Discuss!
And as the name suggest, there will be aquatic actions, so please be prepared for that.
Here's the excerpt from a guide, written by Venture-Captain Colin Rosenthal, for Pathfinders on how to prepared consumables to help with various situation you might encounter during the missions. This is not mean to be a "you need to buy everything that's on it' list, but to provide options for those who might not be aware of them so you can purchase/prepared them as you see fit, and saved us time from looking all those options up.
Potion of Touch of the Sea + Potion Sponge, 50gp+2gp. 1 min of 30ft Swim speed, helpful when you’re just accidentally falling in water and don’t swim well. Potion Sponge allows you to use the potion underwater.
Scroll of 5x Slipstream, 750gp or 2PP for a scroll of 5 copies. 30 mins of 20ft Swim speed. Longer duration Swim speed than above, cast it before going into the water. Also help with land speed.
Scroll/Potion of Water Breathing, 750gp or 2PP for 1 potion or a scroll of 2 copies. 6 hours per use, and can divide the duration to any number of creatures if you’re using scroll. Usually only comes up for underwater combat / exploration and you will probably have time to purchase the supply before.
Scroll of Ride The Waves, 700gp / 2PP for 1 scroll. 7 hours of 30ft swim speed and water breathing. Useful at higher levels when you need to go underwater for a long time.
Scroll of Freedom of Movement, 700gp / 2PP for 1 scroll. Allow you to move and melee attack without penalty underwater for 70 mins, in addition to many other benefits. One of the best spells in the game, always handy to have.
Potion/Oil of Waterproof, 50gp. Make everything you have waterproof for 24 hours so you can use your scrolls underwater.
Scroll of Life Bubble, 700gp / 2PP. Thanks again to our hardworking druid this is considered a 4th level spell when you purchase it in the Pathfinder Society. A total of 14 hours of guaranteed breathable air environment + immune to harmful gas attack + air conditioning. Can divide the duration in 2 hours increments to multiple targets. Always nice to have and a wizard can cast it.
There's also Free Swim spell, which is essentially cheaper Freedom of Movement but only for the underwater combat/movement aspect. It's 3rd level spell, and last 10min/CL, which means a potion of Free Swim is 750gp or 2 prestige point(PP), and a scroll of Free Swim is 375gp.
Source Aquatic Adventures pg. 59
School abjuration; Level alchemist 3, bard 3, cleric 3, druid 3, hunter 3, inquisitor 3, investigator 3, medium 3, mesmerist 3, occultist 3, oracle 3, psychic 3, ranger 3, skald 3, spiritualist 3, warpriest 3
CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a strip of kelp bound to the target), DF
EFFECT
Range touch
Target creature touched
Duration 10 minutes/level
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
DESCRIPTION
The target can move and attack underwater normally without the usual penalties involved with underwater combat, as if under the effects of freedom of movement. However, the target doesn’t gain any protections against grapple, paralysis, and magical effects that impede movement (such as solid fog, slow, and web).
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Adventure prepurchases:
30 crossbow bolts 3g
Masterwork Thieves' Tools 100g
Potion of Remove Blindness (swirly bottle) 2PP
Scroll of ride the waves 2PP
Scroll with 5 castings of slipstream for unrelated reasons 2PP
50 ft. of spider's silk rope 100gp
Question for the GM! How would the underwater rules affect uses of telekinetic blast, assuming I'm using piercing ammunition such as crossbow bolts or ink pens? Absolute no-sale like throwing weapons, or the standard -2 per 5 feet?
(A shame my merfolk boon character is too high level for this. It would have been pretty fun!)
Question for the GM! How would the underwater rules affect uses of telekinetic blast, assuming I'm using piercing ammunition such as crossbow bolts or ink pens? Absolute no-sale like throwing weapons, or the standard -2 per 5 feet?
I checked both CRB and Aquatic Adventure, and unfortunately they share the same clause about range weapon attack underwater's -2 per 5 feet penalty, and I didn't find anything that make exception to spell attacks or SLA attacks. The only exception to that is underwater crossbow.
Furthuer more, the FAQ do said that penalty applies.
Weapon Attacks and Special Abilities: Many places in the rules use the term “ranged weapon attacks” and similar terms, but how does this apply to spells, spell-like abilities, supernatural abilities, and extraordinary abilities (heretoafter called special abilities) that require ranged attacks but might not necessarily seem like weapons?
In general, special abilities that require attack rolls benefit and suffer from all modifiers affecting attack rolls even if those modifiers mention weapon attack rolls (such as the penalty for firing into melee, the bonus on attack rolls from Point-Blank Shot and inspire courage, and the like), unless the spell specifically calls out that it doesn’t apply them (for instance spiritual weapon calls out that it isn’t affected by feats and combat actions, but it would still have to deal with cover, and firing into melee if ranged).....
So I'm afraid ranged kinetic blast, while possible, do take the heavy range penalty under water.
On the [u]first slide of the Google Slide[/u] is a character info page. Please fill out your initiative, Perception, Sense Motive, and saving throws. Also please add your token to the marching order below . Let me know if you need help with anything.
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Touching base on spell casting for a Hunter since it has been a while. I am looking at getting a scroll of water breathing for him. Since I can only cast 2nd level spells, it is above his pay grade. He has a 13 Wis.
Will I be out of luck since I would I need the Hunter version or can I do it with the Druid version as both are 3rd level? (Double checking before I spend the 2 pp)
Touching base on spell casting for a Hunter since it has been a while. I am looking at getting a scroll of water breathing for him. Since I can only cast 2nd level spells, it is above his pay grade. He has a 13 Wis.
Will I be out of luck since I would I need the Hunter version or can I do it with the Druid version as both are 3rd level? (Double checking before I spend the 2 pp)
13 Wisdom do meet the minimum requirement for casting a 3rd level spell (ability score requirement being 10 + spell level), and the Water Breathing scroll would be cleric/druid/wizard version, CL5 scroll.
In other word, your character should be able to use the scroll normally, without CL check or other stuff.
Minor correction from what I written above: Water Breathing is 2 hour/CL so a standard CL5 scroll of it should be 5x2=10 hours, split evenly between all recipients, instead of 6h
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Oh, I suppose I should have the Burn Conversation (TM) with the party.
The short version is Araezi has a decent touch ranged heal of 2d6+6, but either she or her target has to take a point of Burn. When you take a point of Burn, you take nonlethal damage equal to your level that can only be removed by a night's rest.
She has a cure wand to UMD for the out of combat stuff, but she's willing to take burn herself when combat healing. Of course if she's a little beat up while trying to do her job, I'd suggest just a little cauterization. No pain no gain, am I right?
(also, got my profile pic and stats up on the google slide)
On the [u]first slide of the Google Slide[/u] is a character info page. Please fill out your initiative, Perception, Sense Motive, and saving throws. Also please add your token to the marching order below . Let me know if you need help with anything.
Patros and Lady Alya De Qill, please do this so we can get started.
And Lady Alya De Qill, I want to bring a few issues to your attention regarding your character sheet:
-You've purchased both the Elven Leafblade and Elven Curve Blade, but you're not proficient with them. While Elf Weapon Familiarity lets you treat them as martial weapons, Investigators aren't proficient with martial weapons by default—so you still can't use them without penalties.
-Your starting wealth is listed as:
[Startig 105gp+200gp]=[305gp],
which doesn't match the official guidelines:
13. STARTING WEALTH
All characters in Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild begin with 150 gold pieces. See Chapter 4 for rules regarding purchases.
Also, if the bonus gold was meant to come from the Ustalavic Noble(which d20pfsrd list as Lesser Noble) trait:
Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer
Page 22—The Ustalavic Noble trait provides no additional starting gold.
-You've selected a Drawback, which unfortunately isn't legal per the Additional Resources documentation.
-The Fey-Sighted alternate racial trait is also not allowed:
Pathfinder Player Companion: Legacy of the First World
Alternate Racial Traits: The alternate racial traits in this book are legal except disregarded, fey-sighted, shamanic enhancement, and vigilance.
-You've selected the Expanded Inspiration investigator talent, likely assuming it was gained at level 3. However, your archetype replaces the level 3 talent with the Phrenic Dabbler (Su) ability. You’ve chosen Will of the Dead (Su) as your Phrenic Amplification, so that slot is already used.
-Under “Spells From Class,” you listed:
1: Detect chaos
2: Detect evil
3: Detect good
4: Detect law
But neither Investigator nor Psychic Detective grants these spells by default. Also, your total spells known doesn't appear to align with the Bard spellcasting table (which Psychic Detective uses).
Let me know if you need help fixing any of this and make sure everything’s legal and consistent for Society play. We wouldn't want to find out in the middle of the game that you hit with a -4 non-proficiency penalty in almost all your weapons, would we?
Honestly? Beside the weapon proficiency, all the others are small issues. Not having some Detect XXX spells or +/- one hundred gold pieces isn't going to break your character or the game. The -4 non-proficiency penalty though, will make most people's life miserable. A rapier (or the masterwork cold iron version of) is what you need to start playing.
Which brings us to the reminder that
So get the right weapon for the job!
added info on slide..can't add token...my track pad is acting up and can't do it on my phone...
and i didn't get any notis at all for the discussion section...checking through what i have
spending 4 pp on 5x slipstream scrolls and 2x water breathing scrolls
Friendly reminder that the 2pp->750gp or less purchase is once per game (once per chronicle). You would have to spend your pp purchase opportunity from your previous game and this game to do 4pp at once.
A 4th level scroll is 700gp, split 6 ways is 116.666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666gp each
OR
116.5gp for 5 of you and 117gp for the 6th person
How tall is the ceiling?
7 feet
I would suggest you guys use Reposition or Drag combat maneuver strategically and get your kineticist heal up real quick......she can start blasting those swarm away as soon as she wake up.
Combat maneuver against helpless target (such as your unconcious friend here) is automatic nat20 success.
OK before I start I want to outline where I am coming form in this post.
And why I am doing this here and not with a PM, I am doing this here because I want this to be a disgution for all of us not just me and
GM_Colin. Starting this may get me banned form the game, but I feel this needs to happpn.
About me.
I am a GM of long standing, over 30 years, and have played so much over these years, I have helped design games and test them with players.
I counted Greg Stafford who made Rune Quest as good friend before his death. I know Sandy Petersen well who is considered the originator of the Call of Cthulhu RPG. I have been on Paizo from 2012 so you could say I have played a bit.
With that in mind here is what I want to ask.
GM_Colin what is your in intent with this game, where are you going with it?
I ask this because the above post where your telling us about a rules way out. Has me worried, I think I started to get worried when I saw long public post about rules. Why worry, well as many if not all game designers and makers, says when outlining their systems rules. They all and i think I am right in this fact state, this game system is about fun, and letting players have that fun acting out roles for themselves is that fun. So if a GM needs to bend or brake these rules to keep the fun, then do so.
As a GMs is there to facilite the game.
Note game not rules.
So with this in mind I am asking you personally as one GM to another, what is your aim here for game play, for the players?
Why say this, because I can tell your losing us. We players after 'fixing' the rules problems you stated not face a mass of attackers, hitting the party in waves, to the point we have one player PC down and a player unable to play for some while, my PC will be next, on 1HP covered in a swarm. Auto hit next round.
A player just got a crit, even attacking a swarm, me if the GM I would have given that hit and be darn to the rules. The post after shows you the player as a little disappointed.
And with in the rules soon you have two players waiting PCs down, and two players unable to participate any more. Not fun, yes we will wait, we are players and its your game but we have nothing to do. So I ask again. what is your intent here?
Because if you trigger any more of the attackers then I am now worried your sitting us up for a TPK or close to it.
And my worry is I get the feeling you may be a little more interested in showing us your mastery of the rules, then letting players, play and have fun. The above most kind of hints at that, when a GM starts siting obsoure rules at you as mains to get out of something they have set up, then what was the intent, so show layers, Like with the crit role that you are the master of rules or that as a GM you know how to give players a fun time playing a RPG.
I offer this as advice, not as a criticism.
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Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. I understand that you’re coming from a place of deep experience, and I do respect that. That said, I want to respond to some of the concerns you raised.
You mentioned a worry that the game isn't "fun" anymore, but I think it's important to unpack what “fun” actually means in the context of a TTRPG. Fun doesn’t always equate to things going smoothly. Sometimes, the most memorable and satisfying moments come from overcoming adversity or even recovering from failure. Setbacks and consequences are part of what give weight to player choices. If your personal sense of fun depends on always succeeding or avoiding losses, that’s completely valid, but it needs to be stated up front when joining a game. Most players accept both success and failure as natural parts of the experience, just like in life.
In this case, the current situation stems largely from decisions made by the party during combat. Other players have actually come to me privately to express frustration with the choices your character has been making in combat. They felt your actions were tactically questionable and put party members at serious risk. I’ve been providing rule clarifications and suggestions not to micromanage players' characters, but to help people make informed decisions and avoid situations that spiral due to overlooked mechanics or misunderstandings. I understand how an experienced GM like you could find my advice unnecessary or even feel that it questions your system mastery, and I assure you that’s not my intention. But please understand that others at the table might genuinely appreciate the heads-up. One of the advantages of a play-by-post format is that parallel rule discussion threads don’t slow down the action like they might in live sessions. And I have full confidence that the team will ultimately find a way to prevail.
When those decisions lead to negative outcomes, it’s not fair to shift blame onto the scenario, the rules, or the GM. Nor is it fair to expect the rules to be bent retroactively just to avoid consequences. The rules aren’t there to punish anyone, they’re there to provide structure, balance, and shared expectations to the games. I don’t believe adjusting or ignoring core mechanics in the moment, just to soften the outcome, ultimately creates a better game. Ignoring them selectively undermines the integrity of the game for everyone. Why should one character be entitled to a softening of the rules when hundreds of other players follow those same rules and still manage to have fun, grow through setbacks, and enjoy the challenge?
It also feels important to say this plainly: what’s being framed as “advice” comes across more like pressure to fudge outcomes when things don’t go your way. I’m not here to show off my rules knowledge, I’m here to run a game where choices have weight, and where players succeed or struggle based on how they engage with both the mechanics and the narrative. I absolutely want everyone to have a good time, but that includes respecting that the game world reacts fairly and consistently, not always favorably.
I'm always open to constructive conversation, but I also want to make clear that my priority is running a game that’s fair and meaningful. If things feel overwhelming, I’m happy to talk through solutions, but not at the expense of the game’s integrity.
Thank you for responding GM,
As a rebuttal that is all sound and I had a feeling you would go this way,
But and this is a key but, I asked for you not to change events or give me as a player favour over others or ignore the rules.
I asked
"What is your intent as a GM?"
And it seems to be to test us, and see if with win a mass jump attack form the get go.
But now I will ask about game flow, you see, for me my PC went from Hi am here to help.. to the next post being full combat and we where in the dungeon. In one post, It has been all reaction after that, but what worried me was this, soon after players working this out a game plan.
I point to this comment you made.
Which made me as a player very worried that any OCC comments/suggestions even slightly rules linked or plans made, may be frowned apron by you. So I myself have done none. So the above action and reaction them may have made players ask about what I was doing. Where in a table top game we would talk over things this slowed flow between players I feel. It may not have been your intent, but for me it had that effect as a final warning.
Again I am asking for no special treatment for my PC or myself.
If it wasn’t clear enough, my intention as the GM is to present the game, the story, and the challenges as they are written to be. Sometimes, that might mean a merry band of Pathfinders going around town beating up slavers and having a good laugh. Other times, it could be a murder mystery where I slowly reveal unsettling details that lead to a grand revelation. Or it could be a narrative-focused scenario where the story matters more than combat, and my focus is on atmosphere and storytelling.
In this case, you’re in a superdungeon, a setting designed for the party to gain a level’s worth of XP within essentially one scenario-length of time. That naturally means the encounters are high-stakes, tightly packed, and combat-focused. The hasted pounce was part of that challenge, which, I’ll add, you all handled it decently with that well-placed burst of radiance.
There’s no rule that says the first room in an unknown and potentially hostile dungeon must be a safe landing zone. From a narrative standpoint, it wouldn’t make sense, and also immersion-breaking, for enemies to stand by and let you loiter at their doorstep when you’re clearly preparing to assault their base.
As for your second point, I do take the issue of metagaming very seriously, and I have a low tolerance for characters sharing information they shouldn’t reasonably know. Methyl’s player has played with me a lot and has seen firsthand how a player was removed from my table after repeated offenses and multiple warnings, so I can be straightforward with him about those expectations. Future out-of-character discussion about monsters should go to Discussion thread.
That said, I also recognize the importance of system mastery, and I absolutely believe that players who know the game well should benefit from that experience. For example, I don’t take issue when a player sees a skeleton and says, “It’s undead and immune to mind-affecting,” or when they encounter a creature that visually appears to be a blob with no defined organs or weak points and saying, “We probably can’t flank or crit this thing,” even without a formal roll. In fact, my DCs for Knowledge checks are lower than what most GMs I’ve played with use, because I assume Pathfinders are well-trained in these areas. Anything from the Bestiary is considered common knowledge. So unless it has added templates or unusual traits, the DC is typically just 10 + CR.
I think I am getting it now, as A GM you have run a lot of Organised play games for Pathfinder. I have seen this before in other systems where Organised play is in place, and players join with single con events and PbP events, Discord/d20 etc. Where a kind of informal game play etiquette comes into being that invested players and GMs develop. Its normal most sports have this kind of same thing etc. And if you are not up to speed on that, then you can come a cropper. Also I have seen such Organised play
Such games can have a tendency to become speed run games when they are linked to advancement based results.
Where I think I went wring, This is my 7th Organised play game, over 5 years, and I can see where I came a cropper.
I'm thinking this is a game about playing a Character and developing that Character as a person within a group, but this is as you put it, a one shot with a Level prize at the end, superdungeon. This small bit of info was what I was missing.
Knowing all this I will keep going and see where we end up.
The full name of this series is actually Pathfinder Module: The Emerald Spire Superdungeon, but we usually leave out the "Superdungeon" part when referring to it. I apologize for the missing information and misaligned expectation.
I won't deny that one level of dungeon per level of experience can feel quite rushed, and that this superdungeon is probably best experienced in a non–Organized Play setting, where a group of adventurers can go through all the levels (and keep all the cool stuffs!), and develop stories together. Unfortunately, not everyone has a home group with a consistent schedule, so people resort to the episodic Organized Play format in order to play.
Personally, I only made it through six books of an Adventure Path before my home group completely fell apart, and it's been only Pathfinder Society games for me ever since. As of the time of writing, I've played and GMed a total of 446 PFS games (not counting ongoing games) throughout the 36 monthes after I start playing Pathfinder Society, so you could say my experience is extremely skewed toward Organized Play.
Cool, I have no problem with this now, I fully understand what I let myself in for haha and yes I think you have a mass of experience more than me in this matter. I hope we can all make it to the end.
To my fellow players, I am sorry I made some mistakes here. My hope was not to mess things up. I have a feeling you all have more experience than me in Organized Play. If a made a wrong step feel free to point it out to me.
:)
Will do, Not I have not moved my PC after the 1st round, GM move her.
I just stated actions. @GM will a Acrobatics roll her her there GM?
Red elemental used its AoO on Matt, so you will be fine moving away
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Oh, wow. Lotta chatter ._.
Araezi's not built for handling grapples, and she took a few unlucky crits. Plus, the author decided to put a swarm in this place and they've always been the kind of monster that you either kill easily or suffer horribly against. No real middle ground with those.
I'm chalking this one up as another classic case of "it is what it is" lmao.
edit: I usually play coy with my HP totals for dramatic effect, but since the data's on my PbP profile I'll say that Araezi's going to need some potent healing to get her back on her feet. Assuming I didn't biff the math, she needs at least 12 HP's worth without counting swarm damage she may take in the upcoming rounds of combat.
Ganem's Cure Moderate Wound heals for 2d8+4 which mathmatically expected value is 13, so you may be able to rejoin the battle and save the day very soon!
Ah crap. I thought Araezi was conscious. I was confused with the whispered comment to her. Sorry about that.
I will let you change your action this time. It's important to me that player make informed decision for their PC's action . And I'm not going to punish people (not at this level at least) for something like this.