Pathfinder Society Scenario #1-17: The Perennial Crown Part 2, The Thorned Monarch

3.30/5 (based on 21 ratings)

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A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 3–6 (subtiers 3–4 and 5–6).

In part 2 of The Perennial Crown, the PCs must evade the fearsome fey known as the Thorned Monarch. This unrelenting tyrant will stop at nothing to hunt down the PCs and claim their discoveries for themself, bringing to bear not only their awesome physical and magical power, but also manipulating the innocent Bhopanese citizens in their desperate attempts to stop the PCs from fleeing Bhopan with the one item that could put an end to the evil fey's ambitions.

Written by: Alex Augunas

Scenario tags: Metaplot

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

Note: This product is part of the Pathfinder Society Scenario Subscription.

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Fulfilled immediately.

Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at store@paizo.com.

PZOPFS0117E


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Average product rating:

3.30/5 (based on 21 ratings)

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Intense, exhilarating, and a bit mean

4/5

The scenario is difficult what with all the combat you need to do, the skill challenges and chase scenes you must overcome, and the extremely limited opportunities to pause to catch your breath. It's intense in a good way, though there are a few moments I find a bit mean.

Firstly, a treasure bundle can be missed just for not getting enough successes in a single round of checks. The consequence for failing that is already a ton of damage. There's no need to rub it in.

Spoiler:
Secondly, the GM told me after the session that the final boss is actually tougher if you participated in the blood letting minigame in the preceding adventure. How is anyone supposed to figure that out?


Epic but Flawed Mechanically

3/5

Monarch is a scenario that is epic, intense, flavorful, but flawed mechanically.

It’s hard to rate this scenario, because if you have a cleric and skilled PCs (especially at subtier 5-6) it's a 5 star scenario, but if you don't have those things it can easily be a 1 star scenario.

There is a chase at the end, that is overtuned for subtier 3-4, and if played by the book, will lead to a TPK potentially, especially if you don’t have a healer. (The scenario does not adjust the DCs for subtier 5-6, but this is good because the DCs are otherwise too high.). At ST 3-4, my group was caught twice (I fudged to give them a chance).

It’s also not clear in this scenario when you can and cannot Treat Wounds. It’s very possible your GM will think there’s no time to heal until the final encounter. Regardless, if you don’t have a cleric, a TPK is likely.

”The problem with skill challenges in general”:

The biggest problem with skill challenges in PF2, is that they take away all player agency, creativity, and alternate solutions.

Players loved the scenario “The Night March of Kalkamedes” because it allowed players to be creative, and it allowed for alternate solutions.

In PF2, the GM often doesn’t even describe the situation, they just say “There’s a pit. You can use Acrobatics or Athletics to cross”. “There are some guards. You can use Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Performance to get past them”.

The other problem with the skill challenges is the team-based nature of the skill challenges. Why does the entire team take damage or suffer conditions if my character crit succeeds?

In a chase, why is the entire group going the same speed?

Also, I don't agree with the skills that are used in the skill challenges. For example, the party is sinking in quicksand (but wasn't given the chance to avoid it or escape from it with Survival!!! WTH), but somehow with either the Medicine (really?) or Crafting skills, can create a huge batch of potions, on-the-fly, without an alchemist kit, that is strong enough to harden the quicksand to escape. I found this to be incredibly unrealistic and extremely silly. To do this, you would need hours of time, the Alchemical Crafting feat, and it couldn't be done with the Medical skill.

Or how Deception (a talking based skill) was used to do everything from tricking possessed animals to go the wrong way, to tricking massive pillars of sand from grabbing them.

These problems are across all PF2 scenarios, but it really stood out in this one, with the amount of skill challenges.

In Monarch, it’s very easy to lose treasure bundles from failed skill checks, if that bothers you.

The final encounter contains incapacitation effects, which can easily make it a wipe.

There is a spot in the scenario where it’s very possible to gain infamy without being given a warning. What is Infamy? Hopefully your GM also doesn’t know.

Despite all of this, if the group has a cleric and the mechanical issues can be resolved (or the scenario played at subtier 5-6), then you have an epic scenario that could be a lot of fun.

I’m not sure why some reviewers are commenting on the big boss battle, saying there needs to be mooks included. There were, but perhaps your GM didn’t include them because the final combat was already too difficult.

”Detailed rating”:

Length: Medium (3-4 hours).
Experience: GMed at subtier 3-4 (no healers, which was a disaster and resulted in a TPK) and player at subtier 5-6 (with a healer and shield fighters).
Sweet Spot: Subtier 5-6!!!
Entertainment: TPKs are not fun for either GM or player. They had no chance. (4/10)
Story: Great. (8/10)
Roleplay: Minimal without GM embellishment. (3/10)
Combat/Challenges: A TPK waiting to happen at subtier 3-4 or with no healers. (4/10)
Maps: Flip maps. I just wish the start and the chase had a map to move along. (7/10)
Boons: A unique and interesting book. (8/10)
Uniqueness: I thought aspects of this scenario were unique, some of the chase scene could be embellished. (8/10)
GM Preparation: Easy to prepare and easy to read.

Overall: A fun and epic conclusion to a great story arc if you have a healer, highly skilled PCs, and/or run at subtier 5-6. “What Andrewww said” (6/10)


4/5


Immensely unfun

1/5

Our high tier party got absolutely wrecked by the second encounter and the scenario prohibits healing. The final encounter is even worse in difficulty since it's just one mega-enemy. The seemingly endless skill checks also felt nearly impossible for anyone not trained (even with Untrained Improvisation). Not really fun at all.


Brutal, fast-paced fun

4/5

This scenario more or less plays as an action movie, and it mostly works. This is a complete tonal shift from the mystery, exploration, and intrigue of part 1 of Perennial Crown, but it's a shift that's justified by a significant plot development. I strongly recommend running the two parts back-to-back-- if not in the same session, then at least in consecutive sessions. The scenario has a "How Did I Get Here?" explainer for PCs who only play part 2, but I would guess the experience would be both extremely jarring and a bit random for those players.

Mechanically, the action movie style means that the party is on a very tight time budget between encounters, sometimes none at all. The scenario beats up on the party (with an interesting choice along the way) as it builds to a climactic set piece encounter. To my eye, this looks like the most potentially deadly scenario in season 1, mostly for parties who were counting on mundane healing.

I actually think it might be *too much* for parties that aren't well balanced or have a stock of magical healing. Most other PFS2 scenarios have 1-3 encounters per adventuring day, with opportunities to heal & refocus in between. This scenario stacks more encounters / dangerous situations in the same adventuring day while shoving the party forward in the plot. That's going to strain a lot of parties.

As usual, my biggest criticism is the editing. At high tier, one encounter has invalid/impossible tactics specified for a creature, and another creature has a mistake in its statblock that makes one of its abilities unusable.

Spoiler:
The jinkins are specified to attempt to flank, but they are tiny size, have 0' reach, and can't flank. The red caps are tiny (rather than small in the Bestiary), so their Deadly Cleave ability likewise can't be used (unless two PCs are also tiny).

There's also one skill check that has no effect on the scenario as written; I interpreted the consequences to be consistent with the pace of the adventure, but that just makes the scenario even harder.

Spoiler:
The Athletics check to escape the sewers says how long this takes depending on the results of the checks, but the scenario specifies no consequences for taking longer here. I took it to mean that with a poor result, the PCs can lose time to rest.


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Paizo Employee Webstore Coordinator

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Announced for March! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.

Contributor

8 people marked this as a favorite.

MY BABY!!!


6 people marked this as a favorite.

Just wanted to drop by and say: I've ran this already since I've written part I of the saga, and Alex has wrought pure GOLD here.

Seriously, this adventure beats many campaign-finales in just how epic it feels. I'm super-excited to see the final version!!


4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

I cannot wait to check this series out! Enz + AA = PURE GOLD!!

Scarab Sages

Does the metaplot tag indicate that this is part of a series, or is that referencing an ongoing plot of the season?

Scarab Sages

Ginasteri wrote:
Does the metaplot tag indicate that this is part of a series, or is that referencing an ongoing plot of the season?

The latter.

You know a scenario is the former if the title is like 'Ongoing Series Part X, A New Subtitle'

The above scenario is both sequel and metaplot scenario.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Huh. I'm honestly curious though,

my playstyle is pacifistic anyway but:
do players in PFS ever choose to do things that gain infamy? xD I mean, you ARE supposed to warn players that the action would gain infamy, so players can't stumble on it accidentally. I would be surprised if majority of people kill the reporting note character since you get infamy for it :p Unless GM forgets to tell about infamy I guess. I do know that lot of bad guys you can optionally spare after combat get killed in society, but I don't know in general whenever there is "hold back to avoid killing someone not clearly acting in their right mind" encounters if those npcs usually survive unless its main objective :p

The Exchange

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Auuugh.. I really want to buy both of these, but it just keeps saying "Your request produced an error." Boooooooooo.. Hopefully that's fixed soon. It sounds like these are going to be great, and just what we need for our TTS sessions.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Ga'reth wrote:
Auuugh.. I really want to buy both of these, but it just keeps saying "Your request produced an error." Boooooooooo.. Hopefully that's fixed soon. It sounds like these are going to be great, and just what we need for our TTS sessions.

You can avoid that by either cleaning your browser's cookie cache or using incognito mode if you don't want to delete cookies

The Exchange

1 person marked this as a favorite.

My hero, Corvus! Clearing cache didn't work, but incognito window did. Really weird - I had bought something only a few hours before with no problem.

Liberty's Edge

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

FEAR THE MIGHTY MONARCH!

Grand Lodge

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Alexander Augunas wrote:
MY BABY!!!

You're baby's first combat encounter made my players want to kill you.

It was wonderful.

Dark Archive

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I have to say that I'm baffled by the reviews since my experience running this scenario was much better than I was led to believe from reviews. I dunno if I got lucky, but this scenario is way better than 3 stars if you ask me :p


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder LO Special Edition, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
Alexander Augunas wrote:
MY BABY!!!

Questions for the author:

Question 1:
Are GMs intended to warn about the possible infamy with King Webhekiz?

Question 2:
In the Chase, does it take the turn of the manifestation to damage the party, or does it happen without an action, as soon as the manifestation catches up?

Question 3:
At the conclusion, if the players offer up the Treasure Bundles they found, are they intended to lose the treasure bundles, or are they compensated for their noble deed?

Contributor

1 person marked this as a favorite.
CorvusMask wrote:
I have to say that I'm baffled by the reviews since my experience running this scenario was much better than I was led to believe from reviews. I dunno if I got lucky, but this scenario is way better than 3 stars if you ask me :p

Thank you, that's wonderful to hear! If anyone is a World of Warcraft player, I was heavily inspired by the Battle for Dazar'alor raid and the Halls of Reflection dungeon when writing this!

Spoiler:

I wanted a scenario that captured the feeling of being in this fantastic location with chaos all around you while you're fleeing from something truly horrific.

Contributor

2 people marked this as a favorite.
FLite wrote:
Alexander Augunas wrote:
MY BABY!!!

You're baby's first combat encounter made my players want to kill you.

It was wonderful.

I'm okay with being the Jack Sparrow of OP authors.

Quote:


Your players: "That combat encounter was too hard! You're the worst author I've ever heard of."

Me: "But you have heard of me."

I'm glad you enjoyed the scenario!

Contributor

The Kulak wrote:
Alexander Augunas wrote:
MY BABY!!!

Questions for the author:

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

So, all three of these questions are better suited for a developer than an author. I don't want to tell you that it's okay to do something that inadvertently creates table variance on a massive scale after all!

I'm sure this isn't the answer you wanted, and I profusely apologize. I just don't want to get into a situation where I said something that doesn't align with OP and cause them trouble. ^_^"

Scarab Sages Organized Play Developer

4 people marked this as a favorite.
The Kulak wrote:
Alexander Augunas wrote:
MY BABY!!!

Questions for the author:

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

Re: Question 1, the GM should always warn the player(s) that a PC action is about to earn a point of Infamy. It's in the Infamy rules:

"When a character expresses the intent to perform a wantonly evil or callously criminal action and you inform them that their action would be considered an evil action, if the character still persists in performing the action, apply a point of Infamy to the character."

A GM should never give out Infamy without first making the player aware that their PC's actions will earn it.


So, this scenario has only nine treasure bundles. Is this an error or was it intentional?


Pathfinder LO Special Edition, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Thanks for the clarification on the Infamy, I'm glad I ran it correctly. Can you clarify the second two questions, Michael?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Is there any clarification that can be provided on what level the Fey Influence feat allows the spells to be cast at (given that half of them can be heightened)?


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber
Michael Sayre wrote:
The Kulak wrote:
Alexander Augunas wrote:
MY BABY!!!

Questions for the author:

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

Re: Question 1, the GM should always warn the player(s) that a PC action is about to earn a point of Infamy. It's in the Infamy rules:

"When a character expresses the intent to perform a wantonly evil or callously criminal action and you inform them that their action would be considered an evil action, if the character still persists in performing the action, apply a point of Infamy to the character."

A GM should never give out Infamy without first making the player aware that their PC's actions will earn it.

I think this should be explained a little better. Because the next paragraph in the Players guide makes it sound like if it is a scenario based decision then it shouldn't be warned. Otherwise, why would you present an option only to tell a player it is not an option. "Beyond GM intervention, some scenarios and written products may present evil solutions to situations. These actions will be called out within the adventure text as causes to give a character partaking in them a point of Infamy. Still, the GM is the final arbiter on what constitutes an alignment infraction and when Infamy is gained by a character at the table."

Lantern Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

The adventure is good but the beginning adventure needs to be re ovulated and instructions for more enemies in the last scene for more people needs to be more clear as to make it a instant tpk.


Hi, I have a question about this scenario.

spoiler:

In Webhekiz's Vaults, there is a hazard called Blood Haze:
Blood Haze wrote:

A contingent of canine-featured Bhopanese guards has wandered into the passage ahead, into a sanguine haze. The guards tear at each other in confusion, unable to tell friend from foe.

If the PCs fail to overcome the hazard, this is the listed outcome:

Failure wrote:

The PCs succumb to the blood haze themselves, blacking out and taking 2d6+5 damage (2d10+13 damage in Tier 5-6). When they come to, the PCs discover blood on their weapons and all the guards dead. The lingering mental fog leaves the PCs stupefied 1 for 10 minutes (until after the encounter in area A).

The main penalty for failure seems to be some damage and the stupefied condition, but it is implied that the PCs kill the guards while under the confusion effect of the blood haze.

It seems that this action (killing the guards) could trigger the anathema of certain deities. For example, Apsu has this anathema:

Apsu's anathema wrote:

Attack a creature without certainty of wrongdoing

A strict reading of the scenario text, along with the anathema, certainly makes it seem as though a PC failing the hazard would run afoul of the anathema.

On the other hand, the Guide to Organized Play states:

Guide to Organized Play wrote:

To allow a wide variety of characters in Society play, the rules around edicts and anathema are slightly relaxed. It is generally assumed that all characters can participate in Pathfinder Society adventures without running afoul of their deity’s edicts and anathema—attempting to perform the primary objective of an official Pathfinder Society mission by itself will not cause a character to fall out of favor with their deity.

In order to complete the scenario, the PCs must attempt to pass through the Blood Haze hazard, and can fail simply due to bad luck.

So my question is, does failing the Blood Haze hazard trigger relevant anathemas?

Thanks!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Dire Mosasaur wrote:

Hi, I have a question about this scenario.

** spoiler omitted **...

They have no control over it, so similar to if they were confused or dominated, it really doesn't make sense to punish the players.


elisaelli wrote:
Dire Mosasaur wrote:

Hi, I have a question about this scenario.

** spoiler omitted **...

They have no control over it, so similar to if they were confused or dominated, it really doesn't make sense to punish the players.

Thanks for the input. It's actually my character that this happened to. I'm trying to decide if I should get an atonement (not strictly needed, as my character isn't a cleric or paladin, but I feel like the character would still care).

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