A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.
One of the most urgent letters to reach the Grand Lodge in the recent flood of troubling correspondence contained grim news indeed: a renowned Pathfinder Venture-Captain vital to the Society's operations in the oppressive nation of Cheliax has gone missing! Fearing the worst, the Society dispatches experienced agents to the venture-captain's home in search of any clue as to what might have happened.
The Devil-Wrought Disappearance is part of the ongoing story of the Year of Shattered Sanctuaries. It is the first scenario in a two-part arc detailing the events befalling a Pathfinder Society lodge in the nation of Cheliax. Other arcs explore other locations across the Inner Sea. While the arcs can be played in any order, it is recommended that players experience the scenarios within each individual arc in order.
Written by Joseph Blomquist
Scenario tags: Metaplot (Shattered Sanctuaries)
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
The final encounter in high tier is perhaps the single most difficult enemy to hurt I've ever come across in a scenario.
Spoiler:
A level 6 creature with 26 AC is only technically within bounds, as 27 AC is the extreme value for that level going by the GMG guidelines. Simultaneously, his reflex save is his best save at a high value of +17. But since he also has Evasion, this is enough to render reflex saves nearly useless against him as a level PC's DC is at most 22 at level 6, so a roll of 5 or more (so 80% of the time) completely negates. Having excessively high AC and near immunity to reflex saves makes this an incredibly infuriating slog of an encounter.
The one saving grace is that while +18 is a rather high to-hit (again, the guidelines for level 6 are +17 as a high to-hit, and +19 for extreme), his actual damage is very low without sneak attack.
But overall, this is an encounter that can quickly become a very unenjoyable slog as the party struggles to deal any damage at all while he freely chips away at them.
I think there's a lot that was handled well in the first half of the scenario, but the issues with the last two encounters (the issues with the primary success condition and the penultimate encounter have been addressed in other reviews) leave a sour taste in my mouth.
I just played in this with a level 5 rogue in a 6-character high sub-tier game at the high challenge rating. In both of the last two encounters I was taken down to single-digit hit points (by attacks from only one opponent) before my initiative came up. I know rogues aren't going to be the most heavily-armoured combat characters, but these guys seemed to find me ridiculously easy to hit. In one of the encounters there was also some nasty persistent damage which had an insanely high roll to overcome.
The adventure is well written. Provides a lot of good information and story. However, there's an issue with a certain creature appearing in the low tier combat that can easily cause a party wipe if it is used tactically. Aside from the slog of a fight it is a good adventure.
A Fantasy Spy-Thriller Held Back by Design Choices
I played in a low-tier game at max CP with the 5 player adjustment. After play, I also read through the scenario.
The Devil-Wrought Disappearance, by Joseph Blomquist, is a mystery-thriller set in Cheliax that brings the PCs into a story involving perhaps one of Pathfinder’s most famous NPCs, Varian Jeggare. Tasked with investigating the holmesian wizard’s disappearance, the PCs travel to Cheliax where they must engage in a game of cloak and daggers to remain undetected in a nation that forbids their presence.
The scenario has a great set-up and premise, but is ultimately undercut by some of its shakier design choices. The narrative is tight, and flows nicely, but does force combat at some points (not quite Chandler’s law, but close). Otherwise it provides plenty of opportunities for stealth and guile, and accounts for multiple possible courses of action the PCs might take in the final set piece.
Getting into the moving parts, the first weakness is the opening skill challenge which my group failed despite multiple critical successes. The GM also missed some of the text in the encounter, which probably made it harder than it otherwise should have been. While there is still a way to “fail forward” through the encounter, it is also tied to the secondary success condition which makes missing this challenge rather punishing for Lore-deprived groups.
The combat encounters in the scenario are, for the most part, fine, if not a little on the blander side of things without a lot of room for interesting tactics. There is one encounter in particular I thought was poorly designed, as it features enemies that are notorious for punching above their weight class, but not in a way that is fun or interactive.
spoilers:
Bearded devils are deeply frustrating enemies to fight because they are soldier enemies with a powerful bleed effect. Their high HP, AC, and damage, combined with their reach, attack of opportunity, and punishing persistent bleed damage make them very lethal for an on-level party. These enemies are reviled in most scenarios they appear in, especially because Infernal Wounds is nigh-impossible to remove for on-level challengers. Even after we killed the two bearded devils in our combat, we spent over 15 minutes after the fight rolling dice to end the bleeding effects, which nobody was enjoying.
Overall the scenario was fun, but frustrating in parts, and reads more like a spy thriller in the vein of James Bond where there’s some sneaking and espionage, and then a lot of fist fights. It’s fun and thoughtful, and uses well-established characters well, but poor design choices in some of its more technical aspects keep it from being great. I would definitely recommend it, but be sure to pack a few extra elixirs of life before setting off.
The scenario was engaging, the combat was not overtuned, and I appreciated the narrative fork allowing for player choice as well as the effort to make research system less boring by using "random" events.
I have a question about scaling in first encounter:
Spoiler:
When scaling, it says that the research points are required and the DC should be increased. But will the maximum RP of the various departments also be increased? Or stay with the default values?
by the way, I think it is a wonderful Szenario! We will see it on Friday :-)
(based on 10 ratings)
