Sharu

Fredison's page

Organized Play Member. 44 posts (269 including aliases). No reviews. 1 list. 1 wishlist. 4 Organized Play characters. 1 alias.


RSS

Liberty's Edge

Re: Factions, cool, thanks! I added the boon to my profile.

Also yes, thanks for running and for giving us tips, this was fun!

Liberty's Edge

Good to know! Yeah, that's a pretty good approach and the one I intend to take, I just wasn't 100% sure that was how it worked.

Liberty's Edge

Question regarding how dice rolls work: does a roll get reset if I preview or edit the post? It seems not, but I'd like to be 100% sure so I don't cheese it by accident.

Liberty's Edge

Jaeli smiles wryly. "From the sound of it, Linnorms are a notch or two above our pay grade. If we encounter one, I'd suggest we run."

Liberty's Edge

If we're picking PFS consumables right now, I'll be going with a scroll of Magic Weapon, unless someone can suggest something more relevant to the situation at hand.

Liberty's Edge

GM Watery Soup wrote:

Duh! *smacks forehead*

Okay, last question before we begin. Rules & Expectations.

Rough expectation is that each person posts once per weekday and once per weekend. This won't be strict because it's a new player game. I'll reach out by PM if there are problems.

If you're checking the thread but have nothing to do, I recommend posting anyway to let others know that your lack of action is not because you're inactive, e.g., "Bill gives Jack a backrub while he reads through the evil wizard's journal."

I don't like botting people and won't do it without good reason.

Any other wuestions about expectations?

Sounds good to me!

Liberty's Edge

Dooser wrote:
Hey there everyone! For the party make up, I see a Sorcerer, a Champion & 2 Clerics. I can bring a Rogue or a Fighter. Let me know which would be better & I'll post. Thanks.

Personally I would vote Fighter, but I'd be happy with either.

Liberty's Edge

GM Watery Soup wrote:

Jaeli, two comments.

1. There's a mismatch between your ability scores and all the other values. I assume the ability scores are wrong. Implied in your skills is STR 10 DEX 14 CON 10 INT 12 WIS 18 CHA 14.

2. Where did Herbalism Lore come from? Is that a holdover from the template?

Everything else looks great!

1- Whoops, you're right, that was a copy-pasting error. The languages were wrong too, fixed now.

2- That's the free Lore skill from putting two points into the Spells school.

Liberty's Edge

Many thanks for that breakdown!

I'm pretty much done with my character, please tell me if there's any info missing or if I got something wrong: Jaeli's profile I may add a tiny bio and personality to that character description later.

It's funny you mention heals, too, because in addition to her magical Cleric healing, Jaeli is trained in Medicine and carries Healer's Tools. For when the spell slots run out, you know? She's fairly fragile herself, though, so she'll certainly be hiding behind the martial characters we get.

Liberty's Edge

All right, I have a character sheet filled out and started entering some info in their profile. Is there a stat block template anywhere I could copy-paste from, to save myself some time transcribing everything?

Liberty's Edge

Hey gang!

1- I'm very familiar with 1e, and I'm part of an ongoing AP on Roll20. I've GMed a few in-person 1e PFS scenarios and participated in a couple PbP threads but that was about 5 years ago, so I'm rusty on posting etiquette.

2- I don't have a character registered yet but I'm working on building an elven cleric of Desna as we speak.

Liberty's Edge

Hey there! Room for one more? I'm new to 2e entirely, though I'm very familiar with 1e. I've participated in a couple PbP PFS threads but that was about 5 years ago, so I'm very rusty.

I don't have a 2e character registered just yet, but I'm confident that I could get one up and running quickly enough.

Liberty's Edge

Adam Mogyorodi wrote:
Keep in mind that if the player has the animal companion class feature, then their first animal companion comes fully trained.

Wait, it does? This is news to me. I knew about the bonus tricks, but otherwise I thought druids and such had to teach most of their tricks the hard way. Where is that written?

Liberty's Edge

I've only recently started playing spellcasters in Pathfinder, and since that makes for a better learning curve, I've been playing in low-level games. The only spellcaster I've played so far is a second-level bard in PFS, and I'm about to start playing a second-level sorceror (built with GM credit).

However, so far the impression I'm getting is that spellcasters are slow to get particularly interesting. If I get into five battles a day, can cast five first-level spells and I already used up one on Mage Armor, what's left for me to do for all those remaining rounds? A handful of 0-level spells seem to have combat utility (ray of frost, resistance), and there's always the option of blindly firing my crossbow, but I can't help but think there must be a better way to spend my precious, precious standard actions.

Am I missing something? Maybe I'm only getting that impression because I'm used to playing melee combatants, for whom NOT getting to deal 1d8+4 damage to someone on every single round is the exception rather than the rule. Still, I'd love to hear suggestions on how to spice up battle for spellcaster characters when spells are out of the question.

Liberty's Edge

These all seem pretty interesting. I'll likely start from Everflame and go from there. Thanks for the suggestions!

Liberty's Edge

You seem to have enough people if I'm counting right, but put me down as interested if a slot frees up. I have a level 2 sylvan-blooded sorceress I've made specifically for PBP PFS, and she'd be ready to go with just a tweak or two.

Liberty's Edge

PFS scenarios are perfect for what I'd like to do, but as a PFS player myself, I'd honestly rather not spoil them for myself if I'm not going to get GM credit for them.

I'll keep the Harrowing in mind for when they hit that level, though.

Liberty's Edge

I've recently been introducing a few friends to Pathfinder by running the PFS First Steps series to them, along with We Be Goblins! It's been great fun, but they could care less about the paperwork and rule restrictions. Fair enough.

So instead, I've decided to start from scratch and grab some modules to run as episodic adventures for them. Since most of them have little experience with the game, I'd start them off at level 1 and go from there so they can learn as they go.

The group members' familiarity and skill with the rules varies, as does their interest in Golarion lore, but one constant is that they're all rather laid-back. They're usually not interested in deep role-playing or crazy challenging battles so much as getting into interesting situations, cracking jokes and saving the day at the end.

...In fact, I just realized that their current party makeup maps alarmingly well to the Scooby Doo gang. That should give you an idea.

Ideally I'd like adventures that hold plenty of surprises and have colorful backdrops (which Golarion luckily has no shortage of). In a perfect world, I'd like adventures that somehow have a high prep time-to-fun ratio. So with that in mind, what modules would you guys recommend for this particular merry, rag-tag group?

Liberty's Edge

I'm a bit of an oddball in my gaming groups, in that I tend to prefer PDFs over print copies of my Pathfinder books. I think both options have their ups and downs, but to me digital wins out for sheer convenience-- and admittedly, the reduced cost makes it an even more attractive proposal.

But just as I was about to give in and subscribe to the Player Companion line, I was surprised to find out that you could only preorder or subscribe to print editions of the books.

So my question is, is there any possibility of seeing digital subscribtions in the future?

Liberty's Edge

That's a relief, then. Christmas, or the winter solstice holiday or your choice, is saved!

Liberty's Edge

Newbie PFS GM here. I gave a Crystalhue sheet to players I ran First Steps #1 for during the appropriate time window, but only now am I reporting it, and I'm not seeing the boon on the list. I'm seeing two options here:

1- Boon chronicle sheets don't need to be reported in the same way as mission ones to begin with, so I needn't worry.

OR

2- The Holiday boons disappear from the list when the time window is over, and by reporting it too late I have therefore ruined Christmas for my players.

Thanks in advance for clearing things up!

Liberty's Edge

2 questions, both of them regardless of Fame score limits:

1- When upgrading, is it possible to swap an enhancement bonus for an equivalent special ability? For a specific example could I upgrade a +2 Club into a +1 Anarchic Club (equivalent to a +3)? Or even a +1 Flaming Club into said +1 Anarchic Club? I'm not sure why that would be the case, but it can't hurt to ask.

2- Can enhancements with a flat GP cost, like Adaptive or Glamered, be added using the upgrade system, or only when you buy the item?

Liberty's Edge

Here's one of my oni-blooded tiefling monk. Funny story about that one: The first reference pic I used was blurry, so the sketches he showed me had the character rocking an awesome mustache. I'm still considering making it "canon" later if he survives the next few levels.

Either way, the artist is great and his commission rates are cheap, so be sure to check out his gallery!

Liberty's Edge

All right, I figured as much but it seemed iffy. Thanks!

Liberty's Edge

If a magic item grants my an effect that is for all intents and purposes permanent, can it allow him to qualify for a feat he normally couldn't otherwise?

Specific example: My bard gets himself a Wayfinder slotted with an Opalescent White Pyramid Ioun Stone, giving him Weapon Focus (Light Crossbow). Could he, then, qualify to take Dazzling Display next time he gains a feat from levelling?

Liberty's Edge

That's hardly been discussed in this thread, but I love the new Level 1 character retraining option. I don't know what precisely prompted this addition, but as a relatively new player I'm very thankful for this.

Liberty's Edge

All right, that's fair! I was guessing along the same lines but it's good to be sure. It might be hard to apply your suggestions and stay within the concept I'm picturing, but they seem sound and I'll be keeping them in mind.

I might ask for specific suggestions in the Working on an idea thread if I really can't come up with anything else.

Liberty's Edge

Though I guess I might as well ask what precisely prompted that reaction, since I can make a few guesses (Too weak? Too strong? Too annoying? Too dull? Shadows just don't work that way?) but the uncertainity is kind of killing me over here.

That said, if I have further questions not directly related to the open call I'll likely make a thread for 'em.

Zoplo wrote:
As far as the one model per bestiary box issue,it sounds a bit silly to limit your encounters to what you can purchase in one box of "minis". We've all played an encounter or two with something misrepresented because someone simply didn't have the mini. I assume most of us (unless uber wealthy) will again in the future. I hope it's just a guideline to use creatures that "can" be represented by minis.

If need be I personally have no qualms playing with Lego minifigs, extra dice or sugar cubes with angry faces drawn on, but I imagine doing that would be missing one of the points of the Quests, which is to show off Paizo's new products. If the out-of-print flipmat question above is any indication, I imagine it's not necessarily a dealbreaker, but the Quest had better be really cool to make up for it.

Liberty's Edge

Kyle Baird wrote:
Fredison wrote:
four Shadows as henchmen
o.O

Yeah, figured as much!

I guess might be just a bit too much of a newbie Pathfinder GM to try for this, cool ideas or not. :/

Liberty's Edge

Probably doesn't need to be asked, but I imagine it would be bad form to have a scenario require cracking open four Bestiary Boxes for pawns to be played properly, wouldn't it?

I had an encounter involving four Shadows as henchmen, and only just noticed that there was only one per box. Whoops. Luckily it's not too late for me to redo the encounter, at least.

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

For me, half of the fun when I dump stats is to find ways to justify them through RP. A low wis/int character rushes headfirst into traps, a low dex character keeps fumbling around... When it's integrated into a character concept that's fun for everyone at the table, even the most thoroughly min-maxed build comes to life with these little quirks.

For instance, for a one-shot evil game that I knew would involve mostly combat, I built myself a Duergar monk. As the die rolled and the racial modifier kicked in, all things told he wound up with 5 Charisma. I figured this was outstanding enough to need addressing, so I came up with this:

See, this duergar is ugly and mean-looking. No surprise there. But he also doesn't speak much. People might think "Oh, he's a monk, he took a vow of silence", but no. See, whenever he does open his mouth...

...he speaks in a high-pitched, annoying Muppet voice. Try taking THAT seriously when it tries to intimidate or charm you, I dare you!

What are YOUR negative modifier anecdotes? (A note: this thread isn't intended as a discussion of the merits and drawbacks of min-maxing, only as a place to share stories.)

Liberty's Edge

Mark Moreland wrote:
Without seeing the submission, I can't really say what side of the line it falls on. We know a joke encounter when we see one, though. If you have a toilet mimic, a grippli with a pig animal companion, a silly animated object, or names that are puns, you're likely over the line. Even our more comedic published adventures (generally the ones with goblins in them) are serious stories with real danger. If the level of comedy a submission contains is more than you've seen in an existing published adventure from us, it's likely going too far.

That seems like a good enough indicator, but I'll be erring on the side of caution. I've begun work on a more serious Quest that's shaping up, I think, a lot more exciting to begin with.

If you're curious, my original idea started with the phrase "I've heard of fetching cats from trees, but this is ridiculous!" which would never actually be uttered in-game but should clue you in as to the premise. I imagine it would have been... borderline.

Liberty's Edge

I'm glad to witness the return of the open call! I'll be seeing what I can come up with, but before that, two more questions.

1- I'm intrigued by the bit about Paizo not being interested in comedy submissions. I can understand why it's there (Golarion isn't a parody setting, and asking GMs to be comedians is always a tricky proposal), but I'm curious as to what would be considered a "comedy submission" and what might not be. I imagine the line must be included because some entries were rejected on these grounds?

I ask largely because one of my current ideas can be described as a tongue-in-cheek premise played straight. If it's too much of a gray zone I'll likely err on the side of caution and go for a more serious scenario, though.

2- Do writers need to worry about the rewards? Looking at Ambush in Absalom's Chronicle Sheet, I notice that the reward structure consists of picking one of two boons and gaining PP, but no Gold or XP. Should this be the case in every scenario, or would it be possible for the reward to only be, say, a handful of gold or access to a rare wand?

Thanks in advance.

Liberty's Edge

I'm building a monk, and while picking out his first few feats, I found Belier's Bite, which seems like a rather handy ability, especially for a first-level character.

Now, after reading its entry, this tidbit and a few threads on bleed damage, I must admit that I'm more confused than ever on how it works. Two questions:

1: Is it actual "damage"? As in, if I deal 1d6+4 in one blow, does it turn into 1d6+1d4+4 with this feat? Or does the "you deal an extra 1d4 bleed damage" line translate to "the enemy gains the bleed 1d4 condition"?

2: And the eternal question, does it stack? From my understanding it doesn't-- If I punch someone with this, even twice in the same round, they get "bleed 1d4", rolled on each of their rounds until they fix it, and not "bleed 2d4" or "bleed 4" or anything.

So clarification would be appreciated! As far as I've seen the second question still seems hotly debated and up to GM interpretation, but the first seems to get glossed over wherever I check, but still is unclear to me.

Liberty's Edge

3.5 Loyalist wrote:
What slightly annoys me, is how vanilla they are. If I was to use goblins, I'd pair them with other monsters they are working with. Goblins armed with wooden or obsidian gear and teaming up with rust monsters. Goblins, minotaurs and lizardfolk in a monster confederacy. Goblin ooze druids.

I'd want to keep the focus on goblins, but maybe some monsters could be summoned to help with Goblin Power. They wouldn't necessarily be allied, but could be released from cages to create distractions and smash things.

Either way, these are all great ideas! I don't know if I can fit everything in there, but I'll definitely be considering these. The elderly alchemist and druid would be rather interesting, too, and could set up for the "final battle" I had in mind against the most dangerous foe of all: a well-prepared adventuring party!

And giving award for cool hats should bring visceral thrill to the Team Fortress 2 players among the group.

Either way, I'd still love to hear more suggestions if you guys have them. This game is a long way off, so I have plenty of time to pick and polish the best material.

Liberty's Edge

John Compton wrote:
There are certainly also some scenarios with rescues of either important Pathfinders (like Venture Captains) or non-Pathfinders rescued to further the Society's cause. I'm having difficulty thinking of a scenario in which the PCs are sent to rescue some no-name Pathfinders who weren't already at the archaeological site. As a result, I encourage the prospective writer(s) to incorporate some reason for the higher-ups to care about fishing those Pathfinders' bodies out of the Shackles. The Shadow Lodge performs rescues for the sake of rescues, but I understand the Decemvirate to perform rescues for the sake of major Society goals.

I also gave that some thought before you mentioned it. What I came up with is that the first team was escorting an important politician (maybe a Tian Xian dignitary) and he's the one being rescued while the original team is more of a secondary concern. There are also intriguing things on the island worth recovering, but that's fodder for the faction missions more than anything else.

Though no matter what, the Shadow Lodge should have a ball with such a mission. I like their presence in PFS, as their perspective makes it much clearer precisely what kind of organization the Society is.

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Note: I was made aware of the existence of the "We Be Goblins!" Free RPG Day module right when I was in the middle of writing this, and while it really fits the sort of feel I'm going for and should be a great source of inspiration, I'll likely be going with my own idea rather than running it, if only to test out my chops at building a scenario from the ground-up.

So I'm thinking of running a goblin-based one-shot for a few friends sometime in the future. The plot would basically be an excuse for the characters to cause as much mayhem as possible, and I'm aiming for a humorous (if somewhat disturbing) tone. To get into the spirit of things, I've devised two special game mechanics I'm looking for feedback and suggestions on.

Expendable: Rather than controlling a party of adventurers, the players will control a group composed of members from a goblin tribe. Each goblin is weak (I'm thinking level 3) individually, but whenever one dies, a new character runs in to replace them the very next round, with no real penalty other than losing a turn.

Each player will have a certain number of "lives" (I'm thinking five) to spend like this. This is meant to encourage them to play recklessly, but not suicidally. To keep things simple, each character will likely be a "clone" of a pregenerated goblin from three or four archetypes.

Goblin Power: To encourage players to embrace the flavor of the bloodthirsty/mischievous critters they'll be playing, particularly "goblin-like" actions will be rewarded with Goblin Power points at the GM's discretion. These can be redeemed for useful combat boosts. Since the goal of the game would be the spectacle more than the challenge, I'm not looking to make Goblin Power rewards balanced so much as powerful, useful and entertaining.

Points would be awarded on a scale similar to this:
1/2 point: Particularly "goblin-like" (mischievous, bloodthirsty and/or chaotic evil) actions with a tactical benefit attached: Gleefully looting your fallen ally's corpse, finishing off an opponent by biting them in the face, hiding in a cupboard to set up a Sneak Attack.
1 point: Flavorful actions that don't help or hinder the group: particularly getting into "goblin roleplay", taking unnecessary (but only time- rather than resource-consuming) pains to subdue a leashed, barking dog, setting fire to a signpost because it has so many words on it.
2 points: Hijinxs that harm the group somehow: hit a teammate, rush to your death and get replaced (points transfer between characters), basically any turn-waster proposed in Classic Monsters Revisited.

Meanwhile rewards for Goblin Power could include but not be limited to:
-Summoning a Goblin Dog mount.
-Summoning a Level 1 goblin to unquestioningly obey one specific command (such as "run down this trap-filled hallway" or "steal that guy's cool hat".)
-Expanding the radius of a bomb.
-Granting a large damage bonus to a bite attack.
-Giving a very large bonus to Craft checks to cobble a weapon or tool together with garbage.
-And so forth!

So as I said, suggestions and feedback would be appreciated!

Liberty's Edge

Pirate Rob wrote:
The sort of deus ex machina required to have the PCs end up shipwrecked already puts me on edge.

It's funny that got mentioned, because one PFS idea I also had also involved a shipwreck. After thinking about precisely what you said, I decided to remove that element, and make it a rescue mission for another shipwrecked party instead.

I figured that no matter how low-level the PCs were and how dangerous the storm, there would always be the off-chance of the day being saved by obscure spells, amazing rolls or the party actually being composed of experienced sailors.

Maybe shipwrecks and/or islands are kind of cliché, if we had such similar ideas?

Liberty's Edge

Thanks for the encouraging comments, everyone. To clarify, this isn't about playing or GMing the game, but about trying my hand at writing scenarios. I'm currently playing in two weekly games along with the occasional Society scenario, though I haven't GMed Pathfinder yet. A few of my experiences have been frustrating (one player seems convinced that everyone is born with the books memorized) but otherwise it's been good fun and my GMs have been rather helpful.

Purple Fluffy CatBunnyGnome wrote:
When it comes to writing a scenario, while I've never written one nor been brave enough to submit my idea, my understanding (writers/devs correct me if I'm wrong), is that you submit a general idea and if they can work with it, the developers will work with you to flesh it out more within the guidelines of the pathfinder rules.

I'm hoping something along these lines is the case. Luckily I've also got some friends more familiar with the rules (not to mention an alarmingly extensive library for me to peruse) who I could also consult.

I guess a better way to phrase my question would be: About how much experience with the nuts and bolts of the game rules and the Inner Sea setting are expected from Society scenario writers? Could originality and strength of writing possibly compensate for weaknesses in that department?

Liberty's Edge

I've been introduced to Pathfinder fairly recently after a few failed attempts at getting games of 3.5 games going in high school. I've been eagerly learning the game and eating up the setting. However, when comparing myself to some of my friends, it's clear I still have a lot of catching up to do before I know what I'm talking about.

Now, the open call page has been very intriguing to me, and in spite of myself I'm already brewing a few ideas that I think would play very nicely with the Pathfinder Society conceit. I consider myself a talented writer and a good GM, and figure there would be no harm in giving a submission a shot.

My main weaknesses are still not having a solid grasp on game mechanics and balance (being more used to freeform games in which story and roleplay take precedence over challenge and number-crunching), and having not yet gotten around to looking up things that some consider fairly basic (like what, precisely, the difference between Devils and Demons is).

So my question is: I realize that I would be at a disadvantage compared to DnD/Pathfinder veterans, but would it be enough of an obstacle to be a dealbreaker?

Liberty's Edge

So I guess I should stay on the safe side and not use it until level 5, unless some official word comes in and says otherwise? This is for a Pathfinder Society character, so I can't really go with GM ruling here.

Liberty's Edge

When an Archetype takes away an ability that you learn at a specific level, but doesn't specify when the new ability is learnt, is it available from the start, or is it learnt at the same level?

Example: In the Advanced Race Guide's Prankster archetype description for the Gnome, it says the Swap skill replaces Lore Master, which is learned at level 5), but it doesn't say when you get it. Is it available from the start, or do you also learn it at level 5?

Liberty's Edge

Matt: I think somehow you merged our two characters together. Though I guess Toughness or Dodge may be useful for me too, since Mock is about taunting enemies (from a distance, but still) and my gnome would be too slow to outrun most of them.

But thanks for the tips, BigNorseWolf! I guess I'll be adding Diplomacy as my favored class bonus, though the extra HP could well be a lifesaver this early in...

Liberty's Edge

I'm currently in the middle of building my first PFS character myself, and I've found the tips given so far enlightening. I've played some regular Pathfinder, but both campaigns I play in started at level 5, so making a level 1 character is actually a fairly new experience to me. If you fine folks could give me some pointers too, that would be much appreciated.

Here's what I have figured out so far:
Gnome Bard, Prankster archetype
Specialized in Perform (Comedy), natch

STR 10, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 11, WIS 10, CHA 18 (after race bonuses)
Alternate racial trait: Bond of the Land (Urban)
I'm unsure what to pick for Obsessive, because Profession (Performer) seems a little redundant to me.
Skill points: 6, put into Acrobatics, Bluff, Perception, Perform (Comedy), Sleight of Hand, Stealth
Traits:
-Collector, enhances Perform (Comedy)
-Undecided
Feats:
Also unsure

The character so far seems like he'd be a bit out of his element when exploring caves and forests or fighting goblins, which is intentional, but I wouldn't want him to lose all usefulness in these situations. Upping his survivability somehow could be good, too, as I don't want him to Mock enemies and then immediately become a gnome-shaped smear on the floor as a result.