Chris Wasson's page

So I have been wanting to run Pathfinder for my normal game group for a long time but never had the opportunity. When I finally had a chance to run, the group had dwindled in size slightly, so I decided to send out some invites for my game. My first session is tomorrow and I just found out today that my party has grown to 5 regular players with 2 players who will come and go when they can.

So I am asking for some ideas on how to challenge the party in combat, they are all experienced players so i'm not worried about being too harsh on them but I also don't want anyone to be bored. Should I just increase the amount of monsters per encounter? Should I make a "leader" type in each encounter to up the CR of the fight? Should I just let the party run over everything?

Right now i'm leaning toward just increasing the amount of monsters per encounter but i'm open to ideas

Rather than base all this information off of specific area demographics how about at the big cons? I feel like at GenCon I saw more cheese builds than generic role specific stuff, hardly any full wizards or clerics.

At big cons I think people would be more tempted to run their most powerful death roller machine instead of a backup support character.

Yes

Unless it is a Boon you immediately get from playing the scenario on your chronicle sheet, you basically turn every single thing you pick up over to the society for documentation/decontamination/identification...etc. Even the mundane items

Almost all of my characters have a specific miniature I painted or had painted for them

All three of these are direct representations of how I invision my latest pathfinders, done by Blue Table Painting!

So what happens when you cast dispel magic on a creature that was summoned via a spell cast during that combat (So obviously you know it's a summoned creature and not something the BBEG found somewhere)

Is it possible to dispel summoned creatures?

Also what effect would the barbarian rage power Spell Sunder have on a summoned creature? The way the power is described looks like it may have no affect unless you beat the CMD by more than 10. Would suppressing the summon spell only for 1 or 2 rounds temporarily deal with the creature or would it be immediately destroyed because the summon was suppressed?

What's the earliest we could arrive at the Hawthorn to hang out on friday? Specifically to hang out with my fellow pathfinders

I think melee characters are pretty rare. Also i'm not sure it's a traditional role but Stealth characters are very VERY rare...as in it almost never comes up.

((By stealth I mean scouts))

Great!

Thank you for the quick answers Nefreet!

Oh wow, now I know why everyone else always has a massive CMD CMB over me. Also I just found something I am unsure about, I am asking about this specifically because I have a Barbarian who recently picked up Spell Sunder. As it is technically a Sunder combat maneuver I would receive my weapons enchantment bonus to the roll.

Then I found this, from UE page 140 Dispelling

A dispelling weapon functions like a spell storing weapon, but it may only store dispel magic; however, the caster level check to dispel gains an ADDITIONAL bonus equal to the weapon's enhancement bonus. This bonus also applies to a magus's dispelling strike arcana or a barbarians's spell sunder or sunder enchantment combat maneuver check.

Now this enchantment says Additional but I am unsure if it would stack with the enchantment bonus the Spell sunder CMB check would already receive from an enchanted weapon.

Am I thinking to hard about this? or can someone give me some clarification

This is probably a simple question but I myself am unsure to the answer.

What exactly can augment your CMB and CMD? Besides what is already on the character sheet. I have heard Dodge bonuses and Luck bonuses affect CMD but what else? Armor enhancement bonuses? Magic rings/shields? And for CMB I have been told certain spell buffs affect the number (Bless, Bard Song, Good Hope, Haste etc.) but what about the enhancement bonus of your weapon for sunder/trip attempts? And weapon focus for that weapon? And what about Luck/competence bonuses to "Attack rolls", would those affect CMB?

If anyone has a good answer for this (And a location where it's written in the rules) I would be grateful

Ah great thank you! This sheet should be offered as an available download by itself I think.

So I have one of my first pathfinder characters on a character sheet that looks customized for pathfinder SOCIETY. It has the pathfinder society words and logo on the top left and under that it says Character Record Sheet.

I really like this sheet because it also includes a spot for Faction and Character number and Prestige/Fame on the back.

I have noticed when I go to the player resources I can't find a link for this style of character sheet, only the basic pathfinder character sheet.

Anyone have a clue where I got this? (I know it was from paizo because it has the watermark for my account) I just can't find a link

So people are definitely interested in the Adventure Paths, hopefully we can get some online GMs who would be willing to run.

So the current online set up is great for a scenario here and there but what about those big huge awesome looking Adventure Paths?

I'm just wondering if any GMs and players would be interested in forming a dedicated group (Time each week/day/whatever) That people could set a schedule around to do these Adventures.

Excellent!

I will take that last spot, I will send an email soon

On a side note I have multiple characters that could do this adventure, on both ends of the level ranges, and since I'm not sure what the rest of the party is bringing i'm not sure what to bring myself!

(No matter what scenario a party of 4 spellcasters never does well)

Name: Chris Wasson
Character Name: TBA
PFS# 68989-?

@ErrantPursuit

The drinking would be a really good option but potions are so expensive i'm not sure I could reliably do it.

for DR what about the dragon totem resistance rage power? does its DR stack with Invuln rager?

Also what feat are you talking about that adds Con bonus to damage? that would be absolutely fantastic and probably not PFS legal due to Raging Vitality (+6 to con when raging)

Human Barbarian 6

Str 18 (+2)=20
Dex 14
Con 15
Int 7
Wis 9
Cha 7

Level 1: Fast Movement, Rage, Power Attack, Raging Vitality/Tribal Scars/Toughness (Can't Decide)

Level 2: DR1/-, Reckless Abandon
Level 3: Extreme Endurance, Intimidating Prowess/Raging Vitality/Toughness

Level 4: DR2/-, Rage Power: Superstition, +1 CON
Level 5: Extra Rage Power: Strength Surge
Level 6: DR3/-, Cold/or Fire Resist 1, Witch Hunter

So these stats are VERY specialized but that's what barbarians are all about. I could drop STR by 1 point and bring my Int and Wis back up which I may do, or I could drop my idea of a CAGM(Come And Get Me) build and lower my dex

Class Arch types

Invulnerable Rager seems to look like it would work the best, gets rid of some OK features and gives me some DR which I would get ALOT of mileage out of because of how often I will be hit (On a side not DR - means there is no way to bypass?)

Drunken Brute seems pretty interesting, losing out on the movement hurts but gaining rage rounds sounds good (although with a high con I probably won't need them). And I have a question about how the Drink ability works, it says May drink a potion or alcoholic drink as a move action that DOES NOT provoke, does this include retrieving the item from a belt/haversack/dead body/wherever?

Mounted Rager would be fun to make cavaliers cry at the absurd strength of my mount, Plus Rage Trample!

Traits

I think the Auspicious tattoo trait is awesome for a barbarian, I was planning on taking Tribal Scars so they would go well together for a background to the character. Anything that adds a skill would be nice, as PFS has ALOT to do outside of combat even one more class skill could really make sessions more fun. Any trait that adds to CMD/CMB for grapple or sunder would fit the character idea as well.

Feats

So this is where things get hairy, I was thinking of sliding in some fighter levels but as people have pointed out to get more than just feats out of it I would need to take at least 3 (Two handed fighter) or 1 (Unbreakable - gives die hard+endurance) but with the latter I would lose out on the bonus feat

First level Tribal Scars/Toughness/Raging Vitality, all are really good IMO Raging Vitality obviously being the best for raging HP. I am a sponge so I need to be very.....spongy

For third level I can't decide if I want to take the character in a ROLE-play direction or keep ROLL-play going, I think Int Prowess could cover both Role-play and Roll-play later with Corungun Smash

For fifth the extra rage power is nice but I could replace it with another feat without losing much IMO

Skills

Acrobatics, Climb, Knowledge Nature, Perception, Intimidate (Maybe something extra from a trait?)

Rage Powers

Reckless Abandon so that I never have to worry about missing with Power Attack, screw AC at this point

Superstition for Great saves plus some Role-play (I need the Golarion equivalent of Krom for whenever I have to make a saving throw)

Strength Surge if I take it makes Grapple/Sunder much more likely, and keeps dice from embarrassing you when you try to lift that heavy thing

Witch Hunter looks like it will just be free extra damage on most BBEG past level 6, and if they happen to be a non caster humanoid they better have a ton of HP

I was also taking a look at the Beast totem rage tree, free claw attacks, NAC, and Pounce are all cool looking things.

I'm starting to get excited about playing the character, it will be fun either way (Death or Glory!)

Any thoughts on this build so far?

So this weekend I am playing in ALL of the thornkeep modules back to back. So I was thinking of making a new character.

I would like to make either a barbarian or a fighter(type) character, as I already have A wizard and a ninja I would like someone who can take some damage and keep on kicking.

I am having some trouble deciding between the two classes.

If I pick fighter I plan on going Super tank using the Brawler archtype and TWF Shield slams / Spiked Fists. This build would have a high AC but low mobility and very little "special" stuff to do, basically would be get into melee range and attack....and that's it for everything.

I am really not sure what to do at ALL with a barbarian, but I found a really cool mini I want to use and it just screams barbarian. The drawbacks of a barbarian being I would be a very VERY easy to hit sponge, and because of averaged HP I really wouldn't have the HP to fill that role (I think).

I guess i'm really asking if either of these two classes can really survive/shine in PFS. Everyone has gish magic builds but I hardly see straight fighters or barbarians.

Any thoughts?

For rogues and ninjas and anyone else who wants to walk around in stealth (because if you can why not?)

Besides abusing low-light situations, are there more ways to gain concealment or abilities that allow you to jump into or use stealth?

Also Mid combat what are some options for Stealth? I thought about the mistmail but wasn't sure if that would really work, TECHNICALLY you get concealment from the fog, but then if your trying to move around stealthed your a moving fog cloud...

Any input?

I suppose I'll give it a few more levels. But to my specific question not many arcane classes are good at multicasting with OTHER arcane classes?

I was considering a spec dip for crossblood to make blasting worthwhile.
With table variance of PFS you can only summon so many X or buff so many horribly built "fighters" before you just want to fireball something. Or at least do something interesting

Conjur specialist. But for PFS play non damage spells are kind of boring, at least at low levels. So I have been looking at options outside of wizard to make it more interesting to play.

I was looking at different arcane classes for maybe a dip into.

As a wizard or any arcane class is there a benefit besides specific class abilities? How are spells handled if they are from the same list but different classes?

Any input?

I have a question about where I can buy a certain item for miniature modeling.

I love buying and preparing and painting my own miniatures, and making sure I have exactly what I want is key. So I will often remove/replace certain things about the mini such as weapons and the like.

My question, is there a website or place where I could buy "bits" for metal miniatures? I know about reaper. Specifically I am looking for weapons that have magical effects on them, such as lightning arcing off the blade, or fire flowing etc etc.

Many single miniatures have these effects on them but I would hate to buy a whole mini just to chop the sword off for use on a different mini.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks for the responses!

I have an Arcane duelist, and I took Perform Oratory and Dance 1 rank each (In case hearing is an issue) but I guess I don't need more than that unless I want one of the masterpieces, I will have to take a look at those.

I have a new bard character, and it looks like you don't really USE the perform skill itself that often.

The Main Question

Is there a reason to have more than 1 rank in a perform skill for a bard? In terms of PFS do lots of scenarios have situations where perform is actually useful?

Now I know bards normally get versatile performance but I do not because of an archtype. So I have one less reason to take really high perform ranks.

Any input would be appreciated!

I am looking to make a new PFS character that I can spend a lot of time developing and role-playing. I'm generally inclined to make melee characters, I can play spell casters for only so long before I want to hit something with a weapon.

So I thought I would try a Battle Bard set up, I think it could be a pretty viable build. The Bard would give me decent combative ability with lots of utility and a large skill list.

The only problem now is what kind of Bard to make.
On the first go I was thinking.

Half-Orc Bard (Dervish Dancer)/ Dragon Disciple Str Build

The problem I run into is around 6th level, the Dervish gets a new battle dance for a second attack at Full AB I think. Versus Inspire Courage for the bonus to Hit.

Also you lose a lot of the bardic utility with the Archtypes such as Dervish Dancer, or Arcane Duelist. Also when would be a good time to start taking Dragon Disciple levels or perhaps a different prestige class?

Feats would be pretty straight forward for the first few levels. Arcane Strike(If dervish), Power Attack.

From their my lack of Pathfinder knowledge catches up to me about viable/fun feats to take for an effective bard.

Anyone have any thoughts or tips?

Isn't their a quiver you can use wands for?

I have a 3rd level wizard who has played UP in every scenario except 2 since he was created.

He now has just under 7k gold pieces and I don't really know what to spend them on.

I know in the future to get metamagic rods and rings of protection and fancy robes but all of that stuff requires a much higher fame rating

My wizards fame is currently 16

So my question to all you experienced pathfinders is what does a 3rd level wizard even want/need?

I can't make the first part, so I guess I won't sign up for Accursed halls at all. Is it bad form at a Con to do 4/5 of thornkeep??

Ya the reason I ask is because part one is friday night, with part 2 being saturday morning 8 hours later...

For those who have run the adventures, is there a problem for players not playing Accursed Halls part 1, and starting with part 2? (The convention running the events has them split)

More questions

Can animal companions gain templates at higher HD? such as Dire or Giant? Or is level 7 the last time Animal Companions will upgrade?

Also if myself and my Animal Companion both have a teamwork feat does it work? It says in the description if another player has a teamwork feat but I would assume an animal companion with the feat would count also.

Oh ya, the ointment is still amazing. Thank you for letting me know about that. Although Mithril breastplate for a large creature will cost me an arm and a leg (Not including trying to put it on my cat!) with the ointment she would have no penalties wearing it!

Chris Wasson wrote:

Whats the rule if something is not clearly defined in the additional resources? Just say no?

If the question is whether something is legal or not, then the AR is the final word. If it's not stated there as legal (outside the CRB), then it is not legal.

If the question is about any rules (like whether extra traits on an AC is acceptable), then additional resources has nothing there for you. If you can find a source that says it is legal (animal companions with 3+ int are allowed to take any feat they qualify for; additional traits is a feat they qualify for) the the onus would be on the GM to show you something that would make it illegal. "I don't think it should work like that" is not an acceptable answer.

My bonded mount on my paladin was raised by helpful halflings. I paid for my feat and so it went.

This makes some sense actually, I suppose having the same animal companion since birth (or since becoming a druid) it could have its own background story.

Lol should I make 2 character sheets for my companion? one with Add Traits one with a regular feat?

Also on the subject of character sheets for companions, is there a specified PFS one for animals/companions? or should I just use a normal sheet. (Or should I join the masses and get Hero Lab, i'm sure it has something)

But on a number line reducing -4 acp to 0 then increasing it again with ointment would make it a +1 on the line?

Whats the rule if something is not clearly defined in the additional resources? Just say no?

Ah ok thank you

And about the Additional traits feat, is this confirmed acceptable?

so I could pick any two traits (one per chart) from combat, social, faith?

That would be really awesome actually

So there are multiple ways to reduce Armor Check Penalties on armor, the question is do they all stack?

Masterwork armor is -1 ACP

Mithril is -3 ACP

there is a trait for -1 ACP

and the fighter class feature for reducing ACP

Do these all stack together? or do some of them override others?

Just looked, under the APG it says everything is legal, and it doesn't sat that Eye for Talent is NOT legal so I think that it's ok

Animal companions still need to take armor prof to use barding?

Oh excellent, thank you! That will make commanding her much easier. Plus with the higher INT she wouldn't be prone to certain animal behavior would she?

Yet another question about druids! (Why are they so complicated?)

For creating an animal companion and leveling that companion, the basic rules for this are spelled out in the core book. But is there any more options from other sources?

Also the Handle Animal skill, says a creature can know 3 or 6 tricks based on its intelligence score. If my animal companion starts the game with a 4 intelligence (from Human Eye for Talent) would she start with 12 tricks?

Also do animal companions get racial modifiers from the beastiary? Ex..Big cats (tigers) Get racial bonus to acrobatics and stealth checks, does this apply to animal companions?

And last I know animal companions with higher INT can take armor prof feats but is it really worth it?

Well I'll take a look and decide what I want to choose, if I can find appropriate miniatures for dinos and a dino druid I may go saurian.

Also as a human druid being able to use Eye for Talent and give a Dino a higher Int........clever girl......

Could be fun.

Thanks for the input!

So now that my Natural attacks question has been answered, I would like to know how big a difference there is between Lion Shaman and Saurion Shaman.

The Lion shaman has "Lions" as their creature type so they have only a handful of creatures to choose for animal companions and to wild shape into.

Versus the Saurion shaman which has all Dino creatures to turn into, which includes tanks, stealthy types, flyers and swimmers. Also Saurion shamans are in my opinion super duper chedder infused cheese monsters.

I want to make an effective Combat druid without utterly breaking low level combat, is Saurion shaman just too overpowered vs its other animal shaman counter-parts?

Also I have no idea how to build a backstory for someone who loves dinosaurs and turns into a dinosaur while riding a dinosaur and summoning more dinosaurs....

Ahh ok, that makes sense. Thank you both for the answers!

Ok, I guess I just don't understand what counts as a secondary attack. For example Claw Claw Bite are all natural attacks so they do not incur the penalty?

So multi-attack isn't necessary for my animal companion nor for my druid once he uses full Wild Shape?

Or does a tigers pounce rake count as secondary?

So I have a rules question because I can't find where to read about this kind of thing.

I have made a level 1 druid who plans to use many wild shapes during his adventure. I also read about the druid Shaman archtypes that allow you do swap out or delay normal druid abilties for those of the shaman type.

For example a Lion Shaman (APG) at level 2 can select to Totem Transform and give himself the natural attacks of a lion (Bite, 2 Claws).

So the main question of the thread is how do monsters handle multiple natural attacks and how do druids handle them? I am confused because if you look at the stats of a CR 1 Eagle (3 attacks) it seems to have no penalties to use multiple attacks, but if you read the monstrous Multi-Attack feat it says a monster with this feat only has a -2 to secondary attacks not a -5.

Where did this -5 come from and how does it affect druids and wild shape?

(And animal companions I guess)