Abraham Z.'s page

Overall I like this but I have a few minor suggestions/questions if any of this is still "in process":

1) As someone else noted upthread, AcP is likely to be a confusing acronym. Same as Armor Check Penalty. Very close to Adventure Path. Very close to Animal Companion.

2) Similarly, it seems like you have just changed what used to be called Prestige to Fame. But of course we had Fame too in PFS 1. I anticipate so many unnecessary discussions with people making the transition from PFS 1 to 2 over this. Why not just give it an entirely new name? Acclaim? Notoriety? Celebrity? Rank?

3) I get the desire to change the XP system to make it more friendly for Quest play, but I think it's going to be much less newbie friendly. Everyone can easily get the idea that you play 3 times, get 3 xp, and go up a level. I think 12 xp/level is going to be more off-putting to the random newb who wanders into a game.

4) AcP Rewards system - unless I'm misunderstanding, it seems like all rewards will now be the player's choice. We acquire AcP through playing, GM-ing, and GM-ing at cons, and then decide how to spend them. While that of course will be very satisfying for those of us who have been hunting a particular option for a long time, I think it misses the role that surprise and random-ness play in the fun factor of playing. It's fun to sign up to GM for a con and know that you will get some cool reward but not know what it is. It's fun to roll a d20 at a table and know that you have a 10% chance of winning something (in a way that I expect it will be much less fun for people to simply know that when they accrue a certain number of points they can buy something with them). In short, this change seems to do away with an important role of the psychology of gaming: the uncertainty and randomness associated with rewards.

Your GM is the 5 star venture captain of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, I'd be extremely surprised and disappointed if they dropped their PbP games without good reason.

Anyone in that local lodge heard anything about them? I hope they didn't get injured or anything. I wonder if Terminalmancer knows anything about it. I sent him a PM asking if his Venture Captain is ok.

He has been a wonderful GM. I really hope that there's nothing wrong. But since we haven't heard anything from him in such a long time we decided it was worth trying to see if we could find someone to step in. I posted something along those lines about a month ago but we didn't get any takers. We were hoping that with Outpost winding down there might be someone with more bandwidth.

Seeking a replacement GM to take over a game of Gallows of Madness, Part 3. Our GM last posted in early January and has not responded to several PMs. Our group has played through the first two parts and is anxious to play it through to the end. I think we are fairly near the start of the third and final portion (we are in the middle of a combat just outside the Manor House - haven't actually entered the house yet). Many thanks to anyone who would be interested in helping us out. The game can be found here.

GM Z.D. I'm also up for a Confirmation run. Thx.

My group finds itself in need of a replacement for the sanctioned content part of Iron Gods part 2, Lords of Rust.

Current group composition:
Barbarian, Wizard, Cleric, investigator (melee oriented)

What level?

Want:

Nexavarian Requisition

I don't have one, but out of curiosity, what are you hoping to do with it?

This issue is unintended - it appears to be a CSS issue on certain browsers and form factors. We are currently looking into the issue.

We apologize for the disruption.

Great - so glad to hear it and thanks, Paizo! We love y'all!

Just today I'm seeing some new annoying web behavior from the paizo site. There's a faint piece of artwork in the background. It's sort of like wallpaper, except that it doesn't move with the rest of the page when I scroll. Very distracting. I hate to contemplate the possibility that this is intentional on the part of the paizo team, but if it is, c'mon, seriously? This is making it harder to read your web pages. Not to mention all the *real* issues with website functionality, like the inability to edit our campaign pages. I don't want to be one of those endless internet whiners, but I've got to say this is very disappointing.

Ok, I think I'm starting to get it. Thanks!

Abraham Z. wrote:

So the character you are playing in campaign mode isn't actually a PFS PC?

It can be, but does not have to be. And as you noted, logistical problems crop up if you run them. If you want to run for just PFS legal characters, Campaign Mode is too much. One solution is to have players start with their PFS legal characters and then level them up during play, keeping in mind that the leveled up versions will not be legal outside of the campaign. This is how my table of Tears at Bitter Manor played.

So, just to make sure I'm getting it, if I start with a brand new PC, 0 xp, PFS-legal, give him a PFS number etc. and start playing an AP with him, even though I would receive chronicles as I went through, he wouldn't actually be a PFS PC anymore. If the AP game fell apart at some point (as they sometimes do), I wouldn't have any way of continuing to play that PC in PFS, though I would still have the chronicle sheets I had received along the way (that would have been applied to some other PC or PCs). Yes?

So the character you are playing in campaign mode isn't actually a PFS PC?

Campaign Mode for an AP means that all the content is covered, and the GM has more freedom from 'run as written'.

Thanks. The part I've never understood is how you handle the experience and wealth by level progressions. Each book of an AP gives 3 xp and the appropriate amount of gold for 1 level of adventuring at that tier. So how does a PC that starts at level 1, playing book 1 of an AP, get the right amount of xp and gold to be ready for book 6? It doesn't seem practical to have to play lots of other adventures on the side. And presumably not everyone has GM credit to apply. I don't get this aspect of it.

I originally said I was done with Pathfinder Society, playing and dming. Guess what? I still have a whole bunch of AP books just sitting here collecting dust when I could be putting them to use. Plus why stop at 2 stars when I can go for three. Not to mention, I barely touched up on one of the Best APs of all time. Rise of the Runelords and Mummy's Mask are also up there, but Mummy's Mask has already been DMed from me.

I'm going to DM Reign of Winter, books 1 and 2 at least, and we will see how it goes from there. Who's in? If you all don't have PFS characters ready, especially since book 1 requires levels 2-4, I can always DM this in campaign mode.

I’d like to join this. Experienced PFS player and GM but I’ve never had a chance to play an AP from the beginning. I’m a bit confused about how campaign mode works but my preference would be to do the full content, not just the PFS sanctioned portions, just because why not get the full story? I’ve got a level 2 Bloodrager ready to go (melee frontliner, will eventually be going Dragon Disciple). Can also offer a Wizard 2 (will eventually be going Arcane Trickster), or a Psychic 3. Alternatively, happy to build something new from level 1.

I use d20pfsrd much more than aon - not sure why, it just seems to come up when I search for X pathfinder - but I do like that aon lets you search for only pfs-legal options.

On Friday it'll be six months since the last Additional Resources update, which means however many more months since the products that were not included in the last update were released. I think we all understand that it's been a very hectic time for everyone at paizo, especially with the release of the PF 2 playtest materials. Also, we all know that con season is especially busy for y'all. And we've all seen what a disaster it is when things are approved and have to be subsequently retconned due to shenanigans, so I understand that it's better to take your time than rush. But still, it's been six months.

I'd like to politely request: a) the team to prioritize making the next AR and CC releases a priority and b) the team to find a new way to do these updates in PF 2, so that we don't continue this same pattern.

The issue isn't simply that we PFS players are an impatient bunch, but that it is frustrating to have a new book come out, get excited for the new options that are revealed, and then find yourself waiting forever to see if you can actually use those options; when you've already paid for the product it feels disrespectful to not be able to use that product within a reasonable amount of time.

Personally, I tend to buy each new book immediately when it comes out, but I'm regretfully feeling that I will stop doing that and wait until it is published in AR, not because I only want to buy books that have options I care about, but because it seems as though the only way the AR process is going to be prioritized is if paizo has an economic incentive for it.

I hope that this post doesn't come across as whiny or unappreciative. I love Pathfinder and I think that the PFS team does an amazing job creating an organized play experience that I love being a part of. But I also think that the way that Additional Resources is being handled right now doesn't feel good to me as a player and a customer, and I don't think I'm alone in feeling that.

Thanks for listening.

My very sincere apologies for being absent for all this time. Between anniversary, travel, and the site crashes I haven't been able to participate so far but I hope that it's not too late for me to join in. I've set up a profile for the Kyra pregen and have dotted and deleted in the gameplay thread to add her to the mix. I'll now go ahead and get caught up on the story and chime in as soon as I've done that. Sorry again and thanks for your understanding.

Minor correction: the point about familiars who trade out Weapon Finesse was changed to the opposite ruling in this faq: http://paizo.com/organizedplay/faq#v5748eaic9whc

Sorry to be slow. Was hoping to build a PC but I’m clearly not going to have time so I’ll play a pregen. How does a Cleric sound?

Also, fyi, today is my wedding anniversary so the wife and I are heading out for the day. Won’t really be able to post again until tomorrow.

Monday, August 13, is my wedding anniversary, so I will most likely not be able to post at all that day. Also, I will be traveling Thursday, August 16 to Monday, August 20 and may have very limited internet access. Please bot me as needed.

Monday, August 13, is my wedding anniversary, so I will most likely not be able to post at all that day. Also, I will be traveling Thursday, August 16 to Monday, August 20 and may have very limited internet access. Please bot me as needed.

They were not showing as updated in mine. And they are definitely season 10 cards?

Yep, I had the same issue. I just had to click the "Problem with downloading this file" link and then it rebuilt it with the new season 10 cards.

Ok, thanks. I'm just starting to read through the playtest rulebook so I'll let it all percolate a bit before I decide.

Hi GM, now that the playtest rulebook is available I realized that I'm not sure whether we are supposed to make our own characters for this adventure, or use pregens that the scenario has provided. Any ideas? Thanks!

:-)

I thought we had agreed that it would be what we do on my GM turn. And I do think it will be be more fun if you haven't played it before (I'm actually not sure that it's evergreen - have to check on that) - there's a lot of RP and mystery that will be boring if you know the story already.

How close are we to the end of this one? I'm not ready to start running Murder's Mark yet so if Ietsuna's schedule isn't crowded maybe it's better if he takes the next turn and then we can do Murder's Mark after that?

zer0darkfire wrote:

I've played overflow archives. Did you need me to run it or sit the game out? I'm cool with either although I'll dot in gameplay if I'm sitting out to see how it goes for you all.

Zer0darkfire has played it already! ;-) So go for it!

Yes, but if he's the only one who's played it, he might want to GM it when it's his turn to run something. Has anyone else played it? And ZDF, would you want to run it when it's your turn?

Just to be clear, I'm perfectly happy to play it during Gameday - I just don't want to derail us if we are planning to do it with our group.

Hi friends, is 6-15 Overflow Archives still on our to-play list? I'm currently signed up to play it during PbP Gameday 7, but will drop out if we are going to play it with our group. Thanks.

So if all my cards are coming from the Fighter Class Deck, what would I put?

Question In the deck handler, on the "Don't Look" tab, I've entered all my cards by name. In the Card type column I assume I enter: Blessing, Weapon, Item, etc.? Yes? And what, if anything, do I enter in the "Adv. Deck" column?

That's right about the traders: only Lini and Grazzle can go to them right now. If all goes well, the rest of us will get access at the end of this first scenario.

I found Cartman's instruction doc!

Perfect - thanks!

Valeros will start at the Brickworks with Lini.

Ok, I've read through the whole discussion tab and it looks to me like I've done everything I need to except (big except) actually load my chosen cards into the deck handler, which I'm going to wait until someone can point me to the instructions before doing so, because otherwise I expect I'll muck it up.

If I understand the Traders mechanic correctly, it gives you an option to (temporarily for the scenario only) swap a card from your deck for some other card, yes? But also that Valeros (due to being brand new?) is not eligible to do this?

Turn Order: I have no opinion about this (really, no understanding of the implications of the choice) so I'm happy to go whenever everyone else thinks would make sense.

Starting Location: Ditto, I have no opinion (based on not understanding the implications of the different choices) so I'm happy to start anyplace. I think I saw a suggestion from Lini that we start in the same location (so I can give him a weapon?), and I'm fine with doing that unless anyone else has another suggestion.

p.s. sorry for all the ignorance - hopefully I'll get the hang of it after a few turns!

Re my Iconic Heroes promo cards that I asked about earlier - I checked and none of them are for Valeros so I think they are irrelevant for this game/character, yes? Question Does this mean that I should just hold on to them in case I ever decide to play one of those other characters and/or can I trade them to someone else who is playing one of those characters? (I have 1 each for Merisiel, Kyra, Ezren, and Amiri, and 2 for Harsk).

Question Are the instructions for using the Deck Handler somewhere? I can't seem to find them. I've got my 15 cards picked out (see post above) unless anyone suggests I make any changes (there don't really seem to be too many choices for Valeros actually) but I'm not sure what data I should be entering in the Deck Handler and where.

I've just tried to dot in to the Gameplay thread with my Valeros alias, but it doesn't appear as an option in the drop down menu. When I go to my list of PFS characters (in My Organized Play), I see both of my two PACG characters (Darago and Valero) and I can click edit on them, but their names are not clickable the way that all of my PFS PCs are. Question: What do I need to do to activate my Valeros alias?

Ok, I think I've got my deck picked out (many thanks to Edward aka Lini) for helping me figure out which cards to take. Here's the list:

Weapons
Longspear
Longsword
Mace
Greatsword
Spiked Chain +1

Armor
Chainmail x2

Items
Crowbar
Signal Whistle

Ally
Night Watch
Quartermaster
Standard Bearer

Blessings
Blessing of the Gods x3

Question: What should I do with the rest of the cards for the Fighter deck? Am I correct in thinking that none of them will enter play at all, at least for this particular scenario?

Also, I've decided to go ahead and play Valeros. Besides the Character and Token cards, I have a "role" card that says "Daredevil" on one side and "Liberator" on the other. Question: Do I need to make a decision about which of these roles I'm choosing now? Or do anything else with this card?
[b]Question

Hi everyone, my apologies for being slow to the table. I'm trying to get myself set up now but I could use some help. I've only played PACG once, at a con, and I'm not quite sure whether my character (Wizard Darago) died or just failed (the chronicle sheet says "success: no" and I got no scenario rewards, but it doesn't say anything about being dead). In any case, since we already have a wizard, I figured I'd just go ahead and start with a new -1002 new character, a Fighter.

1. Choose your character: So, question #1: when I went to create an alias, it offered me 4 options for Fighter (Flenta, Vika, Valeros, and Tontelizi). I think I need to choose one of these options now, yes? Is this an irrevocable choice? Since I have a very minimal understanding of how PACG works, do any of you have any opinions about which is better and/or more fun?

2. PFS ID: 100198-1002

3. Verify Deck Ownership: - I've sent a photo of my deck to the designated email address.

3a: If you have any accessories that give in-game perks (promo cards, t-shirts, character mats, etc) that you would like to use, please have those verified as well.
Question #2: so I have six (promotional?) cards labeled "Iconic Heroes". I can't remember where I got them but I have a note that says "This set includes 6 exclusive cards for use with the PACG." Can I include them? Should I include them? Do I need to verify my ownership by also taking a picture and emailing it as above?

4. Google Hangouts: - fine with me. My email address is abezab at gmail.

5. Organized Play rules: - I read these awhile ago, when I first tried (and failed) to wrap my head around PACG. Will need to reread. I thank you all in advance for your patience.

6. Starting Deck: Question #3 - so I don't have the first clue how to approach this. Any suggestions/advice are very welcome!

7. Deck Tracker: So I still need to do this obviously. Question #4 Do I need to have my physical deck set up somewhere in the house or can it just exist virtually? My wife will probably not be too happy about this (what do you mean you're playing PACG instead of cleaning out the garage!?!), so I would prefer to keep it virtual if that's an option.

8. Turn order: I have no opinion about this, or any idea about what impact this choice will make. I'm very happy to go where-ever in the order the other players would like me to be. I'm located in the eastern time zone of the United States (I think that's GMT-5?)

Yes, it seems like it would be better to start with one of these scenarios since I think everyone is ready to get started and I clearly will need a little time before I can start GM-ing Murder's Mark.

I accidentally didn't check the box for 1-33 on my pfstracker - I have already played that one. And I'm currently playing School of Spirits. But I would by happy to play either 8-18 or 9-06. If we play 8-18, should we also try to play the sequel to get the full story?

It sounds like we are going to do Murder's Mark first, with me GM-ing. If anyone objects to this plan please say so, otherwise let's move forward with it. I will try to post a thread for the game in the next couple of days but as I said before it will be a few days before we can start playing (I haven't even had a chance to start reading the module yet).

My suggestion is that we all start with 0 (or 1?) xp characters. That way we won’t have to worry about getting out of tier with each other as we go along.

I also think that if we can play two 1-2 modules (Murders Mark and ?) that give 3 xp we can get to level 3 pretty quickly, which in my opinion is where the PCs begin to be more interesting to play due to more options.

I haven’t played Overflow Archives but I’m scheduled to play it in Gameday. I’ll drop from it if we decide to play it together.

Masters of the Fallen Fortress and Consortium Compact are both also on my to-play list.

@GM, should we go ahead and dot in to either thread? I’d like to add this to my list of games so I don’t miss any posts, but I’m not sure which thread to do.

I’m currently playing School for Spirits but I’m open to playing consortium compact or heroes for highdelve if you would like to run either of them. Since I can’t start GMing for at least a week, should we do one of those first (since it sounds like everyone is ready to get started) and then we can follow up with Murders Mark as our second adventure?

Also, I suggest we make a separate thread for each adventure instead of doing them all within this current thread.

Sure, I’m fine with GM-ing our first adventure. I’ll need to read Murder’s Mark and prepare though, and I’ve got a busy week ahead of me so it will be at least a week before I can start. Will that be ok?

Skarlit Begonia will be a Leshykineticist (Wood).

Soooo I gave the shifter class another read through, and while they sound like a really cool concept, the crunch of them is pretty bad. So I think I am going to change it up a bit, but not 100% to what yet. I am thinking maybe a Aldori swordlord (working towards the prestige class). But not sure yet. Looking for a fun melee build that will be fun to play outside of combat but still be useful in combat (but not take an over powered build as well).

Regardless, I will have my mind made up and character built tomorrow sometime.

Hey Loremaster, just wanted to make sure you've seen the FAQs that came out about the Shifter. Apparently there were a lot of people complaining about how the class crunched and so they tried to fix some of it. I haven't actually looked at it all myself yet but just fyi.

Also, there are some cool archetypes in the Aldori chapter of the Adventurer's Guide that seemed designed to segue into the Aldori prestige class. Also a bunch of fun looking feats for Aldori stuff. Anyway, just fyi in case you haven't seen it - I was just looking at that book recently so it was on my mind.

Hi GM, sure, thanks for asking and I'm happy to get the conversation rolling.

I've been playing Pathfinder for about 4 years, all with PFS, and started playing PbP almost a year ago and am really enjoying the medium. I like face to face games too but due to having a small child I don't get to them as much as I'd like. I'm the venture agent for a small venue where we have a once/monthly game, for which I'm often the GM.

I haven't given much thought yet to which will be my first PC for the next edition of Pathfinder, or which class I'd like to play for the playtest, so I expect I can be pretty flexible based on what the party needs. Maybe an alchemist to see what all the hubbub is about? Or a monk to see how the combat rules have changed? Or maybe I should try a barbarian since that was my first PC for PF1.0? And I always like arcane casters too. Will be a tough choice... :-)

Cortland’s avatar might trigger me for a while. My first pbp GM used that avatar and it wasn’t a really great experience...

Haha!

Lol, me too!