Decided to go with a Red Rider instead of the Black Rider. We've been coronavirus-ing the campaign, google hangout every other week, supplemented by blogging. It's been fun. This is what happened at the Winter Portal (aka the Siege Frigia). The Rider is already laying on the ground with an ice spear sticking out of his side and blue/green veins of ugly energy writhing on him.
A preternatural silence envelops the party, the roar of the Winter Portal’s snowy fountain dropping to a gentle, continuous murmur. The Rider looks each of you in the eye, measuring your resolve. Upon closer examination, he appears to have a faint trace of elfin blood in the fine features behind the substantial beard. Then he nods firmly. Shifting slightly, the Rider pulls the rucksack on which he is lying around to his lap.
Reaching inside the sack, he pulls out a package wrapped in festive paper and festooned with colorful ribbons, a riot of reds, orange, and yellow. The package is roughly a three foot square, and about six inches deep. He hands the package to Camerata. “Sister Camerata, of the family Stokes! Forget not your Lady. Though your travels take you far, if you keep your Faith, she will be ever with you.”
Reaching in the rucksack a second time, he pulls out a decorated package and hands it to Siggie. The theme of the décor appears to be faeries and fairy tale creatures. The package is long and narrow, roughly four feet long and about six inches square. He hands the package to Siggie. “Siggie Floid! Forget not your roots in the First World! Whatever power you might need will surround all of you, if you are willing to use it. But always consider the costs. You most of all, young magus.”
Reaching in the sack once more, he pulls out another colorful package and hands it to Cael. The theme of the wrapping is icy blues and varying shades of purple. The small package is easily held in both hands. “Cael Fiondearg! There is already some small piece of Winter in your heart, as in all of us. Be sure that if you continue to embrace it, you do so knowing that once given a seat, the cold beast is loath to give up territory.”
Finally, he pulls a fourth package wrapped in festive paper and festooned with colorful ribbons from his sack, decorated in the silver and gold of Iomedae. The package is roughly four feet long, and narrow. He hands the package to the young paladin. “Gareth Ulix! Faerie steel is my Gift to you. Use it in good health, and your Lady’s honor, and you just might survive this. If you get a chance, put it between the ribs of Logrivich! That worm is, in the end, the death of me.”
Gesturing impatiently to Gareth and Cael, the Rider takes a hand from each and struggles to his feet. He grunts. “Last things.” The big man takes a pouch from his belt and extends it before him in his right hand. Then reaching across his abdomen with his left hand, he grasps the ice spear still jutting from his side. A faint sizzle can be heard from where he grasps the ice. With a mighty bellow, he jerks the spear from his wound, which starts to flow freely with his life’s blood. Grunting, he draws the spear across the pouch. An intense blue light pulses strong from the pouch for a few seconds, then fades away. He flips the pouch to Cael. “Keys to the Hut. Don’t lose them; I don’t have a spare set.”
Giving a single sharp barking laugh that ends in a groan, the Rider turns to face the crashing noises that have increased in intensity from the Border Wood. Holding the now-smoking ice spear in one hand, he reaches over his shoulder with his free hand, draws the great battle axe, and appears to grow a foot taller, regaining his lost bulk even as a torrent of Winter creatures begins to pour forth from the Woods. A dozen flitting pixies are first to appear, quickly followed by a white weasel the size of a large dog, then a couple of frosty looking, indigo-skinned elf lords. A few towering blue trolls walk out from the woods as well. Finally, a shaggy snow-white creature that looks like a cross between an ogre and an albino bear ambles into view.
The Red Rider sneers. “You traitorous toad lickers! Come to get some, did you?” Bellowing, he hefts his weapons high, now seemingly unaffected by his mortal wounds, then shrugs his shoulders a couple times as if to loosen them up. ”Yeti! You scum. Even on your worst day you’d not have rebelled from Baba Yaga on your own!” He looks at each minion of winter present in turn. “Some would offer you each a chance to come home. Screw that.” The Rider spits blood on the ground. “You’re all going to die here. You are each going to be an example to all the nations of Winter. It will be a thousand years before any of the Cold Blood even think of disobeying Baba Yaga without shuddering and looking for a place to puke.” The Rider takes a single step forward, and all the gathered fae take a half step back in response. The Red Rider grins wickedly, then beckons. The Yeti howls in challenge and starts to stride forward. The rest follow suit, though not as fast.
Red nods, suddenly solemn. “Mother,” he says softly. “Know your Son was faithful to the end.” He looks at the party as if suddenly realizing they were still there. “Oi! You folks have places to be. Go!” he barks sharply, gesturing toward the Winter Portal. Turning his attention back to the advancing denizens of Winter, he spoke his last. “And be sure that when, not if, you free Baba Yaga, you tell her that the Kringle was ever loyal.”
As the party passed into the whirling blue pillar of snow, one by one, the last thing they saw was the Red Rider, striding down the snow-covered slope, singing a merry tune that had something to do with making a list and checking it twice.
Yeah, it'a a pretty big bummer to have ZERO offerings from the flagship game on the last night of the con. It's not very fun to be force fed Starfinder as the only Paizo offering that night. Especially two years in a row. My two cents.
Related question, sort of: for GM volunteers who are receiving badges with the GM packets on August 1 in person at Sagamore Ballroom (at least that is how I understand it will go down), will we be able to register for events before we officially have our badges? And is that the time when we will know which scenarios that we are running, or will we know sooner than that?
Through 2015, Paizo PFS events were posted in the Gencon catalog/events listing when they went online. This is the third year in a row that the Paizo events have been posted late. Given the short window between when the events catalog is made public and registration, This has been incredibly inconvenient, especially when trying to coordinate for a group.
I was in Andrew's group, and I agree with his assessment. The wand when used by a single caster isn't particularly powerful, given that it takes two standard actions to be useful. It saw very little use in combat. The brokenness would definitely come from the free actions provided by a wand using familiar every single round. That gets broken. But then, it has for a while now. This just makes it worse.
I have looked for a list of scenarios to expect at Gen Con this year in PFS and have been unable to find it. The list was posted in February last year. Is it out yet somewhere else in the message boards? Thank you!
I was spoiled when, as I began my journey as an NFL fan, I lived in Indianapolis and Peyton Manning had just become the team's starting QB the previous year. Regardless of where you fall on the issue of in-season performance versus post-season performance, I have had the pleasure of watching the growth of an organization I love led in part by a highly skilled guy who is also a class act. Then I had to watch him leave. I will be a Peyton Manning fan where ever he lands.
Yeah, there isn't great news on the food front this year, unfortunately.
However, the hotel we are moving to NEXT year has lots more food options, including a Subway, Denny's, Taco Bell, a Thai restaurant, and a really good "American" food restaurant right across the street.
Any chance of food trucks making an appearance? Even one or two should be kept pretty busy with gamers running in and out between sessions, no? No idea how common they are over there. The huge jump in the number of food trucks here in Indy that congregate just outside Gencon on Maryland Street has been incredible. Seems like someone could set up shop and clean up.
I haven't seen on a single !! Of these sheets the hardness and HP for
Spell component pouch
Holy symbol
RAW they are not given. No - I'm not a jerk GM - roll reasonably and they will be destroyed. But that is what I try to tell why these are not liked by GMs - you are forced to adjucate them outside RAW - with all the possible discussions if a player dislikes how you handle it.
GMs don't like to be forced outside their comfort zone of actions they feel comfortable to adjucate. Sunder can have more of these as a simple melee attack or a standard grapple.
The table at p. 175 of CRB gives hardness for cloth, leather, wood, steel. Molehill /= mountain.
Adjusting to rolling in the open as the GM is just simpler.
The assertion that the player was engaged in "GM Piloting" for trying to use the class feature of his character in the most obvious reading (I get to see the numeric result of the die and decide if i'm going to expend my once per NPC revelation before you announce results if my PC could take an immediate action) seems... pretty anti-player.
Serious question to the original poster: what good is the ability if they just make you roll the dice twice? Do you not think the ability exists to some extent to be able to occasionally avoid a poor outcome for the Oracle? How will they know if they are avoiding a bad effect or not if they do not know what the roll was?
Your desire to make all rolls behind a screen dilutes the power to "Make DM roll the dice twice", without any benefit to them.
Now, having the discretion to only let them actively use the power against things they know about, as opposed to things happening out side of their perception, that would be a separate issue.
The fiction adds very little value to the Adventure Path. It feels more like filler than value, considering the item is brought to put on a smashing adventure.
While with the magazine roots of Paizo and the Adventure Paths, the inclusion of fiction might have made sense at the time the PAs were first published , that time has passed. Based on the fiction I have seen in the Adventure Paths when I pick them up and flip through, the fiction appears to be so tangentially related to the actual adventure as to be minimally useful, if at all.
As I contemplate beginning a subscription with the Reign of Winter AP, I see a real lack of value in the big chunk of the book that is the fiction. As others have pointed out, there are already other forums for Paizo/Golarion fiction.
Both of my answers follow RAI and not the strictest reading of RAW (lessons for future boon-writing, I suppose). Thank you for bringing this up.
1) The item represents a new item, not an upgrade. The idea is to have uncovered a new piece, not buried your favorite piece of armor underground, watered it daily, and returned a month later to gain a +2 enhancement bonus.
2) I believe both abilities were intended as one-shot bonuses. The single expedition uncovers not only a relic but a lost secret. Upon gaining the relic, you can hang onto the secret for as long as you want, but using the bonus fulfills and ends the boon's effect.
I posted this question previously with no response. I then emailed Mike Brock directly for a ruling, and this is what I received in clarification.
from: Mike Brock mike.brock@paizo.com
to: Akeela Valerian <wolf.of.cormyr@gmail.com>
date: Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 7:36 PM
subject: Re: Pathfinder Society Reporting Problem
mailed-by: paizo.com
No, it is not a one shot.
Sent from my iPad
On Sep 2, 2012, at 3:10 PM, Akeela Valerian <wolf.of.cormyr@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry, that was Gencon 2012 Boon #4.
>
> On Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 3:10 PM, Akeela Valerian <wolf.of.cormyr@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Mike , question regarding Boon #4. Are both parts of this boon one shot? IE it allows a one time PP expenditure, which generates a one time knowledge bonus.
>
> Thanks.
>
> #4 - Expedition Manager: In addition to your more dangerous duties as a Pathfinder, you also have undertaken an archaeological expedition at a minor site. Your venture-captain expects you to fund the expedition yourself, but so long as you report on your findings, you may keep any physical goods uncovered for yourself. When rolling you day job check at the end of a scenario, you may spend between 2 and 6 prestige points to pay for supplies, expenses, and personnel. The next time you roll a day job check, the expedition returns with research and relics dependant upon how many prestige points you spent.
> You can acquire any single item of the listed price or less at no cost. An item acquired in this way is worth 0 gp and cannot be sold. In addition, your archaelogical findings may contain clues about historical events, arcane enigmas, or other mysteries. As a free action, you gain a bonus on a knowledge (arcana, history, planes, or religion) check equal to the number of prestige points that you spent. When you use the skill bonus, cross this boon off of your chronicle sheet.
> 2PP: the item acquired costs 1000gp or less
> 4pp: the item acquired costs 2000gp or less
> 6pp: the item acquired costs 3500gp or less
The ability to play in a level 7 scenario is like knowledge. Its not diminished by giving it away.
Not true. It's the difference between giving a person a fish and teaching them to fish. Things are learned best by doing. That would include fishing and high level play.
I have lazy college students that expect to be handed all powerpoint slides and take open book tests every time. Some teachers have done them a real disservice by doing so. Some students are sorely disappointed when they get to my class. The rest say thanks and give a very genuine handshake on the way out the door,
Yes, the only differences between rend and a normal attack is that rend is an autohit if you hit with X number of claws, otherwise its an auto miss, it cannot critical (as you never roll to hit).
DR, penalties to damage apply just as power attack would apply to its bonus
This.
To the contrary (thanks to the helpful annotations at the SRD):
James Jacobs (Creative Director) Jan 3, 2010, 02:56 PM FLAG | LIST | FAQ | REPLY
+
Rend adds damage to an attack; it's not an attack in and of itself. Just as power attack won't increase sneak attack damage or constrict damage, it won't increase rend damage (although it DOES increase the damage inflicted by the attacks that are necessary to trigger rend in the first place). Rake attacks ARE attacks, so power attack applies there.
Rend kills enough PCs anyway. There's no need to increase its damage, for the same reason there's no reason to tie a machine gun onto a nuclear bomb!
Ok, except that the cited post has to be read in the context that JJ has stated explicitly that he is not binding authority on rules. His opinions are extremely well informed by experience, but are only opinions. On the other hand, Mark Moreland's post that just went up (1) is consistent with the RAW, and (2) is binding.
That's all well and good but they still have to ship back to Seattle, and then shipped both ways each year. It isn't just about shipping one way one time.
What about helium balloons fastened to a weight? (Remember, this is brain storming.) Number taped on to two or three sides. Small. Self-elevating. Only thing you need to ship back and forth is the weights and numbers (printed on paper? cardboard?)
Also, difficult to wander off with.
"Hey!! That guy is stealing the table number from 28! Avaunt, brigand!"
I'm not saying it's evil. Though, I would argue it violated the Paladin's Code of Conduct. One of the Oaths could modify this, though I don't have them all committed to memory.
So a paladin makes his way into an evil temple. He gets to the main room where they are conducting human sacrifice. He manages to defeat the cultists and stop the sacrifice.
You're saying it would violate the paladin's code to then destroy the altar?
+1. I am 100% sure that neither tolerance nor politically correct-ness is on the paladin code of conduct.
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Based on the first paragraph, I would guess that this class feature simply adds spells to the paladin's spelllist:
An oathbound paladin adds one spell to the paladin spell list at each paladin spell level she can cast (including spell levels for which she would only gain spells per day if her Charisma were high enough to grant bonus spells of that level). Her oath determines what spell is added to the spell list. If the paladin has multiple oaths, the spells from each oath are added to her spell list.
However, in the second paragraph there is talk about "slots" and reference to a cleric's domain class ability, whiich makes me think the oathbound paladin has an extra slot at each level in which he could prepare his Oathbound Paladin spells:
If an oathbound paladin has more than one oath, she may prepare any one of her oath’s spells in that slot (similar to a cleric choosing one of her two domain spells to prepare in a domain spell slot).
Point: More organization is needed to keep things running smoothly, and the responsibility of organizing the masses should not fall on the masses. People look to authority for direction, and wearing a purple shirt gives you the authority to say, "low tier on my left, high tier on my right. If you've got a generic ticket, please come back in 10 minutes."
This is just wrong. We're talking grown adults for the most here, with the occasional youngster, usually accompanied by a parent or guardian. Not hoards of preschoolers. Not sheep. Some very simple self-policing, facilitated by players experienced in mustering, is exactly what is needed.
I am confused where you think all these extra volunteers are going to come from to perform these added duties. Because the ones that are there already sacrificing their Gencon to serve are already slammed. Some self-policing by the masses is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Me have friendly longshank that give me horse meat and not punish me when I try to steal the longshanks shinnies. Me help him when he asks and he gives me fire and glass. Me make home in Magnimar now and have all the horse meat that the longshanks don't want.
** spoiler omitted **
Regarding Ekkie . . .
Spoiler:
My paladin had the same experience. After our party half-orc cut Ekkie's finger off to get her to talk, my paladin took charge of her. Gave her some food, a handful of shinies, and generally watched over her remaining nine fingers. The half-orc kept saying the paladin should check her for evil, but the paladin wasn't having it at that point. Ekkie took a liking to him, gave him the scoop, and led them to the gobbo lair. He was carrying her around over his shoulder in his backpack, throwing food in every once in a while, and occasionally asking her questions. Once the party headed into the gobbo lair, she was cut loose.
After leaving the lair, the party found her waiting for the paladin. She expressed an interest in coming along. "Sure thing. Hop in the bag, Ekkie." On further consideration, before she did so, the paladin did check her for evil, which she obviously was. "Baby steps, Ekkie. Let me tell you about my friend Sarenrae . . . "
Great GM from Franklin, Indiana made a very memorable gobbie experience. And yes, I did buy the plush and leave it's head poking out of the top of the backpack for the rest of the con.
"If your character has a racial boon chronicle sheet applied... [insert something cool]"
That would offer any "old school" aasimar, tengu, tieflings or any future fully open races something special. :)
They got a one year head start on everyone else. They played in a time when those races were rare. Some will say that was a sufficient boon, some will not.
Do you prefer drawing the maps in advance, or drawing them at the table (at least the scenarios that don't have nifty flip mats to go along with them)
Drawing maps in advance saves time, but you lose element of surprise sometimes in the more dungeon crawl based adventures. While drawing as you go is vise-versa. (More Surprise element , more time players sitting around table doing nothing)
Which way is recommended?
I really liked what the GM did tonight.
He had separate print outs of each room. When we got to a room, he put down that particular room (taping it to the table). By the end of the evening the entire map was there on the table.
Admittedly:
1) This took up a lot of table space. Worked at that location, wouldn't work everywhere
2) The GM did a lot of prep work to do this. Above and beyond what a GM can be expected to do.
Did this the last time I GMd. It was very smooth, in that it (1)maintained the element of surprise re: what does the rest of the lair look like, and (2) quicker and more visual appealing than hand drawn on the fly.
If you AREdoing it room by room, you could get by with 8.5x11 pages of 1 inch graph paper. Most average rooms do not exceed that size, so it will avoid a lot of the waste of cutting out from a easel pad. Also easier to throw it in your GM kit than a 2'x3' easel pad. And if you need to connect a couple papers for the occasional arena, you can either connect smaller pieces or pull out the battle mat.
In fact ... I had this same thing happen at PaizoCon 2012, just last week.
I think that it's always appropriate to make corrections, even if it means bad thigns are going to come of it for ones character. In fact, I pointed out to the DM that he had to roll all of the damage dice against me, and that I'd take even more when Righteous Might wore off.
Of course, it meant that I was going to die. But, I was happy about it, because it meant that I was going to get to become a member of the Pharaoh/Ruby Prince's personal guard, and earn the title "the Risen". When the GM realized that I was thrilled about the death, he just shook his head and laughed about it and said that he'd never seen someone cheer when they died.
Even if it doesn't get you a title, one should always strive to play fairly, even if it's detrimental to you or the party. I think the game loses something when someone's trying to "get over".
+1. Either you play by the rules or you might as well be forging chronicle sheets while you are at it.
Pathfinder Society GM. 203 posts (207 including aliases). 2 reviews. 9 lists. No wishlists. 8 Organized Play characters. 
