The heroes finally have the tools they need to stop the Whispering Tyrant, but the lich-king has not been idle. Why has he devoted so much attention to an isolated border fortress, right when divinity seems to be within his grasp? A quest to discover the tyrant's secrets plunges the heroes into a deadly race through a fecund forest, into fearsome dungeons built long before the Shining Crusade, and between spiteful villains harboring ancient grudges. Old enemies stand in the heroes' way yet again, but unexpected allies can help turn the rising tide of death and despair. If the heroes are victorious, they can seize the only chance to deny the Whispering Tyrant his greatest weapon and strike him down before he gains the power of a god.
This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path provides the dramatic conclusion to the Tyrant's Grasp Adventure Path and includes:
"Midwives to Death," a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 16th-level characters, by John Compton.
A massive article celebrating the final Adventure Path volume for the first edition of the Pathfinder RPG. Written by Paizo's developers and designers to close out the first edition with a bang, this article presents new monsters, GM advice, gods both new and revised, staff PCs, a new prestige class, new archetypes, and more! These new rules work with the Tyrant's Grasp Adventure Path or any campaign, and are written by John Compton, Adam Daigle, Eleanor Ferron, Thurston Hillman, James Jacobs, Jason Keeley, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Robert G. McCreary, Erik Mona, Michael Sayre, Owen K.C. Stephens, Mark Seifter, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.
ISBN-13: 978-1-64078-144-3
The Tyrant's Grasp Adventure Path 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 (1.5 MB PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
If you read all the 1-stars above you might be feeling a little discouraged about this adventure. Having just read them myself, I'm scratching my head about whether they read the same book(s) as I did.
There are some spoilers below, so be warned.
The first half of the adventure takes place in one of the Whispering Tyrant's bunker/barracks where the party has the opportunity to fight and/or intrigue against several powerful undead commanders. There's plenty of room here for RP and even a moral dilemma when a powerful devil offers to remove an undead army from consideration.
After the dungeon, the adventure offers a change of pace in the form of a Wild Hunt choosing them as its prey, but this is a bit of a side note before getting to Absalom, where Tar-Baphon and his armies are engaged with Absalom's defenders. This part of the adventure involves the party striving to taunt the Whispering Tyrant by defeating his lieutenants and driving him berserk with rage and frustration.
The climactic battle deserves some special mention since it seems to be angering many people. I'd like to push back on that a little bit.
Again, SPOILERS:
The final gambit is an echo of Arazni's in Book 4: to provoke the lich into nuking his annoying enemies. For the PCs, their obols were modified in Book 5 to make them amplify positive energy and reflect the Radiant Fire back on Tar-Baphon. In the process, the PCs are destroyed body and soul. Tar-Baphon is not permanently destroyed; though his bid for godhood fails his phylactery is safe and he eventually reforms.
I think this is a bold choice, in a genre where the party usually kills the bad guy and gets an unequivocal victory, having an ending where the heroes sacrifice everything for an incomplete victory has enormous potential for bittersweet storytelling. If that's not your jam, the adventure provides a way out in the form of a magical tree from book 5 acting as a pseudo-phylactery...but I think people should give ending as written some consideration. Having characters not get the power fantasy ending for one campaign is intriguing, and it certainly doesn't warrant the rage its seemed to have inspired.
On the negative side, there are some pacing issues in the last half of the adventure. I also worry that a CR26 final boss fight might be too harsh on the party, even with help from a pair of fairly powerful NPCs and the obols. Mythic has a strong potential to make this a one-sided slaughter, so be careful. That said, on the whole it's a good contribution to the last AP of PF1.
I have a tough time summarizing my complaints with this book, but I want to be as clear as I can, so let me put some things into context. Also there's some spoilers in here, but if you're GMing this they're well worth knowing before you buy this.
You will be returning to Avistan with what essentially amounts to a narrative "doomsday clock" over your head. No, not a hard one like in Wrath of the Righteous, but certainly the fact that the Whispering Tyrant is basically going to win tomorrow is pretty huge. So, with that in mind, let's look at some of the things Paizo wastes pages on while you are (presumably) rushing to save the world:
-An encounter with a wild hunt you're strong enough to fight wanting to "play hunt" with you, along with 5 pages of rules for how to do it.
-gambling with a rawhead
-dining with a Daughter of Urgathoa
-playing undead politics
To say nothing of the utterly baffling pacing of this, it also seems so unbelievably rushed in the places that matter. The whole plot is a mess; literally 2/3rds of the game exist to allow you to do a dungeon, since Tar-Baphon "made his generals retake their vows to him" and then for no particular reason only moved 1/2 his army to Absalom seemingly allow the PC's to enter his spooky dungeon and have something to fight. But in the end, you're expected to fight him alongside your newest friends, who are so important you meet them about 2 hours prior and they don't even have unique stat blocks.
You do not reach level 20, and in the end you die. But not just die; no, you sacrifice your SOULS to stop Tar-Baphon, consigning yourself to oblivion. Now, that's the stuff of legends right there IF IT'S HANDLED WELL, but having just read 2E's world guide, do you know what happens to Tar-Baphon?
He just comes back in a bit and is now scheming away on the Isle of Terror. The Lost Omens guide literally invalidates the actions of this whole AP. The book ends with a throwaway line about "the Whispering Tyrant still being out there woooooooo" before immediately rushing to show off some special creations of the writers on staff, and then it's OFF TO 2E!
This book was an underwhelming mess, poorly paced, badly bloated, and yet somehow unbelievably rushed. I honestly can't believe they allowed one of their most notorious villains to be portrayed like this, and now that he's back it means the entire AP was worth far less than the amount of money I paid for it. If you can, either rewrite this book yourself for your group, or just skip this AP. It's completely meaningless anyways.
I have been very disappointed in 'Tyrant's Grasp', and since a lot of people have criticized it, I did not have high expectations for 'Midwives to Death', either. However, I was positively surprised when I got the module a few days ago. In my opinion all the maps are very good, it's well-written, it has a coherent plot and contains a lot of interesting encounters. If you ask me, this is one of the best AP installments in a long while, along with 'Last Watch' and' It came from Hollow Mountain'.
I think John has done very good job with this adventure, and it's even more impressive when you consider the pressure of writing the last module for the First Edition! :)
Overall, I rather like the adventure, the side bar on how to switch things up was very well done I thought (for the record If I run Tyrant's Grasp I will be using the side bar ending instead).
While this AP has issues in earlier installments, this one isn't among them.
The developer showcase is also really solid though I'm disappointed Mark and Thursty used their space for advice instead of something else, it's still good advice and certainly not worth knocking off a star.
I especially liked the inclusion of Iblydan hero gods, as well Angradd and Nocticula 2.0.
Pathfinder Maps, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Those rules for going beyond 20th level have not been updated by Paizo since they published them in the Core Rulebook -- so it makes sense for them not to offer any advice on continuing a campaign past that level.
And there are definitely issues with trying to add mythic tiers to characters who have already reached 20th level. The Mythic Adventures rules are clearly designed to interweave with standard level advancement, not come after it.
Ya know, I know its really unlikely, but I keep hoping the article will include example statblock for Asura Ranas, Sahkil tormentors or Rakshasa Immortals :'D I so much want a sample statblock for each evil demigod types before Pathfinder 1e ends even though I know at this point its really unlikely to happen
I would be totes grateful if it included stats for ya boi the Faceless God. Since my players have been dealing with his machinations and "hunts" for close to three years now though I know this is highly unlikely as well.
This volume also includes an extensive article showcasing the final material written by Paizo's developers for the first edition of the Pathfinder RPG.
What does this actually mean?
It means we've got several pages dedicated to providing our developers (and a few other internal folks) their last opportunity to provide you with content designed for the first edition. This volume has no separate bestiary (although there are new monsters) and no Continuing the Campaign article (although there's plenty of great GM advice).
I basically told all the developers: "Okay, you each get 2 pages to write what will be the last thing in the last adventure of the last AP of our first edition. Bonus points for tying it to the themes of this AP so GMs can more easily get some use out of it. Pitch me your preferences!" And then I curated and compiled it all for a total of--I believe--28 pages. (Patrick Renie took on the task of developing it all when told, "Welcome back to Paizo, now develop your peers' labors of love!")
I won't go into who picked what to write about just yet, although you'll see what each of us created when this volume comes out. There's a truly staggering variety: new archetypes, a prestige class, NPCs, monsters, and more. I think a few people will think "Wow, I never expected to get that slipped into first edition, but here it is!" and others will think, "Hey, that's something I never thought of before now, what a great last-minute addition!"
Is this where we might find the hint to Damiel's new occupation (as mentioned in the Fumbus blog post)? Or is "backmatter" referring to the ad page?
So let me get this straight: if Tar-Baphon succeeds in his goal of using the Starstone to become a god, he basically becomes Nagash from Warhammer, right?
I'm genuinely interested in seeing what his domains and favored weapon are, but since there's not going to be a campaign continuation article maybe we won't get that.
Is this where we might find the hint to Damiel's new occupation (as mentioned in the Fumbus blog post)?
Damiel ended up skipping town on this one (this is why I usually avoid scheduling Chaotic Neutral characters for key appearances!), though rumor has it he has some high profile appearances still to make elsewhere in the Pathfinder universe. Apologies for the unintentional false lead.
I mean...it's not that I don't like it, but I honestly find other images of him more...imposing, more...well, tyrannical. Here he kinda just looks less threatening to me. Though the more I stare at this new one the more intrigued I am by the detail, I will say that much.
I do prefer his more skeletal appearance rather than this zombie like one. Yet, I do like his equipment, from his armor to his staff.
He looks less like a lich, and more like the original interpretation of the death knight. Makes me wonder if he found somehow to become one, and we're using the Tome of Horrors 4 template. It'd definitely be a nice change of pace from the standard "lich spellcaster" trope we're so used to seeing.
He's sort of giving off some Freddy Krueger vibes.
Honestly, when I first saw the image at PaizoCon (there was a copy of Book 6 in a glass display case in the store), I honestly looked at it and went “Now who are you?!” with a goofy I’m-a-sadistic-GM smile.
Knowing now that it’s the Whispering Tyrant makes that entire encounter a little...well, disheartening.
That said, I did manage to get some small (but impactful) stuff about Book 6 outta Ron at PaizoCon (don’t worry, Ron, I’ll keep the surprises to myself) and to the GMs: you are in for a treat!
Honestly, when I first saw the image at PaizoCon (there was a copy of Book 6 in a glass display case in the store), I honestly looked at it and went “Now who are you?!” with a goofy I’m-a-sadistic-GM smile.
Knowing now that it’s the Whispering Tyrant makes that entire encounter a little...well, disheartening.
That said, I did manage to get some small (but impactful) stuff about Book 6 outta Ron at PaizoCon (don’t worry, Ron, I’ll keep the surprises to myself) and to the GMs: you are in for a treat!
No spoilers, but I'm assuming the book will explain why he has his new 2019 face lift.
Honestly, when I first saw the image at PaizoCon (there was a copy of Book 6 in a glass display case in the store), I honestly looked at it and went “Now who are you?!” with a goofy I’m-a-sadistic-GM smile.
Knowing now that it’s the Whispering Tyrant makes that entire encounter a little...well, disheartening.
That said, I did manage to get some small (but impactful) stuff about Book 6 outta Ron at PaizoCon (don’t worry, Ron, I’ll keep the surprises to myself) and to the GMs: you are in for a treat!
No spoilers, but I'm assuming the book will explain why he has his new 2019 face lift.
Shrugs I just got through saying I didn’t recognize that the guy on the cover was Tar-Baphon, didn’t I? Wouldn’t make sense to say that when I knew why he looks like that now.
Unless I was lying!!!
Seriously, though, I don’t think it’s a major thing—just another artist’s rendition of the lich. My juicy info I got from pickin’ Ron’s brain has nothing to do with the cover art (what the art depicts, however, is another story :-))
Seriously, though, I don’t think it’s a major thing—just another artist’s rendition of the lich. My juicy info I got from pickin’ Ron’s brain has nothing to do with the cover art (what the art depicts, however, is another story :-))
That was more or less what I was looking for. It's fine. Just means that when I finally get my hands on this in... August? Damn. That's so far away dammit. Oh, well. Something to look forward to regardless.
Geez, Tar-Babhon looks kind of out of model there ._. He looks less skeletal than usual and where his Horns of Naraga helmet used to be bit large, now it looks bit too small to his head.
I mean, his design armor is cool and stuff, though I do kinda prefer the "creepy undead thing with long robe/dress" look, its one of things I liked from Dragon Age's Arcane Horror's design.
I'd like to point out that Tyrant's mugshot is on the right corner of right page in each volume of Tyrant's Grasp and besides having the old classic Horns of Naraga design, his mugshot still doesn't look much like this one :D So I think its just different artist intepretation
(I do find it kinda bizarre since I thought Tyrant's design was plenty iconic so I'm surprised artist went for this much different design)
Geez, Tar-Babhon looks kind of out of model there ._. He looks less skeletal than usual and where his Horns of Naraga helmet used to be bit large, now it looks bit too small to his head.
It's probably because he's got infused by positive energy, either from the repeated use of you-know-what, or as a part of is scheme to claim divinity through the Starstone.
I mean, that's the first time we saw him with "green" evil energy. Last time I checked, he was a "red-fueled" lich. So, basically he got radioactive ...
Or maybe, i hope, he sacrificed his lich-hood to get a chance to ascend to godhood. That would be funny, yet a bit less "mythic".
Way to make one of the most formerly iconic and menacing villains in your entire product line into a guy showing all the passion of a dude gaming while on the phone. It was a bold decision to remove nearly every iconic feature from Tar-Baphon, aka the the epic master lich gracing the Inner Sea World Guide, rendering him into generic lich #572. We sure this isn't Gary-Baphon, Tar-Baphon's little brother who just never seems to measure to up his god-killing older bro?
Maybe the New and Improved(???) Tar-Baphon would feel more comfortable acting as the final fight for a mid-level dungeon crawler. He could be in charge of a few orcs and maybe even a gelatinous cube to give PCs a real surprise!
Crazy thought. What if this is *Tar-Baphon*, NOT the Whispering Tyrant?
This guy is just a mythic necromancer, with a god killing trap on the isle of terror. He's not lost that fight against Aroden, and returned as the lich we all know and love.
Geez, Tar-Babhon looks kind of out of model there ._. He looks less skeletal than usual and where his Horns of Naraga helmet used to be bit large, now it looks bit too small to his head.
It's probably because he's got infused by positive energy, either from the repeated use of you-know-what, or as a part of is scheme to claim divinity through the Starstone.
I mean, that's the first time we saw him with "green" evil energy. Last time I checked, he was a "red-fueled" lich. So, basically he got radioactive ...
I am inclined to agree with this theory. I mean he keeps using positive energy that has been corrupted with necromancy. And after what happened to Gallowspire/Gallowgarden. Maybe his flesh is regenerating or something.
Still I like the new look and look forward to the info on Tar-Baphon in this volume.
He had a big World of Warcraft helm and lacked legs but other than that I’unno.
You forgot about yellow color schemed armor and lack of nose!
Thing to note is that all art of Whispering Tyrants have consistently had same features (including the ones in previous books in this AP, at least first three ones) until suddenly in this cover they don't. I'd have thought this guy was like that one lich from Carrion Crown who was cosplaying as whispering tyrant for some reason if I didn't know for sure its him because the art removes lot of those features you see in previous art. Like only similar feature between this and all the older art is "both are undead corpses and both have horn helmet"
Also, I always got feeling that Tyrant was rather tall.(which he is whenever you saw him in picture where he stands next to people, dude towers over Aroden) Granted, I do get feeling this guy is also tall,(and its impossible to tell without someone standing next to him) but I kinda feel like this guy is more realistic height than the "Geezus how is this lich size of two people standing on top of each other"(maybe under his skirt was skeleton hoisting him up? :p)
The yellow color I could see but the lack of nose? Eh (if it was a living person that'd be completely different).
So basically his iconic features came down to his outfit. Makes sense they'd give him an update to make him stand out if the only thing iconic about him was his outfit. Which leads me to suspect we're going to be seeing a LOT more Liches and so they wanted him to be easy to tell apart from the others.
Possible explanation for the "all-new, all-different look of Tar-Baphon" from the new blog post which COMPLETELY SPOILS THE END OF THE AP - read only if you really don't care about knowing!
:
Tar-Baphon survives the final battle with the PCs and makes the Isle of Terror his new base of operations!
I guess the pcs destroy his well known form and he reforms in the shown look thanks to his phylactery.
How would he retain his fancy horn helmet if that happened?
He wouldn't.
You can clearly see that the helmet shown on the cover of AP #144 is a different one than the iconic usual one. ;-)
Ah, so greatest loss of Tyrant in this AP isn't his army being defeated(or whatever happens to them that prevents him being able to invade everything at start of 2e), but losing his helmet? :D
Sometimes the simplest expenation is the best which in this case would be the artist for whatever reason decided on that look and is not what the tyrant actually looks like (Which considering on one cover of this Ap we have a Gnome character that looks exactly like Lini but her character art inside is completly diffrent that dosent seem like to much of a streatch)
Ah, so greatest loss of Tyrant in this AP isn't his army being defeated(or whatever happens to them that prevents him being able to invade everything at start of 2e), but losing his helmet? :D
Also to add considering the model for him coming out with ruins of lastwall is the normal version of him I think it's safe to say he's not supposed to look like this