The Flaxseed Pathfinder Lodge: Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Game Master Redelia

Catching up on the forum back-log, been a busy few weeks. So forgive me for the late responses on a few of these topics. But I wanted to cover a few points...

On "Splitting" the Online Region:

Online was already split into three different regions.

PbP, VTT, and ACG (with ACG being an interesting Hybrid of VTT/PbP)

That's why three different Venture Captains were assigned, one to each region - so that has already happened.

PbP/VTT currently operate completely independently from each other.

ACG paddles around in both ponds. ;b

On Online "Boon Factories":

PbP, nor VTT, is anything near a "Boon Factory" - if you look at the total amount of boons given out from VTT and PbP each season, they are pretty much on par with each other - and FAR below the number of boons given out at large regional event like Gen-Con and Origins (with VTT/PbP combined).

[Much of that total is due to artificial limitations put on the online play formats and the caps put in place by campaign leadership- it could frankly be wildly higher.]

Comparing VTT to PbP event counts:

All four supported VTT events that we know will be supported this season, totalled together, will not have as many games offered as the PbP events will. (There are actually more artificial limitations placed on VTT events than PbP events.)

SIDE NOTE: The schedule posted above for VTT is not correct, btw - that was apparently taken from a draft of possible events - not the actual schedule. FGCon12 was not officially supported, and Roll20Con is probably not being produced by Roll20 this year for some reason (and if it does get announced it will likely not be supported, unless something changes real fast.)

On PbP event counts:

Shifty and Hilary, et al, touched on a lot of the issues already.

The bigger PbP Gamedays tend to run for three months, the shorter ones run for a month-and-a-half to two months.

Moving from our original one PbP event a year to two big PbP events a year meant three months on / three months off, per season. Adding a third big event would mean running events nine months out of the year with only 1.5 months off between them - which is rough, all around.

If switched to only running the smaller one-and-a-half month long events, if you ran four a year, that would be 1.5 months on, and 1.5 months off, year round, non-stop (running six months out of the year, but leaving very little time for non-event games in between and conflicting with all kinds of meat-space events and holidays to fit it all in).

For those reasons the decision was made to have a max of three PbP events per year. Which means a minimum of 4.5 months (roughly a third of the year) of total event time up to a possible nine months (three quarters of the year) of total events time, depending on what is scheduled.

Side Note: Scheduling these events around holidays, summer breaks, large/regional meat-space events, et cetera - and having some "down time" for the community between events - is the really hard part.

On The Regional Support Program:

A proposal for PbP (and a separate proposal for VTT) was submitted to Paizo months ago. We've not been able to get either approved as of yet. We hope to get a final decision made by campaign leadership by after PaizoCon. We're trying.

Thanks for all the clarifications, Jesse. This is excellent.

Hmm

Yes, thanks for the clarification IH. Out of curiosity, how do you think PF2 will effect this? DO you think PbP will still get support for PF1 organized play past official release of PF2 in 2019? I know I am probably asking a speculative question here but just curious on the thoughts of the leadership on this issue.

It will take PF2 a good while to build up enough material to support even small events, much less large ones. It's my current understanding that PF1 will stay in official, supported rotation for some time after PF2's release - Online and Meat-Space.

Yes, thanks for the clarification IH. Out of curiosity, how do you think PF2 will effect this? DO you think PbP will still get support for PF1 organized play past official release of PF2 in 2019? I know I am probably asking a speculative question here but just curious on the thoughts of the leadership on this issue.

As long as y'all want 1E, I'll run it.

I kinda hope there'll be some support for converting some of the best scenarios from previous years, like Mists of Mwangi, so that you can play them with either 1st or 2nd Edition.

Not sure about a strict conversion, but I'd be highly disappointed if one of the first 2e scenarios wasn't with the Blackros Museum.

Oh are we blaming Nigel for what brings us to 2E too? It is always Nigel's fault.

As far as 1E since I just started GM'ing it I plan to keep at it for quite a long time. That and shipping books to Japan will be expensive and I am a sucker for physical copies so that will slow my buy in for 2E.

I am hoping PF1 PFS runs a good long while. I also plan to play and run games for a long while. Any chance Paizo would officially license a 3PP to publish PF1 PFS scenarios after they officially end production?

Oh are we blaming Nigel for what brings us to 2E too? It is always Nigel's fault.

"FUNNY ELF MAN HAS NOW LET ME--THE ICONIC FIGHTER--IN TOO!!!"

I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:

Anyone got an "Eyes of the Ten" game on the horizon? My Witch has just recently achieved level 12, at exactly 33 XP, and is itching for it!

I could be convinced to run it, if there is a group that wants to play. It would be a very long-term commitment to play Eyes by PbP, as it is the length of 5-6 regular scenarios.

Interested individuals can sign up on my signup sheet. It was written with four players in mind, so that is how I would prefer to run it, though I would take five if there are people who really want to play together.

My very first PFS character is now at 11.2. Ah! Just short of one more scenario. If I manage to level him up before you start, I would love to play. Thus, have put him in the alt though, in case there are others who are ready.

"GOTS SWORD, AND AM BORED! AM PATHFINDER NOW! YOU SHOW ME MONKEY! YOU SHOW ME MONKEY NOW!!!"

I doubt Paizo would allow PF1 3PP material as part of legal PFS org-play as it would compete directly with their new 2nd Edition material, but I've been surprised in the past. I would not bet on it though, personally.

I am hoping PF1 PFS runs a good long while. I also plan to play and run games for a long while. Any chance Paizo would officially license a 3PP to publish PF1 PFS scenarios after they officially end production?

"KaN hz awl fiiaz?!!! YUSSSSSSSSSS!"

{Shoving Poog roughly out of the way} "YOU LISTEN TO ME! ME GOTS 'CHAH-RIZ-MA' NOW! ME GO TO 'MOOSE SEE 'EM'! SEE MONKEY! FIGHT MONKEY!! MONKEY, MONKEY, MONKEY!!!"

Thanks Jesse.

I will admit to being a bit put out by the sequence of events of leading into Runecarved Key, and then the news that any future MTS aren't going to be supported (except the ones you guys run as part of a GameDay). As was already covered I was keen to run Siege of the Diamond City at the end of this year (which would only leave Stonelords to catch us all up on every Multi).

Anyhow, the call was made, I just thought it was the wrong one.

As long as y'all want 1E, I'll run it.

Even though I'll definitely jump into 2E when the time comes, this is basically my outlook as well.

Grandmaster TOZ wrote:

As long as y'all want 1E, I'll run it.

Even though I'll definitely jump into 2E when the time comes, this is basically my outlook as well.

Looks at his active characters.... including the ones with stats for Bend Bars/Lift Gates. :-) 1e and 2e mean something different to me than PF1 and PF2. Still, I'll be playing multiple editions for years more.

GM Ladile wrote:

Grandmaster TOZ wrote:

As long as y'all want 1E, I'll run it.

Even though I'll definitely jump into 2E when the time comes, this is basically my outlook as well.

Looks at his active characters.... including the ones with stats for Bend Bars/Lift Gates. :-) 1e and 2e mean something different to me than PF1 and PF2. Still, I'll be playing multiple editions for years more.

Agreed. I have every intention of playing PF2 as soon as it comes out. But, I only started PFS a few months ago. I have years of content left to play through. I intend to do so.

My very first PFS character is now at 11.2. Ah! Just short of one more scenario. If I manage to level him up before you start, I would love to play. Thus, have put him in the alt though, in case there are others who are ready.

So far I have two other players, plus another interested in using a replay if we need to fill out the table. It may take a little while to get this going, so see about playing that last scenario. ;-)

For anyone else interested: I am accepting signups for Eyes of the Ten. This is probably a 9-10 month commitment between length of the scenario, roleplaying opportunities, and expected breaks for Real Life (tm) interruptions. If you are interested, sign up here.

I have a question. My first character, Alexandre Dufau, is 12L with 3 completed sessions(ie.13L). It's been a couple years since I played face-to-face, but I vaguely remember as 13L+ game that was only playable during Cons and only with 5-star GM or something to that ends.

Is this true, and if so, is it something that can be done PBP?

That is not true. You can play Seeker content at any location with any GM. It is much easier to get it to happen at cons as more players are available and those players tend to have more Seeker characters able to play it. (I personally have gotten through two 12-15 Tier scenarios in PbP.)

@Rinaldo. If you are willing to hold off until after your Everwar series, then Rhuul will be 12.0 and happy to join up.

GM Rinaldo, Luisila should be 12 after paizocon and would be very interested in your Eot10 game.

Is their a ruling somewhere about stunning flying creatures and whether or not they fall or get to make a fly check while stunned at all..

Why yes there is!

Can a paralyzed or stunned creature keep flying with magical flight? Does a creature with magical flight not apply bonuses or penalties to Fly checks because it doesn’t have a “natural” fly speed? Does flying make a creature immune to being flat-footed?

No, any creature that loses all actions can’t take an action to attempt a Fly check to hover in place and thus automatically falls. That includes a paralyzed, stunned, or dazed creature. Magical flight doesn’t act any differently, even for paralysis, as it isn’t a purely mental action. A creature with 0 Dexterity can’t fly, and paralysis sets a creature’s Dexterity to 0. Despite the fact that the Fly skill mentions that bonuses and penalties from maneuverability apply to creatures with natural fly speeds, they apply for any fly speed. If they didn’t apply to creatures that gained flight artificially or through magic, then those maneuverabilities (like the listed good maneuverability for the fly spell) would have no game effect. Finally, the statement “You are not considered flat-footed while flying” means that flying (unlike balancing using Acrobatics or climbing) doesn’t automatically make you flat-footed or force you to lose your Dexterity bonus to AC; it doesn’t mean that flying makes you immune to being caught flat-footed.

ok cool so does a falling creature that was once flying now stunned get a ref save to not fall prone or automatically fall prone

and never mind I think... as long as a creature flying takes damage from falling when stunned they are automatically prone

Outpost reporting is complete! That means that you should see the sessions for your PCs and in your GM session log.

If there is an issue with reporting please contact me at {My username}ATorgplayonline.com and include the session number that has the issue.

If you can not find the session in your session log please first check with your GM if he / she has reported the game to us, we can not report on games that were not reported to us.

Thank you all for participating in our first Outpost convention!

I'm currently playing my first Play By Post here.
This is awesome!

I'm glad you're having fun! You seem to have gotten the hang of PbP quickly.

so ruling question. if I take the Lotus Geisha archetype and the savage skald archetype, will the Enrapturing performance work with the inspiring blow and incite rage performances

I'm getting a strange image..... a geisha that goes into a fit when it comes to battle. Yandere bard?

no lol... It will be for party/ shutting down spell casters.. but didn't know if I could do it to target 1 person or if it will only work as a standard performance and not Enrapturing Performance

I'm not sure those archetypes can stack.

They stack from what I can tell.

Lotus replaces: normal bard weapon proficiencies, well-versed, bardic knowledge, and lore master

Savage replaces: fascinate, suggestion, jack of all trades, soothing performance, and mass suggestion.

I looks like "enrapturing performance" takes any "bardic performance" your character knows and focuses it on one target (often with a bonus for the standard bardic performances--none for the swapped-in performances though--as they are not listed as targets for any bonus in the text). The bard still has to go through all the motions, makes the same amount of noise, and spends performance rounds from the same pool.

Enrapturing Performance (Su)

At 2nd level, a lotus geisha gains the ability to execute an enrapturing performance in addition to her bardic performance ability. An enrapturing performance is exactly like a bardic performance with the following exceptions.

A lotus geisha can use an enrapturing performance to recreate the effects of any of her known bardic performances, but she focuses the performance on only a single target within range. While other creatures see and hear a lotus geisha’s enrapturing performance, only the target of this ability is affected by it. A lotus geisha cannot have a bardic performance and an enrapturing performance in effect at the same time. Every round spent engaged in an enrapturing performance counts against the total number of rounds per day she can use her bardic performance, and she cannot use this ability if she does not have any more rounds of bardic performance left for that day. Starting an enrapturing performance is a standard action; at 7th level, it becomes a move action, and at 13th level, it becomes a swift action.

A lotus geisha adds a +2 bonus to the DC of Will saves made to resist the effects of her fascinate, frightening tune, and suggestion enrapturing performances. When a lotus geisha uses her enrapturing performance ability to emulate inspire competence, inspire courage, inspire greatness, or inspire heroics, any bonuses to AC or on ability checks, attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, and skill checks increase by +1. For example, a lotus geisha using inspire heroics as an enrapturing performance would grant her target a +5 morale bonus on saving throws and a +5 dodge bonus to AC, instead of the usual +4 bonuses.

Since incite rage is not listed with a bonus, I'm sayin' no (and since incite only targets one person there wouldn't be much point), but inspiring blow could be narrowed to affect only one ally if you wanted.

I was thinking more of caster shut down with an additional 2 to the dc.. but its all good. just thought I would ask lol

Only if your savage geisha fascinates, frightening tunes, or offers them a suggestion (which in most of those cases they can't). ;)

Cool concept. Especially in a campaign with only two or three players in it.

Hey all! Sometimes I get questions in my inbox of... ‘Is this archetype / race / item PFS-legal?’

Although I love all your questions, sometimes I’m in busy VC mode. For my own sanity, I’d like to empower you all to be able to answer those sorts of questions for yourselves and each other. I want be an accessible and friendly VC, but sometimes my inbox fills with questions that could just as easily be asked here in Flaxseed discussion. This way, the community can pitch in, and help!

MINI-TUTORIAL: How to find out if something is PFS-Legal

Let’s say that you wanted to know if the Mindblade Magus was legal because it looked cool. Here are the steps you can use.

1a) Look up the page number of the item that you want in the book that you own.

1b) If you’re still in the research stage because you’re on the fence about buying the book, look up the item you are researching with a google search of Archives of Nethys.

(Yes, AoN has its own search engine, but google is often faster for me. Type ‘Mindblade Archives of Nethys’ and voila: Archives of Nethys’s Mindblade entry.) This gives you two key pieces of information.

• INFO A: The Wayfinder Symbol. This indicates that at one point the person doing data entry on Archives of Nethys thought that this archetype was PFS-Legal, which is a good starting point on your search.

• INFO B: The page number!!!

2) With that page number, you can then go to Additional Resources and complete your legality search.

Scroll down to Occult Adventures under the Pathfinder Rulebooks heading, and you’ll find the following piece of information:

Archetypes: All archetypes on pages 88-125 are legal for play, except the cult master and psychic duelist.

There! Now you know how to look up things yourself, and you can help others with their research too!

Hmm

Click. Whirr.

There will be an outage of the Utility known as GM Hmm from now until May 30th, due to PaizoCon. Please address all pressing lodge questions during this interim period to VL Magabeus and VA Redelia. Thank you!

To add to Hmm's excellent post: The Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild subforum is an even better place to ask questions than Flaxseed Discussion.

Hey, I wasn't SUPER active before this but I just wanted to pop in and say "I'm back!".

Probably not back enough yet to start GMing tables again, but back.

Crazy how much the scene changes when you are off the internet for 4-5 months. Still reeling from trying to understand all the new things announced.

Welcome back!

Hey, welcome back! :)

I had the good fortune of participating with Hmm, Gary Peppers, Linda Zayas-Palmer and some other fine folks in the Getting into the World of Play-by-Post workshop at PaizoCon.

I put together a show-and-tell handout of slides that interested players and GMs could take away with them. If you're interested or think they might be of use, you can check them out here.

Larry
aka GM Lorenzo

Wow, those are some swanky slides! I'll definitely direct anyone interested in PbP to check them out!

Looked like a great workshop. Thanks for posting the slides.

Super Job Larry!

I ❤ Larry!

This is a reminder that there are 12 hours left to sign up for GM school this summer. Sign up here if interested.