Tim Statler's page

I also think that NPCs are wimps in comparison to PCs. Especially in PFS.

One big reason is that NPCs are built on the elite array(15 pt buy, not optimized) and PCs are built on 20 points, optimized.

When I ran Ruby Phoenix, most the NPCs would only have a +10 to +15 to hit at 12th or 13th level, while the PCs are at +16 to +20. ACs were similarly skewed to the PCs favor with NPCs only having around a 20 to 25 AC. And the weakest PC I had (non caster) had a 28AC. And the NPCs couldn't get to the casters because they where in melee from round 2.

SAves for cast spells are also bad. PCs at 11th or 12th level will have a casting stat of 22 to 26 by this time. NPCs only had a 20 to 22 MAX.

Another Mirror Image/ Ability question.
If an alchemist throws a bomb into the square occupied by the Wizard and his images, does she destroy all of the images since they all would take splash damage?
Or alternately, would they all reflect the damage that the wizard took (Also splash damage) and only the image that was directly hit be destroyed?.
I lean to the later myself.

So far the only nit I have to pick, is the list of new familiars should have been in the players guide for character creation! Leaving the stats in the AP is fine, But here you have a guy bringing a wizard to the table to find out he could have had a pirate themed familiar instead of the toad he chose.

My Gebbite Necromancer Sajan Mahasi wishes to lodge a protest on this complete misrepresentation of Geb's fight to remain free of Nexian tyranny.

One combat against teh boss monster.:
Party Fighter is enlarged and buffed before combat. Suprise roun d- partial charge,crit, one minion down. Beats main bad guy on init.
1st round- charge main bad guy, crit, one shot kill.

One of the other players "When do we get to the big fight?"

I've seen a 5 player table of PA fighters and barbarians Waltz thru all the fights in a mod without much more than a scratch. Enemies just didn't last long.

Now the non-combat portions were difficult.

I got to the Kun lst night before tired eyes made me quit. their stat block was spot on.

Next two.
Ganyavesha: Mod lists her with 6 more HPs than I can figure. (And I am including the temp HPS).
The stat block does not add the bonus from Divinew Power to the dagger attack.

The Chanters: The big one. The Bards' wpns and Armor makes them medium encumbered. This is not figured into the stat block at all. *affects their Acrobatics roll)
Also the Mod is missing 4 favored Class bonuses. (not listed in skills, hps, or performance/spells) And is also missing 1 starting language.

I'm planning to run the Ruby Phoenix Module for a PFS group.

Setting aside my complaint that this should have been a 2-slot PFS Scenario, instead of a stand alone mod...

While imputing the various characters into Herolab (mainly for spell access without having to look thru multiple books) I've found several errors in the various NPC stat blocks.

(I'm not thru yet so there will be more.)

Chung Po: The only way I could get his HPs to be the same as the module was to use 6 of his Favored class bonuses as hps. Non are used as Skill points or for extra Ki, Yet were are the other six spent? All on HPs should give him 6 more.
Several other errors could be due to Herolab: I'm three short for his CMB vs Grapple. Also his attacks come out at +16/+11 with the mod giving him +15/+10, and damage is also higher for me.
Also, a recuring problem with all monks is that their flurry bonuses do not match. Since this is for ALL mink's I've entered, I think it is a Herolab problem.

Ruby Phoenix Monks: I cannot get their stats to match up. Using the Heoic statblock, I come out 1 point short in either Str or Wisdom. And again, they underspent their Favored Class bonus by four. (they should either have 4 more HPS, Four more Skill points, or 1 more Ki point)
Also I have not had most fot he variant 's to have their weapon attack's match those given in the module. All but 1 so far have come out 1 lower than the module.
The wrong crit range is given for the Meteor Hammer.
The Shang Gou Monk's are told to replace Exotic Wpn Prof with Improved Trip. [u]Without them being proficient in the Shang Gou or Having Combat expertise.[/u] If I replace Mobility with Improved trip, and give them an extra feat to get Mobility back, their stats match the books.

Oremetsu Yasi: Again, his Favored Class bonus is underspent by 4. Otherwise everything matches.

As I find others, I'll post them

Inquisitors built as Healers can do really well if they take the healing domain.

As a first level inquisitor you can take Stalwart Resolve (spell from PFS Field Guide). This allows a character to ignore ability damage for the length of the spell. Everyone else who qualifies for it does not get it until 3rd level minimum.

Also look into the Preacher archetype from Ultimate Magic. You loose solo tactics and your teamwork feats but gain the ability to , AS A FREE ACTION, once a day+ 1x per feat given up, either re-roll an attack roll before knowing the results, or gain an immediate +4 to AC vs a hit, or Make an attacker re-roll an attack against a non-helpless ally that can hear you.

Thursday, August 16

Slot 1 (0800-1300): #3-24: The Golden Serpent (5-9)

Slot 2 (1300-1800): #3-15: The Haunting of Hinojai (5-9)

Slot 3 (1900-2400): #3-24: The Golden Serpent (5-9) [OF]

Friday, August 17

Slot 4 (0800-1300):

Slot 5 (1300-1800): #3-15: The Haunting of Hinojai (5-9)

Slot 6 (1900-2400): Gen Con Special, Part 1

Saturday, August 18

Slot 7 (0800-1300): #3-15: The Haunting of Hinojai (5-9)

Slot 8 (1300-1800): #3-24: The Golden Serpent (5-9)

Slot 9 (1900-2400): #3-24: The Golden Serpent (5-9)

Sunday, August 19

Slot 10 (0900-1400): #3-15: The Haunting of Hinojai (5-9) [OF]

I have volunteered. Looking forward to going.

ordered.

In this situation, I'd go with an Inquisitor.

Very flexible class, does most anythign needed if built right, except maybe blasting damage.

You posted the answer.

Using this ability requires 3 rounds of continuous performance, and the targets must be able to see and hear the bard throughout the performance.{/quote]

We don't have a problem class in my group. Instead, we have 2 players:
One always plays either halflings or gnomes - then complains about the low damage.
Another play, his characters will always be teenagers. Or minimum age.

I would have to say yes.

Grolloc wrote:

done, but I did answer those 1-5 priority questions backwards.

Grolloc, email me. I'll see if I can get you fixed.

-Pain

He knows a good Vet. :)

I'm interested in how my Inquisitors do.

All arcane party, Level 6, 20 point buy

*snip*

NOt a bad party, but the challenge was for 4 single class, all the sae class party.

Check out the blogs from last February. It has the alternate stuff for Pharasma.

http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5lbvp

I freely admit they are not optimized, though I could/would play any of them in a game.

And for some reason it did not register that Lamenar took the Preacher archtype.

Introducing "The Debating Society". (Called that by Lamenar due to the good natured religious debates they get into over the campfire.)

A group of lvl10 inquisitors.

Torgu -the tank

Lamenar - the healer

Shaef - the Scout

Sella - the controller

I've got 2 of the four built. But time for bed. I'll post em tomorrow if someone can tell me the best way to export from Herolab to the board.

I call dibs on the four inquisitors

From Mark Moreland earlier in this thread.

Just for future reference, raise dead won't work on someone without a brain, since it doesn't regrow missing body parts:

PRD wrote:

While the spell closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage of most kinds, the body of the creature to be raised must be whole. Otherwise, missing parts are still missing when the creature is brought back to life.

Getting your brain eaten is a bigger deal than 8 PP can help you recover from, is what I'm saying; I don't recommend it.

So only resurrect/ True RES will work. And it's a *itch trying to get money for it.

I enjoyed the rest of the mod though. Thank goodness our mage had 'Create Pit' for the fight against the statue.

BTW, I was a slightly wrong on what I thought it would take. Due to the *4* GM credits on the character, and the donation of 1600gp (800ea) from the only two players I could get ahold of. I was able to get a rez.

I had fun while playing this scenario except at the end.

My character, a 5th level 1/2 orc barbarian, due to piss poor rolling on my part. Got paralyzed and brain eaten in the final encounter. (I couldn't buy a roll above a 10.)

Now if what the GM told me is correct, and it looks so from what I read, if you die from that fight, your character is permanently dead unless they are Osirion faction. Was this the intent?

The reason I say this, is that there is no way a 1st thru 5th level character can afford a resurrection or true resurrection either by gold or Prestige.

Here is the math.
A character one away from 6th has 14 chronicles. So if they have gotten EVERY single PP available, they have 28PP. Resurrection costs 32 and true res 77 (from Pathfinder Society Feild Guide)
Gold wise a res cost 10,910gp and true res 26,530gp. I had 5 GM credit on the character and wasn't even close to the gold for either. And if the whole party of six had sacrified thier take for the mod, We still would not have had enough.

I would have minded this less if it had occured in a 7-11 teir mod, as then there is a possibility to get the character ressed. But this is a "Punish the unlucky player" mod.

People keep saying that if the character has a reasonable chance of success, the player should be able to take 10. When I run, If there is a very good chance of success and it is not an opposed roll, I DON'T EVEN ASK FOR A ROLL. I only ask for rolls when the chance of failure means something.

When I run higher level PFS, (8+) I usually don't even bother asking for spellcraft rolls for the magic items as the wizard's/ cleric's/ whoever's spellcraft is pumped high enough by that time that they probably will make it anyway.

Alienfreak wrote:

So you don't enter anyones car and only drive yourself or after checking their driving skills throughfully in hours of conversation?

In my games players refused to go on boats. They said bad things always happen on boats. The boat sinks, the crew is pirates, the crew is ghosts, the crew is pirate ghosts, the kraken attacks, a reef attacks, etc.

That was inculcated by other DMs who used boats as "isolate the players and get them" vehicles. I gave them one "easy boat trip" pass which would give them an easy uneventful trip in any campaign.

They never used it because they were too afraid of boats.

Just like PCs are murderous hobos; boats in D&D and Pathfinder are apparently all deathtraps.

Sounds like they are from Divers in LG.

A couple of years ago, I ran the first 3 Devil We Know scenarios for a group of 5 Andorans and a Chelaixian. The only guy whose day job I remember is the Cheliaxian's. His day job was slaver. Andthe best result he got over all three scenarios was a 10 (5GP). We joked about his running around with Andorans who had to free slaves every mod was causing him to be mistrusted and not get work.

I'll have to add it to my to get list.

I've been staying out of the "Take 10" debate as I was the GM nosig was unhappy about back the last time this was brought up.

nosig, not all skills take only 6 seconds. Some take longer just by the nature of the skill. Easy skills to call out length of time are Craft and Profession. And some the round is only a partial success. (Climb you go at 1/2 speed so may take more than one roll.)
And Mike's note about a horse can climb wasn't about the take 10 , it is a rules hole for any use of climb. Common sense tells you a horse cannot climb a rope. But get a rules lawyewr at the table and they will insist it can, because it is not stated in the rules they can't.

When I GM, I usually don't even have players roll for routine tasks. They have plenty of time, and aren't distracted.

I also don't think Take 10 is a good option for opposed rolls. So stealth, and bluff should be rolled. Why? Because the Character should not know how well he did. And the same goes for perception and sense motive. Again, Why? you ask. Because you might be lokking around and looking the wrong way at the wrong moment. Or something else the guy said, distracts you and you are paying less attention to the guy trying to bluff you.

And I do not allow taking ten to be done on faction missions. Not because of distraction, but because of what is at stake for failure. I do allow taking twenty because it specifically states you are taking extra time and being careful.

Remember, it is easy to say your character is not distracted while YOU are sitting around a table. But your character is in the real world to them, maybe a bazaar, a tavern, etc. and we can't see the minor movements, actions, and conversatons that take place around them as they go about their tasks.

And part of the reason I have multiple characters in each level grouping is that I GM more than I play. An d I want to play the last scenarios for my high level characters.

My characters from High to low.

Cristian Aldori - human fighter 11 from Brevoy
Sajan Mahashi - Human Necromancer 10 from Geb (He's been mentioned by MikeVon Hasslen)
Bron Stonetrapper - Dwarf Rogue 6
Tsurag Tsadok - 1/2 Orc Barbarian 5
Lacroix Jendar - Human Summoner 2
Windeloos Nackle - Gnome Sorcerer 1
Taggart Bravefoot - Halfling Monk1
Felinous Druumard - Human Monk (Zen Archer) 1
Toric KeKelistan - Human Inquisitor 1

Retired (fro various reasons)
Aladane Talmark - Human Cavalier 2
Kamal al-Ahmad - Human Cleric1/ Fighter 2

.

If you want to play in a level 8 module, you need to have a legal
level 7-9 character. Playing a pre-gen for credit is not allowed.
This would match with the current rules for playing in scenarios.
It is the same model that worked well in a prior living campaign.

There would be one reward on the module chronicle, since modules
are not tiered. Everyone gets 3 XP, 4 PA, and same possible gold.
The GM would receive an identical chronicle, and use the current
rules to apply in the future if lacking an appropriate character.

THIS.

The church of Sarenrae in most of Avistan is very different from the church in Quadira. In most of Avistan, the church is a nice "Light the way to redemption" type. In Quadira, it is a very militant, "Kill the Evil Outsiders first" type. There is enough discord between the two for a schism to happen.

+1 to Quantum Steve. Having run a Captain Andoran character for about a year, i know he is correct in how this operates. The price for enchanting is done separately for the Throwing Shield as either a weapon or a shield, with the enhancement caps being independent of each other, but set the same as others of their type (+10 for weapon, +10 for shield). Investing all your GP into one item is costly, especially if it gets Sundered.

Thanks for the idea. <EG>

"Obviously, [Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler] did not have an 18 score on physical beauty, so it is quite possible to assume that scores over 18 are possible, for any one of the named historical personalities would have had a higher charisma score — there can be no question that these individuals were 18's — if they would have had great physical attractiveness as well as commanding personal magnetism and superb persuasiveness."

Don't forget Rasputin! He probably had a 20 Cha and 20 Con.

I would halve what the cohort would get while adventuring. He still is learning and perfecting his craft. But won't level as fast.

Most adventurers shouldn't live if they are missing their heart, and other internal organs.

Captain Andoran is pretty fun to GM for.

Locally, we have the people who created and play the Nackle family of Gnomes, living here. Many of their names are funny, and punny, and meant to be.

I've been slowly going thru my BB and noticed a typo on the Fighter Pregen.

His Melee attack is listed as +1 BAB +3 str for a +4 melee.
Then it lists Weapon Focus: Longsword as his feat.
When you get to the Longsword stat block, the Attack bonus only shows a +4 instead of a +5!

Thundarr's sword just had the brilliant energy and flaming properties.

An adventurer found that Drabo had a knack for magic and promised him, if he could keep from killing people while he was trained, to make him a great wizard. Darbo thought he said "Great Lizard" and went and killed a kobold, and skinned it, to get a jump start on the process.

I want a plushie of that goblin!

One iconic Fighter not mentioned so far is Boromir.

He's charismatic, but still a bit of an ass. He is weak willed, trying to get teh ring from Frodo. And his shining moment is killing a large bunch of Orcs before being cut down by an archer fighter with Deadly Aim.

Cool! Now I can find them.

When I saw this thread, it had the thread "Underwear of Revelation" right below it. So you have adventurers with no underwear being followed by adventurers in crotchless underwear.

"Quick! hide behind the pile of dead Bards!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwtH5oQqHPg