Pathfinder Adventure Path #148: Fires of the Haunted City (Age of Ashes 4 of 6)

Duergar & another Dragon!
Where is Kovlar located?
Could this be taking place in the "Five Kings Mountains" region?

Kovlar... Never heard of it. Might indeed be somewhere in the Five Kings Mountains, and the dragon could be a really powerful red one.

I can't wait to know more of the evil god Droskar, one of the gods I have been waiting to see the most.

It's almost like if there existed some Wiki about Golarion that has an article about the place.

But we need to figure out how to connect to that whole 'Internet' y
thing first ... any ideas?

Don't break the mystery...

Kovlar is a small dwarven city in Five Kings Mountains built in the tunnels and caverns at the southern outskirts of the fallen great city of Saggorak.

At least according the PathfinderWiki.

A Dragon in the Darklands, makes me think Shadow or Umbral Dragon, could be wrong though.

A Dragon in the Darklands, makes me think Shadow or Umbral Dragon, could be wrong though.

I wouldn't expect to see either of those in this AP, or the next one. I would think that they would skew very hard toward monsters already in the P2 Bestiary, since they were literally writing both at the same time.

I think it might be an Underworld dragon, but in any case, I'm always glad to explore more of the Five Kings region.

kevin bienhoff wrote:

A Dragon in the Darklands, makes me think Shadow or Umbral Dragon, could be wrong though.

I wouldn't expect to see either of those in this AP, or the next one. I would think that they would skew very hard toward monsters already in the P2 Bestiary, since they were literally writing both at the same time.

The product description says that this volume will include "more than half a dozen new monsters", so it's entirely possible that it will contain a new dragon.

Personally i think that where undead are involved, an umbral dragon makes a lot of sense.

James Jacobs said somewhere that no new "true dragons" will be in the Bestiaries sections of the AP volumes.

James Jacobs said somewhere that no new "true dragons" will be in the Bestiaries sections of the AP volumes.

But keep in mind things can change between then and now and tomorrow.

And there are a lot of possible creatures of the dragon type that are not "true dragons".

Yeah I mean look at Elder Wyrm for example. You mean to tell me that's not a true dragon??

But in any case, looking forward to the bestiary sections in ALL of this AP.

Well...

Technically, the true dragon from PF1E aren't NEW true dragons. So... Any of those could be included, right?

=)

The cover resolution is very low.
Also if you click in the Age of Ashes links at the top of the page, book 3 has two links to it's product page.

The cover resolution is very low.

Yes, I noticed that too.

The thumbnail doesn't link to a "proper sized" version of the cover when clicked on like the thumbnails on the product discussions for issues #145, #146 and #147.

…Hmm, the cover images for #149 and #150 are also low-resolution.

Really like the archetype that is in this book, neat and flavorful, just kinda disappointed the dedication feat is lv 4, when it feels it could have and should have been a lv 2 feat.

Really like the archetype that is in this book, neat and flavorful, just kinda disappointed the dedication feat is lv 4, when it feels it could have and should have been a lv 2 feat.

Can you share the monsters in the Bestiary section with CR & creature type?

Thank you. :-)

Also how long is the gazetteer of Kovlar and what is it's Population?

The population has been known since Dwarves of Golarion: 4390.

It's been some (10?) years since Dwarves of Golarion, population can change.

4,391.

The Copperfists had a kid since then.

*joking* and no one died?

Carl did but he got better.

Vorsk, Follower or Erastil wrote:

Really like the archetype that is in this book, neat and flavorful, just kinda disappointed the dedication feat is lv 4, when it feels it could have and should have been a lv 2 feat.

Can you share the monsters in the Bestiary section with CR & creature type?

Also how long is the gazetteer of Kovlar and what is it's Population?

Thank you. :-)

Carnivorous Crystal, Ooze, Creature 11

Kovlar Article is 8 pages

Can someone with their pdf copy post who are the NPCs on the inside back cover? It might be useful to GMs running this AP before all the issues are out to know which Breachhill NPCs make an appearance.

Are there any more downtime actions for PC, like for their citadel?

Thanks!

If that dragon is who I think it is, and it still has the items in its hoarde from first edition, its going to make my dwarven paladin PC extremely happy. I can't wait to get my hands on this one.

If that dragon is who I think it is, and it still has the items in its hoarde from first edition, its going to make my dwarven paladin PC extremely happy. I can't wait to get my hands on this one.

It's not that dragon.

But it's still a dragon, right James Jacobs? Therefore TREASURE!

Valantrix1 wrote:

If that dragon is who I think it is, and it still has the items in its hoarde from first edition, its going to make my dwarven paladin PC extremely happy. I can't wait to get my hands on this one.

It's not that dragon.

Oh darn. I thought I was on to something. Maybe next time. Thanks James!

So, a true dragon did make it into the ap bestiary, and it's a magma dragon. Well, the primal dragon are all going to be featured in the following hardcover Bestiary, so I wasn't expecting this one.

I'm also interested in the dragonscarred dead. Are those undead creatures born from death by draconic breath weapons or something like that?

Valantrix1 wrote:

If that dragon is who I think it is, and it still has the items in its hoarde from first edition, its going to make my dwarven paladin PC extremely happy. I can't wait to get my hands on this one.

It's not that dragon.

I'd love to see what happens if someone confuses the dragon in this AP for the dragon you think it is, though :)

Thanks James in the other issues' threads! For completeness, this issue has Morta Valaskin and Kellen Carondil. Also, there is a new downtime action, but it is not for the Citadel Altaerein.

James Jacobs wrote:

Valantrix1 wrote:

If that dragon is who I think it is, and it still has the items in its hoarde from first edition, its going to make my dwarven paladin PC extremely happy. I can't wait to get my hands on this one.

It's not that dragon.

I'd love to see what happens if someone confuses the dragon in this AP for the dragon you think it is, though :)

Depending on where the dragon shows up, and the level gap, probably a bloodbath. My players however are very crafty, and I don't have enough experience with this edition yet to make an educated guess.

What are the traits of the Magma dragon? Does it receive the fire or the elemental trait?

What are the traits of the Magma dragon? Does it receive the fire or the elemental trait?

What are the traits of the Magma dragon? Does it receive the fire or the elemental trait?

Rare, CN, Fire, and, unsurprisingly, Dragon.

Ok, early in the adventure you come across a piece of treasure called a staff of marvelous medicines. I haven't come across this anywhere before. Am I missing it somewhere, or did this get cut for space? Any suggestions on what I should replace it with

Ok, early in the adventure you come across a piece of treasure called a staff of marvelous medicines. I haven't come across this anywhere before. Am I missing it somewhere, or did this get cut for space? Any suggestions on what I should replace it with

Not presented as a staff, but it could have these properties:

And give it the staff traits maybe?

That's a load of monsters! Gashadokuro, wow!

Anyway, isn't Pathfinder 2 more popular? Only one page with comments? Dragon78 nowhere to be seen?

Disappointing, hopefully, they/you can still manage. I would hate for pathfinder to go away.

Valantrix1 wrote:

Ok, early in the adventure you come across a piece of treasure called a staff of marvelous medicines. I haven't come across this anywhere before. Am I missing it somewhere, or did this get cut for space? Any suggestions on what I should replace it with

Not presented as a staff, but it could have these properties:

CRB p 574

And give it the staff traits maybe?

That is probably what they were talking about. I'll just leave it as is. No reason to be a staff.

Oh hey, the ancient magma dragon statblock on page 81 is missing its Volcanic Purge ability! Thankfully, the PDF version fixes this, but is the misprint present in all current hard copies?

Oh hey, the ancient magma dragon statblock on page 81 is missing its Volcanic Purge ability! Thankfully, the PDF version fixes this, but is the misprint present in all current hard copies?

Looks like a printing error—we're looking into it but in the meantime, yes, the ancient magma dragon should have the ability as well.

You probably shouldn't use an ancient magma dragon in this adventure though... that's kinda mean! :-P

So finally reviewed :'D And I also read previous book in case I missed something first time around. Well I did notice I had forgotten that you actually help a lot of halflings in the book 3, like basically every character you help, talk to or rescue from slavers is a halfling. So its bit incorrect to say Mialari has more screentime than halflings or the mysterious folk hero bellflower halfling ally, Nolly does probably have more screentime overall(I didn't count) and they definitely have more screentime to them than gnomes do in their book.

I think my issue with previous book's halfling theme is similar to goblin theme in first one: The book feels more like Bellflower Network themed book than Halfling book, unless book is saying that Halflings are all about being enslaved(...which I guess in dark way is true because they have forgotten name for their ancestry and their original language because of it) and rescued.

That said I do like book 3, just don't have strong opinion on what you do in it until I get to run it myself.

Anyway, yeah loved this book, but really took ages to write this so it ended up being much shorter review than I originally wanted.

Do PCs find the key to help them get to the next part of the AP? If so, where?

Do PCs find the key to help them get to the next part of the AP? If so, where?

Its the Guiding Chisel in possession of Embermead.

Thank you.

So... how does surface dwellers reach Kovlar, anyway? They go all the way through the Darklands?

So... how does surface dwellers reach Kovlar, anyway? They go all the way through the Darklands?

Magic.

*straight face*

No, really, literally. When you read the AP you'll understand how exactly it happens, but explaining it here would be something of a spoiler.

I've understood how the PC's reach the city... but there are some surface dwellers who travel and commerce... how do merchants and some NPC's reach the city? Is that explained on further releases or have i missed something?

I noticed on my downloads page that this volume—along with some other parts of this adventure path—was apparently updated on January 3, 2020. What has changed?