A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.
A mysterious genie appears before the Pathfinders as they finish settling into the Sedeq Lodge and asks for assistance in seeing that their previous binder sees justice. The Pathfinders must infiltrate the home of the genie binder and free the elemental beings that he's bound to his service before finally confronting him for his meddling in the freedom of other beings and trying to overthrow the Pathfinder Society in Qadira. Unfortunately, his powerful benefactor tipped him off, so he's just as ready for the Pathfinders as they are for him!
Written by Matt Duval
Scenario tags: Faction (Envoy's Alliance)
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
I've now run this two or three times and played it as well. I was very much looking forward to running it for my regulars, and the game did not disappoint. They had played the season 3 mini-arc that is a prelude to this scenario, so I was happy to finally run it for them. It did take a full five hours, so the game ran a bit longer than I had hoped, but it was worth it.
There are a few harrowing parts of the scenario, but the heroes can have some help from a friend, which might ease the more difficult bits. I encouraged my players to avoid asking for help unless they felt like they really needed it. I agree with other reviewers that some of the DCs are higher than expected, but not unreasonable.
Also of note, the final encounter can be a pretty difficult fight, but it's not super impossible, just satisfying.
For the most part, I found this enjoyable to run. I enjoyed the characters, this continues nicely from previous adventures (but should perhaps more explicitly say that in the scenario blurb, as it has callbacks to many previous scenarios).
The genies and subverting their orders was a great idea, though I feel it's a bit stretched for the first one (Works great on the second, though).
But there are real issues with the scenario's challenge level.
Spoiler:
The first encounter is brutal and definitely not "Moderate". While diplomatic PCs will get the hazard helpfully pointed out, the numbers on it are punishing. DC 26 is nasty even for level 6 PCs, and the hazard's damage is vicious - I'm very glad the players already had a success by the time someone inevitably got a critical failure. There doesn't feel like a great way to organically guide the PCs to the lower DCs (and the only really easy target being very specifically performance with a flute, which drops the DC by 4). The fact that the DCs are increased by challenge points did not help at all when there was a level 4 playing up (and they would have otherwise been the obvious choice for a crafting check). By rough calculations... a level 6 PC can only get even a 50% success rate by essentially maxing out their relevant skill against this.
The PCs managed to avoid combat with Farah (I did struggle to resolve the separate rolls for Safa there - I have to assume time spent on those doesn't count against rolls on Farah, because otherwise getting just +2 points isn't even worth rolling on it when it requires two checks already). Looking over the stat block I have some concerns about Combat Grab with bonus damage from Burning Grasp, but absent seeing it in play I'm uncertain of exactly how threatening it is.
The other aspect I find troubling is the final encounter. The reflections feel really bad. "I'm sorry, you dealt too much damage, so now you deal nothing and the boss gets another minion" is just extremely mean to players I feel. I did not feel good at all telling the fighter that their crit meant they got nowhere. The high tier version bumping his rant to dealing Frightened 2 instead of 1 is troubling as well, because as noted - 1 action, no cooldown, hits the entire room? That's a very powerful ability.
Perspective: played a level 4 magus at Monkhound's high tier table
The skill DCs seem a bit high for the level, which hurts when you're already below the level of the scenario. Overall it feels like the skill DCs are tuned towards the high end of the tiers (4 and 6) rather than the low end (3 and 5).
On the one hand, you don't need to succeed at every skill challenge to get the happy ending to the adventure, so it's fair. But on the other hand, that means for a lot of the situations, you end up doing the scenario what feels like the "bad" way because you just can't succeed at the DC for the "good" way.
The boss is also particularly unpleasant for people playing up. He projects a debuff onto everyone, which up-players are especially likely to fail. Then they get into a spiral of failure. This means you're also at a big disadvantage if you try to leave the boss to the high level characters while you keep the mooks busy.
So yeah, the difficulty in this scenario doesn't really feel fun, even though it's "technically" correct. It's particularly sharp for people playing out of tier.
On the other hand, the overall story of the scenario was good, with interesting situatins and possible solutions. And the choice of minions for the BBEG makes me really curious about the next scenario in this storyline.
I do enjoy the lore that is presented in the Qadira story arc since season 3. It's well presented and evocative. I also like how the NPC's are presented, and their artwork is cool!
I did have some complaints about the skill challenges though:
1) The DC's are higher than they should be for this tier. That's not necessarily an issue if only 1 PC needs to succeed, but there are instances where this is not the case
2) Asking to constantly make the exact same skill check between the two same skills and a Lore that no-one is going to have is disappointing. I expect that within a single mini-game, but not as the core part of a scenario
3) Not all the information was where I elected to find it, which meant I had to go back and forth to find a line that I knew was somewhere
The combats are rough: The BBEG's abilities are punishing, so the GM should really follow the tactics as written to make it work as intended
Can't imagine what this would be like with a full Lv6 Party
The last scenarios of PFS Year 4 will be released in July, and the new season will launch at Gen Con 2023. Still a couple more months that haven't been posted yet.
