Hi there, I need a few on how to end The Skinsaw Murders booklet. I am GMing a solo game with player followed with 2 DM PCs. He is a fighter, he is followed by a wizard and a cleric that I control. All are lvl. 7. I gave him his 7th level at the end of the Foxglove Manor. He just raided the Foxglove Magnimar House and got the document which was studied by my wizard and gave him the info about "Seven's Sawmill". The point is that he is rapidly approaching the end of the chapter. My question:
1. Xanesha. I keep looking at her stats and I really can't figure out how 3 lvl. 7 PCs are going to win against her.
- If she has Mage Armor, she has AC 29 (or 30).
- If she has Haste, she has 4 attack starting at +20.
- She can fly and peck my Wizard that usually fly.
- She can run away with Dimension Door if in trouble.
- She silence the top of the clock tower giving my spellcasters a problem.
So how do I handle this issue? Not sure sending him to a side mission to get their 8th level would help much against those odds. Do I play her dumb? Do I nurf her down by removing a few things? How would you fight her if you were my player's party?
2. The end of the Skinsaw Murders chapter feel a bit disjointed compared to chapter 3. They beat Xanesha. The trail of evidence ends there... A while later they receive a job offer by Mayor Grobaras to go to Turtleback Ferry where they will find Shalelu and Xanesha's sister Lucrecia. No connection between the chapter, I was hoping they could get evidence to go searching in Turtleback Ferry. Any ideas?
Note: She only gets four attacks if she is doing a full attack. Thus the first round of combat, she'll have to close with them and get only one attack.
There is also evidence in the tower mentioning Turtleback Ferry from X's sister.
And you can always just not give her Mage Armor. Replace it with a different spell.
1. It's a hard question. I'd suggest to add an alchemist, or use on her Phantasmal Killer, after lowering her Will. Or use some spells with touch attack. And a lot depends on your rolls, when controlling her in fight.
My party finished her very quick (1.5 round) only because, I rolled bad on her initial charge from invisibility, concentrated her attacks on witch's cohort (who was looking most armored and armed) who took all damage, and, again, bad roll on Fort save against staggering effect from direct hit of alchemist frost bomb. The later just bombarded her to death (with one or two criticals).
2. As Tangent101 said, there's a letter from her sister, that points to Turtleback Ferry.
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Given the mention of the break not being clear, and 'booklet', I'm pretty sure you're playing the original version, not the aniversary one.
Original Xanesha is a notorious party killer - you'd struggle to beat here with a full part of 8-9th level character.
You'll want to look at the anniversary version for a far more sensible, but still challenging X
The question about which version you're running is probably pertinent. Here are the connections as I see them (I only have the AE version)
The cult is intending to sacrifice Magnimar's mayor. This can come out in material found with Aldern or found at the sawmill (see Lucretia's note)
Ironbriar's journal - to be decoded by the DMPC in the OP's case I assume (perhaps anti-climatic) reveal he is a Justice - a stunning revelation for the leaders of Magnimar
Lucretia's note found in Xanesha's lair - this note does many things, it mentions Turtleback Ferry, references the plot against the Mayor and reveals Xanesha's actions are part of a much larger conspiracy/organization.
Taken together, these point to a decidedly more ominous interpretation of the Black Arrows' silence and strongly suggest why the party is recruited to investigate.
Also, it may have been a simple turn of phrase but Shalelu should join the party when they set out for Turtleback Ferry (at least as scripted.) This helps anchor the party to Sandpoint even though they may not visit the town between Book 2 and 3. Though she is very independent, so it's entirely consistent for her to strike off alone for the Black Arrows when she hears about her one-time step-father. And for the party to find her in Turtleback Ferry investigating the Arrows for herself. Or even in the wilderness around the Graul farmhouse.
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Thanks for all the tips.
I am playing the original edition, not the AE. She is built like a PC-killer! I also had similar issues with Erylium or Malfeshnekor in book 1. He was never able to take down Malfeshnekor.
Against 3 characters of lvl. 7 or 8, I really don't see this going well at all. My player is not an experienced player, has experience with DnD Fighters only and is starting to play Pathfinder. His tactic is pretty much Tank & Hack. Against a more experience group looking for a challenge, I would play her as she is, but against 1 player playing solo just for fun with 2 DMPCs, it's overkill and counter-productive. Challenging = good, Killer = bad.
If I play her dumb, I will stack up my spell, only go for full attacks and let them run away if they want to. I'm thinking more and more to nurf her down
- She silence the battle field, so my cleric and wizard are castrated unless they run back inside the tower. Maybe that's just what my DMPCs will do. Or maybe I should remove the silence altogether.
- She has 142 HP, more with the false life. She has AC 30. That's amazing just by itself (even for CR 10).
- With Haste, she has attack bonus +21/+21/+16/+11. She comes out of the invisibility with a full round of attack, probably doing her Impaler of thorn trick. If she sneak up my wizard, she can probably take him out on the surprise round. I will probably remove the haste altogether and make her focus on the well armoured fighter.
With the Haste and silence out, if she focus on the fighter, it should still be super tough but somehow doable with my cleric healing him from behind and my wizard giving support fire power. I will give him the opportunity to flee and come back prepared.
Thanks for the mention about Turtleback Ferry in Xanesha's lair. That will be the next trail in the adventure. I also plan to run Module "Seven Swords of Sin" from Turtleback Ferry as an optional quest there since it's near Kaer Maga. I will place the church of Abadar and Wen Histani in Turtleback Ferry. She will also be an important NPC in town for questions.
Strip her class levels. The Anniversary Edition gave her two Rogue levels instead and even then she was very tough. If all she has is one level of rogue or sorcerer then she should be more reasonable.
The Anniversary Edition basically switched Xanesha and Lucretia, which - considering that X. was a notorious TPK'er in the original - makes a lot of sense. So Xanesha in Magnimar has Rogue levels, and Lucretia in Turtleback Ferry and environs has Sorcerer levels. IIRC, their equipment is not changed.
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Xanesha is probably going to own a three man team, especially if they are level seven. I would start working on a contingency for what you want to do when you have a TPK.
My group is just about to finish that fight next week. Here's how it's went so far
Round 0 - Surprise attack on the wizard
Round 1 - Full attack on the wizard (hit/hit/crit)
Wizard now at approx -40 hp
Kicked his corpse off the tower for fun, now at approx -80 hp
Round 2 - Started to beat on the barbarian
Round 4 - Barbarian is now one round away from death
This leaves the battle cleric and a druid/rogue.
I am pretty sure that the cleric is going to either fight to the death out of sheer bravery/loyalty to the group, the druid/rogue is definetly going to bail.
The good thing is that I have two new players coming in, so they are going to be sent by Shalelu and Sheriff Hemlock to figure out what happened.
I think that the deciding factor for this fight is how liberal the GM is when it comes to basic character creation. My game is pretty restricted, 15 point buy, Core Rulebook game.