Chris Clay's page

For my Rogue's 15th level I also took Additional Traits for Fate's Favored, but I purchased a Luckstone instead of the horseshoe because of all the skill bonuses.

Make sure your other Trait is Defender of the Society.

Trading Martial Versatility (Weapon Specialization) for Additional Traits. Picking up Defender of the Society and Fate's Favored. Picked up the Luckstone, so my saves are 19/15/15 currently. I'll see what else I can pick up.

Thanks for the input.

The Ring of Blinking is great but you must activate it every 7 rounds and you will give yourself a miss chance.

For saves good choices include:

1. Retrain into additional traits, take fates favoured and buy the lucky horseshoe.

2. Guzzle potions of heroism or good hope like they were coke.

3. Buy scrolls of them and hope someone in the group can use them.

4. Buy the dragonbone divination sticks. This wont stack with the lucky horseshoe but you get a bigger bonus for one save.

5. If you are human retain into the new alternate racial ability Awareness (costs your bonus feat) and/or Heart of the Fey (costs you skilled)

6. Spend 8k for one of the Ioun Stones that enhances dex or con. Slotting the con one will also give you +1 reflex

Thanks for the advice, Andrew. Another friend recommended the Heroism, so I'll be opening a soda fountain...

As for scrolls, one of the members in the upcoming game is at like +20, so that's a good idea.

I also hadn't considered getting additional traits for the save bonuses, but I'll look into it!

Thanks.

I don't think it matters when the PRD goes live. What matters is if you've played your character after the item was changed, otherwise you can only sell it back for half.

According to the Additional resources:

Contents in this book will appear in an upcoming update of the Pathfinder Reference Document, at which point the versions in this book will replace any earlier versions (see the list below); at that time, characters are expected to update to use the new rules or rebuild as laid out in Chapter 2 of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide. Modified gear—including ioun stones whose resonance powers changed—can be sold back at its full market price. Further updates and allowances specific to a particular character option may appear in the Pathfinder Society General Discussion forum on paizo.com. Until then, both versions of the character option are legal for play.

So, unless I misread that, I don't have to to change it until it goes live in the PRD.

I'd highly recommend bumping your saves, attacks and armor class.

• Your saves can never be too high.
• You're going to get hit, but what matters is whether the 2nd/3rd/4th iterative hits you.
• You're a frontline fighter type. If you can't hit anything, Flight isn't going to help you.

If you were more of a skills or support character then having nifty abilities is your schtick, but it sounds like you're more martial focused.

My attack rolls are +25/+21/+16/+11. So, not much I can do to up that currently. Haste pushes me up to +26/+22/+22/+17/+12, and Ki Flurry is an extra at the second bonus. What would you recommend to get to up my AC, saves, or attacks?

I've been thinking about a Ring of Foe Focus, so that's +2 AC and Saves against one creature. The only ways I can see to up my AC otherwise is Amulet of Natural Armor or a Ring of Protection. That will let me sell back my Knight-Inheritor's ring, and I have a few Oils of Bless Weapon so I'd just lose a full round to setting it up instead of a standard.

The way I see it, for AC there are four major choices:

• 24K to go from +1 to +5 on the armor, netting +4 AC
  
• 32k to get a Ring of Protection +4, netting +3 AC (existing ring provide +1)
  
• 32k to get an Amulet of Natural Armor +4, netting 4 AC
  
• 10k for a Ring of Foe Focus, netting +2 AC vs 1 target.
  

It seems the most economical is to get another +3 to my armor (15,000), Amulet of Natural Armor +2 (8,000) and the Ring of Foe Focus (10,000), giving me 5 more armor vs everyone and 7 vs. one target. I can sell off some items and maybe get the armor up another +1. That would put me at an AC of 34/36 with Shield up.

Would a Ring of Blinking be a better choice? 50% miss chance most of the time, but at the cost of a 20% miss chance for me at a cost of 27k?

I'm guessing I need to get my AC up to mid-30s at least, but what items are there for upping saves aside from the Cloak I already have? It's 14,000 to upgrade my Tiger Fork from +3 to +4, and 7,000 to upgrade the Cloak of Resistance from +3 to +4. I"m not sure where else to get the bonuses.

While I appreciate the direction to look - rolls vs. the situationally required abilities - if you could provide any suggestions that would also be appreciated.

It's worth adding that I just hit level 13, so I can pick up something other than Unchained Monk if there's enough benefit. Unlettered Arcanist, Arcane Sorcerer, Wizard, or Witch would give me a familiar (with their bonus) and the default Will save bonuses. Any other thoughts?

Thanks.

Unhindering Shield isn't PFS Legal.

Your Clear Spindle Ioun Stone is worth 4000gp.

Thanks for catching that. I had just come across it, and hadn't looked at the viability of it outside of "Oohh!! Numbers!"

I don't want to get rid of the Spindle yet, as it doesn't look like the PRD has been updated yet so the old version is still legal. Of course, I may have missed something to that effect but a quick scan of the Additional Resources doesn't yield anything.

Is there something you were recommending to get with the extra 4k from selling the stone?

So, I could use some recommendations for magic items.

A little background, first: I have a Fighter 9/Unchained Monk 4 who was made back in 2010, back before most of the archetypes were introduced. He specialized in Polearms, and took Monk to threaten his surrounding squares. Played several games up until 2011, then one each in 2013, 2014, and 2015, and went into part of Emerald Spire in 2016, and hasn't been played since. I did retrain into Unchained Monk when that option was on the table.

I list that out because my equipment and stats are nowhere near optimized. Money was spent before better options came out, and was later spent to address the specific scenario I was going into. Well, I'm going to be playing Unleashing the Untouchable this weekend, and have a chunk of cash to spend (~37,000). I'm just not sure what to spend it on.

My current build focuses on my Tiger Fork, with Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, and Improved Critical. I've also got Martial Versatility for those, so my unarmed attacks benefit from those, as well as any reach polearms I decide to pick up. My main weapon is a +3 Adamantine tiger fork, and I have Weapon Versatility for damage types, and a Knight-Inheritor's Ring for those times I need to bypass DR/Good. Hasted and Ki Flurry give me 6 attacks at 1d8+28.

For Armor, it's regular old +1 Full Plate, with a Cracked Vibrant Purple Ioun Stone with Shield in it. AC is 24, 28 with Shield. Dex is 14.

I'm trying to figure out if I should focus on improving my AC, or gathering abilities like Fly on a permanent basis?

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. I'm not above re-training away feats to get somewhere (such as Unhindering Shield which is a +7 armor bonus for about 26,000), or selling items to get somewhere better.

Darkling36 wrote:

Non lethal. It still seems odd to me that if the opponent has 200 hp, and someone deals 199 specifically non lethal damage, then someone stabs them for 1 point of lethal with a toothpick, that person is then bleeding out or dead.

Nonlethal damage will still knock something unconscious. At that point the target is helpless, and the attacker's nonlethal weapon can become lethal with no penalty.

Tarpeius, the CRB says "Most attacks that deal nonlethal damage work like any other attacks, and they deal damage to your Stamina Points or Hit Points as normal. However, when nonlethal damage would reduce you to 0 or fewer Hit Points, you are reduced to exactly 0 HP and fall unconscious, but you are stable instead of dying." It doesn't work like Pathfinder, unfortunately. This also means that only the final shot matters - if everything before was lethal, the non-lethal still keeps it from dying. Seems like it shouldn't work that way, but that's how they wrote it.

The whole "Captain rolls are CHA based" strikes me as weird. Charisma seems the least-relevant stat for commanding a spaceship in battle.

Personally, I'd much rather have a gruff, grizzled old spacer who knows ship combat backwards and forwards giving the orders, rather than someone who gives inspiring speeches.

Ouachitonian, the DC to encourage the crew is 10 (not modified by ship tier) if you're trained in the skill, so CHA only comes into play if you're trying to Demand or Taunt, which can only be done once per target per combat anyways. So, your example of the captain would probably be able to auto-make those encourage roles, and by keeping Intimidate up can handle the Taunt and Demand actions easily.

As for the actual topic, what I find quirky is the scaling of the DCs. It's usually a number plus either 1.5x CR or 2x starship tier. Going from a Tier-2 ship to Tier-4 increases the DC by 4, but you've probably only added +2 to the relevant skill. Using an Envoy's Clever Attack against a CR 2 creature is a DC 18, but against CR 4 it's 21. And again, unless you're spending feats on increasing Bluff you're falling behind against those levels. I haven't played the higher levels, obviously, so the new method of stat progression and the ability to buy stat increases may offset that, but at low levels it seems out of whack. The Operative fairs better at higher levels, but has trouble at the lower ones with Trick attack (DC 20+CR).

Concerning the terms "Gunner" and "Gunnery", I'm not sure where I gave the impression that I was interchanging them. Unless I'm misreading, "Gunner" is a role and "Gunnery" is a phase.

As I did say, the ruling at the table was because someone acted during the gunnery phase snap shot couldn't be used.

My two questions overlapped a bit concerning the starship combats I was in. The GM in question said that the Captain position couldn't be vacated, so all I got to do was sit up top and try and grant the +2 gunners or pilot. Given that I didn't have piloting trained, I had to do the DC 19 Diplomacy to assist either of those. The fact that they were having a bad roll day didn't help, but there were targets available to other firing arcs that I wanted to know if I could use Snap Shot to assist that way. I had already used Demand on all 3 people, so I wasn't able to use that again.

Snap Shot being intended for a single-occupant vessel is fine and understandable. I didn't find anything in a quick search I did before posting this, but it's possible that I missed it.

My question stems from what the rule feels like it's trying to accomplish. If it really was meant for a single-occupant vehicle, why aren't there options for doing an Engineer or Science Officer role? Surely, in an emergency, a single pilot would be more concerned with getting shields online or boosting his engine rather than firing a weapon.

Once I get an official ruling on whether the Captain role can be vacated, that may make this a moot question, anyways. At least now, though, I used my level 1 rebuild to make sure that I have all the ship crew skills so my role to Encourage is much better.

To me, this all falls down to what thelemonache said - how well it was roleplayed and the NPC rolls.

Cure Light DOES allow a will save, so if the NPC is expecting Cure has voluntarily failed his save, then the inflict happens and no save. The CRB says "A creature can voluntarily forego a saving throw and willingly accept a spell’s result. Even a character with a special resistance to magic can suppress this quality". So, they forewent the save but got hit with a different spell. I would say, however, that another bluff check is required when actually targeting the NPC with the spell.

But, were I to GM it there would be several other factors. This assumes the action is being attempted in a town. The original post is vague enough that it could be some complex or monastery, which could change the situation.

• Spellcraft from the target. If they can identify the spell you're casting, they can decide to save. Additionally, they can do an AoO on you if they identify the spell, don't like it, and are armed.
  
• Knowledge (religion) check. Most spells need a divine focus, which is your holy symbol. This check should fall under the "DC10 or lower" to allow untrained, for him to recognize your holy symbol as being a different deity (unless you worship, or are pretending to worship, and obscure deity that the NPC doesn't worship).
  
• Visual effects. Cure/Inflict are touch spells, and as such it has always been rules at any game I have played that there is an aura of some sort on your hand that's usually indicative of the spell. In the case of inflict, your hand would be trailing wisps of negative energy which might tip off the target. Of course, this could be mitigated by Sleight of Hand (to hide it) or Bluff (to say that's the healing energy burning away negative humors in the air or something), or by simply asking the target to close his eyes.
  
• The situation. What is the town's history? How has the party been acting in the town? Does the target have reason to be suspicious/trusting? Is the NPC bluffing the cleric back, hoping he'll start casting so he can take the AoO? Some stranger coming up going and saying "I'm going to touch you to make you feel better" would put me on guard. However, it seems like they bluffed their way past this.
  
• Unknowns to the party. What if Mr. Rando is being watched by several people from shuttered windows, balconies, etc. He's a test to see how the party treats their citizens.
  
• Alignment violation. Does doing this cause an alignment shift? Does walking up to Random Villager 227 and attacking violate the cleric's alignment or their deity's code of conduct? Sure, it sounds fun to do occasionally but it could get your status changed to "former cleric".
  
• Would the NPC normally allow this? No matter how good your bluff is, an area where they don't like divine magic won't let anything be cast on them. Maybe the see magical healing as a weakness, and attempt to resist it whenever possible.
  
• Finally, Why? Do they have a reason? Look at the situation and decide how the townspeople will react. Look outside the immediate situation. Say this happens in an alley at night. Next day, the townsfolk either find the dead body, or discover the widowed father of 6 missing. The only recent change has been the arrival of the PCs, who are now the suspect. Or it turns out he was the personal servant of a local diviner who scrys for his body, then uses speak with dead or raise dead to find out what happened.

Ultimately, it's a valid (if somewhat underhanded) tactic. How well it goes over, and what other effects it has, is up to the GM. And as a GM, once players pull tactics like that turn-about is fair play.

I've found that Baneberry to be useful. Fairly easy save (DC15), but does Str, Con, and paralyzes. It's on a 1/minute frequency, unfortunately, but all that means is a chase could suddenly go your way. Additionally, it's ingested or injury, so you can mix it with something for a nasty surprise. But when it goes off, you've got a chance to completely remove the poisoned target.

The downside, of course, is that even with the crafting discount it's 30g per dose. And I realize I'm assuming you're looking for combat-use poison.

For non-combat, Bloodwine is a great choice. DC25, sickened 1d4 hours and up to 18 Wis damage over the course 6 minutes. This should cost you about 34 gold per dose.

These are just my opinions, of course, and you may have different preferences or results.

If no other gunner action has been taken a captain could make a snap shot. That would be the only action in the gunnery phase.

Gary, I'm still trying to get a clarification. If the ship has 4 weapons and two are fired, does that mean I can fire an unfired weapon using Snap Shot, or I can't? The vagueness is that two other people DID take gunnery actions (though not with the weapon I want to use), so as written it seems that I'd be unable to.

But to me, it feels like the intent is to keep everyone on the ship from using snap-shot to fire the main gun as a free action. Maybe add a clarifying line to the ability?

You can fire one of your starship’s weapons with a –2 penalty to the gunnery check. You can take this action only if no other gunner actions have been taken during the gunnery phase with that weapon (including snap shot).

Bolded text is my suggestion, if that's how it's supposed to work.

Answers!

1) Yes.
2) I will adjust it to include bonuses from gear as well. Though they should still need to consume gear when required (such as treating deadly wounds)
3) I'll add this into a more comprehensive FAQ list. For now, it should be assumed that hirelings cannot craft items for PCs.
4) Yes. Outside of combat they can use these abilities (assuming the trap is detected)
5) No.

Thanks. Nothing there is a surprise, but I'm glad to have it clarified.

I apologize of I'm repeating a question, but I haven't been able to find the answers on the boards so far.

Concerning roles on a ship, I have seen it said a few times that the Captain and Pilot roles can't be unoccupied but I haven't found the actual rules that say that. I see the ones about only one person being in the role, and the specific example if of a single-occupant ship meaning either the Captain or Pilot role is unfilled.

Additionally, the rules for moving into the Pilot position says a "character can assume that role only if it is currently vacant". This sounds like the role of captain can be vacated, or just not filled.

Concerning Minor Actions - specifically, Snap Shot. It says "You can take this action only if no other gunner actions have been taken during the gunnery phase (including snap shot)." Does this apply to actions taken by anyone with any weapon, or only with each specific weapon? Here's the example where it would have come in handy:

I'd like a clarification, if possible. There are times when the free attack could be useful, or when the captain can provide much more help to the ship by going to engineering and trying to repair a system/bring shields online rather than just granting a +2 to the guy already trying.

A couple of other questions, if I may.

1) For any check that requires tools, do I need to provide them? My specific example is Medicine - do I need to provide the Medkit? As this sets the DC for Treat Deadly Wounds, I feel it's important.
2) It says the Hireling doesn't gain any benefit from spells, but what about gear? Can I get an engineer's toolkit, for instance, and let it grant the +2 to my Hireling's roll?
3) How many ranks does a hireling have in a skill? I assume it's my level, but I wanted to check. If we want a hireling to repair or craft an item, for instance.
4) The hireling can't be employed in combat, but can they use engineering or mysticism to disarm traps outside of combat?
5) Can the hireling take 10 or take 20?

Looking forward to the clarification.

Thanks.

Information in the guide and this thread are about it for official information.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ujb7?SFS-questions-for-the-devs-re-Hirelings

Awesome, thanks!

The skill focus and operative edge bonus don't stack, FYI. However, you get the ability to take 10 the same level O edge renders skill focus irrelevant.

Paper, thanks for pointing this out. It hadn't clicked that the Operative Edge and Skill Focus were both Insight bonuses and didn't stack. Seems a little odd, though. "Here is class ability one, and class ability two. Two overrides One until 11th level, at which point One now Overrides Two."

It also says, to me, that while you may specialize with an lower-level Operative, by the time you're 7th you are no longer any more specialized than any other operative. You can take 10 at any time with your specialized skill, sure, but at that point I'm not sure how much of a benefit it's be outside of starship combat. A Spy could take 10 on taunting an enemy ship, or a Hacker could take 10 on Engineering or Science Officer rolls. You could even do that as a pilot, since Specialization Skill Mastery only requires that you have skill focus in a skill, not that it be tied to your specialization. Still, it seems like at 7th level you're losing a class ability.

Luckily, the bonus from Improved Initiative is untyped, so at least that stacks with Operative's Edge.

The problem I have with the Envoy is that, without investing an improvisation in "Expanded Attunement", you can't use any of the beneficial ones on your Android party members. This includes "Inspiring Boost" and "Get 'Em". This will be a problem at first level regardless, as taking "Expanded Attunement" first will leave you with no Improvisations that benefit from it.

And I think there's an important piece that's being missed from the comparison. Clever Feint, on a success, grants the benefit of Greater Feint. There's no need to pick up the Feint feat line because you already have it (except as a standard action). Sure, you could take Improved Feint so you could do it yourself and then attack each round if that's what you want to do, but at 4th level you can get Clever Attack, which lets you move, then make the attack which will automatically make the enemy flat-footed to you, and possibly to all your allies as well. In essence, Clever Feint/Clever Attack replace Improved Feint/Greater Feint, you get them earlier, and they have better action economy. Concerning success, pick "Bluff" as your first Expertise skill for an additional +1d6, and then Convincing Liar as your expertise talent. This lets you possibly re-roll every clever faint/clever attack roll you do.

As others have mentioned, you can also pick up move-action inspirations to allow you two actions per round. "Not In The Face", maybe? And for those that mentioned the "Unwieldy" weapons - thanks for that. It never occurred to me but you're right, and I'll consider it.

From what I've seen, in my 3 games, is that most attacks blow through stamina in the first hit on 1st level characters. Being able to go "Here, have some back" from a distance that does not provoke an AoE seems like a huge benefit. (I say seems, because up until now I've been playing an operative version of a face. After reviewing the Envoy, however, I feel it's more suited for the Face role.)

If I've misunderstood any of the abilities or ability synergies, please let me know.

You will have to supply any tools or kits. Though they won't add to the check.

I actually asked and Hillman said yes you can spend your action to have a hireling Aid. But of course the person they are aiding has to be trained if it is a trained skill.

Afaik they can take 10 or 20 in any situation a PC could. Though since it uses your action that means both it and you are occupied for however long it takes to take 20.

The highest rank version of Hireling has a total bonus of your level +8. So in effect a PC with full ranks and a 20 in the appropriate stat. PCs can be better but if your party is lacking in those skills it will be a big help. I got the Face one.

Thanks for the response. I'm not looking for the item to grant a bonus, but the DC to treat deadly wounds is based on the medkit used, and the only medkit I can buy for Starfinder Society is the basic one, which is a DC25. Given that the hireling can only do a DC24, he can't actually do what I'm hiring him to do. If he can aid another, however, then he can at least provide some benefit if there's another party member trained.

Do you know of any location that details how the hirelings (and their gear) is supposed to work? I wasn't able to find anything on the boards, and I can't find anything in the CRB either. Since this is for SFS, I'd like to find some sort of official ruling on it.

Thanks.

I decided to pick up a hireling boon with Set 3 skills - Culture, Medicine, and Survival. I did this so the hireling could use medicine to Treat Deadly Wounds while the party took a 10-minute rest.

I'm trying to figure out if the hireling has a basic medkit (and needs a DC25, which he can't make), or if I later purchase as advanced medkit will he use whatever that DC is?

Additionally, can the ally be used to simply aid another, rather than try to use the skill himself? I have to be level 3 before the Amateur hireling even has a chance at successfully treating deadly wounds with a basic medkit, and I can't get access to an advanced medkit until 4th level unless it appears on a chronicle. (I will point out that I'm not trained in medicine, so I can't aid the hireling currently.)

This also brings up the question of whether or not the hireling can take 10 or 20.

Any input on how this is supposed to work would be appreciated. I'd hate to spend the fame on something I can't actually get the benefit I wanted from.

Thanks.

I had an interesting situation during a recent convention. I was playing a cleric, and two of the players at one table were constantly talking about how religions were false, I was an arcane caster deluding myself into thinking I talked to a god, etc. They had their in-game reasons for this, of course, but I was still upset by it. My question, is it considered being a jerk to tell them to stop badmouthing my choice of religion or else I'll keep the divine magics away from them, and actually following through on it? I did threaten them with that, but when they got low on HP I still made sure they were healed. I'm just wondering how to handle something like that.

Any advice would be appreciated. I think I handled it well, but I'm wondering where that line is?

Woolfwood82, my general procedure is to go with GM ruling unless you know the rules to back it up. Even then, I'll go with the GM ruling so my turn is over, then look up the rule to show him the next time I do it, or even right after that encounter.

As for how you handle it, I can't really add anything to what's been said. Your choices are to put up with it, leave the group or make him stop being the GM (this can be by kicking him from the group or having someone else GM). In this circumstance, I would talk to him one-on-one, and straight-up ask him. See how it works out. If he apologizes and seems to not realize, give him a chance. If he goes on about how you're whining like a baby, he probably is targeting you and will now do so more, because you called him on it.

I wish you the best of luck, and hope everything works out well for you.

I also recommend the Muleback Cords. +8 STR for carrying capacity, 1,000GP. Yes, I know it takes up the cloak slot but at early levels, before you get your haversack, it's a godsend.

Stuff

Kinevon, the way I interpret this is:

This is my interpretation. The level one rebuild rules, as it applies to GM blobs, is not an inappropriate advantage.

To the OP, Jayson MF Kip - the same thing applies. Your rogue won't have a +1 BAB until level 2, so you don't get to rebuild him for free. As for your other hypothetical, yes, you'd have to pay for that assuming you had something else. A level 3 fighter, non-human, could have Dodge, Mobility and Spring Attack at level 3, leaving your level 4 feat for Weapon Specialization.

All of this, of course, is my opinion. I don't know of any ruling anywhere that backs this up, this is just what I feel the intention of the process is.

I hope this helps.

To address the OP, GMs should be as brutal as their players want (which has been mentioned). In my experience, players remember the "barely" won fights, not the cake walks.

As for your thinking the GM is out to kill you, from what you've said it seems right. Mention to him that the CRs for creatures assumes a party of FOUR characters, so your level 5 character should be facing CR 1 and 2. Also, number increase the CR. You can try to give him your character ahead of time so he knows what you can and can't do. Maybe he can tailor an encounter you can win, or at least not lose without acting. You can even try re-creating the same encounters for him, but at the proper CR.

In my personal opinion, drop him and move on. He seems the type of GM who feels he has to "win" the game, and you're the scorecard.

Thanks all for the input. This is what we thought as well, but went with the GMs statement otherwise. I just hopped on here to see if there was an official ruling somewhere I missed, and when I couldn't find one, was hoping to get one.

I agree with what a lot of people are saying - discuss it with your group first. Know who is, and isn't, OK with it.

However, everybody should also allowed to have fun and play their character. If I have an AoE character and let you know that's what I'm going to do, and then you run into the middle of the fight so I can't AoE, that might violate the "Don't be a jerk" rule.

You also have the possibility that one guy is running into the middle of the fights specifically to kill the party - they won't let the AoE happen because "no PvP" and the baddies spread out and attack. Yes, he might die but so might others, all because one guy decided how another guy should play.

And yes, I realize these are fringe cases. I don't know any caster that has nothing but AoEs, but I guess it's possible. I also don't know anyone in society play that would intentionally set up the party to die. It's the same for the rest of these cases. Most parties will take a few minutes to discuss basic tactics before the scenario gets underway. And for those that don't, they usually have that discussion after the 1st fight.

If you've got guy 1 at the table going "I can only AoE so let me go first." and guy 2 going "I'm built to go first and run in.", then there needs to be a compromise. Maybe guy 2 waits for guy 1 to blast, then runs in. Maybe guy 1 only gets 1-2 targets in the AoE because he's avoiding guy 2. Everyone plays their character and hopefully has fun.

WTGames, you can show the chronicle to your local VO and see if they can figure out what happened. I've had times when I mis-read the PFS number so the wrong character got credit. The VO can use the Event number on the chronicle to make sure you get credit.

Thanks, FLite. I was already leaning that way for him, and the fluffy teddy bear of doom was just humorous.

Missed the bit about the reach only on one claw - the sad truth is the last time he was played was April 20th, 2013. Not many groups I could play with at that level around here and even when there was, I was usually playing one of my healers so we could survive.

I may just drop the reach and re-build, although I'll miss Snowball from the spell list. Of course, at the rate he's played maybe I'll just leave him alone and use the free rebuild the next book about summoners provides in a couple years...

Maybe I can get some help with my summoner here. I have a level 3 APG summoner. The backstory is this - he's a Halfling raised by crazy Chelish nobles that wanted a kid that didn't grow up. So he was raised to believe he was a 12-year old kid, but was sent away to the Society after his new "toy" started showing up - a 5-foot tall blue teddy bear named "Fluffmodeous".

Fluffmodeous is a Bipedal Eidolon with claw x2, bite, improved strength, Reach on the claws, and skilled (Disable Device). I currently can't rebuild him in Unchained, as I can't get quite everything. Furthermore, given the character concept I'm pretty much limited to Elementals or psychompms. Devils are out, because of his Chaotic nature and given that he's from Cheliax, I don't feel Daemons or Demons are a good fit.

Any recommendations? I know that eventually, the APG summoner will be axed completely so I should change while it's good, but I don't know if I can keep the fun feel of this character. I am willing to change from his CN alignment, but any sort of Lawful just doesn't fit. He is growing up, however, so I can deal with the switch from Chaotic.

I look forward to any advice on how to switch him over.

Thanks.

Thanks for all the replies.

To clarify a few points:

The GM in question was a VO, and specifically called out a discussion on the VO boards that had been addressing this. As I haven't been a VO for a year now, I never saw that post.

Yes, I posted this in "Rules Questions" first, because this seemed like something that would be treated the same way across the board, whether or not it's PFS. I got the same answers as here, so I wanted to make sure that there wasn't something PFS specific that I missed.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Too many ppl plead the case of "My [PFS GM] runs [extreme rules interpretation]. I need [official PFS answer]. They won't listen otherwise!".

...

Nefreet, I apologize if that's how my post came off. I'm not here to call someone out, but I do want something I can point to with a response from someone "official" to lay this to rest. Because, as you said, some PFS GMs won't change what they think is right without an official ruling. I did leave out the fact that this was a VO who said this as well as the fact that he cited a VO board post. I felt that those details would derail this thread into an attack on my VO (or VOs in general) rather than a clarification on the rules.

Mystic Lemur, I'm not sure if the post in question is still ongoing or resolved. I would think that this is an ongoing discussion, as I'm sure Mike Brock would have stepped in if a "Wrong" interpretation was the consensus. As Michael stated, it seems to be an interpretation of the word "usual".

I have been going by the rule of "If it doesn't say it doesn't multiply, then it multiplies" on crits, and will continue to do so until I see an official ruling that says otherwise.

Thanks, Kudaku. I've started a post there.

I was playing a PFS game today, and we had an interesting discussion about critical hits.

Specifically, this line on page 184 of the CRB:

"A critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together."

By the GM's ruling, any situational modifiers (specifically Bard bonuses, in this case) are not modified by the critical damage, since they are not USUAL modifiers.

The discussion came down to this - are modifiers doubled (tripled, whatever) on a crit unless they specifically say they're not, or are they only modified if they specifically say they are?

This specific example - There was a +4 competence bonus and a +2 morale bonus going on. The GM said they weren't doubled on a critical hit (from an x2 weapon).

Thanks.

Thanks - this is how I thought it works.

As this if for PFS, I just need to get an official ruling on this.

Thanks for the input, guys!

I was playing a PFS game today, and we had an interesting discussion about critical hits.

Specifically, this line on page 184 of the CRB:

"A critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together."

By the GM's ruling, any situational modifiers (specifically Bard bonuses, in this case) are not modified by the critical damage, since they are not USUAL modifiers.

The discussion came down to this - are items doubled (tripled, whatever) on a crit unless they specifically say they're not, or are they only modified if they specifically say they are?

Thanks.

When I play any character with healing spells, I won't hesitate to use them on party members. Using my own potions or wands will be a case-by-case basis. I will always do what I can to keep a party member from dying but I won't necessarily keep them "topped off".

I think the point some people are making is that no characters should be expected to load up on disposable items specifically to be used by other players. I haven't seen anyone blowing through 10+ charges on a wand of Magic Weapon or Protection from Evil, and they some have even been offended when you ask them for a charge.

It boils down to healing being seen as a "party" resource regardless of origin while buffs are usually seen as "individual" resources. This is due partly to the fact that very few people or situations benefit from most non-healing spells while EVERYONE can use a CLW (or better).

Every one of my characters has a wand of CLW. I do it so:

• So that *I* have plenty of healing if we don't have a cleric,
  
• One person doesn't have to foot the entire bill for party healing and
  
• We don't have a TPK because we ran out of healing

That last point is what's important for me - if we all die the money I saved up until then isn't worth anything. Spending a little extra to make sure I survive to get my reward and spend it is worth it to me.

Neon Galaxy has changed it's name to "GalaxyCon", and we've still got room for player and GMs! Reward tiers remain the same.

Please let me know if you'd like to volunteer or attend.

Thanks.

There are still plenty of GM spots left! We also have plenty of room for players so sign up at www.combatcon.com.

Please let me know if there are any questions.

Among the ideas listed, I played an exceptionally broken synthesis/monk with Snake Style and the skilled evolution for Sense Motive. I could avoid pretty much any single hit in the round and go front-line.

If you go the Synthesist route, Dump Str and Dex but be careful about Con - if you get knocked out the drop in Con could actually kill you.

DarkDisciple, When I played one I found picking a couple spells from the Paladin list was much more helpful. Bless Weapon, Litany of Sloth and Litany of Escape were the big ones I picked. All very useful, at least situationally.

Hope this helps.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I'm looking for GMs to fill slots at CombatCon, happening June 13-15 in Las Vegas. We've got 20 tables of PFS over 8 slots, including Siege of the Diamond City!

Below are the GM reward tiers:
CombatCon (June 13-15):
Tier 1 (7+ Games): 1/4 hotel room, free con admission, GM Boon, 1 Con D6 per table run, Paizo product to be determined, Meet & Greet with Kyle Rowling. LIMIT: 12
Tier 2 (6+ Games): 1/4 hotel room, free con admission, GM Boon, 1 Con D6 per table run, Paizo product to be determined. LIMIT: 4
Tier 3 (5+ Games): Free con admission, GM Boon, 1 Con D6 per table run, Paizo product to be determined
Tier 4 (4- Games): GM Boon, 1 Con D6 per table run

Scenarios being run are:
PFS 5-01: The Glass River Rescue (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-02: The Wardstone Patrol (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-03: The Hellknight's Feast (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-04: The Stolen Heir (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-05: The Elven Entanglement (levels 7-11)
PFS 5-06: You Have What You Hold (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-07: Port Godless (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-08: The Confirmation (levels 1-2)
PFS 5-09: The Traitor’s Lodge (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-10: Where Mammoths Dare Not Tread (levels 7-11)
PFS 5-11: Library of the Lion (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-12: Destiny of the Sands - Part 1: A Bitter Bargain (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-13: Weapon in the Rift (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-14: Day of the Demon (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-15: Destiny of the Sands - Part 2: Race to Seeker's Folly (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-16: Destiny of the Sands - Part 3: Sanctum of the Sages (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-17: Fate of the Fiend (levels 7-11)
PFS 5-18: The Stranger Within* (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-19: The Horn of Aroden (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-20: The Sealed Gate (levels 7-11)
PFS 5-21: The Merchant’s Wake (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-22: Scars of the Third Crusade (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-23: Cairn of Shadows (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-24: Assault on the Wound. (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-25: Vengeance at Sundered Crag (levels 7-11)

We'll also be running Siege of the Diamond City (Tier 1-15) and the PFS Sanctioned Module, Fangwood Keep (Levels 3-5).

Please let me know if you're interested or have any questions. I can be contacted at vc_lasvegas@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

Good afternoon, everyone!

CombatCon, a martial arts convention is proud to offer tabletop gaming this year! As part of this, we're running 20 tables of PFS across 8 slots!

Admission to the con is $45 for a gaming pass, which includes access to the vendor area. You can purchase a pass here. Additionally, hotel rates are very reasonable, starting at $24/night Sun-Thurs and $69/night Fri-Sat. That's $162 + tax & resort fees for the weekend! (Information on rooms can be found here.)

The full gaming schedule can be found at the Warhorn site. The following scenarios will be run:

PFS 5-01: The Glass River Rescue (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-02: The Wardstone Patrol (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-03: The Hellknight's Feast (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-04: The Stolen Heir (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-05: The Elven Entanglement (levels 7-11)
PFS 5-06: You Have What You Hold (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-07: Port Godless (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-08: The Confirmation (levels 1-2)
PFS 5-09: The Traitor’s Lodge (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-10: Where Mammoths Dare Not Tread (levels 7-11)
PFS 5-11: Library of the Lion (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-12: Destiny of the Sands - Part 1: A Bitter Bargain (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-13: Weapon in the Rift (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-14: Day of the Demon (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-15: Destiny of the Sands - Part 2: Race to Seeker's Folly (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-16: Destiny of the Sands - Part 3: Sanctum of the Sages (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-17: Fate of the Fiend (levels 7-11)
PFS 5-18: The Stranger Within* (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-19: The Horn of Aroden (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-20: The Sealed Gate (levels 7-11)
PFS 5-21: The Merchant’s Wake (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-22: Scars of the Third Crusade (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-23: Cairn of Shadows (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-24: Assault on the Wound. (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-25: Vengeance at Sundered Crag (levels 7-11)

We'll also be running Siege of the Diamond City (Tier 1-15) and the PFS Sanctioned Module, Fangwood Keep (Levels 3-5).

Please let me know if you have any questions!

I hope to see you there!

Greeting, everyone!

We're still looking for GMs for Neon Galaxy, happening Halloween Weekend in Las Vegas! The GM reward tiers are as follows:

[u]Neon Galaxy (Oct 31 - Nov 2)[/u]
Tier 1 (7+ Games): 1/4 hotel room, free con admission, GM Boon, 1 Con D6 per table run, Paizo product to be determined. LIMIT: 12 (4 filled)
Tier 2 (6+ Games): Free con admission, GM Boon, 1 Con D6 per table run, Paizo product to be determined
Tier 3 (5+ Games): Free con admission, GM Boon, 1 Con D6 per table run, Paizo product to be determined.
Tier 4 (4+ Games): Free con admission, GM Boon, 1 Con D6 per table run
Tier 5 (2-3 Games): Discounted con admission ($25), GM Boon, 1 Con D6 per table run
Tier 6 (1 Game): Discounted con admission ($35), GM Boon, 1 Con D6

Currently, the games on schedule are:
PFS 5-08: The Confirmation (levels 1-2)
PFS 6-01: Trial by Machine
PFS 6-02: The Silver Mount Collection
PFS 6-03: The Technic Siege
PFS 5-12: Destiny of the Sands - Part 1: A Bitter Bargain (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-15: Destiny of the Sands - Part 2: Race to Seeker's Folly (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-16: Destiny of the Sands - Part 3: Sanctum of the Sages (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-22: Scars of the Third Crusade (levels 1-5)
PFS 5-23: Cairn of Shadows (levels 5-9)
PFS 5-24: Assault on the Wound. (levels 3-7)
PFS 5-25: Vengeance at Sundered Crag (levels 7-11)
PFS Season 6 special

We've got several open slots that will fill up with new Season 6 scenarios as they're released, or any favorites that are requested. If you're interested in GMing, please contact me at vc_lasvegas@yahoo.com

For those wishing to play, please head over to Warhorn to sign up for games and the Neon Galaxy to register to attend.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Please let me know if you

Halloween Weekend! You can go to neongalaxy.org for info. We've got a pretty nice selection of guests for a first-year con. And, well, some incredible hotel rates.

Let me know if you have any questions about it. I hope to see you there!

Neon Galaxy is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy/other convention and is not affiliated with NeonCon. I apologize for any confusion that may have come about due to the name similarity but the con name was picked out before I was asked on board and it's too late to change it.

Con tickets are currently $45 for the weekend. An additional $15 will grant you access to a snack bar in the game room that has popcorn, granola bars and the like. While this won't replace an actual lunch, it will allow you to power through those gaming sessions!

We've also increased the convention to 8 slots - more gaming!

Rooms range from $35-$69 a night Sun-Thurs, and $65-$109 on Fri and Sat. That makes it $165 for the weekend in a courtyard room! In addition, there's a $5 discount on the Resort Fee that's charged at the hotels (making it $9.99 a night).

Please post here or contact me if you have any questions about attending or would like to request specific scenarios be run. Alternately, contact me at vc_lasvegas@yahoo.com!

Thanks, and I hope to see you at the con!

Early registration for Neon Galaxy tickets will close on February 28th. At that time, the ticket prices of $35 will go up to $45, $60 with access to the snack bar. Register now to get the lower price!

We're also looking for volunteer GMs or con staff. Please contact me at vc_lasvegas@yahoo.com if you're interested. GMs running 4 or more slots will get free admission!

Hey, everyone. Happy Holidays!

There's a con happening in Las Vegas, October 31st through November 2nd 2014. It's called Neon Galaxy, and will be at the Palace Station.

The con is multi-genre, covering fantasy, sci-fi, RPG and even Filk. The gaming room will be 25 tables and there will be at least 6 slots. We'll be running Season 5 and 6 scenarios.

Hotel rooms range from $35-$69 Sun-Thurs, and $65-$109 Friday and Saturday.

Con admission is currently $35 for the full weekend, and $50 for a full weekend membership plus full access to the snack bar in the gamin area. However, memberships are discounted 25% through December 30th, 2013. Just go to the Neon Galaxy Website to register. Currently the site is only accepting PayPal from the US, but we're working on getting it to accept international. If you are outside the US, just shoot me an e-mail if you want to attend by 11:59PM PST on December 30th I'll make sure you get the discount when we can accept international payments.

We're also looking for GMs to volunteer. Please contact me at vc_lasvegas@yahoo.com for more information.

Congrats, Benn!

Hopefully I can table with you at one of the cons.

Welcome aboard! We're glad to have you.

Playing a home-brew game - Elementals are starting to wage war on the residents of the world; towns are being besieged. Our group of mercenaries come to a town with a large wall surrounding the town at a distance of 200 feet from the nearest building and heavily guarded. Our newest party member didn't feel that he should have to pay the hefty entrance tax (out of party funds) and says he'll wait outside. Once we're inside he decides that as a level 4 ninja he'll be able to scale the wall, evade the guards and cross 200 feet of well-lit open ground at night.

Well, it didn't go well. Not only did he get caught, he got killed trying to run away. Our group got fined for his actions, we lost some contacts in the city because they thought we were part of the invasion and we lost all the gear we had given said player.

Another game - I was running AD&D 2nd Ed Castle Ravenloft. I let the players pick any race/class combo they wanted. As this was high school they all went evil. Onve of the guys, who was our usual DM, was also a walking D&D encyclopedia. Once they arrive in Ravenloft he convinces the party to go straight after Strahd since they have more than enough power (they thought) to kill him and then they'd get their own realms, become super-powerful, etc. They led the attack with a fireball through one of the windows. Not subtle infiltration, not gathering help from the people but a full-frontal assault on Castle Ravenloft.

At that point I started playing Strahd like the centuries-old creature that he is. All his skeletons were instructed to strip anyone that falls of all gear and bring the bodies and gear to him if possible. If not, mutilate the bodies (remove left hand and foot, gouge out eyes, etc.) to prevent effective raising/animating. They didn't last long after that.

Kinevon is right - you need either a PDF watermarked copy of the specific rules or the book. Also, I don't know if this will help but you don't technically need the CRB - it's part of the core assumption. However, seeing as how often part of it comes up it's never a bad idea to have it on-hand.

While the PRD is not a legal source, it can usually tell you the legal source so you can purchase the correct book/PDF.

I look forward to seeing you at PaizoCon as well!

Welcome aboard, Doug!