bdk86's page

I'll echo a few of the prior comments in that I'd like to see more boons tying back to the campaign. For example, I'd love to see:

Background - Dacilane Academy graduate. These are often the children of Pathfinders. Perhaps even a legacy link to a prior character.

Downtime Boon - Dacilane Academy volunteer. We've seen hints to this in scenarios. Something fun to do with your downtime. Perhaps with checkboxes to earn a minor reward. Or just a way to earn Income differently.

Downtime Boon - Lodge Builder. We've set up new lodges in a handful of scenarios. (Razmir, Qadira, etc) Someone needs to help build these new lodges. Again, maybe a downtime boon with checkboxes. Might be able to do different ones for each lodge.

If might add/build upon the Volunteer idea..

Dacilane Academy Faculty-A vanity boon letting you use a skill/lore to "teach" part time at the academy as a downtime activity, including blank space for what class your PC adds to the curriculum. A fun bit of roleplay to share at the table when discussing downtime.

I'd love to see some of the Rare Backgrounds from a wide array of books get another pass. Here's some candidates that spring to mind as "not too disruptive to the campaign" as they don't call out any planning with the GM or tie your PC up in events/themes inappropriate for PFS play:

So upon review of the access for G&G, there's some conflicting statements...

Gunslingers (and characters with the Gunslinger archetype) gain access to all uncommon weapons, ammunition, and related items from Chapter 3 of this book, with the exception of Beast Guns and any limited or restricted items below, unless the item indicates otherwise.

There are no "uncommon weapons', ammunition, and related items" in Chapter 3; that is all detailed in Chapter 4. At first glance this seems to indicate region determines equipment access for Guns PCs, except...

Characters with a Home Region of Arcadia have access to air guns, beast guns, non-black powder ammunition and accessories; and all archetypes from Chapter 4 with the exception of fireworks technician and demolitionist.

There are no archetypes in Chapter 4; it is all equipment.

bdk86 wrote:

The text for confronting Thessekka in area F9 is confusing.

pg. 53 wrote:

If the fight occurs at the Old Forest Tower, the xulgaths at area F8 emerge to defend her as soon as combat begins; three

xulgath arrive at the beginning of the second round, with three more emerging each round thereafter.

Does this mean all the xulgath in F8 emerge in the first round and then three more the second, three more each round after? There's only 5 xulgath in area F8. Do I pull xulgath from elsewhere in the tower? This would be pretty brutal given the ones running around the interior.

She's already a Severe encounter, so that would be kind of mean. Maybe send in 2 xulgath skirmishers at the beginning of the second round, with 1 arriving each round thereafter, and Krarkgekkiss arriving last (or not at all, if the heroes are totally on the ropes).

I did 2 Xulgath skirmishers round 2, another pair in round 3, and then Karkgekkiss in round 4 and it worked really well to add weight to the encounter without overwhelming them.

Dearest citizens of the fora and most esteemed Star Daddy: are there any updates on this?

More importantly, can we please change Thurston's formal title to "Most Esteemed Star Daddy"?

I've actually go the same question/concern. It'd be nice to see exactly what some of the boons do before clicking a possibly irreversible button. Or get confirmation you'll view a sample first before there's no going back.

Name: Zeldana Dalcanu, the Harrowed Sage (Moissanite Gem)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Race: Human (Varisian)
Class: Cartomancer Witch 6/Harrower 5

The main thing that I would ask, is make sure that significant choices get realized sooner rather than later. In this case the time difference between Where Mammoths Dare Not Tread and Sundered Gate was about 3 months I think. The scope of season 5, with the building toward war, really made this timing feel like our individual play-through's had real time impact on the campaign. This made the campaign feel like a living campaign. This is what I think should be strived for. But in other situations we don't see resolution until a season or two later (Valais anyone?) In some cases, resolution doesn't happen for several seasons.

So my hope is that significant choices have a planned resolution time-frame that is within a window that characters could actually play in that resolution scenario. I have had several characters that were well into seeker levels not able to play in scenarios that would have been impactful for them, because 3 seasons later the follow up was another 1-5 or 3-7.

This.

While I like the "comics continuity" take on how events with one cohort of PCs are impacted by events with another cohort of PCs, it's sad to see plot lines my PC may have a serious investment in (Like Valais or 322) not resolve for years and bounce down to a lower tier than it first showed up in.

I know not all plot threads can get planned follow up right away. Sometime, the devs won't realize a particular NPC or event was so cherished until years after the scenario came out. Others (i.e. Torch) are just too big and too long term by design to ever accomodate this. But for some of the examples given here (Valais & 322), these were pretty clearly setup to be ongoing plots that can be resolved in 4-6 scenarios.

John Compton wrote:

This is a good thread. We already have several big plans for Season 10, but we're interested in revisiting some loose threads overall. More ideas are welcome.

Seeker level play for the last Special for Pathfinder 1e.

It would be really nice and a good full circle. I started this with my -1, have done both seeker arcs with him, etc. It would be fitting to end it with him and look forward to new beginnings.

Angel Hunter D wrote:

Personally, I'd love to see more action with the Elemental Lords. There are 3 more of those puppies locked away and if we get them quick enough maybe they can be core or first "Gods Book" viable.

Yes, oh please, please! A Concordance capstone!

A discussion on this very thing with a friend is part of what sparked my idea for this post! I'd love to see the Concordance do big things this next season. Maybe we get to catch up with the pregens we got to play in the "prequel" scenario to the faction's rise?

As we've gotten news that Season 10 will be the last "Pathfinder 1st Edition" Season for Organized Play, it's gotten me wondering about what kinds of things I'd love to see in terms of story beats for the season. I'm not certain how far things are in development, but I imagine it may still be helpful for John, Linda, etc. to hear as things get finalized.

So, to start...(and if there IS a scenario that already does one of these, point me at it!)

• Sequel to King Xeros of Old Azlant. Pretty self explanatory. But I'm even more eager for this as I realized today this ship could easily have been a very early incarnation of the Drift Drive (uses another plane to travel through space!).

• Zarta Gets Her Comeuppance. We saw some of this in Faithless & Forgotten, but I'd really love to see her start to really begin moving & shaking around those revelations.

• Serpents Trilogy We've already got Rise & Ire. Why not a third part to round things out, close up some of those NPC stories, etc. Maybe even reference <redacted>, which might have changed the Consortium's view on the Society.

All good stories have endings.

Lau Bannenberg wrote:

*looks at the new VC*

*melts*

*Melts too*

*joins the puddle*

Could we please move requests/discussion to ignore AG entirely and/or how it was all a mistake to another thread? These aren't at all productive here.

Lau Bannenberg wrote:

Is it still cannibalism if the thread had been dead for almost four years?

I think the act of bringing it back is more evil.

This is why we required Forumancy focused clerics to swap in the "Repost" domain over the "Dead Horse" domain in that one blog post.

I am actually bothered by the idea that it is a hard cover release at a hard cover price that has a softback's worth of new information in it. One part of me knows this is not the case but another, saltier part, cant help but think of this as pay per view errata. At least split the new information into its own product for those who might already own the old stuff and dont want to pay for the corrections on it. :(

Making entirely new splat books for all this disparate material that isn't otherwise connected at all, then including new rules options to fluff around it that is, etc etc etc is far more expensive, long term, than a single $40 hardback. Assuming each one of these "sections" was a Pathfinder Player Companion running about $15 each, we'd have 18 installments for over $270 retail. And I doubt we'd see much more in terms of actual player options beyond what's here versus just more story/fluff/NPCs.

While I absolutely agree this is not the raw page count or new player options percentage we normally see from the $45 hardback releases (which usually are 250-300 pages), I find it far better than the idea of waiting for 18 installments and paying $230 more to get all of these updates AND the new content.

The PDF (as Paizo always does with hardbacks) is also $9.99, which is a steal compared to the $40 retail for the physical book.

EDIT: Used the wrong price for Player Companions, was $10 and should have been $15.

There's a lot of good data coming out of the survey, and we've certainly learned a considerable amount—both in terms of your responses and in terms of how we could improve these surveys in the future. That this process has so far proven fruitful is promising, so there's a good chance that we'll issue one or more additional surveys in the future.

So, I'm going to be a social science nerd here and I know this is likely a "no" due to the nature of marketing data...

...but what are the chances we'll ever see open access to the raw dataset? Especially the real world regions, character class/level, and faction. I'm super curious to poke at it for trends. Same for which kinds of PCs actually did a retirement arc.

The schedule they're working to setup includes PFS events and timetables. Every event, even PFS ones, show up in the Lottery System. It's just unheard of for any to fill up via lottery, as you have multiple tables of the same scenario multiple times throughout the weekend.

The reason you haven't gotten info on PFS GM assignments is likely because that schedule is still being data entered as well. They then need to check for any significant scheduling conflicts (i.e. let's say Tonya needs to run or observe X table for Y person; they have to make sure that table isn't while she is supposed to be at Z panel). There is a lot of data entry to do on top of normal duties. PaizoCon does not have dedicated staff, so much as existing staff take on assorted duties to organize it as part of their regular role.

The Schedule will go up and you will have a good week to mark lottery selections before the lottery actually occurs. I imagine in that period you'll get your GM Marching Orders and can make informed decisions.

tl;dr Patience and faith, please. They've done this for a good while now, and though there are bumps, they have your best interests in mind and are working hard to get it done.

In case you're worried there won't be any amazing events I have 3 words for you:

** spoiler omitted **

In the event of a TPK, will salad be served?

Landon Winkler wrote:

• Everyone from PFS is probably dead (and still being used in PFS), so don't expect any Futurama heads in jars.
  
• Or the SS Drandle Dreng or the Osprey Cannon. SFS will have its own cast that'll develop over time.

More like the Osprey drive. Using it only leads to trouble.

Guess I'll just have to fashion a Dreng-bot.

The SFSS Adril Hestrem is surely the most reliable ship hull for new agents and totally won't become a deathtrap later on.

I think my larger frustration with factions isn't that they are "broken" or don't work, but their storylines have become underwhelming.

I see things like the metaplot for the Scarab Sages right now and even the arc for recovering Zarta from being literally disappeared from the world/clearing her name....and what we've got going with Liberty's Edge, Sovereign Court, Etc etc seems paltry by comparison. I get excited when the Scarab Sage faction scenarios come out now and I'm careful to play them with a Scarab Sages PCs so I can really dig into "what happens next". I don't have that response to content for most other factions at this point.

Expect table variation.*

(*No.)

Just tossing a post up on this board, in case anyone doesn't regularly check the Paizo Blog itself:

There's a new Pathfinder Humble Bundle up today that includes a mega pack of all Season 5 PFS Scenarios at the $15 level. This is in addition to PDFs of a fair number of other Pathfinder products, including People of the Stars, Iron Gods, and the Technology Guide.

Normally, all 27 of the included scenarios alone would run you $108.

So when does the schedule of events go up normally, and where do you normally sign up?

The full schedule usually hits sometime in mid to late April, if not the very start of May. Because it is a tabletop focused convention, there are a ton of moving parts in addition to the usual shuffle of panels, special guests, etc. Please be patient with the staff running this; they are going to be doing this schedule on top of their normal duties.

You can expect lots of Pathfinder Society and a large variety of custom/special games run by Paizo Staff, Fans, Freelancers/3PPs, and other wonderful folks. This ranges from games in different systems entirely to special adventures written by Paizo Staff to preview games with designers.

Panels talk mostly about Pathfinder/Paizo itself, themes in tabletop gaming, and skill building workshops. Special Guests for the year may also present other fun topics depending on their background. Expect some product reveals/announcements as part of the banquet Saturday that will then get discussed a bit more in Sunday panels.

PFS specials will usually be on Friday and/or Sunday night. The Banquet will be on Saturday. Remember: the Banquet is a separate ticket to attend with limited seating, so buy one ASAP if you want to go.

Sign ups are done online via the Paizo website. The schedule will be up for a while (a good week at least) before any open signups start. Initially, you will be asked to "rank" events from a score from "Don't Want to Attend" to "Highest Priority to Attend".

The system will then pull names for a given day at random, assign them a seat at their highest ranked event with has seats left, and then repeat this process for the whole weekend as needed until there's no more to parcel out. This gives everyone a fair shot at attending games that only have 4-6 seats. You are able to designate a "buddy" in this system to ensure you and a friend/family member can play together.

Once the lottery concludes, all remaining seats are up for grabs in open sign ups. Usually, the lottery only fills up non-PFS games. I advise folks to still list the Specials as something they want at a lower priority during the lottery if they want to play them, as these fill up quickly once open sign ups start.

You can expect a more in depth post on the lottery system when the schedule goes up, so don't fret too much on it now.

Work it out between the players. it has to be targeted to hurt undead. A channel burst can either be to heal the living or hurt the dead, so healing party members with a channel won't hurt him.

I'd say suck it up. You work in an industry where you need medical attention on a daily basis. NOT telling the healer you have an allergic reaction to the usual cure is drunk dialing pharasma.

Drunk Dialing Pharasma: The Life & Times of Jadain Losritter

It was an extremely slow day at work.

Now and forever referring to any Additional Resources Update Day as "Optionsmas".

This thread has taken exactly the kind of turn I wanted it to.

So, I was running 4-23 Rivalry's End for a group at our local game day. One of the PCs pulled out his old Shadow Lodge character whose entire schtick was acting as a body double for Grandmaster Torch for Shadow Lodge functions via assorted disguise spells and looking somewhat like him already (but enough to tell the difference normally). He was making a point of hitting up the old Shadow Lodge/GMT scenarios to get his kicks in with the character before adjusting his arc for post-Shadow Lodge life.

Things went mostly as expected for Rivalry's End, up until....

Petition for a First World AP for students/academics of this academy named "Cobsylarni's Wild Ride"

Let's try pretty much everything from...

There's a no-evil hellknight order?

Oh... I suddenly have interest in hellknights now!

They're actually really awesome. The order deals primarily in missing/abducted persons cases, especially those that are very delicate and may require some negotiation. They actually have a tenet that punishment of the offender comes second to the safe retrieval of the taken person(s) and that harming bystanders to do this is never acceptable. Their Lictor is Lawful Good.

Alignment: 1d10 ⇒ 4 Lawful Neutral
Domain 1: 1d30 ⇒ 15 Good (Ignored/Swapped for Law)
Domain 2: 1d30 ⇒ 8 Death
Domain 3: 1d30 ⇒ 30 Weather
Domain 4: 1d30 ⇒ 6 Darkness
Domain 5: 1d30 ⇒ 25 (Extra Roll for a 5th Domain) Travel

Subdomains: Storms, Loss, Night, Psychopomp, Inevitable, Exploration

OK, so this at first feels like two different themes normally clustered together (death/darkness & the natural world) mashed together under an alignment that doesn't full work for both without resorting to some of the more overused tropes.

Enkim, Herald of the Long Night
Alignment: LN
Areas of Concern:Endings, declining civilizations, natural disasters, night
Domains: Darkness, Death, Law, Travel, Weather
Subdomains: Exploration, Inevitable, Loss, Night, Psychopomp, Storms
Favored Weapon: Sickle
Holy Symbol: A pale sun being eclipsed by darkness.

Enkim exists outside the pantheon, a force remaining from the dawn of creation as a stark reminder that the universe continues on a slow march towards the end of all things. He teaches his followers that all things: relationships, families, lives, civilizations, and even whole worlds are pre-ordained to inevitably end. Enkim and his followers work to herald endings, both small and large, to ensure that no being escapes theirs. When all creation has ended, it is Enkim who shall snuff out the last traces of life and light before the universe becomes still.

It is said that great storms and other natural disasters are caused by Enkim coming to ensure the end of something or someone important before heralding them onwards towards the afterlife. Enkim and his heralds have appeared to personally bear witness to the fall of great empires, important historical figures, and even the destruction of landmasses in some great catastrophe.

The Herald's priesthood does not work as an organized bureaucracy, but instead a network of traveling priests whose job is to bear witness to the endings considered pre-ordained or inevitable. This can be as simple as bearing witness to the death of a loved one or witnessing the shift in power from one ruling family to another. They remain impartial observers, acting only when some force would threaten to upset the natural order (and in turn, endings) of those around them. When such an event occurs, the Herald's priests act swiftly and decisively to set events back upon their natural course. What constitutes a "natural course", however, can often be left up to the interpretation of a particular priest or order.

The Good

• The swag bag was, as always, amazing and full of pleasant surprises. Thank you!
  
• Registration was, also as always, efficient and professional. Kudos to the staff running it!
  
• By design or by happenstance, it seemed that (most) panels that shared themes were kept clustered together on the schedule. This was really helpful!
  
• Putting one of the Tech Demos (playbook) in the main play space. This made it easy to say hi, see the product, etc. around PFS play periods and was a good use of projectors.
  
• I want to note how much I really do appreciate the decision to unveil Starfinder at PaizoCon vs. GenCon. It's small nods like that keep bringing me back each year.
  
• Pathfinder Munchkin pickup game was a great idea as well!
  
• Bar service in the main ballroom nailed it both nights. Good pricing for a hotel/catered bar, good selection, and the bartender was always a pleasure. The custom cocktails were also great! Please do these again!
  

The Not So Good

• PFS Mustering in the hallway was messy. We had the most populous games (Tiers 1-5) at the very front, creating a big crowd you had to work through to get to the other tiers. This also created confusion as many different players from many scenarios had to sort themselves within a small space. I like this model for things like the Specials because it is definitely ideal to get folks to self-marshal into tables of 6 before entry, but not for regular scenarios. While we did have 5 hour slots, I almost never sat down at my table before start time because of this organizing method, meaning our game didn't really get going in earnest until after the listed start time. This also meant a lot of the tables for the special ran up against their time slot.

• Definitely disappointed that there were no pint/shot glasses.

• There seems to be no consistent physical PaizoCon Block? I'm wondering if they are giving you actual physical room blocks or if they are just "setting aside" X number of rooms for the PaizoCon goers. I got one very close to the convention area (tower 7, 2nd floor). But I also checked in Thursday just before 12 PM. Might be helpful to clarify this with the hotel to better communicate how rooms are assigned. Granted, there may be an interaction with being a Hilton Rewards member that changes how this is handled.

• Out of your control, but more a side note for future venues/contracts: The $50/day hold on my credit card for "incidentals" in addition to the cost of the room came to a $730 hold for a $530 post tax room. I was able to shift this to a credit card, but not everyone is in that position. It's pretty rough to have $200 of your bank account in limbo while on a trip. I understand this is Hilton's policy so they can't change it, but may be a consideration when looking at future venues.

• Did Obsidian not stay the whole con or have to pull down the pads for their demo stations early? I don't recall seeing pads for play at their demo stations after Friday. This made me sad, as I'd wanted a chance to test drive the Card Game App.

Suggestions

• Return to 2015's method of mustering PFS tables. If fire code requires it be done in the hallway, please instead put the tier 1-5s at the door furthest back, then down to 3-7/5-9, then 7-11, etc. so that crowding at the very front isn't an issue. Find a way to get people to tables (even if in partial groups) well before the start time and make it clear that folks should arrive before the start time for mustering so all games can start on time.

• Find more Pathfinder themed/adjacent games to have pickup tables of running the common areas.

• Post a schedule of who will be running delves and when! I know there are a lot of moving parts, but for me, at least, this is a chance to get in a quick game with a particular staff GM I'd love to play with.

• Put a stat block for each year's goblin mascot on the back page of the program. Better yet, unveil said goblin's art ahead of time in a blog post and make creating his stat block be a contest for a free badge/store credit/appropriate prize, etc.

• Maybe have some formal "Mini Painting 101, 102, etc." workshops? The Reaper team is great and super helpful at their paint and take, but every year I'm wow'd by the talent present. I imagine some formal instruction periods would be very well attended.

Wait, can you get PFS characters at 7-11?

Yeah, but it's just pregens and if you don't hit the restock cycle right it's nothing but almost expired Ninjas.

In the vein of the many restaurant recommendations: If you, like me, do not live on or near a coastline I'd highly recommend making the time to get seafood while in Seattle. The difference in quality is pretty clear and worth going a little bit out of your way. I always make a point of getting sushi while in town.

Lissa Guillet wrote:

*Helpful awesome things*

Thank you so much for the advice! I definitely am trans-lesbian, and I certainly have no issue dating other trans girls, so that's exactly the kind of help I'm looking for! I actually was already thinking about going to Gaymercon this year as my reward for finally finishing my BA. I need to do research into local lesbian bars and ways to get more involved in activism. I really want to engage in the latter because I have such a great support network right now and have had so much positivity in my coming-out that I feel like the least I could do is give back.

My instincts about bringing up that I'm trans align with what you're saying, so I'm glad to hear that. It is very scary, partly just because as someone who presented as a 6' 2" cis white male, I never had to deal with issues of harassment or safety, and I feel so unequipped for it now. It's humbling and incredibly eye-opening, even as someone who intellectually knew that women (and trans women even more so) had to deal with such terribleness. California (where I live) doesn't allow trans-panic defenses, so that's something.

If it nudges you one way or the other: We're trying to formalize a schedule of meetup/safe space times at GaymerX/GaymerCon this year to make it easier for folks to socialize in a safe space of folks they share an identity with. Previously, these spaces had to be pitched to be part of our programming. So we'll hopefully have a few times that work for everyone looking to meet other folks they share an identity with in a safe space. That said, the entire Con has a reputation for having a very friendly and inclusive atmosphere with plenty of chances to meet new folks.

I can neither confirm nor deny any official levels of con nookie. <.< >.>

I'll also note, volunteering is a great way to meet folks/network/etc. But I'm super biased as I help run said program :D.

Chiming in a bit late:

I'll be going to PaizoCon for the 5th year in a row. For those who are on the fence, it's a great time and a good way to get to meet lots of folks in the industry, not just Paizo Staffers. Panels aren't really hard to get into, but you definitely want to watch for the events lottery for limited seating games.

No other really big specifically tabletop gaming oriented cons for me, but here's my obligatory GaymerX plug, as I will be there. (Disclaimer: I work for them). We will be continuing our trend of expanding tabletop gaming further this year. We have a very special guest (Boss of Honor) I think most (if not all!) of you would be interested in: Crystal Frasier!

It's a fairly common thing to expect conventions to have comprehensive anti-harassment policies these days. Hell, it's considered a best practice for conferences and convention spaces. That's just the first source for this that comes to mind; I'm loathe to link the dozens of articles calling for it to be a staple of convention policy or the many major events that have adopted comprehensive policies. I encourage folks to google this themselves if they want to know more.

There is a stated policy re: PaizoCon found here. but it doesn't fully answer Alayern's questions (especially re: procedure for making complaints, the process, etc.).

Otherwise, +1 on CrystalSeas' responses. Offering the option to talk about something private that, traditionally, publicly bringing up can lead to retaliation/further harassment is just common courtesy on the OP's part.

Woo! Rogue-Shaming and Fighter-Shaming! Everybody drink!

This is not helping my urge to create PFS forums bingo cards.

If you want a non-combat character, I'd suggest someone focused on support roles such as buffing or healing. Aid another to AC is also good, but not sure if that's too "in the mix" in terms of avoiding actual fighting.

I'm going to be honest that if I sit down with a character who spends combat consistently in full defense, taking cover, and/or delaying their action without doing anything I'd probably be a bit frustrated and have a talk with the player about better ways to contribute in combat. Even if the PC is very useful in non-combat situations, Pathfinder Field agents are expected to hold their own in a fight and at least support their allies.

Questions on the "updates" to the rules within it:

1) Are these direct conversions (3.5 Fighter -> PF Core Fighter) or we going to see expanded rules sets within core be utilized (i.e. Archetypes, Non-Core Rulebook Feats/Spells, Etc.)

2) If we are seeing expanded rules sets utilized, any hints as to what we might see? Occult content? Unchained? Golarion specific rules options?

Thurston Hillman wrote:

I wonder how people would react if these types of characters started showing up as NPCs in future scenarios? :)

Some might learn, others might sees this as a confirmation that their choices were the right ones.

Of course there is a world of difference between the players taking one NPC out of commission with a color spray, of the GM forcing a player to be bored for 30+ minutes since his character is stun locked.

In my experience (Living Greyhawk-Bandit Kingdoms; Living Arcanis) where this was a thing, it leads to continued escalation between players/authors. You inevitably reach a point where people are terrified to play outside their trusted friends, certain builds are the only acceptable ones, and it's not that fun a time for everyone involved.

Hard encounters are fine, when they are at the appropriate difficulty level by level/APL. Tier 1-5 can be challenging without being completely unforgiving, whereas Tier 7-11 generally should be challenging with less margin for error. Making every fight an optimized meatgrinder is not fun, though, and inevitably deters new players from wanting to play at all.

Oh, for the ability to embed a "Shut up and take my gold pieces!" meme image...

Zelda Marie Lupescu wrote:

Because deaf people aren't as incapable as you seem to think? Contrary to popular belief, many deaf people are able to drive, and in fact they are many times safer drivers than those of us who can hear. They don't listen to music, they don't have other things distracting them, and they are better trained to use their EYES so they will still see that ambulance coming up behind them, more than likely before you even hear it with your music blaring.

Second, deaf oracles. There is actually a class in the game that looks at the possibility of a character being deaf.

Some reference information on deaf people and driving.

In fact, if you have Netflix you might check out the Freeform (formerly ABC Family) drama Switched at Birth. The show has a good look into deaf culture and has a lot of actual deaf actors (like Marlee Matlin, who is also an advisor for the show) to help make sure that their portrayal is fairly accurate.

Thing is though Adventurers have access to magic a lot more than commoners do. One of those magics is a relatively low level spell called Remove Blindness/Deafness.

This would fix blindness/deafness caused by damage to the appropriate body parts, but it doesn't grow anything back that wasn't there. It likely wouldn't do much for someone for whom vision/hearing impairments are congenital or caused by something more pervasive (i.e. Oracle's Curse, diseases/syndromes beyond the scope of the spell, old age).

Plus, a third level spell from a cleric is (from a cost standpoint) beyond the grasp of much of the population financially. Adventurers are fairly wealthy folks in terms of liquid assets by fifth level.

And well, at the end of the day, someone may just want to role-play a blind/deaf character that isn't an Oracle. And that's fine. One of Pathfinder and Golarion's core principles is that ANYONE can be a hero. It sounds like the OP is trying to get rules to make this easier to do mechanically.

I'd sign a petition for this NOT to happen.

One of my most cringeworthy memories of Living City and Living Greyhawk was a person who insisted on playing deaf-mute monks. She basically used this as a vehicle to intentionally ignore and disrupt party plans, and claim it was "in character".

This sounds like a specific player choosing to be a jerk versus a rules issue.

I'm actually wondering if we could explore rules for creating "sign' versions of existing languages as a function of Linguistics that a deaf character (a la the Oracle) could access as a bonus language at creation, while others have to invest skill points as normal? Obviously not all languages would work for this (much in the same way not every real world language has a sign language equivalent), but instead with only some of the major languages (Taldan, Tien, Dwarven, Elven, etc.). Given the age and breadth of the societies represented by the some of the major languages on Golarion, I don't think it is at all a stretch that some formalized signed versions have been developed.

Included in these rules could be using Sense Motive or Linguistics to realize what characters are discussing when line of sight is available, which makes things a lot more backward compatible as at least one of those can be done untrained by most any creature with a mind. It'd also be a good place to formalize PFS' read lips rules for Linguistics. As with all things PFS, these particular rules for Linguistics, Sense Motive, & Languages could be House Rule'd as necessary to PFS so that they don't disrupt the balance of power too far in any given direction.

As a GM, having some structured tools to manage/world build around sign-versions of languages that existed originally as spoken word would be neat!

So, thoughts on this having had it run for me and as I've prepped it to run for another group:

UndeadMitch wrote:

Or a sign that the pregen was at a table with some seriously underpowered or unprepared PC's. Or, he could also mean that the pregen was at the right place at the right time to keep the scenario from getting out of control. Let's not jump to conclusions here.

For the strengthy bruiser pregens, the interesting thing is that sometimes it's all down to what the character is wielding in the art. For instance, Zadim's main advantage over Valeros was that he's pictured with two kukris and not a longsword and shortsword, and Oloch and Crowe are pictured with greatsword and earthbreaker, vs Amiri having a size Large bastard sword that gives her a -2 to hit. Once you're hitting things with a greatsword or earthbreaker with your high stat in Strength, you're already in a great place.

I've seen Crowe carry a table of prepared and powerful PCs that were all about buffs and debuffs, but the three of them knew sitting down that they needed a melee pregen to make the 4th, and that they were going to make that pregen shine thanks to their excellent buffs and debuffs. They each got to have fun doing what their characters do, and the table went well. It would have been even better if it was a new player who got to feel awesome instead of just the GM-controlled 4th.

So...are you telling us that the PCs, Pregen included, truly shined not because of build but because they worked together as a team? Blasphemy!

Lau Bannenberg wrote:

I've been thinking about making a checklist for each of the pregens, with the blind spots in their gear. Are there cheap items that another PC could buy/lend at the beginning of the session to really amp up the pregen?

For example, giving Amiri a dagger in case she's swallowed whole and has to cut herself out of a cocoon (has happened). Giving the wand-users spring-loaded wrist sheaths. Giving Kyra a rope.

Obvious ones I've seen at level 1 -

- a sap for Merrisel - at level 1 this makes her actually quite good at knocking out foes you don't want to kill

- a greatclub for Amiri - gives her a blunt weapon and also something it isn't suffering the outsize weapon penalty.

Greatclubs are 5 GP and Saps are 1 GP. Most of the pregens have a bit of gold lying round and almost every scenario gives you time to do basic shopping.

Worse, it turns out the Purple People Eaters also have levels in Mesmerist now.