Charlatan's page

Hello all,
I'm happy to be running the Emerald Spire for ... 3 groups? Kind of simultaneously. I have one group playing monthly but we'll use an Emerald Spire level whenever we don't have the normal 4 pcs.
Another group playing every 2 weeks, and a third playing pretty much yearly, on the birthdays of the Hosts.

I have very much enjoyed running the game and plan to give details and comparisons between the two main groups (yearly and bi-weekly) as I keep teasing both with "what the other group did".

Team Stockholm went first and got to Splinterden before the Mouther chased then off. They found the secret entrance to *every level*, which included finding the back entrance to the Gobbo's. As a joke the leader said "There's 4 doors and 4 of us...?" but everyone else agreed and opened 4 doors, so I called the session there...

Group 2, so far "Alara's Lot" or less officially the Good Enoughs, have found only the secret entrance in level 2, and managed to more or less skip Splinterden, finish Godhome without issue and are now having Drowned Level as lvl 3 characters.

I've seen Jason Buhlman's stuff, and honestly it forces the issue which is great. He admitted he didn't need to put 2 Extreme encounters back to back tho (Blind mutated Wolves into that damn Plant with stacking bleed damage and the potential to critical hit the team all at once with 3 action range attack).

We got ALL the way up to the last dungeon, which I even printed out and made a really nice map of, before covid hit and we went to online playing. Then it never took off, so I haven't finished Plaguestone yet.

I have a team going through Emerald Spire, but once we get 2 or 3 levels of that finished I'm asking them to swap and try out PF2, which I'll run Plaguestone again.

Great! I have already ordered the Emerald Spire!

"I've seen Galaxy Exploration Manuels you people wouldn't believe. Attack Starships off the shoulder of Akiton. I watched C-beams, glitter in the dark, over the Adari gate. And all those moments..."

GM gets bored: "OK, roll initative Roy Batty =P "

I'm drooling and laughing and aww'ing too much. I was thinking of playing LESS this year, but I gotta use everyone here.

<3

I'm running this at the moment, and would like your advice. And yes I'm aware I'm maybe 2 years behind everyone else, haha. But I'd like your "advice" in the form of PC obituaries. For example:

Eznorb, Dwarf Monk 1
Aim: discover who murdered Bort
Methods: Surly, strong, flurry of blows.
Cause of death: After surviving the fight with Hallod, he succumbed to the poison that entered his bloodstream after kicking the locked chest under Hallod's bed, failing each and every Fort save, beginning with a Crit fail straight to stage 2.
Final moment: As the party were carrying their fallen comrade (see below, "Bard") back to Plaguestone, Eznorb lead the way, got stuck in the final tunnel, and died from his final failed save, blocking the path forward.
Heritage: Strong-blooded dwarf

Bard, the Gnome Champion 1
Aim: discover who murdered Bort
Method: Strongarm people, heal where needed, solo the Boar (and need rescuing by the NPC)
Cause of death: After barely surviving the encounter with Hallod, Bard was 1 of 3 PCs left unconscious while the 4th PC went and hid, allowing Hallod to escape unseen. Upon returning the PC revived everyone, beginning with the healer, unfortunately rolling a natural 1 on Medicine. Despite having his head wrapped in a bandage and his shoes put on the wrong feet, Bard succumbed to his wounds and went to meet his maker still in the boss fight room.

Brat Worst, Goblin Bard 1
Aim: Get out of Hallod's Hideout, with the new PC friends he'd made
Method: Convince the PCs that they were part of his team, and this was their initiation.
Cause of death: Sneaking successfully into the final fight, Hallod could only see 2 PCs to attack. Taking advantage of this, Brat Worst snuck closer with dagger drawn, totally missing the Spear Launcher trap and copping a Critical to the chest.

I'm very much enjoying Plaguestone, but I have warned my players how lethal it is, and they all accept that I'm going to run it exactly as written =)

That's an interesting choice to have the town blow up when the PCs rested and Vilree had been alerted to their presence. It makes perfect sense in realistic terms, it's what she (and the AP) would do, but it doesn't feel heroic to your players to not get the chance to save the town, I suppose.

I feel the better option would be to put the destruction chase behind Vilree regardless, so you must deal with her before the chase does or doesn't occur, as opposed to happens soundlessly, and off screen, whlie the PCs rest up to find a "huge monster" battle that actually is just beating a twisted soul after the fact.

Cheers for the info, as I'm running this now, and I hadn't thought about this situation coming up before, but I'd definitely halt the bomb finale if they did the same/took a rest at the same point.

So, just finished running this for my group, and I have to say... It was fun but rough. "Close call" was the catchphrase of the adventure.

Excellent recount, cheers.

My group is only up to part 2 (and this is 2021, so years after this thread died) and Hallod just tpk'd, though I had him threaten the last standing member to let him escape, rather than kill everyone.

It was genuinely up to the PCs choice in that moment, and he was playing a halforc coward Wizard, so he Sensed motive on Hallod and saw that he was genuine. If allowed to escape, he'd go. If not, Hallod would tear the Wizard apart, and then kill his 3 unconscious friends.

It made for good story, after healing 2 of the PCs died anyway (Gnome champ bled out after a crit failed Medicine check, the Dwarf Monk kicked a poison trap and it got hime after 4 hours) and allows a rematch with Hallod at a later date.

Just before part 3 begins, Hallod will reappear with several goons from town, allowing revenge and a much more even fight for the now level 3 pcs.

Late but...

Hi Nifty. the 30exp for getting past those 2 specific traps is more "story line" experience, that the players get for navigating through the traps (courageously?) to find Hallod's hideout. The later hazards (like the 2x spear launchers involved in the Hallod fight) are factored into each section already (as per the heading title, and "Severe 1" type stuff, etc.

When I ran this my players did a little around town, then found Hallod, and I leveled them after beating him, though they were only at 800 exp in all. I told them as much, but they had planned to recover for a few days in town and "resolve" the who killed Bort line, during which time they were happy to sniff around and uncover much of the undone social quests, only leaving the Ghost and Restoring the Church B sides, so I'm happy to level them early.

I've had a very similar encounter with Hallod, where in the traps both went off, critt'd and dropped 1 pc each. The dwarf monk closed with Hallod and got dropped when he ended his turn in the same spot as the second trap.

The champion gnome tried to deal with him and fell to Hallod's 1-2 punch (which NEVRE worked, seeing my players all fell to the first attack with the Kukri).

Facing off against the half-orc coward wizard, Hallod instead held the kukri in their face, threatening "if you get lost right now, I won't kill your friends." Player rolls sense motive and knows that Hallod is legit -- if he stays Hallod will kill Orc and then everyone else, so half-Orc leaves the fight, waits ten minutes, and returns.

The other 3 rolled their saves and stabilised, then needed healing, which got a crit so the Gnome Champion bleeds out from his injuries. The other 3 carry him back to Plaguestone proper.

At the exit of the dilapidated Hallod's House in town, the Dwarf takes the last of his poison from Hallod's trapped chest, and fails, dying on the spot. He even took the poison resistance Dwarf ability, but only rolled Fails and Crit fails against the poison -- alas.

SO NOW I have hallod free, but I'm going to have him come back to town after they clear out Part 2 of the AP. They'll be level 3, and hating Hallod, and wanting revenge, and I've got Hallod plus 4 goons from the town who he's pressed into serving under him.

This will give them a nice taste of justice and revenge, as well as allowing them to still get his great items before part 3 and the end.

How did yours end up going?

As a side note, it specifically sets you to Wounded 1, so if you already had a Wounded condition it wouldn't make it worse.

:p Oh sure, "it crit me and I got better lol. "I was wounded 3, but hell, it spat some bones BACK into me!"

Hullo, is my favourite Troll being underpowered? I think it's missing "and Grab" on it's bite attack entry.

I say this because the Quick Swallow ability specifically refers to it

"Fast Swallow [Reaction] Trigger: The jotund troll Grabs a creature with their jaws; Effect The troll uses Swallow Whole."

It's Claw attack doesn't have Grab instead (to rule out it being a typo of attack type), and the Troll even has Ravenous Jaws (bite all in reach, MAP after attacks) for 2 actions, allowing the troll to really be a unique fight.

If not, and you just say "flavour" the Grab with it's jaws, that's kinda meh.

Thanks in advance!

caps wrote:

What does it mean for this to be a "deluxe" adventure?

Comes with cheese and a basket of fries.

How do we use the Basket of Fries in game? I'm having trouble with the errata. If I equip the Basket into my pockets etc, can I eat the fries and draw them to consome in the same action? What if I have the skill feat Battle Snack?

"Outlook not so good..."

"Please, Diriddl, stop quoting your 8-ball! Use your mind magic or whatever it is."

*shakes 8-ball again*

"Signs point to no."

Hullo, has there been any update to this?

I'm running players through Plaguestone right now, but we're looking at what to do next, and Dead God's Hand has me captured the most, and instantly so.

December 2020 still the predicted release? Apologies if this is addressed on another page/thread.

Ah, brilliant, thanks for your help. I like the 'don't move' fight even better.

Hullo friends, Q about the A Vine.

It's reaction reads like an ambush mechanic, but it only costs a reaction, so is it supposed to use it every turn? If that was the case, why didn't the reaction create an "aura of plant grabbiness" that stayed with the vine?

I ran a fight the other day, which was very fun, but as I running it I realised it wasn't and one-and-done ability. So each new turn, assuming it moved, it could call new plants to stir and possibly entangle it's foes. I didn't use it as I thought the fight was enough as was (and vines are great fun to whip PCs with) but I think I ran it suboptimally.

Nothing wrong with that, but is the intent a constant 20-ft "hopefully you're tangled" fight? It feels like an aura of animation, but it isn't.

Thanks in advance.

Grasping Foliage --Reaction-- (primal, transmutation)
Trigger The assassin vine detects a creature within 20 feet via tremorsense
Effect The assassin vine causes vegetation within a 20-foot emanation to writhe for 1 round, turning this area into difficult terrain. When a creature starts its turn in this area, it must attempt a DC 20 Reflex save. On a failure, it takes a –10-foot circumstance penalty to its Speeds until it leaves the area, and on a critical failure it is also immobilized for 1 round. A creature can attempt to Escape to remove these effects. Assassin vines are immune to Grasping Foliage.

Can a creature or character with darkvision make use of a mirror in the dark?

I know there's little to no light for the mirror to work for people without extra-sensory capabilities, but darkvision isn't exactly scientific in the way it's defined, so I don't know if those with darkvision simply see the almost non-existent light that is present due to extreme sensitivity, or if it's something else altogether at work.

Interesting question. As a gm I'd lean towards no, because the darkvision itself is extrasensory, but the mirror is mundane. Seeing it's mundane all it can do is reflect genuine light, and in a dark dark cave there isn't any light to reflect.

I imagine darkvision working like infrared, only its "magical ability" that bounces out the eyes and back into them, not starfinder magic.

So because it's magic, for eye to eye, it hits the mirror and does nothing. Just my 2 cents, but interesting.

This is great! the closest we had in 1E was the Rougarou, which no one can spell, say or write properly.

Phenomenal work, this'll help loads of people.

Well said, and thanks for the communication.
Last night I played at my lgs and we had the tables set waaay apart. My own table was actually set within the shelves of gaming stuff and puzzles, chess boards etc. I felt special =)

Plus, a true rarity, it was quiet enough to hear everything my players said.

Oh boy oh boy, I love the beginner box ranges. For starters it's always a good story to run ppl through again and again without getting bored with it/its flexible enough to always change up

and second it'll help get more ppl into pf2. I'm happy with it, and seeing a lot less resistance due to "playtest hangover" from my friends, so I'm running trials for them and keeping the ppl who do wanna play.

Thanks all for the responses, I agree too it adds to the dying so straight to dying 3, and wounded 1. That hits hard.
I see it as "deliver this package of conditions as a result of the hit, which is X damage and condition wounded." THEN it all applies, so the PC is wounded when they fall from damage, it isn't "do as written in that order" so much.

I do think a lot of my rules Qs myself come from the rules in Magic, where you can slow everything down and get very weird corner cases but the rules simply support it, as opposed to Pathfinder which is much more "tell a story, the rules should support it but not run it" aka rule of cool.

So if you're DOOMED and get crit'd by a Bone crunching bite, that's insta-death. Yikes.

What happens when the crit deals enough damage to drop the pc, and they fail the Fort save so they get wounded 1?

I'm thinking the attack deals one "lot" of effects, and in this case it is damage and the condition, so both are figured out before both are applied simultaneously.

Otherwise you can see the dmg drop them, then they go to Dying 2 but get wounded 1 or you apply the wounded first and they go to Dying 3.

Pls n thank you

I am loving knights of the everflame. Omelette no doubt takes the cake. Up to ep 7 of season 1, so I dead what the pcs will find therein!

Thanks for replies. I get the flavour, but I didn't know that these were less perfected abilities for monsters. If Yapper is like an "anti-bard" then you could imagine they'd "Infuriate" instead of Suggestion, like "the target of yapping makes a Will save or absolutely will do a thing you tell them NOT to, ala reverse psychology."

I'll just take it as ask your GM and hope they're nice =}

Hullo all,

Yapping Song says that it replaces fascinate, but doesn't that also replace Suggestion? If our Kobolds can't fascinate someone anymore, then Suggestion isn't useable, but if that's so nothing replaces the ability (unless this is some absurb power creep where Yapping Song is too strong and replaces 2 abilities).

For reference:
Yapping Song (Su) : A dragon yapper can use performance to annoy those that hear it, causing them to take a –1 penalty on attack and damage rolls (minimum 1) and a –1 penalty on saves against fear effects and charm effects as long as the dragon yapper continues performing. This penalty increases by 1 at 5th level and every 6 levels thereafter. Yapping song is a mind-affecting ability that uses audible components, but is not language-dependent. This performance replaces fascinate.

Suggestion (Sp): A bard of 6th level or higher can use his performance to make a suggestion (as per the spell) to a creature he has already fascinated (see above).

Halp?

Here ya go.

That's amazing, thanks. You win the forums today =)

Hi Paizo, love everything you do. I'm just asking if we can pretty please have the full artwork for the Simurgh from bestiary 1? Page 295.
We can only see one wing, but I know it's other wing, plus it's tail, must be truly amazing artwork. I'm flawed with only 1 wing of the mythical beast, so seeing the whole thing would be amazing.
Please and thank you.

I'm looking forward to this, despite being a long time GM. I'm always happy with the "refresher" products because they do just that, refresh my excitement for adventure roleplay!

I enjoyed this. Short and sweet and a very quickly established in a setting which could only be a Monks training ground and a monks "play" fight (g&% d*$n trolls lol)

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest" Halfling, to paraphrase Simpsons.

Just throwing my 2 cents in.

"Reality Weaver" is an alternate for Witchwarper, or possibly a sub class.

Bio-hacker I'm fine with, it's unexciting as a title but it communicates the job perfectly.

Vanguard is likewise awesome, it sounds like a meat head with a connection to "otherworldly abilities" who will get in your way, which is exciting as a reader.

"Needless to say said Witchwarper was the only one to die...see what 1 credit does for you?"

I laughed. Late to the discussion party but thanks for a clear and concise report on your experience.

I agree with the idea of shields not granting AC but a miss chance. Makes them a new type of defense, without skewing the numbers.

Or you could make the bonus on shields an "Armor" bonus as well, so they don't stack with/best armor, but you can have a shield wielding envoy with great dex and shield "armor AC", the drawback being no armor upgrades for shields, but they're very easy to port and monkey about in.

All of our items have arrived, thank you so much =).

If you open the pictures in a new tab and remove the _500 and change the .jpeg to .jpg, you can see the pictures in a much higher resolution.

The HTML is strong with this one lol

Okay, I need to get my players to stop resting as often. The players are young so I've cut them some slack in the past, but most have been playing for over a year and it just got absurd recently.

So they go into a dungeon and have a decent fight at the entrance(only a cleric, ranger, and fighter are present.)
Then they have an ABSURDLY long and drawn out fight with 2 mimics due to bad luck (Nearly the entire party is there EXCEPT for the fighter from earlier.)
And lastly they have a very difficult fight with twice the number of enemies that they should have because a player opened the door to the next room where more enemies were sleeping. (Only a summoner, a DIFFERENT fighter and the same cleric.)

I have no problem with them wanting to rest after this (especially the cleric who had been running on fumes keeping everybody up), but their is a large door ominously off the the side in an earlier area that the ignored and instead decided to sleep in the enemies beds before their bodies had even cooled.

I punished this by having them ambushed while the were resting. The enemies were weaker then what they had already fought but without spells, they had a hard time.

I though i had taught them NOT to just sleep in any random place...BUT THEY DID IT AGAIN!

They are close to the end of the dungeon, and have only had ONE fight from their last rest. The Big Bad of the area appears in a fire burning in the room and taunts them to come and get him through the UNLOCKED door (opens in towards his room). Their reaction...better sleep.

I just want him and his contingent of guards to ambush them while they sleep, but i also don't want to be a complete jerk to them.

Good story, I loved it. Kill them totally, slit their throats in their sleep. Their actual characters wouldn't sleep in the same beds especially after that, so bringing the fight to them is correct. Coup de gras to start the fight.

Plus I know this is years old but interesting to read about anyway.

I'm intrigued by the "advice on how to create your own science fantasy tales" bit. I feel like a lot of people go into Starfinder expecting D&D in space (a la Spelljammer), or else something much more akin to true science fiction, and are surprised to see the amount of influence magic and gods and the supernatural have over the game. Science fantasy isn't the best defined genre out there, so a lot of people don't really know what to do with it. Starfinder's greatest strength - it's truly sandbox setting that allows scientific ambition, humanistic ideals, zealous religions and divine power, and Lovecraftian nihilism to exist concurrently and all be equally valid - is also its greatest weakness. There's too much extra thinking ahead involved.

Pathfinder can get away with being a sandbox setting because it can be concisely understood: "sword and sorcery, Lord of the Rings flavor fantasy except God is dead and the reliability of prophecy and fate with him." It's easy to pick up the game and play Pathfinder or even make your own setting from there. With Starfinder, a host of questions require the game master to put in a lot of extra thought ahead of time. What to do with a world where Heaven, the Devil, Cthulhu and space Elon Musk all exist concurrently? How are gods supposed to work in a world where a local drought or plague can be cured with commercial imports and advanced medicine? What effects does magic and the gods have on technological and social progress? How prevalent is magic, and is it more powerful than science? While fantasy has an abundance of pre-made templates giving GMs an idea of what a fantasy world is supposed to look like, science fantasy is a much more amorphous genre. As much as I love Starfinder's setting, I also know a lot of people who prefer to make their own, and often feel at a loss as to how to make a science fantasy world feel cohesive and make best use of the genre's flavor. I think it would be really helpful to have a creative world-building section, a campaign builder, and some...

I agree and disagree at the same time, much like you say being science fantasy is a strength and weakness. While it is a vague genre, it's because it's just all forms of play mushed together. You can liken it to steampunk being "fantasy science fiction" seeing we've got technology creeping into a fantasy world. It's a matter of degrees. I couldn't see any guns appearing in LOTR, but in Pathfinderverse gunslingers are definitely present.

I like that you mention people make their own versions of the world, picking and taking the Pact Worlds lore for what they need and ignoring the parts that don't apply/sweeping them under the rug. I use this when making my own sessions, but I let the players know what is/isn't available, and that other things will be determined on the fly.

I do think a section that highlights this "slice of game world" idea to newer GMs would be real handy, but more than a "you're the GM, you decide!" paragraph or so.

Plus I love the idea of a product that makes introductions for newer players so easy and engaging.

Ah, I found my answer hidden cleverly in the flavour text.

"The wolf-shaped body of a caypin has no eyes or mouth of its own-—rather, it sees and eats only via the contributions of dozens of thick, stalk-like appendages that hang from a jawlike protrusion on the front of their skulls."

I feel as though enhanced resistance feels natural. Not in the sense that certain races start with it, but that someone can, through training, have a naturally resistant body. Thus it's a natural source. You aren't installing iron plates into your skin, as with Dermal Plating.

And I know in the start of Feats it mentions that pcs can generate whatever reason they want for their feats (maybe it's training, or a rare gem from a previous adventure giving them +1 to beat SR) but yeah.

But the Vesk natural weapon is bludgeoning, so it's a fist, or headbutt, or knee to the head. Compare it to other races Natural attacks (Reptoid say) where it specifies another type of damage, slashing. I think a minotaur goring with hands fulls is fine, same as a Vesk could charge into a head butt holding their longarm against their chest, then during the season next turn.

If it truly comes to it, you could say the minotaur can spend a swift action to change what is wielding, shifting its focus from guns to horn. The guns are then 'held' by not wielded. Change again next turn for a swift action. I just think it penalises a player so much to have to do sessions to use a natural attack.

Hello all, a question about the Caypin. I'm assuming most ppl would rule as per gm, but as ever an [O]fficial answer is desired.

When the caypin uses it's detach ability it can make up to two "mouth swarms", but once it has done so does the caypin itself lose the ability to make bite attacks? If you rule as written then no, it never loses any abilities from it's own abilities. But the rule specifies there's "enough to make 2 swarms", at which point you could either see it as having no more tendrils to detach, OR not having enough to make more, but still enough to bite on it's own still.

Thoughts? Cheers in advance.

Thanks, I appreciate the responses, and admit I didn't know the situation completely, but I've been hearing about this for 3 months now and got fed up waiting for either side to act, so I did and we have some more clarity.

Also thanks Anguish on the information re payment and how it works, that may be where my partner got confused.

I'll delete this thread after a day, so you can read this response.
CF.

Hello, my partner and I have been waiting 6 months for product from Paizo.

My partner bought the items June last year, and we have sent several emails back and forth but nothing has happened. Her email is [blanked], and it was for a flip play mat and Starfinder condition cards. What gives? We paid you six months ago, and have had NOTHING for our money in this entire time. Our friends suggested that the play mats you were being supplied with are no longer made by the same manufacturer, but if that is the case then why weren't we alerted to the fact, and given options to cancel and get a refund, or otherwise?

Paizo handled the replacement Starfinder Core Rulebooks very well (we got our replacement copy, for the faulting binding, it's why we still love you) but this current situation is utter ****. 6 months and we've had a few useless emails, and whoever responded to them has made NO EFFORT TO FOLLOW UP. I'm posting this email in the forums section as well, seeing that tends to get more attention. I'm upset with this slow speed of response, OR lack of communication thereafter.

Charlatan Fox.

I like the idea, but I'd change the name to "Standard save". Standard makes more sense, as it's the standard way that damage only spells will be dealt with, and "basic" speaks of levels, like basic, medium, expert, legendary, etc.

Otherwise, I love this idea. Very easy to "get" for experienced gamers, which makes it easier for newer players to learn and retain.

As for spells that want all four results listed, I think succes, cri success, fail, crit fail is still fine, because the noncrit results will be far more common (assuming the PCs haven't decided to hunt down and fight a +4 level Dragon).

I ran my session 1 playtest last night and didn't even think of resonance until one of the players mentioned it.

One solution could be that most level items stop working on being's who are too powerful for them. A level 1 cure works up to level 7 characters, but a level 20 fighter who drinks a level 1 heal gets 1 hit point.

I don't see that there is a question here? You ran it correctly. Two pcs rolled better, but failed to see it. It's an ooze made of filth in a room that is all filth. Once it was sprung you ran the fight normally?

The pcs could have chosen to ready an action to Shoot the first thing that appears, up to them.

As the GM you can add things to the setting so it makes sense as to how the ooze was hiding, but I've already mentioned that it's a pile of filth in a room of filth. This also explains why the pcs wouldn't be able to hide in the same manner.

I am more eager to pick up and run an AP if it's only 3 volumes, as opposed to 6. I tend to run my own adventures anyway, in the long sweeping style you described, so having the option of "not so sweeping" APs is good ppl like me who want a break over holidays, say.

Also greats Diplomacy rolls between Paizo and it's insane customer base. Ta for the info.

Eek squeel yay! I'll be overseas and away from my group for Oct Nov, buuut that just means we'll be playtesting the PF for 1 player version. Of that exists, it's one lucky player with 5 sheets to enjoy.

Much happys.