Goto [ Index ]

Overview

The Skinsaw Murders is the second issue of Pathfinder and the second part of the Rise of the Runelords adventure path. The featured adventure is for fourth level parties, and they should reach level eight by the end (although the next adventure is advertised as for seventh level characters). In addition to the Pathfinder’s Journal and six new monsters, the city of Magnimar and the goddess Desna each receive coverage in articles.

Pathfinder is published under the OGL and is compatible with D&D 3.5. It is not a magazine, but instead a 96 page soft cover perfect bound book. However, just as the October issue of Dragon has traditionally had a horror theme, so too does this issue’s adventure.

For those who aren’t interested in running a six part adventure, Pathfinder can still have value. The monsters are useable in any D20 game, and most of the other articles provide background information for playing in the Pathfinder setting. Additionally, the adventure is structured in such a way that one could play just a chunk of it with almost no changes.

Art

I have much fewer complaints about this issue’s art than I did for the first issue. Once again, Wayne Reynolds does the cover. This time, a gang of ghouls (what is the collective noun for ghouls? A pack? My dictionary is silent on this matter) drags a wrapped corpse from a well, while in the background a party of adventurers (again, no help from my dictionary, but that must be the collective) approaches a creepy mansion. As with the goblins on Pathfinder 1, the ghouls have been revamped in appearance, now with bluish skin and long pointed ears. Sharing the cover is the second iconic, Seoni, tattooed sorcerer. Reynolds remains one of my favorite fantasy artists, so the cover is a selling point for me.

Inside, the iconics are featured in four half-page pictures- although, at this time only Valeros and Seoni had their character art done, so they’re the only ones featured. Each gets a solo picture, and they share the other two. I’m not sure if this is the same artist responsible for the half-page pictures last issue, but these do appear to be brighter.

The views of Magnimar are beautiful. Pathfinder is now two for two on location artwork.

Several NPCs in the adventure are given full body images. The Skinsaw Man is appropriately terrifying. I’m less impressed by the Skinsaw Cultists and their leader. While not bad, these two have exaggerated features leaning toward the grotesque. As I said, not bad, but they do seem out of place.

I could have done without the diseased rat. Again, not a bad picture, just, ick.

The Pathfinder’s Journal took the form of excerpts from a journal. Most of the illustrations here are pencil sketches from the journal. Good stuff.

The Skinsaw Murders

SPOILER WARNING-

The Skinsaw Murders, written by Richard Pett, is a horror adventure. Pett realizes that horror doesn’t mean “lots of undead.” Although there will be plenty of ghouls, Pett also presents us with a murder mystery, a haunted house, and an evil cult.

The adventure can start anytime after the bulk of Burnt Offerings is completed (and it is possible even before that previous adventure is finished). Bodies start showing up in Sandpoint, and the sheriff asks the party to investigate the gruesome murders. Even beyond investigating out of the goodness of their hearts, the PCs will likely be intrigued to learn that the murder victims are marked with the same seven pointed star they found in the goblin’s lair.

Clues can be found at the latest murder scene and by talking to townfolk. With the right skills, they can quickly uncover the murderer, but before they can act on this knowledge, they’re called upon to visit a farm now infested with ghouls. As a nice touch, several newly made ghouls have been dressed as scarecrows, just waiting for living creature to walk by.

The murderer is an NPC introduced in Pathfinder 1. Conveniently, he’s had the opportunity to go insane. His earlier trip to Sandpoint was a big bluff, so there’s no need to worry about whether or not you played him in character when he showed up before. Multiple clues point toward his mansion house, so it’s not the case of there being only one solution.

The mansion is haunted. As I said, this doesn’t just mean undead. In addition to the ghouls and the killer’s murdered bride, the house is possessed by a failed lich. This manifests in the form of seven haunts; six haunts are assigned to individual PCs, with the seventh being universal.

The haunts act like traps, but can only affect and be seen by the character attuned to that haunt. A skill roll is allowed to notice the haunt before it strikes. Most of the haunts are tied to events long in the past. Characters may see visions of horrific events and suffer Wisdom damage, or they might be convinced that they are participants in these vignettes; this has the potential to be harmful or fatal if, for example, the character becomes convinced that he or she is the murdered wife and can feel the scarf tightening around his or her throat. Although the upper floors of the house are largely free of encounters, the haunts should keeps players from ever feeling safe.

Below the house, the PCs encounter the murderer, now in his guise as the Skinsaw Man. This should be a tough fight for the PCs at this point, but it is against a single opponent. The Skinsaw Man’s sneak attack will be of limited use without any allies around. With the murderer dead, the PCs learn that the killings were done at the behest of someone in Magnimar. Traveling to this large city allows the PCs to search through the murderer’s townhouse. Information found in a secret cache directs them to sawmill that serves as a hideout for the Skinsaw Cult.

The sawmill is a weak point for the adventure. I’ll cover my problems with it later, but for now, I’ll say that small areas, underpowered opposition, and a potential dead-end make this entire section a real let down after the terrific haunted house.

The sawmill does provide one interesting setting detail: the Forlorn, elves raised outside of elven communities by humans. It’s too bad that this wasn’t included in the Elf section of the Player’s Guide, as it could be a very useful detail for a character’s background. The finale takes place in an old clock tower. The dangers here are much more appropriate for a party of the expected level and if anything are too dangerous. The first room is guarded by the Scarecrow, an intelligent flesh golem wielding a scythe. The scythe pushes this from a dangerous to a deadly encounter; a critical hit will automatically force a massive damage save, if the damage doesn’t kill the character outright. Once it’s defeated, rickety stairs lead up to the final encounter.

But first, what would be a fight in a clock tower without at least one of the massive bells falling? Sure enough, one of the bells is rigged to fall, smashing parts of the staircase and any PCs unfortunate enough to be in the way. Between the damage from the bell and the fall (approximately 80 feet at the time of the drop), be ready to say goodbye to the party wizard (a DC 15 reflex save allows a character hit by the bell to hold on to the stairs, so a rogue is likely to survive).

The queen of the roost Xanesha, a lamia matriarch sorcerer. Appropriate to the last fight of an adventure, this is the toughest fight the PCs will have encountered. Besides her very potent melee abilities, she also knows several spells which will further enhance her combat skills, including Divine Favor, Invisibility, Fly, and Haste. And, thanks to the sound of the bell dropping, she has plenty of time to prepare.

Players who defeat Xanesha will be well rewarded. Besides her array of potent magic items, they will also find a list of murder targets, past and future. The most prominent name is that of the Lord Mayor. When the evidence is presented, he’ll reward the PCs for ending this threat to his life by giving each 6,000gp. Flush with cash, the PCs will probably be looking to see what they can buy in a large city like Magnimar. Luckily, the next chapter covers some of what they might find.

Problems with The Skinsaw Murders

The Skinsaw Murders is a good adventure with great parts. It is unfortunately not free of flaws.

At least for the first half of the adventure, it does avoid the most frequent problem in mystery adventures, that of what happens if the PCs miss a clue. From the starting murder investigation, there are two clues which can lead to the haunted house: an insane witness offers up a local name for the house, and one of the ghouls at the farm has a key bearing the family crest. A knowledge check provides the clue for either of these, though one would suppose a local could make the connection if asked. If these clues are not enough, the DM is instructed to continue with the murders, providing additional clues with each new corpse (and to basically spill the beans if the players start getting frustrated).

After the haunted house, however, the clues start to dry up. A note is found among the Skinsaw Man’s possessions suggesting his townhouse in Magnimar as the next place to go. Once there, the PCs have to find the hidden cache for the next clue sending them to the Sawmill. There are three clues here, but none of them is readily apparent. The cult leader has been charmed by the lamia; if the charm is broken, he’ll reveal her location, but this depends on the PCs using Dispel Magic on him during the fight. His journal also points to the lamia’s lair, but three languages, 2d4 days, and a Decipher Script check are needed to break the code. Perhaps the easiest solution is to follow one of the messenger ravens in the rookery, but this could be easily overlooked by the PCs.

I think the haunts are an amazing idea, but how they work could use a little more fleshing out. As is, the character to be affected makes a skill roll to see if he notices the haunt before it strikes. A failed roll means the character is surprised by the haunt, but a success gives the opportunity to try to beat the haunt’s initiative of 10. If the PC wins, he can go first and… I’m not sure. A very few of the haunts are attack rolls, so the PC wouldn’t be flatfooted, but other than that? Maybe the character can run from the room to avoid the affect.

The murderer’s wife is an encounter that doesn’t seem fully developed. She’s reanimated as a Revenant, a vengeful form of undead. If the PCs release her, she unerringly seeks out her husband to kill him. The PCs can follow her to the Skinsaw Man. But the adventure doesn’t cover what happens if she reaches him. The start of his encounter is a scripted greeting to the PCs that doesn’t mesh with the arrival of a spirit seeking revenge.

Some portions of the adventure are very lethal. I’ve already mentioned the fights with the Scarecrow and Xanesha, as well as the bell trap. In the haunted house, two of the haunts have the potential to kill a PC outright. In one, a PC believes the house is on fire and tries to throw himself out the window and on to the rocks far below. This is tempered by giving the affected character several chances to avoid this fate- a will save, a chance to be caught by a weathervane, a reflex save, and finally a climb check to avoid the 300 foot fall. Less kind is a haunt that compels the character to slit his own throat with a dagger. Only a will save stands between the character and a self inflicted coup de grace.

On the other hand, some portions seem laughably easy. In part, this is due to quirks in the Challenge Rating and the Encounter Level systems. The ghouls of the first part are numerous, but they’re still 1 HD undead. Their multiple attacks and multiple chances to paralyze makes them a potential threat, but most 4th level parties should win out with ease. The Skinsaw Cultists, however, represent little more than free experience. They are all multi-classed rogue clerics, having one level in each. By the rules, they’re 2nd level characters, and thus CR 2, but their abilities are far less than a bugbear or other CR 2 monster. With two medium attack progression classes, they have a 0 BAB, and so only have +2 to hit thanks to strength and masterwork weapons. Their leather armor and dexterity only give them an AC 14 and they have 12 HP each (for comparison, a bugbear has 16 HP, AC 17, is +5 to hit and does approximately twice as much damage as the cultists). Because of the Encounter Level rules, three of them are an EL 5 (ie, and encounter that uses up 25% of a 5th level party’s resources), but, unless caught completely off guard, a party of 5th level characters (probably 6th at this point) will mow down the cultists without a problem. Mention is made that if the PCs come on a cult meeting night, they’ll encounter all 13 cultists and their leader at once. This is put forth as a very dangerous EL 10 encounter, but the resources of a 5th or 6th level party, like fireball, will end things before they begin (fans of previous adventure paths might recall Assault on Blackwall Keep, from Age of Worms, where a large number of lizardfolk were presented as a by-the-book dangerous encounter, but the reality was they had neither the offensive nor defensive abilities to present a significant challenge to the 5th level party).

Magnimar, City of Monuments

F. Wesley Schneider presents the first major look at one of the major cities of the region. Although not able to go into the detail that Sandpoint received in the first Pathfinder, Schneider is able to give a general overview of the city, before exploring the districts. Sidebars provide additional legends and historical details about the city, including information on the Hellknights, a group mentioned in the Player’s Guide. The Hellknights are a lawful organization that patrols the land, maintaining law and order. As their name suggests, their methods are not gentle.

I’d like to call out this chapter again for having two beautiful pictures of the city.

Desna, The Song of the Spheres

Continuing in the same format as his Core Belief articles in Dragon, Sean K. Reynolds begins a series on the gods of Pathfinder, starting with Desna. As goddess of dreams, stars, and travel, Desna is an appropriate goddess for adventurers (especially since Luck also falls within her domains). There are several tips for playing a worshipper of Desna in the article. A cleric is often traveling and should have some knowledge of the arts. Several are skilled in fortune telling or dream interpretation. Sleep is considered a prayer to Desna, so a follower will never volunteer to take watch in the middle of the night.

In terms of rules, the article presents two new spells, the Liberation domain, and the Spherewalker, a prestige class. As devote followers of Desna, Spherewalkers gain benefits in line with her portfolio, providing the character with travel and sleep aids as well as divine luck.

I’m pleased with this first look at the deities of Pathfinder, and look forward to future articles from Reynolds on the rest of the gods.

The Journey Begins

The second Pathfinder Journal, written by Jason Bulmahn, has switched from the historical nature of the first journal to the actual journal of a Pathfinder, Eando Kline (it’s also in color, instead of the odd black and white from the first installment). As mentioned above, the illustrations are in the form of pencil sketches from Eando’s journal. The style fits well with the account of Eando’s adventure in the Mushfens.

The usefulness of this article depends on whether you want information on a setting to come in dry, to the point paragraphs, or in a storytelling format. Even for those who don’t want to delve into Eando’s prose, there is value here. A new item, the Wayfinder, is introduced. This simple device is basically a magical compass, though they gain special powers if an ioun stone is slotted into one. Potential benefits are not mentioned. Another useful sidebar lists potential hazards of the Mushfens.

Bestiary

Stats for six new monsters are here, written by Jason Buhlmahn, James Jacobs, Richard Pett and F. Wesley Shneider. Four of these monsters are featured in The Skinsaw Murders, the boggard shows up in The Journey Begins, and the Lyrakien is presented as a fairy-like servant of Desna. In brief:

Carrionstorm- This undead swarm is a flock (or murder- my dictionary has that one) of crows and other carrion birds that have feasted on ghoul flesh and been transformed. A pretty cool idea, in my opinion.

Boggard- Swamp dwelling frogmen. Statwise, they look similar to bugbears (appropriate, as both creatures are CR 2), but also have a tongue attack that can keep a target from moving. In game, they make an effective replacement for bullywugs, which are not found in the SRD.

Lyrakien- Fairy-like outsiders, tiny humanoids with butterfly wings. Weak in combat, they serve as messengers for their goddess, as well as potential familiars. Their traveler’s friend ability lets them remove exhaustion and fatigue from anyone who listens to their music.

Faceless Stalker- Unshaped humanoids capable of taking the form of other humanoids (a very slow process). Their extended reach and sneak attack ability both make them dangerous combatants.

Revenant- A vengeful undead spirit. Interestingly, they are only interested in hunting down their killer, but they will fight anyone who gets in the way.

Lamia Matriarch- A more powerful version of the common lamia, the matriarchs also have the powers of a 6th level sorcerer.

I’ve no complaints about any of these creatures, and they could all easily be fit into a standard D&D campaign.

Characters

The four iconics from Pathfinder 1 return, now at 4th level. Looking over them, they’ve all made good choices in leveling.

Rating

I really liked this issue, especially the murder investigation and the haunted house. However, the other problems I had with the adventure keep me from giving it a perfect score.

The background articles were all well done, and I felt they showed a general improvement over the articles in Pathfinder 1, particularly the Pathfinder Journal and the Bestiary.

I’ll give this issue a solid 4 and 4, believing that Paizo can still improve.

Help support RPGnet by purchasing this item through DriveThruRPG.