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This is a spoiler-filled resource thread for GMs running the Return of the Runelords Adventure Path, specifically for the fourth adventure, "Temple of the Peacock Spirit."
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While I thought the two different blurbs for distracted vs. aware was good and useful, and I appreciate that getting to level 20 means space already pretty tight, I would have liked some mention of Baraket besides the inside backstory. In particular:
- Does X. destroy it if the PCs bring it?
- If so, just when would he do that?
- How do the cultists and other denizens react to it?
- How does that answer change if the cultists have successfully stolen it?
- How does its innate intelligence react to the events of the adventure?
- Does Hobbin recognize it, or have any ties to Chadali that might come up?
- Are any other Alara'hai going to appear in the last two adventures?
Creative Director
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While I thought the two different blurbs for distracted vs. aware was good and useful, and I appreciate that getting to level 20 means space already pretty tight, I would have liked some mention of Baraket besides the inside backstory. In particular:
- Does X. destroy it if the PCs bring it?
Yes.- If so, just when would he do that?
When it's most surprising or devastating to the players.
- How do the cultists and other denizens react to it?
No reaction for most, but a few who WOULD recognize it would do their best to focus their attacks on the carrier in hopes of rescuing the weapon and becoming the new champion.
- How does that answer change if the cultists have successfully stolen it?
Pick one of the NPCs in the adventure to use the sword as the new champion.
- How does its innate intelligence react to the events of the adventure?
It doesn't, really, other than continuing to try to take control of its user.
- Does Hobbin recognize it, or have any ties to Chadali that might come up?
That's up to you, but if they do they'll assume that the carrier is Xanderghul's puppet.
- Are any other Alara'hai going to appear in the last two adventures?
Yes.
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Thanks James for the quick response. As someone who generally likes the forwards, a discussion of how this AP isn't really about destroying artifacts, but might involve destroying artifacts, in addition to a discussion of the politics and current ownership of the Alara'hai could have been a good subject for a forward.
I'm really looking forward to running to book! I'm impressed at how riveted I have been to each book in this AP, as opposed to some past ones where I tend to lose interest towards the end. The amount of foreshadowing and build-up with previous books in the AP is really cool.
I have to harp on an issue I have had with most of the APs in the past: the resolution of the maps. While the previous books in this AP have been mostly good, the Library and Vault are too large for the resolution they're being compressed to. It results in really bad artifacts, misaligned grids, and muddled graphics.
This may not be an issue for players using a traditional tabletop and sketching the map out, but for those of us who enjoy using the maps in a VTT experience, it can be frustrating.
Here's one example screenshot from the library: https://imgur.com/a/Igqgk3d
You can see the poorly aligned grids (grid "squares" are not square at all). I assume this is caused by the low resolution, which can be a big issue when playing in something like Roll20. Not to mention, the low resolution makes it difficult to appreciate Matthias Rothenaicher's excellent cartography.
I am sure there are some kind of technical limitations in your production process that result in this, but I hope in the future we can get a bit higher resolution for these larger maps!
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Creative Director
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I'm relatively sure that the poorly aligned grids aren't so much a resolution issue as it is a new cartographer getting used to us needing more accurate maps. It's something we're working on resolving, but it's not something we were able to fix in time for print with every case, alas.
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You can see the poorly aligned grids (grid "squares" are not square at all). I assume this is caused by the low resolution, which can be a big issue when playing in something like Roll20. Not to mention, the low resolution makes it difficult to appreciate Matthias Rothenaicher's excellent cartography.
Open the interactive maps PDF and turn the grid OFF before copying the image and pasting it into Roll20. Then you can use Roll20's grid system to create a grid to overlay the gridless map. This way, you get a nice even grid that isn't subject to the resolution problem, and you don't have 2 competing grids on the map.
-Skeld
I'm relatively sure that the poorly aligned grids aren't so much a resolution issue as it is a new cartographer getting used to us needing more accurate maps. It's something we're working on resolving, but it's not something we were able to fix in time for print with every case, alas.
I think you might be right. I went back and double checked some maps from previous APs I've ran and I noticed the same misshapen grids on a few maps that have decent enough resolution. For example, here's a screeenshot from the Lunar Prison in Strange Aeons 3: https://imgur.com/a/Zj9rKU7. Not quite as extreme, but you can see the slightly misaligned/misshapen grid column I've marked, despite the fact that the resolution feels acceptable on this map.
That said, it does seem like it has got progressively better over time.
On a somewhat related note, I really enjoy Matthias Rothenaicher's style. It has a very realistic/unpredictable feel. I hope he gets some more work on future APs!
Open the interactive maps PDF and turn the grid OFF before copying the image and pasting it into Roll20. Then you can use Roll20's grid system to create a grid to overlay the gridless map. This way, you get a nice even grid that isn't subject to the resolution problem, and you don't have 2 competing grids on the map.
This is good advice and something I have done in the past. I do like when the grid squares are truly squares, because I generally am able to line up with Roll20's grid, then make Roll20's grid transparent. It makes for a nice play experience for the players. But in cases where that isn't possible, that works well!
Just a clarification: during combat, Xanderghul spends a couple of rounds casting prismatic spray. Since the entirety of the Grand Temple of the Peacock Spirit is under the effect of a dimensional lock spell, if someone was hit by the violet part of prismatic spray, would that simply have no effect?
Also, Xanderghul's resurrection is a bit confusing for me, since it's not really Xanderghul's body (what with it being a shadow version and whatnot). If he dies and comes back and is resurrected by the Peacock Shrine, does he come back with the same spells expended as before he died, or would be come back with all spells re-prepared?
Oh man. I really hope my PC's sneak up on Xanderghul. The idea of them catching him taking a bath is just perfect.
Extra if the PCs manage to trash his ego even further in the process.
I wonder if I should replace Xandy's quicken invisibility on account of him already being able to achieve greater invisibility as his via his invisibility field from his school ability. Seems kinda redundant when he could have a more powerful or damaging spell in that slot.
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Hyyyyyype!
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Creative Director
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Anything stopping the PC's from abusing the Time Stop in the region surrounding Jorgenfist to do all their crafting while no time passes outside?
I noticed it says "They cannot damage, move, or manipulate creatures or objects in the surrounding world" but if they can move and manipulate their own weapons, gear and other items as well as casting spells, this means they've seemingly got a lovely spot to leave and come back to for instant crafting.
That's left up to each individual GM to determine.
Honestly, for EVERY Adventure Path, a GM should allow players who want to craft the time to craft items, be it between adventures or at other obvious points to do downtime stuff. If the inclusion of a time locked dungeon helps more GMs be at peace with this, and/or helps players and GMs to allow this element of play in light of a "GO GO GO" mentality where the perception is that it's a race against a timer to get to the end, then that's good for the game, I say!
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Creative Director
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I ran these same players through Rise and a few of them were a bit miffed with the 'race against a runelord awakening' timer (which was was mostly self imposed by some other members of the party) so this should be a pleasant surprise for the the Alchemist and Forgepriest!
That's a good point to offer some great advice to all GMs, something we do try to drop in print in our adventures but not enough.
We almost NEVER hard-code timers into adventures. The plot of them often imply timers, but that's a false implication; the pace of the adventure path ALWAYS should be flexible for the party's preferred progression speed, and the plot shouldn't advance without the PCs pushing it on. GMs should let players know that before the game and between sessions. An Adventure Path is a marathon, not a sprint. It's an Adventure PATH after all, not an Adventure Destination; the point is the journey, not rushing to the end.
Might be a good bit to always put into the player's guides.
Yeah, sometimes the timers are rather explicit rather than implicit. Putting a disclaimer about them into all player guides would be a good move, if they are not intended.
As a counterpoint, though, making some events happen with time restrictions (or simply having enemies react to the PC's presence with other reactions than "patiently waiting in their rooms for their turn to get smashed" prevents parties from just retreating whenever they want and come in fully loaded into most fights. I just had the party get to the limit of their resources in module three of Shattered Star in the last dungeon and it was actually quite exciting when a last encounter happened which they were not expecting.
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I personally do "soft" timers where I'm like "You have at most only this amount of crafting time between books" because it'd feel kinda too weird for me if there was year long break just because PCs decided to stay around for years.
But yeah, players shouldn't complete dungeons in single day because they feel rushed, they should do that because they just happen to prefer to do it like that :D (yeaaaah, my party tends to do that for some reason. I dunno why, but they only take breaks if the characters CAN'T go on the same day)
(I wouldn't actually mind hard timers as a concept though)
1. Page 13 states that the first Peacock Shrine is in the Cloister of Cerulean Languor. According to the map on page 16, the Cloister of Cerulean Languor is in areas B1-B3. However, the entries for areas B1, B2, and B3 contain no reference to a shrine (unless I missed it). Also, since each shrine is trapped if the incorrect rod is removed, I need to know what the trap is for the shrine in the Cloister of Cerulean Languor.
It seems as if the shrine list has a typo for the first shrine; the list (as you mentioned) says that the first shrine is the the Cloister of Cerulean Languor, but the shrine actually appears in the Glorious Approach, in area C5. It doesn't seem to be trapped, other than the effect listed in the shrine master list.
I guess it depends on how you've shaped Damil's personality. I don't remember it being too fleshed out in the book itself, but it sounds maybe he's managed to manipulate your party in returning Baraket to him in which case he would be trying to return it to the temple without a spellcaster to get him there. I think it would be pretty cool if he managed to become the new Pride Champion though. I would probably have him go off to some place like Korvosa where there might be fellow cultists around and use them to teleport back to the temple.
As far as the scrying thing, I feel like if that worked, the peacock cultists would have been able to take Baraket way back in Rodric's Cove. Does the temple wards prevent scrying out as well as in? Or maybe Baraket just can't be scryed on and Damil himself would be scryed on instead. Maybe when he gets back to the temple he is involved with whatever trials would be required to gain the title of champion.
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Does anyone know how long Jorgenfist has been under the effects of the time stop? My players just fixed it last session and I know the first question any sane person would ask the researchers there is "what day is it?"
Have they been frozen in time for days? weeks? months? I can't find the information anywhere.
I had initially thought that the time fracture was basically in response to the PC's presence, and so it only started when they got there, but reading through that chapter of the adventure, it seems like I was wrong.
The time fracture was created in response to Alaznist's method of obtaining the Book of Serpents, Ash, and Acorns. Alaznist used the Book to find the Scepter of Ages, and then used the Scepter of Ages to reach and kill Xanderghul, an event which corresponds to right before the first book of the AP. From the "The Runelord Legacy" section of the AP's first book, Alaznist took "only a few months" to complete Xanderghul's work in locating the Sceptre of Ages, after which she "killed" him.
With this in mind, while I don't think it's possible to work out an exact timeline, it seems as though Jorgenfist has been in temporal stasis since at least a few weeks before the entire adventure path began, meaning that it's probably been at least 1-2 months - which is a lot longer than I had expected!
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Creative Director
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We have to be vague on that count because we don't know how long any one particular group takes to get from the start of the AP to part one of the fourth book. But yes, the time fracture starts when Alaznist obtains the book, so however long it has been depends on how quickly your PCs went from starting the adventure to fixing the fracture at Jorgenfist.
We say "a few months" because the only timeline we can really assume is the real-world timeline in between parts of the Adventure Path being produced and going on sale.
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Oh man. I really hope my PC's sneak up on Xanderghul. The idea of them catching him taking a bath is just perfect.
Also wondering how people think he would react to seeing the accidental clone PC. Especially since he is convinced that this is all Sorshen's doing and everything happening in the Temple is a just a feint from what she is REALLY up to. Then to be confronted with her actually in his house. While he is naked.
We got this. The player used the veil to get a revealing outfit and just as he was coming out of the water. She's a rogue with high bluff and got a nat 20 on the check. He believed it was Sorshen. There was also another male character who has CHA28 in the party and "Sorshen" told him she would replace him with a younger more beautiful Runelord of Pride. It was hilarious.
Yes, that's how it normally goes. Prismatic Spray is justifiably feared among my players.
Between "sending" and a purchased plane-shift scroll, the party was able to mount a rescue on our plane-shifted witch.
What prevents Xanderghul being resurrected via True Resurrection or other powerful magic like Krune was supposed to be in the last book? If Clegg Zincher can get his hands on some scrolls surely the relatively well-off cult of the Peacock Spirit would be more than eager to resurrect their god.
Now of course the meta answer is because that would lessen the player's agency, but is there anything more explicit than that?
If I remember correctly, once someone has been Judged by Pharasma, there is no Resurrection possibility. Xanderghul should have been dead a long, long time ago. He escaped his first Judgement with the little twist he had planned for if he died. Once the party kills him, she wastes no time in Judging him and sending him to where he needs to go.