Barnabas Eckleworth III's page

Last game session, and PC who was Wounded 2 got hit with a crit, which would take him to Dying 4.
My players told me that he could spend his hero points to avoid taking the Dying condition, and just be stable at 0.
I didn't think this sounded right. The text says "keep your Dying condition from increasing" not "keep from gaining the Dying condition."

If this were the case, any PC with a hero point would be nearly unkillable.

Thoughts?

For people needing tokens for their games. You may or may not know about this app for Windows called Tokentool. Afaik, it's free (although, I'd certainly pay for it).
Not only does it allow you to drag art from your computer over to be put inside all sorts of different borders. But it also lets you open a PDF, and on the side of the program, every piece of art from that page is separated out for you. You just click on it, and it appears inside your token circle. You just move it around. And you can save the token as png, jpg, webp, tiff, or whatever. It's fantastic.

A lot of folks have been posting with questions. I can try to simplify it a bit, and others can weigh in, if I forget anything.

PF2 is broken up into a couple of sections.
If you go to the button on the Paizo site at the top, to click for products. There are basically rulebooks, setting books (the "Lost Omens" line), and adventures.

The rulebooks just say Pathfinder (with 2nd edition at the top). Your "main" book is the Core Rulebook. It has the rules for players and GMs both. It's huge, at around 640 pages. There are three Bestiaries. And there are various other books that you can introduce at your own pace, once you're comfortable (the Advanced Player's Guide, Secrets of Magic, Book of the Dead, among others).
I highly recommend the Gamemastery Guide in general, but especially if you're bringing a campaign over from another system. It will help ease the transition.

The Lost Omens series of books all deal with the world of Golarion. They all either highlight a specific geographical area, or they focus on a certain topic (such as the Pathfinder Society or Gods & Magic). These books all include options for players (feats or gear) to help them immerse themselves in the campaign world.

The other main books are Paizo's bread & butter. Adventures, specifically their adventure paths. These books are monthly releases that are half adventure, and half articles (with NPCs and monsters). They're written by tried & true authors. They are complete campaigns. Some 6 issues (level l thru 20) and some are 3 issues (levels 1 to 10 or 11 to 20).
There are also stand-alone adventures (such as Crown of the Kobold King or The Fall of Plaguestone.
There are also Pathfinder Society adventures, which are short, and adjustable for different levels.

Also, starting next week, the Glass Cannon Podcast is starting a series specifically aimed at players moving to PF2. I believe it will be under their Friends of the Pod line (but somebody might wanna factcheck me on that... I'm at work).

And, other than that... welcome, if you're coming from 5E or even another system. I know you'll love it.

The eldritch archer's eldritch shot takes 3 actions and lets him add a one or two action attack roll spell to his bow shot. Okay, cool. What about scorching ray? Scorching ray lets you fire one, two, or three rays depending on how many actions you spend.
So, can an archer use a two-action scorching ray? How would that work.

A few sessions ago, a player announced he was going into town to try to get some potions, a new shield, supplies, etc.
The rogue's player said she was going to go with him to get him a discount. Didn't ask. Just informed me she was going to get his items discounted. At level 15, she has Legendary diplomacy. She rolled a die, looked up and informed me that her Natural 20 gave her a total of 47 (or thereabouts). And said, "our discount should be pretty hefty with that roll," and looked at me expectantly.
Um... ? Is this a thing?
And if it is, then are all the characters' items discounted from now on, since she'll just go with them?

In PF1, the whole thing of players buying wands of 1st level cure spells and spam healing was never a problem for me. Why? Because I didn't let them treat towns like their own Amazon marketplace.

In the GMG, there are basically 3 ways of handling treasure in the suggestions. I use about halfway between 2 & 3. Magic is rare and wonderful. Not to say you just can't buy things. But I just don't let them treat the Core Rulebook as a catalog to shop from.

"Hey, shopkeeper! Do you have any more +3 greater striking returning silver daggers in there? And throw in another Type iv bag while you're at it!"

After all, why didn't Sauron just go into town and buy another One Ring?
I play like the PCs are the heroes of the storybook. Not one group of 10,000 other groups of wizard, fighter, rogue walking around.

How do a lot of y'all play it? I like to have special items be found in treasure hoards. But I will make a list of items that can be found in town. And tell the players they can find anything on this list.

I've been using Hero Forge for a few months now. For when I just need that specific mini that I can't seem to find anywhere. I also use it in my VTT games make custom tokens.
But... I have to say. Their customer service is top notch. I had a problem with one of my orders. I emailed them. They took about less than a day to investigate it. Then they wrote back. Said I'd get a replacement sent immediately, and no further action was needed by me.
I mean... I can't say enough great things about Hero Forge's products. And just wanted to let everyone know they were also very professional. Check them out!

Can the ancient elf heritage be used for a multiclass archetype, or does it have to be used to multiclass into a whole character class like wizard or something.

Can the ancient elf heritage be used for a multiclass archetype, or does it have to be used to multiclass into a whole character class like wizard or something.

This will seem like a stupid question. Since, I can sit here and read the rules right out of the book. But... just making sure.

If I use only one action. It does 2d6 fire.
But if I use 3 action to fire at 3 targets, the damage per target also increases, doing 4d6 to two or three different targets.

So, a heightened 4th level scorching ray would do 4d6 to one target. Or 8d6 to three different targets? Do I have that right?

I have a digital key for a "premium kickstarter item." I'm assuming it's some sort of in-game item. But... what do I do with the digital key?

Disclaimer: This post is for good feelings and nostalgia, and serves no actual useful purpose.

I just wanted to take a moment and say with amazement... look where we are.
From the first ads in the inside front cover of the Dragon and Dungeon magazines back in 2007 for this new product called Pathfinder Adventure Path. With a picture of Karzoug the Claimer with his glaive. It had new adventures for the D&D 3.5 rules set we all loved, and didn't want to stop playing.
What was Pathfinder? We didn't know. But we knew Paizo. And we knew they had been putting out excellent adventures for years. And if these new ones were going to be anything like Shackled City, Age of Worms, and Savage Tide, we definitely wanted to find out. (And they were offering generous subscription incentives too!)

Then in 2009 we started playing Pathfinder 1st edition rules for 10 great years. And now, with PF2, the world of Golarion and the community here on the boards has grown so vast, so intricate. And, yes, Paizo are the ones publishing the content. But it's ours too. We have all helped shape the game and the world with playtests, with organized play, with our input and passionate discussions.

So, I just was sitting here thinking about it earlier today. How almost 14 years after those little ads in the back of the magazines, look at what we've all built together. And I'm a bit amazed.

Cheers!

I just wanted to say. Over the years, from time to time, I've had the occasional problem I needed solved. And each time, an email to the customer service team got me a quick reply and a friendly response.
Whether it was a question, or needing them to reverse an order and bump it down the road a week because it fell between pay periods. Always fast, courteous, professional replies.

Thanks for all you do. =)

I kind of forgot they were even doing this. And then I suddenly remembered while I was at work.
Is PFO still a thing that's happening? Has anyone tried it? Is it going to be cool?
I played Everquest for many years. Just wondering what PFO will be like.

I made a rule I'm trying out in my home games.
First off, let me say I loathe the idea in a lot of games and players' minds that there is a magic Walmart in every town. And that every character basically has a copy of the Core Rulebook in their backpack that can be used as a catalog to shop from.
This isn't a video game. I much prefer to give out loot as treasure in exciting locations.

That being said, I don't want to say that characters just straight up can't buy things.
So I am trying a compromise. So I am using a guideline that goes by settlement size. If a character wants to look for an item to buy, they roll a d20, with the item's level being the DC. The item must be Common. And they can't buy or find items more than one level higher than them.

A metropolis is a straight item level DC. Large city adds a +1 to the DC. Small city adds a +2. Large town adds +3. Small town adds +4.
And if the PC is indeed trying to find an item one level higher than them, it adds another +1.
So, a 12th level character looking for a level 13 Common permanent item in a small city, would have to roll a 15 on the d20 (12, +1 for one higher level, +2 for small city).

It's a compromise I came up with to make it to where they can still spend their gold, while at the same time keeping it from being just willy nilly.
And I stress that this is not them walking into a shop with signs hanging from the ceiling saying Wondrous Items A thru L, with price tags listing gold piece prices.
This is more them talking to merchants, asking around. (Tho there might still be some esoteric potion shops and the like).

The story sounded great. I just wish I had been able to read it. I went to my preferences and clicked all the things about receiving things in my email. I never got any stories emailed to me. I just got to read the blogs about how cool the story was. I don't mean this to sound mean towards anyone, but that whole thing was handled poorly. If you're going to have the stories emailed out instead of posted, then make it to where everyone can get the emails.

Let me start by saying I 100% understand the explanation of how precise and imprecise senses work.

My question (which comes after listening to an episode of Roll for Combat podcast during their The Fall of Plaguestone actual play) has to do with the bloodlash bushes and their imprecise tremorsense.

I understand tremorsense can be imprecise. The GM in the podcast does some designing for Paizo, and so talks to the designers on the reg. And he was remarking to them that the fight vs the bushes in that adventure was particularly brutal. And he was told by the employees, "That's because they have imprecise tremorsense, and are supposed to miss 50% of the time."

What I don't get is this: Unless I'm told somewhere otherwise, I always assume a creature has normal senses. So, if a creature has tremorsense, I would assume that is in addition to normal vision. Unless it's stated that the creature is otherwise blind.

So, I would never have assumed that the bushes had a 50% miss chance. Just like a spider... it has tremorsense connected to its web, but it can still see normally.

Any thoughts on this?

Dunno if this belongs here, or in the products forum.
But the draconic barrage focus spell from Lost Omens: Gods & Magic. It says you make one dragon. And for each dragon you make, you roll on the chart. I'm assuming the second part is referring to the heightened versions of the spell, where you summon more dragons and do more damage. Okay. I'm good with all that. I just want to make sure I understand it correctly.
It says when a dragon puffs his breath weapon out, it counts towards the clerics MAP. And when the dragon attacks, he fizzles and disappears.
So.. level 1 spell- You get one dragon that puffs one time for 1d6 + mod and fizzles.
Level 2 spell- you get two dragons that each puff one time for 2d6 + mod, taking into account MAP and etc, and each fizzle after they fire one time.
Level 3 spell- and so on.

I have that right?

I did the pledge for the WotR video game kickstarter. It says I'm to receive a copy of the Kingmaker one as well for my reward.
How do I collect it? I have scrolled thru the website, and it says I'm eligible to download it. But nowhere on the entire page does it have a link to download it. It's very frustrating and poorly executed.
Any tips?

In PF1 there was a concentration check to avoid getting hit.
Is there anything similar in PF2? I haven't seen anything in my perusings.
For like if a wizard is casting next to a fighter or barbarian or something.

I feel slow that I haven't got the full grasp of this after 7 months. But I'm going to give a couple of scenarios to make sure I'm getting this right.

1) Fighter walks up to the door. Listens. Hears some orcs on the other side. He decides to kick in the door and bust in on them.
He rolls a 27 for Athletics. The door breaks. It's initiative time. Since his Athletics was 27, that's what he uses for initiative. Orcs roll Perception for theirs as normal.
2) Fighter listens at door, yada yada. Kicks it in. Gets a 27. Door breaks. Now it's time for initiative. He rolls Athletics separately for initiative. Gets a 12 or something. Orcs roll Perception for theirs.
3) Fighter kicks at door. Gets a 12. Door doesn't break. Orcs are alerted. His initiative score is 12 for his Athletics roll. etc etc

Then. Stealth is the one that gets me. A character is surprising somebody (lower-case surprise. As there is no Surprise).

1) Rogue sneaks up on a creature. Gets a 32 Stealth roll. Creature's Perception roll (or passive Perception score) is a 19. Rogue wins. He decides at that point to attack. His initiative is 32 (for his Stealth roll). Creature's initiative is 19. Fight starts.
2) Rogue sneaks up. Wins Stealth roll. Decides to attack. Separate initiative rolls. He uses Stealth. Creature uses Perception.

I tend to think it's #1 because... if they rolled initiative again separately, and the creature won initiative... it doesn't even know anything is happening because it didn't see the rogue in the first place. So the whole situation would necessitate on the Rogue going first. Right?

I've been using the first example in the Athletics case. If the fighter kicks down the door, that's his initiative roll.

Am I right? Wrong? Dumb? Misguided? Sleepy?

It says, "A bandolier can be dedicated to a full
set of tools, such as healer’s tools, allowing you to draw the tools as part of the action that requires them."

Does this mean you can draw a potion and drink it in the same action? My players all say yes. So, we've been doing it that way.

I loved PF1 bards. I would've played one in every game if I could've gotten away with it.
I haven't had the chance to play a PF2 one, since I'm running all the games. And a player for my upcoming game chose a bard as her character. And I got to looking at them.
They get a healing spell that is a better single-target heal than clerics even get!
And if they make it their signature spell to spontaneously heighten? Forgetaboudit!
Combine that with giving allies a +1 to hit and damage with inspire courage.

My conclusion is that, when I can be a player again, I'm going to play a bard in every game that I can get away with it.

This is strictly a conversation piece. So, feel free to derail this thread all you want!

Now that PF2 has gone its complete own direction, and PF1 & 3.5 stats don't work at all. What books do you still use concepts, backgrounds, descriptions, fluff, and whatever else from?

Personally (and I'm not an evil GM, I swear) I will never not use 3E's Book of Vile Darkness by Monte Cook. Just the ideas in there of horror and truly scary villains for the PCs to square off against are still great.
Of course, any adventures from any system are converted with little effort (see Ediwir's conversion guide in the section below). Like AD&D 1E's Egg of the Phoenix even!

What about you guys?

So, my party encountered the grauladon. They didn't even start to fight it. They just ran, and decided to explore the rest of the citadel. They heard Calmont arguing with the goblins (none of them speak goblin), but decided to come back later. They ended up resting the night. They went back toward the middle of the citadel. This time I had them hear goblins whimpering and crying. By now, Calmont had killed several of them, and was killing them one at a time until one of them talked.
They decided to leave and come back later. They rested overnight again.
So... what should I do? By now I'm sure either most (or all) of the goblins are dead. Or at least Calmont escaped. My group didn't seem to care about it.

I love that NPC stat building is not tied to PC stat building.
However. That being said. I know that it's allowable to do to use a PC stat block.
So what is the CR of a PC build made into an NPC?

I have to get this out there.

One of my players was looking over my shoulder at the book I was reading.
He asked what that frogman creature was in the picture.
I said, "They're called grippli's, believe it or not."

There was discussion of stringing me up.

I have certain players who, whenever they get struck blind or have darkness dropped on them, they keep trying to continue to attack (at range, even). Even if a creature was 15 feet away, they just announce that they knew where the creature had been when they went blind, and they're going to keep shooting at that square.
Or they announce that they're going to start moving to the other side of the room towards the exit. I tell them they're blind and can't see the exit. They respond that they knew where the exit was before it went dark, and they're just going to go where they knew it was.
What is the best way to explain to these people that it doesn't work that way?

My question about Hellknights has to do with jurisdiction.
I imagine in Cheliax Hellknights have the backing of the government. But in a foreign country, do they have any jurisdiction? Like, would the government of another country say, "No, you can't have our citizen"?
How does that work?

So, there's a creature called a Grodair from 1st edition. I think it was originally published in Kingmaker, but they've got it in Bestiary 3.
It's a Magical Beast (aquatic, extraplanar).
I don't think there is a magical beast in PF2. And I don't think there is the extraplanar subtype either.
So... if I were to recreate a Grodair for PF2 (I'm entering in the Fangwood Keep module into Fantasy Grounds, but making it current), what type would I even make it?

Can a rogue with quick draw draw and throw three bombs per round?

Does anyone know if James or Erik has said anything about the possibility of doing AP's like in Starfinder where they have some that are 6 issues, and some that are 3?
I think it would be fantastic if they had three adventure paths per year. The first one would be 6 issues. And then two 3 issue paths the last half of the year.
Does anyone else like this idea?

Okay. So my party's rogue took the alchemy craft thing where he can make common poisons.
He has been bombarding me with questions. I'm looking thing up as much as I can. But maybe some people have more insight.
He wants to know can he just poison all his arrow tips at the beginning of the day. He says that since there was a poison scabbard in 1st edition, that he should be able to have one in 2nd edition (I don't think 1st edition should really apply to anything; it's a whole new game).
Anyway. Kind of overwhelmed. Just wondering if anyone has done extensive reading on poison use and might have knowledge or advice.

Can a monk use a monk weapon with mountain stance using the monastic weaponry feat?
The only reason I ask is the feat says certain monk abilities can't be used with weapons, such as crane stance.
My player keeps using mountain stance with a bo staff and getting a 10 feet reach. He insists it says he can, but I'm not 100% sure.
Help?

I haven't got the fumble deck yet. Maybe someone who has one can answer this.
I understand that critical failures are at 10 less than the AC on attacks. But on the 3rd or 4th attack, with it being at a -8 or -10, a critical miss is a lot more likely.
So, are the fumble decks supposed to just be used on a natural 1? Or are people going to be fumbling their 3rd attack all the time?

I love this campaign so much. Played it and ran it 3.5 and PF1. My old group has never played it after I got back to town.
I'm torn between running Age of Ashes, written for PF2 and running Runelords for those who've never gotten to experience it.
How easy is it to run creatures not in the bestiary. Like, say, Karzoug?
Thoughts from those who've dabbled in it.

Those who play on Fantasy Grounds or Roll20, what do you use for voice chat while you play? Teamspeak or what. I've heard people use Google Hangouts, but I don't see how I'd use that while I have FG going.

I just posted this 2 minutes ago, and my post just disappeared after I clicked submit post.
Do Ki Rush and Ki Strike cost an action to cast them, and then another action to use them? Or is it all just one action to use them?

What was the rule of putting abilities boosts in the spot where you'd taken a minus? I can't remember where it was posted.
So, could a dwarf put one of his ancestry boosts into Charisma, even tho he is taking a minus at the same time?
And you can only put one boost at a time into your lowered stat, right? So you can't put two boosts at once or anything.

(standard apologies if I missed a thread that discussed this)

Okay. So I know there is no longer an official term called "surprise" or "surprise round."

Here is what I'm wondering about. So, I'm assuming it's possible for PCs to get the drop on a monster (or group of monsters). And for a monster to get the drop on the PCs. One group didn't see the other.
So, if, say, the PCs spot a monster from hiding, and the creature doesn't see them... They would get, what.. a regular round of attacks against him, simultaneously? At which point the creature would then know they were there and roll initiative? And he'd be flat-footed, because he didn't see the oncoming attacks?
Or how does that work.

The other situation is "kick in the door" type situations. The party knows there are orcs behind the door. They draw weapons and ready spells, and kick in the door. The orcs behind the door just roll initiative and attack like normal? Neither group surprises the other? Even if one group knew the other was there, and not vice versa?

I'm a bit confused because of my old assumptions of how the game worked. And I know the new game doesn't work that way. I'm just... not sure how to handle it now.

Okay. Captain Morgan summarized the Friday stream for us. One clarification on some errata was that monks do, indeed, use Wisdom for their Ki things.
Does this mean that they use Wisdom for their Class DC when calculating saves against their Ki powers, and use Str or Dex to their Class DC for everything else (such as Stunning Fist)?

I generally just pencil & paper my characters. But we're converting our 9th level Strange Aeons into PF2. And I thought Hero Lab might be handy to make sure I don't miss any details.
First off, if I'm reading it correctly, I have to buy it now, and then pay again in 6 months?
And what advantages are there to linking to my Paizo account? I know with Fantasy Grounds, I get a hefty discount on their products by linking to Paizo. Not sure if HL has something similar?

Standard apologies if this has been answered. etc etc.
If a creature has two attack forms. One normal, and one agile. And it attacks with the normal first, then agile, then back to normal.
Say his attack bonus is +20. Would it go +20, +16, +11? Or would it go +20, +16, +10?
I guess what I'm asking is.. does the -4 or -5 (and -8 and -10) come off the attack in front of it? Or does it come off of the original number?
I hope this made sense.