out all the stops. I've found that it's way harder for a GM to amp up an encounter than it is to dumb one down, especially for a finale fight. Thus... double time stop in a potential CR 25 fight (you're welcome GMs.)
As fun and related as these anecdotes are to the product thread, if people have specific questions, they can always ping me outside of this thread. Alternatively, feel free to necro-raise my old AMA thread.