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I ran this last night in the 6-7 tier for a party of:
Fighter 4
Barbarian/Dragon Sorc 5
Infernal Sorc 7
Elemental Sorc 7
Alchemist 3
and boy was that last fight spicy.
So Celeena is built like a summoner, but what's the point when you have black tentacles, hellfire and scorching ray? The hellhound basically just bought her time for her initiative to come up and cast black tentacles.
Between the tentacles cast in the first and second rounds, the two sorcerers and the alchemist were stuck outside the room with no shot as Celeena positioned herself in the corner of the room with 4 bookcases between her and their line of sight. The fighter and BarbSorc progressed slowly in and between the scorching ray to the fighter, hellfire to the BarbSorc and the damage from tentacles, both were extremely hurt. With the three ranged combatants made ineffective by blocking terrain, it came down to a t-shirt reroll on an escape check and the BarbSorc turning into a grappler to get her to surrender. Even then BarbSorc would have been toast had the three magic missiles from the wand not bounced off the shield he had cast previously.
So some thoughts. When you run this high, make sure you have more powerful melee characters rather than ranged ones as the spell selections and room layout are really punishing to low CMD ranged characters who need even line of sight to cast.
I'd be interested in seeing how this ran for others.
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I ran this last night as well at sub tier 3-4. There were six characters, two of them at 4th, two at third, one 2nd and a 1st.
The other combat encounters were not too difficult. Opening the doors and checking for potential traps was good. They did well until the last room.
She hit them with glitterdust and 5 of the six failed their save. This left the bard with vision and the others at a severe disadvantage for the next 7 rounds. Add in a few scorching rays and magic missles and this dropped two of the five blinded characters. Finally once the effects were gone, they managed to stop her and her sidekick Janks who managed to retreat his way to this room.
It was a tough encounter, and while it was frustrating, it was a real challange that I think they enjoyed. They left with a real sense of victory and the scenario allowed all of the classes to shine in their own ways.
I enjoyed running it.
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I ran this at GenCon Slot 10 as an impromptu Classic Subtier 1-2, after glancing at the Scenario for five minutes. All my players who hadn't partied Saturday night had fun, which I was proud of myself for.
We didn't have a trapfinder (unless you count a barbarian or a summoned monkey), so I thought the traps might be dicey but fun, but they made short work of everything except the four switch portcullis. Even with assists, the players had trouble getting the fourth before they reset, so I had them see Janks hitting the switch to reset them. Sadly, he didn't last long. :P
Speaking of which, what would be the best way to get a hold of Josh for a Chronicle sheet for myself? I didn't have an extra and forgot to ask, and my level 1 cleric could use the GM rewards. :D
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Ran this yesterday, and most the players had fun.
Found a editing mistake. IN room 2, in the box text it describes the door as "a stone mosaic made of stone." My players had me reread that to make sure they heard right.
And as I had 2 wizards and 2 sorcerers, and was running the teir 3-4, they LOVED the rewards.
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I just have to say how AWESOME it is to hear that you're all having fun with my first scenario! Brings a tear to my eye *sniffle sniffle*...
On a side note...
1) I agree that the Black Tentacles is a bit brutal... I think you can all go give Joshua a big hug for that one!
2) (I think it's ok for me to post about this, if not Josh can smite me) There was a small mix up in editing it seems, as the original text I submitted went along the lines of: "Twenty feet down from the trapdoor is a confined square room, cut out of stone. At the opposite end of the ladder stands a large mosaic of stone. The stonework is designed with an inlay of several faceless people worshiping at the top, and condemning at the bottom."
Thanks again for all the lovely stories. It's awesome seeing my work hurting players all across the world! ;)
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quick question - in the over all mission it says that pcs need to stop the information from getting into cheliax hands-- cheliaxian mission is ti get the info from bbeg and turn them over. would this not defeat the over all mission?
Good question!
The intended result was that Cheliax is concerned only with the documents surviving, not necessarily their acquisition. The notes about Cheliax acquiring the documents were added in the final version, and certainly don't fit with the Pathfinder Society's goals.
In any event, the documents need only survive the final encounter, so they can be 'acquired' later by Chelish agents.
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quick question - in the over all mission it says that pcs need to stop the information from getting into cheliax hands-- cheliaxian mission is ti get the info from bbeg and turn them over. would this not defeat the over all mission?Good question!
The intended result was that Cheliax is concerned only with the documents surviving, not necessarily their acquisition. The notes about Cheliax acquiring the documents were added in the final version, and certainly don't fit with the Pathfinder Society's goals.
In any event, the documents need only survive the final encounter, so they can be 'acquired' later by Chelish agents.
The times I've run it that's what I've done, as long as the Cheliax player gets them then I feel they've fulfilled their mission
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The Cheliax mission came up when I ran it several times last weekend. I ruled that as it was a faction mission the Cheliax wanting the documents was a Pathfinder so it didn't really matter from the mission point of view which Pathfinder the documents were handed over to.
The last time I ran it there were only four first level characters (three of them new PF players) and they had a damaging time. Janks first hit with the heavy crossbow was a critical in the corridor - though fortunately for the PC he rolled low damage.
I then had a hairy moment in the crypt where they charged the guards and then the skeletons animated and closed behind them. This left them boxed in and their Cleric couldn't channel without taking multiple AoAs. If a bad guy crit had happened at that point I suspected it could be a TPK, so I took a strategic game break to allow players to consider tactics.
This worked and they then used good tactics and fortunately made good rolls and none of the bad guys critted - so they all survived to my surprise.
So be aware with only four first level characters this module could well be fatal.
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The other two times I ran it at Tier 3-4 with 6 players in both sessions. Most PCs made their initial Glitterdust save both times in the archives despite the high DC - I think only one PC failed both times - so it wasn't the final challenge it could have been. I can see the number of PC saves determining how this pans out.
As a regular wizard player I was really tempted by the sleet storm but that wasn't in the tactics...
I looked at Tier 6-7 and thought ouch! That looked brutal, but I didn't get to GM it.
Suggestion also looked really nasty and it can come from several sources.
Note for better atmospheric descriptions look at the description of the stationary tier 1-2 devils - and run through the strike and fade tactics of the tier 3-4 devils - and the telepathy ability and spell like abilities of the Tier 3-4 demon and its willingness to negotiate. Don't forget their DR and resistances.
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The Cheliax mission came up when I ran it several times last weekend. I ruled that as it was a faction mission the Cheliax wanting the documents was a Pathfinder so it didn't really matter from the mission point of view which Pathfinder the documents were handed over to.
The last time I ran it there were only four first level characters (three of them new PF players) and they had a damaging time. Janks first hit with the heavy crossbow was a critical in the corridor - though fortunately for the PC he rolled low damage.
I then had a hairy moment in the crypt where they charged the guards and then the skeletons animated and closed behind them. This left them boxed in and their Cleric couldn't channel without taking multiple AoAs. If a bad guy crit had happened at that point I suspected it could be a TPK, so I took a strategic game break to allow players to consider tactics.
This worked and they then used good tactics and fortunately made good rolls and none of the bad guys critted - so they all survived to my surprise.
So be aware with only four first level characters this module could well be fatal.
"Creatures healed by channeled energy cannot exceed their maximum hit point total—all excess healing is lost. A cleric may channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. This is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. A cleric can choose whether or not to include herself in this effect. A cleric must be able to present her holy symbol to use this ability."
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"Creatures healed by channeled energy cannot exceed their maximum hit point total—all excess healing is lost. A cleric may channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. This is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. A cleric can choose whether or not to include herself in this effect. A cleric must be able to present her holy symbol to use this ability."
Yup. I noticed I had said something stupid not long after I posted (but outside the edit window)
I wondered why noone had corrected me earlier. I though it was GMs courtesy or somesuch ;-)
With hindsight I suspect he was out of channels - it had been brutal.
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I just ran this yesterday, and the final fight was... interesting.
We were playing tier 3-4 with a party of Sorcerer 2, Fighter 3, Cleric 4, Sorcder 6 and Rogue 7.
Celeena was all set to fight with her dretch summoned and at the ready when the door opened. She jumped out, cast glitterdust, and ended up only blinding the fighter. The higher level sorcerer responded with a successful blindness/deafness and blinded Celeena. The dretch did a good enough job of keeping anyone from getting to close to Celenna, who then cast Obscuring Mist and retreated as best she could further into the room.
With everyone not wanting to feel around in mist for a caster who's already summoned one demon, the group held back, except for the blind fighter who just kept swinging and moving forward, occasionally making random bull rush attempt when he heard casting from further away than 5 feet.
Eventually a summoned fiendish wolf took down the fighter, at which point the rest of the group risked entering the mist, hugging the walls until they found Celeena and the fight ended rather quickly at that point.
It was extremely frustrating trying to keep a blind caster interesting and effective in combat and it seemed to slow things town a bit, but all and all it was one of the most enjoyable final encounter's I've had the privilege to run.
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It's always hard with a group of that level range - the APL is way too low for the high-level guys, so saves etc. are easier to make for the party and harder for the bad guy. When I have a group like this, I get the higher-level folks to play a lower-level PC if possible. Level 2 and 7 in the same party just can't balance.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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We played this yesterday at low tier, with a big party (3 pregens, l1 polearm fighter, l2 polearm barbarian, l2 inquisitor with sacred huntsman roc pet, l1 inquisitor).
On the whole we had fun; the corridor with the pendulum trap had a definite Last Crusade feel to it that had us pretty nervous. Celeena struck down the barbarian with a color spray, but then my inquisitor (the huntsman) stepped in and flanked her to death.
But boy, was this crowded! The first fight was 5ft corridor wrestling, then we had people trying to pass each other on staircases to get to the walkway. Then the trapped corridor was a mess with people trying to get to the crossbowman. And most of the party couldn't get into Celeena's room because the lemure was in the way (some of us had to Overrun to get past).
That was pretty frustrating for a couple of guys; one of the polearm warriors was always just too late to actually get to an enemy, and the Merisiel pregen didn't get to actually flank someone until the fight in the big room downstairs with the guards and the skeletons.
It wasn't so much difficult; just frustrating that everyone was in everyone's way because all the places we fought were so cramped.
Besides that, we had a good time; the Lem player kept up everyone's spirits very nicely and we all got to feel badass for curbstomping the bad guys.
(I like difficult scenarios too, but when introducing the game or PFS to new players, it's great to let them feel powerful in the first adventure.)
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Quick Question: What aura would you say the traps registered in area A2? I understand that magic traps must have magic triggers, so I'm trying to figure out what kind of spell would identify the key as it's put into the hole? It would have to have line of effect, so it couldn't be lead-shielded (or behind the wall), so the trigger spell will have to detect.
I'm thinking abjuration? And it could possibly be a pretty low-level spell, so just a faint aura.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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It's not necessarily a good tactic. The cloud also blocks line of sight for Celeena.
If your players are struggling, a SC might actually buy them the time to wait out the Glitterdust safe from Celeena.
Going literally by the tactics, "she casts summon monster III and summons a dretch, directing it to stand in the square just north of the door and attack the first PC who enters."
That doesn't include casting. If in your judgement the PCs have invalidated those tactics, you can deviate from them.
If you think the players are having a rough time, and you find a situation where you can fairly justify the NPC doing something sub-obtimal ("he's not a genius, he messes up sometimes") that is in line with the NPC's states goals/personality/tactics, it's okay to do so to subtly give the players some chance to regroup.
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic
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I've had the dretch use stinking cloud. It disabled the party and Celeena escaped.
She doesn't care about the PCs, she doesn't care about the mercenaries, so just escaping is good enough. If she closes the portcullis she'll get enough lead to safely escape the city.