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 Recent Posts
I want to take a few lines to let you guys know that Leej is an awesome gamer and person. She has been gaming with us here in Kentucky for the last year, and I am very sad to see her leave. We played through the entire Kingmaker AP together. We've dabbled with Curse of teh Crimson Throne and Carrion Crown. We've played a good amount of PFS, and we've experimented with non-PF games. So, treat her well, welcome her into your group, and eventually coax her into running a game (she's good at that too). She will, in all likelihood, be a fun, reliable, awesome new member of your community.
I play both Pathfinder Society and LFR. While I generally prefer Pathfinder Society, LFR is doing some things right with their Battle Interactives. At this year's DDXP, I liked that the battle spanned an entire city. Each table at a set amount of time to accomplish as many location based missions within that city as possible. Some of the missions were restricted as Heroic (level 1-10) only or Paragon (11-20) only. The number of missions successfully completed by all tables then had some impact on the rest of the BI. Also at this year's DDXP, there were several huge monsters that threatened the entire city, moving from table to table. As the DM playing said monster moved by a given table, the players at that table were given an opportunity to attack the monster (and, of course, the monster would also attack back). Sure the monster was just a lump of hit points with attacks and defenses broken down by level band, but it was still fun. At last year's Origins, one table, each encounter, had the option of forgoing the standard encounter (the one being tackled by all the other tables) to take on a special mission. Once the table playing the special mission was successful, some related benefit was then relayed to the other tables. Beyond these things, I'd echo the calls for exotic locales and big, scary monsters. Chad
I have five... Sillitta Ederus, 11th-level halfling wizard (Andoran)
Sillitta and Anneke have been played exclusively. Mikki and Danica have a mix of player and GM credit. Zaminiyah has all GM credit.
I organize, run, and play in the games in Somerset. We have grown from barely making table for our PFS games to having a full group. That said, I would not be against growing into a two table group. I'm also open to helping, when I can, with a Lexington PFS group. Risener (or is it Risner) on these boards run/plays a lot of PFS in Lexington. He has run some sessions at the Lexington D&D Meet-up. He also runs a Wednesday Pathfinder game that started as Society play, but has since rocketed off to higher levels.
Mists of Mwangi:
In Mists of Mwangi (at BASHcon 2009 in Toledo), the big ape snatched my poor little halfling wizard up in one fist and carried her around for much of the fight. She so should have died, but the sole remaining player (who was playing a pre-gen) realized that I actually had some time-invested in the character and returned to aid me. Plus I think Doug Doug took it easy on me. The Rebel's Ransom:
In The Rebel's Ransom (at DragonCon 2010), the rest of my party was killed by an insanely effective fire oracle. My barbarian, because she had a rank in linguistics (and was the last Pathfinder standing), was spared to help the oracle navigate the tomb/dungeon. She rebelled one final time, trying to drown the oracle, but failed. In the end, she was beaten senseless, stripped of all her gear, and sold into slavery. After a few adventures, she was able to recoup her losses. I still love playing this character, and man, does she hate Qadirans/Osirions/etc., pretty much every race with a desert homeland. Thanks Kyle. Hydra's Fang Incident:
In running this adventure for a bunch of new-ish players, one who was playing PFS for the first time, I orchestrated a TPK. I felt pretty bad, but now I can look back on it fondly. Christopher Rowe frequently reminds me (like every time he opens his folder full of characters) that he only got to Play Tolliver Wilde, his half-orc fighter, once. Sorry Christopher.
1. Wizard (Generalist) 2. Sil has been an interesting character for me to play because her role has evolved as she has gained levels, and very quickly at that. Early on, she focused on staying alive. As she got a couple of levels under her belt, Sil was able to do some damage and act as a problem solver. A few levels more and she was able to do serious damage, especially to large numbers of enemies. Now that she is higher level still, Sil is starting to transition away from direct damage, becoming more of a buffer-debuffer and problem solver. I suspect this is the role she'll stay in for the rest of her career. 3. Early in her career, Sil spent a lot of gold on scrolls. They worked to the benefit of the party, but I also had a lot of fun casting spells from them; it gave me more to do from round to round. In retrospect, I should have bought wands. I'm more than willing to dump potions down the throats of allies and cast spells with expensive components (i.e. Stoneskin) on them. I'm starting to have all my characters, even those who can not use them, carry a wand of CLW that can be used for the good of themselves and the party. 4. I mostly expect others to play and have a good time and to be able to fulfill the basic duties of their chosen class. I expect a cleric to be able to heal party members. I expect fighters to not hang out in the back while other party members are taking a beating. 5. Yes, if it helps to keep party members alive and to accomplish the task at hand. 6. First, I try not to put my characters in situations that are any more dangerous than what the party at large is facing, but if I do put myself in a tight spot at the behest of the party, I do kind of hope they'd be there to pull me out.
That's an excellent question, and the answer I think varies from campaign to campaign and character to character. Society characters, save those just getting started with Master of the Fallen Fortress, have the benefit of belonging to an extensive organization that keeps crazy, detailed notes of all that its members have accomplished. I don't think it's unreasonable for Pathfinder Society characters to be well-read and well-prepared for things that they have not personally encountered. That said, Ansley Greenshields, a wide-eyed shepherd lass that I play in an online non-Society game, doesn't know much about anything save sheep, the few wolves that she has fought off while protecting sheep, and now the things that she has encountered: insane birds of prey, goblins, and insane shifters. I'd be willing to venture that she has a far from cyclopedic knowledge of even those things, and she certainly hasn't found a reason to buy alchemist's fire; her quarterstaff and sling are working just fine. It's one thing to say 'I don't have anything that can deal with swarms' but after that module they should look into things like alchemists fires and the like. If they don't and the next time it comes up still say 'I don't have anything that can deal with that still' then I have issue with them.What if your character has never encountered swarms yet in his/her career, but as a DM you have, would it be reasonable to assume that the character has heard about their abilities and prepare or is this metagaming?
After moving back to my small hometown more than three years ago, I finally have a very solid home group together. We play lots of games, but our strongest long-term campaign is Rise of the Runelords. I love it, the DM loves it, all of the players love it, but... Adventure Paths do not lend themselves to play in a store environment where different people might show up for any given session; as opposed to Society scenarios which are great for this. I support replay for credit.
After reading what I took to be an excellent thread about what PFS characters should be able to do at various levels, I've been reviewing my own characters to see where they measure up. One area in which my highest level character (an 8th-level halfling generalist wizard) is deficient- at least so far as the first post in that thread is concerned- is her scroll library. Early on in her career, I bought a lot of scrolls, mostly magic missile, so she would have something to do most rounds of combat, but with time, I grew more judiciosu with my spell use on a round by round basis (plus she learned more spells), so the purchasing of scrolls slowed to a halt. Now, reviewing her character sheet, my wizard has no scrolls! I'd like to remedy that. Which wizards spells do you all find it important/essential/expected to have in the form of scrolls? For that matter which spells do you find it important/essential/expected to have in your spellbooks and/or memorized?
PFS 2-03 The Rebel's Ransom:
So, yeah, "The Rebel's Ransom" easily marks one of my more memorable gaming moments ever. First, Jason, great module, despite my yelling at you; and Kyle, great job running it too. While I'll never forget (and I mean that in a good way) what happened to poor Anneke Bjornsdottir, I've already "forgiven" both of you.
The adventure started well enough. Even before we got into character, our group decided to play at a tier appropriate to our levels (we were all 5 or 6, I think), rather than try to play up. We were a balanced mix of wizard, cleric, rogue, and several warrior types. We stocked up on a variety of supplies- cures, restorations, light sources, holy water, etc. We were prepared for everything... Except the fire oracle. That b!tch was a beast. Six fireballs. Two walls of fire. Cures. Haste? And we fell right into her hands. I think the whole party did a great job role-playing what it would be like to be scared, confused, and on fire. We made (stupid) decisions based on character knowledge, sometimes even disregarding stuff taht we knew as players. We paid for it. After most of the party was already down, I spent my two potions of cure light wounds getting the cleric back on his feet so that he could heal me (only to have him get blasted yet again). Finally, it came down to just me (Anneke Bjornsdottir, Ulfen Barbaian 3/Fighter 2 in service to great and noble Taldor). When I should have held back, my rage kicked in. I ran through a wall of fire, took two more point-blank fireballs, and was ultimately bested in melee. Only that rank I took in Linguistics at first level (so I could speak Skald in addition to Common) saved me. Turns out the oracle needed me to translate for her- which I did in painstaking fashion (Take 20, take 20, take 20). Finally, I was able to get the door open to the water-filled chamber. I saw my chance. I initiated the grapple and attempted to drown my fire-loving captor. Again she bested me in hand-to-hand combat. This time, I was not so fortunate, and was sold into slavery (but ultimately recovered sans gold and equipment by my Society colleagues). I strongly considered retiring the character (as I'll likely never have a level-appropriate selection of equipment), but how can you give up on a character that shows such fighting spirit, if not actual competence? You can't. I've traded in my prestige for a new masterwork greatsword. I've bought my mundane chain shirt, a shortbow has replaced my masterwork compound longbow. I no longer have that cool belt that bumps my DEX, but I do have a frickin' awesome story, and that's what it's really all about. So Jason, Kyle, watch out. Anneke Bjornsdottir has (non-magical) arrows with your names on them.
Right now, I'm torn between attending Pentacon or Neoncon. I live in southern KY, so Pentacon is closer by far, but Neoncon offers an extra day of gaming. Neoncon is also more expensive (I have to fly and miss more work) and part of the extra day of gaming will be eaten up by travel time, still it's Vegas, and I had a great time at Neoncon last year. I guess my decision will really hinge on who has the most attractive schedule of events.
Awesome to hear Doug, especially that it's starting to catch on in general. I have been roped into mainly playing LFR with friends there, but I hope to get free for one session or so of PFS. I've got a level 6 and a level 2 character. I'll take a peek at my scenario availability. I had a great time gaming with you there last year. Chad
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