PFS2 4-11 Prisoners of the Electric Castle

[redeux]

Hello, here are some discrepancies in this scenario:

1. Urdefhan Blood Mage is not listed as a variant, but there is one discrepancy and one carry-over error.
A. 4th level spell Call the Blood was replaced with Confusion.
And B. the cantrips are heightened to 8th level slots. This is as printed in other sources, though it is an obvious error

2. Urdefhan High Tormenter is not listed as a variant, but its Wicked Bite regains 20hp instead of 10hp as initially printed in other sources.

3. Elite Animate Dream is not listed as a variant but has incorrect HP. It is using a Weak template HP (90, and should be 130 with elite). Also Occultism Modifier should be 14 instead of 16.

4. Tier 9-10 hazard In The Witches Clutches has HP 24 per faucet and BT 22, but tier 7-8 has HP 20 BT 10. I suspect High Tier should be BT 12.

Hoping we can get some clarification on some of these since having statblocks differ from originally printed source materials will lead to inconsistent table experiences despite "Run as Written" (because VTT GM's won't know to use the incorrect or variant statblocks if they are not labeled as a variant).

Thanks kindly

[andreww]

I would add a few extra comments as I am prepping this currently.

Encounter C talks about creatures having Cryptid adjustments. There are no such adjustments, I assume this is a reference to a previous version of the encounter which was changed in development.

Diemonstride has a morale condition which requires him to flee via Plane Shift. Plane Shift has a 10 minute casting time. Do we assume he can ignore this or just have him flee into the castle somewhere the PCs cannot follow and then cast it?

It is not at all clear why the PCs want to take the time to silence the Bells. It has a mechanical effect but not one any way is given for them to learn what it might be. They need to disable the Planar Net but Dinetrie also suggests she has already done that when they meet her in the Oneirium.

The PCs have to identify the multiverdal navigator in the Vault in order to complete the faction mission. No method is given for them to do so beyond the vague notes. There are no skill checks around this.

The scenario is rather light on what happens if the PCs are still in the castle when Aslynn returns. I can definitely see some stubborn groups refusing to leave and trying to take her on even in the face of clear warnings against it.

[andreww]

At low tier Deimostride is listed as an elite creature. One of the CP adjustments is to add the elite template. Do we just add it again?

Also, in the same encounter, when it tells us to add elite anomate dreams in the CP adjustment, does it mean elite versions of the faded dreams or of regular dreams.

[andreww]

It is also worth noting that at high tier the Tormentors know Banishment which could lead to all sorts of complications as the PCs have no way to get back to the Castle if ejected.

[andreww]

Also, the defence stat line, HP and spell DC for the elite palace skelm are wrong.

[andreww]

One other thing to be aware of is that there are various death effects in the scenario:

The High Tomentors Necrotic Decay has the death trait, lower level versions do not.

Various enemies have spells such as Vampiric Touch, Phantasmal Killer and Cloudkill.

It is also worth reminding yourself how Coven spells work.

[logsig]

At high tier, event 4, the stat block for Blood Hag is missing the quantity (2). The intent is clearly to be for the base encounter to have 2 blood hags, because:
- the 23-27 CP and 28-32 CP adjustments both say "add one blood hag" and "all three blood hags form a coven"
- the 33+ CP adjustment says to "remove the two blood hags".

For Deimostride as an Elite Nightmare in low tier, the Reflex DC for Flaming Gallop should be 26, but is stated as 25. I believe this is likely to be simply a typo rather than an intentional variant. The DC in high tier (Deimostride as a Weak Greater Nightmare) follows the standard.

[logsig]

andreww wrote:

It is also worth noting that at high tier the Tormentors know Banishment which could lead to all sorts of complications as the PCs have no way to get back to the Castle if ejected.

My assumption is that the Urdefhan High Tormenters are also not on their home plane (they typically are found in the Darklands on the Material Plane) so they would not attempt to cast banishment, knowing that it would fail.

Banishment wrote:

This spell fails if you aren't on your home plane when you cast it. (link)

[Muertee]

The ELITE PALACE SKELM is also wrong, with many settings from the WEAK PALACE SKELM. Namely the HP, AC, and Saves.

[Pirate Rob]

I made a reference sheet with flow chart and notes for events and Transmog points. Also printable quick reference 3x5 cards for the items.

Find on PFS Prep

[Pirate Rob]

Some things to note there are 6 locations that need exploring and 2 locations that require 20 minutes of travel.

If everything goes reasonably well and the exploration locations take say 25 minutes each, that's 190/240 minutes available. Leaving 50 minutes to rest between encounters.

That gives some leeway to do not as well on the exploration and take a bit of time to rest, but will get pretty disastrous pretty quickly if PCs need extended time to rest.

---

As a note I absolutely love this kind of design. A hostile location that leans on time pressure to make choices that allow faster exploration/healing to be meaningful. Makes use of a specialized exploration activity in a cool way (Although I did wish it didn't require the whole party to attempt)

[Angus_The_Bounty_Hunter]

andreww wrote:

The PCs have to identify the multiverdal navigator in the Vault in order to complete the faction mission. No method is given for them to do so beyond the vague notes. There are no skill checks around this.

Handout #1 is basically a bad description of the item, I think it also describes some of the other items fairly well, specifically the two dial seem to reference the first Item listed and might confuse PC's. It seems like the two descriptors that stood out to me in the handouts were, Fist-sized and a coil covered with opal dust. Which can only describe 1 item on the list. It think most people will clue in to the (!!) in the handout as the item being described.

If you want to give it a DC you could probably recall Knowledge about the Item using Crafting with a DC at the APL of the party, plus the rare Modifier. I would probably only do that if they were struggling and had a split in which item they thought was described by the Handout.

[Angus_The_Bounty_Hunter]

andreww wrote:

It is also worth reminding yourself how Coven spells work.

I was reading through this and ran into the following under the coven rules: " All covens grant the 8th-level baleful polymorph spell"

I double and triple-checked. Baleful Polymorph is a 6th level spell, and has no heightened effect. The only reason I can think of for the higher level of the spell is that it makes the counteract check much harder. I'm wondering if this was the intended purpose, or if it is a typo. It makes sense for a Coven spell to be harder to counteract.

[andreww]

Angus_The_Bounty_Hunter wrote:

andreww wrote:

The PCs have to identify the multiverdal navigator in the Vault in order to complete the faction mission. No method is given for them to do so beyond the vague notes. There are no skill checks around this.

Handout #1 is basically a bad description of the item, I think it also describes some of the other items fairly well, specifically the two dial seem to reference the first Item listed and might confuse PC's. It seems like the two descriptors that stood out to me in the handouts were, Fist-sized and a coil covered with opal dust. Which can only describe 1 item on the list. It think most people will clue in to the (!!) in the handout as the item being described.

If you want to give it a DC you could probably recall Knowledge about the Item using Crafting with a DC at the APL of the party, plus the rare Modifier. I would probably only do that if they were struggling and had a split in which item they thought was described by the Handout.

I think the description in the handout is only for one single item. Both times I have run this people have managed to pick the right item using the clues.

[Shisumo]

Pirate Rob wrote:

As a note I absolutely love this kind of design. A hostile location that leans on time pressure to make choices that allow faster exploration/healing to be meaningful.

But is there actually any time pressure? There's no indication that the clock is anything other than a decoration, an artificial tension source that doesn't actually come from anything. Aslynn never shows up no matter how long the PCs take or what they do, nor is there any indication what would happen if she did put in an appearance. Isn't that a problem?