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I'm going to go with either intentional, or oversight, but pg 24, the Graven Guardian, has a Keen Quarterstaff. Keen not being normally allowed on a bludgeoning weapon. It also doesn't show up on the Chronicle, so I am assuming it is "unique" to the statue, and a part of the statue, so it just an oddity.
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Its actually part of the Graven Guardian creature, called out in its stat block
Magic Weapon (Su) A graven guardian that carries its deity's favored weapon treats that weapon as a +1 weapon as long as it is wielded by the guardian. If the weapon is a melee weapon, it gains the keen weapon special ability (even if the weapon is a bludgeoning weapon). If it is a thrown weapon, it gains the returning weapon special ability. If it is a ranged weapon, it gains the seeking weapon special ability, and generates new ammunition with each attack (this ammunition is destroyed whether or not it hits).
Edit: By the way, I'm loving the read through, though I know of players that will sigh long and hard at the chase scene.
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I'm certainly pumped to run this, although I'm sad that Amenopheus never actually fights alongside the PCs.
Also, I'm wondering how many groups will think to try solving the puzzle instead of fighting the combat.
You sort of have to do both, I think the trial and error nature of the puzzle, that is even if you figure out what you have to do, you still have to get "the right" statues which the GMs are supposed to randomize to some extent. So somebody has to hold the statues at bay, which is possible given their tactics, while other PCs run about doing the lights. Still even if you defeat the statues, don't you still have to solve the puzzle?
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
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From quickly skimming through - it looks like Sands Part 1 isn't linked into 2&3 at all except for the osirion faction boon getting another +1. Am I correct on that?If you don't play Part 2 you don't get a full suite of mythic powers to play with in Part 3, but rather a simplified template.
Yes, Parts 2&3 are quite importantly linked together. Part 1... not so much.
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Yes, Parts 2&3 are quite importantly linked together. Part 1... not so much.From quickly skimming through - it looks like Sands Part 1 isn't linked into 2&3 at all except for the osirion faction boon getting another +1. Am I correct on that?If you don't play Part 2 you don't get a full suite of mythic powers to play with in Part 3, but rather a simplified template.
It's worth noting that part 3 begins in Eto, where part 1 was set. Time permitting, you could expand on the information gathering at the outset of #3 by allowing PCs a chance to contact important NPCs from #1, both as a roleplay reward for participating in all three scenarios and to help tie 1 and 3 together.
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It's worth noting that part 3 begins in Eto, where part 1 was set. Time permitting, you could expand on the information gathering at the outset of #3 by allowing PCs a chance to contact important NPCs from #1, both as a roleplay reward for participating in all three scenarios and to help tie 1 and 3 together.Yes, Parts 2&3 are quite importantly linked together. Part 1... not so much.From quickly skimming through - it looks like Sands Part 1 isn't linked into 2&3 at all except for the osirion faction boon getting another +1. Am I correct on that?If you don't play Part 2 you don't get a full suite of mythic powers to play with in Part 3, but rather a simplified template.
Very true! Just remember that a particular someone has left town since Part 1.
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I am confused about page 14 and the accumulation of chase points for the PCs. The way the scenario reads if the PCs have more than less chase points Nefti and Kafar start further away... shouldn't it be closer?
agents begin in the Cliff ’s Edge square. If the PCs have
between 3 and 6 Chase Points, the agents begin in the
Crack in the Mountain square. If the PCs have 6 or more
Chase Points, the agents begin in the Quicksand Patch
square. In addition, if the PCs have 10 or more Chase
Points, the PCs also gain a surprise round.
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Hey Cronge, here's what I'm seeing.
The PCs start with 5, but can get as many as 12, but as few as 0.
The PCs start at High Ground.
>2 = Cliff's Edge, or 5 spaces away from the PCs.
3-6 = Crack in the Mountain, or 4 spaces away from the PCs.
6< = Quicksand Patch, or 3 spaces away from the PCs.
10< = PCs get a surprise round.
So the more points the PCs have, the closer the thieves are to the PCs. My only point of confusion is the 6 point range because that means the thieves can start either on Crack in the Mountain or Quicksand Patch. Personally, I'm going to say that if the PCs have 3-5, the thieves will start on Crack in the Mountain.
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Wow. There are a lot of words in this scenario.
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Ok, just ran this. Very dense, lots going on. Overall I liked it. A few comments:
- If Nefti/Kafar aren't caught during the chase, all that really seems to change is where they encounter the characters. The text says that they cast more spells, but doesn't say which, and it seems like they've already buffed either way. Also, why would they reveal the entrance to the sanctum for so little tactical advantage?
- I'm new to mythic, and it took me a while to realize that the mythic simple templates do not grants the mythic sub-type. Just a potential gotcha for others who may not know the rules.
- Wow, the third boon on that sheet is nasty. So is the behir in the upper sub-tier.
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I ran this tonight and at the end it says if your party comes up with a different solution, post it, so I am doing so:
My group sought a compromise, giving both sides what they desired. Since both sides were bound by the decision, the part split 4-2 for a leader of the sages, however, they demanded that there be another vote for that. They unanimously voted for Amenopheus since he is already tied to the society.
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Ran it Saturday, everyone enjoyed it. As far as the chase points I read it as having 3 to 5 points Crack in the Mountain, 6+ quicksand.
The Behir wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, but that's mostly because the wizard made a Tiny Hut and the Behir didn't have the spellcraft to realize what had just happened. Then it got shot by the gunslinger... a lot, as it went to investigate this new dome in its domain.
I will say for that chase the players enjoyed it and completely ran through it. A few of them did not choose abilities that led to much mythic point usage and did not need the surge (gunslinger and well-built fighter) so they ended up hoarding the points and destroying the obstacles (and a decent portion of the mountain itself!) on the way to Kafar and Nefti.
Sadly no one wanted to perform the ritual :,(
There was a good 20 minute RP between the players for the decision at the end, each side trying to convince the other, so leave time for this.
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We had a silly and frustrating discussion about breaking through the floor in the beginning. By the rules as written I can shoot an adamantine bullet into the ground and make a hole to climb through in a couple of rounds, but with my mining pick, I can't even break the hardness of the stone...
I was disappointed by this scenario. pointless chase scene and puzzle that was best solved by... ignoring it. Seriously? The solution is brute force of trying every combination. That's lame lazy writing. I'll have to think of an actual puzzle to use for when I run this. The encounter was also too easy so there wasn't even any impetus to try to solve it during the fight.
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We just took the 12 seconds necessary to kill the golems and moved on.
Actually a pick is pretty much the best (non modern machine)tool for breaking rock, thats what it was designed for. Certainly works way better than a greatsword IRL, but raw even a wimp can break rock with a greatsword, while only a really strong person can break rock with a pick.
As for the puzzle, its vague and tells you to randomly pick something. No reason you can't plan the order of objects in a logical sense, draw out some pictures on cards for the players to rearrange, and describe some mural on the wall that gives you a clue. Pre-planning is not rewriting, that's filling in blank spots left out by the author. Without any sort of logical solution it would be a challenge to keep the golems alive long enough to solve the puzzle.
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Actually a pick is pretty much the best (non modern machine)tool for breaking rock, thats what it was designed for. Certainly works way better than a greatsword IRL, but raw even a wimp can break rock with a greatsword, while only a really strong person can break rock with a pick.
Actually a pick by RAW should be better then a greatsword
Ineffective Weapons: Certain weapons just can't effectively deal damage to certain objects. For example, a bludgeoning weapon cannot be used to damage a rope. Likewise, most melee weapons have little effect on stone walls and doors, unless they are designed for breaking up stone, such as a pick or hammer.
Also a GM who feels that a weapon should be more effective can use...
Vulnerability to Certain Attacks: Certain attacks are especially successful against some objects. In such cases, attacks deal double their normal damage and may ignore the object's hardness.
To allow a pick to do more damage and actually be useful against stone like it's intended.
But like most of the object and hardness rules it's subject to GM variance.
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My guys solved the puzzle, only one even tried to really get the golem. I'm thinking the scenario authors were making the scenario based on the boon in part 2, rather than for the book. Most of my table had the boon, only one guy had the book. The combat lasted 6 rounds with the party trying to solve the puzzle. And yes before-hand I determined what statues were holding the lanterns, which ones looked like the Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and Topaz sages, and where they should go.
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I ran this tonight and at the end it says if your party comes up with a different solution, post it, so I am doing so:
My group sought a compromise, giving both sides what they desired. Since both sides were bound by the decision, the part split 4-2 for a leader of the sages, however, they demanded that there be another vote for that. They unanimously voted for Amenopheus since he is already tied to the society.
I have started a thread for this purpose in the Faction Talk sub-forum.
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My guys solved the puzzle, only one even tried to really get the golem. I'm thinking the scenario authors were making the scenario based on the boon in part 2, rather than for the book. Most of my table had the boon, only one guy had the book. The combat lasted 6 rounds with the party trying to solve the puzzle. And yes before-hand I determined what statues were holding the lanterns, which ones looked like the Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and Topaz sages, and where they should go.
That's true, using the templates from 2 or 3 instead of the full mythic rules is definitely much less of a power boost. I played in a slot 0 of all GM's, so we were all using the book.
I was disappointed you don't run in to the archaeologist from part one who was supposed to be leading an expedition to the same place.
The whole thing felt a little anti climatic to me. You get imbued with super powers and all you end up doing is chasing a couple of normal schmucks. Never felt like we were doing anything requiring us to have been imbued with mythic power to do, so what was the point in having it? I guess the golems fight is supposed to be the final showdown, I'm trying to think of ways to make it seem more climactic at that point, but so far I'm drawing a blank.
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Nothing in the scenario "required" mythic as far as well built PCs go, but the pregens and less optimized PCs will have a tougher time with the fights, especially if they are only using the templates. I would very much not want to run this scenario for a group of new people using 4th or 7th level pregens as I feel this would be throwing far too much at them initially.
As for the golem fight I'm sure that it will vary by group. Some groups will have the wits and skills necessary to pick up that there is a puzzle and others will just want to smash face. I did end up telling my group "You can just attack the golem and the guardians and that'll do it for you." Their response, both surprising and delighting was "No! There's a puzzle and we're going to solve it!"
Sidenote about my own group: I did have one person completely new to PFS, though not Pathfinder and he commented about having to learn a lot after the game ended. It took a bit longer than I would like convincing him that this is probably just a test to see if and how mythic fits into PFS.
Edit: I also agree about the archeologist. When I heard this takes place in the Pillars of the Sun I was sure he would show up. Maybe Amenopheus dealt with him?
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One thing that should make the final fight harder is applying the invincible mythic template to the Graven Guardians. Since it isn't in the pdf, most GM's might miss it, but boosting the AC by 2 for a party of 3-4's and adding in 5 energy resist turns them into a serious threat. My party was lucky to have a void sorcerer that could split magic missiles to keep the statues from casting haste.
