AZhobbit's page

I have two who have been retired for almost two years

Handsome Jack Half Elf from Taldor, Fighter, Rouge, Barbarian

Karl Yergos, Human from the land of the Linnorm Kings, Szarni, currently head of their liquidation detail(formerly Taldor, as a member of the Long Axes), Fighter 12

Ok this is the final call for GM's If you have not followed the links above and signed up then I don't know what to tell ya. Let me know here also if you are coming.

Umm anyone else notice the fella who started this thread hasn't responded to it in a while.....let it go.

I had a great time running this, but two things I didn't like, when a faction mission requires failure by the PC's or presenting a really good reason to talk with someone outside the PC's main operation seems poor in my opinion. Also the main confrontation at tier 8-9 seems to be a bit low on the CR.

Jason Leonard wrote:

On a funny note I GM'd a table where the CN rouge coupe de grad the NPC the Neutral Good Cleric was supposed to speak with to complete her faction mission. The Cleric secretly deemed the Rouge as Evil since he did this without provocation and really had no reason for this other than he was.... whatever. So the cleric decided to never heal the rouge and even used her selective channel to exclude him, once even healing an enemy. The player who was the rouge died in the scenario and did not have enough gold or prestige to raise himself. He said this was equivelent to PVP and thus illegal, and I asked him if he had knowledge religeon, he said no to which I said, then you have no idea what channeling is and thus too bad. I don't think he is coming back.

Frankly, I don't find this to be very funny. If the rogue didn't act in an evil manner, then the cleric was completely out of line. Unless the cleric said, "Don't kill that person", the Rogue was just downing another enemy. Even so, intentionally healing an enemy is *way* out of line. I also feel that this was honestly handled rather poorly if you flippantly told him that he had no idea what channeling was.

Either way, a story that ends in a player not coming back to PFS is not a funny one, unless the player did something really nasty.

The rouge was doing allot of underhanded stuff, and as the GM I even warned him. The Coupe De Grad was done when the NPC was clearly unconcious and other oppenents were up and threatening, his actions actually allowed the main fighter to go down due to his full round action. I wasn't flippant to the Rouge, but he was very upset and almost belligerent to me and some other players. While I am not happy about potentially losing a PFS player, I consider how many would leave if he continues his ways. bad players can make others leave. Hopefully he learns how to play with others and changes his RP style, if not I can only do so much.

I had a similar issue at a GenCon in 2009, playing Sniper in the Deep. We walked into the dockside tavern to gather information on the missing pathfinder. Upon entering we scoped the place a bit, and decided too talk to barthender. Before we could do this the Chelaxian "Paladin" pulled his greatsword invoked flame and announced his intention to murder the bartender in single combat due to some slight to the paracountess, so much for diplomacy. The party let the Paladin do his best, while we took care of the cronies. I was having a great time disarming and laughing my butt off due to the Pladin gett the short end in a very bad way. Our cleric cast hold person on one of the cronies, so I booted him over the rail into the ocean below, FYI my character was CN. The cleric dismissed the spell and we made light work of the cronies. The Paladin was having serious issues so the wizard saved his bacon. Apparently the player took serious issue with me booting the "helpless" cronie into the water and called me EVIL. I pointed out to him that I knew the cleric would "likely" dismiss the spell, but I did not declare murder like him, and pointed out he is Lawful Good and I was not critical of his actions. Needless to say he tried to take every oppurtunity to not help me too complete the adventure and often told me I was evil. Thus when he fell in the water in his full plate, and began drowning due to failed swim and con checks, I did not assist him despite having the best swim in the group(I was also otherwise occupied in lethal combat). The player was a bit angry especially with me for not trying to save him, I sarcastically told him if he has earned enough respect from the paracountess she could raise him. He was not amused, but the GM and the table were. I think this goes to the don't be a jerk to your fellow PC's since you may need them and while PVP is not sanctioned they can ignore you.

On a funny note I GM'd a table where the CN rouge coupe de grad the NPC the Neutral Good Cleric was supposed to speak with to complete her faction mission. The Cleric secretly deemed the Rouge as Evil since he did this without provocation and really had no reason for this other than he was.... whatever. So the cleric decided to never heal the rouge and even used her selective channel to exclude him, once even healing an enemy. The player who was the rouge died in the scenario and did not have enough gold or prestige to raise himself. He said this was equivelent to PVP and thus illegal, and I asked him if he had knowledge religeon, he said no to which I said, then you have no idea what channeling is and thus too bad. I don't think he is coming back.

OK this seems to have gotten a bit .. confrontational, Dust Raven and Sitri, as your resident VC please bring issues to me instead of the board next time.

OK first off as the VC for AZ please come to me before the forum's I have mail and FB if needed, 2nd this is not PVP, because the charmed undead is not a PLAYER AND IT IS MINDLESS. Also how do other players know if the cleric in question had SELECTIVE CHANNEL? This is way too much meta gaming. Please end this thread here.

I grew up in Phoenix but would love to come back for a visit and for this event (you had me at Jewel Staite, haha). Will keep it in mind as the date approaches, however I am unable to promise my attendance. Must speak with the Mrs. about a summer trip.

I met her at a local con in 2006 She is as personable as she is beautiful.

OK folks if you will be in the area of Phoenix or want something fun to do over Memorial Day weekend come to Phoenix Comicon. PFS will be offered in force and we are trying to post 50+ tables. We have been running there for the past 2 years and it has been awesome, not only has the Con grown the PFS community has also. There will be allot offered other than PFS, this convention is awesome. This is definately the place to LET YOUR GEEK OUT!!!! This is the link to the website http://www.phoenixcomicon.com/ PFS will also be on warhorn.net at http://warhorn.net/phoenix-cactus-comicon/ I am in the process of getting things organized with the gaming coordinator. Progress to come.

In the corner you all notice a tall muscular man who seems to almost appear. You realize most of you only saw him because he allowed you too. He notices the gathering...of sorts, stands and with uncommon litheness walks to the table. He is not nearly as impressive in dress as he is stature, standing nearly six and a half feet tall, he speaks in broken common with a heavy skaldish accent. "Friends" he utters,"Karl Yergos, liquidation bureau", you get the feeling the words Liquidation Bureau were almost read from a cue card and were not naturall for him.

Be advised there is no "public transportation" that let's you off closer than a half mile from the hotel.

My my so what a dilema as to what retired character to play this with;

Handsome Jack of Taldor who would see the Blakros museum burn to the ground rather than have another pathfinder agent perish in that atrocious portal of insanity.

Or

Karl Yergos Linnorm Archer who has the social graces of a goat and looks to match.

Crud.

Umm those of you who are playing the 12th level tier for this got any suggestions?

Phoenix Cactus Comicon 2012 was a huge success. Considering this is not a formal gaming convention and all the other attractions available I could be none more pleased.

The convention went from Thursday the 24th through the 27th. We had 8 slots with 18 tables that went off, each table averaged 5.2 players, most we new to PFS. In fact we had 30 new players, more and more each slot. Turns out word of mouth spread well and the new players had such a good time they continued to come back and brought their friends. I attribute this to the EXCELLENT corp of GM’s I had at my disposal, no arguments and slots ran as scheduled. Also the most important thing everyone had FUN!!!!!

One really great thing is I had 5-6 players from the Prescott and Flagstaff area of northern AZ and it is hoped we can get a gameday rolling up there. So if you are one of them and read this get hold of me ASAP.

These are the scenarios run

Slot 1 5-24
2-03 Rebel’s Ransom
3-07 Echoes of the Overwatched

Slot 2 5-25
3-05Tide of Twilight
07 Among the Living

Slot 3 5-25
55 Infernal Vault
55 Infernal Vault

Slot 4 5-25
17 Perils of the Pirate Pact
33 Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible

Slot 5 5-26
First Steps Part 1
3-19 Icebound Outpost
51 City of Strangers Part 1

Slot 6 5-26
First Steps Part 2
52 City Of Strangers Part 2
Master of the Fallen Fortress

Slot 7 5-26
47 Darkest Vengeance
3-18 God’s Market Gamble
29 Devil You Know Part 1, Shipyard Rats

Slot 8
03-01Frostfur Captives

Phoenix Comicon 2012, May 24-27. Guess where. Not huge PFS, but allot of fun. We will have 7 slots 2-3 tables each. This is a big convention otherwise, if you want to check the website and guest list, many sci fi A listers. Check the event calander. Or email me at the VC email.

Hey folks just wondering if there is any PFS being done in this area? Basically if you are north of maricopa county please let me know. As the VC for Arizona, I just want to know what is going on up there be it home game or gameday. Thanks Jason

We have a good contigent here in Phoenix, just finished up VULCON this weekend, did allot of recruiting and actually ran out of PFS # cards. I will contact your soon.

Seven Samuri.....Magnificent Seven. Same thing, Players had a really good time, even had a samuri and musketeer at the table.

OK folks as your VC I have secured some new locations for our gamedays which are posted at Warhorn.net under a a gathering of players yahoo group. If you are not part of this group please get on it ASAP. Samuri Comics has a new location in the east valley and it is where our new PFS gameday on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. If you are in the area and not sure about gamedays let me know on this thread I will find you.

With regards to the original post:

This kind of thing hits close to home for me; for me, nothing sucks the life out of a game faster than being suddenly surrounded by an impenetrable GM pity force field(tm).

One of my PFS characters was in a somewhat similar situation once. He died in the first encounter of the scenario (oops). At that point, I wanted to stay dead until the end of the scenario and get raised afterwards. However, I ended up letting the GM cajole me into getting a Raise Dead and rejoining. From there on, we stumbled through one painful encounter after another and we were only "saved" by heavy, heavy GM pity-fudging (e.g. enemies declining to focus their attacks on wounded PCs, overly sympathetic readings of how monster special abilities work, etc.). It was a mess, and it soured me on PFS for a while afterwards. Sometimes a clean death is more fun. :-(

This is a good reason why GM's need to know the module very well and know they party strength. While I havenever fudge rolls or intentionally tried to keep players alive during a combat. I have had them find some consumables in treasure that help them during the adventure, nothing serious, but a few cure potions or maybe a lesser restoration, simple stuff. A GM should always gauge the survivability of a party, but remmeber that sometimes bad things happen.

Umm I am siding with Kerney on this one. As a veteran GM you need to take your emotions out of the equation, especially when the creature you are using(like say a SHADOW) has none other than pure hatred of the living. While some have stated that this is an intelligent undead and wouldn't continue attacking the same person because they were no longer a "threat". As an undead creature that wants nothing more than to cause the living to suffer it's plight it would absoloutely continue to drain one character until it was dead. This is even more evident because most intelligent undead can cause a defeated living to become like them, even Ghouls. Thus to be undead is a horrible thing and the idea of spreading your suffering is the small amount of joy you get. A shadow, while intelligent, does not have morals or fear, and wants to destroy all living. Therefore it isn't going to say "wow you are colse to becoming like me, I think I will go and attack the very healthy one who may cause my true death rather than bring you to my side".

I won't speak for Ferral, but the point I 'learned' is that being able to autosucceed is boring. Like playing Doom on Godmode. Sure it's fun at first, but it's boring.

Pathfinder is a team exercise. If you can do everything (twinked out bard) or one thing so well that the rest of the group becomes redundant in that field (barbarian maxed out) it's boring for you and your group.

We want to minimize failure as much as possible in life, but in a game there's a thrill when that die comes up a 20, and the thrill of tension when it comes up a 1.

This is why I am so fond of Call of Cthuhlu....something fun about being the bottom of the food chain.

Ok did anyone else catch this, to get to their destination the PC's can be transported via teleport or take the long journey walking and pay 125gp in tolls and such marching through the Taldan countryside. Yet it doesn't discuss them getting back or having to pay for this to return to Oppara? I just found this kinda funny. PS this is a really fun chronicle, highly recommended. Does this count as a spoiler?

Thanks. I believe boons end on the 18th and I'm not going to being doing think until at least after holiday break. So sadly there will be no boon but its still a good way to get people into it. And I'm kinda trying to keep this on the down low as I would be ridiculed unendingly if one of the jocks found out I was a "DND nerd". So is there a way you think I could advertise it and somehow keep my identity a secret(except for the people in the group obviously).

I meant what city on the board

Remember that it's not adversarial with the BB, just have fun with them. The BB is pathfinder simple, remind them that if they like it they can try the RPG as a homegame or the PFS and remind them they can customize a character for PFS. Also let everyone know where you are because you may have a group there that isn't listed or is sporadic, but looking for more players. You may have received a boon for playing it, but those will be going away very soon. Have fun with this and if things go well look at starting you own chapter, good luck.

Ok how about the Map issues it has 3B as a location, but there is no 3B it should be 3G, this is somewhat confusing.

I'm seriously considering playing an Undead lord but I'd prefer to keep the options limited to humans, or possibly creatures encountered on an AR and signed by the GM.

I looked at this before and I think skeletal Hydras were about 5HD, which is pushing it. Its a nice idea, and skeletal riding dogs might be fine, but including all the bestiaries would be asking for trouble. Besides which, walking through town with a cowled human skeleton is one thing, but walking through town with a skeletal hydra could really mess up the scenario.

As a GM i don't worry too much about what someone has animated as long as it within the guidelines. Similarly is the Eidelon who a summoner can inhabit, I have seen some frightening builds at 2nd level for this.

It should cost less for PFS. Core gives the players and the GM more options than the society. If a player dies, a party that would like them revived can go and rob a noble's house or a caravan to get the money. Or they could be owned a favor to the local temple in exchange for the revive. If one wanted, the dead player could even be brought back as a zombie :)

But none of those options are available in the society. If you die you only have two options, pay the gold or prestige.

Death is paid for in two ways, prestige(16) or gold as stated. Ok here is the jist as a junior pathfinder(level 4 and lower, 10-12 is roughly the needed chronicles to gain the prestige allotment) you in general are not seen as as useful to your faction as say a more senior memeber, and they are less willing to have you raised. Also as a higher level agent who cotinues to die the faction sees you as less "favorable" and should you have used up, will not spend the time to raise you. So either horde Gold or do good on your faction. My biggest question is, what happens when your body is not recovered, ie brought back by your companions or worse is lost in some way. As a veteran GM this is a quandry which I am unsure if there is a flat rule for.

If the Blakros museum is in many *more* mods it would be certainly worth having a flip mat for :)

Mike

Blakros ptttuuuy Burn it to the ground!!!!!

Cracked/flawed ioun stones are awesome, definitely better than those overpriced ordinary ioun stones.

I've seen some buy dull gray ioun stones to be fitted into their wayfinders. A free read magic once per day, not bad.

Umm totally disagree with the over priced thing. There are allot of really ggod ones. Many players have done a really smart thing, especially the heavy dmage dealers, of placing the clear spindle(4000gp) in the way finder to make theme immune to evil compulsion. This has saved parties. Homestly my recently retired Archer would possibly kill players if he was ever facing compulsion from a Succubus or Harpy. If you are going to have a rock circling your head make it worth it, or you just look silly.

While I am not terribly fond of this thread, since the idea of changing ones alignment to gain benefit from classes on opposite spectrums is really power gaming(just make a new charecter). Most of the arguements here are easily policed by other players. For example I ran a table where the Chelaxian bard, who was offically neutrel, seemed to be the one who advocated the killing of everyone even goblin children. He would make lecherous and disparedging remarks to the female Sanerae Cleric and I could tell she was becoming a bit offended(in charecter only). Her character asked the bard to stop, he replied "it's the devil in me, I can't control him"(I had too admit that was really a great response). However, in character he went down from a critical sword strike. And while he layed there bleeding out the Cleric decided not to heal him and deal with the undead that were attacking the party, even though she probably could have channeled and stabalized him, and as a result he died. This infuriated the player of the bard and he accused her of not knowing her "Role" at the table. She ignored him and as a GM I explained his actions were rather evil in nature and the LAWFUL GOOD cleric made the choice to save the party rather than him. I also went on to say she was playing her character, and no one has a "Role" at the table. I then explained that if he wanted to play evil characters masked by another alignement, expect the same treatment, and his beratement of another player is unacceptable. He hasn't returned.

Jason Leonard wrote:

I have plans to run this, have the mod, but is there an adaption for PFS with Chronicles?

Your Venture-Captain or Venture-Lieutenant should be able to answer that...oh wait..;)

Look in additional resources, Chronicle for Modules will always be there.

Thanks

I have plans to run this, have the mod, but is there an adaption for PFS with Chronicles?

Hello.

This is my first post and I'm sorry for resurrecting such an old post, but the subject fits.

My friend and myself are looking for people in the north phoenix area that want to start a pathfinder group. Anyone interested?

If you are interested in PFS, they paly at Imperial Outpost Games on 51st ave. and Thunderbird on the 2nd and 4th Saturday each month. It is posted on warhorn.net go to reoccuring game days and is listed under a gathering of players.

Ok why is this a question, the rule is very simple, LoH is Positive Energy thus it damages creatures with negative energy affinity. Dhampir have negative energy affinity...fairly self explanitory. If you want to play a Dhampir Paladin thne have at it, just know you are probably going to kill yourself, or at least be terribly ineffective. If you are a Dhampir and your party does have channel positive abilities, let them know or do your best to be out of the area when they let loose.

I saw a ranger piledrived 30 feet and then torn apart by giant amorous demon apes.

Fortunately, the tearing apart came before being violated.

Nope, not making this up. If you've played the scenario, you'll know what I'm talking about.

This may have been one of the most creative deaths ever..freaking hilarious.

Mine came in the retired Hands of the Muted God, were doing great until the final fight. In the canyon we lost our primary monk who died saving our cleric(we buried him before continuing. We then we proceded to open the gates..probably a mistake. We realized we were all going to die when the Drider cast web in front of it, to keep the melee fighter from it, then the Vrocks cast mirror image(which really sucked). When our cleric fell I knew we were lost and the Vrocks were much faster than I, making fleeing not an option. I told the low levle Monk to run and I wold hold them off, just come back and get our bodies if they are still there. Luckily our GM decided they had no use for our corpses and was kind enough to say a group of Pathfinders were able to come and recover the three of us. Offly considerate since we were all 8th level. We had to pay since PA didn't cover this yet.

Here is an example of this. I recently ran Black Water for four players who were novice pathfinders. During the party with the Chelaxian noblewoman they did an increadible job of roleplaying and really had a great time with it. The actual delve was very difficult and two of the PC's contracted ghoul fever, a very horrible disease at low levels and would have cost them all their gold or all their earned PA to cure. Because of the great role play they did and the care they took when returning the woman's daughter, I decided to have her pay for the curing of the disease.

In all honesty, Archer's that are built for destruction(which isn't that hard) are table breakers. I know this because I have a level 11 fighter which is just wrong. On and average round of combat I do around 60 to 80 points of damage and can bypas most DR aside from adamantine. I do not know if the ultimate combat is sanction, but the snapshot feats are just horrible game breakers, the idea of threatening with a bow is just silly. Very soon you may not see many melee fighters and instead mostly dedicated archers.

Doug Miles wrote:

AZhobbit wrote:

Why is her Firestorm ability not discussed in her tactics?

...since I consider the Oracle firestorm ability really really nasty.

You answered your own question.

GMs are supposed to stick to the tactics listed, for exactly this reason. There could be all sorts of in-game reasons she wouldn't choose to use firestorm... avoiding injuring her colleagues, avoiding damage to loot that lays undiscovered, she dislikes the smell of scorched flesh, etc. But if it's not listed in tactics, she doesn't do it, however logical or powerful it might seem to the GM.

Understood, but no reason is given. There are tactics and then there is playing your NPC's intelligently. Some tactics tend to get the NPC killed, I do not modify spell lists or feats ever, but I will ALWAYS use abilities. When faced with insurmountable odds, survival comes first, be it a PC or NPC. Also the comrads thing on this one has little matter sincer she considers them expendable.

she dislikes the smell of scorched flesh. SHE'S A FREAKING FIRE ORACLE.

This mod at 8-9 is a party killer, here is why. When I ran this the PC's did not get a description of Jahani(or whatever her name is). While in the main chamber they began coversing with the Oracle and a PC mentioned her name, thus the Oracle bluffed the party into opening the door, by claiming she was her. They finally realized their major blunder when they saw the two chronies. Combat began, and a PC archer won intitative, shot her, but did not kill her, she went second and unleashed her Firestorm ability(which is oddly not discussed in her combat tactics, not sure why)and she killed the entire party with 4 rounds of 11D6 fire covering the entire room, even the rouge who faied one reflex save and was summarily killed by the lackies.

Why is her Firestorm ability not discussed in her tactics?

Do the holes in the door allow for LOS for spell casting, should the PC's become uncooperative? I mean they are big enoguh for a staff.

One thing to help with this chronicle(which is really good FYI) is to encourage the PC's to get descriptions of everyone they are seeking, not just names.

GM's be careful on this one it can easily become a TPK just by rolling a good intitiative.

Also my PC's were really good about their death's. I basically had the oracle ransom the bodies to the PFS so they could be raised, since I consider the Oracle firestorm ability really really nasty.

Ok just curious metamagic feats talk about replacing a higher level slot. If I am a wizard who prepares spells and I have say the elemental spell feat(cold), and I come across a creature immune to fire, do I have to have a spell prepared to using the feat or can I just eliminate a higher level memorized spell to do so. Also if I am a spontaneous caster and using the same scenario, do I just use a higher level slot? The reason I ask is that it seems allot of the metamagic feats seem situational and if I memorize spells I can't always predict what I will face. Thanks

Here is an example of the worst you can see. Played a sactioned mod this weekend and had a player actually get up and leave after he was about to be ganked by a bad guy. Granted this was a three rounder that our great GM had spent allot of time preping and the five other players gave up most of their weekend to play. I have never seen anyone just pack up and leave, especially since this mod allowed you to bring in a new PC. All of us where very suprised by this and our GM handled it really well, just explained that his actions would result in him not being welcome at the gameday anymore. So FYI to players character death happens deal with it. PFS has some of the best rules for raise dead and such, If you make it to 12th without dying kudos to you.

Hey there Everybody,

Alright everybody. Lets just take it down a notch. I got a few quick points.

- We are currently looking into the whole armor spike/misc non-hand weapons and how they threaten. This was a slightly bigger issue than I first thought when I gave an off the cuff opinion.

- The thing to remember here, that I want to stress, is that generally speaking, the only places where a PFS judge is required to follow rulings is the rulebooks, updates, FAQ posts, and PFS rules documents. Everything else is left to judge discretion at the table. There is no way around this. We cannot ask our judges to be familiar with every ruling or thought from every messageboard post, even if it comes from a staff member.

- For you home game, you don't even have to pay attention to the above sources. Its your game after all.

I hope to get a FAQ on this issue soon.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I just want to say thanks Jason, I(And I assume most of us) know you have a tough job and rely on players/GM's to make the best decisions we can. It is appreciated that you take into account our input and that we can have an actual affect on the game. The PFS is honestly the best living campaign I have been part of. Hope to see you a NEONCON in November(should you have plans to attend).

HOLY CRAP!!!! I love the discussion about spiked armor...talk about a monkey wrench. Also one thing to consider when arguing about reality and physics. Characters who have Martial Weapon Proficiency are SUPREMELY TRAINED in combat tactics and thus while we argue about what can be done in the "REAL" world by us, we are not trained like our characters. This is the concept of roleplaying at it's most basic. My intial arguement about the spiked armor was based on the physics of the item, not a character's ability.

Well as both a veteran PFS GM and player this is what I expect regardless of level. Most of this applies to both.
1. Know your character and what their capabilities are. Thus don't spend your turn digging through a book to look up stuff that you should know.
2. Be ready when your turn comes(this kinda goes back to #1). Have your numbers ready for whatever you are doing. Don't come back to me latter and say "Oh I forgot to add this". TOUGH
3. Know the rules for things like movement, grapple, range and such.
4. Be honest... this is paramount, if I catch you cheating be prepared.
5. Pay ATTENTION and BE INVOLVED!!! I have had many players that don't answer when I ask for a perception check or don't tell me their roll and then get mad whei skip them during the suprise round. If you are texting during the game and miss something I will not repate myself. I have been known to do a ten count on initiative and then put you in delay. Also don't assume there is nothing you can do, remeber you can aid the fighter with flank or threaten the spell caster, be creative more often than not if it's cool and doesn't break the rules I will allow it.
6. Don't whine, as a GM I don't ever intentionally target PC's or try to kill them, but I play the opponents intelligently(unless they have none or it is very low). Bad things happen, being a pathfinder is a dangerous job. Also remmeber many PC's have optimised characters, you tend to be hard to kill.
7. Don't tell me how to play my character or others when I am GMing, young players learn by experience, as a GM I may give them advice, but other players should not KIBITZ!!!
8. Have fun... Always and let others have fun. As a GM your enjoyment is my top goal and even if a chronicle is not I try very hard to make it enjoyable.

ElyasRavenwood wrote:

Lazer X i had not realized the similarities between Andoran and "American". Perhaps you don't notice what is right under your nose. If I extend such an analogy, does Taldor represent feudal europe?

Taldor is a tougher call, I'd say it's more likely to represent Rome in it's decline or possibly Byzantium.

16th century France

Spiked armor is also a good option for threatening adjacent spaces.

You know this never made sense to me. Why do your spikes which are attached to your armor threaten. I always thought these were for when you were grappled or attacked by natural weapons. While I knwo gaming mechanics don't always take into account physics, this one is just silly. I have worn armor with spikes before and it never prevented my opponent from moving away, that's what my sword was for. Too further make the point My elemental wizard has the ability to cover himself in fire. The fire doesn't threaten, I can't throw it, it is personal only. Hmmmm allot like wearing spikes on armor. Alas never will understand this cheat.

Nimon wrote:

And traps are rarely used in PFS scenarios. And because of the Low levels of PFS I have never seen a situation where a Wizard is needed

Ok while I don't argue with the self sufficiency, but TRAPS are everywhere in PFS, in fact some chronicles have only them for the most part and really just stink without a rouge. That being said you rarely need a balanced party to be successful and have fun, you just need to be creative. The less veteran a party is the more the more balance they need.

I have run this about 4 times and the one thing I had a small issue with was the Guardhouse enounter(s). I know technically the PC's engage the Goblins and then the quadrent of bad guys upstairs. I couldn't bring myself to suspend belief so much that the four upstairs were so quiet that the PC's couldn't hear them based on the small size of the building, or that a barbarian with blood lust would not go attack the PC's if he hears them downstairs. Each time the PC's dealt with both encounters at once mainly because someone always goes upstairs before going into the lounge where the Goblins be. Also I may have missed it and have read the scene allot, but how exactly are they burning down the building? I have improvised by stating they have barrels of some alchemical explosive that has a fuse attached. I have usually used a ten round count once lit and the Pc's get the perception test to hear it. Now I never will arbitrarily blow up the PC's, but the building being on fire is exceptional incentive to not daly. My tables have really enjoyed this because it gives them a hard time limit and adds to the frenzied chaos.