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Hello everyone. I’ve been playing Pathfinder for a little over a two years; mainly GMing it, but I didn’t discover the wonderful forums until about a year ago. I have read plenty of wonderful discussions and also been clued into so many different 3PP products I have come to love.
To date I have home brewed every adventure I have put my players through, though a friend of mine is GMing Rise of the Runelords for us. Just a session into it and I can tell definitely that these wonderful APs would really help me provide a better experience.
With all the wonderful inspiration I have gotten from reading through the forums, I wanted to provide some little bit of my own content to hopefully help others. This is a chase scene I designed that my players loved. Like many GMs, if my players loved it, I felt wonderful that my imagination was able to provide an engaging encounter. I will say that it took me 5 hours to fully pin down all the details on this, and it only lasted 10 minutes to run through. That experience has given me a much greater respect for developers and designers in this field.
CHASE SCENE:
Setting: A city is being evacuated to save as many people from a host of Proteans being led by a Protean Lord. The section of the city the PCs happen to be in is a slum with destroyed/condemned buildings, debris strewn streets, and clogged sewer. To further complicate matters a hurricane is approaching, so high winds and driving rain are making some checks a little harder to beat than normal. The PCs are here to secure an artifact not rescue civilians.
PCs: Four Gestalt Lvl. 4
Pursuers: 3 Naunets [Reason: Flying enemies with dimension door at will seem like good enemies to use. They are much tougher than the PCs, so they would hesitate to stop and fight.
Rules: I followed the normal rules for chase scenes with the added rule that is everyone going a certain path all passed the check on the first try, something would happen to a pursuer to give them a slight buffer between a failed roll and an angry Naunet. Also, rather than a linear path with two checks, I made multiple paths with multiple checks to determine which obstacles they faced, and where they went. I kept most of the DCs low enough so that the less physically gifted PCs could advance, as well as some only needing one PC to accomplish to allow passage for others.
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Start:
Street #1
A debris covered street flanked by buildings, Naunets appear one at a time on the rooftops. [As soon as the third appeared, everyone said “RUN” at the same time]
Path 1: Run down the debris covered street, slick with rain.
Check: Acrobatics (15)
Destination: Street #2
Path 2: Spot a partially covered doorway to get off the street.
Check: Perception DC (10)
Destination: First Building Ground Floor
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Part I:
Street #2
As they dash down the street they turn a corner and come to a jam created from abandoned belongings and partially collapsed buildings
Path 1: Slide and crawl under the rubble blocking the street.
Check: Escape Artist (15)
Destination: Street #2
Path 2: Climb over the debris.
Check: Climb (15)
Destination: Alley #1
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First Building Ground Floor
Heading into the building reveals a remarkably intact ground floor room.
Path 1: Jump out the window to the alley
Check: Acrobatics (15)
Destination: Alley #1
Path 2: Squeeze pass collapsed wall and head upstairs.
Check: Escape Artist (10)
Destination: Balcony
Path 3: Break through the door to the side, and head to the basement.
Check: Strength (13)
Destination: Basement
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Part II:
Alley #1
After the rubble and debris, the street becomes impassable. Turning down an alley is the only option.
Path 1: Slip under the wall, through a small broken section.
Check: Escape Artist (15)
Destination: Alley #2
Path 2: Use piled up barrels to climb over the wall.
Check: Climb (20)
Destination: Alley #2
Path 3: Spot a sewer drain that is covered with wooden planks
Check: Perception (15)
Destination: Sewer #1
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Balcony
Overlooking the back alley with a partially broken ladder leading to the roof
Path 1: Climb to the Roof
Check: Climb (15)
Destination: Roof #1
Path 2: Leap to the far alley
Check: Acrobatics (15)
Destination: Alley #2
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Basement
It is a dark basement with an unstable wall in the back, and a terrible stench emanating from something on the other side of the wall.
Path 1: Push through the wall
Check: Strength (15)
Destination: Sewer #1
Path 2: Spot a gap in the wall near the corner
Check: Perception (20)
Destination: Sewer #1
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Part III:
Alley #2
No openings on the lowest level lead into the building.
Path 1: Climb ladder all the way to the roof
Check: Climb (10)
Destination: Roof #2
Path 2: Jump off of crates to get to the balcony and head inside the building.
Check: Acrobatics (15)
Destination: Second Building Second Floor
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Roof #1
The rooftop is bare with only a narrow footpath leading to the adjoining building and a collapsed corner.
Path 1: Run across narrow ledge
Check: Acrobatics (20)
Destination: Roof #2
Path 2: Slide down section of collapsed roof and leap to the balcony on the second floor.
Check: Dexterity (13)
Destination: Second Building Second Floor
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Sewer #1
A stinking sewer clogged with debris.
Path 1: Balance across large debris to the other side.
Check: Acrobatics (15)
Destination: Sewer #2
Path 2: Wade through the sewage to the other side.
Check: Fort Save (13)
Destination: Sewer #2
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Part IV:
Second Building Second Floor
A whole level of a building nearly collapsed to the floors below.
Path 1: Spot a ladder that can be used to descend.
Check: Perception (15)
Destination: END
Path 2: Climb down broken ledges.
Check: Climb (20)
Destination: END
*A pursuing Naunet smashes through a weak pillar as it tries to bite you. The resulting damage to the structure causes the above floor to collapse, crushing and killing the Naunet*
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Roof #2
A bare roof with the exception of some wood piled in the center of the roof.
Path 1: Break weak roof section.
Check: Strength (12)
Destination: END
Path 2: Spot a large drain in the center of the roof leading to the sewer depth.
Check: Perception (20)
Destination: END
*Pursuers dimension door down into the building to assault you. Their attacks weaken the already fragile structure and cause it to collapse, killing them*
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Sewer #2
Same sewer as before, but this time a weak wall must be overcome.
Path 1: Break through the wall.
Check: Strength (15)
Destination: END
Path 2: Slip between cracks in the weak wall
Check: Escape Artist (20)
Destination: END
*As the wall breaks, the Naunet lunged after the PC to get crushed*
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I included a narrative death to the pursuers, though I bet more clever individuals could devise something better. I did give the PCs a chance to square off against a Naunet later to get some revenge. They had a good time with it, hopefully someone else can use this mental labor of love to have some good times.
Coming up with the different routes to take was a little difficult, but it was very rewarding. Oddly enough the PCs went in very different routes than what I thought they would take.
They made it through without too much trouble though. It at least provided a memorable event before they hit 5th level.