Joana's page

Gary, that thing is back where I get a security warning every time I add a new post:

Your connection to secure.paizo.com is encrypted with 256-bit encryption. However, this page includes other resources that are not secure. These resources can be viewed by others while in transit, and can be modified by an attacker to change the look of the page.

Since at least the weekend, and I think a few days before that, I've been getting the message that the posting page is unsecure. This is the message Chrome is giving me:

Your connection to secure.paizo.com is encrypted with 256-bit encryption. However, this page includes other resources with are not secure. These resources can be viewed by others while in transit, and can be modified by an attacker to change the behavior of the page.

IE gives me a pop-up bar saying "Only secure content is displayed." Not sure what element is unencrypted, but this is new behavior since last week.

Hey, Gary, just in case you're looking for something to fiddle with while snowed in, the "Online Campaigns" in the upper left corner of the campaign threads leads to paizo.com/campaigns, which is a blank page, rather than paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/community/campaigns, which is where I assume it's supposed to go.

Similarly, the "Paizo People" link in the same position on an alias page goes to the blank paizo.com/people. I'm not sure where it's meant to go, actually.

Elemental Subtype: An elemental is a being composed entirely from one of the four classical elements: air, earth, fire, or water. An elemental has the following features.

Immunity to bleed, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning.

Not subject to critical hits or flanking. Does not take additional damage from precision-based attacks, such as sneak attack.

Proficient with natural weapons only, unless generally humanoid in form, in which case proficient with all simple weapons and any weapons mentioned in its entry.

Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types. Elementals not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor. Elementals are proficient with shields if they are proficient with any form of armor.

Elementals do not breathe, eat, or sleep.

It doesn't say elementals aren't subject to nonlethal damage, but ... really? It can't be stunned or put to sleep or sneak attacked, but I can hit a creature composed of earth or fire or air over the head with a sap and knock it unconscious? That seems just really, really weird. Am I missing something somewhere?

Hey, Gary, when I try to see who's favorited a post in a play-by-post campaign thread, like this one, it just takes me to the campaign info page. I know it used to work, so this is a relatively new development.

I just tried to reply to this post, and all I got in my Reply screen was

FYI: I reward players who make choices on what the character would do.

Have you done something to remove nested quotes or something? Because it just quoted what came after the quoted text.

With the latest site update, the number of posts visible on the reply screen has gone down from 25 to 10. Twenty-five was much better for PbP purposes, as you could almost always count on having relevant descriptions, or your PC's last action, or the initiative order, or whatever visible. Now I keep having to open up the thread in a separate window to get back to the information I'm looking for. Any chance it could be switched back the way it was?

If someone is poisoned and then delay poison is cast on them, does the poison have no further effect if its duration wears off before the spell does, or after the 1 hour per level, do they have to continue to save from where they left off when the spell was cast? That is, if the poison's duration is less than one hour per caster level, does the spell effectively end the effects of the poison?

School conjuration (healing); Level bard 2, cleric 2, druid 2, paladin 2, ranger 1

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, DF
Range touch
Target creature touched
Duration 1 hour/level
Saving Throw Fortitude negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
The subject becomes temporarily immune to poison. Any poison in its system or any poison to which it is exposed during the spell's duration does not affect the subject until the spell's duration has expired. Delay poison does not cure any damage that poison may have already done.

Just noticed the "remove dot and stop tracking" isn't working this evening (in Google Chrome, anyway).

EDIT: Also, the tags ([b], [ooc], et al.) are showing up in the mouseover text on (x new) and latest post. Don't know if that's related.

Forgive me if this has been discussed, but I'm playing in this AP and don't want to be spoiled so I didn't do a search.

I made my PC with a few assumptions about the ages of the NPCs and was surprised when my DM said Ameiko's birthyear was given as 4689!

RotRL begain in 4707 and said Ameiko had returned from an adventuring career and bought the Rusty Dragon six years previously. When she was twelve?!?

What the heck, Paizo? I do hope we're not falling prey to the myth that a human woman of thirty can't still be an attractive option for a romance, especially considering that Sandru at "a few years from middle age" is a possible romantic partner for 1st-level PCs who could be sixteen by random roll. (Although Ameiko apparently started adventuring at the age of 10 or so.)

Hey, web guys! Just thought I'd point out that my (x new) tags aren't working this evening. There are new posts in some threads at the top of my focus view but no (1 new) next to them. The (1 new) next to brand new threads seems to be working, however.

EDIT: Also, I'm only getting dotted threads showing up in my focus, not the (x new) ones that I've read but haven't posted in.

:)

Sixth Sense (Ex)

At 3rd level, the superstitious barbarian gains a +1 bonus on initiative and a +1 insight bonus to AC during surprise rounds. This bonus increases by +1 for every three levels after 3rd.

This ability replaces trap sense.

I read this as "+1 to init during surprise rounds" and "+1 to AC during surprise rounds." Hero Lab, however, seems to be reading it as "+1 to init in all circumstances" and, separately, "+1 to AC during surprise rounds."

(Since Hero Lab doesn't break down how it arrives at numbers, I can't be sure this is what it's doing, but I don't know where else it would be giving my PC an extra +1 from.)

Can I ask for clarification on this?

I didn't see a thread about this yet (well, other than the one with a complaint) so I thought I'd start one.

I flipped through the Dungeon Crawl Classics book and, wow! is it old-school. Just looking at the old-style black and white drawings and maps was nostalgic. If I hadn't wanted We Be Goblins! and been limited to one item, I would totally have picked it up.

Well, no one ever answered this 2 years ago; maybe I'll have better luck. :)

I'm looking for a sidequest in my campaign for 11th-level PCs. They've had dealings with a dragon in the past, and I thought I might tie it in with him. But I'd like to know where this is set, what kind of terrain, and the overall goal the PCs are supposed to achieve. Can anyone who has run or played or even read this module fill me in a little?

I remember spending Thanksgivings and such at my parents' house with my husband before we had kids along to entertain; one time, we dug through my old board games and got out my original Trivial Pursuit Genus I from 1981. It made for very interesting game play; we kept having to add the caveat "In 1981" before most of the questions. Sports records were the worst offenders; "In 1981, who held the MLB single season home run record?" "In 1981, which NFL team had won the most Super Bowls?" etc.

It adds a layer of complexity to the game; that's for sure. :)

Never mind. Apparently the Focus button now works for the whole messageboards page. Looks really weird....

My Second Darkness group is a little behind the leveling curve so I'm looking for a few encounters to pad out their time in the Darklands. I'd like to run a chase using the rules from the GMG, but I'm having a hard time coming up with fun obstacles and checks to overcome them. The group is level 10 and doesn't have a full caster.

Can anyone suggest some Darklands-suitable obstacles and checks/saves to overcome them to help fill out my chase cards?

My players are a bit behind the level curve in the AP I'm running for the moment, so I'm looking to insert a few encounters. I'd like to do something a little different than "You run into a wandering monster and fight" so I thought a chase would be fun. Looks like the Chase Cards will be coming out a month too late for my purposes, so I'll have to figure some out on my own. I have some questions about using the chase rules:

1. The rules say, "When assigning obstacles, it's best to have the DCs of both obstacles on a card be within 5 points of each other, but never identical -- this forces participants to make tactical choices." But then the example chase laid out on p. 233 has DCs 10 and even 15 points from each other, as do the sample cards from the chase deck. (Um, I guess that's not really a question, just a point of confusion. The text says a 5-point spread is the rule, but virtually all the examples use a 10-point spread.)

2. Is it okay to not tell the players which skills are required and what the DC is for each obstacle? It seems like that would lead to the players not paying attention to the actual obstacle (i.e., Steeply-Sloped Roof vs. Crumbling Rooftop) and just comparing the mechanics ("Well, I can't fail that Climb DC even if I roll a 1 so I'll pick that one.") Seems like I ought to describe the scene to them and make them pick which way to go without them knowing exactly how hard it's going to be.

3. "A character who wants to attempt to move three cards during his turn can do so by taking a full-round action. That character must overcome both obstacles on the card he is leaving." But if he succeeds at both, he completely skips the obstacles on the next card and goes to the third? Or does he actually move forward three cards like he rolled a 3 in a board game and skip over two obstacles?

4. "A character who becomes mired must spend another full-round action becoming unmired and effectively loses his next turn in the chase." Does he become unmired automatically by spending the full-round action, or does he have to roll to beat the DCs again?

5. Is it okay to give XP for "succeeding" in a chase? Would you award XPs equal to defeating a CR [party level] creature?

Woo hoo!

If it's a wand of a melee touch spell, like, say, shocking grasp, can a PC make an AoO with it? Or is he considered unarmed?

How does low-light vision affect the miss chance due to dim light, if at all?

Low-Light Vision

Characters with low-light vision have eyes that are so sensitive to light that they can see twice as far as normal in dim light. Low-light vision is color vision. A spellcaster with low-light vision can read a scroll as long as even the tiniest candle flame is next to him as a source of light.

Characters with low-light vision can see outdoors on a moonlit night as well as they can during the day.

Ignoring Concealment: Concealment isn't always effective. An area of dim lighting or darkness doesn't provide any concealment against an opponent with darkvision. Characters with low-light vision can see clearly for a greater distance than other characters with the same light source.

But then it says

In an area of dim light, a character can see somewhat. Creatures within this area have concealment (20% miss chance in combat) from those without darkvision or the ability to see in darkness. A creature within an area of dim light can make a Stealth check to conceal itself. Areas of dim light include outside at night with a moon in the sky, bright starlight, and the area between 20 and 40 feet from a torch.

Characters with low-light vision (elves, gnomes, and half-elves) can see objects twice as far away as the given radius. Double the effective radius of bright light, normal light, and dim light for such characters.

So, on a moonlit night, an elf can see as well as during the day ... but still has a 20% miss chance because the lighting conditions are "dim light?"

I just ran my 10th-level party through an encounter with a ghonhatine, and it completely ate their lunch. They only managed to do 45 points of damage to it, in toto, and ended up having to distract it and run the heck away.

Part of the problem was bad dice rolls on the saves. (No one ever managed to make the save, and I think the highest roll anyone made was a 10.) Part of the problem was that the party is weak at range and the only spellcaster they have is a bard. A DC 24 Fort save is pretty tough, though; the PC with the best Fort save in the party would have had to roll a 12, and a couple of them needed an 18. The nauseated condition is one of the worst out there, completely denying the PCs an attack and no way to remove it. And four attacks at such a high bonus when it gets a full attack is brutal as well. Even with the nauseated PC moving away every round, the monster was doing about 22 damage with every hit, plus another if they failed their Acrobatics check to avoid the AoO (and I don't know if I was even bending the rules by allowing them to do that as part of their single move action).

Am I wrong in thinking this creature is under-CRed? Was it just bad dice-rolling and a poor fit for my party's abilities? (They're a fighter 7/chevalier 3, monk 10, bard 10, and rogue 6/ranger 4.)

This is a thread for GMs to post ways they deviated from the plotline in running Second Darkness. What changes did you make?

In Shadow in the Sky, I didn't like Saul's sudden swing from liking the PCs to trying to get them killed, so I had him secretly working against them from the moment they foiled his plot to rob his own casino. Every mission he sent them on, he was purposely placing them in dangerous situations, hoping they wouldn't come back. When they went to the Foamrunner, instead of Braddikar Faje trying to steal from them, they ended up unknowingly stealing from him; the shipment of wine really was for Clegg Zincher, but Saul told him it was for the Goblin. Their act of theft and murder instigated Zincher's raid. Instead of a reverse-raid on the Gold Goblin after the Boneyard encounter, I had the PCs break into a locked-up casino just as Saul the veteran arsonist had it rigged to go up in flames. This served a double-purpose, as the Goblin sustained serious damage and the PCs were encouraged to go after the skymetal in the next book to get the money needed for repairs. The Teeth of Araska from the next book was the smuggling ship Depora Azrinae was using for shipments to Devil's Elbow and the one she leapt onto to make her escape.

Children of the Void changes coming up!

From the beginning, my concern with the "Tian Xia" classes has been that they not be obviously better than their "Inner Sea" counterparts just because, "Well, duh, ninjas/samurais are way cooler than boring old thieves/fighters." (Yeah, cavaliers, I know. Whatever.) I don't play fighters or cavaliers so my opinion on the other playtest classes is worth very little, but rogues are one of my favorite classes so I've been a bit uptight about the advent of the ninja.

On a first glance, I appreciate that Paizo hasn't gone overboard with all the abilities that have been attributed to the ninja by some. The basic outline is really much less mystical than I feared it might be. (Keep in mind, I haven't taken a look at the ninja tricks yet. For the purposes of this post, I'm just looking at the overall class abilities.) What I really want to know is, does the Ninja make the Rogue less viable? Is it a no-brainer to say, "Well, my PC just arrived in Nirmathas from Tian Xia," just so you can be a ninja rather than a rogue?

So, I'm going over the differences between the Rogue and the Ninja, looking for balance. Here goes:

Class skills

Rogue gets Knowledge (dungeoneering). Ninja gets Knowledge (nobility). Entirely justifiable choice flavor-wise. In most games, dungeoneering is probably going to come up more often than nobility.
Edge: Rogue

Weapon proficiencies

Rogue gets simple weapons, plus hand crossbow, rapier, sap, shortbow, and short sword. Ninja gets simple weapons, plus kama, katana, nunchaku, sai, short sword, shortbow, shuriken, siangham, and wakizashi. That's four extra weapon proficiencies for the ninja. In a Inner Sea campaign, that difference is going to be offset by the fact that the rogue's weapons are far more common. In a campaign in Tian Xia (like the latter part of Jade Regent, supposedly), however, that's a definite plus for the ninja.
Slight and circumstantial edge: Ninja

Level one class abilities

Rogue gets trapfinding -- a bonus to Perception & Disable Device and the ability to disarm magical traps. Ninja gets poison use. (Can the ninja really not disarm magical traps? That seems odd flavorwise, with their reputation for mystical infiltration. Maybe it's in the ninja tricks. I'll look in a bit.) I find poison use underwhelming in general, but I suppose it has its places.
Silght edge: Rogue (imo)

Level two class abilities

Rogue gets evasion. Ninja gets ki pool. This, for me, is the clearest point where the ninja is better than the rogue. Evasion is certainly a useful ability, but it doesn't offer the flexibility the ki pool does: an extra attack, speed increase or Stealth bonus. Plus, as long as the ninja has ki points left, she gets bonuses to jump all day! This is where my rogue is glaring at the ninja out of the corner of her eyes and muttering under her breath.
Edge: Ninja

Level three class abilities

Rogue gets trap sense. Ninja gets no trace. Honestly, trap sense is one of the most underwhelming class abilities out there, imo. Who ever says, "Man, I can't wait to gain a level so I can get trap sense!!!"? Serves a purpose, but definitely not sexy. No trace is a cooler name, but the actual mechanics are kind of "meh" imo, as well. Flavorwise, it fits the ninjas as masters of stealth rumored to be able to disappear into thin air.
Edge: even

Capstone abilities

Seems a bit unfair to judge classes by abilities 99% of PCs will never get to, but they're on the table. Rogue gets master strike -- the ability to paralyze, slay or put to sleep her target with a successful sneak attack. Ninja gets hidden master -- the ability to cast greater invisibility on herself, plus sacrifice sneak attack dice to apply a penalty to an ability score of her choice.

This is where the ninja goes completely off the rails for me. Look at all those restrictions on master strike: Fort save to negate the capstone ability entirely, and once you've tried it on someone, even if they make their save, they're immune to your capstone ability for 24 hours. Lame. Compare the wording on hidden master, which goes out of its way to remove restrictions. The greater invisibility effect is specifically cited as being immune to invisibility purge, see invisibility, and true seeing. And whenever the ninja deals sneak attack damage all day long, she can apply ability score penalties.
Edge: Dude, seriously? The 20th-level Ninja is totally pointing and laughing at the 20th-level Rogue.

Summary: The ki pool is a little much, imo, and the capstone ability is totally nuts. Honestly, I'd prefer that the rogue capstone ability be made a little cooler -- at least loosen some of the restrictions on it -- but since the rogue class is done and the ninja is under discussion, it has to be toned down. Please. Think of Merisiel.

Can this order ship with my subscription shipment, order # 1553602? I was planning to order this stuff to ship with it, and the "we are preparing to ship" e-mail caught me by surprise.

Here is the text on the spell. Can it be used to deliver a vocal bardic performance, like sing or oratory, to the targets?

Just noticed that when you roll dice, preview (to add result-specific fluff), then submit, the dice result changes. In this post, the roll previewed as 12+13 = 15; when I then hit Submit, it changed to 2+3 = 5.

Trick Shot (Ex): At 3rd level, an archer can choose one of

the following combat maneuvers or actions: disarm, feint, or
sunder. He can perform this action with a bow against any
target within 30 feet, with a –4 penalty to his CMB. Every
four levels beyond 3rd, he may choose an additional trick
shot to learn. These maneuvers use up arrows as normal.

If the archer chooses feint, does the denial of Dex to AC on the archer's next attack still apply only to melee attacks? That is, must the archer drop his bow and draw his sword (in addition to possibly taking a move action to get there) in order to use this ability. Or since this is a special ability for archers, does it allow him to use the denial of Dex to AC on a ranged attack?

I generally run Small characters, and the vast majority of loot a party takes off dead guys is sized Medium. Unless a GM specifically adds in Small-sized equipment, this really handicaps Small characters vis-a-vis their Medium party members, who can typically just pick up the bad guys' armor and/or weapons. (Yes, you can sell what you find, but the 50% markdown means you can't keep up with the rest of the group. And I suppose you could go to a smith and have the item resized -- at additional cost, and if you had enough down time in the adventure.)

The situation seems to cry out for a Reduce/Enlarge Item spell, but unless I'm missing it, I haven't found one. How can we make the situation more equitable for our Small-sized brethren? :)

If a PC wanted a pet shocker lizard, how much would it cost?

Hey, Cosmo and/or Sara Marie! Just placed this order today, and I don't know if it's too late for it to go out with my subscription shipment next week or if it'll have to wait for the GenCon shipment. I know it's the holiday weekend, but if someone gets a chance to shove it on in with Order #1461974, it would be appreciated!

If a PC finds a Headband of Mental Prowess or the like and he already has ranks in the associated skill, can he "retrain" his original ranks into another skill, or does he just let them be overlapped? Verisimilitude ought to demand that if he lost the Headband later he wouldn't therefore be ignorant of something he knew before magical enhancement, but a player might feel the treasure unfairly robbed him of skill points.

Looking at the shiny new Pathfinder page, I note that there are no spaces between the links and the description, i.e.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Gamebuilds on more than 10 years of system development and the largest open playtest in the history of tabletop gaming to create an unparalleled fantasy roleplaying experience. Players need only the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook to play, but Paizo Publishing produces a wide range of books and accessories to enhance your Pathfinder experience, from hardcover rules compendiums to complete campaigns to packets of beautiful full-color maps.

[bolded for emphasis]

Just passing it along for quick correction. :)

My players, when it first became clear that an encounter with the dragon was in the cards for them, immediately started wondering if they could negotiate with him. I know that the text says that Razorhorn attacks immediately, but I'd like to reward them for not assuming everything is mindless hack & slash. Plus, it seems to make sense that the dragon would be interested in a deal with the other side, now that the elves have the upper hand on the drow in Mierani, and the adventure also states he's unhappy with the situation Nolveniss has put him in.

However, I've never been comfortable putting PCs up against dragons, because I don't really feel I "get" the monster in question. So here's my question: assuming that the party bard with maxed-out Diplomacy makes some decent rolls, how might this negotiation play out? What could they offer that might interest the dragon? What kinds of demands might he have, and what concessions might he make? (The party is largely interested in rescuing the prisoners and finding a way out of the Echo before Earthfall.)

Just read that they're reprinting Dungeon Crawlin' Fools. Will Paizo be carrying it?

If guidance is used in conjuction with the Bit of Luck domain ability, does the +1 apply to both d20 rolls or just to the first one? I'm leaning toward applying it to both rolls, as they make up only one "single attack roll, saving throw, or skill check."

Whenever I go to "My Account" or some other secure part of the site, all the logos on the left are also secure with the exception of the PfRPG Compatible one. Is there a reason why?

Dumb question, like I said, but Vista keeps trying to protect me from it by asking if I want to see non-secure parts of the page and I get tired of having to click the box.

Right now I have a very nice laser printer, but it only prints in B&W. I've been considering getting an additional printer to print color battlemaps. A lot of the reviews of inkjet printers I've read complain about the cost of ink replacements: that the included cartridges run out fast and that replacing the ink costs about as much as the printer costs in the first place.

So should I get a mid-priced printer and buy replacement ink, or should I just get a cheap one and buy a whole new printer when the ink runs out?

Wind Sight (Ex): You ignore penalties to Perception

checks based on wind and the f irst 100 feet of distance.
At 7th level, you can see and hear into any area (as if
using clairaudience and clairvoyance) within range as
long as there is an unobstructed path for air to travel
between you and the target area (this does not require
line of effect, meaning the path can turn corners and
go through spaces no smaller than 1 inch in diameter).
You can use this ability a number of rounds per day
equal to your oracle level, but these rounds do not need
to be consecutive.

What kind of uses can this revelation be put to? I'm thinking espionage: reading a note or map or overhearing a conversation at a distance. Despite the name, I'm assuming this refers to all senses, not just sight, particularly since penalties to Perception due to wind would seem to be either hearing-based (roaring gales) or scent-based (upwind, etc.).

However, six seconds per oracle level seems extraordinarily limited. Most other revelation durations are measured in minutes. Is 6 seconds long enough to read or overhear more than a few words? Even a 20th level oracle gets only 2 minutes of use out of this revelation in a day. Unless there's some use for this revelation I'm missing, it seems very underpowered.

When we were playing this weekend, one of the players wanted to use Spellcraft to determine if any of the PCs were under the effect of a spell an enemy had just cast. We noticed that there was no Spellcraft DC listed for this situation.

I went ahead and ruled that it worked the same as in 3.5 (20 + spell level), but I'm wondering if Pathfinder removed this use of Spellcraft on purpose. The chart under the Spellcraft skill in PfRPG is much shorter than the one in the 3.5 PH. Were these additional uses of the skill purposely taken out, or was the chart cut for space with the understanding that DMs could set their own DCs for various skill uses (or use their old Player's Handbook)?

Hey, Cosmo, you must be about as sick of this month's shipment as I am by this time, but if we can find the LoF map folio and keep my shipping option UPS ground, we should be through with it after this!

When I started my Chronicles subscription September 29th, the system was going to ship the map folio all by itself. I e-mailed to ask if it could be postponed to my October shipment, and Jeff said he would stop it from shipping and have you put it in my October shipment. You said you'd take care of it in this thread.

The map folio never showed up in my sidecart, however, and on October 1st, I got a charge to Paizo on my credit card for $12.74. I also received access to the PDF, so I assumed it had been too late to stop the shipment. However, I haven't received the product yet, and there's no record of the shipment in my order history.

So did the map folio ship or not? Do you guys know?

Hey, Cosmo, you must be about as sick of this month's shipment as I am by this time, but if we can find the LoF map folio and keep my shipping option UPS ground, we should be through with it after this!

When I started my Chronicles subscription September 29th, the system was going to ship the map folio all by itself as order #1265015. I e-mailed to ask if it could be postponed to my October shipment, and Jeff said he would stop it from shipping and have you put it in my October shipment. You said you'd take care of it in this thread.

The map folio never showed up in my sidecart, however, and on October 1st, I got a charge to Paizo on my credit card for $12.74. I also received access to the PDF, so I assumed it had been too late to stop the shipment. However, I haven't received the product yet, and there's no record of the shipment in my order history.

So did the map folio ship or not? Do you guys know?

I sent an email about this, but I thought I'd post it here too to be on the safe side. :)

I added the Second Darkness dice to my subscription order yesterday, and somehow it made my shipping option change from UPS Ground to Standard Postal Delivery. Could you please change this back? I switched to UPS because I just didn't trust the USPS anymore after they lost 2 APs and misdelivered another one.

Thanks!

I got my preparing-to-ship e-mail for this order today and noticed that the Pathfinder Advantage discount didn't apply to my Chronicles volumes. Could you please make sure I don't get charged full price for these? Thanks.

I just added a Chronicles subscription, but the first 2 volumes (LoF map folio & Seekers of Secrets) aren't showing up in my October subscription shipment; it just shows Princes of Darkness. Could you please kick the other 2 in there if they're not? Thanks.

EDIT: Hey, look, I got a box around my avatar! I'm one of the cool kids now, right? ;)

Daniel Nagle wrote:

What I've been wondering is what languages the drow of Golarion speak. In the compaign setting it states that undercommon had evolved from elven by the ancestors of the drow, which seems to indicate that undercommon is the drow language. However, I have not been able to find a reference which unequivocally states undercommon is the drow tongue (assuming I didn't just miss something). As most previous incarnations of the drow have had their own language seperate from undercommon, I would like to be certain as to what the Golarion drow use as a language.

On a related note, do the Golarion drow have the sign language which some drow have had in the past?

Drow speak Undercommon and Elven. Abyssal and Aklo are also popular among them. But just as on the surface Common = Taldan, in large part Undercommon = Drow. They're the largest and most successful nation in the Underdark, after all, so it makes sense that their language would become the most widespread.

There is indeed a couple of sign languages in the Darklands as well. The one that the drow would use is called Sakvroth, but in Golarion it's not necesasrilly a drow-only language.

Page 3 of "Into the Darklands" has lots of info about the languages spoken in this region.

I've been working under the assumption that all the documents that the PCs find written in Undercommon can be translated by someone in the Cypherlodge, that is, that Undercommon is an obscure but known language on the surface. How does that square with the drow being an "unknown" race? Should Undercommon be unknown on the surface except for among the Winter Council and higher ranks of the Shin'Rakorath? Or do surface linguists know Undercommon as a language used in the Darklands without being aware of its origins as a form of Elven modified by the drow?

The way I've been portraying it, drow speak Elven among themselves but use Undercommon to communicate with other Darklands races, as well as using it in documents that might fall into surface elves' hands.

Over here, James Jacobs said:

The point of a story award is to let the players know that they're getting XP awards for advancing the story, and that those awards are competitive with those they get for slaying monsters. For an Adventure Path, where advancing the story is often more important than just killing the most monsters, we sometimes inflate story awards so that the players realize how important it is. It, in theory, encourages the players to WANT to advance the story and to play along with the plot rather than be difficult and do what they can to undermine the story by attacking friendly NPCs, willfully going off the adventure's rails, or otherwise trying to disrupt play.

Of course, the problem is that if you have disruptive players who don't achieve the story awards, they aren't aware of what they've missed out on. In such a case, when you're wrapping up the session and everyone's putting their dice away, would you just casually mention, "Oh, by the way, if you'd rescued the merchant from the orc raiders instead of killing him and taking his stuff, the major would have given you 5000 gp and the key to the city"? Or would you try to have it come up in a future session: "Magic weapons you're looking for, you say? Well, old Bob used to have a reliable supplier. Too bad those orcs got him."