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I've read through this a couple times and it sounds pretty awesome. Good work!
I have one question so far:
"These carrion golems carry filth fever, as is typical for carrion golems."
However, the 3-4 statblock has an ability that reads:
Spray of Gore (Su): When a carrion golem is destroyed, its innards explode in a hot spray from the gap where its head should rest. Anyone within a 30-foot cone takes 3d6 points of fire damage (Reflex DC 14 half). This ability replaces the Plague Carrier ability.
As far as I can tell, the Plague Carrier ability just means that the golems spread a disease--usually filth fever. How should we handle this? Should we treat the golems as diseased, or not?
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Author here
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One thing I haven't been able to make complete sense of yet...
The ornate boxes are filled with relics of Jujanil’s past lives. Several of these items are infused with psychic significance; the PCs can attune themselves to these items to make them more powerful. Such items are each marked with an asterisk (*) in the list below. The Rewards section of this encounter does not include the full value of these enhanced items, but their costs and the benefits of becoming attuned to these items are listed on the Chronicle sheet for this scenario.
What exactly is meant by this? I see (and like!) the alternate payment methods on the chronicle sheet, but this sounds Occult-Adventures-y and I'm not seeing any rules that particularly apply to it other than the alternate costs.
My inclination is to tell the PCs that Sharaheen is willing to help them attune themselves to these relics if they're willing to take the time to stay and train with her. Was there some additional detail I'm missing somewhere?
Assistant Developer
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Page 11: What Larcifer said. The ability that says it replaces another ability should replace the ability it says it replaces.
** spoiler omitted **
One thing I haven't been able to make complete sense of yet...
** spoiler omitted **
The specifics of how attuning the items works are not included in the scenario, so you are welcome to fill in details as you see fit. If the PCs pay the costs listed on the Chronicle Sheet, they can purchase the items.
1) To establish the occult nature of the items
2) To provide a justification for severely breaking the wealth cap for the scenario
3) To keep GMs who may wish to run this scenario outside of a standard PFS context from getting hit with a sudden influx of treasure that breaks wealth-by-level expectations
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Page 11: What Larcifer said. The ability that says it replaces another ability should replace the ability it says it replaces.
** spoiler omitted **
One thing I haven't been able to make complete sense of yet...
** spoiler omitted **
The specifics of how attuning the items works are not included in the scenario, so you are welcome to fill in details as you see fit. If the PCs pay the costs listed on the Chronicle Sheet, they can purchase the items.
** spoiler omitted **
Thanks! Makes sense.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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I suspect, that it is only fair to give the players a chance, since the fingernail technique is a bit obtuse and deserves at least a chance for the players to avoid it. Asking the players for a perception check at the start of the scenario is a very neat idea. (Of course I am still going the do the long fingernail bit - my players actually assumed that the long fingernails where some kind of show of wealth).
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This might be intentional to motivate players to play the two scenarios with the same characters (which does crate the chance for some very nice RP moments), but the mechanical effects can be pretty devastating to the wrong party.
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I assume, that when yeti shakes the bridge, a failed strength check will deposit the character in the snow below, and that they are not in danger of falling into the water? The Reflex save is pretty clear, but shaken off could potentially mean worse.
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I really hope that GMs read the tactics properly, the "does not use defensive spells" bit is pretty critical. A yeti with mage armor and shield would be almost invite a TPK here, at least in low tier.
The yeti is also supposed to hide first, is there a stealth check involved here, or is he just so well hidden (behind the cover, maybe under the snow) that he is just assumed to succeed with a negative stealth modifier? If the whiteout is in effect, this might be a nonissue, but with the blessing in play, players could see him and trigger the encounter an invalidate tactics... which could end up very badly.
The beheaded swarm has the same space listed as a normal beheaded, but according to the swarm traits, it should be 10 ft. unless I am mistaken.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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In the first round of combat Sharaheen channels Rianon if Minkai, and acoording to her tactic either channels positive to harm undead or heal the group.
Does Sharaheen know that she can't directly affect Jujanil (like Dr. Who not messing with his past/future time streams) or does she only just learn it when she tries to harm her past incarnation.
It also mentions sickening the PCs but usually when you channel to harm undead, your party members don't get any healing, and blessing of Fumeiyoshi only triggers the sickened effect when a part member is actually healed.
So is this an exception, and when she channels to harm it actually sickens party members under that effect?
I like a lot of the formatting choices in this scenario, but some effects could have benefited from posting the entire effect, instead of "funtions as ability from level X class name".
Since psychic spellcasting does not require inexpensive material components, and it has special rules regarding the expensive ones, the eschew material feat actually does nothing.
Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane
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I am currently running this scenario and I noted the following for area A3:
The Glacial Rose was in this encounter but there were no Carrion Golems until B2. I ended up having one around the Glacial Rose's neck but I am curious if we forget the bypass of the doors in Area B1 or is there another option.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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How exactly are players supposed to learn, that they have to praise the local evil god when they try to deactivate the trap ?
The CMD of the possessed yeti does not seem to account for the changed BAB (since you keep your own BAB when you use the possession spell).
Since his BAB drops from 11 to 4 (in high tier) and his CMD drops accordingly.
Yetis also have a racial bonus to stealth checks (even better in the snow) the stat block does not list a stealth modifer sice Maty Ryuu does not have a rank in stealth.
The entire skill statblock seems to be copy pasted from the wizard and does not reflect the changes caused by the new body.
Since detecting the yeti can be quite critical for that encounter (see my post above), this is relevant.
The room for this encounter seems unnecessary big. While the monks might delay the group for a bit, unless she actually decides to fight from the ceiling. The "when surrounded or attacked from range" bit in her tactics triggers and she will waste 2 rounds of combat doing.
Of course like any combat with a mobile caster that slings confusion, hold person and bestow curse around can quickly swing one way or another depending on the saving throws involved.
The tactics have Jujanil cast close range spells, depending on the number of players coming through the portal, even if she immediately flies straight towards them from her throne, she should be out of reach unless the players are very large/have a higher initiative and run towards her.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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For the Jade animal, it's hinted at in the tapestry in the entrance to the tower. My players figured it out - it is a puzzle. There's also perception checks to notice the jade in the arcane circle and a few other hints.
Putting and or crushing the jade animal in the circle, that bit is pretty straightforward, but the praising is a bit obscure. My players found and disarmed the trap on their own though.
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Assistant Developer
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Since I'm playing this next weekend, trying to avoid the spoilers as much as possible. However, I understand that this involves one of the Serpent's Rise baddies. First, how does it affect the gameplay if the PC is not yet level 7, so technically the chronicle is not yet applied? Also, how much do you miss out on if you don't use the character with the 6-98 chronicle applied?
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I don't understand. Then what is the significance of
If at least one PC who played this adventure had the Acquainted with Aslynn boon, check box A on the reporting sheet.I was told that this scenario involves 322 in some form or fashion. The chronicle from 6-98 says,
Spoils of the Siege (322):If you bring this Chronicle Sheet to an adventure in which the Pathfinder Society deals with 322 or her schemes, you can qualify to receive a special boon at the end of the adventure to reflect 322’s increased resources.
I'm really trying not to spoil anything for myself and the other players, but the significance of playing a character with the 6-98 chronicle is unclear to me.
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Played over the weekend and the mechanics of the Yeti fight actually more than kind of miffed me. GM ran as written so I can't be frustrated with him, but I can the scenario. I disagree that the Blessing helps at all, as I had it, and being able to see my opponent didn't do anything other than make me realize I had to get across the bridge, which I couldn't do successfully, and resulted in spending the rest of the fight in the crevasse. The rest of the party would have had the same problem had they been able to see, but instead they didn't get to act first and spent the entire fight grappled anyway.
Worse though, I built a Dwarf using alternate racial traits as a "Mountain Dwarf", one that should have excelled in this situation. I took abilities that should have assisted on everything from the high altitude, the wind effects, and the ice on the bridge, but the way the encounter was written on the bridge and the roles required was actually contrary to the rules for Mountaineer, Rockstepper, and the like. Contrary as in these abilities don't rely on reflex saves, but rather acrobatics checks. So I again wound up the entire fight, where I should have for once (mountains don't come up much) felt like a true hero, and instead just kept rolling climb over and over.
I have other feelings about this scenario, but since the author is reading, I figured it would be worth mentioning at least.
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Hey Larry, thanks for responding.
I'll just copy/paste what got me frustrated.
Worse though, I built a Dwarf using alternate racial traits as a "Mountain Dwarf", one that should have excelled in this situation. I took abilities that should have assisted on everything from the high altitude, the wind effects, and the ice on the bridge, but the way the encounter was written on the bridge and the roles required was actually contrary to the rules for Mountaineer, Rockstepper, and the like. Contrary as in these abilities don't rely on reflex saves, but rather acrobatics checks.
I never once mentioned climb checks. My +10 climb simply meant that it took about 3 rounds to climb up (5' per round at 20' with a 25% chance of failing at least one check), which was plenty of time to get webbed. Really, that just meant that I just stayed there safe while the rest of the party died. That's not at all what I was complaining about. It's specifically the bridge and the checks required on the save, and the fact that a dwarf designed to function in icy/cold terrain per special abilities failed a reflex save on a 15 to move across the bridge because as written that's the check that was required. I should have felt special in that one circumstance, but due to rules as written, I felt just as worthless as everybody else that died.
I hear ya, sometimes the decision between a saving throw and a skill check is decided by what has been done in the past. I agree, your PC sounds like this is thier area to excel. So I can learn, what books did you use to make your PC, this might help me in the future when deciding between a skill check or a saving throw.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 8
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Alternate racial traits from the Advanced Race Guide. Mountaineer and rock stepper. At least those were the two mentioned.
EDIT: Though reading those two racial traits, they don't really apply to the bridge situation. Also the reference to wind effects may be the surface survivalist alternate racial trait, which also wouldn't affect the bridge since it only applies to wind effects when determining if you are checked or blown away.
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Alternate racial traits from the Advanced Race Guide. Mountaineer and rock stepper. At least those were the two mentioned.
EDIT: Though reading those two racial traits, they don't really apply to the bridge situation. Also the reference to wind effects may be the surface survivalist alternate racial trait, which also wouldn't affect the bridge since it only applies to wind effects when determining if you are checked or blown away.
The only thing that stands out to me is that the bridge could have been called out as requiring climb or acrobatics checks to cross, and as part of that, the PCs would have lost their dexterity bonus to AC while on the bridge. Given that the entire party is expected to cross that bridge, I think it was probably a good decision not to make it even more difficult than it could already be for an ill-equipped party.
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Our gm had the fireball destroy the bridge's ropes, so we couldn't get across. Only one player had played part one and could see, he had fallen. Half the party in the pit, half on the other side blind. Two party members killed when yeti kept throwing offensive spells until the lvl 7 warpriest climbed out of the ravine.
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That sounds like a frustrating fight. I'm sorry to hear about the character deaths. Strategically, it's actually not a bad outcome (from the party's point of view, anyway) to drain the wizard of spells in the initial encounter. He's supposed to treat the yeti as a throwaway body, which should have made him use reckless tactics and make the yeti easier to bring down. Unless you camp for the night after that encounter, Lord Mata is going to be missing whatever spells he cast through the yeti when you fight him later in the pagoda.
Mata Ryuu is high enough level to cause some serious trouble and he is actually willing to cast defensive spells on himself. If you had trouble with Glacial Rose, Lord Mata could have very well been strong enough to cause a TPK.
That said, he doesn't have a ton of offensive spells memorized by default. GMs have the opportunity to customize his spell list, which is nice, but I have to wonder just how many spells got swapped out versus your party. There's also the question of what spells were in his spellbook. I swapped indiscriminately, but realized after the scenario that he actually had a spellbook provided. (Nevermind that it didn't include teleport, which he clearly knows as per part 1 and presumably uses to get to and from the pagoda) It might be worth discussing whether it's fair for a GM to assume that Mata Ryuu can teleport home, memorize spells from another hypothetical spellbook, and teleport back, or if the expectation was that he could only use his given spellbook.
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I just want to say this:
I just prepped this to run this weekend and it's pretty clear that the author wants characters to die in this thing. HOLY CATS!!!!
As evidence:
1. Terrain and weather effects that, unless really prepared for, makes a relatively stand-up fight considerably more difficult and potentially deadly.
2. An undead mesmerist with one an incredibly powerful 1st level mesmerist spell, with a bunch of crazy special abilities.
3. Oh, and just for fun, a swarm (not a terribly powerful one, but you know, it's just another way to drain resources.)
I am REALLY looking forward to running this, but I gotta say, I'm planning now to how respond to the potential TPK that could be coming with an inexperienced or ill-prepared party.
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I just want to say this:
I just prepped this to run this weekend and it's pretty clear that the author wants characters to die in this thing. HOLY CATS!!!!
As evidence:
** spoiler omitted **I am REALLY looking forward to running this, but I gotta say, I'm planning now to how respond to the potential TPK that could be coming with an inexperienced or ill-prepared party.
I disagree, the fights were challenging but not that bad IMO. Part 1 (especially low-tier) had far more TPK potential with those breath weapons.
The out door fight can be pretty rough. Though honestly if the party avoids the bridge altogether it can make it a ton simpler.
The undead mesmerist is pretty good (especially when barbarians fail saves versus murderous command - then crits with a naginata - very dead rogue), but has way less TPK potential than part 1 did IMO, the additional monks really help the fight, but be sure to check ranges on spells a lot of her tactics require close range but she starts something like 100 ft away.
The swarm is Tiny sized (so not immune to weapon damage, just half) and has like 4 hp. Speed bump at best.
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Contributor
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Thoughts after playing a 4th-level Seoni:
-As the only one without a statue (due to being a pregen), I was pretty well useless outside.
-One of our party members got one-shotted by the multi-naginata trap. 53 damage was far too much for him to handle. On top of that, he was the only one who could use a bow... so that was it for the arrow of undead slaying plan.
-I had to look up the swarm subtype for our GM (to clarify the weapon damage thing).
-The conjurer and mesmerist both have absolutely ridiculous spell loadouts - somebody knows how to optimize a control caster.
-The story was fascinating. Jujanil's journal entry (after her failure) was chilling to hear described.
-The Chronicle was cool, and very flavorful.
I'm surprised my Seoni survived... and very, very glad we didn't play up. ^_^
(I really need a character of higher than 2nd level...)
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I hear ya, sometimes the decision between a saving throw and a skill check is decided by what has been done in the past. I agree, your PC sounds like this is thier area to excel. So I can learn, what books did you use to make your PC, this might help me in the future when deciding between a skill check or a saving throw.
I can't fault the GM for doing what he felt he had to, but likely I would have allowed specific to trump general. In other words, the dwarf would gave been able to Make the acrobatics check. Thoughts on this?
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I'm running this tomorrow, and just finished my final prep. Fortunately for me, my husband David bought the PDF of Occult Adventures when it came out. If he hadn't, I'm not sure how I would have coped, as OA is not yet on the PRD, making the BBEG very hard to otherwise fully prep. David has it loaded on his kindle, which will come with us tomorrow, in case I need to look anything up. I'm sure when this scenario was first planned everyone thought OA would be up by now, but in the future, please take product availability into consideration, as I would hate for a group to miss a proper run through due to a GM not having access to needed references for the scenario.
I had to read through this a few times to find all the significant info, as there's a lot happening in the various areas, and the important parts are scattered throughout (since they're relevant in numerous places). This seems like a scenario that should never be run cold, as there's a high chance of missing something that can make or break the victory. That said, this looks like a fun, but potentially very deadly, scenario, and I'm curious to see how my group does!
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For people who don't have access to Occult Adventures while prepping this, all of the content is available on Archives of Nethys. I agree that it would be ideal if it were on the PRD already, but Archives of Nethys is good enough for prepping PFS (as the GM).
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Venture-Captain, Massachusetts—Boston Metro
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For people who don't have access to Occult Adventures while prepping this, all of the content is available on Archives of Nethys. I agree that it would be ideal if it were on the PRD already, but Archives of Nethys is good enough for prepping PFS (as the GM).
I can't find all the relevant mechanics that you need to run it though so even then that isn't an ideal resource. Like the most relevant thing that did come up was emotion and thought components which even I screwed up trying to help the DM.
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Is there anything else missing than emotion/thought components? (Emotion's not going to be relevant since the only psychic caster is immune to those harmful components because she's undead.)
(It's become obvious to me that this scenario needs the helper gm document like I'm used to creating anyway.)
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I HAVE Occult Adventures and this thing took me forever to prep. It's a good scenario, but so many moving parts in it (and in Part 1, as well.)
Like James, I make my own sort of "cheat sheet" (I hate having to open books at the table, so I put everything I need into combat sheets for an encounter, so all the rules, spells, mechanics I need are right there.) It wasn't an easy one, that's for sure.
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Venture-Captain, Massachusetts—Boston Metro
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Is there anything else missing than emotion/thought components? (Emotion's not going to be relevant since the only psychic caster is immune to those harmful components because she's undead.)
(It's become obvious to me that this scenario needs the helper gm document like I'm used to creating anyway.)
Its best to include emotional components because hell even for me as a player I have no clue when and in what ways I can use Psychic Inception or if I ever play one the Psychic with their one phrenic amplification.
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Re-reading the scenario it specifies that the PC's appear within 10' of the eastern wall so it seems Jujanils tactics are invalid form the start.
Also, the secondary success condition says
** spoiler omitted **
I ran it as the first alternate option, myself.
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I ran this yesterday at low tier, and an important thing to note for running the BBEG, is that concentration checks are different for psychic spells (which I did not know until a player at my table with [funnily enough] a mesmerist told me). We had an arcanist occultist who summoned 2 air elementals and 3 celestial eagles, all of which surrounded her before she could get more than halfway to the party (as close as she could get in one round, following her tactics of also casting a spell, which still isn't close enough to use her stare). On top of that, the cleric cast spiritual weapon and set it right above her head, leaving her little room to maneuver. She was grappled and pinned within 3 rounds (she couldn't make her concentration checks, attack rolls, or escape checks to save her life, even though I was rolling average), and dead by the end of round 4. My party had more trouble with Rose and Ryuu (they made sure to do nonlethal to both, since they made the sense motive on Rose, and remembered the elf from part 1) than Jujanil.
If I hadn't done as much prep as I did, I would have been lost running this. I remembered all the moving parts except for the mirror trick on the one monk, which wouldn't have changed anything except buy him one more round of flailing ineffectively (they really did try to bring down Sharaheen, but her AC was beyond them), since the party was pretty much able to one-shot them. Honestly, my group didn't need the extra help, and I think it made that last fight too easy for them. However, I think for a group that's struggling, all the various info/help throughout the scenario will be the difference between victory and a TPK, but it's so scattered throughout that an ill-prepared GM could accidentally kill the party.
All in all, the players seemed to have fun, though they were a little frustrated by the ritual with the jade hare and circle, since praising Fumeiyoshi isn't instinctive (but they were determined to figure it out). Though some of the things they came up with to say while smashing that bunny... :)
