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Prologue Encounter Six: The Ruined Camp, On the Road to Oleg’s , CR2
MAP: Ruined Camp
NPCS: Dead Soldiers (6)
Monsters: Wolves (6)

I set this encounter up to set the stage of the Stolen Lands. The camp was a group of soldiers (common men at arms) sent from Restov to help Oleg keep the peace at his trading post, and were ambushed by a roving group of the Stag Lord’s bandits. The Bandits made dirty work of the soldiers, murdering them and then mounting their heads on stakes near the road, with their tabards from the city of Restov as a warning to anyone entering the Stolen Lands.

Coming around a hill, you see what looks like a disheveled camp about 100 yards up the road.

Approaching the camp it's easy to see that this has been the site of a battle. Corpses lay scattered about a cold fire pit, stripped of their valuables. They appear to have been mangled from animals gnawing at their foetid flesh. You can only guess that the heads mounted on stakes facing the road belong to these poor souls. This scene serves as a morbid warning to any who travel the road, though what that warning is one can only guess.

DC 10 heal check - they’ve been dead around a week.
DC 15 heal check - looks like wolves have been at them, recently.
DC 15 survival check - wolf tracks lead into the underbrush where you see pair of yellow wolf eyes! Wolves attack!

Wolf, 6: Init: +2 AC: 14 HP: 9
Fort: +5 Ref: +5 Will: +1
Melee: Bite +2, 1d6+1, Trip.
Special: Perception +8, Stealth +6

There is little left of the camp save some ruined blankets.

DC 12 perception check - there are some saddlebags tucked under a log that contain 20 gp, a change of clothes, and the contract from the Marshal of Restov, below:

By order of the Marshal of Restov, Jeffry Troyer is hereby pronounced Deputy of the Council of Swordlords, and charged with the securing the northern Stolen Lands. Furthermore, he is charged with striving against banditry, and with bringing stability to the region. The area of responsibility entitled to the bearer of this document is to extend no further than twenty miles from Oleg’s Trading post, located in the Northern Stolen Lands. Once arriving at Oleg’s Trading Post, report at once to Constable Hodd, local representative of the Council.

Six wolves can be a tough thing to handle at level one, there is no doubt there. We have a party of six however, all of whom are long term players and very skilled at using their character’s strengths. One of the things I did was have the wolves appear in a staggered fashion, 3 the first round, 2 the third round, and one the 5th round.By the end of the third round, the cleric was rolling to stabilize at neg 2 hitpoints, and saved the day with a healing burst (which also helped some of the wolves). However the Cavalier with the Halbred was able to make fast work of the wolves once he started hitting them, and not having the wolves attempting to trip every single round was a boon for the party. It was a tense and hard combat, with everyone on the edge of their seats, but in the end rewarding. And they came out of it with 5 decent wolf pelts they are thinking about making into gloves!

This all got them to Oleg’s to start the campaign in earnest. In all it was a pretty good Prologue, my players told me afterward that they “really liked how the adventure path started us out in a city and had us move into the countryside.” That brought a smile to my face, especially after I told them that I had come up with all that stuff, and that the AP actually set you up to start at Oleg’s, arriving the night before the Bandits come to collect their insurance payment. I guess I’m doing something right!

Azmyth wrote:

Not to wet blanket on your idea, but I prefer to Role Play treaty negotiations instead of governing them with crunch and mechanics.

As treaties provide a mechanical benefit to a kingdom the do need a mechanical creation device. Otherwise it's just a hand wave, which is not always bad but at that point any mechanical benefit should be null.

I'd probably do both. If they roleplay well I give them a bonus on the roll.

Prologue Encounter Five: On the Road South and West. CR1
XP: 50 per for roleplay on the road
MAP: Brevoy Wilderness
NPCS: Mercenaries, Innkeepers, Serving Girls

I decided to over emphasise the scale of the world in my game. Oleg’s is now about 2 weeks travel from Restov -- deep in the wilds. I fleshed out a couple of encounters for on the road, feel free to use as needed for your campaign. Assume there are inns scattered roughly a day apart for the first few days, then every two days. This is mostly a time for the party to start to get to know one another, share back stories / backgrounds, and to insert a little more flavor of what’s going on in the region as a backdrop.

For our heroes:
It has been a fairly comfortable and uneventful week of travel through rolling grasslands and low hills. You’ve all gotten to know one another a bit, and have been able to take in some of the countryside of Brevoy. Flowers blanket the unworked landscape, and farmers have been starting to prepare their fields for spring planting. In all it is a beautiful and hearty landscape.

You’ve also seen soldiers traveling the roads, anything from a few mercenaries looking for work to full companies of twenty or more riding north or east to Restov. Often these are rag-tag groups of men and boys looking for glory, coin, and a hot meal. Many have been on the road for some time and are happy to trade stories and rumors.

Rumors:

1. Word is that the Issians are calling their banners and its looking like civil war again
2. Restov is calling on soldiers to fortify her armies - that’s where we’re headed!
3. The Swordlords look south with coins in their eyes while the real threat is north with pikes and iron shod boots.
4. The Issians are hiring engineers to build an army of terrible war machines
5. The Brevan farmlands will be the first casulty if war breaks out, and then all the land and armies will starve
6. The Swordlords have hired a number of teams to go south and explore. None seem to be coming back though.
7. Sir Hrodgar, the Spear of Rostland, is traveling the Rostlandian countryside gathering a host to smash the Issian dogs.
8. Theres a reason folks don’t go south - its said that the green gods still walk the Stolen Lands.
9. Barbarian ghosts wander freely in the wilds to the south, stealing children and preying upon unwary travelers.
10. There used to be an old keep on the borderlands of the south and west. That place is probably haunted now.

The few Inns you’ve passed have been hospitable if not full, though all have hot meals and decent folk.

--------

For our heroes, after a few more days of travel:
As you head further west, the farms become more spread out, often going miles without a sign of people working the land. Game is prevalent, as are light forest and more rolling hills. The hills are becoming a bit higher and steeper as you travel westward. On the 9th day you arrive at the ‘road’ that leads south to Oleg’s trading post. It is little more than a trail used by trappers and an occasional peddler heading south by southwest into the Stolen Lands.

At this point I started rolling random encounters for the wilderness. Low and behold, on the first day I rolled for a random Tatzlwyrm encounter. So I set it up in a way that the party could avoid it should they want to - they came over a low hill and saw the tatzylwyrm about 200 yards away. The wyrm had taken down a deer and was eating it, unaware of the party nearby. Perfect opportunity for them to skirt an encounter, and boom! The fighter decides to charge the Tatzylwyrm! In the end it was all right, the party got beat up badly but were victorious, thanks to some low rolls on the Wyrm’s part.

I really want to do a Mac version. I'm all Mac, all the time at home. I'm a total Apple fanboi.

The critical path runs through the middleware. There are no good cross-platform options that do Mac well yet. The software we're planning to use does not yet have a Mac client.

On the other hand, it's more likely that one will be available by the time the game is ready to ship than it has been in the past. Apple's successes make it easier to justify spending money on Mac development.

There's also always the option of doing something like the EVE port using WINE, CIDER, and support from a company like Transgaming.

So it's not a question of will, or a question of interest. It's just a technical question of "if it's possible, we'll do it".

RyanD

Bestiary knowledge check app.

I know how my Qadiran would respond to the lack of a wand by a party member.

"You want healing you owe me a favor - that favor will be collected at a later date, in coin or hide".

Then I'd make them sign my chronicle sheet that they owe me one favor.

I created this a few years back for a low-magic campaign. It never occurred, but I've used it in our regular games since then with great effects.

The main document can be find here via this elegantly crafted link. Any updates will be uploaded there, but for the sake of convenience, here's the bulk of it.

All comments/suggestions are welcome.

findel

HERBALISM

SEARCHING FOR AN HERB (HERB HUNT)
A character with at least 1 rank in Profession (herbalist) can attempt an herb hunt to find herbs in the wilderness.

Check: An herbalist must succeed a Profession (herbalist) check in order to find 1 dose of a given herb. The base DC to find a single dose of a common herb is 15. The base DC is increased to 17 for uncommon herbs and to 20 for rare specimen. For every 5 points by which the herbalist’s check result exceeds the herb's base DC, an extra dose is also found. Note that the herb may simply not be available in a given area (see below).

Action: An herb hunt is an Overland Move Equivalent Action. Like foraging, an herbalist can hunt for herbs while traveling. Spending a full day hunting for herbs grants a +2 circumstance bonus, in which case it becomes an Overland Full-Day Action. An herbalist can attempt a rushed hunt to find an herb within D6x10 minutes, albeit a -10 penalty on the Profession (herbalist) check. Hunting for an herb this way becomes a Swift Overland Action. The herbalist cannot take 10 on a rushed hunt.

Try Again: Yes. A character may spend another Overland Move Equivalent Action if the first check fails, provided that it is allowed to do so.

Restriction: An herb cannot be found outside its harvesting season(s). Raise the herb’s frequency to rare as the harvesting season begins or ends (or if you are unsure of the season). Add 5 to the skill check DC to find herbs in wintertime, and add 4 if the search goes by nighttime (divide this penalty by half if the herbalist has proper lighting or possess either low-light vision or darkvision). Add 2 to the skill check DC to find an uncommon herb and add 5 to the DC for rare herbs.

Special: Even if the skill check is successful, the herb may simply not be available within a given area. In addition to the Profession (herbalist) check, uncommon and rare herbs also carry a hunt miss chance. An uncommon herb gives the herbalist a 20% chance to fail the hunt by simply not being present in the area. Rare herbs command a 50% miss chance. An herbalist that succeeds the Profession (herbalist) check but fails due to a hunt miss chance is aware that there are no available specimens in the area.

Market prices for herbs average 5 gp for common herbs, 50 gp for uncommon herbs and 300 gp for rare herbs. Herbs that need to be used fresh usually command double price. Berries and herbs stay fresh for 10 days, unless noted otherwise.

All effects are supernatural in nature and cannot be dismissed nor dispelled by magic. All bonuses gained are alchemical bonuses and do not stack with multiple doses, similar herbs or alchemical substances.

Random question: Do Blind characters even GET AoOs since they are essentially considered flat footed the whole time?

Your premise is incorrect. Being blind does not make you flat-footed.

A combatant is only flatfooted at the start of combat before he has had a chance to take an action. Once he gets a chance to act, he is no longer flat-footed. This is from the RAW, and it is true even if he is blind.

Being blind does not prevent you from taking AoOs; there is nothing in the "Blinded" condition that says you cannot take AoOs.

However, when you are blinded all your opponents have Total Concealment against you. Per the rules of Total Concealment, you cannot make an AoO against opponents with Total Concealment.

Therefore, when you are blinded, you cannot make AoOs against your opponents. Not because you are blind, but because they have Total Concealment against you.

This is a crucial distinction, in two ways:
1. It's generally bad to confuse "Flat-footed" with "denied DEX modifier" because the two things are different and have some different game rules applied to them.
2. There are ways to compensate for being blind (such as Blindsight). Using these compensations, you are still blind, but you have ways to remove the Total Concealment. This means that while you are still "blinded", you can actually make AoOs because blind doesn't prevent AoOs and your compensating ability removes the Total Concealment.

2: ALot of people can not tell the difference between ethnicticities anyway. this does include me( cant tell you the difference between a hispanic and a ntice american indian,

I can, having grown up in the southwestern USA.

anmd I could not tell you the difference between a chinese person and a japanese person either)

I can, having grown up in the southwestern USA.

I have always believed that the money I place in pre-orders is money spent on potential. It is an investment in the dreams that people and companies try to bring into the world. Sometimes that investment pays off, and sometimes it doesn't. Never the less, if there remains the shadow of a chance that those Sinister dreams can be made real, then I shall stay invested in that hope.

Good luck!

Hey all,

There is now a new way to get your money back for any purchases you made from Nick Logue's Sinister Adventures.

Email your request to bgmcubed@gmail.com

I expect to be able to start sending people their money back by the end of the month. I will update everyone here if there are any delays to the start of that process. Money will be refunded in the order requests are received. Everyone who wants their money back can get it.

I extend Nick's apologies if you've already emailed and need to email a second time.

IN THE INTERESTS OF FULL DISCLOSURE
===================================
I need to let everyone who purchased know that there is a tiny, tiny possibility that I might be able to put out Razor Coast for Nick. If I do it will be more expensive than the pre-order price, by a significant factor. The book got a LOT bigger under my development. One of the primary issues preventing this is recovering the art from Nick's crashed hard drive and/or getting his artist's to resend it, years later.

Am I committing publishing RC as this time? NO. Absolutely, not.

WHY ARE YOU DISCLOSING THIS?
============================
If you don't get your money back, and I do put this out you get RC for whatever price you originally paid.

If you do get your money back, and then (by some miracle of personal goodness) decide later that you want RC anyway, you'll have to pay full price. Whatever that is at the time.

If is a tiny little word with a really big meaning, but IF I can help Nick in this way, I don't want anyone to feel they got fooled or ripped off.

Again, this is NOT any kind of promise to release RC in any shape or fashion, whatsoever.

But I have to make you aware of this possibility, now, even if the chances are fairly small. Transparency is important. Anything else would be dishonest.

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET MY MONEY BACK NOW?
============================================
I've been working with the Logue to help him recover from a computer disaster and otherwise get his ducks in a row.

He agreed -- and did -- release to my management his email and paypal accounts from Sinister Adventures, solely for the purposes of processing return transactions on his behalf.

I'VE WAITED THIS LONG, WHY ANOTHER #$%&#! MONTH?
================================================
What I've got is a giant stack of thousands of unsorted emails across multiple years -- many filled with understandably inventive imprecations -- plus a few years of PayPal statements. I've hired a temporary assistant to sort everything. He starts next week. Then I've pre-arranged extra hours for my bookkeeper to stay on top of payments. And I've got to make sure they do everything right and don't miss anything. It's an extra project I wasn't planning on, and it's going to take a while to get all set. Sorry.

WHY NOW?
=========
I would like Nick to survive Paizocon with all his body parts reasonably intact. He'll have a hard enough time surviving his mud wrestling match with Rich Pett. Pett + a pitchfork mob VS. Logue? No way. He'd never win.

And I only recently had the idea.

And it took me a while to work up the courage to offer him my help with this.

DOES THIS MEAN YOU, LOU, OWE ME THE MONEY?
==========================================
No. Nick owes you. Always did, always will. I did not buy Sinister's accounts from him. I have no legal obligation to anyone for the money. I am not and have never been an employee of Sinister. I was a freelancer. Now I'm a payment processor. Think of me as an unpaid freelance bookkeeper handling the mechanical and accounting steps of refunding people's money. I'm just helping a friend (finally) do right by the community.

WHAT THE HECK DOES BGMCUBED MEAN?
=================================
Figure that out, and I will shower you with accolades. :)

I'm sure there are questions I didn't address: please fire away.

My supervising Professor says: "Anyone can get lost in the fog. It's important that we help them find the way out of it, not berate them for getting lost in the first place."

Welcome back Nick. You might have dropped a ball or two, but I'll never forget the faces of my players when I ran Hook Mountain Massacre.

The thing to remember is, not every one agrees on which questions are important and which questions aren't. :)

That doesn't mean that no questions are important.

I feel it would behoove Paizo to have a more regular column to answer FAQ, much like Sage Advice in the olden days.

If a whole community is in an uproar about something, methinks that it is important to them, even if the developers/designers feel it to be trivial.

I'm sure everyone here is aware of the Crafty Wizard thread, and that's relevant to this topic as well.

Though you may not like that the Crafty Wizard refuses to use his feat to make half-off magic items for you, there is still a choice. Your PC can choose not to trade with the Crafty Wizard and use other avenues to acquire magic times.

If Leadership is treated the way Chob and others suggest, then the rest of the Party pays for one PC's feat choice whether they want to or not.

That's not cool. No, Mr. Leader, I don't want to give your Cohort, who is only loyal to you, a full cut of treasure. I didn't take that feat, you did. You deal with it.

Treasure-splitting is an in-character, in game issue, IMO. It's hardly unreasonable for the party members, who are doing better w/ the addition of the cohort, to grant a share or partial share of the treasure to a participant in the adventure.

The Cohort may be a participant, but it's not an Adventurer. It's a Feat. You want to talk about stealing from the Party, this is it. No one asked you to take Leadership, you did so for your own gain. Unless you're pimping it out, the Party shouldn't pay for his services.

Cohorts aren't Adventurers, so they shouldn't get a cut. They should get a portion of their Leader's cut.

Greetings, fellow traveller.

As per PRD in the Magic section (Spell Descriptions -> Effect), there is no such rule, i. e. rolling of dice for targeting an emanation/spread or burst like e. g. a fireball.
It is always said you choose or select or designate like in PRD Magic section:

[Y]ou select the spell's point of origin and measure its effect from that point.

I could think of something like under the Combat section (How Combat Works -> Special Attacks -> Throw Splash Weapon):You can instead target a specific grid intersection. Treat this as a ranged attack against AC 5.

Ruyan.

I see no difference between aiming a fireball to a specific 5-foot square and aiming an arrow at a creature that occupies a 5-foot square.

Difference is the archer has to make an attack roll which scales with target's size, armor type, dexterity distance and what-not - exactly what the OP is looking for as equivalent for a spellcaster aiming a spell.

Why do wizards never miss with their fireballs? Because they generally have 20+ intelligence. Eyeballing distances with a degree of accuracy is second nature to them.

Except it would be keyed to perception, which is tied to Wisdom in game mechanics.

Ruyan.

I don't think we need a reboot. It won't fix anything. They need to hire someone to give SKR and Jason more time to fix the issues we have now. I would start with the CRB because if the core rules are not straight the problem spreads out to anything else that is released.

GAMEX 2012 is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend (May 25th - May 28th, Friday through Monday) in Los Angeles, California.

This event is scheduled at the Sheraton LAX hotel, easy access via airport shuttle from the airport, or locally via the 405 and 105 freeways.

Pathfinder Society Games (as well as a large number of other role playing games) are scheduled from Friday afternoon until Monday afternoon.

Convention registration is at http://www.strategicon.net.

PFS event registration is occuring on Warhorn at http://warhorn.net/gamex-2012-pfs/

See the Paizo event information here Paizo event page

Games are scheduled daily from 8am to 1pm, 2pm to 7pm and 8pm to 1am. (three sessions most days).

The convention does require registration attend PFS events. Preregistration is encouraged to reserve your spots in the event, through if there are room at tables, walk ins are accepted.

Come join over 1000 fellow gamers that are descending on Los Angeles for a weekend of gaming fun!!!

Remember for those that pre-register, there is a discount to convention fees for registered PFS participants, simply indicate your membership in PFS during registration on the Strategicon site.

Expanded trade goods: an alternative to treasure, maybe with a simple table that lets you adjust price up/down based on region? That could serve as a minor adventure hook (hey, we just found a bunch of iron ore in this abandoned mine, let's sell it! Hmm, the prices here are a bit low ... maybe we head over the border?).

It might also make more sense in certain "dungeons" than thousands and thousands of copper pieces in a pile (or chest or sacks or treasure vault or whatever), too.

Expanded alcohols: prices, rarity, maybe some game effects (like poisons, but slower?). Someone suggested breaking alcohols down by region, which I think is a fantastic idea. I know my fellow gamers always ask about what's on tap, so to speak, and this seems like a good place to put that information.

And as has been mentioned: more alchemical items! Because they are cool.

I've designed a few pantheons for my own settings, and let me tell you something: It's fun and easy to do if you just let creativity lead the way, and rules follow after.

Step 1 is theogenesis - start with a creation myth. Don't worry about domains and all that jazz yet. In fact, ignore the books and rules for a moment and just make up a creation myth that you like for a setting you like. Make it fit conceptually first. It need not be believable or serious, especially considering real world creation myths involving giant turtles, cosmic cows or sexual innuendos involving spears and froth.

Step 2 is to tweak your primal gods to sort out what domains, alignments and favored weapons they have.

Step 3 is to look at a list of domains you've missed. From there, your story of godly origins will develop in a way that covers many of these gaps. If you don't have all the domains covered, don't cry. If you have overlap, good!

This is one pantheon.
One pantheon need not cover all domains.
Do you think the Greek gods cover them all? What about the Aztecs? Hindu? Mesopotamian? No. No pantheon needs to cover every domain.

But if you want to cover every domain, I suggest multiple pantheons, multiple cultures. A setting with only 1 culture is rather 1-dimensional by definition anyway.

That's my blab on the subject. Have fun!

First, consider whether all the gods are contemporaries or not: are there gods who are latecomers to the pantheon? Ascended mortals, etc.?

Think also about non-sentient sources of divine magic -- concepts, cthonic forces, mindless elemental forces, etc.

Determine whether all gods have a common origin, or whether there are variant ways that gods can come into existence.

Consider establishing a crop of original/creator-type deities, followed by subsequent gods with foci on guardian/patron-style portfolios.

A class of "titan-esque" precursors to the currently-worshipped gods can be useful, along with forgotten gods, the remnants of slain gods (hard to imagine something of that power being stopped by mere death/destruction; even the 'ghost' of a god should be able to hand out some interesting powers to those who will serve it).

I'd recommend racial deities being relative latecomers, emerging post-creation with the rise of sentient lifeforms.

Finally, it's possible to make a relatively-limited pantheon stretch to cover everything by eliminating alignment from the gods entirely, i.e., will deliver power to someone of any alignment who is sufficiently devoted/useful to the god's focus. This option leaves clerics of different alignments worshipping the same god often in conflict with each other, schismatic branches of a religion making alliance with like-minded priesthoods of other deities, etc. It can get complicated, but makes for a very interesting hotbed of intrigue among the temples.

Hope this helps a bit... you've got a big project in accounting for EVERYTHING with domain/subdomain/etc. Luck.

august is a sexy month for a book like this WOOT WOOT!!!

do yourselves and us a favor by standardizing terminologys in the book. have a formula for creating discriptions so they will not be misinterpreted or misused. if you guys would impliment a series of key words it would cut down on the need for errata.

I would really like to see the ability to buy the items on the ARs at a very minor discount. 10% or even 5% would be enoungh to get the players to pay more attention to what's on them. and I really don't think it would upset game balance (but I've been wrong before)

also:

heck, I'd like to see some unusual items - perhaps non-standard. Here's a few suggestions.

1) an ioun torch made from an active ioun stone (not a burned out one). you it would be both an Ioun Stone and an Ioun Torch.

2) a higher caster level wand of Shocking Grasp, or Burning Hands, or ... heck Summon Monster 1. Any higher caster level wand.

3) cracked or flawed Ioun stones (to show players that you can buy them, and where to look for them).

4) A special Wayfinder that holds two Ioun Stones.

anyone else have any suggestions?

An idea that might work is to have some sort of a station.. and most importantly.. TIME set aside prior to game slots scheduled start. Probably need to be run by someone OTHER than the GM(s) so that they can still prep as normal... and have someone to run the audit station while the inevitable lateys trickle up.

Why would a player subject himself to the scrutiny? Well, as you thought, some might appreciate honest criticism. But another idea that I'll throw out is piggy-backing off the t-shirt reroll idea.

Allow anyone who got their character audited a free reroll in the session.

Have you tried out the Trailblazer style iterative system? (2 attacks at -2, with gradually lessening penalties)

What do you think of the Trailblazer style unified spell progressions via a BaseMagicBonus that replaces caster level?

I've not tried out Trailblazer yet. That's a very interesting take, though—not having to recalculate different rolls for different attacks is huge. But still... minimizing the number of attacks themselves is a great way to speed up high level combat.

And I've long championed for something akin to a Base Magic Bonus. Just as a fighter who multiclasses into wizard still progresses (although more slowly) in his BAB... a wizard who multiclasses into a fighter should still enhance his caster level.

James Jacobs wrote:

nightflier wrote:

What are your thoughts of Paladin becoming Prestige Class instead of Base Class?

That's how I wanted to do paladins in Pathifnder in the first place. But we got cold feet due to the desire to maintain backwards compatibility.

But forcing would-be paladins to qualify for the class by proving their adherence to law and good BEFORE they take their first paladin level is very very appealing.

If this has already been answered since I'm few pages behind, just let me know.

So, I like the idea of the whole prove yourself paladin. Could you give some thoughts on this prestige class and how you would work it? What prerequisites beyond the normal paladin alignment/code tropes? How would you condense the powers to be balanced with possible pre-req classes and still feel "paladin"?

As an added note/disclaimer. While I am a fan of Paladins. I am also using a very objective view of them. Honestly just curious, and value your input.

Well... I'm not all that interested in designing the class on this board, of course... BUT!

What'd I would probably do is have the requirements line for the prestige class look something like this:

Requirements
Alignment: Lawful Good. In addition, you must have been lawful good for a minimum of 3 consecutive levels, leading up to the first level you take your first paladin level.
Special: You must perform at least 3 of the deeds listed under "Paladin Deeds" while you have no paladin levels.

And as part of the prestige class, I'd list a number of "deeds" that would include things like "give significantly to a charity" or "help defeat a demon at least 4 CR points higher than your level" or "craft a certain amount of good-aligned magic items" or whatever, and before you level up as a paladin, you'd have to have done one of those deeds.

Three months ago, I set out to design some new monsters, taking requests from fellow board members.

Here are the results at the time of this post:

It is still a very poor marketing move, IMO. If that sort of thing becomes common, I will no longer buy Paizo products. Others have also expressed concerns about this political content.

Everything is political. It would be equally political to deliberately NOT include homosexuals or other minorities.

You're not missing it. There's been one or two updates in the last 3 months, but not many. The last big bunch was in August. Since then a trickle, and that trickle dried to nothing over the holidays.

*sigh*

I'm hoping they put someone back on it now that the holidays are overwith.

I don't know if it's "broken down" so much as it never really got going in the first place. Earlier in the year it seemed as if Paizo was ready to take the much neglected FAQ system off the back-burner and finally put some steady effort into updating it. Things were looking good at first, especially when the stealth playtest was started, but all too soon the updates slowed down and then all but stopped once more. Now we're back to where we were before; with an FAQ system that Paizo doesn't consider a priority.

I hate to type these sort of posts since I'm otherwise a big fan of the work Paizo puts into their products. But the floundering FAQ system is a big sticking point for me.

A number of things we determined needed fixing on here that the Errata missed:

- P. 23: Changing "type" to "subtype" in the Defensive Training gnome racial trait.

- P. 37: 2nd paragraph for suggestion, first sentence, "daily use of bardic performance" should be changed to "remaining uses of bardic performance."

- P. 40: Channel Energy ability, mentioning the fact that "living creatures" means creatures with a Constitution score (to specify that Constructs can't be affected by channel energy).

- P. 42: 8th-level spell for the Artifice domain is instant summons, yet clerics can't cast arcane mark, a spell that must be used in tandem with this spell.

- P. 43: This may not be an actual errata, but as I understand it the Pathfinder Society Guide grants clerics of Irori the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for free as a bonus feat (in order to use their favored weapons effectively). Perhaps a footnote should be added to Table 3-6: Deities of the Pathfinder Chronicles.

- P. 45: Remove Viewing ability from the Knowledge Domani, first sentence, the words "at will" should be deleted.

- P. 48: Adding the duration of "1 round" somewhere to the description of the Battle Rage ability in the War domain.

- P. 53: (for anybody using a PDF copy, [possibly older versions only]) Weapon Finesse not included in list of Animal Feats.

- P. 63: 4th paragraph of the Divine Bond class feature, 2nd sentence, "heavy horse" was probably meant to be "light horse."

- P. 78: Something should mention that if a wizard selects a weapon as his bonded item, he need not be proficient with it. Additionally it should clarify that a weapon is considered "wielded" when it is held in a way that allows its use (so a two-handed weapon would make a poor choice).

- P. 79: Paragraph regarding Cantrips, last sentence. "Prohibited school" should be changed to "opposition school." Same thing in the 1st sentence of the 2nd paragraph of the Spellbooks part on this page.

- P. 86: 3rd paragraph under Skill Checks, last sentence, word "exceeds" should probably be replaced with "equals or exceeds."

- P. 91: Some addition to the Climb skill mentioning how creatures of size Tiny or smaller use Dex instead of Str to modify their Climb checks.

- P. 108: Some addition to the Swim skill mentioning how creatures of size Tiny or smaller use Dex instead of Str to modify their Swim checks.

- P. 112: Item Creation Feats section, Skill Check paragraph, 1st sentence, changing "10 + item's caster level" to "5 + item's caster level."

- P. 136: The addition of the elven curve blade to the list of weapons that can benefit from Weapon Finesse in that feat's Benefit description.

- P. 140: Weapons section, 2nd paragraph, last sentence, changing the word "exceeds" to "equals or exceeds".

- P. 147: The changing of the description of the net, mentioning somewhere that it requires 2 hands to be thrown properly.

- P. 203: Ready section, Distracting Spellcasters paragraph, last sentence, the word "Spellcraft" should probably be "concentration".

- P. 220: Preparing Divine Spells section, 1st paragraph of the Spell Selection and Preparation part, 3rd sentence, changing the words "a cleric" to "a divine caster."

- P. 262: Crushing despair spell failing to mention what kind of material component it uses (previous versions used a vial of tears).

- P. 266: Detect Chaos/Evil/Good/Law table, the Faint entry for Aligned creature (HD) should be changed to "6-10".

- P. 289: Giant Form II spell, first sentence, "type" should be changed to "subtype." Also in the second to last sentence, the words "one element" should be "any elements." (apparently this was supposed to be in the errata previous to the last one, but never made it, and still hasn't it seems)

- P. 323: Plant shape I spell, last paragraph (the Medium plant section), the words "+2 enhancement bonus" should be "+2 size bonus."

- P. 323: Polymorph spell, 1st paragraph, 1st sentence, "animal, humanoid or elemental" should be "animal, magical beast, humanoid, or elemental."

- P. 334: lesser restoration, restoration, and greater restoration have strange casting times. Lesser takes 3 rounds, normal takes a minute, and greater goes back down to 3 rounds. In previous editions, greater restoration took 10 minutes to cast.

- P. 341: Shapechange spell, second sentence, "beast form IV" should be "beast shape IV."

- P. 362: True Resurrection spell, the diamond worth 25,000 gp coming after the DF part of the components line instead of the M part of it.

- P. 363: Unhallow spell, 3rd paragraph, 1st sentence, "sacred bonus" should be changed to "profane bonus."

- P. 378: Assassin prestige class requirements, Alignment says any evil yet the description mentions neutral characters taking levels in this class.

- P. 412: Ledge paragraph, last sentence, change "opposed Strength check" to "CMD."

- P. 453: Table 14-7: Racial Ability Adjustments, the Halfling mentions gets a +2 to Intelligence when it should be Charisma.

- P. 515: Golem Manual, requirement spells to be cast when creating a Stone Golem Manual mention antimagic field, when this spell is not mentioned at all in what the book contains.

- P. 540: Bracers of Defenselessness, Slot entry says "arms" when it should say "wrists"

- P. 551: Creating Magic Weapons section, 5th paragraph, delete this word "XP"

- P. 554: Spell-Like Abilities (Sp) section in Appendix 1: Special Abilities, apparently in previous reprints of the Core Rulebook, this was fixed, but it was never mentioned in any of the errata documents. Thus, for anyone using an older PDF or an older print edition, this paragraph still says spell-like abilities can be counterspelled as normal, when they cannot, nor can they be used to counterspell.

- P. 559: Table 16-2: Sample Poisons, "Dark reaver power" should be "Dark reaver powder."

- P. 562: Death attacks still mention that they slay instantly, when in PF many death attacks simply do profound amounts of damage.

- P. 565: When Spell Resistance Applies section, 1st paragraph of Effect Spells, last sentence mentions the web spell as being applicable to spell resistance. This is a relic from previous editions, as the web spell is no longer bothered by spell resistance.

**ADDITIONALLY**
A sentence on page 199 describes how combat maneuvers are affected when using them against stunned creatures, claiming that creatures using maneuvers against stunned opponents get a +4 bonus on their CMB checks. When you look at the Stunned condition on page 568, it mentions a -2 penalty to AC. It's unclear if the -2 penalty to AC stacks with the +4 bonus an attacking creature gets when performing a combat maneuver against the stunned creature.

Sorry for the newb question, but what is E6 and E7?

-Von

Go to here

Characters max level is 6th... E7 allows for 7th as the top level as it works better for Pathfinder. After hitting top level you get feats instead of BAB, HPs, Skills and Saves (unless you buy those with said feat).

I use E7 (as opposed to E6) and use the 4th level slot(s) for either Metamagic OR as per a spell focus (cast any spell known to you once per day) - caster chooses each day, giving them much flexibility. 7th is where many PFs characters would hit what I could call a capstone ability (running in Platemail, +4d6 Sneak attack, Extra mercy etc) and its a bonus feat level.

At 7th you can give mages/clerics their domain/school power without rocking the boat or you can make them pay one of their feats post cap level on getting it.

While 3rd level spells can be game changers (Haste for example) its sucky to deny the caster his opportunity to shine... and reduces their menu of options. It also makes caster focused players frustrated - Low magic is something YOU (and I) enjoy but its not for everyone - at least if they can get access to the more flexible of spells at the top of their game/career it will not make them feel screwed... and on top of that will Metamagic feats be free? Otherwise thats also burning their slender compliment of feats up.

Low Magic is a funny, moving target and difficult to hit. Using E6/E7 just balances out the spell powers before the casters become demigods (raising people from the dead, creating demi planes of existance, summoning major interplanar creatures etc) while allowing the martial characters to be able to do comparable damage.

The game system isn't really designed for low magic - look at the number of full and 3/4 casters there are... and then add the Paladin and Ranger as 1/4 casters. The encounter systems are made with the expectation that characters have healing and at higher levels the ability to beat DR or improve their character stats to a similar level to the monsters... and many of the creatures just don't work properly if you use no magic weapons at all because they become unstoppable.

My home game (still in the writing but near ready) allows for magic but limits the amount of magic items - this in turn makes casters even MORE powerful however it also forces them to share their abilities with the martial types in terms of Bless/Magic weapon spells, taking out creatures with DR with appropriate spells and boosting the party.

Allow +1 magic item enchancements (Keen, Throwing etc) as NON magical enhancements to standard MW weapons to give your martial types some extra crunch or options without throwing in the need for +1 weapons or bane weapons that are simply MW against everything OTHER than its bane target.

Throw in low magic charms as well - stuff that gives you a +1 against Poison throws or one use stuff like four leaf clovers that give you a single re-roll, healing herbs (as opposed to potions) and the like.

There are a bunch of threads on this in the archives.

The simplest one that I liked?

At less than 50% of hitpoints you are fatigued (the fatigue state now levels a -1 accross the board penalty on to hit/damage/saving throws AND spell dc's)

At less than 25%? you are exhausted (the exhausted state now levels a -3 accross the board penalty on to hit/damage/saving throws AND spell dc's).

You'll find the -1/-3 are in line with the current penalties but are now applied to every roll as opposed to dropped Strength etc. Other penalties on movement etc still apply as well.

Ultimate Challenges: NPCs, Traps, Haunts and Sample Chases.

Dragnmoon wrote:

Is there a rule for Common Sense?... ;)

Not carrying 26 masterwork tools when you are only trained in 8 skills :)

Would a decent idea be you can't use masterwork tools in PFS unless you have at least 1 rank in the skill? That allows skill monkey types to pretend to be batman, while preventing a player from cheesing it out for all skills.

Sometime back in the dawn of the computer gaming days someone came up with the brilliant idea that not all players are created equal and to make the game more interesting they should allow the players to set the skill setting. The default setting was Normal, then there was "Easy" for true noobs. I think Wulfenstien 3d had two other settings "Hard" and "Hurt Me Plenty". On the other side of the equation some player would use cheat codes or hacks to make the game even easier than the n00b mode.

...

So how exactly is a competent/ expert player supposed to find this game challenging if the system is rigged around average or even beginning players? My suggestion is self selecting difficulty.

I have some more discussion on my Blog/ G+ Page, I wanted to keep it there where I can modify the idea as needed since editing posts here is time limited. Let me know what you think, here or there, and let me know what you think about the idea of cross posting like this.

James,

I know that that Golarion is a human-centric setting, and personally, I like this about, due in no small part to the various human ethnicity. I, and others with whom I've spoken, agree that they really aid the verisimilitude of the setting. I was wondering, though, given the apparent success of this little injection of flavor, can we ever expect to see the addition of a couple of demi-human subgroups? Might we see, for example, a page or two on how the dwarves of northern Avistan differ physically and culturally from those from the Five Kings Mountains, or on similar differences between elves from Kyonin and the Mordant Spire?

Right. It's not 100%clear to me, but Barbarian Knockback would seem to be using your weapon... It seems to be similar to the Polearm Master ability the blog describes as an exception (although few polearms are finesse weapons so THAT wpn specific bonus wouldn't be in play there) ... I think the whip master feats eventually let you grapple with a whip which is probably also another case... The FAQ was never 100% clarified to my satisfaction... Which is important since it's not really just explaining the raw rules as much as creating new ones. By raw of the text, barb Knockback (with a finesse wpn) and Greater whip mastery Grapple can't use weapon finesse although they seem to be using the weapon just as much as the Polearm ability.

There is also unclear ness about RAW/RAI re Ranged maneuvers... Whether bolas or archer fighters trick shots....

But if there isn't anything in the rules specifically describing how your weapon attack is delivering a non-finesse type maneuver, then you can't use DEX via finesse you will need agile maneuvers... Which you should need for a man catcher grapple since its not a finesse weapon.

Consider me extremely interested, in both a personal and professional capacity. I would love to lend my cartography skills to the endeavor if needed. :)

something like this popped up in LG (3.5 I think) once.

I had a character trapped in a dungeon (party of adventurers and the entrance "closed" with solid stone). I reached into my (oversized pack) and pulled out a miners pick and said, "We'll head out that way" pointing up "we'll just dig our way out".

Pick does 1d8 (Judge ruled it as a hvy pick), two handed with an 18 str for an average of 4.5+6 damage, against stone (hardness 8). so.... in the middle of digging one of the other characters hands my guy a Greatsword - which we discovered was the best mining tool ever! (rolls eyes - that's why all those dwarf miners use greatswords.).

Thus, in my home game an Ax bypasses at least half the hardness for wooden objects (doors/trees). Want to chop down a door? Use an ax not a sword. A miners pick bypasses AT LEAST half the hardness for stone. Etc.

Krome wrote:

Just once I'd like to Paizo print a book where the PCs meet the BBEG in the first book, get humiliated and sent running with their tails between their legs. THAT is a way to generate a desire for real revenge when you get to the last book. :)

Curse of the Crimson Throne doesn't count, I guess? ** spoiler omitted **

Problem is... players don't take well to being humiliated. If we did an encounter like you suggested, we'd risk having a LOT of would-be campaigns self-destruct when stubborn or foolhardy players/PCs TPK the group in that initial encounter.

It's an interesting idea to try out in a campaign, where the worst case scenario is make up new characters and start another campaign. Not so great a thing to try out when if it backfires, a tentpole product line for your company dies 1/6 of the way through its six month lifecycle...

Hmm.... But if the BBEG defeats them by shunting them off to a distant land/plane and then the AP is about them getting back in order to exact revenge and stop his rule of tyranny, that could be something epic right there. A lot of great fantasy is written with that type of story arc.

Just curious, with this book we got spells for summoning each of the Daemons. Any chance we might see a blog or better a PDF extra with such spells for the first two books in the series for Devils and Demons? :)

Let me propose an analogous situation:

I publish a book called A Field Guide to Edible Plants and Mushrooms, with photographs, where these things are found, and how to safely eat them. I market the book to wilderness camps, Boy Scout troops, etc. at a discount price, and millions of copies are sold.

The thing is, I included only lethal plants and mushrooms. Yes, that's right -- my "edible plants" guide informs you of the best way to find and eat enough monkshood and nightshade to kill an elephant. Fifteen boy scouts die on their annual jubilee, and hundreds more become dangerously ill, because of this handy field guide.

Now, "all I did is write a book," correct? So any surviving boy scouts should be held liable for attempted suicide, and the scoutmasters for mass murder, but I of course am totally blameless, right? It's all their fault for not being experts on wild plants to begin with, before using my book. Let the buyer beware! Suckers!!!

Freedom of speech is a cherished value. I believe it can be damaged and eventually eroded by these sorts of disengenuous attempts to use it as nothing but a convenient cover for blatantly sociopathic acts.

This is roughly how I would work it.

Sleep

After 16 hours of activity without rest and sleep, a character becomes fatigued until he has slept at least 6 hours.

After 20 hours of activity without rest and sleep, a character becomes exausted until he has slept at least 6 hours.

After 24 hours without sleep, a character becomes sleep deprived, until he has slept for at least 6 hours.

Sleep deprived
On first receiving the sleep deprived status, a character looses 1d3 wisdom and must make a willpower save (DC 10) or fall asleep(unless external factors are keeping him awake). After six hours, and every six hour their after this role, this role is made again, however the dice type is increased by one size, so at 30 and 36 hours without sleep , a character looses 1d4 and 1d6 wisdom respectively.

At 48 hours of wakefullness, a character muse make will save(DC 10) or gain a random insanity, which last until all wisdom damage is healed.

A character with the sleep deprived condition is considered to be fatigued until all wisdom damage is recovered.

Did we just get an answer to the Sleep / Trance debate about elves?!

I've given that answer out a long time ago, actually.

Elves sleep in Pathfinder.

The "Trance" element is a Forgotten Realms construct, and as such is the intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast, so it's not something we can work with.

Furthermore, the notion of a race that never sleeps is actually really fundamentally incredibly totally alien. A race that doesn't sleep would have an INCREDIBLY different society than a human society, rather than a slightly different one which is what elves currently have.

I mean... If elves didn't sleep... then pretty much every map of an elven home that shows a bed is getting it wrong.

In any case, elves do indeed sleep. They're just quick to rouse from slumber, don't fall asleep unless they want to, and are immune to effects that force sleep.

Is there some limit for aging per level ?

For me it depends on race. For a human, I'd consider high-school age to be about 1st level, with someone old enough to be entering the work force of about 2nd level. Additional levels of degrees beyond that could translate into additional levels. Non-adventuring characters who are exceptionally wise or intelligent may level-up somewhat faster because they are able to assimilate information and experiences more quickly. For non-adventuring humans, I would generally consider level 5-6 to be about the limits of human potential before you start getting into superhuman feats.

Now consider that in fantasy, the long-lived races are always portrayed as much more bad ass than humans. Why would this be?

Well, for one thing, elves do not take 100 years to grow-up physically — they'd never survive. Instead, they mature at about the same rate as humans. The key difference is cultural. Whereas the age of majority for a human might be 18 to 21, the age of majority for an elf is 100 to 110. This means that an elf who has just reached the age of majority has about 80 years of experience over a human who has just reached the age of majority.

All things being equal then, if a non-adventuring human were able to reach about level 5-6 in their 70-80 years, it seems reasonable to suggest that another humanoid race with very similar racial statistics would achieve a similar level of expertise. Thus, the reason why elves and dwarves often seem far superior to humans in works of fantasy isn't due to inherently superior genetics (beyond lifespans), but rather due to experience.

To turn it around, if you took a level 5 human adventurer of age 30 and contrasted them against a level 1 elf who is 20, that human would seem fantastically powerful to the young elf. By the same token your average 100 year old non-adventuring elf who is level 5 probably seems pretty powerful to your average young human, and even pretty impressive to a human who is fairly advanced in their field (due to the elf not having any aging penalties yet).

Part of the way I determined this was based on the old adage, "You learn something new every day." While it was originally based on a different XP scale (3.5's), at one point, I worked out the math for characters basically gaining 1XP/day. Each week they would gain an additional amount equal to their Wisdom modifier. (Averaging their mental ability scores and deriving a modifier from that would probably also work.)

This results in a fairly believable spread of NPCs, with the most powerful magic, and the most skillful smiths being in the hands of the long-lived races. Why don't rich and powerful humans simply raise each other from the dead when assassinated? Good luck finding an elven elder who can be bothered with every time that happens! For my purposes, I found that this conformed rather nicely to time-honored fantasy tropes and why it is that young adventurers often stand out and surprise even elders with their aptitude.

Quite simply, aside from perhaps the occasional skirmish or call to war, most NPCs will not see much 'adventuring'. As such, they are generally justified in being able to anticipate someone's level of expertise based on their general age and how intelligently that person presents themselves. This reinforces the notion of adventurers as iconoclasts.

Hope this helps!