Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Adventure Path #182: Graveclaw (Blood Lords 2 of 6)

Product– Pathfinder Adventure Path #182: Graveclaw (Blood Lords 2 of 6)

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– 26.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02asf?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-182-Graveclaw 

TL; DR-Why fight undead when you can fight the fey?  95% 

Basics– Go to new places, meet new fey, and kill them!  Graveclaw continues the Blood Lords adventure path as our heroes begin to track down the people who are involved in the poisoning plot and THEY ARE ALL FEY!  Find the hags, kill them, and travel all around the land of Geb

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure is a bit tougher for the players than most of what I’ve seen.  The players had fun, but they took some beating compared to most of my Pathfinder experience.  That’s not bad, but it can get discouraging as they have to keep fighting again and again to stay alive.  It’s a fun adventure, but something that might turn away some players with some slight balance issues.  Also, the faction system is broken.  I like the general idea, but right now I and my players still don’t know what the points do.  More guidance is needed to really bring this out for everyone.  4.75/5

Theme or Fluff– The story here is good, but disjointed.  The major plot of finding who is responsible for killing everything is fully on display.  That said, this adventure is more vignettes as the players learn where a hag is, go there, meet locals who hate her, go to her home, and kill her.  Repeat till four hags die.  It’s not bad, but a bit too disconnected for a full flowing story.  But when hanging out with a magic drugged up Vampire lord on a bender is on the itinerary, who cares? 4.5/5

Execution– Overall solid work from Paizo with one problem that I will dock because I am petty.  Solid lay out, eat to read, and good art all make this a great product.  Things that would make me happy are maps that fit into Roll20, but Paizo backed Foundry instead.  That’s understandable.  It’s hyperlinked, so it’s nice for my tablet.  The ONE thing that drove me up a wall was the last fight.  The final boss is listed in one place, when you go there, it then references a second area.  That annoyed me as the other creatures in the fight are listed in the first area.  So, I end up bouncing between three places in a book. DON’T DO THAT!  Aside from that one annoyance, Paizo makes a solid book. 4.95/5

Summary– Blood Lords continues to be some of the most fun I have had in Pathfinder that Paizo doesn’t like to admit too.  It’s most definitely not a a standard hero story as the players often are not great heroes but aspiring evil lords.  This particular part is good, but misses a few too many things to be amazing.  The adventure is brutal, but not bad. The story is a bit disjointed, but still flows.  The execution as always is good.  I will definitely be returning for the third part of this path!  95%

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