Andreas Forster's page

I originally was leaning more to the side of "you have to cast a spell or make a spellstrike to keep it going", also because you would need to fuel a cascade somehow. And I still think there is some merit to that explanation (and casting spells is really not the most limiting thing for spellcasters).

But then I stumbled over an interesting part in the flavor text of Arcane Cascade:
"You divert a portion of the spell's magical power and keep it cycling through your body and weapon"
So that seems to suggest the magus actually cascades the energy of a single spell.
To represent that, the requirement of Arcane Cascade could be reworded to "You used your most recent action before entering this stance to Cast a Spell or make a Spellstrike."

Maybe something like "you used at least 1 action to Cast A Spell this turn" would be a better requirement for Arcane Cascade.
That way it doesn't shut itself off immediately, but also needs to be maintained in a specific way.

Andreas Forster wrote:

Owen K. C. Stephens wrote:

The holy fusion does not bypass total immunity, by design.

An evil fire elemental is still actually made of fire.

I can get behind the idea for creatures with the elemental subtype. As you mentioned, it really makes no sense to harm a creature with fire when that creature is made out of fire. Although I believe the average elemental is neutral anyway.

But what about fiends? Wouldn't you think it should be possible to harm a devil with a holy laser?
Or dragons? As far as I've seen, standard dragons have no natural resistances, just immunities. So why would they even be listed then?

Its the space future. Dragons aren't limited to relying on their natural abilities.

I know they can have resistances, that's why I mentioned standard dragons (the ones you find in the alien archive without modifications).

The holy fusion does not bypass total immunity, by design.

An evil fire elemental is still actually made of fire.

I can get behind the idea for creatures with the elemental subtype. As you mentioned, it really makes no sense to harm a creature with fire when that creature is made out of fire. Although I believe the average elemental is neutral anyway.

Mark Moreland wrote:

Syri wrote:

Heh! The crowdfunding campaign for the German translation of Age of Ashes leaked the title of Big Trouble in Little Absalom 24 hours ago!

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Well, they did get the title wrong, as it's Little Trouble in Big Absalom.

Wait, Germans got something wrong. They've made a factual error. What year is it, is this 202...

*opens the window, sees the pale red moon about to collide with the Earth*

Actually, the German Pathfinder releases often get the titles wrong (or at least very inaccurate). What's worse, sometimes they make mistakes within the actual rules (I have seen a few instances where a little detail was left out, making the rule work totally different from the English original). That, and the fact that some translations sound very odd (at least to me), is the reason I stick to the English books.

Getting back to the actual topic, I would also be interested in knowing whether there will be a change to the digital release plan.
Also, will the sanctioning for PFS/SFS be ready on Free RPG day?

It has been clarified by Alex Speidel 3 days after Macaroune's post.

Clarification on the Khizar boon:

- You do not have to slot it to check the boxes.
- Only the character who has earned this chronicle may donate the credits to check the boxes.

** spoiler omitted **

I just recently played it as well.

On that note, another question:

On the topic of hyenas: Having experienced this encounter as a player, I must say these are incredibly deadly monsters. Are they supposed to be that way?
With just spending an action and no check, they automatically tripped my mount (I played the barbarian mentioned above), which meant it had to spend actions to stand up (which I had to create by commanding it). And while thay were doing that, the damage they dealt was quite a lot, took them only 2-3 attacks to bring the horse to 0 HP. Doesn't create much fun on the player side if you have to call for a medic almost every round.

First of all, on the topic of CR (challenge rating), which you mention:

A CR equal to the APL (average party level) should, on average, cost the party about one quarter of their resources (resources in this case means hp and special abilities that refresh daily, like spells or a barbarian's rage).
Based on that assumption, a CR equal to APL+1 costs about one third of daily resources, a CR equal to APL+2 costs about half of daily resources, a CR equal to APL+3 costs about three quarters of daily resources, and a CR equal to APL+4 gets the PCs close to death and totally drained of daily resources.

Also, keep in mind that while three CR 1/3 monsters are a CR 1 encounter, 9 of them actually are a CR 4 encounter (see table 12-3 on p. 398 in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook).

As for your main question, since there are a lot of differences between Pathfinder stats and Starfinder stats, just taking PF monster stats and using them for SF can be a bit problematic and will require at least some tweaking.
But while there are no monsters in the CRB, lots of them can be found in Alien Archive. Many of those races can be used as PCs as well and the book also includes easy rules for creating your own unique aliens.

If you want to be pedantic you could say it says "forgo your downtime" (which can be announced before the adventure ends), not "use your downtime to", and therefore allow it.

Personally, I'd allow it. There are other good uses for Knowledge checks in most scenarios, which you'd give up to complete a faction mission. If people want to focus on the role their faction plays for their character, I don't see a reason not to let them.

I just took a quick look.

You currently have one character tied to your account (named "Tiffania"), who currently has 2 reported sessions. The first is "The Confirmation", played on Aug 16, and the second is "Hall of the Flesh Eaters", played last Sunday.
Since you say the other event was a couple of years ago, I assume those sessions are from games played with your current PFS group. In that case, it seems either your first game hasn't been reported or you're using a new PFS number now.

I suggest contacting the GM who ran your first session a couple of years ago (if you have no way of contacting them).
If you still have the number you received at that convention (assuming it's different from your current one), maybe also talk to your local VO. They can help fuse it to your account (assuming the game has been reported).

Normally, you should have gotten the chronicle sheet for a scenario after the session, even if you played a pregen. If you have not received a chronicle, definitely talk to your VO and ask them to create a replacement chronicle for you.

Generally, you gain new feats when leveling up, and during that time, any temporary abilities are turned off. So that would result in Weapon Focus being unavailable for you to choose for that exotic weapon.
At least, that's my view on the matter.
Even if there are points to be made for this to work, I would advise not to go for it, because everytime you get a GM who doesn't allow it, you can't play the character because it's not legally built in their opinion.
(Unless of course, there's something official that says it works.)

Also, can I use inspiration on a day job roll?

Last time I checked, the general consensus was that you can use it as long as you're allowed to roll the extra dice without spending inspiration points. That's also how I would rule it at my tables.

However, the chronicle sheet for Murder's Mark lists the adventure as Tier 1-2...

With sanctioned modules, there's a little difference between the character level the module was intended for and its PFS tier.

To be sure about a module's PFS tier, ask the GM who's offering to run a module. Since modules aren't originally designed for PFS, the GM has to download the chronicle from the Paizo site and can therefore tell you the tier that's listed on the chronicle.

In short, if you come across a non-PFS sanctioned module that says something like "a module designed for 1st level characters", it will most likely be tier 1-2 for PFS, meaning you can get credit for as many level 1 characters as you can build (and run through it) and for one 2nd level character.

Are there any tier-1-only products other than First Steps and Master of the Fallen Fortress, anyway?

While we're on the subject, the fly skill says, "You cannot take ranks in this skill without a natural means of flight or gliding." Does Feather Fall count?

I usually go with the approach that anything that has you make a Fly check counts. As Feather Fall doesn't ask for Fly checks, it doesn't count.

1. Do you need to buy the land immediately, or can you wait and buy at a later date?

I agree with Tyler. Just note the date on your chronicle when you finally purchase your hex.

2. I have heard that the purchase of land is done in place of a day job roll. I haven't been able to confirm this.

Definitely not true. The cost is listed on the chronicle sheets: 2 prestige.

And don't forget the intimidate option only works once per creature. So no locking opponents to you. That's also a good reason for considering the dimplomacy option. First use intimidate to have the opponent focus on you for a round, then follow up with diplomacy to give them penalties.

Best call would be to contact your local Venture Officer. You can find the list here.

Talking to someone face to face is always a better option than e-mail or PM. They'll be able to answer your questions much quicker and show you stuff in the books much easier.

And also, welcome to PFS, and good luck with getting started :)

particularly because the Chronicle itself has no way to tell me that you did.

That's easy to solve. When receiving the chronicle, just write "played a pregen; apply at level 7" (or something similar) on the top of the chronicle, and everybody can see it's a held chronicle.

I agree on removing the word "either". It's obviously an oversight when the text from the season 6 card was copied.

I'm actually not sure if you can even share the static abilities, because they are not activated. In that case, only the abilities that start with "once per day" can be shared, but it does use up your one use of the ability for that day.

Since no kind of action is mentioned for Soldier of peace, activating the ability should be no action on itself but rather part of the action the ability is activated on.

1) I'd definitely say no. It says you can use it, not that you actually gain the feat.

The boon simply adds the kobold you played in True Dragons to your legal options when you choose to play a 4th level pregen. When applying credit for the scenario you played the kobold in via the boon, you follow the normal rules for applying pregen credit: Either designate a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level character and apply to that charater once they hit 4th level; or apply to a 1st level character immediately by reducing gold to 500 gp.

Secondary question: normally when you play a pregen for a character who isn't in tier yet you hold off on applying anything on it till you match level. Does that still apply to this pregen? (Can my level 3 who's got this waiting for them at level 4 play the pregen in a 1-5)?

As for applying the True Dragons chronicle, since it's pregen-only, you can apply the chronicle immediately to a 3rd, 4th, or 5th level character as if that character actually played through the scenario (the only exception to the general rule of not applying to a character of the pregen's level or above). Alternatively, you can designate a 1st or 2nd level character, but then you'd use the rule for applying pregen credit to lower-level characters, which means the chronicl gets only applied once the character reaches 4th level. In that case, you wouldn't have access to the boon until you apply it.

Is there anywhere we can get the pregens sheets if we don't have access to the special pdf so players can make use of the boon?

If the GM didn't let the players keep their copy of their pregen, that would be quite cruel. The GM should know they'll need it at some point.

I'd agree more with Lorewalker on this case.

You're not firing a +3 arrow from a +5 bow, you're firing a +1 bane arrow from a +5 bow.
The bow imparts its enhancement bonus on the arrow and the higher of the two bonuses applies, leaving you with a +5 bane arrow.
If shot at a target to which the bane applies, such an arrow's enchancement bonus becomes +7.

You might want to take a look at this spell.
There are several ways of gaining access, from the obvious (play a bard, sorcerer, or wizard), to things like playing a rogue (unchained would be best choice there) and taking the "minor magic" rogue talent.

I agree, it would sure be funny to do.

The problem I see is that a player could potentially build an aasimar (provided they have a legal way to do so, of course) with insane bonuses on knowledge checks (with a bit of focusing, you can easily get modifiers way higher that the average of higher-level characters), then use those insane bonuses for all their spellcasting characters of higher level (since Planar Inquiry is level 3, you'd have at least 4 levels to maximaize knowledge skills and still have less HD than any caster could have CL).

Since the target of the spell determines the knowledge skill you can roll, I strongly suggest that players should stick to the options given in the bestiaries.

Do you know what determines if something will be legal and what will be banned?

Generally speaking, all character options that don't use optional rules that are not PFS legal (like performance combat or item crafting, for example), are not inherently evil (or much likely to be tied to performing evil acts on a regular basis), and don't create too much power imbalance become legal.

I will certainly look for a group, it would be nice getting some stress off my chest and to do something other than sit alone in my bedroom with nothing else to do...

Also keep in mind that there's the option of playing online if you can't find any games nearby.

As others have mentioned, there's nothing stopping you from describing your character background any way you like. For mechanical benefits, you'd need some of the vanities from "Pathfinder Society Field Guide".

For a crime lord, for example, here are some suggestions that come to mind:

- choose "The Exchange" as your faction. That faction is all about making money, no matter whether you do so legally or illegally.
- At Fame 20, purchase the faction-specific vanity "Master of Trade". For your character, that could represent him gaining better deals through illegal networks.
- Purchase the "Caravan" vanity, which lets you make your Day Job checks with either Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Bluff. Good thing to have for smuggling.
- Think about purchasing some of the follower vanities. One that comes to mind is the "Herald". It does nothing but let you look cool. But a crime lord needs a personal henchman who makes the annoying introductions, right? (Even if it's ridiculous that the NPCs haven't already heard of your character ;P )

but there's nothing stopping you from subduing them and turning them into the local authorities

This is the method of choice for a crime lord, although I believe you meant "turning them in to the local authorities". :P

Its under the Wizard section in the CRB but to be honest I don't think they actually level up like animal companions. They gain benefits at certain levels and have half your hp, but don't gain HD or more skill points.

Correct. They have half your HP, are treated as having your HD for the purpose of spells etc., have your skill ranks or those of the animal, whichever is higher, and have your BAB and base saves or those of the animal, whichever is higher (after a few levels, your stats will most likely be the higher value in all cases). But they don't actually gain levels, so they don't get skill ranks on their own and don't gain additional feats (unless of course an archetype or class ability says otherwise).

Information on Sheila Heidmarch as well as Heidmarch Manor can be found in "Seekers of Secrets". That book also has small sections on other notable Pathfinders.

Very basic information on famous NPCs can be found in "Inner Sea Magic" and "Inner Sea Combat".

I like that idea of having a sheet to put minis on. Of course, as John said, it's only good if the players have a reason to know about the NPCs' attitude. But it's still an option to place the minis on cards behind a screen and remove the screen if the players roll high enough Sense Motive.

In some social scenarios with multiple interactions going on simultaneously, had prepared cards with the NPCs' names on them and had players put their minis on the card corresponding to the NPC they wanted to talk to and then roleplayed each NPC as a seperate diplomacy encounter involving only the PCs that wanted to talk to that NPC. Makes handling the diplomacy phases much easier.

Or if you must reward Chaotic/borderline evil behavior, at least allow for a choice that gives different rewards based on going with the Light side instead of the Dark. Good and Lawful characters get harassed enough by GMs it is nice to occasionally be rewarded for doing the right thing.

Getting a small boon depending on the way the character handled a situation sounds really cool. So +1 for that. :)

If you play the rest of the series you should find out yet more interesting things about him.

Playing Destiny of the Sands won't do so much about that. You'd have to run the series. I see no easy way for the PCs to learn the info about GMT presented in the sidebars.

I don't understand why people hate the guy so much. I have one ex-Shadow Lodge character who disllikes GMT's actions only because GMT left him with an incompetent human idiot. On the other hand, that character is one of the few who want Guaril Karela dead. But then, that character only joined the Shadow Lodge because GMT was the faction leader he disliked the least.

For 64-page modules played in campaign mode, you indeed issue the chronicle sheets once the entire module is finished. This is mainly because there is a bonus chronicle sheet that gets applied based on which character the regular ones were applied to.

Indeed, you can't take the Leadership feat, so you can't get any followers from that source.

As EricMcG mentioned, you are allowed to create undead during a scenario, but you should be aware that: a) you don't get to keep them after the scenario, and b) depending on the creature you create the undead from, the GM might consider it an evil act.

There are follower vanities in the Pathfinder Society Field Guide, which you can buy for PP, but those don't grant any mechanical benefits apart from what is detailed in their description. That means they don't have a statblock and will never participate in combat.
The limit of follower vanities you can have is your Charisma bonus (minimum 1).

7:30: people get going.

That's if they are really focused. Everytime, I have people not getting ready, some arriving late.

whether drendle drang is a person you're talking to, a place you want to go, or a particularly nasty curse you want to avoid.

Definitely the last option *lol*

Traits are minor abilities that are meant to give a little spotlight on the character's personal beackground. Generally, a character gets to choose 2 traits, which must come from different lists.
These lists are: basic combat, basic faith, basic magic, basic social, regional, race, relgion, and campaign traits. In PFS, you can't take any campaign traits, but there are faction traits instead.

Where to find them:

- This free document, which are also the traits found in the Advanced Players Guide
- Ultimate Campaign
- Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide It's free (and you'll need it anyway for information on PFS play), and you'll find the faction traits in there.
- Several traits are spread out between lots of sourcebooks, but for a start, you're fine with the above (you don't even necessarily need Ultimate Campaign to have a good selection).

To add to this, you don't ignore the object's hardness if the GM decides your damage is effective, you just don't half the damage before applying hardness.

So, unless there's an effect in place that lets you ignore hardness, sonic damage never ignores an object's hardness.

If a GM feels friendly, they might ask the player who's trying to open doors with more enemies behind something like "do you really want to open that door and leave your teammates behind? There's a battle going on and you don't know if there are more enemies behind that door."

An intelligent player (and one who actually doesn't want to harm the other PCs) should (hopefully) understand that warning. If the player still insists on that behavior, the GM could say something like "You really shouldn't open that door, that would most likely result in a TPK. Please stick to the current battle."

Of course, a GM is not at all obligated to give out such a warning. But if there is one stupid/jerk player and 5 players who would lose beloved characters, it's of course a nice move to stop the disruptive player before anything bad happens.
Also, a GM might want to remind the disruptive player that their character should follow the Society's rules od explore, report, cooperate.

Nefreet wrote:

Goblins, universally being illiterate and culturally against the idea of writing, just don't thematically fit the goals and ideals of a Society focused on obtaining and recording knowledge.

Just take the adopted trait, and the cultural issue that goblins have in the Golarion setting is dealt with.

Yep, illiteracy is the least problem.

I once played a goblin in a home campaign, who had come across books and secretly learned how to read and write, and found out that it's not dangerous. But fearing the reaction of his tribe, he fled and joined a group of human adventurers. He also had a fearsome warhorse (ie a pony).

Pharasma judges you based on how you follow your deity if you have one, and in this case faking being one of her clergy is just brownie points.

I had the same response in mind.

As a GM, I would have no problem with a player describing their character with a few articles of clothing not listed that way in their outfit, as long as they don't attempt to gain a mechanical advantage.
So, it wouldn't be ok to buy a monk's outfit and describe it as a full standard traveler's outfit (monk's outfit weighs less), or to buy a traveler's outfit and describe it as a courtier's or noble's outfit (traveler's outfit costs less). While there's much gray area for the first example and I wouldn't care too much about it, the second example is a bit more cheesy.

Other than that, I don't care if you describe your clothes as green linen, red cotton, or whatever you like, as long as it stays within the flavor of the outfit you purchased.

For Adventure Paths, you issue the chronicle right after the party finishes the sanctioned part.

For 64-page modules like The Dragon's Demand, it is necessary to wait until the conclusion of the campaign, because those have a 4th chronicle that is only awarded if all chronicles are applied to the same character. But since APs don't have those extra chronicles, you can assign each chronicle as soon as the relevant part is finished.

I agree. Have the player stick with the ones they have ready.

If they are playing this character in the rest of the Adventure Path as part of the home campaign option they may continue to use the Azlanti option.

That's not an option for PFS characters. If you're playing campaign mode, then you're using characters specifically built for playing the entire AP, who won't ever participate in anything else. What happens to those is covered in the AP.

As for the Emerald Spire boon, that's for tier 10-12, so the characters are very close to ending their career as pathfinders (only being able to participate in high-level modules). Although the way it is worded does prevent abuse, it also penalizes continuing quite a bit if you're using a race-speciific archetype, which can kill an entire character concept if this happens mid-level.

2) The entire effect—death, clone, and new body shape—ends. Because the clone effectively brought the PC back to life immediately, she wasn't really dead at the end of the scenario. The condition clears, and if the player so desires, the PC might retain a Sorchen-esque appearance (even if she's a halfling who looks rather like that runelord).

2.1) The entire effect ends, but the PC still has to clear the permanent negative levels.

I also like option 2.1, although I also like an idea that has been brought up since, to give an option to disguise as Sorshen. This would have to be added as a boon, though, maybe something like this:

"During your exploration, you were killed and reincarnated into a clone of Runelord Sorshen. Although this granted you power, that power was short-lived and you transformed back into your old body. A small portion of the clone still remains within you, allowing you to cast Disguise Self once per day as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to your character level, but only to appear as Runelord Sorshen.
Having been killed and reincarnated, you also gained two permanent negative levels, which you have to clear using the regular means."

It depends on why they would want to spend that amount of gold to create that encounter. If the treasure or information thus protected is worth it for them, then why not.

Something i dont realize until now, can i lvl monk/barbarian/monk again? (i donk know how i dont see this first)

No problem there. In D&D, monks and paladins had that restriction of "once you multiclass you can never come back", but that sort of thing is long gone in Pathfinder.

I wouldn't think so, as it is not a use per day, but per adventure.

I'll also throw in "Scars of the Third Crusade" as a suggestion.

Also, even if you played 6-98, you're not guaranteed to gain a special boon out of those scenarios.

Does the owlbear/axebeak/fairy dragon boon effect the character or companion?

It affects the character by adding an option to either their class's companion list or the list they can choose an improved familiar from.

The comma is essential. Too bad you did not use it at first

I see no grammatical sense for "no it is not" other than "no, it is not" with the comma being forgotten. There's a big difference to "it is not no" (or whatever you're reading out of it). Just saying.

On the subject matter, I do see why it shouldn't make sense that you keep bad stuff for your companions/eidolons/etc., but have to give away the good ones, especially when the good boon would only be an actual advantage when on the companion.
On the other hand, I see why bad effects shouldn't be just handwaived away. That would generate an attitude of using companions as lab rats.