Venture-Captain, Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh
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This seems suitably epic for a 5-9, with suitably dire implications should the PCs fail. I'm really looking forward to running it.
A couple of observations:
Lieutenant Riko's main tactic is trivially negated. With no built-in 5'-range melee attack the whole "reach weapon with disruptive" thing doesn't really work all that well unless she dimension doors directly above a target, 10' up, so she threatens a 25' x 25' square at ground level. I'm not sure that many GMs are going to consider that an option, especially given the tactics, which seem to argue against effective positioning. That leaves the PCs with a relatively easy "take a 5' step to avoid the disruption" challenge.
Reach weapons work best when you force people to walk through them, especially on a combat reflexes build, but teleporting into the middle of the group will almost certainly negates their one advantage for poor Riko, who will probably not survive a round. And the disruptive ability should never come up in a 5-9 because at that point, the players should know to 5' step out of the threatened area before casting.
Separately from the fine work of the author, I'm a little disappointed in the chronicle sheet. We've seen the capstone scenarios for the Scarab Sages, Sovereign Court, and Dark Archive, and they've all had really excellent scenarios and really cool rewards on the chronicle sheet. I was hoping we'd see something similarly awesome for the Silver Crusade, but... sad trombone. The scenario lives up to the hype, but the chronicle sheet is incredibly mundane.
The weapon boon even seems specifically specced to not work with 8-99's, which seems like a missed opportunity. Just another chronicle sheet that will barely get any use, I guess!
Anyway, that sounds more negative than I actually intended it to be. There's a nice mix of social stuff and combat, and you've found a clever way to incentivize the PCs to care about their fellow intelligent creatures. It should be fun!
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unless she dimension doors directly above a target
If you read the conjuration effects in the magic section, you'll discover that you can't actually teleport or dimension door into mid-air, so sadly that's not viable either.
I was equally confused about this particular opponent's tactics as well, as they seem to cede the combat to the PCs in a very strange manner and (as you observed) PCs will know to 5' step one way or the other to deal with reach weapons. Looking at the terrain, it may be possible to finagle some things regarding heights of boulders, steps, etc. which aren't specified in the scenario.Regarding the chronicle sheet, I'd argue this has one of the best chronicle sheet's I've seen outside of Season 4, though not necessarily for the faction being featured, but I've not seen as much Season 9 so I may be out of the loop.
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Does she fly? You can dim door above a target if you're flying.
"A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a conjuration spell cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it."
Also her tactics and her bodyguards' tactics do seem to be something at odds with each other, but it should be kind of funny to watch them scramble to keep up with her.
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Actually you can. If you're flying the air is a surface capable of supporting you. That's how wings work.
The rule is there to keep you from dropping a bison one someone from 50 feet up.
Technically no it cannot.
nor can it appear floating in an empty space
Its not empty. There's air.
I mean if we're going to rules lawyer... thats the sort of thing that says you can't summon a whale in water. Or at the surface. Or above the water.
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Things I think about while walking.
This would be a great way to stress test a building
Architect: So how'd my building do
Inspector: NOT SO GOOD
Architect: What do you mean?
Inspector WELL I TRIED SUMMONING AN ELEPHANT< LIKE A BUILDING THAT SIZE SHOULD HOLD> THAT DIDN"T WORK> SO THEN I TRIED SUMMONING A HORSE< AND THAT FAILED SO....
Architect: so wait.. what will it hold?
Inspector TWO DUCKS AND A HAMSTER
Architect: Is that why you're standing all the way down the road?
Inspector: YES
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Venture-Captain, Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh
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I am more on the side of interpreting the "teleporting into empty space" rules to be a clarification of the "must be on a surface that can support them" clause, and reading that clause to imply that you can't teleport somewhere with the intent of falling. Personally. I understand that's not the most straightforward reading, but the "surface that can support them" clause is kind of terrible anyway.
Unsure if a pit trap's been disabled? Try to shift on top of it! Unsure if the ice will hold you? Try to teleport on top of it! Are you in an aquatic adventure (plane of water, anyone?) where everything's submerged? No dimension door for you unless you can find a solid surface to stand on! Etcetera.
That said, I think it's mostly a moot point as far as this scenario is concerned. The tactics specifically read (emphasis mine):
Riko, with spear at the ready, uses dimension door to appear between the PCs.
Unless you're one of the lucky GMs who get the Overland Flight caster floating above the party at the start of combat, I'd be hard pressed to say that appearing directly over a target counts as between them.
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Venture-Captain, Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh
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unless she dimension doors directly above a targetRegarding the chronicle sheet, I'd argue this has one of the best chronicle sheet's I've seen outside of Season 4, though not necessarily for the faction being featured, but I've not seen as much Season 9 so I may be out of the loop.
There's some pretty awesome stuff on this chronicle, and it actually isn't bad if you're someone who's tied into a particular weapon. Wielders of their deity's favored weapon might be happy, although some classes have even more specific limitations and could be thrilled to get this. Assuming they have a unique weapon they're angling for.
That said, if you play the other faction capstones, there's some really incredible stuff on those chronicle sheets. I was excited to see what this one was giving out, but it was a bit of a letdown.
But it's not that big a deal--the scenario itself looks awesome.
Regional Venture-Coordinator, Appalachia
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I sort of halfway expect this isn't the end of the line for this story anyway?
Remember the Sovreign Court and Scarab Sages plots have been marinating since season 5. Even the Exchange one got moving in season 8.
Other than a one-off, not all that related but similarly constructed event in Orders at the Gate this story with the Qlippoths in Tianjiang has only recently gotten moving. I suspect we will see some more from it in S10.
My big issues with the scenario are this:
Aid tokens - how do we present these and the uses for them in a way that doesn't come off completely gamey? Does use of a token consume an action?
Timing - the scenario has a LOT of information about time of day and speed but as far as I can tell it only has a marginal effect on the fight with the deserters.
Tactics - yeah, unfortunately Riko's tactics are pretty poor - disruptive is only really effective if you're doing a step up build and much less so if you're doing a generic reach build. It can still work with proper use of the bombardiers, but I have a hard time seeing a high level party not just chewing her up in a single turn with those tactics of hers and the fact that the bombardment happens in R2 instead of R1 really hampers her hard. Her losing init might be what it takes to give her a fighting chance though.
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Appalachia
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My party actually completely sidestepped the bear encounter since they were a fairly skillful bunch
The fight with Riko - I had her D-door to be 10 feet in the air right over top the nucleus of the party which turned out to make it a pretty interesting fight pressing the party into blightfire and even downing one party member.
The final fight, the party had a couple of really close calls with the cha drain and it was a pretty fun fight and scenario overall.
I wish some of the decisionmaking had been more consequential, but otherwise very solid scenario,
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
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Got to play this last night with my grappler eidolon. Sadly, I missed on the tiger. Still, it was fun when Riko D-Door'd to the back of the party and got all us squishies scared. But then I got to yoink her with my 20' reach. She quick-drew some swords and got some good hits, but next turn she was pinned.
I was hesitant about something nasty happening from grappling the qiploth cuddlefish, but it turned out all right.
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Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
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Been doing a lot of research on the adaptable blades boon. It's a fun idea, but it's a bit an exercise to figure out how to apply it. Here's my opinions on useful things to consider. You might print this out as a handout for after game to give your players a starting point.
Thing is, most of the named items are either illegal, ridiculously expensive, or not that great. The boon caps at 25k, so I'm stopping there. I'm also skipping things that just don't make sense as other weapon types, such as the hook hand (though that WOULD be a nifty ability on other things). And if something's just a lame option, I'm not listing it either. That's why this is an opinion piece.
While the example of a short sword of venom is valid, it's a poor choice as it's a DC 14 fort save once per day. We can do better.
Arachnid's Fang, Deadly Kiss, and Serpent's Fang are all daggers that give you a bonus to poison. But the Sampkhang weapon has a mundane bonus to poison, so (if you're proficient) it's a nice shift.
The Lacerating Rapier gets a bonus on sneak attack, but on a Drow Razor it can get a little more out of Sneaks if you don't care much about the base damage (pretty much a wash really)
The Bloodletting Kukri is good on anything with a good crit range, so take your pick.
The Swashbuckler's Rapier is good for anyone who uses Panache, regardless of what weapon you pick. An interesting bit - grit counts as panache, so it could be an odd bayonet (just remember that you can't fire while the bayonet is fixed to the gun)
The Grudge Blade (rapier) stacks on hitting the target. So really, pick whatever light blade you like to use and go to town with it.
A Luck Blade (short sword) with no wishes left still gives +1 Luck bonuses on saves and 1 reroll per day.
A Sword of Subtlety (short sword) gives +4 atk & damage when sneak attacking. My own sneak attacker is already level 10, but if he was in tier I would have turned this into a kukri as my pick of the lot.
Lots more options here, but with few exceptions none of them have a particular weapon that they'd be better as. So feel free to take any of the abilities and put them on your favorite weapon type.
The first exception is Shatterspike (longsword). It gives a bonus on Sunder, so if you're proficient with them a Flambard would be a nice choice.
The Shearing Sword (greatsword) ignores DR/5 or less and ignores 5 hardness when sundering, so it'd also be good on a Flambard.
And Gorum's Thorn (greatsword) gives you a free trip attempt when you crit a Giant. So something with a better crit range would help.
The Cutlass of Waves and the Wavecutter (terbutje) both negate penalties for underwater combat.
The Tidewater Cutlass gives you a hydrolic push
The Inheritor's Light (longsword) gives some boosts to healing
The Rabbit's Blade (longsword) gets Cleave when there's no allies nearby
The Sword of Tempests (longsword) lets you summon air elementals when you crit
The Sword of the Planes (longsword) is probably too expensive for what it does, but gets stronger on other planes or vs outsiders.
The Valorous Blade (scimitar) gives the party a nice buff once per day after you take someone out.
The Dawnfire (scimitar) lets you add a nice cone of fire to your attack
The Nail of the Princess (scythe) can be charged with negative energy, then give a bit of a damage boosts to your swings
The Purging Falcata is basically a (Religion) Bane weapon against all followers of the chosen relgion.
The Natron Fang (khopesh) ignores DR of mummies and (more importantly) deals bonus charisma damage to incorporeal things
The Risen Blade (khopesh) can be charged with positive energy to do more damage on crits or heal the living. Could benefit from something not-exotic, with a better crit range
The Shifter's Sorrow (two-bladed sword) does extra damage to shapechangers and might force them to revert to normal. If I could turn it into a crossbow instead of a heavy blade I would so be giving this to my Hunter of Rakshasas.
The Black Eagle's Blade (greatsword) gets Bane vs whatever you just killed. Good against multiple enemies of the same type
The Blade of Binding (greatsword) has grapple bonuses
The Bloodlight (greatsword) gives you Rage per the spell.
The Headsman's Blade (greatsword) gives you a bonus on the Slayer Assassinate ability. Something less conspicuous maybe?
The Hellcaller's Edge (greatsword) opens up a portal to hell to do a column of fire damage
My summoner doesn't really use a weapon, but the eidolon is based on a Lillend Azata, so she does wield a longsword. Her main weapon is her tail (slap & grapple) so she rarely uses the sword, but it's there. So I decided to go with a Shearing Sword (Greatsword) turned into a Longsword. Don't know if I'll actually buy it, but the option is nice.