One of the most overlooked, although not a true "tactic", is a simple knowledge check.

I have seen tables of seasoned players spend countless rounds and resources (especially if a creature has a DR rating) when a simple roll of a d20 could have pin-pointed what needed to be done to defeat or cause them to run from the challenge.

I have also had players reach for their Bestiary or start looking in the PRD when they made an assumption on a creature and things didn't go as thought. Sorry guys, "If you didn't roll it, your character doesn't know it."

Congrats. One day we all will be "STARSSSSSSSSSSS" like they say in the earlier Resident Evil games/movies.

Anybody know what the current count is on 4 and 5 star ?

I never understood why you are allowed a reflex save while unconscious, grappled, helpless, or anything that eliminates your being able to move that round.

I have no problem with the fortitude as that just reflexs how healthy you are in general and the condition of your immune system.

The will save also is uneffected by being unconscious, my take is your autonomic nervous system is going to continue working, although since you are unconscious and cant make the "forfeit the save" decision, your body will try and reject any effect that washes over you, including allies' attempts to heal/buff/etc you. In short, if a listed effect shows a will save, even if from an ally while you are unconscious, you should roll it.

I question this also, activating the happy stick doesnt, but the action of using it on a prone ally as you need to touch them with the wand in a threatened square should as you are (a) highly unlikely you have a weapon in hand and if you do, you arent able to use it effectively as (b) your attention is on the fallen ally not the foe, and (c) you are probably bending or kneeling down with eyes averted to touch the ally then activate the wand in the first place.

I am curious how many free actions per a character's turn my fellow GM's allow.

Did anyone ever actually fire a weapon (hand or long gun) before writing up the Gunslinger ?

The noise and smoke from a muzzle loading weapon is pretty substantial, fire one of these in close combat 5 or 10 feet from behind an ally without modern hearing protection and see what happens. Tinnitus anyone ?

The fouling factor alone will render any weapon useless after so many shots without cleaning depending on powder quality.

If you truly want to apply RICO to domestic terrorists, might as well start at the top with damn near every politician in DC, then after the federal level is cleared go to the state.

Read the RICO ACT then just think about it....

I feel it should also apply to any and all in law enforcement who get busted for underhanded dealings. Takes more than just 1 dirty cop to pull the things you hear about.

I read the preamble and then let the group decide.

I ran this for 2 groups, both at tier 6-7, end fight was brutal for both. Before the last fight, as none decided to wear the amulets, the statue room was nasty and had worn them down and used consumables. Neither bothered to check for traps or detect magic on the way down and tripped the alarm.

So up went the wind wall and as they buffed a few rounds before making that last turn to see the first bridge, Aglorn was more then ready.

I used his overland flight to stay just at the max range of his massive AoE damage spells and peppered both parties until he was out of spells is pretty much what happened.

Rolled the various summons and then hit with a fireball as they grouped to decide what to do at first bridge, then used black tentacles on first plateau to slow them up, archers and summoned creatures came into play, and just hammered on them from that point forward. 2nd fireball, wall of fire, acid arrows, and scorching rays. Bridges destroyed and magic missles.

One group had their main tank go down, then after looting him, the archers kicked his unconscious form off a plateau to the cavern floor below before rejoining the fight. Good thing they missed his ring of feather fall (wink wink).

A gunslinger MADE the fortitude save after a coup de grace, how many times does that happen ?

Dispel magic knocked a flier down and he ended up down in the deeper part of the cavern with an ally in a bag of holding. Neither have good climb checks and spent rest of fight down there.

One group retreated to heal then all went invisible, they tested the waters by having one go back out, Aglorn ignored the bait, waited for them all to show, try and cross then hit them with stinking cloud as a "I SEE YOU".

Well over 25-30 rounds the fight lasted for both groups. We all had a good time and laughed about some of the antics and events that happened.

Just because you are called paranoid, doesnt mean "they" are not watching you...

I ran this for two different groups and both times the party found their way to the shrine and by-passed the ambush through some lengthy investigation. They had a noisy fight in the hall and set off the trap.

As we where starting to run short on time, I made the decision to have Ava engage them outright instead of going through the whole disguise routine as it ends the same way. Both groups spent a few rounds healing and buffing before going into the last room, I used that time to roll her chance on summoning the babau. Needless to say they had their hands full, Ava dominated the big hitters in both groups and sent them running away.

Both groups tried to keep thier hitters in play by tripping and casting protection from evil (that will save is brutal) which took their attention off of Ava, end result was still the hitters leaving.

Ava was never even touched, both groups decided to make a break for it and fought to the exit. Her teleport ability played havoc with one group.

One of the groups had a gunslinger that ended up blowing up his gun in the first fight of the adventure and that pretty much put the group a man down as he didnt have any back-up weapons.

Both groups survived, one even dragged an unconscious ally to the exit. Both would have ended in TPK's if they had choose to stand and fight.

I meant Im running it on the saturday of the promotion, the 16th, not this saturday, the 9th.
Sorry for any confusion.

Does anybody know if the Free Day adventure, Dawn of the Scarlet Sun, is going to have a PFS Chronicle sheet like We Be Goblins does ?
I am running this next saturday and several of my PFS regulars have asked and so far I havent found anything.
Thanks for any replies in the right direction.

I love these posts, Ive a player who is pulling basicly the same thing with me. So far Ive pretty much just rolled with the comments made by him and let them roll off my back like water on a duck, but I grow tired of it.

The issue that started it between him and I happened 3 or 4 weeks ago, needless to say he caused a near tpk with only 1 running away and has done nothing but complain ever since that I had changed things and it wouldnt have happened that way if I had run it as written. I laughed and said monsters where there and would attack you no matter what so it dont matter what set it off. Let alone the fact that he somehow read the adventure either before of after I had run it to even start with comments like that, along with now he making comments about everything Ive run them through in the last few weeks.

He started again last night while I was trying to get the night's session of Encounters up and running.

At this point, I am done dealing with it and the next time he starts up will just flat-out tell him to leave if he doesnt like the way I run games.

I have a list of people waiting to get into any of the games I run that will sure show more appreciation for what it takes to run anything week in and week out, let alone keep the paperwork straight, and reported (for those games that need be).

The gunslinger class as a whole. After I read it, I asked myself "Have the designers ever spent any time on a range and fire a weapon?"

Biggest problem I had was no rule-set on what happens when your ally shoots his gun adjacent to you in close-combat, ever hear a gun go "BOOM" or the muzzle flash, especially on a black powder muzzleloader ?

Im looking for some information or rule set on the effects of gunfire in close combat, so far I havent been able to find anything on the effects the sound does to nearby creatures let alone muzzle flash, at the very least it should be similar to a thunderstone every time a gun is fired. What about fouling the barrel after "x" many shots or the effects a dirty gun has on accuracy ?

I also have questions on reloading, take a feat then use alchemical charges and you are allowed to take a full-round reloading muzzleloader and fire in 6 seconds or less ? I shoot weapons including blackpowder rifles and even with modern tech and a pre-measured load an on-target shot in the heat of combat in that amount of time is almost impossible and Ive been shooting for over 30 years.

The next problem I see is the use of gunsmithing to make gunpowder, ammo, alchemicl charges, etc. A gunslinger is allowed to automaticly craft such things with the correct tools at a percent of the cost of the items and doesnt require a craft check ? If it doesnt require a craft check shouldnt it be limited as to how many he can have per day such as the alchemist's bombs or a skill check per item or batch if allowed unlimited uses ? Have you seen a reloading bench or a smelter and molds for bullets. Crafting ammo/powder is an involved process that the required tools are not something easily carried and require a great deal of skill.

Any ideas, thoughts, or points in the right direction are greatly appreciated.

Is a barbarian allowed to use power attack while under a rage ? Under the description of rage it states "cannot use anything that requires patience or concentration" while under rage. The way I see it a combat feat such as power attack requires concentration since you have to state you are using it before an attack. If the power attack was feat that automaticly applies and you didnt have to state you are using it, I wouldnt see a problem. Thoughts ?

I use a combination of a blank dry-erase 1" grid vinyl, the vinyl themed play mats (jungle, kings road, caves, etc) that wotc put out for my random encounters, and for longer campaigns that I expect the players to backtrack on, I use 1" square grid flip chart from office max. The flip charts work great and there are 50 of them per with a size of roughly 28" by 40", I also allow the pc's to make minor notes on the flip chart for what they encountered in each room. Makes it easier then having to redraw sections all the time and also for them to review what they been through as adventure continues on. They even mark where they have died and have taken to pinning up finished sections on the wall as they go together.

I learned basic from my uncles while in the 6th grade in the late 70s, by the time I was in 8th I was running AD&D/Gamma World/Boothill/Star Frontiers and later on Shadowrun games and had some of the local high school crowd show up for my campaigns. Ran through the beginning of 2nd ed and then stopped playing. Never played a 3 or 3.5 game at all and just started again right after this past summer's gameday and start of Neverwinter Encounters. I did not like the 4th at all and asked if another rpg worth checking out was around, got turned onto PF and now I run an Organized Play and a regular PF on=going campaign at the store I walked into on a fluke along with the new Gamma World. I do run Encounters and Lair Assault for the store hoping that 4th ed might grow on me. Overall, PF is my rpg of choice and will be for years to come.

So much misdirected anger Scott, you die at encounters tonight or just need a hug ?

I must be missing something because I fail to see why on a PF messageboard so many people are worried about a 5th ed.

They (meaning WOTC) now know they made a HUGE mistake on the 4th trying to bridge the gap between true rpger's and the video game/magic players the way they tried. These groups of players are wired completely different and now WOTC sees this by how bad the 4th has epicly failed.

Set of dice 10 bucks, pad of paper and pen 5 bucks, imagination to play rpgs-priceless, for everybody else there is xbox.

WOTC felt 3.5 had run its course and needed something fresh and different. With that being said, do I blame them for pushing forward with a 5th to try and reclaim lost market share ? NO. I, and many like me, have spent a fair amount on the PF family of products and there is no way a 5th ed will ever make me abandon PF. WOTC has alienated sooooo many true rpger's that even if they brought out a limited run of the AD&D books it wouldnt sooth the sting of the slap in the face we all felt.

I run encounters and lair assault (if it wasnt for these, there would be no 4th being run) along with organized play and a on-going PF game at my local store, nobody has asked me to run a 4th ed game, they all ask for more PF. Ive seen PF grow so much in the last year that a 5th ed will be called a rip-off of PF if WOTC tries to go back to the roots, if they try something totally radical they will be accused of grasping at air.

I am not worried about a 5th ed, PF is my rpg of choice and will be for years to come, teaching the nephews and nieces out of the beginners box now, so I say bring on a 5th, cant possible be any worse ?

I have been looking for an answer on the following question in the core book but cant find it. Question is if a character is at a negitive hit points and a potion of cure wounds is used (which does stabilize the character) but does it put the hit points at 0, put the hit points at 0 then allow the roll for effect amount, or do you roll for the effect amount and apply the result to the negitive value ? This may be a no-brainer that Im missing the answer right in front of me but as I havent played any RPG's since the AD&D days (back in the 80's) and just started up again Im alittle out of practice. Thanks for any replies.