I find that the more I use NPC's to pick on the group, the more they tend to work together to defeat me. The more cooperation (sharing of resources etc) and usage of strategy, the better in my opinion. Also, when I have a particularly nasty villain, they tend to be more memorable and discussed after the fact. For example, when I run Vampire the Masquerade's Chicago by Night, one of my players is absolutely obsessed with opposing Horatio Ballard, a Ventrue.
So far, I like Mummy's Mask, as I do have the original "The Mummy" with Boris Karloff. I recall thinking the movie was a mite too much talking heads and not enough action. That said, once they got down to the action, it was pretty good. What books other than the AP should I pick up to facilitate the campaign? I've already got the Undead Slayer's Handbook.
I'm thinking of picking up another AP besides MM. So far I'm leaning toward Reign of Winter, but Giantslayer looks fun too (and I've got the Giant Hunter's Handbook). Anybody out there willing to sell me on one of these two choices?
Right now I'm running Carrion Crown again, because half of the group (the Wizard and Paladin) are new to it, and this time we could actually do the 6th module with a steady group. I have Rise of the Runelords anniversary, but I'm saving that for the Wizard's player to run. I gather he's been studying on how to be a DM for some time now, and I'd like to give him the chance.
For Mummy's Mask, People of the Sands and Osirion, Legacy of Pharaohs are both good selections as well.
Thanks! Much appreciated. Any other books? I think People of the Sands is just about humans, correct? Most of my players avoid human PC's like the Plague for some reason, dunno why. Aasimar are popular, and I've got all the racial books.
I like Mummy's Mask, might be right up your alley, i didn't care for Giantslayer as much when i looked thru the first three books, but thats the most i've done, i find an entire AP about Giants a little too much and i didn't care for how it was structured in the product descriptions, truth be told i don't care for the cover art in the background of the first cover (Like why the f#&@ is Harsk jumping off the ledge with his axe held high, there is nothing below him, nothing!)
but like i said that's just my first impression, all Adventure Paths are well done but this one is the first that didn't interest me at all, or at least pique my interest as it came out.
YMMV tho, i recommend keeping an open mind, i'm sure there are plenty of people that love it:-)
Contributor
|
For Mummy's Mask, People of the Sands and Osirion, Legacy of Pharaohs are both good selections as well.Thanks! Much appreciated. Any other books? I think People of the Sands is just about humans, correct? Most of my players avoid human PC's like the Plague for some reason, dunno why. Aasimar are popular, and I've got all the racial books.
People of the Sands isn't human-only by any means. If I recall, most of it is race-neutral. Some of it is cultural, but unless you're saying that aasimar/suli/etc. can't be Keleshite or Garundi, that shouldn't be an issue.
Other than that, nothing jumps out at me as being specifically tied to MM. There's books like Inner Sea Magic (for the crypt breaker alchemist and Dawnflower dervish bard, among others), but that's more general.
I have Inner Sea Magic already.
Now, what additional books are useful for Reign of Winter?
|
Contributor
|
I have Inner Sea Magic already.
Now, what additional books are useful for Reign of Winter?
Well, People of the North is the most obvious one. You won't miss the book on Irrisen nearly so much, as the Path is out of there by Book 3. Same goes for Distant Worlds, as only Book 4 really involves it.
You could probably just get People of the North and be fine. (I would also raid the Contest thread for a more occult Rasputin.)
|
I find that the more I use NPC's to pick on the group, the more they tend to work together to defeat me. The more cooperation (sharing of resources etc) and usage of strategy, the better in my opinion. Also, when I have a particularly nasty villain, they tend to be more memorable and discussed after the fact. For example, when I run Vampire the Masquerade's Chicago by Night, one of my players is absolutely obsessed with opposing Horatio Ballard, a Ventrue.
So far, I like Mummy's Mask, as I do have the original "The Mummy" with Boris Karloff. I recall thinking the movie was a mite too much talking heads and not enough action. That said, once they got down to the action, it was pretty good. What books other than the AP should I pick up to facilitate the campaign? I've already got the Undead Slayer's Handbook.
I'm thinking of picking up another AP besides MM. So far I'm leaning toward Reign of Winter, but Giantslayer looks fun too (and I've got the Giant Hunter's Handbook). Anybody out there willing to sell me on one of these two choices?
Right now I'm running Carrion Crown again, because half of the group (the Wizard and Paladin) are new to it, and this time we could actually do the 6th module with a steady group. I have Rise of the Runelords anniversary, but I'm saving that for the Wizard's player to run. I gather he's been studying on how to be a DM for some time now, and I'd like to give him the chance.
I found that my players really enjoy it when combat feels dangerous, but that doesn't mean it really has to be. Through a lot of exteriror things - my body language, the way I set the scene, the descriptions, and so on - I manage to convince them that the fights are really hard and they feel rewarded when they win. And yet, without me fudging any rolls or "cheating" in any other way, my entire party of PCS made it alive from level 1 to 12 (and we aren't done yet!).
To increase difficulty and make fights a bit longer, I give all monsters full HP (that is, pretend they rolled maximum on all their hit dice) and give my players closer to 60% of the loot they should have according to the core rulebook. I also modify a lot of encounters.
With this approach, all APs can be hard. I would recommend choosing an AP according to what kind of story or theme you like, and taking easy steps to adjust difficulty as you go.
I have Inner Sea Magic already.
Now, what additional books are useful for Reign of Winter?
Well, People of the North is the most obvious one. You won't miss the book on Irrisen nearly so much, as the Path is out of there by Book 3. Same goes for Distant Worlds, as only Book 4 really involves it.
You could probably just get People of the North and be fine. (I would also raid the Contest thread for a more occult Rasputin.)
I actually prefer how he is written in the book, Oracle with his curse and mystery were spot on I felt, honestly I didn't see anything except maybe spells from Occult Adventures that would work better, at least to me, that's why I didn't enter the contest.
Maybe Mesmerist, because those eyes, but no Rasputin as written is pretty bad ass
|
Contributor
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I have Inner Sea Magic already.
Now, what additional books are useful for Reign of Winter?
Well, People of the North is the most obvious one. You won't miss the book on Irrisen nearly so much, as the Path is out of there by Book 3. Same goes for Distant Worlds, as only Book 4 really involves it.
You could probably just get People of the North and be fine. (I would also raid the Contest thread for a more occult Rasputin.)
I actually prefer how he is written in the book, Oracle with his curse and mystery were spot on I felt, honestly I didn't see anything except maybe spells from Occult Adventures that would work better, at least to me, that's why I didn't enter the contest.
Maybe Mesmerist, because those eyes, but no Rasputin as written is pretty bad ass
I'm playing in it, so I had reason to avoid entering. ^_^
That's true, I just didn't see him as having a large collection of trinkets
Rasputin, Flea Marketer:-D
But I'll try not give any more away, how far are you, if you don't mind me asking :-)
Serpent's Skull is the only Pathfinder adventure I've had a TPK in.
Although that was mostly that dominate person can be brutal.
We've had some pretty close scrapes in Wrath of the Righteous. Mythic can make things swingy, but also make you more durable. I hear it gets easier near the end, but we haven't gotten that far yet.
|
You can never go wrong with Curse of the Crimson Throne. Well written and a LOT of fun to play.
In other news......Aasimars? Really? They are unbalanced and cheesy as hell. Usually played by people interested in bonuses without penalties instead of roleplaying opportunities. I usually place them in a category of "Ultra-Rare Choices" for my players, along with Tieflings and any other non-core race. I allow a single choice from that pool per campaign....and they can decide among themselves who gets to select it for that campaign. Then again, I am always concerned with preserving the atmosphere of the world region the game is set in. Which means you're not going to find Irrisen witches in Katapesh or Mwangi Shamans in Tien except in the rarest and strangest of circumstances.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
In other news......Aasimars? Really? They are unbalanced and cheesy as hell. Usually played by people interested in bonuses without penalties instead of roleplaying opportunities. I usually place them in a category of "Ultra-Rare Choices" for my players, along with Tieflings and any other non-core race. I allow a single choice from that pool per campaign....and they can decide among themselves who gets to select it for that campaign. Then again, I am always concerned with preserving the atmosphere of the world region the game is set in. Which means you're not going to find Irrisen witches in Katapesh or Mwangi Shamans in Tien except in the rarest and strangest of circumstances.
You're a lot more restrictive than I am as a DM. I allow just about everything, as I want my players to be happy with their PC. After all, they're going to be playing it for a long time.
Geniekin races like Undine, Ifrit, Sylph and to a lesser degree Oread fit very well in Mummy's Mask, but yeah I'm with you, if you restrict access then they want what's restricted, at least in my particular experience.
The main reason why there's two aasimar in my group right now is because of the specific bonuses to attributes. One's perfect for Paladins, and the standard version is great for clerics.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Its really a shame we can't sell you on Age of Worms; IMO as far as difficulty and story, its still one of the best. Don't get me w wrong, the newer APs have all been creative and clever in what they've put out there, its just that Age of Worms just had so many "Oh-crap!" moments in it per module yet it never felt stale, it just felt like the stakes kept escalating. Also, while the APs have had some decent book 6s, its hard to compare to AoW (or Savage Tide for that matter) in terms of epic-ness or how they addressed high level play (accounting for Wind Walk, Death Ward, and so many other blanket immunities common at that point). The final modules of AoW expect you to have multiple artifacts and wishes to get through to the end.
Based on what you've told me, I'd have to retrofit it. Rewriting an adventure/whole campaign is not why I buy modules.
For the most part you wouldn't need to convert that much. A few key NPCs and monsters at the end, use PF versions of the non-excluded monsters, you're good to go. If something's short on feats, KISS tosses on Toughness, the trio of saving throw feats and Improved Initiative (in that order, generally) and you're ready to go.
Having said all of that, I completely get where you're coming from.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You can never go wrong with Curse of the Crimson Throne. Well written and a LOT of fun to play.
In other news......Aasimars? Really? They are unbalanced and cheesy as hell. Usually played by people interested in bonuses without penalties instead of roleplaying opportunities. I usually place them in a category of "Ultra-Rare Choices" for my players, along with Tieflings and any other non-core race. I allow a single choice from that pool per campaign....and they can decide among themselves who gets to select it for that campaign. Then again, I am always concerned with preserving the atmosphere of the world region the game is set in. Which means you're not going to find Irrisen witches in Katapesh or Mwangi Shamans in Tien except in the rarest and strangest of circumstances.
Dude, Aasimars are the best. Playing a guy who's part Celestial is full of flavor. To me at least, they're much more interesting than tired old Elves, Dwarves and Halflings.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Halfway through Book 3, in the Maiden. ^_^That's true, I just didn't see him as having a large collection of trinkets
Rasputin, Flea Marketer:-D
But I'll try not give any more away, how far are you, if you don't mind me asking :-)
that's a good one, have fun with it :-)
Dude, Aasimars are the best. Playing a guy who's part Celestial is full of flavor. To me at least, they're much more interesting than tired old Elves, Dwarves and Halflings.You can never go wrong with Curse of the Crimson Throne. Well written and a LOT of fun to play.
In other news......Aasimars? Really? They are unbalanced and cheesy as hell. Usually played by people interested in bonuses without penalties instead of roleplaying opportunities. I usually place them in a category of "Ultra-Rare Choices" for my players, along with Tieflings and any other non-core race. I allow a single choice from that pool per campaign....and they can decide among themselves who gets to select it for that campaign. Then again, I am always concerned with preserving the atmosphere of the world region the game is set in. Which means you're not going to find Irrisen witches in Katapesh or Mwangi Shamans in Tien except in the rarest and strangest of circumstances.
Sure... And they also happen to be OP compared to other races. How fortunate!
P.S.
If "keeping players happy" translates to "giving them whatever they want, ballance, flavour and roleplay be damned" then I don't want my players to be "happy". And in my experience this is not that big of a problem, if you know how to be firm.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Oh, look. Another "nonstandard races are overpowered" argument. Just what these forums needed.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Sigh. I don't give a rat's patootie. Any race is just fine by me, even orcs and goblins. (I sorta don't like drow though, knowing the tropes and original Good Folk legends.) Hell, I give Orc PC's Endurance feat and an extra 2 traits just to balance them out with the other races. Goblins I grant an extra 2 traits.
Sorry Roger. I totally disagree with you. I like keeping player's options open for the most part, although I do ban certain classes depending on the campaign genre. Races are basically chosen both for flavor's sake and for a class favored attributes, like a standard aasimar being great for a Cleric PC.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Do you have Inner Sea Bestiary, there are some fun PC races in there :-)
Do you have Inner Sea Bestiary, there are some fun PC races in there :-)
Nope. I've got ALL of the racial booklets, and Bestiaries 1-4.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You should get Inner Sea Bestiary:-)
it's my most used Campaign Setting book other then Misfit Monsters Redeemed (i have a weakness for Wolf's-In-Sheep's-Clothing)
the PC races are
-Android (think Alien and Blade Runner, not Star Trek The Next Generation:-D)
-Ghoran (A plant race genetically created by Nex)
-Monkey Goblins (Goblins with tails and live in the jungle)
-Lashunta (Aliens! for Venus... i mean Castrovel, women look like Elves with Antennae, men look like tall dwarves with antennae, both are psychic, intelligence gets a boost the other modifiers depend on gender)
-Syrinx (Owl people, tend to be a!#~*!%s, still they look cool:-D)
I plan on exclusively running AP's, and so far they tend to use lots of monsters etc from the Bestiaries, but haven't seen anything from Inner Sea Bestiary.
Still think I should go for this Inner Sea Bestiary?
There's great monsters for adding random encounters, I mostly use it for Skull and Shackles, I'll have a look to see how valuable it would be for Mummy's Mask.
Also it has Robots and I'm running Iron Gods, so it's pretty essential to me :-)
|
When I started CotCT, I gave my players a choice from a restricted list of bloodlines between Tiefling(Daemon, Devil) and Dhampir(Svetocher, Nosferatu[duh]). Options that fit the milieu and/or campaign themes. One player took the bait, but, as usual, there's so much to enjoy about, so much to just digest in Golarion ethnicities that the rest of party stayed (almost) baseline.
Meanwhile, our Plunder & Peril party consists of a skinwalker(shark), a merperson, an elf and a lizardfolk. There's already a running gag about token mammals.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Dude, Aasimars are the best. Playing a guy who's part Celestial is full of flavor. To me at least, they're much more interesting than tired old Elves, Dwarves and Halflings.You can never go wrong with Curse of the Crimson Throne. Well written and a LOT of fun to play.
In other news......Aasimars? Really? They are unbalanced and cheesy as hell. Usually played by people interested in bonuses without penalties instead of roleplaying opportunities. I usually place them in a category of "Ultra-Rare Choices" for my players, along with Tieflings and any other non-core race. I allow a single choice from that pool per campaign....and they can decide among themselves who gets to select it for that campaign. Then again, I am always concerned with preserving the atmosphere of the world region the game is set in. Which means you're not going to find Irrisen witches in Katapesh or Mwangi Shamans in Tien except in the rarest and strangest of circumstances.
Sure... And they also happen to be OP compared to other races. How fortunate!
P.S.
If "keeping players happy" translates to "giving them whatever they want, ballance, flavour and roleplay be damned" then I don't want my players to be "happy". And in my experience this is not that big of a problem, if you know how to be firm.
Is it the customizable ability score bonus or the fact that their type isn't humanoid and it's outsider or something else?
It's the +2 to two ability scores without the -2 to one ability score I bet, it's always that.
RoW is pretty rough. I really stuck to the cold rules, wind rules, and poor visibility rules when I ran it. The third book has a pretty nasty dungeon, and if you play the 5th book as a sandbox that will come all at once and beat you up, rather than patient encounters, that's also nasty. And the final boss in the 5th book can be a serious resource drain, depending on what the party's already done that day.
I'd say it's one of the nastier APs, definitely.
|
Contributor
|
I plan on exclusively running AP's, and so far they tend to use lots of monsters etc from the Bestiaries, but haven't seen anything from Inner Sea Bestiary.
Still think I should go for this Inner Sea Bestiary?
The book is excellent, but if the races are your main priority, all of them have been reprinted in the upcoming Inner Sea Races.
What's up with the point system for the monsters in the Occult Bestiary, it seems... odd.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Dude, Aasimars are the best. Playing a guy who's part Celestial is full of flavor. To me at least, they're much more interesting than tired old Elves, Dwarves and Halflings.You can never go wrong with Curse of the Crimson Throne. Well written and a LOT of fun to play.
In other news......Aasimars? Really? They are unbalanced and cheesy as hell. Usually played by people interested in bonuses without penalties instead of roleplaying opportunities. I usually place them in a category of "Ultra-Rare Choices" for my players, along with Tieflings and any other non-core race. I allow a single choice from that pool per campaign....and they can decide among themselves who gets to select it for that campaign. Then again, I am always concerned with preserving the atmosphere of the world region the game is set in. Which means you're not going to find Irrisen witches in Katapesh or Mwangi Shamans in Tien except in the rarest and strangest of circumstances.
Sure... And they also happen to be OP compared to other races. How fortunate!
P.S.
If "keeping players happy" translates to "giving them whatever they want, ballance, flavour and roleplay be damned" then I don't want my players to be "happy". And in my experience this is not that big of a problem, if you know how to be firm.
And here I have the exactly opposite opinion. Normally, is there is a clearly overpowered race, is human. Occasionally some race can be good for some class/build, but in general human is the most powerful option among the playable races. Is not only the extra feat and the extra skill and the variable attribute bonus... some of the most overpowered favorite class bonus are those for humans, like the extra spell for spontaneous casters. In 80% of the cases, take a non-human race is a downgrade. There are important exceptions, of course.
The problem is that most of the races have traits that seems strange, and what is outside the norm can feel overpowered.
That's odd. My players never take humans, in favor of the other races. Humans are okay, but to be honest most of my players like to have things like darkvision so they can see the nasty coming, or energy resistance, or more appropriate attribute bonuses etc.
Then again, I don't allow the more overpowered favored human class bonuses like the extra spell you mentioned.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Honestly the extra skill point and extra bonus feat are enough for most of my players in the past to seriously have trouble considering anything but human. "I could be an X... but then I wouldn't get the bonus feat and extra skill point. Sorry, gotta go human." The floating stat bonus is just gravy on top... delicious gravy, but it's not the meat of the reason for picking the race, mechanically.
Thankfully since putting together our homebrew setting and cooking up a bunch of interesting races for it, and removing a TON of restrictions on racial-based things that make no sense (like that extra spell thing is available to everyone in my games... there's no reason not to be human otherwise if you're a spont-caster, that's just way too good), the racial balance in our games has really gotten a lot more varied.
But yeah. Every time I see someone complain about "X exotic/uncommon/non-core race is overpowered" I can't help but compare them against humans, and 99% of the time they're found lacking.
I agree with the "Humans outpace all others". And to be honest, it reflects the setting very well. As Alaryth said, there are many cases where a non-Human will excel at a particular build. But across a broad spectrum, Humans always perform consistently.
Makes one wonder, if say... Elves... were deemed to be the most populous/dominate race in Golarion, would the races have been developed differently?
** spoiler omitted **Dude, Aasimars are the best. Playing a guy who's part Celestial is full of flavor. To me at least, they're much more interesting than tired old Elves, Dwarves and Halflings.You can never go wrong with Curse of the Crimson Throne. Well written and a LOT of fun to play.
In other news......Aasimars? Really? They are unbalanced and cheesy as hell. Usually played by people interested in bonuses without penalties instead of roleplaying opportunities. I usually place them in a category of "Ultra-Rare Choices" for my players, along with Tieflings and any other non-core race. I allow a single choice from that pool per campaign....and they can decide among themselves who gets to select it for that campaign. Then again, I am always concerned with preserving the atmosphere of the world region the game is set in. Which means you're not going to find Irrisen witches in Katapesh or Mwangi Shamans in Tien except in the rarest and strangest of circumstances.
Sure... And they also happen to be OP compared to other races. How fortunate!
P.S.
If "keeping players happy" translates to "giving them whatever they want, ballance, flavour and roleplay be damned" then I don't want my players to be "happy". And in my experience this is not that big of a problem, if you know how to be firm.
I didn't want to derail the thread but considering how it derailed itself anyway I gues that's fine now, so I'll bite your bait.
If you use Paizo own "gauge meter" for the relative power of races (Race Points) you'll notice how Aasimars are a 15 RP race, while the most powerful of the core races are Dwarves with 11 RP, but basically all Core Races have more or less the same level of RP. That alone could justify the fact that Aasimars are OP compared to core races.
That said RP are a wacky system to gauge the power level of races (as they seem to overvalue some abilities and undervalue others more efficient ones). But the fact remains Aasimars get more than core races get, without any drawback and with heritages they also have flexibility (want a paladin? Angel blooded Aasimar! Want a ranger? Go with Garuda blooded, and so on).
And yes, it's true that mechanically speaking humans are the best of the core races, but that's not because of sheer power but because of extreme flexibility. For example I'd argue that having Hardy and Martial Flexibility give dwarves the equivalent of most feats you can get at 1st level, powerwise. Yet for dwarves that's a fixed choice (if you want to change these traits you are most probably losing something in power, as they are quite good). At first level a human can customize his ability score, has more skill points and has 1 more feat than anyone else within the same class. It's not that humans are more powerful than other core races, it's that they can build as they like while other races have fixed choices.
So an Aasimar is more powerful than human. He gains 2 bonus ability points he can put where he needs them thanks to heritages, he has a free spell-like ability once a day (nothing spectacular but quite useful) and a +2 bonus to 2 different skills (depending on heritage). A human is certainly more flexible, but I don't think you can have a human who's mechanically better as a paladin than an angel blooded Aasimar or a better ranger than a garuda blooded Aasimar.
That said, if having a menagerie of different non core races in the party works for you (let's say and orc, an aasimar, a tiefling, a goblin and a strix) more power to you. Personally I find it really unflavourful and in my experience these races are not picked for a unique reoleplaying experience but in order to gain the best possible mechanical combination for a certain class when it's time to roll the dices and I've seen that kind of mindset ruin games (as neither me nor most of the people who play with me enjoy roll playing instead of role playing).
@Rogar Valertis
If yes then i happen to agree with you, the simple solution is to not allow the variant aasimar heritages from blood of the angels.
My issue with aasimars (and tieflings and the various "elemental-blooded") is the outsider type instead of the humanoid type, i find it that it really wreaks havoc with the monsters abilities and tactics.
As a side question, do you know of a place (or a person who would be interested) where I could sell my Pathfinder Companions?
If you post it in the Off-Topic section of the boards you should find takers, otherwise Ebay is fairly cliche and has proven track record.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
That said, if having a menagerie of different non core races in the party works for you (let's say and orc, an aasimar, a tiefling, a goblin and a strix) more power to you. Personally I find it really unflavourful ....
I suppose that's fair, I just feel the exact opposite. Having a party of Humans and Humans-with-slightly-altered-physical-features (Pointy-eared-Tall-Skinny-Human, Short-Angry-Human-With-Beard, Big-Tough-Bestial-Human, Shorter-Sneaky-Human, etc.) doesn't feel fantastical to me, and if there's anything I don't want out of fantasy, it's for it to feel mundane, and the core races and their lack of actual visual variance and truly fantastical features and natures have long since become boring.
Give me my dragon-men, my angel-bloods, my fiendtouched, my goblins and kobolds and ratfolk and harpies and spiderfolk and machine-men and more and more any day of the week over a party of people whose only physical difference is really their ears, facial hair, physical build, and/or potential age.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
For the most part you wouldn't need to convert that much. A few key NPCs and monsters at the end, use PF versions of the non-excluded monsters, you're good to go. If something's short on feats, KISS tosses on Toughness, the trio of saving throw feats and Improved Initiative (in that order, generally) and you're ready to go.
Having said all of that, I completely get where you're coming from.
One word: Herolab.
Conversion is a snap with this program. I use it for conversion, buffing and everything else.
I'm running COTCT and decided to make Davalus a 4/3/3 bard/rogue/kineticist. It was an awesome fight.
Back to OP.
Mummy's Mask.
But I admit to bias as I am currently running two groups through Mummy's Mask and have experienced copious PC deaths...
I allowed 25pt buys for both and between two groups (one group of veteran player optimized builds now 10th level, the other not-so-optimized players at 2nd level) there have been a grand total of 13 deaths, mostly from the optimized party because they had been playing longer, but the 2nd level party had two TPK's.
The very first trap in Mummy's Mask has as DC20 to spot (PC's at 1st level) and can TPK a max-HP party pretty easily if they are not careful.
Serpent's Skull is the only Pathfinder adventure I've had a TPK in.
Although that was mostly that dominate person can be brutal.
We've had some pretty close scrapes in Wrath of the Righteous. Mythic can make things swingy, but also make you more durable. I hear it gets easier near the end, but we haven't gotten that far yet.
I'm going to agree 100% with this.
Having played most of the APs through books 1-3, and RotRL, CC, SS, JR and Kingmaker all the way til the end. I find that Serpent's Skull has given my players (and myself as a player in 2 different games) the hardest time overall.
Especially the last fight in the first book. If the players rush to it, which they very well can, she will destroy them.