A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.
The Pathfinder Society's lodge at the Cathedral of Aroden in the Andoran city of Almas faces a legitimate legal threat from the church of Iomedae, which seeks to lay claim the storied edifice. The PCs must work with the lodge's venture-captain to prepare a legal defense, as they'll need to sway a panel of judges if the Pathfinder Society is to retain ownership of the lodge and maintain its foothold in Almas. But not all is as it seems, and enemies of the Society—and of Andoran—are preparing to make their move when least expected. The Pathfinders' legal claim to the cathedral is not all that they'll need to defend!
Inheritor's Rite is part of the ongoing story of the Year of Shattered Sanctuaries. It is the second scenario in a two-part arc detailing the events befalling a Pathfinder Society lodge in the nation of Andoran. 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 Elizabeth V Nold
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:
We had a lot of fun with the first part of this adventure. Our group had a great time in the hearing.
I like the switcheroo from courtroom to crisis "go save the world again, pathfinders" mode and the sense of urgency it created. But the combats were just really lackluster. This would have been a fantastic adventure with more interesting NPCs to fight.
I liked that the 1st half gave a good opportunity for RP, and I liked the switch to the sense of urgency in the 2nd half. The "murderhobo" trap in the 1st encounter was very clever and forced our hard hitting characters to try a different approach. However after that the encounters were just not very hard at all, to the point where after defeating the final boss there was that "is that really it?" feeling. (and normally I'm the one opposing APL+2/3 bosses, but APL-1 boss didn't feel good either).
So the balancing is why I'm taking a star off, the rest was very enjoyable and I hope we get to resolve the final mystery soon.
This adventure is one that very much feels disjointed. Its a fun bit of smoke and mirrors as just as the trial seems to be setting up to be the main thrust of the scenario it very suddenly shifts focus and goes in another direction.
The second half is a quick trio of combats one of which might well be labeled "we are very excited about guns and gears" and which is the absolute highlight of this adventure, especially in the hands of a GM who can do quite a lot with the premise of the encounter.
The other two combats are pretty paint by numbers and I would have frankly rather seen one or the other cut in order to really bring to life the somewhat unique setting of having an emergency encounter
spoiler:
Deep in the vault of one of Pathfinder Societys Oldest lodges. There is some lip service paid to the unique nature of the place with the metronome hazard but it felt like a real wasted opportunity to show us something unique we hadn't seen before. Especially since the two encounters with mercenaries were mechanically identical with only the first having a sorceror and the second a cleric.
Overall there were some neat ideas in here, but all of them are stretched really thin and threadbare and a scenario that focused harder on two of the three main elements (the trial, the lodge and the combats in the marketplace) would have almost surely been markedly better than trying to do it all at once. I also would have liked a little more on Valor who has all the makings of a very cool recurring npc.
"So I feel like this is the moment where I point out that I'm a notary, not an attorney. And five minutes from now is, if my understanding holds, the moment where I am assigned to this mission because that's still better than it could be. Yes?"
You see dear friend the system by which agents are selected for a mission is very complicated.
:cough: In that we randomly snag people who happen to be sitting in a common room. Though my preferred method is to use the Mission Hat. Sometimes your name may be in there more than once but don't worry about that.
Guns & Gears just came out and is now society legal. So I expect the next couple of adventures to use stuff from there to increase people's awareness / interest in the new stuff. Basic marketing strategy :)
Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Kaliope's Hymn wrote:
My exact words aloud, "1 to 4?!" Who doesn't love another non-repeatable Metaplot? But we got bored adventurers at 6+... <3 nonetheless!
Agreed. Paizo should be looking to make at least half of their released scenarios repeatables, otherwise why award ACPs that you never get to use in non-repeatable adventures? Since the release schedule has slowed, the repeatable tag should be HIGH priority. IMHO.
