PFS2 5-14 Poisonous Council

[jrs]

The Infiltration section of this scenario has a couple of issues that jumped out at me.

1) 15 Awareness Point threshold doesn't seem to do anything that actually changes the scenario. During the infiltration they players won't run into the boss unless they fail, in which case they'll always have passed 15 AP, and if they don't reached 15 AP they won't meet the boss anyway. (Not to mention the 15 AP threshold doesn't adjust any encounters anyway.)

2) DCs aren't listed, but instead the obstacles say things like "hard or very hard Athletics or Thievery". I can't really make sense of that. Not only are "hard", "very hard", etc. not defined, is that supposed to mean "hard Athletics or very hard Thievery"? Every obstacle is listed like that, so it's not a one-time typo.

I'd guess the DCs are should be, based on the rest of the scenario:
Standard = DC 18
Hard = DC 20
Very Hard = DC 24

With +2 to each DC for level 5-6.

3) There's also weirdness about the scaling. It just says "For each PC beyond 4, increase the Infiltration and Awareness points needed by 2". Awareness points are simple, but Infiltration Points are per-obstacle. What's missing is that the second obstacle is individual rather than group, meaning each PC has to overcome it by themselves. It takes 2 IP, so each additional PC will mean the group needs two additional IP to complete the Infiltration, but there's actually nothing special the GM needs to do to scale the obstacles except properly run the individual obstacle. (That's also why the scenario says the PCs need 15 IP to complete the infiltration: what it means is a group of 4 PCs will get 15 IP by overcoming the obstacles - 1 IP (first obstacle) + (2 x <number of PCs>) (second) + 3 (third)).

[jrs]

In the Influence section, the Resistance and Weakness entries for each person have no mechanical effect.

[Talon Stormwarden]

I think the mention of 15 Awareness Points in the initial 'D Gathering Blackmail' section of the scenario is a typo. Seems like it should be 20 AP. The Awareness Points section specifies that the infiltration fails at 20 AP rather than 15. At 15 you get another complication and obstacle DCs increase by 2.

[Aether_Lapis]

jrs wrote:

In the Influence section, the Resistance and Weakness entries for each person have no mechanical effect.

I agree completely, however:

Gamemastery Guide pg. 152

Resistances: "Typically, an NPC’s resistance increases the DC of the associated check to Influence by 2 (or 5 for stronger resistances), but it could have farther-ranging consequences, such as losing Influence Points or angering the NPC enough that attempting to Influence them again is impossible."

Weaknesses: "When a PC incorporates an NPC’s weakness, it typically decreases the associated Influence check’s DC by 2 (or 5 for stronger weaknesses), but it could have farther‑ranging effects, such as gaining automatic Influence Points or even automatically influencing the NPC regardless of how many Influence Points the PCs have achieved so far."

The rules have a vague assumption that the baseline is lowering the DC by 2. I think scenarios should still spell that out, especially with the "unsure" language that the rules use. "Typically" instead of "as a baseline".

It should be spelled out clearly.

[Timingila]

I build the Foundry module for Pathfinder Society Season 5. I did get some clarification on this. The individual obstacle doesn't scale at all. The group ones do. Thus

• - Obstacle 1 (Locked Door) needs 1/3/5 points for 4/5/6 players
• - Obstacle 2 (Working Underlings) needs 2 points per individual, up to max of 8 points
• - Obstacles 3 and 4 (Trap and Gather Docs) need 3/5/7 points

This means the players need to earn 15/21/27 Infiltration Points, before they reach 15/21/27 Awareness Points for 4/5/6 players.

Speculation Ensues
Something I didn't get clarified was the point scaling for the Complications in the AWARENESS POINTS section. The best I could come up with using some seat of the pants extrapolation is the following, but it doesn't feel right.

• - 5/6/7: Suspicions raised. Obstacle DCs increase by 1.
• - 10/13/17: Complication occurs
• - 15/21/27: DCs increase by 2. Complication occurs.
• - 20/27/37: Infiltration fails.

And a contradiction... in D2. Work Rooms it says there is always only one set of underlings to deal with.

So I think the Complications should actually be

• - 5/6/7: Suspicions raised. Obstacle DCs increase by 1.
• - 10/13/17: Complication occurs
• - 15/21/27: Infiltration fails

But that was never confirmed or denied.

[Yomogiu]

Development says If the PCs capture the bandits, PCs need to convince bandits.
But there is no mechanics when they fail.
It's sounds like if PCs failed to convince bandits, and still they don't want to kill bandits, primary objective is failed too.
PCs still able to kill them for continue this scenario even after PCs captured them, but for who choose intrigue play for avoid bloody mess, it's tough part maybe.