Raging makes someone fatigued. Fatigued is -2 to abilities.The ring negates that, thus removing the downside. It doesn't actually remove fatigue itself, so I could see table variation with the errata'ed ring.
Ah, I see where you're going with that. You believe that because the ring makes you immune to some of the effects of fatigue, that you shouldn't be able to use rage?
I don't agree, but I can see you're side.
My opinion is that they are separate things - you're not bound to be fatigued when you come out of rage. The issue there is fatigue in general - does the ring really make you immune to some of the effects of fatigue?
Note in case this still concerns you - There are ways to rage and not be fatigued (be a high enough level barbarian, have a certain ioun stone, have levels of oracle with a certain curse, etc.).
...Did the errata basically remove the Ring of Inner Fortitude as an option for any barbarian, bloodrager, polymorph-er, drug user, alchemist, or anyone who gets any of those goodies through domains, multiclassing, talents, etc?...
I wouldn't think a barbarian or bloodrager would be affected. They take a penalty to AC, but he does not take a penalty to an ability (like Dexterity).
It WOULD affect alchemists or polymorphers, though. It just depends on what the penalty involves. Anything involving 'ability damage or temporary ability penalties' is the issue.
I ran this on Sunday 11/5 for a group of five:
Kitsune rogue 2
Sylph cleric 2 (scarab sages)
Ifrit? paladin 1
Ratfolk rogue 1
Ratfolk witch 1
The group rocked all seven discoveries in the first dungeon. During that portion, the witch tasted the substance from the spitballs on the ceiling. This resulted in (aside from the module recommendations) her hearing whispered voices, which only got louder as the group approached the chest with the horns. She consequently touched all the horns. Since she worshipped a goddess of whispers, it allowed for some amusing role-playing. The skeleton fight was a little rough, with multiple cleave attacks hitting, and one crit. (remember – low level guys). The column fight wasn’t too bad – it was just long (lots of hit points to get through with DR).
The group only got one of the three clues from searching the rest of the town. They even made the knowledge (arcana) check with the shopkeeper...and yet, they didn’t press him any further.
When the ½ orc shows up and makes the offer, I had barely gotten the words out of my mouth when the ratfolk rogue said, “OK, it’s a deal.” One or two players knew who Torch was, but it didn’t change their opinion of making the deal (other than not being sure they could speak for the Society as a whole). After reassuring them that they could, then went ahead with it.
In the cultist hideout, after finding the first cultist pinned with the magical dagger, they kept searching the other bodies. They just KNEW there were more magical weapons just laying about, since apparently this place was just ROLLING in magical weapons, that could be so casually left inside a dead body. Needless to say, they got a little excited when they came upon the armory…
The last fight got rough because they bottle-necked at one of the side passages. They saw the head flying around in the back of the room in the distance (I had it appear when it used its influence powers), but they couldn’t get to it, and had more important things to worry about – like a 3rd level cleric channeling repeatedly. The head stayed in the back of the room for a bit, wanting to stay out of the AoE of the cleric, but once that was over, it was a simple matter to escape over the PCs’ heads invisibly.
One amusing moment – the former Pharasma neophyte they couldn’t talk into coming clean about what happened. The most he would say was, “...I don’t know...Maybe I’m just not feeling it. I don’t know about this whole worship thing. I mean, you Pathfinders dig up bodies, right? What’s the big deal, really?” Long story short, they got the guy out of his ‘penance room’, and brought him to the lodge to start his career as a newly-minted Pathfinder!
My final opinion - it's a fun scenario with a lot of RPing potential. There are a lot of NPC names and identities to keep track of, which can be a bit tricky...and figuring out that the 7 discoveries in the first dungeon have nothing to do with the 3 clues that you need to find in the later city-based portion took a bit to work out when prepping the scenario. Based on just the one running, the fights seem reasonable.
What are some ways to penetrate DR with a Druidzilla character (multi class Monk/Druid/Fighter). It seems its going to cause me problems with my tentacle attacks.
If your shape has a lot of natural attacks, consider a Furyborn enhancement on an Amulet of Mighty Fists. That'll get your attacks up to +5 weapon (to pierce just about any DR), after a few attacks at a much cheaper cost.
I'm not sure what you're getting at with the 'Nah, not feeling it,' comment.
There's a sliding scale for when you pull out of dming
...
Sorry. I didn't explain myself. I understand what he was referencing. I meant I didn't understand where he was going with his statement. In other words, how was it constructive? Is it getting us anywhere in the conversation?
In general, I agree with you, BNW. It's probably too much to juggle, to have back-up GMs only there to cover for folks who aren't there for whatever reason (I'm sure they are using all of the resources/warm bodies that are available).
However, it seemed like Wei Ji was simply responding to James' post with deflection and redirection, rather than actually addressing the problem. If you don't feel like that is a solution to the problem, that's one thing (lack of manpower, volunteers, flexibility in handling numerous changes in a set schedule with such a big event, etc.). You can just respond with, "Well, because of X, Y, and Z, I don't think it's an attainable goal." However, if you're just responding to suggestions with, "Well, it sounds like it may have been your fault," then that defeats the purpose of asking for suggestions, and doesn't encourage other people to come forward with criticism/advice/etc. Who wants to throw their opinions out when folks are just going to discount the original problem?
I was at James' table with the 'crankypants' GM...
Without this sort of confirmation, it's hard to get a 'feel' on things.
The only reason the mention of GMing was brought up was due to a 'feel' on my part that James wasn't GMing at all during the weekend, and had no idea of what goes on for the GM side of the process, or what it takes to get someone to volunteer their time.
That being said, if GMs just went 'Nah, not feeling it' at the start of every slot, then there'd be blessed few GMs.
Did the GM in question at least say "Hey, I'm having a rough morning/afternoon/evening/night, please bear with me if I'm a little bit snappy and bring it to my attention?"
...
If so, then did the table do that?
If the GM in question did not, then that's an issue, imo?
James is an active Venture Agent in the Dallas/Ft Worth area (he is labeled as such). He is well aware of what it takes to get people to volunteer their time...as am I. We are not trying to get an individual DM in trouble here - This was an experienced, 5-star GM. James was simply offering a suggestion to make things better in general for next year.
I'm not sure what you're getting at with the 'Nah, not feeling it,' comment.
The GM did not initially address his attitude at the start of the game, but since we were noticing it wasn't going away, we brought it up to him half way through the event. We dealt with it as best we could, but it made for quite a disappointing game.
4. Ask that if a GM is feeling cranky due to lack of sleep, personal issues, etc, they back out of the slot. No reason to take it out on your players.
...
6. The GMs I had for SFS appeared familiar with the rules so kudos to them for that extra prep. Similarly didn't have any issues with PFS GMs rules/scenario knowledge (crankypants aside). Thanks for all the hard work. :-)
Volunteers bring the best they can. If the best we've got isn't all that great, then perhaps one should put on one's own GM hat and step up to the plate in future events to improve the play experience of others?
...
Perhaps it was not so much a 'crankypants' issue as a personality conflict issue? One of the players at a table I played at was also 'crankypants' and really destroyed my enjoyment of a given scenario, should we prevent them from playing, as well?
I was at James' table with the 'crankypants' GM - he started out that way, before we even got to character introductions. Sadly, his mood didn't change much during the game (due to various issues). Redirecting James' suggestions with, "...why don't you GM at future cons," and, "...maybe the problem was just your two personalities," doesn't address the issues of the original troubles (other than giving you a bigger GM pool next year). This was a case of a bitter GM who was not in a good mood at the start. Yes, sometimes there are personality conflicts - but what James suggests is that giving judges an avenue to step back and save some sanity might be helpful.
I admit, though...that's tough to do with GMs prepping for specific scenarios, and it's not easy to just 'back out' of a slot without someone to fill the void...particularly when you're expected to run X numbers of games. <shrug>
Thanks for all who came out and played two sessions tonight!
Thanks for organizing, James. I'm sorry you didn't get to play, but another player got to sit in your place. You are a gentleman and a scholar.
If you decide you want to set a firm location for playing next year...the manager of Rock Bottom would still be willing to work with you. It's your call.
Just as a reminder...whatever scenario you want to play next year at Gen Con 2018 Sunday night, I will run it for you. Just remind me. <grin>
Current plan is everyone will be at jw. I’ll announce place where in jw by 5 pm
I am at Rock Bottom now. They have two reserved tables set aside for us. Please post if I need to cancel. If I don't see anything by your deadline, I'll assume we're playing at Rock Bottom.
Current plan is everyone will be at jw. I’ll announce place where in jw by 5 pm
I am at Rock Bottom now. They have two reserved tables set aside for us. Please post if I need to cancel. If I don't see anything by your deadline, I'll assume we're playing at Rock Bottom.
I talked to JW Marriot and they said we were welcome to use the 2nd floor lobby space for Sunday. So I've secured space if it isn't used when I get there.
So it's being held for us tonight, or it can just be used if it's available? Well, whatever we go with for the Sunday game, we need a final announcement ASAP, so folks know where to go (and I can then cancel the reservation at Rock Bottom).
Evilaustintom had two restaurant suggestions above that might work. We might want to make reservations in advance, and make sure they'll be open late enough..
I already made reservations at Rock Bottom (mostly based on the online reviews), telling them we had 4 tables of 7 people each. I believe they will be open until at LEAST 11pm (some of the restaurants and bars downtown are closing early, due to the expectation that they'll be out of food). However, we can always cancel or change these plans, based on feedback from everyone.
I made the reservation under 'Pathfinder Society', although I gave my name, as well.
Can the person managing the Warhorn page for Sunday games update the page with the location?
Update for Gen Con (after having dug through some piles of gaming stuff)...
Have:
Suli x2
Vishkanya
Ratfolk
Want:
Grippli
Dhampir
Looking for these race boons to trade for at Gen Con this year. I may have a reliable Reg Desk worker in the PFS room who should be able to pass along the boon trades.
...Seems like something that would only rile up a thread...
As you can see from the previous responses, some GMs have personal issues with your build (and other powerful builds, I'm sure). Will they like it? No. That's not going to change. Some GMs don't like character builds that can end encounters with one or two abilities. Are they supposed to run with PFS legal builds? Yes (unless they back out of the game, which leads to its own set of problems as mentioned above). GMs making up rules (ie: can't force rerolls on natural 20)? Make sure to have the book with you, talk to the GM ahead of time, and make sure you're on the same page with how the rules work. I often take a bit of time at the beginning of games (both as a player and GM) to try to clear up rules issues we might run into.
With any large organization, you'll find a wide range of opinions and styles. If you were at a table where I was GMing, I would have no problem with your character - it's a legal PFS option, and I wouldn't penalize a player just for making a powerful character. I also don't have a problem with characters steam-rolling encounters - as long as the other players on the table are on the same page, and it's not ruining THEIR fun (always an important consideration when discussing these kinds of things). Other GMs might grind their teeth, and you may end up seeing that aggravation result in unfair rulings. Sadly, some GMs feel that for THEM to have fun, they need to provide challenging fights for the characters.
For the most part, the golden rule applies here - don't be a jerk. If you're seeing your character aggravate a particular GM, try to be flexible. Play another character if you have an option. Sit at a different GMs table if you can. If that doesn't work, talk with the GM, and try to clear up some confusion she/he may have ("Hey, you know, I can only use it once per round, as well as once per target."). Do what YOU can to be considerate.
I feel that it's the GM's job to make sure the PLAYERS are having fun (I hate hearing GMs say after a character obliterated an encounter, "...but *I* want to have fun, too!" as if the only way for the GM to enjoy things is to be able to beat up on characters). I think the GM should be enjoying his experience due to the 'joy' he is providing...however, not everyone feels that way. Each person, players and GMs, get their own joy through various aspects of the game (ie: we all have fun in our own way). You are playing a group social activity. The only thing you can directly affect and change is by the actions YOU take.
Sorry - that's not really a solution to things. That's just my opinion on your situation, as an experienced player and GM. Good luck with your future games!
My personal experience has been that groups that use a unified location for post-con gaming (or within a close proximity) tend to 'fire' and run more smoothly...
...I don't have the bandwidth to logisticate this, but perhaps the Westin might be an idea, especially with the number of players we have who are also GMs staying there?
Someone was able to finagle a room there last year, perhaps worth a look?
I would like to have all the games at the same site, as you suggested. I simply think it doesn't have to be a requirement.
SUNDAY EVENING GAME LOCATION OPTIONS:
OK. I took some initiative today, and spent my breaks between work making some phone calls. This is what I found out about possible locations for our Sunday games.
Talking to hotel folks at the Westin and Marriott - Gen Con has their private rooms held until 7pm Sunday. After that, any reservation or use of the rooms would require deposits/standard rates. They have a few public tables in hallways here and there, but not necessarily what we would need for an RPG (low tables, not many seats - more for lounging).
Talking to the Convention Center folks - rooms are unavailable. After 6pm, they begin setting up for some different up-coming events. As for open play areas in the public areas/hallways, they will not be available for gaming, due to clean-up.
The restaurant/bar 'Champions' in the Marriott, across the street from the convention center, is closed due to hotel renovations (possibly for good?).
The other restaurants in the Marriott Indianapolis and JW Marriott do not have reserved areas we can use.
The RAM closes at 6pm (since they expect to be out of food at that point).
Two possible restaurants we could use are either Champps, which is about 2 blocks away from the convention center, and Rock Bottom, just across the street and down a bit from Champps. Both have areas we can areas we can game. Champps manager is supposed to call me back later today or tomorrow about availability - they have supposedly a 'somewhat removed area' we could use, although it's not a fully private room. Rock Bottom has actual private rooms, but you have to buy $750.00 worth of food to make a reservation for those rooms. However, you can make a reservation for NORMAL tables at Rock Bottom. I described to the manager at Rock Bottom what our needs are (2-4 7-person tables for eating and playing role-playing games from 6pm-10:30pm on Sunday). She said she could do that, and we wouldn't have to put down money for the 'reservation'...although, obviously, any restaurant we go to will expect folks to eat/drink while there (just as the RAM and Scotty's do).
MY CONCLUSIONS:
Gaming at the convention center is out, as well as private rooms at the hotels. Grabbing an open table somewhere might be POSSIBLE...but it'll be a luck-based thing. This is probably NOT something on which we should make solid plans.
The best two solutions that I found to gather were Champps and Rock Bottom. Both managers seemed accommodating, and they're fairly close to the convention center (2 blocks vs 2 1/2 blocks). Food's not overly pricey, and appeared varied enough to meet the needs of most folks. Between the two, I'm leaning towards Rock Bottom (mostly based on the online reviews), but I am flexible. I've gone ahead and made reservations at Rock Bottom, just so something is 'locked in' for us - however, we can always cancel or change these plans, based on feedback from everyone. I made the reservation under 'Pathfinder Society', although I gave my name, as well.
Whoever is managing the Warhorn page with these events: once we've nailed this down, you should update the page to show where we are meeting - so everyone can figure out where to go (rather than having to thumb through all these posts to figure out where we've settled on things).
So...thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? What do people think?
So we're about two weeks out now. The Wednesday games have a location, but the Sunday games do not.
While suggestions for the Sunday locations are always welcome, someone should probably take the lead in deciding where to play. I would assume the GMs for each game? It looks like only two are going to happen anyway - no need to make sure they're at the same place.
We could sure use some more players for Sunday night's 8-17 Refugees of the Weary Sky (7-11). C'mon, you know you won't want Gen Con to end at 4 in the afternoon.
I've got 5 characters in range now, so I'm sure we can make a balanced party with whatever people are able to bring.
I reached out to some other local Indy players, to see if they'd be interested in joining us.
Looking for these race boons to trade for at Gen Con this year. I have a reliable Reg Desk worker in the PFS room who should be able to pass along the boon trades.
This seems like the place to try an announcement. I'm staying at the KOA campground and I'm interested in running something Wednesday night. No tickets just post or message if you might be interested. We are probably getting in mid afternoon, so I'm flexible on time. I've got 1 other player already.
I'd be interested in joining you. Send me a PM, and we can discuss scenario options, and play locations.
Man, I got no players and I'm really tempted to sign-up to play at Hmm's celebrity table. I can be the sidekick!!
It looks like nobody's signing up for those other 3 tables. Maybe it's the choice of adventures. If others are interested in playing Sunday evening, maybe they should put in requests for different scenarios to put on the schedule.
Well, when I got home from work tonight and looked up my play history, it appears I've played the Ironbound Schism. I went ahead and hopped onto Gino's table of Refugees of the Weary Sky instead. Hopefully, it'll fill up with more players closer to Gen Con (since that's the only Sunday game I can play).
Correction: Ironbound Schism has 2 spots left. I currently have Wei Ji, James Risner, TOZ and Fromper in there. I think that is 2 Paladins, 1 Barbarian and 1 very taciturn Bolt Ace / Freebooter. We could probably use someone arcane... Maybe a bard or a skald or someone with knowledge skills?
Disk Elemental wrote:
Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:
Also... Will anyone have a hex map with them that I can borrow to draw the first map of Iron Bound Schism upon?
I have a friend who goes to Gencon every year, and has a full color print of the Iron Bound Schism made, I'll tell them to get in touch with you.
Oh, thank you! Please do. Remember that I probably cannot transport it. I have one bag for the plane that everything has to fit into! Disk Elemental, when did you become a four star? Look at you!
Hmm
Hilary, I signed up to play at your table Sunday evening (I'm a local Indy person, so I'll be in town). Since you're wisely keeping "Con Brain Drain" in mind, I'll aim for lower level - I'll figure out what I'm playing and let you know before a week or two out.
I would have signed up for Abducted in Aether Wednesday after Scotty's, if I'd seen this Email thread sooner. Darn it!
Yeah. I just have a home GM that makes me cast vanish before I charge in because the opponent isn't "technically" flatfooted. He's just treated as flatfooted, which is the most anal-retentive explanation I've ever heard.
I use this build with an old man unchained rogue PC of mine. Throw in the Thug archetype, the feats Bludgeoner, Enforcer and Sap Master, the Bleeding Attack rogue talent, and suddenly, your targets are shaken, sickened, bleeding for a lot (double sneak attack dice) and at additional penalties due to the Debilitating Injury unchained rogue class ability. It gets worse (or rather, better) with rogue advanced talents.
I really enjoy running into combat and kicking bad guys in the groin, while cursing them as know-it-all, good-for-nothing whippersnappers. Good times.
Other options for Int-focused Investigator-type PFS PCs...
Traits:
Precise Treatment (magic) - use Intelligence with Heal.
Clever Wordplay (social) - use Intelligence with any one Cha-based skill.
Feats:
Additional Traits - allows you to pick up two additional traits.
Kirin Strike - after a few rounds of swift actions, add double your Int bonus to a single melee or ranged attack.
Classes:
Mindchemist (alchemist archetype) - at 2nd level, add your Int x2 to all knowledge checks.
Magical Items:
Investigator's Hat (7k) - +2 knowledge rolls to ID monsters, use inspiration roll with knowledge checks to add to attack rolls.
Inspired weapon enhancement (+1) - either cheaper use of inspiration in combat, or add double inspiration to damage roll.
Race:
Half elf - preferred class bonus +1/4 to all inspiration rolls.
As others have mentioned, though...the 'advice' forum has guides for all sorts of builds, including guides on traits, utilizing stats for 'alternative uses', investigators... Check'm out.
I GMed a table of this last weekend, and I had some problems with the final encounter of this scenario...
Final Encounter:
So this last combat takes place in the plane of air (well, they all do, but this one is the most difficult to adjudicate). I ran this last weekend with a high tier group, although they were underpowered for their tier. They handled the rest of the scenario OK, but the final combat I ran into problems that I knew were going to be an issue, and I had worked out some ways to rule on things. However, the way it all played out, I wiped the group – the only reason it wasn’t a TPK was we had to call the game early. After some thought, see the last encounter at high level wiping out all but the most optimized groups (at least, with the way I ran the questionable issues). So, onto the issues...
1. This is the elemental plane of air. Subjective gravity. So how do players start in the ‘middle’ of the map if they were very successful with earlier parts? How do they start floating in air? If I had to rule on it, I would just put them on the nearest ship that I could from the middle...but it seemed to suggest the author was thinking differently than me. With my group, they ended up on the ‘middle of the road’ of successes, so they started on one end of the map – I just had the ground start there, so they were standing on a surface already.
2. When the encounter started I told them, “You can hear thunder in the distance, and with flashes of lighting, you feel like something is coming,” and started initiative. After the available rounds of prep, we started the first ‘combat round’. By that point, two of the players had fallen onto objects (and taken the applicable damage) and two or three characters had just swallowed potions of fly (at least they had the resources and idea to do that at the start). So players had only just begun to search for the horn, and they were spread out, prone, and damaged.
3. When the fight started up, the only PCs who could initially do anything were the casters and the archer. Archer gets disarmed. Now what? Well, with subjective gravity only affecting living creatures, I had weapons that were disarmed to float 1d6 squares away in a random direction (and keep going at that speed). Sometimes, that resulting in a weapon being close enough by to grab...and sometimes the weapon was just plain gone.
4. With the Flyby feat of the caster, he could blast things, and fly away without being affected by most things – even outflying some of the flying PCs (paladin with heavy armor…fly of 40’ vs fly of 100’).
5. The PCs were doing SOME damage, but mostly it was an aggravating battle of the caster doing horrible damage to the group, and the group not being able to do much because of range, not having weapons, or mobility issues.
6. Even if they DO find the horn, it’s not an auto solution. I had to call it (due to time constraints) when they finally found the horn, but by that point, 3 of the 5 PCs were down, and none of the bad guys were down (two were half way, one was still fresh).
7. If I had tried bull rushing PCs off of objects, I probably would have been lynched by my players (but I did not try that – I just stuck with disarm…although one elemental did sunder a weapon cord).
I like having fights in interesting environments and everything, but I feel like the difficulty of the environment did not get incorporated into the fight CR. Even without the caster’s prep, it seems like it’s overkill. We are running the entire 3-part adventure series at a con coming up in a month, and the other players and I (who are also GMs for the con) want to run this without just killing off groups of characters. So, I would appreciate any suggestions or solutions to this. Ideas we floated around (pun not intended)...
• Making the weapons just float away at 1d4 squares per round…or maybe just 1 (but still require a move action to grab, which still might provoke).
• Grabbing a weapon doesn’t provoke AoOs (since you’re not picking it up off of the ground).
• Giving players some kind of bonus for being in the elemental plane of air for a longer period of time on the Wisdom checks to pick a subjective gravity direction (+1 per day? Or +2 for having played the previous part?).
• If you fall on a cargo net, perhaps you take less falling damage.
• More clearly stating how much time you have before the fight starts? (“You’re guessing you have a couple of rounds before whatever those things are comes into view...”)
Remember that GMs were required to be at table 30 minutes prior to slot start. Hence that dinner hour was actually thirty minutes.
Right, and your proposed lunch half hour is zero minutes.
evil wrote:
How about this: 8-12:30, 1-5:30, 7-midnight. It shortens down the first two slots of the day by half an hour - admittedly, not ideal, but it gives GMs time to prepare for the next game.
7:30 be in place
8-12:30 run game
12:30 Be in place
1 Run game
5:30 End game
6:30 be in place
7: Start game.
Correct. 0 minutes of lunch time. I am suggesting eliminating the lunch 'break', shorten 2 slots by half an hour, give a longer supper (time for everyone to have a real meal, which you didn't have before), and still give GMs time to make it to their next slot. And get an hour more sleep.
If someone must have a full lunch and supper that 'carry-around' food cannot meet the needs of, perhaps they should coordinate with the organizers of the GMs so that they have one of the first two slots off, due to health concerns.
Otherwise, this looks to me like a better schedule than GMs getting less than 6 hours sleep a night.
It does not. Dms are in place half an hour before the slot so they can start mustering ( a system that worked REALLY well) , so with your scheduel there the lunch break is non existent and the dinner break is only an hour. That isn't enough time to hunt your food, I know exactly how long it took me and that wouldn't have allowed ANY leaving the sagamore at all for 4 days strait without skipping a slot...
Wait, I'm confused. You say that the supper break is only an hour - not enough time to find food. However.
1. Gen Con this year, they had 1 hour.
2. My suggested scheduled gives 1 1/2 hours for supper (which only works out to 1 hour of eating - but still more than this year).
Are you saying the schedule this year did not allow enough time for food between slots? Because my suggested schedule removed one break, and lengthened another. And shortened 2 of the three slots by 1/2 an hour. And gives GMs time to get to their table.
Or are you adamantly standing by having two breaks that (from what it sounds like your saying) barely gives you enough time to get food?
Which meal would not be a snack then? Breakfast takes time...
I would think lunch is the best 'snack' time. Breakfast is before the first slot, and each person can judge what's more important to them (time to eat a solid meal, or keeping it shorter for more sleep). A supper time allows for socialization, dealer room, or simply sitting down somewhere to eat.
How about this: 8-12:30, 1-5:30, 7-midnight. It shortens down the first two slots of the day by half an hour - admittedly, not ideal, but it gives GMs time to prepare for the next game. People have a full 5 hours for the last slot, and there's a built in hour for supper.
It's clear you don't need that much sleep, NorseWolf, by napping between breaks, or just plain skipping out on sleep. I'm simply trying to suggest alternative schedules for a lot of people who are older, have health concerns, aren't sleeping next door to the convention center, or for whatever reason need a more reasonable amount of sleep.
I still like 5 hour slots, so my suggestion is to go with 8-1, 1-6, 7-12..
If they did something like that they would have to set up some sort of delivery service or feed trough for the dms.
Mustering starts half an hour before the slot, when dms are supposed to be at their seats, so you're giving Dms half an hour to finish up a long game, walk to, stand in line, AND eat lunch. That's not remotely feasible.
Lunch is required to prevent player deaths.
As far as the 1/2 an hour lead-in times DMs need to find their seats (if you can't keep GMs at their same spot), then go with 1/2 an hour breaks between slots.
If the GM has to have lunch, and they can't get a friend to pick something up for them (I offer to get food for GMs at each game I play at), then bring something to snack on. That kind of stuff is listed in every 'Con suggestions' post I've seen on how to survive the weekend. You know what your schedule is like, so you plan for it.
I simply think that's it is a better alternative than 6 hours of sleep (less for many GMs, since as you pointed out, they need to get to their slot early).
Mustering - I think this year was the smoothest I've dealt with in the Paizo room. Good job with that. The only issue I saw was the whole banner thing...but I understand that's being worked on.
Scenarios - Fun games, no major complaints.
GMs - All my GMs were good, no major complaints. I imagine the extra prep time that GMs had with their scenarios went a long way towards helping with that.
Boon Table - Went fast for me, I never saw it too bad (although the suggestions for having 3 people during crunch times isn't a bad idea).
Double Coins for Morning Slots - Good call.
Room for Improvement:
Temperature - This is a tough one. Like most people, I am in agreement that there were times it was too cold in there (particularly if you were under a vent), but better to lean towards cold than hot (and the inevitable smells that come with it). If y'all can manage changing the temperature during the day, I would suggest opting for a little warmer on the first slot, when there aren't as many people there (hence, fewer bodies to warm the room). In lieu of that, at least make some suggestions of warm clothing/layers during the DM meetings, emails, and hand-outs. You could even include the 'bring an extra light jacket' suggestion in the weekly PFS Blog.
Slot Times - I have three friends who did not play either morning or evening PFS slots because of the bad time slots. Among most of my gaming friends (about 8 of us), our opinion is that 8am-1am is too long. We don't mind having time for supper, but going to 1am is going to mean lack of sleep - a bad things for GMs and players alike. Or, in the case of some of my friend, just caused them skip out on slots (and instead, get more sleep, and play something other than PFS). I still like 5 hour slots, so my suggestion is to go with 8-1, 1-6, 7-12. There will be one good break for sit-down food, and for lunch, players can just aim for a quick bite to eat (or have a friend make a food run during a free moment).
Other suggestions:
A/V for the Friday Special: That was pretty good, from what I hear from friends that played (I did not make it). I like the suggestions that putting a second screen across from the first screen would allow for everyone in the room to see a screen at a reasonable angle. Of course, that requires more hardware...so I don't know if it's feasible.
Overall:
A fun time was had by my friends and I during our time in the PFS hall. Thanks to everyone involved that contributed towards a fun weekend!
Y'all might want to consider the option of the Overwatch Style chain of feats. Two readied attacks by 7th level. 4 readied attacks by 15th level. It's feat-intensive (particularly for a feat-starved class), but an interesting option.
...So...let me refocus on the point of my post.
Since the second level of the feat chain makes readying two actions only a standard action, you can still gather power as a move action (although it would only save you burn cost if the first readied action triggered in the same round).
Some additional feats that work well with readied attacks...
Warning Shot (demoralize at range)
Kinetic Counter (counter energy powers using ready ranged attack)
Patient Strike (+2 to hit with readied attack)
Footslasher (damages targets feet, slowing their movement)
Friendly Fire (teamwork - +2 to hit with readied attack, may provoke AoO from enemy)
Concentrated Fire (teamwork – attack with ally, use the higher attack roll)
Luckily Kineticists aren't feat starved. Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Weapon Finesse with an optional Toughness if you feel you need it.
I consider a class to be feat-starved if:
1. There are no bonus feats given by the class.
2. There are one to three feats that are almost required by most PC builds, before you can start looking at more optional feats.
Y'all might want to consider the option of the Overwatch Style chain of feats. Two readied attacks by 7th level. 4 readied attacks by 15th level. It's feat-intensive (particularly for a feat-starved class), but an interesting option.
No, the talent doesn't increase any favored terrains. You'll only have +2 favored terrain bonus, not the +24. The horizon walker exploit has been closed.
I've looked over all three favored terrain abilities again...and I now think you're right. The key is, the language on terrain mastery says, "THE favored terrain ability does not increase..." rather than, " THIS favored terrain ability does not increase..." It must be retroactively covering all favored terrains - even ones gained via ranger or horizon walker (i.e. Ignore the language about the ranger favored terrain increasing in levels later on, at least when taking terrain mastery). Obviously, they'll still increase when taking the levels of horizon walker...but dramatically changed things.
Terrain Mastery (Ex): A rogue with this talent gains a favored terrain as the ranger ability of the same name, though the favored terrain ability does not increase with her level as the ranger's ability does. A rogue can take this ability multiple times, each time applying it to a new terrain.
I understand that the later iterations of favored terrain will not increase themselves (the ones picked up from the alchemist/investigator/rogue talent). I'm only concerned with increasing the one terrain that matters - the first one picked up in ranger. Hence, why I'm thinking of playing this in Emerald Spire...since the terrain is mostly similar (aside from the odd planar travel).
Reading the blurb on the module, though, I'm thinking Underground would be more appropriate than urban.
11- Horizon Walker 5 – feat: Extra Discovery (investigator talent – rogue talent: Terrain Mastery x2); favored terrain: Plane of Air (13th), favored terrain (alchemist): Astral Plane (14th), Plane of Fire (15th)
Magical Items of Note: Boots of Friendly Terrain
Party Role at low levels (1-4): typical ranged combatant, with some decent scouting and sneaking ability (with the new Wild Shadow trait, it’s like a poor man’s hide in plain sight). Bullseye Shot will offset the penalty for not having precise shot for the first couple of levels. He’s not doing a lot of damage, but his attacks hit pretty well. With some extracts via Alchemy, it gives him a bit of versatility and options (like true strike or monkey fish). If he runs into DR, he can pull out a few bombs or alchemical items for the combat. At 4th level, I’m still unsure if Urban or Underground is better suited to the Emerald Spire – it’s a structure, so you would think Urban...but how much of it is underground?
Party Role at mid levels (5-8): His skills dramatically ramp up at this point. The key here is the Inspired Alchemist – when they can take a discovery, they can take two investigator talents in its place, which allows him to take the rogue talent Terrain Mastery. By spending his feats on Extra Discovery, he can pick up a lot of terrains. You can only USE the newer favored terrain while being affected by the inspiring cognatogen – although that doesn’t matter as much here, since just having the favored terrain still raises the bonuses to the only one that matters – Urban. Just at 5th level, his bonuses in the tower from terrain mastery are already at +12 with the low-cost Boots of Friendly Terrain. By 8th level, +20. He’s still not doing a lot of damage, though...which will hurt during this period (DR much more frequent). Still, with a magic sling and some different type of ammunition, I may be able to mitigate that.
Party Role at high levels (9-11+): Although I can keep playing the spire past 11th, I’ve only planned out that far ahead, since standard retirement in PFS is at 12th. At this tier, his combat contribution suddenly swings into overdrive. This is due to a few factors. One, due to Terrain Dominance, he can now add +24 to hit and damage to all his attacks vs humanoids (urban races). Two, due to his 4th level of Divine Marksman, he gets +12 to hit and damage against everything ELSE. Three, using his Companion Bond, he can give everyone else in the party +12/+12 to hit/damage vs a single humanoid foe (or +6/+6 vs something non-humanoid). By 11th level, it’s up to +32 (and +16 and +8 respectively).
I could change the PC a bit – make him a human for the bonus feat, leave him with a bow, then retrain out 3 feats at 9th level (Point Blank, Precise, and his human bonus) into 6 more terrain masteries. That’s the better combat option…but I also like the idea of all this damage output being done by flinging pebbles into the bad guy’s forehead.
So...thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? I haven’t gone into magical items too much, and I’m not sold on the build (still debating internally). Still, I liked the idea of a Horizon Walker, when we’ll know for most of this adventure what the terrain is going to be.
Those of us behind Golaricon 2016 wanted to thank everyone involved in making the con a success, which includes Shane the shop owner, the players, the GMs, Tonya, our VC Mark, and our con representative Jay. We had scheduled 25 tables and actually ran 22. We are very happy with how everything turned out.
We did want to thank the GMs by name – Hillis, Mark, George, Debra, Chad and especially the GMs that ran some of the modules and the adventure path – Emmanuel, Jay, and Karl.
We want to thank our friend and fellow gamer Neal who made the props and dioramas for the modules.
We hope to see you all back next year for Golaricon 2017!
I keep forgetting to ask, for Wurmwood Mutiny, do you plan on running the entire book, or just the sanctioned part?
We hope to run as much as we can of Wormwood Mutiny - we're running a 0-slot the weekend before the con to see how much we can fit in the allotted time.
1. Are you only accepting cash for playing?
2. Saturday is scheduled for 8-12:30 and 1pm-12am; why is there no option for "6pm-10pm" for example? Will there only be one slot available Saturday afternoon?
Thanks for any help and I'm so looking forward to the convention!
Good questions!
1. Instead of one convention badge for the whole weekend, we're using a cost per slot route - since it is a holiday weekend, people's schedules may not allow for gaming the whole con, so we're trying to be flexible.
I'm afraid we can only take cash. We won't have the ability to accept credit cards. However, I believe the store we're located in can accept credit cards or checks, if you want to buy product (although they're separate from the convention).
2. Saturday is the day we run modules - the focus of our convention. Modules/adventure paths are much longer than a standard scenario. The three shorter modules (Feast of Ravenmoor, City of Golden Death, and The Midnight Mirror) still will cover most of the day. The three longer events (Cult of the Ebon Destroyers, Doom Comes to Dustpawn, and The Wormwood Mutiny) will run all day.
All modules gain a character one full level, like playing 3 scenarios. Also, each table can take breaks where needed (for example: supper).
Aw, man, why did this have to be Valentine's Day weekend? Looks like a great weekend! Good luck and good fun to all involved!
The stars aligned this way, I'm afraid. The only other available weekend was Winter Fantasy...and we decided to stay away from that.
However, most of our games are Friday and Saturday - if you choose to skip 'Bloody Sunday', you only miss out on one slot of events...including the Kobold special. ;)
I am looking over the rules regarding using the Ranged Study feat, and using the studied target Investigator ability, then applying riders/conditions using the various Studied Target Investigator Talents. I thought I’d bounce this off the rules community to make sure I’m thinking this out correctly.
On Sickening Offensive, not only does it appear to work without issue, but the PC doesn’t even need to have the Ranged Study feat (although you’re not getting the benefits of Studied Combat or Studied Strike without the feat). Just study the target, at any range, and hit them with a ranged attack (or just damage them in any way, really) to sicken them for 1 round.
On Slowing Strike, you need to have the feat and be within 30 feet (since you have to do damage with Studied Strike). Otherwise, this works.
On the rest of the ‘maneuver’ rider talents, first the rule ‘specific overrides general’ would seem to apply at first – while normally performing combat maneuvers can only be done in melee combat (general), using these abilities appears to allow you to do them in ranged combat, using the feat (specific). However, all these abilities allow you to do is make a separate maneuver check – which, itself, still has the melee requirements. So, theoretically, I could use them with a ranged attack, but then use the free granted maneuver – which would still need to be in melee.
Not to mention stealing at range through non-magical means is just strange.
So…
Sickening Offensive (works)
Slowing Strike (works)
Various ‘Maneuver’ Strikes (do not work)
I think I’ve covered all my bases. Am I looking at this correctly?
It’s our second year for this convention, held in the Indianapolis area. We are focused on running PFS-sanctioned modules during this three-day convention. Among the modules/adventure paths in the line-up:
[Skulls and Shackles 1] The Wormwood Mutiny (lvl 2-4)
Feast of Ravenmoor (lvl 2-4)
The Midnight Mirror (lvl 3-5)
City of Golden Death (lvl 4-6)
Cult of the Ebon Destroyers (lvl 7-9)
Doom Comes to Dustpawn (lvl 8-10)
Along with these scenarios/quests:
Quest "Phantom Phenomena" (lvl 1)
0-04 "The Frozen Fingers of Midnight" (lvl 1-5)
6-99 "True Dragons of Absalom" (lvl 4)
7-05 "School of Spirits" (lvl 1-5)
7-10 "The Consortium Compact" (lvl 1)
7-11 "Ancients’ Anguish" (lvl 7-11)
7-12 "The Twisted Circle" (lvl 1-5)
7-13 "Captive in Crystal" (lvl 5-9)
7-15 "The Slave Master's Mirror" (lvl 3-7)
I just finished making my first-ever guide. The topic is abusing attacks of opportunity. If you have any feedback/advice it would be much appreciated :) I just wanted to give back to the community a little bit after spending so much time poring over everyone else's guides and I felt like AoOs were a little-discussed subject that could benefit a lot of builds.
1. Ring of tactical precision also increases all the bonuses that teamwork feats give out. Paired Opportunist +5 to hit.
2. The Karmic variant bloodline for the sorcerer (Destined variant) allows the caster to cause foes to provoke an attack of opportunity when a concentration check fails. So...does your GM allow purposefully failing the caster level check on that cantrip?
