A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 9th- through 12th-level characters.
The Godsrain has caused chaos throughout Golarion, but it has also caused opportunity. The rain of pieces of Gorum's Armor, the Warshards, has lead to a race of various groups to collect these artifacts, either for study or more nefarious purposes. The Pathfinder Society has collected several themselves, and learned of a way to find more. When they employed this ritual, though, it pointed to the Netherworld within the Gravelands. A piece of surpassing size and power lies within the reach of Tar Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant. Fortunately the Society has a plane-hopping airship gained in its defeat of the hag Aslynn, as well as some strange fruit empowered by the silver rain that can grant the power of mythic heroes. But will that be enough to retrieve this item of power before the Whispering Tyrant claims it?
Written by Linda Zayas-Palmer
Scenario tags: Godsrain, Glyph, Mythic
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
I GMed this for a grroup with 30 CP, so VERY high tier. Will play in about a month and maybe edit the review is something significant changes with that perspective.
TL;DR
A high level scenario with Myhtic rules, that is unclear on some quite important rules / number of enemies. The final fight can be VERY hard.
Backgroundwise: Interesting Story, but in actual play there are not many decisions to be made.
This WILL run long. Took us 6.5 hours to finish
I would give it 2.5 stars if I could, but will round up to three.
The good:
- This is a high level adventure that actually feels high level. You get some myhtic abilities, which give you even more power than usual (but also limit you in some ways - see below).
- I quite liked the background and descriptions of the scenery as well as the introduction, which features three prominent figures, each presented in a distinguishable way.
- The final fight is TOUGH. For groups that like a challenge this is a nice change of pace compared to many other adventures.
The bad:
- The final fight is TOUGH. If you have a group that is not well balanced, or some rolls don't go your way, I can easily see this being a TPK. Especially if you use the number of enemies from the adventure part, not from the appendix
- One of the maps is just a 3x3 of dungeon tiles. And most of the tiles are described in a single paragraph each. Wasn't there a better map for that?
- There is a fight against multiple large or huge enemies in a room that doesn't even fit all those enemies. This is part of the 3x3 tile map - please use maps that have more flair and fit all enemies!
- With four fights, one skill challenge and one skill challenge and/or fight, this adventure WILL run long. High tier fights are already quite lengthy. One less would have been a good thing.
- The description of the adventure as well as the introduction kind of hint at undead as the most probable type of enemy to encounter. Yet only one of the 4 (or 5) fights is actually against those. This can lead to groups that have the wrong spells, etc. prepared for what they will be facing
The ugly:
- The number of a certain type of enemy in the final encounter is listed as (2) in the adventure, but as (0) in the appendix - depending on what you see as the correct number, the fight will play VERY diffetently
- The mythic rules state that you only get what is listed in the handout. Yet the adventure doesn't mention at the usual spot that you should hand out Hero Points. Are they replaced by Myhtic Points? Do you get both? Both might be a bit much, but ONLY MP is quite limited, too, since you cannot use the to reroll flat checks or attack rolls and neither can you burn them to prevent death. The last part is usually covered by being Mythic, but that, too, isn't listed on the handout. There should be some clarification for that!
- The Spell DC of the final enemy is INSANE. Expect many failed / crit failed saves. Some of them against Incapacitation Effects.
I ran this to a group of 5 at high tier. Great set pieces, variety of interactions. Call backs are appreciated as well. The build up of the mission was great. Overall the story, great.
It does run long. I don't like when they run long. Its my style. I try to do everything at 4hours and defn under 5 hours. This was 5.5 hours and could have easily been 6 hours if one or two things went a different way. There is one, maybe two, too many combats in my opinion. As well as a potential combat if you dont pass the skill checks. If that triggers this will go well over 6 hours. Wish that was set up as strictly a social encounter and ditched one more, the ship one if I had a call.
The mythic rules just felt like super hero points. The rules were alright. I am not sure it really added anything to the game.
Now to the final boss.. my party absolutely wrecked her. She nat 1 on init and they all used mythic to start first. Over in 2 rounds. I forgot one mythic conditional removal that might have helped a tiny bit but they have the other monsters AOE'D away and she was out actioned at that point. I know thats most likely not going to be the norm but it is possible!
It loses a rating because of the length, I won't be running it much for that reason.
I played this today at high tier with 22 CP. I enjoyed the themes, setting and flow of the adventure. The location certainly leant itself to Mythic style adventure and it was nice to see the call back to previous adventures with the airship. It also didnt seem that complex to run which is much appreciated for higher level content.
Overall we handled the scenario pretty well until the end. The final encounter is utterly and completely brutal and we, after a bit, ended up with a TPK. Given the DCs being thrown around, numbers normally suitable for level 18, a TPK was virtually inevitable. This is an artefact of the creature chosen which was elite with extreme spell DC for its level. This definitely felt like something that development should have caught. I suspect our experience will not be uncommon unless GM's heavily softball things.
We ran with a pretty strong group, Champion, Cleric, Rogue, Swashbuckler and my Sorcerer (Champion/Bard) which dealt with all the other combat challenges pretty well but the end fight was nigh impossible.
I would add that I would not run this at a Con. As a high level scenario things will run more slowly. Players need to be introduced to the Mythic subsystem (which isnt that complex) and there are potentially four combat encounters. I would budget a good 6 hours for this.
I ran this scenario for 4 level 10-11 characters (low tier).
Really liked it and so did the players!
Time
It ran long, a common combination of "Oh, I haven't played this high level PFS character in ages & How does this new party combination work together" and the fact that it does have several higher level combats.
With good team cohesion and players who know their characters well, time will be much less of an issue.
Story & Theme
The premise is a very straightforward "Get this item and get out" smash&grab, and works well.
The theme and feeling is phenomenal. If you want a more dark and somber tone for your adventures, this will give it. After the briefing in the beginning things get grim, especially after the party arrives at the end location.
Several players also voiced their appreciation of the feel of the adventure.
Difficulty and mechanics
This was very satisfying to run as a GM, as the enemies have neat tricks they can pull, and the boss in particular can be played as a VERY scary opponent. If your players crave challenge, this scenario delivers.
The simplified Mythic Rules work fine but GM's be aware that they replace !Hero Points! as they count as a kind of Superhero Points.
The spellcaster PC's in particular enjoyed their +6 to Spell DC ability.
All in all I wish for more of this kind of higher level scenarios!
Fortunately the Society has a plane-hopping airship gained in its defeat of the hag Aslynn, as well as some strange fruit empowered by the silver rain that can grant the power of mythic heroes.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook Subscriber
This might need a fix to the pdf. It looks like the map list in the scenario itself is really wrong. The list on the store is correct - the PDF does not match. The scenario tags are a mismatch as well - listed above are Godsrain, Glyph, and Mythic - the PDF includes Godsrain, Glyph, and Vigilant Seal.
Map list in the PDF:
The scenario lists Warship (correct), and Villain Lairs flip-tiles (not correct). The PDF does not list Haunted Battlefield, Fortress Chambers flip-tiles, or the Elemental Planes pack, which are correct and listed above.
