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Hey Sior - you may have already looked into this, but I was just curious about our other two players who haven't checked in yet. Looks like Professor Westone's current game hasn't ended yet, not sure if he'll throw another character in or not. And Ikhersien never dotted in gameplay or discussion with whatever character he plans to play.
Maybe things will get rolling once everyone's back at work on Monday, which is when PbP's tend to pick up...
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Sior, here is the post I'm talking about. It was written by Michael Brock, not John Compton,
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qi2z&page=3?Season-5-Faction-missions#111
I would think a quality GM would provide information creatively without having to be told. I can't remember if we included this in the guide under GM creativity, and if we didn't, we will remedy that in the next version of the guide.If the success conditions are clearly defined, and we leave it to the GMs to creatively provide this info to players and allow players to complete their missions creatively, and it isn't happening, how are we ever supposed to allow GMs to be more creative in altering other things written in the scenario, such as difficulty of combats and the like?Do DMs know they're supposed to be providing that information creatively? If you look upthread there's the opinion that its now the players' responsibility to have that information when they sit down at the table.
The PFS staff expect the GMs to provide information to the players about the faction missions in the game. In other words, players are not supposed to be guessing at what needs to be done. It should be just as clear as it used to be under the old system, except now the GM decides how to paint the neon sign instead of handing out a piece of paper.
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Another of my games linked me to this. I think those are the right letters for each faction for Season 5.
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The only downside of that link is it does not say which scenarios have links to each faction.
The problem is players do not know about the faction letters which are the equivalent of the faction letters. The only difference is it falls to the players to keep up with these as opposed to the GM handing it out every session. I, as a GM, will happily point to the faction letter so you know what you are supposed to do and in which scenarios. If you have that letter, you should be able to find your opportunity to succeed. In most season 5's, it has been pretty plain. There are exceptions, and with those exceptions I will advertise it a little more.
Now, to get a post up in the gameplay thread now that I'm home.
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Yes, and? =P
Sometimes it really is as easy as all that. Just remember, this is a trilogy. And I'll be honest right now, regardless of your faction, this first part is sort of anti-climactic. But as these are meant to be played in order pretty much back-to-back (there is no penalty for not playing them back-to-back, as I know many here won't be able to), it sort of will more so culminate in the final one. Hurray for trilogies, eh?
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Just to be sure I'm not missing anything: I went to the Faction Talk forum, and searched it for "bitter bargain," which turned up results for Qadira, Sczarni and Osirion. Since my faction got no results, I can safely assume I don't have a particular thing I'm supposed to accomplish here, beyond the deal with Torch.
Correct?
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Okay, sorry, a little confused. Teric, I did not realize you were Sczarni. I had posted about looking for help and you did not post any aid anothers so I figured no other Sczarni were signed up.
Assuming the two of us have an IC chat on the side, I'm more than happy to let Teric do the talking and provide Aid Anothers. However, since you can hit 18 with a Take 10, I'll ask you not to roll the dice and just take 10 so that we can hit a 20 about 75% of the time.
Sound good?
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Yeah, things progressed faster than I could keep up with. We can just play it that Teric was being a bit discreet, and until Torch didn't react with hostility to Karela's name, he never really spoke of his allegiances.
I'm with you on taking 10. Teric can handle most Diplomacy, Gather info, and Intimidate rolls, but Knowledge rolls are all you.
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Darvik! Get in there with an Aid roll on our bluffing! All you need is to roll a 12 or higher and Teric will have made it all the way to a 17 on his Bluff check.
Then we cross the fingers and hope Sior rolls worse on Sense Motive than he did against Prothero's sleight of hand.
Or maybe Sior can take Defah's roll as the main one, and the others as Aid rolls...
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Maybe destroy the sand somehow. Or take away her ability to control it.
I hope that does it though. I'm all out of ideas. 'Tell the truth and be concerned for her well-being' is the last card I got. A couple aids could push it past 30 though.
I'm hoping the next two tasks are more action-y. I'm already thinking of other ways than talking us past the guards. Maybe pool for a potion of Invisibility? Obscuring mist and Prothero sneaks by? Darvic starts a fight at the gate?
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I was thinking that we could claim that the pathfinders sent us to track down Torch and that they were the ones who told us to look to her for information. But Defah isn't a good enough liar, and isn't really devious enough to come up with the plan in the first place.
As for destroying her sand, sufficient fire or lightning would turn it to glass presumably. I don't know that that's something we'd be able to threaten her with, short of threatening full-on arson.
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There is also one tack which no one has mentioned. There is but one thing preventing you from winning her over with diplomacy (and it does not include a roll).
Though, as pointed out, you have not attempted to threaten her yet.
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@GM
At the start of the encounter, I made a K Arcana check to look for spell effects. However, K Arcana would also be used to identify magical beasts (not saying the sand guy is a magical beast). Would you require the players to make a separate check if the creature were a magical beast, or will you just apply the K check to anything it could identify?
Also, does that apply to Perception checks? Sometimes people RP something specific e.g. "I listen for running water" but there is no bonus for doing so. As a result, the player is better off just making a general check if the GM is going to narrow the check results based on the RP.
Short version, let me know if I need to make a separate check for each category that a skill check could apply to.
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As you stated specifically that it was for spell effects, I went with that. It does help to know what the dice roll is for, even if you just say "I do a Knowledge Arcana to check for spells or qualities or whatever" rather than just "I roll knowledge arcana."
Also, not a magical beasty ;-)
Right, but I don't get any bonus for doing that with Perception. So I'm better of just saying I make a general Perception check rather than limit myself with fluff.
Thought with K Arcana, I would agree that a spell effect and a monster check should be two separate rolls.
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Yeah, I'm generally not so slow a learner, but even after years of Pathfinder I still have to make an effort to remember T10/T20. I also think that system gets abused a bit, with folks taking 10 when they really shouldn't be able to (not aimed at anyone here, obviously), but I should still remember to use it.
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It definitely gets abused when players can see the DC for something they wouldn't know. But in many cases a character would have an intuitive sense about the difficulty in climbing a wall, jumping a gap, a making friends with the average person.
Yep, that makes sense, though more so with your first two examples than the last one. People are weird and unpredictable! Though I guess the truly weird and unpredictable ones should be described in the scenario, AP, whatever that you're running.
