I personally havent seen many players game the system to this extent where the WBL rule is totally broken that they imbalance the game or lead it to power creep.
I mean who are we kidding? Power creep is the result of all the new books that keep coming out that give the players the ability to come up with some powerful builds, so lets not blame it on playing up or that scenarios are not challenging - Author's can't possibly design an encounter that is challenging for everyone all the time.
I think this going to make it harder to get tables in areas where the player base is smaller. At least before there was the incentive that if something did happen to the character, he would have the gold to fix the issue (getting killed).
Instead of 6 player tables I can see it moving to 3 players and a pregen so that everyone can stay in tier and not take a loss or a risk without reward. I think the higher level folks will balk at always having to play down for a gold loss throwing their WBL off.
I mean there is no win-win solution to this. We've got to find a happy medium and honestly I thought we already had it.
If you have that many stores within 20 miles of each other an idea:
Run STORECON; A multi-store, weekend convention. Get the local stores to participate. If PFS covers 5 days of the week make it a week-long convention.
Contact the local GM's from those stores get them on a email or yahoogroups so you can organize. Set up a warhorn page with all the PFS offering and locations. make sure you run a minimum of 15 tables.
Each store would get credited for STORECON on a particular day. You can have a staffer hand out prize support from paizo on the day that store is scheduled to run storecon events and your in business.
Do this twice a year Fall and Sping Storecon and you'll be golden.
I see the need for these especially as demos for curious would be pathfinders. If were going to get dozens of these in the future I hope the chronicles have more than what amounts to boons on the sheets.
Perhaps 4 or so of theses 'quests' make a complete story arc.
Complete any 4 Quests based on Magnimar and get a chronicle sheet with 1xp, 1pp, plus x amount of gold.
A Numeria AP with the requisite support books would be best.
I had a PFS scenario draft called Shards of the Silver Mount a while back and tackled some ideas pertaining Numeria.
Wizard Archetype: Technomancer: some unique spells such as detect construct and an explanation for why the Gearsmen dont go farther than Numeria:
1. What the Archivist (my name for the 'leader' of the Gearsmen) is looking for is in and around Numeria.
2. There is a Power Generation Field encompassing most of Numeria that radiates from the Silver Mount. This field is what powers the Gearsmen, at times the field may pulse and radiate a bit farther or may shrink which is another reason you havent seen them elsewhere.
3. This field also serves to maintain a constant connection to the Silver Mount and the 'Archivist' which is why sometimes the Gearsmen act erratically when they get internal messages.
I'd really like to see an official ruling from Mike Brock or someone on this stuff.
Related question: can someone be a "worshiper" (by whatever definition) of more than one deity?
Well, Historically this has always been the case. During ancient times the egyptians, romans, greeks, etc worshipped multiple gods sometimes they would say a prayer or blessing to appease gods who in their eyes were 'evil' I dont think it made the people evil - they just were appeasing a wrathful god. Others gave lip service to appease the local rulers who may not have worshipped local gods.
The same can be said of a fantasy world - a midwife offering the blessing of pharasma to a couple expecting the birth of their child would be considered such. Even if the midwife worshipped one of the empyreal lords.
I am sure lay people in Golarion have the same mannerisms. " Oh by Gorum, I do hope our soldiers find and kill the goblins and if not may Gozreh swallow them into the sea."
Let's wait to see what's opened up in 4.2* and then go from there. No point in having this debate again (and remember I'm pretty vocal about it) with changes this close.
*** spoiler omitted **
Yeah I guess, you see some people will never be happy with what they're going to allow.... The new threads will be ..."What about the CATFOLK....its unfair that [insert race here] is allowed and not the catfolk..."
GM'd 3 slots today. I got 5 more new PFS players, and brought back some 'retired' gamers back to PFS again.
Spoiler:
In all three tables the final fight dropped at least 1 character. Only when a paladin was present did the party stand a chance of killing the BBEG.
The first table had 3 PFS players and 2 Pregens(Seelah and Kyra) They failed to trigger the ambush so through Diplomacy and knowledge local checks they discovered the shrine. When they approached they triggered the attacks at the shrine, after a surpised crit from the half-fiend almost drops a character the party focuses on the half-fiend and Z runs down to prepare an attack
I took it easy with the 2nd table since it was all pregens and 5 of the six players were new to PFS. - Advice for next year maybe 5th level is too high for these types of events. FREE RPG Day should be for newer gamers as a way to introduce them to the game. maybe 3rd lvl max. I think they were a bit overwhelmed with all the class abilities.
The last table were mostly PFS regulars except one player and although they defeated her it took 11 rounds and she finally escaped when she was almost dropped by 3 back to back crits in the same round.
Earth tremors occasionlly rattled some of the houses in Sandpoint, most usually escaped with minor damage. After a series of particularly strong tremors a knock came at Old Quink's door late at night as he tried to place books and artifacts that had fallen back into their shelves.
"Who's there?", yelled the startled Quink.
At first there was silence, but shortly after a voice responded in a vaguely familiar language. Brodert Quink thought for a while as the knocking became stronger and the yelling became louder.
He finally realized that the voice. A male by the sound of it, was speaking in a highly accented form of Thassalonian. Quink's interest piqued and he gathered the courage to open the door.
With an orb of continuous light in one hand and his other firmly gripping the door handle he slowly opened the door.
He peered through the doorway and standing before him was a disheveled man in his mid-thirties with long dark hair, expressive eyebrows and piercing grey eyes. He wore a long robe of silky red material, highlighted with strange arcane symbols at the edges, some of which he recognized.
"Is this any way to treat a Warmage of the 3rd Legion" intoned the stranger.
"Umm, no...good Sir... where are you from.... and how ca..can I help you?" responded Brodert.
"You can help by telling me what happened to the Hellfire Flume! Did Karzoug's armies destroy it? Why is the Sea of Azlant so close to us? Why are the stars in a strange alignment?" rattled the stranger in rapid succession.
Brodert Quink took in all of this and a strange thought came upon him.
"Sir, where exactly did you just come from? a now inquisitive Brodert asked.
" I came from ruins of the Legion's Hellfire Flume, the last I remember Imlith, may Lissala curse his name, cast a stasis spell to ....to....I am not sure to what. My... memory has faded...perhaps some side effect of the spell..."
Quickly Brodert decided to allow the man inside as his mind raced with thoughts and endless possibilities. It had not occured to him but several years ago a group of adventurers ventured into the Hellfire Flume or the Old Light as it was now called. Brodert was sure it was a device of unimaginable power but was laughed out of Magnimar because of it. Now he may have made the discovery of a lifetime.
"Please Sir, come in. Welcome to my home. You did not give me your name. What is it?" said Brodert
"I am Eldarius of Thassilon, Warmage of Bakrakhan" intoned the stranger.
"I am Brodert Quink, a sage of some renown, I specialize in ancient history, particularly that of Ancient Thassilon, an empire that existed over ten thousand years ago." he let his last few words trail a bit to allow Eldarius time to absorb them.
"What is this nonsense you speak of old man?" said Eldarius.
"Why dont you come into my study and sit by the fire, I believe this will take a while." smiled Brodert.
And so began my seventh PFS Character Eldarius of Thassilon, Warmage of Bakrakhan!
I'm in the same boat as you Zean, we have an active group that meets bi-weekly and plays PFRPG AP's. And I have a steady PFS groups in Jersey and in NYC. This after 10 years of on and off again rping with my regular high school group of 20+ years
For many folks PFS is the only way to 'get a game'. For some its a bit difficult to have that steady rp group especially as you get older and life (i.e marriage, kids, school, work, etc) happens to call more than once and free time becomes something of a luxury. So its a way for players to simply game.
PFS is not perfect by any means and even I find it restrictive at times, but it's greatest assets are Flexibility and Stability. This Flexibility is the key when Joe Gamer moves from state to state and is able to continue on gaming with his character as he never left. With stability he can enter the game knowing the rules are the same as where he came from and puts him a little at ease, and more importantly it keeps him gaming.
But PFS at its core is also a marketing tool to get players playing PFRPG. In this I say based on your statements that it worked. It got you interested in the game and now your off playing AP's and using things that PFS wouldnt allow but that are allowed in a regular home game. In essence you're buying more products, enjoying the game, and bringing more and more gamers into the fold.
A win, win situation for You, for Paizo and the Gaming Industry as a whole.
Thats great for you, but like you said your players have had that opportunity - every player has not. By dint of Major Convention locations some conventions have gotten the race boons, others have not. Many PFS players cant make it to those cons, so are we to exclude them because they cant make it to a con ? They still contribute to Paizo by supporting the company with product purchases?
It's a non-issue if players will use these boons, its that all players have an opportunity to play a race via a boon. If they decide to use it or not is not part of the argument.
While I still actively play and GM I will say that a lot of the negativity on the boards and rants are probably a turn off to many folks.
And when more than half of all posts are something along the lines of "OMG archetype/class/spell/combo is so OP, lets change XYZ rule and while we're at it lets change this other rule" Its seems we now spend more time complaining about the game than talking about its merits and the fun experiences we have.
I dont know if this is due to the overall growth of the game or the growth of the rules bloat from all of the products out there.
Lastly, the boards themselves have become a turf of sorts for the 25 or so posters who literally are posting constantly. Their opinions overshadow everyone else's, Its like a tug-of-war to see who can better state their argument (i.e. opinion)
I dont know but these are some of the things i've seen recently.
how about trying a Half Orc crossblooded Dragon/Orc tattooed sorcerer.
The Orc Bloodline will give you +1 per die dmg on spells
The red Dragon bloodline will give you +1 dmg per die to fire spells
The Half-Orc alternate racial feat will give you +1 dmg per two levels as a favored class-sorcerer to fire spells.
The familiar tatoo will give you a +1 to CL with a specific school (evocation)
You may just want to take a one level dip in this and then go Admixture Mage and get an addition +1 dmg per 2 levels for evo spells and the abiity to convert spells to another element: Scorching ray to acidic ray
at 5th(sor) lvl you fireball will do 6d6+12
at 5th(sor1/wiz4) your fireball would do 5d6+12, an acid ball would do 5d6+7
The Original intent of the Original PFS coordinator was to allow scrolls and Wands to be bought at Higher caster level, But a misunderstanding between myself, Mark (Yes that Mark) and Joshua led to a weird chain of events that it was not clarified in the guide and not added PFS.
...But really this should get removed you should be allowed to purchase wands at higher level. Casters get hosed in all different ways already in PFS. This shouldnt be one of them.
....please change
.......pretty please
..........pretty please with sugar on top....
IF Paizo decides to release 2.0 in the next 2 or 3 years even... I won't buy any more. It is time to say Enough is enough. let WoTC hang themselves and leave PF alone. OK to add some new rules or update editions but NO NEW Editions! I will boycott as will many others.
I second this. We dont need another edition. The reason PFRPG exists is because the constant edition evolution hurt the other guys REALLY BAD, give it a rest already!
Maybe some sort of rules/faq compilation perhaps 4+ years down the line. But I personally prefer the FAQ format online on the paizo website.
While fighting the dragon my 9 year old son (playing Valeros) managed a critical power attack at just the right moment. The Cleric was out of channels and spells, they drank the cure potion and Valeros had just taken 10 points of damage the previous round. I was thinking the dragon would have to just fly away. But they actually killed it. He was cheering and sooo excited.
Haha thats funny while fighting King Fatmouth and the goblins my 13yr old (fighter) gets into an argument with my 7yr old daughter (cleric) over who gets the magic ring. She refused to heal him. All the while my 6yr old (wizard) was holding the treasure. I had to take a time-out to explain why they're a PARTY. funny stuff.
I'm going to buy one for my 11 and 10 yr niece and nephew - when they visit from Florida we usually play Heroquest since the PFPRG rules are a bit too much for the younger kids. I'm sure they'll be happy with this version before I bring them up to speed to PFRPG in a few years.
I will pre-order to support Paizo, they're doing a really good job and keeping me happy (and prices low).
Just a few things...
I know its a Wizkids collaboration, but like Auxmaulous stated in the thread above we need static Creature Packs: something like 2-10 minis per set: Something like 10 for small sized creatures, 8 for medium, 4 for large, 2-3 for huge, 1-2 Gargantuan/colossal. No set should cost more than $19.99 to keep it affordable.
I'd like to the following:
Goblins of Golarion pack
Orc Battlegroup
Dwarven Clans
Elven Guardians
Giant Pack
Class Packs (Mages of Golarion, Clerics of ..)
Undead Legions
Cityfolk Assortment
Familiars & Mundane Animals
Fiends of the Nether Planes
Contructs of Golarion
Elementals
Iconics of Golarion
Region Packs (i.e. Imperials of Cheliax, Technics of Numeria, Followers of Razmiran0
This could also be used into supporting AP's (Horrors of Ustalav, Jade Empire Vanguard, etc)
Setting this up as a monthly subscription would not only get a steady stream of subscribers that would keep the mini line viable, but also would allow input as to what the community(customers) would like to see.
