"Pathfinder "Shattered Star" session 3" Topic

Background: TMP link

Quick and dirty: The PC party is currently seeking the second shard out of seven that is part of a broken artifact known as the Sihidron. They know it is in one of the Irespan pilings, and the NPC rogue (Natalya) had found a way inside to areas no one previously had discovered – it was where she found the first shard.

So the two fighters that joined the PC group, one was a Tower Shield Specialist, the other focused on sundering. They joined the witch, gunslinger, ninja and Natalya in preparation for the assault on the Irespen piling.

(The Irespan is a 10,000+ year old ruin of a massive bridge whose size dominates the geography of the entire city) link

Natalya's old gang, the Tower Girls, have made their HQ there, and she has drawn a map of the place as she knew it before she found the first shard and was affected by its curse. She also told all about the leader of the Tower Girls, who is a wererat.

So the first part of the session was preparation, silvering their weapons, buying both mundane and minor magic that they could afford that they figured would be helpful. Rented three rowboats, headed out in the dead of night 500ft to the piling. Reaching the small boat landing, there are already four other rowboats tied up… so evidence the place is "occupied." The PC's debate for a bit on whether to go at the sea level or climb the 300ft to the top and go in through a secret passageway Natalya had found. They decide to stick to the lower level and check it out.

There are a couple torches about in the small unremarkable rooms and corridors of the sea level. The witch cast Mage armor on herself, and Light on the tower shield, the party puts the full plate and tower-shield fighter up front, losing any hope of stealth or subtlety. Despite having a rogue and ninja in the group. Rookie error…

A Tower Girl lookout, hidden deep in one of the rooms next to the stairs and hearing the armor and seeing light moving about down corridors where it should not be, ran up the stairs to sound the alarm. Now the Tower Girls will have their defenses readied and in depth.

The only way out of the sea level of the piling are the boat landing or the stairs going up. The ninja, in possession of the first shard. holds and concentrates to get a bearing on the location of the second shard… Eighty feet UNDER their present location. Now the looks around the table change. Eighty feet UNDERWATER in the piling. With no stairs going down, only up. Up and up they go, tower shield fighter leading up many flights to the very top with no windows, secret doors or alcoves, nothing.

At the highest level of the piling the tower shield fighter steps out into the landing and is hit by a flask of alchemetic fire, with another flask missing and hitting the wall beside him. The party is basically in a line on the stairs, and they roll initiative, debating what to do. The witch casts Shield on herself. Four of them pile out of the stairs (not the witch, who is protected by Mage Armor and Shield right now) into the landing with the tower shield guy in the lead. The Tower Girls, taking cover behind two overturned tables, set their four donkey rat guards on them and prepare hand crossbows (donkey rats are a variant of dire rats w/no diseased bite.) Because of the shape of the landing and short hall, the rats can only reach the tower shield fighter.

With only 5hp each, the rats are dispatched one at a time without doing anything to the tower shield fighter. Likewise, the Tower Girls can do nothing with their missile weapons to hit him. He closes and other PC's close to do melee, these four Tower Girls fall handily. Despite there being two other approaches where the party could be vulnerable from, they all decide to loot the bodies instead of securing the area first (I'll note that for later encounters…)

The party again puts the tower shield up front and every one lines up behind him, checking out the various unremarkable and already looted rooms on this level. As it turns out, the areas the PC's are checking are NOT areas that Natalya has already been to or mapped or is familiar with, it is a different section of this level. BUT, eventually she does find a secret door that leads to an area she DOES know. The party keeps on, tower shield up front, and encounters three more tower girls and four more donkey rats, with one of the girls retreating and two others attempting to grapple the tower shield fighter to no avail.

We had to call it at this point because to continue would make the game go beyond the previously agreed-upon quitting time.

DM's notes – For our play… Tower Shield Specialist is broken. Taking the "toughness" trait, the PC is AC24 at second level. Now I'm no slave to the module, I can raise and lower the difficulty level as needed and toss in *some* things, but it would need to be creatures that have a +5 or better to hit (to hit on a 19) or constantly using ooze-types or swarms on him, or tossing in a rust monster, none of which are workable in the setting right now.

This is a six-module Adventure Path taking PC's from 1st – 18th level. There are certain story points, outcomes and things that have to happen, I cannot break the story just to make it a challenge to ONE player.

It also altered completely the participation of the other players. They are content to put the un-hittable guy up front and just tag along for the ride without actually PLAYING the game – they are bored, AND CONTENT to be bored (because if they considered it a problem, they would change from that play style.) It would be different if they rotated him around, I could work with that, but they did not do that. The tower shield player agreed his PC as he created him is sort of illogical, and wants to change his feats/armor/weapons as well. So that is going to change.

Remember him up front only works in a narrow space. Otherwise the "bad" guys can go around him or ignore him, especially if he doesn't do much damage.

Have the enemy "Charm" the tank. When the party can't hit him either they will review their tactics.
Or just have him constantly stumbling into traps because he is in the lead and not a rogue.

Things I had already considered and dismissed…

The issue has already resolved itself, the player is changing his PC.

In a sandbox-type of adventuring group, it would never be a an issue because the things you both mention WILL work.

But in this particular setting and for the next two-three sessions where it is all dungeon and maps, artificially widening corridors and rooms to have 25 extra feet for enemies to get around him without going through a threatened square (recall AoO, and he has STR20) it does not work.

Charm was previously used on the gunslinger last session; but no enemies over the next three sessions could logically have that, or they would have been using it in the course of their own power-struggles within the piling, changing which forces are where and allied/enemies with whom that the PC's will eventually encounter.

And there are no traps, the opening to the piling has only been discovered a week hence, and that is hidden knowledge; so no threat enough to devise traps when you have lookouts and guard rats and a defense plan "just in case" and there is their own explore & looting to do.

Fake retreat to get him to open ground..or have him advance pass asecret door that then opens with more attackers to fight the party. He's a heavy footed lad, have him fall thru a weakened section of floor. Then assault de party.

He had better pray he doesn't fall in the water.

Mad Monkey – the Irespan has stood (as a ruin) for 10,000 years and is magically hardened basalt – no weak areas. The party did not fall for the false retreat, tried that. The secret door with enemies pouring out behind would get old and be serious meta-gaming after the first time, but COULD have been an option at least once (and might still be…)

Moonbeast gets it, but that is not a challenge, it is a sure death.

And I am SORRY if I am poking holes in all your input, it is not my intention to stifle…

I am just trying to show that I HAVE thought this through and considered different possibilities that might work – just very few of them are LOGICAL for the setting that has a vast and continuing story wrapped around it.

Yeah that 20 Str throws a monkey wrench in things. I was hoping he was one of those who put everything into defense at the expense of offense.

I am currently running Rise of the Runelords for my group and they are currently in a tower under the Irespan.

How are you (and the players) liking Rise?

I have the book (all six modules in the book), and considered running that first, but one of the players had played it a third of the way through with another group before us and it would have spoiled it.

sleep spell
heat metal
poor greek fire down the stairs there coming up,
have some one body check / slam/manuver, mr tower shield back down the stairs Watch the first step its a doozy!
a simple barricade at a narrow point enough people shooting will eventually get a hit.
admit its a troupe have a similar fighter waiting.
are all possible solutions.
the PC wanting to change is the best, make sure he doesn't suffer for doing so though, as the next time some one spots a "flaw" they'll just keep using it.

We are having a lot of fun with it. They are all but done with the second book. I have the anniversary book also.

To add to SteelPenguin's list, lamp oil on the stairs or a nice grease spell and let gravity do the rest. Good to see the PC wants to make a change, hope his replacement character is a better fit for all involved.

And… the witch player just bailed on the entire adventure.

Apparently the last straw was my interpreting "detect magic" not the way he wanted it to work. I felt he was abusing the spell. It is a zero-level spell so can be cast unlimited times a day (which is OP I feel, but whatever.)

He had been casting it all the time to keep it a, "constantly-on," spell to try to detect everything in the area every time he turned his head. When it ran out, he'd recast immediately. If he needed to cast a different spell, he'd do that and then immediately cast detect magic AGAIN with the intent it was, "always on."

It made for difficult play in the city as I had to spend extra time plotting out EVERY DAMN MAGIC ITEM within 60ft in and around everywhere they went in town just walking down the street.

Being the player – He saw no problem with that situation. I felt it was unrealistic and abusive.

I judged since the spell has to be concentrated on for 6, 12 or 18 seconds to gain staged benefits of the spell, he would have to cast it, stop and focus that direction for that period of time to gain said benefit. If he looked another direction he'd have to cast again (zero-level, unlimited casting), that it was not a, "magic radar that turned every time he turned his head."

Does not matter in the Irespan as EVERY wall is more than 1ft of stone and stops the detect magic at line of sight, but it made for difficult RP in town.

After my email telling him of this interpretation of the spell, he quit.

Which… is OK, actually, as he is a rules-lawyer/high-maint player who poo-poos other (even brand new) players for not already being competent and/or playing their PC the way HE would play them.

I wish him luck finding a group and a game more to his liking.