Strength of Thousands

[past flame]

A magic school like no other! The oldest and most prestigious magic academy in the world is the Magaambya, an ancient institution founded by the greatest wizard the world has ever known. This wizard vanished long ago, but his sinister enemies plot against his school and those who attend it. Over their long academic career, the heroes rise from humble students to become teachers, and they ultimately hold the fate of the Magaambya magic academy in their hands. Graduates of the Magaambya are among the greatest wardens of the world, but if the heroes can't marshal the strength of thousands who have come before them, the venerable Magaambya might fall!

https://paizo.com/store/pathfinder/adventures/adventurePath/strengthOfThousands

[dapper remnant]

Im preparing to run this one with my group very soon, any advice or stuff youd change for the ones that ran it?

[paper iris]

GM'd this one fully, would be happy to answer any questions

[fresh mango]

Been awhile since I ran it, but for first couple books I suggest coming up with a flow for the studying system that suits your group. RP wise, to decide how much you have your players mess with/interact with their fellow students and teachers, but also mechaniclly.

I believe each Study or Cram session is meant to take over several months with the adventure happening during it, but for personal preference one may want to change it.

Personally I kind of went with each Study or Cram being about a month long, giving them about 8 days of personal downtime (weekends, woo), and had them do like 1-3 story events during the month (so the ones that Cram debate whether to or not because Fatigue possibility).

With the pace of levelling, and being able to Study even at current branch level to ensure an auto increase upon reaching the appropriate level, my players personally didn't have a time they couldn't Study/Cram. Downtime also let them change some parts of their build or get some pocket change.

[paper iris]

they're supposed to be semesters so 3/yr i think

[red raven]

We just finished Book 3, I'm loving this AP so far

[dapper remnant]

ran my first session today, its a very strong roleplaying start imo

the interview is great

[paper iris]

yeh, there's lots of that

[red raven]

Yeah, I really like the interview and the cantrip choice!

[dapper remnant]

does anyone have suggestions on how to run the study sessions roleplay wise

since such a long amount of time passes

do you make whole sections devoted to it, do you think up the subjects etc

[tardy imp]

I haven’t tested it out yet but the way i’m gonna be running my study time is basically based off the professors subjects. I’m gonna give small side quests based off whatever subject a professor teaches.

For exemple. Nhyira is an arts patron known for her brilliant theatrical knowledge. To study for her class the students will have to become casting directors. Nhyira will give them the different roles she needs to be filled and my players will have to match the theatre characters with students from the magaambya.

When it comes to the time passing by. I would basically narrate the play being created and performed.

I hope this helped!

[dapper remnant]

thank you, it does help

[paper iris]

there's also quite a few study sessions, that's a lot to create stuff for

[dapper remnant]

thats true

i think ill pick a middle path

not straight up sidequests, since each of the pcs are doing different classes

but roleplaying each of the different teaching styles

[tardy imp]

Hey! Has anyone purchased the books off roll20? If so those it automatically come with premade maps for their online gaming platform?

[paper iris]

you mean adventure paths?

[tardy imp]

Yeah 👍

[paper iris]

not sure you'll find (m)any who GM this on r20, i'd say read the descriptions of what you might buy, it should tell you what it has

[gusty oasis]

What was the Botanical Garden in the city called again?

[dapper remnant]

The carnivirous gardens

[red raven]

Starting book 4 tomorrow!

Always amused by reading sentences like "The heroes have to drop the matter for the moment, but are right to remain suspicious."

Like the author has never met a PC in their life

[frozen kite]

Hello everyone! I wanted to get some options. I'm about to start running Crown of the Kobold King, but was considering transitioning into SoT after CotKK finishes. I would be skipping book 1 all together. For those that have run it, does that sound like a decent idea? My understanding is Falcon's Hallow is pretty far away so there would be a pretty big leap to get physically from one to another.

[dapper remnant]

The two adventures have entirely different themes

In one youre hardened heroes in a town where most of the people are really bad and you encounter crude monsters in the forest

Strenght of thousands book 1 and 2 is about being relatively young students at the magaambya and learning the ropes of magic

[frozen kite]

That's what I was seeing, I considered Abomination Vaults, but it seemed like it was too similar to CotKK. I wanted to give the PCs something different while still letting them grow their characters and stories.

I was really hoping for a FoundryVTT ready module to cut down on the prep work, but it doesn't look like SoT is supported through Paizo/Foundry.

[dapper remnant]

The modules on foundry are only implemented starting from outlaws of alkenstar

• abomination vaults

Strenght is before that

[frozen kite]

Understood

[paper iris]

is there a reason not to start again at lvl 1 after finishing a campaign? trying to link completely different adventures seems like a very hard thing to do well

[frozen kite]

I wanted to give the players the option to continue playing their characters if they enjoyed playing them without having to restart at 1st level.

[paper iris]

that's not always a good idea, CotKK finishes at like 7? you could skip a lvl or 2 and do a 11+ AP or something, might be worth discussing in #2e│gm_and_homebrew

[frozen kite]

I think that's correct, between the 6-7th level. I'm not against moving them into a higher level, do you have a recommendation? I'll check out that channel shortly.

[graceful plinth]

Does it seem weird to anyone else that Ubanu's place is packed with lethal measures? I assume the minotaurs also go for lethal attacks, but that all seems extremely illegal

[lilac vector]

I think the only reason I never joined this campaign is JUST because it requires you to put free archtype into spellcasting.

[leaden summit]

For Strength of Thousands, how do Halcyon dedication feats work in terms of how you qualify for and take them? When can you take them and as part of what feature?

I can't seem to find anything in Life in the Academy or in the Halcyon Speaker dedication that details how you get Halcyon feats.

[dapper remnant]

You can take them as part of the free archetype

[leaden summit]

I thought that the adventure path only gives you feats of your branch. I can't find anything in Life in the Academy that says you can take one.

[dapper remnant]

Its in the players guide

It uses the free archetype rule and everyone has to take either the wizard or druid dedication

[leaden summit]

I just found it on Paizo's website, thanks for pointing me there. It's weird how Life in the Academy doesn't include the dedication stuff in the table.

[paper iris]

the rank requirements are dealt with in the story at certain points

HS req covnersant rank, the PCs explicitly get made conversant rank at some point, then they'd qualify for it

[leaden summit]

Sense Motive actually has some application in combat in this AP which pleasently surprised me

You can discover certain mental influences at work, and since most creatures have an awful Deception DC it's not hard to get a Critical Success

[paper iris]

no need to spoiler in here btw

[dapper remnant]

Anyone added more scenes in the start of book 3 where theyre just teachers and hanging out

Im wondering what to add

[red raven]

I invited the players to play out their first class, describing what they teach and how, and then used those scenes to introduce the new NPCs

[red raven]

Having lots of fun with the start of book four - the influence stuff is taking a little while, but the players are enjoying strategising

One thing I've done to give them more strategic choice is when they succeed on a Discover action, they can choose to learn the outcomes of the next available Influence breakpoint.

This has allowed them to learn roughly when someone is going to recommend them to Nkiruka, and what they might get at the highest levels of influence (to determine if they want to keep pushing on one particular person)