Adventure 1 (TIatAotW) Questions - SPOILERS

[Noodle]

** DMs ONLY **

So.. it's out. I'm reading it, I'm loving it! But I'm confused in a couple of places & I figure other folks might be as well, so I figured I'd start a consolidated thread for clarification questions. Needless to say, spoilers throughout. (Is there or should there be a DM-only forum for threads of this nature?)

I've read through Act I a couple of times now, and two things I'm unclear on:
[sblock]
1. On the Coaltongue map, what are the gray squares right outside the sets of rooms at fore/aft on each deck? Metal plating? Ladders? Magical elevator shafts? Is there any access between decks at these locations, or only at the more obviously marked up/down stairs & ladders amidships?

2. Does the 40-round countdown begin at the start of combat, wherever that may happen? If the PCs lollygag until the steam no longer comes out of the stacks, how many rounds are left at that point?
[/sblock]

I'm sure I'll come up with more questions once I've read & digested Acts II/III. Do I need to continue using sblock tags in this thread?

Thanks!

 

[RangerWickett]

[sblock]1. They're hatches. With a gaff hook or some brute strength you can lift them out of the way, to provide access from the top deck to the engine deck. The cranes on deck can move supplies between different levels of the ship.

2. I figure this is one of those "DM's prerogative" sort of things. It's kind of bad for long-term enjoyment of the campaign if you kill the PCs in the first session, so I'd say it's 40 rounds from when the PCs get involved in the action. If they wait for a long while and the enemies have already escaped the ship, then when they go to check out the engine, there's 40 rounds, minus 10 rounds for broken relief valves, minus 6 rounds for the firegems, leaves 24. Divided by 2 for Sokana's contribution, leaving 12 rounds. That's bad enough, I think.[/sblock]

 

[Mortagon]

First off congratulations, Zeitgeist has got to be one of the most unique and promising Campaign concepts I have ever seen. Island at the Axis of the world starts this AP with a bang.

I have a few questions and concerns about the Pathfinder version though.

Beware, Spoilers ahead.



At the Genius Loci the pc's have to defeat a bunch of creatures including a shadow stalker. The shadow stalker is incorporeal thus immune to normal weapons and as far as I could see the pc's will have found none of those yet at that point. I am afraid that if the pc's can't get the Golden icon of Nem, or have enough magical resources, that this encounter can easily turn out to be a TPK. Was this an omission from the writer(s) or is it suppossed to be that challenging ? (I only ask because shadows is one of the few low-CR creatures I regularly threatens and kill high level characters within my other Pathfinder games).

I am confused about the trap mentioned under the road trek encounter. It mentions weapons and firearms used as bait, but doesn't say what kinds of weapons these are. Can the pc's salvage them or are they broken?

If Asrabay succeeds in kidnapping Nathan Jierre, or get away, will this have any impact on the remainder of the AP?

 

[RangerWickett]

At the Genius Loci the pc's have to defeat a bunch of creatures including a shadow stalker. The shadow stalker is incorporeal thus immune to normal weapons and as far as I could see the pc's will have found none of those yet at that point. I am afraid that if the pc's can't get the Golden icon of Nem, or have enough magical resources, that this encounter can easily turn out to be a TPK. Was this an omission from the writer(s) or is it suppossed to be that challenging ? (I only ask because shadows is one of the few low-CR creatures I regularly threatens and kill high level characters within my other Pathfinder games).

Oh. Blame our conversion guy. 4e simplified incorporeality to just make it so any attack against it just does half damage, since usually any time you're fighting an incorporeal creature, you'd have magic weapons anyway.

Um, . . . I dunno. Maybe instead of being an incorporeal shadow it's just a sorta semi-corporeal shadow, and you can hit it with normal weapons? Or, as Rugult Galacian (conversion guy) suggests, let the dice fall where they may. If the party doesn't have enough spellcasters with offensive magic, or any clerics, to take out the shadow, then the party needs to retreat or surrender. If that happens, I'd suggest having Nicolas Dupiers call off the shadow and take them alive.

I am confused about the trap mentioned under the road trek encounter. It mentions weapons and firearms used as bait, but doesn't say what kinds of weapons these are. Can the pc's salvage them or are they broken?

They're a bunch of mundane knives, swords, axes, pistols, carbines, muskets, etc. Although you'd probably want to skip the firearms if you use the "stupidly expensive guns" costs I saw listed in the Ultimate Combat playtest. Guns in the setting are pretty common, so the prices ought to be lower, in my opinion. Even if the party tries to grab the whole cart full of weapons, it wouldn't be more than a couple hundred GP if they sold it.

If Asrabay succeeds in kidnapping Nathan Jierre, or get away, will this have any impact on the remainder of the AP?

Slightly. Not enough to derail the plot at all. Lya Jierre would be upset with the party. And in adventure 3 there's an opportunity to talk to Nathan Jierre and get some information, but he can be replaced with someone else. Asrabey is ultimately released/resurrected even if the party defeats him, and he shows up in adventure 5. (Again, if the party somehow manages to stop that, it's easy enough to have an equivalent NPC show up in his place.)

 

[Rugult]

At the Genius Loci the pc's have to defeat a bunch of creatures including a shadow stalker. The shadow stalker is incorporeal thus immune to normal weapons and as far as I could see the pc's will have found none of those yet at that point. I am afraid that if the pc's can't get the Golden icon of Nem, or have enough magical resources, that this encounter can easily turn out to be a TPK. Was this an omission from the writer(s) or is it suppossed to be that challenging ? (I only ask because shadows is one of the few low-CR creatures I regularly threatens and kill high level characters within my other Pathfinder games).

This is one of those strange conversion items as Ryan mentioned, as incorporeal is a more powerful ability in PF. A shadow is a CR 3 creature, which is listed as a 'hard' challenge for 1st level PCs. Technically speaking a well rounded 1st level party should be able to take down a shadow by expending a good chunk of resources.

The Shadow Stalker in the adventure is essentially a very weakened shadow. The PCs should be able to target it with magical attacks from any spellcasters in the group, as well as effect the creature with positive energy abilities (channeling for example).

The Stalker also appears as the first combat encounter after the PCs have had a long rest and have been able to spend their 1000gp/player stipend from the RHC. If the GM allows the PCs to pool their money, they might possess a magical weapon, otherwise the money is likely going to fund potions/wands/armor. I would HOPEthat PCs would invest in a wand of cure light wounds with some of their money as it's a pretty common item to pickup right away. A side benefit of such a wand, would be that it makes an excellent implement to attack the Shadow Stalker.

Worst case (a party of fighters and rogues with no real healing abilities), as GM I would gloss it over and have the Air Elemental mess around with the Shadow and perhaps whirlwind it away.

Hope that helps!

 

[Mortagon]

Oh. Blame our conversion guy. 4e simplified incorporeality to just make it so any attack against it just does half damage, since usually any time you're fighting an incorporeal creature, you'd have magic weapons anyway.

Um, . . . I dunno. Maybe instead of being an incorporeal shadow it's just a sorta semi-corporeal shadow, and you can hit it with normal weapons? Or, as Rugult Galacian (conversion guy) suggests, let the dice fall where they may. If the party doesn't have enough spellcasters with offensive magic, or any clerics, to take out the shadow, then the party needs to retreat or surrender. If that happens, I'd suggest having Nicolas Dupiers call off the shadow and take them alive.

Thanks. Thinking about it my players should probably be able to handle it. Maybe I'll give them some slight hints that hey should pick up some healing wands, magical ammo or holy water when they get their stipend or just place some of the items above as treasure in one of the earlier encounters.

They're a bunch of mundane knives, swords, axes, pistols, carbines, muskets, etc. Although you'd probably want to skip the firearms if you use the "stupidly expensive guns" costs I saw listed in the Ultimate Combat playtest. Guns in the setting are pretty common, so the prices ought to be lower, in my opinion. Even if the party tries to grab the whole cart full of weapons, it wouldn't be more than a couple hundred GP if they sold it.

I use my own system for firearms, so the price is no issue. I'll just place some random weapons there then. They should come in handy later on.

Slightly. Not enough to derail the plot at all. Lya Jierre would be upset with the party. And in adventure 3 there's an opportunity to talk to Nathan Jierre and get some information, but he can be replaced with someone else. Asrabey is ultimately released/resurrected even if the party defeats him, and he shows up in adventure 5. (Again, if the party somehow manages to stop that, it's easy enough to have an equivalent NPC show up in his place.)

I have a strong feelings my players probably won't be able to defeat Asrabey, he is after all a 15th level character. So I was just checking that it doesn't derail to much from the plot in case of this highly probable outcome.

 

[Rugult]

I have a strong feelings my players probably won't be able to defeat Asrabey, he is after all a 15th level character. So I was just checking that it doesn't derail to much from the plot in case of this highly probable outcome.

I am seriously waiting for the one wizard with Magic Missile. He'll feel so very special afterwards...

Also, glad my random thoughts cleared that up!

 

[Mortagon]

I am seriously waiting for the one wizard with Magic Missile. He'll feel so very special afterwards...

Also, glad my random thoughts cleared that up!

As it currently stand none of my players have any plans to play a wizard. My group is looking to be pretty magic starved. I currently have a rogue, a fighter and a gunslinger and maybe an alchemist if i convince the player to play one. But we'll see how it goes

 

[SirCharles]

I am seriously waiting for the one wizard with Magic Missile. He'll feel so very special afterwards...

Also, glad my random thoughts cleared that up!

I thought about this! If one of my players had this spell, I seriously considered giving Asrabey a brooch of shielding.

 

[RangerWickett]

He probably had one. The idea is, he just ran through an army, and got shot at, slashed at, and pinged with any spells people nearby had handy. If he had a brooch, it's out by now (or maybe just has a couple of points of defense left).