Quilindra

Nani Z. Obringer's page

Goblin Squad Member. Organized Play Member. 88 posts (668 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. 1 wishlist. 16 Organized Play characters. 7 aliases.


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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Like Kyle said, in my family it's all about Christmas eve. That's when we open presents and have a big dinner and stuff. Worked out really well for our two families actually :-)

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Erk, looks like I had something come up and I won't have time to post tonight, also the photoshop file is totally at work. Very sorry everyone :( I will be posting first thing tomorrow.

Diego, I have been posting rounds as soon as everyone responds. I haven't really come up with any formal rule, since we kind have deviated from the Monday, Wednesday Friday thing. I was thinking if everyone but one person posts for like 24 hours, then the missing person would just delay. If anyone has any better suggestions for how to do things, I am perfectly open.

I suspect that many of us will be celebrating Christmas eve and Christmas, so i suspect some rounds will take a little longer than a day, and I think that is just fine :)

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Herp de derp. I was unable to get to resolving round 3 this afternoon (darn you work!) so I will do it this evening. Looks like you guys are bored of playing with the bugs, so maybe it's time for some new developments...

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Sorry guys there is going to be a bit of a delay in resolving the first round of combat. We are having game days both Saturday and Sunday. Many apologies. If you haven't done so already you can post your actions for the first round, since so far only a few people are acting in the surprise round.

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Lol, Neil.

Sorry for the delay in posting, guys. I will have an important post up shortly.

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Just wait. Something is coming...

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Rose Garden
Lumi shrugs at the ring. "I guess Tenzekil was planning on professing his love to me. That would certainly explain why he was so upset." She looks at it awkwardly. "I feel really bad for him. Perhaps after the wedding I will have a chance to return this to him and hopefully make amends." She hops down from the bench and neatly ties up the rest of the bread in her polka-dot napkin. She hands it to Drezi with a smile, and takes his hand. "Let's go enjoy ourselves for the rest of the wedding, shall we? After the ceremony there will be food and dancing!She leads him out of the garden to the edge of the chapel.

Somewhere in the bushes near the creek
Moira is very giggly from the sips of hard apple cider, the bottle of which is quite a bit stronger than the regular stuff. She perks up at the sound of Vivianna singing. "Hehe, Ashie, want to go see the ceremony? We can go scandalize everyone!" She emphasizes her point by pulling her bodice even lower and pushing up her bosom. "Oooooooor, we can just stay here! Hehehehehe." She leans over and kisses Marcus on the cheek, who appears to be quite content to follow the two wild women wherever they want to go.

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3
Brian Darnell wrote:

Throw anything character would be really cool in a situation like this.

Throw anything, quick draw, point blank shot, price shot, rapid shot, Far shot, Precise shot, dodge, mobility, and shot on the run any more?

Horseshoe Master (Combat)

Prerequisites:Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Throw Anything, Weapon Focus (Horseshoes)
Benefit:As a full round action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead throw three horseshoes at your highest base attack bonus. If you score a ringer on your turn, you may proclaim your victory and make a free intimidate check against your opponent, using the highest attack roll as the check result. If you score two ringers you receive a +2 bonus to this check and if you score three ringers you receive a +4 bonus to this check.
Special:If you have Dazzling Display, you may use this intimidate check against all opponent within 30 feat.

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Summary of events thus far: the two woodsmen disappear into some bushes. Everyone else attracts crowds of children and/or love struck men (which are pretty similar in some ways!) :-P

The Box Social
As you make your way over to the side of the tent not occupied by Asharii and her admirers, you come to a long covered table, with set with seven beautifully decorated boxes. Behind each box stands a pretty maiden, some blushing at the attention, others batting their eyelashes outrageously. A matronly woman, the same that called out the event, stands in front with a box filled with wax pencils and slips of paper.

"Alright, gentlemen, settle down. We have some visitors today in the crowd, so I'll run down the event for everyone's benefit. These are Kailah's lovely bridesmaids, and they have worked their little tushes off to help raise their friend a dowry. The baked good will go to the highest bidder, and you will get to enjoy it in the company of the young lady who baked it. In proper setting mind you, so no ideas young Mr. Bradley and Miss Lena, I'm watching you. Ahem. This WILLl be an orderly auction. No pushing, cheating, cat calling,or disorderly conduct will be tolerated. Fill out your bid on a piece of paper and place it in front of the box please. Yes, very good, let's get started."

The Seven Bridesmaids:
Lena: A pretty brunette with a freckled nose who seems to be spending most of her time making eyes at the aforementioned Bradley. When the matron isn't looking in her direction, she blows kisses his way. She has baked a lemon tart, decorated with candied violets. He starts her bidding at 3 silver.
Oparal: The only half elf of the group, she wears a beautiful high collared green dress, which match her eyes perfectly. While not the most beautiful of the girls, she has a mysterious demure smile that garners much admiration. She has baked a round cake that is crusted with nuts on top. The first bid for her cake is at 2sp.
Belle: Red eyes and a sniffle make this otherwise lovely redhead a sad sight. There is a half-collapsed half-burned apple pie in front of her. She dabs at her eyes occasionally. There is as of yet no bids for her pie.
Tara Rose: The younger of the two raven haired sisters smiles charismatically at the young men. She chats with all of her bidders animatedly, thanking each one. She also takes every opportunity to squeeze her sister's hand encouragingly. She has a white chocolate and buttercream cake in front of her with little icing flowers. Her bids have reached 3 silver.
Sara Lynn: The older of the two sisters spends most of her time trying to hide behind her cake or her sister. She blushes and stammers whenever anyone compliments her cake. The gorgeous two tier chocolate raspberry dessert is decorated with exquisite handiwork and handcrafted chocolates. Her bids rapidly rise to 5 silver.
Lumi: All smiles, the blue haired gnome has to stand on top of a crate to see over her cake. She has a humble honeyed pumpkin bread, but she seems very proud of it. Her bids started at 2 silver, but a white haired gnome pushes his way to her cake and brings the bid up to 4 silver. Lumi smiles weakly at him, but as he walks away her expression turns very anxious.
Moira: The last of the bridesmaids draws quite a bit of attention from the young men of the crowd. Her dress's low neckline and her sultry glaces, combined with her striking features and golden hair make her the most sought after bridesmaid. Her bids quickly become 6 silver, with many young men glaring at each other hotly.

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Super brownie points to everyone for some awesome posts :)

I haven't had time to respond properly to the latest series of posts but I will get on it first thing in the morning.

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Where on earth did Valorian get venison from? :-P

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Knowledge Geography Ustalav:
Cursed with a history of tragedy and faded glory, the Immortal Principality of Ustalav clings to its legendary past even as it struggles to forget centuries of horrors. From the fog-shrouded cliffs of Lake Encarthan to the tangled maze of the Shudderwood, the fractious nation bears an infamous reputation as a place of
birth and rebirth for tyrants.

Although the past generations have seen the repopulation of Ustalav and its rise as a hub of civilization on the often savage northern shores of Lake Encarthan, the scars of death’s grip still linger. Deadly orc raiders, savage barbarians, and merciless zealots array themselves beyond
the borders, while within deadly creatures, shadowy conspiracies, and unnatural beings stalk the nights and nightmares of the country’s populace.

Ustalav is most notable as the location of Gallowspire, the tower that was once the center of the Whispering Tyrant's empire and is still his prison today.

Hooray Inner Sea World Guide!!! Okay, so there was some history and local thrown in there too.

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Congrats everyone!Thanks for contributing to PFS and making it awesome.

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Congratulations!

As ever, we will miss you dearly in Atlanta, but we are happy to see you at the helm of PFS.

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Chris Mortika wrote:

Regarding duhtroll's first item, it's kinda dicey. Generally speaking, fights are where Pathfinders find their loot. If I have a few wounded NPCs flee, then I can imagine the hullabaloo when the characters get their chronicle sheets with about a third of the gold awarded.

If the Pathfinders are going to pursue wounded enemies with the gleam of avarice in their eyes, then it makes sense for NPCs to keep fighting, rather than turn tail and get matching arrow wounds in the back.

Regarding your second item, that's more a question to table GMs than module writers. If the players have gone off-script, then the GM shouldn't keep the same pre-programmed enemies enacting the same tableaus.

And, at the last, at least they don't call us "maggots."

I wanted to add that even if monsters flee, PCs still receive the gold amount for those monsters. Note that in scenarios, it states: "if the PCs defeat this encounter, reward each subtler thusly:". Routing the enemy is defeating them, in my opinion. So is talking them down via diplomacy. The only time when I do not award players gold in a scenario is if they avoid an encounter entirely (by not entering the room, flying over them, what have you) or if the PCs flee from the encounter.

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Perram wrote:

Why do I have a feeling no matter what is coming it is going to make my wallet hurt more?

Hehe...

+1

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Interestingly enough, City of Strangers is also a scenario that stood out to me at the end of Season 1. I completely agree that the scenarios have been steadily increasing in quality. I think a lot of it has to do with how PFS has matured as developers have learned what works and doesn't work for scenarios. For example, many season 0s have been retired for the exact reason that, well, season 0 was an experiment. Some experiments work and some don't. But the end result is something better from lessons learned. As a note to any new GMs reading this thread, for this exact reason, I do not recommend starting from the beginning and working your way forward when choosing scenarios. Start with First Steps, and then work your way through chronologically starting from City of Strangers (which is where the Shadow Lodge arc begins).

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Care Baird wrote:
My list of VC PC's I've killed grows longer! (Thanks Nani!)

*sobs*

Maybe I'll just turn into an evil killer GM who bathes in the blood of first level players upon my apotheosis into a Venture-Captain!

Or maybe I'll keep my record of players deaths at exactly what it is now. Shhh. Don't tell any of my players!

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Congratulations to all of the new VCs!

Thanks for the congratulations! As said before, we have big shoes to fill, but we could not be more excited. I really look forward to working with everyone in PFS, and making it even more amazing than it is now.

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Nimon,

While that is fine in a home game, in PFS there are no listed legal inquisitions for minor deities. An inquisitor will have to stick with a domain, unless there is official word otherwise.

Kerney,

Milani is an awesome god, and its very cool that you're choosing a lesser known deity to make your character unique. While not having access to inquisitions is unfortunate, it sounds like you are willing to do what it takes to make your character concept work. More power to you! And remember, no one had inquisitions before UM. Good luck.

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Please note that poison is not obtainable except by classes that have the poison use class feature (or if it appears on a chronicle sheet).

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Painlord, thank you for the great post. I definitely learned some tips here to improve my GMing. I especially like your idea of personalizing the chronicle sheets, though I'm afraid at Cons GMs frequently run out of time or nearly so.

I wanted to add that I believe being flexible as a GM is very important to maximize player enjoyment. I also enjoy running role-playing heavy, "difficult" mods, most notably Throaty Mermaid. When i first ran it, players complained that the goal of the mod was very nebulous and all circumstantial Over the course of running it several times, I have made small modifications to it that allow players to have a more concrete solution to the problem. I encourage GMs to exercise their creativity and problem solving. This is why we are GMs, and not computer programs.

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Hmmm. It's a very interesting question that you pose. First let me state that you aren't missing out on any kind of newsletter or extra perk, what you see is what you get.

Maybe it will help if I tell whyi love PFS. I can't answer that for anyone else. For about a year, I had a PFS character, but played PFS very sporadically. We didn't have a regular group of players, so this was an opportunity for me to play the same character when I did get that chance. My husband and I played some games online, and played a few times in game stores. To be honest, i really would have preferred a home game. I had dreams of APs, either playing in them or GMing them. I admit, I wasn't fond of the idea of just up and going to a random place to play with people I don't know, especially since I'm female, which results in unwelcome assumptions about my experience level.

Rather than make a huge post about what happened from there, I'll tell you the biggest thing that happened. Atlanta got a Venture Captain (Mike, who has just been announced today as the new Campaign Coordinator). He organized disparate groups around Atlanta, and asked us to really get involved. My husband, a friend and I volunteered to coordinate groups at two local game stores, once a month each. Getting involved was the best thing that happened to us. Now, instead of showing up to games and wondering what's going to happen, we are the ones who are making the game better. New people show up every month.

The reason I love organized play is not just because I can take my character anywhere. Its the same reason why people do any kind of organized event: to be a part of something bigger. At first it was just to scratch that gaming itch. But then I became a part of this community that I had an influence in.

Now, I run a home game two weekends a month and PFS two weekends a month. They are very different, believe me. Of course I have a lot more flexibility at the home game. Of course we can have whole 4 hours of roleplaying. But those PFS gamedays are days when I get to be out and having fun with other people. Teaching brand new people the game. Spreading the word about a system I am passionate about. Having fun in a completely different way than I would in my Legacy of Fire game.

I'm sorry that your OP xperiences have been bad. I hope you don't stop trying because there's a ton of wonderful GMs out there, and some of my best experiences have been at cons (and worst, but it comes with the territory). I hope you will take it upon yourself to become a part of PFS, so that no one will have a bad experience with you behind the screen. And if not, it's ok. OP is not for everyone, and I totally get that. Do what is best for you. Just know that with PFS, you can help make it what you want to see.

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I'm so happy for mike, and for PFS as a whole. I know this will only result in PFS getting even better!!!

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Ninjaiguana wrote:

Dreng is definitely my favourite venture captain to roleplay. I use a very doddering, wavery old man voice. My Dreng tends to get people's names wrong, meander from the point and lose his train of thought a lot. Every so often he'll assume the players are new recruits and ask them if they've considered joining the Pathfinder Society.

However, I also play him with moments of uncanny insight. For example (spoiler for First Steps Part 3)** spoiler omitted **

Basically, I want my players to come away from every encounter with Dreng saying to themselves 'Is he *really* going senile..or is it all an act?'

This is full of win. I am so using this.

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1 person marked this as a favorite.

In my local group we have gotten in the habit of portraying certain venture captains as such:

Drandle Dreng: absent-minded, slightly batty, squints a lot, sort of like a crazy professor. He also tends to dress horribly, usually in a maroon bathrobe or something similarly silly. I have also described him as offhandedly one-shotting enemies in a certain adventure.

Spoiler:
In Year of the Shadow Lodge, as the players are fighting out of the arena, they look across to see their Venture Captains fighting their own battles. I described Drandle Dreng pulling out a sword cane and then meandering through goblins, unassumingly sneak attacking them while muttering to himself.

Osprey: Batman. He swoops in, talks in that overly low grating voice, and intimidates poor hapless pathfinders into missions that always are terrible. I also occasionally describe him as hacking up an owl pellet and then glaring at the players, as if daring them to comment.

Sheila Heidmarch: Maybe because of the adventure she gave the mission for, but I definitely played her as a bit of a tease. She is a sorceress after all! She is clearly too well-bred and too professional to actually do anything, but she does like showing off her charisma!

Ambrus Valsin: I think it's the 'stache, but I like portraying him as Jaime Hyneman from Mythbusters. Depending on how silly I feel, I'll sometimes hold my hand up cthulu-tentacle style while portraying him.

Anyway, point is, none of the venture captains should be boring. There is no wrong way, just give them whatever personality youve got!

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Hello Dessio,

I play regularly with a medium cavalier and a medium paladin with a mount in PFS, and I'll try to refer them to this thread to help you with their specific builds. I know that both of them absolutely love their characters (who are around level 10). They invest a lot into their mounts, including items that would let them fly or shrink in size. They also have a healthy understanding that their mounts probably won't come with them on some adventures. I think the psychotic amount of damage they get to do when they have their mounts makes it worth it for them. Your Tactician ability works on any teamwork feat that you gain as a bonus. There's also a lot of feats that depend less on your party's position, and ultimate combat has introduced a lot more. I really advise you to not give up on your cav, as they are very fun and rewarding to play.

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I agree with a lot of points that Bob has made on the thread. I think difficulty in PFS is a very complex issue, doubly so when you are at a con with completely foreign players. Adjusting encounters is something that GMs must do frequently. I think the heart of the issue is to try and have fun with your table, adjusting within the rules framework of PFS. I run games very differently for a 1st level party like my home group (complete with detailed twink knowledge from the latest books and varied tactical contingencies) than I do for a group of bright eyed bushy tailed newcomers who just came to have fun. That being said, I think the increase in optimization since season 2 is desirable. Scenarios should not be cakewalks, and I absolutely agree with others that risk of death is what makes the reward an accomplishment. If there was no risk of anything, we might as well hand out chronicle sheets and say goodbye to our players.

I am honestly a proponent of softballimg for players who are completely new to the game for the sake of encouraging them to stick with the game. However, I am also a firm supporter of a little tough love, and of teaching tactics by example, so that by the time players hit 5th, they shouldn't need the kid gloves anymore. All too often I see players at very high levels still using tactics that are only appropriate for lower tiers. Players should expect a challenge and expect to meet it admirably at higher tiers. (I have in fact died to Kyle Baird's favorite oracle. Proudly, and heroically I might add).

That being said, Dalsine Affair is unusually tough. When I played it right before Gencon, (tier 3-4) the GM made a fudge in order to not one-shot the TANK. Granted there was an empowered shocking grasp crit in there. I probably would have also fudged. But I don't think it is time to wholesale condemn the class or the writer or the GM or the player. I actually think the mod has a wonderful storyline, with an amazing first encounter. I just think it's a case where GMs need to make those judgement calls

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Female Chinese Graphic Designer 3/ Gamemaster 3

Hello GM Trajan and players,

I'm a friend of Alessa/Alorha and was checking out your PBP thread. I wanted to commend you all for your wonderful writing. In fact, I'm jealous that I didn't apply to this when it was open! Anyway, I saw that you had asked for advice on your maps and on using photoshop and illustrator. I happen to be a graphic designer, and if you ever need any help please let me know. I might not always revisit this thread, so feel free to email me at nani . o . pratt @ me.com

Good luck in your adventures! And if you ever need another player, Alessa knows where to find me ;-)

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Just to toss in some more thoughts:

Stephen, thank you for clarifying the crowd thing. I was actually unaware that crowds are cover RAW, despite having a 12th level shadow dancer (actually, getting HiPS made me effectively ignore a lot of those conditionals-- hey look dim light, I'm good!).

Jiggy, I agree with your thoughts and comments wholeheartedly. I do not believe there needs to be an kind of unnecessary complications to PFRPG like facing or move silently. Those would require far reaching changes to how PFRPG works and that is definitely not the goal here. Instead the goal is to make stealth more streamlined and clear.

I may be in the minority, but I actually like the use of "invisible" the status Versus invisibility the spell. The status "invisible" is already in the rules.

Core Rulebook wrote:
Invisible: Invisible creatures are visually undetectable. An invisible creature gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls against sighted o pponents, and ignores its opponents' Dexterity bonuses to AC (if any).

Please note that this does NOT mean that the rogue goes translucent video-game style. He is not under a magical effect and is NOT subject to spells like invisibility purge. Also note that this is on a case by case basis: he can be invisible to one monster(against whom he fulfills the conditions of stealth) but not against others.

So back to the pillar and the guard example. If the guard rounds the pillar looking for the rogue and moves into a position where there is no longer cover, then the rogue is no longer treated as invisible.

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Seraphimpunk wrote:

Can rangers or Druids grandfather in animal companions if changes are made to the pfs guide ? In the first guide companions came fully trained, in later additions restrictions were put on how to train them.

I have a twelfth level ranger that would need a complete rebuild to put some ranks in handle animal. He's never going to gain a level, never going to be able to teach his pet a trick , not with a +2 handle animal, and he had been using a rhino as a pet. I gather that I have to get rid of the rhino and choose a new Ranger approved animal, and since I can't train, my new animal will only gain his bonus tricks ?

Hello Seraphim,

Just curious, how do you have a rhino as an animal companion? Do you have a level in Druid or are you a beast master ranger? If you are then I agree fully with Mark, since you started under the old system and are already at max level.

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I agree with Mark that this seems in large part to be a player conflict, and not just an in-game conflict. I think the best thing to do is to talk with your players out of character, and let them know that the spirit of PFS is such that everyone is sitting at the table to have fun. Ask them to play together in a respectful manner, and remind them that PvP is not permitted in any way shape or form. While you cannot alter the content of the faction mission, keep in mind you are the final arbiter of whether a player fulfills the PA requirement or not. there are a lot of threads on how strict you should be on faction missions, so I won't get into it, but as a GM, YOU control the table.

I agree with posters that you should make your best effort as a GM to give them as easy of an snwer as you can: the BBEG acts in a clearly unrepentant evil fashion. Additionally, ruling on whether the BBEG dies in combat is fully within your purview.

Part of being a GM is making those calls and handling player conflict, for better or for worse. It sounds like you are a GM that cares about everyone having a good game, which is the most important thing. Do what you feel is right. If this can be handled by fudging a few hit points, then no problem. But if this is a problem that escalates past that, then talking to your players about faction changes or changes to the group composition are worth thinking about. I have had to ask players to consider their attitudes before returning to the next game. Do what is best for the happiness of the group as a whole.

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Remember, a lot of things affect the price of gold, not the least of which is the supply (not to mention markets, the Absalom stock exchange, Taldor's rising debt crisis, upcoming elections in Andoran, rogue pit fiends in Cheliax). A lot of the assumptions about the value of gold are based off the real world. Maybe in Golarion a 1/3 ounce of gold is so common that it isn't worth much more than 3.3 ounces of silver.

Applying real world value to a gold piece by using OUR price of gold isn't applicable. It's much more logical to look at cost of living, etc. Which I have seen quoted as roughly $20=1gp.

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Something really strange happened to this thread. Looks like posts from July 4th up to now got reposted somehow sine last night. Hopefully those will get fixed.

If not I will repost my question from last night :)

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Feral: the skill states that if you make an attack, or if you end your turn without cover or concealment, then the invisibility ends. This negates any kind of "invisibility loop".

To clarify: if I understand this correctly, this offers the following improvements to the existing stealth rules as written.
1) Breaking cover old rules: A rogue stealths from one pillar to another pillar. He breaks cover by doing so, thus automatically stops stealthing and gets noticed by the guards.
New rules: A rogue is hiding behind a pillar. He moves 15feet to get to another pillar. He makes a stealth check as a part of his move action, gaining the invisible condition against anyone who he both has cover against and has failed a perception check DC=his stealth check. Then, he ends his turn behind a different pillar. Against enemies that he still has cover against, his invisible condition lasts until the start of his next turn. Against enemies that he no longer has cover against (say he moved into line of sight of a monster), his invisible condition only lasts until the end of his round. Against creatures who he did not have cover against at the beginning of his round (for example, his trusty cleric friend beside him), he does not have the invisible condition in any way shape or form.

2) Attacking from stealth old rules: The rogue pops out from behind the pillar to menace a goblin 15feet away. The second he breaks stealth, the goblin notices him and he does not get his sneak attack (unless the goblin is otherwise denied his dex bonus to AC).
New rules: The rogue starts his turn with cover against the goblin. He makes a stealth check as a part of his 15ft move towards the goblin, gaining the invisible condition if he is not perceived by the goblin. He moves into the open, therefore has no cover, but since "during his last action (the 15ft move) he was considered invisible, he is now considered invisible for his first attack". The rogue attacks with the benefit of sneak attack at the end of his attack, since he has made an attack and no longer has cover, he loses the invisible condition (either of which would have ended the condition). Even if for some reason he had another attack (say he was a high level two weapon archetype fighter in addition to being a rogue), he would not have the benefit of invisibility for the second attack, since the first attack ended the condition.

Hope that clarified the whole "rolling invisibility" thing. also keep in mind that the invisible condition does NOT mean the rogue blinks out of sight magically. The condition means that enemies are unaware of his location and presence (and lose their dex bonus to AC etc)

Now a suggestion: while soft cover does not provide cover for the purposes of stealth (completely logically, you should not be able to hide behind a party member) might I suggest adding rules for stealthing in a crowd. For example, a pickpocket is tailing a mark through a busy marketplace. While he does not have hard cover, he should still be able to be unnoticed by his mark, gaining the invisible condition against the mark (but not against people he is jostling against). How and if third parties like guards on the perimeter treat the pickpocket also bears some thought. Thank you very much for clarifying and improving this skill. As Alorha said, this is basically how we are running the stealth rules anyway in home games, but it really needed to be spelled out

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James Jacobs wrote:

Paizo's a print company first and a PDF company second. At least, that's the way it is today.

Furthermore... the only time we save on a PDF product is the time it takes to print and ship. None of that happens in our editorial and art departments—it takes just as long to do a PDF as it does an equally sized print book, so it's not like doing a PDF would save us really any time at all on the schedule side of things.

And as for me just putting it together as a PDF on its own... I'm not really interested in that since I'd rather see it get art and a cool layout and all that than just throwing raw text out into the internet.

Dear James,

If you would ever like to self publish a book, as an almost graduated graphic designer, I officially volunteer to do your layout, graphics and typesetting. Unfortunately I am better at photo manipulation than I am at sketching monsters. As for a related question, do you have any reccomendations for finding freelance work as a graphic designer in the gaming industry? I suspect volunteering (go Pathfinder Society of Georgia!) and learning digital art (in progress) help in that regard.

I also wanted to ask if you have any advice on running/designing encounters at high levels. I am currently co-DMing Legacy of Fire (with Alorha on the boards), and our players are a very very optimized party. They are currently level 13, nearly 14, and about halfway through book 5. We are intentionally over leveling them, in order to have some fun with the higher levels, and so they can potentially face the *spoiler*. In short, Alorha and I have to convert to PFRPG and bump encounters up 2-4CR. We are starting to run into the problem that encounters tend to be 1 round cakewalks or potential TPKs. Any advice would be very appreciated.

Thank you for maintaining this thread, I know it can't be easy. Also, thanks for making Pathfinder a game that emphasizes lore and story just as much as it stresses rule balance.

PS. Apologies for the dinner at GenCon that was such a long walk away. Neil and Greg didn't quite tell us just how far away your hotel was. Hopefully we will get a chance to reschedule next year.

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Hi Harles,

I suggest having a forum of some sort where people can sign up for slots. War horn works really well for that sort of thing. In Atlanta, we use a forum system, where We post tables and people request seats. Then, if we see that a lot of people have signed up for a game we recruit more GMs. Took us a while to get everyone to sign up, and we still have walk ins, but after reminding people week after week to sign up they've been doing it. Ask players who show up consistently and know the rules decently to DM. Remember, personality and willingness are far more important than anything else. The most important things to PFS success are having a good player base and a good GM base. Good luck!

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Not sure if this has been covered yet, but I like to have a little tracking sheet, sometimes just a post it note or something. On it I list all of the factions, so when a player completes a faction mission I can check them off. This is also handy for scenarios that track any other form of success, but doesnt come with it's own sheet. Shadow's Last Stand part 2 and Throaty Mermaid come to mind for this.

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I have a set of red Gamescience dice. I like them a lot, but not always over my cheesex dice. I enjoy the cheesex ones for the pretty colors, especially since I have a full set of the pink and black ones after gencon (10d6, 5d8), and I didnt feel like spending the money to get a full set of the game science ones. However, I like the precision dice for two reasons:

1) they don't roll as far. Im not sure I buy any of the stuff about them being more accurate but they certainly are more likely to stay on the table. Useful for certain situations.

2) I use them when I GM. Instead of using a GM screen (which I personally find separates me from my players) I find that the dice are hard to read across the table (I have unfilled ones). This was not my intention when I bought the dice, but I find that on the rare occasions that I fudge, the game science dice facilitate that.

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First, thank you to the team who ran the PFS room. They did a fabulous job and made the weekend a wonderful experience for GMs and players alike.

My best play experience was having Thurston run Frostfur Captives. He did a fantastic job of roleplaying and rolling with the insane things that our party did. I won't give too much away about the mod, but there was much hilarity, and I am very inspired by the experience. I can't wait to run the mod myself!

I had a ton of fun GMing. Having great groups of players is the best feeling in the world, where through the 4 or 5 hours you can give them experiences of laughs at antics, nail biting at tough combats, and triumph at the end. The theatre scene in Blood under Absalom was amazing, and it was awesome to have an entire table of players capering and shakepeare-izing and generally doing ridiculous stuff. At my Wrath of the Accursed table, I loved having my players thwart the flying invisible opponent by leaping from rooftops and shooting arrows into random spaces.

Lastly, it was great to see so many familiar faces, and meet a lot of new people. We only see each other once or twice a year and swap gaming yarns. Or threaten to kill their characters in revenge. I'll kill you yet, Kyle Baird!

Sovereign Court 5/5

My best advice is this: stick to the rules and the issue won't come up. As far as "GM rulings", the campaign manager at Paizo is the GM. Because of this, the rules are much strichter than a home game For the purposes of PFS, if you would like an alternate mount, then take the archetype. I'm not arguing one way or another as far as the pig thread, but just telling you the safest and most consistent way to go ;)

As far as posting, just make your PFS character from you "My Account" page, and then when posting there should be a little drop down menu to the bottom left of the text box that you can select your "speaker" from.

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Bonnie as Feiya! I saw her at the PFS room and she looked fabulous. Jessica is also epic!

PS thanks for the kind comments for an outfit I literally threw together from scarves and a tablecloth :P

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Andrew and Jiggy,

I agree with points that both of you made. I tried to stay away from specific situations as to what I would do. My biggest point in my post is that this is indeed highly subjective and situational. And player fun and fairness is #1. Let me reiterate that this should only happen in the RAREST of situations, where I believe a player is intentionally violating the spirit of PFS. I disagree with the posts on this forum that would eliminate a player for killing a helpless prisoner, for example. This is especially true if this is in their faction mission. I apologize if this was unclear in my post.

My analogy of player death and fudging is only to point out that GMs do have subjective control over player death. Not all GMs choose to use it, and I know many who GM using open rolling (which I find results in higher incidences of player death, but thats off topic). Additionally, Jiggy, if I was unclear, I was referring specifically to permanent player death, which does indeed happen (dying at lower levels, death effects etc).

Back to a point made earlier in this thread, if the rule is unenforceable, then why have a "no evil" rule at all? I can just make a character that regularly tortures every NPC I come across. Would you allow blatantly evil acts that disrupt your game and drive away other players? I would not. You can argue it however you want: permanently killing the character due to alignment change, banning the player because of cheating, whatever. Point being, as GMs we should and must enforce the rules of Pathfinder Society.

Don't get me wrong, I have seen and played plenty of characters who toe the line in PFS. If a GM forced my character to become permanently dead because I cast "animate dead" then I would take enormous issue with it. This is a fantasy game where people are playing characters to have fun. I am simply arguing that there are limits that are just as important as how many d6s you roll on a fireball.

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Rogue Eidolon wrote:

No worries whatsoever--I was actually sort of hoping it was errataed, frankly. It was obviously an error that broke the standard formula and we instantly houseruled the swap in all our home games. So when my brother saw another player with that rod and wanted one, I told him not to buy one and asked the GM, but he was pretty sure it was legal. If you remember, I'm the one who brought up to you that it might have been errataed when you were commenting on its power--I did that each game because I couldn't believe it hadn't been errataed.

Of course, after the Special he had enough prestige and gold to just pay the extra cost to make up the difference, so he still has that killer rod.

Heck, he made his second character at the Con to play a 1-5 when his sorcerer was 6, and he was thinking of his patron deity and decided on Norgorber (Reaper of Reputation) remembering your character.

There is nothing wrong with him legitimately having the rod. Just making all GMs cry. I think my controller wizard needs one now!!! Tell him Norgorber is a fabulous patron deity since you can pretend to be anything you want (my Cleric, Siven, is a career politician). Reaper of Reputation is a way better aspect than Skinsaw Man (murdering everyone in sight? Who would be there to suck up to you then?).

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The goal of Pathfinder Society Organized Play is to have fun, as I believe Doug Miles mentioned in this thread. This is something that we, as GMs and indirect representatives of Paizo, must keep in mind above all else. With that said, alignment is a tricky rule to adjucate, but it is indeed a rule. This thread specifically addresses the issue of, "can a GM permanently ban a character from playing?".

First of all, keep in mind that GMs already have that power, for everyone who is crying havoc about the disastrous nature. When a character permanently dies, then that character is removed from the game. For those who would respond that character death is not arbitrary, I say there is definitely an arbitrary element to it. Call it cheating, ruling or fudging, but GMs generally have a hand in whether a character permanently dies or not. "That wasn't a slay living, that was an inflict massive wounds!" Obviously, there are some times when a GM would choose to go one way or another, depending on the player and the situation. A death deserved from poor player tactics (I'm at 1/4 hit points and I run up to the BBEG right before his full attack!) is very different from one where a GM has dice rolls that negate good player decisions (the monster wins initiative and crits the bard with a scythe!). At the given time you may fudge both or neither of these situations. I am simply saying they are different.

As a GM, our job is to make calls. And an inherent part of playing PFS is that NOT every GM will make the same calls consistently. Additionally, especially at events, you have little control over which GM you play with.

Just as player deaths have a judgement call on them, so too does alignment. I believe it is impossible to standardize them absolutely (we shouldn't kid ourselves, even the rules aren't standardized absolutely, otherwise why would we even have discussions about them). Eliminating players from the game because of our subjective feelings is something that could rapidly result in misuse. You cannot apply the same standards in a PFS game as you do in a home game. We need to think carefully about maximizing player fun, and about how much harm that there is in eliminating the player. If the reasons for actions are justifiable for that character, or incentivized by faction missions, I think that should be taken into consideration. I know this is pretty broad. I'm not saying what I would and would not allow at a table, because that has no effect on what other GMs would do. I am just making a case for leniency at PFS.

However, RPGs are a game of consequences. If actions violate the "don't be a jerk rule", damage the play experience for other characters, or fall dramatically in the evil category, then GMs need to take action. I absolutely believe that as good GMs, we should talk to the player, either at the table or individually. I believe the loss of class abilities, and atonements should be in order if they do not respond to those warnings. If the actions by the player violate "don't be a jerk", I may ask them to leave.

But this goes back to the key question: can DMs eliminate a player from the game? Here's where my death tangent comes in. If none of these things work, how I would handle things would again, vary by the situation. Is this a regular character that I see that would continue causing problems? Am I at an event where I have other GMs to consult, or a Venture Captain is present? What exactly did the player do: kill a helpless prisoner or sacrifice babies in a dark ritual? Is this a player who is truly bent on causing grief for the game?

In conclusion, I would only eliminate a player from the game (by reporting him or her as permanently dead) only in the rarest of situations. I would keep in mind that this is a particularly difficult thing for the player, and that the rest of the table may have a negative reaction. I would attempt to do it in such a way that I am not a jerk. However, given that permanent death happens to players can and does happen, I believe that it is within my right as a GM. Allowing a player to play a truly evil character would be just as much cheating as allowing them to have a +5 vorpal sword. But instead of slamming them the second that an incident happens, I would try to handle it in a mature fashion that would still allow the players and myself to have fun.

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Rogue Eidolon wrote:
Lots of nice stuff

Thank you for the kind comments! I loved GMing for you guys (and I hope I didn't crush your dreams too much with the metamagic rod errata). Thanks for making it such a great game. As a GM, especially at large events, its often that we never hear feedback from players, and when someone takes the time to make a shout out on the boards it's sometimes because they had a bad experience. The reason we GM is to have those awesome times where everyone has fun. hope to see you guys again at another con!

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I fight dirty. And I have a cloak. Makes me like ninja.

I believe that there should be both a numerical and a subjective form of qualification. For example: once you have become a 4star GM and you have GMed an additional 50 scenarios (or 10 exclusives or whatever number of stuff), you may then submit an application to be a 5 star GM. Other qualifications may include:

Organize a 20 table PFS event
Sealed recommendations from other 4-star GMs or VCs
Recommendations from players (like Kyle's star feedback system)

The application would include a list of these qualifiers as well as a web or phone interview. Becoming a 5 star GM should involve more effort on the part of the person than simply waiting for it. The GM should have an active hand in his or her promotion.

Or deathmatch. Bring it!

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Wow...I'm blushing.

1. Venture Captain Mike Brock (You're doing what with an onyx? Alright, apply the skeleton template)
2. Venture Captain Doug Miles (Is that a toy Gorilla?)

Worst DM Ever*:

"Evil Kyle" Kyle Baird (So...you skip straight to the end boss, and 20 rounds later she's out of spells)

*Just Kidding

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Gratz Neil and everyone else!

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Absolutely real rules. I've taught D&D to noobies without any dumbing down, you just need what to roll and what to add REAL BIG. I think this will mostly be oriented towards new players in general...for folks experienced with other editions of the game they can just pick up the core rulebook.

Please include goblins. please please please! And Goblin songs!!!

This will now be the Christmas gift I give every child I know.

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