Scaleclaw |
Just looking for Tips i was looking around for what point buy or how many traits my party should have besides campaign traits.
Also looking about what classes or gods to recommended the worshipers to well suggest to them.
Currently i'm looking through the inner sea world guild to learn more on Varisia and the gods in the pathfinder world.
But any other tips you could give a new dm?
Scaleclaw |
Here's my Plan
4 PCs
15 point buy
Campaign Traits
Bonus Traits (Not sure)(advise?)
Hero Points (Not sure) (advise?)
Questions?
Players recommended Alignment?
Players Recommended faith to fit in more with the campaign?
Tools:
Dice
Old Blank Map and Markers
Combat table
Pathfinder Books.
Gm Screen
Critical Hit and Miss decks
Concerns
Inexperianced DM
All players inexperienced with Pathfinder world
Dm Questions
What can i read or do to make the game smoother for me and my players?
How to use the information in the book
Tips on what to tell players, and what to hide from them.
Other Books to reference besides inner sea world guild?
Stebehil |
First of all, keep it simple. If all of you are new to PF, the core rulebook is enough to keep you busy, ruleswise. Regarding the campaign, I would recommend good or neutral characters (evil ones being hard to handle anyway). With faiths, have a look at those given for the Sandpoint cathedral in the appendix section. These would make good faiths for the characters.
Start slowly and take your time. It is a matter of personal preference if you look up every rules minutiae when they come up, or you make ruling on the spot and look at the official version afterwards.
Regarding background information: make the players work for this. It is a great opportunity to enhance role-playing if they get the informations not just given to them, but if they earn it in play. Of course, basic information (races, classes, faiths) should be known, but use your judgement if they ask you what they know. Better start somewhat stingy, it is easier to add than to take away.
The Numerator |
I'd agree, keep it simple. I'm a relatively new GM, and I try to keep my players to Core and APG (just so they can get archetypes), but the core classes in Pathfinder are built in such a way that any of them are well balanced going 1-20, without needing to multi-class at all.
If your characters are looking for background ideas, there is a really fun and easy background generator found in Ultimate Campaign (also found online in the PDR section). This gives a basic framework of events in the character's past, and I've found that with my new character I'm playing in a Carrion Crown game that it gave some great ideas, and spurred on my creativity to flesh out the details.
For GM tips, I've found that Sandpoint felt VERY overwhelming at first. There are so many shops and NPCs to keep track of, and while the information in the book is well organized, sometimes I've found cross referencing relationships has been tricky. For prep, what I've done (from a recommendation from the "Know Direction" podcast guys) is to make a glossary of info for all proper nouns. I did this in Excel, and included links to the Pathfinder Wiki if I need more detail. This way, if the PCs walk into the Goblin Squash Stables, for example, I can do a quick search for the NPC who runs it and find out where else in the glossary he appears, knowing in a few seconds some of the connections he has to other people in town.
There is also a listing another GM made of event ideas happening on each street, which I've found has helped bring Sandpoint to life. I added some random rolling elements to it, and use it whenever the PCs travel from one place in town to another.
If you would like a copy of my GM spreadsheet w/ this info it in, just PM me and I'll send you a link.
NobodysHome |
I suggest reading the "Burnt Offerings" GM thread, because you'll see pitfalls other GMs ran into -- totally ignore errata, and focus on questions like, "How did you run this encounter?"
A good example: I was perfectly happy to kill Aldern Foxglove in Module 1 as he's a combatant in an early combat, but it turns out he really should survive to show up in Module 2. I got lucky and didn't kill him, but those are the kind of "oops!" pitfalls you want to avoid.
I like to read one book at a time and be totally focused on it, and the AE of RotRL is usually pretty good about warning you when a particular NPC should survive, but sometimes it's better to check the GM threads.
*IF* you have the extra time, the RotRL campaign journals are invaluable; they give you ideas as to how other GMs ran the campaigns. But they are time-consuming; I think at this point if someone wanted to read my journal start to finish it would take them 5-6 hours. It's a LOOOONG journal.
Richard Kalbfeld 532 |
I am big on 5 players in case one cant show due to real life.
To make up partly for that, I would always, always do a 20 point
buy and if you are planing on Mythic anything, 25 point buy would
be needed.
Been playing DnD since 1978 when Chainmail came out.
When your PC's are to week due to there abilities, you
can always downgrade your bad guys. I prefer to have PC's
with higher abilities so I can upgrade my mobs when called
for.
Just saying.
The Numerator |
We used to do 20 point buy, and as a GM I found the PCs were PLOWING through the encounters without any problem. We moved to 15 point buy, and now it's much more evenly matched.
The AP assumes 15 point buy, 4 PCs, Fast Progression (for this, most other APs are Medium). However, it depends on what type of game your players want. If they want to feel like super-heroes and have no PC death, higher point buys work. If your Players are looking for more danger and are ok w/ the possibility of PC death, then a 15 point buy or stat array is the way to go.
Callum |
It's been said elsewhere by the people at Paizo that the Adventure Paths are designed for four non-optimized PCs with a 15-point buy. Of course, this is a guideline only, and any particular group may need the encounters adjusting one way or another, but that should be where you start. If you're going to have more than four PCs, I'd definitely stick to 15-point.
FallofCamelot |
Is there really that big of a difference between 15 and 20 point buys? I am actually going to be running this AP within the next couple of months and was planning on having them use 20.
As of now, it looks like it will be 5 players.
In short no it makes no difference.
The difference between 15, 20, 25 and even 30 point buy is that at 30 you get an 18 in your primary stat and some other ability scores with pluses. 15 gives you a 16 and plusses.
Yeah huge difference. We're talking an extra +1 here and there. That's all.
ferrinwulf |
Is there really that big of a difference between 15 and 20 point buys? I am actually going to be running this AP within the next couple of months and was planning on having them use 20.
As of now, it looks like it will be 5 players.
bear in mind if you have 5 players and are using 20 point but it may make the game a little easier and you may have to adjust some of the encounters to compensate.
AP's are based on 1 15 point buy 4 PC party so the encounetrs are made to fit this assumption.
My advice, not sure what difference the 20 point but will make but I as for the 5 players i would suggest palying the first few encounters out as is then if things look to easy then just make the CR one step up. Keep doing this until you feel its at a correct level, might be tricky to start with but it should become easier to judge the correct level after a few sessions.
It might be ok though, I have 3 players and used a 20 point buy which seems to work fine without any cahnges.
Hobbun |
Maybe I should say I am anticipating 5 players total. I’ve spoken and confirmed with three, and another one has pretty much been confirmed through one of the three I’ve spoken with.
The fifth player is a long time friend and player in our home group and I don’t see him saying no, but I actually haven’t had the chance to speak with him about it. However, I think right now it’s a safe bet we will have 5.
Also, one of the reasons I was going to go with a 20 point buy is one of the players, well, likes to be a little unique with his characters. He usually likes to play a character with several classes (doesn’t focus) and the times I’ve played with him, and we’ve hit higher levels, his characters have a hard time contributing in combat because he is so spread out.
And he says a lot of times “Oh, this is an RP character.” He loves the extra challenge, but it’s frustrating because he does hurt the rest of the party.
The irony of the situation is he is mainly our GM, and he is able to build challenging bad guys for us, which not surprisingly, he doesn’t spread way out in different classes. So he knows what it takes, he just gets bored in being too focused with his own characters doing that.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great and longtime friend, but as I said sometimes it can be frustrating.
But the reason I went off on that tangent was I wanted to explain where I do have 5 players, in a sense I have 4 ½ in regards to combat.
Now, I could be wrong in how he builds this character and actually focuses him, but he is debating between two characters. The Reincarnating Druid, which he says again will be a “RP character” or a Summoner, which he has indicated he doesn’t plan to branch off (too much) as it weakens the Eidolon too much. So I guess I will just need to see what he goes with before I make my final decision on point buy.
As for the other two who have confirmed, one is looking at a Life Oracle or Cleric (Yay, a dedicated healer!) and a Halfling Sorcerer (Yay again, a dedicated arcane caster!).
ciretose |
I suggest reading the "Burnt Offerings" GM thread, because you'll see pitfalls other GMs ran into -- totally ignore errata, and focus on questions like, "How did you run this encounter?"
This is the best advice.
Also, read each book before you go back and look at each encounter and plan it. It helps a lot to understand what is going on as a whole when you are running.
Second, let your players figure things out for themselves. You know all the secrets, they are figuring them out. There is no one way to do it.
Fromper |
I really wish I had more time to read the adventure before starting. I've only gotten through half of Burnt Offerings, plus the appendices covering Sandpoint and Magnimar, and our first session is tonight. We'll spend the first part of the session finalizing character details, then playing out the Swallowtail Festival, so we may not even get to the goblin combat tonight. If we do, that'll definitely be as far as we get. Any last minute advice?
I should have time to at least finish reading Burnt Offerings and move into the next chapter by next week's session. But if I have to spend a lot of time on drawing maps and other prep work along the way, it will slow the reading ahead. I really wish I'd known more than a couple of weeks before starting that I would be running this, so I could have had time to read the whole thing in advance.
NobodysHome |
- Sandpoint is the a major focal point of this AP; the PCs keep returning to it all the way into Module 5. Make it fun. Make it ALIVE. Definitely spend time at the festival getting the PCs to know (and hopefully like) Sandpoint. There's no harm in an introductory session with no combat.
- If you do get to the combat, make sure the goblins are really crazy and not tactical geniuses. I let my kids (8 and 11 at the time) run all the goblins and it was hilarious (and perfect). Goblins are psychotic. Don't play tactically, play chaotically.
- Try to avoid killing named NPCs until you know their relative importance. I'd keep the mayor, Brodert Quink, and Aldern Foxglove alive. (And with Foxglove it might take a bit of non-tactics to keep him that way.) Anyone else? Any others to keep alive?
Scaleclaw |
I love this, Sandpoint i would love to spice it up more and more i was reading up on the 1 pc encounter with a PC being seduced i'm not sure what after effects will befall the PC and the party depending on what will happen. based on beating up the father, Killing daddy, or running away or flat out refusing or threatening the girl.
Mudfoot |
Is there really that big of a difference between 15 and 20 point buys? I am actually going to be running this AP within the next couple of months and was planning on having them use 20.
Depends on class. For a wizard it'll make little difference because he'll pump Int with a bit of Dex and Con, and everything else is fluff. 5 more points is neither here nor there. Likewise a sorcerer, witch or other very SAD class. Middling classes like cleric, fighter, barbarian, bard and ranger are helped a bit which makes things like Trip builds viable. MAD classes like paladin, rogue and especially monk are barely competent at 15 points.
I'd do 20. It's easy enough to bump up the monsters a bit here and there, and it's better to ensure that everyone's having fun.