ChirpyJen's page

I'm looking for pre-made adventures, though. I just started and haven't gotten the chance to learn how to make my own yet.

Hello!

I'm still learning to GM and play Pathfinder. The issue is I don't really have many people to practice on other than my hubby. Do any of you know of single player adventures I could run him on? I tried a search on this site but it didn't work very well.

Thanks!

AWESOME, thank you!!!

ChirpyJen wrote:

Ahhh got it. So in this case, the goblins are sneaking up, I would roll for their stealth, but what would I tell the players who are unaware of them sneaking up to get them to roll for perception?

You don't.

There are a couple ways GMs use to handle this problem.
a) Roll the dice behind your GM screen so that the players can't see the outcome. Roll for both the goblins and for the players.

b) Have the players roll about 10-15 d20 rolls before the game starts and list them down a sheet of paper.

As you "use up" their rolls, just strike them off the list.

Ahhh got it. So in this case, the goblins are sneaking up, I would roll for their stealth, but what would I tell the players who are unaware of them sneaking up to get them to roll for perception?

ChirpyJen wrote:

So that makes sense, but what can't they do while flat-footed? I mean, if they can't attack, well, they can't until their initiative turn anyway, right? And why aren't they surprised in that scenario and unable to take a turn anyway?

They are "surprised". That's what 'the goblins manage to avoid getting detected' means.

The way you know whether or not the goblins go undetected is that you, as the GM, roll for the goblins AND the players to see if the goblins are more skillful at "stealth" than the players are at "perception".

You may find with your rolls that some goblins fail their stealth check and are perceived by one or more players, but other goblins succeed at their stealth check and are not perceived by any of the players.

The players who do not perceive any goblins are "surprised" during the first round. Thus they are "flat-footed" until their turn comes up during initiative.

So that makes sense, but what can't they do while flat-footed? I mean, if they can't attack, well, they can't until their initiative turn anyway, right? And why aren't they surprised in that scenario and unable to take a turn anyway?

In combat, you're considered flat-footed until your first turn.

Here's an example of how it would progress:

1) A group of goblins creeps up on the party's campsite in the middle of the night. Combat hasn't been initiated yet, so the party members are considered to be flat-footed.

2) The goblins manage to avoid getting detected, and they get a surprise round to attack the party before their presence is noticed. The party members are still flat-footed since they weren't ready for a fight and haven't acted yet.

3) Initiative is rolled. At this point, any party members are only considered to be flat-footed before their turn in the initiative order. So if, say, the party's ranger rolls a 15, the goblins roll a 12, and everybody else rolls 11 or less, the ranger is no longer considered to be flat-footed against the goblins once it reaches Initiative 15 in the turn. The rest of the party is still flat-footed until their turn comes up in the initiative order.

4) The round ends, and everybody has taken their turn. Nobody is flat-footed anymore, since the party is alerted to the goblins' presence and they are now expecting combat.

Hello!

I'm a new GM, have never played Pathfinder before. I bought the Beginner's Box and got hooked fast, especially on the GM part. I'm sure I'll have many questions, but sifting through thousands and thousands of google searches that only answer half of my question is getting frustrating. All I want to know is a better explaination of flat-footed.

More specifically, WHEN flat-footed occurs. I get that the rule book says it happens when a player doesn't have time to act in the first round of combat, but what does that mean? That something jumps out and attacks before he can pull his weapon? How is that different than surprised?

The only thing I've run so far is Black Fang from the Beginner's Box, but I'm eager to keep learning.

Thanks, guys!

Jen