Cap. Darling's page

oh he pretty much suicided. Started combat in a populated area full of town guards. refused to drink potions of healing he had on him. He basically got the other character killed as well. He has fallen below 0 hp every other adventure. This is the first time he died. But that's just how he plays and always has.

We have not gone over rules for raising yet. So that's why i was thinking, bring a new guy, or raise dead your old guy. but making the rule after the fact ... makes it sound like i'm singling him out, as alex pointed out.

So.. maybe if i want to do that, i'll have to do it AFTER this...

Some one playing like this wouldent generally get to chose between raise or new character. He would get to chose between not playing or not playing. But before this i would take a out of game talk with him about expectations.

Sounds like the rules of your game make it better to bring in Faramir instead of Ressing Borimir. I Think you should either change Those rules or accept the consequenses.
I generally offer a almost free rebuilt as part of coming back from the dead.

I am not sure it makes sense to divine it like that. The rigth folks Can make even the worst game fun. And no amount of rules Can make playing with the wrong guys fun. But you need both good folks and game rules that support the story if you want it to work. There is no sense in saying it is either good rules or good People and you Can only have one.

In fiction dragons often sleep for extended periods. I suggest you let the GM worry about it and that he use it as a story element more than try to calculations somthing clear.

My Inv rager retrained to wizard(diviner) but togeather the classes have no synergy. It May work ok in a game but looking at options it is close the worst.

What is it you want out of the rule?

Mythic power wasent a thing in 2011;)

I Think the barbarian DR is fine. It is a Nice ability that scales with level and it is not actually changing the Way the game works.
In some figths it Will be important and in some not so much. both uncanny Dodge and DR are Nice abillities and to get them both is sweet for a normal barbarian. If you want more just spend the feats and rage powers. More DR for barbarians is not on any to do lists in my game fix ideas.

Lovecraft had psychological horror down to a science.

...

I like Lovecraft as much as the next geek. But he was never that great.

I Think putting a level cap around 3 would be a good start. I am very curious how this turn out. So please remember to come back and tell.

At the rules is you need the specific spell and no other spell Can stand in. But it is not a unreasonable houserule. That a spell that Can simulate the prerequsite spell Can be used instead.

Do you allow the weapon training class feature to take class levels? And if so how do you divine xp among the different class features?

The short answer to your question is: No.

I realize that this guy dosent have d10 HP but a hunter with a spinosaurus AC Can have very good defensive options when he stand next to his dinosaurus buddy. Magic Can make up for the lag of hit points. A halfling seem to be the ultimate defensive character in this case but a human Can start the AC with str 22 and that is also worth taking:)

I realize this is the rules forum but i am gonna say it any Way. In my game a AC Will move to flank if it Can do so with out provoking, with out special training. The attack command include this, for me.

Needing a special splat book for this is silly and a example of how the material bloat by creating options actually take option away.

Since this is a homebrew thing i suggest you just name a Price. Beating up 5 different rules for somthing like this, to be able to Call it RAAW(Rules Almost As Written) is pointless. And since i have been playing practically forever i am surely rigth;)

Some of us old gamers May start to belive. that reality is experience based, like in the game. We just forget, that we have a bad build with old style rolled stats.

.... I'll reread the Black Tentacles spell to see if using the spell on oneself doesn't add to grapples.

???

Primal companion hunter where you use the evolutions for things like wings on a dinosaur companion could also work. That Will give you lots of skills and the teamwork things are quite Nice. If you mix it with Dragoon you Will be quite good as a mounted menace. But you Will have bad Will save:(

I Think the figther archtype dragoon combined with a summoner sounds like the thing.

I dont see how dragon style give 2,5 times str to damage. If he have two of the feats str 18 Will give +8 on the first and +6 on the other(s),
If he have 4 brawler levels he May be specialized to give +2 more.
Moms allow pummeling and dragon but you need two swift actions to activate both.

Just play Shadowrun. It's a great system.

This shadow run is a Way better system unless you want to move away from the atmosphere and be superheroes in a World made for cyperpunk.

As it stands it is always on but only for melee attacks.

Try to make some rules. Then stat up some animal(magic beast) companions at different levels. Do that 5 times with each companion and move the numbers up and Down to make it so they dont out shadow the party figther.
Do that and you Will have spend more design time on them than Designers ever did. I Think.

...

Being my least familiar game doesn't mean I don't know how it functions. Rynjin. Pathfinder is similar enough in concept to 3/3.5 that the core ideas are more or less the exact same. The same things that worked in those to reign in problems work in Pathfinder.

The fact is, you can CLAIM that AD&D experience doesn't mean jack... But it still means that I have been playing and running these games longer than some players have been alive. It means that I am *really* good at spotting flaws in systems. I am *really* good at locating areas of imbalance. I am *really* good at plugging holes.

Since i have played longer than you and i Think martials do get the short end of the stick. I declare your arguments invalid based on my superiour experiance with all sorts of games.

Sorry had to do it;)
And it is even true i started in 84 and i Think you are wrong on all accounts.

Dareing champion cavaleir seems like what you want. Tactics, order and banner Can be good support. Full Bab and High dex is a good place to start with maneuvers that rely on a weapon.
And you Can have exelent damage if you want it.

I think arcane archer is a fine way to have both archery and some Spell power at higher levels. If you are archer first and arcane second it can be fine, but most of the time i think will be spend full attacking with the bow like every other archer.

Do you have other plans for the build than one high damage attack in rounds with movement? Do you expect to have mythic ranks at some points?
I think a normal war priest is a good way to go all the way. You get bonus feats to get the vital strike like a full bab guy and you get increases damage dice, so you dont need to use a oversized broardsword(but it May still be a good idea) And you get swift action buffs and spells.
I still think vital strike is situational but war priest is not a bad way to go. Talk it over with the GM how he rules impact enchantment and the warpriest increases damage dice interact. And save up for a weapon like that.

Better yet, setup your campaign so your players are all part of an adventuring organization. I don't know, some kind of, let's say, "society" for Pathfinders. You'll think of something.

Now create an advancement chart for organizations. Every X adventures or missions your players complete, they level up their organization. At various levels, they start to earn followers (non-combat only), land, fame, etc.

Now here's where your original idea comes back in: At every odd level, the organization earns a feat. Write up a bunch of options (more than 10) for them to choose from. Here are some ideas:

Hidden Base: Your organization's base of operations is hidden in such a way as to prevent ordinary people from finding it. Powerful monsters, deities, and storyline villains might still find it, but farmers, thieves, and other adventurers won't.

Symbol of Membership Each member of your organization gains access to an item that all other members instantly recognize, which can be used for various purposes, including identification, access to the base, or signaling (the Horn of Gondor, for example).

Coordinated Reaction After your party rolls initiative, each initiative score may be swapped with any other member of the organization.

i liked cthulhudrew's idea more this May be a good idea in some games but it is not really related to the idea presentens in the OP.

I know this is not really helpfull but i would go with the spinosaurus companion. You loose pounce but you so much in return(amazing str and swim speed) On a 15 point but versatile human is great and since you have skills enough. But even with eye for talent stats like str 15(+2), dex 12, con 12, int 13, wis 14 and cha 7, Is good. If you take conversion inquisition you Can even be party face.
In a low point buy the AC Can be the strongest melee guy in the group.

Question—would you deny natural attacks the damage bonus from Inspire Courage?

and no strength to hit?

Unless it specificly tell you that it dosent provoke. There is no reason to belive that it souldent. IMOP. I undestand the quicken Spell exeptional but there are several swift or even free actions that still provoke.

I suggest shield over mage armor.

Potion of mage armor is 50gp and by the time you reach rogue levels you can afford it or a wand of mage armor.

This way you get +8 AC and immunity to magic missile.

Also if not PFS think about Vivisection alchemist. More tricks than a rogue IMO.

This is good advice.

How about inquisitor(tactics subdomain) // kensai with VMC diviner(forsigth)

Another option to get 4+attacks is to be a hunter or a druid and have pehaps a spinosaurus companion. A hunter spino PET Can have str 22 at level 1 if you want him to:)

diviner wizard//kensai magus elf with the initiative alternate racial trait, reactionary improved initiative and a scorpion familiar. Str and wis 10, int and dex 18, cha 8 and con 10. Soft but fast. And initiative 13 at level 1 and way way more in the high end.
I would personally not take improved initiative at 1 but go with weapon finesse so fencing grace at 3 and level to dam at 6. And then i would get improved initiative.

You still miss when you missfire on a natural 1 so there is no Real issue.

Fumble is a houserule as far as i know. If it is just the not hitting on a nat 1 you talk about then it is still in effect.

I Think nate is in the homebrew forum?

Good suggestions, I normally do not like to Multiclass to much but that would work a good deal. Divine Protection works but requires a domain not just a 2nd level divine spellcasting ability. I don't think Oracles get Domains unless I am missing something.

Bards are Iconic for the Swashbuckling drunkard sword slinger. My favorite gestalt is Daring Champion//Bard for that reason.

MoMS Monk is fun, love Pummeling Style.

I heard Sacred Fist works well too because of Crusader's flurry allowing a flurry with a rapier or something?

Divine protection need domain, blessing or mystery so oracle is fine.

This sounds very interesting and i will follow this from the shadows. Since i am making my end paper on uni these days. But if you havent made somthing amazing by end august. I May do more than just steal your ideas.

CR 2 Intimidatrix + 4 CR1/3 bandits = CR 4.

The bandits are meant to be a challenge. At level 2 the players should be able to handle this as an APL+2 encounter. The encounter could be part of a bandit raid at the start of a campaign. (Yes, that means that the party level would be 1.) It's entirely avoidable if the players don't opt to fight the bandits and realize the situation they are in as highly dangerous. The bandits would use saps instead of lethal weapons until one of the bandits goes down.

This may seem a bit harsh, but in my experience this makes the players more involved in the campaign. (They love to hate the enemy when you do this.)

I dont use APL +3 encounters at level 1 since ending the game just as it is starting is a Fail in my book. But do get back and tell us how it goes.

You gave studied combat at level 1 to a full bab class with flurry in Exchange for a minor ability that get at level 5 normally? Sorry this is not gonna work i realize you want a smart brawler but this is just silly. Your archtype gives up very little and get back stuff that is unbelivebly good.
Edit: pehaps getting somthing like studied target(slayer version) by giving up Martial flex would make sense.

I dont think you need to change any thing exept if it is a one of encounter why does she have 17 in str instead of 16?

Cap. Darling wrote:

tim doyle 268 wrote:

My group will break down all of the classes down into the 4 basic groups. Put them on index cards with a number next to the classes. Randomly pull the cards for your roll in the party. Then roll whatever die you need to roll to figure out what class out of your "job" group your playing. It covers all of your group's needs but no one will be playing the same thing every time.

Is this for Real? Do you have the cards on computer? I am very curious about this system. I cannot even imagine any of the guys i play with submitting to somthing like that. Or guess how the Classes are groupd.

Sorry if this sounds sarcastic that is not the intention. One of the big draws for me here is to see how others play the game.

No unfortunately we never got around to scanning them. It came into play a few years ago after we had a player who was just playing the same thing every campaign. We were kind getting bored with it, so one of the guys thought why not have everyone randomly roll for classes. The down side was 4 tanks and nothing else. So we ended up splitting up the classes with a divine, "fighter", skill monkey, and caster. Sure some of the classes are on two cards but you build for the job you draw. Like rangers fall into the "fighter" and skill monkey groups but you can build either way depending on the feats you take.

shame. And thanks for getting back.

No matter what it is gonna cost you somthing if you want social skills. But generally speaking any of the classes you name can do it, just fine. And so can a bard.
A dip into monk(2 levels of moms pehaps)will help the saves and can give a few extra feats and on a swashbuckler you wont really feel the loss of bab since they are already very precise.

Kensai magus, with a moms monk dip if you are on a generous point buy is also a option. Then you have 3 stats to AC and can have great damage and combat flexibility with magic as well. If the point buy is less then generous just stay kensai all the way and you can still be awesome.

The penalities must be the -2. Duration is not a penalty it is the duration of the penalty.

Cap. Darling wrote:

a one level synthesist dip allow you to dump the physical stats and still be ok so for some classes it is not bad but generally the synthesist is a shamefull monster on unfinished rules.

But then won't your BAB be stuck at +1 since a fused Summoner uses his Eidolon's BAB?

....

I think one of the 70 synthesist FAQs fix that.

Pinpoint poisener, l think it is called, allow you two touch attacks pr round where you can get sneek attack on. That is all i got.

@cap. Darling: here is the lay out as promised.

The number of rounds that demon subdomain would grant its power is equal to 3+wisdom mod+ a possible favored class bonus of +1/2 to that power. So assuming you only have enough wisdom to keep up with your casting that is 6 rounds per day as a swift action to all melee weapons. The buff time for blessing is a standard action. By the time you have greater bless equipment you can bless two weapons (including allies weapons) for channel dice times two rounds all at the cost of one channel use.

The feat tax comes down to what your willing to invest and how much strength replacement you want. The possible choices are exotic weapon prof, TWF, ITWF, Piranha Strike, Weapon finesse, and three bless equipment feats so 8 max. You can pretty easily take a short sword instead of wakizashi if you want and not take piranha strike to reduce the tax to 6. So im not going to deny that's pretty costly but we can make this easier to bear and ill hit on that later.

Aside from the feat tax the cost of this is pretty low. at the end of the bless equipment chain you only need a number of channels equal to the number of fights you will get in, assuming you even want to use bane that much. If you need some out of combat healing for comfort sake then we can add in 2 or 3 more channels. A charisma of 14 with any trait to give a +1 channel use should be more than enough, maybe even a 12 charisma.

Strength vs dex: Well no one can deny that the number of attacks getting so many different bonuses to damage and accuracy of TWF isn't good in this rare case, BUT no one can deny that a simple two handed weapon is also effective. It will usually come down to paying 1 feat for a solid 2 attack build or paying that 6-8 feats for 4 attacks. I don't think one is superior to the other in a vacuum. What a players priorities are will be the main factor.

Finally... There are archetypes and other domains that can make TWF based off bless equipment and its channeling support...

Thanks. I missed the greater bless equipment then that part is good. I havent seen the idea before.

Come one come all, come here and see
A stranger location you will never see
Do not worry about cost, looking is free
It's the home of the cat and the hat you will see.

In a faraway land of Seuss Nation
The land has creatures of every station
All creatures of Seuss Nation are eager to please
Even the tiniest bat gnats and tree fleas
Even creatures gigantic, enormous, humongous
Yes even the eight armed galloping gazungus

When you walk in Seuss Nation it's quite hard to be down
The meanest mindflayers must try hard to frown
Beholders, basilisks, and barghests all benign
On days one, two, three, four, five all through nine

The physics in Seuss Nation are not quite right
When you walk on a hill it is quite a site
Instead of walking up straight and tall
You walk at an angle it looks like you would fall

Repeat a few phrases, a little alliteration
These are the keys to great deeds in Seuss Nation
Some things that you try they seem quite absurd
But these things are easy if you just rhyme a word

It sounds impossible how do you adjudicate?
Just relax, unwind and mentally lubricate.

Seuss Nation
The great mage "Dr. Seuss" created Seuss Nation in his home plane of Mundania. It's existed for generations in the hearts and minds of children and adults alike. Eventually, unable to come to fruition in Dr. Seuss's home world, Seuss Nation sprouted into existence in a remote region of the prime material plane.

On an ordinary day, in an otherwise un-notable corner of the world it sort of drifted in.
First to discover this wondrous land
was a warlike tribe, a great orc war-band
This new state of being was quite the shock,
The orcs woke early and quickly took stock.
Their hair, their horrible hair had all fled,
Instead on their head was a small tuft of red
Normally yellow and brown from abuse
Their skin was now a shade of CHARTREUSE.
After a little confusion and a little despair
(some orcs are quite keen on their hair)
A minute of mayhem but not very long
then the orc tribe all broke out into song.

Everything in Seuss Nation changed that day
the most vicious of ogres became quite gay.
The fish from the lakes now walk on the land
the lion and lamb now walk hand in hand.

Seuss Nation Terrain
The landscape of Seuss Nation appears to be drawn out of crayon. Generally limited to 3 or four distinct colors which change in various sub regions. Residents of also take on a a distinct duo-tone look, with skin one color and a small tuft of bright colored hair on their heads. Trees are widely spaced and very simple with tufts of colored substance at the end of long bare branches.

Except as noted below treat the Terrain in Seuss Nation as Sparse Forest with no underbrush.

Movement and Getting Lost
The lack of underbrush or other obstructions means that cross country movement is relatively easy. Travel in Seuss Nation is unhindered and roads are rare. The lack of roads, relative lack of landmarks, and uniformity of terrain makes navigation exceptionally difficult. The survival check made to avoid getting lost is 25.

The rule of rhyme
While in Seuss Nation any skill check, saving throw, or attack can be affected by saying a small poem about what you are doing out loud using the following guidelines:

Repetition: +2 (max +2 per line)
Alliteration: +4 (Each)
2 line rhyming poem: +5
each additional line: +2

These poems can allow characters to perform stupendous deeds of ridiculous scale. These are unnamed bonuses that are cumulative.

Here are some examples of the rule in action:

I jump, I jump that fence (+2 for repetition)
I jump, I jump with joy (+2 for repetition, +4 for alliteration) + 6 total

A longer sample:
I jump up high into the air
I leap a log, I fly with flair (+8 Alliteration, +2 repetition, +5 two line Poem)
I fly up high into the air (+2 for extra line)
I jump that chasm over there (+2 for extra line) +19 Total

There is no quality test, the rules are applied equally for bad or horrid poetry (because it's quite clear no good poetry will result from this effort).

Oooblek (Cr 3)
Oobleck is the stuff we'll try
to make come falling from the sky
Won't look like rain, Won't look like snow
Won't look like fog, that's all we know

Ooblek is nasty stuff, it falls from the sky like rain but it is composed of globs of green goo. An Obleck shower lasts 2d6 rounds. Each round spent in an Ooblek shower creatures in the area effect must make a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid becoming entangled. Entangled creatures must make a DC 20 strength check or escape artist check to escape the goo. Creatures which are not entangled can move at 1/2 their normal speed. Ooblek on the ground becomes harmless after the Ooblek shower ends but any character who is entangled remains so until they can make their escape artist or strength check.

The Happiness Field
The entire region is covered in a field of ridiculousness and joy, this is a mind altering enchantment over the entire region. This happiness field makes it difficult to be evil or commit acts of violence in Seuss Nation. A character must make a will save (DC 15) in order to commit an act of violence that is not in direct self defense. Even after making a successful will save any attack which attempts to inflict lethal damage is made at -2 to hit. Attacks that do non-lethal damage are not affected.

At the end of each 24 hour period spent in Seuss Nation any creature that has committed an evil act within the region during the previous 24 hours must make a Will Save (DC 10) or feel great remorse at their crime and will attempt to make amends to the best of their ability. Treat this as a Lesser Geas however there is no limit on number of HD affected.

Any evil creature that spends 1 week within the region must make a DC 10 Will save to avoid repenting and having their alignment permanently changed to Good (The alignment does not shift with regards to Law/ Chaos). Only a wish or a miracle can restore former alignment, and the affected individual does not make any attempt to return to the former alignment. (In fact, he views the prospect with horror and avoids it in any way possible.) Further the creature will resist any attempt to be removed from the Seuss Nation.

Truffula Trees
Truffula trees are particularly easy to harvest and the colorful foliage is used in the production of thneeds... everyone needs a thneed. Raw truffula foliage from one tree is worth 10 GP. Truffula trees grow very slowly and the orc raiders have to go deeper and deeper into the Seuss Nation to find this valuable plant.

Resist Happiness
Enchantment
Level: Cleric 1, Wizard 1
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Saving Throw: Will Negates
Duration: 24 Hours
Used by the local orc tribes so they can raid the Seuss Nation without fear of becoming permanently lost to it's effects. The spell hardens the spirit of the subject, during the duration of this spell the target of thespell gains a +5 morale bonus to any saving throw versus mind altering effects that induce happiness.

Sample Encounter Table:
[code]d20 Creature EL
1-5 Brown Bar-ba-loots 5
6-10 Happy Orcs 3
11-12 Happy Ogre(s) 3-5
13-15 Outside Orc Raiders 3-5
16 Talking/ Walking Fish 1
17 Cat in the Hat n/a
18 Insane Wizard Varies
19 NPC Party Varies
20 Elephant In a Tree 3[/code]

I often take maps from PDFs and turn them into printed maps. It's particularly effective for complex maps which are difficult to draw, but often it's just nicer to have a printed map. A friend of mine asked for some tips on printing them out so I put together a little tutorial, hope you enjoy.

Video Tutorial On UseTube.

PS: I know the sound is choppy. Sorry, first video. I'll do better next time.
PPS: There are some mild spoilers for Carrion Crown because that's the map I used to do the tutorial. I can't imagine this seriously spoiling anything, but if you are playing, you've been warned.

The new PRD Awesomeness is awesome!!

The Magic item index is slick, hopefully ARG stuff gets in there soon (along with UE!)

Getting the UMR and feats consolidated is a great help. The other biggie I'd love to see is a Master Monster Index by CR and Type.

Rummaging through the final version of the scenario and I thought it might be a good time to toss up some suggestions about running this.

The way I see role playing, we are engaging in a sort of cooperative story telling where the choices players do matter. In my experience haunts don't make for cooperative story telling at all. The only choice the majority of players have is to participate in them or not. Let me explain.

Right off the bat, haunts are a passive, reactive thing. With traps, you can kick into paranoid mode and start searching places you suspect there might be a trap. You can also do things like flying or spider climb to bypass suspected traps. There are also spells to detect traps and class abilities which help you deal with them. Haunts rob players of the option to prepare.

When you interact with a haunt, you are also bereft of choice. You make a Perception check, then you roll initiative. Players who made their Perception check AND act before initiative count 10 can do *something*. What exactly is that *something*? For many characters the only choice is to run away because only a small number of classes can deal effectively with a haunt with positive energy. Worse, even the few classes who can deal positive energy damage, often can't do enough to destroy the trap outright. Players are robbed of the ability to react effectively against haunts.

Essentially, haunts turn a cooperative story telling experience into a bizarre circus ride where a party of adventurers is strapped in, going from place to place, hoping whatever damage the haunt mechanics crank out is less than lethal, and spending resources patching up after the fact. It's sort of the 'It's a Small World' ride at Disneyland only each country you visit you get smashed in the face.

Next time I see an adventure with haunts... I think I'll pass.

I have several characters I've never played but have a few chronicles on them. I am going to be playing the first steps module and would like to run it on a brand new character. Can I just play it with one of the characters I have and apply the 'saved' chronicles after the first steps modules?

... well sort of (slightly NSFW due to moderate language) Linky

.

Always sucks to be that sixth slave.

Sometime back in the dawn of the computer gaming days someone came up with the brilliant idea that not all players are created equal and to make the game more interesting they should allow the players to set the skill setting. The default setting was Normal, then there was "Easy" for true noobs. I think Wulfenstien 3d had two other settings "Hard" and "Hurt Me Plenty". On the other side of the equation some player would use cheat codes or hacks to make the game even easier than the n00b mode.

...

So how exactly is a competent/ expert player supposed to find this game challenging if the system is rigged around average or even beginning players? My suggestion is self selecting difficulty.

I have some more discussion on my Blog/ G+ Page, I wanted to keep it there where I can modify the idea as needed since editing posts here is time limited. Let me know what you think, here or there, and let me know what you think about the idea of cross posting like this.

When making a search on the site, I often need to make a second or third search to find what I need. It would be really useful if when the search page popped back up it defaulted to the same type of search that the results displayed are for. For example, if I search for something in the PRD, it should default to PRD on the next search, not everything. Or if I search the message boards, the next search should default to messageboards.

It's pretty rare that I want to search the entire site for anything, usually I want to search just one specific area so I bump into this a lot.

.. Mighty circle slash
.. My own private banhammer
.. ∅ eats the bad threads

Zynete aka Blazej

Awesome job Josh.

Josh has been cranking out online games almost every week, sometimes two. He also runs gobs of local games down in the Southern California Area. If you haven't had the pleasure, he's a great GM and an super fun player.

When I'm using the PRD on my iPad there is no way to change the font size to make it more readable. Please either re-enable pinch zoom (it works on the rest of Paizo) or add some simple font size controls on the page so I can blow things up a bit.

I'm not sure how these get set/ updated but there are a fair number of weird dates in the PFS FAQ. Recently there are entries for 1/1/11 and 1/1/12 and several of these entries are marked as 'new' entries.

Maybe you should implement hash tags so we can request new features without having to come to the web feedback forum. Like this ->

#featurerequest Make it easier to request features

If we are going to talk about booting players for being evil there needs to be some sort of standards for how far down the path of evil an individual act will take a character. Otherwise we'll have some GMs booting players for killing a single prisonoer, while others will require a far more rigorous test (for example firebombing multiple orphanages). In the interest of fairness and standardization I propose we use this thread to establish an evil-meter or evilometer, which can be used to measure how bad character's are. When a character reaches 100 evil points he is irrevocably evil and must be booted from the game.

Points - Act
50 - Burning down an orphanage (You get two!)
25 - Nailing the door shut first
20 - Murder (attacking and killing an NPC without clear provocation)
10 - Killing a prisoner in cold blood
10 - Mugging/ assault and robbery (Beating up NPCs to steal their stuff. Note, if you kill them it's murder and taking their stuff is free)
10 - Not accepting a surrender or attacking a fleeing enemy
7 - Torturing a prisoner for no reason
7 - Kicking a Puppy
5 - Torturing a prisoner for information
5 - Killing an NPC in combat who isn't a threat to you (Watch out for lethal damage in bar fights)
2 - Slitting the throats of downed enemies
1 points per spell level^2 - Casting spells or using magic items to cast spells with the evil descriptor

Graces - These acts subtract from your total evil score. It is possible (but unlikely for a pathfinder) to have a negative evil score.
50 - Burying a dead ally with proper rites
25 - Atonement (the spell)
5 - Healing an NPC without compensation
1 point/ 1000gp - Spending resources to assist NPCs
.5 point per spell level - Casting spells or using magic items to cast spells with the good descriptor

This is obviously unofficial, but I suggest (if people insist on keeping score) we all subscribe to the same standards so players know what to expect going into the game.

Futuristic Librarian Paradise!

For crazy futuristic robotic librarians anyhow. Just think of how many human librarians are out of work due to this thing !!

Highly Underrated.

Shouldn't they be purple?

I'm sure they will plan ahead a little better next year.

Am I the only one who thinks the head on page 110 or Ultimate Combat looks like it belongs on one of the guys from the Gorillaz videos?

Not like "Hey that's a total copy!", but he would certainly fit right into one of their videos.

FAQs are now a bit more find-able

Central FAQ page links to all FAQs directly.

Also there is a nice link "Help/ FAQ"
<----- Over there at the bottom of the "Links" section

A huge improvement from their previously buried locations.

Also, if you missed it a fair number of new FAQ entries added in the last couple weeks.

Advanced Player's Guide

Bestiary
Community Use
PaizoCon
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
Pathfinder Society
Pathfinder® Roleplaying Game Compatibility License
RPG Superstar™ 2011
RPG Superstar™ 2011 Round 1
RPG Superstar™ 2011 Round 2
RPG Superstar™ 2011 Round 3
RPG Superstar™ 2011 Round 4

I've generally assumed that ammunition was only sold in the quantities it was crafted in (lots of 50) but I've seen people in PFS buy 5 at a time.

Does your group allow buying ammo in smaller quantities?

I have to wonder... how exactly did Ameiko get to Varisia? Since the emperor is imprisoned and she is apparently in the succession perhaps her parents were forced to flee Minkai? If they were fleeing it might make sense to hide the ship by sailing it inland and scuttling it in an out of the way swamp infested with goblins and other dangerous creatures. A Tian ship scuttled in a swamp? Possibly loaded with Tian Fireworks which they had intended to use for trade?

When bloodlines were introduced in the Core rules I was pretty happy with them, they introduced some fun new options for sorcerer characters. Granted, not all of them were stellar but they were fun.

When the APG was released and contained a bunch of new bloodlines and a (very) few feats for sorcerers, it was Ok (but not great) because they were good bloodlines and important feats. But ultimately as has been pointed out in the past, bloodlines suffer from diminishing returns and they are exclusive.

Now Ultimate Magic comes out and introduces... more bloodlines! Grrr. Essentially we now have something on the order of 50 choices for what path to choose for new sorcerers but ZERO interesting options for existing sorcerer characters.

Existing Wizards get arcane discoveries, witches - new hexes, summoners - new evolutions, alchemists - new discoveries, bards - masterpieces... Existing sorcerers? Bupkees. I'd go so far as to say if the only character I had in the game was a sorcerer this book is not worth the money. Considering it's called "Ultimate Magic" that's pretty frustrating.

I love this book but as a fan of the sorcerer class this is the one big letdown for me. If Paizo never publishes another bloodline again I won't be disappointed.

Archetypes
My 10 word or less description of the various archetypes:
Chirurgeon - Healing stuff in exchange for Poison Use
Clone Master - Wimpy bombs, Make clones and Simulacra, never die.
Internal Alchemist - Cool breath holding suspended animation stuff.
Mind Chemist - Cognatogens = Brain Mutagens. Plus some Knowledge Stuff.
Preservationist - Little animals in bottles (Summon Natures Ally). Pokemist? Alchemon?
Psychonaut - Diviner/ mind-walker Alchemist.
Reanimator - Braaaains! Yep... this is the zombie maker alchemist
Vivisectionist - Sneak attack... Preservationist
Anthropomorphic Animals WHAT?

Archetype Permutations
It looks like some care was taken to make the Alchemist Archtypes compatible with each other where appropriate. The following is a list of all the valid permutations of the various archetypes.... I highlighted my favorites.

Chirurgeon, Internal Alchemist
Chirurgeon, Internal Alchemist, Vivisectionist
Chirurgeon, Reanimator
Chirurgeon, Vivisectionist
Clone Master, Internal Alchemist
Internal Alchemist, Preservationist
Internal Alchemist, Preservationist, Reanimator
Internal Alchemist, Preservationist, Vivisectionist
Internal Alchemist, Psychonaut
Internal Alchemist, Vivisectionist
Preservationist, Reanimator
Preservationist, Vivisectionist

Re-Publishing Ultimate Magic before hobby shops can even stock the product on their shelves?

Seriously lame.

Confusion Bomb* (Su): The alchemist’s bombs twist the target’s perception of friend and foe. A creature that takes a direct hit from a confusion bomb takes damage from the bomb and is under the effect of a confusion spell for 1 round per caster level of the alchemist. Reduce the amount of normal damage dealt by the bomb by 2d6 (so a bomb that would normally deal 6d6+4 points of damage deals 4d6+4 points of damage instead). An alchemist must be at least 8th level before selecting this discovery.

I think the phrase "unless they succeed at a Will save." was omitted somewhere. This seems pretty nasty otherwise.

Would you consider it cheesy to have a halfling use the adopted trait to get the Half Orc "Tusked" Racial Trait?

Adopted
You were adopted and raised by someone not of your actual race, and raised in a society not your own. As a result, you picked up a Racial Trait from your adoptive parents and society, and may immediately select a Racial Trait from your adoptive parents’ race.

Tusked
Huge, sharp tusks bulge from your mouth, and you receive a bite attack (1d4 damage for Medium characters). If used as part of a full attack action, the bite attack is made at your full base attack bonus –5.

I'm pretty sure it's technically legal (though let me know if you can think of some reason it isn't), I'm just wondering if people think it's too ridiculous for their table. Those of you who have a cheese-o-meter where does this rate?

I've decided the un-official cheese rating system should have too parts:
Gorgonzola - (Reeks of Power Gaming)
Swiss - (Filled with Rules holes)
Eye-roller - (Nothing specific, just WTF?!)

In chat tonight as someone asked:
"How strict to the GMs tend to be in regards to Chronicle sheets? I only got to play online, and just kept my googledoc sheet up to date, so I have a 9th level character, but with only nine Chronicles I can reproduce."

My suggestion was to track down the GMs and get replacement chronicles but he suggested it was impossible.

How do you handle a player who hasn't kept his chronicles up to date if he's tracked his progress some other way?

My suggestion that he start a new character and keep better track of chronicles was rather poorly received. Someone else suggested he recreate the Chronicles himself but I'm not entirely comfortable with that.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Does the artwork from the sites downtime fall into the same category as the blog art so I can use it under the CUP?

I would love to snag that picture (within the terms of the CUP of course) for the error message on my person site and I'm just wondering...

This one

I picked up the Horrorclix "Freakshow" case from MiniatureMart.com for $40, it has 192 minis in it which is about $.25/ figure. You can also pick up individual booster packs with 4 minis for $1.25, if you don't want a TON of minis I suggest picking up half a dozen of those since they aren't too much more expensive.

You can browse the individual figures, I would guess about 30% of them are perfect for Fantasy RPG gamaing, 40-50% are good but a little weird or require slight modification, and about 20% require heavy adaptation or are just plain blah. Some of them are going to be a lot of fun to spring on the players and I am seriously tempted to use the clown with the bomb as my next alchemist character (but probably won't because that crosses the silly threshold).

These are better quality than the WotC minis but you do have to re-base them because they are on 1.25" bases. For re-basing I pop them off with a sharp knife and glue them onto a button or a penny.

The minis are made of a slightly pliant plastic/ rubber that is fairly easy to mod, I've cut a few of them apart to separate minis that have 2 figures (there is a mini that has a cat handler and a cat on the same base and they are pretty easy to split into two).

I found this Reaper Mini which looks remarkably like the ghost on the cover of Haunting of the Harrowstone.

Going to be a surprise gift for my wife I think who is running the module. I'm not sure who the ghost is (though I suspect) but she likes it and the match is perfect.

Edit: Fixed the second link and made the first one more Paizo friendly ;)

It seems to me that the majority of PFS scenarios are challenging for a group of 4, about right for a group of 5, and a cakewalk for a group of 6-7 characters. A good half the time when we have a big group the encounters don't two full rounds which is just boring. Groups of 6-7 who fall between tiers can generally play up with very little risk.

I'd like to see some encounters in scenarios scale so when there are 6-7 players there is a little more of a challenge. I'm not thinking of huge changes, just some simple things like "There is one guard for each PC in the party" or "If there are more than 5 people in the party add an additional guard."

This would make the scenarios a little more fair for the smaller groups and keep the challenge level up for the higher level groups. This is exactly the sort of scaling I do personally for my home group on the fly but I don't feel I can do in PFS.

Very nice to see the death subdomains legalized, this has bugged me almost from day one.

So in our PFS game last night one of the players brought a brand new gunslinger to the table. He had a musket and used rapid reload so it was only a standard action to reload. There were 3 encounters the Gunslinger's record looked like this:

Combat 1
First round of combat: Hit - 11 points of damage for a kill
Second round of combat: Reload -
Third round: Encounter was over.

So in a short encounter he got one shot in, he could have spent a grit to get a second one in but was conserving since it was the first of the day.

Second encounter (Longish, actually two encounters that merged):
Surprise round: Fires and misses
First round: Spent a grit point, fires and misses
Second round: Spent a second grit point and hits for 7 points of damage
Third round: Gun Jam
Forth round: Spent a grit point to clear the barrel
Fifth round: Spent double moving and loading the gun
Sixth round: Encounter was over

Third encounter:
Was nearly identical to the first.

Conclusions:
This was a very short session seems like it's hard to draw much from it. I can say that during the only extended encounter the only way the class was able to keep effective was due to burning grit points. I suspect grit management is going to be a huge problem for musketeers since even with rapid reload they must spend a standard action to reload. The frustration of having to sit around for an entire round to reload was pretty visible on the player's face.

The comment from the player was that he was planning on multi classing into rogue as soon as possible.

Seems like Rapid Reload is universally required for any gunman and it would make a lot more sense to have that as the first level class ability than "Leap for Cover". Nothing wrong with Leap but it just doesn't stack up to Rapid Reload in terms of "Must Haves".

The class is almost pointless if you have to spend a standard action to load the weapon.

Perhaps the pistol was meant to have multiple shots?

Wooooooo Hoooooo!

I keep seeing this same question asked, Jason has already answered it Here and the answer is concise and very helpful.

Can you please add this to the FAQ? It's flagged 12 times, and gets mixed up a lot. I'm not sure what else needs to happen here.

The Warslinger racial trait is a bit vague, should the Sling Staff work with it? It's a sling...

Should you read it literally as just the sling or as all types of slings?

Warslinger: Halflings are experts at the use of the sling. Halflings with this racial trait can reload a sling as a free action. Reloading a sling still requires two hands and provokes attacks of opportunity. This racial trait replaces the sure-footed racial trait.

Maybe just wishful thinking here. I was wondering mostly for PFS play since I can work this with my GM for the home game.

Just wanted to confirm this works before I load up my cart (more).

On the my PFS Page: https://secure.paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/myAccount

If you click on the "Sessions" link next to an individual character it instead takes you to the character's profile page which offers no way to see individual sessions. You have to access it from the "Sessions" tab.

-- Dennis

Ok... a bit of silliness in the title but seriously.

Stuxnet has completely derailed Iran's nuclear capacity, possibly for years, and every indication is it was a targeted attack. US? Israel?

There have been some fairly high profile breaches of the US military networks which resulted in classified strategic plans getting sold on the black market.

Google's pretty much accused China of massive cyber espionage, industrial
and otherwise.

That's just the more high profile stuff. It's a weird wired world we live in.

I was trying to pad my order up to get free shipping when I noticed Paizo now carries Wyrd Miniatures. If you aren't familiar Wyrd does a series of horror/ steam-punk oriented minis. It's a bit off the beaten path with regards to Fantasy but there are some really cool minis for alchemists, witches, More Alchemists, lots of constructs and undead all over their line. A really cool Wendigo...

As you can tell I really dig the line. I mean they have zombie socialites.

Anyhow, if you are trying to pad an order out or looking for an awesome character concept mini it's a nice place to stick your head in. The down side is their prices are a bit higher and they are 30mm bases.

Edit: I almost forgot this really awesome zombie Chihuahua

Maybe the biggest reason I love the summoner class, I get to mix painting minis with a bit of role playing. My latest Eidolon painted with three sizes and 2 poses :D

Summoner Minis

I love those Hordes minis for eidolons.

Discussions about the concept

Goal
The goal is to create a group of characters which we will wind up playing at Paizocon 2011 and hopefully 2012, 2013... and ongoing multi year journey. My expectation is that we would all play at least a little bit outside Paizocon so the characters could advance over those years. The rough goal I have in mind would be to have all the characters third level at the end of Paizocon 2011. (we'll hammer out something more specific down the road). If you can't attend Paizocon you are welcome also, the larger goal is to hang out and have fun.

Edit: Sounds like a couple of guys are interested in expanding this to GenCon also which is quite cool with me.

Who is Welcome
Everyone who wants to hang out and participate in the first ever PFS frat. I'm not picky here, I would love to see 20 people. Everyone must commit to the idea that the characters will be friends who enjoy working with each other. Any rivalries will be friendly competitions. Paizocon and in person gatherings is very central here.

Can't participate in PFS but want to do Order of the Board
If you can't (or won't) participate in PFS that's Ok too, Paizo provides some pregen characters at various levels for Con play and you can plan on re-branding one of the pregens for your personal character. For example if you want to play a wizard you can play Ezren with the serial numbers filed off. Then you can hang out here and role play on the Order of the Board and use the pregens when we gather at Paizocon.

You are limited to using the pregen characters which can be limiting but if the character doesn't exactly match the statblock it's not a big deal. Supposing you want to play an elf warrior you would play here as the elf warrior and grab the Valeros pregen at Paizocon and use it.

The Characters
The goal is to make a group of characters who are close friends who went through the Pathfinder Society training together and formed a tight bond. A Society mini-frat if you would. Rivalries and fights between characters are friendly. The group should have some internal synergies and be team oriented.

Outside Paizocon Play
I'd love to get at least a few online games put together, and someone suggested a PbP. If we can get together for something like this it would be great but it isn't part of the core assumption. This would be a particularly good option for those who want to participate but won't be able to make it to PaizoCon. I'll try and organize a monthly OotB online game and a play by post is possible.

Edit: This is the primary version of this, the most recent version will be kept here -> On my site

Edit: Edit:
This thread is for talking about characters, and game oriented stuff. If you want to discuss the concept go over to the Original Thread.

On Paizochat the other day I ran into Sebastian and we came up with a rough idea which I though was worth throwing out and seeing if it sticks.

I bump into a good number of you folks at Paizocon, then we keep loosely in touch for the rest of the year. Here, in chat, Facebook, FAWTL... where-ever. Anyhow, I (and Pony boy to an extent) thought it would be cool to get a group together and play a group of characters at Paizocon... then the idea grew a bit. Perhaps we could organize a few online games so we'd have a bit of a head start and we could play 2nd or 3rd level characters as a group.

I'm not a huge fan of online play but I think with the right crew and pointed at a worthy goal (socializing and hooking up at Paizocon) we could make it work.

The plan (what there is of it) would be roughly one game a month hopefully scheduled at a time where we could all meet. We would progress together as much as possible and have a session or two at Paizocon or maybe pre-Paizocon if anyone wants to show early.

Agaaain... really rough idea, I'm just kind of feeling it out. I also don't think it needs to be limited to folks who will make it to Paizocon but I'd like to pace it so a group of us can play together there.

Comments?

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Spell combat is quite nice as it is but it seems like the class should offer the ability to use spell trigger items in addition to just casting. Heck it should be easier to use a spell trigger item that's in your off hand than cast a spell. Like Gandolf, sword in one hand, staff in the other, or at lower levels a wand.