Entropi's page

Will a Blasphemy spell banish an Eidolon that doesn't make it's save?

When a bad guy in a scenario has, say, a potion of Fly, the scenario assumes that the players loot it after disposing of the bad guy. The potion appears on the cronicle sheet, and it's value is part of the GP reward for the encounter, and thus calculated in in the final GP reward on the chronicle sheet.

But what happens if the Bad Guy drinks the potion before his inevitable encounter with the Lady of Graves? Do I cross it off the chronicle sheet and subtract (1/12) it's value from the GP reward?

And what happens if the players drink it during the scenario?

In the Core Rulebook, it is stated on page 432 Fire spells are subject to specific rules when cast under water, but how about the other elemental spells? All it says is that "Some spells might function differently under water, subject to GM discretion". But are any guidelines presented anywhere? How does electricity function in water? Does acid dilute in water? Does frost freeze it up in solid blocks? I know it says GM discretion, but I'm playing PFSOP, so I have to know how it works in RAW.

How does a Wall of Fire (the spell) effect visibility, and how does it effect ranged attacks through the wall? There is no mention of it in the spell.

My PFS home game starts in 3-4 hours. I expect six players at an average level of 6.5, and I'm gonna run #2-03 - The Rebel's Ransom. I'm pretty sure if I run it at sub-tier 5-6, my players will be bored and unchallenged. If I run it at sub-tier 8-9, I'm afraid it might end up with a TPK. I don't have a tier 3-7 scenario ready, and I can't run a tier 7-11, as some characters are lvl 6. What should I do?

Tomorrow I'm GMing a pfs home game for our regular monday night group. Presently, some in the group are lvl 6, and some are lvl 7. If everybody turns up, and noboy chickens out in the last minute because of sick children/angry wives/broken backs/having to do the groceries, there's gonna be six or seven players at the table.

Now, I could prepare a tier 5-9 scenario, and we would either run it at tier 5-6 if only a few turn up, or we could run it at tier 8-9 if a lot can make it. Both options are less than optimal. Tier 5-6 is gonna be a boring walkover even with only four or five players at lvl 6-7. Tier 8-9 might be okay for a large group of lvl 6-7 PCs, but it might also be overwhelming, and the rewards are too large for their lvls.

What I would prefer to do, and what I had planned to do, was to run a tier 7-11 scenario, #2-12, at tier 7-8. Knowing my group, this is the perfect chalenge level, and they would have a blast. Sadly, as I was preparing for tomorrow night, it was put to my attention that it isn't legal for a lvl 6 character to participate in a tier 7-11 scenario, and the players would have to use pregens. It IS legal, however, for lvl 6 characters to participate in a tier 8-9 running of a tier 5-9 scenario, and that just doesn't make sense to me.

Is there a really good reason for the way the rules are now on this subject, or could we possibly look at changing them a bit?

Reading through this seemingly awesome scenarios, I have a few questions that others can answer for me (more will probably follow before play on monday). I'd also like to hear other GMs' experiences with running this one.

The Tarnspawn are listed as "Manimal eel", with a reference to a book called "Advanced Bestiary". What is this book?

The town of Stom's Claim has it's own stat block, but I don't know how to interpret the stats (like Crime -2, Law -8, Society +2 etc). I have a suspicion that the rules for town stats are in the Kingmaker AP, but I'm hoping to be a player in that AP, so I don't want to read it. Are the rules for town stats found anywhere else?

What minis did you guys use for the Tarnspawn?

Any good ideas for mood music?

Thanks.

I really like the concept of the moldspeaker, but I think the campaign as written doesn't really utilize the full potential of it. So, I'd really like to hear stories from other GMs who played this campaign. How did you play out the Moldspeaker and Vardishal's lingering spirit? Did you expand upon the written material, let Vardishal meld into the personality of the PC, let NPCs recognize him, let the player see glimses of unknown memories, play Vardishal out as a malignant possessor, relate it to the Demon Prince of Molds, or any other bright ideas?

It is specifically stated that the limit on the Eidolons attacks per round is specifically for natural attacks, and not for weapons. Can, say, an Eidolon with ten arms (possible around lvl 4-5) and ten weapons and the Multiweapon Fighting feat from the Bestiary then get 10 attacks per round?

So. During the APG playtest, I played a Summoner up to lvl 3. When the APG was released, the rules for the Summoner changed, so that my character build was no longer viable. I was supposed to rebuild my character with the APG rules before playing him again, but somehow he ended up on the shelf, as other characters pushed him aside, and he hasn't seen play since the summer of 2010.

Now, I'm about to dust him off again, an so I have to rebuild him. My question is: Can I rebuild him with all current rules, including Ultimate Magic?

I just received the latest bunch of goodies, and it sure looks good - except that it is heavily water-damaged. The books are somewhat readable, but the character folio is useless. Can you please help me?

The Grandfather tells me you can't take your less-than-lvl-5-character to a lvl 5 scenario. Tell me he's wrong.

I'm GM'ing Rise of the Runelords, and we've been on a break for a year after Hook Mountain Massacre, and are about to pick up the mantle again. This means that all character have to be converted to Pathfinder rules, and I've decided to be pretty large on how much change I allow when converting.

My group consists of a Half-orc Paladin, a Human Ranger, an Elven Barbarian, a Human Wizard, and a Half-elf Rogue. The advice I'm looking for is for the Rogue player. He's having difficulties seing what his role is going to be in this group, and how he's going to get his Thunder. I doubt he's gonna be satisfied going through the last three books of the campaing as "the guy who can remove traps", but much of what Rogues are good at is covered by oter members of the party. The ranger is as good at sneaking. The barbarian is as good an acrobat. The Paladin does as good damage on regular attack as the rogue does on sneak attacks. I think my player really wants to be striker, but I think it's gonna be hard for him to shine in a group of 3 fighter types.

The characters are rebuild at 9th level, using rules from all Pathfinder books. How would you go about building this rogue, now and on towards lvl 17-ish, and what role could he fill in this group?

If underground, how does the Darkness spell work on the following sources of illumination:

A non-magical torch?

A Light spell?

Rays of sunlight shining through a hole in the ceiling?

I want to build a rogue/spellcaster, that specialises on sneak attacking with ray spells (or other kinds of ranged touch attack spells). Not neccesarily because it is a killer concept, but because of the flavor. Still, I'm looking for advice on what I need to make the most of this concept. What do you recommend?

The spell Summon Monster 1 has the Riding Dog listed among its possible summons. This has earlier been mentioned by James Jacobs af a mistake, and should instead be a normal dog. However, on the latest errata for the third printing of the Core Rulebook, no change to the riding dog was mentioned. So, what should we do in Organized Play? Is the Riding Dog still on the Summon Monster 1 list in RAW?

My cleric of Pharasma has the Repose Domain, and thus the Gentle Rest (sp) domain power. I can't seem to find any notice anywhere of this power granting a saving throw to resist. Can anyone clarify if it does?

Last night, we had one of those moments (again) where we discovered that one of those core assumptions that we all held was possibly wrong. So, what else to do than ask the all-knowing board:

Bonuses of the same kind does not stack, but penalties do. But what about penalties from the same source?

Do multiple Bane spells stack?

Can a witch use Evil Eye on the same enemy round after round, piling up the penalties to, say, AC?

I like it when stories move on the edge of the conventional. Stories like Terry Pratchetts "Discworld", where an assassin wouldn't dream of hurting another person without getting paid, or an otherwise nice kid would become a demonologist because he hates being told what to to. I also like stories where the monsters become the good guys, and I love the suggestion from the chapter on Asmodeus in AP #30 about lawful good paladins of Asmodeus. I would love to see more of this in my Pathfinder game, but as it is, a lot of these opportunities are blocked by prerequisites. Some prerequisites are fine, when they are designed to keep the power levels of certain combos in line, but I feel that prerequisites that are only thematical (Assassins being evil) are more of a hindrance. I know, in my own game, the sollution is simple; Change the rule. But that doesn't apply to Organized Play, or other instances where RAW applies.

So, fellow Paizonians, help me with a thought experiment: If a new feat was to appear, say, in the Advanced Players Guide, or Misfits Redeemed, that allowed you to disregard certain prerequisites, how would that effect the power balance? What prerequisites could be ignored without opening up holes for mischievous players to exploit?

Am I right to assume that is you poke at an enemy 10 feet away with your longspear (or any other reach weapon), and an ally is standing in the space between you and your enemy, you get both -4 to hit from stabbing into melee, and a -4 to hit from the cover your friend provides?

example:

- - - - -
- E F M -
- - - - -

or

- - - M -
- - F - -
- E - - -

(E=enemy, F=Friend, M=Me)

If this is the case, are there any feats that provide the same benefits for reach weapons as Precise Shot and Improved Precise Shot provides for ranged attacks?

Does a GM have to do anything to keep tabs on what expendable items are used by players during a scenario? How many scrolls are used, what potions are imbibed, how many charges expended from wands, etc? I would trust my regular home group to be honest in their bookkeeping, but we are running our first large public event this weekend, and I don't know what is expected. Should it be noted on the cronicle sheet, like money spend during the scenario?

Back in 3rd. ed., I remember reading that you, when trying to meet the prerequisites for a feat or prestige class, could be said to meet them if you had another similar ability. Like, for instance, a darkvision made permanent with a permanency spell was enough to qualify for any prestige class that required the Darkvision racial trait, a crature with Truespeech qualifies for any language prerequisite, and so on.

Does this apply to Pathfinder, or was it abandoned?

It is with heavy hands on the keyboard and regret in every letter that I must ask you to end all my subscriptions.

Unfortunately, the toll inspection fees here in Denmark have become to high for me to manage, to a point where a $20 shipment costs me an extra $40 to get through customs. Though I love my monthly Paizo shipment, this is too much for me.

I have, with very few exceptions, been fond of the subscription model. I have purchased several books this way that I would not otherwise have bought, and been plesently surprised. My monthly package from Paizo has been a great joy, although I often bought more than I intended to.

If, at any point in the future, you will be able to offer different options on what you write on the front of the packages for international shipment, I will definintely be back restarting all subscriptions.

Best regards

What happens if a group fails to complete a scenario? And what exactly deas "completing" a scenario mean?

If, at a convention, a game lasts more than 5 hours, the GM should end it, but how do you decide if it has been completed enough for the players to get XP? Do they get PAs and loot?

And what if they just don't succeed on their quest? If the bad guy wins, but they survive? Do they get XP?

And what if they are all killed or thrown to jail in he first encounter, do the get to try and play the scenario again at a later time, or have they blown their chance?

And how do I report a failed scenario, and should I fill out a chronicle sheet?

How do you prefer, as players or GMs, that the faction missions play out? Do you prefer that the players help each other out completing faction missions, even if they are from different factions, or do you prefer them more or less subtly to work against each other? Or do you prefer players to butt out and not interfere with other players' quests for PA?

I'm sure this has been clarified elsewhere, but I just can't seem to find the answer:

If I want to run a season 0 secnario, how do I go about updating it to Pathfinder rules? Are there any official guidelines, or can I just do as I please?

Is this like collecting stamps? Is a Raistlin miniature worth more if it is flawed?

Pharasma has Death as one of her domain, but there is a major problem with that. The Death domain is inherently tied to necromancy, and somewhat tied to evil. Pharasma is not evil, and sees necromancy as an abomination. You could just rule that Pharasma doesn't grant access to the Death domain, but that's the easy way out. I would much rather change it, so that Pharasma grants access to a special, non-necromantic, less evil, Death domain.

Has anyone else done this, or does anyone have any good ideas on how to do this?

As far as I can tell, there hasn't been sent any Cheliax Companion book in my direction, even though I'm a subscriber. I don't know why, but it really isn't that big of a problem, as I can just go and order a new one. Except that I won't get my free PDF, then.

And that made me think: I would really love if Paizo made it so that if you're a subscriber (and already get a free PDF version of subscription items), you get a free PDF version when you buy older products from lines that you subscribe to.

I started subscribing to the APs at the beginning of Legacy og Fire, and I would be much more inclined to go and buy the Second Darkness line if I got free PDFs along with it. And it would be a nice and fair bonus, as I'm already a subscriber.

Pretty please?

I'm still considering whether I should order my bestiary directly from Paizo, or if I should get it through my FLGS, to support him also. Just to see how much it would cost me directly from Paizo, including shipping to Denmark, I tried almost ordering 1, 2 and 3 Bestiaries (a few of my players also wants it).

When I ordered 1, there was no trouble. The book was $33.99 (15% off from AP subscription). Shipping was $15.20.

When I ordered two, I only got my 15% off (from AP subscription) on the first book. Shipping was exactly double, $30.40.

When I ordered three, it still only gave me 15% off on the first book,for a total of $113.97, and split the order into two shipments. First shipment should cost $30.20, the next one $15.20, but in the order summary it said $49.86, including discounted shipping for international shipments over $25 from one to four pounds. And no shipping discount for ordering for more than $100.

Is this a bug, or am I missing something?

We have already established that, barring some deal with devils or the like, the souls of the dead travels to the domain of the god they followed in life.

If a deceased followed no particular god, or more than one, they go the the plane that matches their alignment.

If the deceased didn't believe in the afterlife at all, they end up in the Graveyard of Souls, and eventually as a snack for Groetus.

But what happens to a True Neutral person who worships no, or many, gods? He should go to the plane of his alignment, but there is no True Neutral plane.

Also, some of the gods have realms on plaes that don't match their alignment, and that can cause some trouble for certain worshipers. For instance, Pharasma is TN, and could very well have worshipers, and even priests, of CN alignment. But her domain is on Axis, the LN plane. Can a CN person end up spending his afterlife on the LN plane?

Anyone who frequents a number of internet communities will know that the Paizo community is among the bast of them. Where many other messageboards are teeming with bile, trolling, spam and poisonus negativity, the Paizo messageboards are always friendly. There is no bullying, flaming or hate, and almost without any moderation. Makes you feel at home.

I just wanted to take the time to thank you all for making this possible, both the many players who always help out and share ideas and experience, and the Paizo crew, who spends a staggering amount of time making this my favorite RPG site. Thank you.

I live in Denmark, and the money I spend on overseas shiping each month is quite staggering. I'm on the lookout for a way to cut back, and so I noticed that you can buy Knights of the Dinner Table from Paizo.

Great, I thought, put that in the envelope with my monthly AP Book, that's $$$ saved. As it is now, a KoDT issue costs me close to $10, all included. But currently, there's no way to combine subscription items and non-subscription items in the same package. So my question is:

Is it in any way possible to subscribe to Knights of the Dinner Table through Paizo?

Congrats on sending off the baby to the printer. I'm writing my BA at the moment, but that book will be the real highlight of the summer.

And thanks alot for the generous 10% discount. Now, I already have a few items that I'm gonna order before the end of may, and I'm gonna pile it all in one order to get the discount.

But I'm also subscribing to AP's and Chronicles, and I got the impression that the discount can apply to these items as well. But how do I do it? When I go ahead and order the other stuff I need, how do I include my subscription items in that order?

On another note, is there any way to get random stuff I order shipped along with my subscription items, to save shipping expences?

Edit: Never mind, I read the fine print. No discount on subscription items. Second question still stands, though.

Can I get it as a PDF?

In my campaign, I have a Shoanti ranger as one of my PCs, and I want to give her a bit more roleplay on the culture clash theme, and as the group heads towards north-east, I might have them encounter a Shoanti tribe. So I need a little inspiration.

What have you guys done with the Shoanti? If you have any written stuff on their culture or the different tribes, can you please post it here?

Where are the rules for creating arms and armor from special substances, such as Adamantium, Mithril, Darkwood, etc?

I can see find the price of a Mithril Shirt and and Elven Chainmail, but what if I want to create a Mithril Breastplate?

Also, is someone who is only proficient with light armor, and not medium armor, proficient with a Mithril Breastplate?

I GM RotRL in a Pathfinder group of 5 players, a Rogue, a Ranger, a Wizard, a Paladin and a Cleric, every other monday. Two weeks ago, the group finally came to the Clocktower, in pursuit of Ironbriar and with the city guard hot on their tails, as Ironbriar had them framed for the Skinsaw Murders. They quickly disposed of the Scarecrow and Ironbriar, and rushed up the tower. they had no idea what was waiting for them, but had heard some vague spoilers on the forums about a horrible party-killer. The faceless stalkers sprung their bell-trap, which forced the wizard to use his only Feather Fall, but the abarrations were soon turned to mushy goo. The players, however were bruised and lacking essential spells as they climbed the scaffolding to the top floor of the tower.

They had prepared a Silence spell on a weapon held by the Wizard's Mage Hand and stealthed in slowly. The room seemed empty, but a soon as the rogue advanced on Xanesha's nest, she suddently appeared and turned him to stone. The paladin charged the monster, used a Smite Elvil, and happily announced that he'd hit AC 32. His face grew a bit long when I told him he'd missed. The wizard sent his silenced weapon forward, and his face was the next one to grow long when I told him that the area he was standing in was still silenced. The ranger advanced, and failed to hit, and the cleric moved out of the silence zone, cast doom, and failed to penetrate Xanesha's spell resistance. When Xanesha next hit the Ranger with all her three attacks, for a total of 45 dam, the players began to realize the horror of the situation. 4 rounds later, they were sucking HP fumes, and the only on who'd actually damaged Xanesha was the Paladin's mount who'd crittet her with a hoof for 16 dam. We called it a night.

My players spent the next two weeks talking about what characters they were gonna roll up next, and how to keep the adventure going after a TPK.

Last night, we met up again. I had prepared for a swift end of the combat, and a way to get them raised by a friend for the money from the reward on Ironbriar. They just had one last plan, they told me, a long shot, but at least a shot. First off, the wizard, who'd spotted the twig that Xanesha had cast silence on, threw it off the roof and cast Web on her. With a +18 ref safe she easily avoided getting stuck. They rest retreated to the scaffolding, and the rogue lobbed a Tanglefoot bag at her. A tanglefoot bag just happes to be a touch attack with no safe, and for the first time the gods of dice-luck smiled at him. She wasen't however, glued to the floor, as she was flying. On her turn, she tries to advance on the group, and roll a 1 on her ref save to get through the web. She's stuck!

The players move to the bell room and the wizard pulls out one of the spellbooks he's found earlier, but before they can get to the stairs, a goo-spattered and angry Xanesha Dimension-doors into the room. To my surprise, all the players delay their actions, and then on the count of 3 they all jump into the hole in the ground where the fallen bell had been. on the way down, the wizard uses Feather Fall from the spellbook as a scroll. She casts scorching ray at them down the hole, and I rule that they crash burning through the roof of the floor room of the tower, but take no falling dam. As they brush of the dust, smoke and debris from the crash, a voice booms; "Hold it! Drop your weapons!". They are surrounded by the City Guard who chased them here.

Suddently, Xanesha appears in the middle of the room with a poof and a "... Door!". As she impales the first city guard, the others quickly figure that perhaps the PC's are not the real enemy. She quickly manages to get both the Paladin and the Ranger to negative HP, but the guard keeps her distracted while they get healed back up, and whittle away at her Mirror Images at the same time. Suddently the dice luck changes entirely. Another tanglefoot bag and a few crits and she's at 45 HP. Most of her spells have worn off, and she's down to 27 AC. She decides to Dimension Door away, casts defensively and rolls a 1! The ranger hits her, the rogue backstabs her, and finally the Enlarged Paladin lobs off her head with a crit from a Zweihander.

With clever thinking, and a lot of dice luck in the end, they actually managed to off Xanesha without a single player kill.

Thank you very much.

Players, don't read on. Especially my players.

I'm GM'ing RotRL at the moment, and we're just about finished with the Skinsaw Murders. My players are all very excited about Pathfinder, so of course the all signed on to the newsletter. The first one they received had a big adverticement for the new miniature; "Karzoug - the Runelord of Greed". Didn't take them much logical deduction to figure out that their current campaign, Rise of the Runelords, was probably tied to this Karzoug Runelord dude, and that he was probably tied to the murdering of all the Greedy people in Magnimar. Thanks for spoiling it all, Paizo.

Can we get a specific newsletter for GMs, please, and a spoiler-free one for players?

In my group, going through RotRL, there is both a cleric and a paladin, both with high charisma. That amounts to a lot of Channel Energy, to the point where encounters are only rarely dangerous or exciting. On the other hand, the only enemy cleric thay've met so far almost wiped them out with her channel negative energy. I really believe that channel energy, as it is, is too powerful.

Therefore, I'm gonna test using the same rules for channeling as for dragon breath weapons. That means that you can only channel energy every 1d4 rounds, taking the top of the channel spamming, and forcing the cleric to actually do something interesting some of the time.

What do you guys think. is 1d4 too little?

When playtesting, I sometimes have questions about the rules. How does sneak attack really work? How does grappling effect spellcasting? Is there a verbal component in Channel Energy?

These are not really related to playtesting, but answers would really help me playtest better. I just don't really know where the proper place to post these questions are. General Discussion? Nah...

What I'd really like is a forum where we can post these questions, and help each other find the answers. Does anyone else agree?

My party and I plan on going through several of the Pathfainder Adventure Paths. We're currently at The Skinsaw Murders in RotTL, and will be doing CotCT after this campaign, and Second Darkness next (hopefully I won't have to be the DM in all of them :). This means that in a few years time, we'll have three sets of 18-20 lvl characters in Varisia.

What I would really like to see is an Adventure Path for these characters. An Epic campaign based in Varisia, with an opportunity to play on with your old high-lvl characters. With all the buzz about a Pathfinder Epic book, this would fit nicely together. Golarion sure has the potential for epic stories.

What do you think? Would you buy an Epic Adventure Path?

It has been stated and discussed several times that the rogue can now sneak attack anything, or at lest everything that has an anatomy. This includes corporeal undead and constructs, who were previously (3,5) immune to sneak attacks.

But I can't find the rules anywhere. Where does it say that that rogues can now sneak attack undead? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

According to the "Casting Spells" section of the PF Beta rules (p. 155), you can't cast a spell while you are grappled. But according to the Conditions summary (p.400), a grappled character must succeed a Spellcraft check DC 15 + spell level to cast a spell.

Which one is the right one?

Also, according to the Armor class Modifiers Table (p. 147), a grappling character loses his dex bonus to AC. But according to the Conditions summary (p.400), a grappled character only gets -4 to dex.

Which one is the right one?