Deussu's page

A discussion rose on a local messageboard, mainly regarding items, encumbrance, and clothing. This got me thinking about how much things are hand-waved by GMs and players alike.

The question is "How strict are you?". Essentially in organized play everyone should be playing by the same rules, yet there are multiple rules that are either forgotten, neglected, or downright ignored. While I understand why encumbrance in particular has been hand-waved, it shouldn't, as some players do take it into account, and might use actions to remove their backpacks just to get to light load. How often have you seen someone remove their backpacks before a battle ensues?

Clothing is another issue. In D&D 3.5 starting clothes were free and didn't weigh a thing. In PFRPG, however, the clothes do weigh. This could be of great importance to characters with very low strength. The whole clothing issue has been revisited numerous times, and often I see questions regarding it on the Rules section, yet never there's a definite answer. Thus we must go by what we're given; starting clothes are free, but they have weight.

As a GM I do check characters' stats, equipment, and all that. Despite this I've often forgot to check if clothes are present. I wish to ask other GMs have they paid attention to this at all, or just hand-waved it?

Lastly I come to the issue of items altogether. Do characters carry tents, bedrolls, blankets, trail rations etc? If the journey consists of a week's travel, is the whole ordeal of eating and sleeping hand-waved? If a character doesn't possess any food, water, or sleeping equipment, shouldn't he/she receive hefty penalties for malnutrition and such? Or is it just hand-waved?

I ponder this as some players do take all this into account and struggle with heavy equipment and use actions to lower a backpack and all that. Is it fair to them for other players just roam Golarion with nothing more than an armor, weapon, and a bunch of magic items?

How strict are you in following these less used rules? Would you, as a GM, enforce these and apply appropriate circumstance penalties and bonuses? I know item weights can be the most boring aspects of the character sheet, but they are still there. And rarely do you have to calculate them more than once, at character creation.

I bumped into the following problem:

Shapeshifter opts out Favored Terrain for shapeshifting, and Guide has an ability called Terrain Bond, which would use Favored terrains. A shapeshifter doesn't have such.

Does this mean Guide's Terrain Bond is a completely useless ability unless the character gains the Favored Terrain ability from some other class?

I figured I should verify this, although I believe it to be an old finding.

You take the inquisitor's infiltrator archetype's Guileful Lore and mix it with Heresy Inquisition's Righteous Infiltration and you get double wisdom modifier to bluff. Good or not?

A lengthy discussion has resulted in some quite good ideas regarding the reporting tool.

Currently playing PFS online can be tiresome with all the print out a chronicle sheet -> fill spots -> scan -> send routine. It could be managed digitally otherwise, but the need of a signature often forces one to use paper. I, for one, don't own a printer and often need to print out everything at work. Not the most ideal solution.

A local player owns a tablet and often prefers to run the games using it and no paper at all. So if the reporting tool would include a 'virtual' chronicle sheet where the GM could fill in the rewarded wealth and other prestige and then send it to the players in question after the reporting is concluded, some people would be really happy. This would also be very good for those who play a lot online. Also since the GM would use the reporting tool with his own account it'd easily count as a valid signature.

Even if this proposition would encounter difficulties, I hope Paizo gives it consideration. Paizo is quite handy with PDFs anyway, so I don't think it'd be a technical impossibility.

Last night we needed to take Kyra the 7th-level cleric to take one spot. I assumed the character was built correctly but now, afterwards, I noticed serious errors.

One is her channel positive energy. It states 6d6 yet I can't fathom what ability gives her and extra +2d6. Improved Channel gives +2 to the DC, nothing more.

Also I think the pregens shouldn't be carrying around any expendable items. It's way too easy for the group to just expend her items for nearly anything. Then again I'm going to avoid using pregens whenever possible, seems like too much abuse.

I haven't taken a look at the other pregens, but if you find something about them, this might be the appropriate place to say them.

When I first laid my eyes upon my first chronicle sheet back in Season 0, I was a tad disappointed with how it looked. It has remained unchanged, and I don't mind that. Still, I've got time in my hands so I wondered if it'd be possible to create customized chronicle sheets.

I admit I 'nostalgize' Living Greyhawk and how every adventure record featured the coat of arms, signia, or seal of the country the adventure was located. Having this small image would distinguish the sheet from others, maybe make it more memorable.

Another thing I was thinking about was inserting a short paragraph, an epilogue or a summary of what the character went through. This way it's easier for all those memories to flood in as you browse through your old chronicle sheets.

Presently the chronicle sheet holds a lot of empty white space, primarily because all the acquired equipment from the scenario reserves a lot of space. So far I've seen very little of this space used, maybe two items per tier in average. Neat graphical thingies would liven it up, and I see nothing bad about that.

Ideas or thoughts? Anyhow, would creating a customized chronicle sheet be against the rules somehow? It would still hold all the same information as a regular CS, but the layout would be more ... exquisite.

As the title says, the session track sheets which you can download from you GM/Event coordinator page lack all the new factions.

Same as for part II, I figured this requires its own thread. As before, this thread contains spoilers all the way regardless of spoiler tags.

First up is a minor question regarding Nester Rees. In the initial description he's said to be an expert of level 5, yet the stat block says 3. I assume it' the latter; after all, it's much more work to fix an entire statblock than replace one numeral.

Also the travel times seem to confuse me a little. From Absalom to A (centaur encounter) it takes only 3 hours, while the next leg takes one day. Assuming the party leaves in the morning they'd have 5 hours of traveling left. It totals to 3.75 miles travelled (or just 4 miles to make it simple). Regardless, this would force to create a whole new travel time table.

Anyway, this isn't a real problem, it might just confuse other GMs as well. According to my calculations if the PCs leave in the morning they arrive at the frozen wagon after about 3 hours of travel on the fourth day. Of course the solution is to move the frozen wagon forwards, which I will.

Oh, and the centaurs are described to be a bit lame. I know people on these boards keep telling it makes new players leave tables and never come back if their characters die and yadda yadda, but if the PCs are really foolish enough to attack the centaurs, I won't have any qualms using the centaurs to teach the PCs a lesson.

I don't know why there's a map for B. If someone spots the krenshar, it runs off. The map is a waste of ink. As an encounter though, it's nice. This is probably done to spot who in the table are the true metagamers.

Then comes E, the Hero's shrine ... I don't like this encounter as it's written. It's easily identifiable as a shrine to a great person, and thus taking money from the shrine should be punished permanently (as a curse, so remove curse or some would remove the affliction). Similarly just putting a coin and gaining the favor should be in place of the money gained; presently this encounter rewards characters who are good, and punishes those who are evil. While in a moral way this is right, I won't impose penalties on characters who have been roleplayed accordingly. Again, this is a really stupid encounter.

Encounter G, the Bog Mother. Are the PCs supposed to just slaughter or attack the kobold? Is the kobold supposed to attack the PCs just because? I could imagine the kobold demanding the PCs to take another route (a few hours extra traveling) and beginning as unfriendly. That way this can be converted into a roleplaying encounter rather than a typical "lunatic monster attacks PCs for no good reason at all". I've seen that happen way too often.

The Grindylow's Goblet fight is intriguing. I'm assuming Ulionestia drop the glass (free action), and readies an action (pyrotechnics, standard action) which will happen once Shoalo and Ahrmisa get the artifact from the table and turn away from the blast (effectively closing their eyes). On Shoalo's and Ahrmisa's next turns either of them runs to the door and opens it, allowing the other to run outside. A very elaborate plan that requires the PCs some good saves and quick thinking. This holds a real possibility of failure (on PCs part), and that's good. A victory tastes dull if you get too used to it.

I'm hoping to run this adventure next week.

I figured this scenario deserves its own channel of conversation. Since I already put a spoilers tag in the title, I assume people understand most of the content here to include information that could spoil a player.

I'm going to run this scenario tomorrow so if anyone has some insight and advice on certain parts, feel free to express yourselves.

Right, so I read through the scenario and two things caught my eye. In Room 3 the giant amoeba is small size, and the grab ability doesn't have any special rulings to it, meaning the creature can only grab creatures of small size or smaller. I was just wondering if this was intentional by the scenario writer.

In Room 5 you'll encounter this pathetic skeleton. Sure, the scenario states the GM is allowed to skip some encounters if necessary. One lousy skeleton against a party of possibly 6 (plus animal companions) is a laugh. Since this scenario claims to be a more 'classical' dungeon crawl, it should house more challenging encounters that'd force the characters to rest at certain intervals. As I read the scenario through, they are all doable in a day's time, even by an average party.

The same rant applies to the encounter in room 7. Three fire beetles, each having 4 hp? Oh please. Then again you can just close the door... and do stupid tactics with open door, throw acid flask, close door.

Now, the room 9 is what I'm talking about. Blinded for 1 hour? It creates tension once a character botches the roll. It forces the characters to take a rest and wait it to wear off.

Room 11... one giant spider. Might put up a small fight, but I doubt it'll last any longer than two rounds.

I also get the feeling Fledzer gets away really quick. With his stealth checks his extremely hard to spot, and escaping on round 2 with all his abilities the characters can't track him even in their wildest dreams. Then again, the jade katana is not necessary to receive both prestige points; and it's good if the characters fail once in a while.

I'll give a more detailed report about how things actually went on.

The Ki mystic is terribly badly written. It's simply just full of questions. I tried searching with Google and Paizo boards to find answers to these questions, but couldn't find any.

1) Does Ki Mystic ability replace Ki Pool ability? Doesn't say so.
2) Do the pools stack then? RAW yes, but seems bogus.
2.1) If they stack, can I use ki points from either pool to use any ki ability?
3) When I gain the ki mystic pool at 3rd level, can I use it to other means than +4 to knowledge rolls?
4) Can I take the Extra Ki feat at 3rd level even though I don't namely have the Ki Pool ability?
5) Possibly a lot more questions?

I look for answers that are RAW or clear the intention. I play PFS primarily so a house rule is out of the question.

My opinions and interpretations of the answers:

1) Practically yes.
2) No. Ki Mystic practically gives +2 ki points from level 4 onwards.
3) Mmmmaybe? I really don't know.
4) Yes. This is just a stupid oversight regarding requirements.

Didn't know where else to put this...

So, I've reactivated myself and I'm faced with a question:

Since I didn't receive GM rewards retroactively from the scenarios I ran when the GM rewards program started, can I then run those modules again to gain this the reward?

At the end of July Ropecon will be held in Finland. Ropecon is a gaming convention held in Espoo, Finland. Games held in Ropecon span from Warhammer to Magic: The Gathering to all kinds of tabletop role-playing games.

And Pathfinder Society will be represented there as well. I personally will run 4 sessions, but there might be more GMs to hold more sessions.

Event description and all that stuff is available here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/events/v5748mkg09z78

And as a side note, Erik Mona is gonna be there!

Hi all,

After starting a scenario-like campaign and designing my character, I came across poisons and got frustrated with their high prices. Since they are only one-shot items with low chances of success, I can't help but wonder why the prices have been set up so high?

Sure, buying these poisons isn't a regular deal and must be smuggled, but that's not the issue here. You could still create poisons but due to their given market price they are far from being realistic.

For instance the Small Centipede Poison is extremely mild, and extremely weak as well. A maximum of 4 dexterity damage can be achieved only if the target somehow manages to fail a Fortitude save DC 11 four times in a row.

Simply: the poisons in Pathfinder RPG work better, but their effectiveness wasn't considered when pricing them. I'm trying to device a formula based on the poison's type, DC, Frequency, Effect, and the required number of cures. Any advice or idea is appreciated!

Thanks!

Where are they? It's already 26th of September and we haven't even seen the sneak peeks.

I've been forming up a concept of a fighter not concentrating on dealing damage, but doing all kinds of tricks and combat maneuvers. Then I come across the feat Combat Expertise. I blink for a moment. Turning a few pages I come across Dodge. I begin to wonder the feats' balance.

Dodge is obviously superior to Combat Expertise, and by a lot.

• Dodge doesn't require any actions to be taken. This is crucial to characters whose main point is not to attack every round. For example wizards and other spellcasters can't even consider taking Combat Expertise.
  
• Second, dodge doesn't give any kind of penalty for using it. While a -1 to attacks is merely a nuisance, it's still a nuisance and has a great impact on lower levels.
  
• Combat Expertise's only advantage is its slowly progressing AC bonus (and attack penalty). One could argue if it's worth it anyways. Dodge just is there, and it gives the bonus regardless of anything. A character with BAB +16 would still inherit a penalty of -4 to all attacks and a small bonus of +4 AC.

Both are dodge bonuses, so they go away if the character is denied his/her Dexterity bonus.

Both feats are requirements for other feats in the same chain. They are equal in that matter.

All in all, I simply hate Combat Expertise. It's a prerequisite for a CMB fighter, and a fighter just doesn't want to use Combat Expertise since it hinders all the combat maneuvers as well. Truly a waste.

A discovery was made regarding the powers of cleric domains, sorcerer bloodlines, and wizard schools.

Nearly all of the powers requiring a touch are Spell-like abilities. Now, as per the rules they provoke attacks of opportunity whenever they are used. So if a cleric with the Death domain attempts to perform a Bleeding Touch on an enemy, she must either succeed in a Concentration check (DC 15) or provoke an attack of opportunity (assuming she is threatened by the enemy). Considering that this particular power (Death domain's Bleeding Touch) is clearly meant to be used against enemies, it strikes me as utterly stupid to have them backfire like this.

Furthermore I checked what the domain powers are in the 3.5 domains. They are supernatural abilities. I guess it'd be because then they don't provoke attacks of opportunity. For example the Death domain'd Death touch is a supernatural ability. And it has something to do with touching.

Am I just becoming insane, or does Pathfinder RPG show yet another ludicrous oversight?

Now here's a problem.

Say you're a new DM and you've agreed to run a scenario with the lowest tier of 7-8. You've been told you get a GM reward out of it. But then you realise you cannot give the GM reward xp to any of your characters since you don't have any characters except for a 1st level dude.

I'd find it very unfair to not give this GM the reward until he'd have some 7th level character, so how should one act in this situation?

I already formulated a solution for this, although this would require all kinds of rewriting and such. Those might be reason why this wouldn't ever come to reality, which is a shame.

Anyway, the idea I had was to give the GM's character all the normal goodies (1 xp, 1 PA etc.), but instead of 1/2 of the gold given in the scenario on the appropriate tier (which might not exist for the character), give the character 250 gp per level. You're not convinced? I even made awesome excel table calculations to check it's as par as it could be.

Of course I have to go by the information I can have, mainly Season 0 scenarios and their average wealth income, and the wealth conversion table presented in the guide.

Also regarding scenarios like Lyrics of Extinction:
On tier 6-7 it gives 2927 gp (I doubt this is a spoiler?). Half of that is 1463 gp. If the GM reward would be given to a 6th level character with the alternative method, it'd be 1500 gp. Not too far off, and it'd still follow the "half the money" idea. The main benefit would be: a) Simplicity, and b) compatibility. You could give the GM reward of a Tier 7 minimum scenario to a 1st level character.

"I so wish DarkWhite could have written this instead of me. He's better at articulating!"

I'm about to run this scenario on 30th August, and I have some things unclear.

1a) The ghosts' frightful moan DC isn't listed anywhere. I'm guessing it's DC 16 (10 + ½ HD + Charisma modifier + Ability Focus).

1b) Also, who came up with the idea of giving barbarian levels to an incorporeal ghost?

2) The lock box lists an Open Lock DC. Knowing that practically no other than rogues take Disable Device ranks (the skill that now incorporates Open Lock), how is the team supposed to open it? Sure, a sor/wiz could cast a Knock spell (if he/she had one), but I doubt anyone memorized one. Anyway, can the lock box be taken with them back to Kibwe and opened there? Alternatively, can they use the more common method "Mash it to bits"? I can't see why not.

Oh wait, the scenario says "If the PCs claim the lock box, reward each tier thusly..." Yeah they probably claim it, but don't open it. :)

3) Is there a way up the hole in Act 4 (Beetle encounter)? It seems odd to have 3 big critters in a cramped space trapped there, especially since the PCs can just, you know, shoot down the hole and kill those with ease. Any idea how to make this encounter, hmm, more interesting?

4) In Act 5 the Andoran faction needs a DC 25 Diplomacy check in order to shift them from unfriendly to friendly. That's VERY hard indeed!

5) The map in Act 6 could have used markers to all those altars. I have no idea where altars 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 should be. Do they form some sort of a half-circle? Or are the eight southernmost pillars (as in the map) supposed to be the altars?

6) Which effect does the Bestow Curse trap give? I have three options, but I wish to know if it should be stated there beforehand.

7) Intriguingly the PFRPG version of Summon Monster doesn't list Howler anywhere. Am I to assume Tyruwat is still able to summon a Howler despite? Also why don't the tactics say he should be casting Dominate Person in order to win the day? The Tier 10-11 tactics are just plain stupid. Wand of Charm Person? Hahaha! The effective DC of that charm is only 6! I'll just replace that with "use dominate person".

I think that's all. For now.

I was planning on getting a Pathfinder Chronicles subscriptions, but I am also interested in getting most of the previous Pathfinder Chronicles products. As I've understood, I cannot combine these orders for matters I do not understand nor care about, but there's another issue that troubles my mind.

Since I tend to spend many hours in front of a computer, I'm fond of the PDF versions as well. Now, with a subscription I would get the PDFs from the products I get. But even if I would have an ongoing Pathfinder Chronicles subscription going on, buying previous products wouldn't give me the benefit, or am I wrong?

I'm asking this because I hope Paizo isn't ... favoring old customers over new ones. Let's say a new customer hears about Pathfinder RPG's success and browses through some of the free goodies, and approves the quality Paizo produces. Now the customer, in his or her great wealth, applies for Pathfinder Chronicles subscription and in addition orders the rest of the paperback products under the same line of products (Pathfinder Chronicles).

How are these situations handled? I might have missed some important bits. I couldn't find any exact information, and I've heard negative answers from other people I've asked from.

This question is directed to the following people (so far):

Matthieu Dayon
Craig Campbell
Benjamin Wenham
Greg A. Vaughan

Although I understood Greg's work was meant to be released later, but in the absence of suitable scenario proposals for #20 it was chosen instead.

The important bits I would like to see is the overall composition of the proposal.

I really have nothing to complaing about it. Or, well, the map intended to the players has the encounters in it, and the scenario expects the pathfinders to go loot every thug that comes across.

Other than that, this scenario was pure gold. I was playing (fortunately), and heard words of praised aimed at the scenario. Confident players declared 'To Scale the Dragon' as the best PFS scenario so far.

Good job, Hitchcock.

I ran this yesterday (Sunday), and I have to say this did not deliver the much needed confidence in PFS scenarios.

The base idea of the scenario is alright. It's good all the way to the valley, and that's where things start going wrong. I like how Puli and Rafmeln are handled, but they get too little screen time.

The main problems with Asmodeus Mirage are the combat encounters. Even the players said they are utterly random with very little consistency. First Ankhegs, which are actually creatures with 'environment: warm plains'. If a similar stunt would have been pulled in an Open Call, it would have been noted as an error. After all, the encounter happens on a desert terrain.

But it's not just some minor things like that. I pulled a mixed Tier 3-4 & 6-7 with the group since the encounters were so bizarrely imbalanced each time. On Tier 1-2 (EL 2) the last combat with a giant ant soldier is ridiculously easy regardless of the rather neat damage output. With 11 hit points it just isn't going to last long, maybe one or two attacks. Thus, an encounter lasting less than a round. On tier 3-4 (EL 5) the same thing applies. A giant constrictor snake cripples itself by grappling, further decreasing its AC.

But on Tier 6-7 the tide suddenly changes. From ELs 2 and 5 we hop onto 9. A bone devil. Even on tier 6-7 this encounter could prove deadly, thanks to the bone devil's multiple protections (SR, DR, high AC). Since I was sure the team of five pathfinders (APL 4½) couldn't beat it, I put the Tier 3-4 monster in front of them which proved to be a breeze.

Act 1, by the way, to me seems too much of a repetition. This same thing was used in another scenario, and it works poorly here. It all seems so random, why skeletons? What are they? Why are they here? What's with the maelstorm? So many questions to ask.

Krasus was a really bad idea. Just because he's mad isn't good enough a reason to make him attack the PCs. Really, think about it. And the whole combat is poorly executed. On tier 3-4 there are two imps and a meager lemure. On tier 6-7 there are 7 imps and a bearded devil. I chose the latter and the encounter proved to be an annoyingly slow and frustrating. Seven monsters with high AC, fast healing, and poison attacks are a pain in the !"# to a DM. I finally gave up the fast healing and poison just to get on with it. Never ever put that much useless, complicated yet very unthreatening fodder in the way. Also the DR was very annoying. I tell the future DMs to just scrap the annoying fodder, and just have Krasus and two Bearded Devils.

The gnoll village makes things feel odd. Verthig there has no past to speak of, and initially feels like an Andoran faction quest MacGuffin. I had to make an explanation from thin air. Also I had trouble to determine what the elders know and what they don't. Do they know of the flower? How about the dragon? Have they been venturing at all?

The players luckily managed to skip Act 3 altogether, which itself is a ridiculous encounter as well. As I did not run it though, I won't say much else about.

Final verdict: Asmodeus Mirage was alright, but bordering sub-par. Too much scripted encounters with poor reasons. Players got really frustrated and were rolling initiative even before they asked since they just knew they couldn't *talk* their way through. After all the team consisted of four cheliaxians and one osirion, so the Cleric of Asmodeus felt betrayed. Please include options to avoid these mandatory combats!

Aye, I have some questions directed to the top of the ladder. I'm asking how do the editors view *modified* creatures? Namely monsters whose hit dice have been increased to provide a fair match.

Though I'm also asking if custom made monsters are a definite "No"? I know they are a risky business, but past has shown they are possible.

I'm seeing a huge number of different threads for rejected PFS scenario proposals and discussion about others and congratulatory threads. These somewhat interfere with those discussing rules and whatnot. So I simply suggest creating a new section for these types of speculation and reviewing. Might be good.

I'm confused with all the magic item slots. I see the PFRPG beta gives multiple similar slots, like Necklace and neck, belt and waist.

So, what are the appropriate slots?

A scattergun has a capacity of 2, yet the reloading part says "1 move action per shot". Does this mean you have to use a move action between every attack or after all the bullets have been shot? The latter would make more sense.

Thanks.

Right, this thing is siding a bit with the Campaign Setting, Pathfinder Society, and other things.

a) As I've understood, all equipment from the Campaign Setting can be used in Pathfinder Society. So I presume this includes firearms, and the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) feat. Am I correct?

b) Reading from the Alkenstar entry it says masterwork weapons are not produced in masses, but they exist. I believe there's no special restriction?

c) A scattergun has a capacity of 2, yet the reloading part says "1 move action per shot". Does this mean you have to use a move action between every attack or after all the bullets have been shot? The latter would make more sense.

d) With all these things in mind, I thought of making a back-up character designed to be an Alkenstar patriot, who traveled to Absalom with his father (a skillful gunsmith), and waves the flag of Taldor as they can respect arts better than others (teehee). After gathering enough gold he'd buy/get a masterwork scattergun from his father. So ... possible?

Right, I ran this one to the local group today (Sunday) and we had a blast. Some things were a bit odd though. In chronological order.

ACT 1. - I had to completely improvise the Lady Dacilane part with her skull brooch. There are no indications on how to get it. I made it so the Chelish people had to visit Dacilane after the mission and have a successful DC 15 Sleight of Hand check (I allowed untrained, though the bard had ranks and rolled 21.)

ACT 2. - This was pretty straight-forward, well-written and fun, nothing very hazy. Atmospheric, definitely my favorite part of the scenario. I'd still like to see more details about the students in the classroom, and more explanation on the character of Deris Marlinchen. Destroying the spirits never popped into the minds of the characters, so this encounter is very easily avoided.

In the end though, the PCs chose to get him some help, even if forced to. They wrestled him to unconsciousness and dragged him to the nearest mental asylum, I presume.

ACT 3. - Also a good part of the scenario, and pretty clear. The monster in the pool is a bit too obvious though, but whatcha gonna do?

ACT 4. - Fortunately this encounter was made sensible by removing the allip and including a bugbear zombie. Although one of the players immediately questioned its presence in the necropolis, I replied "There may have been other routes to the necropolis. Furthermore, considering the magic looming in the necropolis, even a century-old zombie would remain rotten instead of becoming a skeleton." Also, the ring of feather falling is deviously put to a very hard location, as no one ever thought the water would wash up such a treasure. Instead, I made the zombie wear it.

I might have modified the encounter a bit. When they arrive to the room, their attention is caught by Grishan Maldris. It gives a good time for the zombie to attack the PCs by coming the way they themselves entered. See, I made the zombie stand in the corridor when the water plummeted him down the stairs. Also, I found it a good idea to make the whole dungeon flooded on lower levels.

Oh, and Bugbear zombie is on page 267, not 263.

ACT 5. - Deris takes the stage, nothing else to say. The ghouls are alright, had no problem with them. I am unclear where the Gebbite general is however, since the map doesn't really give room for him. I had the southernmost room reserved for him.

ACT 6. - The tri-tower map thingy is a bastard to draw on a battle map. After all, it's almost irrelevant on Tier 1-2, as there's only one monster to begin with! Also I skipped the wave motion thing, as it was just strenous and would have slowed things down unnecessarily.

Junia part was good. I made them roll the spot for the ring (although they were looking for it), and then a heal check (DC 10) to see she was alive.

Ah, and the mission notes have an error.

"Area 3 is also important to the Osirion faction PCs as this is when Osirian agents will attempt to scry the room using the Osirion faction PCs as a focus."

That'd be Qadiran, not Osirion. ;) Osirion is interested in Kiwu's notes.

After all, this is a very atmospheric and good scenario once you add the spice to it. Certainly a scenario that must be put into the hands of an experienced DM.

The criticism I have about the scenario are the combats; they are too easy. Having a single monster come against the PCs is doomed if they pack 2-3 melee characters. The king ghast died before even getting next to them! A dwarf fighter took a ready action with his guisarme, tripped, slashed, ready action slashed, and then on next turn turned the ghast into dust.

Anyway, 4.5/5. One player commented "Are Tim and Eileen Vampire: The Masquerade LARPers? With all this gothic horror scenery I'd be amazed if not!" Hehe.

A quick question; may a 2nd level character play in a Tier 4-5 adventure? What about a team of 6 2nd levels (APL 3) ?

And what about a team of 4 2nd levels and 2 1st levels (APL 2,67)?

In beta the sorcerer's Destined bloodline power "Touch of destiny" got nerfed to half the caster level instead of full caster level.

This similar change has not been made to cleric's good domain's Touch of good.

Fey bloodline's Laughing touch practically prevents an enemy from doing anything for one round. It could offer a saving throw. Same goes to cleric's charm domain's Dazing touch and repose domain's Gentle Rest.

Noble Blessing, in my opinion, should give the +2 bonus to one of the listed possibilities instead of all attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws.

Wooden fists doesn't grant improved unarmed strike, thus making the character to take a completely useless feat. I'd advice for the ability to give the feat and the small bonus of 1/2 CL to damage.

I refrain from commenting more at this point.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to start a thread like this, but I couldn't find any better under design forums.

Many would argue the usefulness of Weapon Focus. Granted, on earlier levels the +1 is proportionally better, but wanes after just a few levels. At level 11 a fighter with moderate power is not dependant on Weapon focus, it's merely the requirement to other feats. To make the feat more appeal better and make it function better at higher levels, I propose a small change.

Instead of giving a static +1 bonus with one weapon, instead give this +1 bonus per attack in a full-attack action. Thus, a character with BAB +6 (2 attacks) would get +2, BAB +11 would get +3, and BAB +16 would get +4.

How'd that sound?

Although I did not run this particular scenario, I've looked it through and checked a part which irked me somewhat. I'm talking the five chests.

As you can see from the chest #2, Box of golden faces, it gives an alternative method to open the chest without a barbarian. This is good.

The third chest, Riddle Vault, is a typical puzzle. It's alright.

Number 4, The Mind Lock, is also passable by any group with a successful disbelief check.

Fifth chest is the holed safe, also the one that interests bards. Despite using the perform skill, it doesn't keep out the PCs since perform can be used untrained.

I now concentrate on the Devil Dial, the first one. This one incorporates Open Lock. Even though the DC gets lower with successful Listen checks, he still needs the Open Lock skill to open it all the way. However, rules deny that characters without ranks in the skill cannot open it, thus making this particularly a "rogue only" box. Yes, I know all classes can take open lock as a cross-class skill, but without trapfinding and other rogueish abilities it'd be stupid to assume so.

You cannot pick locks untrained, but you might successfully force them open.

My point is the Devil Dial requires a particular class/skill and is not solvable by other means. In organized plays one may not assume the party to be balanced. I hope there would be some small errata or modification to the scenario stating the ridiculous Open Lock DC 8 can be done by a character without the ranks. I'm not feeling bad about the minor loss of access or so, but the principle annoys the heck out of me.

My question is simple: Is there a limit on how many war horses or riding dogs and such are allowed to buy and keep with you during an adventure? If there is no limit on this, why not? A 1/character rule used in Living Greyhawk would serve well in Pathfinder Society as well.

Okay, just by *LOOKING* at this feat I can't honestly believe no one has made this discovery. Travel domain's dimensional hop is...

...broken!

10 ft./lvl/day worth of teleporting as a swift action, divided as you choose into 5 ft-increments. What does this mean?

After gaining more levels the cleric is able to bypass many obstacles that would normally require a rogue or something. This ability could have serious impacts on adventures which present you an impenetrable door and such.

Also this cleric on higher levels could hop around with the swift action and make a full-attack. Almost every time if his/her daily usage isn't depleted. Although the cleric's BAB isn't all that great, this is still a major issue. It also gives the cleric is serious advantage with spellcasting.

The last thing is grappling; really, no one will ever grapple this cleric and succeed. No one. Nada. Zippo. Absolutely no-friggin'-one.

I haven't gotten a clear answer to this, so I'm doomed to start a new thread about it.

Are prestige classes allowed in Pathfinder Society Season 0? I've had mixed messages regarding whether the characters should be done only with PHB or with SRD. After all DMG is one of the core books, and I see little reason to deny the use of them...

...especially since the scenarios state their existance (NPCs in great organizations)

I have a few questions and notices regarding the adventure. I've found some minor editing errors, some of which confuse me. I'll put them under a spoiler tag, since they do contain spoilers.

Other than that, this scenario is brutal! Very well written and so, but I'd consider the Tier 1-2 to be way too difficult at certain points.

Looking closer to the faction feats presented in the Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, some of the feats strike my eye as being a lot more powerful than intended, some of them being outright better than the normal feats in PHB.

ANDORAN
Hunter's Eye - Having a double range before getting penalties is actually a very good bonus, and also the Quick Draw for bows is good. Despite being specific, this is really, really good.

CHELIAX
Devil's Mark - Nothing else to say about this except .. Handle Animal? But .. they are all evil outsiders?
Drinker of Souls - Possibly the weakest feat in the lists. Considering that the amount of temporary hit points will always be low and don't stack, the restriction to once per day could easily be stripped off.
Presence of the Pit Fiend - By giving +2 to two skills (especially diplomacy!), it's already better than the skill feats in PHB. Furthermore, should the demoralization be able to stack with itself? At the moment it's possible to make a foe cower. Anyways, I'd drop the +2 to diplomacy part.

QADIRA
Desert Shadow - No penalty to Move Silently when moving full speed?! Are you out of your mind? It should at least have a restriction, such as "when wearing no armor" or something.
Eastern Mysteries - I'm puzzled by this. It gives an universal Spell Focus with a slight drawback, and gives half a Combat Casting in addition to the last small thing. It gives a lot. A lot! A must for almost any wizard, I think.

I have nothing more to say about the others. Or, well, not for now.

I'm merely asking people for role-playing advice. If one would consider playing a loyal Chelish* paladin, how should he/she act?

I could consider a Chelish Paladin to be closer to a, uh, "Blood Knight" or "Blackguard" roleplay-wise, serving under the 'good' of Chelish rule. Different morals, I think.

What say you?

A friend of mine brought up one point about clerics that will hurt backwards compatibility quite a lot. You hear that? Hurt - backwards - compatibility.

What should be done with domains outside SRD? Simply ditching them feels like a waste, and some wouldn't agree about it. If there's a solution made to this somewhere, please let me know too.

Diviner’s Fortune (Su): You can touch a creature as a standard action, giving it an enhancement bonus to a single attack roll, skill check, ability check, or saving throw equal to your caster level. This bonus lasts 3 rounds or until used. Once a creature has benefitted from diviner’s fortune, it gains no further benefit from this ability for 1 day.

First, this ability is a carbon copy of the sorcerer's Destiny bloodline's Touch of Destiny power. However, where as Touch of Destiny was revised to have half the caster level, Diviner's Fortune was not. This is obviously a mere error that wasn't acknowledged before.

We've all seen movies where the large iron doors are pounded multiple times by a powerful friend/foe before it is torn away. However in current D&D/PRPG the door is either untouched (or looks like it) or is there no longer.

My proposed idea is the following:

"To break down a door you need to make a Strength check against the door's DC (see chart for the suitable DC.) If the check is successful, the door is bashed open.
If the check fails by 4 or less, the door is slightly weakened, and the effects of attempts of bashing are obvious. The DC of the door's break DC is permanently decreased by 2."

Comments are welcome.

Right, I ran a short 4 hour playest on Thursday. Despite feeling like the players completely ruined the session with "foolery", we managed to get a list of some things to discuss.

- Power Attack. According to the rules text this applies to light weapons. This way it improves dual-wielders' capability. Good thing.

- Ranged cover rules are way too cumbersome and complex. No one in the gaming table agreed on them, instantly stating them as stupid and a definite disimprovement.

- Search included in Perception. Players liked it.

- Forgery should be included to Craft, as Alchemy was included to craft.

- Devastating Blow... this needs playtesting, and a lot of it. Easily abused with scythe or pick.

- Destiny bloodline'd sorcerer's special power (mini-true strike per ally per day) was deemed too powerful. 1/2 class levels, and it'd be okay.

- Cantrips and orisons ... they should be limited, to maybe 3+int/wis/cha modifier, just to avoid the constant abuse of, well, anything. I don't say they are powerful, but they can make the game feel ridiculous.

- One player wished the fighter more abilities and slight increases to i.e. initiative and perception, and also making perception a class skill.

- Giving a +5 bonus to grapple isn't very welcome.

More results when I've processed them, hehe.

A thought that came to my mind. Since it's more likely to throw a rock a bit over to short from the target, I'd propose using d10 as a scatter die instead of d8.

The difference would be merely to make number 1-2 would result "over target", 6-7 would result "too short".