3 - Tomorrow Must Burn (GM Reference)


Age of Ashes

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I have an important question about Rusty Mae's rusting ability. Isn't it completely overpowered, making it likely she will break or even destroy a weapon wielded by a PC in a single round? The ability states:

"Rusty Mae’s claws cause metal to rapidly rust and
corrode. If she succeeds at a claws Strike or Disarm
attempt, she deals 2d6 damage (doubled on a critical hit)
to a metal item the target is wearing or holding, ignoring
its Hardness, in addition to the damage she deals to
the target with her claws. If she hits an unattended
metal item, the item takes 2d6 damage automatically.
If a creature uses the Shield Block reaction with a metal
shield against Rusty Mae’s claw attack, the shield is
automatically broken, but no other item is affected on
that attack."

As I understand that, every time she hits (at +23/+19/+15 if she attacks three times), she does 2d6 (or 2x on a critical) rust damage to a weapon held, ignoring hardness and with no save. My understanding also is that weapons only have 20 HP unless they are made of a special material, so she is pretty much guaranteed to break a weapon in one round and has a decent chance of destroying it entirely.

Isn't that quite overpowered? If so, how should I mitigate it? By only having it take effect on one strike per round? By giving a reflex save? If I give a reflex save, what would the DC be?

Thanks!!

Scarab Sages

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It was a non-issue for my players. It wasn't OP at all.

You choose what she damages, IIRC. Rusting their armor will probably scare them without having any long-term impact. If you're concerned about it, spread the damage around or roll randomly for what is affected. And, of course, non-metal wearers/users aren't affected.

So yes, if you concentrate all her rust damage in one place, you might break or even destroy someone's weapon. Even then, if she's already hit twice, she should use Rend with her final action. Rend is not a strike and shouldn't trigger the Rust ability.

They also have a number of options to avoid getting weapons destroyed, like using backup weapons or non-metallic weapons. Armor will last much longer.


TomParker wrote:
It was a non-issue for my players. It wasn't OP at all.

Thanks for your thoughts. This may be an instance where I was playing the foe TOO strategically by focusing all the rusting on the weapons. If you think of it as an incidental effect of her attack, then it makes more sense that it would affect the armor or only have a chance of affecting the weapon.


Hello guys, on page 27-28 are described the stats of the remnants of Barzillai. No AC or HP is provided so it appers that the only way to get rid of them is disable through expert religion check or counterperform. How should I manage that in a group where there isn't an expert in religion or performance?

Scarab Sages

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The full stats for the Remnants are on page 80.


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doctorfabius wrote:
Hello guys, on page 27-28 are described the stats of the remnants of Barzillai. No AC or HP is provided so it appers that the only way to get rid of them is disable through expert religion check or counterperform. How should I manage that in a group where there isn't an expert in religion or performance?

You mean the Hellhound and Phantom Bells haunts? If none of your players are expert in Religion then they'll have to do what my players had to do, which was run away. No one was expert in religion at that point and they couldn't continue. I don't know if anyone else's players had trouble with that stuff but mine did. The Gelugon almost killed them but they thought "we have to check out everything right now!" And went to Lady Docur's and then the coffeehouse without resting. It was almost a TPK but they managed to escape. They came back the next day and missed all the other encounters inside the coffeehouse because the local police had shown up.


BeardedTree wrote:
doctorfabius wrote:
Hello guys, on page 27-28 are described the stats of the remnants of Barzillai. No AC or HP is provided so it appers that the only way to get rid of them is disable through expert religion check or counterperform. How should I manage that in a group where there isn't an expert in religion or performance?
You mean the Hellhound and Phantom Bells haunts? If none of your players are expert in Religion then they'll have to do what my players had to do, which was run away. No one was expert in religion at that point and they couldn't continue. I don't know if anyone else's players had trouble with that stuff but mine did. The Gelugon almost killed them but they thought "we have to check out everything right now!" And went to Lady Docur's and then the coffeehouse without resting. It was almost a TPK but they managed to escape. They came back the next day and missed all the other encounters inside the coffeehouse because the local police had shown up.

yes, I meant the haunts. thanks for advising, I think I will homebrew something to allow players to defeat the haunts even if not expert in religion


doctorfabius wrote:
BeardedTree wrote:
doctorfabius wrote:
Hello guys, on page 27-28 are described the stats of the remnants of Barzillai. No AC or HP is provided so it appers that the only way to get rid of them is disable through expert religion check or counterperform. How should I manage that in a group where there isn't an expert in religion or performance?
You mean the Hellhound and Phantom Bells haunts? If none of your players are expert in Religion then they'll have to do what my players had to do, which was run away. No one was expert in religion at that point and they couldn't continue. I don't know if anyone else's players had trouble with that stuff but mine did. The Gelugon almost killed them but they thought "we have to check out everything right now!" And went to Lady Docur's and then the coffeehouse without resting. It was almost a TPK but they managed to escape. They came back the next day and missed all the other encounters inside the coffeehouse because the local police had shown up.
yes, I meant the haunts. thanks for advising, I think I will homebrew something to allow players to defeat the haunts even if not expert in religion

In book 2 I had to do that with my guys because no one was Expert in Thievery or Religion when they faced the Wrath of the Destroyer hazard. I would have thought that would have been a clue that they'll need an Expert in religion at some point. We're in book 4 now but when the PC who was playing an Alchemist decided to retire that character and play a cleric I hinted heavily that being Master in religion might come in handy.


Hi. I have two unrelated questions about the narrative:

(1) The PCs just defeated One Eyed Amnin, and did so before going to the slaver boat. At this point, wouldn't it make sense for Bullbutcher to take off in the ship with the slaves in the hold? Or is he just so confident that he assumes he can defeat and enslave them as well?

(2) The module says that the Nidalese diplomat Halleka's specific area of expertise is velstrac relations; "he wants to discuss how the Silver Council might improve their city with their velstrac aid." This makes ZERO sense to me. What on earth could the velstracs have to offer Kintargo, at least for any price Kintargo would want to offer? Any ideas on how to make this more logical? I suppose I could just say he is a diplomat and omit any reference to the velstracs, but I'm curious why the author would have included this not quite logical detail.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Victor

Scarab Sages

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Voomer wrote:
(2) The module says that the Nidalese diplomat Halleka's specific area of expertise is velstrac relations; "he wants to discuss how the Silver Council might improve their city with their velstrac aid." This makes ZERO sense to me. What on earth could the velstracs have to offer Kintargo, at least for any price Kintargo would want to offer? Any ideas on how to make this more logical? I suppose I could just say he is a diplomat and omit any reference to the velstracs, but I'm curious why the author would have included this not quite logical detail.

That might be a good question to pose to James Jacobs in his ongoing thread. I'll bet he might have some clever ideas. While I can't think of what velstracs might do in Kintargo, I don't think it's wholly illogical. Velstracs are probably not unusual in Nidal, so I imagine Halleka has all kinds of wacky ideas.


Voomer wrote:

Hi. I have two unrelated questions about the narrative:

(1) The PCs just defeated One Eyed Amnin, and did so before going to the slaver boat. At this point, wouldn't it make sense for Bullbutcher to take off in the ship with the slaves in the hold? Or is he just so confident that he assumes he can defeat and enslave them as well?

My guys went to the boat first and when they got to One-Eye Amnin they tried to convince him that he didn't have a boat anymore and was therefore no longer a captain.


TomParker wrote:
That might be a good question to pose to James Jacobs in his ongoing thread. I'll bet he might have some clever ideas. While I can't think of what velstracs might do in Kintargo, I don't think it's wholly illogical. Velstracs are probably not unusual in Nidal, so I imagine Halleka has all kinds of wacky ideas.

Thanks! Where do I find the James Jacobs thread? I haven't been able to find it. It's hard to imagine what Kintargo and the Velstracs could figure out, given that the Velstracs would probably demand victims in exchange for any assistance, and I can't really imagine any assistance they could offer that wouldn't be evil (like torture).


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Voomer wrote:
TomParker wrote:
That might be a good question to pose to James Jacobs in his ongoing thread. I'll bet he might have some clever ideas. While I can't think of what velstracs might do in Kintargo, I don't think it's wholly illogical. Velstracs are probably not unusual in Nidal, so I imagine Halleka has all kinds of wacky ideas.
Thanks! Where do I find the James Jacobs thread? I haven't been able to find it.

It is here. Be sure to limit your posts to questions, and one question per post. It's not a discussion thread, just a place for James to answer questions (about almost anything).


Thanks, I posted there! I'll let you know what he says.

Do you (or any others) have any thoughts on how Bullbutcher would respond to the defeat of Ammin? I have to figure out how I'm going to play that before Monday...


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Tomorrow Must Burn p. 18 wrote:
Bullbutcher is supremely confident in its ability to win a fight and doesn’t back down. It would rather capture PCs alive, and it demands they surrender even if the fight turns against it. Bullbutcher fights pugnaciously to the death.

I read that as Bullbutcher won't care if Amnin is dead or not, it sees some future slaves just stroll up to the boat and present themselves for capture.

“Fine day when the slaves come to us!”


I'm sure plenty of people have resolved this for their own games, but I'm switching up the trigger for this part to make it a bit more enticing for my players.

Voz managed to escape their first encounter, so she's going to pop up as a recurring villain. I have two characters whose players weren't able to keep up the schedule, so they've been doing sort of background research/castle management rather than just disappearing.

First, changing the location of the Dreamgate to being underneath Cypress Point. A (now former) temple to Asmodeus was built atop a temple/shrine to Desna, which itself happened to overlay the Dreamgate because it happened to be a location with a great connection to dreams and Desna, even if they didn't know about the gate itself. The Scarlet Triad knew this and had Eclipse (not the Ekujae, didn't like the convenience of that) but had no way to get to the Dreamgate, being as it was under an active temple and difficult to get to without excavation.

Second, enter the raid on Cypress Point, serving the dual purpose of gathering slaves for the Triad's slave trade, but also covering their access to the Dreamgate. Even if Cypress Point returns to normal, the Triad has been able to build in secret access without anyone able to stop them or ask questions. The attack is in its early stages when the Triad accesses and goes through the Dreamgate.

Third, I just got rid of the coven in the Dreamgate. Don't like that scenario, though I like the tree trap. Might do something else with them later, but it doesn't jive with me here. Maybe the Triad had to fight off the coven, or maybe it's long gone but some residual energy/haunts/traps remain, or maybe the hostility on the other side leads to the otherwise peaceful waystation echoing the horrors as a sort of psychic trap. Either way, no hags.

Fourth, not knowing what exactly is on the other side of the Dreamgate but knowing the PCs have control of it, the Triads send in a nasty brute squad to take on whatever's there. This happens to be a bunch of goblins, who quickly realize they're not up to the task, and the NPC-PCs, who were there doing research/castle upkeep along with some other Breachill folks and are overcome and taken hostage. Thropp uses the now-NPCs as leverage to get the PCs to hand over control of the citadel and leave well enough alone, join the Triads, or die. The NPCs are already captured and taken back to Cypress Point. Thropp, in his arrogance (playing up a bit of a competition with Voz), kept Eclipse, and killing him allows the PCs to immediately pop over to Cypress Point...

... Which is on fire, and desperately in need of heroes before the slavers finish up in the next couple days. NPCs are already shipped off, and add a wrinkle to the PCs' main goal.


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I have a question about the Bellflower dedication.

Tomorrow Must Burn page 75 wrote:
Members of your crop can use your Speed for overland travel if it’s higher than their own.

I initially read overland travel to mean only travel during exploration mode, not encounter mode. While there is no definition of overland in the Core Rulebook, a search for the word overland yields the following in the wall of wind spell:

Core Rulebook page 383 wrote:
The wall is difficult terrain to creatures attempting to move overland through it. Gases, including creatures in gaseous form, can’t pass through the wall.

Since the duration of wall of wind is only one minute I interpret that to mean it would really only ever be a factor in encounter mode, so now I am not so sure that the dedication won't benefit the tiller's crop in encounters. However, that could be an error in the spell description as everywhere else the word overland shows up in the Core Rulebook and Gamemastery Guide it seems to refer to exploration mode only.

Your thoughts?


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It looks to me like the Bellflower Tiller's speed is meant for rescued NPCs more than other PCs. Making your dwarven friend walk faster isn't exactly the best reason to join an anti-slavery group. Maybe I'm projecting, but I think the archetype is going for flight, not fight, which is usually at odds with an adventuring party.

As for the Wall of Wind, you're probably right about it being an error (over land, as opposed to burrowing underground).


I'm confused by the prisoner Jerrina Stapwell in Tannessen tower in area H3B. Is she tied into the plot in any way? Did I miss something with her?

Scarab Sages

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I think she's just a prisoner in the tower. She doesn't appear in any subsequent books.


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The final fight against Laslunn and her velstrac was very tough for my group. The front line fighters were weakened from the fight with Vashlik and the shadows, both enfeebled 4. The velstrac in particular was extremely tough, and I even decided not to use its rend ability.

In the end the druid and the rogue were down while the sorcerer, bard and barbarian fled and managed to free the captive slaves. The barbarian was struck down by the snipers, though. Laslunn put the druid and rogue in the cages and the druid, well, he came to and decided to cone of cold the villains, so Laslunn decided he was too dangerous to keep around as a slave and ordered him killed.

So, now I have 2 escaped PCs and one captive. Laslunn's operation is screwed, so I think she will pack up and leave. I need to find a way, however, to get the Jewelgate key into the PC's possession without too much contrivance. The rogue might free himself and find it, I hope, while Laslunn checks out the damages.


Voomer wrote:

Thanks, I posted there! I'll let you know what he says.

For anyone looking for an answer to the Velstrac/Nidal post in the future, James Jacob answered it here.

The short answer is that this is supposed to show the relationship between Nidal and their new neighbor, which has some tension because Ravounel may not be interested in Velstrac help. It's possibly foreshadowing a possible future adventure that may or may not ever be written. It also gives the PCs the possibility of some uncomfortable/tense roleplaying.


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Just want to make sure I'm not missing something here. The Bloody Boar's bloodsense let's them target a bleeding target so they can charge them and that combos into their squeal, but nothing that appears alongside the boars have a bleed effect that I can find. Is it good enough for the target to take slashing/piercing damage? Is it fair to have it proc that fast?


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I would only apply it to a creature that is taking persistent bleed damage. Scarlet Triad Sneaks appear in multiple encounters with blood boars and they have bloodseeker beaks in their inventory, which can cause persistent bleeding as part of a sneak attack.

What do you mean by proc?


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Ah, I overlooked the beak. Knew I was missing something.

And proc means trigger, so in this case the beak causes bleeding and that allows the boar to mark the target.


TheDoomBug wrote:

Ah, I overlooked the beak. Knew I was missing something.

And proc means trigger, so in this case the beak causes bleeding and that allows the boar to mark the target.

Ok but the mark doesn't really have any effect, its more of an exploration time activity.

As such I'd rule it as ''any creature damaged within the vicinity of the blood boar'' in order for the boar to track it down.


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Blood Quarry is required for Chase Down, and Chase Down can boost Terrifying Squeal, so it most definitely has encounter applications. I am guessing that Blood Quarry should have a Free/One Action icon.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, PF Special Edition Subscriber

I think reaction is the most appropriate for Blood Quarry. "On smelling a creature's blood" fits as the trigger. That makes it so if the sneak makes a player whose turn is before the boar bleed then they can't just recover before it can mark them.

The way I'm thinking of running it for the two encounters with 1 boar, 3 sneaks, and 1 thug is to have a sneak try to get the bleed effect on one of the spellcasters, so the boar can mark them and chase them, while the other sneaks aid the thug against the fighters. Definitely going to try to put manacles on the other caster. Maybe I'll have one of the sneaks dart around the building; the map I have for the first one has several alleyways.


My party attacked the stone quarry in broad daylight. In the moment I decided that the Shadow Giant was in broad daylight and couldn't use the shadow cloak ability. Was I correct about that or did I miss something about how much shadow was in the quarry pit?

Scarab Sages

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Middle of the quarry in the middle of the day? Seems very reasonable to me.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

It never occurred to me to run the quarry as anything but an undermountain mine. With the descriptions of the "cave mouth" leading into the area I just assumed the whole thing was underground and shrouded in darkness, which made sense for the Shadow Giants and for the manual torch illumination in the side passages occupied by humanoids.

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xcmt wrote:
It never occurred to me to run the quarry as anything but an undermountain mine. With the descriptions of the "cave mouth" leading into the area I just assumed the whole thing was underground....

That's a great point. I grew up in the Midwest and went to college in the middle of Indiana. There's only one thing that pops into my head when someone says quarry—a giant open pit. I even got my scuba certification in a quarry.

So I'm assuming that's what they meant. But you're right, the author could have meant something else.


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Tomorrow Must Burn p. 47 wrote:
Summershade Granite Quarry sits in the shadow of the looming Summershade Mountain.

Seems to me it is outdoors, otherwise this sentence (the very first one describing the quarry) doesn't make much sense. I suppose that technically anything under the mountain would be in its shadow, but that's a silly way to describe it if so.

Also area J1 explicitly says a cave mouth pierces the hill to the west. That would be a weird description if the whole thing is underground.


So my players have just nearly wrapped up book 2, and I'm getting ready for book 3.

The book starts with the Scarlet Triad sending agents to investigate the disappearance of Voz, but in book 1, my players actually opted to take her alive, and they had a tenuous "alliance" with her (one of the PCs, despite acknowledging that she was super evil, resonated with the fact that she was interested in unearthing the mystery behind the town's founding) However, they were eventually betrayed as Voz used a skirmish as an opportunity to escape alive, freeing Dmiri (the hobgoblin bandit leader from book 1) as well, and I'd love to insert the pair as a recurring villain (perhaps in a tag-team encounter of sorts!) I'm wondering how I should modify the hook to book 3 to accommodate for this, as well where I could insert Voz and Dmiri.

The party actually wiped in book 2, with the lone surviving party member recruiting the "new" party to continue the quest of rooting out the Cinderclaws (and taking full advantage of the new Mwangi options in the most recent Lost Omens book), so most of the PCs wouldn't actually recognize the pair, but I think it'd be cool for my players who were intrigued by Voz as a plot thread.


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Ooo, I'm jealous. I wanted to do something with Dmiri and Voz, but my players killed the hobgoblin.

Is Voz still working with the Scarlet Triad? If so, perhaps the Triad is there to help claim the citadel (assuming the party still holds it)? If not, then Heubrek would still come to investigate why she's gone silent.

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FlurryofBlunders wrote:
I'm wondering how I should modify the hook to book 3 to accommodate for this, as well where I could insert Voz and Dmiri.

If it were me, there are a few options I'd consider.

1. Wrap it up soon. Voz has already made contact with Laslunn, and Laslunn has decided the best course of action (especially since they didn't kill Voz) is to recruit them. Heuberk makes that offer to the PCs as written anyway. Replace Heuberk and his goons with Voz and Dmiri.

2. Wrap it up in the near future. Voz went into hiding after being defeated, eventually resurfaces and makes her way to Laslunn after Heuberk has come to the PCs as written. Heuberk and Laslunn don't know where she is when Thropp kidnaps the wainwright. She subsequently turns up in the tower in Kintargo or in the quarry with Laslunn.

3. Leave it open for awhile. Voz isn't sure Laslunn is handling things very well, and after escaping makes her way to Katapesh instead of Kintargo to go over her head. She shows up before the PCs get to Kintargo (in which case Laslunn has a letter from her bosses vaguely saying that they are aware of Laslunn's meddling in Breachill and want to reiterate that the ring should be left alone at this time, warning that they still have to neutralize the 'benefactor' before moving on the ring) or after, and is present in Katapesh and serves as either an event in Chapter 2 (perhaps encountered during the heist at Bhetshamtal estate) or in the Red Pyramid.


How deep is the quarry pit? I know some of the openings onto the pit are 15 and 30 feet up, but I figure the pit must be a lot deeper! I assume the entrance path dips steeply into the pit and (to the left) towards the sniper posts.


Voomer wrote:
How deep is the quarry pit? I know some of the openings onto the pit are 15 and 30 feet up, but I figure the pit must be a lot deeper! I assume the entrance path dips steeply into the pit and (to the left) towards the sniper posts.

I mean to the left toward the guard post and barracks. The sniper post is across the quarry.

Scarab Sages

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The entrance is described as a cave mouth in the hill. So it probably doesn't matter how deep the quarry is—the PCs would have a difficult climb to get to the top of the quarry, and an even more difficult climb to descend into it from above. I'd assume it's at least a couple hundred feet deep.


Hhhm. I didn't understand it as a cave mouth, but rather a passage that opened up into the open air quarry pit. 200 feet seems plausible, although maybe a little deep given that the areas occupied by the slavers are only 15-30 feet from the bottom.

Scarab Sages

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"Cave mouth" is in the box text for J1. It definitely seems to be an open air quarry. I'm not sure their descriptions make a lot of sense, given how quarries are actually dug out. J1 probably makes more sense as an open air path that was dug out as the quarry was mined deeper.

The chambers were ancient chambers found by the miners. I don't think they have any direct relation to the pit depth. Whatever depth you feel is appropriate for the quarry to have been mostly mined out works—it was already producing less granite when the chambers were discovered and the quarry abandoned.


Thanks. The "cave mouth" leads to the passages where the guard barracks and ancient chambers are, but the main path is straight ahead and open to where the quarry is. Because the cave mouth is at the top of the quarry, I imagine that passage descending steeply towards the barracks, while the main path descends steeply into the quarry. I think I will just say that the quarry is 100 feet deep, which still seems pretty deep to dig out rock across such a large area...

Did you run this campaign? Any tips from the quarry portion? Next session the party is going to explore it with a prying eye, so they will be able to get a lot of information!

Scarab Sages

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Voomer wrote:
Thanks. The "cave mouth" leads to the passages where the guard barracks and ancient chambers are, but the main path is straight ahead and open to where the quarry is.

Maybe that's what it's referring to. It's not very clear. Especially since it's discussing the approach to the entrance and the guard's bodies propped up outside. But the maps and the text are often written separately, so it could just be a disconnect.

Quote:
Did you run this campaign? Any tips from the quarry portion? Next session the party is going to explore it with a prying eye, so they will be able to get a lot of information!

Yes, we're halfway through book 6.

Keep in mind that Prying Eye lasts only 1 minute, only moves 10' if they want to see in all directions, and is a sustained spell that only moves once a round. It has to start with sight of the caster. So they probably can't explore that much of the enormous quarry and chambers—the eye can't even make it from J1 to J5-J7 even just looking ahead and moving 30' per round.

My party entered through the tunnels to J3. I had J4 aid J3 and they were defeated before they could get to the bars to J2 and shout an alarm.

J5 to J7 fights were fairly individual—Jaggaki isn't interested in being disturbed, and the bears are specifically ordered to keep things out of J7. Once they're losing, the J5 giants might retreat to J6. When they fought in J6, the giants in J7 went to help but Jaggaki continued his work for a bit until he became irritated at the failure of his minions. So they ended up fighting about half the bears/giants in J6-J7 and Jaggaki together.

They worked their way around and dealt with the giant last.


Thanks for the info about how it went in your campaign.

I don't understand your interpretation of prying eye. It can be sustained for up to ten minutes, since the spell doesn't say "sustained for up to a minute."

https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=239

Also, why does it only move once per round? Sustain is a one action activity and it doesn't say it can only be done once per round with any given spell. Maybe that rule is elsewhere...

https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=73

What am I missing?


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

"The first time you Sustain the Spell each round, you can either move the eye up to 30 feet, seeing only things in front of the eye, or move it up to 10 feet, seeing everything in all directions around it."

It only moves the "first" time you sustain it each round, and if you want to maintain all-around vision it's limited to 10' during that round. Seems pretty simple! Though you're right about the maximum duration being 10 minutes.


xcmt wrote:

"The first time you Sustain the Spell each round, you can either move the eye up to 30 feet, seeing only things in front of the eye, or move it up to 10 feet, seeing everything in all directions around it."

It only moves the "first" time you sustain it each round, and if you want to maintain all-around vision it's limited to 10' during that round. Seems pretty simple! Though you're right about the maximum duration being 10 minutes.

Ok. Thanks. So, 3000 feet total if you're doing 30 feet per round for 10 minutes.

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Voomer wrote:
xcmt wrote:

"The first time you Sustain the Spell each round, you can either move the eye up to 30 feet, seeing only things in front of the eye, or move it up to 10 feet, seeing everything in all directions around it."

It only moves the "first" time you sustain it each round, and if you want to maintain all-around vision it's limited to 10' during that round. Seems pretty simple! Though you're right about the maximum duration being 10 minutes.

Ok. Thanks. So, 3000 feet total if you're doing 30 feet per round for 10 minutes.

Geez, I misread the casting time as the duration. My party didn't use that spell and I didn't have to actually map it out.

But the spell does limit the amount it can move each round. And they'll only get 3000' if they don't want all-around vision. And it only has the vision of the caster, so that might also limit what they can see if the caster doesn't at least have low light vision.


I ran the session with the prying eye the other night and the players were able to see A LOT. They could confirm the prisoners were in the cages, and check out the guardrooms, the giant areas, and even get close to Lasluun's chamber before the spell ran out! But, so far, it does not seem to have conferred them an enormous advantage and it heightened the tension and gave them a sense of accomplishment.

The battle in the first guard chambers is surprisingly expensive in terms of healing resources, because the thugs and bruisers have a lot of HP and can reliably deal a lot of damage before getting taken out... That seems to be one of the biggest dynamics in PF2e for my table: it's a high damage high healing system and the healing can allow the PCs to succeed in tough single encounters very reliably but dungeon crawls are tough because so much healing gets used up in every moderately tough fight... Maybe my players are doing something wrong in how they approach healing?

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

My players used Divine Font when it was necessary but mostly healed out of combat with Treat Wounds, using Continual Recovery and Ward Medic. I think it was rare they ran out of healing.

In PF1, it could be more dicey as a solid hit on a severely wounded PC could easily kill them. That's not going to happen in PF2. So they generally played it pretty close to the line and only used their magical healing when a PC went down—and sometimes not even then, if the combat looked close to wrapping up.


Has anyone else noticed the Quarry Sluice trap at the end of chapter three has 38HP but a BT of 34? I've not exhaustively gone through every trap to see if there are some that have BT of more or less than 1/2 HP, but it looks like a possible typo. Then again, that trap is a tough one and so I wondered if it maybe it was intentional? Hard to disable but easy to break?

Anyone else have it come up during the game?

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