amethal's page

When you cast phase door, can you choose to hide inside it rather than passing through?

It is open to interpretation, but the possibility of being ejected makes me think perhaps you can. However, I don't like that interpretation as in theory you can then rest in it for as long as you like, as the duration is based on uses rather than time. (Yesterday a player in our group wanted to do that during a battle, until he had regenerated back all his hit points (troll) and cast a few combat buffs. At the time I ruled that he couldn't.)

This spell creates an ethereal passage through wooden, plaster, or stone walls, but not other materials. The phase door is invisible and inaccessible to all creatures except you, and only you can use the passage. You disappear when you enter the phase door and appear when you exit. If you desire, you can take one other creature (Medium or smaller) through the door. This counts as two uses of the door. The door does not allow light, sound, or spell effects through it, nor can you see through it without using it. Thus, the spell can provide an escape route, though certain creatures, such as phase spiders, can follow with ease. A gem of true seeing or similar magic reveals the presence of a phase door but does not allow its use.

A phase door is subject to dispel magic. If anyone is within the passage when it is dispelled, he is harmlessly ejected just as if he were inside a passwall effect.

I'm thinking of running an "Against the Giants" style series of adventures which have 3 different types of giants as the adversaries.

My players are vaguely aware of the classic 1st edition adventures, so I don't want to use the giant types from that, and I don't want to use the giants that feature in Part 4 of Rise of the Runelords; (not gonna spoiler it, but I imagine most GMs on here know which 4 types of giant that rules out).

At the moment, I am thinking of using Marsh Giants (cannibal thugs with a fetish for aberrations), Desert Giants (twin scimitar wielding dervishes) and Taiga Giants (spiritual savages who live among the megafauna) as they are 3 of my favourite types. However, does anyone else have any alternative suggestions for different types of giant they think would make particularly cool adversaries?

The ultimate enemies will be a (presumably small, since they are CR 17) group of rune giant plotters. I'd like them to have a group of Darklands-dwelling minions that act as go-betweens, so any suggestions for those will also be welcome (the more obscure the better, as I'd like to replicate as much as possible the "wtf was that?" ending of G3).

I'm considering cancelling my Pathfinder Adventure Path subscription after Skull and Shackles is complete.

If I have some outstanding pre-orders at that stage (which qualified for the Pathfinder Advantage discount when I made them) will I get charged an extra 15% when they ship because I cancelled my subscription beforehand?

A crossblooded sorcerer (from Ultimate Magic) has one fewer spell known at each level. I assume that means "spell level" not "character level" (is that correct?).

Does that mean a 4th level crossblooded sorcerer doesn't know any second level spells?

I’m thinking of running Curse of the Crimson Throne for my group, as a nice change of pace after we finish our current Night Below campaign. However, it will be the players’ first introduction to Golarion, and I am wondering how best to introduce them to the setting.

If I rely on the Players Guide, I expect it will pan out as follows :-

One of them will happily read the Players Guide, and might read Guide to Korvosa as well.
Two of them will read the “crunch” elements in the Players Guide with a view to character optimisation, and will ignore all the setting information
One of them won’t read any of it and I’ll have to pick the campaign trait for that player myself

As a result, I’m thinking of doing a brief character questionnaire for each player to complete, in order to get them thinking about the setting. Has anyone ever done something like this, and are there any other useful questions I could add?

What is your opinion of the so-called Curse of the Crimson Throne? (e.g. an actual curse that blights Korvosan society, a daft peasant superstition, somebody else’s problem)

What do you think of Varisians? Shoanti? Chelaxians?

What do you think of Harrowing? (e.g. important part of Varisian culture, a good way to gain an “edge”, a sop for credulous cowards)

How keen are you on monarchy in general, and on King Eodred Arabasti II in particular?

If you don’t like the monarchy, why haven’t you moved to Magnimar (a rival city ruled by a lord mayor and his council)?

What do you think about Blackjack? (e.g. an entertaining myth, a troublemaking rabble-rouser, an inspirational protector of the common man)

Are there any guidelines for what size category a creature falls into based on its physical dimensions?

For example, the Dire Crocodile entry in the Bestiary describes it as a gargantuan animal but doesn't give any details as to how long it actually is. (A large crocodile is fourteen feet long.)

Or is it just as simple as saying that it takes up a 20 foot space, so is likely to be 20-ish feet long, adjusted as desired based on its general body shape?

I'm currently playing a gnome alchemist, and I have an idea for an "alter-ego" which really appeals to me. However, taking the Master Chymist prestige class would (for various reasons) handicap the charater to a not-insignificant extent. Would you do it?

"Calamity" Zane Potboiler is a friendly male CG gnome alchemist with a fire fetish (pyromaniac, alternative gnome trait from APG). He finds himself on a long-term mission to carve a civilisation out of the wilderness, which he approaches with enthusiasm but is tempermentaly unsuited for.

The alter ego would be Sergeant Harker, a focused and ruthless female LE (GM has no problem with evil characters) svirfneblin agent of the city of Trademeet, which has a vested interest in the success of the PCs' mission. (Feel free to substitute your own cool idea!)

The rest of the party are all true N, so I love the idea of forcing them to take sides. Do they prefer to have CG Zane or LE Harker on the team?

Also, the rest of the group have no reason to be familiar with the Master Chymist rules. It would be interesting to see whether they came to accept Harker as a real person.

The problem is it would make the character a lot less effective than simply taking Alchemist to level 20.

Master Chymist is designed to be no more and no less powerful than an alchemist. It is arguable as to whether it manages to maintain the alchemist's power level (I don't think it does, but YMMV and that is not the issue here). However, it is a melee class, so starting as a small character race is not recommended. It will also cause the loss of the favoured class bonus, which at 1/2 bomb per level (thanks to APG) is well worth having.

Situationally, we have only a three character party. The other two are a halfling sorcerer and a human cleric 1 / fighter x. A Master Chymist treads on the fighter's toes and (by reducing skill points and extracts) hampers the character's ability to cover for rogue and cleric.

We are currently 3rd level, but significantly behind the expected wealth by level curve due to our failure to find several of the available treasure hoards, so this is a bad time to under-optimise!

Apolgies for the length of this post, but it has helped me to organise my thought processes. At the moment I have resolved to go for roleplaying glory .....

Eric Mona's article "Opening Moves" on the Pathfinder Society, way back in Pathfinder #1, refered to volumes 23 and 56 of the Pathfinder Chronicles. In "Seekers of Secrets" these have been renumbered as volumes 13 and 36. Has there ever been an offical answer as to which is correct?

Also, Chronicle 23 (or 13!) refers to the temple of Xanthuun but then switches to the Gold Phoenix Aviary without explanation. Is that another name for the temple, a name for a part of the temple complex, or a different site entirely?

There is a reference to the Forbidden Jungle in Chronicle 1. It appears to be the Mwangi Jungle, but has this ever been confirmed?

I'd like to do a detailed review of PSS 28 Lyrics of Extinction. However, it would contain spoilers.

Are spoilers acceptable in a Pathfinder Society Scenario review? It's a Season 0 scenario, if that makes any difference.

I'm interested in adding 4th edition's rituals to my 3.5/Pathfinder game.

Does anyone know if you need the 4th edition PH (which I don't have) in order to understand how the rituals in this book work? I'm assuming they are self explanatory - have the ritualcasting feat, take x amount of time, spend y amount of gold, maybe meet condition z, and you are good to go.

Also, are these rituals worthwhile in a 3.5 game? I'm hoping that they are cool and unusual things for characters to do, rather than a way for 4th edition adventurers to replicate (say) the Prying Eyes spell from previous editions.

It would be good to have a place to discuss forthcoming adventure paths (if there is such a place, please let me know!)

The next adventure path is Kingmaker, set in River Kingdoms.

Rumour has it that the following one is set in the Mwangi Expanse. Some people might join me in being delighted, and want to offer ideas.

Others might feel Legacy of Fire was enough of a sop to the motley fans of Garund, and insist that the next 10 adventure paths are set in Avistan.

Either way, the internet thrives on opinion and uninformed speculation, and adventure paths are Paizo's core business, so I think we need a Forthcoming Adventure Paths forum.

In my current game, we are having a lot of fun fighting Kuo-Toa. They are not open content, so couldn't be in the Bestiary.

For an OGL game I had thought of using Fiendish Locathah as a substitute, but per the contents page in the Bonus Bestiary there are neither Fiendish creatures nor Locathah in the Pathfinder Bestiary.

Those of you who have the book (ordered mine from my FLGS, goodness knows when it will arrive), are there any creatures in the Bestiary that could make a good Kuo-Toa substitute?

I thought maybe Boggards, but they are already acting as Bullywug substitutes in my campaign.

Mty Pathfinder 14 order is still pending.

There was a problem with my payment, and then the delayed shipping due to the customs inspection, but I thought that had all been sorted out.

Let me know if there's anything else I need to do!

I'd like to buy Dynasties and Demogogues in the sale, but its showing postage costs of 30 dollars to the UK for one book.

I know postage costs have gone up, but that seems like a very high amount. Is it correct?

I have the sketch maps from the Necromancer website, by the way.

I have a recent Chronicles and Modules subscription and an older Pathfinder subscription.

What I want is for you to ship it all together, but it appears that this isn't happening.

So, is this temporary while my two new subscriptions sort themselves out, have I ticked the wrong box in my order preferences, am I asking the impossible, or is it something else?

I have Bard's Gate, and a few of the adventures set around it, but the information I have on the rest of the region is very sketchy.

I'm particularly interested in the Forest Kingdoms, but all I know is the name. Is there any information available about them?