I'm going to play Serpent's Skull soon (probably starting end of february/begin of march)
It will be my first AP as DM and I am very excited.
Does anyone still has some of the things posted in the first sites of this thread?
One of the players (I got the first book from him as a christmas present) already knows its starting with a shipwreck and the first book is exploring an island/going off it. (Because it is written on the backcover..^^)
The other ones only know the name of the AP and are thinking we are starting on a ship and don't know anything of the shipwreck etc.
I gave them the playerguide tho.
I don't know yet, if I start on the beach (would very much suprise everyone who thinks we start on the ship, avoiding the possible nat 20 on the fort save) or on the ship (leaving them longer with the thinking of "we just go to eleder" and the possibility of let them get to know the NPCs etc...
I think the deciding factor will be how interested your players are in talking to NPCs and how much you intend to play up the PC-NPC relationships during the game. If you want to get the players interested in the NPCs and maybe hint at Yarzoth's true nature, I would start on the boat and then give the PCs a chance to play through the actual wreck. If you want to save time and get the PCs into the meat of the module ASAP, just cut scene the boat ride and start on the beach.
My players generally like talking to NPCs but dumped the SS NPCs the moment they got off the island. To be fair, my game has a number of elements the AP isn't designed for so it makes sense they left the NPCs behind.
A word of advice: if your players, like mine, decide to just follow the beach down the east side of the island and so come to the snake temple with Yarzoth while they are still 1st level, find some way of discouraging them from doing so.
Make it so the edge of the island is somewhat difficult/impassable on certain sections to drive them inland for more XP, throw more random encounters in their path, show off the Red Mountain Devil in the area so they are warned away, fill the first room in the temple with lots of wussy undead so they decide to stay away for the nonce, whatever. Just make sure they are well warned of the danger and/or gain a few levels on the trip.
I am a bit confused with the exp in the first book of this AP.
The PCs should get/have level 4 when they leave the island and getting level 5 when they leave the saltmine in book 2.
But they need (with 4 PCs) 36000 exp in total for level 4.
And they get round about 40000 exp just for the "must have" things on the island they quite sure do.
Not counting any random encounter, not counting any predator dens, not counting any shipwrecks.
If I do normal random encounters as in book and they come across some predator dens and shipwrecks, they can even get level 5 on the island...
How did other GMs handle this? (Beside having checkpoint-exp of course)
Just let them have the level advantage?
Reducing some of the exp? Looking to fix it in book 2?
I wouldn't worry about the level difference. There's decent odds one of your PCs will die on the island which drags down the total XP a bit.
My party was still APL 4 after making it to Eleder, though one PC might have made it to 5th shortly thereafter.
I don't know if the question above is still relevant, but I recommend making the NPCs a bit easier to influence (but still afraid/injured/wanting to guard the camp), so the PCs don't dismiss them out of hand. Maybe crib 2e's system where Diplomacy checks only influence the NPC during the current encounter (unless the GM decides otherwise), and lower the DCs a bit. My party didn't dismiss the NPCs but didn't really know how to interact with them, and ended up killing Ishirou in a duel on the first or second day.
We are not yet there, and it will take a while to go there (just had 2 sessions till now), but I read on different places that you need to get help with translating the stuff out of the temple, or at least a library...
That it has a DC 30 Linguistik Check or something.
But why..?
The text is:
Fortunately for the PCs, by the time they arrive, Yarzoth
has already transcribed the majority of these carvings
onto dozens of sheets of parchment (mostly scavenged
from the many scrolls she carried and had to use over the
course of her journey)—the notes are written in Aklo, but
quite complete.
Doen't this mean, if you can understand Aklo, you can just read it..?
I mean yes, there are "dozens of sheets", so it might take 1 or 2 days to read it all, but why should it be so difficult?
It would be good for story etc, if they'd need help, yes, but raw there shouldn't be a problem, as long as anyone knows Aklo?
I'm AFB right now so I'm working off memory, but wasn't Yarzoth's room behind a secret door? This DC could be in case the PCs don't find her notes, or they somehow get destroyed before being read.
Plus, if the PCs don't know Aklo and have no easy way of translating it, Linguistics is useful.
Plus, it could be she writes in a form of shorthand, with obscure references to snakefolk scholars and legends and strange localisms the PCs aren't familiar with.
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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Narjana wrote: We are not yet there, and it will take a while to go there (just had 2 sessions till now), but I read on different places that you need to get help with translating the stuff out of the temple, or at least a library...
That it has a DC 30 Linguistik Check or something.
But why..?
The details for translating the notes are actually in the second part of the AP, Racing to Ruin, on p8. Yes, this should probably be in the first book, happens every now and then with adventure paths, since the different books are often written by different authors. The relevant bit says
Quote: Once the notes have been translated, a DC 30 Linguistics check is required to decipher Yarzoth’s somewhat elaborate and archaic phrasing. If the PCs are unable to make this check, they may again hire a scholar.
There are more details in book 2 about using a library and a few other things.
YogoZuno wrote: Narjana wrote: We are not yet there, and it will take a while to go there (just had 2 sessions till now), but I read on different places that you need to get help with translating the stuff out of the temple, or at least a library...
That it has a DC 30 Linguistik Check or something.
But why..?
The details for translating the notes are actually in the second part of the AP, Racing to Ruin, on p8. Yes, this should probably be in the first book, happens every now and then with adventure paths, since the different books are often written by different authors. The relevant bit says
Quote: Once the notes have been translated, a DC 30 Linguistics check is required to decipher Yarzoth’s somewhat elaborate and archaic phrasing. If the PCs are unable to make this check, they may again hire a scholar.
There are more details in book 2 about using a library and a few other things. I've entirely forgotten about that. My PCs managed to burn the notes so they had to do all the drudge work of interpreting the information in the temple on their own and this bit was irrelevant, thus ignored and forgotten.
Ah thank you @YogoZuno!
I did read all books, but more as an overview, probably missed that part or could not remember - and did not think it could be in the second part XD
A reminder to always read the next book again, before coming to the end of the current one..
Because yes, in the 1st book it is not explicitely stated, where they find the parchments, but I think they find it in the alcoves.
I do make a note in this part to look again in the 2nd book when we play this..!
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