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Does anyone have an idea on how hit points and death currently stand? I like the way Pathfinder can keep you on the edge of your chair, especially if you are playing a base D 6 character or have a low constitution. Starfinder went to far IMHO, characters get a much larger “pool” of hit point/ stamina and due to resolve points fear/ excitement for me is lessened in Society play since my chance of death is close to nil if I have saved my resolve. thoughts? (Btw, I like Starfinder in many ways.)
Thornkeep, most levels can be done in 4-5 hours. Murderers Mark in 5-6 if your party is balanced. Godsmouth in 5-6 hours if you lead the party a bit with some well placed hints, clues. Crypt of the Everflame is two 5 hour sessions for sure. Dragon's Demand part 1 should be fine for 5 hours, but for that one I'd want the party to finish all four parts.
sounds good, thanks guys. DM Blake I like the circumstance bonuses you assigned and a GM can always add or subtract those by RAW based on how he sees the situation. I for example am the only GM I know that will in special situations give a player an initiative bonus based on what they have said they are doing.
Clarification then DM Blake please... on round one, if a 3 foot Kobold moves behind a 4 foot pillar, and attempts a stealth check, wouldn't it be automatic if the pillar blocks line of sight? No part of the creature can be seen.
The examples above are how I run stealth, with one clarification. Round one, the kobold is seen and gets behind cover. Round two, as the kobold comes out of cover he rolls his stealth roll against the player's perception. If he wins he gets his sneak attack damage added to his crossbow against a target that failed its perception. Now, how does he know which one failed? I use a sense motive check. Any thoughts to the contrary?
"The scenarios are often chock full of names to memorize and some really convoluted backstory" By memorized I think you mean keep track of? About one in three scenarios have a twisted plot line or heavy social element like Blackros Matrimony. Some are very linear and a dungeon crawl, like Veteran's Vault. I don't memorize names, but I will place notes in the margin on what accent I would like to use for what person, etc. Remember I'm not advocating cold running. I'm just offering ways to make it easier for a GM to get to a venue and be given options and "some" time to prepare. My group is in the largest city in the lower 48, many travel a long way to play. I know my GMs, their strengths and weaknesses. I bring back up scenarios that are easy to run and will sit down with GMs and give them pointers and time to read it. I really try hard not to send people home if a GM has to back out at the last moment. With that said my average prep time per cold scenario is around 2.5 hours with a highlighter plus a look at our GM boards below.
The GM needs to set the tone. If you are running with 10 year olds or a Baptist preacher, you should be able to modify your game for all the players. (I've played with both and have had a great time.) Schools are a prime example.
The needs of the few (that sex starved Undine, or druggie rogue )should be toned way down in certain situations,. Respect the guidance of the GM and respect the venue.
As a side note, most scenarios are 18 pages long with maps and lots of stats. I can read 1 page a minute and in 36 minutes I can read a scenario twice over.
If we have a 4 hour game and and i have 5 hours I can almost read it three times over. Cold is bad, but know your GMs. I have a speed reader in my group that reads three times faster than me....in 20 minutes he can ready it over 3 times and be ready to go. An experienced 2-4 star GM with 30 minutes to an hour prep time should be a possibility. Not the best situation, but doable in some cases. I ask, don't make snap judgements. Get a feel for your GMs and have 10-12 scenarios in the 1-5 tier range a below that are easy to run and already printed. Conventions can be crazy. I would love to hear more thoughts from big convention organizers here.
If your GM is a fast reader and had played the scenario 30 minutes prep might be fine, especially in a tier 1-5. I have had this come up and moving the GM over to a quite corner to read for 30 or more minutes with a high light pen works wonders. Also if another in the room has run it I'll ask them to spend a few minutes to help prep the GM running.
I'm sorry your table didn't make. Please let your thoughts be known to the organizer. They have a tough time juggling their sign up tables. I personally like the core option for two main reasons. It lets new players sit down an play on a level playing field and not feel like are "over shadowed" by players who have spent hundreds of dollars on many different options. After playing for 4 years its kind of nice just bringing my core book, dice and my character. I also don't think this hurts Paizo from a business sense.
I have two characters I have made now, so I can sit down and play when a core table is presented. (It doesn't hurt to make a back up core character just in case.) The second reason I like core is for players and GMs who have played most of the scenarios.
Regards, Baronjett
Some players I know have their normal characters and a few "power builds" built to have a chance in some of the very difficult scenarios like Waking Rune and Bone Keep. Most players don't complain when the "power" gamer is keeping them alive in a death trap. Most scenarios though are written for a a well balanced game, and a well balanced group does best. I've seen optimal characters built for combat feel left out in a social scenario like Blackros Matrimony for example. Good advice is having at least one social skill to help the party like diplomacy or even intimidate. Our local goblin(a rare boon) put a point into profession chef for fun. My advice is build character you like with a nice back story for role play.
I wanted to mention Season 7 has had some great scenarios and the flavor has been fantastic.
As a side note our local group in Jacksonville has organized a 100% Tengu group know as "A Murder of Panthfinders" (Crows fly in groups called A Murder) in honor of Mike Brock.
Thank you Paizo for a great start to Season 7.
A new player with his first 5 th character for example sitting down to play a 8-9 tier game should at least be warned that things could get deadly fast. I've seen GM at conventions say " play what you want" with no color and then see the game end 2 hours in due to a near tpk. My thoughts are to guide the group, perhaps with a subtle hint about difficulty and then let the cards fall as they may. As another side note, I want all players to feel engaged , playing up many times means that character takes a minor role and at the end of the night still feels slighted even if the group is sucessful .
Have the spell your about to cast pulled up in case the GM wants to read it.
Have the players write their initiative on the map too, that way they know who is coming up next. Most GMs track initiative, many behind a screen. This way everyone can see where they are... Use a small tent with your character's name and your perception modifier on it. Many GMs want to roll find traps for the players, etc....and it helps get into role playing by calling characters by their names.
Another example, if a character has a skill with +9, and rolls an 19 for a total of 28, the GM might not allow a character with a +2 on the skill to aid another to push up the first character's score to a 30. The reasoning is that it the second character can help, but not push the score up further than the second character's max(I.e., rolling a 20 on the skill check). In this case it would top out at 29.
buy a couple of 1st level offensive scrolls at 25 gold each, use them if things get sticky. PFS does give you a nice 150 gold to start, so 3-4 extra scrolls starting at level one IS possible. I do like the cantrip and aid another idea. Aid another is easier for a druid, since their AC is better than a wizard. Remember for aid another you have to threaten the bad guy. An other reason the spear example above is such a good one. You threaten without being next to the bad guy.
I've always allowed one re-roll per 4 hour session. A Module has a lot more fights and ways to kill the characters and this allows them a better chance to survive. I agree with the golden rule of having fun. However, I wouldn't have a problem with a GM that only allows one re-roll and would hope they would mention it up front.
Here in Jacksonville, FL we generally run 4 tables on a Tuesday night. The store manager has a hard cut off at 11 pm. One advantage we have is a lot of experienced GMs so we have a very good feel for what scenarios run long, and plan those for the weekend games. We give a time warning, best is the 90 minute mark so GMs can skip the optional encounter if their table is running slow. Filling out part of the Chronicle sheet helps, the rest can be filled out sitting outside the store if need be. You can also split sessions for the long scenario, just have the players sign up for both nights.
One thing I would like to see if more feedback on the Paizo site under each scenario, for the GMs about how long it took to run. I hope this helps and good gaming! P.S. most Seasons 0 and 1 run shorter...most season 4-5 run a bit longer. Also tables of 6-7 players run a lot longer than tables of 4-5.
I wish players could always play their characters too. However, a higher level character can spoil the fun for the other players if allowed to sit in your example. In the Tier 1-5 table, if a level 7th level character is allowed to play chances are he will overpower the table and the other players won't have much fun. The way we have been trying to keep things balanced here in Jacksonville is having a lot more tier 1-5 tables and asking players to develop more than one character. Paizo has been kind enough over the past year to add more Tier 1-5 scenarios! We also encourage new GMs to run these lower level tables too. Now starting our 4th year locally we have about 60 active players and 10 active GMs.
(Another example, even in legal games, 7th level playing in a 3-7 tier game that is playing down with a bunch of 4th level characters is a game changer and can disrupt the game enough as it is...I wouldn't want the limits moved.)
The summoner, either unchained or standard, gets to cast arcane spells in light armor. I would allow the Warlock to have this same ability. Their spell progression and BAB is the same for either class. Summoner gets an a lot more abilities in my opinion even after giving them that. For example, their summon monster ability and duration n minutes. Plus their Eidolon and the abilities given to it surpasses a talent every even level in my opinion. Talents are nice, but only a few are powerful. I don't see the problem of using a feat to get an extra talent. Its not that powerful a class...
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