Backalley Barkot's page

I’m building a Dex-based exemplar (level 4) for a game tonight. His Gleaming Blade weapon Ikon is a dagger and I gave him the Twin Stars feat. Let’s say in round one, his actions are:

1. Twin Stars to split the dagger in two.
2. Melee Strike vs. Enemy A.
3. Ranged Strike with the other half vs. Enemy B.

In round 2, let’s assume Enemy B is fleeing or dead. Could my exemplar use Twin Stars again to fuse the daggers into one, effectively causing the thrown half to return? Mechanically, it wouldn’t change his attacks for the rest of the round - he would still only have one fully-powered weapon in his hand, but he wouldn’t have to worry about somebody grabbing the other half and running off.

The more I think about it, the more I think maybe Twin Stars may not be worth it on its own, just to get the circumstance bonus to damage (from the Twin trait) on the second attack. It would be much better if the exemplar had an option for a specific two-weapon fighting feat like other martial as have. But I’m still curious about whether the exemplar has to have both halves in hand to use Twin Stars to fuse them back together.

From the thread ”What other Uplifted Animals do you wanna see?”, a couple of years ago:

For home game use, i remain a big fan of creating any uplifted animal i want with this product (written by Alex Augunas and published in conjunction with my company, Rogue Genius Games) - https://paizo.com/products/btq01xdb?Star-LogDeluxe-Uplifted-Animals

For official Paizo creatures, I'd love to see something *very* different, like uplifted tashtari!

This goes to the reason why I'm searching "tashtari" on the forums this evening, as I prepare to run an encounter with them: how intelligent are they?

According to the tashtari stat block in AA2, the standard tashtari has an Intelligence modifier of +0, making them as intelligent as the average human (in which case they wouldn’t need to be uplifted).

The narrative description, however, suggests that they are closer to animal intelligence, with references like "Sentient species of Castrovel refer to these beasts as tashtaris..." and "Attempts to domesticate tashtaris .... but trainers must closely monitor..." (emphasis mine).

How do you run these creatures? As human-level intelligent adversaries, or hungry pack hunters? And can we get a FAQ or errata to tell us what the official answer is?

I’m playing an occult-focused Enigma bard in a 2E conversion of Hell’s Rebels. Pretty soon we’ll hit level 4, when I’m planning to take the Ritualist dedication, which will let him learn two uncommon rituals of no more than half his level. As a neutral good character, my bard is not interested in learning how to create undead, and he is an expert only in Occultism.

As far as I can see, there are no 1st level rituals he qualifies for, and the only 2nd level rituals are Inveigle and Create Undead. Without Create Undead, he’s going to be short one ritual until level 5 - assuming he puts his next skill proficiency increase into Arcana, Nature, or Religion - or level 6, when he can take Resourceful Ritualist. Am I missing anything? Has anyone heard if there will be new rituals available when Secrets of Magic comes out in late August?

Obviously I can discuss other options with my GM, like researching something new, and it won’t be the end of the world if my bard needs to wait a level or two to get a second ritual. It just seems as though Ritualist is lacking in options at lower levels - it’s set up for each Ritualists expert in each of the four knowledge skills to have two available 2nd level rituals to take, but one of them only works for evil Ritualists, which makes it useless for many characters.

I ran the Band on the Run one-shot for my wife and kids tonight (we had lots of fun - with the exception of one encounter), and I’ll try to post my thoughts on it soon. I reported the game tonight, and was confused by the way my GM credit showed up on the character I applied it to.

The sanctioning document doesn’t say anything about earning Reputation for this scenario. The character the chronicle sheet is applied to earns 1 XP and the credits appropriate to the PC’s level, but there is no reference to Reputation anywhere in the sanctioning rules for the adventure (the chronicle has the usual spaces for Reputation awards). When I reported the adventure, applying my credit to my 701 character, he gained +2 Reputation in the faction I selected when reporting. Does that seem correct?

I received my subscription delivery recently, including the sidecart delivery of a hardcover Starfinder Core Rulebook. I bought this copy of the SF CRB because we wanted a hardcover with all of the errata corrections - we already have the first printing hardcover we bought when the game was introduced, as well as the paperback pocket edition, but the print in the paperback is too small for my wife and me to read for long.

I started another thread in November, asking if people who had ordered the hardcover CRB were receiving the 2020 third printing, and Eric Mona responded to say that he was confident that any current Paizo orders would be fulfilled with the latest hardcover printing incorporating the errata.

Unfortunately, I did not receive the 2020 third printing hardcover; I received the September 2017 second printing, which does not include the errata. I expect it was just an older copy inadvertently left in the warehouse, but it defeats my purpose in ordering the book. I’d like to exchange it for the current printing of the hardcover, please.

This is intended to be a spoiler-filled resource thread (as in other AP subforums) for GMs running book 6 of The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path, "Puppets Without Strings."

All GM threads in this series:

1 - The Chimera Mystery
2 - Flight of the Sleepers
3 - Deceivers' Moon
4 - The Hollow Cabal
5 - The Cradle Infestation
6 - Puppets Without Strings

This is intended to be a spoiler-filled resource thread (as in other AP subforums) for GMs running book 5 of The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path, "The Cradle Infestation."

All GM threads in this series:

1 - The Chimera Mystery
2 - Flight of the Sleepers
3 - Deceivers' Moon
4 - The Hollow Cabal
5 - The Cradle Infestation
6 - Puppets Without Strings

This is intended to be a spoiler-filled resource thread (as in other AP subforums) for GMs running book 4 of The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path, "The Hollow Cabal."

All GM threads in this series:

1 - The Chimera Mystery
2 - Flight of the Sleepers
3 - Deceivers' Moon
4 - The Hollow Cabal
5 - The Cradle Infestation
6 - Puppets Without Strings

This is intended to be a spoiler-filled resource thread (as in other AP subforums) for GMs running book 3 of The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path, "Deceivers' Moon."

All GM threads in this series:

1 - The Chimera Mystery
2 - Flight of the Sleepers
3 - Deceivers' Moon
4 - The Hollow Cabal
5 - The Cradle Infestation
6 - Puppets Without Strings

This is intended to be a spoiler-filled resource thread (as in other AP subforums) for GMs running book 2 of The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path, "Flight of the Sleepers."

All GM threads in this series:

1 - The Chimera Mystery
2 - Flight of the Sleepers
3 - Deceivers' Moon
4 - The Hollow Cabal
5 - The Cradle Infestation
6 - Puppets Without Strings

This is intended to be a spoiler-filled resource thread (as in other AP subforums) for GMs running book 1 of The Threefold Conspiracy Adventure Path, "The Chimera Mystery."

All GM threads in this series:

1 - The Chimera Mystery
2 - Flight of the Sleepers
3 - Deceivers' Moon
4 - The Hollow Cabal
5 - The Cradle Infestation
6 - Puppets Without Strings

If so, is it the 3rd printing (with the errata corrected)? We have one of the paperbacks and the first printing of the hardcover, but there are so many changes that our hardcover is untrustworthy but the paperback printing is too small for our middle-aged eyes to read comfortably for longer than just a quick rule check. I’d like to get a new hardcover if it is as up-to-date as the pocket edition, but can’t tell from the product page.

I’m running this AP for my wife and 16yo son as a backup game for nights when our 19yo daughter (stuck at home for at least the fall semester of her sophomore year of college) is too busy to play our long-running Reign of Winter campaign. We are longtime Pathfinder (1E) players and have played some 2E in the last year before the pandemic started, but we haven’t played a lot of Starfinder and none since Gen Con in 2019, so we’re remembering (or learning) the rules as we go.

My wife and son are each playing two characters - since it’s a back-up game, I told them I wouldn’t have time to do much prep and couldn’t handle running an NPC to go along with them, so they would have to cover whatever combat roles and skills are needed. Our goal is to play it fast and loose, going for laughs rather than grimdark suspense (when possible). After some serious consideration of a no-caster party, they made their choices and finished their characters last night in time for us to start the AP.

My son, who has a penchant for building oddball characters, is playing:

Beorn Ursunovitch, aka “Beorn the Unbearable” - Uplifted bear gladiator envoy. Intimidation, diplomacy, debuffer, melee combat/support, medicine. Campaign Background: Artist.

“Twitch” Betelgeuse - Ysoki outlaw operative (detective). Stealth, hacking, sense motive, trick attack. Campaign Background: Traveler.

My wife only plays in our home games and occasional PFS and SFS games (with our family group taking up most or all of the seats), and does not usually go too far afield with her characters. She has played a human cleric of Sarenrae, an elf cleric of Desna, a human rogue, and a human solar disciple mystic. This time, she decided to move out of her comfort zone and really surprised me with her choices:

Birgar Chaoskeeper - Dwarf spacefarer vanguard (boundary aspect). Melee combat (primary), medicine, athletics, some knowledge skills. Campaign Background: Traveler.

Sophie Tuesday - Strix roboticist technomancer. Engineering, computers, life & physical sciences, spellcasting, and she can fly at first level. Campaign Background: Intellectual.

I think for this journal, I’m going to just refer to the characters as though they were run by separate people unless it matters who the actual player is.

The action began as the PCs boarded the Chimera and checked in with Algiada Iom. Twitch noticed her and a vesk passenger making eyes at each other; not much gets past the little ratfolk blackmailer… I mean, detective. After the ship got underway and the PCs settled into their rooms, I announced that there were box lunches available in the dining hall as a way of letting the PCs introduce themselves and meet most of the other passengers and crew. We thought it might be awkward, with two players having a conversation for four characters, but it worked out really well - it helps that they each quickly settled on different voices to use for each character.

Beorn, an up-and-coming professional wrestler, introduced himself to everyone he met with both his real name and the name he uses in the ring, hoping to be recognized. He is, of course, destined for disappointment (at least for a while), although Song and Grath Metek each pretended to recognize his name but then told him it was only from the passenger list. For a character intended to be an intimidatomancer, the big bear is - so far - just a big, lovable bear, whose idea of intimidation is to stand up straight and growl a little.

Twitch just wanted to be left alone to eat and poke at his miniaturized wrist computer, or so he said - he could have taken his box lunch back to his room if he really wanted to be alone. The highlight was his reaction to Grath - the two ysoki recognized each other as somewhat kindred spirits in their mutual disdain for authority, but Twitch thinks Grath is a buffoon and Grath thinks Twitch might be a stick-in-the-mud (although the impromptu party in the hallway later may have changed his mind).

Sophie is a little quiet, but obviously the brains of the group (I’m sure this will irritate Twitch over time as he realizes it). I expected her to bond with Professor Benjam as a fellow scholar, but any questions she might have had for him were drowned out by Birgar.

Birgar was outgoing, friendly, and drove everyone crazy. In our Pathfinder games, my wife almost always builds for diplomacy, but this time both of her characters have 8 Charisma, so our son is going to have to cover most of the social interaction. Birgar does try, though. He wants to be friendly and helpful, he’s just really really bad at it. He does have the Tradition Mender alternate racial trait, which replaces Traditional Enemies with a +2 bonus to Diplomacy and Sense Motive, so at least he’s less likely to be an actual impediment to a successful investigation. Birgar was immediately fascinated by Benjam’s discussion of his archeological digs, because it involved digging. He kept asking questions - about the digging, the holes, the techniques they used to shore up the holes, and so on. When Grath asked him if he was more fun than he looked, my wife went off on an extended monologue, in character, in which Birgar wonders if he is, indeed, more fun than he looks. The highlight, though, was when he tried to befriend Jincheroga, literally trying to mend fences with the hobgoblin. It was awful and wonderful and drove Jincheroga back to her table with the Newbloods, but not before getting Beorn to agree to spar with the quartet of space goblins (“My boys need the practice”) sometime during the voyage.

The group explored some of the ship after lunch - I fiddled with the PDF of the map of the ship on the inside back cover until I had something I was comfortable giving the players, and made it clear that passengers were supposed to stick to the middle deck unless invited up or down by a member of the crew.

While waiting in the dining hall for Song to finish making dinner, Birgar, Sophie, Twitch, Beorn, and Kiiv (the engineer) listened as Professor Benjam showed off his “shrinking box,” which he had been told held four asteroid lice shrunk down to the size of regular insects. Kiiv looked it over but told the Professor they thought he had been conned. When he reached out to take it back, he knocked it from the engineer’s grasp and the box tumbled to the deck, cracking open. The released asteroid lice instantly reverted to their normal size and attacked everyone in sight.

This fight was our first test of how the characters would perform in combat, and it was illuminating. Birgar’s entropic strike proved to be extremely effective, killing his louse with a crit on his first attack and later helping to take down the louse that was attacking Beorn, and Sophie used magic missile and energy ray to good effect. Twitch managed to hit his louse a few times but not for much damage and needed help to take it down. Beorn’s demoralizing tactics were useless against the vermin, and his louse latched onto to the big furball and was very hard to dislodge; ultimately Birgar took down Beorn’s louse and Beorn threw a tactical spear to take down Twitch’s louse.

All four PCs helped Kiiv dispose of the bodies and overheard the discussion between Algiada and Trostinek. They managed to convince the security chief that they were on the lower deck for legitimate reasons, and when she escorted them back to passenger country, Twitch followed her. He managed to stay out of sight and watched her go into her cabin before he joined the rest of the group in the dining hall for dinner.

After dinner, everyone but Twitch offered - with no prompting from me - to help Song clean up after the Newbloods. This meant that Twitch was in his room when Grath came by with a bottle and some dented metal cups to have a few nips and “shoot the cheese.”

(Yes, I plan to make ysoki jokes throughout the campaign, why do you ask?)

Eventually, the two ratfolk found the rest of the group and convinced them to join the party. They spent a couple of hours drinking and dancing from room to room, then the ysoki said he had to start his shift “At the crack of — oops, real soon” and left, allowing the party to finally go to bed.

Staggering to the dining hall for breakfast the next morning, the party came across Jincheroga and the Newbloods arguing with Song. Beorn tried to first persuade, then intimate, the hobgoblin into having the goblins take their food back to their cabin to eat, but failed both checks. Rather than try to persuade Song to let them in, they readied themselves for a fight if the Newbloods decided to start a fight and were relieved when they left.

Before they could settle in for their own breakfast, the first mate arrived looking for Algiada, who was nowhere to be found. Just as the group promised to keep their eyes open for her, the ship’s power stuttered and cut out. The emergency lights came on a moment later, but the engines stayed silent; the Chimera was adrift in the Drift.

The group took the development calmly. When Professor Benjam found them a few minutes later and expressed his concern and asked for their assistance, they were immediately willing to help, either from a desire to help a fellow sapient who might be in trouble (Beorn, Birgar, Sophie) or because of the promise of a 1,000 credit payday (Twitch). They did push the archeologist for information about his relic, which he anxiously refused to discuss, and for more information about his real motive for hiring them.

Beorn once again attempted to persuade gently first, but after a failed Diplomacy check he had to take a tougher tone. The Professor, not used to this kind of treatment, quickly cracked and confessed to his part in smuggling an ancient draconic artifact off of Triaxus with a team that included Algiada’s older brother, who was badly injured and permanently disabled in the course of their escape. The old man said that he had not known that Algiada was part of the Chimera’s crew when he booked his ticket and thought the security chief had not recognized him, but the guilt had been eating away at him since he first saw her at the airlock. Satisfied with his real reason for hiring them, the party left the Professor sobbing quietly to begin their investigation.

End of session.

If I order a new hardcover Starfinder Core Rulebook, will it be the 3rd printing (same as the pocket edition)?

I'm getting ready to start running this AP for my wife and son as a backup game when the other players for our regular Pathfinder APs aren't available, but having read through the first two books I’ve gotten really into the plot and I’m looking forward to getting started. I do have a few questions for those of you running it now or who have already been through it:

1. They are each going to play two characters, but are considering a party without any casters: Envoy, Operative, Vanguard, and either a Mechanic or Biohacker. I have only read the first two books so far, but given how much less important spellcasting is in Starfinder than in Pathfinder, and how skill-heavy the first two books are, it seems as though this could work. Has anyone else run this AP (or other campaign) for a party without casters?

2. How much did your players know about “The Unseen” when you started book 1? Did they even know that the AP is about The Unseen?

I’m sure I’ll have more questions as we get started. Thanks in advance!

The summoner and eidolon share a life force, but they don’t share a body (synthesis feat aside). Can an angel summoner cast 2-action Heal on her eidolon and gain the additional 8 hit points per spell level? Can a summoner with the Battle Medicine feat benefit from it twice in one day by using it once on the eidolon and once on herself? What about the Ward Medicine skill feat - can the summoner Treat Wounds on herself and her eidolon at the same time and benefit twice?

As I began making purchases for my first Second Edition PFS character, an abjurer wizard with the alchemist dedication (starting at level 2 with 16XP between a Playtest boon and pregen chronicle), I had some trouble deciding what to purchase with the 52 gp I had to play with. I started with the obvious - a wizard class pack (1.2 gp) and alchemist’s tools (5 gp) - which left me with 45.8 gp and no immediate idea what to spend it on beyond a few healing potions or elixirs of life.

I looked for existing forum threads with gear suggestions, but didn’t find anything as useful for PF2 as Azathoth’s excellent annual PFS Items that can save you thread is for PF1. So I started paging through the Core Rulebook, looking for items available at a reasonable price that might be useful to any Pathfinder heading out on assignment and ended up compiling a list of my own.

I started with the Core Rulebook, but I expect to add items from the three Lost Omens released to date, and the Advanced Player’s Guide later this summer. I ignored armor and weapons, on the assumption that players whose characters are primarily combat-oriented won’t have any trouble finding ways to spend their money. For the same reason, I tried to avoid any equipment that is specifically class- or ancestry-dependant; it isn’t useful to suggest that a wizard should buy some scrolls of arcane spells and an alchemist should purchase alchemist’s tools. Finally, I stuck to a price limit of 100 gp because I needed some limit to keep the task from being overwhelming and because I’m going to be playing at low levels for a while so I don’t need to learn about more expensive items yet.

Without further ado, then, here is my first draft of the list. Comments, critiques, and suggestions for other items are all welcome.

I have also put this list into a spreadsheet on Google Sheets, for easy sorting by item name, level, or price. Here’s the link. I’ll update the spreadsheet with any suggestions posted in the thread.

Opening up the out-of-character discussion thread.

Images and maps for the campaign will be in Google Slides (link below and in my tagline above):

RoW Images and Maps

Per the subject line, is the yellow musk creeper's pollen spray special attack a mind-affecting effect? My players are facing a VERY big creeper and the cleric is planning to summon a treant to attack it, reasoning that the treant's plant immunity to mind-affecting effects should keep it from being entranced by the creeper.

Here's the entry from AoN:

As a standard action, a yellow musk creeper can spray a cloud of pollen at a single creature within 30 feet. It must make a +4 ranged touch attack to strike the target, who must then succeed on a DC 14 Will save or be entranced for 1d6 rounds. An entranced creature can take no action other than to move at its normal speed into a space within the yellow musk creeper’s reach, at which point an entranced creature remains motionless and allows the creeper to insert tendrils into its brain. The save DC is Constitution-based.

This sounds like the right answer to me, but "entranced" isn't a condition with rules, and there is no "mind-affecting" tag on the ability.

My 6th level arcanist received the Moment of Glory boon as part of PbP Game Day VIII. This is the boon that gives you a bit of mythic power for three rounds. It's a single use boon, except that every time the character with the boon completes a scenario in "hard mode" -- and the GM signs the boon chronicle attesting to it -- the character gains another use of the boon.

Naturally, this lead me to search the boards for a list of scenarios with "hard mode" as an available option so that I could make sure to play those scenarios with others interested in taking the hard mode option. I was unable to find a list, so I have tried to put one together, starting with scenarios that people claimed to have played on "hard mode" and then checking the product pages and reviews for the scenarios mentioned.

So far, I have confirmed seven scenarios (listed below, by tier) with a formal "hard mode." Do any of you good people know of any others not listed here?

Tier 5-9:
Weapon in the Rift (PSS 5-13; tier 5-9)

Tier 7-11:
Waking Rune (PSS 4-26; tier 7-11)
The Sealed Gate (PSS 5-20; tier 7-11)
On Sevenfingers's Sails (PSS 10-17, tier 7-11)

Tier 12+ (Seeker):
All for Immortality, 1-3 (PSS 7-20, 7-26, 7-29, tier 12-15)
The Rasping Rebirth (PSS 10-09, tier 12-15)
Passing the Torch, 1&2 (PSS 10-22, 10-23, tier 12-18)

Lyz Liddell says the design team wants us to build some oracles, so post 'em if you've got 'em!

Here's my first attempt. I took him up to level 8 to see how some of the feats and features would play out and was surprised to find myself turning him into a bit of an intimidatomancer as well as a pyromaniac. I may have a chance to play him at level 4 or 5 later in the weekend; my wife has offered to run a converted PF1 scenario for our son and me, so we can each play two characters and try all for playtest classes.

Anyway, without further ado, I present for your review and comment, Renewal from Ashes:

Renewal from Ashes
Male (He/Him) Leshy (Vine Leshy) Oracle (Flames) 8
Uncommon, CG, Leshy, Plant, Small
Perception +12 (low-light vision)
Speed 25'
Background: Hermit
Languages: Common, Sylvan

Background: Hermit.

Defense: AC 23; HP 96; fire resistance 5 (does not apply to damage from Oracular Curse)
Fort +13, Ref +14, Will +16

Melee: +1 striking staff of healing +11 (2d4 B, two-hand d8); dagger +12 (1d4 P; agile, finesse, thrown 10', versatile - slashing)
Ranged:crossbow +12 (1d8 P)
Spells: Spell Attack +16, Spell DC 26

Skills: Acrobatics +12, Athletics +10, Diplomacy +14, Forest Lore +11, Intimidation +18, Nature +12, Religion +12, Survival +14
Statistics: Str 10 (+0), Dex 14 (+2), Con 16 (+3), Int 12 (+1), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 19 (+4)

Oracle Spell Repertoire (Divine), DC 26, Attack +16: 4th, Air Walk, Divine Wrath (S), Freedom of Movement; 3rd, Fireball (S), Searing Light, Heal; 2nd, Resist Energy, Sound Burst (S), Spiritual Weapon; 1st, Burning Hands (S), Fear, Sanctuary; Cantrips, Daze, Forbidding Ward, Know Direction, Light, Produce Flame, Shield
- (S) = Signature Spell

Revelation Spells: Fire Ray, Incendiary Aura, Vision of Weakness, Whirling Flames

Feats
- Ancestry Feats: Leshy Superstition, Speak With Kindred
- General and Skill Feats: Battle Cry, Cat Fall, Dubious Knowledge, Group Coercion, Intimidating Glare, Nature Medicine, Terrified Retreat
- Class Feats: Advanced Revelation, Divine Element, Read Disaster, Vision of Weakness

Special Abilities:
- Ancestry/Heritage: climb without hands free (and success=critical success), low-light vision, plant nutrition
- Class: flames mystery, fire domain, curse of engulfing flames, expert spellcaster, resolve

Equipment: +1 potency rune (explorer's clothing), +1 striking staff of healing, bag of holding I, horn of fog, ring of energy resistance (fire), wand of wanderer's guide, crossbow and 20 bolts, dagger, wizard oracle class kit, 75gp, 4sp

Moderate Curse: [....] You gain fast healing equal to half your level while in a non-trivial combat encounter.

Normally fractions get rounded down, but in this case, that would mean a level 1 battle mystery oracle would get no benefit from her moderate curse. Is that intended?

Are there plans to allow people to play the Advanced Players Guide playtest classes at PFS tables?

My family is getting ready to resume our Reign of Winter campaign after a more than a year off (we're midway through book 2), converting it into a play-by-post game now that my daughter is away at college. In the past few months, we have all played enough PF2E to be surprised and impressed by the new systems, and we particularly like the 3-action economy. While I don't think I'm up to a full conversion of RoW to 2E rules (we're still 9 months away from getting witches, for one thing), I think it would be pretty easy to switch us to the 3-action economy included in Pathfinder Unchained for 1E. I have never played a 1E game using that system, however, and I'm curious about other people's experiences with it over a longer campaign arc like an AP. Does it hold up as the PCs and monsters reach very high levels? Is a 1E dragon still fearsome when it only gets 3 natural attacks each round instead of 5 or 6?

You have arrived in Whitethrone, and have been welcomed at the Shrine of the Everbloom...

Just noticed that there is no FAQ button for PF2 posts - is that coming?

Are there rules to allow a wizard to rent a spellbook to gain access to new spells during downtime (as in PF1)? Or are wizards limited to advancement spells, spells from scrolls, and spells learned from spellbooks borrowed from NPCs or captured from enemies?

Is there any reason to play PSS 10-18, The. Daughter’s Due, with the same character that I played in a certain early-season scenario that appears to be related?

I’ve got a ticket for The Daughter’s Due at Gen Con on Friday morning. I played that earlier scenario with my level 6 arcanist and would be happy to play him on Friday morning, but if it’s a high-tier table I might be better off playing a character in the right sub-tier if there isn’t any particular reason to stick with the arcanist. Can anyone give me any spoiler-free advice?

I think the folks playing at tier 15-16 have the right idea about organizing their tables in advance, so I’m starting up this thread for those of us playing tier 7-8.

My wife, our kids (18 & 15), and I are playing Siege of Gallowspire in tier 7-8 (Champion). We will be level 9 by the time the special starts on Saturday night. If you might be interested in pre-mustering to fill a table in advance, here is an overview of our party:

- Ruby Bullroarer, halfling unchained barbarian 9, wielding an earthbreaker from atop her mighty dog animal companion, Barleybrew;
- Murgeath Bittersword, winged dwarf alchemist (grenadier) 9, throwing all the bombs when he isn't imbuing his glaive-guisarme with alchemical weapons, wears a pair of intelligent goggles from a charity boon that gives him exceptional trapfinding;
- Lucilienne Skydiamond, elf cleric of Desna 9, buffer, support, back-up archer, diplomat, singer, a bit of a hippie, and our good luck charm; and
- Kepli Lindenbrook, halfling jinx haunted oracle of time 9, angry master librarian, debuffer, knowledge skills, and diplomacy when necessary; pretty much Lucilienne's opposite, he's nobody's good luck charm.

We have been playing PF for about 6 years, mostly APs and PFS scenarios run at home, but all four of us have played both specials and a number of other PFS scenarios at each of the last two Gen Cons, and my son and I both also play PbP through Flaxseed Lodge. We play to have fun; we're not power-gamers, but we know how to play our characters and work together. If you want to see an example of our play style when we have a chance to cut loose, you can find it here and a little more from last year's special here.

Our strengths:
- hitting things very hard with a big hammer;
- blowing things up;
- many different rerolls/rolling twice and taking the best;
- debuffs and fear effects;
- knowledge checks;
- diplomacy;
- finding & disabling traps.

Gaps/relative weaknesses:
- battlefield control - although we've gotten pretty good at covering the field (Murgeath has wings, Ruby rides her dog everywhere, and Kepli and Luci can each teleport 10' per level per day), having someone who can toss out Black Tentacles or even Entangle now and then would be nice;
- stealth - nope; casting Silence and drinking potions of invisibility are all we've got; and
- we each have a weak save we're working on improving.

Obviously, we're more concerned with having a good time than with having a perfectly optimized and balanced party, but if we're thinking about balance at all, we would probably be most interested in joining up with Pathfinders who are some combination of (in no particular order):
- a ranged/switch hitter martial;
- another front-liner to split the battlefield with Ruby; and/or
- arcane or nature-based casting (battlefield controller preferred, but we also love bards!).

Aid characters: I'll bring my 6th level arcanist, but otherwise we'll be relying on the level 4 pregens.

Dust of Twilight is a level 2 bard, bloodrager, and sorcerer/wizard spell. It has a duration of "instantaneous," covers a 10-foot spread, and has the following description:

A shower of iridescent black particles clings to and extinguishes torches, lanterns, sunrods, and similar mundane light sources and dispels any spell of 2nd level or lower with the light descriptor (as dispel magic). Creatures in the area must make a Fortitude save or become fatigued.

What is the duration of the fatigued condition? Instantaneous doesn't really make sense for this part of the spell effect.

Please cancel this order. Thanks.

How do I account for minor focus components for psychic spells? I’m working on my first psychic spellcaster for a PFS game next weekend, a psychic detective investigator, and I noticed that the Open/Close cantrip still has an brass key (no price or value listed) as a focus component. For an arcane caster, it would be included in the spell component pouch. Do I need to buy a spell component pouch for this character, or is there another way to handle this (in Organized Play)?

I don’t care about the 5gp, but at second level, another 2 pounds of encumbrance on this character is painful.

I apologize if I am missing something obvious, but is there anyplace to see where and when 8-99 D, the final part of the Solstice Scar special, will be run live (particularly in the Chicago area or the Midwest generally)? My family and I have played parts A and C with the same characters at the last two Gen Cons, and don’t want to miss the ending. Working around the schedules of two busy high school students will be tough, but we’re determined to see it through!

Please move this order out of my sidecart to ship sooner. I tried to change it from "Ship With My Subscription" before I placed the order, but clicking the button to do so sent me back to the shopping cart page. I tried changing the shipping option from the My Account page Sidecart section after I placed the order, but that just sent me to a big purple golem error screen. Thanks in advance!

I sent an email about this problem to Customer Support last Sunday and haven't heard back, so I thought I'd check in here.

My wife bought a copy of Planar Adventures for me a couple of months ago for my birthday, but I did not have a chance to read through it until last weekend. A little over halfway through, I got very confused until I looked at the page numbers.

The book skips from page 152 to page 217, from 217 to 232, then back to 169 to 216, then 233 to the finish. Pages 153-168 are completely missing. (I sent photos with the email).

My wife bought the book from Amazon. Is this something you at Paizo CS can help with, or should I be working with Amazon? I can get my wife's receipt if needed, of course.

Thanks in advance.

As it is impossible for a character to start with any human language other than Common unless the character is a human of a specified ethnicity, and as half-elves and half-orcs are now humans who take a specific heritage as their first ancestry feat, can half-elves and half-orcs now claim a specific Golarian human ethnicity as well and receive access to the related language?

This is our discussion thread.

Welcome to the Gameplay thread for Inkstains (by invitation only)!

Are there a set number of tickets available for the Gen Con specials at each tier? Are there tiers that are easier to get into than others? Or are there just a set number of player seats in the ballroom, and the Organized Play coordinators divide up the tables among the different tiers based on the numbers of advance tickets sold for each tier?

Context: My family and I have PFS characters at 4th level (2 at 9XP, 1 at 10XP, 1 at 11XP). We played them in both specials last year in tier 3-4, and had a blast. We are finally confident enough about our summer schedule that we have bought our Gen Con badges for this year, and are putting together our wishlist ahead of event registration opening tomorrow, and are trying to decide whether to sign up for the specials at levels 3-4 again or go up to levels 5-6 (figuring we can play a couple of scenarios with these PCs before August).

Any advice would be appreciated before I push the button tomorrow at noon EDT.

Maybe this is a sign of the end of Pathfinder 1.0, but it is impossible to find new copies of any of the hardcover PFRPG Line on the web store.

Starting on the Store page and clicking on "Pathfinder" takes me to a page with a couple of paragraphs describing the game, with links to the "Scratch-n-Dent" copies of the Core Rulebook and Bestiary 1. Similarly, I searched for Ultimate Intrigue with the search bar at the top of the page (again, from the main Store page), and could only get the Scratch-n-Dent version. I can't believe Paizo is really ready to stop selling 1st edition hardcovers this far out from 2E, so maybe it's just an error with the latest update to the site?

Watching an old episode of Xena: Warrior Princess with the family and we think we found the inspiration for Kyra.

Key quotes:

“Turning people away from the dark side is the most important thing I do.”
“Don’t let hatred poison your hearts. Now go to your homes and live good lives.”

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

Crusader (Season 4)

My wife is playing Kyra in our Runelords campaign, and she will be very disappointed if this lady turns out to be a villain. Because she is clearly freaking Kyra.

A hunter can use her animal focus ability for a number of minutes per day equal to her class level. At 8th level, a hunter can apply a second animal focus to herself at the same time as the first. Does an 8th level hunter have to apply both animal focuses at the same time for a maximum duration of 8 minutes/day, or could that 8th level hunter first apply the tiger bonus for 8 minutes, then apply the falcon bonus for a different 8 minutes?

In play-by-post games, I tend to pick languages at random on Google Translate to represent various non-human languages, with a preference for languages that use something other than the Roman alphabet for languages from other planes.

Are there any particular conventions for certain Golarian languages being represented by specific real languages in PbP? What preferences do other players and GMs have for this? Is using a real language in this way offensive to native speakers of that language here on the boards? (Concern about this last question is why I switch to Bing Translate to use Klingon to represent Abyssal.)

Hunter's Blessing (Cleric, Druid, Inquisitor, Shaman)
Level 5
School transmutation
Casting Time 1 action
Components V, S, DF
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature/level, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration 1 hour/level
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)
Caster Level 15
Vs. SR +15
Concentration Check +19
Cast Defensively +19 vs. DC 25

When casting this spell, you designate a type or type and subtype of creature (using the ranger's favored enemy categories; Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook 64) and a type of terrain (using the list of ranger's favored terrain categories, Core Rulebook 65). Targets of the spell gain a +2 sacred bonus on Bluff, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks attempted against creatures of the selected type, and a +2 sacred bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls made against creatures of that type. Furthermore, they gain a +2 sacred bonus on initiative checks, Perception, Stealth, and Survival checks while they are in the type of terrain you designate. Lastly, when tracking the designated creature type in the chosen terrain, the targets can follow the tracks of such creatures untrained, even if the DC for the task is 11 or higher.

Appears in: Inner Sea Gods

At 1st level, a ranger selects a creature type from the ranger favored enemies table. He gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks against creatures of his selected type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against them. A ranger may make Knowledge skill checks untrained when attempting to identify these creatures.

It looks as though the ranger's favored enemy bonuses are untyped, so I think the sacred bonus from the spell would stack. Does that seem right?

There is no way to get to individual Adventure Paths. Clicking on the link for an AP HERE just brings you back to the page for all published adventures HERE.

If an investigator (sleuth) needs to make a skill check - let's use Escape Artist as an example - and has points available in both his inspiration pool and his luck pool, can he spend a point from both and get 2d6 added to the check?

An investigator has the ability to augment skill checks and ability checks through his brilliant inspiration. The investigator has an inspiration pool equal to 1/2 his investigator level + his Intelligence modifier (minimum 1). An investigator’s inspiration pool refreshes each day, typically after he gets a restful night’s sleep. As a free action, he can expend one use of inspiration from his pool to add 1d6 to the result of that check, including any on which he takes 10 or 20. This choice is made after the check is rolled and before the results are revealed. An investigator can only use inspiration once per check or roll. The investigator can use inspiration on any Knowledge, Linguistics, or Spellcraft skill checks without expending a use of inspiration, provided he’s trained in the skill.

At 1st level, a sleuth gains the following deeds.

Daring (Ex): At 1st level, a sleuth can spend 1 luck point when he makes an Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Fly, Ride, or Swim check to roll d6 and add the result to the check. He can choose to add this die after he rolls. If the d6 roll is a natural 6, he rolls another d6 and adds it to the check. He can continue to do this as long as he rolls natural 6s, up to a number of times equal to his Intelligence modifier (minimum 1).

It seems as though these pools, while both are class features, provide untyped bonuses, which I believe usually stack. They also seem to be different kinds of bonuses from an in-game point of view - one is based on the investigator's brilliance, the other on his good fortune. On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be any reference in the sleuth archetype's write-up about stacking the inspiration and luck dice, which makes me a little uncomfortable about it.

Am I missing something obvious here? Anyone encounter this question before?

My family is likely to host some friends over the holidays who want to learn to play Pathfinder. My wife and I, and our kids, haven’t played any Season 9 scenarios yet and that’s what we were planning on running if we have time available to play when the other player in our regular Rise of the Runelords campaign isn’t around. Are any of the Tier 1-5 scenarios published so far appropriate to more or less complete newcomers?

During the GenCon PFS specials last month, I was told - by two different GMs, I think - that you can't aid another on knowledge checks. IIRC, these were not during combat, but I might be wrong about that.

I can understand not aiding on knowledge checks during combat or high pressure situations, but I have not been able to find anything in the rule books or the main Rules Questions thread to suggest that you can't aid a knowledge check otherwise. Is this a PFS-specific thing? Have I just missed something obvious?