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Not seeing any answer to this question.
I'm just going to run the indigo pillar so that the 3-creature limit applies against party members. (So, in effect, a *7-creature* limit) I think that's the intention of the hazard.
Clear oversight by the designers. I’d probably just adjust it to a total of 3 gripplis by dropping 1 archer and giving another an Elite adjustment to bring it to same or similar xp. I think the intent is that if the pillar ends up controlling a PC then one of the gripplis can escape the mind control.
Also, I decided that taking down a pillar meant the Eukujae could enter the area it was in again, so each pillar destroyed let them take back more territory. They couldn't enter the Fortress, as it was the center of the magic, but they could essentially blockade it to keep any cultists from escaping or getting reinforcements.I’m doing the same in my game. That might be why they were okay with Gerhard taking an active pillar back home to Taldor, since they figure it won’t bother the Ekujae in Mwangi.
Also - has anybody figured out how the PCs might save the kobold miners? Looking at arsenic poison I can’t figure out how they survived this long in the first place. I’m betting they are past the maximum duration for the poison, but fatigued and sickened 3, so unable to eat or drink. They are also probably both starving and dehydrated, which means 1d4 hp per hour that cannot be healed until they can drink.
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Not seeing any answer to this question.
I'm just going to run the indigo pillar so that the 3-creature limit applies against party members. (So, in effect, a *7-creature* limit) I think that's the intention of the hazard.Clear oversight by the designers. I’d probably just adjust it to a total of 3 gripplis by dropping 1 archer and giving another an Elite adjustment to bring it to same or similar xp. I think the intent is that if the pillar ends up controlling a PC then one of the gripplis can escape the mind control.
It seems more likely that the omission happened the other way around: Eleanor wrote an encounter with 3 creatures, wrote the blurb that said the pillar could only control 3 creatures, then when the devs chose to add a fourth creature, they didn't think to update the beam effect (very likely since it's in a completely different section of the adventure).
Changing the composition of an encounter is something that happens often in development. Changing the text of a trinket ability, especially one designed to make sure the PCs don't get permanently mind-controlled by accident, less so
My players just fought the Vrock (actually an elite Vrock against 5 level 7s) and I was worried after hearing so much about it. Damn thing dropped in two rounds to a smite evil crit from the Liberator (plus another regular hit) and two 3rd level magic missiles. A couple smaller hits in between, but man did they just wreck it.
I couldn't even justify the rest of the cultists fighting back at that point, given how scared they were of the Vrock. Hezle came out and made a deal with them (they also had previously saved the sick kobolds and so could more easily sway that conversation).
The two naunets actually caused them more trouble in the end when they fireballed the voidworms and dispelled the violet tower from afar. Almost took one of them down and the wizard was frustrated at needing to switch elements back and forth.
It was a ton of fun.
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This may be a dumb question, and it's probably not that big a deal. But I cannot understand how the Boggard Swampseers get on and off the ledge at the Fortress of Sorrow.
The AP says the ledge is 15' out of the water, with watch towers spread along it that are 30' tall. The roof of the building is 20' tall, so it's 5' from the ledge onto the roof.
Where is the access to the ledge?
And once they're up there, how do they get around the watchtowers? I'm assuming the roundish parts of the ledge are the towers and they would block traffic around the structure—are the pair of lines on each side of the towers meant to represent 15' tall stairs up and down the watchtowers?
I've just stared at this map and can't make sense of how the boggards got up there, and how they'd get down if they spotted the PCs and needed to engage or retreat inside. Does the AP just assume they climb up? Do they all burn their Jump spell to get there?
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The clay walls are rough and have periodic handholds, requiring a DC 17 Athletics check to Climb.
That's how they get up and down.
That's the only way I could see, also. It seems like a terrible way to build a fortress, having to go outside and climb a wall and then climb a watchtower to keep an eye on things. I was sure I was missing something. I guess boggards aren't particularly good architects.
Then they walked in the front door and faced the two golems (there were 6 at the time, the barbarian was watching fireworks but showed up later) and let me tell you that you don't want two there. If any of you have more than 4 party members just have some creatures from the other rooms come in. It'll go better for your guys. I figured two would be plenty but two was too much. I had to pull punches but my party got decimated. Only three of them remained standing.
That would be rough—close to a severe encounter for 6 PCs. I also have 6. I'll probably just give the golem the elite adjustment.
Last night I ran the green dragon totem hex in Cult of Cinders. I put my players at the bottom of the jungle clearing with most of the map dark to them, and the jungle drakes hidden in the trees. I had 6 PCs so I adjusted the encounter to have 4 total Jungle Drakes. The ranger peeked forward and spotted the dragon totem, so the rogue sprinted all the way forward to stand next to it. The party got a little strung out catching up to him as Jungle Drakes started hopping out of the trees to harass them.
It was a very tough fight and I think it took us between 3 and 4 hours.
At different points in the combat everyone but the Monk and the Cleric got stuck in a Drake's mouth in a tree. The Sorcerer got onto the death track once (getting crit twice while grabbed in a tree knocked him out despite having just healed himself up to 60) and the rogue got onto the death track twice. The two rangers both came within a hair of getting on the dying track (while grabbed in a tree).
The dwarf monk really struggled with a lack of range weapons. He spent a lot of the combat running around. The rest of the party did okay. The archer ranger could shoot the whole map without penalties and never took a step or a stride. The TWF ranger had a backup bow that he was able to use a few times, the Sorcerer was able to blast quite a bit (more on that later) and the Rogue was usually able to get to the foot of a tree and use his returning throwing dagger. The Cleric never made a single strike but nailed the balance of healing vs casting other spells (calm emotions, command, etc).
Early in the fight, after the green totem had fired only one time, the Sorcerer lightning bolted it and rolled near max damage (37). The totem got a natural 1 on its reflex save and I determined that immunity to critical hits != immunity to critical failure, so he did 74 damage, which even with hardness was enough to destroy the totem outright. In the last session the Kishi had critically succeeded on evading his lightning bolt twice so I was happy for him to have a great moment with it. But I am curious if I ruled that right.
I also did not make anyone roll for th e venom after they had beaten it the first time, which on retrospect I'm pretty sure was a mistake.
Afterwards a few of the players and I chatted for 20 or 30 minutes about what went wrong, what they could have done differently, how to approach these fights with more planned teamwork, etc. In the moment they tend to do things to help each other. But they often don't seem to think that much about what the other players will do and how to help that, especially at the beginning of a fight.
Last night I ran the green dragon totem hex in Cult of Cinders. I put my players at the bottom of the jungle clearing with most of the map dark to them, and the jungle drakes hidden in the trees. I had 6 PCs so I adjusted the encounter to have 4 total Jungle Drakes. The ranger peeked forward and spotted the dragon totem, so the rogue sprinted all the way forward to stand next to it. The party got a little strung out catching up to him as Jungle Drakes started hopping out of the trees to harass them.
It was a very tough fight and I think it took us between 3 and 4 hours.
At different points in the combat everyone but the Monk and the Cleric got stuck in a Drake's mouth in a tree. The Sorcerer got onto the death track once (getting crit twice while grabbed in a tree knocked him out despite having just healed himself up to 60) and the rogue got onto the death track twice. The two rangers both came within a hair of getting on the dying track (while grabbed in a tree).
The dwarf monk really struggled with a lack of range weapons. He spent a lot of the combat running around. The rest of the party did okay. The archer ranger could shoot the whole map without penalties and never took a step or a stride. The TWF ranger had a backup bow that he was able to use a few times, the Sorcerer was able to blast quite a bit (more on that later) and the Rogue was usually able to get to the foot of a tree and use his returning throwing dagger. The Cleric never made a single strike but nailed the balance of healing vs casting other spells (calm emotions, command, etc).
Early in the fight, after the green totem had fired only one time, the Sorcerer lightning bolted it and rolled near max damage (37). The totem got a natural 1 on its reflex save and I determined that immunity to critical hits != immunity to critical failure, so he did 74 damage, which even with hardness was enough to destroy the totem outright. In the last session the Kishi had critically succeeded on evading his lightning bolt twice so I was happy for...
As far as I'm concerned you ruled right for coolness on the lightning bolt. A sorcerer should be able to blow a totem up with a lightning bolt.
As far as I'm concerned you ruled right for coolness on the lightning bolt. A sorcerer should be able to blow a totem up with a lightning bolt.
Would it be an Arcana check to identify the Dragon Pillar? I could also see Religion...
Either way, it looks like it should be a DC27 Recall Knowledge check (lvl6 DC +5 Very Hard adjustment).
I think Belmazog is more of a sorcerer?
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I just have one question... is Belmazog a cleric? She has divine prepared spells so I wasnt sure if she'd have the Divine Font that clerics have.
NPCs aren't necessarily built the same way players are, so there's no need to add anything to her stat block that isn't there.
Would it be an Arcana check to identify the Dragon Pillar? I could also see Religion...
Either way, it looks like it should be a DC27 Recall Knowledge check (lvl6 DC +5 Very Hard adjustment).
Follow-up question. What auras would they have? I went with evocation (because of the eye beams) and abjuration (as a hint that they are what is protecting the fortress). I may have different auras for different totems depending on the effect, but I will always have the abjuration one.
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I know they are it's just... i kinda hate how monster creation in PF2 is just "they have this" and not "they have this because reasons". I think I'm just too used to 1st edition.I just have one question... is Belmazog a cleric? She has divine prepared spells so I wasnt sure if she'd have the Divine Font that clerics have.NPCs aren't necessarily built the same way players are, so there's no need to add anything to her stat block that isn't there.
Think of it as them having what amount to 'NPC Classes', that's what I generally do.
If it makes you feel better, most actually do either hew closer to PC options than Belmazog does, or have their weird spells be Spontaneous and clearly from things other than their training.
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I had an idea for the awkwardness of the "oh it's a twin" thing.
Just plan from the beginning on their being twins. They were working together but, like some siblings do, they fight constantly. They bickered about the true location of their destination and, each being capable explorers, they split up in a huff. Deep down they love each other and won't take well to news that the other has been hurt or killed, but they can whine about "my idiot brother" etc.
If you really want to twist things, you can even make one of them female (although then you lose the uncanny resemblance effect of maternal twins)
So I went with this. They first met Gerhard, by himself, at the blue pillar. They yelled him into running off.
Then a few days later they met Gerhard *and* Erhard arguing over the placement of the explosives. I basically cloned Gerhard and then gave them half of a "Weak" adjustment to accommodate my party of 6. It made for some great inter-NPC roleplay. But it split the party's attention when a fight broke out, and they did not prevent the temple from being destroyed.
What is interesting is that they felt railroaded. They had bullied Gerhard once before and tried adopting the same tactic. Between reading the AP and reasoning about the situation I concluded that Gerhard became unhinged beyond the reach of reason or emotion and was determined to destroy the temple. One of the players (although untrained in intimdation) rolled a nat 20 (for a total of 20) on his intimidation check and felt that should have meant something. It meant Gerhard was *frightened* but we were already in initiative by then (the powder was lit).
I'm curious how y'all might have handled the roleplay there. The module pushes the GM pretty hard to make a fight happen with Gerhard. I think there are a few ways my PCs could have avoided a fight (not caring about the temple, for one) but I feel like its unfortunate that they feel the outcome was railroaded. They thought Gerhard was a narcissistic a#@~$$%, but not evil, and they didn't want him to die. But his death was the natural outcome of their actions + his actions.
Honestly, after the temple was blown up he probably would have walked away and left them behind. But one of the PCs started fighting Erhard as soon as we were in initiative, and the other PCs didn't let Gerhard leave the temple alive. I played the two as bickering, kind of hating each other, but still loving each other as siblings at the end of the day. Erhard was so stricken with grief and hatred that he was determined to kill Gerhard's killer instead of running away, so he was also struck down.
1.) Can the PCs see the dragon totems from the river? I went ahead and gave them the river-adjacent totems when they stopped in the same square, but not as they passed by since they had a specific hex in mind as their destination.
I am curious how other GMs ruled this. I am leaning towards doing the same as KitsuneWarlock.
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1.) Can the PCs see the dragon totems from the river? I went ahead and gave them the river-adjacent totems when they stopped in the same square, but not as they passed by since they had a specific hex in mind as their destination.I am curious how other GMs ruled this. I am leaning towards doing the same as KitsuneWarlock.
I don't plan on running it that way. With each jungle hex being 10 miles and none of the pillars being described as being on the shore, I just can't imagine them seeing them even from the shore. Maybe the Blue Pillar, since it sounds like the PCs could carry it to Gerhard's boat.
When I run this, I envision something like Aguirre, Wrath of God or The Mission. The scenery in those films make it look like there's not a lot of visibility.
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I know they are it's just... i kinda hate how monster creation in PF2 is just "they have this" and not "they have this because reasons". I think I'm just too used to 1st edition.I just have one question... is Belmazog a cleric? She has divine prepared spells so I wasnt sure if she'd have the Divine Font that clerics have.NPCs aren't necessarily built the same way players are, so there's no need to add anything to her stat block that isn't there.Think of it as them having what amount to 'NPC Classes', that's what I generally do.
If it makes you feel better, most actually do either hew closer to PC options than Belmazog does, or have their weird spells be Spontaneous and clearly from things other than their training.
This is precisely why I like the P2 monster creation rules and loathe the SF ones, despite the similarity. In SF you graft a Class onto a NPC or Monster and give it abilties that those classes could readily have but PCs don't have access to them.
In P2 they avoid that, a much better presentation. Also it helps that every NPC and monster has it's own unique abilities.
What is interesting is that they felt railroaded. They had bullied Gerhard once before and tried adopting the same tactic. Between reading the AP and reasoning about the situation I concluded that Gerhard became unhinged beyond the reach of reason or emotion and was determined to destroy the temple. One of the players (although untrained in intimdation) rolled a nat 20 (for a total of 20) on his intimidation check and felt that should have meant something. It meant Gerhard was *frightened* but we were already in initiative by then (the powder was lit).
I wouldn’t have handled this any other way. It sounds like your player was expecting a result on their Intimidation roll that was better than what the rules dictate. There is no way a critical success on Intimidation (or any other skill, for that matter) should result in some form of hand-waving of an encounter.
What is interesting is that they felt railroaded. They had bullied Gerhard once before and tried adopting the same tactic. Between reading the AP and reasoning about the situation I concluded that Gerhard became unhinged beyond the reach of reason or emotion and was determined to destroy the temple. One of the players (although untrained in intimdation) rolled a nat 20 (for a total of 20) on his intimidation check and felt that should have meant something. It meant Gerhard was *frightened* but we were already in initiative by then (the powder was lit).I wouldn’t have handled this any other way. It sounds like your player was expecting a result on their Intimidation roll that was better than what the rules dictate. There is no way a critical success on Intimidation (or any other skill, for that matter) should result in some form of hand-waving of an encounter.
I agree, FWIW. And since the DC was higher than 20 he only had a success.
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I'm curious how y'all might have handled the roleplay there. The module pushes the GM pretty hard to make a fight happen with Gerhard. I think there are a few ways my PCs could have avoided a fight (not caring about the temple, for one) but I feel like its unfortunate that they feel the outcome was railroaded. They thought Gerhard was a narcissistic a&%!*~*, but...
My PCs had a mini fight with Gerhard when they first met him at the Blue Pillar, but he ran off when they weren't scared off by his blunderbluss. THEN, the PCs made it back to his boat before him, so they read his diary and learned about his plan for the ruins. They found out the location of the ruins from the Ekujae and went there and had the confrontation with Gerhard, who was basically waiting to blow up the ruins in their face. The PCs heroically and barely saved the temple and then beat Gerhard to the point of surrender. They spared him, he explained the temple to him (turns out Gerhard knows his stuff and isn't ALL hot air), and the PCs took him back to the Ekujae but encouraged the Ekujae not to execute him. The Ekujae are practicing some restorative justice and Gerhard is spending days in re-education about respecting heritage sites.
I and the players were pretty happy with how it worked out and the balance. They confronted and fought him as appropriate to the story, but they spared him because he wasn't irredeemable in the same way as Malarunk. It helps that one of the party members is a cleric of Sarenrae, so there is a lot of space for redemption narratives...
My players will begin repairing the Citadel soon. Does there exist a "clean" map of the fortress that they can fill in? Like, "we'll put this room here and that room there?"
Thanks!
My players will begin repairing the Citadel soon. Does there exist a "clean" map of the fortress that they can fill in? Like, "we'll put this room here and that room there?"
Thanks!
Check the Community Created Content thread. There are lots of maps that people have made there, including some of the 'repaired' citadel; one of them might be what you're looking for.
Or you can just replace a fight in the citadel with a vrock. It might apply a bit more symmetry than the chimera fight, for example. You're welcome to mess with stuff as makes sense for your table!
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I was asking because my guys would withdraw after every combat to rest up. Belmazog knew people were entering the fortress and killing her cultists. And cost shouldn't be an issue since she was sitting on Kyrion's hoard of (if my math is correct) over 1k gold?
Summoning via Planar Ally (the way I'd assume she would do this), actually has a really low chance for Belmazog in isolation. Her odds of making the DC 32 Primary Check are only about 1/3...but the secondary check is Diplomacy at DC 27. I don't think anyone in the whole place succeeds at that with less than a 20. And most will critically fail it at least half the time. If they fail, they give her a -4 penalty (making her odds of success 15%), and if they critically fail her odds of success go to 5% while her odds of critical failure become 65%.
That results in total odds of success in the 8% range or less, and each check takes a whole day. It also results in odds of critical failure of probably over 50%, and a critical failure directly displeases your deity. As a Divine caster powered by Dahak, those aren't odds Belzamog should try and play, and she has enough Wisdom to know that.
I think it must be assumed that someone with actually decent Diplomacy (maybe a Scarlet Triad member?) was there to help with summoning the first Vrock, and that she now lacks that resource. No other result makes sense by the rules.
I was asking because my guys would withdraw after every combat to rest up. Belmazog knew people were entering the fortress and killing her cultists. And cost shouldn't be an issue since she was sitting on Kyrion's hoard of (if my math is correct) over 1k gold?Summoning via Planar Ally (the way I'd assume she would do this), actually has a really low chance for Belmazog in isolation. Her odds of making the DC 32 Primary Check are only about 1/3...but the secondary check is Diplomacy at DC 27. I don't think anyone in the whole place succeeds at that with less than a 20. And most will critically fail it at least half the time. If they fail, they give her a -4 penalty (making her odds of success 15%), and if they critically fail her odds of success go to 5% while her odds of critical failure become 65%.
That results in total odds of success in the 8% range or less, and each check takes a whole day. It also results in odds of critical failure of probably over 50%, and a critical failure directly displeases your deity. As a Divine caster powered by Dahak, those aren't odds Belzamog should try and play, and she has enough Wisdom to know that.
I think it must be assumed that someone with actually decent Diplomacy (maybe a Scarlet Triad member?) was there to help with summoning the first Vrock, and that she now lacks that resource. No other result makes sense by the rules.
That's all player math, though. Not monster math. Monster math is if the game is served by her summoning a vrock at some point, then she can do it.
If the party attacks the fortress then leaves again to rest? I think some complications as a result are warranted.
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That's all player math, though. Not monster math. Monster math is if the game is served by her summoning a vrock at some point, then she can do it.
If the party attacks the fortress then leaves again to rest? I think some complications as a result are warranted.
If the GM wants it to work that way, sure. But BeardedTree sounded like they were looking for an in-universe reason she wouldn't do so.
That being the case the fact that the rules clearly indicate she'd probably fail and piss off her God is a pretty good reason.
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Actually my plahers weren't wondering that, it was me wondering that. Why would she have the ritual but only use it once. Maybe it just goes back to "monsters do this". The book even mentions her being upset about the PCs getting to where they did. Why wouldn't she use all of her resources? My players thought Hezle was the summoner.
Oh, I didn't necessarily mean your players wanted the info, just that you wanted the in-universe explanation, for whatever reason.
I hope my above bit analyzing why she really can't do that with the resources she has right at that moment is useful to you.
How many actions did you rule it was for a player to attempt to knock over the dragon totem? I allowed 1 action (with the attack trait and all that entails) but am curious if there is any RAW to indicate otherwise or if any of y'all had a justification any particular way.
Oh the one hand using Thievery would be two actions, so it could make sense to do it that way. But thematically it feels closer to a shove, which would allow multiple attempts in a round (with MAP) but also would end any invisibility effects.
How many actions did you rule it was for a player to attempt to knock over the dragon totem? I allowed 1 action (with the attack trait and all that entails) but am curious if there is any RAW to indicate otherwise or if any of y'all had a justification any particular way.
Oh the one hand using Thievery would be two actions, so it could make sense to do it that way. But thematically it feels closer to a shove, which would allow multiple attempts in a round (with MAP) but also would end any invisibility effects.
I’ve only been charging 1 action for the Athletics check, subject to the MAP as you describe. That seems to be the intent from how I read it. It is listed under the “Disable Device” entry under the totem description, but it doesn’t say you use Athletics in place of Thievery to perform a Disable Device action.
Did I miss a post about Gerhard’s missing Athletics bonus? I thought I saw a post, but can’t find it anywhere.
My party will be facing Gerhard at the temple tonight. Gerhard has that amazing whip and reaction, but apparently no way to use it effectively.
It's +14 per this post.
Haha - on page 1 of this thread no less. Thanks!
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My group of four mostly veteran players are having a very hard time in and around the fortress. A sorcerer, druid/cleric, bard and fighter. First of all Sweettooth the deinosuchus absolutely wrecked them, pitching them into the water, swallowing two and killing the sorcerer.
After resurrecting the sorcerer, the team returned and got inside. They beat the golem in a hard fight, only learning its vulnerabilities late in the fight. Then they beat the Swampseers and charau-kas but one fleeing charau-ka kited in the two half-dragon guardians. The team was beat up by then and in short order the two guardians had all four PCs unconscious.
So there are two issues here. The first is the difficulty. I think it’s probable that 2e is tuned too difficult. When I say that we are veterans, I mean that half the party has 25+ years of experience and a third member has been playing for several years. I think the math just causes too many critical hits.
The second and more immediate issue is “what now?” Luckily I don’t have to do yet another resurrection and only need to resort to the prisoner scenario. So, they’re prisoners. Presumably to be used as mine labor or sold to the Scarlet Triad as slaves. Where in the fortress will they be held? Or elsewhere? What opportunities would they have to break free and what would the Cinderclaws do to hobble their spell casters?
Would Belmazog come to see them and monologue? What would she say?
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So there are two issues here. The first is the difficulty. I think it’s probable that 2e is tuned too difficult. When I say that we are veterans, I mean that half the party has 25+ years of experience and a third member has been playing for several years. I think the math just causes too many critical hits.
PF2 has made encounters a fair bit tougher, but some of this is also that the people writing the adventures weren't really in synch with how to create encounters in PF2 yet for the first couple of books of AoA and may have erred on the side of difficulty. This issue is more one of 'early installment weirdness' than one in the system as a whole. Fall of Plaguestone has it even worse, but later stuff has a lot less of this issue.
Another issue might be tactics, and how used to the new system the players are. PF2 assumes PCs go into most fights at full health. It sounds like that is very much not what happened in this instance...could the PCs have arranged for it to happen? Possibly by running? Because if so, their long experience may be a handicap rather than an advantage, telling them they don't need to do this even when they really do.
The Charau-Ka Butchers specifically are also straight up a math error, having a to-hit bonus that's +2 or +3 higher than it should be. They are in need of errata (this goes back to the 'not used to the new edition' thing mentioned above, this time on the creature design side).
The second and more immediate issue is “what now?” Luckily I don’t have to do yet another resurrection and only need to resort to the prisoner scenario. So, they’re prisoners. Presumably to be used as mine labor or sold to the Scarlet Triad as slaves. Where in the fortress will they be held? Or elsewhere? What opportunities would they have to break free and what would the Cinderclaws do to hobble their spell casters?
Is Hezle still around? If so, she could easily be called in from the mine to interrogate the PCs (possibly with the intention of drugging them if necessary), giving them the opportunity to win her over to their side, especially if they mention the other kobolds (if they ran into them). She might easily be willing to help their escape attempt (such as by getting them their gear back and un-gagging spellcasters) before sneaking away, and is the most organic way to arrange that. If she's gone, but helped the PCs before leaving, having her sneak in to help them again is also possible, though I'd have her demand favors of the PCs in exchange for help in that case.
If she's dead or never was friendly with the PCs, it gets a lot harder to explain this in an organic fashion.
Would Belmazog come to see them and monologue? What would she say?
I dunno if she's really the type. You could certainly have her do so if you want, but I think it would also be reasonable for her to not do so.
PF2 has made encounters a fair bit tougher, but some of this is also that the people writing the adventures weren't really in synch with how to create encounters in PF2 yet for the first couple of books of AoA and may have erred on the side of difficulty. This issue is more one of 'early installment weirdness' than one in the system as a whole. Fall of Plaguestone has it even worse, but later stuff has a lot less of this issue.
Plaguestone was very tough, but at least nobody died in our run. I hop you're right about it getting better.
Another issue might be tactics, and how used to the new system the players are. PF2 assumes PCs go into most fights at full health. It sounds like that is very much not what happened in this instance...
They were rested, at full health and with full spells.
Is Hezle still around?
No, she got herself dead in the first few rounds of the sprawling fight that took over the mine complex. But perhaps there's someone else that could be brought in to fill that role. A different character with potential sympathies. I'll think about that. Still not sure where they'd be imprisoned. It's a fortress made of mud, after all.
Would Belmazog come to see them and monologue? What would she say?
I dunno if she's really the type. You could certainly have her do so if you want, but I think it would also be reasonable for her to not do so.
Yeah, but if she does, it gives me a chance to spill some exposition without the villain taking a greatsword to the face in the middle of the speech. I could talk about the Triad and about Belmazog's plans for destiny, all the while showing her to be a bit dim-witted and not entirely committed to the cause.
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Plaguestone was very tough, but at least nobody died in our run. I hop you're right about it getting better.
Evidence strongly suggests it does.
They were rested, at full health and with full spells.
Gotcha, just checking. Did they have the possibility of retreating when the Charau-Ka went for reinforcements? Because that would've been a very solid idea if possible.
No, she got herself dead in the first few rounds of the sprawling fight that took over the mine complex. But perhaps there's someone else that could be brought in to fill that role. A different character with potential sympathies. I'll think about that. Still not sure where they'd be imprisoned. It's a fortress made of mud, after all.
Kyrion would obviously help if he could. Maybe have the PCs imprisoned near him and let them work something out? I'm not sure how that would work in detail, though...
Yeah, but if she does, it gives me a chance to spill some exposition without the villain taking a greatsword to the face in the middle of the speech. I could talk about the Triad and about Belmazog's plans for destiny, all the while showing her to be a bit dim-witted and not entirely committed to the cause.
That'd definitely work. Obviosuly, you should look to her answers if interrogated for insight into what she might say. Personally, I don't think she'd mention the Scarlet Triad unless someone else brings them up...they just aren't important to her on any emotional level.
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Anyone else thrown off by Boggard Swampseer image in the book (which I have used for my Roll20 token) has a glowing crossbow, yet Boggard Swampseers don't have crossbows, let alone glowing ones?