So, conventional wisdom in the real world says a human wants about 2 liters (around a half-gallon) of water in a day. So the easy answer is Create Water can sustain four medium creatures for a day.
You could get more technical though, but I don't think that's necessary for a roleplaying game.
Being flexible in Organized Play is still a very new experience, so we're seeing how things play with Heroic and Legendary, and with the new rules in general for a bit first.
I'd like to someday offer options for Fast (probably the one I listed in the rulebook - "combine small locations and an hourglass of 12 blessings plus 2 additional blessings per character.") and Easy (more blessings, some other benefit such as reducing damage or # by 1), but it won't be right away and might never happen.
Glad folks had a good time, though.
@Keith - Just having the 'Quick Start' guide in the new core box has been a massive boon for this game locally. That's what we've been using to demo and its been flying off the shelf!
I think using the standard rules for 'Easy' from the rulebook will work just fine; I'm working my deckbuilding skills up to be able to solo Heroic right now as the Brawler from Curse of the Crimson Throne. Its -rough- but it reminds me of Dark Souls in a good way. (I love it!)
As a person who will be helping to organize this sort of thing for local stores, how many decks would you estimate to have a 'lending library' on hand? My FLGS is really interested in adding PACG to their weekly events lineup, and
I was thinking maybe 2 or 3 of each deck for the core classes (Fighter, Barbarian, Rogue, Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, Paladin, Druid) and then maybe one each of the more specialized non-goblin decks (Ultimates, for example).
Would that make sense, or am I kind of crazy? The store wants to establish this so that they have the ability to accept walk-ins without having to say 'Yeah, you need to buy a 20 dollar item we have to order first'.
Heya guys. I have the above order listed as shipped on october 25th, and the tracking number doesn't work. Unless i'm bad with shipping (i am) i should at least be able to see where it is or recieved it by now at least?
As one of the people standing in the line to get a copy, i saw at least a hundred people in line with one, two, or in one case three copies in-hand! It was incredible!
I'd estimate they sold almost two thousand copies on Thursday.
Do I have to? Are we getting something totally sweet that gives us a bunch new locations? Or do we just get to run around inside the guts of the game going "GHAWHAAHAAHAHAWHAHA!"?
I especially like this mode after playing it to see how different locations interact. I'm working on different ways to use the existing cards for new scenarios and adventures, so i'm partial to this idea... Just to get why locations are designed this way.
I know the only game even remotely like this is Lord of the Rings. I think it'd be interesting to do something like... Blessing deck remaining?
Idea is that we figure the average remaining blessing cards in the deck, and score like golf. IE, let's say the average number left for a four-player game is ten cards. That'll be a zero score.
- You score an additional -5 for each time you beat the villain before winning the game.
- Because of their relative power, each Elite card you have in your character decks at the end of the game is +1 point.
Your team leaves 15 cards in the deck, and receive a score of -5. Your team beat the villain twice before winning the game, and has four Elite cards in your character decks for the team. Totaling everything up, your final score is -11.
Follow the regular rebuild rules between games and accept rewards Team with the lowest score at the end of the game wins.
Its rough, but maybe somewhere to start on that.
I'd actually love to see smaller adventure releases for the game too. Something like a scenario, adventures, the henchmen, villains, and appropriate loot/new monsters for each belonging to a PAC Superset. That'd be neat to get as a con exclusive, or something that you do as a slot.
Was poking around at the game a little from a standpoint other than 'dying repeatedly' and came up with a silly idea. NIGHTMARE MODE.
Fair warning: I haven't tested this yet, so don't blame me if things don't work... at all. But the idea is to ramp up the difficulty by letting the god-awful random encounter charts run wild in the game.
Again, i'm pretty sure the game wasn't designed to operate like this, but it sounds fun. Especially with drinking. Copious drinking...
----
Scenario - NIGHTMARE MODE
Locations:
1 - Three Random Locations.
2 - Four Random Locations.
3 - Five Random Locations.
4 - Six Random Locations.
5 - Seven Random Locations.
6 - Eight Random Locations.
Villain: One Random Villain
Henchmen: Random Henchmen.
During this Scenario...
- Increase the difficulty of all checks by 2.
- Each Location must be closed twice. Use a marker to indicate that a location has been closed the first time.
- Increase the difficulty of checks to acquire boons by an additional 1.
Reward:
One Power and one Card Feat. Additionally, if all members of the party do not die during the scenario, each character draws one random boon of their choice (excluding loot) from the box.
And can anyone point me to where on the rules it states how to find your combat dice if you don't have a weapon in play? I've been playing the rogue and I've just been doing a straight dexterity check since it seems logical. However I can't seem to find anything to back that up.
Page 11
"Most monsters can be defeated with a combat check. Weapons
and many other cards that can be used during combat generally
tell you what skill to use when you attempt a combat check; if you
don’t play such a card, use your Strength or Melee skill."
Follow-up for bonus points. Can I use both a weapon and a spell on the same combat check? Or is that not allowed since both say 'For your combat check..."?
I'm currently working on character sheets for the PAC, just letting folks know they're in the works.
To that end, what information would be most useful to players to have on the sheets? Clearly information on what feats you've selected, but what other information?
Right now, i'm setting the pages up to be landscape, and have the Skills and basic Powers on the front, and then a large table on the back allowing you to record what cards are part of your deck, with an eye to a potential Organized Play program using this system.
Yes, i'm a huge fan of seeing a Pathfinder Society-style OP system for this.
I personally don't allow a roll to get you through a roleplaying encounter. I abhor the idea most of the time.
I say most of the time because you kind of have to be aware of how important something is. I'm not going to roleplay the guy at the harbor you're trying to get the name of a boat from. Sorry. Not helpful to the story and a waste of time, that kind of thing is why we have dice in the first place so we can get to the interesting stuff. You know, like the tense negotiations with the bad guys holding your rescue target hostage. That's good roleplay, and a good use of game time. So is combat, so long as it's kept quick. I like a five minute limit on turns.
But now that I'm off topic... A gm at society has to strike a balance between satisfying the roll player and the role player. I pick my battles on this, so that everybody gets a chance to be the star.
It is kind of public school indoctrination. lol, not really though.
One of the goals of this course is to instruct GMs on how to teach new players, not teach new players. We already have that in the form of Beginner Box 1 and 2. THis is to help GMs better acquaint themselves with strategies to get new players interested and coming back - Retention strategies, if you will.
While i like the idea of a GM teaching new players this concept, i don't think that's something to be covered in the first few sessions they play. Once they're comfortable with the rules, and have made the mistakes they can discover optimization on their own if they want to go down that path.
Again, this is targeted at experienced GMs teaching new players, so stick to the basics.
So, seeing as there's a GM 101 and GM 102 now (as of GenCon!) i thought it would be a great time to start writing another series of classes that deal with teaching new players exclusively. I'm working on it under the assumption it would be provided to GMs wanting to run Beginner Box Bash and Beginner Box Bash II, in order to help them better teach and explain Pathfinder and Pathfinder Society to new players.
What i'm looking for is a list of topics that should definitely be in this presentation. I've got a few ideas of my own, but wanted to hear some other folks opinions on how you should teach new players using the Beginner Box.
One of my big, BIG things is 'Don't lecture for an hour!' since that's no fun for anyone! But, these are the current topics:
1) Assessing the group experience level.
2) Organically present game rules and mechanics
3) Teach a new GM how to run a game while teaching new players
4) Encourage players to return to Pathfinder Society.
if you've got any ideas, post them here! i really appreciate it!
Yeah, this is how Saint Louis got out of control, but you missed one point I think you should have added that worked really well for us.
Get the store owners on board. They like it when people come in, becuase they get to sell you things. And when they're on board, they start inviting people to your event, and... well, it goes nuts.
So i've noticed over the long while that i've played PFS that there are certain groups that stick together over many tables, and get to be somewhat formalized teams. I know several other living style campaigns have rules for these, including some benefits for the members.
I was wondering if there's been talk or plans for this sort of thing being developed for Pathfinder Society. I had played with the idea a bit, and included my rough (extremely rough) draft of the rules in the spoiler below, but wanted to see if anyone else had thought of this before.
Rough Draft of Delve Team Rules:
Common to outlying lodges in the Pathfinder Society, some groups of pathfinders form strong working relationships with their fellows through experience, mutual respect, and sometimes a bit of coercion or trickery. These rules offer benefits for these delve teams through bonuses in game.
Requirements:
1) A delve team consists of precisely three characters. Never any more, or any less. A character may only be a member of one delve team.
2) A delve team must have participated in six consecutive missions together without interruption. Any single character participating in a scenario without his delve team resets this count for all potential team members. GMs must confirm and record this count in the Conditions Gained/Items bought section of all team member's chronicle sheets with "Delve Team Mission X". It is not the GM's responsibility to ask for this information from players. Failure to request a GM's signature for the Delve Mission will also interrupt and reset the delve team count.
3) After satisfying the mission requirement, the Delve Team receives the following benefits:
One free re-roll for a Delve Team member, as if that member were wearing a Faction T-Shirt. Rules for shirt re-rolls apply to this roll, and that player may not have used a shirt re-roll during that session.
An automatic +2 circumstance bonus to Aid Another checks when aiding another member of the Delve Team.
4) Delve teams are encouraged, though not required, to develop a background and team or unit symbol for use in role play.
If you read it, let me know what you think. I think its a cool idea for long-standing groups of players, and prevents a team from 'locking up' a table by being able to have more than three characters. Plus, i think the idea of forcing two rival Delve teams to work on the same mission would be pretty cool, at least from a role-play standpoint.
Or perhaps a twisted basketball where you have teams trying to kill each other and then shoot the decapitated head of your opponent to a net or hoop or goal.
For an even more twisted version of that, make it so there's only one team and they have to fight a hydra and the catch is they're not allowed to kill it on penalty of death. They have to cut off a certain number of heads (possibly equal to the number of heads it originally had) and shoot them through the hoop/kick it in the goal/etc... to end the match.
Okay, i just re-read the second part of this post, and can't help how awesome it is. Thanks for the GREAT idea, Robert.
I'll probably take Pobble's advice, write some out, and polish it up. I think this has potential to become a decent FAQ on its own.
Anyhow. Our FLGS caught wind of this idea, and wants it turned into a weekly event, which could be REALLY cool. I'm going to put some work into it, and I'll bring the results back here for you guys in a formal document for general use.
But, as far as GM Kyle's question, i Usually distill the game down into a few 'settings' to help the players along. These cover Races, Psionics, Firearms, Arcane, Divinity, and The Rest for the world at large.
Races: All races are represented equally. Notable changes are Orcs and Elves, who do not fill their traditional roles. Elves are seen as greedy merchants, which is cruel but true, where Orcs are considered honorable zealots. They are not intellegent, but very dedicated to their causes. Half-Orcs are extremely rare, and prized as Gladiators and Soldiers, due to their combination of human ingenuity and martial skill. Half-Elves are reviled as thieves and cutthroats, despite their generally charismatic personalities.
Psionics: Non-Existant. The people of the Arena's world have not developed far enough to have Psionic powers.
Firearms: Middle, Emerging. As with Alchemy, Firearms are an emerging technology, though the study of Firearms lead to the replication of arcane effects with other components. Gunslingers may not take Archetypes, and are the only class that may use firearms. Use the 'Emerging' rules for firearms in Ultimate Combat. Advanced Firearms are not available.
Arcane Magic: Low, with exceptions. Of 1,000 people, 50 will have magic ability. Of these arcane practitioners, about half will become Sorcerers, who are respected for their primal mastery of the Arcane. The remainder evenly split between Magus and Wizards, both classes falling under heavy persecution for their 'stolen' magical abilities. Alchemists enjoy noteriety for their wild concoctions and potions, but as Alchemy is a newer science here, they may not take Archetypes. Witches and Bards are unheard of in the world, but that would only mean they are quite the spectacle in the arena...
Divine Magic: Low. Of 1000 people, 200 will have the divine gifts of the gods. Most will become Oracles, roughly 75, and enjoy relative celebrity despite their curses. 100 will become Inquisitors, who work for the theocratic government and serve as the police force. 15 will become Paladins, chosen leaders of the church. Finally, 10 will become clerics, the highest order of the priesthood. Despite their prevalence in the world, healing magic is very rare. Divine casters must expend two spell slots to spontaneously cast a Cure or Inflict spell, and may only channel half as often as they normally could.
The Rest: The remaining folk of the world are a mix of desperate survivors, clinging to the cities for survival as another ice age rolls over the world. Most adventuring types are Fighters or Rogues, though it is not uncommon to see Monks (Who must choose and maintain Lawful or Neutral, not both) and Barbarians as well. Rangers and Cavaliers are less common. Samurai and Ninja do not exist in this world.
Hopefully that helps develop the world a bit more for everyone reading this thread.
So i've read through the section in Ultimate Combat about performance combat, and played through the Ruby Pheonix Tournament using these rules. I fell in love with the system, and want to write a campaign about it.
While the storyline is fairly easy (Lulz, you're gladiators, don't die!) to write, the trouble i'm having is coming up with enough varieties of combat to keep things interesting on both ends.
So, i need ideas for all levels to make the most interesting combats possible. Any ideas, forums?
So i've read through the section in Ultimate Combat about performance combat, and played through the Ruby Pheonix Tournament using these rules. I fell in love with the system, and want to write a campaign about it.
While the storyline is fairly easy (Lulz, you're gladiators, don't die!) to write, the trouble i'm having is coming up with enough varieties of combat to keep things interesting on both ends.
So, i need ideas for all levels to make the most interesting combats possible. Any ideas, forums?
Hi everybody! We've got several Pathfinder Society events planned for the rest of February in Saint Louis!
Special Events
11am Sunday February 19th - Game Nite Super Pathfinder Sunday
Starting at 11am, Game Nite opens its doors to the Pathfinder Society for a day of gaming! Bring some dice and get adventuring for two sessions of adventure, or partake in some Magic while you're there. See the listing for Game Nite in Regular Events for directions!
Weekly Quests are back at Ogre's, and badder than ever with a new GM staff. Join Josh, Rico, and the rest of the crew (Plus a baby paladin!) for high adventure performed on a minimal budget!
Game Nite hosts several tables each week at their South County location. Sessions begin seating at 6pm, with a traditional Steak 'n Shake run following.
NOTE: Game Nite will not be hosting PFS on February 28th, as we will be celebrating the 6th anniversary of the Saint Louis Board Game Meetup Group! Pathfinder Society Members are encouraged to attend for a social evening of board gaming and cake.
One more reason to wish that GMs could deal out chronicle sheets electronically through paizo.com...
That would create nightmares i'm sure we're not willing to deal with... then again, it could really help. I think its something for the VCs and the Coordinator to look into at some point in the future - but be warned the resources involved may be pretty epic, and the potential for abuse is pretty high.
Apparently this keeps getting flagged for FAQ inclusion. I'm going to look at how other Living campaigns approach re-builds in this sort of situation, because what caught my attention with this process is that I now have the opportunity (though cheesily) to respend gold at the level my character is now at, which seems bad. Part of the balance that comes from levelling the character up is that you have to spend gold incrementally.
I'm hoping we can find a way to handle this that doesn't let players, say, skip to the +3 Furious Greatsword because they didn't have to buy all the potions and wands on the way up.
This would be a similar concern for dead/hurt characters spending prestige on the way up. Rebuilding shouldn't result in 'extra lives'. I'd hate to see this sort of official stance get developed, and then people abusing it... :(
These instructions are great. Note: for Pathfinder it is GM not DM which is trademarked for D&D.
For the Chronicle sheets that weren't reported, check with the GM, they may be willing to issue a new one and then get that game reported. If the scenario has been retired, contact your nearest Venture-Captain. They have the ability to report retired scenarios to update player records.
Interesting trivia, that. I didnt know that they had actualy trademarked that!
Oh, the ones that werent reported were from me dming, and it seems cheesy to go back and apply them now. That, and I really dont feel like slogging through all that again. It makes my mind hurt thinking about it.
On a related note, this has left one character with exactly three sheets he doesnt qualify for. Should I reapply him in a level when he can take them, or just dump them? This is stemming from me not cheesing it up with the dm sheets.
Okay, so i got things resolved pretty much. Since my own records are terrible (I didn't actually report into the system which characters I was assigning sheets to, silly me. >_<) I followed the process Michael put up as well as I could. I'm reproducing my exact steps here for future reference (mainly my own, but others may find this useful, just in case!)
1) Use the Persona Page for the character to determine which chronicles you have backed up. If you haven't
How to access the persona page:
Spoiler:
1) Go to the My Account tab at Paizo after logging in.
2) Scroll until you find words Pathfinder Society and click on it.
3) Find the character in question and click on his/her name.
4) Click on the Sessions tab. This will show when you played/ran what and will show who your GM was. (If you can PRINT this page for reference.)
6) Contact the GM. If he is local, hey, no problem! If not, an e-mail to them might help. If you can't find an e-mail address, see if your closest VC has the ability to track them; I know that Mike Brock is able to at Paizo.
2) Recreate the character using standard Pathfinder Society Rules at level 1.
3) Contact each of the GMs you've played with to arrange for replacement chronicles, if possible. If you can't get them, contact your Venture Captain for what to do next.
4) Begin applying sheets in chronological order, if possible. Unfortunately, you must skip sheets you do not qualify for (See end of post).
5) If you have one, have your regular Coordinator or DM look over the character restoration, and sign off on it on your next chronicle sheet with them. It may be helpful to have the DM double-check math before he signs off or allows you to play. I know i'm not the only one that gets excited when building a character, and my math tends to get off a lot the longer between math checks.
6) Send an e-mail to thank EVERYONE That helped you get your character back!
The only problem I've noticed is that I cannot apply some of the sheets I've played in, because of my own silly record-keeping. Seeing as I'm unable to do this, should I hold them like I would for GM Credit, or just outright skip the sheets?
If you have access to the scenarios that you ran and received GM credit for, you can easily recreate those Chronicle sheets. The XP, Prestige, and GP are pretty much static for those. For the ones that you played through, you can check the statistics for that character by going through your Paizo account. See who the GM was. If you can contact him/her, they may be willing to re-issue Chronicles, especially if they still have the reporting sheets.
I have had to do this only twice for local players. It's a a hastle, but it is fixable.
So I just have to reissue my own GM sheets, and lose ones I can't get re-issued.
I assume i have to un/re-level the character so he matches surviving chronicles as well, and hold sheets that he doesn't qualify for per the standard GM rules?
1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
I just had the worst thing happen ever in my life... At least, sort of.
I had paint in my backpack on top of my pathfinder society record sheets. THe paint got crushed and took out all of my records for two of my characters, including their character sheets.
Only some of the sessions have been reported, and many of the sheets they had were GM credits i had, but did not report properly in the system.
What do I do if I want to resume playing these characters, or should I just dump them and move on with life?
I accidentally trolled myself into liking this show. I was sick, and my friend was like 'here, watch this, you'll feel better."
Every s1 episode later, I have wound up with six excellent pony-themed builds for pathfinder. That I can't find. :( I do know one of them was a fluttershy-druid that could almost always get a +20 on Wild Empathy at like, level 5.
:(
I've seriously considered a Twilight Sparkle wizard.
It would probably be Transmutation or something? I dunno. Let's be productive and hack out the build!
I accidentally trolled myself into liking this show. I was sick, and my friend was like 'here, watch this, you'll feel better."
Every s1 episode later, I have wound up with six excellent pony-themed builds for pathfinder. That I can't find. :( I do know one of them was a fluttershy-druid that could almost always get a +20 on Wild Empathy at like, level 5.
So before this new guide came out, I hadnt realized GMs didnt get the boons from a chronicle. Would that apply to the 'Ambush In Absolom' thing that appeared in Kobold Quarterly? The only thing on the sheet is the boon. No benefit for GMing the thing?
I believe that's the exception, godsDMit.
DMs pick up the Kobold sheet for running it, and can receive it as many times as they run it. The specifics are in the front of the file with the chronicle in it.
So, the way I've been explaining the Shadow Lodge's goals in Pathfinder Society is that they're wanting some basic benefits for the Pathfinders.
Yeah, wacky, I know, but I can only see it as some guy going to HR at work and going "Can we get some friggin insurance!?" and hounding them about it.
In all seriousness, though, the Shadow Lodge wants to make sure that the Ten are treating the rank-and-file pathfinders with due respect and not pawns. Eventually, I can see Torch making a play to get the Ten to reveal themselves, but that's likely a long ways off.
EDIT:
I didn't even answer your question, now that I returned from happy fluff-land. Since they could potentially have in-game reprecussions, you would have to purchase them like any other item. I believe forged documents are in Adventurer's Armory, but i'm not certain.
...Does Duct-Tape exist in Golarion? Can we get a ruling please?
Careful now. If we get an official ruling on duct tape we'll need a Chuck Greene prestige option fighter and a Paddle Saw exotic weapon. [/deadrising2]
I'm okay with this. Seriously. When can I expect a supplement on the topic?
Despite the fact that I am a HUGE lover of the Gunslinger class, I have to say that I'm quite quite pleased with the restrictions.
From experience early on with the playtest, i can say that having a table full of Gunslingers is precisely 0 fun, especially if someone decides to light a damn torch. (Grr!)
BTW, does anyone know if the rule about being weak to Non-magical fire made it into Ultimate Combat? i loved the flavor and balance that put into the class, and injected a very high-risk feel into the class. Just seeing where you're going was a challenge!
Fix a hooden lantern (with a sunrod inside) onto your barrel. Instant gun-torch!
...Does Duct-Tape exist in Golarion? Can we get a ruling please?
Adam wrote: "the bonuses in question are called "Boons" and are never available on GM Credit."
That's not quite true. It's true that GMs don't get boons for scenarios they run. But they do receive boons for little miniadventures like the one Mark wrote for Kobold Quarterly recently.
I'm not sure about boons for modules.
Oh? Sweet. Did not know that... I owe myself a sheet, then.
Despite the fact that I am a HUGE lover of the Gunslinger class, I have to say that I'm quite quite pleased with the restrictions.
From experience early on with the playtest, i can say that having a table full of Gunslingers is precisely 0 fun, especially if someone decides to light a damn torch. (Grr!)
BTW, does anyone know if the rule about being weak to Non-magical fire made it into Ultimate Combat? i loved the flavor and balance that put into the class, and injected a very high-risk feel into the class. Just seeing where you're going was a challenge!
I had another n00b question; I'm having a bit of a hard time understanding GM rewards in the Guide to the Pathfinder Society. It says that the GM does not get special boons bestowed by the Chronicle sheet such as free magical treasure, regional boons, or bonus die rolls.
But does the character who the GM applied the chronicle sheet to gain the ability to purchase the equipment of the appropriate Tier listed on the Chronicle Sheet?
The bonuses in question are called "Boons" and are never available on GM Credit, which is unfortunate.
The character who receives the GM sheet does get access to the listed items for the appropriate tier.
This would be a very, very fun convention game idea to have like the GOlarion World Wrestling federation or something.
Just a silly way to blow off steam at a convention.
i could also see it as an ongoing 'minigame' running alongside an ongoing campaign or a campaign in of itsself. There's a lot of cool ideas for martial performer stories, from Gladiators to Actors, and all sorts of different ideas!
Flesh it out a bit, you're onto some very cool game ideas here!
Chalk it up as more fuel for the shadow lodge. Pathfinders do all the work and get only half the fame.
On paper I do not see a problem of logistics. Just tack on a PA for every season 0 you have played. However, it is a logistical nightmare to make these changes online.
See my faction? See the slash carved in my wayfinder?
