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How are the PCs supposed to survive the final combat?
First, let's look at the lead up:
- The PCs are likely to have prepared spells to help them against human opponents (ie Charm Person), as those have been the only visible antagonists so far.
- They've fought through some of the Chernowitz (sp) Manor, and maybe some of the misbegotten behind it.
- There's a chance that one of the PCs starts off bound or otherwise missing gear (though unlikely).
- They just finished fighting a level 5 Cleric with high DCs on crippling debuffs such as Bestow Curse.
- And the PCs are expected to be level three.
So they're likely been roughed up as much as they can handle, and then they have to fight a Blightspawn?!
This sucker is listed at CR 5, and has some great opening moves available to it. An additional Bestow Curse is cruel, but bonuses like Blur also make for a tough fight. Add on to that +10 to hit and 2d6+7 damage, and you have a recipe for one PC death every other round. With the ability to threaten out to 10ft reach, the PCs can't even effectively heal/retreat if things are going poorly or they want to change up tactics.
The creature has DR 5/magic: it isn't a given that PCs can bypass that at level 3. Let's eyeball it that only half the characters in the party can, and they still get to deal with fast-healing and AC 18 on top of that.
How is this supposed to be doable at the party's level? Has anyone run it; how did it go?
I'm going to run this one after Haunting of Harrowstone; I'm guessing the party of five will do fine; I'll post afterwards. But it probably won't be until Jan/Feb.
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I wish I could be of more help, but James will need to answer for this particular BBEG. Blame him! Hahahah!
Some of you may know that the Feast of Ravenmoor was based on a short story James wrote in his college days. When I signed on to write the module, he sent me over a couple of pages of notes with the lowdown on his vision, and from those I created the adventure. Those original notes did mention some sort of mosquito-y creature the villagers worshiped, but as my writing progressed, I became obsessed with a whole corn smut godling, fungal-infection theme, and the villagers' desperate attempts to contain it through supplication.
As a result, my turnover's BBEG reflected that in the form of this sickly blue "blight ooze." Like the spawn in the published version, it resided within Kriegler, but was harbored because it abhorred the cleansing rays of the sun, and had to be regularly fed (hence the sacrifice) or it would burst forth from Kriegler's body, killing him in the process, to seek food out on its own. This set up a little more of a sympathetic relationship with the villagers, and made their evil actions more tragic, because they were basically held hostage by this terrible ooze sent by Ghlaunder to force their worship. As long at it was harbored in a human host and they sacrificed blood to it to keep it slumbering within, it wouldn't ooze out, kill their leader, and destroy their crops with its terrible defoliation aura power. Thus a reluctant cult is born.
But, as so often happens, 32-page modules don't always have the room for those kinds of intricacies and subtle themes, and the published version doesn't reflect them nearly as strongly as the turnover. Consequently, James simplified the BBEG and reverted it back to the mosquito-like creature you see, which did end up working in a similar way. Things like that happen all the time, and usually for the best and for very good reasons.
All that being said, I'd be vouching for the balance of the power level of the big boss, as my turnover was playtested twice with PFS-legal characters, and both groups made it through the end with only a couple of deaths (or dying PCs, at least), as I recall. And that was with the attack-and-capture sequence in the manor being a LOT more likely to end up in a party capture (and it did, in one playtest -the cult used xtabay plants to subdue the party), but it was balanced to not be a game-ender by having the party receive help in their release from village allies gained from participating in the feast games earlier in the day and saving village children from threats like the bunyip.
So, beyond that, I'll leave it to James to provide any hints, clues, or suggestions for the BBEG as presented. Or blame me for not sticking to the original vision, and forcing James' angry hand to unleash that ungodly terror on you guys. You'll never look at a mosquito the same way again! =-)
Our party got through it relatively unscathed, but I attribute that to two things:
1.) This was only the second module the GM ever ran. He went for flavor over mechanics because it was simpler that way. (He didn't know how swarms worked, for instance, so they just annoyed us for a minute and went on.) He also wasn't very familiar with the adventure so winged some parts of it.
2.) Our paladin saved his Smite Evil until the very end and used it on the blightspawn. He made short work of most of the enemies and the blightspawn was the only really hard fight for him.
We had a minor revolving door issue with the number of players so we may have had six players the night of the battle with the blightspawn. I can only remember five though. (male NG dhampir inquisitor of Sarenrae, male CN hobgoblin magus, male "LG" human paladin of unspecified faith, male elven fighter, female half-elven cleric/ninja of unspecified faith)
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I had no problem with this and it was a strong fight -- but against a party of 6 (almost wholly depleted of all resources and very beat up) it was a good end to the module.
The only thing which was potentially overwhelming was Flyby Attack from a creature with reach. Given its DR and fly speed, that's a TPK if you use it to its best advantage. Don't let the Flyby Attack come into play that way or you will regret it. I would also suggest not playing the critter to optimize its attacks as if it had an Int of 15+. Keep it a slow-thinking but brute of a bug and I thought it ran well. Death is a possibility, sure, but a TPK isn't likely unless the dice are VERY unkind (this is always a possibility in any fight) or the players do something exceptionally stupid.
A strong challenge, with a few characters in the negs (but stablilized) to make the party appreciate their victory all the more is the way I prefer these fights to go. And that one delivered nicely, imo.
But yeah, don't let the fly speed and diving flyby attacks (with reach!) come into play or you'll wipe the party pretty much for sure.
I'm about done running it with 5 PCs in my PbP. Great mod, but not suitable for level 3.
They were really beat up by the time they got to the ritual and 2/3 of the party went into the negs before they killed him. Partly because they gave him too much time to completely buff up, but a 3d6 negative channel is really rough.
There was no way they'd survive an immediate attack by the blightspawn; slow aura, DR, fast healing, flyby attack seem more like a CR 6 at least. They opted to light up the corn and run with my blessing. The blightspawn will likely track them down next day once they've had a chance to recover.
*Furiously takes notes* :P
Add in to Voodoo's report that the main healer started off with no juice because he stayed up late in the hopes of getting front row seats at a peepshow ;)
This is all good to know...
@ Voodoo:
Which campaign is that? We're also starting it atm.
Edit: Found it.
*Furiously takes notes* :P
Add in to Voodoo's report that the main healer started off with no juice because he stayed up late in the hopes of getting front row seats at a peepshow ;)
No peeking! yeah, the flow of events doesn't give much chance for spell recovery. I allow casters to refresh after 4 hours sleep so the Sorcerer and Inquisiter were good, but the Oracle was up all night.
@Feral- having recently had a power attacking Barbarian in a game- I can see that having the nuke option would definitely help. our muscle was a light fighter and thug archetype rogue. the party does have a wand of magic weapon, but the sorcerer is so busy magic missile-ing that it is seldom used and as said almost no one would have even been standing by the time Blighty was scheduleed to make its appearance.
I guess my advice is to be careful with this module. 4th level might be safer unless you know your party and are prepared to cut them alot of slack.
It is an excellent module otherwise and really fun to run.
Don't worry Mr Voodoo sir - all secrets are safe with me.
The other issue not in our favor was our two primary spellcasters are both spontaneous - so our party of 5 had nary a 2nd level spell between us all.
But it has been good fun :)
An edit problem. On page 7 right column.
On my map the Chenowitz farm is area K
Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere
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Well, this is awkward. Our group brutally murdered trough the ending :D
When the battle initially begins with the mayor,the dwarf druid uses Stone Call on the area, basically knocking out each and every cultist. Then the gunslinger shoots the mayor, and then our paladin charges/smites him. He's pretty deead. Then, the spawn comes and again the gunslinger shoot it with his twin pistols. Druid whacks it with his pick and paladin power attack/smites it. Couple of rounds later, it tries to flee, only to be skewered again.
OK, I admit that the group is kinda specialists for this kind of killing, but still. I too thought that the ending will be hard, and then this happened. Still, great module that the PC:s enjoyed.
It’s like there should a knowledge religion check to see if the PCs are surprised by the transformation. At least it would give the big bug a couple of rounds to live.
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I ran this module a few weeks ago and didn't have too many issues. The bard-barbarian died the last round against the blightspawn, but the mayor was a chump. If you read his strategy, he spends a lot of time doing buffs and other fight prep that the PCs will almost certainly not let him finish. The PCs never rested, and they only had difficulties with the faceless stalker and the blightspawn. The group consisted of a bard-barbarian, 2 handed fighter, dagger rogue, archery ranger, and a caster psion of some sort (I'm not familiar with psions).
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Just played this yesterday. Our halfling Rogue/Wizard (en route to Arcane Trickster) managed to aggro ALL OF THE LAST ENCOUNTERS within 2 rounds by triple moving through the corn field to where Leonard was (before he had a chance to come out to us) and provoked the mosquito swarm and the Mayor the following round. So what was probably intended to be a CR 3, followed by a CR3 or 4, and then a CR5 was instead a whopping CR 7 or more for a 2nd level reach fighter (me), a level 4 rogue(1)/wizard(3), a level 3 freebooter, a level 4 paladin, and a level 3 sorcerer(2)/Oracle(1).
Honestly, the blightspawn was the least of our worries as the mosquito swarm almost killed 3 of us because our casters had very little left for them (one burning hands, and some alchemist fire/acid flasks with all pretty low rolls). If it weren't for my fighter being enlarged with leadblades that encounter would have definitely TPKd us but I was able to swat and lucky crit the blightspawn for a whopping 62 damage as it provoked trying to fly out of my threatened space (15 ft). Closest I've come to seeing a party actually TPK.
That being said, it was a lot of fun.
Awesome! Sounds like a memorable encounter, for sure. Glad to see you guys come out on top in Ravenmoor!
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Was run as PFS...How long did it take you guys to run this? I'm considering it for my PFS lodge but we have tight time constraints.
I've ran it a couple years ago as a black Friday special (I.e. not a normal slot) for pfs. Party was 3 monks, a Ezren pregen, and a cleric. Module lasted 6 and a half hours with a short lunch break. Last fight four out of five pcs dropped at different times but the cleric kept people on their feet.
This was my first Pathfinder module I ever ran to the end as a GM. Now that I've run 4-5 modules, it continues to be my favorite.
And, yes, that blightspawn at the end is a beast. But I kinda let the party cheat to kill him.
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I've ran it a couple years ago as a black Friday special (I.e. not a normal slot) for pfs. Party was 3 monks, a Ezren pregen, and a cleric. Module lasted 6 and a half hours with a short lunch break. Last fight four out of five pcs dropped at different times but the cleric kept people on their feet.
Thanks for the reply. We thought it would probably end up around 6 hours.
I recall my in-house playtests (there were two) clocked in about 6-7 hours or so as well, and there weren't any encounters added (though the were significant changes), for what that's worth to compare!
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I want to know how one can possibly justify a CR 5 for that BBEG, especially given that you're coming right off a previous combat and have likely had at least 2 other combats within a few hours. I really feel like the author and/or editor was conveniently ignoring the CR rules that state you raise the CR by 1 or more for difficult circumstances or circumstances that favor the enemies.
BBEG aside, the rest of the adventure was quite fun, especially playing a smarmy oracle of Calistria with a high bluff and diplomacy.
Hmmm ... I just checked out the PRD section on challenge rating and it's quite different from 3.5; almost completely arbitrary now. Paizo ... I am disappoint.
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Excellent Module. I have run it five times. Twice Leonard ambushed and single shotted a PC. Once the Bug killed someone. No TPKs. Many characters knocked into negatives. It depends on the party and on the GM, it varies from being a walkover to a really tough battle. Remember the Bug can't fly until it's wings dry off, and taking to the air provokes.
I love this module. I added it to Runelords between books 1 & 2. My players loved the scene of the pig wrestling and then the "plant" bursts out of it.
The last encounter was tough, because we had done book 1 or runelords they were level 4, but they were a bit low on treasure. The part barbarian and inquisitor took care of the boss, while the bard kept the crowd at bay, witch shut down some of the boss abilities, and the cleric keep everyone alive.
The biggest problem I had with the module was with the stats of the village if I recall correctly.
If they kill a villager every new moon or so, then that entire village should be extinct within a decade from how many villagers they say are in it.
That's the thing I had problems with, was justifying the amount of sacrifices they had.
If it was annually, it still would be a major hit on the village, but probably could survive for a while like that.
I believe the text made mention that they would utilize visitors when they had the chance, which helps preserve the town.
Also, (I can't remember the exact details but ...) this sacrifice thing seems like it was only put into place by the most recent mayor, and possibly not very long ago, due to his desire to be able to father children.
I would agree, though, that this is a source of a difficult plot hole. How are the regular townspeople that are not in the cult (~2/3 of the town) still fooled to be ok with all that is going on while the winner of the feast pageant goes missing continuously. Maybe the selection of the sacrifice was only the "winner" this time, and they just change their means of selecting the victim, ... *shrug*
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This scenario went way off the rails. My party burned down the cults hideout, and a bunch of the cultists and townsfolk came to put out the fire. I had to wing it at this point, as it became the town vs pcs at this point as spelled out in the adventure.
After the fire was out, I hit them will more than a dozen cultists in a bloody scary melee. There was no feast as the mayor labelled the pcs bandits. After more encounters, they retreated into the surrounding wilds to rest some amongst clouds of mosquitos and snakes. I found a way to get the party to the last encounter, which the barbarian made short work of.
All told, it was chaotic, but a total blast!
I'm currently running this module here on the boards, with a good deal of added content intended to create an overarching plot that will connect this to Carrion Hill, the next module I wanted to run. It's going marvelously so far, although I fear the PCs might be a little too close to figuring out exactly what's going on in town; one of them has managed to nail a Knowledge: Religion roll well enough that he's even fairly sure Ghlaunder is to blame. I've added several new townsfolk, including at least two red herrings, but they seem to be well on top of things regardless.
The party is six people, all humans (including two investigative-types who aren't exactly optimized for combat) and one elf cavalier, her warhorse, and a young river drake they befriended (long story). I'm worried they might start dropping like flies when the final combat starts, as they are light on healing and arcane casters, 15 point-buy, and only one of them has a magic weapon capable of overcoming the Blightspawn's DR.
Any suggestions on how to make this more survivable without nerfing the Blightspawn or either Kriegler? For instance, would it be overkill to provide another magic weapon or two to even the odds?
Also, I think they're going to investigate the Chenowitz place while the Festival is going on, so that might throw things off the rails a bit; on the other hand, if they can keep the cult from figuring out what they've done, they might just win themselves a chance to get rested up with half the combat encounters meant for the finale out of the way.