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Organized Play Member. 29 posts (30 including aliases). 1 review. No lists. No wishlists. 3 Organized Play characters. 1 alias.


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Dark Archive

Well, maybe not for Cheliax, but for Nidal, I might suggest this , as I find R'hllor from The Song of Ice&Fire very similar to Zon-Kuthon.

And you must not forget opera, classical music, as it dates to pre-thrune era. After Thrune family is in charge in Cheliax, there tends to be a love of devil, and diabolism in the operas. As I'm not similar with the opera & classical music, I cannot help you there.

PS: Just for fun, wanted to post Sepultura + Pavarotti version of Roots Bloody Roots , as it is dark as the soul of Cheliax, and it includes the one of the best tenors in the world.

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By the way;

For the lore sake, why pre-season 3 Shadow Lodge Missions are associated with Cheliax?

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I agree with Netopalis.

There is a way around, you might start as a member of Qadira Faction, and after a scenario, you can switch into Andoran Faction, and keep your Qadira faction trait. It is going to cost you some Prestige Points though.

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The things I wrote down below might not be canon, it is an aspect how I would roleplay the situation.

The player might be thinking when his/her animal companion is buried, its vessel will rot and disintegrate over time, and provide other living plants and animals some life as in means of a fertilizer.

So, doing a druidic ritual over its rest place, might accelerate the process of this, and an animal (the new one) sense this spiritual power and wander around forest (or plains), find out the druid, and from there, they can bond, like giving the animal his scent, giving something to eat, commune with it, and I assume some chanting might be required to finish the ritual.

Depending on your definition of Druidic Powers as the GM, whether it is Nature Gods (Gozreh), or Spirit of Nature Philosophy (The Green Faith in Golarion), player might chant some prayers, or utter some atavistic/naturistic voices. If you want to include Symbolism, drawing runes or nature symbols on soil might also help.

-----
About the henchmen, of course it is not a Supernatural thing, just make sure when they are at a bar in a city, make some wanna-be-hero youngsters show up to heroes, compliment their skills and ask to follow their lead in order to cleanse evil / do good deeds / be famous & rich. Make sure that their loyalty is not absolute, and their alignment need not be the same.

Alternatively, your players can look for henchmens actively, putting up announcements around, and evaluate the applicants. There is a better chance of getting a same alignment this way, thus a higher Leadership score.

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I've asked this question in another messageboard, but got no answer;

It is said that in page 48, the Varlokkur investigates the illegal spells. It also mentions that Invisibility is one of the illegalized spells.

So, I'm just wondering, what would be the consequences of casting an Invisibility spell in Absalom? Is it only considered in other crime issues? What can the magical investigators do, do they go along the city and trace the magic in it, or do they use divination magic to sort it out?

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Sorry for reviving the post,

It is said that in page 48, the Varlokkur investigates the illegal spells. It also mentions that Invisibility is one of the illegalized spells.

So, I'm just wondering, what would be the consequences of casting an Invisibility spell in Absalom? Is it only considered in other crime issues? What can the magical investigators do, do they go along the city and trace the magic in tit, or do they use divination magic to sort it out?

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I could say that you can run the Blakros Family Story Arc; that is Mists of Mwangi, Voice in the Void, Penumbral Accords, Echoes of the Overwatched, and finally the famous Blakros Matrimony :)

Also, you could check out the Throaty Mermaid and Bloodcove Disguise, which are sandboxish.

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By the way, we were playing in Sub-tier 3-4

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I had a blast when I GM'ed this scenario 2 weeks ago, it is really well designed, with a good amount of time to play, this scenario can give you loads of chance to shine in roleplay.

I've felt really great when I've given the feeling that the players were on a wedding.

The only thing I regret was,

Spoiler:

the combat with Arastrax;
I did use the morale of the Posessed Guard, and the Shadow demon. When Arastrax showed up, the players were already wounded and the players were thinking about "running away". So, when Arastrax finally cast Deeper Darkness, all went black, they planned on to retreat to the docks, and regroup their scattered party, maybe giving them sometime. The thing is, Shadow Demon was not interested in chasing them, thus thought he failed in his mission of "exterminating everyone in pavillion" and teleported away, dismissing the Greater Darkness. When my players, came back to the pavillion, I told them there was a great battle with demons and nobles&mercaneries, that there was a lot of wounded and dead in both sides, and all of the tents were ripped apart, and some nobles were looking to them as they have done something disgraceful, abandoning their post in a combat, and thus, I announced that they have lost some Influence Points with some nobles (as it was written)

The players were shocked, and they refused to be denied their Prestige Points, just to save their lives.

So I suggested that they go and speak with Hamaria Blakros, and make her acknowledge that there was a reason they run away,then they said they had a plan to lure out the shadow demon outside the tent, and defeat the demon, they were successful in persuading the nobles that they didn't run away, so I didn't deny them their Mission PP.

First I thought I screwed up, but there was another GM running this scenario, and she had also the same troubles,

Spoiler:

"the players run away, and they claimed that they didn't"

We had different players BTW, I don't know if they were too stubborn to accept on their retreat, or I was doing it wrong.

Did you happen to encounter this situation, if so, how did you solve it?

I would be glad to know, because I will definately run this scenario again, and I don't want to run into this trouble again.

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I've always wanted to play an Asmodean Cleric, so just curious, do you happen to keep a contract with each party member, verbal or written, about the edicts and do's and dont's, or are you just playing selfish?

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You have to concenctrate on your spell, thus unless you are playing Magus class, you are not using your Quarterstaff to attack while casting spell. Magus players can cast through their spell and attack at the same turn when they reach about level 4.

I'm not sure about the spells which are cast by Quickened Spell metamagic feat.

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I was also enthusiastic about reskinning my sorcerer spells to a clockwork theme, using Golarion technology lore stated in Inner Sea World Guide and Guide to Absalom, here is the discussion:
http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz62xs?A-Character-Concept-About-Clockworks

From the thread:
The problem with reskinning is there are often mechanical ramifications of reskinned spells. Let's take a look at your example:

If your character casts stinking cloud by turning a knob on the arm of his mechanical arm:
1. Does this change the DC of an opposed spellcraft roll to determine what you are "casting"?
2. Does this mean you can never cast a stilled version of stinking cloud?
3. If an opposed fighter witnesses this, can they sunder your mechanical arm? If so, what impact does this have in game? Beyond not having a hand now, can he still cast spells?
4. If a wizard, does he still use a rotten egg or cabbage leaf as the material component? If so, does he have to load these into the mechanical hand?

These types of issues can be easily hashed out and agreed upon in home games. However, in an open, organized play session, it's too big a pain in the neck to have to go through a 150 point FAQ on your character with a new GM and get his or her buy in on every reskinned component. As a result, it simply isn't allowed.

Will Johnson's answer clarified everything, and was right to the point, showing me some "future" problems my character will run into with GM's.

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2 people marked this as a favorite.

Hello everyone,

A friend of mine has run the scenario "#29: The Devil We Know—Part I: Shipyard Rats" 3 weeks ago. He had 5 players which were level 1 and he didn't have a good grasp of the rules of PFS, he thought that Subtier 1-2 would be too easy to beat, thus he decided to apply Subtier 3-4 encounters and monsters. The players have had some difficulties but none were dead (luckily) and they were successful.

According to my reading of Guide to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, this is not legal, but the chronicle sheets have already been distributed, where all the players have victoriously deserved their sheets(which they gained for subtier 3-4) as a reward, but I feel like this is not fair, so I've decided to come and ask here.

1) Is this incident legal according to Pathfinder Society Rules? Can the GM or players voluntarily increase the hardness of a scenario, where in Guide, it says:

GPFSOP, Page 32:
Some scenarios or special events offer more than two subtiers. In these cases, no PC can play at a subtier more than 1 step away from her character level.

Note: There are 3 subtiers in this scenario...
--> From what I understand this, it's not legal.

2)If it's not legal, how can we correct this mistake? Do we have to replace every other players' sheet with Subtier 1-2 ones? Or can we let it pass over for this time only?

Thanks for your time :)

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We call our group as Facemelters, because we simply melt our enemies faces :)

The party is based of mainly arcane users (a Gnome Artificer, a Drow Sorcerer, a Gnome Illusionist Wizard, a Tiefling Warlock and a Dwarf Fighter)

We were recently going to leave one player (the tiefling) behind in a safe city (because she was not attending to the game most of the time), so our DM has offered us when she turns up, we could play the opposite of our characters, thus playing evil. We've come up with the party name called Face-Collectors. We didn't have the chance to play the evil party yet, but just wanted to share :)

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Thanks for the explanation :)

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Hello, I haven't run any modules, but I've GM'ed a Free RPG Day Module (We Be Goblins, with a PFS interlude and afterlude stories to connect the Goblin scenario into the Pathfinder Society), according to the guide and to the explanation of Michael, I'm supposed to earn 1 PP and 1 XP, but in the report page, I cannot edit the Prestige Points I've earned, and it gives 2 PP to everyone automatically.

Additionally, a friend of mine run a sanctioned module, and with the clarification here, he is supposed to earn 4 PP and 3 XP, but instead he claims that he has been given 2 PP as a reward.

I believe there is a problem with the reporting system, as it sees every module like just another seasoned scenario.

What's your opinion about it?

Dark Archive

Hi,

On the page http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/spells/nightmare.html
It is mentioned that Elves don't sleep,

Nightmare says:
Creatures who don't sleep (such as elves, but not half-elves) or dream are immune to this spell.
but according to Core Rulebook, the statement has been changed to "such as outsiders". Can you please make the change on PRD also?

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Will Johnson wrote:

The problem with reskinning is there are often mechanical ramifications of reskinned spells. Let's take a look at your example:

If your character casts stinking cloud by turning a knob on the arm of his mechanical arm:
1. Does this change the DC of an opposed spellcraft roll to determine what you are "casting"?
2. Does this mean you can never cast a stilled version of stinking cloud?
3. If an opposed fighter witnesses this, can they sunder your mechanical arm? If so, what impact does this have in game? Beyond not having a hand now, can he still cast spells?
4. If a wizard, does he still use a rotten egg or cabbage leaf as the material component? If so, does he have to load these into the mechanical hand?

These types of issues can be easily hashed out and agreed upon in home games. However, in an open, organized play session, it's too big a pain in the neck to have to go through a 150 point FAQ on your character with a new GM and get his or her buy in on every reskinned component. As a result, it simply isn't allowed.

Thanks Will, your message has enlightened me a lot. Although this wouldn't change DC's for spellcraft and design of this wouldn't have any effect in mechanics (for example-- the knob being turned on by itself from a tingling energy sent from body could be for still spell?), still this might GM's trying to "sunder" my mechanical arm as you've mentioned.

I won't force it anymore, these points you have makes a lot of sense and I will inspect everyone's reskinning attempt in this aspect. I have no more questions.

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Sorry, I wasn't able to reply for a long time.

Let me make this clear, the example I gave was about the similarity of Numeria, Numeria is more of High-Tech stuff, laser guns and similar stuff, they are not really related to Clockworks and Steampunk theme. Yet the Clockwork Academy has been introduced, there are mentions of Clockwork Golems and there is even a clockwork god, called Brigh.

Well, what I wanted to do is, using my spells and wands via a roleplay of a steampunk character, no more no less, I'm well aware of, and definately will use the same spell mechanics and DC's. It is nothing but a fluff.

A simple example might be, using stinking cloud spell appearing out of a mechanical arm by turning the gas valve on.

So, I need some clarification here:
@Brian Lefebvre says that there are no specific rules about it, so he tells me not to use it, but in the text he copied, it says:

FAQ:
If a GM feels that a re-skinning is inappropriate or could have mechanical implications in the specific adventure being played, he may require that the creature simply be considered its generic base form for the duration of the adventure.

So, in case I inform my GM's about my re-skinning, and if they approve it, does that mean I can use it?

@Will Johnson & @BigNorseWolf , These are legit and good suggestions, tons of thanks :)

@Dylos , I'm very unfamiliar with Eidolons and the Summoner theme, and roleplaying such a character doesn't really fit anywhere in my mind :(

I appreciate everybody's support and discussion in this subject, thanks :)

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Hi Everyone!,

First of all, I have to say that I'm pretty new to Pathfinder Society Organized Play, and a relatively new GM. Our group here in Turkey is also could be considered practically new...

So I've a question, and my Venture-Lieutenant was not sure if it was allowed in Pathfinder Society, he told me to go to the Paizo messageboards and ask there, and you guys are amazing with the ideas you come up here.

You might not like it, since most of you here are old school players, but please just hear me out.

So here it is: I was reading through the "Inner Sea World Guide", then I found a section about technology. By reading about this section and knowing a little bit about Clockwork Academy in Absalom, I've came up with a character concept, thus creating it; Kiili, a gnome sorcerer of Arcane Bloodline. Unfortunately, he has advanced to level 2 without even being able to roleplay him. He has advanced into level 2 right now.
[1 game I played with Valeros and GM'ed 2 sessions, transferred those credits to Kiili]

He has a high Intelligence and Charisma score. So Kiili is interested in working on clockworks, and wants to use Grand Lodge's vast knowledge and sources to obtain them, whilst keeping on working in Clockwork Academy. His ultimate goal is to master this knowledge, both in lore and in practice, and after obtaining a respectful position in the Society, go out to help needy people with his high tech skills and arcane powers.

His character sheet is completed, but I'm still designing his background and I have a slight idea about his character development (he'd probably multiclass in some level to wizard, even if he finds it a bit dull, after all, tasting wizardry is in the blood)

In my character, I would like to use the following section, and combining it with Clockworks section, just to add up a different flavor in roleplaying.

Numerian Tech @ Inner Sea World Guide -- page 256-257:

Game Impact: The futuristic weapons, robots, and
devices that await discovery in Numeria could fill an entire
book. Certainly the vast range of otherworldly weaponry,
nanotechnological wonders, cybernetic miracles, robotic
menaces, and the like could rival the lists of magic items
presented in the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Yet the
game effects of such strange technology can be duplicated
by current effects in the game. A laser pistol might
work similarly to a wand of scorching ray. Cybernetically
implanted muscles might simply function like a manual
of gainful exercise +4.

...etc

I'm aware that we're not allowed to craft anything in the Organized Play, but is quasi-crafting allowed, just to enhance the roleplay in sessions? I would neither be making anything that would improve my skills nor my abilities nor giving me new powers. The only thing I'd use my Craft Clockworks in would be in Day Job Rolls (I guess that is allowed).

Here is an ad poster for future use :) -->

Spoiler:

* Gyroweed Watches are just for you! We have them in variable colors, sizes and shapes!
Why not buy our subtle and practical tool where sunlight is too untrustworthy, water clocks and sand clocks are hard to carry.
Get this device, and never be late for a meeting!
Order now!*

Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance :)

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Copenhagen is truly a great city, and people are very friendly. I would love to visit it some time again :) . The only role-playing community I saw was at Lyngby, Faraos Cigarer. Shame on me that I've missed Fantask :(

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Fromper wrote:
DrDeth wrote:
Right. He “can track a hawk on a cloudy day”. Let them have fun. It’s a game.

The quote from The Princess Bride wins the thread. :)

Just one thing, though. Perception isn't a class skill for clerics, so it should only be +11.

Actually, the Campaign trait(Conspiracy Hunter) makes the skill a class skill. But thanks for your help.

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Chobemaster wrote:

Don't try to fight a PC's strength...USE IT. He's got a great perception score. So he's going to perceive stuff. He's traded other abilities for this. I'm much more put off by someone who has maximized his ability to trip or some other combat mechanic exploit.

Guy's really perceptive. So give him stuff to perceive. Some of which is real, and he needs to perceive it to be valuable to the party.

He sees the tripwire in advance, i.e. the old trope from every show or movie with a ranger/explorer/grizzled veteran type that encounters a tripwire.

He sees the coiled cobra behind the rock that will just leave if not startled by the party first.

He sees faint tracks that turn out to be nothing. He sees an Invisible Stalker in town...but it's stalking something totally unrelated to what you're doing and soon departs.

He finds a secret door, but behind it is just an alcove with a tea service...or the next plot hook!

Hehe, yes, never had that in mind, your advice is most useful, thanks :)

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Elinor Knutsdottir wrote:

Added after your most recent post:

The call is "at what distance can a moving ottyugh be distinguished from the other sounds of the sewers", and "at what point can you tell what direction it's coming from". Humans in real life aren't terribly good at directional hearing, and a sewer is going to be a complicated sound environment. By the rules - 'sound of a creature walking' is DC 10. An Ottyugh is big, so maybe DC 6, but the sound it makes is going to be splashing so not that different from the ambient sounds, maybe -5 for that so DC 11. If the players are moving and talking this is going to drown out other sounds quite substantially, at least another -5 maybe more (hence the value of periodically coming to a stop so the big eared fellow can listen). So, that's a base of 16, -1 for each 10'. So your cleric has a pretty good chance of hearing 'something big splashing towards you' at 50' distance. If the Ottyugh is trying to be quiet then personally I'd add it's stealth skill to the difficulty (which won't be adding much, but maybe this Ottyugh has maxed out its stealth), and if it's moving slowly then it's going to make a lot less noise. Unless it's deliberately seeking out the characters it's probably ambling slowly (although it might be singing) so I'd add a bit more difficulty.

If you take say some goblins who are stalking the party then their base DC is 14 (small critters as opposed to big ones), -5 for 'ambient camouflage', -5 for party moving and talking makes 24. With the -1 for 10' your cleric has about a 1/3 chance of hearing them before they get within 50'. (Unless they're actually trying to sneak up on the PCs in which case the odds are decidedly against him).

This is only one way of crunching the numbers, it's consistent with itself and my style of play. Others would object to whopping great -5 penalties

Thank you for your explanation, it has been most informative. I will try to prepare the Perception checks beforehand with this way.

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Malignor wrote:

Try imagining a movie or TV series where there's a character who has superhuman perception. They get moments with "I'm awesome" music when they get to do something totally surprising using their ability.

Enjoy it, and then write up ideas for such a show/movie, and now you have some fun things for that character, which you can use in the game.

Make it fun. Get excited about your PCs.

Well, since he is a cleric of Desna, Desna might have been giving him some kind of Perception beyond human levels. I will look through some supernatural shows like Heroes, Misfits and Supernatural for ideas. Love your advice! Thanks :)

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Elinor Knutsdottir wrote:


I have this problem at the moment. The half elf druid in my party has a perception of about 20 and it's hard to justify him failing to notice anything. He can even spot a (moving) invisible creature on a 5+. I'm adapting but it does cause some problems for the game.

I would say definitely make all perception rolls for PCs if you decide you need to do something, that way he's never sure he didn't roll a one and gets the fun of spotting trouble in advance without losing the fun of not knowing whether or not there's trouble ahead. Don't bend things though; as the other posters have said he's deliberately sought to be ace at perception and unless it's actually breaking the game then it's fine. As Jiggy says though, a successful role doesn't give him X-Ray vision. He can't see around corners and even if he isn't surprised in the surprise round, he's a cleric and unlikely to win initiative...

Maxing perception is a pretty normal thing for a character to do. It's one of a very few skills that are pretty well always useful for any character.

Thanks for the input, will definitely try on my next game :)

As others are also right, but my situation was a complex, maze-like indoor map, so the character's vision and hearing was very limited. I wouldn't worry much if it was outdoors.

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Cheapy wrote:

Your player wanted to be good at perception, and he's able to notice things that other people can't? And you don't like that he wanted to be good at something?

You can already add circumstantial penalties, bonuses, etc. And remember the -1 / 10' rule.

Umm, I guess you are right. I think I'm exaggerating this one.

Let me ask this way, when should get I the players to make Perception checks, what would be the optimal distance to hear the footsteps of a moving Otyugh in a complex, maze-like sewer system? Can you give me a calculation example?

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-- MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR COUNCIL OF THIEVES CAMPAIGN --

Hey all, I've been playing Pathfinder Roleplaying Game for a while, this is my first time GM'ing, and it seems that I have a problem. I've been running my players through sewers, but every surprise I've prepared for them; the Cleric in the group would find it out easily with his +14 Perception bonus.

I let players create their own characters, and I found nothing wrong with the calculation, and it didn't seem as a huge value for me before the game. But, after I completed 2 sessions, and finished Part II (the sewers part), the value of +14 Perception seemed too high to me.

Here is how he obtains +14 Perception:

CN Half-Elf // 1 Cleric of Desna
Perception: 14
-------------
1 Rank at Perception
+4 WIS Modifier
+3 Class Skill
+3 Skill Focus (Adaptability) -selected Perception -- Half-Elf Racial Trait
+1 Conspiracy Hunter:Perception -- Campaign Trait
+2 Keen Senses -- Half-Elf Racial Trait
--------------
(by the way, players used High Fantasy, 20 Point Buy System while purchasing Ability Scores)

As a new GM I believe the players shouldn't know everything I prepare beforehand, but they just keep asking for Perception checks, one of my player is having his first table-top RPG, and one of them has played D&D 3.5 before and used to create well-optimized characters...This kind of metagaming is really boring me. And I also feel that this character has been optimized beyond reality.

I have a few ideas in mind.

Spoiler:

-Should I talk with the player, stating that his Perception skill point is too high, that it is spoiling the fun for the game? (He could correct it by changing the Skill Focus to some other skill?)
-Should I write down their Perception skills, make the checks myself and tell them what they have seen/heard? This way, I could increase/decrease Check modifier because of the locational conditions.
-Should I include an "Invisibility Scroll" with some NPC's they encounter, such as Shanwen Shanwen, or the tiefling sorcerers in the Bastards of Erebus Lair?

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance :)

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Hello Pathfinder Society, I've some questions bugging me for sometime, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask it, but since it includes a question about a rule, I think I will post it here.

I've had an arguement with my DM, where me and my party was captured by unknown people (got webbed with no saving throw and failed a check of sleep dart). My character is a level 3 CG Elf Ranger, where he has immunity to magical sleep effects.

As far as I know from D&D 3.5, elves do not need 8 hours of sleep, instead they need a 4 hours of meditation each day. This might not be like that in here, and not stated in rules either, but me and my DM agreed on meditating for 8 hours, which would decrease to 4 hours, after reaching a certain high level.

So my question is, how could I be effected by a sleep/faint dart, where I shouldn't even roll a save because of immunity?

Afterwards, we found ourselves in a prison. The guardian was mocking us, giving no food, but goblins slaves of our captors decided to saved us. We learned that we were in a goblin village that has been ruled by tribal human masters. Having myself "favored enemy" as Goblinoids, tried my best not to contact them in face (because this was the first time me meeting good aligned goblins, they were just living a peaceful communal life with no harm to anyone), tried to stay in the back of the group, as Goblins led us into safety, hid us in their village for a while, then they showed a way into Tribal Temple inside human encampment, where we retrieved our stuff. So as Role Play, my DM thinks I should be killing or make plans to kill any goblin on sight. Is this a requirement? Am I doing something wrong?

(Please excuse my lack of proper use of English, it is not my main language.)