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I'm going to make a slight change in a few lines of introductory 'fluff' for The Frostfur Captives (I think minor changes to fluff would be allowed in PFS.)
There is just a small section that bothered me when reading it and, since I found that the developer agrees it doesn't make much sense, it seems OK to make a small change.
With the overland route, too, there is the bigger question "Why don't we just go back the way we came?" At least with teleportation, there are means, such as a "Teleportation Trap", whereby going one way but not being able to get back the same way can be justified. I think the idea of a connection between a structure (such as a special room and platform in the Grand Lodge) and remote structures in other locations is well-established, perhaps even a SF&F 'trope'.
One of my GM duties:
Your Duties as Game Master:
As a Pathfinder Society Organized Play Game Master running a session at a convention or an in-store event, you have the following duties.
• Introduce yourself.
• Encourage your players to introduce themselves (and
their characters).
But, since this is online, just share what you want, if you want. You can introduce your character best, I think, on the gameplay thread, or add some OOC info about them here.
I'm Matt, a 43-year-old father of a two-year-old boy, staying at home while my wife goes through an accelerated nursing school program. As I said on the Campaign Info page, I am relatively new to PbP, PFS, Pathfinder, and GMing, though I have now finished as an online player in six games and as a GM in five (I think - I am starting to lose track). I am hoping online gaming will help keep me relatively sane, especially now that I have had to give up my in-person game for time reasons.
There is a "Secondary Success Conditions" document we were sent a link to and I've copied the introduction here so that you will know how things have changed with faction missions and getting that second prestige point.
At the beginning of Season 5 of the Pathfinder Society Organized Play campaign, the means by which a PC earns Prestige Points and Fame changed. Before, a PC earned Prestige Points by completing faction missions (short missions assigned by the respective head of the faction) and by completing the scenario’s main mission. With few exceptions, these faction missions are no longer tied to earning Prestige Points, but the players may opt to receive and perform these missions for Season 0–4 scenarios for no special benefit. In those few cases where the scenario still uses the faction missions, treat members of the Grand Lodge faction as though they were members of the Osirion faction, treat members of the Sczarni faction as though they were members of the Taldor faction, and treat members of the Silver Crusade faction as though they were members of the Andoran faction.
In Season 5, a scenario’s individual faction missions have been replaced by a secondary success condition, which typically ties into exceeding the goal established in the mission briefing, finding an additional boon, securing a longterm ally, not damaging the reputation of the Pathfinder Society, or generally excelling at the tasks set before them.
I think it is best to still provide the faction missions for role playing purposes and for PFS historical flavor, but I was never completely happy with the faction missions being tied to the prestige point since they often seemed to require a single pass-fail d20 roll with a skill the character may not have, rather than good and creative gaming.
Definitely level up and do whatever pre-level 2 re-arraigning you want to do. Take your time, too. We can certainly wait a few days, as well, if you need to think about things.
No problem. Good to know, Wuliem.
It looks like I'll also need to recruit a player. (Well, we could easily go with 5, but I like to give more people a chance.) Anyone know someone who would like to play? If not, it should be easy to find someone on the boards.
Yeah, everything still comes out of your own pocket. The Society is cheap that way.
I would suggest winter clothing, a winter blanket, a bedroll, a MW backpack (to carry more gear generally), rations, and flint and steel in case you need to start a fire. Some have done other contrivances to help with gear. (Hopefully you have a cleric (Storn) with create water or water can become very heavy.)
Although I have seen an pretty extensive and expensive gear list of all kinds of things (Pathfinder Society Survival 101), it would be interesting to see a very basic gear list for 1st and 2nd level people indicating those things that might save a player or the adventure. I've read a Tier 1-2 adventure that has a weapon-immune swarm in it, so having an alchemist's fire (and/or an alchemist!) is probably a good idea. Another adventure I played would have been really tough without the three ropes and the grappling hook & arrow. Some Bladeguard could be useful for the scenarios I've seen with rust monsters, and probably oozes, too.
I wouldn't guess that the scroll would actually be valuable, at least yet; the vargouilles' disease situation, and its rapid, terminal nature, is hopefully pretty rare at this level. (There it was in-city, so a high-level healer can be found soon enough.) I've bought characters antitoxin, antiplague, and smelling salts, though.
A Scroll Box (waterproof, unlike a "Case, map or scroll"; 5 gp) and Waterproof Bags (5 sp) should be on the list (especially since one of my characters just took a plunge into a sewer channel...), as should a Weapon Cord (1 sp), a Whetstone (2 cp), and a Blue Book (5 gp). I've made a set of sling stones out of cold iron (cheap) with either alchemical silver or adamantine weapon blanches, and typically have at least a dagger of one or both.
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Who is in the game so far: Herman (bard}; Wuliem (alchemist); and Jani (witch) are all reported in so far. Is Storn coming? What about a front line fighter type? Or someone who can disable devices/open locks?
Herman will also go a share in on ingredients for Wuliem's alchemy attempts especially for things like silver blanch, alchemists fire, antitoxin etc. Just let me know how much my share is.
Here is the list of gear I am adding (so far):
MW backpack 50gp
Winter Blanket 0.5gp
Compass 10gp
Scroll box 5 gp
Silk rope 10gp
2 waterproof bags 1 gp
Weapon cord 0.1 gp
Cold weather outfit 8 gp
Whetstone 0.02 gp
5 trail rations 2.5 gp
silver dagger 22 gp
cold iron dagger 4 gp
5 crossbow bolts 0.5 gp
Total spent = 113.62 gp spent 527.18 gp remaining.
Encumberance is Medium with this stuff, but it was before...Will update alias.
I understood that Storn was coming, so there is the cleric and something of a fighter-type. I'll send emails today when I get a chance to fill out and scan the last Chronicle sheets (babysitting my toddler right now).
Jules has played it a number of times before, so she won't be coming (so, no rogue for now). Somewhat sadly, very few people take traditional rogue ('thief') characters, from what I've seen, and I'm not sure how much PFS uses traditional traps (i.e. AD&D 1e dungeon-type). Boom Boom Tharnak (our other alchemist) isn't coming either, from what I've heard/not heard.
Pizzmic, a level 1 gnome enchanter/communicator is coming from a different group I led.
That would leave one position (or two, as a 7-person group), which we could fill with a front line fighter, perhaps from the boards.
It isn't too heavy of a fighting scenario, by most people's impressions.
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Oh, and for any new people this is Storn who is a boisterous, obsessively violent cleric of Gorum with a heart of gold. He's large, smelly, and hairy.
And I am Dave, I'm a 33 year old work works in project management. I live in northern Canada and work at a University. No kids yet, but I have an adorable wife who plays rpgs frequently.
Storn is a Kellid war-cleric who worships Gorum. He is noisy, boisterous and enjoy violence over pretty much any other form of activity.
Starting gold: 976 gold, 3 silver, 5 copper
Selling:
Splint Mail +50
Backpack +1
Buying:
Banded Mail -250
MW Backpack -50
Cold weather outfit -8
Winter blanket -5 silver
Remaining: 693 gold, 8 silver, 5 copper
Storn is now level 2 as well.
It is interesting about the Cold Resistance. You would think so, but sometimes cold weather damage can do 1d6 (so, potentially a little over). There isn't a formal mechanism, either, for taking Cold Resistance into account for Fort Saves. Perhaps, though, one could add a +5 bonus to the necessary Fort Saves, which would be equal to (and would stack with) that provided by cold weather gear.
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Sold: light crossbow. 17.5g
Purchased: Masterwork darkwood light crossbow 375g
Cold weather outfit 8g
Can't carry a tent, too heavy.
The winter blanket as described in the rules provides no mechanical benefit for the extra 2 lbs of weight.
Still have enough to purchase 2-3 scrolls. What would you recommend?
Well, it's sort of a house rule, making a tiefling highly resistant to cold weather, but not invulnerable.
It's actually kind of odd how little some equipment and bonuses actually help you, though: furs give a "+2 bonus on Fortitude saves to resist cold weather. This does not stack with any bonuses gained from the Survival skill. ...", and a cold weather outfit only gives a +5, which certainly is not enough to be immune from even the first level of cold damage.
Generally, the +2 or -2 bonus and penalties that are common in the game are a little too trivial.
Anyway, it could be re-done, IMO.
Edit: Yeah, the winter blankets and bedrolls also don't provide a mechanical benefit, so that would have to be a GM decision, too. Sleeping on the cold, hard ground should have some cost, and having those items and tents should give some benefit for any Survival rolls dealing with making up a camp.
I'd always have some weapon, at least so you can flank and threaten AoO. Missile weapons are hard for me to justify for non-ranged specialists, though, with the soft cover and firing into melee penalties if you are not at the front.
Some groups have figured out other ways to carry things. ;-) You will also have the captives, who might be trusted with some types of things.
A new player contacted me and asked if we had room, so it might be a couple of days while he gets going (and I still haven't heard back from the other guy, but he wasn't checking the site every day).
He'll be playing a human paladin of Erastil, and says he knows how to avoid playing a "Lawful Jackass". (I'm not sure I know how not to play a Lawful Jackass, but there you go.)
You need a witchs' coven of some sort where you meet in a scenario every so often and have your familiars trade spells.
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Hi, I'm the new Player Matt was talking about earlier, The Paladin of Erastil. I'm nearly done with adding all the details to my characters profile.
My name is Ray and I live in Puerto Rico. I'm married with no kids yet, much to my parents' chagrin.
I'm looking forward to playing with you all and being corrected mercilessly as I make Noob error after Noob error. :)
Yeah, I was kind of waiting, although it has been since Thursday. We could always start sometime tomorrow when Hagan has his power back on, so giving Pizzmic another part of a day. He could probably jump in a bit late, too, and be retconned; I imagine people must arrive a bit late at physical tables, too.
I should have had everyone just introduce their characters on the gameplay thread, ask any questions, and see who has what extra carrying capacity, etc. So, just go ahead and start doing that anytime you feel like it. No reason we can't hang out in old Ambrus' office for a day.
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To Jani,
Hagan grew up pretty isolated and has a Wisdom score of 8. I'll probably drift between creeped out and hero worship depending on what's funnier.
It's worth noting though that he's big on the idea of community, being a worshipper of Erastil.
I also massively dislike the "Lawful Jackass" stereotype of Paladins; especially, since I sometimes find it's often just a step away from harassing players. I don't allow it at my table at home, so I won't perpetuate that here online.
It's also think it's a bit lazy creatively. Lots of folks swear it's the only way to play a stalwart Lawful Good character. I disagree. To that I say always try to remember WWNFD.
What would Ned Flanders do?
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I'll be honest, I'm kind of tempted to jump aboard with the new guy coming in as the next Doctor. But it's a bit of a moot point anyway, since I don't watch much Television anymore. I keep telling myself to drop the cable and just use Netflix exclusively, but the old fogie in me can't quite get there.
A useful item from the Inner Sea World Guide, p. 293.
Pathfinder Chronicle: Numerous volumes and editions of the Pathfinder Chronicles exist. When used as a reference (an action that typically takes 1d4 full rounds of searching the text), a Pathfinder Chronicle grants a +2 circumstance bonus on a specific Knowledge check. Each Pathfinder Chronicle grants this bonus to a different type of Knowledge, but regardless of which type that particular chronicle is focused on, the overall cost of the book remains the same.
50 gp each, 1 lb.
A character of mine has one for each of her knowledge skills. Useful, at least, for the start of the adventure checks, even if you don't want to lug them around.
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Matt, I have done some crafting and edited my sheet accordingly.
If you need a breakdown, then let me know and I will figure it out and post it for you.
Everything, except the Burst Jars, was taking a 10 on.
I also finished leveling up. Nice level for me!
I may do some simple purchasing too. I did buy 2 potions of CLW.
Let me know if I am forgetting anything...
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I like that actually. I have a witch in a Serpent's Skull campaign who fails Relgion checks habitually. Granted it doesn't help that Knowledge Relgion isn't a class skill for witches -- an oversight, if you ask me. This could make the difference.
Can't pick up one for Hagan now, but I might do so in the future. Even if it didn't come into play often I like the RP potential of a clueless Paladin frantically leafing through one and losing his cool. "This book has no answers!"