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So I've been leading my party through the Price Of Immortality Adventure Path, and they are currently about to enter Xin-Grafar, the aptly named City of Golden Death.
Reading through the path, something immediately struck me.
Where's all the loot? Aside from Iramine and the cultists having a few +1 items that can be sold for gold, I am getting a severe feeling of lack of wealth in here.
For the entire Module, if you exclude the few items from the cultists, and all the gold that will teleport back when they leave, I'm counting...
Bracers of Armour +1 from Lizard's
3000 GP from Molten Gold Trap (Potentially nothing)
1265 GP, an Adamantine Battle Axe, a Horn of Fog, and some potions from a GOSH DARN DRAGON.
The previous adventurers had amassed as much wealth from the city as they could carry. Kasseen had enough money to start a village, and Asar walked out with enough cash to hire and feed an entire mercenary army. This city is supposed to have some ... I donno... wealth that can actually be carried away, probably in the form of magical items. (Seeing how Kasseen's Corpse had a +2 Full plate and a +1 Flaming Longsword, and Asar had a +1 chain shirt and a +1 Longsword.)
My party is not loot hungry at all, but I as a GM was actually disappointed to see that there was more random things to sell such as carpets and vases and jewels and expensive books in Masks of The Living Gods. The total value of Asar's treasure in the first module is actually worth more than all the items in Xin Grafar. To me it just seems like every enemy they face, or every treasure they come across ends up having the 'once they leave Xin-Grafar, all of the gold teleports back to the city', when clearly the last people in here walked away with some substantial cheddar.
I know they're going to ask questions.
I've only been GMing for a year, and have very little experience with regards to what nice, level appropriate items might.
Anyone have any ideas so I can maybe make those Golden Guardians drop something, or have them stumble upon another room with usable items?
They could take the Jewel of Everlasting Gold and take control of Xin-Grafar itself. A major artifact and a large city for a base of operations ought to be enough.
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I don't know anything about the Path, but it seems to me that "when clearly the last people in here walked away with some substantial cheddar" means the place has already been looted pretty good.
When raiding places for treasure, being the first is pretty pretty key.
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They could take the Jewel of Everlasting Gold and take control of Xin-Grafar itself. A major artifact and a large city for a base of operations ought to be enough.
Except for Two problems.
First, you can't actually take the Jewel out of the city, and any gold created by the Jewel also can't leave the city.As for the city as a base of operations, it floods with molten gold every 72 hours after entering, burning everything alive, and suffocating anything not killed immediately by the heat.
So not... really the best place to set up camp.
When raiding places for treasure, being the first is pretty pretty key
But this is a whole city. A wholeeeee city.
And the adventure path makes it very clear that the three adventurers are the only ones to have ever made it in or out alive, and that they only went in the one time.All in all, it just seems like an anti-climactic end to what was a sincerely entertaining adventure path.
So... 7th Level appropriate items?
Bueler... Bueler... Bueler...?
Or do away with the rule that anything taken from the city returns. That's pretty easy to rule on and explains pretty much why people leave rich. Even loaded down with gold, the players are not going to make much of a dent in what's there.
They could take the Jewel of Everlasting Gold and take control of Xin-Grafar itself. A major artifact and a large city for a base of operations ought to be enough.Except for Two problems.
First, you can't actually take the Jewel out of the city, and any gold created by the Jewel also can't leave the city.
So remove that problem if you want them to have loot. Do you plan on using the characters in the future?
Funny enough I didn't know this trilogy had a name. These were the first 3 mods I ran as a DM in PF. In fact we have reused them after that leading to original content.
Now to point:
They are in a city of gold, which fills with molten gold every 72 hours but I believe they will not have as much time as that (Where is the challenge right)
If they need money or loot for this, have them fine some gold bobbles and trinkets that can be sold for money when they leave. I believe I had a golden statue of a monkey, which was actually a monkey familiar who had been caught in the molten gold as it was cooling and it made a monkey statue which I said was worth a pretty penny if not a bit heavy.
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Find a safe place in the city and use the Jewel of Everlasting Gold to craft a bunch of magic items. Then leave the city with completely customized loot!
Everything the jewel makes gets teleported out too. It's like April fools all day forever.
If so few folks enter and leave the City alive then have a sage (with an appropriate specialty) or someone similar approach the party with an offer to trade their story for "treasure". 'Obviously' this individual doesn't want the knowledge spread around as that would lessen its value to them since they are in the business of selling their knowledge.
I really like that idea. Mixes the 'what do you mean we don't have 7 million dollars? What do you mean it disappeared?" With at least a little payoff in the end.
My group really really enjoys the crazy pathfinder living in the woods. Ive played him up alot in the random encounters as Running around the battlefield, shrieking, throwing stones, peeing himself, charging naked at monsters and just being generally random and silly.
I think I might have him be like 'we'll I'm sad you didn't find any shiny gold stuffs. I have a bunch of gross garbage I don't want that you can have, because we're friends now." Ands basically open up a secret stash of goodies that he's collected over the years from other failed adventuring parties that is worthless to him, but awesome for adventurers.
Thanks for all the help guys!
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Find a safe place in the city and use the Jewel of Everlasting Gold to craft a bunch of magic items. Then leave the city with completely customized loot!
Everything the jewel makes gets teleported out too. It's like April fools all day forever.
Just curious but the gem doesn't create the items. The jewel creates the money?
If so the money is then used to purchase whatever you need to make the items.
The crafted items are in no way associated with the Jewel's abilities because they are crafted from the base materials that were purchased with the money produced by the jewel, not created by the jewel itself.
Unless you are saying anything purchased with the money created by the jewel is bound to the city then the items are independent of the inability to leave the city.
Find a safe place in the city and use the Jewel of Everlasting Gold to craft a bunch of magic items. Then leave the city with completely customized loot!That doesn't work, gold isn't transmuted into magic items its used to buy raw materials to make the magic items. The city has been in ruins for centuries there are no shops to buy the raw materials from. The city also sits on an island aptly named the Isle of Terror due to the frequent storms of negative energy.
Can you point that out? Because I don't see where it says that gold isn't use in crafting magic items.
Gold is used to buy the cost of the components used to create magical items. Nowhere is it stated that just having gold is enough to make magic items.
Although if it was, it would create a perfect sub-economy of magical item components, where the value of the components is exactly equal to the amount of gold they replace in making something. So, if you can acquire the components for less then that value of gold...profit!
I.e. the last leaf on a century-old tree once struck by natural lightning that falls off before the start of the new year is worth 1000 gp when used as a component in any item that has a 50% or more wooden component. If you can actually get that leaf, it probably costs you nothing, but you should be able to sell it for 1000 gp to an artificer, especially if it results in gold NOT being consumed/utterly destroyed by making it into magic items.
If you sell it to a general dealer in magical components, you 'only' make 500 gp 1/year for harvesting a single leaf.
==Aelryinth
Or do away with the rule that anything taken from the city returns. That's pretty easy to rule on and explains pretty much why people leave rich. Even loaded down with gold, the players are not going to make much of a dent in what's there.Allowing the players to have a couple million gold at level six is an entirely different problem. The city is literally not figuratively PAVED with gold.
So remove that problem if you want them to have loot. Do you plan on using the characters in the future?If he wasn't planning on using the characters in the future it wouldn't matter how much treasure they got. Its the conclusion of a three module adventure path that takes characters from level 1 to level 6.
Coalford, I'm currently running this adventure path with my group and they are just inside the third ring. The city being filled with wealth that's completely useless is part of the theme. Its an avarice/Orange Lantern kind of message.
Hell the back cover says "The Price of Greed"As I recall from the second module in the adventure path the cultists in the temple had a good deal of treasure in both gear, gems and art objects. Some adventures skimp on treasure some are loaded with it. The fact the city of gold skimps on loot just makes it ironic.
If you want to add more treasure allow the PC's to find an armory or some vault containing treasure not made of gold so its obviously lootable. Just remember treasure value doesn't have to escalate every adventure.
They must be pretty strong to have several million GP at level 6...they DO have to carry it OUT of the city, and after that they have to get OFF the island.
So coins weigh 50 to the pound. AT 50 to the pound, that would mean, even with 18 STR, the maximum amount of GP one could haul out on their back would be 15000 GP, and that's fully loaded. I believe they can lift double their carrying capacity? So that makes 30K total...far less than a million.
For 4 characters completely loaded...that's 60 - 120K. Good luck outrunning that molten gold like that however...
And, while completely encumbered, they'd have to leave anything else (armor, weapons, anything to take that max load).
I'm not certain anyone is going to do that. Not only do they have to escape the molton flood of gold at some point, they also have an entire hostile island to trek back over.
Getting the gold is easy...losing it is even easier...
There are tons of ways to have it reduced...so let them have their fun and get all the gold they can carry...I don't think it's going to break the bank immediately considering what they have to do to actually GET it out of the city as well.
Now, if they could somehow start an operation where they have groups to stay on the island (that could be tough for lower level characters) to ferry back and forth the gold...that's when I expect you'd see the millions of gold...but on just one trip?
You also have to remember...the others that wanted to go back...they had expectations of being able to cart out some treasure as well and utilize it for their own measures...if they can...surely the PC's can as well.
Bags of holding might allow this as a full sized bag of holding can carry 75,000 gold pieces if 50 gold to a lbs.
Also not sure how Extra Dimensional spaces would work when it is time for it to be blinked back.
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Just finishing the last encounter with Iramine now. Totaling all the treasure that will be sold including gold, weapons and magic items not kept is less than 12000gp (under 2000gp each for a party of 6). In perspective, clearing the last module in the series, Masks of the Living God, they made off with 3700 each. Additionally, This was a long module compared to the other two in the series.
I will need to find a way to balance the loot (they actually filled a bag of holding and packs with selected gems and jewelry, so they think they have 250K of treasure - which will all disappear. I am considering something like a warding box (lead lined) filled with treasure which was not created or corrupted by the jewel of everlasting gold. I could put just about anything in there to balance the lack of loot.
Certainly Kassan, Asar and Iramine became fabulously wealthy on their first visit, so they had to find something they could remove from here. I'm not wanting to give too much, but 2000g isn't the correct balance for a 6th level PC especially when they spent several weeks getting here and back, not to mention, the Bulette (random encounter), Babau Demon, Skeletal dragon, Dark Naga, and 12 Razmiri including a CR8 elf fighter/evoker/eldrich knight etc, to clear the way.
I also dislike how loot stingy adventures can be. A city literally paved with gold... but if you try to take any for yourself it magically disappears! Or how about an ancient treasure trove from a fabulously wealthy long-lost civilization containing 100,000 copper pieces... did we just stumble on their loose change drawer? Or how about that extravogent but corrupt lord whose treasury just happens to be nearly empty at the moment.
I'm really interested in trying alternatives than wealth to control the level of equipment PC's have access to. That way I can just go monte haul and actually start handing out an actual buried treasure trove rather than some piddly rationed amount designed to ensure they stay in WBL guidelines. And heck, they might do something like invest that treasure trove in an army or stronghold or something, that'd be cool.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHdYpLQwiYU
^
I remember playing this song as an opener to the adventure for my friends when I ran the "City of Golden Death" for them.
As for treasure, I agree. The lack of treasure is slightly annoying. I added (+1) golden weapons and armor and shields, masterwork quality, for them and only this gold could be taken out of the city. My players liked it.
Like the fighter walked away from the city at the end with
* Masterwork +1 golden fullplate armor.
* Masterwork +1 golden long sword.
* Masterwork +1 golden shield, heavy.
In addition to the normal treasures and money.
The player in question already had the same equipment (Full plate, longsword, heavy shield) that were all +1, I gave him and the other players vanity weapons/armor/shields. If they weren't happy, I let them sell the golden equipment.
I considered myself a GM who never "pulls their punches" when it comes to status effects/crits/damage but is also nice to my players for the rewards they get.
If I'm reading the module right, only Tar-Baphon can remove the any gold made by the Jewel of Everlasting Gold. Part of Tar-Baphon is in the Jewel.
So just use the Jewel to move any bags of gold out side the city...
"Put bag on end of Jewl, throw bag out of city, gold will not return."
To avoid being taken over by the whispers of the Jewel, use an undead captured by a Camand Undead spell to hold the Jewel.
Of course all the above can only happen if the party knows about the dangers of the Jewel.
I don't think it works that way to remove the gold. The the PC could summon crazy vast sums of wealth (Gold, jewelry, art gems etc...). Also the Jewel is bound to the city and cannot leave it's confines (teleports back to the center). All the effects can only be done inside the city - you can not summon treasure outside. Any treasure created returns to the city as well. They really don't want you to take any gold created by the Jewel away...but there had to be treasure in the city before Tar-Baphon captured it that was not created by the Jewel.
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I am alllll for re-branding/re-fluffing to City of Chocolately Caramel Death ...