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I have a question about the second dungeon crawl exploration in the upstairs of the Pentheru Estate. Question in spoiler for those who don't want to read about a possible encounter.
Jim, nice adventure. A little help if you are still monitoring this thread.
** spoiler omitted **
This is the GM thread, so i don't think spoilers are a problem.
When I ran that trap, I gave the PC who was opening the chest a perception check as he was opening the chest, to notice the trap. This way he has a chance to not open the lid the whole way and trigger the trap. Then once they knew something was up, they could look for a bypass. Maybe I am too nice.
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@GM Tribute,
Thanks for the praise! :)
I am going to answer without spoiler tags, because this is the GM reference thread and its supposed to be chock full of spoilers. I do respect that you used them.
This is kind of a tough call. At 2nd level I would expect that most PCs who are interested in trapfinding would have a Perception check of +5 to +8. That accounts for maximum skill points, class skill bonus, and traits and other miscellaneous bonuses. And a +8 would represent a really an optimized character, IMO.
(@ Everyone Else- Please note, that is not a challenge to see how easy it could be done or made even higher)
If I set the DC to find the Bypass to DC 30 Perception, they can't roll the dice and succeed. As you point out, if I set it to DC 25, they can't fail to find it on a Take 20. I have to look at the former situation and conclude the DC is set correctly, even though I admit that taking 20 seems to take the excitement out of it.
Here's how I would look at it. The Necropolis is dangerous territory and they're spending 20 minutes doing nothing but examining this box, right?
First, timed buffs should have that time subtracted from their duration. That doesn't mean a lot if you're looking at mage armor and endure elements, but almost everything else is on a shorter duration.
Secondly, if there was ever time for a random encounter, its now. You can't look at the estate's natural inhabitants, like the div and the vargouille. You can also check out the Chapter One Wati Necropolis Random Encounter chart on page 79, which my pal Adam Daigle provides for just such a situation. There's a whole list of potential random encounters. You can assign a chance for a random encounter, or determine there *will* be one. You can roll for the encounter, or you can just pick one that makes the most sense to you. Ask the players what the PCs are doing while the one player takes 20 on the box. Don't telegraph any particular hidden meaning when you ask them, just be straightforward and keep your poker face up. If they say they're "just hangin' around", then bear that in mind if any opposed Stealth and Perception checks are called for. And the PC that's checking the chest? Once an encounter starts ask him if he's going to continue taking 20 or is he going to become involved. If he stops, make him start over once the encounter is finished.
I wouldn't do this twice in a row, that would be cheesy and a "GM editorial" against the players. Doing it once however, reminds the players that taking 20 is a serious decision when they're in a dangerous or dungeon-like environment. Its really intended to be done when the PCs have relatively complete control the environment.
From my point of view, there's nothing wrong with taking 20 except when it is taken for granted. Unfortunately, it usually is.
FINAL NOTE: This is more advice about how I might handle it, rather than a text correction. I can't say the DC is set wrong for reasons stated. I do hope I have given you some ideas on how to deal with this situation though. Good luck!
When I ran that trap, I gave the PC who was opening the chest a perception check as he was opening the chest, to notice the trap. This way he has a chance to not open the lid the whole way and trigger the trap. Then once they knew something was up, they could look for a bypass. Maybe I am too nice.
I think that is a perfectly reasonable adjudication actually.
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Hilariously bad rolls all night nearly killed my party a few different times. Believe it or not, the dolls were the most dangerous critters.
We have at the table:
A Div-Spawn Tiefling Rogue (later going to Sorcerer)
A Half-Orc Barbarian
A Human Varisian Pilgrim of Desna
A Halfling Paladin of Sarenrae
A Gnoll Inquisitor of Horus
They're going by the name "The True Seekers."
It's a good group, but they rolled for absolute crap last night. We did the lottery and the first tomb pretty quickly, and they looted most everything they could.
I ran into something odd with the stat blocks for the trappers in the ambush en route to the third chapter; they're 15' up on the ceiling of ruined buildings surrounding the party but their stat blocks have them using their nets against the party first. Nets have a max range of 10' though (per the description under Net, it's not just their range increment), so they wouldn't be able to use them until they reach the ground level and can close within 10'. Is there something I'm missing that would allow for this, or was this overlooked?
I ran into something odd with the stat blocks for the trappers in the ambush en route to the third chapter; they're 15' up on the ceiling of ruined buildings surrounding the party but their stat blocks have them using their nets against the party first. Nets have a max range of 10' though (per the description under Net, it's not just their range increment), so they wouldn't be able to use them until they reach the ground level and can close within 10'. Is there something I'm missing that would allow for this, or was this overlooked?
It was overlooked (by me), but I wasn't thinking in three dimensions. Honestly Jimmy, I would give them some latitude. They're throwing the nets out from the rooftop edges and then the nets fall on the PCs. I wouldn't count the height against them. NPCS with nets don't usually have an altitude difference.
If that won't fly for you, rather than weakening the encounter, I would switch the nets out for a different ranged weapon.
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Thanks for the info! I don't see it being too big of an issue, but as one of the players had looked at a net build before I suspect they might notice. Given it's a pretty small deal, I don't think anyone will call shenanigans though.
(who doesn't seem to have a token in the Mummy's Mask pawns or the Bestiary 2 pawns his stats come from)
I made the same list as you, but on a physical notepad.
There is a Doru, Div token in one of the boxes, i believe its on bestiary 3 box.Beheaded have 3 generic pawns, with a picture of 3 flying heads (with flesh on them) on bestiary 4 box. The Death Dog is also on B4 box (just clarifying, it's a large pawn).
While the Skeleton jackals really dont have any pawns that we could use, so im just using the generic Yeth Hound pawns, which i probably have like 10, and say they are undead dobberman like resident evil's.
The sheet for Imanish i used the d20srd creature creator to apply the advanced template on the Doru Div, the result was alright.
I didnt find an Iron Cobra (maybe i didnt look hard enough), so i used a generic medium giant white snake found on one of the boxes.
The Aghash Div actually has two different pawns that look very similar.
Caryathid Columns have like 6 to 8 pawns from all of boxes and adventure pawns, not sure if any more than 2 will be necessary through the campaign.
Zombies i also have something along the lines of 10 pawns from all the boxes, and a varied number of zombie-like npcs and monsters from adventures that could be used.
Just ran my group through the Tomb of Ahkentepi.
They have 5 1/2 players:
A Human cleric of Pharasma
his adopted son (real son actually) an orc barbarian,
A human rogue (trap specialist)
A human wizard (fire)
A catfolk fighter
the clerics young daughter is a temple cat (a 10 point build small intelligent cat that has adopted the party but comes and goes as it pleases) I use the cat as the source of local information I want the party to have.
They were real paranoid about the 60' drop, sure there was a blade that come across and cut any ropes. Their nerves we especially on edge because when they were moving the stone I asked the wizard if she had adopted a familiar. She said no so I asked her why she had a 6 foot long scorpion with her.
They made it through the whole tomb in 1 session (although they will have to come back the next day with a wagon to move some of the larger stuff). They also took both the tapestries so I'll have to figure out a reward for that.
I forgot about the 2 round limit on the swarm but the party had a great time throwing all sorts of fire at it (and each other).
All in all they had a great time, no one died but there were some close calls.
Morag
Apologies if this has been asked & answered - I did a search on the MM board and couldn't find it, so...
I'm currently putting together the Scorched Hand NPCs in HeroLab, and I'm finding Azaz seems to have too many feats, unless I'm missing something...
Azaz: 2nd level human wizard, so he should have Scribe Scroll + 1 (level) + 1 (human) for a total of Scribe Scroll and two other feats, yet he has Alertness, Combat Casting, Scribe Scroll, Spell Focus (evocation), for four. Alertness is listed as a bonus feat, but he shouldn't get that until 5th level.
Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi! You're my only hope!
I know I'm being really anal about this, but I can't escape the nagging feeling I'm missing something really obvious, and it's driving me nuts! :)
Am I missing something? Or is it just a minor error I can ignore and move on from?
*sitting and rocking in a corner*
He has alertness because of his familiar, if he is next to him.
The feat is there probably so GM`s dont forget about the bonus from his familiar in case a PC try to sneak on them.
Scribe scroll is a bonus feat from wizard (he is an evoker).
Human - Combat Casting
1st Level - Spell Focus (Evocation)
He has alertness because of his familiar, if he is next to him.
The feat is there probably so GM`s dont forget about the bonus from his familiar in case a PC try to sneak on them.
Scribe scroll is a bonus feat from wizard (he is an evoker).Human - Combat Casting
1st Level - Spell Focus (Evocation)
Fantastic, shadowkras - I'd completely forgotten about the familiar. Thanks for clearing that up...I knew I had to be missing something, but just couldn't figure it out!! :)
So I just finished the Tomb of Ahkentepi and it took us two sessions to complete. I have five players (though one couldn't make it for the second session) They are
Catfolk Archaeologist Bard
Human Hunter
Human Warpriest of Pharasama
Ifrit Sorcerer
Human Oracle of Lore
These two sessions have been plagued by bad dice rolls, the Ghost Scorpion nearly killed the Bard when it kept hitting her and no one could hit it. When they entered the temple itself the Sorcerer nearly died after failing it's climb check to get down into the Dungeon and the Hunter had to leave his animal companion on top. The group nearly died when the trapfinder failed to find the arrow trap. The Warpriest nearly died when he wondered off from the group and was jumped by the Warrior Dolls and again when no one could hit the giant Solifugids. The hunter failed a save and got branded with the hieroglyphic for THIEF on his forehead which seemed to amuse everyone. We left it with the group going back to rest up and preparing to do the next half of the Dungeon.
This half proved just as bad, the Sandling took out the Hunter and Bard who couldn't damage it due to the DR. The Warpriest and Sorcerer managed to just about take it out which meant that they had to awkwardly go and rest again.
When they returned they fell victim to the fake sarcophagus trap, the Sorcerer was shocked then eaten and had to try and blast his way out while the coffin took down the warpriest. While the others realised they couldn't damage it so tried to heal the priest. Once the Hunter critted the sarcophagus I let it spit out the Sorcerer to try and eat the Hunter but he missed and the group managed to destroy it. So they once again went to heal and rest up.
Finally they managed to make their way through the rest of the tomb, they defeated the cockroach swarm by dropping oil on it then setting it on fire and the Iron Cobra by effectively aid another until one person could hit it. They then went back and blitzed the Mining Beetles. Overall though they had a hard time on Dice rolls, constantly missing and rarely rolling anything over 8. As a GM I fudged some rolls because I was worried about frustration ruining the game. Still they enjoyed themselves and I think being level 2 will hopefully make the next part a lot better for them.
So, i'm running this as a pbp, and we're still in Akhentepi's tomb. One of my original players, a cleric, just got ganked by one of the solifugids. Bad news, he's the sole healer in the party. I'm considering handwaving the death by having Pharasma (his deity) give him a reprive from the boneyard to stop a greater evil. I haven't read that far ahead in the book, but that's a legit quest right? Hakotep has eluded judgment for a looooong time, and i figure it gives them more incentive to follow the path once it leaves the dungeon crawl portion. For those with a greater understanding of the entirety of the path, does that work?
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The Mask isn't really stolen by Nebta until immediately prior to the party arriving, or even earlier that day. He was likely in there when the Scorched Hand entered the ruin and had to sneak out.
You could have the Pharasmins giving 1 free rez to adventurers, though. Note the CON drain for raising a 1st level person.
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So, i'm running this as a pbp, and we're still in Akhentepi's tomb. One of my original players, a cleric, just got ganked by one of the solifugids. Bad news, he's the sole healer in the party. I'm considering handwaving the death by having Pharasma (his deity) give him a reprive from the boneyard to stop a greater evil. I haven't read that far ahead in the book, but that's a legit quest right? Hakotep has eluded judgment for a looooong time, and i figure it gives them more incentive to follow the path once it leaves the dungeon crawl portion. For those with a greater understanding of the entirety of the path, does that work?
it would give that PC a connection to Ptenmib in book 2, maybe have the PC guided back and have his/her hair turn white:-)
Just about to run this book's first session over VTT, but there's something I'm wondering...
The Malfunctioning Deathtrap in room A15. When the players first trigger the trap and the electricity arc goes off, isn't that going to hit the False Sarcophagus? That thing isn't immune to electricity damage or anything, is it? That seems like a pretty stupidly designed trap, even when it was functioning properly.
Am I missing something here?
The spot where the sarcophagus is, is actually high enough off the ground level so the water doesnt reach him or the person who activated the trap.
Everybody else in the room should be electrified though.
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How quickly does the market in Wati begin to be flooded with artifacts, as described in the beginning of Empty Graves? I'm thinking that the PCs will be able to sell items after the Tomb of Akhentepi for regular value, after the House of Pentheru for 10 percentage points less (40% of purchase cost for weapons, armor and the like, or 90% of list value for trade goods), and then 15 percentage points more (25% less total) after the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye - but of course, at that point they can make use of the auction to make up some or all of the loss. Thoughts?
We have only three PC's, two pally's and an oracle. But another player may join next session, gonna have to figure a way to work that in... we just started and they are not done with the first tomb yet (outside A11.)
Regarding the ghost scorpion... I am plotting that encounter AFTER they are done and on their way out - maybe when only two players have climbed the rope and they are trying to heft treasure out.
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Sorry to bring the haunts from the Pentheru house back up. I saw the previous answer but wanted to get others' advice on how they handle the destruction component. I've run Rise of the Runelords and that was a lot more straightforward.
Mummy's Mask is different. Every haunt has its own destruction criteria. I saw the post that said it's a role-play thing and they'd have to do some research, or maybe some knowledge checks or something similar. But you have this house that's isolated during the Plague, overrun, and everyone dies. These haunts spring up from their deaths. What exactly would they research to figure those out?
And the destruction criteria are very specific in some cases. Give the ring to someone out of love? Give the guards (including the skeleton under the table, who may not even be identifiable as a 4th guard) a proper burial? I'm just looking for some plausible way to role play this or tell them what their knowledge check is simulating to communicate the destruction aspect of these thing.
They're a clever group and don't like things just handed to them. They actually did resolve the haunt in the courtyard; based on the ghostly shouts they immediately assumed they should probably fix the gate to make it go away. I was very surprised.
So how did you communicate the destruction requirements for the haunts?
(And before anyone mentions it, I'm fully aware that they don't need to destroy the haunts to get the XP. Hey, they're heroes and they want to grant the restless spirits peace.)
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Exposure, research or previously obtained knowledge of haunts of a similar type and the different methods used to mitigate, counter, dispel them.
"I've read of a similar ghosting from my studies at xxxx, they tried..."
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I'd considered that. I was hoping to do more than "Ah, the old lost engagement ring followed by the lovers' violent death haunt. I know it well!" Without a mechanic for learning it on the spot, I expect my party won't go to the trouble to research these and return later. They would like to resolve them, but it's a big detour research and return to Pentheru.
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this is my first time running a pathfinder ap and i'm almost done with the first tomb...the party of four is pretty much the classic makeup: fighter, rogue, cleric, sorcerer...
each of the characters has been knocked unconscious at least once (some mutliple times) except for the sorcerer who barely participates in combat and has yet to cast a single spell in the campaign (he decided to make a caster that focuses on mind-effecting spells even though the rest of the group asked him not to)...
i told them at the beginning of the campaign that i was not going to coddle them and they were all fine with this...i have not altered any of the encounters to make them more difficult or anything like that...they are all relatively experienced gamers (all but one of them with at least two completed ap's prior to this one) yet they keep getting creamed by these combats...i think there has only been one combat that someone didn't drop...there have been two almost-death scares...and they had to run back to town during the sandling fight...
so here's my question...is this adventure supposed to be this deadly so early on or am i or the players doing something "wrong"?
so here's my question...is this adventure supposed to be this deadly so early on or am i or the players doing something "wrong"?
Maybe the dice gods are against them.
My group had no problems during the first dungeon. They had problems on the next ones, but nothing that couldnt be fixed.
We had no deaths until the second book.
I had two TPKs in that first dungeon, but then I had a party of Wizard, Bards, and a rogue, all with trap finding, but they never looked for traps, also they locked one guy in the room with the dolls when they realized weapon finesse sucks vs hardness and couldn't damage the dolls, surprisingly despite me telling them over and over again they were vulnerable to fire, no one considered using a torch for a club, it's just as well they died, no one tied a rope to the spike at the top :-)
I hope to try it again soon:-)
I started running a second group besides my normal Tuesday Night last week. The one Rogue did not show up, and the guy that was going to play the only martial changed his mind. So there were a party of three supporting, non-martial, non-trapfinding PC's (Arcanist & two non-combat based Clerics)
The previous party I DMed through the first book had two pally's and an oracle.
The first group only had one close call with one PC in the first tomb, the new group had two TPK's and two more deaths (all retconned) before we called the game. There was a HUGE difference in the way both parties approached each challenge, despite both groups being veteran RPGers.
The first group had a great time, even with a couple getting knocked to 0 twice, and having to retrace back into Wati to obtain a couple morningstars to use on the sandling (they had all blades and bows up to then.) The second group is pretty discouraged, thinks this is WAY too deadly, and cannot believe the first tomb is geared for FIRST level.
I pushed for them all to stick with it... that opinion is based on what they brought to the table, exacerbated by one of the players not generating his PC correctly, making him a complete mess, and that this will not be so frustrating with a balanced party.
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I started running a second group besides my normal Tuesday Night last week. The one Rogue did not show up, and the guy that was going to play the only martial changed his mind. So there were a party of three supporting, non-martial, non-trapfinding PC's (Arcanist & two non-combat based Clerics)
The previous party I DMed through the first book had two pally's and an oracle.
The first group only had one close call with one PC in the first tomb, the new group had two TPK's and two more deaths (all retconned) before we called the game. There was a HUGE difference in the way both parties approached each challenge, despite both groups being veteran RPGers.
The first group had a great time, even with a couple getting knocked to 0 twice, and having to retrace back into Wati to obtain a couple morningstars to use on the sandling (they had all blades and bows up to then.) The second group is pretty discouraged, thinks this is WAY too deadly, and cannot believe the first tomb is geared for FIRST level.
I pushed for them all to stick with it... that opinion is based on what they brought to the table, exacerbated by one of the players not generating his PC correctly, making him a complete mess, and that this will not be so frustrating with a balanced party.
Just got home from running this for a local PFS table. Yeah, Akhentepi's Tomp is all about party makeup. You need a trapfinder, a knowledge guy, a healer, and a big two-handing warrior type or you might be in real trouble. Hardness 5 is deadly for a level 1 party without a two-handing warrior!
I had two Bards, a Sorcerer, a Summoner, and a Cleric. The Summoner's Eidolon could *maybe* deal 1-2 points of damage past the Sarcophagus' hardness ... *if* it rolled max damage. And the Summoner got locked outside the room. Oops. The Sorcerer falls unconscious from the damage from the swallow whole action and bleeds/suffocates to death in the Sarcophagus. The Bards each eventually fall unconscious and drown under the water.
The Cleric, after the others die, just runs around the room to avoid getting attacked. So Sarcophagus chases the Cleric around the room (equivalent move speeds) until the water drains out and the doors reopen. The Summoner quickly learns he can't really hurt the Sarcophagus and once the Eidolon gets grabbed, the Cleric and the Summoner run away while the Sarcophagus chews the Eidolon to death.
Ouch.
Has anyone had it happen that the party just let the Scorched Hand have the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye? After all, they can just trade assignments, right?
The second group was able to get through Akhentepi with a balanced party.
They all decided to play evil PC's (one NE, the rest LE), they are already discussing possibly taking over the pesh and mumia trade, establishing a Cult of Asmodeus in Wati, selling the Erudite Eye to the Scorched Hand if they get it in the lottery, and then just going there anyways and killing them all...
Ack - one of the evil PC's is emailing me about wanting more details on the other teams to hopefully trade items with them (or possibly rob them), and is wanting to know security measures at the Auction House (to evaluate whether to burglarize it.)
In the false Akhentepi tomb, what happens if they successfully disable the trap (not by finding the hidden torch trigger, just made the perception and disable check in the boxed trap section) but then try to open the northern doors? Will that still trigger the waterfall, or is that turned off with the trap? What's in that room if the trap is turned off?
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I think the water is just behind the northern doors. I figure if you disable the trap, the door (part of the trap) is disabled too. Perhaps if they beat the DC by 5 or more, you can let them know that it has an actuator or something that opens the northern door, and let them find out the fun way. Or they can still bust the door down and "flood" the room.
My players attempted something like this, using disable device on the pressure plate area but opening those doors without even checking them. I ruled that their disable device had successfully disabled the pressure plate. The door, however, was part of a different system and set the trap off in the normal fashion: water, electrical arcs and false sarcophagus. (At the time nobody was on the platform, so the addition of the electrical arcs was mostly just for show rather than a means to "get" a character who had gone up there thinking it was safe because of the first disarm. I wouldn't recommend doing that.)
In the false Akhentepi tomb, what happens if they successfully disable the trap (not by finding the hidden torch trigger, just made the perception and disable check in the boxed trap section) but then try to open the northern doors? Will that still trigger the waterfall, or is that turned off with the trap? What's in that room if the trap is turned off?
That is a good question!
There is nothing beyond the north doors besides a small space and a grate that leads to the aqueduct. It is a dead end.
First, the doors should be difficult to open and if the players were able to successfully locate the trap, they might (at your discretion) realize that the closed doors were part of the trap mechanism they discovered and disabled. In that case, they'll know not to bother.
If that is too kind for your taste, consider telling them if they succeeded on their Perception check by 5 or more.
If you don't want to tell them at all, do bear in mind these are not normal doors. They're part of a trap mechanism. forcing them open should be difficult. You might want to have them break them down or set a Disable Device check to open them. Say... DC 20, which is the same DC check to disable the trap.
If they do open the doors, flood the chambers for 4 rounds but don't trigger any of the other trap effects. After all, they found the trap fair and square and disabled it once. This should not be an opportunity to "trigger it anyways".
Hope this helps!
Love the AP - thanks Jim! The old school "adventurers go tomb raiding" but with a developing story arc is landing well with my group. The Egypt feel is also a big winner.
I'm DMing a party of 5:
CG human rogue
CG human summoner
CG catfolk barbarian
NG human wizard with hawk familiar
NG human cleric of Sarenrae
The party are framing the CG's as out and out tomb robbers (with hearts of gold) while the NG's are well-intentioned historians & antiquarians so there is a little inter-party disagreement about their purpose in the Necropolis.
The catfolk barbarian and the summoner's eidolon are the front-line melee types with support from the rogue & cleric. The arcanes have been using crossbows & acid splash/ray of frost in ranged support. The rogue serves as trapfinder, the cleric heals and the wizard is the magic-item identifier and Knowledge specialist.
We've done Akhentepi and Pentheru so far. Because there are five characters instead of four the party aren't leveling up when the AP suggests, so I ran the Refuge of Nethys set piece from the Legacy of Fire AP after Pentheru. This puts everyone at 3rd level before doing Erudite Eye and provided a fair number of dramatic encounters. I set it up with the priesthood of Pharasma calling a one-week halt to exploration of the Necropolis so they could evaluate how opening it up to outsiders was working. In the downtime the characters heard rumors of a mysterious hermit lurking around an abandoned shrine in the desert east of Wati... I thought there was probably a good way to link it to the Scorched Hand given the connection with Nethys, but I couldn't figure out the angle before game night rolled around so I just let it lie.
I would usually say characters not leveling up when expected is balanced by the fact that there is an extra character so no need to alter the AP as written. However, my impression is that Erudite Eye runs best from a story perspective as a one-shot rather than having the characters explore, retreat to heal, return, etc. which is why I inserted the extra adventure to level up. I'm really concerned about the aghash div for a similar reason - it's not a threat of TPK but could seriously derail the story's timeline if the players have to retreat to find a remove curse spell(s). Haven't run it yet so curious how others have handled it (other than planting a remove curse wand as mentioned upthread which it is too late for in my game).
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I'm just about to run this one for a group of 4, and I'm thinking of how to encourage the PCs to explore the locations as one shots, rather than as hit-and-run tactics.
What I am thinking of doing is, when all of the teams are given their locations, they are given a token that they can give to the Voices of the Spire who are guarding the gateway of the necropolis, who will allow them to leave (anyone person or group who does not have a token is assumed to be an unsanctioned grave robber and arrested on the spot).
In order to receive their next locations, they have to present something of value to the Grand Mausoleum as proof of their exploration to the church of Pharasma. Cant take credit for this idea as I believe it to be used
These are just ideas at this point, but I hope they will work to encourage continued exploration rather than a hit-and-run approach over several days.
My group always prefer one-shots to hit and run for narrative reasons so I generally don't need to convince them. If we experience a 15 minute adventuring day we generally assume the adventure is broken (though occasionally it has been simply the baddest of bad luck). That said, my players will hit and run if the alternative is character death.
Our experience to date is that Akhentepi is a pretty reliable one shot, but we had two high-damage melee types which meant the hardness and/or DR of multiple encounters was manageable. Pentheru took two tries but the party started it still first level and were almost certainly going to retreat to level up even if events hadn't forced them to.
I like the idea of using the token to encourage a one-shot but I'm pretty sure my players would just climb the necropolis wall somewhere to evade the gate guards.
Is the southern door into A17 locked? The text doesn't say.
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Getting ready to run this for a new group. As no one has ever played pathfinder before, I'm running a prequel; a caravan of folks who are headed towards Wati to join in the lottery. The catch is that they get ambushed to smithers on the way and never reach their destination. I've told them their PC's should be IDisposable, and everyone is to make 2 characters.
I intend to have a wagon break a wagon wheel as it bumps over the tip of a buried obelisk; they won't be able to resist and start digging, and if they do resist, the caravan guards will lead the way. [this should teach 'em the use of basic skills, strength checks, should be a fun way to learn the ropes]
Then they get to open a tomb and I'll unleash hell, in the form of a bunch of critters [basic combat lesson] followed by some CRway-out-there elementals and fire giants, who have been imprisoned for hundreds of years. As soon as a few PC's start dying, a necromancer emerges from the tomb and Animates Dead on the poor sods, so the remaining PC's get to fight their now undead buddies' bodies. Awwww, sweeet.
After this first session I can use the prequel to fill up quiet time in the city - rumors of a missing caravan, a disgruntled caravan owner asking around because he is owed a lot of money, etc...
I haven't read the entire AP yet - but if I can add in an event from a future book that'd be great. Maybe these are the giants who steal an item that's meant to be missing in book 3 or 4? Maybe this necromancer is a later villain? Any ideas / tips are welcome.