This is a spoiler-filled resource thread for GMs running the Agents of Edgewatch Adventure Path, specifically for the second adventure, "Sixty Feet Under."
I love the Vudra section in this book's toolbox! Nice to see a different area of the world covered.
For GM's looking ahead, the players don't travel to Vudra, but they fight cultists from Vudra, who live in "Vudratown" an area in Absalom's Foreign Quarter.
That monster of a dungeon out of nowhere looks amazing.
Also, I usually run milestone leveling but this AP might require XP tracking! This book starts midway through level 4 and ends partway into level 9...
I've really enjoyed looking through the balance of encounter types so far. The Copper Hand stuff is a little MacGuffiny, but the bank robbery looks a hoot. I think the biggest challenges here will be the tone changes. Definitely adds to the shock value though!
Anyone have a good resource on this Fiendflesh Siege?
Oh yeah, Chapter 4 is all dungeon crawl and combat! After the party has been focusing on skill use and de-escalating combats, this chapter is brutal in comparison!
The Fiendflesh Siege happened a few years ago, an was played out as a Gencon, multi-table Society Scenario.
https://paizo.com/products/btpy9tld?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-900-Assault -on-Absalom
Oh yeah, Chapter 4 is all dungeon crawl and combat! After the party has been focusing on skill use and de-escalating combats, this chapter is brutal in comparison!
The Fiendflesh Siege happened a few years ago, an was played out as a Gencon, multi-table Society Scenario.
https://paizo.com/products/btpy9tld?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-900-Assault -on-Absalom
Thank's Moximus! I was going to ask the same thing.
I absolutely love the random Dark Tapestry creature in the catacombs. Eldritch horror? I'm into that. More please.
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Tyrroicese does indeed have a lot of HP, but also very low AC for its level and a relevant Weakness many PCs will have access to. I mean, every Good attack that hits is effectively -10 from that HP total, and its Perception is also low, a real disadvantage compared to most monsters (who tend toward high Perception). These kinds of tradeoffs are pretty normal, so I'd say its stat block is probably accurate.
The only really outrageous thing is the immunities, which might well be excessive (given that it's outright immune to every weapon damage type except bludgeoning, as well as being immune to critical hits).
I'd be inclined to say you should definitely inform any PC who makes a Recall Knowledge check and succeeds that the creature is clearly amorphous and unaffected by piercing or slashing. Not knowing that could easily make this a party killer.
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On the other hand, if a resistance or immunity never comes into play because you always tell your characters beforehand, something is off...
A group is totally expected to make an attack that is completely wasted, and immediately try something else.
Being immune to slashing and piercing shouldn't be a party killer. It should at most negate exactly two (2) successful attacks, one slashing and one piercing.
I did say you should only tell them on a successful Recall Knowledge check, not just automatically. I'd put on the same level of importance as a troll's regeneration, which is also revealed on a successful Recall Knowledge.
And it's potentially more attacks than that depending on how attacks are described and what conclusions PCs draw. I can easily see them assuming things other than blanket immunity to 2/3 of the weapon damage in the game. They could assume it can spend a reaction to negate damage, they could assume you need a special material and try their backup cold iron weapon instead of their backup bludgeoning one, and so on. If anyone has Bludgeoning as a primary damage type, that'll provide a clue real early, but that's not gonna be true for every PC group.
That could easily consume at least a few people's turns completely as different players try different things, and if it does, well, the encounter is already with a Level +3 foe, and those can be TPK machines even without wasting whole turns on things that auto-fail.
My players have finished the first book and we're eagerly getting ready to start running book 2.Just wondering - how much play time did you take to go through book 1? I'm working through this with my group right now, and I'm trying to get a sense of what to expect. I'm new to Pathfinder, so I don't have a great frame of reference.
I haven't played this one yet but I'm about halfway through Age of Ashes right now.
It comes down to preference, really. Generally speaking, I think a level should be gained every 8-12 hours of gameplay or so. My preference is on the longer side--I prefer each level to take around 4-5 sessions (we go for around 3 hours at a time). Some tables play long sessions every week and some others speed-run content. For most groups, finishing one book in an AP in a month is absolutely breakneck and you shouldn't count on that being your experience.
But really it's all up to you. I would definitely not push to have new players level every session or two--depending on their RPG experience, that can be massively overwhelming.
Just wondering - how much play time did you take to go through book 1? I'm working through this with my group right now, and I'm trying to get a sense of what to expect. I'm new to Pathfinder, so I don't have a great frame of reference.
As someone who has run Age of Ashes Book 1 to 3/4 completion and Extinction Curse Books 1, 2 and 3 (as well as Curse of the Crimson Throne's books 1, 2 and 3, but that's 1st ed), I would say: Depends. Wildly. How often are you playing, how long are the sessions, how on track are players, did you sneak in additional content, how much RP are you using? All these can either render it about a chapter every two sessions, or as long as months pouring over one book. It can even vary from book to book. Book 3 of Extinction Curse was fast, I would say maybe two sessions per chapter. In comparison, we've spent about three sessions in chapter one of Book 4, and we are far from over.
There's honestly no easy answer, sorry.
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Yo, actual Paizo customer here.
The controversy is because they’re trying to run an adventure path, while also being cops. Claiming there wouldn’t be one if people would just play it like a normal adventure cause there’s nothing “different”, to paraphrase, is completely disingenuous and attempts to cover up why exactly people are pissed.
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Yeah, also speaking as a Paizo customer, the issue is that, particularly in terms of how gaining money is handled, the fact that the PCs just steal everything that isn't nailed down and shake people down for money for breaking minor laws or actually making them do their jobs is really disturbing given that the PCs are cops, and how reminiscent of real corrupt cops all those behaviors are.
Yes, most of that is fairly typical of how PCs normally behave in APs, but just by making them cops without changing the behavior you immediately get some real unfortunate complications that, especially in the context of Black Lives Matter and the current calls for police reform, make a lot of people understandably really uncomfortable.
I don't want to derail this thread with a giant discussion of this issue and how to fix it (the proper place for that is the Chapter 1 thread, and we've had it), but just saying 'oh, that's not a real problem' is dismissive and inappropriate.
What do you guys suggest/what was meant for this instead of the shifting rune?
Honestly, since players tend to stick with one armour type, I'd assume it would be just about changing the appearance. So, maybe Glamered Property Rune?
why is the Tyrroicese resistant to evil? it can't take evil as it's evil itself!
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just noticed that there's 2 vaultbreaker oozes in room C6, but both are large and it's a 3x3 room!
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just noticed that there's 2 vaultbreaker oozes in room C6, but both are large and it's a 3x3 room!
That's something that I noticed Paizo tends to do, put large+ creatures in rooms they shouldn't be in. I honestly just made it 1 regular vaultbreaker ooze and it was fine, not too easy or anything still. Pretty sure they can fit and be fine because they are oozes but for my sanity I try not to have overlapping tokens on my VTT.
there's also 2 black puddings (huge) in a 10ft wide curcular chamber! they're pretty slow too with 20ft, so if they've gotta squeeze at all times (i use difficult terrain for this) then they're not gonna be able to catch up to anyone!
There is this spiral staircase in D11. Where this is supose to lead to?
There is this spiral staircase in D11. Where this is supose to lead to?
Down to the lower cavern like levels of the sewers.
There is this spiral staircase in D11. Where this is supose to lead to?Down to the lower cavern like levels of the sewers.
Really? That's strange. A full structured stair behind bars that leads to a tight tunel.
Maybe in its prime, it was better... It did collapse and much of the old place fell to ruin. I need to figure out why the BBEG of book 3 has a weapon in its art and description but the creature doesn't have one.
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The excorions in the end boss battle are actually lvl 7 in the bestiary section, rather than the lvl 6 stated in the text, and the difficulty calculation of severe seems to use lvl 6! if you remove 1 then it becomes correct for severe! otherwise it's 140xp!
The Skinsaw Sanctum Main Level map is absolutely horrid. I'm running this on a VTT and I'm not sure what the mapmaker was thinking to do with both levels like that, instead of splitting them.
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The Skinsaw Sanctum Main Level map is absolutely horrid. I'm running this on a VTT and I'm not sure what the mapmaker was thinking to do with both levels like that, instead of splitting them.
I am actually remaking the whole map in Dungeondraft. I'll post it when I have it ready.
I used Dungeon Draft to recreate the main dungeon map.
https://gmfacepalm.blogspot.com/
Tyrroicese was the worst thing about this book. My players ran around the map trying to fight the creature off for two hours. They eventually did but they were very upset with its stats. It was close to TPK's for many rounds.
Most sessions, my players are infuriated with the inflated enemy rolls.
One player pulled multiple monsters by running further ahead. Luckily they found the sanctuary in time.
The best parts; tripping Xitelberak... they turned a stalactite into a stalagmite. Danis “Dannicus” Tumblaro... tumblaro'd off the edge of the map, before any introductions were made, but after seeing the man fraught with indecision.
Most sessions, my players are infuriated with the inflated enemy rolls.
May you please elaborate on what you mean by that?
May you please elaborate on what you mean by that?
I'm speaking on behalf of my players and the general attitude. My players grumble when they see enemies saves that are +20 or +22 on spells they cast. They are put off when many enemies were rolling +20 or +23 to the attack roll. However, I have been on a streak with rolling good. Looking at the Gamemastery Guide's Monster Builder, the numbers appear to be in the right areas, even though the party thinks different.
My weekly group as been around since 2012 playing Pathfinder AP's. They are known for mopping up encounters, room by room of combatants. I couldn't stop them at higher levels with doubling HP and adding mythic ranks. 2nd edition has given them incidental pause and unease with more of the monstrous threat coming back under my control to unleash at the adventurers.
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May you please elaborate on what you mean by that?I'm speaking on behalf of my players and the general attitude. My players grumble when they see enemies saves that are +20 or +22 on spells they cast. They are put off when many enemies were rolling +20 or +23 to the attack roll. However, I have been on a streak with rolling good. Looking at the Gamemastery Guide's Monster Builder, the numbers appear to be in the right areas, even though the party thinks different.
My weekly group as been around since 2012 playing Pathfinder AP's. They are known for mopping up encounters, room by room of combatants. I couldn't stop them at higher levels with doubling HP and adding mythic ranks. 2nd edition has given them incidental pause and unease with more of the monstrous threat coming back under my control to unleash at the adventurers.
Yeah that's an adaptation for veteran players. Tell them to suck it up and take the challenge, since they now at least have one.
At first I was irritated by it too, now when I got back to being a player in pf1 I'm just like " wait the ennemy requires a nat 20 to save or else he dies.... That's so stupid....give me some challenge..."
I see now, thanks folks.
I only have a very brief experience with PF1, and that was as a novice GM. I made a five-player party play through the first Kingmaker book (Stolen Lands), and I did feel like I had a hard time challenging my players; although --since I lacked experience -- I wasn't at all able to tell if that was due to me being too kind, the AP being too easy, them being too numerous, or PF1 being usually an easy game at these levels.
On the contrary, in PF2, I feel like, so far, challenging players is the default. It only takes a Moderate-difficulty encounter to make them have to be careful. It makes sense that players used to simpler battles would feel like the ennemies are suddenly much more powerful in a game that yet still bears the same name.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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My players made it past the Tyrroicese, and are about to hit the Skinsaw hideout, but I noticed something weird about the Seamers.
So they’ve got a loop of wire on their free hand that lets them grapple as a reaction, which is rad. And once they grapple you, they can start stitching stuff to you, which is cool and gruesome. I’m on board. The players saves are penalized if the Seamer hits them with their Flay ability first—makes sense.
But the Flay ability requires them to hit with a non-war razor melee attack, and follow it up with a war razor attack, which means you need to dual-wield your shortsword and war razor to flay the PC. But that’s going to take up both your hands, and the description of Wire Catch sure makes it sound like they’re supposed to have a hand free for grapples and disarms.
So are they supposed to start with both weapons out, flay, and then drop one to start stitching? That seems like a lot of equipment juggling to pull off their (admittedly) cool schtick.
And another thing, what’s up with the shortsword attack being 2 less than the war razor?
I think I’m just going to give them +1 Striking War Razors, ditch the shortswords entirely, and have their Flay ability work without needing a non-war razor hit.
First, the writer has made it very clear that the encounter with Fayati can be talked through, and if your players have a commitment to relatively peaceful lawkeeping, it is likely they won't fight her.
If they are going to, however... Do not do as I did when I realised standard XP tarcking wasn't right for my roleplay-centered, non-completionist group and give them an enormous amount of XP immediately so that they can tread onward as they should. You could give them more XP for each prior fight, and not tell them you are buffing them up for the encounter. You can make up objectives for them to complete and gain bonus XP with. And your idea to merely debuff the enemies and give them a sidequest in beteween is great too. You could take inspiration from the plot hooks at the end of Book 1, or from the "Gangs of Absalom" section at the end of Book 3 (I sure did for one of my sidequests).