Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords, Burnt Offerings OOC

[Friadoc]

I found the HP rulings, again. I swear, I ask this each time, don't I?

 

[Rhun]

Sorry I've been slow posting of late everyone. Real life has been whooping up on me. I'm going to make a concerted effort to post at least once a day in this game, though...even if it kills me!

 

[Friadoc]

Kael's update is done and done. He's gonna be a bit better, in theory, with his rays now, too.

 

[rangerjohn]

Snake Lady

Hew she has a will save of +16? That's immunity, a 17th level caster with a 28 in the appropiate attribute, would still only cause her to fail on a 1.
You say you toned her down? Remind me to never play a Paizio adventure.

 

[Rhun]

Hey RJ! Glad to see you following along. Paizo is well known for their tough adventures. This adventure path has been a killer...lucky for us, the four of us players seem to operate very well together. That helps. Still, the boss encounters have been super tough!

 

[hewligan]

Hew she has a will save of +16? That's immunity, a 17th level caster with a 28 in the appropiate attribute, would still only cause her to fail on a 1.
You say you toned her down? Remind me to never play a Paizio adventure.

Ha ha ha, yeah! They can be player-killers in the hands of cruel GMs, but if you play them in the spirit as they are written (which is hard online), the writers clearly give some possible routes that can be taken to neutralise foes, or perhaps even things up with creative role-playing. Given than on a forum game this approach does not work so well, I am careful to instead make sure that there is perhaps a slight rebalancing of some aspects of the adventures.

The current adventure, Hook Mountain, is being run by me only in parts. The actual adventure is a rare mess from Paizo. It was written by one of my favourite writers, but he messed up on the word-count and about 1/3rd had to be cut. The continuity of the adventure was completely lost. For example, he had originally written an early encounter with the sister of Xanesha, the snake lady you reference above, but that entire encounter aspect was cut.

Anyway, out of interest, here is the stop part of Xanesha's stat block.

Xanesha CR 10
Lamia matriarch sorcerer 2
Always Ce Large monstrous humanoid (shapechanger)
Init +6; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Listen +2, Spot +2

Defense AC 26, touch 16, flat-footed 20
(+1 armor, +1 deflection, +6 Dex, +9 natural, –1 size)
hp 142 (12d8+2d4+48)
Fort +11 (+13 against poison), Ref +15, Will +16
Immune mind-affecting effects; SR 18

In other words - an INSANELY tough foe. You should check out the Paizo forums. There is a forum for Rise of the Runelords, with a long-running obituary thread. Xanesha has been the death of many, many adventurers.

I quite like the idea in DnD that not all encounters should be balanced. I like that on occasion a foe is far too strong for a party, as long as you provide an escape route for them and actually reward the players for being wise enough to ascertain that they are out of their depths. Not everything should always be solvable by combat.

Glad you are following!

 

[hewligan]

I found the HP rulings, again. I swear, I ask this each time, don't I?

I find it quite charming.... like an old lady who cannot find her false teeth

 

[hewligan]

Sorry I've been slow posting of late everyone. Real life has been whooping up on me. I'm going to make a concerted effort to post at least once a day in this game, though...even if it kills me!

Tell me about it! I just started a new job last week and it is insane. I leave earlier in the morning, arrive home later, study during my commutes for professional exams, and then worse of all I find myself dreaming about work! It is my first time managing a team of other people as well. Great opportunity, but draining.

I too am trying to make sure the game will not suffer, but we are all adults and I am sure we all understand that real-life throws us some curve-balls on occasion and that when this happens a 'game' definitely takes the back seat.

I highly recommend that you don't let it kill you If you need to slow down on posting for a few weeks, then do so. We will fill in for you for a bit, as long as we know you are returning.

 

[Friadoc]

I find it quite charming.... like an old lady who cannot find her false teeth

Why thank you, so very much.

 

[Rhun]

In other words - an INSANELY tough foe. You should check out the Paizo forums. There is a forum for Rise of the Runelords, with a long-running obituary thread. Xanesha has been the death of many, many adventurers.

I quite like the idea in DnD that not all encounters should be balanced. I like that on occasion a foe is far too strong for a party, as long as you provide an escape route for them and actually reward the players for being wise enough to ascertain that they are out of their depths. Not everything should always be solvable by combat.

Glad you are following!

Honestly, my gut feeling is that it isn't necessarily Xanesha that was insanely tough, but the way the adventure works. First, we fought the Scarecrow, who was tough in his own rights, and used a lot of our resources, including the killing of Kael. Then, we had to fight the "bell-throwers" on the stairs. And then we capped it off by facing Xanesha down a party member, and fairly low on resources.