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So, while I haven't run this one yet, I'm curious how many Devotion points people are getting in the Grey Garrison. Some of them are more or less unavoidable (killing load-bearing bosses and what-not), but some of them are more unlikely. If your group has finished Book 1, please post to say how many points they've received, and which ones they missed out on. I'm kind of curious to see what an average amount of DPs any given group is likely to get.
Currently my notes show this:
DP: 5 (Pray over bodies, clean up other altar, clean up main altar, Orith, Jeslyn)
Party is not quite done there though and have mentioned they'll likely take the bodies out front back for burial. I'm guessing 7 minimum, possibly more by the time we're done.
As a note, I did have Irabeth give them some hints and remark about the deplorable state of the altars and make a remark out front about how horrible it is to see Lord Hulrun defiled and reduced to such a state.
Praying over the bodies they did on their own completely and was actually the first point they received.
You can still earn Devotion Points after becoming Mythic. It's only after going to sleep that they are "cashed in" so players who clean up the place AFTER killing the enemy and eliminating the threat of the broken Wardstone will still gain Devotion Points. Nowhere in the module does it say "once you are Mythic then it's game over" - instead, it's "when they go to sleep after destroying the wardstone."
Creative Director
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Correct. Once you finish the adventure, you can go back and clean altars.
And remember... you don't HAVE to earn all the possible points! In fact, it's intentionally difficult and tricky to earn them all, so that PCs who DO go above and beyond the call in their devotion are better rewarded.
My players did actually (stop to clean the altars). I believe the text says the altar takes a half hour to clean and I let them cut the time in half by some clever use of abilities and summons to aid.
They mostly had time because of a lucky detect magic noticed the hidden cache though they couldn't figure out the way in (until they cleaned up the one altar, the door wasn't glowing). So while part of the party was investigating and trying to find the hidden way in (and failing), Irabeth and the other half set about cleaning up the altars.
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Update:
Players finished book one with 10 devotion points (they managed to grab everything except fixing the two helmets). Colour me impressed! They even remembered to grab the bodies as they were leaving and to bury the body parts cleaned from the one altar. Very proud of them!
my party is 3 LG guys and the 4th is a CG. I want to believe that they will get at least the 8 points to award them the bonus feat. I actually though count maximum 10 devotion points while in the reward text ''10 or more points'' is mentioned. Do i miss something ?
Oh yes you are right ! thanks for the clarification
a little late to the party but my players are just getting ready to go mythic. if there rewarded an extra feat can they take a mythic feat? at first it seems so as it just says "feat" but it seems they could get hosed on account of technicality. do players aquire there ACTUAL mythic tier during the destruction or do they gain it after resting? if after resting it seems Iomadae visits them first and they have to choose there feat. Im inclined for simplicity to allow a mythic feat im just curious what others have done and how JJ would run it.
i would not let the feat earned be a mythic feat, they'll get plenty as they go and if you start handing them out it could get unbalanced fast!
i wouldn't say handing them out. The feat is awarded by divine intervention, which doesn't come up a lot I'm sure. I don't think mythic feats are more powerful than non mythic feats. Actually i think they might even be weaker, since there more restrictive.
I decided to allow mythic feats, they still need to meet the requirements after all. Its a nice boost to players new to mythic rules who are having a hard time choosing between there first mythic feat. It also gave my players the chance to take an extra mythic feat that they otherwise wouldn't have taken because its not as powerful as others. none of them abused this. I also stated since the were awarded by a goddess they could never retrain it.
Our group got 10 of the 11.
The only one we missed was the one point for restoring the broken helmets with make whole. We were fortunate in that my brother was playing a pious paladin of Iomadae who refused to allow us to progress through the Grey Garrison without restoring the alters first, even if it meant we could have been ambushed in the process. (He is our healer. If your healer says, "Hey stop, I'm going to scrub filth off of this shrine," you say, "Do you want help with that?")
In the time it took, all of the enemies on the second floor had the time to regroup, so we actually fought all of the enemies on the garrison's second floor at the same time in one massive combat that nearly killed us.
But for a bonus feat and a +2 to an ability score of our choice? It was worth it.
That depends on your group. Have they played previous adventure paths? Do they tend toward power-gaming, or are they more well-rounded (or even novice) players?
If they're power-gamers and have walked through previous APs, don't tell them a thing.
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Depends on how much backstory you've given to the players. If they know that this AP relies on being a good guy and taking the opportunities to be good, they'll catch onto those type of things easily.
If they're there to play a game and the story is between their gameplay, they're not going to get it.
Honestly, either way I would suggest not even mentioning it. Even a group of people who refuse to do more than just kill things will get a few devotion points, then you can run the dream with the few points they get and have Iomedae point out that she has been watching them, and while they are a great hope for the Crusade she finds their ability to take care of their fellow man lackluster.
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My party did a blitz on the garrison then spent the next couple of day cleaning up everything so they got all the points and all the rewards.
However, once I looked deeper into the AP and saw the loud frequent complaints about balance issues I took away the mechanical boons the characters received. They didn't decide to do the extra work knowing they would get something for it, they did it because it was what their characters would do. I felt bad taking away toys I had given out, but they understood why I did it.
Here's one thing that could be done: Have the Boons be temporary. The Stat increase and Hit Points are absorbed by gaining the 2nd Mythic Tier. Dunno what you'd do with the Feat and Skill increase, however.