5 out of 5 rating for Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path
Rewritten after actually playing it through.
This is a crusade against demons, and sticks very closely to this theme. The plot is very heroic. From the outset, the players are the chosen ones, and each adventure only serves to highlight how special they are. Allies give them high regard, and enemies soon take notice and plot their destruction. The player's guide features a number of campaign traits, and unlike other such traits from other adventure paths, these actually have an effect on the action. Part three has a heroic moment for each character depending on their chosen trait (try and avoid having several characters with the same trait). And this high regard for plot goes throughout the series - there are lots of interesting NPCs, plots, and situations geared for good characters to stand tall.
The first part begins with the characters fortuitously saved from a great cataclysm, only to fall into a dungeon. While this allows little player choice, it highlights how they are special and sets them on the path to overcome trials and triumph in the end. The second path is an actual crusade - the players lead a force of paladins to capture and hold an important citadel. Path three is about consolidating their hold on the citadel and about personal development. Part four moves the conflict into the planes, and parts five and six are mostly extra-planar. While I don't really like this much extra-planar adventuring (if feels kind of cheap to add an extra layer of unreality to a game played in the imagination), the later parts are still high-quality and full of interesting moments.
The adventure path is a relatively narrow path with a few excursions allowed but no major deviations, it feels less constraining in this case than in other adventure paths. The genre allows for this better than most, and there are many times where the players can choose one branch or another. I am planning to play this adventure path in the spring, and think it will be a very interesting experience.
Towards the end, the power curve of mythic characters blew up. he game suggests that 2 mythic tiers are about equivalent to one level, but I think the relationship is more 1:1. Mythic rules make mincemeat of the action economy, and with a group of mostly full-bab characters this forced me to quadruple all hit points and increase both attack bonus and AC by five. T