GM Ladile's TL;DR: A Pathfinder Society Campaign

Game Master Lady Ladile

Current Scenario: #8-07 From the Tome of Righteous Repose

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Season of Ghosts

*takes notes*

And I said this elsewhere but congrats and I hope everything goes as smoothly as possible! If it's not too nosy, boy or girl? :)

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

I’m not home yet to look anything up but I thought I’d mention a few options for an arcane caster that if been rolling around and maybe someone can tell me which ones (if any) are legal?

A Dwarven wildblooded sorcerer with the empyreal bloodline, and his first level in monk[sohei]...

An Elven Wizard with the wood elemental school specialty...

A kitsune ninetail heir sorcerer (fey bloodline)...

I’m sure I’ll have at least 5 more ideas before I settle on anything, but those are the ones I’m thinking about right now.


I'm 99% certain all of those things would be legal.

Here is some entirely unsolicited advice:
If you decide to be enchantment focused (as I am assuming you would with the kitsune), I'd have a conversation with GM Ladile about a couple of rule points to see where they fall. I have an enchantment focused kitsune and having an idea on what to expect from the GM has helped me play the character effectively.

Specifically:
Does the act of casting have an identifiable manifestation? This would affect any attempts at casting discreetly. I think there may be a faq on this, but last I heard it was a "talk to your gm" thing.

What are the boundaries of the charm X spells? I've seen some GMs run it like dominate, I've seen some GMs run it like it is a cantrip in effectiveness.


Male Probably human Computer Scientist 1/ Character Synthesizer 20/ Crazy 99

Hmmm. Skill monkey or Tank or both? I think I'm leaning towards both, but I'll have to see what my options are.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Thanks, Gummy. I usually assume that spells have a fairly obvious manifestation unless it or the GM says otherwise, but I’l definitely check with the GM about any specific spell questions that relate to whatever caster i settle on before we get going.

@Adam- I bet a sword & board slayer could be pretty effective as a skill monkey and tank...


Season of Ghosts

Re: Charm spells - Somewhere in between, which is what I think the intent of those spells is supposed to be. Your target(s) will be more easily persuaded or convinced to give you a hand with stuff or share information but it's not Dominate; trying to convince a charmed person to kill or attack a comrade (something they'd never do under normal circumstances) would force the opposed charisma check for example. But persuading them that their friend has a bad idea and they should totally punch his lights out for his own good? I'd allow something like that, talking them into trying a non-lethal takedown. Good, convincing RP will help your case :)


3 people marked this as a favorite.

It is a girl, Ladile. Both mom and baby are doing swimmingly. I'm getting good at my one handed text typing. She's much more serene than my boy when he was born (or any moment since). :)

There are some very interesting slayer builds with and without archetypes. It's a very good mix of combat and skills. So too can be ranger.


Season of Ghosts

Huzzah and I'm glad everyone is well :)


Congratulations! :D


Congratulations!!!


Male Probably human Computer Scientist 1/ Character Synthesizer 20/ Crazy 99

Congrats! If she's anything like my little sister, she'll have her brother wrapped around her finger in no time. :)

I was thinking Slayer might do. I've never played one, so I'll be looking into it. Dalen's a ranger, but she's more combat and scouting focused than anything else, and I was thinking of making a character that could handle being the face as well. Dalen just doesn't have the charisma for it.

Going to need to look into some ways to boost diplomacy, but I think all of the other face skills are class skills.

Liberty's Edge

Unchained Rogue/Mouser 4/2 | HP 41/41 | AC 24, T 17, FF 24 Uncanny Dodge| Fort +3, Ref +13 +2 vs Traps, Evasion, Will +1 (+2 vs Fear) | Init +5 | Perc +15 (+2 vs Traps/Surprise)Trapspotter | Luck: 3/3 | Panache: 4/4 | Charmed Life: 3/3 |Effects:

Slayer is a very good class. Quite a good rogue/ranger combo. I have one that's built similar to a 2h fighter but with nice skills to help out.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

If I made the kitsune he’d definitely be a face too (or, really, any sorcerer besides an empyreal dwarf). Are traits a thing in society play?


Season of Ghosts

Traits are very much a thing, yes! Not all of them are legal and not all racial traits are legal but there should be plenty to work with. Each of the Society factions also have some traits associated with them :)

One thing that *isn't* a thing in Society play is item crafting though - I just mention it because it's sometimes a popular option in home games.

Liberty's Edge

Denair |Long Arm| HP 50/59 | Spells -/3/0/0 | AC 17 T 11 FF 16 | CMD 18 | Saves 7/3/5 | Init 2 | Perception 0 (Denair 16) | 7 Female Human Unchained Summoner (Fey Caller) | GM Folio Reroll+2 |

And Leadership is a big no-no in PFS.


My druid will be decent at diplomacy! I've got him stated up, I'll just post as him so y'all can reference him if you want.

Sovereign Court

Male Samsaran Halcyon Druid 1| HP: 12/12 | AC: 17 T: 11 FF: 16 CMD: 11 | F+3 R+1 W+6 +2 vs death, negative energy, negative levels, stabilize | Init +3 | Perception +8, Low-Light |
Tracked Resources:
Spells 1st 2/2; Arcane Bond 1/1

My Halcyon Druid! No items yet, but skills are accurate. As part of his arcane bond, I'll be getting a half price circlet of persuasion too.*

*As far as I understand it, arcane bonds are like the only thing in PFS that you can "craft" in the way that you can make it at half price? Am I even close to the mark on this one?


That’s true, Gummy. You are limited by the original price and Fame limits.

By necessity, my Medium will have maximum Diplomacy. It’s used for the status condition removal. He also gets a boost in Diplomacy against a handful of creature types.

Sovereign Court

Male Samsaran Halcyon Druid 1| HP: 12/12 | AC: 17 T: 11 FF: 16 CMD: 11 | F+3 R+1 W+6 +2 vs death, negative energy, negative levels, stabilize | Init +3 | Perception +8, Low-Light |
Tracked Resources:
Spells 1st 2/2; Arcane Bond 1/1

Diplomacy for status removal? Now this I've got to see! TO THE INTERNETS!

EDIT: I've seen it and I think it is VERY cool! What a fascinating ability. I'm grabbing restore as part of my Mystic Past Life, and lesser restore is already on my spell list. This might be the first time I've been in a party that can actually replace a cleric's status removal abilities! SO. STOKED.

REDIT: So we are tentatively looking at...
Paladin
Druid
Arcane caster of some variety
Medium
Melee/Skill junky (probably a slayer)

Who am I missing here?


Season of Ghosts

Haladir and Escharid! I think they both have a few different characters they can choose from.

Sovereign Court

Male Samsaran Halcyon Druid 1| HP: 12/12 | AC: 17 T: 11 FF: 16 CMD: 11 | F+3 R+1 W+6 +2 vs death, negative energy, negative levels, stabilize | Init +3 | Perception +8, Low-Light |
Tracked Resources:
Spells 1st 2/2; Arcane Bond 1/1

Cool! Will they be dotting into this thread or will we be moving beyond this thread at some point?


GummyBear wrote:
I've seen it and I think it is VERY cool! What a fascinating ability.

The opportunity to roleplay that ability is a large part of why I'm going Rivethun instead of Spirit Dancer. That and I think the Rivethun philosophy is a cool addition to the lore. It just fits the boon that I'll be using so well.


Season of Ghosts

They've both checked in here but haven't dotted Gameplay; I'll give them a bit more and then nudge them if need be.

And this will be the official campaign for the Fresh Start group. The other group will stay in the other campaign that they're currently using :)


Season of Ghosts

I will note that while you'll still have to wait for me to wrap up some of my other GM commitments (at the very least my Solstice Scar B table but possibly my Core game of Portent's Peril as well) if Adam is going to make a new character then we'll probably able to get started earlier than expected. No pressure, but it *is* looking like a possibility with the way things are shaping up :)


Male Probably human Computer Scientist 1/ Character Synthesizer 20/ Crazy 99

No ifs there. I think Dalen's probably going to retire for a little while after this adventure the way things are shaping up in the Faithless and Forgotten trilogy.

Now, I'm debating on whether to go with Slayer or go some where else given how at least two of us are going to have face skills anyway. Part of me really wants to play a barbarian, which should be fun with a paladin in the group.


Blake's Tiger wrote:

It is a girl, Ladile. Both mom and baby are doing swimmingly. I'm getting good at my one handed text typing. She's much more serene than my boy when he was born (or any moment since). :)

There are some very interesting slayer builds with and without archetypes. It's a very good mix of combat and skills. So too can be ranger.

Congratulations man!

I would agree Slayer is a powerful class. I have one 4th level Slayer that may end up in the First Table instead if the other PFS game my sorcerer goes long.


Congratulations too!

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Alright, I’ll probably stay away from Cha based casters then, given that we seem to have face stuff covered. I still like the dwarf idea but is anyone covering knowledges at all? If not I may look more at Int based casters.

Is there really still not an archetype for wizards (or arcanists) that gets bardic knowledge?

Liberty's Edge

Female Elf Rogue/Alchemist/Skald/Bloodrager/ Occultist (2/1/1/1/1) Init +4 HP 42 AC 19 T 14 FF 15 Fort+3 Ref +8 Will +3 Per +6 Spd 30 (40)

This might be my (Lil"Eschie) character, a L1 rogue, unless we need some particular class (arcane, divine or martial)

Sovereign Court

Male Samsaran Halcyon Druid 1| HP: 12/12 | AC: 17 T: 11 FF: 16 CMD: 11 | F+3 R+1 W+6 +2 vs death, negative energy, negative levels, stabilize | Init +3 | Perception +8, Low-Light |
Tracked Resources:
Spells 1st 2/2; Arcane Bond 1/1

Adam, barbarians have a special place in my heart and think they can always be a good addition to a party. Though a slayer might give you more options beyond SMASH SMASH SMASH. Personal preference I suppose.

Nate, while I don't think we have a character that is going all in on knowledge, I will have local, planes, and nature. We probably have a smattering of other knowledge skills from other characters, so we may not need a dedicated knowledge character if you don't want to go that route. To the extent of my knowledge, bardic knowledge is exclusively a bard thing :/ EDIT: Skald gets it too, as do the following prestige classes: Loremaster, Pathfinder Chronicler, Pathfinder Delver. If you go sorcerer, we should talk spells to prevent redundancy! My archetype gives me wizard spells at level 4 and every two levels after that.

Hepsubia, at this point I don't think we need a particular class. We have nobody for dealing with traps, so your rogue seems to be a good fit. It looks like there are two others who will be in the thick of it, so you'll even have flank buddies!

Current Layout (this helps me think, not trying to seal anyone in here):
Paladin
Druid
Arcane caster of some variety
Medium
Melee/Skill junky (probably a slayer, maybe a barbarian)
Rogue


My character will have the capacity to have any knowledge skill fully trained and in class on the fly, but for identifying monsters, he won’t be spending rounds on that.

Silver Crusade

Male Halfling Paladin (Chosen One) 1 | HP 14/14 | AC 17 T 12 FF 16 | CMD 14 | F +3 R +1 W +1; +2 bonus vs. Fear | Spd 20' | Perc +0; SM +3; Aura of Good | Init +1 | Adaptable Luck 3/3 | Wand CLW 48/50 | Conditions:

I agree with Gummy Bear, knowledge is useful, but you shouldn't have to make a specific character to be the knowledge guy if you have something else you'd enjoy playing more. Although, for long living races, I'm a sucker for the Breadth of Experience feat. It's a little like having Bardic Knowledge for any class. :)

Oh, and Tupp here will be my (ShieldBug) paladin. What he lacks in skills, he makes up for with enthusiastic helpfulness. He will have a little Know. Religion, but other than that, I'm just hoping to hit that DC 10 on all other skills to give everyone else a +4 to their checks. I just have to decide whether to stick with Shizuru as his deity, or find an equally thematic NG deity because I'm not a fan of the LG improved familiar option.


Season of Ghosts

Glad to see everyone is really getting into the planning here! Another nice thing about Society play is that you don't have to share a common background with anyone unless you want to; the whole 'team of randos' makes a lot more sense in this context :)


To better explain my last comment. Definitely don’t feel like all the “less useful” knowledges—engineering, history, nobility—need to be covered. If there’s a puzzle that needs a knowledge or craft or profession, I can whip it out.

Liberty's Edge

Female Elf Rogue/Alchemist/Skald/Bloodrager/ Occultist (2/1/1/1/1) Init +4 HP 42 AC 19 T 14 FF 15 Fort+3 Ref +8 Will +3 Per +6 Spd 30 (40)

I'm not fixed on my Feat, so i could take Breadth of experience


I will probably be taking severl oddball feats.

On setting or theme: Mwangi and Garund in general are good as well as anything extraplanar/involving rifts. Though I'll be happy with most anything.

Sovereign Court

Male Samsaran Halcyon Druid 1| HP: 12/12 | AC: 17 T: 11 FF: 16 CMD: 11 | F+3 R+1 W+6 +2 vs death, negative energy, negative levels, stabilize | Init +3 | Perception +8, Low-Light |
Tracked Resources:
Spells 1st 2/2; Arcane Bond 1/1

I honestly am not to sure what to take for this character. I've got some really basic feats like toughness, improved initiative, and quicken spell, but don't know what else to do beyond that.


I always have a hard time picking my feats for druids.

However, if you would like to do something a little different, this requires 2 feats from the Monster Hunter's Handbook:

1st: Creature Focus, which gives you a limited Favored Enemy (and counts as having it for feat qualification) vs. one creature type (and subtype if applicable) from the ranger list except Humanoid and Monstrous Humanoid.

2nd: Focused X Expertise where X = the creature type you took for Creature Focus. The benefits differ by creature type. There's always a generic "always on" benefit and a slightly more powerful benefit for the specific creature type.

I like Vermin for the DR vs. swarms. Ooze gives acid resistance. Outsider lets you ignore alignment based DR. Dragon gives you evasion vs. dragon breath weapons (or the Inquisitor's stalwart class feature if you already have evasion). Etc etc.


Male Probably human Computer Scientist 1/ Character Synthesizer 20/ Crazy 99

Feeling waterlogged after going swimming today. I'm not up for doing a lot of detailed planning, but I am planning on playing a barbarian. I'm wondering if it'd be worthwhile to go for some non-lethal options, such as grappling, and if I need to grab an archetype for that, or just stick with the basic class.

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.
LG Male Shabti Paladin 2/Medium 4 | HP 55/55 | AC 22 (26) T 12 (16) FF 20 (24) | F +13 R +8 W +14 (+2 vs. fear) | CMD/B 20/+8 | Init +2 | Per +5 (dark vision 60 ft) SM +4 | Speed 20 ft | Seance Invocation 9/11 | Influence 1| Smite 1/1 | LOH 5/5 | WC 5/5 | Shirt Re-Roll 1/1 | Active Conditions: endure elements (hot), spell drinker (available), Champion

Primer on Mediums (and Spirit Dancing) for Ladile:

Mediums are possibly the most complicated class of all with many moving parts. Spirit dancing archetypes add even more moving parts.

The chassis is a d8, 4 skill point, 4th level psychic spell caster with a 3/4 BAB bonus, simple weapon proficiency, and light & medium armor proficiency.

Each morning they perform a seance to summon a spirit to inhabit their body. This provides a Seance Boon (buff), spirit abilities, and allows an action called spirit surge. They each differ based on the spirit summoned.

At 2nd level, others may join the seance and gain the Seance Boon as well.

Normal Mediums: The spirit stays for 24 hours, the boon lasts 24 hours, the abilities are accessible for 24 hours, and each of the 6 different spirits requires certain types of sites to summon.

Spirit Dancing (i.e. My Character): Requires no specific site, each of the 6 spirits are accessible at will for # of rounds per day, the boons and abilities are only active while accessing a spirit, and those who share the seance only get the boon when the spirit dancer is accessing the spirit and within 30 ft.

N.B.: There's some ambiguity in the Rivethun Spirit Channeler write up that could be interpreted legalistically as the PCs sharing the seance actually get their boons for 24 hours regardless, but I'm going to stick to the spirit (ha ha, see what I did there?) of the archetype and apply it as the Spirit Dancer archetype after which it was modeled.

Spirit Bonus: This is simple. It's a static bonus to something depending on the spirit.

Taboo: Normally used to gain more Spirit Surges by accepting a limitation (like a paladin code), but I don't get it with my archetype so don't worry about it.

Spirit Surge: At the cost of a limited resource (see Influence next), a medium can add +1d6 to a specific set of failed rolls defined by the spirit he's channeling. This is different than many (most?) abilities where you use it then find out the result. Here you use it as a non-action after the roll fails.

Influence: Each time the medium uses his Spirit Surge (or certain other conditions), he gains a point of influence. It starts at 1 when he does the seance and technically maxes at 5 but PFS caps it at 4 (because 5 = you turn into a possessed NPC). Influence 1 and 2 have no effects, Influence 3+ provides a penalty and bonus.

A Spirit Dancer can trade 1 point of influence to regain 4 spent rounds of spirit dancing.

Spirit Dancing in particular allows me to change a lot of things on the fly, but I can't do it very often, and when I'm not channeling a spirit, I'm just the base chassis. I also suffer a 1-minute debuff after I stop spirit dancing.

That is mediums in a nutshell.


AdamWarnock wrote:
Feeling waterlogged after going swimming today. I'm not up for doing a lot of detailed planning, but I am planning on playing a barbarian. I'm wondering if it'd be worthwhile to go for some non-lethal options, such as grappling, and if I need to grab an archetype for that, or just stick with the basic class.

A grappler specialist can be quite devastating against single opponents. With 7 of us, you can spend your actions keeping a thing locked down while we beat it up. Your rogue will also love you.

While I'm certain the basic Barbarian can do it just fine, consider the Bloodrager (I know, not a barbarian) archetype Bloody-Knuckled Rowdy (gains Improved Unarmed Strike for free and increases damage as Monk-3) or Blood Conduit (gains Improved Grapple free and can cast while grappling as a swift action without provoking) or the Barbarian archetype Brutal Pugalist.


Season of Ghosts

Thank you for the primer, Blake! It will also help me to see it in action, as that's usually how I learn a class best - either by playing it or watching it be played by someone else.

@Adam - I can also speak from the experience of currently GMing for one that a grapple specialist can be really effective at shutting down single opponents.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

So, I'm still rolling around a number of arcane caster ideas...

  • the dwarven sohei/empyreal sorcerer is still in the running (and if I'm correct in understanding that, especially with 7 of us, we don't need a lot of optimization, he might head into eldritch knight)
  • the elven wood wizard is still an option
  • another somewhat gish-ish idea I have is for an elven blade adept arcanist with a 1 level dip in inspired blade swashbuckler... he'd be taking the elven battle style feats to add Int to damage, and headed for eldritch knight
  • I was also looking at maybe doing a witch headed for the stargazer PrC (from paths of the righteous)?

    Any feedback would be appreciated!

    Also, I was trying to get a little familiarity with factions and I ran across 'eclectic training' and 'esoteric training' from Inner Sea Magic... are those PFS approved? If so, does your faction count as your guild or are there separate guilds you'd have to join on top of your faction?


  • Those rules from the Inner Sea Magic book are not approved.

    Sadly, the Stargazer PrC is also not approved, which is a bummer because it is awesome.

    EDIT: I've always been curious to see how the sohai/empyreal/eldritch knight plays out.

    EDIT2: An interesting archetype for familiar classes is the Rivethun Emissary from the Adventurer's Guide. It is optimal to enter as a Shaman, but it works for any spellcaster with a familiar.

    RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

    Yeah, I've wondered about the sohei/emyreal/EK combo for a while too. I'm guessing that it wouldn't be super effective as a gish... you have to reach 7th level with only +3 BAB before entering and your casting is 2 levels behind a sorcerer's. A magus at 7th level would have access to the same spell levels but with a +5 BAB. The thing that makes it interesting/appealing to me is the defensiveness- Wis to AC is super helpful for a sorcerer, not to mention the boosts to Fort and Ref, and the sohei proficiencies would let me grab a reach weapon (and combat reflexes as a bonus feat) to help convince things to keep their distance. If it was a party of 4 I probably wouldn't strongly consider it, but with 7 it might be alright. I'm not sure if/how it effected PFS but you used to be able to qualify for PrCs with SLAs and I think an aasimar that went sohei 1/empyreal 1/EK probably would have been a lot more viable.

    As for eclectic/esoteric training- that's actually kind of a relief, in a way; they seemed too good to be true.


    Male Probably human Computer Scientist 1/ Character Synthesizer 20/ Crazy 99

    Okay, definitely leaning towards the Bloody-Knuckled Rowdy. At first level, I've got Improved Unarmed Strike (Class bonus feat), Improved Grapple, and since I'm going human, I can also nab Dirty Fighting, +2 to combat maneuvers while flanking, which means that I'm going to be Hepsubia's best buddy in combat, especially when I get Improved Trip and Improved Dirty Trick.

    This is the first time I've made a martial character that's focused on combat maneuvers and piling on the debuffs as opposed to just straight up murdering the enemies.

    Sovereign Court

    Male Samsaran Halcyon Druid 1| HP: 12/12 | AC: 17 T: 11 FF: 16 CMD: 11 | F+3 R+1 W+6 +2 vs death, negative energy, negative levels, stabilize | Init +3 | Perception +8, Low-Light |
    Tracked Resources:
    Spells 1st 2/2; Arcane Bond 1/1

    Shuffled the build up a bit. If anyone is still thinking about skills, here are the ones that I'll be focusing on:

    Diplomacy +9 (1 rank, +4 wis[trait], +3 class, +1 ability)
    Local +8 (1 rank, +3 int, +3 class, +1 ability)
    Nature +7 (1 rank, +3 int, +3 class)
    Perception +8 (1 rank, +4 wis, +3 class)
    Planes +7 (1 rank, +3 int, +3 class)
    Religion +7 (1 rank, +3 int, +3 class)
    Spellcraft +7 (1 rank, +3 int, +3 class)
    Survival +8 (1 rank, +4 wis, +3 class)

    I'll be putting my ability score increases into int so at level 8 will have earned another knowledge (most likely one that nobody else has been able to pick up). A decent amount of my items will be going towards improving these skills too.

    Dark Archive

    LG Male Shabti Paladin 2/Medium 4 | HP 55/55 | AC 22 (26) T 12 (16) FF 20 (24) | F +13 R +8 W +14 (+2 vs. fear) | CMD/B 20/+8 | Init +2 | Per +5 (dark vision 60 ft) SM +4 | Speed 20 ft | Seance Invocation 9/11 | Influence 1| Smite 1/1 | LOH 5/5 | WC 5/5 | Shirt Re-Roll 1/1 | Active Conditions: endure elements (hot), spell drinker (available), Champion

    Consider Dungeoneering before Planes. We'll encounter things identified with Dungeoneering sooner than Planes, and I'll take Planes as an actual skill for feat pre-requisites.

    RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

    Ummm... sorry if this is a noobish question... I've heard that the party doesn't usually need to optimize for most PFS scenarios but if our two melee characters are focusing on aid other and grappling/debuffs, should I maybe look at building a blaster type mage or possibly an actual gish, like a magus or something?

    Sovereign Court

    Male Samsaran Halcyon Druid 1| HP: 12/12 | AC: 17 T: 11 FF: 16 CMD: 11 | F+3 R+1 W+6 +2 vs death, negative energy, negative levels, stabilize | Init +3 | Perception +8, Low-Light |
    Tracked Resources:
    Spells 1st 2/2; Arcane Bond 1/1

    I'm taking Planes for the character concept tbh. Halcyon Druids are the druid version of the Magaambyan way of magic and planar interaction is important to that. I added religion to the list as part of the reshuffling, I could trade that one out for dungeoneering or arcana or whatever else we think would be more useful.

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