I chose this scenario to be the first game I've GMed (for PFS and in general). It went well, but I had a few questions.
1) During the final battle, Janira's first move is to try and disarm the Minotaur. Her CMB is only +1 (+0 with being fatigued) and the Minotaur's CMD is 21. During the game, I played it as it said, but does everyone else who plays it let her burn her first turn on a 5% disarm chance?
(Unless combat maneuver rolls don't work like attack rolls where a Natural 20 is an auto-success - in which case, the disarm will never work).
I was tempted to skip it and have her first attack be the tanglefoot bag, but I decided to just go with it as is. Does everyone else adjust that at all, or is there some kind of disarm bonus I missed?
2) I'm having trouble reporting it because of the "Scenario missions accomplished" part. Flipping through the scenario pdf, I can't seem to find what explicitly is supposed to go with the A, B, C, or D check boxes. Where do I find that?
I have run this three times, and she critted one time. Obviously the chance is greater than 5% ;).
Even if my weapon is Adamantine and we're not on a time limit, I'm not allowed to tunnel through the stone walls of the villain's lair to sneak up on him.
How exactly does tunnelling through a wall count as sneaking up on anyone who isn't deaf?
One Word: Silence.
Maybe Zone of Silence. Silence doesn't last long enough.
The tactics state that the river drake flings the snake on to the deck - sounds more like a standard action to me, not a free action.
I also wouldn't think that the drake would use two of it's three speed surges in a single fight like that. I would think that the drake would keep them in reserve, in case it needs to get away. It has hunted boats before and fought other creatures, so it should know that there may be mages or other powerful creatures around that it would need to run from.
Please note that according to the CORE, p 178, surprise round, creatures can only take a move action or a standard action, and free actions. You cannot take swift actions - so no speed surge in the surprise round.
Also, the GM decides where the drake appears along the boat - and the tactics says that it attacks the nearest PC - so the GM could have the drake attack the unarmored mage, or the armored fighter. You also have to remember that the drake doesn't know what is on the ship, nor where all the living creatures on at are - it was underwater.
So, the way I read the tactics, and have used as well, is:
Surprise round: Drake pops up alongside the ship (one option is to randomly roll where).
1st round: Drake flings the snake onto the deck of the ship, likely towards a group that is not the nearest PC, and moves next to the nearest PC, if not already next to the PC.
2nd round: full attack the PC. Repeat if necessary.
round after PC dropped: spit at anyone getting around the snake (likely to be the melee folks who can take a hit), pick up the downed PC.
next round: full withdraw with it's meal.
That sequence appears to be more in line with the tactics, will provide a challenge to the PCs, and will not provide an instant kill to a 1st or 2nd level character.
I will think about the snake action. It really doesn't define it so I would say it's up to me whether it is simply dropped or thrown. I do see the argument for it taking an action.
The second surge would be used to drag a PC/food overboard with the first used as part of the ambush. I think those are appropriate uses of the surge. The third would be held in reserve for escape.
There are no penalties to perception for looking out of water, despite what may happen in the real world. The Drake is also practiced at stalking prey and is quite intelligent. I see no reason why the drake couldn't pace the ship as the trudges upriver, picking out the easiest target.
As I reflect, even if combat turns out the way I detailed it before, I am not sure that 2d6 and 1d3 damage is even going to drop a wizard if I roll poorly. We will see.
I am going to run this on Saturday and it looks like it will be for a Tier 1-2 party. I don't think that a TPK is even possible with tactics, but I can easily see one character dying before anyone else even gets to act.
With a stealth of +16 with another +8 for cover, no one is likely to have a chance of seeing it stealthed in the water. So surprise round.
In the surprise round, it can easily spend its swift to gain the move action to rise out of the water, use a free action to drop the snake over the rail and use its Standard to spit.
Assuming the 2d6 doesn't drop a player, and the drake wins initiative, it can easily pounce. If the tail slap drops a player, it can grapple with the bite. If the tail drops a player, they are now an object and can be dragged. Another swift will grant a move action and allow the drake to drag up to 487.5lbs up to 15ft.
Kersplash! The drake has an unconscious PC 5-10 feet below the water all before anyone even got to go.
This can be done for a lot less money, if you are willing a spend a feat. A quickdraw shield with the Quick Draw feat takes a free action to ready and stow. So you can stow the shield at the beginning of your turn, make your full attack with two hands, then ready it at the end of your turn for your opponent's turns.
It can only be a light shield, but you can spend some of the money you saved by increasing the enhancement bonus.
Does Improvisation allow a character to make knowledge checks above DC 10 for knowledge skills in which they have no ranks?
Improvisation:
Prerequisites: Int 13, Fast Learner, human.
Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on all skill checks for skills you have no ranks in. Furthermore, you can use all trained skills untrained.
Untrained Knowledge:
Untrained: You cannot make an untrained Knowledge check with a DC higher than 10. If you have access to an extensive library that covers a specific skill, this limit is removed. The time to make checks using a library, however, increases to 1d4 hours. Particularly complete libraries might even grant a bonus on Knowledge checks in the fields that they cover.
My impression is that the wording of Improvisation does not overrule the clause about knowledge checks because you are still untrained. This would make Improvisation only really worthwhile on the other trained skills and for the bonus to skills you haven't invested a skill point in.
@Jason, the text for Beastmaster definitely allows for the Ranger to divide up his available animal companion levels between animal companions. This isn't an issue in PFS with the houserule that you can only have one combat animal.
It does seem like the two archetypes are treated differently despite having the same "issue". I can only assume that it is either due to the fact that the archetypes were released in different books, or that it is another facet of the archetype that justified the banning.
This is a question about a summoned creature but I think it applies here. My Asmodean Wizard has recently gained the ability to summon Cerberai. They are Int 6 and understand Infernal. I was under the impression that they could be given complex commands due to their intelligence and understanding of language. Is this correct or do summons need to be "handled?"
Arcane bonded items are upgraded for half cost per the PFS FAQ. Since you really only want the later Arcane Heritage options, half off an expensive items is just gravy.
First thing that comes to mind is a Wishcrafter Sorcerer since it's an Ifrit only Archetype. Immolator (Inquisitor) isn't very good. Also, Fire affinity dovetails well with a Elemental Fire blaster Sorcerer, though less with Fire Domain Clerics due to the Wisdom penalty. Beyond that, there are plenty of classes that would do well with a Dex/Cha race. Some ideas: Mysterious Stranger Gunslinger, Thug Rogue, Fire Mystery Oracle.
Perhaps it is just my dice, but my Pally Gunslinger is kept in check largely by misfires. In fact in one such instance, I rolled two attacks with Rapid Shot on my pepperbox and critted the first shot and misfired the second. At least it wasn't the other way around.
I think GMs that hate Gunslingers aren't remembering or holding the characters to their limitations. Unless you are hand loading a pistol, most characters will misfire on 1s and 2s, or 10% of the time. Rifles have a good range increment, but pistols are range 20. Make sure you're keeping active track of their Grit expenditures, especially if they are using it to clear misfires, increase range or dodge.
Another misconception is that of the x4 crit weapon. Do you fear it more than a rapier? You shouldn't since both an 18-20x2 and a x4 weapon will add 15% damage to the character's base over the life of the character. Sure one will have more consistent, lower damage and the other will have huge encounter breaking damage bursts, but its the same damage in the long run.
As a Tier 1–2 scenario, The Confirmation can be replayed
for credit with 1st-level characters an unlimited number
of times. A player may also receive credit for playing and
GMing the scenario once each for a 2nd-level character.
So it is clear that you can play as a 1st level unlimited times. It is also clear that you can play at 2nd level, or apply gm credit to a 2nd level, once. Can you GM for credit on a 1st level character only once or unlimited times?
So, question for the crowd concerning Sacred Weapon and crits...
A. All sacred weapons have a standard crit range and multiplier (19-20/x2 or maybe 20/x3)?
B. Whenever a sacred weapon scores a crit, all of the additional damage is based off the original weapon damage?
C. It works as is (weapon damage scales, crit stats are drawn from the weapon, which means some will crit more often, but only for x2, others rarely but for x3)
So....
1. Which is easiest to use?
2. Which is the most balanced?
3. Which is the most fun?
Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
C.
From a DPR perspective, you have weapons that do 5% (20/x2), 10% (19-20/x2,20/x3), 15% (18-20/x2,20/x4), and 20% (19-20/x3) more damage with crits. I think we should ignore the 5% group since this includes mainly simple weapons, and the 20% group since this is a group of one (Falcata) that takes feats to get. So the majority of people will be choosing either 10% or 15% more crit damage. People make a far bigger deal of crits than they should. Huge scythe crits are fun, but static damage is far more important.
Adding the scaling damage, and the ability to make any weapon Sacred, removed damage dice envy and made deity choice flavorful, as it should be.
Hey. Am I the only one who thinks there is still a favored weapon issue here? Like: find the kukri god and rapier gods and then go to town.
And am I the only one who thinks it is an easy fix?
For weapons that crit on 20 for x2 damage, 19 for x2 damage, or 20 for x3 damage (or otherwise weaker crit properties):
Keep the standard damage progression.
For weapons that crit on 19 for x3 or more damage, crit on an 18, or crit for x4 damage (or otherwise stronger crit damage progression):
Give don't step up their damage until level 4, and then have them treat themselves on the chart as though they are 4 levels lower.
Too complicated in my opinion. Plus it doesn't matter since you can pick any weapon and make it Sacred. Deity is now flavor, not mechanics, as it should be.
The dwarven feats Dented and Cloven Helm allow crit damage to be applied to a Dwarf's helm. But I don't know of any rules for determining how many hit points a helm has.
Furthermore, what if said helm were a Dwarven Boulder Helmet? It's a light weapon, but it definitely isn't a blade, dagger, or hafted weapon. How many hit points does a Boulder Helmet have?
If your helm was a Dwarven Boulder Helmet, would you treat its hit points as those of a weapon, or some other amount as defined in the first question?
The full BAB part AND fixed bonus weapon dice is a little over the top.
Fervor is a great mechanic but needs to be Wisdom based.
Focus on that.
I'd ditch the extra weapon dice bit since it opens up too much abuse with high crit weapons.
Ditch the extra damage dice and just roll with the Full BAB bit. That is enough.
Make the weapon enhancement power last one minute.
I don't read it as full BAB, though. Your BAB is 3/4 for feats and iterative attacks. Your attack bonus is as if you had full BAB. It's certainly way better than 3/4 BAB but it is not Full BAB.
What about spells tied to the blessings? Not domain slots as the class doesn't need any more power, but access to prepare different spells would add some nice variety and tie the Warpriest more closely to their Deity.
I like all of the changes, but I still have the same gripe I posted in the previous thread. Why does the Sacred Weapon buffs stay fixed for the entire day? Is this a balancing mechanism? What's more, the choice of enhancements makes a Lawful Good Warpriest the clear go-to as it offers both Holy and Ghost Touch. With the exception of Keen, I can't see being happy all day with any of the other options. As in my previous example, a Flaming weapon is going to be a huge bummer when you run into Demons or Fire Elementals in your second encounter of the day.
When it says he's an Old gillman, did you intend for him to have aging effects? I would think not since he is a 15-point buy without aging, but is a 16-point buy with.
He does indeed have aging effects. Without it in front of me, I can't confirm exact numbers though.
Stats:
Str 7 (9 base - 2 age)
Dex 11 (13 base - 2 age)
Con 12 (12 base - 2 age + 2 race)
Int 10 (9 base + 1 age)
Wis 12 (13 base + 1 age - 2 race)
Cha 20 (16 base + 1 age + 2 race + 1 level)
Most players should have close to 100gp left over after buying their initial gear (assuming they dont go all out and buy a greatsword and a chainshirt as that is 100% of their gold).
Basic things I would recommend
Club (free does blugeoning damage) (0gp)
Dagger (Light Piercing/slashing weapon) (2gp)
Sling (Ranged weapon) (0gp)
Sling bullets (ammo 20) (2sp)
Rope
Grapple
Bedroll
Rations
Light source
Waterskin
acid or alchemist fire
source of healing
Everyone is proficient with all of the above and it forms a basic set of gear that you can use vs most types of opponents. They can then include their main weapon, armor, shield
My two cents, as Caderyn did his while I was typing
** spoiler omitted **
Ferret, your list is good, but it does have a few AA items on it. It couldn't be considered a standard list for new players and the many who have never purchased that source (though everyone has a spring-loaded wrist sheath in my experience).
There were some weird things going on with the stat block generator at the time of turnover, especially with BAB and skill ranks. Thanks for catching this!
When it says he's an Old gillman, did you intend for him to have aging effects? I would think not since he is a 15-point buy without aging, but is a 16-point buy with.
Is it me or is a snake swarm not really equivalent to a mosquito swarm given that they are both CR2? The snakes have 2 more hp and better init, but the skeeters have a fly speed of 40 (compared to the snakes 20ft crawl), Immunity to weapon damage, Bleed and disease.
Table 3 - Hilarity in the final fight VS the minotaur when it decided to charge Janira.... and critted with the gore attack. Janira became its headdress for the rest of the fight. Sadly no boon for them.
I thought the minotaur was fatigued in the final battle from chasing Janira and is thus unable to charge.
I wasn't either, but it's a really nice item. Unfortunately not something that can be fixed until next week. If *I* were to GM this before it's fixed, I'd write it on chronicles for my players.
Benefit: Whenever you are adjacent to an ally who also has this feat, you receive a +2 competence bonus on level checks made to overcome spell resistance. If your ally has the same spell prepared (or known with a slot available if they are spontaneous spellcasters), this bonus increases to +4 and you receive a +1 bonus to the caster level for all level-dependent variables, such as duration, range, and effect.
Fire Mephit:
Fire Mephit (Fire)
Fire mephits are commonly found on the Plane of Fire. Fire mephits are vengeful and quick to anger.
Fast Healing: Works only while in contact with fire.
Immune: Fire
Weaknesses: Vulnerability to cold
Breath Weapon: A cone of flames that deals 1d8 fire damage.
Spell-Like Abilities: scorching ray 1/hour, heat metal 1/day (DC 14)
Mephits have a CL of 6. The Valet Archetype for Familiars allow them to share your Teamwork Feats. Would this work to increase your Familiar's CL to 7, allowing a second Scorching Ray?
Because rebuilds are the Devil and only used by munchkins to create broken characters/game the system. Rebuilds are also like bed bugs in that once you let them in you can't get rid of them. Or something like that.
It's not meant to be a DPR class. It has medium BAB, no synergy with ranged combat, and no access to highly damaging spells. Basically to do high DPR you need to hit more often than you don't and/or have multiple attacks and/or have ways to do very high damage. Rangers do it by firing off 4+ arrows. Magi do it by dropping 10d6 spell strikes that can crit and add weapon damage. Sorcerers do it by throwing 10d6 spells with +level damage. Natural attack Barbarians and Animal Companions do it with Pounce, also known as lots of attacks.
I posted builds here and here. They are not as focused on defense or full movement speed as your character. I may try to recreate your character as a Warpriest, but these should tide you over.
Class abilities: Sacred Weapon +2, Sacred Armor +2
Gear: M/W Full Plate (+2 w/Magic Vestment, +2 w/Sacred Armor), +2 Greatsword (+2 w/Sacred Weapon), Headband of Wis/Cha +2, Belt of Str/Con +2, Phylactery of Negative Channeling, Amulet of NA +1, Ring of Protection +1, Jingasa, Cloak of Protection +2
Single Attack
DPR(AC 24, Will +10): .75*(2*3.5+14)*(1+.1)+.75*(5*3.5)*(.45*1+.55*.5) = 26.8
Full Attack would be:
DPR(AC 24, Will +10): 0.75*(2*3.5+18)*(1+0.1)+0.4*(2*3.5+18)*(1+0.1)+(0.75+(0.25*0.4))*(5*3.5)*(0 .45*1+0.55*0.5) = 42.4
+5 damage from Destructive Attacks increases the DPR to 31.0 and 48.7, respectively.
So no matter whether you have the two swift actions and a standard to fully buff, or not, you are quite a bit behind the fighter. The hard part is making up for the +7 to hit you are getting from full BAB and Weapon Training. Being able to add +2 to a weapon does not make up for that.
Here's another thought. Some favored weapons are double weapons, such as a quarterstaff. When the staff is enhanced by sacred weapon, does it affect only one end, or both? Wouldn't that give those warpriests a significant advantage, in that they are getting twice the bonuses effectively for free?
The last sentence of this ability covers double weapons. It only affects one end.
Feats: ...
The following two feats function differently in Pathfinder Society Organized Play than they do in regular games:
Gunsmithing does not grant the ability to craft firearms, ammunition, or black powder. Rather, it allows the purchase of bullets, pellets, black powder, and alchemical cartridges (with 1 rank in Craft [alchemy]) at the listed reduced price, but does not grant a discount on the purchase of any firearm. Resold items gained through this feat are worth half the actual cost paid, not half the regular market value for the item. No PC can purchase a gun without this feat, even if they possess the Amateur Gunslinger or Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearm) feats.
...
Equipment: No firearm sized Large or larger is available for purchase. The double hackbut and culverin on Table 3–4 and advanced firearms on Table 3–5 and are not permitted in Pathfinder Society Organized Play. No character may purchase a firearm unless she possesses the Gunsmithing feat and firearms are never considered Always Available; a character must possess enough Fame to purchase any firearm not found on a Chronicle sheet or granted by a class feature. All ammunition except metal cartridges may be purchased.
And there are no prereqs for the Gunsmithing feat.
So, if you have the feat and you have the fame, you can buy guns. They aren't limited to Gunslingers.
Alright, I see this now. Anyone can use a gun with a hefty feat tax. Only Gunslingers can do so without. Slayers (being partly Rogue) and Rogues can do it a bit more easily by using talents, but must still spend a regular feat on Gunsmithing.
Gear: M/W Full Plate (make +2 with Magic Vestment), +2 Greatsword, Headband of Wis/Cha +2, Belt of Str/Con +2, Phylactery of Negative Channeling, Amulet of NA +1, Ring of Protection +1, Jingasa, Cloak of Protection +2
A single attack with your weapon increased another +2 with Sacred Weapon would look like so:
+18 vs. AC, 4d6 + 14 + 5d6(DC20)
DPR(AC 24, Will +10): .75*(4*3.5+14)*(1+.1)+.75*(5*3.5)*(.45*1+.55*.5) = 32.6
Full Attack would be:
DPR(AC 24, Will +10): .75*(2*3.5+14)*(1+.1)+.4*(2*3.5+14)*(1+.1)+(.75+(.25*.4))*(5*3.5)*(.45*1+.5 5*.5) = 37.3
If you are able to activate Destructive Attacks for +5 damage, they increase to 36.7 and 43.7, respectively.
I would like to see a full Str build, because this isn't impressive.
