House of the Beast (GM Reference)


Legacy of Fire

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Hopefully others can use this thread to clarify questions arising in this adventure. If you happen to see another thread, please link post a link in this one to try and keep things tied together.

Chapter 1: Howl of the Carrion King
Chapter 2: House of the Beast
Chapter 3: The Jackal's Price
Chapter 4: The End of Eternity
Chapter 5: The Impossible Eye
Chapter 6: The Final Wish


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Enjoy!


Is anyone else distracted by the pictures of Seoni? She's technically not appearing in this AP, but she sure shows up a lot. :D


I got my PDF copy already! I've only scanned it quickly, but it looks pretty cool so far. One question though: as one of the rewards for completing "Howl of the Carrion King," a PC can choose to become a high-ranking member of the church of Sarenrae. The description of the reward indicates that the high priest "plays an important role" in "House of the Beast." However, I could find no reference to this NPC in the adventure. Is this an oversight, or does the high priest of Sarenrae show up in a later adventure?


The set piece...

Spoiler:

The set piece is description indicates it is meant for four level 4 PCs. The AP assumes level 5 by the start of House of the Beast. Is this intended? Perhaps to help get some parties up to speed? The set piece location could make a good base of operations, as the main encounters, the House itself, suggests repeated assaults.

Any suggestions on upping the EL for higher level parties?


About the priest

Spoiler:

Could "the high priest, who soon arrives from the coast" be the same as "a traveling priest named Zayifid who claims to be a prophet of Sarenrae." Granted, he's not cohort material, but having "a friendly attitude toward the character" could certainly benefit the characters, as it gives cover Zayifid helping them out, in the event they are captured.

The only other option I can think of is that the priest takes is also the yet unnamed scholar in the Jackyl's price, who can decipher the Scroll of Karkishon.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

tbug wrote:
Is anyone else distracted by the pictures of Seoni? She's technically not appearing in this AP, but she sure shows up a lot. :D

We had something of a difficult time communicating to the artist the concept of an iconic character, alas, so we ended up just having him go with a couple of iconics rather than get complicated and risk something where we'd get three Seonis fighting a half dozen Harsks.

That'd actually be a pretty cool painting, actually.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Brainiac wrote:
I got my PDF copy already! I've only scanned it quickly, but it looks pretty cool so far. One question though: as one of the rewards for completing "Howl of the Carrion King," a PC can choose to become a high-ranking member of the church of Sarenrae. The description of the reward indicates that the high priest "plays an important role" in "House of the Beast." However, I could find no reference to this NPC in the adventure. Is this an oversight, or does the high priest of Sarenrae show up in a later adventure?

It's an oversight, brought on by the particularly hectic schedule Legacy of Fire was on, unfortunately. The role of the "high priest" was originally going to be the guy who sends the PCs on the adventure (and who appears on the cover of PF 20), but at the last minute we realized that Erik had written up a lot of really great stuff about the Templars and we needed to up the templar presence in House of the Beast (which was written BEFORE Erik finished his adventure, due to crazy scheduling madness, and therefore didn't have any templar stuff in it really at all), so I made some changes to the structure of the adventure to replace the "high priest" with what I think is a MUCH more interesting opening to the adventure.

That said... the last adventure in the AP, "The Final Wish," DOES feature the temple of Sarenrae in a pretty important role, at which point a PC who'd become a high ranking member of the church will have a chance to do some good.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

About the Set Piece...

Spoiler:

Yes, it's intended to be for 4th level players. Originally, "Carrion King" was only going to take folks to 4th level, so we set up the Set Piece in PF 20 to comply with that. When Erik turned his adventure over and it was way awesome (but way over word count), I said, "I'm not cutting this down; it's now a 1st to 5th level adventure, not 1st to 4th." But the set piece was already done and so rather than bump it up, we decided to keep it as is.

There's a lot of stuff to do in "Howl of the Carrion King," but you can skip sizable parts of it. Also, you can get close to the end of Carrion King and still be 4th level, even though the last dungeon really wants 5th level characters. Although the Set Piece in PF 20 doesn't appear in PF 19, that certainly doesn't mean you can't run PF 20's set piece (although with slight adjustments to the location, perhaps), as a chance to gain more XP before tackling the end of Carrion King.

If you use it in House of the Beast as intended, though... go ahead and leave it as is. It's nice for the PCs to feel high level now and then, and sending them on an easier adventure now and then is a great way to do that.

Liberty's Edge

James Jacobs wrote:
tbug wrote:
Is anyone else distracted by the pictures of Seoni? She's technically not appearing in this AP, but she sure shows up a lot. :D

We had something of a difficult time communicating to the artist the concept of an iconic character, alas, so we ended up just having him go with a couple of iconics rather than get complicated and risk something where we'd get three Seonis fighting a half dozen Harsks.

That'd actually be a pretty cool painting, actually.

Man I'd love to see that correspondence =p


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James Jacobs wrote:

About the Set Piece...

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
Yep, I was asked to write the Set Piece early on before the levels were fully designated. Using it as a base of operations for repeated assaults on the House would be awesome and a great way to start this module. The Set Piece is easily scalable up or down. Adding another flamebrother to either of those encounters would make them more difficult, using a climbing encounter in Area 7 with the PCs involved in moving thru a tight squeeze as superheated gusts buffet them while having lava blobs chucked at them by a lone flamebrother 3rd-4th level barbarian (...an exile from the main salamander group), giving the head salamander some javelins of lightning for ranged attacks, and other quick adds would give higher level PCs a run for their money. Let me know if you want and I can help make changes for a higher level party.

drunken_nomad wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:

About the Set Piece...

** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **

Awesome suggestions. My PCs tend to be completionists, so I can see maybe needing to up the challenge, and the above suggestions should to the trick. I'm also seeing the PCs being forced to retreat to/defend the Caverns in the event the Carrion King's minions force them to retreat and regroup.


I laughed when I read the set piece, because my players are considering playing an all-azer party for this AP. If they do, I think I'll give their village (on the plane of fire) some sort of nasty history with Lesaar.


A Great adventure. “House” is exactly “somewhere you’d want to explore”. Maps are crying out “Ravenloft”, or “ToEE”, but with more playable scales. And Mr. Hitchcock did so without losing variety of encounters. I’ve been playing since era of 1stEd, and although I'm enjoying to read this board almost every dary, this is my first post on this board. “House of the Beast”(and “Howl of The Carrion King”) made(or forced) me to do post. Congraturations to Mr. Hitchcock and Paizo staff! I’m very much looking forward to running this adventure(though it must be at least half a year later, because I’m currently running Savage Tide for my players.)

Spoiler:

Tidbits.
*Two of the maps of “House” are scaled by “One square = 5 feet”. I believe that one of them, Grundmoch’s Lair, must be “One square = 10 feet” as other “House” maps(Please compare it with overall map on page 13), but I can’t say for sure about another one, The Stone Speakers, because it’s almost independent from other maps. Please tell me if these scales are correct.
*I can’t get graphic of Rokova from my pdf properly. Select the graphic and copy and paste it on Paint, you get background symbol of him, not a gnoll Assasin. Others, Zayifid for example, I had no problems.


I just finished reading through the module, looks great. I had a question about a reference to Pugwampis.

Spoiler:

The Pugwampis were mentioned on page 27 in the Creatures section of the H1 encounter with the following quote:

"The Carrion King has already lost several
gnolls to the savage and desperate slaves—worse, the
slaves have joined forces with a small group of pugwampis,
tiny gremlins the gnolls loathe, yet who venerate gnolls as
gods."

I realized after finishing the module that there were no pugwampis listed. Did I miss seeing them somewhere. I have only looked at the PDF, does the print edition have something extra. I was hoping to be able to use their unluck power.

What sort of alliance have they formed with Lazrul and his escaped slaves.

Thanks


Another point.

Spoiler:
In HotB, disguised Zayfid tells PCs that his name is Zayfid(HotB page 8). But careful PCs may have already known the name “Zayfid” by investigating statues of Templars in The Old Monastery area A4(HoCK page21).
Is this intentional? If so, what’s the purpose? I think it will make a great roleplaying opportunity(“Oh, you study well! Actually, my parents named me after one of a legendary Templars of Five Winds!”), but at the same time, it may blow off Zayfid’s cover too easily. At least, it will make PCs’ suspicions larger(though I admit that this kind of suspicion can’t be said always harmful to adventures).
Or, should disguised Zayifd give PCs some kind of false name?
Please give me some guidances,if you could.


drunken_nomad wrote:
Let me know if you want and I can help make changes for a higher level party.

This would be really really great if you had an opportunity to do so!

As it stands now, the levels, location, and being in Pathfinder #20 makes the adventure almost useless (read: extremely deficient) as written... but if it were for level 5...! ;)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Gotrek22 wrote:

I just finished reading through the module, looks great. I had a question about a reference to Pugwampis.

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks

ANSWER:

Spoiler:
We had to cut the pugwampis from House of the Beast because the adventure was running long, and we missed the earlier reference to them.
Paizo Employee Creative Director

AGITIGA wrote:

A Great adventure. “House” is exactly “somewhere you’d want to explore”. Maps are crying out “Ravenloft”, or “ToEE”, but with more playable scales. And Mr. Hitchcock did so without losing variety of encounters. I’ve been playing since era of 1stEd, and although I'm enjoying to read this board almost every dary, this is my first post on this board. “House of the Beast”(and “Howl of The Carrion King”) made(or forced) me to do post. Congraturations to Mr. Hitchcock and Paizo staff! I’m very much looking forward to running this adventure(though it must be at least half a year later, because I’m currently running Savage Tide for my players.)

** spoiler omitted **

ANSWERS:

Spoiler:

Grundmoch's Lair should indeed be at a scale of 1 square = 10 feet. The other scales are correct.

I'm not sure why the graphic of Rokova isn't working for you. The graphics & PDF side of things are mysteries to me. My only suggestion would be to either make sure you're using the most up-to-date version of your PDF reader, and then maybe to try using Adobe Reader if you're not, since that's (I believe) the standard PDF reader we aim for.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

AGITIGA wrote:

Another point.

** spoiler omitted **

ANOTHER ANSWER:

Spoiler:

It is indeed intentional. Zayfid doesn't know that the PCs might know about his name already, and if the PCs are paying attention to they story enough, they have a chance to latch on to the name and might use it to confront him. After all, Zayfid is trying to play the PCs, and it's not fair if the GM completely removes any chance for the PCs to see through his lies. Sense Motive is one way to see through them, but this method works independent of die rolls and rewards PCs for paying attention.

Zayfid should be a bit startled if the PCs ask if he's one of the Templars, in fact, and I'd actually say that he'd panic in that case and just leave. At this point he should have hopefully told the PCs about the House of the Beast, at least, so you can bank on PC curiosity to get them to go investigate the temple.


OT:Agitiga,

Spoiler:
Welcome. A warning, however: Once you've crossed that line, there's no going back...


Arnwyn wrote:
drunken_nomad wrote:
Let me know if you want and I can help make changes for a higher level party.

This would be really really great if you had an opportunity to do so!

As it stands now, the levels, location, and being in Pathfinder #20 makes the adventure almost useless (read: extremely deficient) as written... but if it were for level 5...! ;)

Aw crud. Im at work right now and cant put a whole lot into bumping up a level, but I'll put up some stuff this weekend in spoilers. There should be some basic suggestions I put up a couple posts above this one. I'll make some more detailed notes.


James Jacobs wrote:
AGITIGA wrote:

A Great adventure. etc.

** spoiler omitted **

ANSWERS:

** spoiler omitted **

Thank you for your quick responses, James. As other people have already said, this is one of the best things about Paizo and this board.

Spoiler:
The maps are really great. Especially, the existence of three doorless minarets and spiral stairs under them. I love it!
As for PDF, I’m using Adobe Reader (It is 8, not 9, for that matter.), and faced no such problems except this case(Rokova). I tried almost all other graphics in same file(Beast), and all of them worked well. So, I’m afraid there may be a problem of PDF file itself.


James Jacobs wrote:
AGITIGA wrote:

Another point.

** spoiler omitted **

ANOTHER ANSWER:

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks again for your quick and insightful answer, James.

Spoiler:
I thought that, after one year of down time between HoCK and HotB, PCs may have forgotten a name of an old statue, but players will not stay down for one year(I hope so), and they have tendencies of memorizing some names quite well(better than in their actual lives, maybe), so I wanted advises. Your answer blew off my concerns. Thank you.


Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

OT:Agitiga,

** spoiler omitted **

Thank you for your kind and hearty welcome(shudders).


AGITIGA wrote:
James Jacobs wrote:
AGITIGA wrote:

A Great adventure. etc.

** spoiler omitted **

ANSWERS:

** spoiler omitted **

Thank you for your quick responses, James. As other people have already said, this is one of the best things about Paizo and this board.

** spoiler omitted **

Sorry, same things happened on...

Spoiler:
Blobog and Lazrul.

So maybe it's a probelm of my side. I will continue to check and try.


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Arnwyn wrote:
drunken_nomad wrote:
Let me know if you want and I can help make changes for a higher level party.

This would be really really great if you had an opportunity to do so!

As it stands now, the levels, location, and being in Pathfinder #20 makes the adventure almost useless (read: extremely deficient) as written... but if it were for level 5...! ;)

Here's the Director's Cut of Coils of Flame from PF #20. Feel free to use any of this additional material to bump the module up to about a lvl 5 party.

------------------------
Spoiler:
Here are a few hooks to get the PCs involved (and where the corresponding payoff lies in the adventure)

1 Old Stories: Legends speak of an ancient cult led by a ‘jackal-man’ once dominating the lands near the mountain. The cult sacrificed humans to a monstrous, fire-breathing beast. Old texts disclose sketchy details of a mighty paladin and her comrades routing the cult, but do not account for the collection of the cult’s unholy writs. A group of sages located in Katapesh researching ancient cults, grudgingly offer the PCs 1,200 gp to procure all of the pertinent information they think lies in the lair. They counter any offers with promises of copies of the books born of their research and an acknowledgment on the title page. (Area 9 could house texts needed for their research).

2 Exploration/Survival: On the promise of 1,200 gp at the journey’s end and several days ahead of a merchant caravan, the PCs travel through a pass high near Pale Mountain to assure the caravan that the way is safe and slay anything that would deter the caravans’ progress. One particularly cold night, the biting wind drives the PCs to find shelter. The GM can lead the PCs to the entrance of the mountain lair by natural means (heat, smoke, slithery tracks) or magical (ghostly apparition, dream, blink dog). If the GM wished to tie two hooks together, the blink dog is a companion of Lon Gorgu, the halfling hunter described in hook #4.

3 Unearthed Wyrms: Sightings of a smoky wingless wyrm concern the citizens of a tiny village near the foothills of the mountains. Great billowing clouds of steam and sulfuric smell lead the gossipers to believe that it is a devil sent from below. Many immolated corpses of rams, including a prize winning stud, lead the villagers to pool their meager resources to hire someone to destroy the thing responsible. About 1,000 gp worth of silver and copper coins and promises of food, thick clothing, and a wagon and team of mules are all they can gather. (a grisly trophy hewn from any of the salamanders' corpses from Area 3-8 would be proof enough for the farmers to believe the threat was gone).

4 Lost Traveler: Normally, spring is ushered in with a visit from Lon Gorgu. A legendary halfling bowman and trapper, he comes to the outlying villages telling tales and selling pelts of strange and exotic beasts. No one has seen him so far this season and he is at least a ten day later than any other year. One of Lon’s girlfriends promises the PCs to speak to her cousin in a nearby trading post to exchange four of the areas swiftest war camels for the return of Lon or the proof of his demise. (the corpse in Area 2 is the last remains of Lon, bringing his intricately woven quiver back to civilization would allow his lover to have closure)

To add more danger and make clearing the lair out more of a challenge for level 5 adventurerers, change any or all of these rooms:

Area 1: Give Andgronakraks a mate, another earth mephit submissively loyal to him, but unable to make decisions on its own. Makes the encounter [EL 5]

Area 2: needs to stay the same, just an annoyance to the PCs.

Area 3: the flamebrother that is wrapped around the cauldron could have an elite array of stats or a level or two of warrior/fighter to beef up that encounter. Giving that one a pair of Bracers of Armor +2 adds to the rewards. Making the encounter [EL 6 or so]

Area 4: is pretty tough. Fighting defensively to gain AC bonuses for cover and retreating below the lava to heal (give them a couple metal flasks of potions of healing in the bottom of the tub) could add excitement.

Area 5: should have a few stone pews in the description (to coincide with the Ad Hoc XP bonus described in Area 8) and Lessar could wear a slightly used robe of bones with only half of the undead patches still attached for him to use to confuse the invading heroes.

Area 6: is ok as/is. Just a delaying tactic.

Area 7: could house Isik, the flamebrother barbarian 4. Isik is an exile and coats himself in the thick ashy mud to hide himself near his leader (give him high Hide and Sense Motive skills). He still feels some loyalty to Thratnias, though the swift tongue of Lessar is swaying him to return to his home plane. He waits and watches the PCs attack the fire snakes in the room and then attacks them as they lower themselves down the chimney to Area 8 (with appropriate Climb and Escape Artist checks). He burns any ropes attached to Area 7 to drop PCs 40' and hurls blobs of lava at anyone climbing back to his lair. His flames quickly burn off any mud caked on his body. A slightly heatwarped silver jewelry box that still plays music when opened lies in the southwest corner (worth 850 gp). Within the jewelry box are a few pieces of rose quartz masking a dusty rose prism ioun stone (350 gp worth of quartz). Making the area [EL 5,7]

Area 8: Thratnias could easily use a level or two of fighter and a few javelins of lightning to pick off flying pests.
and here is a sidebar about movement and fighting on the lava pool
<SIDEBAR>
The Lava Pool
Movement through the lava pool likely involves several Jump checks. Most of the jumps required to move across the area are only 5’ jumps, but there are only a few places with the required 20’ for a running start. So, the Jump DC is either DC 5 with a running start or DC 10 without. Other places sport 10’ gaps between safe areas, so the Jump DCs double for those actions. Could add +1 or 2 to EL.

If the PC fails the check by less than five, allow them a DC 15 Reflex save to grasp the far side. They splash their lower extremities in the lava (2d6 damage) and require a DC 15 Climb check to pull themselves onto solid ground. Failing the check by 5 or more immerses the PC in lava (10d6 damage). Remember synergy bonuses for Acrobatics and Tumble skills, as well as racial bonuses for halflings.

During the fight, if both salamanders dive beneath the island one or more PC occupies, they can make a combined DC 20 Strength check and budge the island enough for everyone on it to make a DC 10 Balance check or fall prone. Failing this check by 5 or more causes the PC to splash into the lava (2d6 damage) and a DC 15 Climb check to regain their footing. Other PCs can aid a fallen PC, adding +2 per helper to the Climb check.
</SIDEBAR>

this should also be added to the Combat section
During Combat
These two fight like a well-oiled machine. Kitil uses his spear to bolster his mistress’ attacks. Using the aid another action, he must make a successful attack against AC 10. If this works, Thratnias gains a +2 bonus to either her attack roll or her AC for the round.
A quick shared nod between them signals a dive below the lava to shake the PCs off the island (as per Sidebar).

Area 9: I love belkers. Leave it alone, but add a couple traps to the treasure. Coat something with a dose of dust of sneezing and choking, put a pair of gauntlets of fumbling in there, or trace some of Kobold Cleaver's favorite explosive runes or a sepia snake sigil or a symbol on some sort of book of unholy text stored in here from the ancient cult (leaving at least one unholy writ to bring back to the scholars, if using that story hook).

One other role-playing thing to add: All of the salamanders' weapons and other treasure should be extremely hot to the touch and require a few minutes to cool down.
----------------------


That should beef up the defense and reward a higher level party when the decide to invade this mountainous lair! Enjoy!


Wooooo! Thanks!

(I especially appreciate the 'director's commentary' ;) as to why you suggest a change should be made [or not made]. Very very cool, and very helpful.)

RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8

Upon receiving my print copy of House of the Beast, I got a chance to pour over the maps in greater detail, and a few questions came up.

1) Both C5 and C7 have hallways that the trogs have blocked off that claim to be passages to H8. Which is it?

2) The map of G4 has sort of a rim, for lack of a better word, around the interior of the dome on all but the topmost entrance. Do the other two entrances open on a different level? Or is this just an overhang/balcony and all of the doors are the same?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Demiurge 1138 wrote:
1) Both C5 and C7 have hallways that the trogs have blocked off that claim to be passages to H8. Which is it?

C7 leads to H8. C5 just goes outside.

Demiurge 1138 wrote:
2) The map of G4 has sort of a rim, for lack of a better word, around the interior of the dome on all but the topmost entrance. Do the other two entrances open on a different level? Or is this just an overhang/balcony and all of the doors are the same?

That's a ruined overhang/balcony thing that didn't quite translate well into the final map. The doors open onto the ground level, and only above the northern door does the balcony not extend.


Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Any chance we could get a umm... "directors cut" of what those nasty puguwumpi were going to be like teamed up with those slaves? I think I am going to add them back in (just because the Aura of unluck is SO cool), and the players hate them beyond all reason.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Max Mahem wrote:
Any chance we could get a umm... "directors cut" of what those nasty puguwumpi were going to be like teamed up with those slaves? I think I am going to add them back in (just because the Aura of unluck is SO cool), and the players hate them beyond all reason.

Probably not. We rarely have time to go back and do more work on products we've already released.

Liberty's Edge Contributor

AGITIGA wrote:

A Great adventure. “House” is exactly “somewhere you’d want to explore”. Maps are crying out “Ravenloft”, or “ToEE”, but with more playable scales. And Mr. Hitchcock did so without losing variety of encounters. I’ve been playing since era of 1stEd, and although I'm enjoying to read this board almost every dary, this is my first post on this board. “House of the Beast”(and “Howl of The Carrion King”) made(or forced) me to do post. Congraturations to Mr. Hitchcock and Paizo staff! I’m very much looking forward to running this adventure(though it must be at least half a year later, because I’m currently running Savage Tide for my players.)

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks Agitiga!

Glad you liked the piece. James gave me a really cool premise for the dungeon and how it should be populated- so I had a lot to work off.

RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

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Tim Hitchcock wrote:
AGITIGA wrote:

A Great adventure. “House” is exactly “somewhere you’d want to explore”. Maps are crying out “Ravenloft”, or “ToEE”, but with more playable scales. And Mr. Hitchcock did so without losing variety of encounters. I’ve been playing since era of 1stEd, and although I'm enjoying to read this board almost every dary, this is my first post on this board. “House of the Beast”(and “Howl of The Carrion King”) made(or forced) me to do post. Congraturations to Mr. Hitchcock and Paizo staff! I’m very much looking forward to running this adventure(though it must be at least half a year later, because I’m currently running Savage Tide for my players.)

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks Agitiga!

Glad you liked the piece. James gave me a really cool premise for the dungeon and how it should be populated- so I had a lot to work off.

Okay, that is THE scariest avatar I've seen to date ::shudder::


Maybe I missed a part, but

Spoiler:
Are the PCs meant to encounter the stegocentipede at the bottom of the pit, or is there a chance it may crawl up to aid the Carrion King in the throne room. I missed any text indicating such, but the illustration with it at the top of the pit leads me to believe I may have missed something.

That may make the encounter too tough, but I may just have the thing arrive near after the encounter is done, depending on how spent the PCs seem to be.

Liberty's Edge Contributor

Gamer Girrl wrote:


Okay, that is THE scariest avatar I've seen to date ::shudder::

It's not that bad is it? it's actually my mug shot.

Liberty's Edge Contributor

Gray wrote:

Maybe I missed a part, but

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:

I'd initially intended for the Stego to be in the pit in the main room. But he's blocked off. So in order to encounter him, one must dig him out, a task PCs won't likely perform while in combat.
I did however make the passage wide enough for the creature to get into the pit in the throne room. That might be fun if PCs dig him out and try to flee. It also allows another critter to guard the Maggot Throne (with the secret entrance)
Finally, the Stego will eat anything, gnolls as well as PCs. It you fid yourself releasing this thing on PCs amidst a horde of foes- I suggest letting it eat some of their enemies to as a way of leveling the playing field.


Tim Hitchcock wrote:
** spoiler omitted **

Thanks, Tim. And good job on the adventure. It may be a long time before I run this, but it looks to be a fun adventure.

Liberty's Edge

Question: In building A of the House map...

Spoiler:
There is mention of a buried staircase that leads to "subterranean passages", but I can't seem to find where the staircase actually leads. Does it end at an open room, or in a rough passage, etc.?

Also..

Spoiler:
It isn't entirely clear where the other three slaves are. Two are apparently watching for intruders, but I figured if two can notice intruders, the other three can notice them easily enough as well, but they aren't mentioned.

I suppose these things are easy enough to fudge, I just wanted to know the intent. Thanks.


P. 19

C5a: wrote:
This door opens to a spiral staircase within the southern minaret...
C5b: wrote:
This door opens to a spiral staircase within the northern minaret...

As far as I can make out from the map, the northern/southern in the descriptions have been muddled up with one another, so C5a should read 'northern minaret', and C5b 'southern minaret'?

And on the subject of these minarets, does C5b offer access to a platform, too, or is the intention that just the northern minaret has a platform and communicates from platform to ground, whilst the southern minaret is effectively a false or ornamental minaret (for architectural symmetry?) with no platform, but communicates from ground to basement?


Given that - according to The Gnolls of the Brazen Peaks article in PF #19 - at least four different gnoll tribes live in the vicinity of Pale Mountain, a separate random encounter column for Pale Mountain in the table on Page 57 would have been useful...
I am also slightly surprised, since The Carrion King is supposed to dominate these tribes, that he does not have warriors levied from them about The House of the Beast; I could see some reason not to 'normally' have them around, as he would have to feed these extra mouths from other tribes, but given that he is supposedly mustering for war, it seems odd to me that there are:
(1) not levies (or at least priests/shamans to sort out between them responsibilities/looting priviligies/slave rights between their tribes) around in The House of the Beast.
(2) details not given of how quickly reinforcements can be brought in from other tribes if PCs adopt 'Hit and Run' tactics.

I realise The Carrion King is hardly a tactical genius at Intelligence 8, but I would have expected some kind of effort being made to make sure that the tribes spend more time fighting the enemy than squabbling amongst themselves.

Or is Ghartok trusting 'Rokova' to handle these matters for him, and Rokova has been deliberately sabotaging these efforts to give the PCs a clearer run?

Paizo Employee Creative Director

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The various gnoll tribes are, pretty much, left to run themselves. The Carrion King doesn't really use the fear he instills in them for anything productive, but he certainly COULD. That's why, at the start of the 2nd adventure, even the POSSIBILITY of the threat of the Carrion King organizing and grouping the tribes together is enough to get Kelmarane worried.

But he's not; he's not a very good warleader, since he'd rather just lay about in his harem or sit on his throne; he's not really motivated to go out and conquer. And that's by design, in fact. When the PCs head out there to try to stop him from, in theory, building a warband or getting ready to attack the outlying areas with a gnoll army, and then they find out he's NOT doing that is a subtle clue that...

Spoiler:
...the guy who urged them to act was lying, and that perhaps he had some other motivation to get the PCs out to the House of the Beast. This gives the PCs a fun little mystery to solve as they go through the adventure.

As for how quickly he can replenish his supply of minions if the PCs use Hit and Run tactics, that's left to the GM to adjust as he feels works best for his particular group.


Charles Evans 25 wrote:
I realise The Carrion King is hardly a tactical genius at Intelligence 8

Besides, tactical combat prowess is more or less the domain of Wisdom I suspect. Now, I do not remember his wis score, but it is certainly higher than 8.


I noticed there is two Rings of Minor Fire Resistance lying around in the House of the Beast. At first I was annoyed because, surely there could be more diversity. Then I realized that the path moves on to the City of Brass eventually, and putting two of these here was most certainly a strategic choice ;)

Paizo Employee Creative Director

trellian wrote:
I noticed there is two Rings of Minor Fire Resistance lying around in the House of the Beast. At first I was annoyed because, surely there could be more diversity. Then I realized that the path moves on to the City of Brass eventually, and putting two of these here was most certainly a strategic choice ;)

You'll also note a lot of other items that should help PCs against fire monsters as well; frost weapons, wands of quench, rod of flame extinguishing, etc. They'll come in handy!

Liberty's Edge

Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Adventure Subscriber
trellian wrote:
Charles Evans 25 wrote:
I realise The Carrion King is hardly a tactical genius at Intelligence 8
Besides, tactical combat prowess is more or less the domain of Wisdom I suspect. Now, I do not remember his wis score, but it is certainly higher than 8.

I suspect that the Carrion King subscribes to the philosophy of, "By the ax I rule," and no one has challenged him on this point yet.

;)

Grand Lodge

Glancing through this adventure, I spotted a few minor errors.

Firstly, Zayifid doesn't have the Hide skill listed! He should probably have it as Hide +20, to go with his Move Silently.

Lazrul (pg 32) has an AC of 20 listed, but the AC breakdown is +4 armour, +1 Dex, +3 natural for a total of AC 18 (touch 17).

Lesaar (pg 68) has a couple of weird errors. He has an AC of 21 listed, but
a) the AC breakdown adds up to 22, and
b) The AC breakdown is also wrong, listed +2 Dex when it should be +3.
His total AC should be 23, though his touch and flat-footed ACs are, oddly enough, correct.

He also has his primary attack 1 point too low. He has 7 base attack, 2 strength, 1 size for a total of +10. Oddly, his secondary natural attack is at the correct bonus!

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Ninjaiguana wrote:
Firstly, Zayifid doesn't have the Hide skill listed! He should probably have it as Hide +20, to go with his Move Silently.

SHAMELESS PLUG: This won't be a problem in the PFRPG, of course, since there's only one skill for stealth! That said, this isn't an error at all. Not having ranks in Hide is fine for Zayifid. Since he has the ability to use invisibility 3 times a day and ethereal jaunt for an hour a day, he's got the "walk around unseen" part of the job pretty much covered; he thus didn't spend any ranks in Hide and instead put those ranks into other skills. If you still want him to have a Hide skill to match his Move Silently, I suggest replacing his Appraise skill with Hide, I guess.

The other things you note are legitimate errors though. Nothing grievous enough that they'll alter an encounter's resolution really, though, thank goodness!

Grand Lodge

James Jacobs wrote:
Ninjaiguana wrote:
Firstly, Zayifid doesn't have the Hide skill listed! He should probably have it as Hide +20, to go with his Move Silently.

SHAMELESS PLUG: This won't be a problem in the PFRPG, of course, since there's only one skill for stealth! That said, this isn't an error at all. Not having ranks in Hide is fine for Zayifid. Since he has the ability to use invisibility 3 times a day and ethereal jaunt for an hour a day, he's got the "walk around unseen" part of the job pretty much covered; he thus didn't spend any ranks in Hide and instead put those ranks into other skills. If you still want him to have a Hide skill to match his Move Silently, I suggest replacing his Appraise skill with Hide, I guess.

Heh, I am very much looking forward to the skill consolidation of PFRPG! My first character is going to be a rogue, just so I can enjoy the feeling - for the first time ever - of having MORE skill points than I need!

As for Zayifid, I mostly thought it was a bit weird because he's supposed to be a sneaky assassin by his bit in Howl of the Carrion King, but I neglected to consider the advantages his spell-likes grant him. Ah well. At least I haven't (yet!) called something an error and then found that I was just utterly wrong because my math was off. That's always embarassing.

Paizo Employee Creative Director

Ninjaiguana wrote:
At least I haven't (yet!) called something an error and then found that I was just utterly wrong because my math was off. That's always embarassing.

It is. Although after working in the RPG industry for about a decade, I can tell you that eventually having someone catch a math error that slipped by you gets progressively less embarrassing. Just like spelling errors, such as misspelling the word "embarrassing." :-P

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