Blackbot's page

I played Crypt about a month ago with several experienced players. We started around 6:30 and finished about midnight. A balanced party with reasonable equipment to deal with contingincies helped. (multiple weapon types, some holy water, and some alchemical splash weapons)

Experienced probably being the keyword here...teaching the game while not rushing the encounters might prolong the module considerably...

The module Risen from the Sands is also a good choice for an introduction to the game. The adventure states that it's written for four 3rd-level characters, but a couple of the encounters can be tough for that level.

Thank you, but I feel like most third level characters already present more options than your average "Completely new to RPGs" player could handle. I might give too little credit here, but I don't want to throw too much at once at them.

Master of the Fallen Fortress fits nicely into a 4-5 hours slot, so that could be what you are looking for. Crypt of the Everflame runs slightly longer, maybe 6 hours or a bit more depending on the general RPG experience of your players.

Crypt can be done in 6 hours? Then this is a serious contender because it's one of those "I've always wanted to run this!" modules...

I would recommend Tide of Twilight. There is a strong nature theme in it, and can easily stand on its own if you tweak the start.

I knew I should've grabbed all the season 3 scenarios when they were available through Humble Bundle (or am I confusing this with something else?)...will check it out, thanks!

I would suggest the "Master of the Fallen Fortress" or "Crypt of the Everflame" modules. Well, MoFF does end up with some animal combat, but you can befriend most of the animals, if you work at it. Just not the crocodile at the end.

(...)
Maybe consider running them through the first book of Kingmaker? That is chock full of wilderness travel.

How long do these modules take? I know for a that an AP book won't fit one evening and a "normal" 32-page module would also be very tight, wouldn't it?

Night March of Kalkamedes, maybe? Lots of wilderness, and a fun hook to make it not a standard adventure. There’s at least one animal combat, but you could leave that out or give your Druid a chance to wild empathy.

Great idea! There is also a bit of pure roleplaying at the end with the captured gnome, right?

I should make it more clear: Fighting animals isn't a total no-go. They expressed discomfort with animals dying, not necessarily fighting them - wild animals can always run away once they took a bit of damage (which they realistically would probably do anyways) and for animal companions I can fudge the stabilization rolls. :)
I'd just like to avoid scenarios like The Segang Expedition which start out with "Right, there is this animal. We need to kill it."

Hello hello!

I intend to introduce a couple of friends to Pathfinder.
I don't want to run a full module because these tend to take a bit longer than only one evening and I'd like for their first adventure not to end with a "Right, so we're in the middle of the cave now but have to pack up - ah well, hope you had fun!", but with a full "Yeah, you did it!"
A PFS scenario should be ideal for this and I would love to get a few suggestions!
However, one important note:

I will not be running this as Organized Play. I want to show them what a Role Playing Game is and how it works without bogging it down with all the overhead of PFS. If they are hooked this might change, but this is a more general introduction to Pathfinder as a whole:

• I am free to change encounters and the scenario as a whole. If someone wants to suggest a scenario that would have to be adjusted in some way, I'm all for it! (Stuff like "Scenario XY is great, but too difficult for newbies" - no problem, I'll just make it easier!)
  
• It would be great if the characters don't necessarily have to be PFS agents. So while I adore The Overflown Archives, it is sadly not a great option hee.
  
• For the same reason The Confirmation and especially The Wounded Wisp are out. I might do The Confirmation, but I'd have to change quite a few things around I reckon.
  
• A scenario not relying on combat with animals is a bonus. I like The Segang Expedition, but my players would outright refuse to participate in a hunt.
  
• If it's a two-parter and both halves work on their own, great! This would leave a "I hope you had fun...we can play the second part next week, if you want?" open.
  
• I fully expect one or two players to grab a druid and a ranger. A scenario in the wilderness (or with a huge part of wilderness) would be great.
  

Thanks for the suggestions in advance! :)

(And does anybody know why the bullet pointed list does not show up?)

Got bored and did a few more.

Unfortunately, the lack of usable graphics is pretty limiting right now (very few usable backgrounds from the blogposts).

Please do note that the ones I did are in DIN-A-4 format, which is taller, but not as wide as US letter. If you do need a dedicated US letter format (you can just print the A4 downsized and cut away a bit on the side) do send me a message and I will shift things around a bit.

What exactly do you need? I threw together a blank flyer heavily inspired by the one Stephen White designed for Pathfinder Society, though there isn't that much space on it...

You can see it here.

Gonna push this because we are about to play our next session.

Push!

Hey guys,

I will put spoilers in the first post in case someone lands on this thread by accident, but as this is a GM thread I encourage you not to use spoiler tags.
Players beware!

Any other bright suggestions to my dilemma?

Lissa Guillet wrote:

Were you coming in via an RSS or Atom feed, per chance?

I cannot rule out that the bug triggered when I came in via RSS feed and just did not notice.

When I noticed the bug I went straight to paizo.com (I think, my history might have suggested some other side - though probably not one of the RSS links). But again, it IS possible that I just did not notice my inability to login before that.

I just tried going to the site via RSS feed. This time at least this did not result in the brokin login links.
I first noticed the bug on my PC with Windows 8.1 and I think that my laptop with Archlinux encountered the same problem because the cookies get synced with the Firefox sync. I did not make a backup of the cookie.

Update on the Cookie front:

Blackbot wrote:

Fun new error:

I was unable to login. "Sign up", "Login" and all that was displayed at the top right of the screen, but they were only text, not links (Looked into the source code: Only <li>Sign Up</> and so on, no <href="[whatever]"> anywhere).

Deleted my cookies, works now.
You might want to look into that.

Were you coming in via an RSS or Atom feed, per chance?

I cannot rule out that the bug triggered when I came in via RSS feed and just did not notice.

I just tried going to the site via RSS feed. This time at least this did not result in the brokin login links.
I first noticed the bug on my PC with Windows 8.1 and I think that my laptop with Archlinux encountered the same problem because the cookies get synced with the Firefox sync. I did not make a backup of the cookie.

Fun new error:

I was unable to login. "Sign up", "Login" and all that was displayed at the top right of the screen, but they were only text, not links (Looked into the source code: Only <li>Sign Up</> and so on, no <href="[whatever]"> anywhere).

Deleted my cookies, works now.
You might want to look into that.

If it is intentional...

Truly, there is little you can do.
Maybe expectations clash. You want to set the mood and run a horror campaign. They want to slam back a few beers, have an evening full of laughter, kicking ass and being the impolite heroes.

Neither way of playing is wrong, really. But the ways clash hard. If you talked to them and their idea of fun is "Funny stuff" and your idea of fun is "Atmospheric stuff" there will be little common ground. You can ask them to try for at least one evening, but in my experience there is little value in "correcting" their behaviour. If a GM talks to me about how I behave, fine, I'll see if I adjust or excuse myself from the group due to differing expectations. If the GM starts using the game to correct my behaviour (Say, my character likes to joke around and suddenly every NPC severly overreacts to my jokes, or monsters keep attacking me because I don't behave "correctly" in combat) it would severly impact my fun.

I tried the same atmospheric thing as you for the campaign and can understand where your frustration comes from. Sometimes it helped to play the NPCs as straight as possible to signal "Okay, I'm not doing that OOC-joke stuff right now", and it worked to a degree. That didn't prevent a whole bunch of meta jokes, but overall we struck a balance after talking about it (Okay, I'll be honest: Me writing a lengthy, whiny email).

For me, there are two more or less common arguments:

1. "X happens." - "But according to rules, Y should happen!"
If I misremembered a rule and can be proven wrong immediatly, I apologize and change the outcome ("You were right, charge does not add +2 to damage, sorry!").
If there is no way to verify quickly I pick the ruling I find more logical and we'll look it up later, at least if it's not a big deal ("I'm not sure about that, but I can't find the damn rule right now...let's just go with me remembering it does +2 to damage and look it up later, okay? You are at 40 hp, you'll be fine.")
And sometimes I'll answer "I know what the rules say. Some rules are changed for this encounter. *shark grin*". NOT in the "I have decided to change the rules" sense, but more in the "This encounter has got a feat that gives him +2 damage on a charge" sense. Sometimes I'll elaborate, sometimes my players get the hint ("I don't have to roll against fear. I'm a paladin." - "Believe me, you do have to roll." - "But...that means...CRAP.)

2. "X happens." - "That's illogical, Y should happen!"
Sometimes something happens in the world that seems illogical to players. Maybe a NPC reacted a certain way, maybe the PCs are unable to do something they should obviously be able to do. With my group, this usually leads to a short argument and me reconsidering ("You are right, you just saved his son, it wouldn't make much sense for him to treat you like this..."), me standing my ground and telling them why ("You simply can't collapse this tunnel by simply attacking the struts! You lack tools and besides, nobody of your characters knows ANYTHING about mining, so you'd probably collapse the tunnel onto yourselves!") or standing my ground and not telling them why ("This happens. Maybe the baron just has a bad day, maybe something happened or maybe he's just an a#$&#&@...you might find out.").

Luckily, my players have little to no problem with this style of doing things. I'd only have a problem with players who start second-guessing everything I say, which so far has not come up.

I don't want to derail this thread, so I will just state my ruling (which my group accepted):
Even though the Heal skill does not explicitly say it can be used to diagnose a disease, I fully agree that it should be able to be used in this manner.
I do not think, however, that you are able to immediatly diagnose if the character is indeed infected. The onset is there for a reason. Taking a real-world example: If I contract the flu I will not notice immediatly but only when the symptoms (=Ability Damage) sets in, maybe a bit sooner.
So the wizard got bitten in the evening. The next afternoon he might start to sweat slightly, maybe he'll get one or two pustules - THAT will be the moment where the Heal check turns from "I dunno, you got bitten, so you might have it" to "Yeaaaah you are infected, dude."

I can see why other people would treat it differently and will not proclaim my ruling is the only possible one. I like the "Oh crap, I might be infected - only way to know for sure is to wait or cast a spell!" factor it brings into the game.

For the interested: He worked under the assumption that he indeed is infected and took precautions (gotten treated by a Healer + drank antiplague).

Situation:
The baroness gave the PCs the job to investigate a dungeon. They go inside, find a dead wizard and come back out. By that point it's night so they are unsure whether they should wake the baroness and how they should do it...

Player 1: "We could just knock at her door and ask her to come out?"
Player 2: "What are we supposed to do? Throw the body at her feet and say 'Here, we found this'?!"
Player 1: "Why not? We're like cats, really."

===

Player 1: "We need to find out what he was doing there. We should go into the wizard's house..."
Player 2: "...and we might find the wizard's mouse?"
Rest of the group: ????
Player 2: "I dunno, it rhymed."

===

Player 1: "I really need to find out if that ghoul bite infected me. How can I find out?"
Player 2: "Maybe we should go to the temple?"
GM: "You cannot really tell if you have been infected. How should they be able to tell?"
Player 2: "I don't know! Maybe they take a blood sample!"
Player 3: "That won't help. They have to send it off to the lab and that takes at least 14 days."
GM: "THAT'S your reason against his suggestion?!"

(NOTE: I am aware there is the possibility of using a spell to determine this. I rarely use spells from outside the CRB/APG though.)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BXbjFJkSuuhSasqHKk5G7POTpp1du9TWmFdOeU0 qpNY/edit

I generally follow the Inkscape process in the link above. I just grab the image from the pdf, create a grid @1 in x 1 in and resize, then do the bitmap tracing - it does really make a difference.

Linkified

I found this tutorial extremely useful.

The adjusting of colors is optional, but the changing of resolution and the use of Posterazor (which is a pain to run in Linux, btw) is really useful.

EDIT: Skipping through the video I realize it does not cover everything I found useful, so two quick adjustments:

1. Gimp offers a tool to measure distance. You can use that to check how many inches one of your squares is long. If it's above 1, increase the resolution. If it's below 1, lower the resolution.

2. I did not like the "Cut out parts of the map and print them" method. I used Posterazor which picks any PDF (or image? not sure) and splits it up into DIN-A-4 (or US letter or whatever format you need) pages you can easily print. With an adjustable overlap for easier glueing.

Three hours?
Without rushing I don't see much of a chance really. 3 hours is tight even for experienced players, and you have to teach them the rules, tell them about the world, let them choose characters etc.
Two question:

• Does it have to be PFS official (as in "they're gonna get Chronicle Sheets and you report it) or do you want to play a PFS scenario more as a basis? If it's the latter you can shorten some scenarios significantly by throwing out "filler" problems and you are more free in helping them along Because you don't have to run "as written").
  
• Does it have to be in one slot? If not, you could just say "Hey, we won't get through this in 3 hours, but if you want we can start this scenario and finish it next week!". This is problematic in a more public setting, but in a home game it shouldn't really matter.
  

Hi there,

I'm not sure if this goes here or in the Advice forum - but I think this fits better here, because it a) is directly tied into Golarion and b) I kinda know how I want to do this and are more interested in other views.

The central question is:
How do you deal with noble PCs in your groups?
(And does it differ where they are from?)

So, the setup:
One of my players likes to play nobles.
In my Carrion Crown campaign, he played a noble paladin of Sarenrae from Ustalav (his mother's Qadiran). Compassionate, no-nonsense type of guy. His parents aren't really big players either.
In PFS, he plays the paladin's brother - a bard who sets out to learn about the world.
And now Dragon's Demand - he wants to play a noble wizard.
And that's where I start thinking.

Nobles in Taldor are (usually) filthy rich, decadent and FAR above the common man. Even if they are more down-to-earth, how would you deal with the fact that one of their kids basically says "Hey, I want to risk my life somewhere far away, don't hand me any money please, I'll do it myself!"? Even more weighs that if later on nobles show up they basically have to treat him better than the rest of the party because while he may not "outrank" them, he won't be
My current thoughts:

• He doesn't start with more than the usual character because he lost everything just before the adventure started. Maybe he got robbed, maybe he drank away everything.
  
• He might be the estranged son, or at least his parents are pissed enough at their youngest that they won't jump to his rescue as soon as his money runs out.
  
• He only pretends to be a noble or at least massively overstates his importance. (This is something the player has to agree with, obviously.)
  
• He is too proud to ask for help.
  

1. Is it still legal to run games from past seasons? Would it still give me rewards

It is legal, but you have to be careful about a few things spelled out in the Guide.

• Ignore Faction Missions. They are discontinued.
  
• Don't get confused when factions that don't exist anymore get referenced (Shadow Lodge, Lantern Lodge, Andoran, Cheliax, Taldor, Osirion and Qadira).
  
• Earlier seasons (0-3, I think?) were written with 4 players in mind. This affects how you should handle them when your group falls between tiers (e.g. 6 level 3 players playing a Tier 1-5 from Season 2).
  
• Out-of-subtier-gold was introduced in...some season, I don't know. That means it's not referenced on the chronicle sheets and you might have to write it in yourself.
  

First of all i already tried to get some advice from the net but couldn't find reliable sources. Finally a friend of mine who was the GM on Book 1-2 said something about changing/rewrite certain NPCs, villans and whole encounters in all books. Whats that about?

Seems like overkill to me. I did hardly rewrite anything and it went fine. You could maybe change some things along to make the books less self-contained (a popular choice seems to be to send Kendra down to Caliphas for book 4), but other than that is always worked for me.

When reading the first 2 Books it felt like that there is no connection of the Whispering Way in between each Book. Do you have to ideas on what to change there?

To be honest - I did not change anything. They really only set out to stop the Whispering Way after the second book (After they randomly ran into them a second time, so to speak), but I can see why you'd want to change that. Maybe scatter some more hints that that's where they were going next? I would not involve the WW directly at this point.

* Play the AP without EP so players dont have to worry about grinding and focus more on Roleplaying

Talk to your players about that. I did it the same way (because they too did not want to bother with bookkeeping) but you can always up the XP rewards for completing segments of the AP to balance out loss of XP if they skipped encounters.

* Changing the broken "trust system" and give players more opportunities to raise trust among villagers

Works. Quick and dirty fix: Double the rewards, leave the penalties alone, feel free to add things.

90% replace low level encouters into haunts to give playes more a feeling of being in a wicked places

This can go very, very right and also very, very wrong.

• Once triggered, they can usually only be temporarily destroyed by positive energy.
  
• To find out how to destroy the haunt once and for all you need to use the ouija board. Which can fail and only has limited uses per day.
  

That can wreck a group hard. I read about a few other haunts which can be avoided and which are more obvious to destroy (Example: Be nice to the ghost dog - destroy it by burying his bones).
Otherwise you have the choise:
If the haunts are only set pieces (trigger haunt - something non-threatening happens - haut over) it can get exhausting, if the haunts are dangerous they can wear the group down - especially because all the haunts are reset if they rest and come back the next day...

That kinda looks like it could be a SCP. One that only activates between midnight and dawn if there are runaway children nearby and turns them into zombies by unknown means.

It's silly, but I kinda think it can be written as a scary thing.

Scroll to the last post by Tonya

Direct link to the post in question

(You can right-click on the date of the post and choose "Copy Link" or something similar to achieve that)

Thank you so much.
This blog has indeed been mentioned several times, but I was unable to find it myself and nobody provided a link.
That stuff should go into the FAQ!

Also, please do not let this thread devolve into another round of "Are the new rules good or bad?"
That was not my intention and I think it has been discussed to death.

So the consensus is that there is no consensus:

Gary says "I believe 1 is right".
SCPRedMage says "Version 1 is completely right but the rez thing has been changed in some blog post" - great, by the way, that this is not in the FAQ as well - which I have been unable to find.
Jared Thaler says that it doesn't matter because some scenarios have special rules about that stuff, which doesn't help for the older ones.
Lune agrees with me that it is stupid for scenarios where PvP is not directly encouraged, but not frowned upon either to enforce the rule of killing the main character.

Okay, no consensus is saying a bit much.
More like "It seems to be version 1 but we agree this is stupid."

I'm gonna expect table variation then. ;)

Hi there,

has there been any clarification how to handle the death of a pregen in a special (e.g. Serpent's Ire)?

From what I've seen, there are two trains of thought and I wonder if this has been clarified. I certainly cannot find anything.
First, to make this FAQ-markable:

Do the rules preventing reassigning the death of a pregen to the specials which force use of a pregen?

Second, the trains of thought from what I've gathered:

Version 1:
No pregen death can ever be reassigned. The new rules are written with all pregens in mind to raise the stakes and prevent players from being "careless" with their character.
If you decide to apply the chronicle sheet to one of your characters before the scenario and your pregen dies, your character dies.
Since the guide makes no exception for pregens in specials, it's obvious those rules apply to them as well.

Version 2:
The pregen deaths in specials can be reassigned. The new rule is intended to "protect" the "real" characters from reckless pregen use. Since everybody plays a pregen, nobody is in real danger and it would be unfair - you are forced to play a pregen from a very limited pool and do not even have the option to play a character up to this level.
The rules are introduced with step one ("Choose one of the pregenerated characters available in Community Use Package: Pathfinder Society Pregenerated Characters at paizo.com/communityuse/package") which cannot be fulfilled in the mentioned special scenarios.
Also, the rule about resurrection ("The Roleplaying Guild character must contribute a minimum amount of gp before spending the pregenerated character’s wealth in this way, depending on her level: 0 gp for a 1st-level pregenerated character, 1,000 gp for 4th-level, and 2,000 gp for 7th-level.") cannot be applied since some pregens have levels which are not exactly 1, 4 or 7.
Concluding: It is obvious those rules do not apply to them.

Sooooo...have they ever said one way or the other?

Most probable answer:
It's an oversight and not a huge deal.
Your players probably won't notice and (in my opinion) is not worth the headache as it doesn't make him that much more powerful.
If they DO notice you can always say "Yeah...that's weird, isn't it? His demon god seems to change the rules for him a bit" or something along those lines.

In my experience almost every statblock at higher level has one or two minor mistakes, resulting from changes during development or just small mistakes. One AC too little here, one ATK to much there...

The biggest thing coming to mind has to be Auren Vrood, who technically cannot cast his most infamous spell on these boards because his prestige class got changed after his statblock was written down.
It's usually not that important in the grand scheme of things.

Again - I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT.
Kyle said it here, for example.
And it is better worded now that the word "rare" has gone from the FAQ (which was confusing in its own right).

Both of these facts do not fix the issue that this (in my opinion) very important aspect of prepared arcane spellcasters is buried in the FAQ, worded in a way that doesn't really say "Look, there WILL be an NPC you can purchase the spell from, don't worry about it."

The reference to the Always Available list is of no importance here, by the way, as it says nothing about spells. Learning spells is not referenced in that section nor in the Spells section.

(Please note that I'm not attacking you. I'm annoyed that 4 years after the relevant FAQ first hit the web this important aspect is still something you have to learn from the messageboards.)

Blackbot wrote:

Just to be clear ..

PFS FAQ wrote:

All other methods of gaining new spells (such as by gaining a level or purchasing access to an NPC's spellbook) function as described in the Core Rulebook and relevant class descriptions.

We can still assume that every spell for every class is available to learn from a NPC between scenarios, right?

You mean like fireball (yes) or something like a slyph only spell (no) when you are human?

The former.

The new wording is better, but still sounds like "If you ever find an NPC wizard, here's how much you have to pay..."

Just to be clear ..

All other methods of gaining new spells (such as by gaining a level or purchasing access to an NPC's spellbook) function as described in the Core Rulebook and relevant class descriptions.

We can still assume that every spell for every class is available to learn from a NPC between scenarios, right?

It should also be noted that there is no real "PFS Series".
I'll try and compare it to television.

A singular module is something like a movie (or maybe a Netflix Original Series). It's self-contained. One go and gone. You might use multiple modules, but if you don't change them they remain self-contained.

An adventure path is one of those TV shows with a really tight meta plot. Every single module is more or less self-contained and you COULD play one without the others, but you'd miss lots about the metaplot. And especially in the end it all comes together.

PFS is not really a SERIES per se. Every season has some metaplot, but every single scenario is self-contained. There are some references to other scenarios, and some scenarios might even be a two- or three-parter if played together. But all in all they are more like, say, early Stargate or Supernatural - you can play them out of order, skip one or two, and usually you won't miss anything major.
(Also there is usually something big happening at the end of the season.)

So, this now depends on what you want to do:
Do you want to play through a series of thightly woven scenarios, one following the other, leading your players through a plot? Then this is not for you, I think. Especially in later seasons, where you cannot just play the scenarios in order with the same characters - the first one might be for levels 1-5, the second one for 5-9 and the third one for 3-7. Earlier seasons lack that problem, but also (IIRC) are pretty light on meta plot.

Or are you interested in PFS as a concept and want exactly this, a campaign with self-contained adventures, following the rules of PFS so that your players could use those characters in other PFS events? Then pretty much what Matt Lewis said.

To clarify:
You fill out the sheets electronically and send them to your players electronically (or you print them out, fill them out, scan them back in and THEN send an email).
You REPORT the the session in the event you created in Fromper's step 2.

I played the scenario on RatCon in '14 (it went okay, if we ignore the witch antagonizing the NPC for NO REASON from the start - it really felt like the player just enjoyed pissing of NPCs) and I finally judged it now.
I'm aware this thread is quite old, but maybe the write-up will make future GMs a bit more aware of pitfalls that presented themselves to me which are not yet mentioned in the thread.

The group:
Witch 3
Barbarian 3
Barbarian 4 (Amiri Pregen)
Bard 4 (CHA of 14, but INT of 18 - for whatever reason...)
Unchained Rogue 3

Now, I had to run this more or less cold (had one hour to read through the whole thing) because the witch joined us quite spontaneously and she had already played the scenario I wanted to GM.
This was a home game, so I knew most of the players fairly well.
Subtier 3-4.
It should also be noted I did not consider a diplomacy roll failed if ONE character failed it - if another character attempted to argue with a different angle that was fine with me. Not sure if that's entirely RAW though.

The setup
Nothing spectecular here. Because these guys wouldn't even know their current faction briefings (come to think of it - are there current faction letters?) I pretty much just sent the Dark Archive witch a letter (with lots of "my love", "my pet" and black lipstick below) talking about how important it can be to know where to pull strings, we wouldn't want to lose this war of course, but maybe prolong it here and there just for a few days) and told the Silver Crusade bard "Yo, there's a faction mission to fulfill here, keep in mind you're S.Crusade."
I played Sir Ilivan maybe a bit too detached and they disliked him from the start, but didn't want to antagonize him right away because the VC told them to respect him. They immediatly said he'd die.

The village
The barbarian wanted to charge down right away (robbing herself forward), but Sir Ilivan stopped her by touching her gently and talking about how there was no use charging in there. The rogue failed to convince him. The bard also failed to convince him, but made his check so Sir Ilivan gained a bit of insight in his own lack of empathy.
They managed to kill all the demons (and splattered one commoner across the field) and Sir Ilivan responded basically with "Hm. That was foolish, but I suppose I cannot argue with results."
They were surprised he didn't die right here and now.
Pitfalls:

• Look carefully at the numbers of demons and commoners. The numbers in the statblocks differ from the numbers on the map. In Subtier 3-4: THREE demons, TWO conscious commoners, TWO unconscious commoners.
  
• Don't give everyone a scythe. Use flails. A scythe has a x4 crit modifier and can be NASTY.
  
• Sir Ilivans reaction to the group's decision can color the rest of the scenario. Don't make him needlessly antagonistic. He lacks empathy, but he does not actively wish for anyone to die.
  
• Maybe make clear that some of the commoners seem far more distressed than the others. I missed that only the commoners tortured their friends and failed to describe (or grant a Sense Motive to notice) how they were far more distressed than their dead possessed buddies. The barbarian felt bad afterwards and I feel like this was my fault.
  

The fortress
Went in, discussed everything, grabbed stuff, convinced Sir Ilivan to join them, got out. Not much here.
The only thing from notice was that they convinced him to join them on a SCOUT mission - "No, really, if we're clearly outnumbered we'll just head back and won't argue, but if there are only half a dozen demons we can easily kill them, right?"
Changes: While I am aware that we may not change anything in the scenarios, I made the call that all the weapons the PCs can borrow from the armory are coldiron.
Pitfalls:

• Not really a pitfall, but my group asked specifically for the types of demons that attacked the fortress. I dropped the ball here - what I SHOULD have mentioned is that one of the demons seemed to be able to fly, using that as a hint to the not as experienced players to maybe grab a ranged weapon since this might be the first scenario they play with flying enemies in it.
  
• Some groups might argue that they should save the crusaders because otherwise the scenario would be over. I told my group OOC that this was not a fake decision, but a real one - the scenario was not over no matter what they decided. I have to admit - that was my train of thought back when I played this, too. While most of my characters are goody two-shoes, if I ever played a more cynical character I'd have said "My character would leave those guys to their fate - that's a suicide mission! BUT I don't want this scenario to be over yet and lose that prestige point, so off into the badly written, forced rescue mission we go..." - it is NOT badly written, but most players probably expect this one to be a "Do it because the scenario wants it, if you don't it's over right now" situation.
  

The rageweed
My whole group failed the first save and immediatly turned on each other. One or two tried to metagame ("What? I did not say anything, what are you talking about?"), but I ruled that the characters heard the words far more aggressive than they were said. They made their saves one by one until only the rogue and the witch were influenced. The rogue hit the witch with his short sword, the witch ran away from him and then he calmed down.
What was really awesome was how they reacted to Sir Ilivan: They took pity and the bard even used a few rounds of his Inspire Courage to help him get over it. When they heard his story it really shifted their view of him.

The wasps
They saw the wasps, immediatly said "Screw that, I'm outta here" and rode away as fast as possible.

The final fight
This one can turn out BAD. They tried to flank the demons (rogue, witch and bard on the walls, barbarians in the gulch) but failed a stealth check. I ruled this meant that the barbarians weren't in position when the demons noticed them and started a bit further away than indicated. The brimorak was a problem though: He started off by casting airwalk and used his breath weapon to great effect. He burnt the barbarian good and then hit both the rogue and the witch, sending the witch to -6 instantly. (I did NOT feel bad for her - if you've only got 17 hp on level 3 you KNOW what you signed up for.)
They managed to kill him though - Amiri critted him with her bow (3d8 + 3 for her killer instinct + 3 from the bard really sealed the deal) and I let him land, allowing the rogue to sneak him to great effect.

Every round after the third I described Sir Ilivan fighting another demon, making it clear the held his own for quite a while before he went under. They were sad that he died, even though they called his death from the start.
Pitfalls:

• If you play the brimrak optimally against a group with little to no ranged options it WILL be brutal. The breath weapon is no joke. If you roll low on his "cooldown" that's 5d6 to one or two characters every round - half if they make their save. At some point I just had him go into melee. Because we all wanted to go home, honestly.
  
• The stinking cloud of the dretches can make thinks REALLY problematic. The save DC is only 13 though, so if you're not as unlucky as my RatCon group nothing major should happen...
  

The end:
The group liked the scenario, but was really interested if they could've saved Sir Ilivan. I told them that they technically could and the rogue dryly noticed that this was the FIRST TIME ever they could've saved a man's life by being a total dick to him.
Also you might've noticed that the demons never summoned help - that was on purpose. The tactics don't mention anything about summoning in one way or the other and I felt like they had enough trouble as is and that the scenario probably didn't have the intention of having the demons summon their buddies.

Great scenario, though I REALLY wished I had more time preparing it.

Three things springing to mind immediatly:
1. Doesn't the whole ghost business start only once the PCs have arrived? I mean, you can change this up of course, but that takes aways some of the "Something weird STARTS happening vibe" I got from the adventure.
2. If they send in a merc - why would they send in the PCs after him?
3. A drow. Why on Golarion a drow? Again, you can change your world however you like - but the Golarion drows are evil. Like,super evil. And most people KNOW that - to quote the PRD: "Worshiping demons and enslaving most races they encounter, the drow are among the underworld's most feared and hated denizens." Why would they not bash his head in with a scythe, yet alone ask it for help? That said, there are neutral and even good drow. But they are super rare. And it's your Golarion - if yo want to add helpful drow or make them more common, go for it. I'd go for an evil elf or a tiefling myself.

Okay, four things:
CHARLIE? You introduce an NPC from a near-mythological race of superevil elves who could bekome a boss character and you call im CHARLIE? I get the whole Charlie Mastion <-> Charles Manson thing, but...CHARLIE?

Uh, got another one.

Can I change the prepared spells of a pregen before the scenario even starts?

I'm looking at you, Miss I prepared goodberry because it's such a useful spell in almost every scenario...

I'd say they all successfully"saved" Janira. She WAS in danger - not as grave as if they'd fought the minotaur later, but the danger was there.

Regarding heeding her advice I think your ruling is a good one. They saved the hotheaded gunslinger from his own recklessness which is preferable to letting him die "because we were supposed to run". Stand together, fall together.

Sorry, I only now saw that you are planning on going the spring attack route. That throws my critique about mobility and dodge a bit out of the window.
BUT.
You won't do any damage with shooting. Trust me. You'll either have to sink feats into it (precise shot, for example) or you'll be a lousy shot. Not to mention you cannot sneak without quite a bit of effort.
Also, you have to hit 6th level (7th if you waste your combat trick before) before you can grab Spring Attack. Are you sure you want to spend 5 levels being a second hand archer?

I don't want to rain on your parade here. But "hide and shoot" will only get you so far if you don't invest into the feats. Which would leave you with none of those options:
1. Melee - Few hit points.
2. Ranged - No damage output because even IF you hit your damage won't be too hot.
3. Support - Well, you are no bard, so there won't be much supporting going on.

Depending on how much you want to min/max, here are some suggestions.

1. Unchained Rogue. The other unchained classes are different to their core counterparts. The unchained rogue is better. (Don't worry, you can change him to unchained for free if you do it before you hit level 2)

2. You NEED to hit your enemy. With your current build there you get a +0 hit bonus. If you choose the unchained rogue you'll get weapon finesse for free. If not you'll want to grab the rogue finesse trick on level 2. If you do neither you are in for a frustrating ride.

3. Let's break down what the stats do for you.

STR - Plus to hit (doesn't matter to you if you are going finesse), plus do damage (doesn't matter to you as much because most of your damage will come from sneak attack, not from strength). 10 is alright.

DEX - Plus to hit with weapon finesse, plus to damage if you go unchained, plus do all the "classical" rogue stuff (Reflex save, initiative, stealth...). Also boosts your AC which is important since you won't be wearing heavy armor. 18 is absolutely fine here.

CON - Hit points and Fortitude. A failed FORT save sucks, but hit points is the problem here - you have a d8 as your hit die and are a frontliner. On level 3 you'll have 9 + 6 + 6 = 21 hit points. Let's look at a CR5 encounter (which is not unreasonable in PFS at that level) - a troll:
Melee bite +8 (1d8+5), 2 claws +8 (1d6+5)
The bite will on average deal about 10 points of damage, the claws 9. If the troll has a bit of a lucky roll (your AC on level 3 should be about 18-20 in my personal experience) and he hits you with 2 of those attacks you are almost dead.
Not let's say you picked up 14 CON:
11+8+8 = 27 hit points. The troll still hurts, but you won't be immediatly near death on a bad roll.

INT - Intelligence gives you one thing and one thing only: Skill points (okay, and 2 bonus languages on level 1). You are a human rogue, you'll get 9 skill ranks per level anyways. Sure, skills are important, but you usually won't be alone - are you sure you want to throw that many points into an ability that'll only boost your skills?
(I'm NOT saying skills are unimportant here, but you are opening yourself up at other points by throwing that many points into this ability!)

WIS - Not useful for much EXCEPT it boosts your Will save - which is a save you'll probably not want to lose. 14 is (in my opinion) fine.

CHA - You'll need it for skills. That's it. Bluffing, diplomacy and so on. 10 is more than fine here.

TL;DR: IMO the high INT is unneccessary and should be at least partly shifted towards CON.

4. Dodge and Mobility - Are you really expecting to move that much in and out of combat? You're a rogue, you have lots of DEX and could reasonably use acrobatics to avoid AoOs altogether if you really have to provoke them. Dodge is alright (though I'd pick it later down the line). Consider those alternatives:
* Toughness - 3 HP, +1 HP on every level after 3. So basically +1 HP per level and the first three as advance payment. Buffs your health a bit.
* Two Weapon Fighting - One of the "default" ways of building a rogue is grabbing to short swords or daggers and going to town. Reason: Your off-hand will lose damage because it'll only gain half your strength bonus (with is +0, so no difference there) BUT it will get the full sneak attack damage. Sweet deal if you ask me.

5. Equipment - Grab a club. It's free and deals bludgeoning damage. On low level DR 5/bludgeoning can be a problem.
Or (if you have a bit of spare money) a silver morningstar. It deals bludgeoning AND piercing damage and is silver - sweet deal if you ask me.

That kinda depends what you mean by "core books".

But first things first:
Yes, you are to run all the modules "as written". Meaning: Don't change the orc to a goblin, don't turn the CE guy LE, don't add another wolf to the pack because it'd be more fun.
Little judgments are always there (checks not explicitly stated in the book will vary, for example), and if the PCs do something totally unexpected you should react to that, too - if they decide, for example, to throw a bomb in the middle of a party the party won't just go on just because the scenario did not consider the possibility of the PCs going b%!$#@~ crazy.

The idea behind is that this will turn things more even - a player should not die just because the GM was bad and/or misjudged what would be "fun". Not saying you are a bad GM, but there ARE some out there.

Second:

So what your saying is I am limited to their core books and campaign world, you cannot go beyond that?

Well...yes and no.

You (as a player) are limited to whatever the Additional Resources allow for, as long as you own it. Some things are forbidden (you may not run, for example, an orc antipaladin even though in your own campaign you could), but a kitsune gunslinger would be fair game - if you own the ARG and UC.

You are free, of course, to use PFS only as a template for your own campaign, using some of the modules but ignoring some of the restrictions given. This is not Pathfinder Society Organized Play anymore, though, and characters who play in this manner cannot "rejoin" PFS later.

Damn dwarves, diggin' up all that metal and gems and flooding the market...

Since we're discussing cover, let's look at the cover rules (which should have been Step 1 when the question came up):

Core Rulebook, Combat chapter, Cover wrote:

To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target's square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC).

Got that? Now let's zoom in on some key parts:

Core Rulebook, Combat chapter, Cover wrote:

To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target's square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC).

See the asymmetry there? You use ONE corner of the attacker's square, and ALL corners of the target's square. That's going to make a difference. In fact, it's going to make exactly the difference you're looking for.

So the bad guy is behind the arrowslit and makes an attack. He picks one corner of his square: presumably, one where there's an arrow slit. Then, from that one point, you'll draw four lines: one to each corner of the target's square. If you actually draw this out, you'll notice something: none of the lines pass through the wall. Therefore, the unprotected target has no cover. Just like you thought should happen.

Meanwhile, if the PC wants to return fire, he's going to choose one corner of his own square, but then he has to draw lines to all four corners of the hiding slinger's square. If you draw this one out too, you'll see that although you might get a line or two in through the arrowslit, at least a couple of them are going to pass through the wall. And all it takes to turn on cover is a single blocked line, so the slinger...

Perfect!

(@Chess Pwn: Occured to me, too, but that only applies to cover to a maximum heigth of half your size or something.)

Hi guys and gals,

I'm preparing to run a adventure and it features archers (well, they have slings, but let's say they are archers) hiding behind arrowslits.
The rules say this:

Improved Cover: In some cases, such as attacking a target hiding behind an arrowslit, cover may provide a greater bonus to AC and Reflex saves. In such situations, the normal cover bonuses to AC and Reflex saves can be doubled (to +8 and +4, respectively). A creature with this improved cover effectively gains improved evasion against any attack to which the Reflex save bonus applies. Furthermore, improved cover provides a +10 bonus on Stealth checks.

Okay, cool. So the PCs have to cross the room while they are being fired upon and have to figure out a way not to get hit...BUT.

Logically the arrowslits should be something that favors the defenders - they hide, shoot through them and are more or less safe.
While there is no rule saying "The target does not gain the AC bonus if the attacker is adjacent to the arrowslit" it seems logical that it works this way. But I like to have a rule written down and not just made up, so tell me:
Is this written down anywhere? Am I the only one reading the rule like this and can you tell my why your opinion differs?

Responses are appreciated!
Blackbot

What do you have in mind? Stuff like "Whitechurch", "Stonemaw" and "Darkwind" or "proper" names like "Durash", "Tyral" and "Throk"?
Or can both be thrown together?

Is there a difference between the continents (Like in Golarion - Inner Sea is more or less Europe + Africa, far West is more or less Asia...; or Westeros - western area is more or less Europe with a touch of Middle East in the south, eastern area is pretty Middle Eastern) or are they supposed to be the same?

Spontaneous thoughts:
1. Yes, hexes are useful. But usually spells are more powerful. So you could start with one of those and throw your evil eye once the combat is in full swing. Also: If the combat is over quickly your hexes probably didn't make much of a difference, but when combat drags on they get more and more useful (because you just have to keep cackling to keep them going). Fought a rogue with misfortune for 6 or 7 rounds - poor bastard couldn't hit us at all.
2. Be very aware that there are scenarios with only or mostly undead. So any spells with Fort as a saving throw and mind-affecting spells are right out. So almost everything you bring to the table - be prepared for those occasions. (One scenario had humanoids which were immune to mind-affecting spells, vermin and undead - our witch had a pretty bad time, unfortunately).
3. You do have non-combat spells as a witch. If you decide that hexes are what you want to do in combat primarily,
4. Personal opinion: I hate slumber. Either it fails and the witch is grumpy or it's successfull and many combats are over in a heartbeat, considering you often fight only one or two enemies.

Anyone can purchase access to spells, or scrolls. You have to do your own scribing, which becomes relevant for certain cases.

Yes, I know. But not everybody knows. To figure it out you have to consult the forums and read a wild mixture of FAQ and messageboard clarifications. That's my point. ;)

Can everybody purchase spells from NPCs between scenarios?

Okay, hear me out here. We all know that we do (Pay NPC wizard, pay scribing costs if you have them, done), but not everybody does. Because the word "rare" is still in the FAQ entry, suggesting that this is not the usual way to do it. I told a VL about it recently and he was surprised that this was even an option - he had advised a player to buy scrolls to do it. Not so bad on level 1, pretty horrible for level 4 spells.
Also, I noticed I brought this up before when looking for threads I could show him. A had completly forgotten that o_o
Another problem: That feature is hidden in a question discussing scribing between players, suggesting that the last sentence applies to PC wizards. Which is obviously not the case.

Every play Video Game RPGs? Fallout 1 and 2 has 3 general specialties in combat, stealth, and diplomacy. You could focus on any one. Dont want to fight the Final Boss? Sneak in and set the base to self-destruct. Or use Diplomacy to make a character do so for you, or even even talk the Final Boss into killing itself. Ever hear of Talking the Monster to Death trope?

Yes. You are alone in Fallout 1, 2 and 3.

Its additionally frustrating in that some of the players tell me how they used outside-the-box solutions, but those are not available in Scenarios and/or the Pathfinder Society Campaign.

You keep saying that, yet you keep refusing to tell us which actual scenarios you are talking about.

So character creation is determined by either making a specialist that performs poorly in PFS or a generalist that would perform poorly in anything else. I can think of PFS builds that wouldnt survive elsewhere, and vice-versa.

So your argument is that PFS has a problem because you have to build a character that can do more than just one thing? What?

The level limitations enforce that. Whats the point of building a skill-based character if you dont roll skill checks, or what about designing a Cleric that can summon Angels but never reaches that point in PFS.

If you never roll skill checks you or your GM are doing something very, very wrong.

(I apologize for tone here, but the "My character will only be effective in levels beyond PFS" coupled with "Stop giving me too general advice" when the problem is a general one is really annoying.)

I have more enjoyment in imagining situations I Could get into that what I am actually allowed within limitations. a Non-fantastic Fantasy game? I think that is the most Fatal Flaw you can have.

Those limitations are called "The world is not your playground". It is not a problem of PFS that not everything is possible always, that's always the case with role playing games. Sometimes the BBEG is just evil. Sometimes the compound is guarded and you cannot break in easily.

Yes, PFS is more restricted. But if you want to play the "On level 13 I'm gonna be so awesome" cleric then PFS is certainly not the place to do it. Most groups probably aren't because you will have to slog through one or two years of leveling before you reach that point.

This thread is getting frustrating to a point where I'm not sure if there is trolling going on or an NSA scheme to flush out mind readers.

ChaosTicket, you visit the thread from time to time, throw in a few lines with no context, people write whole essays and ask questions for you to gain some context only for you to completly ignore the questions and throw in another anecdote without context.

I have outright been told that if I run away from fights I will be banned from playing at the table of at least one GM. I dont know if that counts as a "Toxic group".

No context given at all. Was it a losing fight? Did you just not want to fight? Did you feel like the fight was unneccessary? Did the other players force a fight that could've been avoided?

Im just going to bring up the hypocrisy right there. So I should have to be like everyone else, but they dont have to compromise?

Compromise on what? You are like a customer calling corporate, complaining that you "just feel like I shouldn't have to wear red, that's all" without giving anything for the agent to go by on what caused that idea.

You gave us one example of a scenario you played recently after multiple people asked you what kind of scenarios you played. They wanted to identify whether the problem was with the chosen scenarios, the GM, the lodge or whatever. You gave one. Which wasn't even a PFS module, further making clear that the problem isn't actually a PFS specific problem.

Hell, you repeatedly stated that the answers were too general. Guess what - your problem is too general. Every Pathfinder module, AP, scenario or whatever I've seen features combat from time to time. Almost every role playing game I ever played featured unavoidable combat at one point or another. Going into a role playing game which is about adventuring, killing monsters, defeating badguys and so expecting not having to fight is something you might be able to find a group for, but I know not a single group in my personal circle of friends that would do that. Sometimes the evil necromancer just have to meet a sword face first.

Is there more unavoidable combat in PFS than in a "normal" Pathfinder game? Maybe, yes. (Though this could also steam from the fact that most "combat light" sections of "normal" Pathfinder consist of the party figuring out where they have to go. Once they are there combat density gets thicker...)

Do you have to pick a martial class to be "useful" in combat? No, and without you telling us why you think that our advice will have to be "too general" for you.

And again, I have screwed up more missions by not paying attention and not roleplaying than by losing a fight.

EDIT: Please not I wrote this before ChaosTicket posted his last answer. Reading it and revising the post as we speak. ;)

You seem to be under the impression that everything but a martial class is useless in combat and that you get ostracized if you dare to pick anything with less then a d10 as a hit die.
Nothing could be further from the truth, in my opinion.
Pathfinder classes are (by design) all useful in combat. This is not Shadowrun or The Dark Eye where characters can be completly aimed towards something non-combat related (a Face in Shadowrun, a courtesan in TDE). Sure, not every character get Min-Maxed to hell, but as long as you don't turn up with a Wizard 1/Fighter 1/Cleric 1/Ranger 1 equipped with a dagger and nothing else you should be fine.

While it is true that most scenarios feature combat and are quite...let's call it guided, my groups never had that many problems with the combat. There were problems, however, when the whole group consisted of beatsticks, only wanted to flatten a few monsters, had no ranks in Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate or any Knowledge not needed to identify a monster and so on.

And even if it's a combat heavy scenario - the most effective sorcerers and wizards I've seen were the ones going at the problem creatively. Sure, on first level the wizard will probably not out-damage the fighter with a few magic missles. He can, however, turn the tide of battle with a simple Enlarge Person or Color Spray. And don't get me started with invisible enemies when nobody is able to cast Glitterdust...

Strength, Armor and Weapons is not all. It helps on the lower levels, sure. But they are pretty much useless outside of combat and even in combat not all that's important.
And I want to see the player who voluntarily plays a character that won't get useful until level 8 in a normal campaign. "See, I'm playing a druid - he's gonna be useless for the next one and a half years, but watch me afterwards!"

If you don't mind me asking, how many scenarios have you played so far?

There are no healers or rogues of any kind...and everyone is arguing about who is buying all the cure light wounds potions...

Why the rogue? To UMD?

Looking for one....

3rd level
20 pt buy
Wealth: 2000gp

Traits: three traits (one of which may be a campaign trait)
I'll also accept (your choice of skill) a class skill, and +1 to that skill. Just add fluff.

Background skills will be used.
Race + Class: pretty much any paizo source.
Hit points: max 1st level, half +1 every subsequent level.

It's best if your character is truly invested in Kintargo somehow.
Possible springboard...
What do you care for immensely/love or what is your goal/dream?
and how does House of Thrune martial law over Kintargo endanger/stand in the way of/etc...

The group is about 90% done with the first book.

Current group..
Human Urban Ranger
Half-elf Oracle
Gnome Investigator
Human Mesmerist

The cobblestones of Argent Avenue, and the foliage of Aria Park are still wet from the light morning rain. Dozens of Kintargans have already gathered along the facade of the opera house to protest the city’s new lord-mayor… Paracount Barzillai Thrune. He was appointed by Her Infernal Majestrix, Queen Abrogail II, in the wake of the previous lord-mayor’s flight from Kintargo - an event that still has local rumormongers whispering furiously.

In a scant seven days, Paracount Thrune has instituted martial law, a curfew, and seven outlandish and polarizing proclamations. These and other repressive actions have drawn enough ire to bring many of Kintargo’s dissatisfied citizens here on this grey morning. More trickle in… the loose crowd starts to become more tightly packed… as it does the energy rises.

Barzillai Thrune has yet to be seen - his balcony doors remain tightly shut… as well as the opera house doors - as they’ve been since Barzillai chose the landmark as his new home - but judging by the growing sound of the protesters, he surely can’t ignore the scene on the streets below much longer.

You are starting to see some tension among the growing number of protestors whose messages and shouted grievances apparently conflict.

1st level
20 pt buy
Starting gold: max for your class
Traits: two traits + campaign trait (If none even remotely fit lemme know)
either of the two can be... make (your choice of skill) a class skill, and +1 to that skill. Just add fluff.
Background skills will be used.
Race + Class: pretty much any paizo source.
Hit points: max 1st level, half +1 every subsequent level.

It'll all go a lot better if your character is truly invested in Kintargo somehow.
Possible springboard...
What do you care for immensely/love or what is your goal/dream?
and how does House of Thrune martial law over Kintargo endanger/stand in the way of/etc...

You feel staggered for a moment... It feels as though you are in control of yourself for the first time - not realizing until now you were just a passenger in your consciousness. Then the feeling is gone... just a vague sense of loss remains. But there is no time for that.

As the Matronguard heads toward Palanquin Path, the others.. Dorlynae, Madam Shkoata, and the villagers look to you.

The woman stands with her back to you by the window overlooking the river docks of Blackport. It is well after business hours, and the large but cluttered office is lit more by the moon than the two low-wicked lamps within.
She remains gazing silently at the view until the murmur and shuffling sounds of those arriving cease.
"I was a young woman when my father began this company... started with just three teams of wagons and drivers... pitifully equipped guards. As his enterprise grew, I made clear my intention to earn my birthright... rather than just inherit. And I worked hard for many years as a dutiful grunt, but on my first journey through the Badlands to Brisson's Bay, my caravan was ambushed by bandits. As I was about to be brutally slain by our attackers - as those in my father's employ had been, fate brought a young man and his entourage to intercede. That young man happened to be Yvek Hassashar... nephew of the Dust King."

She turns to face you, and looks you over as she pours herself a glass of white wine. "We have had an ongoing business relationship since then, and have in fact Balash Lectordine helped fund a manufacturing facility in the Rhanate with enough work to employ a sizable settlement. In return Yvek Hassashar - upon being named Rhan, was to secure a viable trade route from Burcham's Pass to Brisson's Bay."

"The greater parties were budgeted to profit enough to accept the endeavor, but not enough to commit any aid. Provisional fees and taxes so everyone would get paid.. except for the bandits. Which brings us to the issue at hand. The bandits have taken over the facility, and full control of the settlement. Rhan Hassashar is poised to strike, but knows he has a mole among his ranks... and this must be a decisive victory if he is to hold any power."

"We need a small team - with no ties to nation or organization - to make a tactical strike, and retreat undetected to an airship we will have waiting out of the enemy's view. Rhan Hassashar is confident this would aid in both outing his mole, and his subsequent strike upon the bandit insurrection."

"I have faith in the scouting Bovis and Moegan have done in selecting you. I am asking for three days of service. You will each receive a signing bonus of 300 gold, 100 gold for each day of the operation, and 1000 gold upon successful completion."

Looking for two or three
2nd level
25 pt buy
1 trait (any Thunderscape trait or any Paizo except an AP campaign trait), plus treat any one skill as a class skill.
1000gp starting wealth.
HP - Max first level. Half +1 for subsequent levels

Players who are familiar with Aden/Thunderscape are preferred.
Classes: any from Thunderscape are acceptable as is, classes from other sources might need tweaking.
Races: any from Thunderscape except Ilithix

The first third of the content I have planned will mostly be in and around the Badlands of the Rhanate.

Current players are an Urbanian Thunderscout and an Ossin Wyldmeld (plant race, hybrid class of Golemoid and Seer)

.

Looking for two 5th level

20 point buy
2 traits
max hit points at level 1, half+1 for the rest
12,000 gold

Core, APG, UM, UC, ISWG, ISM, ACG ... material from other paizo books will most likely get a yes.
Core races only .. probably

Current party is .. pistolero, magus, and druid(pack lord)3/wizard(arcane crafter)2

This is a group which has finished the first book of Serpent's Skull, but is abandoning the path. The content will be one short module (by Legendary Games), and one medium length module (by Raging Swan). We will start with their ship leaving the port of Eleder in Sargava, and I expect 30-40% of gameplay will be on the high seas.

Captain Timney tosses some gear into a plot in the Transient Camps, and drops a few gold in the watchman's palm.
"Never had anything pilfered from here, so... Whatever ya don't feel like hauling around town."
He gestures to the twenty foot stone-bordered square.
"Or you can just sack out for a while. No one's likely to mess with ya."

Some of the group has been to Okorn Spring, but for many of you it is the first time. You have been out in the wasteland for months... some years. Captain Timney is a calm cult of personality. He has been good for the group, but his loss of the will to fight makes him (in most ways) unfitting for this world.
The group has picked up a few who can handle themselves in a fight. That's good, because about all that's left after a string of violent incidents are a handful of young folk "with some real potential".

"I'ma go meet up with Bergen Lachlan... runs this place. I'll see what he has to say."
"We usually end up at the Rusty Palomino up on the Slab if millin around the Springs brings a thirst."

Five of the militia (light leather armor, rifles, pistols, and whips) stroll about - patrolling between the camps and the main settlement.
One nears, leans in and advises.
Guard: "Gotta check your chambers. No loaded firearms."

From here, you can see at least a few dozen people within the settlement. Most within view are gathered around the market stalls on the west end.
The structures are built from a variety of materials stone, wood, bricks and plasters of dried mud.

>Okorn Spring map<

.

Set-up: A cache of an advanced space-faring race was discovered decades ago, and kept classified by the corporate-financed research team. Though the number of scientists and other necessary staff was huge, the delicate nature of "opening the vault" required the formation of an insular community.
The existence of this place had been just a rumor, until a garbled distress message was picked up by your rag-tag paramilitary survivalist team.

There are others in your force who can hold a gun and hold ground, but you are the ones who are sent in to claim that ground.
As your group takes over an area, new things will be available.

Character creation:
20 pt buy
2nd level (full hp 1st level, half max +1 2nd level)
2 Traits
Available "Campaign" traits
Specialized Training: Treat 2 skills of your choosing as if you possessed the Technologist feat. If you later choose Technologist as a feat, the selected skills receive a +2.

Any Paizo classes considered.
At least a couple Occult playtest characters would be preferred.
(if and when to implement any playtest changes will be up to the player.)
Though Magic users are less common than Psychics in this world, magic-using characters will not be hindered.

Core races and androids preferred. Other Paizo races considered.

Golarion gods. Abadar is the law of the land.

Bonus Feat (pick one)
Technologist
Power Attack
Combat Expertise
Point Blank Shot
Weapon Finesse
Dodge
Combat Casting
or
Amateur Gunslinger

Prevalence of Firearms: Early firearms are readily available. Instead of requiring the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat, all firearms are martial weapons. Early firearms and their ammunition cost 10% of the amounts listed in this book, but advanced firearms and their ammunition are uncommon and cost 50% of the amount listed to purchase or 25% craft. somewhere between commonplace guns and guns everywhere (I am open to tweaking this... kinda shooting from the hip)

I expect this to go through 5th level.
I like tactical play. I will use maps.

For flavor... I guess think Thundarr/X-Com/Fallout/Borderlands.

Looking for two...
In depth backgrounds are not necessary ... if you have them already for recycled characters no problem.

Level 5, 20pt build, 2 traits.

Current PCs are escapees from a Derro-infested ancient underground complex in Varisia.
Elven Freehand Fighter/Swashbuckler
Aquatic Elf-blooded Aasimar Evangelist Cleric

They are trying to liberate a half-orc settlement and militia fort.

Likely possibilities would be...
A half-orc from West Schulfjarn (the more "civilized" half of the settlement),
a relatively civilized orc from East Schulfjarn,

local human, gnome from Sipplerose, ruins enthusiast, witch hunter...

>class discussions on messageboards<

Looking for one 4th level.

The first stones of the kingdom are being laid now.

We have a
Dragon Disciple Sorcerer
Storm Druid
Cavalier/Bard
Oracle/Barbarian

Intelligence based caster or alchemist would be ideal.

20 point buy, core book, APG, UM, UC, Inner sea world guide and magic all usable.
Advanced race guide content will most likely be ok'd

Max hit points first level
2nd level and up... roll half max + half max
(ie... fighter 1d5+5)

One trait for now... if a kingmaker campaign trait fits, go ahead and take it as your second trait. Otherwise, please wait on your second trait.

"what? Wait no!"

"But there's problem..", responds a more bestial voice. "Sounds like a riot."

"I realize this. Just help me secure this one first. His resistance to the drugs is remark-"

There is a faint sound which becomes an unmuffled roar, and then faint again as the door slams shut.
"Gah... curse this weak frame and curse those battle-starved orcs leaving me with -"

A winged man with dark hair falls to the ground as he dropped. Aemon opens his eyes.. still weak.

"Oh dear... Frollum!?... anyone there?!"
The figure speaking comes into focus. He is a small blue humanoid.. he is slightly bug-eyed with a nervous gaze. White wisps of hair float above his ears. He is wearing a white jacket as well as a dark leather apron and gloves.

The room is windowless.. made of stone block but with a glossy dark upside-down dome ceiling. There are several tables, and odd iron large.. torture devices? On the tables are cylindrical jars of different sizes. Several look like animal babies with stubs of wings on their back. Two others in liquid-filled jars, are small blue humanoids with little more than stubs themselves. There appear to be more out of view.

There is one steel door toward which the small blue humanoid is pleading for assistance.

Campaign concurrent with Lost Memories of Sorrow

The curtain has fallen on the dark doings around Doyle's Run. Several evil factions vie for possession and understanding of ancient artifacts which lie within and below the village. The ringleader - the man who held the selfish and vile groups together in a cooperative hidden conspiracy has fallen as well.
With the veil of secrecy gone, discretion, and restraint are soon to follow. The duergar mercenaries and derro, the hags, shapeshifters and shepherds of dead are all poised to strike while they bully or bargain with each other for alliances of convenience.

I will start Aemon right away, and we will write in Camris and Mrdarknlight's character's as soon as we figure out the inroad.

Not terribly interested in long backgrounds... if you have them already for recycled characters no problem.
I think they are all 20pt build, 2 traits.
Starting wealth is one level lower for Serpent's Skull... for the other two standard wealth for level.
HP max first level, half-max+1 for following levels.

----------------------------------------

I am looking for a level 4 for Serpent's Skull at the end of the first module.
current party...

Dwarven Pistolero
Elven Dervish Dancer
Human Magus
Human Life Oracle

----------------------------------------

Looking for a level 4 for Kingmaker

current party...
Gnome Sorceror (dragon bloodline)
Half-orc Oracle/Barbarian
Human Storm Druid
Human Cavalier/Bard

----------------------------------------

Looking for one or two level 5s for Homebrew based in Varisia

current party...
Elf Shadow Sorceror
Sea Elf Monk
Human Inquisitor
Human Oracle of Metal

where the party is... about 1/6th through two modules worth of content.

Here is the scenario.

Cad and vanilla fighter allies fighting back to back. Each is flanked by goblin ninjas so that the cad and fighter are adjacent to all foes.
Goblin flanking fighter declares attack against fighter which would be a sneak attack. The Cad (who has all 3 Archon Style feats) diverts it to himself and takes damage.

Now. Cad also has Hold the Blade which allows for immediate disarm attempt when taking damage as part of a flanking or sneak attack. But Cad has class ability that makes him unflankable and unsneak attackable by the goblin ninjas (Craven Combatant).

Does Hold the Blade still work? Is it still a flanking or sneak attack once he diverts it?

Archon Diversion

Hold the Blade

Cad

.

You start to come out of a hard sleep... you feel drugged. Sore from lying on your back on the hard surface you wake upon, and from the damp chill.

There is arguing... you can't make out words yet? No. It is another language. A pounding on a table and the resulting rattle of metal bits.
It is dark, but there is the pulsing glow of multiple torches on the ceiling.

The memory of your capture starts to come back to you. As well as being placed in a cell... maybe the same cell. It seems like there was something else. Dark dwarves... Duergar haggling, badgering, and pulling rank claiming your possessions as the derro and dead-eyed humans stripped you of them. You remember feeling drugged in much the same way as what you feel leaving your system now.

You try to move... at least your eyes.

I am running a homebrew adventure, which is roughly the equivalent of 2 modules. We are currently about 1/6th through it, and could use a couple more. Now that the set-up is pretty much wrapped up, I'd like to recruit a couple of players who are able post every day or two.

The current party...

Elven Wizard (Shadowcaster/Conjurer)
Human Bard (Archaeologist)
Human Alchemist (Beastmorph) 3/ Barbarian (Drunken brute) 2

Looking for one. Level 2
20 point buy
2 traits
250 gold
Core, APG, UM, UC, ISWG, ISM... material from other paizo books will most likely get a yes.
Core races only .. probably
where the party is weak .. someone who knows how to survive in the jungle, someone to deal with traps and other hazards, ranged attacks.

current active players -- pistolero, magus, oracle, cavalier.

It has been 2 years since you awoke, surrounded by the others, all with no memory of how they had come to be there. The memory of that day is like a dream - and reoccurs in your dreams ..
The first thing you sense…is the warm, moist, fecund air. The pungent musk of new growth mixed with the sick stench of rot. A swamp. Your head buzzes and you can’t move a muscle. You are still unable to focus your eyes but you feel someone over you, and start to make out the sound of chanting - almost noiseless. The soft rhythmic clicking of the tongue punctuates unintelligible words.
A ruby-tinted glow fills the area and you can briefly see your companion lying on a low stone slab with a dark hunched figure above him. “I can sense my old enemies stirring… you will be tested soon.” The light winks out just as the figure above you - from the periphery of your vision - comes into focus. The world goes dark, and the whispered chanting stops, as you try to will yourself from the cold hard stone beneath you.
A new raspy voice of an old woman... two in unison, “More will come through the portal, and the walking dead - as well as the boggard - can smell your blood. We leave you to your own fate. Our bargain is complete. You owe us nothing… our debt is paid… But we suggest you wake.” And then they disappear in the twilight of your waking.

After coming to .. you found you could start to recall a few things about your past life .. your names, the faces of the people you knew .. and water.. Nightmares of flood, drowning, murky depths have haunted you all.

Since that day, you have made a village named Doyle's Run your home. It is part of an area called Varisia. Primarily a logging camp it also serves as a layover for travelers and has a ferry to take you to the the slightly larger village of Turtleback Ferry. For the two years you have been here you feel you remember as much as you are going to - pretty much everything up until Globeto - but not the lost time in between and how you got here.. Perhaps it is time to move on and accept this as your home.

Post here if you are in. Read gameplay for set-up. You were 5th level (and still are) when you awoke.

Looking for one .. we have a ranger a paladin a diviner wizard and I'm pretty sure we still have a cleric

The Jenivere is a large merchant ship, a Wyvern-class vessel commonly used by the Inner Sea nations for trade, exploration, and even war. She is valued for her combination of seaworthiness and capacity for carrying numerous passengers.
Wyvern-class ships have made the dangerous journey to Azlant, Arcadia, and even around the southern tip of Garund, but the Jenivere and her crew run less perilous voyages.
For the past several years, Captain Alizandru Kovack has made the western run between Magnimar to the north and Eleder to the south and then back with few complications; despite the fact that his route carries him through waters controlled by the piratical Free Captains of the Shackles, brushes with the eternal winds of the Eye of Abendego, ravages of disease and natural hazards, and into periodic conflicts with the Nidalese navy.
Although Captain Kovack’s crew appreciate this record, the baseless fear that the Jenivere has robbed luck’s coffers one too many times lies heavy on the hearts of many..

While the Jenivere is a merchant ship, primarily concerned with delivering goods to and from Sargava, she’s traditionally kept several compartments open to take on paying passengers.

------------------

It has been a rough couple of days at sea… The Jenivere has been out of port three days now from Senghor. The storms rolled in just as the harbor disappeared on the horizon. This morning the sea is drained of its rage… now tranquil, allowing much of the crew a bit of rest.
Tension has relaxed... and some of the passengers take the time to mill about the deck.

.

@ Jaestra - yes Elk at 4th is fine.

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Two bandits leading horses enter the grounds of the trading post. Four more, who must have lashed their horses to the hitching fence outside, follow on foot close behind. Kaylee shifts slightly under the wagon to remain unseen. Peregrine peering over the low wall of the stable, his mind instinctively judging the "spread" of the enemy for spellcasting.
"Oooooleg! Open for business? Ha! Where is the little lady? .. She didn't.. leeeave you did she?" The other bandits snicker at the schoolyard taunts made by the mouthy leader. He casually gestures with his hand and the two leading the horses get to work loading their saddlebags with items from the storage shed.

The three on foot follow their leader over to the tables, picking at the food and inspecting the amount of alcohol as they straddle the benches. The leader waits to speak again once his mouth is only half full. "So.. Oleg.. you got a little gold for me?" he smacks his lips, inspects his hands and wipes them on his thighs.

The double door to the main house opens... and Gaddak appears.

surprise round map

Brevoy is a nation divided. The land to the north was once an independent nation known as Issia. Small isolationist villages huddle like the sparse vegetation that dots the cold rocky landscape. By contrast, the rolling hills and grassy plains the Rostlanders call home is fertile and the people generally consider themselves a little more cultured.
While most of the lands and cities of Brevoy belong to the noble houses of Brevoy, Restov does not. The Lord Mayor Ioseph Sellemius is under the rule of the king … but not under the rule of the many Lords of Brevoy.

This city of Restov is where you have come, intrigued by word of an expedition into the Stolen Lands. And you now arrive at the advertised recruitment area in the government district. A bit of a crowd has gathered, and several wagons border a good portion of the perimeter, loaded with equipment and consumables. Surrounding the Lord Mayor’s door, the city guards each seem to be engaged in quelling some juvenile masculine posturing that has turned violent. It appears as though those unhappy with, what was a common rumor but up until now had been kept to whispers, Sir Ogden somehow being indebted to some nefarious faction or another. The rumors were all different, few were believable. However, it did not help Sir Ogden’s case that he was a crass blowhard undeserving of such an honor as taming the wilds of the legendary Stolen Lands.

Hello all...

Since Tulkash decided to go about this backwards I thought I should too. Make the character you want, not what you think will buy you a spot.

20 point buy, core book, APG,UM,UC,Inner sea world guide and magic all usable, third party possible but vulnerable to tweaking, standard starting wealth....

I have just a couple house rules that I can think of off hand ..
I do stealth a little differently, I'll go into more detail if and when necessary but basically facing matters pre-combat when "stealthing."

Also BABs and multiclass. Fractions of BAB will count

Make your self at home and feel free to fire off questions.
I'll post more as I think of things.

I'm trying to build a character suited for infiltration/ambush playstyle group. Party needs some beef and foes neutralized quickly. Party is level 9 ...not necessarily relevant but we have a scout/trapmonkey rogue, gravewalker/vivisectionist arcane trickster, illusionist, and life oracle ninja...

The crux of my idea is to have my piercing attack from rhino charge (ready a charge...from sargava book) initiate a free grapple from hamatula strike.. any thoughts on the "best" way to approach this? I'd have to have at least +7 BAB and would like to avoid as many "one trick pony" feats as possible. I'm guessing unarmed fighter with boar style tree but dunno.

So the feats needed so far:
improved unarmed
imp grapple
imp bull rush
power attack
rhino charge
hamatulatsu strike

Character level 9 barbarian(6) unarmed fighter(3)
I've got rage powers- lesser fiend totem, lesser hurling, and hurling charge.
Feats include- rhino charge and hamatulatsu strike.
I've got a throwing axe... and I'm raging and readying a charge(rhino charge) conditions for charge are met...
I throw(hurling charge), I charge with a piercing attack(gore from fiend totem) which enables free grapple attempt(ham strike)...

Am I OK so far?