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In Act Four the scenario text states that "Several lacedons swim to the surface from the wreck below and start climbing the ship’s hull on the first round. It takes two successful DC 10 Climb checks for the lacedons to reach the deck." However, no lacedons are mentioned in the combat section of the encounter, only the ghosts. How many lacedons are supposed to be in each tier?
That appears to be a line that was cut in development and made its way back into the document. Ignore that line. The only monsters you fight in that encounter are the ones listed with stat blocks.
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Necro I know, but I've been wondering how playing a paladin would interact with this adventure. As far as I can tell you are breaking a legitimate prisoner out of prison and stealing a ship. I feel like any paladin who goes on this mission should at least have a warning on their chronicle sheet at the end saying that they are on the path to evil. Am I making sense? Would anyone make a paladin fall after this mission (after giving them sufficient warning first obviously)?
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Ah... "breaking a legitimate prisoner out of prison and stealing a ship" are not evil acts.
UN-Lawful yes. But not evil.
So a Paladin might have problems with it. Also a Hellknight. Both might have issues with it.
Good point. It isn't an evil act. But it would have problems with the "respect legitimate authority" clause.
@Will: I know, thus why I haven't made a paladin. Doesn't stop them from being popular in Philly.
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Another necro
I am going through this and looking at the dwarf boss Durgin for tier 10-11, his stats are missing some stuff. he is listed at fighter 8/rogue 2, stats: str 16, dex 15, con 15, int 10, wis 14, cha 6 . Yet he only has 10, feats, he should have 11. Fighter 5, rogue 1(combat trick), levels 5.
Also based on the feats he does have the damage listed on his attack is wrong. It is listed as:
Melee 2 +2 dwarven waraxe +10/+10/+5 (1d10+5/x3)
With the feats, Two-weapon fighting, Double Slice, Weapon Focus(dwarven waraxe), Weapon Specialization(dwarven waraxe), and Greater Weapon Focus (dwarven waraxe), and weapon training(axes) it should be:
Melee 2 +2 dwarven waraxe +13/+13/+8 (1d10+8/x3)
To Hit: BAB +9/+4, str +3, weapon training +1, WF +1, GWF +1, enchanment +2 = +17/+12, -4 for one-handed TWF = +13/+8
Damage: str +3, wt(axes) +1, WS(dw. waraxe) +2, enchancement +2 = +8
Comparing 7-8 and 10-11 it looks like they are leaving out the weapon training and the enchancement bonuses in both stat blocks.
The missing feat is just missing can't add that (especially 3 years late), but that missing +3 to hit and +3 damage means a whole lot at Tier 10-11. Is it ok to use the to hit and damage as they should be for what is listed on the stat block.
Jirandiel's stat block looks correct.
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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I GMed this tonight, and I'd like to write some sort of report on it, to show how it went. Party consisted of:
- Tiefling Paladin/Ninja
- Gnome Alchemist
- Undine Herald Caller (Cleric)
- Oread Druid/Monk/Bloodrager (playing down)
This was pretty much the perfect mix of characters. The Paladin had amazing Diplomacy skills, the Alchemist was technology-crazed, the Cleric had terrain advantage, and the Druid was the beatstick. The Paladin was hesitant to just break him out, so she tried to diplomacise her way out, to great success. There's still lots of questionable things she did, but her deity is Shizuru, who she says is able to turn a blind eye if it's for the greater good.
They step on the island, and the Gnome is immediately in love with the ballistas. For some reason, he's got Profession: Naval Siege Engineer and he wants to bring them with him. They bicker a bit about how to best approach this. They enter the second floor and see the guy getting hanged. Paladin yells out that they need him for something, Dwarf yells back why, she produces the boon from The Disappeared (a token with House Thrune's favour), they immediately believe her and give the group the red herring. The guards sulk a bit and eventually go play poker somewhere else. They question him and know where Caradoc is. Since the guards believe they're here on legitimate business, the guards don't bother them and they manage to get away with a very confused Caradoc (who they don't explain who they are and what they need him for). I had a Jack Sparrow-type character planned for Caradoc, but I was just too flabbergasted by what just happened I sorta played him as deeply confused by all this. They leave, the Gnome yells once more he wants a ballista, the Druid rips two out of the ground, the Paladin shows the badge once more, and they leave without too much issue.
Then, they needed to steal a boat. They disguise Caradoc (incredibly high Disguise check), and the enemies aren't immediately hostile. They manage to borrow the boat and the crew ("I'm not sailing you through that storm for free!" "The Gnome will mount these ballistae on your ship for you. *Rolls Diplomacy, natural 20, end result 35.* "Deal!") Caradoc takes gleeful pleasure in bossing his captors around and takes them to the location. I was impressed by the Druid player, as he's usually in Earth Elemental form, because that's how he does the most damage, but he reasons he's too heavy for the ship and shapes into an Air Elemental. A rare flash of insight from him, to be honest. Meanwhile, the Gnome takes his time mounting the two ballistae onto the ship.
Elasmosaurus fight isn't too troubling. He takes two chomps out of the Gnome, Gnome's almost dead, he retreats, Druid does a Stunning Fist and I roll a natural 1. Paladin/Ninja sees the opportunity and grabs the ballista and sneak attacks him. It shouldn't have hit due to no Precise Shot, but I allowed rule of cool (it was only a few points below AC anyway) and she sneak attacked the elasmosaurus to death with a ballista bolt.
The storm was pretty cinematic and though the skillchecks were pretty easy, the random weather helped a lot (I rolled Windstorm three times) and everyone did cool stuff. In retrospect maybe I should've allowed more creative stuff, but they came up with cool enough things within the rules I provided. Also in retrospect I shouldn't have said if the checks were a success or not until the round was over, it allowed for some weird stuff ("what do you mean, why do I still have to move the flammable material? He just doused the fire!").
The other fights were pretty unremarkable. The Druid hit the octopus with Hydrophobia, which is just weird, but the Paladinja managed to flank with some summons from the Cleric and sneak attacked him to death too.
In the end, this was an amazing scenario. I might've been too permissive in the first two social encounters, but I sort of got caught up in the moment. Everyone contributed really well in their own way (Paladin had some great Diplomacy rolls and some cool sneak attacks, Cleric had cool water spells, Gnome had the ballista nonsense, and the Druid was a good beatstick) and we had a blast. Probably one of the most enjoyable sessions I've played in a while.
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And people mocked me when I said I had profession Naval Siege Engineer! Never underestimate us gnomes! Never doubt our intentions! We see things you can't even imagine, we see the future!
We also get tied to a rope and then to the mast of the ship. They say it's to 'make sure we're not injured or get blown away by a sudden gust of wind'. I suspect it's also to give them room to breathe. But that's something else entirely.
Granted this was the first time I actually got to use that particular profession skill, which is a bit awkward if you're already level 7, almost 8. I however do not regret it one bit. It made for an awesome couple of moments throughout the scenario. Thanks for being such a good sport Quentin!
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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I'll most likely be running this again soon (2.5 weeks or so), and it seems like it'll be high tier. Kintrik already mentioned how Odol is weirdly statted, but the Sea Serpent also looks funky in high tier:
- Its name suggests it's young, most of its stats seem to reflect that, but its to-hit is the same, yet its damage output is very weird, compared to the Bestiary entry. His bite damage goes from +22 in the Bestiary to a +10 in the scenario (plus the loss of the 19-20 crit range). Should I recalculate its stats from the Bestiary entry, or keep this as-is? As-is, it's a lot less threatening, missing out on 12 damage output.
- Also, his size doesn't seem to decrease. Bestiary entry is Gargantuan (20x20), scenario Huge (also 20x20). I assume that's supposed to be 15x15.
When determining the Young statistics, how do I calculate the constrict damage? Constrict says it's usually based on its melee attack, but I can't find any direct relation between them. Based on the Bestiary entry, its bite does 4d8+22, its tail does 3d6+6, but the constrict does 3d6+18. How does that scale down? Should I just decrease the damage die by one and subtract 4-6 damage from the static damage? Same goes for the Swallow Whole damage, actually.
Also, the advanced Elasmosaurus also doesn't seem to fully line up with the properly advanced Bestiary entry.
I'm torn between keeping it as-is and keeping it easy, or have a tough time recalculating this beast.
Thanks in advance.
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Alright, I looked up the Sea Serpent creature (not young), and I do not understand why its bite is listed with the damage it has. The to hit is correct (15 BAB + 12 Str - 4 size), but its damage is not (12 Str = +12 damage, should not be 22).
The constrict is easier with this creature. It uses the damage die of the attack that grapples + 1.5 Strength modifier. Ditto on the Swallow Whole. In the case of the young creature, it would be +15 damage. The only problem is that the bestiary creature uses its tail for the damage dice, and the creature from the scenario uses its bite for the damage dice. No idea why, but it does.
The To hit bonus is indeed not correct, it should be +22 on the bite and +17 on the tail (15 bab + 10 Str - 3 size). And Huge is indeed 15x15.
I would just keep these stats (maybe lower its to hit with 1), because seriously, anyone at the edge of the ship can be grappled from a distance (15 ft), grappled/constricted/swallowed, then uses its elusive ability to move away and start over. It will deal enough damage and the party might have a difficult time taking it down (especially if the first guy you catch is a caster, less ranged support in taking it down.)
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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Ah, I see my first mistake. For some reason, D20pfsrd lists its bite damage as +22, while the Bestiary gives a +12. That already solves a lot of confusion. Weird, d20pfsrd is usually pretty accurate.
Looking at it more, I indeed see a pattern. Constrict damage is then either also 12 (equal to the melee attack), or correct at the listed 18 if you do one and a half times its modifier. I think I've read there are some inconsistencies about how to apply constrict damage, as I think it usually supposes 1.5 times Strength score, even though it doesn't specify. A Shambling Mound does +5 damage on each attack, but constricts at +7. Tome of Horrors has a Gloom Crawlerwith a +7 damage and a similar +7 constrict. But then again, a lot from that book is weird and funky. But also other Bestiary monsters do the same (Yaoguai has +6 damage and constrict), but also some that function like half Strength (Gray Ooze has +4 damage, but +1 constrict, on 16 Strength). I'm just going to assume a 1.5 damage modifier, as that's the only thing I can make sense of here.