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I ran this adventure (for the second time actually) in Tier 8-9 for our PFS group here in NYC last night, and I have to say that it's my favorite scenario so far. Kudos to Mr. MacKenzie!
There were 5 players in the group, with the lowest being 6th level and the highest being 10th. Being a season 0 scenario, and wanting to make at least a small challenge for the players, I converted the encounters to the Pathfinder RPG. Here are my individual notes on each of the acts.
ACT I
Lots of fun RPing here at the party and the PCs took care to mostly do only subdual damage to the loosed animals. They were worried about splattering the weddings guests with lion blood and also wanted to not make Bashir Al-Mudaris angry. The first time I ran this combat I had a druid in the party who simply used his Wild Empathy ability to calm the elephant down. The second time the PCs had to do it the old fashioned way: they look their lickings getting trampled by the elephant and then bashed it into unconsciousness. Remember that under the trample rules (listed in the Bonus Bestiary), people caught in the elephant's path take a -4 to attack if they do not avoid the beast.
The PCs were also able to capture one of the disguised "caravan guards" who after a successful Diplomacy check was happy to spill the beans on his compatriots.
I ran this combat without a battle map and just winged it. Since it wasn't a serious combat challenge for my high-level characters I felt it was better to keep things moving more swiftly. The combat last about 4 rounds.
UPGRADE:
Only added CMB and CMD to the lions and the elephant. Used stats from Act II for the "caravan guard" they caught.
ACT II
This combat encounter was a cake walk for the party. The wizard used a knock spell to open the front door and with no warning I ruled that the Dervishes of the Unforgiving Fire were surprised. A fireball spell later (with lots of bad Ref saves on my part) it was pretty much all over. The entire combat lasted about 3-4 rounds, including the surprise round.
UPGRADE:
I gave them a +2 to Str for being human.
Scale mail now gives them a +5 armor bonus and with the Dodge feat they have a base 18 AC.
For their extra 5th level feat I gave them Spring Attack, but that really didn't make much of a dent against the party.
Taking favored class: Rogue and now having d8 and d10 HDs gives them all 32 hp (10 + 5.5 + 3*4.5 + 3 fav class).
Scimitar attack should be Melee +6 (4 BAB + 2 Str) 1d6+2/18-20.
CMB is +6 (4 BAB + 2 Str)
CMD should be 19 (10 + CMB + 2 Dex + 1 Dodge)
ACT III
I had the 2 erinyes surprise them in the house. The first time I ran this scenario I had them summon lemures in the house which kept them busy for a while, but really didn't do much in the long term. Also, Animate Rope is now pretty easy to get out of, so I would discourage using it unless they can get the drop on the PCs or they are low level. Once again, my high-level PCs didn't have much trouble with this combat encounter. After one of the erinyes took a x3 crit while being power attacked, the other teleported the heck out of Katheer. The entire combat lasted about three rounds.
UPGRADE:
Each erinyes got an extra feat for being 9 HD. I gave them each Deadly Aim. Using Rapid Shot and Deadly Aim they now have the following attack scores using their bows to full attack: +10/+10/+5, Damage 1d8+12+1d6. Remember that with PBS they get a +1 to attack and damage if within 30'.
AC 24, touch 16, ff 18 with the Dodge feat
CMB +14 (9 BAB + 5 Str)
CMD 30 (10 + CMB + 5 Dex + 1 Dodge)
ACT IV
I had a lot of fun with this act. More complete acts should be all RPing in Pathfinder Society, or include puzzles like in PFS#1!
ACT V
This was the ONLY challenging combat encounter for my group, and only because I upgraded the Sorcerer. If I hadn't, and used the 3.5 stats, I doubt the encounter would have lasted 2 rounds. Converted, I dragged it on and it lasted at least 13 rounds. With 9 rounds of Greater Invisibility and being Hasted he quickly moved out of the building and kept on launching fireball after fireball at the PCs.
UPGRADE:
I gave Ibn-Chadli the fey bloodline as he seemed to be pretty focused on enchantment spells. This gave him the "Fleeting Glance" bloodline power which is the ONLY thing that gave my PCs any challenge. I also had him buffing everyone to the max as I knew the PCs would be.
I added +2 to his Cha for being human.
Favored class: Sorcerer
Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +5
AC (with Barkskin potion) 21/11/20
H: 81 (9d8+45) (8 + 8*3.5 + 36 Con + 9 fav class)
Bonus spells for bloodline: Poison, Deep Slumber, Hideous Laughter, Entangle.
I gave him Greater Spell Focus (enchantment) as his 9th level feat.
With his bloodline arcana ability and Greater Spell Focus and increased Cha the DCs for his spells to the following:
4th-Confusion 22, Poison 18
3rd-Deep Slumber 21, Fireball 17, Suggestion 21
2nd-Hideous Laughter 21
1st-Charm Person 17, Entangle 15
Ogres: Remember that Hide armor now increases their AC to 17 (-1 size, +4 armor, -1 Dex, +5 natural)
CMB +9
CMD 18
BrOp
Venture-Captain, Arizona—Tucson
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I'm thrilled that your players had a good time and glad that they enjoyed the roleplaying scenes!
Also, many thanks for the detailed feedback and update information! That will be extremely helpful to me when I finally get the chance to run it in a couple of weeks.
I'd recommend the Infernal bloodline for Ibn-Chadli, which would explain some of the villain's diabolical associates. That also keeps his confusion spell from becoming a brutal DC 21 and denies him the fey bloodline's fight-prolonging improved invisibility effect. Since I've heard this one tends to run long, that may be an ability the scenario's better off without.
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I'd recommend the Infernal bloodline for Ibn-Chadli, which would explain some of the villain's diabolical associates. That also keeps his confusion spell from becoming a brutal DC 21 and denies him the fey bloodline's fight-prolonging improved invisibility effect. Since I've heard this one tends to run long, that may be an ability the scenario's better off without.
I understand your reluctance to use the fey bloodline, and thematically the infernal bloodline does work well, especially since he would have fire resistance 10 at 9th level.
In my game I was trying to create a situation where the PCs don't immediately just walk in and start throwing fireballs, something which makes them have to "go back to the drawing board" and reconsider. Normally when I design an encounter myself, I do this by tailoring the environment or the situation to bring about this result. When I can't do this I try and tailor the stats to create a more interesting challenge.
I know Pathfinder Society scenarios are supposed to be survivable, but I find that especially with the new Pathfinder rules, the older 3.5 scenarios need a little "lovin'" in order for the players to feel challenged.
Having said that, I want to reiterate that I really enjoyed "Our Lady of Silver" and would even run it a third time :)
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I know Pathfinder Society scenarios are supposed to be survivable, but I find that especially with the new Pathfinder rules, the older 3.5 scenarios need a little "lovin'" in order for the players to feel challenged.
I agree about Season 0 scenarios needing a little "lovin'" using PF rules. After character conversion I was surprised at the increased damage output from my group!
This was the first adventure we did with converted characters and it was fairly easy. This was probably because our DM did not have the time to convert it. In fact, we are supposed to be able to run them 'as is' so we really didn't think any changing should have been necessary.
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ACT V
This was the ONLY challenging combat encounter for my group, and only because I upgraded the Sorcerer. If I hadn't, and used the 3.5 stats, I doubt the encounter would have lasted 2 rounds. Converted, I dragged it on and it lasted at least 13 rounds. With 9 rounds of Greater Invisibility and being Hasted he quickly moved out of the building and kept on launching fireball after fireball at the PCs.
I think when you run us through that we had 1 surprise round and 1 regular round before we dusted the encounter. Happy you run it for us before the conversion !
Well that and Vince, Dave and I just rock !
: P
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Lovely module. Certainly in my top 5. We played (at home) over two sessions and had a ball! It would be criminal to try to cram this into a 4 hour slot, in my opinion. There is a whole load of juicy roleplaying in this one and well balanced with combat.
Last encounter was a bit of an anti-climax after the "vizier" who challenged my party at Tier 5-6. If the vizier flies and shoots and uses all his abilities to evade and avoid it can be a very frustrating and long drawn out encounter for players. I recommend he closes to combat to make it fast and furious and entertaining.
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Have any GMs actually gone so far to write faux faction missions for the trial in Act 4? I am running this tonight and don't have time, but before I run this next I am going to prepare some props to use. Because you can lift image elements off the PDF, I can take the faction mission paper image and write my own incriminating messages on them. Then I'll sign the faction leader's name in a slightly different way that will give the player an inkling that something is up. If anyone raises a question about it, then a Linguistics check can be made. I still don't know what I'm going to write, I'll share it when I do it and get some feedback from my fellows here. Maybe it will make for a more entertaining trial, even though this is a pretty good scenario already.
Great maps, by the way. Very fun to draw and I like the multi-story building in Act 2. The wedding feast courtyard is a bit crowded when you add an elephant (two in the boxed text), three lions and a menagerie of exotic animals. It's hard to explain how three lions fit into those two wagons when there are supposed to be other gift animals in them too. I'm picking at cavities here, it's a very colorful encounter and I do like it despite my grousing. I drew some more wagons opposite the fire pit, and plan on splitting up the lions to minimize the glitterdust that always nerfs the combat in the first round.
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Venture-Captain, Arizona—Tucson
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Have any GMs actually gone so far to write faux faction missions for the trial in Act 4? I am running this tonight and don't have time, but before I run this next I am going to prepare some props to use. Because you can lift image elements off the PDF, I can take the faction mission paper image and write my own incriminating messages on them. Then I'll sign the faction leader's name in a slightly different way that will give the player an inkling that something is up.
Ideally, you could take mission briefings from scenarios your players already finished, changing the details to ones relevant for Qadira but leaving them vaguely recognizable. Let the Satrap's representative ask intrusive questions. ("That Paracountess woman sounds quite... affectionate. What is the nature of your relationship with her? Would you say you follow her orders loyally?")
When I ran it, the players had great fun denying the accusations that the Society members are a bunch of graverobbers and scoundrels. ("Steal from tombs? We would NEVER sink so low!")
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Have any GMs actually gone so far to write faux faction missions for the trial in Act 4?
I had enough time to mock up three of the five factions.
I didn't bother with a fake Qadira, likelihood that it wouldn't pass in their own land was very low and Cheliax is the least played faction in my neck of the woods...
Enjoy.
Contributor
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Have any GMs actually gone so far to write faux faction missions for the trial in Act 4?
I had enough time to mock up three of the five factions.
I didn't bother with a fake Qadira, likelihood that it wouldn't pass in their own land was very low and Cheliax is the least played faction in my neck of the woods...Enjoy.
Raise Thread!
The links for the faux faction missions aren't working at present - does anyone out there happen to have 'em? If not, no worries, and I'll make some up tonight to use tomorrow :)
*Really* looking forward to running this - can't believe I only just first read this one today - it looks awesome!
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True Threadsurrection!
(It's been a while)
I was working on making a random and mediocre "Pathfinders get framed, go on trial, evidence is terrible!" encounter more interesting and then terrible things started happening. Lots of innuendo (because: faction missions!) so maybe make sure your boss isn't reading over your shoulder. Anyway, have some more fake faction missions and inflict them on someone else.
It's on the prep site, but images are easier than zips...
