Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant
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Looking back at that series of skill checks, I am 100% on board with having the PCs move on to the next part of the adventure after failing three of those Knowledge (dungeoneering)/Survival checks. That hurts them, but it at least gets people back into the action. If they want to call in spellcasting services before then, I'd also be fine with that.
I guess I read it wrong when I was running it for my table. I read it as three checks and if they failed by enough they ran into a trap, not that they needed to succeed three times. They only had like +7 after aids for survival so there was no possible way they were making the check. I had them run into the traps three times and progressed to the next area.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Looking back at that series of skill checks, I am 100% on board with having the PCs move on to the next part of the adventure after failing three of those Knowledge (dungeoneering)/Survival checks. That hurts them, but it at least gets people back into the action. If they want to call in spellcasting services before then, I'd also be fine with that.
Very much appreciated, that puts that particular challenge in line with similar encounters that just deal damage and don't pose as a permanent roadblock if the party lacks a particular subset of skills.
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As a separate issue, how are we supposed to deal with access to spellcasting during the special?
Our master of spells describes the "support" network like this:
"Everyone should have received a package
of supplies to assist in managing these hazards. While the
gateway should remain stable, a contingent of conjurers is
staying here to monitor it, and additional teams are on standby
to provide escape routes to extradimensional shelters in case
of complications. "
So is it reasonable for players to purchase spellcasting services from their fellow NPC pathfinders during this event ?
I ask, cause the scenario has quite a number of negative effects, where magic items have a really hard time to dealing with (curses, cursed wounds), and a scenario like this can be really draining when it comes to player resources so allowing player to buy spellcasting services at the usual cost (without any PP or GP markup).
The case for allowing access to spellcasting in this fashion only to deal with conditions is better, than for buying buffs like heroism and similar spells, but considering that area transitions cost a lot of time so I am not that worried.
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Of course, the elemental manifestation question still needs an answer (when those events happen).
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Normally the 5PP roaming charge is because you need service far away from established support networks. This time there's a massive Society effort underway past a portal right next to the HQ city. I'd be comfortable waiving the 5PP markup. Although I'd perhaps have the PCs spend time as if traveling to a different area just to rendezvous with a caster.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Giving this a slight bump, I am a bit uncertain if Elemental Manifestations happened at Gencon, but I have heard from at least one convention where they weren't used (since we currently lack the information when they trigger).
Some clarification on this point would be very much appreciated.
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I just took a WAG at it based on what the frequency seemed to be at GenCon (the first one triggered before any districts were claimed) and decided to have them occur each time a district reached a number of successes equal to multiple of 1/2 the number of tables. (1/2, 1, 1-1/2, 2, etc.) You may want to cut back on that if it seems to be distracted too much from the encounters.
If anyone has gotten the tracking/display program yet, you might be able to reverse engineer it - I seem to recall there was some sort of flag when one occurred at GenCon.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Okay, I have an unconventional request.
We're organizing a Con to run this special in the Netherlands in two weeks. Reading through the scenario, it doesn't really have a "message plan" for communicating the backstory to the players. Most players will have no idea who the Elemental Lords are or why they should give a damn about them. Which is a shame, because that causes the epic premise - liberating a demigod! - to fall flat out of the sky.
We've hit on a couple of things to try to convey the backstory to the players. One is to circulate copies of the "Inaugural Address" of Sorrina when (re)instated as Master of Spells just before running the Special. We want to seed that with some background info to soften the earth a bit. And add in some unrelated text as well, to make sure it isn't too glaringly obvious. So I want to look forward a bit on this season's objectives and look back at the past season.
Now, I haven't played all of last season (yet), and there are two elephants in the room that should be mentioned in the speech somehow. And I'm talking from Sorrina's perspective. I would prefer no spoilers though, so please help me out with minimal answers only (PM/spoiler tags);
1) After the events of Abducted in Aether, does Sorrina think she'll be Interim Master of Spells for an extended time?
2) After the events of All for Immortality, Ageless Ambitions and Serpents' Ire, does it look to her like the "hot war" between Society and Korholm is over?
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4
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Some of the language I tried to use in the adventure was intended to play up the involvement of the elemental lords. It can be lost a bit in all the other stuff going on, but I was hoping to encourage a sense that the elements themselves were hostile, with the rocks twisting around with malice while people climbed or the cold from the ice aggressively seeping through clothing, but the wind is always described as interacting in a very friendly way with the PCs even when it's howling. Table GMs could expand on that to foster more of a sense of the elemental conflict occurring around the pathfinders.
A number of the NPCs the pathfinders encounter can also provide information, such as the rebels or the enslaved, and some of the hostiles could be prone to monologues [the G1 encounter springs to mind] and revealing threats to toss some additional information in there.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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I like the scope and premise of the scenario a lot, but because it's so big, I feel a need for a bit more of a "message plan" on how to communicate it to the players. A lot of the possibilities are there, but exploiting them can benefit from some GM forethought. Because otherwise I fear that in the rush of all the encounters, it can be hard for the GM to squeeze in some coherent plot exposition.
Another avenue I'm working on is to create small handouts with some in-character information to give to the players whenever they complete one of the clue encounters; a different piece of the puzzle for each clue encounter. Most likely we'll have a break before the third part of the adventure, and tables should have a chance to compare notes and see some of the bigger picture emerging.
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Venture-Agent, Georgia—Atlanta
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So... I'm curious...
If a PC was able to extract the Spaceship from the surface of the asteroid, and had access to Make Whole, Greater Make Whole, Recharge, Technologist feat, etc.
Would it be possible for said PC to make the ship space-worthy again?
That would be a nice segue to Starfinder.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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I like the scope and premise of the scenario a lot, but because it's so big, I feel a need for a bit more of a "message plan" on how to communicate it to the players. A lot of the possibilities are there, but exploiting them can benefit from some GM forethought. Because otherwise I fear that in the rush of all the encounters, it can be hard for the GM to squeeze in some coherent plot exposition.
Another avenue I'm working on is to create small handouts with some in-character information to give to the players whenever they complete one of the clue encounters; a different piece of the puzzle for each clue encounter. Most likely we'll have a break before the third part of the adventure, and tables should have a chance to compare notes and see some of the bigger picture emerging.
There are at least 2 NPCs that should know quite a lot and can/will talk about it.. and they can even be talked into granting aid ^^
So GMs might want to steer their groups towards them (some kind of handout or decided who is disseminating what information is a neat idea though ) ^^
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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I was focusing on the clue-granting encounters; those two NPCs are among that set and the ones that seem best informed (and actually have names).
They more I think about it, the better your idea sounds. We currently plan a break in the middle of the event (so everybody can drink/eat/use the toilet, that might be a good chance for the players to socialize.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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I was focusing on the clue-granting encounters; those two NPCs are among that set and the ones that seem best informed (and actually have names).They more I think about it, the better your idea sounds. We currently plan a break in the middle of the event (so everybody can drink/eat/use the toilet, that might be a good chance for the players to socialize.
Ideally, when Sorrina announces what's supposed to be in the Opal, players will feel that the clues they gathered helped her come to that conclusion.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Another thing: I was Pirate Rob's amazing cheat sheets and noticed the following, which he got from the scenario appendix:
PLANETARY ADAPTATION, MASS
(snip)
Planetary adaptation grants the targets immunity to the
harmful environmental effects of a particular world on the
Material Plane, including such hazards as toxicity, extreme
temperatures, and lack of air. Additionally, you gain energy
resistance 20 to a single energy type prevalent on that world
(choose one if more than one type is equally prevalent). For
the purpose of this adventure, planetary adaptation grants
no energy resistance but does protect the recipient from
environmental temperature extremes, the vacuum of space,
and damage dealt by radioactivity.
So it protects from:
- temperature extremes (but the PCs got an Endure Elements potion each, which takes care of most of that)
- vacuum (never happens)
- radioactivity (happens in Earth as a HP sink)
Radioactivity is also the plot wall that keeps people from running into the Vault ahead of schedule. But this spell would negate that?
So what's the idea here? I get that granting constant fire resistance 20 would trivialize some encounters, but right now what does the spell do except cost PP?
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Concerning the circles:
Breaking the Circles: Between combats, a PC can
choose to damage one of the five magic gemstone circles.
If a PC succeeds at an Average Knowledge (arcana or
planes) check, he can identify the two basic properties of
the warding circles, and if his checks meets or exceeds
the Hard skill check DC, he also identifies the basic
properties of the other three circles. If the PCs do not
identify the circles, they must damage the circles at
random. Each circle has hardness equal to 5 + the APL,
has hit points equal to 5 + twice the APL, and takes half
damage from energy effects (except sonic, which deals
full damage).
In between combat encounters, a PC can perform 1
round of actions to damage one of the circles. As a full-
round action, a PC can also attempt an Average Disable
Device check to deal damage to a circle equal to half its
maximum hit points; if the PC exceeds the check DC by
5 or more, he instead deals damage equal to the circle’s
maximum hit points. A circle is destroyed entirely if
reduced to 0 or fewer hit points.
Is the Disable Device check subject to Hardness?
If it doesn't, then a Hard DD check destroys a circle instantly.
If it does, then on some tiers the Average success can't get through the Hardness. For example, on APL 5.5 it has hardness 10 and a successful check does 8 damage.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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Preparing this for SkalCon and I have a few questions.
This is my first attempt to run a table of any special. I've played in two multi-table specials before this, but it is very different on this side of the screen.
On to my questions:
Pg. 8 "The fortress’s defenses ward against teleportation further into the complex."
Do those wards interfere with short range teleportation effects such as Dimension Door or Dimensional Slide?
Pg. 10 High/Low Gravity
Does this have any effect on encumbrance? It says it changes what you can lift.
Can people get into areas E/G/H via linear path, or must they wait for the areas to show as discovered?
Pg. 16 B1. Descent
Feather Fall can target multiple people. Can they use it here to get multiple people past the hazard?
Pg. 16, Runes
Does it take three rounds (like normal) to do the identify via Detect Magic?
Pg. 39 G2
Why is there a map for this area? I don't see anything requiring placement of miniatures.
Pg. 43 H1
Does Glide (via tengu alternate racial trait, or other similar means) count as Fly for this purpose? The spell does not last long enough, so that doesn't matter. Should there be circumstance modifiers on the Fly check for the Tengu ability?
Pg. 47 Solving the Orb
Does Comprehend Languages give a benefit?
Thanks for any insight people can provide on these.
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Pg 8 - The implication from the surrounding text is that it only applies to going further into the complex, so short range teleportation should be fine.
Pg 10 - The gravity may have an effect on encumbrance, but if it does it's really not worth the time it would be to check it in the middle of a special, especially since the PCs spend most of their time in low gravity which would allow them to carry more.
Players cannot enter an area until it has been discovered, even if they are at the end of a particular path.
Pg 16 Descent - I would allow it. The limitation on other people is there to prevent a PC from bringing a check down from Average to Easy while also floating down, not to stop people from casting spells on their allies.
Runes - I'd assume that it would take 3 rounds as normal.
Pg 39 - I don't know. I didn't use it when I ran that encounter.
Pg 43 - Given that the Tengu alternate racial trait references feather fall, I would use the same rules from the scenario here.
Pg 47 - Yes, comprehend languages is one way of reading and understanding those 5 languages.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4
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I think I can try to answer some of these questions. Usual caveats that development has final say on anything.
Preparing this for SkalCon and I have a few questions.
questions and answers:This is my first attempt to run a table of any special. I've played in two multi-table specials before this, but it is very different on this side of the screen.On to my questions:
Pg. 8 "The fortress’s defenses ward against teleportation further into the complex."
Do those wards interfere with short range teleportation effects such as Dimension Door or Dimensional Slide?
Answer: I don't believe so. The wards are intended to prevent jumping to areas currently off limits, not prevent tactical movement within a combat.
Pg. 10 High/Low Gravity
Does this have any effect on encumbrance? It says it changes what you can lift.
Answer: Everything is heavier or lighter based on the multiplier is my understanding. "Creatures in a region of high gravity weigh twice as much..." I think this may be abstracted out to the move at half speed and other modifiers in high gravity since the rule doesn't explicitly also mention encumbrance, but I'm not completely sure.
Can people get into areas E/G/H via linear path, or must they wait for the areas to show as discovered?
Answer: I believe an area cannot be accessed while it is "Undiscovered" even on a linear path, but I'm not absolutely sure.
Pg. 16 B1. Descent
Feather Fall can target multiple people. Can they use it here to get multiple people past the hazard?Answer: I don't see any reason why not.
Pg. 16, Runes
Does it take three rounds (like normal) to do the identify via Detect Magic?Answer: I think it works as normal.
Pg. 39 G2
Why is there a map for this area? I don't see anything requiring placement of miniatures.Answer: I believe the same area is used for G3, where combat can occur. Also, the haunt in G2 effects a 30 ft wide swath, so placement could matter.
Pg. 43 H1
Does Glide (via tengu alternate racial trait, or other similar means) count as Fly for this purpose? The spell does not last long enough, so that doesn't matter. Should there be circumstance modifiers on the Fly check for the Tengu ability?Answer: I think if they can make the Fly skill check for lateral movement it might be sufficient to avoid the flying debris. Just the feather fall mode wouldn't be sufficient. I'm not absolutely sure but it seems reasonable.
Also, just an aside to this, the rocks crashing into people is I believe from trying to drop off the rope all the way directly to the fortress, skipping the H1 encounter, not for dropping the 15 ft onto the floating island.
Pg. 47 Solving the Orb
Does Comprehend Languages give a benefit?Answer: The PCs can get a cumulative bonus for reading and understanding each of the four different elemental languages and Abyssal. My understanding would be that Comprehend Languages would let you get the bonus without needing to know the languages for the duration of the spell.
Thanks for any insight people can provide on these.
I hope that helps. Sorry I can't provide more surety in my info.
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Questions!
Pg. 8 "The fortress’s defenses ward against teleportation further into the complex."
Do those wards interfere with short range teleportation effects such as Dimension Door or Dimensional Slide?
I'd let short-range go. It's not going to "break" the scenario by bypassing an area that isn't yet open.
Pg. 10 High/Low Gravity
Does this have any effect on encumbrance? It says it changes what you can lift.
Yes, but... It only matters if an earth event happens to a party in an earth area. I'd just do it quickly by asking each of the (non-strength-based) characters what their total carried weight and light load weight is. If they don't know, just say "OK, assume you are encumbered into medium load while this crushing gravity persists. It seems to be just a temporary spike."
Can people get into areas E/G/H via linear path, or must they wait for the areas to show as discovered?
They have to wait for the discovery. Don't forget the "anywhere" encounters, and feel free to encourage them to help in other areas.
Pg. 16 B1. Descent
Feather Fall can target multiple people. Can they use it here to get multiple people past the hazard?
Could go either way. The problem is that the spell ends if you touch the ground and I read this as a steep slope, not a vertical descent. Feather fall would be smoothing away possible errors rather than getting you all the way down. Your call, I'd probably allow it for new/lower players but not at high tier.
Pg. 16, Runes
Does it take three rounds (like normal) to do the identify via Detect Magic?
Yeah, but I don't see many groups taking that long. Make sure to offer the Sense Motive and Knowledge checks first.
Pg. 39 G2
Why is there a map for this area? I don't see anything requiring placement of miniatures.
The 30' wide swath. Characters who can act in the surprise round but have no way of dealing with a haunt may want to try to run away. Various other abilities may have range limitations. Some GMs and players will be fine running this without a map but others want to see something.
Pg. 43 H1
Does Glide (via tengu alternate racial trait, or other similar means) count as Fly for this purpose? The spell does not last long enough, so that doesn't matter. Should there be circumstance modifiers on the Fly check for the Tengu ability?
If you're talking about ignoring the rock and making a dive for the fortress, I'd say "yes" to it counting as fly and "no" to needing circumstance modifiers (there's no check to make).
Pg. 47 Solving the Orb
Does Comprehend Languages give a benefit?
Yes. This is exactly what the spell is intended to do. +5 for understanding all the languages.
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4
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Ok, I'm having a minor issue with area D2, pg 27-29
** spoiler omitted **
Hahaha.. having that table conversation seems like reason enough. :)
That said, Sorrina mentions the area as having potentially "incredible secrets" in its own right, setting up those who travel to area D to investigate it for its own sake as much as for a way deeper into the interior. So if you're looking for more of an in-game way to justify the encounter, have them be reminded of that.
Successfully completing that encounter is also an early way to impart some of the back story of what's going on since they can have some questions answered as part of the clue they receive.
Hope that helps!
Regional Venture-Coordinator, Baltic
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Has there been an answer as to how many successes are required for an elemental manifestation to happen?
At a recent convention we did one elemental manifestation at 25% (Fire) of total # required, one at 50% (Earth) and one at 75% (Water). This way they were spread out a bit. (As there is enough happening already, you really don't need more than one of each.)
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Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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Ran this at SkalCon. My table was for Tier 5-6. This was my first time being a table GM for a special and I had only played two previous specials: Blood under Absalom and Siege of Serpents.
I do not know what I would have done without the excellent work that iammars and others put out on pfsprep.
When I got there, I had all my miniatures picked out, maps in the order they were most likely to be encountered, flip maps all set up so I laid them out in the same order (left to right, then down a row and left to right), sticky tabs on various printed pages so I could find them quickly, and annotations on the PDF of the Tier 5-6 materials for the battles.
Printouts I had included the condition cards, all of iammars GM and player handouts, my own handouts for any treasure caches and the two big Sorrina speeches (in case it was hard to hear them), and a copy for each player of the equipment given them along with the description of Planetary Adaptation with strikethrough on the parts that didn't apply for this scenario. Oh, and a printout for the characters of the Water Ally they could summon if they made friends.
We communicated successes via phone text messages. This seemed to work pretty well. They came around our tables to ask about clues before we had cleared the first battle of Part 3.
Overall, it seemed to go alright although I really had trouble with the puzzle at the end. Time was called before they had even done the first part of the puzzle, but since I had a mostly melee group that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Things I would do if I ran it again:
Clearly communicate to the group each time they did something that gave a success or clue. It wasn't until someone asked me about my texting in the middle of the game that I realized I hadn't explained that. Once I explained, the whole table was much more happy.
Write a script for Janira (the NPC I used as their contact) describing in character the three areas. Break even more out of character to lay out their three options. Much too much time was spent on that decision.
Try to find even more ways to run the combats efficiently.
Study the puzzle more, try to bring it out so that the players understand it and I can run it without pause.
Build an NPC codex to help me keep the names straight. It wouldn't be very big, but it would have the names of the various leaders for the areas -- Fahaz, Zhaleh, Ayrzul, etc. I'm generally pretty bad with names, other people may not need this sort of thing.
I had a printed copy of the asteroid map with labels. I think I needed something a little larger though, make it very obvious what the layout was.
Things that I think went alright:
Having NPC merchants running around in Part I saying things like "Get your potions of Resist Energy here! Wands, Wands! I have wands of Cure Light Wounds, Air Bubble, and other spells! Get them here!" This made it clear that they could pick stuff up after the knowledge checks and prodded them to think about their own equipment.
Telling them that support personal were using Message cantrip to keep contact and coordinate. This explains why someone like Janira wasn't right there with them, she had to support multiple groups and keep lines of contact open with command as well.
My group went water route. I used the contact with the Oracle of Iovo (which they managed to stabilize) to explain some of the background. Biggest question was still "Who is doing what?". I think I probably should have gone deeper into it here though -- this and Forest of Exiles were great places to info dump and I should have made more use of that.
Hitching a Ride. I think this is probably something that the group best understood of what was going on.
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Things I didn't like about the scenario:
I thought that the skill DCs (especially for Easy) were too high. I think something closer to 12 + level/3 or level/4 would be more in line. The hard DCs are something that only a specialist with max ranks, a good attribute bonus or skill focus could really do. Average was doable by someone who specialized in that skill. Easy at the high tiers still required nearly max skill ranks, especially if it wasn't a class skill or you didn't have an attribute boost.
I would have rather allowed them every choice on the chronicle rather than having it based on what areas the group adventured in. I hated having to cross off the Fire choice on my player's chronicles. I could see crossing it off for the whole house if there were not enough successes in an element, but don't do boons based on where that group went.
Pathfinders are supposed to cooperate. Having boons based on what an individual did rather than the whole house goes against that principle.
I'm hoping my taking the time to write up my experiences will help the next person who runs this.
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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Things I didn't like about the scenario:
I thought that the skill DCs (especially for Easy) were too high. I think something closer to 12 + level/3 or level/4 would be more in line. The hard DCs are something that only a specialist with max ranks, a good attribute bonus or skill focus could really do. Average was doable by someone who specialized in that skill. Easy at the high tiers still required nearly max skill ranks, especially if it wasn't a class skill or you didn't have an attribute boost.
I would have rather allowed them every choice on the chronicle rather than having it based on what areas the group adventured in. I hated having to cross off the Fire choice on my player's chronicles. I could see crossing it off for the whole house if there were not enough successes in an element, but don't do boons based on where that group went.
Pathfinders are supposed to cooperate. Having boons based on what an individual did rather than the whole house goes against that principle.
I'm hoping my taking the time to write up my experiences will help the next person who runs this.
Really? Skill checks too hard? I had the opposite, and I ran the same tier. People yawned their way through every Average DC, and only failed the Hard DCs if they rolled really low. Now, most checks were for Knowledge or Spellcraft and such, so pretty much only INT-casters will have a surefire way of beating them, but let's take a look:
A Wizard or Witch will probably start out with an INT of 18 or 20, and will probably have a Headband of INT +2 by this point. One rank and class skill already give a +4. Add their modifiers for another +4 (or +5, maybe even +6). With a single rank, they have at the very least a +8 on their rolls. Most people will want to max out their Knowledges or Spellcraft, so at level 5 that's another 4 ranks in most of these. So a level 5 maxed rank, max INT character will a +13 or +14 (maybe even higher with buffs) on Spellcraft. Considering the DCs at this level are 16, 20, or 24, if you have a decent Wizard or Witch in the party, you should on average (i.e. if you roll an 11) be able to make these checks. And the half-casters such as a Magus, Alchemist and Investigator who don't necessarily need a maxed out INT can have an INT of 16 or 18 by this point (headband), and with max ranks that's still a +11 or +12. Of course, this becomes much harder for people whose INT doesn't need to be that high, but those characters focus on other skills. I doubt a Cleric will ever make a Hard Knowledge: Nature check (excluding Knowledge domain), but they would probably ace a Heal check.Maybe it's just a matter of skewed perception of how hard skill checks should be, but IMHO an Easy check shouldn't be an auto-win for your average specialist. With Society you never know which classes will come to the table, but I think it's a very good possibility that someone will bring something with high knowledges. I'm torn on how to give decent skill DCs. If a Wizard can make a Hard Spellcraft check on a 15 on the die, that just means it's pretty much impossible for anyone else. On the other hand, if you make the checks for every check beatable for a take 10 for a nonproficient character for Easy, take 10 for someone who put a few ranks in it for Average, and take 10 for a specialist for Hard, the Wizard won't feel challenged at all. I think I'm more in favour of the first method, but using more common skills (or giving multiple options to choose from), so everyone has a shot at making it. The only problem is that specialists will make it most of the time, but at least you hope they won't be able to make different checks.
As for the variable boon: I see why you'd want that, but it's a boon tied to your character. It makes sense to me that although everyone else went to Fire, if you didn't, you weren't exposed to it and don't get the boon from it.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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Really? Skill checks too hard? I had the opposite, and I ran the same tier. People yawned their way through every Average DC, and only failed the Hard DCs if they rolled really low. Now, most checks were for Knowledge or Spellcraft and such, so pretty much only INT-casters will have a surefire way of beating them, but let's take a look:
A Wizard or Witch will probably start out with an INT of 18 or 20,..
How did the witch or wizard do on the easy climb checks? How do you think they would have done at tier 7-8? By the time they make tier 10-11, how many clerics would be making average Know(Religion) checks even with max ranks?
I am not saying it isn't easy for a specialist that took that skill. I am saying some of the checks marked for easy had to be done by everyone and not everyone would be a specialist in that skill.
Climb is a skill that few people specialize in. It was almost required in the crater, and one of the options at the end of hitching a ride. There is also the potential Acro check at Pitfalls if they fail to deal with the haunt. That is an average check at a -2 penalty for the ice. How did the witches, wizards, and people in heavy armor do there? Acrobatics is generally considered much more useful, but I am guessing there were party's who failed to diffuse that haunt (my party did diffuse it) where those checks had to be made.
An average check that everyone has to make will most likely cause some people to fail. An easy check for a non-specialist in a less valuable skill is going to cause more people to fail.
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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With the Acrobatics at the haunt, they all had either good Will saves or good Acrobatics due to high Dexterity. In the end, no one fell into the gap, but I can imagine Fighters failing them. But even then, they're minor inconveniences. As long as one person remains unaffected, they can get them out and continue. The Moderate checks at the puzzle at the end was a breeze.
During the drop, they all used Feather Fall despite me warning them it was a bad move. But again, these were trivial and only resulted in a bit of damage before combat starts. My players weren't too bothered by it, even if they failed.
To me, there's two kinds of challenges. Minor inconveniences and resource drains (such as "fail this and take some damage"), and "we need to make this or we can't progress", such as the final bit. Resource drain challenges aren't that bad and as long as someone makes it, people are usually okay. Here it's completely fine if the checks are pretty hard and/or specialised. But the other kind of challenge is where, to me, it faltered. There were a lot of possible skill checks to roll, and most of them were only moderately difficult. If it's the climax to a scenario, do an either/or. Either it's pretty hard, but everyone can try (especially specialists), or make it semi-obscure but whoever has the skill has a decent shot of making it regardless.
I might be an outlier in this, I recognise this might not be an opinion everyone else has, but in my case it kind of soured the experience, because through the combination of relatively easy checks and common skills, no one felt challenged. I sort of apologised to my players for not challenging them properly. The Wizard (Arcanist, I now remember) aced every single check and for everyone else it was slightly better than 50/50 to make it. If it's such a spectacular scenario, I feel you can be a bit more challenging. But your mileage may vary, as you've already proven.
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I'm looking at the puzzle orb and see that it is set up in puzzle-fight-recover phases. How did you handle the party wanting to split their focus or work on the puzzle during recovery turns? I know I will have an academic character that will want to continue to work on the puzzle while the martial deal with the attackers.
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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My players wanted to do the same. I said the stress of a fight is too much to concentrate on the puzzle. One guy used Create Pit to trap an enemy for 6 rounds while they took care of the rest. In the end, there were still four rounds left and I reasoned that would be enough time. In the end, maybe I should've just called the fight and remove it from combat altogether. I gave them a single round to puzzle and a new wave would come up, but in practice I ended up chaining two fights together. The scenario says to report number of successes after each phase, but in this case they never were fully out of combat, so we reported no successes.
Just say what I did: there's too much stress and danger around you to fully focus on the puzzle. Take care of the danger first, then you can puzzle.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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I just told the players this is one of those Videogame things that you need to accept and get on with. "This is what you get: two normal rounds, followed by one round interacting with puzzles/circles."
It's not horribly immersion-breaking to me, although you can sort of see someone's toes sticking out from under that curtain. Just move on and progress the encounter. Not worth trying to make a big thing out of it. Better to spend your time on scoring than talking about it. Clock is ticking.
Wouldn't you rather play faster and get to brag to other players about how your table got so many successes, than argue with the GM about the reasonableness of a different action split, while he's bound by what the scenario gives him?
(As a GM I was just biding my time until I could run the mercenary leaders with Earthquake as their opening move...)
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Thanks for the input. After thinking it over, I'm going to try to emphasize that the room is crowded and enemies are attacking from all sides.
"You finish off the last elemental, just as another group of enemies charge in they are intercepted by That Table! You see a opening at the wards, now is your chance to rush over and try to break them."
"You have made some progress on the wards, but make room for other agents to access them as you dwell on what you just saw. You have a second or two to patch your wounds and catch your breath as you ready to intercept the guardians rushing down the tunnels."
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Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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I added the flavor handouts to PFSPREP.
The Speech file is meant as an IC inaugural address for Sorrina as new Master of Spells. We circulated this among players as they were mustering before play began. It contains some name-dropping of Elemental Lords hidden between references to past scenarios and some vague speculation about upcoming scenarios (of which I have no special knowledge). It also serves to introduce her as a more positive personality than Aram Zey. I tried to capture her tone from box text in Captive in Crystal and Cosmic Captive.
The Clues file contains text handouts for the NPCs who the players can coax into handing over clues during the scenario. I tried to dole out the information in small bits so that by pooling several clues, the players can see the big picture emerge. If your Special day involves a lunch break in the middle, it's okay if players compare handouts with other tables - encouraged even! The information is spread out among the different paths through the scenario. Ideally, by the time Sorrina announced who is going to be rescued, players will be nodding along thinking "yes, we found that out for you".