1) Up to you. You can make all potions of cure light wounds the same in appearance or not. Same for other potions. They know something is magical with a detect magic spell or other ability that specifically says so. There are rules in the Core Books for using Spellcraft to identify items. Not sure about Beginner Box. I don't think they need to know something is necessarily magical before they try to identify it. Even if they suspect something is magical I have always allowed a spellcraft to identify.
2) The details not in the blue boxes are things the PCs may or may not know/learn from different skill checks or specific questions they might ask, etc. for example, "I examine the body of the dead goblin" a PC says. Then you would reveal if there is any other information, after appropriate skills checks if required by the text or not.
3) Not sure what you mean by "awaken", but based on your description that would be right next to the PC. That is no squares/fields in between.
Remember, you are in charge. There is no right or wrong way to GM. As long as everyone is having fun, including you, go with it.
Good luck. You will do fine.
EDIT: Be sure to come back and tell us how it went!
MD
@ vs Kevin.
Not sure about pre-gens.
Yes to your question about strength bonuses.
Your carry weight is also based on your strength it should be listed either near the strength description or in equipment. Technically there is no limit but you start to take penalties to your dex (I think) after so much.
Hope that helps.
EDIT: Just quickly flipped through the BB manuals and there does not seem to be any weights attached to equipment. Just use your best judgment I guess. Nobody can carry full plate armor and twenty long swords around. I would just go with what feels right and everyone can agree on.
MD
Beginner Box does not presume you keep track of weight carried. But if that runs against your sensibilities as a GM, you can set restrictions as Molten Dragon says above.
In the Beginner Box, the detect magic spell automatically identifies held items. (See the Game Master's Guide, pg. 48.) FYI, in the Core Rules, you must use that spell in tandem with your Spellcraft skill to identify magic items, and potions have their own rule where Perception helps you identify it (no Spellcraft skill or detect magic spell needed).
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To the best of my knowledge...
1) The 'holy weapon' of a given deity is generally something that is outside of what cleric's generally can wield proficiently. Clerics of Sarenrae can use a scimitar, which is not a simple weapon. If you double check letter 'E' on page 16 of the Hero's Handbook, you'll see that all listed 'Holy Weapons' are not simple weapons but rather martial weapons.
2) As per letter 'K' on page 18 of the Hero's Handbook: Write orisons in Section K. Orisons are a weak type of cleric spell that you can use over and over again as much as you want, up to once per round. You don’t have to prepare orisons—you always have them available. So yes, a cleric can cast any of those 4 spells each round if they wanted to.
3) Consider these entries from page 34 of the Hero's Handbook: If you don’t have any ranks in a skill, your Total for that skill is just your Ability Mod for that skill (if you have one) plus your racial modifier (if you have one). and the [b]Trained Only[/i] section that follows: If a skill has a gray bar instead of a black bar, you must have some training (at least 1 rank) in that skill to use that skill. If you don’t have any ranks in it, you can’t make the check at all.
4) Generally speaking if a spell calls for a touch or ranged touch attack roll there is no saving throw. Conversely if the spell has a saving throw it hits everything in the area of effect.
For some specific cleric examples, cause fear, doom, hold person and sound burst do not require hit rolls because they call for saving throws. Spiritual weapon on the other hand does not allow a saving throw because it makes an attack roll each round.
For some specific wizard example, check out ray of frost, acid arrow, and scorching ray (hit roll, no save) vs. burning hands, web, fireball, and lightning bolt (not hit roll, but save). Magic missile may seem like an outlier to this logic, but you get no save because it uses an attack roll...that just happens to automatically hit :)
Hope this all helps!
Sorry I missed this thread! Lots of nice advice and support here. Good job, folks! :)
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a) When giving out loot, should I immediately tell them value or write it down for myself?
This depends on the kind of game you are all looking for. If the players find this sort of thing enjoyable, by all means obfuscate it away from them. If it becomes more number tracking that is slowing your game down that nobody likes...just tell them.
b) It seems like the beginner box gave out a LOT of gold and items, way more than it is suggested in the core rules. I have backtracked and calculated the wealth of the characters and even without their own gear and weapons they'er quite wealthy. When I now plan for future sessions I see that the loot I can give out is very sparse. For example, from level 3 to 4 it goes from 3k to 6k gold. Which means I can give 3k gold per player, resulting in 12k total treasure for all four. Or is this not relative, but rather absolute and I could should provide roughly 4x6k=24k when reaching level 4?
The way to think about it is as they go from level 3 to level 4 they should pick up about 3k in loot (coins, gems, magic items etc) and have a total treasure/gear value of 6k when they reach level 4.
c) How do I get people to search rooms? They tend to miss a lot of evidence and loot when I'm not forcing them or actively pointing to stuff. Should I just let them roll for perception to "train" them? Or are there more subtle ways?
Hide treasure and then don't award it. If a room has a hidden cache of gems that they don't find via a DC 20 Perception check, then they just missed out on some of their loot. When they complain that they don't seem to be getting enough treasure, helpfully suggest they go back and search for it. I would encourage them to search the room by asking them what are they looking for or look at. In what way are they searching? Then after they explain what they envision their characters doing, ask them to make a Perception check.
d) I'm scared of introducing my own hooks, NPCs and encounters beause I fear of introducing elements that will not fit into the logic of the main plot line. My players are quite an intelligent bunch and pick up on plot holes very easily. I tried to explain them to be a little gentle because I am a beginner as well, but I'm still a bit reluctant and this might reduce my creativity..
Sadly, this is going to be a bit of a 'fall on your face' learning experience. The best way to come up with stuff they love it so know your group. But you don't really know your group without trial and error over years of game play with them (typically). Don't be afraid to make mistakes, that's what learning is about. You do need to put a critical eye on your ideas and ask yourself if they do or don't make sense. Start to think about it the way you see your players thinking about it. Then you can learn from them and start to anticipate their methods. Also, if you have something planned and a player speculates something different that you think sounds better or makes more sense don't be afraid to switch things up!
I'm scared of introducing my own hooks, NPCs and encounters beause I fear of introducing elements that will not fit into the logic of the main plot line. My players are quite an intelligent bunch and pick up on plot holes very easily. I tried to explain them to be a little gentle because I am a beginner as well, but I'm still a bit reluctant and this might reduce my creativity..
Take it in steps to build up your confidence. Accept you're going to make mistakes - the alternative is not trying.
You can start simply with one off random encounters unrelated to the plot, for example random encounters with monsters when travelling A to B or perhaps an opportunistic pickpocket.Don't plan on the PCs taking certain actions - they quite likely won't. Figure out what the NPCs are trying to achieve, and how, and if it turns out it wouldn't work, then they overlooked that.
You're running the Masks of the Living God module, yes? It might help if you said your specific question in relation to that module, either here or in the Pathfinder Modules section of the boards.
DerCed it looks like you have mastered the most important rule of the Game - you all win when everybody at the table (yourself included) is having fun.
Congratulations.
DerCed,
This may be something you're already doing, but if you're running modules/scenarios, skim through them a couple of sessions beforehand and use the NPCs/info in there for stuff they'll do prior so when you introduce them the players will have that all-important recognition factor.
When I ran Crypts, I introduced the Ranger in Masks as a contact/mentor to one of the players (there's some trouble in Kassen, check it out for a couple of weeks), and their eyes lit up when they found out that their NPC was the key contact during Masks. When you get the chance to foreshadow anything you know is coming up in future sessions, do it - players feel more like they're a part of the overall world.