Slayer Playtest - The Bloodcove Disguise (PFS 2-01, Tier 1-2)

[Variel Loraden]

This weekend, I played "The Bloodcove Disguise" with my local gaming group, and made a level 1 Elf Slayer who focused on archery. The other members of the group were an Archery Ranger, a Cleric of Sarenrae, a Heavens Oracle, a Barbarian, and a Fighter with an Armor Class of 23. The Ranger was level 3; the rest of them were level 2.

Before the game started, there was a bit of a delay in trying to figure out how often I could use my Favored Target, as the GM hadn't had a chance to read the ACG. In the end, he ruled that I could use it at-will, which is what I guessed from the text. This worked out pretty well; I had something special to do every encounter, and it isn't powerful enough to make things unbalanced.

First Encounter:

Entering the city, I actually rolled well on my Intimidate check not to attract attention. This was the only time I did - the entire rest of the game, I got 1s and 2s on my avoid attention roll. I did actually have Intimidate trained; it's just that with my poor rolls and mediocre Charisma, the +4 didn't make much of a difference.

When we got to the alchemist's shop, we started combat more or less immediately. By the time it was my turn, everyone had moved enough that I didn't have a clear shot at any of the enemies, so I could either reposition myself or use Favored Target. I went with Favored Target, and managed to hit him, which was nice. I downed him in one hit, and the whole combat was over before I got in a second turn. This set the precedent for pretty much the entire scenario.

Second Encounter:

We spent a decent chunk of time scoping out the bar before attacking, so I set the summoner as my Favored Target well before combat started. Unfortunately, I didn't do that great on the initiative roll. First round, our fighter bullrushed/grappled/jumped on top of the summoner, meaning that I had pretty much no chance of hitting her. So, I changed Favored Target to her eidolon. The group managed to kill it before the round was out; the barbarian sapped the summoner and we took her captive.

Third Encounter:

Next, we found our caravan leader at the bar. The ranger and I downed two of the pirates in the first round; the barbarian and the fighter completely obliterated the third pirate and the captain (both of them got a crit). I tried to pitch in on the Intimidate roll to get the noble's heir, but rolled badly yet again. Apparently my elf just isn't that scary.

Fourth Encounter:

This was probably my least effective battle; I missed with my first shot, and the barbarian and fighter proceeded to squish the remaining two ants. I also wasn't much help with any of the sneaky scouting stuff, since the ranger had more ranks in the relevant skills than I did.

Fifth Encounter:

Since the rest of the party wasn't doing much better on their rolls not to attract attention, it wasn't much of a surprise when we got jumped by the Aspis Consortium agents. We killed the mooks in one round (again), before their leader went. Said leader promptly proceeded to try and sneak attack the fighter with the massive tower shield (according to the GM, this was in the tactics listed for the encounter or something? He seemed pretty appalled by it.) He missed, and the oracle Color Sprayed him into unconsciousness. The GM ruled that he was such an obvious detriment to the local gene pool, the subsequent Coup de Grace wouldn't count as an evil action.

Sixth Encounter:

We hit the final encounter with the witch and her minions. Yet again we killed almost everything in one round; the witch surrendered after we killed her allies. In the midst of the battle, however, we didn't notice when her familiar ran off with the key. Getting the necessary Perception check to catch it took longer than the fight itself.

Overview: Most of the combat went the same way for me - I got in Favored Target and one shot, which usually hit, and then the rest of the party murdered everything. I think the main issue was that I was overshadowed somewhat by the rest of the party, especially the other archer, who had Rapid Shot, and was getting off two arrows a round to my one. Variel was still pretty effective, however, and I'd like to try playing him again in a lower-level group.

Favored Target was really the only class ability I had to play around with, and I found it to be pretty useful. The fact that it costs a move action wasn't much of an issue; as a ranged character, I didn't need to spend the first round moving into melee. Given the way the fights went, a melee character probably wouldn't have gotten a chance to use it at all. I like that it has out-of-combat applications, too. I do wish that he got more social abilities as class skills. Actually, more skill points overall would be really helpful; as it is, he has fewer than he would as either a Ranger or a Rogue.