Venture-Agent, Ohio—Columbus
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It seems that clarifications and corrections are being given to the team creating the Foundry modules. That's great, but it makes it all the more frustrating that devs/writers have basically stopped responding to questions here and on the product pages.
Anyway, I thought it would be helpful to pass along the changes included in the foundry modules that GMs using only the PDF will never see.
The scaling for the influence encounter on high tier was changed to the following:
SCALING ENCOUNTER A (3–4)
To adjust for the PCs’ overall strength, use the following Challenge Point adjustments. These adjustments are not cumulative.
19–22 Challenge Points: Add 1 to each Influence Point threshold.
23–27 Challenge Points: Add 2 to each Influence Point threshold.
28–32 Challenge Points: Add 3 to each Influence Point threshold.
33+ Challenge Points: Add 4 to each Influence Point threshold.
And the following clarification was given for encounter D:
creatures that appear are separate from the scaling changes. I know it's confusing, but we needed a way to keep the fight going while the ritual happened. This got lost in the body text. I'd replace the initial statement with "When the ritual begins, two weak cosmic amoeba and one weak hound echo appear (two cosmic amoeba and a weak cacophonous hound echo for levels 3–4), adjusted as appropriate for scaling as given in the Challenge Point Sidebars for the encounter." The rest can be unchanged, as scaling won't impact those additions, just whether or not there are 6 PCs
Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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The number of monsters in 5-17 that can throw slow is a problem in a tier where dispel magic items are not widely available. I was playing a party's sole spellcaster in this and critically failed a save vs. slow at the VERY BEGINNING of the final encounter. I was NOT happy, having literally everything I could possibly do that was useful stolen from me for the entire fight. Dispel magic is a rank-2 spell... but it requires 2 actions, so you can't cast it if you only have 1 available action in a turn.
I literally said, "Well, I'm going to Shield on every turn. I'm going outside, come and get me when the fight's over."
Venture-Lieutenant, Finland—Turku
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Even casters have 3 actions per turn, and since casting typically takes 2, casters should have something useful to spend their third action on, like guidance, intimidation, battle medicine, bon mot, athletics, recall knowledge...
Don't get me wrong, getting slowed 2 as a caster IS harsh and eats away the majority of what you can do, but it's unlikely to crit fail twice in a row (with your heropoint) and if shield is the only 1-action thing your character can do, that's kinda on you. You could be taking out resources such as healing potions or scrolls or bombs and using those. You could be providing flank, aiding, or on the very least, tank a hit or two.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Minnesota—Minneapolis
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Even casters have 3 actions per turn, and since casting typically takes 2, casters should have something useful to spend their third action on, like guidance, intimidation, battle medicine, bon mot, athletics, recall knowledge...
Don't get me wrong, getting slowed 2 as a caster IS harsh and eats away the majority of what you can do, but it's unlikely to crit fail twice in a row (with your heropoint) and if shield is the only 1-action thing your character can do, that's kinda on you. You could be taking out resources such as healing potions or scrolls or bombs and using those. You could be providing flank, aiding, or on the very least, tank a hit or two.
2/3 of the combat encounters in this scenario deal with monsters that can cast slow. If someone is unlucky enough on the dice, they can be reduced to 1 action per turn for 2/3 of the entire scenario, which doesn't feel right to my designer brain. Remember that a critical failure is not just a natural 1 but also -10 from the DC number (19 for the low tier). With level 1 proficiencies, that's on average 4 or under on the die if Fort is the character's weak save, or a whopping 20% chance of critically failing in a tier where the average party doesn't have access to dispels or other removal options.
I get what the designer was going for, but I feel like this should have been a tier 3-6 scenario because of the number of monsters with Rank 3 spell slots, and having the possibility for a player's first experience with Pathfinder (tier 1-4 is open to beginning players, after all) be having 2/3 of their actions stripped from them for one or more fights could be seriously damaging to the game and PFS.
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Soo... I'm reading the Hounds of Tindalos entry and it mentions that they are sickened 1 and lose their resistances any time they aren't adjacent to a 90 degree or lower angle.
How am I measuring angles? I don't mean to get math nerd on main but an angle of 120 degrees is *ALSO* an angle of 60 degrees... a flat plane is both 0 degrees and 180 degrees. You may notice that in both these situations the same angle is both more than and less than 90 degrees. I'm also really wishing I knew how to make the little degrees symbol. If the Hounds are on the inside of an angled structure should I use the smaller angle and if they're outside the structure use the bigger one?
I understand it's pedantic but it's messing with me a bit and I don't want to make the encounter too hard or too easy because I'm not fiddling with resistances and sickened the correct way.
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Venture-Agent, Massachusetts—Boston Metro
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I typically measure it as 'the angle on the side they're on'. So if for example they're in a hallway with sloped walls like this:
\__/
I'd count that 'angle' as ~110 degrees
I also don't consider in the middle of a relatively flat floor to be 'adjacent' to any angle. The hounds like to hug walls, corners, be next to masts jutting straight out of the deck, etc.
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Is Arjol Parkit a prepared or spontaneous caster (and, if spontaneous, how many spell slots)? I was running him as prepared, but I noticed afterward it actually says "Occult Spells Known," not "Prepared."
(Also, the text really assumes the PCs kill him. My party decided they might need his help and attacked him nonlethally, then bound and healed him.)
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Is Arjol Parkit a prepared or spontaneous caster (and, if spontaneous, how many spell slots)? I was running him as prepared, but I noticed afterward it actually says "Occult Spells Known," not "Prepared."
(Also, the text really assumes the PCs kill him. My party decided they might need his help and attacked him nonlethally, then bound and healed him.)
I made it so, they can use now social skills to interrogate him and find the counter ritual.