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I'm going to be running Plunder and Peril in campaign mode for some PFS friends of mine soon, and I've been prepping it. I don't know if I'm just missing stuff, or what, but there are a few things that I don't know how to handle, and I could use some advice.
1) Influencing crew: The back of the modual gives some 'guidelines' for influencing the crew during dangerous waters, but doesn't give a lot of specifics. It says you can attempt a check a day to influence the crew, but only one step. However, it doesn't say how many days you have. How long does it take to get from Lilywhite to The Throne of Besmara to the atol to yadda yadda yadda? I may be missing it, but it doesn't seem to say. How long should I give the PCs to win over the new crew? Too long and it's too easy for them, too short, and they have no chance. Suggestions?
2) On the Atol, there are several 'events.' Are they made in any order? Do I follow them as written, as I please? Is there some sort of hidden mechanic? Do I use the random encounter table, and (if so) how (since I've never used the thing before, in any of my games.)
3) Almost all of Dangerous waters takes place aboard the Magpie Princess, so where are the PCs supposed to buy and sell their loot? In other games, there's been some information as to how much and of what the quartermaster has, but not here. Can they not sell or buy anything? If that's the case, can the sell or buy anything at the lizardfolk settlement on the Atol? Or in adventure 3?
Distances in the Shackles are minute, I would suggest doubling or tripplibg the distance between isles.
From Ollo to Quent there are almost 100 miles, doable at an average speed of 6 knots within 20 hours, less than a day. In 2 and a half days you can cross all the Shackles. Its a can of sardines as written and with the amount of ships present youd be able to cross from Port Peril to Hell Harbour on foot accross boat decks (a la Caligula).
Distance: 6 miles in an hour (good average)
As for selling loot, the Quartermaster would have a lot of cash/valuables, sobif he thinks he can sell it somewhere else, he'll take it. Especially since he's partial to the Captain whom you are helping.
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Distances in the Shackles are minute, I would suggest doubling or tripplibg the distance between isles.
From Ollo to Quent there are almost 100 miles, doable at an average speed of 6 knots within 20 hours, less than a day. In 2 and a half days you can cross all the Shackles. Its a can of sardines as written and with the amount of ships present youd be able to cross from Port Peril to Hell Harbour on foot accross boat decks (a la Caligula).Distance: 6 miles in an hour (good average)
As for selling loot, the Quartermaster would have a lot of cash/valuables, sobif he thinks he can sell it somewhere else, he'll take it. Especially since he's partial to the Captain whom you are helping.
That assumes that
1) you have a straight shot to wherever you are going, which doesn't seem true as you'd have to navigate around several islands, and
2) Good winds everyday in your favor.
3)I was thinking more in terms of game balance.
Each of the 8 crew can be influenced from two to three times. The way the module is worded, it seems like there is the possibility that everyone can be worked up to at least friendly. That takes 1 diplomacy check for half of them (indifferent-> friendly) and 2 diplomacy checks for the other half (unfriendly->Indifferent->Friendly) Each day one PC can attempt one check to move one NPC one step. So that is a total of 12 checks.
The PCs (assuming there are four of them) would need 3 days total to make all checks, assuming they roll perfectly, don't team up, etc. There are an additional 3 'random encounters' that serve as additional attempts to influence specific crew. Is that enough? Too many attempts (such as giving the crew a total of 9 days) would make it way too easy to influence the entire crew. On the other hand, giving them only a scant handful of checks might make it too hard, as only one or two PCs might have social skills (a distinct possibility on a Pirate ship.)
Another problem I've noticed with the module is that the PCs aren't given any time to sleep in between adventures 2 and 3. The pcs are expected to slog through a huge deal on the last island in part 2, going through a lizardfolk tribe, killing some enemies, going through a temple/dungeon, and then a final boss fight afterwards, and then they IMMEDIATLY get on some aquatic creatures, catch up to the boat, fight there way through THAT crew, and then slog through another dungeon. Shouldn't I give them a break somewhere in there?
Rest isn't that hard to plan out. I recently ran a modified version of this and a natural resting spot would be during the ceremony night with the lizardfolk. If you have peaceful PCs there isn't that much fighting on the isle either, and likely none at the temple.
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The issues I have is how long SHOULD I GIVE THE PLAYERS TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR GOALS. Not, 'how long should it take by sea chart time.' I can always adjust that by saying the weather is bad or whatever. From a metagame perspective I wanna know how much time I should give them to accomplish their goals without making it too easy, or impossible.
@Seannoss, thanks for the advice, though to be fair, the game makes it seem like the island is supposed to be done in like, an hour (as when you get to the shore, you see the ship sailing off.) I could adjust that by saying that there is a storm that hits after they hit the island, and that prevents the ship from leaving until the next day.
Running into a second issue, and this one is a bit more . . . odd.
So I've asked that my players make a SOMEWHAT balanced party for the game. I'm not saying that there has to be the standard fighter-rogue-wizard-cleric, far from it, but I'd like to see something more than just four barbarians.
But some of the players are having a hard time coming up with 'pirate-ey' character concepts. Anyone out there have any suggestions to throw out for an arcane character, a healer, and a fourthman that would be suitably pirateey? I will OF COURSE not tell my players to play those, but if I can give them ideas or jumping-off points that might be nice.
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My PFS group consist of a ninja/monk/inquisitor trippleclass, a trip spect lorewarden, a kitsune sorceress with a turtle and a damphir... something that is really scary.
Balance? Who needs balance...
As the times are strange, I am going to give my players about a day between each encounter. That way they can benefit from resting. I will not let them buy/sell really expensive things. The quartermaster will have potions and scrolls for sale. But wont have magic weapons lying about.
I will warn them that after they finish part one, they have one last chance to go all out with shopping, before they will be ship-bound for a long time. Hopefully they will take the hint and buy what they need in lillywhite.
Seeing the ship leave, which puts the time limit on the island, can be done when you feel its right for the plot. Either right when they land, if you want a race, although then the PCs may want to try to chase the ship down and possibly skip most of the isle. Keep things fluid if you can, and introduce elements when it promotes the plot.
For your other part; my 4 PCs are an aquatic sorcerer, an inquisitor of Besmara, a bard and a weapon master monk. I'm using this as part of Skull & Shackles so misc cleric duties are being taken care of by a NPC Besmaran cleric via the leadership feat.
I think pirate is more attitude than character class, maybe that's a problem. Some people don't like pirates. I think 'light' fighter types fit very well here; barbarians, bards, slayers, swashbucklers, etc... Besmara, Caiden Caelean and Callistria are popular deities in the area for any divine types.
The issues I have is how long SHOULD I GIVE THE PLAYERS TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR GOALS. Not, 'how long should it take by sea chart time.' I can always adjust that by saying the weather is bad or whatever. From a metagame perspective I wanna know how much time I should give them to accomplish their goals without making it too easy, or impossible.
@Seannoss, thanks for the advice, though to be fair, the game makes it seem like the island is supposed to be done in like, an hour (as when you get to the shore, you see the ship sailing off.) I could adjust that by saying that there is a storm that hits after they hit the island, and that prevents the ship from leaving until the next day.
Running into a second issue, and this one is a bit more . . . odd.
So I've asked that my players make a SOMEWHAT balanced party for the game. I'm not saying that there has to be the standard fighter-rogue-wizard-cleric, far from it, but I'd like to see something more than just four barbarians.
But some of the players are having a hard time coming up with 'pirate-ey' character concepts. Anyone out there have any suggestions to throw out for an arcane character, a healer, and a fourthman that would be suitably pirateey? I will OF COURSE not tell my players to play those, but if I can give them ideas or jumping-off points that might be nice.
On the break between them leaving the island in hot equine pursuit of the ship you can give them a breather, perhaps camping up somewhere to rest the mounts. You could give the mounts a little extra speed so they catch up regardless.
Also making the sailing take more time gives more time to rest.For difficulty of the last part I noticed most enemies are single entities or rather few. If Your players seem to have too good action economy on the first two parts Id consider adding some henchmen in part 3.
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So, my players are finalizing their characters, I'm readying the encounters, setting things up, and I just had a few more questions. I hate to be such a needy guy, but this is my first time running a PFS modual and I want it to go well.
Rum Punch
1) So, uh, the were-crocodiles . . . WTF? Like, a level four party doesn't have the ability to stave off lycanthropy. And the town doesn't have a lvl 12 spellcaster. Are we just supposed to ignore the lacanthropy thing? My other option is to give them battleaxes (as the crocodiles don't want an outbreak on their hands) but seriously, that's just weird.
2) The race rules seem pretty strict. One person has to go through the entire thing perfectly in order for the party to get XP for it (or do a double-time to make up for any failure.) Anyone have any trouble with that part of the game? I was thinking that, if they fail, throw a random encounter in there so that they get the XP requirement for a level.
3) There are . . . no tactics on the river drakes. I mean, if I were them, I'd just hover 50 above the battlefield and spit caustic acidic death at the PCs every 1d6 rounds. Any suggestions?
4)How is . . . How is the Snowfeather fight? I mean, he seems pretty nasty. He has a 15-20 crit range . . . so if he crits with his decent +8 to hit on a scorching ray, he deals 9d6+1 damage, which is enough to kill just about any level 4 PC. And he can cast the spell up to 4 times (if he burns his arcane pool.) Anyone have problems with him just one-shotting a PC?
Quick disclaimer: I haven't run it, so I'm just looking at it from a reader's standpoint.
1) Hmm. Quickest fix is just to make them afflicted lycanthropes. Handwave the phase of the moon and drop their DR to 5/silver and it should work OK as written.
2) They are, as written. Maybe give them an extra round or 2 to win the race? Your fix looks pretty good too, but I think the extra brawlers at the tavern (that show up only if they're not the first there) are meant to cover the gap somewhat.
3) Hrm. Their Bestiary 3 entry is also not particularly helpful. Given their acid immunity, maybe they rotate spitting at the PCs and meleeing them? Like, round 1 drake A spits mucus, drakes B and C flap down for a full round of attacks (and maybe dart back out with Speed Surge?). Round 2 drake A joins the fray, drake B retreats and spits, and drake C stays where it is? That would make them provoke a lot of Attacks of opportunity and keep this from turning into the wrong kind of shooting gallery (and that is what you seem to be trying to avoid). I dunno, it's actually a pretty brutal fight at this level...and they're smart, too, so they won't just all sit there and let the PCs hack away at them.
4) Depends on your group of PCs, but remember to track his swift actions: he can only take one per round, so that may help; he can't Spellstrike/Spell Combat in the same round as he spell recalls. Don't forget his Spell Combat penalty to melee attacks if he tries to nova a PC with Spellstrike (Scorching Ray)/Spell Combat. That leaves him with two attacks at +6 that deal (1d6 + 2) and (1d6 + 2 + 4d6 fire) on hits; these are all against normal AC, so PCs with average AC for their level (which I tentatively calculate as 15 + PC level, so 19) are not in as much immediate danger as they may seem. That said, yeah. He's pretty dangerous. Magus NPCs usually are exceptionally dangerous to PCs before say, 7th level; thereafter, the PCs pick up magic items, combat-prep spells and such to mitigate energy damage or improve their saves and AC past what the average NPC is necessarily prepared to deal with. If it really bugs you, you could rebuild him as a rogue/sorcerer or the like; alternatively, change out his Combat Casting feat and Close Range magus arcana to significantly reduce the TPK potential (or at least cause him to risk failing a Concentration check/lose the ability to Scorching Ray with Spellstrike).
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Well if you are running this for Pathfinder Society, you HAVE to run as written.
1: Lycantropy is a curse. Remove curse is 150 GP. All the clerics in the module can cast this.
2: While the race can get a bit tedious if they dont make the checks, they will eventually make it to the inn. Instead of winning they just see others arguing with the NPCs. It should not affect XP. Its is a small part, and not winning the race will not substract from the 3XP they earn for this part of the module.
3: The river drakes in my session opened flying, then spit. A few characters had already climbed into trees to scout, so they were the most logical targets for the drakes. They can charge from flying to take advantage of their Pounce. If having them flying causes too much trouble, have them eventually land. But its a good reminder for the players to start having ways to deal with flying creatures.
4: TheNightMareOne has a couple of good points: Hyrix is pretty strong, but he is alone. Things will get harder if more players get in his face. You just cant rebuild him as he suggested per the RAW rules of PFS.
Ah. I didn't catch that they were actually running it for PFS, I just assumed it was for friends FROM PFS. My mistake.