[clarification needed] Thornkeep - Dark Menagerie Boon *SPOILERS*


Pathfinder Society

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5/5

47 people marked this as FAQ candidate. 2 people marked this as a favorite.

At the end of Dark Menagerie, assuming you free Melabdara, you get one of two boons. One gives you 375gp; the other does this:

Quote:
Millennial Lore: In return for her freedom, Melabdara promised you a future service. When you would fail to earn a Prestige Point at the end of a scenario, you may call upon Melabdara to provide you with long-lost information that might prove just as enticing to your faction as your assigned mission, and that earns you 1 Prestige Point as though you had completed the faction mission. This boon may only be used for faction missions, and may not apply to a scenario’s success conditions. When you use this boon, cross it off the Chronicle sheet.

Since there are no more faction missions, this boon as written does nothing. I see four possible outcomes:

1. People who chose this boon and didn't use it before S5 started can use it on a secondary success condition, but not a primary success condition. It remains available on new Chronicles.
2. People who chose this boon and didn't use it before S5 started can use it on a secondary success condition, but not a primary success condition. It is no longer available, and should be crossed off new Chronicles by the GM so that people who receive the sheet now automatically get the extra 375gp.
3. People who chose this boon and didn't use it before S5 started can go back and switch to the other boon, adding 375 gold onto their next chronicle. The other boon is no longer available, and should be crossed off new Chronicles by the GM so that people who receive the sheet now automatically get the extra 375gp.
4. People who chose this boon and didn't use it before S5 started get nothing. It is no longer available, and should be crossed off new Chronicles by the GM so that people who receive the sheet now automatically get the extra 375gp.

Would campaign leadership please let us know which we should implement? I just ran this for several people, and I don't know which to tell them.

Scarab Sages 1/5

The second option would make the most sense, but I wouldn't be surprised if we got Option 3. Option 4 would be a bit... mean-spirited(?) I think, since you're taking away something completely.

5/5

Business-hours bump. Please to click FAQ to bring this to leadership's attention.

Sovereign Court 4/5 5/5 ***

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Honestly, I like #1 the best as that keeps it more in line with what the boon originally did.

5/5

Me too, and if it didn't explicitly call out "success conditions" as being ineligible, I'd assume it would make the transition without the necessity of word from leadership. But since it does ...

Silver Crusade 1/5 *

I am about to run this for my group that is going through Thornkeep, so an answer here would be very nice.

5/5

A quick bump since I see John posting on the boards. (If non-campaign-leadership types already bored with seeing me bump this, please FAQ it so I can go away.)

Dark Archive 4/5 5/5 ****

Well, that's why my character took the gold instead, even though he had two months to complete (or fail) faction missions. Of course, then I failed a couple of faction missions (though at slow track, so not as big of a deal).

The gold is decent enough, so no big for me.

But, an official update would still be nice.

Lantern Lodge 1/5

I was just looking through my Chronicles and would love to find out whether my PC threw money into a Sphere of Annihilation or whether the boon still has some value.

FWIW, it sounds as though the boon was never going to be of any use in sanctioned modules or APs where ALL the PA are success conditions. That's a real shame given that they already reduce a PC's Fame and PA potential by 2 apiece, and are effectively 3 scenarios-worth of Prestige.

Also FWIW, I would have LOVED to have known that PFS-OP was getting rid of factions and missions when I made my choice.

5/5

Mistress Ashley the Sage wrote:
Also FWIW, I would have LOVED to have known that PFS-OP was getting rid of factions and missions when I made my choice.

Well sure, but wishes, horses, etc. I don't really think the release of that information and a minor boon from a sanctioned Kickstarter-bonus chronicle really have a terribly high correlation.

In other news, if everyone could please continue FAQing and/or nudging any campaign leadership with whom they might be BFFs, that would be awesome. :D

5/5

Bump.

5/5

Nudge.

5/5

Jostle.

4/5 ****

2 people marked this as a favorite.

***TILT***

Please insert another quarter to play again.

5/5

Pirate Rob wrote:

***TILT***

Please insert another quarter to play again.

dangit i was saving that one

Shadow Lodge 4/5

4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber

*unplugs thread*

*waits 10 seconds*

*plugs thread back in*

The Exchange 5/5

(eye roll) and I came in here expecting to witness some sort of flame war going on - been away a few days and then I see that there are 5 new posts! wow! ....

guess that was a silly comment on my part

5/5

nosig wrote:

(eye roll) and I came in here expecting to witness some sort of flame war going on - been away a few days and then I see that there are 5 new posts! wow! ....

guess that was a silly comment on my part

If it's any consolation, I'd be more than happy to let this thread die. But we need an answer. :)

Honestly, if the decision were "everyone who took this boon gets nothing and as of right now Dark Menagerie is no longer sanctioned content," I'd be totally okay with it. The module is ... let's say ... not my favorite. But as long as we're still handing out this sheet, we should know what to do with it.

The Exchange 5/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Patrick Harris @ MU wrote:
nosig wrote:

(eye roll) and I came in here expecting to witness some sort of flame war going on - been away a few days and then I see that there are 5 new posts! wow! ....

guess that was a silly comment on my part

If it's any consolation, I'd be more than happy to let this thread die. But we need an answer. :)

Honestly, if the decision were "everyone who took this boon gets nothing and as of right now Dark Menagerie is no longer sanctioned content," I'd be totally okay with it. The module is ... let's say ... not my favorite. But as long as we're still handing out this sheet, we should know what to do with it.

Patrick, I was not really complaining! I was enjoying the posts and felt the desire to chip in some too! It's kind of nice finding a post where people are having fun, instead of yelling and name calling...

;)
keep up the good work!

The Exchange 2/5

yep. he's right, though. we do need an answer.

5/5

Hopeful bump, since Mike just responded to something elsethread.

The Exchange 2/5

yeah it doesn't look like a response is forthcoming on this unfortunately

5/5

teribithia9 wrote:
yeah it doesn't look like a response is forthcoming on this unfortunately

Indeed.

Shadow Lodge

Well at least with how many FAQ requests this has they are likely aware of the issue.

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane

James McTeague wrote:
Honestly, I like #1 the best as that keeps it more in line with what the boon originally did.

I agree. Seeing this post made me realize that this question will be coming up in the near to immediate future so my thanks for starting this thread. I look forward to finding out the final answer to the question.

Lantern Lodge 1/5

I'm actually a bit surprised that only 2 VOs have commented so far. As the preferred contact points for PFS issues I would think that more would be interested in a definitive answer. :) I'm guessing that this typically happens in a less public manner.

5/5

For reasons that are mysterious, I was able to edit my first post last night. So I took that opportunity to put a flag in the title that this wasn't just a discussion thread. Perhaps that will help?

Scarab Sages 4/5 **

Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Nice question, flagged for FAQ.

From GtPSOP, page 32:

Spoiler:

Prestige awards and faction missions: Faction missions
no longer count towards the success conditions of a scenario,
but they may be used to add extra flavor to the game session.
Instead, earning Prestige is tied to fulfilling the primary and
secondary success conditions of each mission.

I think this clause is close enough to implement your option 1, as the Guide clarifies the Prestige once granted by Faction missions is now granted by the secondary success condition.

5/5

Kenneth Fisher wrote:

Nice question, flagged for FAQ.

From GtPSOP, page 32:
** spoiler omitted **

I think this clause is close enough to implement your option 1, as the Guide clarifies the Prestige once granted by Faction missions is now granted by the secondary success condition.

I would agree if it didn't explicitly state that it doesn't work on success conditions, with that pluralization being the problem. It was pre-S5, so I don't think the intent was to make it unusable after S4, but I could be wrong.

Scarab Sages 4/5 **

Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

It looks like Thornkeep came out mid season 4 (somewhere around feb 1, 2013?)

Season 4 scenarios have an explicit "Success Conditions" section at the end of the conclusion. (Verified in Rise of the Goblin Guild and Veteran's Vault)

I think that clause is a clarity to the first half of the sentence, specifying the boon can only be used to grant the second prestige, and can't be used to recieve a second Prestige if the faction mission/secondary success was successfully claimed.

5/5

Kenneth Fisher wrote:

It looks like Thornkeep came out mid season 4 (somewhere around feb 1, 2013?)

Season 4 scenarios have an explicit "Success Conditions" section at the end of the conclusion. (Verified in Rise of the Goblin Guild and Veteran's Vault)

I think that clause is a clarity to the first half of the sentence, specifying the boon can only be used to grant the second prestige, and can't be used to recieve a second Prestige if the faction mission/secondary success was successfully claimed.

Totally agree, but table variation with prestige points isn't something I'm willing to mess around with.

5/5

Tap.

Grand Lodge 5/5

It's been my experience that without clarification, Chronicle boons are to be interpreted literally, so until campaign leadership chooses to clarify this boon, I would assume option 4 is the default.

5/5

Don Walker wrote:
It's been my experience that without clarification, Chronicle boons are to be interpreted literally, so until campaign leadership chooses to clarify this boon, I would assume option 4 is the default.

All the more reason to hope for clarification, then. :D

5/5

Jar.

Silver Crusade 1/5 *

Patrick Harris @ MU wrote:
Jar.

Come on, man, watch it. You knocked my iPad out of my hand.

5/5

Bigdaddyjug wrote:
Patrick Harris @ MU wrote:
Jar.
Come on, man, watch it. You knocked my iPad out of my hand.

My bad. I guess those digital records are problematic after all. ;)

5/5

Jog.

5/5

Next on my list is "joggle" but that's a dumb word so instead I'm going to go with "jiggle," as in "The thread won't stop running!" "Well, jiggle the handle!"

To recap, we just need an answer to the question in the first post, which now has 36 FAQ flags, and enumerates the four most likely answers for quick reference. Please continue to FAQ it, in the hopes that it will some day be answered.

The Exchange 5/5 RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16

There *are* faction missions, every so often. "Throaty Mermaid", for example, uses the faction missions. It might work for those scenarios, and only those.

5/5

Chris Mortika wrote:
There *are* faction missions, every so often. "Throaty Mermaid", for example, uses the faction missions. It might work for those scenarios, and only those.

Oh ho! Very good point. A limited application, but a legitimate one until we get clarification.

5/5

Jolt!

41 FAQ votes and counting. Thanks, all.

5/5

Jounce.

I'm running out of synonyms. Maybe I'll do translations next?

Silver Crusade 1/5 *

Nudge?

5/5

Bigdaddyjug wrote:
Nudge?

Did that one last month. ;)

Silver Crusade 1/5 *

Patrick Harris @ MU wrote:
Bigdaddyjug wrote:
Nudge?
Did that one last month. ;)

Drat, darn, and bebother! I didn't scroll up far enough.

Paizo Employee 4/5 Developer

10 people marked this as a favorite.
Patrick Harris @ MU wrote:
1. People who chose this boon and didn't use it before S5 started can use it on a secondary success condition, but not a primary success condition. It remains available on new Chronicles.

This is the correct way to use the boon, following changes to the way in which PCs earn Prestige Points and Fame. It simply cannot be used to make up the Prestige Point for a failed primary success condition, but it can be used to make up the Prestige Point for a failed secondary success condition (the Prestige Point that came from faction missions at the time of this boon's publication).


Thank you for the clarification!

Shadow Lodge 4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ****

Good timing for me to be looking at doing this level of Thornkeep! Thanks for the clarification John!

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane

Thank you John for the clarification.

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