Hello!
My party plays on a VTT and we only get 2-2.5 hours per session to play every week (and sometimes even less). The end of Turn of the Torrent ended up taking us 4-5 sessions to complete because the current party is woefully not built for aquatic combat and we just slog through it. So much so, that my players are becoming more frustrated with the adventure than actually having fun.
With that in mind, I want to reach out and see if anybody has any ideas about replacing the Acisazi village & Menotheguro. Ideally something that still makes sense for the Silver Ravens to make alliance with that would help against Cheliax's navy much as the aquatic elves would.
I have just started reading book 4 and plan on finishing it this week, but I don't know if the Acisazi have a strong role to play in the AP after the alliance is secured.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hm. Perhaps you can make the threat against the Acisazi land-based. Their village is on the shore, right? Just come up with a CR-equivalent challenge and have it attacking them from the land instead of the sea. I don't have any specific ideas now, but that might work.
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One of the prominent members of the village have been captured by Chelaxian authorities for some crime and has been sent to the prison on Deepmar as a result. The village elders comment that they are well acquainted with an agent in Vyre who owes a favor and can get the person released.
Pick up No Response from Deepmar and run it in place of that section. The group can meet up with the Queen in Vyre while they are there and kill two birds with one stone.
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What about substituting that part for No Response From Deepmar, it's a pretty solid adventure. :-)
Thanks for the suggestions! I will definetly try and take a look at No Response From Deepmar and see how that'll work with this group.
Creative Director
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Alternately, you could run the section as-is, but have the aged leader of Acisazi use some sort of one-shot ritual or the like to grant the PCs combination freedom of movement/water breathing plus a swim speed to more or less negate the parts of underwater combat that made things a slog. It'll make some of those encounters less dangerous, but it'll preserve the story.
Contributor
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My players abandoned the smugglers' tunnels before they even knew there were Acisazi prisoners down there so they don't know about the problem facing the village. They hated the underwater combat and after two almost deadly attempts they looted the vault and said 'never again.' Of course, I could have someone else come from the village specifically looking for their help, but at this point I don't think my players would go for it.
I've deviated a little from the story already and I think instead of the Acisazi, I might expand on the PC's time in Vyre. I'm considering running the first section of The House on Hook Street when they get there, but reskinned and removing a lot of the dream elements so I don't need to run the whole module for it to make sense. Maybe the Queen of Delights asks them to deal with troublesome new drug dealers to cement their alliance even if she isn't taken with a handsome PC.
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That part of the Lucky Bones is coming up and I'm planning a huge amount of prep to try and make sure that it goes well.
Maybe a small white board with a grid on it to mark depth. Print out individual copies of important underwater rules to remember.
Throw in some key points of the swimming rules. I actually got a really decent grasp on the rules during Skull and Shackles but every one of the characters had a ridiculous swim check on top of having traits that increased their ability to breathe underwater.
Lay it on really heavy that they shouldn't sell that cloak of the manta ray. In addition it would probably be fair for me to tell them that if they buy equipment to do the underwater stuff it will be useful again.
Alternately, you could run the section as-is, but have the aged leader of Acisazi use some sort of one-shot ritual or the like to grant the PCs combination freedom of movement/water breathing plus a swim speed to more or less negate the parts of underwater combat that made things a slog. It'll make some of those encounters less dangerous, but it'll preserve the story.
That is actually a pretty neat solution! If I hadn't already prepped No Response from Deepmar over the last week, I might've used it! I actually got excited with that Module when I read it, and started prepping it the same day as my OP. Thank you though for your response! I love how active Paizo staff is on these messageboards! :)
That part of the Lucky Bones is coming up and I'm planning a huge amount of prep to try and make sure that it goes well.
Maybe a small white board with a grid on it to mark depth. Print out individual copies of important underwater rules to remember.
Throw in some key points of the swimming rules. I actually got a really decent grasp on the rules during Skull and Shackles but every one of the characters had a ridiculous swim check on top of having traits that increased their ability to breathe underwater.
Lay it on really heavy that they shouldn't sell that cloak of the manta ray. In addition it would probably be fair for me to tell them that if they buy equipment to do the underwater stuff it will be useful again.
I made sure my party didn't sell that Cloak of the Manta Ray either, and it was helpful but it felt like not quite enough.
Just for reference, my party was:
Human Slayer (Stygian), with Dervish Dancer and some archery feats (so the scimitar was not very effective since it is not actually piercing damage, only treated as piercing). He was wearing the Cloak of the Manta Ray
Human Shaman (Life), thankfully he was our easy access to Water Breathing, he also has Augment Summoning, other focused on his Channel Energy
Elf Hunter, focused on archery with a Raven animal companion
Elf Alchemist (Promeathan/Chirurgeon) with a kick butt homunculus. Most of his extracts are used to buff the homunculus and feats are for crafting.
With most of the damange coming from the Slayer and the homunculus, both had issues getting through the DR of some of the monsters, especially after the underwater rules were taken into effect.
I ended up having Lictor Octavio go down with the party after clearing out the skum and a near death expierence with the shell sentinels (their DR AND fast healing make long lasting against my party). Octavio's Great Weapon build made pretty easy work of the Shell Sentinels (especially since he critted on a power attack).