"Auntie" Baltwin's page

Most of the time on the boards I post as one of my PFS PCs - so the Screen Name is one of my PCs names. The problem with that is that I have ... so many PCs. more than 60? each has their own name and personality, each with different stories, often a story related to their name.

(Deciding who to post this as... I know, a name most PFS players should recognize!)

I know I've moved on - after those meddling kid...errr... pathfinders came by "investigating my "home", and I found out how much they got PAID to do it, I joined up.

Best thing I've done sense taking in orphans, and a lot less work I tell you!

Funny story for the day?

I often use the spell Unnatural Lust

I might cast it on a Mook - sending him after the PC Druids Big Cat companion... SO that he scrambles over and hugs said kitty, and I might then slumber hex him...

This means that later, when he wakes up, he remembers unnaturally lustful thoughts (and actions) toward the Big Cat, just before he blacked out. Only to come to some time later, (and because we searched him while he as asleep) with his clothing in dis-array, with a happy lion sitting next to him purring.

Yah... what happens in Almas, stays in Almas...

Well, I can remember playing in a band of adventurers composed of a Pixie (Rogue), a Sprite (Cleric), a Brownie (Fighter) and a Pseudo Dragon (Wizard) - and I think the Brownie was the biggest of the bunch at 23 and a half inches - she was a bit sensitive about that last half inch, otherwise we'd have just said she was 2 feet tall... and she had a bit of muscle beefing her up, not exactly chunky mind you but being the strongest... what? ... (whisper-whisper)... "Players" you say? how does that... oh.

I always have trouble telling when the poster is talking about PLAYER instead of CHARACTER. Ok then. Well... I ran a game for 3 pre-teen girls. Ages 8 to 12 I think, so they were pretty small. I mean the biggest of them couldn't have weighted more than 5 Stone dripping wet. So, if you didn't count the fourth player... what? (whisper-whisper)... goodness, again? Numbers of players you say? ... oh. Why didn't they say that then? (looks back at title "SMALLEST GROUP POSSIBLE"...) Goodness...

Well, that's an entirely different group then. I mean I guess you could run a Solo Adventure, that gives you one player and one GM - and I saw a Dragon Magazine article once for a random generated dungeon that I guess you could play as a solitaire game, which would be just one... but I actually never saw it played. I don't think we could go to less than one player though. Unless we count some of those computer games. The things players do on this Web thing, you never know. I don't do it myself you know, to afraid of spiders and... oh. Okay then.

So I guess I'll just move on now...

Have a nice day!

thanks 2bz2p!
that answers way more questions than I even considered asking - and will help prepare me for when (not if) my players (bless their little black undead hearts) think of them.

So I think I'm about set for this now. I'll try to check back in with an update and any final work I put into this. and to see if anyone else comes up with input.

VoodistMonk - any suggestions on how to slowly build up the power on the Simulacrums over time? I figured I could increase the Hag by adding in a few levels over time - maybe even starting with a couple levels of Witch at first.

Then adding in a Winterwolf companion ... heck, maybe even starting with a Simulacrum of that too. Tack on some long term buff spells - Maybe handing the Simu the Ice Staff - realizing it only lasts a week. That sort of thing...

For which feats to drop off, maybe Great Fortitude and Alertness... for the reduction of the Stat Point she get's at 8 HD (pulling it back out as a 5 HD version) I was thinking of reducing WIS or STR, as those are odd stats and it wont effect the build.

thanks everyone - I guess you can see what I was thinking about.

VoodistMonk - While I agree with you for the most part, I don't think I want to start with that high a level monster. Hag with 10 levels would be... really tough. and realizing that she is in a Coven, that will add in two extra Hags (even if they are just Green ones). The PCs are 8th level now, and as you suggested this is going to be a recurring monster... so maybe I'll start adding levels as we go on? just start with the "Half-Power" Hag and build up from there.

AVR - yeah, that's the root of the question I guess. What would you advise?

I figured I'd drop two of the Feats (difference between 10 HD and 5 HD) and scale back the skills. Drop the BAB and Saves back for a 5 HD monster...and NOT give her the Ice Staff (at least at first).

The part of the story line that I haven't passed on to you is that one of the PCs is a Changeling and the Winter Hag is her mother. The long term mission of the Hag is to retrieve her daughter... though the players will not know this (we'll see how long it take to figure it out).

ok, when a Winter Hag is in a Coven the coven can cast Simulacrum (as well as other things)

Now - for plot reasons it would be good to have the W.Hag create a Simulacrum of herself and send it off on a task - but exactly what would the stats be like?

From the spell: Simulacrum creates an illusory duplicate of any creature. The duplicate creature is partially real and formed from ice or snow. It appears to be the same as the original, but it has only half of the real creature's levels or HD (and the appropriate hit points, feats, skill ranks, and special abilities for a creature of that level or HD). You can't create a simulacrum of a creature whose HD or levels exceed twice your caster level. You must make a Disguise check when you cast the spell to determine how good the likeness is. A creature familiar with the original might detect the ruse with a successful Perception check (opposed by the caster's Disguise check) or a DC 20 Sense Motive check.

I bolded the part I consider the important part...

so... anyone have any suggestions? How do I go about this creature build?

Looks like it would lose half it's HD (so BAB and Saves would go down) and half it's HP. Lose half it's feats (2) and half it's skill ranks. But what about "special abilities"?

And Intelligent Carpet of flying, with a extreme case of Acrophobia. As in anything higher than ground level, 0" airborne. and a crawl speed of 10 foot.

" Any First Hand Experience w / Monstrous PCs? "
... well, yeah. Meet all kinds of them during the game. Even the ones you would think couldn't ever appear in groups, nauseating Aura, overly aggressive, anti-social - all kinds of "Monstrous". Up until "the current crisis" I used to go to a bunch of Convention games and you meet lots of truly "monstrous" players there! In fact, at Origins a few years back, there was one.. wha?" (whisper-whisper) "What kind of...? PCs you say? Not Monstrous PLAYERS?" (pause to re-read thread title) "Oh. Well, that puts a different spin on things... moving on now... have a nice day!"

Slim Jim wrote:

LordKailas wrote:

Slim Jim wrote:

Primary gore attack + Tusk blades + AoMF + reach + Paired Opportunists (shared by Hunter3 rider).

what feat gives me a primary gore attack?

That's the animal companion (not you); if its only attack form is XYZ, then XYZ is its primary attack.

The reason we want a gore is for Tusk Blades applicability (note: they cannot be fitted to teeth, only horns or tusks). The reason we want a primary attack is for 1.5x multiplication of both strength and Power Attack damage, and all the better with Powerful Charge.

looks like I'll have to work up a bull rush based animal companion to see if it's more appealing than the pounce companion. In the mean time I did run across the feat Demonic Style which seems like it would be good either way as do it's follow up feats.

I also found the following feats which may or may not be worth it.

Creature Focus
Thrill of the Hunt
Blood Feast
Meditation Master
Body Control
Mindful Meditation
Ability Mastery
Bloody Assault
Caster's Champion

Otherwise, if I can't find feats I'm satisfied with that work to increase its damage, martial focus and the cut from the air line of feats seem appealing for my animal companion to take.

total derail here - but first time I read this I read...

Creature Focus
Thrill of the Hunt
Blood Feast
Meditation Master
Birth Control
Mindful Meditation
Ability Mastery
Bloody Assault
Caster's Champion

not sure where THAT came from... but caused me to do a double check

"Wizard looking for an option to take out the Paladin. "

well, have you tried a dozen roses and a small valentine invitation? Perhaps a bottle of his favorite Adult Beverage, presented on ice in the tavern one evening after a long day of slaying evil creatures? Point out shared interests in quite walks along the beach ...

Taking out a Paladin.

He may be a bit focused - perhaps even Divinely Inspired, but with a little work you should be able to wear down his resistance and ... what?

whisper-whisper ...other definition of "take out"...

Oh... Sorry! never mind then. Moving on...

I could see linking the determination of cause with a Heal Check, to ID the affliction the victim is suffering from.

Maybe even hooking in a Knowledge Arcane check to tell exactly what the cause it.

The Heal showing that it is a (Su) Supernatural effect, with the Knowledge Arcane showing it is from a Magical Beast, or even that it is from the attack of a Cockatrice.

Carry a pair of shackles for when that one person in the party is about to do something crazy or alienate NPCs, and never be afraid to make a playful grapple check against your other party members.

is the shackles for the PLAYER or the CHARACTER?

"Auntie" Baltwin wrote:

Fromper wrote:

And this is why oil of Daylight is so popular. Because any time you really need it, the scroll won't be readable. Also, it's exactly 2 prestige points (750 gp).

or a Potion of unwelcome halo ... and a morally questionable world view.

Or just a rat in a cage and a potion of unwelcome halo

it's harder to find the rodent in the dark (you really wanna try to catch the little bugger when you can't see it? and worse yet, it can't see you? stick your hand into it's cage and grab it?) - and getting it to drink the potion can be a chore too. In that case, we might buy an OIL of unwelcome halo... or just get one of the other PCs to drink it...

And this is why oil of Daylight is so popular. Because any time you really need it, the scroll won't be readable. Also, it's exactly 2 prestige points (750 gp).

or a Potion of unwelcome halo ... and a morally questionable world view.

well...

First Steps I?

Masters of the Fallen Fortress?

So is that a full bushel or...

no, you need two dozen Tengu for a six pence pie.

remember?

Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.

... wait, were you talking about the all-leshy table?

oh, sorry. Moving on now...

Fun table/PC introductions... Many of us have fallen out of the habit of doing them... which is to bad. Some can be lots of fun!

"Hi! Call me Auntie! Some of you may have visited my old establishment?

"Anyway, after I found out how much that group of meddling kids got paid for "investigating" my House of Recovery, I decided there was lots more money, err, I mean, a better future in becoming an adventurer myself. SO... I joined up. Best thing I've done sense taking in orphans, and a lot less work I tell you!

(glances around at the other people in the room)

"anyone here have a bottle opener, like for a bottle of beer?
(receiving a nod, excepting bottle opener)
"anyone have a glass or something to drink a beer from?
(a glass is produced)
"now, anyone have a bottle of beer?"
(big grin)

...

'Boomstick' McCracken.. boozehound of Cayden (inquistor actually)
...

wow... with "Glytha "Nanny" Ogg" as the next PC after Mr. McCracken I read his name as "'Broomstick' McCracken..." - which made me wonder how he used his Broomstick... and made it much funnier to me.

nosig wrote:

It really feels like you are trying to sabotage your viewpoint. Is that your intention?

** spoiler omitted **...

I wasn't trying to sabotage my own argument, I'm just a tad too cynical at times and derail myself by adding superfluous nonsense opinions where they don't belong.

You are correct, such a broad statement about humanity is truly ridiculous and does nothing but subtract from what I was otherwise trying to say.

More on to the original topic, just remember that they put nipples on the bat suit once upon a time, and I have yet to meet anyone who thought it was a good design choice. Obviously someone thought it was, but I haven't met anyone who agrees.

well...

Being a student of military history I would like to make some observations on actual armor.

From Wikipedia: "In classical antiquity, the muscle cuirass, anatomical cuirass or heroic cuirass is a type of body armor made from hammered bronze plate to fit the wearer's torso and designed to mimic an idealized human physique. It first appears in late Archaic Greece and became widespread throughout the 5th and 4th centuries BC. It is commonly depicted in Greek and Roman art, where it is worn by generals, emperors, and deities during periods when soldiers used other types."

I will point out that it was an idealized MALE human physique, because, well you know, almost no generals, emperors, or war deities during the periods when it was used were female. Repressive society and all that. If they had had more female generals, emperors, and war deities (Athena perhaps?) I am sure they would have had armor that would have been "designed to mimic an idealized human physique" of both Male and Female figures. Perhaps if Boudica had lived longer/beat the Romans, gotten better armor made for her? Or perhaps not...

Typical armors depicted on statues from ancient periods (Greek/roman/Chinese) will often fail to depict the helmets correctly... they actually covered a lot more of the face than the statuary helm does. This is because the sculptor is trying to show the face of "the hero" and the actual armor is trying to protect that face (and the head). Artists and armorers have very different goals in mind when they make their creations.

Ok, data so far is tabulated. By far the most common weapon is unarmed strikes / natural attacks. Next up is those who just declared some kind of spellcasting. Then we get into real weapons.

Longbow (includes composite and regular) was the clear winner. Despite Rysky trying to throw the curve, longsword then narrowly beats out greatsword.

** spoiler omitted **...

You missed my thrown shoe. Though sometimes it's a slipper... depends on if I'm at home or not, and what time of day.

I know I said broom, but I also said thrown shoe.

... at least I think I did, at my age, my memory ain't what it used to be...

I think it's grand that Brooms out number double barreled Pistols 2 to 1

.....

-32 Broomstick

Wait! I thought I was unique with this one!

What do you use for the mechanics?

I bring tea. All missions go better when you have discussed the briefing over a friendly cup of tea,

Well thank you! I'll have to splash (glug) a little drop of medicine (glug) in mine though... just for the rheumatism in these old bones (glug) you know. Auntie will just settle back here with my knitting while you young folks get on with your mission...

My guess would be that as Yoon is 'young' and thus small (+1 to hit and AC) this is sort of a free feat, so they tried to compensate by giving a relatively useless feat?

Sounds good to me - we often make bad choices in our youth that we regret later in life...

Lady-J wrote:

Wayang 24? wrote:

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Reduce person on a halfling or ratfolk to use dex to climb and swim.

"I can't get up the rope

bzzzzzt

"Going up the wall!

and don't forget the Wayangs!

everyone forgets the Gnomes...

goblins too

Y’all forgot the Kobolds.

Oh I didn't forget them I assure you! I always have my eyes on the tricksy little beasties and know they are are not to be trusted.

And EVIL with a capital "E", they do nasty things just for the shear fun of doing evil deeds. Take it from someone who knows! I've worked with the dirty, scheming, black-hearted little weasels for years. "Monstrous race" doesn't half describe them, the little twits. I know their ways better than most people. I ran an orphanage for years, and I know...

...wait, did you say "Kobolds" or "Kids"... my hearings not what it used to be you know...

Kobolds. Ops! Sorry, moving on now...

You're an Alchemist? Just get someone to drink your Mutigen.

say a Alchemist/Witch with the spell Beguiling Gift

Or get them to drink two doses of Fortifying Brew (from Advance Class Guide)

No save for the second dose, and nauseated for an hour is ... not a pretty sight.

"Auntie" Baltwin wrote:

Tallow wrote:

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:

I know some of the recent scenarios have done just that. If you have the esoteric skills, you get rewarded with lower DCs, or get a bonus to your Diplomacy check, which is at a noticeably higher DC. Rewards investment in other skills without making the normal ones useless.

It also allows other things to happen:

• PCs other than the dedicated face characters can succeed at these encounters too.
  
• If no face character exists in the party, which is highly possible, especially at a convention, the team can still succeed.

I actually played in a resent scenario where we knew (from the blurb) that it was going to involve a lot of "face" skills, so we brought in a number of CHA based, skill heavy PCs. But... due to the way the judge interpreted the "Social Interaction Rules" from U.I. we failed all the skill checks. It seemed we could not make the Sense Motive checks to determine which obscure skill (Knowledge ??? which one??? vs. Profession ??? or Craft Cooking??? or what???) to try with which NPC. So we could try a guess (random shot), but if we failed to select the correct skill, we spent our chance chatting up the contact on something they had no interest in and failed to advance the cause. This led to a tremendously bad experience in a social heavy scenario. With social characters ... because "the rules" had changed without telling the players what "the new rules" were and how they worked (which the judge had actually gotten wrong - but this was not discovered until days later).

So the problem isn't a new rules sub-set that doesn't work exactly the same as everyone expects, but rather a GM that doesn't run them correctly. In some cases, this is actually because the explanation in the scenario is not written well. In others, it is because the GM did not prep well enough or are trying to run such a thing cold.

"Auntie" Baltwin wrote:

Tallow wrote:

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:

I know some of the recent scenarios have done just that. If you have the esoteric skills, you get rewarded with lower DCs, or get a bonus to your Diplomacy check, which is at a noticeably higher DC. Rewards investment in other skills without making the normal ones useless.

It also allows other things to happen:

• PCs other than the dedicated face characters can succeed at these encounters too.
  
• If no face character exists in the party, which is highly possible, especially at a convention, the team can still succeed.

I actually played in a resent scenario where we knew (from the blurb) that it was going to involve a lot of "face" skills, so we brought in a number of CHA based, skill heavy PCs. But... due to the way the judge interpreted the "Social Interaction Rules" from U.I. we failed all the skill checks. It seemed we could not make the Sense Motive checks to determine which obscure skill (Knowledge ??? which one??? vs. Profession ??? or Craft Cooking??? or what???) to try with which NPC. So we could try a guess (random shot), but if we failed to select the correct skill, we spent our chance chatting up the contact on something they had no interest in and failed to advance the cause. This led to a tremendously bad experience in a social heavy scenario. With social characters ... because "the rules" had changed without telling the players what "the new rules" were and how they worked (which the judge had actually gotten wrong - but this was not discovered until days later).

So the problem isn't a new rules sub-set that doesn't work exactly the same as everyone expects, but rather a GM that doesn't run them correctly. In some cases, this is actually because the explanation in the scenario is not written well. In others, it is because the GM did not prep well enough or are trying to run such a thing cold.

and it was compounded by the fact that as a "New" rule, none of the players at the table knew enough about how the "new" rules worked to even question the way it was working. And even when we finally broke-down and did (yeah, it was that bad an experience) question it ("It can't work this way - that would mean you have to have make a really high (DC 25) Sense Motive check just to talk to someone on the street, to ask directions!") - it was explained to us that these were the "new" rules and were being introduced in this scenario. "Please make 3 skill checks in a row - the first one a Sense Motive to determine what the next skill IS, in order to advance the scenario..." "Can we just roll a Diplomacy roll here?" "No, it doesn't work that way anymore, first the Sense Motive, then the 'other skill', then either a Diplomacy or Bluff..."

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:

I know some of the recent scenarios have done just that. If you have the esoteric skills, you get rewarded with lower DCs, or get a bonus to your Diplomacy check, which is at a noticeably higher DC. Rewards investment in other skills without making the normal ones useless.

It also allows other things to happen:

• PCs other than the dedicated face characters can succeed at these encounters too.
  
• If no face character exists in the party, which is highly possible, especially at a convention, the team can still succeed.

I actually played in a resent scenario where we knew (from the blurb) that it was going to involve a lot of "face" skills, so we brought in a number of CHA based, skill heavy PCs. But... due to the way the judge interpreted the "Social Interaction Rules" from U.I. we failed all the skill checks. It seemed we could not make the Sense Motive checks to determine which obscure skill (Knowledge ??? which one??? vs. Profession ??? or Craft Cooking??? or what???) to try with which NPC. So we could try a guess (random shot), but if we failed to select the correct skill, we spent our chance chatting up the contact on something they had no interest in and failed to advance the cause. This led to a tremendously bad experience in a social heavy scenario. With social characters ... because "the rules" had changed without telling the players what "the new rules" were and how they worked (which the judge had actually gotten wrong - but this was not discovered until days later).

ha! got the trait Calistrian Prostitute in my background.

Not active now, mind you, but in my youth... dearie me.... and I guess I could always put those skills to use again kiddo, if the mission called for it! (wink!)

(Character Sexuality can be just another aspect of Role Play - and is often very much influenced by the campaigns and players cultures)

I like the silent image mist and invisibility on doors suggestions. A shame they're not on the spell list for my witch.

My witch really likes the spell Unnatural Lust (not normally a witch spell, depending on your Patron...)

I often use the spell Unnatural Lust

I might cast it on a Mook - sending him after the PC Druids Big Cat companion... SO that he scrambles over and hugs said kitty, and I might then slumber hex him...

This means that later, when he wakes up, he remembers unnaturally lustful thoughts (and actions) toward the Big Cat, just before he blacked out. Only to come to some time later, (and because we searched him while he as asleep) with his clothing in dis-array, with a happy lion sitting next to him purring.

Yah... what happens in Almas, stays in Almas...

Profession Gamer.

So that I can get paid to play PFS.

Wait, were we talking about PC Professions? Never mind then....

"Auntie" Baltwin wrote:

Yeah, I know what you mean. I've started me a stockpile of Humans, just in case they rotate those out of the standard mix.....

;-)

Right. You even labeled them "not for consumption.."

??? Often you confuse me with your responses.???

I don't understand your post enough to even comment on it... Did I offend you in some way?

TimD wrote:

Steven Schopmeyer wrote:

It may also be that punishment was meted out and no one is allowed to speak about it.

Especially as Mike's policy was "praise in public and discipline in private".

Kurthnaga wrote:

I really do have to wonder how widespread this problem was and where it occured for Campaign to feel to betrayed by its players.

Which in turn caused the players to feel betrayed by the PFS leadership... an ugly cycle, all around.

and Jittery about losing them again. I have a stockpile of kitsune going...

Yeah, I know what you mean. I've started me a stockpile of Humans, just in case they rotate those out of the standard mix.....

;-)

old gamer pulls up chair with interest. " too quick to dismiss problems that mainly affect older players " ... this can get interesting quick. Maybe there's hope for my arthritic knees after all? We getting padded seats in the game table chairs, or we can do something to keep those kids off my lawn?

What? (maybe not EXACTLY the Meta-Plot - but everyone recognizes me)

After I found out how much that group of meddling kids got paid for "investigating" my House of Recovery, I decided there was lots more money, ah, I mean, a better future in becoming an adventurer myself. SO... I joined up. Best thing I've done sense taking in orphans, and a lot less work I tell you!

(glances around at the other people in the room)

anyone have a bottle opener, like for a bottle of beer?
(receiving a nod, excepting bottle opener)
anyone have a glass or something to drink a beer from?
(a glass is produced)
now, anyone have a bottle of beer?
(big grin)

Having a PC the other players recognize? yeah - I can understand that. Many players recognize me from my picture on my table tent... or my name.

(Introduction at the table in "little ol' lady voice")
Does the name ring a bell kiddie?

You can guess the class...yep, witch.

After I found out how much that group of meddling kids got paid for "investigating" my House of Recovery, I decided there was lots more money, ah, I mean, a better future in becoming an adventurer myself. SO... I joined up. Best thing I've done sense taking in orphans, and a lot less work I tell you!

Mostly standard Witch stuff - OH! I'm good with "face" skills too.

I had one player say he had killed me when he first met me. I just told him...

Well, ya know, death isn't always permanent. But I'm still working for the Silver Crusade - trying to pay them back for the expense of a Raise Dead.

I want to GM an all-kitsune or tengu table through play-by-post in an evergreen. It would be fun to use Silverhex or Phantom Phenomena for this, if one could actually do those with non-pregen characters. Oh please, please, please... Lift the pre-gen requirement!

off topic... but this line "...an all-kitsune or tengu table through play-by-post in an evergreen..." made something click for me. How about an all Wayang table playing thru First Steps... picture these guys dealing with Auntie Baltwin!

Auntie Baltwin

Robots in a medieval fantasy setting
a grippli alchemist throwing bombs from above

wow... I made it to a card!

(in "little ol' lady voice")
does the name ring a bell kiddie?

You can guess the class...yep, witch.

After I found out how much that group of meddling kids got paid for "investigating" my House of Recovery, I decided there was lots more money, ah, I mean, a better future in becoming an adventurer myself. SO... I joined up. Best thing I've done sense taking in orphans, and a lot less work I tell you!

Mostly standard Witch stuff - OH! I'm good with "face" skills too.

"Low CON player races in PFS?"

Most of the players I've seen in PFS are human - there was that one guy at GenCON a few years back... But I'm pretty sure he was human...

Wait... Were you asking about PCs races or Player races? Never mind then....

As intended, yes. But as written, that's no longer an option.

Ah well... Guess I should have looked at her back then, but I didn't figure I would be playing her again so I just put her on the shelf and left her.

I'll look at the other possiblilities and see if I have another PC that woud be better to play...

Please excuse the Thread Necro...

But I have a question about switching factions on a PC that last played (blowing dust off old Chronical...caugh-caugh)... 7/20/2014.

I may actually play her again in a few weeks... Can I switch her faction before her next game? In other words use her "free faction change" from season 6?

Has there been any clarification on this?

This game of ours is often like "Rock-Paper-Scissors".

When the challenge presented is "Rock" you just need to have "Paper"...

I think I have a totally different approach to this game or something...I read Louis Manko Levite post above and the others like it in this thread (and in others like this one), and I think I'm missing something here...

Why do people consider PCs to be all about combat? Why are they defining their PCs by combat stats only? It makes me wonder is this just a combat game for them? I feel really out of place here I think...

Or perhaps like a feminist turning to a "jock" and saying:
Fem:"Do you think the ERA is important?" (ERA: Equal Rights Amendment)
Joc:"Very important! Many people discount it, but I feel it's very relevant to determining a players abilities.) (ERA: Earned Run Average).

(Combat ability?):
"I can do 150 HP in a melee round!"
"Yeah, but can you cook breakfast? For a Talden noble?"

"One-Trick ponies" also apply to those persons who only consider "combat" as the answer to all situations. Sure you can slice and dice with the best of them. Shot holes into solid stone, and sling AOE damage in all four energy types...

But can you dance?

Can you hide/sneak?

Can you ask (nicely!) where they locals keep their dead?

Can you calm a small child?

1. Why are you a Pathfinder?
after those meddling kid...errr... pathfinders came by "investigating" Auntie Baltwins Home for Recovery and I found out how much they got PAID to do it, I joined up.

Best thing I've done sense taking in orphans, and a lot less work I tell you!

2. Do you have a name and surname that is not ripped straight out of existing Earth mythology or popular culture?

Yeah. Mines ripped straight out of PFS...

3. Which nation did you grow up in? How did this nation influence you?

Absalom. Are you kidding?

4. What do you look like? What are your wearing? How does this vary when you’re stalking through forests, sewers, deserts or in glittering cities?

Lots of people recognize me just from my picture. What's all this interest in an old ladies clothing? You got some sort of issues there young man.

5. What do you love?

Well... first you need to define "love". I got a strong interest in personal comfort, and a bit of a weakness for strong drink.
(glances around at the other people in the room)
anyone have a bottle opener, like for a bottle of beer?
(receiving a nod, excepting bottle opener)
anyone have a glass or something to drink a beer from?
(a glass is produced)
now, anyone have a bottle of beer?
(big grin)

6. What do you hate?
the privation, the terrible hazards, the daily risk of death… But I've moved on now though, and found an easier line of work. I'm a Pathfinder now, and I don't often have to work with kids any more. 'specially sick kids.

7. Which other Pathfinders (PCs) do you rely on for teamwork, survival and butt-kicking? Do you have a bro? a mentor? a father figure? maybe a rival?

Well, all the younger ones.

8. How does your race influence your views? Are you a stereotype of a certain race? How are you different from most humans?

Well, I'm older.

9. What are you afraid of? Do you have any phobias or worries?

Not much. At my age, you've seen about everything. Maybe having to go back to watching kids I'd guess.

10. What is your most treasured possession?

I really like Pickles - my cat.

let's try this shoe on the other foot for a second...

Why would neutral people worship a good god and be a member of the Pathfinder Society? Obviously, that's legal in Society play, I've just had a hard time coming up with good story reasons to explain it for most good gods. Anyone got any good ones?

Clearly the Silver Crusade must have some way to pull it off - normally in PFS I find most Silvers have low perceptions/wisdoms. They tend to "look the other way" pretty often during the game, and often have problems with the methods/mission/other party members/something... Heck, even in the scenario First Steps, during the Silver Crusade mission, it looks like the PCs are assumed to steal from the orphanage (how else do they get access to the scroll of on the CR?).

So a related topic that I've thought about in the past, and this seems like a good thread to ask it.

Why would neutral people worship an evil god and be a member of the Pathfinder Society? Obviously, that's legal in Society play, I've just had a hard time coming up with good story reasons to explain it for most evil gods. Anyone got any good ones?

The most obvious (and most common in PFS play, by far) are LN Chelaxian followers of Asmodeus. That's easy enough - they're very lawful and patriotic, so they follow their country's patron deity.

Another semi-easy one, which is the only one I've ever done myself, is Norgorber. Since his four aspects have four very different types of followers, it's easy to imagine a neutral worshiper of the god of secrets in the Society. And I can even kinda see alchemists worshiping him as the god of poisons (such as the iconic alchemist). But his aspect as the god of murder really doesn't work with non-evil followers, so that one would seem to be disqualified.

But I'm thinking of gods like Lamashtu and Rovagug. Why would anyone non-evil worship them? And why would those worshipers join the Pathfinder Society? And the same for many other evil deities.

Thoughts?

Hello!

We have lost our GM to RL and need a replacement. The game is still in the very early part of book 1, and the party is still at 1st level.

Rise of the Runelords has been played without any modifications to the AP. For this game though all the characters are members of the Sandpoint Watch and started with martial classes only. The option to multiclass into spell casting classes later is allowed by the original recruitment rules.

Is there a generous (or maybe bored) GM out there who would be willing to help us out? The original GM is still around and available to do a warm handoff of the campaign if it would help.

Here's the campaign thread: Rise of the Runelords [Sandpoint's Finest]

Go ahead and dot in.

Go ahead and transfer discussion for Return to here rather than Jade Regent.

Players come on in!

We're going to be playing War for the Crown when enough of it has been released, and I'm looking at the Enchanting Courtesan as a really fun possibility for it.

Right now it seems to me the best classes for entry would be Sorcerer or Oracle, maybe Psychic. But, I'm wondering if anyone can think of good 3/4 BAB 6th level caster classes or archetypes as well.

Any suggestions, or is this really a full caster PrC?

If you could please.

I'm looking at these two classes for the whip benefits, but the Cleric part of the Gestalt is the only one that is set in stone. If Brawler or something else would work better I'd love to hear about it.

The current ability scores I'm looking at are STR 8, DEX 17, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 16, CHA 14. Race is Human or Half Elf.

This is a 25 point buy. I don't tend to dump stats so if I could afford to get STR out of the negatives I'd like to.

I figure I don't have to be the greatest Swashbuckler ever because I'm also a full divine caster. I also figure I can sacrifice a little WIS if I stay away from spells that have saves.

1st level feats would be Weapon Focus: Whip with the other undecided right now.

Thanks!

Edit: or would I be better off using warpriest and bard?

Phaendar’s Market Festival draws a crowd from all over Nirmathas. Of course merchants, peddlers, and their customers come, but many come for other reasons as well. People come to socialize with friends or family they rarely see. Others come for the party atmosphere. They eat and drink well, listen to music and dance, and otherwise carouse. It is a release after the long winter.

Some come solely to hear Aubrin the Green—the retired Chernasardo Ranger-turned-Caydenite cleric—recount bawdy tales of adventure from her youth. Aubrin is in full swing at the Taproot Inn now, the dark-skinned woman's face mirthful as she spins out the end of a story. One would hardly guess her eyesight is so damaged she can barely see the inn's opposite wall. The metal sleeve she wears over her left leg to compensate for her missing foot seems not to inhibit her movement at all.

Outside, the celebration continues, as raucous shouts carry on the early evening's air. Warmed by the firelight after a long day, any levity comes as a welcome reward to the rough, earthy souls of this riverside trade town.

“So there I am, thinking, when will I ever be able to talk to a bear again? So before the grizzly can stand back up, I turn to it and say, ‘All I need is the honey. You can keep the bees!’”

The room erupts into laughter as Aubrin finishes her winding story and takes another draught from her tankard. “But it’s fine now. All’s good. She named a cub after me. Someday I’m going to have to check in on little Ow Oh Gods That’s Too Many Bees."

Her tale done, Aubrin takes a chair, leaving the floor open to others who have a story or joke to tell.

All characters begin here at the Taproot Inn. Go ahead and add your opening posts.

There! It turns out there's a problem with creating campaign pages with Google Chrome.

Discussion is open now.

More to come...

I'm building an urban bloodrager with arcane bloodline, Str 16 and Dex 14. There are no other ranged characters in the party, so I'd like to be able to switch hit if needed.

I'm wondering if I can do it without sacrificing too much in melee. If I take only Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot can I get by if I'm not planning to shoot into melee?

Is that too much investment for what I'd be getting? I could invest no feats and just use rage for Dex and haste, would that be better?

Help me shoot well enough out of melee to matter with the minimal investment please!

Go ahead and dot in. :)

I'm opening up the discussion thread now. You guys can start using it to get to know each other and so forth while I get the rest of the threads ready

I've had a very good experience with Jade Regent DMing it for my son and a couple of his friends. That game is on hold now for a while as their interests have shifted to other things.

In the meantime I'm thinking of running the AP for some adult friends. There would be only three players, and I'm looking at some ways I could give the party a boost to make up for the small number of characters.

Has anyone played Jade Regent with Gestalt classes and if so how did it work out?

Anyone have any suggestions on how best to balance the small party?

Hi All,

I'm playing a campaign that's just underway with an Arcane Duelist Bard. We're a large party and the other members are:

Zen Archer
Paladin (Sacred Shield)
Blood Arcanist
Archer Fighter
Rogue (Knifemaster)
Vanilla Bard

The Rogue traded out trapfinding, which we would all like to have. I've volunteered to take a dip into Unchained Rogue to pick up it and Disable Device. I don't mind doing it at all since it actually works well with my character concept anyway. The 2nd bard in the group is a caster bard who plans to be a non-combatant.

So, my questions for you good people are the following:

1. Knowing that yes it's not generally a good idea to multiclass with bard, would it better to do the minimal 1 level dip, or should I take 2 or 3?

2. While I don't care about an optimal build, or need to worry about that, I will be serving as a melee support character and I want to do that competently, does my feat progression look good? Any suggestions for improvements? I don't want to sacrifice spell casting entirely, and we can expect to have Inspire Courage and its ilk up and running from sunrise to sunset with all the rounds of performance we'll have...

So here's the build and feat progression I'm considering. Build cannot be changed. I', planning to put all ability score increases into DEX except possibly 1 point for CHA. Yep, the ability scores are correct, 25 point buy and the GM gave humans +2 to one mental and one physical stat to encourage use of the race.

We're using Unchained's Fractional Base Bonuses.

We expect to go to level 20 (Yeah, I know :p) I'm not particularly experienced with high level play, so the feats above about level 12 are pretty speculative in their value for me.

Arcane Duelist 1
STR 13
DEX 17
CON 14
INT 13
WIS 10
CHA 17

Feats:
1: Toughness, Arcane Strike (AD), Weapon Finesse (Human, Will be retrained to Extra Traits with Irrepressible & Magical Knack. Better than Iron Will and I Keep my caster level with the dip.)
2: Rogue 1 Finesse Training
3: Rogue 2 Weapon Focus (Rapier), Rogue Talent: Combat Trick (Accomplished Sneak Attacker)
4. Bard 2 Combat Casting (AD)
5. Deific Obedience (Desna)
6.
7. Spellsong
8. Disruptive (AD)
9. Dazzling Display
10.
11.Discordant Voice
12. Spellbreaker (AD)
13. Step Up
14.
15. Shatter Defenses
16. Penetrating Strike (AD)
17. Following Step
18. Greater Penetrating Strike (AD)
19. Step Up and Strike

Thanks for any help you can give!

Hi All,

Well, I've been maneuvered into running the AP for my son aged 8, and daughter aged 10. Both of them have played a few small adventures before, Beginner's Box stuff and a couple of PFS scenarios. They know the basics of game play quite well actually and wanted to try something with a larger and longer story. I was thinking Dragon's Demand, they saw the cover art for Jade Regent. Ninjas! Samurai! They both love Asian themes are were totally hooked on Jade Regent from there. So I caved, and off we go. I'm probably crazy, or will be.

I'm looking for any advice anyone might have on running Jade Regent with kids. I will be dropping the relationship and caravan systems, and editing content for age as needed. I'm more concerned about making the plot work and keeping things on track with a large undertaking like an AP.

Help? Please? :)