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Goblin Squad Member. ****** Pathfinder Society GM. Starfinder Society GM. 4,993 posts (5,051 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. 1 wishlist. 24 Organized Play characters. 6 aliases.



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The Exchange

Idle curiosity, I was trying to come up with the least number of days it would take for a crafter to make a +5 tome. (Like a wizard who just hit level 17 and wants a +5 Inherent bonus to Int, but currently only has enough Int to cast one or two wishes a day.) The base price is 127,500 and so far I've been able to knock it down to 16 days.

Parameters: Level 17 PC. Non-mythic. Working alone. No artifacts to help. Any race, feat, trait, spell, or magic item acceptable.

My build so far:
Level 17 Dwarf Wizard

Feat: Craft Wondrous Item

Traits: Resourceful (8 hours for every 1,500 gp in the item’s base price)
Spark of Creation (The cost of creating magic items is reduced by 5%)

Arcane Discovery: Arcane Builder (create magic items of a chosen type 25% faster)

Alternate Favored Class Bonus: Progress made in 8-hour crafting period increases by 200 gp. (Taken 17 times for a total of 3400 additional progress per 8 hours)

Rule: Raise the DC by 5 to increase progress in 8 hours by 1000 gp.

Math
Start with 127500. Multiply by 0.75 (arcane builder) = 95,625. Multiply by 0.95 (spark of creation) = 90,843.75

Progress made per 8-hour day = 1000 (base) + 500 (resourceful) + 1000 (rule) + 3400 (FCB) = 5900

90843.75/5900 ~ 15.4 Round up to 16.

The Exchange

I am looking for a feat, trait, spell, racial ability, or item that lets you modify a d100 roll up or down. I’m aware of quite a few that modify d20 rolls (such as cleromancy) but I can’t find any that affect d100.

To be clear, I am NOT looking for the following:
-Class abilities.
-Things that only affect a specific d100 roll (such as confusion or divination).
-Suggestions to use a d20 instead/talk it out with my GM.

I could have sworn that there were some spells that let you modify “the next die roll” up or down by a bit (d6 or so) but now that I’m looking the only ones I can find are explicitly for d20 rolls only. (Other than lucky number, which could possibly affect a d100, but only if your d100 result is less than 21 and happens to match the lucky number.)

The Exchange

Interesting article over at Gizmodo.

Stephen Radney-MacFarland (former Senior Designer at Paizo, also worked for WOTC and created the Delve RPG) is the Lead Designer for a new RPG that is scheduled to come out this fall. The setting is called "The Glimmering" but there doesn't seem to be any information on the mechanics or setting yet. Just about the company's business model.

(I'll summarize the business model: You know how people sometimes buy accounts on MMOs so they can get high levels and cool items without putting in a lot of hours? This is like that but for tabletop games. Also, NFTs!)

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

While playing a game over the weekend, we got off on a tangent about certain higher-level effects that might be simply unrecoverable in Starfinder Organized Play. To be clear - I haven't actually encountered any of these in a scenario (but that doesn't mean they aren't in any at all).

Feeblemind - can only be removed by miracle, psychic surgery, wish, or similar spell. This one actually can be cured, it is just difficult. Miracle and wish are not available but psychic surgery is available as a 6th level spellcasting service. Requires being in a settlement with a Maximum Item Level of 12 or higher (Absalom Station is 20) and costs 30,000. However it is not available with ACP, so maybe that should be added as a possible purchase?

Disintegrate (and other effects that kill you and destroy the body) - Raise dead requires a body. Normally you can come back from being disintegrated by using reincarnate which only requires "some small portion of the creature's body." But reincarnate is banned in SFS, so that's not an option.

The Exchange

7 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

Somehow didn't notice this before now:

CRB v3.0 page 184 wrote:
Barriers of energy or magical force block lasers.
CRB v3.0 page 206 wrote:
The force field blocks solids and liquids but not gases or light (including laser beams).

So, that's definitely a contradiction.

The Exchange

Before I spend a bunch of money, wanted to double-check this. It looks like I can have as many pearly white spindle aeon stones as I want and each will add +1 caster level.

CRB page 223 wrote:
Pearly White Spindle: This aeon stone increases your caster level by 1. This affects only calculations that directly refer to your caster level, such as caster level checks and spells with a duration of 1 round/level.
CRB page 266 wrote:
When multiple bonuses apply to the same value, different types of bonuses all apply, but in most cases bonuses of the same type do not add together (or “stack” with each other), unless a source specifies otherwise. (For an exception, see Circumstance Bonus below.) Bonuses that do not list a bonus type do stack, both with each other and with all typed bonuses. Such bonuses, often referred to as “untyped” bonuses, are among the most utilitarian of all bonuses in the game.

4/5 5/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.

While doing my taxes I had to search the IRS database to verify some entities were, in fact, registered charitable organizations. While I was there I decided to look up the OPF (not for my taxes, just for fun). It is registered, though the last report I could find was from 2017. Most of it is only of mild interest but the description of direct charitable activities is quite good:

Activity One wrote:
The Organized Play Foundation paid the travel expenses, administration costs and other related costs to promote education and provide intellectual sporting opportunities in the areas of critical reasoning, mathematics, logic and law in accordance with the information included in the form 1023 application that is currently pending.

The Exchange

4 people marked this as FAQ candidate. 1 person marked this as a favorite.

According to the version 3.0 CRB

Acrobatics wrote:
If you have average maneuverability and at least 5 ranks in Acrobatics or if you have perfect maneuverability, you can hover automatically without attempting a check; this does not require a move action.
Flying (page 259) wrote:
If you have average maneuverability, all of the options in the fly task of Acrobatics are available to you. If you have perfect maneuverability, you do not have to attempt an Acrobatics check to use the avoid falling damage or hover options; you automatically succeed at these options (unless you are unconscious), though you can still attempt an Acrobatics check to hover as a swift action instead of a move action.

So which is it?

If I have perfect maneuverability, Acrobatics says that I can hover without spending a move action or attempting a check. Flying says that I can hover automatically, but if I don't attempt the check it's a move action. Or a swift action if I do succeed on the check.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

I'm assuming this means SFS is immediately using the new version where applicable? We've hit the time period where a new player may buy the pdf and not realize there was an earlier version. And can't access it even if they know.

No changelog yet, but I definitely see that the medicinals have had their price reduced thanks to the efforts of the Starfinder Society!

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

Question about the mechanics of the race boon from this scenario:

It's just like previous race boons except you have to donate credits and check boxes after scenarios. You don't get access to the race boon until all the boxes are checked. OK, that's an interesting way of doing it.

Do you have to have the boon slotted for each scenario in order to check a box? It's a Personal boon with no exculpatory text, so it would appear so. That means if you played the scenario with a character who already has its Personal slot filled (with a race boon or the like) you can't slot the boon and can't check boxes.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

Executive summary: Is there any recourse for players who bought hireling boons under the 1.0 boon text?

Last weekend I was playing a scenario with my 8th-going-on-9th level character. I said that I would have my Master Hireling Reginald (all hirelings are named Reginald) make a diplomacy check. One of the other players asked “hasn’t he already made a diplomacy check?” “Yeah,” I replied “but that was with a different NPC.” “No, I mean your hireling can only make one check a scenario.” “What?”

We eventually discovered that between Guides 1.0 and 1.1, language was added to the hireling boon specifying that it could only attempt each type of check (bluff, diplomacy, and intimidate in my case) once per scenario. It wasn’t in a changelog and there were no mentions of the difference on the messageboards, so I totally missed it until someone who was newer and hadn’t seen Guide 1.0 pointed it out.

I know I’m a bigger consumer of purchased boons than 99% of players (probably the reason no one else pointed it out) but this is a really big deal for me. I’m now 9th level and made all my skill (and even ability score boost) choices knowing that I would always have Reginald along. All my characters are talky in some way and I certainly would have put points in at least one of those skills if it wasn’t for the hireling boon. It’s a double whammy because I also spent 9 Fame on the boons.

Is there and official recourse for this situation? I’d love to hear “grandfathering” as the reply, but any official guidance is appreciated.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

For all those around the world who somehow missed our e-mail blasts, flyers, aerial banners, and trailer before the last Marvel superhero movie:

Lone Star Game Expo will be taking place once again September 6th-9th in Grapevine, Texas. Now in its third year, this convention covers board games, miniatures games, and - of course - Roleplaying Games. Once again the DFW Pathfinder Society will be running a full slate of games. Starfinder, Pathfinder 2nd edition, and Pathfinder 1st edition. Including the finale special of PFS1:

10-98: Siege of Gallowspire

Join us for a great time, try some new games, and meet some great people. We'll see you there!

http://lonestargameexpo.com/

Info from Paizo.com https://paizo.com/events/v5748mkg1vm21

The Exchange

Pretty much exactly what the thread title says.

As a PFS volunteer I’d love to be passing out flyers with the most up-to-date branding.

Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo)

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Hard Mode activated!

Belantria returns to the Perplexity a year after his first visit. He hopes this one will go better but knows it won't.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Thurston Hillman wrote:
Dracomicron wrote:
I loved the 1-31 practice of having variable DCs based on the size and level of the party, as well as building scaling success into the checks.

Do people agree with this sentinment? I've had a lot of feedback in PMs/messages/conventions that points me to believe that GMs prefer all their DCs listed inline in a scenario.

So, I'm curious as to what the prevailing majority would like to see...

I think the scaling DC info boxes work great as long as the inline text has a clear reference.

On a related note, I really like it when there is a single page “GM aid” in the appendixes that consolidates all the information the GMs need. What the DCs are, timelines for in-scenario events, how areas connect, checklists of possible success conditions, etc. People sometimes make these and post them on pfsprep.com, but there has been some experimentation with putting them directly in the scenarios (such as PFS 10-01).

The Exchange

Does anyone know of a trait, feat, racial ability, etc. that will allow a druid to be LG?

I though an Exalted (prestige class) of Erastil with a druid base class would be a pretty cool theme to play with. But Exalteds have to match the alignment of their deity exactly and druids have to have a neutral component to their alignment.

So far all I’ve found is the planar extremist archetype, but the “outer planes” motif really doesn’t mesh with Erastil as a deity.

The Exchange

I know I saw a sidebar in a Paizo book that gave a bunch of examples but I can’t for the life of me remember which one.

“A frying pan is a one-handed weapon, a chair leg is a light weapon, etc.”

Anyone remember which book?

The Exchange

It’s driving me nuts and I can’t stand it any more. Paizo has a habit of saying the things like “you can close up to 25 bulk in this device’s pocket space, a 3-foot cube.” (Mk1 null-space chamber) But “a 3-foot cube” doesn’t actually mean anything! Is that 3 cubic feet or a cube 3 feet on a side?

Based on the amount of air contained within (assuming a medium creature - like a modern human - uses 11000 liters per day), it appears that 3 cubic feet is the right answer. But that falls apart when we look at higher Marks. If a Mk3 is only 9 cubic feet it should be enough air for one medium creature for 30 minutes. If, however, it is a cube 9 feet on a side then the listed two days is about right.

In the grand scheme of things it’s not a big deal. Bulk is bulk. It just bothers me. BTW, the discussion that led to this was “can I put a police cruiser (10’ x 10’ x 5’) in a Mk4 null-space chamber (12-foot cube)?”

The Exchange

Specifically I’m trying to be able to prepare good hope as an arcanist spell.

So far, I’ve come up with “be a Samsaran” but I’m hoping for other ways.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

Several items are unclear in this one. Sorry for the length, but here are the questions:

1. In part A there are 5 beacons. There are 8 different checks the PCs can make to find the beacons. Am I correct in assuming that the first 5 successful (unique) checks turn up a beacon and the others are just additional options?

2. The map in Part B shows 4 enemy craft. But there is only one. (Not a big deal, I’ll just choose one as the starting location.) But where are the PCs supposed to start?

3. Does destroying a civilian ship carry any penalty?

4. The map of the bridge in Part C burned my brain for a long time. Even after reading the text multiple times. I think I have it right now. What is now the “floor” was the forward wall/viewscreen when the ship was in flight. Can anyone confirm that?

5. For the Hazard in Part C8; what is the speed of the wind? That determines the penalty to ranged attacks. (CRB page 400).

Saw most of these questions elsewhere, but no answers. Thought I would consolidate here.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Noticed a couple of things that are going to affect my characters, so thought I would post a list of changes that may catch out a few people if they don't read AR. Just changes, not new material.

- UW snowball is now the only snowball.
- Read the FAQ on the website for how fitting armor works.
- UW Viking is now the only viking.
- Vine strike spell is legal but text is changed.
- Grizzly bears count as bears.
- Orc hornbows are neither shortbows or longbows, they are their own item.
- Yes, a magus can use spellstrike and spell combat with Dervish Dance. A spell doesn't count as a shield or weapon for purposes of having an empty hand.
- Alchemical allocation can now only affect potions and elixirs with a value of 150 gp per caster level of alchemical allocation, maximum 1000 gp. (Time to finally say goodbye to my CL12 barkskin potion I've drunk about a dozen times.)

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

Neither! This little gem is taking place in Grapevine, Texas, on the north side of DFW airport. Last year was the first year of the convention and we had a great time. Big enough for plenty of play, but small enough to get to know everyone.

Once again we'll be running the PFS season kickoff (10-00: The Hao Jin Cataclysm) and the SFS special (1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion). We'll also be running the latest PFS and SFS scenarios, some repeatable scenarios for both, and a few tables of the Pathfinder 2 playtest.

GM signups: GM two sessions and get free admission to the con, free copies of the scenarios you are running, and special SFS or PFS boons. Sign up for more than two sessions and get fed during the sessions you are GMing! E-mail me (dfwpfskevin@gmail.com) with your name, paizo.com messageboard alias, what times you are available to GM, and what system (PFS, SFS, or PFS2) you prefer to run. I'll respond and get the scenarios dropped for you.

Player signups: are done through the LSGE website at http://lonestargameexpo.com/ After you buy a badge, you can sign up for games. If you are GMing, a badge will be assigned to you, after which you can sign up for games.

More event details are on the event page for Lone Star Game Expo 2018

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

4 people marked this as a favorite.

It's getting ridiculous how little agreement there is on this. Can we please get some official guidance?

At PaizoCon last weekend I played three SFS scenarios. Each GM filled out the Reputation section in a different manner. None of which were the way I fill them out. And I heard of at least one other way of filling out the reputation. I know some of these are clearly wrong, I'm just including them for completeness.

Method 1: Player writes current reputation to left of bar. GM or player writes new total to right of bar.

Quote:
Second Seekers (L. E.) 29|31

Method 2: Player writes current reputation to the left of bar. GM writes reputation gained to the right of the bar.

Quote:
Second Seekers (L. E.) 29|+2

Method 3: GM writes reputation gained on both sides of the bar

Quote:
Second Seekers (L. E.) 2|2

Method 4: GM writes new total on both sides of the bar.

Quote:
Second Seekers (L. E.) 31|31

Method 5: GM writes reputation gained to left of bar, player writes new total to right of bar.

Quote:
Second Seekers (L. E.) +2|31

The Exchange

1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

The Constitution Poison Track on page 415 says that once you are weakened "Every time the victim attempts a Fortitude save against the poison—whether he succeeds or fails—he loses Hit Points as per on initial exposure." Is this only damage specifically from the poison, or does it include a damaging effect (such as a creature's bite) that delivered the poison in the first place? Should this damage apply to Stamina Points first or directly to Hit Points?

More information:

  • None of the constitution-track poisons on page 419 deal damage. Neither does the irradiate spell (which uses the constitution track.)
  • In fact, I can't find any poison that has it's own damage effect.
  • If it's the damage from the initial effect, that could get to be a pretty high amount (a soldier with an injection glove can easily do 10 points of damage at 3rd level).

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

Questions on one of the chronicle boons:

Spoiler:
Morlamaw Admittance (Personal Boon; Limited Use): During your mission to the world of Arniselle, you encountered a group of local lifeforms called morlamaws and convinced them to assist the Starfinder Society. Some of those morlamaws look to you as inspiration and intend on leaving their homeworld and eventually joining the Society. You can use this boon only if your character has a Reputation Tier of 3 with the Wayfinders faction or a Reputation Tier of 4 with other factions.

Particularly this sentence:
Quote:
You can use this boon only if your character has a Reputation Tier of 3 with the Wayfinders faction or a Reputation Tier of 4 with other factions.

1. Does this mean you can only receive this boon if your character meets those requirements or can only use this boon once your character reaches one of those Reputation Tiers?

2. Does "Reputation Tier of 4 with other factions" mean all-factions Reputation Tier 4 (sum of reputation) or reaching Reputation Tier 4 with an individual faction other than Wayfinders?

Yes, I know the first one is being pedantic. You haven't met all of my players.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

38 people marked this as a favorite.

Since the first previews of Starfinder Society I've been obsessed with the concept of "slotting" boons. When the Roleplaying Guild Guide was released I went to work making a physical product that would track what boons I had available and which would physically slot which boons I was using for a particular scenario. I've been using it for a few months and it makes things so much easier to understand. Now that the Starfinder Society logos are a part of the Community Use Package, I can release the files for anyone else who wants to make their own!

The front has areas for tracking reputation with every faction, infamy, and fame, as well as cutouts to display the six boons you have slotted for a given scenario (and two Slotless if you need reminders). The back has the basic rules of fame and reputation, descriptions of commonly used slotless boons - such as Basic Purchases - and room for you to make note of every boon you buy or otherwise gain in the course of play.

The files for the Tracker and the Boon Cards to go with it can be found here in both ANSI A and ISO A4 sizes. I welcome any feedback.

Manifold Host

So, if I understand this correctly you cannot upgrade an Augmentation by paying the difference between the two models. If I have Dermal Plating MK2 and want to change to Mk3, I can’t spend 11,025 credits (the difference in the prices), I have to spend the full 17,975 for Mk3 and the Mk2 gets taken out (not reusable) in the process. Ditto for upgrading a Wyrmling Dragon Gland to a Standard Dragon Gland.

The only exception is a Personal Upgrade, which specifically says you can boost it by paying the difference.

Have I got that right?

The Exchange

I am attempting to download the sheets for next weekend's convention (Event #155,720), but the link does not appear in my GM/Event Coordinator tab. Literally no link and no option to download.

I tried the workaround of creating a "dummy" session and reporting it but there was no change.

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

Season 8 and 9 PFS Specials, Season 1 Starfinder Special!

This year's convention schedule meant we weren't able to offer these specials right as Season 9 kicked off, but we're bringing them to you in blazing style! We're going to offer every special in one weekend, October 27th through 29th, at the Lone Star Game Expo at the Grapevine Convention center.

If you want to attend as a player, head over to lonestargameexpo.com. Registration is open and is only $40 for the whole weekend, $35 with the early-bird special. If you want to attend as a GM, we have got a great deal for you:

  • Free admission if you GM two slots.
  • Food vouchers for every slot you GM. GM's shouldn't go hungry!
  • GM-only boon
  • Bonus chances at rewards - the more you GM the better your odds.

If you want to help out as a GM send an e-mail to dfwpfskevin@gmail.com with your name, paizo.com e-mail address, paizo.com forum Username, and the slots you area available. We need people for the Adventure Card Guild all weekend and GMs for the following slots:

Friday afternoon (Evergreens)
Friday evening (Evergreens)
Saturday morning (Evergreens)
Saturday afternoon (Starfinder Special 1-00)
Saturday evening (PFS Special 9-00)
Sunday morning (Evergreens)
Sunday afternoon (PFS Special 8-99)

The Exchange 4/5 5/5

Couldn't find any mention of it in the guide. It makes a difference for a few things. Off the top of my head:

- Faction boons that you only get if you have a Champion boon for that faction slotted.
- Acquisitives Social boon (Known Quantity) that increases your Day Job income.

The Exchange

4 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

In the first printing of Ultimate Magic taking a Vow of Silence gained 1 ki/6 levels.
In the second printing of Ultimate Magic taking a Vow of Silence gained 1 ki/level.

However - the PRD (which contains all the other changes) still lists it as 1 ki/6 levels. Also, the errata document for changes from first printing to second printing does not have the Vow of Silence listed as a change to be made.

So, which is correct?

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