Natertot's page

Last weekend I heard that a ‘bunch of guys’ (I have no idea how many that really is) don’t have any more un-played scenarios that they can get credit for playing. And several of them are almost out of the ones they can get GM credit for running.

I have no idea how many scenarios there are or how much time that would involve, but wow!

Is that common? If that’s true, some people have a whole lot more free time than I do to devote to this hobby.

I have played almost every scenario to date as well as about half the modules, and I GM at least every other week and I have been playing since year 0 at GenCon. I think it is HIGHLY unlikely that they have played and GM'd everything, unless the have A LOT of free time on their hands. I think they are probably exagerating to a degree. It is possible just very unlikely...

Nathan Meyers
PFS NYC Player/GM

I'm still pretty new to pfs in general and a lot of these threads talking about gear and scenarios being deadly have me worried (for myself and my newbie friends). Luckily there have been a lot of helpful threads (thanks guys) to aid, but here are some lingering questions still.

1. How much is it to masterwork a shield spike? and are there any more special considerations to take note of?
2. does adding a special material to a weapon fall under the fame point restrictions?
3. are special materials necessary or just aim for the +1 (etc) magic enhancements?
4. and if possible, is there a general guideline for when (what level etc) a player should get a masterwork weapon/armor, special enhancements and other equipment to help?

Hello Cruise,

Welcome to PFS!

1) 300 gp like any masterwork weapon

2) you can't add a special material to a masterwork weapon, some special materials are already considered masterwork when you purchase them, see lab_rat above he answers your question bettter I think

3) it is always good to cover your bases one way or another with special materials, especially if you are the one hitting the enimies a lot.

4) on general guidelines, try looking under Painlord for good information on your searches.

Hope that helps.

Nathan Meyers
PFS NYC GM/Player

It occurred to me one thing I could do would be to inject them, then come back for them (I don't know if I could somehow get them to follow me) - OR, I could stuff them in a handy haversack/bag of holding then dump them out once the soup was on (I CAN stuff corpses into them, right? I participated for a session in somebody's 3.5 Eberron game where one of the characters was carrying around a bag of holding full of Warforged) - also, luckily, Paladins and Pharasmans aren't particularly prominent in my group.

My group's demonstrated itself to be fairly ready to take 1-hour rests, even more than I'd normally be inclined to be myself (I'm thinking in particular of the First Steps: Part II encounter with the blindheim, when there isn't much a 1st-level party can do but wait around for an hour for those who lost their vision to get it back).

Hi I'm,

Might want to put some Spoiler tags around the second part of your post.

Thanks!

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS GM/Player

** spoiler omitted **

Then you would have had more problems...

Nate Meyers
PFS NYC GM/Player

If you total up their APL, they are at 2.66 APL. That makes them eligible, but they are all level 1 and 2 so they have the choice of playing down if they want.

** spoiler omitted **

Here is the info on how Awareness affects subtier 1-2:

Nate Meyers
PFS NYC GM/Player

Robert A Matthews wrote:

... I hadnt played the previous part so what happens in that case? Wonder if OP played part 1 or not.

He said that we had to each roll a d10 to simulate that.

I ran part 1 some time ago with another character. I barely remember the basic story line. Certainly no details on exactly what happened.

The GM was correct.

Nate Meyers
PFS NYC GM/Player

I just read through the scenario as I have already played it and I think I spotted a problem with your session.

** spoiler omitted **

There is another factor in here that might of been in play.

Nathan Meyers
PFS NYC GM/Player

Hello all. I know there has been a lot of talk and debate about playing up and/or down and the wealth by level curve.

One thing that I think bears repeating for all the new people is when exactly does a table have the choice to play up or down.

I think there are some out there that don't realize that a table does not have this choice whenever they sit down.

The current Guide To Pathfinder Society Organized Play (version 4.3, p33) explains when this can occur:

"In order to determine which subtier a mixed-level group
of PCs should play in, you must determine the group’s
average party level (APL). Divide the total number of
character levels by the number of characters in the party.
You should always round to the nearest whole number."

"If the APL of a table is between two subtiers (like APL
3rd for a Tier 1–5 scenario), the players may choose to play
up to Subtier 4–5 or down to Subtier 1–2. If, however, the
APL was calculated for six players (and thus bumped up
by +1) and this pushes a low-level table out of their subtier
and into the level between two subtiers, the players
should be strongly cautioned about playing up, as even a
party of six players may not be able to handle situations
and challenges that the higher subtier will present."

This is the only time a table can choose to play up or down.

I have just heard too many stories lateley of people and or GMs not realizing what the current rule is.

Thanks.

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS GM/Player

I can think of at least 8 modules that are set in the desert.

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS player/GM

If you look at the most recent posts/e-mails from Factions leaders, you can tell that the 3 Factions that seem to be having problems are Cheliax, Osrion and Taldor.

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS GM/Player

Perhaps this is my fault, but I have so many characters and have played and run so many scenarios that keeping track of everything is becoming a bit of a nightmare. At times the planning aspect feels more like a tax return than a game. So if my local VC asks for GMs at a convention and I think it's a great opportunity to refresh or update my character stable with GM credit, I have to spend several hours working out what I can run and what I can't, and then face the prospect of reading and preparing several new scenarios all at the same time. In fact the effort required usually exceeds the desire to volunteer in the first place and I don't bother.

Now if I was an angel then doubtless the happy smiling faces of the players would be reward enough (until I TPK them in Dalsine Affair). But I'm not an angel and GM credit does influence my decision to run those extra games from time to time. I already GM for both of my local groups so this is just about mobilising GMs to run a few more.

So I'd like to make a request for a generic GM chronicle. It just needs to provide 1xp, 2pp and character-level appropriate gold (1-2,3-4,5-6 etc). I don't think boons or equipment are necessary for this chronicle and we could just use the white space in the middle to summarise what our characters were doing to get that xp (with some very concise fiction). Most importantly the chronicle should be useable any number of times for the same character (even if awarded for running the same scenario repeatedly).

I think that will provide two benefits:
1. Liberate the GMs that use GM credit from a lot of the paperwork and make it easier (and more likely) for them to just say yes when asked to run something.
2. Make it easier for coordinators to plan games at events as there'll be less resistance to running certain scenarios, or running the same scenario twice.

I don't want to replace the existing GM credit scheme, just to add this as a simpler opt-in alternative.

Just some basic questions for clairty's sake.

Don't you have a chronicle for each of the games you have taken GM Credit for?

It might be a good idea to make yourself a "laundry list" or matrix of everything you have taken for credit and keep it on hand so you can just compare that list to what needs to be run?

It sounds like you may have already done this a few times but did not keep the results, why recreate the wheel every time?

Nate Meyers
NYC PFS Player/GM

Hello all,

With the great influx of new players to Pathfinder Society we have seen in the past year or so, I was wondering if we might want to start a new section on the Pathfinder Society boards just for new player questions?

Please let me know what you all think.

Thanks.

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS GM/Player

My 9.2 level Dwarf Ranger is from Galt(but not originally, let's just say from parts beyond...)

My 3.0 Dwarf cleric of Torag is from Jandefhoff.

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS GM/Player

I am really just looking to get everyone's, or at least a few opinions, on what their hardest scenario, not including modules, has been in their PFS career. Mine probably would have been the Blakros Matrimony, We had decided to play up and that was with the APL being rounded up. We were asking for a challenge and that is what we got.

I am just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on tough scenario's and why they may have been tough for you.

Blakros Matrimony was tough for my group because we had great composition but very much lacked in damage. Had 4 clerics all channeling positive energy, a wizard, paladin and an oracle. I'll admit myself being the Paladin and he is probably the only one in the group that is "optimized". Even then I try very hard to never steal the show or step on anyone's toes.

More to the point or back to it, I just want to hear what was everyone's toughest scenario and maybe a little bit about why it was tough.

A good way to get this information is to read the reviews posted by people of the various scenarios. That way we don't have to have a "spoilerific" thread. Thanks!

:)

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS GM/Player

Shouldn't this be moved to the gm section?

Nathan
Meyers
NYC PFS GM

Sigh, this makes me incredibly sad. I have never fought a troll in the society

There are at least 2 PFS modules that I can think of that have Trolls in them as potential opponents, one is a 1-7 and one is a 5-9 or 7-11. Also there may be some trolls you could run into in Curse of the Riven Sky.

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS GM/Player

No problem Don...btw that is a really good database you got there...definite a great asset to have.

If anyone gets a chance to be introduced to Pathfinder in our area, Nathan is the GM to do it. He runs a good solid game, is knowledgeable without being obnoxious and holds a game on a regular basis.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Brian.

;)

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS GM/Player

I think at times people forget that they only have a choice to play up or down is when you are right in between all not whenever you want.

Nate Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Hello Odea,

There are various oppurtunities for Pathfinder Society in the New York City area, many have already been addressed. Below I list 3 of them.

I hold a monthly game at the Citigroup Center at 53rd and Lexington on Tuesday nights starting at 6:45 p.m. You can e-mail me at Natertot@aol.com for more info.

There is a weekly game on Wednesday nights at Cafe Au Bon Gaut, ussually 1-3 tables occur. You can find more infomation about them at the NYC Pathfinder Yahoo group listed in one of the posts above.

There are also games run at Mage Gaming on Saturdays and Sundays run by Venture Lt. David Santana.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Nathan Meyers
NYC PFS GM/Player

Congrats Nate!

Nate Meyers
NYC GM/Player

It is always a great idea to bring these things up beforehand, so that they do not cause things to come to a screeching halt in the middle of combat.

One of the things I ussually try and do is ask the table, "Is there anything 'funky' or different about your character that I should know about?"

This way the GM can make their ruling before hand on YMMV/Gray areas.

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Congrats Tracy!

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

yeah me too! Have 3 slots of this running this weekend including tomorrow.

June,

Where?

Nathan

Natertot wrote:

Mark Moreland wrote:

likely tomorrow

Hi Mark,

Will us 4 Stars still get this sometime today? Did not see it yet. Thanks.

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Scenarios never drop at midnight, they usually drop at the end of paizo's work day. I'd assume we could see it then if Mark said today.

Thanks Eric!

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

likely tomorrow

Hi Mark,

Will us 4 Stars still get this sometime today? Did not see it yet. Thanks.

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

How did you find this out? Did this guy just say at the table in the middle of the game, "I read ahead and am ready for everything!" Where is the fun in that?

Sorry I don't understand this kind of mentality. In my opinion, he is just cheating himself and spoiling things for his team mates.

Nathan Meyers
NYC Player/GM

My question is do the creatures killed by the shadows str drain raise as shadows under your (or your familairs) control, and what happens when the duration runs out? do you then have to fight a bunch of shadows?

It says in the spell description that the ability to generate more shadows from killing creatures by the Str. drain does not do so when using the spell.

Nathan Meyers
PFS NYC GM/Player

Its true, we are still kind of small only have about 20 total players on average a week and in this whole time I'm the only one who has played a Dwarf.

My dwarf is a Stonelord of the Silver Crusade only because I couldn't think of another faction that'd fit, I'd completely forgotten about the dwarves in Osirion though so that would have made for a good faction as well.

Two of my nine characters are dwarves. One is an 8th ranger (Grand Lodge). The other is a 3rd level cleric of Torag (Silver Crusade).

Nathan Meyers
NYC Player/GM

Mystic Lemur wrote:

Fromper wrote:

I have to ask: Why do you want to?

The only reason I can think of would be if the first time I went through a scenario it was with a really crappy GM who was running cold and I wasn't able to enjoy it.

Thankfully that's never happened, but if it did I would want to replay the scenario under a competent GM (even if not for credit).

That did happen to me and my wife once, at a con. My solution was to buy the scenario the next week, prep it, and run it at my weekly game. My wife replayed for no credit so she could enjoy it. We both had a blast (and that particular scenario is now one of my "Top 5" that I will run anytime I am asked).

There have been a number of times at Cons when I did not have either what I would consider a decent GM or most prepared GM (not always their fault) run a game.

It makes me want to get the module and run it that much more, so that those I run for have a decent if not excellent time.

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Tian Xia was kind of obnoxious (in my opinion), and I'm kind of glad the push is mostly over. That being said, that's just my opinion, and I think pretty much most of the Scenario's set there could have been set anywhere without really altering the story. It is interesting to see how few scenarios are set in a few locations though, (Ustalav = 2, Worldwound, Galt, Nex, and Geb all = 1).

Can someone tell me which two are set in Galt?

Hint: You should be traveling to Galt when you hit 12th level.

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Living in Elmhurst, Queens. Working in Woodbury, Long Island. I take the Long Island Expressway every day, so can easily get to anywhere in between those two.

There are many of oppurtunities in the area. There is a a weekly wedneday game in Mahnattan as well as games offered at Mage Gaming in Manhattahn. I run a monthly game at the Citigroup Center myself.

Feel free to e-mail at Natertot@aol.com for more info.

Nathan Meyes
NYC GM/Player

I gotta say, as a spell Animate Dead has moved from a quirky little spell used by a specific kind of character into the realm of Why-Would-You-Not-Use-It-Every-Time!!!! Once you take out the limiter of the chance to have your alignment switch you now have a spell that can put in play up to 4 times your lvl of undead minions. This means you've now created a tank, dealt with any trap finding problems, and probably created flankers for the rest of the party as well as a host of other options for the more creatively inspired character. If your a cleric casting it its even better because if your a negative channeler you can hang back and heal them. The rest of the party can sneak off to the bar and get beers while the Undead Horde deals with the scenario. Shame that the GM cant sneak off as well.

I cant wait to see the first cleric of Pharamsa, Erastil or Saranrea casting this and merely quoting the line from the PFS Guide that Im not responsible for my actions since Im being directed by the Decemvirate. That person will definitely get my PF shirt reroll.

One reason you might not do it every time is the cost. That Onyx adds up.

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Natertot wrote:

Three things.

Focus fire, focus fire, focus fire.

Is that a specific game term that I'm not aware of, or are you just pointing out that it's better for the entire group to focus on one enemy at a time when fighting a group, rather than spreading the damage across all the enemies?

Just pointing out that it is good to focus damage on one enemy at a time as opposed to just spreading it out. If you have the choice of hitting a wounded enemy as opposed to fresh, you should go after the wounded.

Nate
NYC Player/GM

I've seen people do all kinds of crazy stuff in the middle of a fight because they think they dont have any options cause the bad guy is just too tough to hit, hard to reach, has reisistance to something they are good with, and many other reasons. Usually, there are at least a few things that could be helpful to the party. Here are a couple I think people overlook too much:

1) Aid another! Helping an ally hit or defend against a particularly hard hitting/hard to hit foe can really help out!

2)Use your Wand of CLW as a weapon against undead. Cant hit the undead guy's high AC? Don't have a weapon that gets around its DR? Dont have a magical weapon to deal with incorporeals? Pull out that Wand of CLW and use it! It's a touch attack! Sure, they get a save for half, but at least you can do something!

Edit: Add your own suggestions!

Three things.

Focus fire, focus fire, focus fire.

Nate
NYC Player/GM

Raymond Lambert wrote:

Congrats!

Another special thank you not just or running so many games for me bu also to agreeing torun the retirement arc for us.

Raymond M. Lambert

That reminds me when the hell is Marty getting back? I wanna' finish the Arc so I can GM it!

Yes June, we need to get that back on the radar, I think Marty will be back in January. I will send out the appropriate e-mail.

Thanks everyone for your kind words!

Nate
NYC GM/Player

Finally got to four stars!

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Daniel Luckett wrote:

It's the 50+ work week, the new house, the 2-year old, the dying dog, my family, behind on my paint schedule, behind on my Swallowtail. I'm finding once again that I am but one man, and I have yet to master hive mind cloning. :P

I'm right there with you Dan. It's getting tougher to fit it all in so I wont reach my 4th until April or May.

I am almost to 4, should be by the end of 2012....

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Huzzah! We can change the name of the "Special Event" PFS Track for Dreamation to its proper name.

So is the "Special Event" Rise of the Rune Lords or Shatterd Star?

Nate

Awesome. Been waiting since the start of PFS for this to happen. Now I need to find a group that hasn't played any APs. All I've played was books 1-2 of Kingmaker but I have all the APs.

Rene,

Haven't played Rise of the Runelords yet....

Nathan

Natertot wrote:

Follow-up question on the Tattoo. How long does the temporary hit point effect last? 3 minutes, 30 minutes, 3 hours? It is a 3rd level Tattoo. Just want some clarification.

The temporary hit points last one minute per caster level (as bear's endurance), so 3 minutes.

Thanks Mark.

Nate

That's what I thought too, until I read this:

Page 15 wrote:

A PC who accepts the Sihedron brand from the

cultists’ magic branding iron receives the magic tattoo at
no cost. The tattoo appears on this adventure’s Chronicle
sheet, but only those PCs who receive it as part of this
ritual gain its effects without needing to expend any
character resources.

Follow-up question on the Tattoo. How long does the temporary hit point effect last? 3 minutes, 30 minutes, 3 hours? It is a 3rd level Tattoo. Just want some clarification.

Thanks.

Nathan Meyers
NYC Player/GM

Daniel - sorry to hear that, maybe next year? :)

Nathan - thanks very much, and maybe see you some future year too?

You never know Mike! Anything is possible.

Nathan

CommonCon 2013 in Bloomington Indiana is officially a GO!

January 5-6 2013!

We have received final approval on rooms at the Indiana Memorial Union, and we're all set to get this ball rolling!

Check out our Event page for a list of scenarios we're running!

CommonCon 2013

Preregistration information and sign-up for tables will be announced on our Facebook page for CommonCon: CommonCon on Facebook

We'll get local hotel and food information posted soon! Hope you can join us!

What an awesome place to hold a Con. Have fun guys!

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player
IU-Bloomington Alumni

Note that for the enhancement by magic item that the skill point is hard coded into the item itself. So if you get a wish to give you a +2 int, you have your level in skill points to spend. If you get a headband of int +2 it comes with a skill on it, and you gain skill points equal to your level in that skill.

SRD site

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/headb and-of-vast-intelligence

I will say the conversation started by talking about how they couldn't get their 'late-power-builds' to survive. One specifically mentioned that his wizards had died twice. This was to get a few more hitpoints and increase the cash to buy decent gear when rebuilding as a wizard at second level.

A "better" way for this person to get their 'later power builds' to survive is to GM and assign all their GM credit to this character.

That way they would be helping the community by GMing and getting what they want by bringing their 'later power build' up to the appropriate level they think it might survive.

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Congratulations to Rick Lighthiser, who will be the new Venture Lieutenant for Northern New Jersey!

Rick has been running PFS games at local game stores and filling in at Regional Conventions for the last few years and has become very knowledgable with the local players and GM's.

I am proud to have him as my new Venture Lieutenant and look forward to expanding PFS to all our local stores!

Congrats Rick!

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Looks pretty good.

Although by difficulty level it looks like we'll have to place the Dark Menagerie (lvl 4-6) before Sanctum of a Lost Age (6-8) if you want to play it straight through.

Level ranges for the Tiers might look like this.

The Accursed Halls - Lvls 1-2
The Forgotten Laboratory Lvls 2-4
The Enigma Vaults - Lvls 3-5
The Dark Menagerie - Lvls 4-6
Sanctum of a Lost Age - Lvls 6-8

June,

Hope you will be running this soon!

Nathan Meyers
NYC Player/GM

It got a hard rap and as a Free RPG Day module it only grants 1 Prestige , grants 1xp, and no Job Rolls.

If it was on offer at your local venue, would you play it? Or would it be a case of 'Its too hard/dangerous/not rewarding enough'?

If I had not already played it for credit I would sign up for it. I plan on playing all the modules for PFS credit at some point.

Nathan Meyers
NYC Player/GM

Wow! Faster than I expected. I'm glad to be onboard with the team and would like to extend all a hearty thanks.

None of this would have been possible without the support of Art Lobdell, Dave Santana and the many local GM's in our area.

Some of the stores in NJ that have a PFS presence are as follows:

Gamer's Gambit in Saddlebrook - Sundays 1pm -6pm
Hobbymasters in Red Bank - Sundays 12pm-5pm
Maplewood Hobbies - Bi monthly Tuesdays 6pm-10pm
Monmouth County Roleplaying Society - 1st Friday on the month 7pm-11pm

There are others stores that we will be soon offering PFS if all goes well.

You can also find PFS at the local NJ conventions: DEXCON and DREAMATION.

More information will be posted on the NJ-PFS facebook site.

Congrats June!

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player

Congratulations, Myles on earning your 4th star!

Begin dispensing wisdom.

Congrats Myles!

I am not far behind, should get my 4th star by the end of the year!

Nathan Meyers
NYC GM/Player