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
Bard, the Gnome Champion 1
Brat Worst, Goblin Bard 1
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.
Yako Zenko wrote: 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?
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!
John Mangrum wrote:
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?
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)
Ravingdork wrote:
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.
Well said, and thanks for the communication.
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 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
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:
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?
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.
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.
Rapthorn2ndform wrote:
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.
Opsylum wrote:
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.
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.
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.
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