Paul Barczik's page

New sets might be the issue. My first set was Legends of Golarion, and the other two were both Shattered Star; the packaging left a bit to be desired.

I've seen mention before of 'replacements', but honestly, I'm not sure which thread or link or anything it is...

I must say, right now I'm of a mixed mind for these miniatures. The sculpts are awesome, generally good paint jobs (and I understand it's -hard- to paint tiny details like eyes on a humanoid mini)...

Out of three packs I've gotten, I have received broken miniatures in two. Specifically; a Reefclaw was missing an arm (it didn't look broken as much as simply...missing.. I could see the little hole the arm piece was obviously supposed to be slotted into). In my last box, I got an Air Elemental that was broken off from its base; and Caedimus (named derro) was broken off at the ankles in what looked like a clean cut through both.

My poor reefclaw is stuck with no arm (it wasn't loose in the box, it just wasn't there), and I -can- use some gorilla glue and fix up the other two... I'm mostly disappointed. Again, the sculpts, colors, and everything else are great... but there's part of me that feels if I'm going to have to glue and attach everything, what's the point of getting the pre-painted, pre-assembled minis in the first place.

Soon enough, I'll be a recognized pain in the donkey with all my questions. Then, the world!

Anyway. Two points here. Is it just me, or are some scenarios not meant for some alignments? For example, one of the season 4 scenarios calls for the players to play as Aspis Consortium members to sabotage their relations with a third group. I've got players who love playing LG Paladins; who very well may balk at all the skullduggery. It's one thing where you need to sneak around for a Faction-specific sidequest, but another when you -have- to for the main scenario quest.

Secondly. Evil characters. Okay, so I understand that a lot of players take evil to mean "I can kill anyone and do whatever I want". Which, y'know, is fine for CE. Not so much for LE. Plus, there's the specific mention of a player acting "heinously evil" (not the exact words, but close enough) which is grounds for removal from the table. Still with me? I'm going somewhere with this.

Cheliax. Mostly devil-binders, mostly LE. (Note the keyword mostly, thanks.) You can work for the Cheliax faction. You can be from Cheliax. So, why can't you be LE? Playing correctly, you'll still cooperate (basic Pathfinder tenants, after all), plus getting orders direct from your superior. Lawful. And once again, if someone makes a LE character and acts like a royal jerk, well. Kick from the table. But that shouldn't penalize players who can play those of dubious alignments well. At the least, remove Cheliax as a Faction, because with that there, it kinda feels like a slap in the face.

Whoa, wait. A GM in PFS capacity decided your spells? That seems wrong. Justifications aside, that's like saying, "I want your fighter to use this weapon build instead of what you wanted." Player choices, man.

More OT; yeah. Cooperation. It stretches the suspension of disbelief, but there it is. You could play a shining paladin, and someone else can play a devil-summoner from Cheliax. (Which ties into a pet peeve of mine about alignment, but that's another story). Bottom line, get along. If you and the other player reach a compromise, that's fine. But keep in mind PFS is also meant for cons... what happens if you get a table with a necromancer-build player you don't know?

My two cents, why not. 'Kickbacks' for running PFS would be awesome. Hell, let's not mince words here; Wizards doesn't even try to hide the fact they're moneygrubbers anymore, and they still send 'swag' to GMs for running some things (although that swag has steadily decreased in quality and worth).

That being said. Yeah, you pay for the scenarios. You also pay for the books; pay for modules; pay for dice, et cetera. You paid for a lot of these things before hearing of PFS, more than likely. Why? YOU GM BECAUSE YOU WANT TO. Like I said, extra bennies would rock, but to those who are taking this -way- too far, get a grip. Let me put it like this:

You used to run games, or play in games other people ran, without complaints, because it was for the love of the game. Now that you find an organized group, you somehow expect to get paid to do what you were doing for free anyway. That's just... stupid. I'd LOVE to get 5 stars, get to go to PaizoCon. With the infrequency my group plays, that'll take several YEARS to achieve. I still run, because I enjoy doing it.

As I said. My opinions. I'll read insightful counterpoints, but don't argue pointlessly with me, I won't bother giving it a second thought - I don't indulge in flame wars.

*Edit: Added a word.

Thanks for the input! I've said it before; but I'm so glad the Paizo forums have actual designers/creators/etc who read and respond.

Okay, so I know there's generally one 'area' in a given Adventure Path set up for PFS reporting; but it mentions that otherwise, you can run through an AP with PFS characters. How exactly does this balance out? Namely, money, gear, and experience.. I found the explanation in the Guide a bit vague and confusing.

I'm looking at making a massive-strength damage dealer, and was considering the ragechemist alchemist. At 2nd level, they get +6 to Strength when using appropriate mutagens.

What I'm wondering is does that stack with the bonuses from greater/grand mutagen?

To phrase it differently; I'm at 15th level, with a 20 Strength base. What is the highest Strength bonus I can achieve, and how?

It's all good; and you're right. I was concerned about that, to be honest; but without experience, I wasn't sure. So for now, I'll close down this thread and just wait until I have more reliable internet access.

Thanks!

to clarify: this is NOT Rise of the Runelords, right?

Correct. I kinda feel everyone knows what to expect for Rise of the Runelords, at this point.

Hey, guys!

New-to-PbP GM here, looking for a group of solid RPers who will have some patience with me while I get used to running through this site and medium.

Posting on my part will be admittedly slow, twice a month on average. More if I can, but my internet access is somewhat limited at the moment.

All Paizo books are allowed; no third-party at this time. Races from the ARG must be approved by the GM before play.

No NE or CE alignment; must be 'Heroic'. This means you can play LE, but when the peasant village is in danger of being destroyed, you should still have reason to step up and save the village (even if it's a simple reason such as wanting to rule over them).

Epic Hero point-buy as per the Core Rulebook (25 points), 2 traits. Max starting gold as per your class.

*Special Note: Alchemists, gunslingers, and summoners. Get in touch with me if you want to play one of these; they're allowed, you'll just need some extra background work with me.

Ah, okay. Well done, in either case. I do have to admit, though; the final result of Lonjiku's death still strikes me as one of the more creative and gruesome deaths I've seen in any module/campaign. Color me impressed.

This -shouldn't- be a spoiler to anyone this far into the game. Upon picking up and looking through the Anniversary Edition, I was thrilled to see the added content, fleshing-out, etc.

Except for this. We know from the original that old man Lonjiku was a jerk. Killed his wife, ostracized his son, et cetera and so forth. The players/characters didn't need to know that, per se, and the shock and horror of finding him in the Glassworks did well.

With the tavern incident in the Anniversary Edition, though; I'm not really sure -why-. Any good aligned character (and even some neutral) worth their salt is still going to be horrified at Lonjiku's fate; but I kind of feel that the incident in the tavern beforehand lends just a touch of apathy to the discovery. Kind of along the lines of "he probably had it coming."

Was this the intent of adding the confrontation between Lonjiku and Ameiko, or am I missing something?

I love Sandpoint as a campaign start and setting; it's very nicely fleshed out from the get-go. My big issue at the moment is this:

The few books I have contain information on Sandpoint (such as the first installment of the old Rise of the Runelords set), but also other information that I really don't want my PCs to know about, in case I wind up running material from there. Is there any supplement that gives PCs a good understanding of Sandpoint without giving away GM-only information?

I do not have the Varisia Companion book yet, so I'm not sure if Sandpoint is covered in it.

That's what I figured. The definition of unarmed strikes is somewhat vague in the core book, though. It mentions you can make an unarmed strike while holding something, because a monk can use their entire body to attack (hands, feet, etc.) So, say I've got a creature with a tail and a tail slap ability. Technically, the tail is a natural weapon. At the same time, it's a part of that creature's body. So by the vague wording, it could be both, no?

I'm looking at building a catfolk monk. At the moment, I'm looking at taking a couple of feats and alterate racial traits that will give him claw attacks at 1d6.

I'm wondering, considering they're natural attacks; where the line between something like claws (or any other natural weapon, for that matter) and the monk's unarmed abilities is. Can I increase my claws' damage as I go up in level like a basic monk's unarmed strike?

Recently got my hands on issue 1 of the PF comic... and whereas I'm not sure she's homosexual, it would seem Merisel at least swings both ways. She seems pretty... interested... upon seeing Ameiko Kaijutsu (then again, can you blame her?).

I make a point of her possibly being bi, because later on in the same issue, a drunken Valeros makes a come-on and she turns him down.. but in a way to suggest "not right now" instead of flat-out "no". Either way, I'm eager to see how it develops, and I'm enjoying the fact that physical attraction is shown in the comics, just like it happens in real life.

Hm. I've only done the First Steps and Frostfur Captives, but there's a spot for Day Job on those. It's on the side, along with the Prestige/XP trackers.

In my experience, Ledford went first both times. Due to the players not being completely stupid, they had their front-liners on, well, the front line. So Ledford gets in a good hit, if my die wants to behave.. Further on in round one, both of the fighter-types working together dropped Ledford in short order. The rogue was next; the hardest part my players had to deal with was Halli keeping distance and pelting them with acid bolts.

True enough. I just kinda feel like it was too easy. Maybe expanding the alleyway by another row would help; gives everyone a bit more maneuver room.

I know this scenario's been out a bit, so I'm probably dredging up old news. But did anyone else have issues with the final encounter; the ambush?

I've run this scenario twice now, and both times, the positioning is just horrid for the baddies. Narrow alleyway, with no maneuver room for either 'party', and if the baddies go first in initiative, it really kinda cripples them. The barbarian charges in, can't get to the "biggest and strongest" PC if the PCs are all bottlenecked. Same thing with the rogue and the leader. Kind of hard for them to flank and the like, as per their Tactics listing, with the layout.

I know the guides say improvising is a good part of GMing Society.. I'm thinking if I run it again; I'll have them wait until the party's in the middle of the alley, and surround them, two on either side.

I'm back! Running the First Steps trilogy with a new group at my shop. Upon filling out the report, I see there's a slot for a GM character, referencing GM Rewards. So. What's up with that, how does it work, et cetera?

I know if a table is short a player, the GM can use a pregen to round it out, but what's that got to do with the rest of it?

I've not seen anything in the rules about this one way or the other; and I know the people at Paizo actually read and respond to some of these threads, so here goes:

What are the rules/conventions for throwing another PC? In this circumstance, I ran a game where one of the characters was a halfling rogue. And when the halfling positively absolutely needs to get across the swampy clearing/behind the enemy overnight, it was a consensus to pick up and toss said halfling.

I generally did a Strength roll for the thrower, and a reflex save for the throw-ee... with an accepted ruling of a high Strength check by the thrower quite possibly throwing the halfling -too- far (in fact, this happened often, and the players loved it.. much laughter to be had).

Where do the designers and/or other GMs stand on this?

Ugh. Got another one, sorry... I must be overlooking it in the Society Guide. Where/what exactly is the Scenario Chronicle # for a scenario?

Thanks. Speaking of party composition... I've yet to be to a con event; how's that handled? I would imagine with random players, it could be possible to get a table of mostly squishy mage-types. Or is there a method of sorting?

Moar questions! Figured I might as well re-use this thread, no?

1.) Would I be correct in presuming that Season 3 Scenarios are still legal to run/report?

2.) The Guide says to use a pregen character if your group needs an extra body. Would it also be alright to create my own character, following the creation rules, for this purpose? I know that reporting as a GM means I couldn't report said character, I'm just curious if I could use him/her legally.

or a summoner whose eidolon is 'her little dead sibling' who looks in on the character (from another plane the afterlife)

I would consider asking this character a Summoner, and giving him an Eidolon with Undead Appearance.

... Y'know, I hadn't even thought of a summoner. Question would be what appearance to give the eidolon, I know the book says it can't look like a 'common' creature.

I fully understand how it is when you get a concept, and this doesn't really help the melee weapon issue... but if you're not set on gnoll, look at Ratfolk. Specifically, the Gulch Gunner racial gunslinger build. Specifically made to shove a pistol into someone's gut and do more damage.

@ Mordaith. I present to you Oracle of Bones. Very necromancer-y feel. But not evil, per se; there's no alignment restriction. In fact, due to how oracles work fluff-wise, you could have a reluctant necromancer. Oracles tend to have their abilities thrust upon them.

I understand and appreciate the thought process there, and with some classes/builds, it's a given, such as antipaladin (which indeed is banned from PFS). I've just long been a proponent that while reanimating bones can easily be considered evil, one who does so does not have to be.

Eh. I can work around that. Mostly storyline/'fluff' more than anything else.

No, not THAT sort of necrophile.

Been wanting to make a magic-user who makes use of undead, and there are definitely options now. I'm just not sure which Faction would be suitable. Allow me to give a bit of background.

Character, being somewhat frail, had a sister who acted as his guardian; stood up to bullies, etc. A day came when their village was attacked by marauding evil-doers, and to give him a chance to live, his sister hid him and wound up being killed.

He was wracked with grief, and has since set out to find some way to bring her back. Driven perhaps just a touch mad from the events, he collected her bones, and keeps her with him, where she can still act as a guardian of sorts, if only as an animated skeleton until he can give her true life again.

Any ideas?

Also, build ideas would be appreciated, too.

Yeah. I've been considering a Tiefling sorc, rakshasa lineage, focus on charm and compulsion. I'm just not sure how effective that would be in Scenarios.

So I missed out on kitsune as well? Blast. I'll be going to NekoCon this weekend, and there's several society games that will be run. I was hoping to come with something a bit more exotic. Ah, well.

So, I've noticed that at least a couple of the races I'd love to play, you need the chronicle that 'unlocks' it. Doing a bit of digging, it would seem they are done at Gencon, at limited numbers.

Are there any exceptions to this? I understand Society is kinda meant for conventions and the like; but the odds of me ever getting to GenCon itself are slim to none, and it's kind of a low blow to have fun/interesting races dangled in front of me just to find I'll never have a chance to play them in Society...

Alright, I understand better now. Thanks!

On the east coast, so I started a Society game tonight for something to do as we bore out the storm.

Everything went pretty well, but I'm left with several questions.

First off, equipment. I read through the Society Guide, all the 'buy mundane items', etc. That being said, I ran through the first of the First Step set. Several items were found, including some good armor.

So how does that work? Do the characters get to split and keep the loot as per usual? Can they sell it back (for 50%, I caught that)? Or do they only get to keep the gp rewards and the items on the Chronicle list?

I see it's generally magic items that appear on the Chronicle reward list... but several enemies had potions of cure light wounds, and I didn't see those on the reward list. How are those handled?

Second, the Max GP on the Chronicle list. Between selling mundane items, money found on enemies that are defeated, and the gp awards, it's feasible to get more than that.. do I cap it all off, beyond the Max GP and the Day Job bonus?

Finally (for now, at least); the Starting GP. For making new characters, they get 150 gold to spend. Is the Starting GP on the sheet (for a brand new character, first session/mission, etc) supposed to be 150, or should it be the amount of gold they have left -after- they buy their starting gear?

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for any enlightenment.

I've been trying to work out options in my head for a couple of weeks, and I'm still not sure, so I'll hand it off to the fine people here.

About to start the S&S AP. I'm looking at doing catfolk, for beginners. What I want to do is a rogue-type, who uses dual weaponry, being a sword (most likely a rapier) and a pistol; looking at eventually becoming the captain of his own ship.

Ideally, I'd like to pick up the feat Sword and Pistol, so I can stab and shoot in close-combat (at some point, I know there's no way to get it at first level). The problem with that is there's a whole mess-load of feats to take to get it. I'd rather not sacrifice my rogue idea in favor of a feat machine (read: fighter) if at all possibru. Any ideas?

So. Running LoF, and my group just finished clearing out the monastery (Howl of Carrion King module). No sooner than they finish and the rest of the caravan settles in, than they decide to head out -that very night- to do some preliminary scouting.

In the process, they run across the dust digger, and kill it before it can escape. So. There goes catching Dashki's "clue" when he sneaks off, and there goes the gnolls torturing Felliped by staking him out there for the dust digger to eat.

I'm flexible enough to go with it and let things develop as they may; I just found it incredibly amazing that because of the party's raring to go, they've pretty much made the laid-out schedule of events in the module itself pretty much null and void.

Also; can someone give me a good idea of levels per area on this?

Not sure if this thread is relevant for anyone anymore, as LoF is one of the older setups now; but I use Spotify and I stumbled upon a great record.

Arabian Night Chillout Lounge Arabic Music. Long name, and the "chillout lounge" made me unsure..but it's awesome thematic music. Give it a listen.

I'll have to dl Dropbox; definitely interested in getting these files.

To semi-hijack my own post here, one more semi-related question... the magus must use a melee weapon to do their thing. Would an unarmed strike count? In theory, could you be a feasible monk/magus multiclass?

Thanks for the clarifications, everyone.

I think you looked at it wrong. It should be +1/+1, and pfsrd's chart shows that. If the monk has 10 to the stat he uses to hit (strength normally or dex with the feat weapon finesse), then he would have +1 only to both his attack rolls.

Derp. You're absolutely right on that, I was looking at the wrong line while typing that. By that same set-up, if I had a +1 enchantment on my unarmed weapons somehow, it'd be a +2/+2, yeah?

So. I really should know this by now; but I'm having an issue reading the "stat block" for monks, when it comes to flurry of blows.

For example, at level 3, a monk gets a +3 BAB. In the Flurry of Blows section of the chart, it says +2/+2. We'll give the monk a base 10 for Strength and Dexterity, to make things simple. When I make a flurry of blows attack, what attack bonus am I looking at? +2/+2? Or +5/+5?

Running an AP, have my players belatedly thinking it might have been best to keep an enemy alive. I feel that, considering 'enemy', if they try Raise Dead, the soul would say "no."

So, my question is this; are there any spells that forcibly revive a corpse? Even if it's just for a limited time.

Agile amulet of mighty fists.. Okay, wasn't aware of that item. Thanks!

Other good ideas all around, too; thanks for the speedy answers!

I'm currently playing in a wild-west Pathfinder game, and my character is an old Vanara monk. We're low-level (2nd at the moment), and the backstory is my character used to be a martial artist of no small talent. Age and time without practicing has dulled his skills (thus the low level).

Currently statted out with high dex and wisdom, moderate intelligence and wits, and a low strength. For my second level, I'm taking either sorcerer or wizard, with my GM working with me and allowing me to use my wisdom score in place of intelligence or charisma for purposes of spell-casting.

I was looking at doing a fairly even multi-classing (1 monk, 1 mage, 1 monk, one mage, etc.). My big question is, with a low strength, is there any options for monks that will still let me do good damage, or should I perhaps just keep on the mage path?

For additional clarification; I had made him originally with the old 'drunken monk' concept; though I am using the Flowing Monk alternate build instead, as I feel it more fluidly captures the martial arts style. As the game played out, he took on a life of his own, and became a semi-crotchety old chinese man much in the same vein as Jade's Uncle from the Jackie Chan cartoon. It's with that in mind (and the fact that our party has no arcane spellcasters) that I started looking at multi-classing into a mage class.

Any help? Our next session is tonight, so quick responses would be most appreciated. :)

So perhaps I missed it in the text... but what faith is Father Grimburrow? Besides having a decidedly evil-sounding name and looking kinda dubious in the picture of him; he seems to be a decent guy... When the riled-up townsfolk start issues early on, he shows up and apologizes for their actions, et cetera.

If he -is- a member of the Church of Pharasma, perhaps it'd be feasible for the PC's Trust Level to be considered a bit higher when they deal with the Church (especially if they ask for him by name)?

Yeah, they're doing alright so far. Big problem with the trust points is, they moved -fast.- In the first couple of days, they tried to go to the places to do studies, and because no big events had happened yet, low Trust. The first letter appeared with the SM event, and they rushed to Harrowstone to investigate. No chance for opportunities to gain Trust; really... and of course, they're of the mindset that the townsfolk are all just jerks.

I probably will take your advice on the cache and Kendra, because it seems they totally missed that clue.

Ah, I almost forgot; another note/question: I was thinking it'd be nice to have an actual track of a flute for when the Piper manifests.. a good mournful dirge... any suggestions?