Part 4: Blood for Blood
The stupid makes its appearance early this time, in the foreword.
Kingmaker wrote:Managing the Marketplace: The method the kingdombuilding rules use to present marketplaces gives the PCs a greater level of control over their ability to shop for magic items than normal. This is by design—players LOVE to shop for toys, after all. But it can get out of hand. If you find that your players are abusing the system and are turning it into a huge magic item vending machine (and if this concept bothers you—if it doesn’t, by all means run with it!), don’t be afraid to adjust the rules. Just do so in a way that doesn’t surprise the PCs, and keep them informed as to the changes you’re making. You can even justify changes you’re making with flavor. For example, if the PCs keep buying and selling items through their city’s marketplace in an attempt to build up a huge treasury, perhaps word of the vast amount of magic items being produced by their kingdom spreads and attracts the attention of a group of thieves from a neighboring River Kingdom.
This chapter start the players off at level 10 and expects them to be level 13 by the end of it. Level 10 pretty much guarantees the party has access to 5th level spells. Will this be factored into the design of the module?
This chapter of Kingmaker revolves around a Barbarian king uniting a bunch of smaller tribes under his rule. He plans to invade the party’s kingdom and has allied himself with a baron from a different country. This premise isn’t a bad one, the scale is big enough to actually threaten the party’s nation. But the focus here is entirely on the Barbarian king and the noble, not stopping the barbarian hordes directly. The adventure expects the party to head the city the baron rules over and confront him and then do a dungeon crawl to stop the Barbarian king. This premise would work with a level 1 party, which seems to be a running theme with high level 3.P adventures…
We open with a new village that was recently added to the PC’s kingdom. The railroad starts immediately as this is handwaved if the party hadn’t annexed the territory in question.
An NPC from the city the aforementioned baron controls arrives at the village to warn the party about the Barbarian hordes. Again, a very low level approach, since the party could easily have predicted this occurrence with divination magic. God forbid they brought an army of planar bound outsiders with them, or this encounter is over before it starts. The invading force only consist of 25 human mercenaries and 6 trolls. Forget planar binding, I could see the party just Scry N’ Dying these assholes before they get to town. The NPC lady tells the PCs the name of their leader, that’s more than enough information for Scry.
We get a sneak peak at the mass combat rules Kingmaker uses… before we’re told how they work. The idea is you roll three d20s and add modifiers based on the preparations the party took. The actual mechanic is just like an attack roll. Whoever makes a successful attack roll, gains a point and whichever side has the most points wins. It’s not clear how much time the PCs have to before the invasion starts, the module just tells us it’s, “Only a short time.” Thanks, not like knowing how much time we have is important...
Also, 25 humans and 6 trolls seems a bit too small of a group to warrant mass combat rules.
The invading barbarians have an offense of 8 and a defense of 15. The party can only erect three defenses due to the time crunch, unless they had, “advanced warning from their own lands”, in which case they can have 6. Even if they could use all the defense options available, their max offense would only be 9 (14 if they use 5th level AoEs spells in each phase) and a max defense of 17 (22 if they use 5th level AoE spells). In other words, it’s more than possible for the d20 to decide this fight and not the player’s actions. Or it would, except for the fact that during this section, the party fights some trolls will give the players enough points to win, unless it takes them more than 11 rounds to kill them all.
There are 6 Trolls, complete with bad WILL saves and the inability to fly. I don’t see them posing much of a threat to a level 10 party. The module is surprisingly generous about capturing the leader of the invasion, but once again, the PCs will need a party face to get anything useful out of him. The NPC who warned the party about the invasion begs the PCs to save her father (from the baron) and her sister (who the Barbarians kidnapped). She’ll happily sketch them a map of the baron’s city, but aside from that, she’s not providing too much aid.
Kingmaker wrote:She does, however, have one more thing to offer the PCs—the name of a possibly ally in the town: Satinder Morne, the proprietor of Fort Drelev’s gaming hall and brothel. Kisandra gives the PCs a jade ring worth 200 gp that can prove to Satinder they’re friends. While Kisandra is hesitant to admit how she knows Satinder (they are, in fact, secretly lovers, an arrangement that would not sit all that well with her tradition-bound father)
+2 points for including an LGBT couple, -50 for this bullshit.
At this point, the module moves on to wilderness encounters and at this point, I have to wonder why these are still a thing. The party has the name of their next destination. They have the names of both of their new enemies. What’s stopping them from just teleporting and skipping all the hex crawling? Absolutely nothing. It just didn’t occur to Paizo that they might do this. Some of these encounters are barely worth running, like 14 CR 2 Boggards. Others, like the trio of Hill Giants, are just beatsticks with low WILL saves. We’ve also got a pair of Aurumvoraxes (more beatsticks), three Chimeras, an advanced Dire Tiger, a Ahuizotl (aquatic beatstick), and an entire city of low CR Boggards.
Kingmaker wrote:Note that many of the boggards lurking in M’botuu are hardly challenges for the PCs—this is intentional, so you can give the PCs a chance to feel “high level” by fighting lots of foes at once without much danger, and to make the PCs feel tough when swarms of boggards run for cover. Extended fights against lots of CR 2 boggards can quickly get old for a group of 10th-level PCs—as soon as you feel that this is the case, feel free to have all other boggards cower and f lee from the PCs so that you need only play out battles against the boggard wardens and their priest-king.
The Boggard Wardens are only CR 7 (being level 5 Rangers) and their Priest-King is a level 10 (CR 11) Cleric. This guy has a several paragraph backstory about how he’s had a crisis of faith every since he had a Charm spell cast on him by a Spirit Naga. Said Spirit Naga is a 3rd level Sorcerer and a CR 12 encounter. The other random encounters are all low CR chafe except for a 12-Head Hydra that can’t fly. There’s also a sidequest involving escorting a bunch of low-level NPCs to safety.
Kingmaker wrote:The refugees are all humans, and all first-level experts or commoners. Escorting them through the dangerous lands safely should be a difficult task, but if the PCs can get them to their nation, the act of kindness will be well repaid over time.
Or they can just spend a few days using Teleport and do this with zero risk.
Let’s move on to the baron’s fort. This is where it becomes painfully obvious that this adventure was not designed with level 10 characters in mind. They seriously expect you to enter the fort via a secret tunnel or disguise yourselves and scout out the town like you’re fucking level 1. Never is it acknowledged that they could enter the city via magic, even though literally nothing’s stopping them from doing so. The module claims a direct assault would cause too much collateral damage and cause them, “complications”, if they wish to liberate the city. The details for this are handled via liberation points, of which they need to have 20. The lose 3 points for citizen who gets killed by the guards and -10 for any they kill themselves. -5 for partially destroying buildings and -10 for totally destroying them, -1 per round a public fight occurs, and -2 for each day, “without liberation.” Fuck this stupid shit, I wouldn’t blame the players if they flipped off the GM for trying to implement these rules. They’re fucking horrible, and way too much bookkeeping.
The aforementioned guards are merely 4th level Fighters and there are also some Hill Giants. The ceilings are low enough in the fort itself (15’) the Hill Giants can probably reach flying PCs. We also get some stats for the baron himself. Fighter 6/Rogue 6. With a +5 WILL save.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, his only ranged offense consists of three masterwork throwing axes. If this asshole is ran as written, the party scrys and dies him effortlessly and that’s the end of it. There are, of course, more NPCs with several paragraphs of backstory. One of them is the Baron’s wife (a level 8 Aristocrat) who is noncombatant and wouldn’t be dangerous even if she wasn’t. There’s also the lady the baron is cheating with, a level 10 Bard, who’s a spy from a nation that’s not important to the entire adventure path. Bard lady will basically flee if she’s alone and use Inspire Courage if she’s in a group, along with a couple spells. She does know Confusion, Blindness/Deafness and Grease, so she’s more dangerous than the baron is. But by far the most dangerous NPC here is a level 12 Wizard, but he’s also an Evoker with extremely shitty spells. His best spells are Greater Dispel Magic, Disintegrate, Wall of Force, Enervation and Slow. If he drops below 20 HP, he’ll cast Teleport and won’t come back.
The last part of this chapter is a dungeon crawl (which feels really out of place), ending with a showdown with the Barbarian king. There’s a Guards and Wards spell in place in the dungeon.
Kingmaker wrote:The tomb is still watched over by Zorek (see area D11). As soon as the PCs move beyond area D1 of the tomb, Zorek uses guards and wards to create additional barriers and complications for the PCs exploring the complex. Thick fog fills every corridor (but not the rooms), obscuring all sight (including darkvision) beyond 5 feet. Webs fill all stairs from top to bottom as per a web spell, and every intersection creates a minor confusion effect that causes explorers to constantly question their sense of direction.
Lastly, a silent image hides all of the doors, making them appear as part of tomb walls (DC 20 Will save to disbelieve if interacted with). The iron doors (hardness 10, hp 45, Break DC 28) are all sealed with arcane locks (DC 30 Disable Device to pick) that reactivate within 10 minutes of being bypassed—but several rooms include tests and tricks that can cause the doors to open.
Which honestly just sounds more annoying than anything, the party can just use Dispel Magic and Knock as needed. There’s also this:
Kingmaker wrote:Except where otherwise noted, the rooms and corridors are 12 feet high, and the walls themselves are infused with ancient magic and the tiniest fraction of Gorum’s wrath—as a result, the walls resist any attempt at manipulation via magic (such as passwall, stone shape, or transmute rock to mud). In order to affect the stone of the tomb with such a spell, the caster must make a DC 30 caster level check as if attempting to overcome spell resistance—if this check fails, the spell is wasted and the magical backlash of energy causes the caster to bleed painfully from the eyes, mouth, and fingertips, suffering 2 points of damage per level of the spell she attempted to cast.
Goddammit Paizo…
Nothing guarding against Teleport spells, so the party can just Scry ‘N Die the Barbarian king, just like the baron. By this point, the party should be level 12 and yet there are still pitfall traps in this dungeon. A lot of the encounters and traps in this place are useless against flying characters. The lamest of which being an Iron Golem in a chamber with a 40-foot-high ceiling. There’s also a demon that’s only ranged offense consists of Insect Plague (once a day) and Fear (3/day). Barbarian Bro also has two 10th level Clerics, with largely bad spells (they prepared Shout FFS!) We also get stats for the Barbarian King’s artifact sword, because the villain of every chapter has to have an artifact.
Kingmaker wrote:Ovinrbaane (literally translated as “enemy of all enemies”) is a cursed, intelligent +3 wounding greatsword. When Ovinrbaane succeeds at a contest of will, it uses modify memory to mislead its wielder into believing he’s the real Armag and that anyone around him who isn’t obviously a member of his tribe is a mortal enemy.
Except Modify Memory can only alter up to 5 minutes worth of memories. Goddamnit Paizo!
The most dangerous NPC in this dungeon is a level 12 Cleric with a template that makes him immune to disease, poison, and mind-affecting, and grants him fast healing 5. I think Paizo realized this issue and you can make a DC 35 Intimidate check to bypass the encounter. Hope someone in your party took that skill, otherwise, you’re fighting this guy. His spells aren’t awful, he explicitly opens with Anti-Life Shell (fuck you Fighter!) and he’ll cast the Heal spell on himself when his HP drops below 60. This guy could actually be a challenging fight, depending on the party’s composition and tactics.
The Barbarian King, on the other hand, is a joke. His WILL save is better than the Barons (+8) but he has no ranged offense. His artifact sword has a weird trait in which it dispels any, “any offensive effect once only as it first takes effect on the sword’s wielder.” Note that the caster level on this is 20, but since it’s just Dispel Magic and not its greater cousin, the cap on the check is still +10. In other words, this isn’t helping him against flying enemies all that much (though it does also grant Freedom of Movement). Barbarian bro is also accompanied by 8 CR 5 Bloody Skeletons. They have fast healing 4, composite longbows, and 72 HP each. No joke, they’re far more dangerous than the level 14 Barbarian that leads them.
Kingmaker wrote:Treasure: If you aren’t comfortable with giving the PCs a powerful weapon like Ovinrbaane, simply play up its disadvantages—if you wish, you can even treat the weapon as a cursed berserking sword (see page 543 of Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook). You should certainly play up the artifact’s personality if the PCs keep it—its power will certainly come in handy as the Kingmaker Adventure Path enters the final two adventures, but you should never let the PCs feel fully comfortable in the chaotic artifact’s presence.
FUCK YOU, YOU ANTI-PLAYER ASSHOLES!!!
The random encounter chart is also pretty stupid. 1d4 adult black dragons! That fight could end up being harder than any of the planned encounters! What the hell?! Still not as bad as chapter 1’s.
If you thought Blood For Blood was dumb and clearly not designed for higher level PCs, just wait. War of the River Kings is
even worse. Because the party is 13th level at that point, and we get to see the mass combat rules in all their putrid glory. Goddamn.