The Flaxseed Pathfinder Lodge: Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Game Master Redelia

If you could go ahead and fill in for me from here on out, I would be thankful.

There is also room for 'creative solutions' if the players come up with it.

If you could go ahead and fill in for me from here on out, I would be thankful.

Okay, but if Eddv takes over, it’s their GM credit. There’ll be other chances to get that first star though. I think a lot of folks would appreciate a 1-5 if you wanted to run one, Closet.

Eddv, thank you for helping out here.

Hugs,
Hmm

I'm DMing In Your Closet wrote:

If you could go ahead and fill in for me from here on out, I would be thankful.

Okay, but if Eddv takes over, it’s their GM credit.

Funny, that wasn't an issue when I had to let go of my "Blood Under Absalom" game - was it because I was further in?

Does this mean no DM Chronicle for me, either?

I can't speak for GM Hmm, but generally speaking, I believe GM credit refers to the chronicle as well.

Closet —

What happened at your table of Blood Under Absalom was very special circumstances. Shifty decided to treat you as one of the team of Backup GMs for that special, and thus extended you the GM credit. In normal circumstances, when a GM steps down from a game — no matter when or why they step down — the GM credit goes to the GM who helps the table finish.

So no GM credit, and no GM chronicle for this one. But there’ll be other games. I’m sure if you started a 1-5 you’d get lots of takers. We all want to see you get that first shiny star.

Hmm

That explains it; that's all I needed to know.

Beacon Below is not an easy scenario. In all honesty, I'm not sure there are a lot of easy 7-11s. I strongly endorse Hmm's suggestion to run a few more low tier (evergreen or 1-5s) before trying the higher level ones.

The first time I ran a 1-5 in high tier I made plenty of mistakes in that too.

Who am I kidding, I'm one table off my 4th star, and ask any of my players, I make heaps of mistakes. There are a lot of rules, and especially higher level scenarios in later years often have specific subsystems in place that complicate things even further.

I think I've run the Confirmation close on a dozen times now, and I still sometimes find new rules to confuse me - especially with characters built using some of the new classes that have appeared in later years.

I mess up. Constantly. My players are gracious enough to roll with it.

Beacon Below is not an easy scenario. In all honesty, I'm not sure there are a lot of easy 7-11s. I strongly endorse Hmm's suggestion to run a few more low tier (evergreen or 1-5s) before trying the higher level ones.

The first time I ran a 1-5 in high tier I made plenty of mistakes in that too.

It's not that. At all.

At most, it's some bad writing - but the real problem is my long-crumbling mental health. Bad enough as everything was before, these past 1d4+2 years have had me seeing stupidity, abuse, and generally Lawful Evil behavior from directions I'd never prior have expected to have to face it from. Not necessary. Not welcome.

Hopefully not from within this community. But if it was, then drop the mods or Hmm a note. We are all here to help.

Flaxseed Lodge? No, no, it's not like that. Were that it was only so routine in nature and limited in scope...the real trouble is that it's IN MY HEAD AT ALL TIMES, so it hardly matters where I go or what I try to do.

And Now For Something Completely Different:

Say I've got 2 characters - a level 4-soon-to-be-5 Bard and a level 8 Illusionist whose deific affiliations I'd like to swish around some. I'm thinking the former will convert to Kofusachi, and the latter will convert to Count Ranalc.

This shouldn't be a big deal for the Bard, but the Illusionist is presently pledged to Desna, and has taken the Optimist Desna-worshiper trait (with an Additional Traits feat, for whatever it's worth). What becomes of that trait? Can he trade it for a Count Ranalc-worshiper trait, or maybe even another sort of trait entirely?

As a general guideline, if a character receives any mechanical benefit connected to a deity, that character must worship the appropriate deity

That means you can not convert your illusionist as long as you have the trait. You first need to retrain additional traits, which would force you to drop two traits. You can then select a new feat (which could be additional traits). After that you would have no mechanical benefits from venerating Desna and can switch to Count Ranalc.

A SPECIAL RECRUITMENT

Hey all —

Granta is looking to step down from the Overseer seat once the second session of Solstice B concludes. As a result, I am looking for another person who would want to be Overseer, and who might want to shadow Granta now.

The Overseer needs to be organized, responsive, and in possession of good communication skills. They have to be willing to post across multiple threads and three (possibly four) different forums.

Organizational skills are by far the most important. It's also vital that you be comfortable saying no to people. Everybody and their mother and their grandmother is going to be asking for special treatment. Just say no. Your sanity will thank you for it.

Edit: Potentially four forums. The French lodge was told that they could have a table in future specials as long as their GM was fluent enough in English to communicate with the overseer and one of the backups was able to post on their site. The latter requirement also applies to RPGgeek and Myth-Weavers.

Do you see yourself as a potential overseer for Assault on Absalom or Solstice C?

Send me a Private Message, telling me what you have to offer.

I hope to hear from many of you!

Thanks,
Hmm

Hmm, what is the general timeline for the next multi-table special, ie when in the year will it be held? I might be up, but it depends on travel schedules, work, etc. and a lot of that is about timing.

OMB, I believe the next special's timing can be found in the list of upcoming events.

Specials usually run over six weeks (though we scheduled Race for the Runecarved Key in seven because it was loooooong.) PBP Gameday VII is from August 13, 2018-November 5th, 2018. Assault on Absalom will likely run in the first half, but we also have to look on when we want to run Solstice C. Do we run it in the second half, or do we run it in January? A lot of that depends on the Overseer.

My scheduling for PBP Gameday VII had the following goal: AFTER GenCon but ending well before the holiday season kicks into gear. That way, any games that needed an extension won’t be GMing right into Thanksgiving and the Holiday season.

I am also looking at recruiting two overseers who can work together along with me on GM recruitment. The other overseer would be for the new SFS special.

Hmm

I'm not going to be available for session 1 of the next gameday unfortunately - got a small trip planned for mid September to mid October. Actually that might rule me out for both sessions, dang. Poor timing.

Guide to Organised Play 9.1 page 26 wrote:

As a general guideline, if a character receives any mechanical benefit connected to a deity, that character must worship the appropriate deity

That means you can not convert your illusionist as long as you have the trait. You first need to retrain additional traits, which would force you to drop two traits. You can then select a new feat (which could be additional traits). After that you would have no mechanical benefits from venerating Desna and can switch to Count Ranalc.

I don't believe this is true. You could change deity but you would no longer gain any benefit from the trait as you no longer qualify for it.

I'm preparing to run a scenario (haven't decided which one yet!) for some friends of mine that are both

A) new to Pathfinder
B) new to PbP

They're all smart people that can figure it out, but I want to give them the best introduction that I can given that I probably won't be there to help them create their characters... Although maybe I *could* have them all over for a night to do just that.

Anyway, assuming I don't, do any of y'all have any tips on how best to introduce them? Dump them into the "getting started" part of the PRD and send them the PbP Character template and the PFS guild guide? Let them look over my core Rulebook .PDF? Anything else?

I'm still probably a month out from being ready to start running these scenarios. However, I'm starting to think forward to what I'm going to run and I would like some more advice (especially since some of these might involve making a purchase).

On the one hand, The Confirmation is a pretty nice Chronicle Sheet for 0xp characters the very first time they play it: free Wayfinder!, some pretty nice scrolls and wands, and a nifty boon. On the other hand, having run it once and played it well over a dozen times, it feels pretty old hat to me. On the other, other hand, it does have a nice mix of exploration, combat, and even a little dialogue.

Then there are modules. I like the idea of these, as they give the new players something to really sink their teeth into. But they're also a pretty long commitment, and if one of the players figures out it's not for them, it's a long time to be in it. I like Crypt of the Everflame for this because it's a pretty nice old-school dungeon crawl.

So my other thought is to do a regular PFS scenario, and here I'm open to suggestions. The two that have been coming to mind are Delirium's Tangle and the Night March of Kalkamedes. These are both great scenarios (though Night March would be rough as a very-first-time-ever scenario, I think), with the only drawback being that they don't have much chance for social-oriented characters to shine.

Anyone care to share their thoughts?

I'm a big fan of The Wounded Wisp. Another great replayable with a nice chronicle sheet, and has more for social characters to do. It works pretty well in PbP, in my experience.

For new players to Pathfinder and PFS, I would suggest in no particular order:

- Mists of Mwangi
- Prince of Augustana
- Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible
- Overflow Archives

All have good stories, a nice mix of roleplay and combat and are pretty easy to prep and run.

Specials usually run over six weeks (though we scheduled Race for the Runecarved Key in seven because it was loooooong.) PBP Gameday VII is from August 13, 2018-November 5th, 2018. Assault on Absalom will likely run in the first half, but we also have to look on when we want to run Solstice C. Do we run it in the second half, or do we run it in January? A lot of that depends on the Overseer.

You could use Jan.

I'm no longer going to run Siege of the Diamond City as I was originally going to do in Jan, so the timeframe is free.

That one is awesome.

I'm a big fan of The Wounded Wisp. Another great replayable with a nice chronicle sheet, and has more for social characters to do. It works pretty well in PbP, in my experience.

I was just thinking last night about how the chronicle sheet is *not* that nice. More importantly I'm pretty burnt out on that one. My current playthrough will probably be my last ever.

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **

For new players to Pathfinder and PFS, I would suggest in no particular order:

- Mists of Mwangi
- Prince of Augustana
- Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible
- Overflow Archives

All have good stories, a nice mix of roleplay and combat and are pretty easy to prep and run.

Good points on both of the scenarios I mentioned. I'll look into the ones you listed; thanks!

I have run Night March as a 1st PFS scenario, albeit for experienced roleplayers.

It worked well, but I think the GM needs to be open to creative solutions to some of the problems thrown up by the scenario, and the final encounter was challenging.

I was just thinking last night about how the chronicle sheet is *not* that nice.

Well, to each there own, I guess.

Just checking in to make sure I'm not overlooking anything from a rules or PFS perspective... as of level 3 (w/Slashing Grace), this character should be able to either
* do TWF with his Kukri and Pistol (1/combat unless he stops to reload)
* use slashing grace to get dex to damage with the Kukri
but not both. And if I understand Slashing Grace correctly, he will not be able to get panache points for using the Kukri whenever he TWFs with the Pistol. Right?

However, he can't use the Kukri for TWF *until* level 3, because Picaroons only get TWF when one of the weapons is a light or one-handed piercing weapon. Or does the Kukri never work with TWF because Picaroon's TWF and Slashing Grace don't get along?

Uriah, rules questions are best asked in the rules questions subforum. Not because you are not welcome here, but because it is far more likely that questions will be answered there.

Thanks!

Uriah, rules questions are best asked in the rules questions subforum. Not because you are not welcome here, but because it is far more likely that questions will be answered there.

Thanks!

Thanks Magabeus. I asked here because of the PFS angle. Although I would allow it at my table, the RAW is pretty explicit that neither Fencing Grace nor Slashing Grace works with TWF. I imagine the designers did not consider this little-used archetype, but even if they did, RAI for this case is anyone's guess.

TL;DR I talked myself out of trying to get dex to damage via these means. It wouldn't seem cheesy to me to get it, given all the other difficulties that this build entails, but so be it.

I need a map for pbp of Tar kuata. My character are at the last trial.

Help?

I just wrapped up my game, and there's a link to my maps in my header.

TO ALL DMS AND PCS OF ALL GAMES I AM CURRENTLY IN:

For my own reasons, I'm going to be slower, and perhaps less frequent, in my posting for the foreseeable future. I will still keep up, and shouldn't need puppeteering; just please expect me to take more time. In some cases, the difference may not even be noticeable on anybody else's end. You may PM me if I'm urgently needed at a given moment.

I just wrapped up my game, and there's a link to my maps in my header.

thanks.

Do y'all ever play PFS Core games? Or are most of the games here regular PFS? I was thinking about making a Core character, but I worry there may be no games to play. Also, how do you tell if a game that is being offered is core or not? If they don't say, assume it is NOT core?

@Archmage: Plenty of CORE games are offered, but with Outpost currently running, there aren't a lot of 'outside' games being run.

In about a month, though, I would expect to see more available :-)

Generally, if a game is not explicitly advertised as being CORE, it is safe to assume that it is *not* CORE.

I would guess (and this is very much a guess) that about 10-15% of the offerings are for core. I have managed to get my core characters up to 5th, 4th, and, soon, 2nd level purely by playing games advertised on this board. Not bad.

Outside of France, where CORE appears to the most popular format, it seems that the largest audience for CORE games is on these boards.

Outside of France, where CORE appears to the most popular format, it seems that the largest audience for CORE games is on these boards.

Yup! I'm one of those Core fans. It makes sense because it's hard to get locals aboard the Core train (many refuse to ever play it, and I'm sure it's no different here), so we find each other online to get our fix. ;)

That's good to know. I have a core monk I'd really like to grow with, as the personality she has is really fun for me to play. I had been wondering if she would languish and was thinking of asking the same question. :)

I have this character and a 2L fighter that are both Core and looking for work.

Opps...guess I should have posted this in roleplay. sorry.

About half the games I have run here have been core. I'm a big fan of it. I think if they had called it "hard mode" there would have been a bigger uptake.

One way to find out. :)

I never play core, mostly because I always get excited to try new character concepts from recent releases and haven't come close to running out of scenarios to play without foreknowledge. I have considered making a core character to play early seasons with, but at this point with SFS and impeding PF2, I suspect that isn't going to happen.

I greatly appreciate the opportunity to play Core here. I didn't join PFS until well into it's run, so I missed out on all that early play. When I started I could literally build anything imaginable with the various combinations of feats/classes/traits/races so I never really spent much time with just the base game. Now, I'm finding it entertaining to see how those traditional options really are quite fun.

My first game as a GM here I plan to run as Core to simplify some of the extra stress that Standard can put on a GM, what with all the insane amounts of obscure options and builds available. And yeah, there can be some hardCore difficulties due to the limits, but honestly that only adds fun to the game.

Glad to hear all the Core love, because we made a point of trying to support Core strongly when we planned OutPost.

Although Core will never be my preferred style of gaming, I’ve been really enjoying playing in Core games on here with Damiar, my rather chaotic elven bard.

I’m proud that our region supports all sorts of interesting Online Play.

Hmm

Yay for online! Yay for PbP! Yay for all of you wonderful people who are my gaming community!

I do find core mode a tad bit challenging in the later scenarios, especially when the party is up against a newer class.