- With the portal restored, the Cinderclaws are able to send reinforcements through the gate and become a major threat to Breachill, perhaps even launching a major attack that does **significant** damage before they are force to retreat back to the Hellknight keepI'd have to look at the book again, because I can't remember exactly what the Cinderclaws actual *goal* was in going through the portal. Would this be consistent with their goals?
Otherwise, very cool ideas to keep the game world moving while the new party forms up.
Malarunk is basically there on Belmazog's orders. Belmazog had a series of visions that led her to conclude that the soul of Dahak's manifestation is somewhere near or in Huntergate. So while it might make sense to conquer the other side, Belmazog really only needs the gate.
It's also worth noting that, on the Mwangi Expanse side of the gate, the Ekujae elves have retaken Huntergate and placed it under fairly heavy guard. It may not be feasible for the Cinderclaws to mount an invasion of Hellknight Hill.
That said, all of this is up to you.
- With the portal restored, the Cinderclaws are able to send reinforcements through the gate and become a major threat to Breachill, perhaps even launching a major attack that does **significant** damage before they are force to retreat back to the Hellknight keepI'd have to look at the book again, because I can't remember exactly what the Cinderclaws actual *goal* was in going through the portal. Would this be consistent with their goals?
Otherwise, very cool ideas to keep the game world moving while the new party forms up.
Malarunk is basically there on Belmazog's orders. Belmazog had a series of visions that led her to conclude that the soul of Dahak's manifestation is somewhere near or in Huntergate. So while it might make sense to conquer the other side, Belmazog really only needs the gate.
It's also worth noting that, on the Mwangi Expanse side of the gate, the Ekujae elves have retaken Huntergate and placed it under fairly heavy guard. It may not be feasible for the Cinderclaws to mount an invasion of Hellknight Hill.
That said, all of this is up to you.
I have started reading ahead in in the next module, and I know it supposed to start with the Ekujae elves back in control of Huntergate, but I feel this aspect is very easy to re-write as it is currently not known by the PCs anyway. Who knows how long the elves could hold Huntergate? Or perhaps the elves have not yet reasserted control yet?
My thinking with the Cinderclaw attack on Breachill is to present the new PCs with a hook that gets them to investigate Citadel Altaerein further, but also consider the threat the Cinderclaws present to the region as a whole. Of course, the reality is (based on Cult of Cinders), the Cinderclaws are actually pretty ineffective, with poor organization and overall delusions of grandeur, and would have accomplished nothing without outside help.
What level are you starting the new party? I think the town hiring them to clear out the fort from the cultist and having Voz as the boss fight would be cool.
I plan on starting them exactly at the same point they were before the TPK, so in this case 3rd level with 880XP. I am going to run an encounter to bridge the new PCs to the existing plot line, and after that encounter they will be 4th level and more or less exactly where they should be to take on the remaining challenges of the Goblinblood caves (though I will still modified things pretty heavily to reflect an "alternate" story line.
The concept of the 'bridge' encounter is the new PCs have taken a bounty to hunt down the notorious 'Bloody Blades'. They will fight a group of these brigands in an abandoned trading post, and find clues to the wherabouts of the big prize, their leader Dmiri, who is located at Guardian's Way near the eclectic town of Breachill.
As the PCs head to Guardian's Way and Breachill, they will see thick smoke on the horizon, which is the aftermath of the cultist attack on the town. From there the PCs will learn of the threat at the Hellknight keep and need to root out the cultists before they can mount another attack.
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Hi everyone.
I have DMed this module for 10 sessions, and my players are (very likely) gonna face Ralldar next session. I suppose we will need that session and maybe another one to finish book 1. This thread has been a huge help in running my game.
I made a few changes to the story so it would fit better for my group.
- I altered the timeline, so basically when the players arrive to attend the Call of Heroes, the Council is going to give them the job to aprehend the Bloody Blades. That was until the night before the meeting, the red smoke appeared on the citadel, and Warbal appealed the Council the next morning to change the job, and the cultists have just arrived to the dungeon, collapsed the stairst, etc in the night before the day the game starts. The "1 month passes before anyone does something" just didn't work for me.
- I introduced Calmont into the backstory of one of my players (halfling druid with the Bellflower network background), he was a friend to one halfling that died trying to help the PC flee Kintargo (the character was a slave to a noble house before the rebellion). After some years passed, the night before the adventure starts, the character delivered the news to Calmont about his friend's demise, and that broke him. That night, he made the decision to explore the citadel and control the access to Alseta's Ring. That basically made him a little more complex than what is established in the book. When the group found him in the citadel, they tried talking to him, trying to make him see that he had caused A LOT of trouble in the town and he should be held responsible for his actions. After a chase that saw him climbing down one of the walls of the citadel, with two players climbing after him, and both falling (one on top of each other, yeah you have read that right), they captured him and brought him to Breachill to face trial. The PC that had a connection to him tried to spoke to Greta Gardania, so he wasn't executed but punished in a different way.
- I turned the hellknight skeleton in the crypt into Talnor Stagram, Alak's father. It was fantastic as the group entered the crypts, Alak recognized his father and fell to his knees. It took the intervention of the gnome bard (Hellknight Historian background) to make him join the fight and deliver the final rest to his father. This was the first hard encounter that the group had, until this point most of the fights had been manageable (even the giant bat, wich I thought would be much more dangerous). The gelatinous cube is another encounter that turned to be easy, the players saved against the paralysis and didn't have to deal with the suffocation from being swallowed whole.
- The Bloody Blades have been hired by Quentino Posandi to rob the caravans that come from the nearby quarry to deliver goods to Tuskhead Stoneworking. Voz also knows this from her conversations with Dmiri. Since the players captured both the Blades and Voz, but didn't question them regarding this matter, maybe Voz will use this information to be released from prison. To be honest she hasn't commited any crimes aside from reanimating two soldiers from the Goblinblood Wars as her minions. I used two skeletal champions in her encounter, and it was pretty epic.
- The PCs let Balka live, and it helped them with treasure and some directions to reach Alseta's Ring after some intimidation by the human ranger ^_^
So after the Voz fight, I have a question for other DMs running this module... Voz has her spellbook and the heroes now have it. They asked to sell it but frankly I haven't found a way to price this particular item... How do you establish a price for enemies' spellbooks? This question will arise again in book 3 with Barushak.
For pricing out spellbooks, I would use the prices on the Learning a Spell table for the price of each spell in the book, and total the whole thing. For instance, by this method, Voz's spell book would cost 92 gp total (Cantrips and 1st level spells are 2 gp each, 2nd level spells are 6 gp, and 3rd level spells are 16 gp. She has 10 cantrips/1st level spells, four 2nd level spells, and three 3rd level spells, bringing the total to 92 gp.)
Hey toiletSloth, thanks for the suggestion!
Since there is no entry in the stablock for the spellbook, we don't know exactly how many spells are in there, so going only by her prepared spells list I get the following:
Cantrips: 5 x 2 gp = 10 gp
1st: 4 x 2 gp = 8 gp
2nd: 4 x 6 gp = 24 gp
3rd: 3 x 16 gp = 48 gp
Total of 90 gp.
90/2 = 45 gp sale value.
Hey toiletSloth, thanks for the suggestion!
Since there is no entry in the stablock for the spellbook, we don't know exactly how many spells are in there, so going only by her prepared spells list I get the following:
Cantrips: 5 x 2 gp = 10 gp
1st: 4 x 2 gp = 8 gp
2nd: 4 x 6 gp = 24 gp
3rd: 3 x 16 gp = 48 gpTotal of 90 gp.
90/2 = 45 gp sale value.
Looking at her stat block again, I miscounted how many first level spells she had, so your math is correct.
So as I look to reboot my campaign, I know another extremely tough fight is coming up in Ralldar (outside the preposterously high DC to bluff/diplomacy him).
Given I've already had one TPK on my hands, I am curious what other GMs have seen for this encounter. How did your party do? What tactics did they use to come out on top? Any deaths during this fight?
While I am not surprised a PC died during the fight with Voz (Vampiric Touch all but assured that was going to happen), the TPK was still an eye opener.
My party basically surrounded Ralldar and beat him to death, though it was still nerve wracking every time someone got hit. Having the party's Witch stick Evil Eye to keep Ralldar frightened the whole fight was really important, as was getting Renali's assistance before hand. They also went into the fight fully rested. I didn't lose any party members, but if one thing had gone wrong I definitely could have.
There are some specific things the book lays out about Ralldar and how he fights that are important to keep in mind:
1. Ralldar is quite crazed. He's at the point where he's hallucinating goblin subjects that aren't really there, and the slightest thing provokes him. How to interpret this is obviously up to each GM, but I decided that Ralldar would not behave tactically, especially with his spells.
2. Ralldar reverts to hit goblin form and flees at 25 hp remaining or less. Given that he does not have any meaningful attacks in this form, if the party can cross that HP threshold, then the fight is over. Ralldar will revert back if pursued into his hide-y hole, but if things are going poorly the party won't be obligated to continue the fight.
3. Renali is nearby, and can be persuaded to fight. Her illusory creature spell provided a much needed additional target for one of Ralldar's attacks, and contributed a surprisingly meaningful amount of damage.
My party basically surrounded Ralldar and beat him to death, though it was still nerve wracking every time someone got hit. Having the party's Witch stick Evil Eye to keep Ralldar frightened the whole fight was really important, as was getting Renali's assistance before hand. They also went into the fight fully rested. I didn't lose any party members, but if one thing had gone wrong I definitely could have.
Witch is not yet an available class, so I presume you must have done some sort of homebrewed version?
Witch is not yet an available class, so I presume you must have done some sort of homebrewed version?My party basically surrounded Ralldar and beat him to death, though it was still nerve wracking every time someone got hit. Having the party's Witch stick Evil Eye to keep Ralldar frightened the whole fight was really important, as was getting Renali's assistance before hand. They also went into the fight fully rested. I didn't lose any party members, but if one thing had gone wrong I definitely could have.
I'm letting my party use the APG playtest classes (which are Oracle, Investigator, Witch, and Swashbuckler). We have a Human Witch (Lesson of Omens) and an Elf Swashbuckler (Fencer).
I'm letting my party use the APG playtest classes (which are Oracle, Investigator, Witch, and Swashbuckler). We have a Human Witch (Lesson of Omens) and an Elf Swashbuckler (Fencer).Witch is not yet an available class, so I presume you must have done some sort of homebrewed version?My party basically surrounded Ralldar and beat him to death, though it was still nerve wracking every time someone got hit. Having the party's Witch stick Evil Eye to keep Ralldar frightened the whole fight was really important, as was getting Renali's assistance before hand. They also went into the fight fully rested. I didn't lose any party members, but if one thing had gone wrong I definitely could have.
Well serves me right for not doing a quick search before my post. 30 second search showed me right to the playtest material!
So as I look to reboot my campaign, I know another extremely tough fight is coming up in Ralldar (outside the preposterously high DC to bluff/diplomacy him).
Given I've already had one TPK on my hands, I am curious what other GMs have seen for this encounter. How did your party do? What tactics did they use to come out on top? Any deaths during this fight?
While I am not surprised a PC died during the fight with Voz (Vampiric Touch all but assured that was going to happen), the TPK was still an eye opener.
I just went through this with a party of 5: an Everstand fighter, a short-range Paladin, a melee Liberator, a universalist wizard, and an elemental sorcerer. They approached what they thought was a lunatic goblin from both possible entrances as a precaution and then insulted him, starting the fight.
The fight started rather poorly for them, but the two champions kept the party standing for long enough to do a lot of damage. Plus a lot of magic missiles. The liberator died due to double persistent damage from the bite poison and a crit that left her with a 1d6 bleed. However, she still had her hero points so was able to stabilize at the last second.
The wizard and sorcerer stayed up on the left ledge throwing ranged spells and mostly missing, but landing a couple decent hits. Toward the end they had to jump down because all of the melee (except the paladin's animal companion) was unconscious to force feed them healing potions. The paladin woke up and got one last shot in to finish Ralldar off.
At the end of the fight, the fighter was at dying 3 (with diehard), the liberator was stabilized from hero points, the paladin was I think at wounded 2, and the casters went untouched. Ralldar had used blink (at the start), confusion (which the paladin rolled a 19+will against), and invisibility (but the gnomes both had scent). If the confusion had landed, I think the fight would have ended very differently.
BIG HUGE SIDE NOTE: I am using automatic bonus progression, and didn't do any scaling of the fight for the fifth person as it seemed unnecessary. But ABP definitely made a difference here at times.
I will say that
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Going to run this on Sunday, looks like fun. Overall I like the setup but there are some awkward things that I'm changing:
1. I don't like the party being the only adventurers for this Call for Heroes, so I'll be adding in a few more NPCs that the players can meet. Up above I saw that someone had a children's play giving some backstory, and I like that idea. I also like the idea that the Call isn't just a way to hire adventurers but also somewhat of a ritual for the town, and a place where fledgling adventurers can easily get some work and start to make a name for themselves. It's a popular location for the brave and capable as well as the inept, but has a reputation for being almost a done deal; the people in Breachill are almost too excited to be visited by "heroes." To that end, I plan to have the Call feel a bit more lively, have a festival atmosphere, have a few more NPCs, and let the characters (two of whom know each other from a previous adventure) wait to see what they get hired for after seeing other adventurers get hired as well. I think it makes the town feel more alive, and also less contrived that the party happens to be the only group here to claim the only adventure for the month... I also plan to have the adventures be contracts with the town, to avoid any concerns about their goals being sniped by others or them wanting to intervene in anyone else's (boring-sounding) adventures.
2. I'm skipping the whole "Ah, yes! It was Calmont, the knave!" thing. Seems much too obvious, much too earnest, and way too easy to derail things. I want there to be a bit of a mystery, so I'm having the arson also be part of a bungled attempt on Warble's life. I like having Calmont be an orphan of the Goblinblood Wars and willing to be violent toward goblinkind. I also think Voz being an abusive "employer"/master for the guy--who clearly has some scars and a penchant for violence--works well. Calmont has fallen into a rough crowd that's grooming him for nasty Norgorber things and it hasn't done much good for his mental health. So he snaps, thinks he can gain some favor by taking matters into his own hands and not only getting rid of Warble but also the goblins at the Citadel, which he thinks will clear the whole thing up and make getting to Alseta's Ring a piece of cake. I'll probably have Warble explain to any PCs that gain her trust ahead of the Call that she's been feeling like someone's been following her, and the night before her door was suspiciously unlocked--she spent the night at the inn, fearing that whatever happened to her goblins was coming for her (and it was Calmont lying in wait with his scroll, which he thought was some sort of necromancy, judging by Voz's inclinations. Maybe he accidentally grabbed the wrong thing). The attack at the Call was meant to be an assassination attempt to keep Warble from getting any adventurers to investigate the Citadel. Calmont, however, didn't count on (1) the scroll summoning a mephit instead of, I dunno, some other nasty direct-damage spell, and (2) the signal fires being lit the day of the Call, drawing even more attention to the Citadel. Voz realizes after the fact that Calmont is missing along with the mephit scroll, and she gets out of dodge as soon as possible to avoid any fallout from Calmont's stupid move.
3. I'm extending the distance of Altaerein to five miles. That's easy to see up on a plateau in the distance (especially as someone who grew up near mountains), close enough that supplies could easily be brought to the Citadel, but far enough away that it makes sense for nobody to be snooping around or casually exploring the place. A mile is not far. The grocery store I walk to when the weather is nice is further away. That distance, combined with incline and switchbacks, should make it seem like there's a reason this place isn't buzzing with activity. As for the secret tunnel's distance, I'm going to describe it as part magical tunneling and part natural cave systems/worked stone.
4. I think at some point the AP mentions that Altaerein was abandoned a decade(?) ago. That feels much too soon for how dilapidated it is. I'm massaging dates just a bit, but if the current year is 4720 and Citadel Vraid was apparently fully completed on 4685, I'm just going to go with that 35 year gap as the amount of time Altaerein has been abandoned. That explains to some degree why the Citadel would be in such poor shape.
5. Following the previous one, it struck me as very odd that (1) a supposedly powerful fortress built by sticklers for the rules would have such poor craftsmanship that it would succumb to the elements and start to crumble after a decade and (2) that these same hyper-lawful folks would leave so much behind, including their honored dead. I'm going to leave everything as it is, but make it seem very odd that things fell apart here as quickly as they did. I'll probably explain on a successful Nature or Engineering Lore check that Altaerein seems to have become overgrown and crumble much more quickly than you'd expect (owing to the influence of the magical gates maybe). Overgrowth does happen quickly and things are reclaimed by nature pretty fast, but I'm going to try to describe the state of the Citadel almost like it's become somewhat of a swampy, jungly mess, more so than you would expect even after nearly four decades. Hot, humid, and nasty, with non-native vines dangling from the ceilings and pooled water on the floor in many areas. With Society, Hellknight Lore, or conversation with Alak, I'll also make it seem extraordinarily odd that Hellknights of all people would have left so much behind and abandoned a Citadel the way that they did. Very fishy... I also like the aesthetic juxtaposition of the rigid Hellknight stuff being choked by invasive jungle.
6. I'll be more explicit that Alak was visiting Breachill, planning to explore Altaerein almost recreationally after relaxing a bit in the town he was born in(?), but decided to speed up his plans when the signal fires were lit. I'm going to make the fires start the morning of the Call for Heroes, maybe even as people are assembling for the event, to make Warble's request more urgent and maybe tie it to the arson. As for Alak, he rushed up there immediately, concerned that a fire might be engulfing the place and costing him his chance at finding family heirlooms. He'll have just begun his exploration by the time the PCs get there.
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So I wanted to share my party's encounter with Ralldar. This was a new party, after the first was TPK'd by Voz.
Party composition is:
Elf Alchemist
Human Cleric
Half Elf Monk
Half Elf Range w/ bird Animal companion.
In brief it went badly. Very dissatisfying experience for everyone at the table.
Two rounds into the fight, Alchemist player noticed that Ralldar had a +17 bonus to hit (we are using roll20, and this information is readily gleaned at my table). Then he made his own attack, rolled a 13 and missed. That was enough for this player. He open stated "I think we just flee. There is no point. This thing can fairly easily one shot me. I just rolled a 13 and missed, this thing hits me a on 4."
The other players at the table were equally frustrated, but the encounter kept going for a couple more rounds, mostly disorganized as nobody really made up their minds "Are we running or not?". Cleric player at the table remarked "There is no running. We are as optimized as we are going to get, we are not going to level up, we have to get past this if we want to continue the adventure."
Eventually, players started to withdraw, but the cleric had only a 15' move rate due to armor. Ralldar was going to chase him down, and then the Alchemist player from above said "You're not going to let the PCs even flee? If that is what is going to happen, I think I am done with this game." I can flesh this part out more if people want more context, it was a fairly complicated series of events that lead to this situation in the end.
At that point I ended the session, and we spent the final hour of the session discussing PF2 (all the players are new to it), what the game is predicated on, and that a solo level +3 encounter, while brutal, is expected by the game design to be something the PCs can (and will) face (and expect to be able to defeat).
After a lengthy discussion, I convinced the players to give the encounter one more crack, essentially a complete do over. I am hoping it will go better.
Yikes, your players are getting buzzsawed hard! They sound chaotic and confused and I feel bad for them. Not your fault though.
Ralldar is mean and will definitely knock a player or two down. The party definitely suffers here without a tank or anyone who can hit hard. But unless their dice are evil, they definitely should do better than walk in, suck hard, and run away (and your warpriest needs better strength to mitigate that speed penalty a bit, jeez).
Ran way different at my table. My players brought Alak along, and he not only survived the fight too, but he landed the killing blow. As a level 1 character (I always make NPCs weaker than the party).
I'll second that wearing armor you don't have the strength mod for is a not a great idea. That said,
Nerf him. Your players are obviously frustrated, so if no one is having fun with the encounter as designed, nerf him. Give him the weak template, or never cast any of his spells, or something. There's no shame in tweaking the encounters of an adventure path to better serve your table. From the sounds of it, your players' lack of experience with the system is hurting their ability to make combat effective characters. And that's OK! Tailor the AP to them, and as they learn and retrain you can start easing up on the nerfs and gradually put them back on the unmodified path.
Alternatively, Renali is an NPC who is near by. She could be willing to assist the party in fighting Ralldar (she was willing to assist mine, with some aggressive Gorumite convincing). She won't provide a lot of firepower, but her Illusory Creature spell can tank hits. Some extra bodies to distract Ralldar might be what this party needs.
There's a lot to be said for tactics. Fighting him on his turf may not be the best idea; I've seen other parties have success by luring him out where he has to change size.
He went down pretty easy in my game, but I think the 5th character and lucky crit could card helped with that. He wound up Sickened 3 from the war priest's trident throw round 1 and that is a huge setback.
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I had a similar near-TPK in Cult of Cinders, involving a random encounter I'd placed to finish bringing my players to level 6 before they started to encounter the written module's fights.
I'd put a Hydra in a pool of water with a pair of mosquito swarms (reskinned Wasp Swarms). Like most of the jungle encounters, it was a Severe encounter, but should have been quite winnable (knowing I'd planned this encounter, I'd made sure the Ekujae equipped them with plenty of low-level Alchemist Fire and Acid Flasks to deal with the regen)
The problem is that when the Hydra emerged from its pool of water, half of them decided "F*!% that, let's run" and the other half stood their ground. This led to a complete rout that brought one player to dying and the rest very close to, while the hydra stayed at full HP for nearly the entire fight (I think the only damage it took was from the swarms who I'd decided didn't care whose blood they drained, so they didn't avoid hitting the hydra).
Moral of the story: you can run away or you can fight, but unless you commit to one, you're not doing either
After a lengthy discussion, I convinced the players to give the encounter one more crack, essentially a complete do over. I am hoping it will go better.
I wanted to share an update, as my players fought this encounter again during our session this week.
It nearly ended as badly.
Early in the battle the monk failed his save vs confusion, and the player was ready to quit right there on the spot. He was convinced to continue. The confusion was broken when Ralldar ripped him up with three hits and took him from max HP to 0 in one round
Ralldar's dice were hot, and he was critting hard. Three times during the fight a PC went from max HP to 0 HP in a single round, and two of those were single hits (cleric and alchemist were each one shotted). At one point during the fight the Monk was knocked unconscious three times. Battle Medicine and timely healing was the only thing keeping him from dying.
The battle looked dark for the PCs however Ralldar had been whittled down to 60 HP. The Monk just got healed and back in the fight, and refused to back down. He got a solid hit on Ralldar, and in return Ralldar crit him again and knocked him out again. The Cleric opted to attack with Divine Lance, scoring a hit after using a Hero Point. Suddenly, there was a path to victory... if only the Ranger, whose turn was next could do some solid damage...
And well...
Hunted Shot. First shot hits. Second shot crits. One round. Four attacks made by three PCs. 63 damage later, Ralldar falls!
I personally found it epic and loved it. The Ranger loved it too. The others at the table I think had a bad taste in their mouth over it all. I've tried to remind them "You guys won! That was epic!"
The good news is they went on to fight Malarunk and it was a complete cake walk for them.
I will be very cautious about sending Level +3 creatures against this party in the future. Just seems they don't enjoy that type of game.
After a lengthy discussion, I convinced the players to give the encounter one more crack, essentially a complete do over. I am hoping it will go better.
I wanted to share an update, as my players fought this encounter again during our session this week.
It nearly ended as badly.
Early in the battle the monk failed his save vs confusion, and the player was ready to quit right there on the spot. He was convinced to continue. The confusion was broken when Ralldar ripped him up with three hits and took him from max HP to 0 in one round
Ralldar's dice were hot, and he was critting hard. Three times during the fight a PC went from max HP to 0 HP in a single round, and two of those were single hits (cleric and alchemist were each one shotted). At one point during the fight the Monk was knocked unconscious three times. Battle Medicine and timely healing was the only thing keeping him from dying.
The battle looked dark for the PCs however Ralldar had been whittled down to 60 HP. The Monk just got healed and back in the fight, and refused to back down. He got a solid hit on Ralldar, and in return Ralldar crit him again and knocked him out again. The Cleric opted to attack with Divine Lance, scoring a hit after using a Hero Point. Suddenly, there was a path to victory... if only the Ranger, whose turn was next could do some solid damage...
And well...
Hunted Shot. First shot hits. Second shot crits. One round. Four attacks made by three PCs. 63 damage later, Ralldar falls!
I personally found it epic and loved it. The Ranger loved it too. The others at the table I think had a bad taste in their mouth over it all. I've tried to remind them "You guys won! That was epic!"
The good news is they went on to fight Malarunk and it was a complete cake walk for them.
I will be very cautious about sending Level +3 creatures against this party in the future. Just seems they don't enjoy that type of game.
How did the monk survive?
Yeah, I would think the Wounded condition being applied so many times (with criticals even) would have finished the monk off.
Yeah, I would think the Wounded condition being applied so many times (with criticals even) would have finished the monk off.
This got me thinking, and I am speculating we used Battle Medicine wrong and had it remove the Wounded condition per the Treat Wounds entry. Battle Medicine specifically states it does not remove the wounded condition.
Yeah, I would think the Wounded condition being applied so many times (with criticals even) would have finished the monk off.This got me thinking, and I am speculating we used Battle Medicine wrong and had it remove the Wounded condition per the Treat Wounds entry. Battle Medicine specifically states it does not remove the wounded condition.
Ah, yep, that was my assumption of what was happening. Happy to help! And/or happy to make life tougher for your players going forward. :)
I don't think there is any way at all to remove Wounded during combat, is there?
Yeah, I would think the Wounded condition being applied so many times (with criticals even) would have finished the monk off.This got me thinking, and I am speculating we used Battle Medicine wrong and had it remove the Wounded condition per the Treat Wounds entry. Battle Medicine specifically states it does not remove the wounded condition.
Ah, yep, that was my assumption of what was happening. Happy to help! And/or happy to make life tougher for your players going forward. :)
I don't think there is any way at all to remove Wounded during combat, is there?
I'll probably go back through my roll20 archives just for fun to see if I can figure out the exact sequence of events, but I think the Monk would have been OK up until the last time he was knocked out.
It does not appear there is any way to remove Wounded during combat that I can find.
Yeah, I would think the Wounded condition being applied so many times (with criticals even) would have finished the monk off.This got me thinking, and I am speculating we used Battle Medicine wrong and had it remove the Wounded condition per the Treat Wounds entry. Battle Medicine specifically states it does not remove the wounded condition.
Ah, yep, that was my assumption of what was happening. Happy to help! And/or happy to make life tougher for your players going forward. :)
I don't think there is any way at all to remove Wounded during combat, is there?
I'll probably go back through my roll20 archives just for fun to see if I can figure out the exact sequence of events, but I think the Monk would have been OK up until the last time he was knocked out.
It does not appear there is any way to remove Wounded during combat that I can find.
I went back and checked the game notes just for fun, and everything was played correctly. The Monk was only in danger of death in the following "round", after Ralldar was dropped. I use air quotes there because with Ralldar dead, there were no enemies left. I could have theoretically stayed in encounter format, and forced the Monk to roll recovery, but I opted to just let the cleric heal him, removing any chance of immediate death.
For those interested in more detail:
First time unconscious - attack three times, first hit crit, second two normal, and it was the last hit that took him down. Dropped to 0 HP, Dying 1.
Cleric's turn, heals Monk, and Monk never has to make a recovery roll. Goes to wounded 1
Second time - again normal hit, goes to dying 2
Cleric again heals him before Monk's next turn, no recovery roll required, goes to wounded 2
Third time - normal hit, goes to dying 3.
Cleric opts to attack Ralldar rather than heal Monk. Cleric hits Ralldar, and later that same round the Ranger finishes off Ralldar.
Damn, that is close! In your original post, you said the last one was a crit, which would have killed the monk. Lucky player that it wasn't!
Also lucky that you're so nice. If no one heals the player till after combat, I always have them make one more saving throw before anyone can get there. If they're going to leave them at dying, there's a gamble! But I haven't had anything nearly so close as that. Though I guess I had one where the Wounded 2 champion air-walked up behind the retreating dragon and missed, right before the dragon's turn... If it weren't for my legendarily bad dice, again, that would have been my first entry to the Age of Ashes obituary thread.
I personally found it epic and loved it. The Ranger loved it too. The others at the table I think had a bad taste in their mouth over it all. I've tried to remind them "You guys won! That was epic!"
The good news is they went on to fight Malarunk and it was a complete cake walk for them.
I will be very cautious about sending Level +3 creatures against this party in the future. Just seems they don't enjoy that type of game.
I'm glad to hear your party pulled through. Personally, I think snatching victory from the jaws of defeat is epic as well, but not all players feel that way and it is good you are recognizing your own don't.
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I've been skimming through the Hellknight Hill module. Some things that were unclear to me;
-Is the huntergate under the citadel itself or in the caves beyond that other military outpost?
-Are the mwangi forces trapped there because of Ralladar?
-If they are trapped, how did they get to the citadel? (If it is indeed in another area)
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Huntergate is both beneath the citadel and in those caves, because those caves (eventually) lead under the citadel. Malarunk's forces are trapped because the stairs between Alstea's Ring (where they are) and the rest of the Citadel have collapsed. Exiting via the caves is impractical for them because it would require climbing some shear cave walls, and they didn't bring gear for that.
They got to the citadel because the stairs weren't collapsed when they got there. The Grauladons (the dragon crocodile looking creature in the citadel courtyard) were from the cult. They were heavy enough that when they went up the stairs, the stairs eventually collapsed, isolating different parts of the cult in different parts of the citadel.
I've been skimming through the Hellknight Hill module. Some things that were unclear to me;
-Is the huntergate under the citadel itself or in the caves beyond that other military outpost?
-Are the mwangi forces trapped there because of Ralladar?
-If they are trapped, how did they get to the citadel? (If it is indeed in another area)
1. Yes. Huntergate (and the other five gates, known collectively as Alseta's Ring) is under the citadel, though reachable also through the caves behind Guardian's Way. There is one stairwell in the crypt, which connects the courtyard to the first level and then down on beyond to Alseta's Ring. Those stairs are, at this point of the adventure, collapsed and blocked off, hence the party being required to find other ways in.
2. Technically, no, I think they're trapped there because of the pit with the fungus around it. However, I reflavored it a bit to be a standoff between Ralldar, Voz, and Malarunk as they all fought over the Ring. That might play well at your table or not. The other exit, the stairwell to the crypts, is currently collapsed.
3. Before the stairs were collapsed, a few made it up.
I've been skimming through the Hellknight Hill module. Some things that were unclear to me;
-Is the huntergate under the citadel itself or in the caves beyond that other military outpost?
-Are the mwangi forces trapped there because of Ralladar?
-If they are trapped, how did they get to the citadel? (If it is indeed in another area)1. Yes. Huntergate (and the other five gates, known collectively as Alseta's Ring) is under the citadel, though reachable also through the caves behind Guardian's Way. There is one stairwell in the crypt, which connects the courtyard to the first level and then down on beyond to Alseta's Ring. Those stairs are, at this point of the adventure, collapsed and blocked off, hence the party being required to find other ways in.
2. Technically, no, I think they're trapped there because of the pit with the fungus around it. However, I reflavored it a bit to be a standoff between Ralldar, Voz, and Malarunk as they all fought over the Ring. That might play well at your table or not. The other exit, the stairwell to the crypts, is currently collapsed.
3. Before the stairs were collapsed, a few made it up.
Helps a ton, thank you.
The monster stats either reference the Bestiary or are included in the adventure itself.
I assume you're asking about the Bestiary Pawn Box? Only the monsters in the Bestiary would be in there, and there are unique monsters in Age of Ashes, so no, not all of them would be included. There is an Age of Ashes pawn collection that includes those unique creatures; if you put them together, my guess would be you would have all the pawns you need for the AP, but I honestly don't know.
Is there anywhere that lists the gear you find in this book? I think it would be useful as i'm not sure it has all been noted down as my players picked it up..There really isn't, because it is already noted in the various sections of the book itself. There's also the entire possibility your party DOESN'T find certain loot. (there are plenty of "perception to find x" loot spots in the upper levels of the citadel alone... I would even argue the majority of loot not on things they fight, falls into that category.)
As such, I have found it easiest to make a google excel sheet. and just copy paste loot into it when they find it. (as in, when loot is found. I don't even read it off, i just drop it into the sheet, and the players enjoy discussing the findings while i copy any additional lines. our group also puts in values so they can quickly estimate sell values, and per-person shares of the sales.)
It's worth mentioning that Extinction Curse (The AP after Age of Ashes) does indeed include a list of Treasure per chapter. I haven't received my copy of Edgewatch yet, so I don't know if this will continue in future APs.
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It does.
The following list includes all significant pieces of permanent and consumable treasure found in this chapter, excepting currency and mundane equipment.
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It's worth mentioning that Extinction Curse (The AP after Age of Ashes) does indeed include a list of Treasure per chapter. I haven't received my copy of Edgewatch yet, so I don't know if this will continue in future APs.Is there anywhere that lists the gear you find in this book? I think it would be useful as i'm not sure it has all been noted down as my players picked it up..There really isn't, because it is already noted in the various sections of the book itself. There's also the entire possibility your party DOESN'T find certain loot. (there are plenty of "perception to find x" loot spots in the upper levels of the citadel alone... I would even argue the majority of loot not on things they fight, falls into that category.)
As such, I have found it easiest to make a google excel sheet. and just copy paste loot into it when they find it. (as in, when loot is found. I don't even read it off, i just drop it into the sheet, and the players enjoy discussing the findings while i copy any additional lines. our group also puts in values so they can quickly estimate sell values, and per-person shares of the sales.)
Yes, I noticed this, and thought it nifty. I was hoping someone else had put one together for Age of Ashes.
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With the introduction of the Beastmaster Dedication, I'm allowing my player to have the warg puppy her ranger adopted as a second animal companion even though technically a beast cannot become a companion. The companion will be treated as a wolf which can talk. The ranger in question is a gnome used to talking to animals with Burrow Elocutionist and Animal Elocutionist, so the talking benefit applies to other characters encountered.
The other warg puppy was adopted by the druid and the sorcerer in the party has a talking familiar so talking animals is not a new concept in the party.
Please advise how things could go horribly wrong with this approach.
Good day everyone, I have started to run the first AP of age of ashes and end up making a slight change to help my players learn the game by playing a mystery quest (finding who start the fire, instead of being given them the info for free).
I want to share my experience with you and put as much info as I could in case someone else wish to use this side quest in his game.
Due to a twist of fate, during our first session, I prep 2 extra hero since I was supposed to have 7 players, but in the end only 5 made it to the game. During session 1, they met those 2 extra heroes at the wizard grace tavern, but they didn’t show up at the town hall the next day (I receive a txt from both players during the game saying they wont play for the next 2 months, so I just remove them for now).
The first session finish with the 5 heroes saving everyone, killing the fire mephit, but having 1/3 of the building burn down.
At the start of session 2, Counselor Greta ask ppl to know what happen, but I didn’t like having the answer right away and too convenient that he ran at the citadel. Since my player are still trying to figure how PF2e work I decide to have them do the investigation to find Calmont.
Here is my story for Calmont and after what my hero did.
Around 9 months ago Calmont arrive in town to try to work for the Posandi family since he heard that they are a bit like construction mafia and control most of the town from the shadow. What Calmont didn’t expect was that they would refuse his help. They give him a lame reason that he could do nothing about (they told him he was too short to work for them the min. high being 5’).
Enraged, Calmont left and went to see his cousin Crink Twiddleton who run the quarters and bits general shop. Crink was able to help him right away, but after 1 month h found the now poor and drunk Calmont and hook him up with the librarian Voz as a scribe since Cink saw that Calmont had a nice and professional handwriting.
This wasn’t what Calmont wanted, but at this point he needed the money more. Of course, Voz abused him and treat him as cheap labor always reminding him that SHE saved him from the street and the grip of death. During that time, while re-scribing a book about old war, he found the info about the elf gate (same as book story).
Now time to put his plan in motion to go investigate, but sadly for him local hero could be trouble. Luckily for him the previous call of hero before the game started didn’t brought any new hero to town. That is when Calmont decide that he only needed 1 more month to get ready to go explore the citadel without any hero nearby.
On a side note, I decided to give him nightmares sent by Dahak about the end of the world if the gate weren’t fix… and put in his mind the recurrent phrase «Tomorrow must burn… » which is a funny way to link this to the end and Mengkare.
In his growing madness, a plan surface, burn the town council and then no more new hero would come. And the best way to send a clear message would be to do it during the next call of hero.
Since I was sure, I have decided that my version of the town hall had a 5 rooms so different meeting could take place at the same time. And that the building had four exterior doors: the main front door, back entrance leading to the monument circle and 1 service door on each side.
Calmont learned that 7 keys exist to open the town hall: 1x guard on duty, 1x chief of janitor crew, and one with each counselor so they can go in when they need to. Since the guard and janitor key were pass from 1 shift to the next it made it impossible to steal it without getting noticed. But luckily for him the council had one halfling with their group (Ms Sprizzlegig).
He first pretended to fall in love with Counselor Trini Sprizzlegig since she had access to the town hall and as it happens live in one of the building facing the townhall. He starts spending a lot of time at her place since from her bedroom at the second floor you had a great view of the area. That enable him to learn who moved around and their schedule.
Talking to his cousin, Calmont saw that it could be possible to ask the Posandi Brothers to get magical scroll (he never mentioned to Crink what his intend was, only that he wanted to become and adventurer). Calmont decide to go pay a secret visit to the Posandi and “borrow” what he would need (after all they owe him right; if only they had let him join their family…).
After 1 week of planning, Calmont was able to visit the family building and found to his surprise that they worship Asmodeus and in the mist of his search came upon a demon summoning scroll. He figured that demon live in hell which is fill with fire so that should help him burn the townhall.
Since my hero decided right away that the two missing heroes at the meeting were suspicious, I decided to transform them into NPC for now and use them to connect part of the game with them. Help making it as if the world is alive and that things happen even of the PC take a day off or wait (I will replace the dead corpse at A13 of the citadel with one of the two suspicious guy).
One week before the beginning of the game, Calmont met with those 2 NPCs, Rene Krug (human female rogue) and her brother Iveri Krug (human male fighter) pretending to be a member of the council (Mr Sprizzlegig). Calmont knew he had to get rid of them, but also, they could make nice scapegoat for his crime. Through the week he convinces them that the call of hero was a bad thing since they would need to share the reward with everyone else but instead propose to have them work for him and give them missions.
By now most people in town heard that there was some trouble with the goblin at the citadel, so Calmont told the siblings that the citadel was overrun by goblin and that the council would pay them 5gp per goblin head they bring back. He convinces them that the best time to go would be the morning of the call of hero so they could be done with the mission before the council sent another team.
During that week, he visited his cousin Crink to have him prepare an adventure kit for him since he would be officially a town hero after the meeting, and he wanted to become the town best hero they ever met. Crink was so happy for his cousin he didn’t ask too much question and even told him to pay him back for the kit after his first mission.
3 days before the call of hero, Calmont saw an opportunity to steal the townhall key and end it with Trini (he didn’t need lose end). What he didn’t know was that she was deeply in love with him and this would break her heart.
He also ask/told his boss Voz that he had urgent family business to attend since his mom was sick and needed the week off.
He then hid in the attic of Trini house so he could continue to watch the townhall and finalize his plan (also ppl would expect him to be gone to his mom after all).
The day of the meeting, he waited for everyone to enter the building and the guard to leave on their round. He then went and discreetly start locking each door so no one could escape. He started by locking the west door, then the main then the east but when he arrived at the back door leading to the monument circle, he was interrupt by 2x city guards passing by. He was able to mumble some excuse before leaving toward the east door but end up dropping the key and couldn’t risk coming back. After 10 min (which let me have my hero introduce themselves to the council before Ms warbal start talking) he decided to just force open the east service door and get inside.
His plan was to start 2 different fire so that it looks like 2 ppl started the fire (he did plant evidence in the siblings’ room earlier that morning once they left). He starts a slow fire behind the door were the counselor were sitting, then moved to prep a fast burning fire by the east door, dumping nearby garbage and using 2x lamp oil vial he brought.
Then he used the scroll to summon the demon to do his bidding. This was the first time Calmont ever delt with magic and he wasn’t able to control the spell. The spell summons a fire mephit just where he put the garbage and oil which ignite everything and spooked Calmont.
At that moment, a Hailu (male human janitor) came around the corner and saw the fire. He ran toward it and tried to extinguish it, but the mephit hiding in the fire made that impossible. Hailu called for help and saw Calmont ran away by the side door. After yelling at him one more time to come back to help, Hailu ran inside the council chamber telling everyone that the building was on fire (just like in the original scenario).
In the end, my players end up killing the mephit in 3 rounds and saving everyone from the townhall, but they lost the fight with the fire. By the time they got out, I had the town start the fire brigade and end up saying 1/3 of the building was destroyed by the fire.
My players used all their magic and skills to heal/help everyone that were in the building.
After that, Greta came to hug and thank them and ask if anyone had seen or know anything. Of course in my version the answer is no. She then Ask the hero to investigate the strange fire and promise them the normal reward from bringing the person(s) responsible to justice alive so they can pay for their crime against the city. I had most town agree to this and encourage the hero to start the investigation right now while the matter was still hot .
- The PC start investigating the fire trying to locate were and how it started. Rolling a few natural 20, they learn that 2 fire were started and that a magical scroll was used (confirming the mephit presence) and that at least 1 person got scare and ran away.
- The PC first found Hailu who end up being burn by the fire and was in shock. They manage particularly good rolls and learn that he saw a small teenager 10-15yo with dark short hair running away.
- They then walk the surrounding and found that most door had been locked (strange for an open meeting). They decided that someone wanted the council members dead.
- They then talk to the town guard and chief of janitor learning a bit about the town history and that everyone like to help everyone, that the current counselor were well liked and that no strange things has happen in the past 2 months, except the fact that strangely no hero showed up to last month call of hero (just a coincidence, but enough to have their conspiracy mind start spinning).
- They learn that someone saw the teenager pass by and jump on a nearby canoe to escape. 2 PC went looking for the canoe and found out it was discarded by the bridge leading to the general store (#12). There they met with Crink and learn about town business being a bit slow but that he was proud his cousin Calmont became and adventure. He told them he came by 2 hours ago to pickup his gear to go adventuring. He went to the north gate. My PC ran to the north gate but learned that the guards weren’t really looking for anyone in particular at the moment (I roll 18% to see if they spot anyone…). But they promise to be on watch until further notice and if Mr. Calmont try to exit or enter the town, they would bring him for questioning.
- By then the other 3 players KNEW that the 2 siblings were the bad guys. Just needed to bring them to justice and case close.
- While 2 PC went to arrest them at the tavern, the last one found that 7 keys existed and that only Trini lost hers (she has been a mess since she was dumped…). Most likely the key was in her home somewhere. Learned that she met the man of her dream Mr. Trenault a month earlier, but that when she started mentioning wedding plan and visiting his family, he just dumped her (4 days ago).
- By now the hero were even more sure that there were 2 culprits since they did find 2 started fire.
- At the tavern the poor pc rolled badly and was able to find any new info about the siblings, the owner even hint that money could help her remember detail, but as t turn out, that hero hate giving away his money…
- The PC got invited to Trini house to help find the key and for diner as a thankyou for their help. After 2 hours of search they confirm that the key was no were in the house. And they found that someone as been standing by the bedroom windows a lot (a smoker). Trini try to convince them that this was impossible since Mr. Trenault was a very deep and snoring sleeper, but she had to agree that he was a smoker.
- The PC also found a discarded note under the bed written in code (Calmont was making note of patrol road and timings) but Trini confirm it was written in the beautiful handwriting of her ex-lover (they compared it to a love letter to confirm).
- After dinner they went to the Library were Calmont worked. There they met with Voz who I decided to play as a proper language freak that first was mad to be taken away from her novel and kept correcting them on the proper way to speak. They confirmed that Calmont and Mr Treanult were the same person. Learned that he actually lived there and that even if he needs a lot of work to become a well spoken person, his scribing skills outset that lack.
- They convince her that she loved good mystery book and to help them in their investigation. Due to good roll and to keep track of them, she agreed. They ask her to help decipher Mr. Trenault code and she told them she saw something like that in a book once but would need at least 12 hours to find the info. Then she let them go look at Calmont bedroom but made them promise to put everything in place, mentioning he was working on an important book about old wars that happen many century ago (the book he found the elf gate mention in; I love leaving obvious clue that can only make sense in 1 or 2 book from now). She didn’t want Mr. Trenault to be upset when he came back from his family business. She gave them paper and ink to write down any discovery. The hero found a journal with note confirming all they had found so far. Under his bed they found a strange paper written over and over «Tomorrow must burn… » they figure out that it was written over a long period of time, maybe each time he got frustrated or in a crisis (they don’t know about the nightmare yet). They also found a mention of a treasure hidden in the north that he must go find.
- With that, politely took their leave from Voz and decided to move back to the tavern to try to find what must be Calmont associated. Because after all, there was 2 fires started and a spell that was cast…
- As we stand now in the game, my players know that Calmont and most likely his 2 associated left to go find the north treasure. They still wonder why he did it yet. They also learned that the goblin citadel is located somewhere in the north. So now in the morning they intend to leave and go finish both those quests (intending to quickly deal with the goblin trouble before pursuing Calmont), not knowing yet that they are at the same location.
Let me know what you think.
I am looking to have the PC investigate that the strange person going in/out of the pickled ear instead of just getting the answer too easily by chatting/intimidating Roxie.
Anyone of you have done such a thing? If so any tips on how/what to do?
I most likely going to force them to start with the proposed gathering info by spending time at the tavern but I want more mystery/investigation from there.
tx.
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I am looking to have the PC investigate that the strange person going in/out of the pickled ear instead of just getting the answer too easily by chatting/intimidating Roxie.
Anyone of you have done such a thing? If so any tips on how/what to do?
I did not. By the time they reached the pickled ear, Voz has moved to the Goblinblood caves. There’s not any continuing traffic through the tavern.
If you think your group will enjoy it, go for it. It would have been a distraction for my group, I think, and just another delay to catching up to Voz.
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So, I'm finally going to actually get to run this in a couple of weeks. Which is neat. One of my players is going to be playing a Sorcerer and has (at least tentatively) chosen Gust of Wind as a spell known.
So I'm curious, how much, if any, of the fire in the first encounter do people think that would put out? My initial inclination would be to say 'everything it hits' (it's a 60 foot line), but I'm curious about other people's opinions.
The spell does specify putting out 'small nonmagical fires', but strictly speaking this fire isn't small so this is definitely a GM judgment call and I'm curious what other people's ruling would be.