Cyg's page

Well Met! I come seeking any ideas or past successes others have had from raids based around entering an area filled with constructs.

The Scenario: PCs are members of a Dwarven clan whose neighboring clan has mysteriously vanished. Your goal is to raid their hideout filled with constructs/golems/tech/etc. and salvage any usable goods you find. Unlike yourselves, the neighboring clan is very knowledgeable in arcane magic and invention.

Thanks in advance!
-Cyg

Greetings! My wife and I just finished the complete RotRL Adventure Path today after 2 awesome years (loved it!) and now we have one simple question... What's Next?!

Can we use these characters for anything else, or should we just disassemble them and relish in our victory over Karzoug? We plan to restart with different characters from the base adventure, but I'd love to see Harsk and Kyra continue to greater things.

Thanks for any ideas or thoughts!

Yeah, I'm fully aware that it might turn into an all-puzzle-no-combat/adventure scenario. I'm hoping to focus more on exploration than puzzles, with the "puzzle" portions generally being quite easy if you do a fair amount of exploration across the island. The straight up "try this item on that... try this number on this dial..." variants of those point-and-click games won't work as well.

e.g., You need a key to enter a passageway, and the key is hidden inside a tree trunk. It's easy to find on the other side of the island since the tree has slightly withered away and is obviously different than the other ones near it. If the PC's explore and are observant enough, the "puzzle" is quite easy.

Greetings! I'm looking to create an adventure similar in design to the old Myst or Riven adventure games (or King's Quest, Space Quest, etc.). Basically, the party is stuck on an island and can't leave until they defeat the monster, find the object, or complete whatever the macguffin is. The adventure should last at least 6-7 sessions.

Plot and story elements aside, has anyone tried this before? Do you have any mechanical ideas for how to make this interesting and fun for the PC's? I just started brain-storming this past week, and right now the main plot will likely be along the lines of "Wealthy Patron Hires You to Kill Giant Monster".

Ideas? Go!

1. It needs to be a masterwork weapon before being able to be enchanted. This can be done with the spell Masterwork Transform which a material component of 300gp for weapons. (150 for armor/shields)

2. No. (above)

3. Yes.

4. Yes the costs stack. Going from a +3 equivalent bonus to a +4 equivalent bonus is 14,000 gp. (32,000gp - 18,000gp)

Awesome, thank you kindly!

Greetings! I'm hoping to clarify some stuff for creating magic weapons.

Let's say a PC is entering a city where a skilled weapon crafter lives. The PC hopes to get some better equipment.

1. Can the PC turn a regular weapon they've had for a long time (let's say a Heavy Mace) into a magical weapon?

2. Am I required to always create the magical weapon from the ground up, with no options for transforming a regular one into a magical one?

3. After a magical weapon is created, can I then stack other enchantments on top of it after the fact? e.g. Could my +1 Heavy Mace of Grounding be given the Furyborn trait months later?

4. When creating weapons, does every single bonus (whether it's an ability or just a +1, +2, etc.) stack the cost? e.g., to give my Heavy Mace a +1 bonus (which already has 3 enhancements on it) would it cost 1,000gp (base cost) or 16,000gp (the cost of the 4th bonus)?

Thank you in advance!

Greetings! Does anyone know of any mobile apps or programs/sites that allow you to pre-fill several lists to be used in random NPC generation? A friend of mine had one on his laptop where you simply push the button and it picks traits and attributes from several hundred items he had pre-entered.

There was a table for speech characteristics, one for clothing, one for names, one for occupations, etc. He had entered each possibility himself for each table beforehand.

Does anyone know if there's a mobile version, or if you can do it in Excel somehow? Thanks!
-Cyg

Cyg wrote:

1. Thank you! Did not read far enough down the spell listing.

2-4. Awesome. Yes, a WIS modifier/bonus of 2 for the Druid.
5. Didn't read enough of the spell again.
6. Awesome.

Additional question: Do all Ranged Touch attacks take DEX into consideration? So a Scorching Ray roll would be 1d20 + DEX against the targets Touch AC to hit?

It's an attack roll, so it's 1d20 + Dex + BAB + other modifiers against touch AC.

And, yes, touch AC is typically very easy to hit, even for a low-BAB class like a wizard.

Ah, yes, plus BAB. Thanks!

1. Thank you! Did not read far enough down the spell listing.
2-4. Awesome. Yes, a WIS modifier/bonus of 2 for the Druid.
5. Didn't read enough of the spell again.
6. Awesome.

Additional question: Do all Ranged Touch attacks take DEX into consideration? So a Scorching Ray roll would be 1d20 + DEX against the targets Touch AC to hit?

That seems like these spells have a very high chance to hit, but I guess it's balanced by the fact that there are only X number of spells usable per day in most cases.

Hi Friends! I'm fairly new to the PFRPG system still, and I want to be sure I'm treating spell-casting rolls correctly.

My main question is in regards to making attack rolls (or NOT making them) for spells. As I understand it now, here are some basics. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

1. Some spells don't require any dice rolls at all aside from damage, such as Acid Splash or Magic Missile. There's no "attempt" and no save, it simply happens and causes X damage.

2. Some spells require a saving throw on the part of the target, such as Entangle or Charm Person. There's no roll at all on the part of the caster.

3. Saving Throws (when possible) are always against a set number of the caster. No rolls on the caster are required.

4. Every spell with a possible save is calculated as 10 + Spell Level + Caster's Relevant Ability Bonus (WIS, CHA, INT).

E.g., A Druid with a WIS of 2 casts Vine Strike on a target. The target would then have to make a REF save of DC 14 (10 + 2 + 2, or, 10 + spell level + Druid's WIS) to negate it.

5. Unless it is specifically classified as a Touch or Ranged Touch attack, there's no attack roll for damaging spells. Casting something like Scorching Ray or Daze simply happens, and it is up to the target to save (when possible).

6. It is possible to have a spell with a Touch attack roll required by the caster, then a Save roll required by the target. (I can't find an example of this; is it possible?)

Thank you in advance!! -Cyg

Thank you!! This is precisely what I needed. Curious why they put it in the class section and nowhere in the magic/spells/items/scrolls/etc. questions.

... 3) The summoner must have a CHA capable of casting level 2 spells. This summoner has a CHA of 12, exactly what he needs. Check.

So the summoner can use this spell from the scroll with no difficulty.

I'm learning up on scrolls right now, and I keep seeing this type of stuff everywhere, saying casters need a CHA or WIS score to cast certain spells. Where is this in the CRB?

Where do I find these "requisite ability scores" mentioned in the scrolls section? Is this something different than the caster level?

Someone else mentioned Haste requiring a CHA or INT score of 13. How do you know this? I feel like I'm missing out on a big part of spell-casting!

Cyg wrote:

Jeff Merola wrote:

Uh, Summon Monster doesn't require concentration.

Where is this stated? I searched a long time trying to find it.

Spells that require you to concentrate to maintain them have a duration of Concentration. The summon monster spells have a duration of 1 round/level, not concentration.

Ah, thank you! I had no idea there was even a "concentration" duration until just now. Thank you!

Uh, Summon Monster doesn't require concentration.

Where is this stated? I searched a long time trying to find it.

So you have a caster that has summon monster as a standard action (regardless of how). And they start with an already existing summoned creature.

I personally have not been allowing this type of action but they claim they can:

1. Full Attack with the existing creature
2. Summon a new creature as standard, which sends back the old creature
3. Full Attack with the new creature

All in the same round.

I haven't been allowing this, but I am interested in the opinions.

Not allowed, as per RAW.

p. 216 of PCR, "CONCENTRATION: The spell lasts as long as you concentrate on it. Concentrating to maintain a spell is a standard action..."

You'd be making 2 separate standard actions as you described it.

Greetings! Does anyone have ideas or know of a resource collection for parlor games that could be modified or adapted to be used in adventures?

You know, things like cards, darts, drinking games, betting games, shell game, Triple Triad, etc. My party will be entering a large city soon, and I'd like to have a variety of game houses around to potentially win some money/prizes while also providing some entertaining encounters.

The only suggestion I can find in the official books is the Twenty-Bones betting game, which is exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance!!

Greetings! Does anyone have ideas or know of a resource collection for parlor games that could be modified or adapted to be used in adventures?

You know, things like cards, darts, drinking games, betting games, shell game, Triple Triad, etc. My party will be entering a large city soon, and I'd like to have a variety of game houses around to potentially win some money/prizes while also providing some entertaining encounters.

The only suggestion I can find in the official books is the Twenty-Bones betting game, which is exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance!!

Cut the scenarios down to about 6 encounters, and add a pre-generated random encounter or two if you panic because the PCs are flying through it. Or just add back in the things you cut, if that's feasible.

More people just means longer games. You can't do anything about it. Every person you add is another potential bathroom break, another "can you repeat that? I was just texting the wife", another "no, don't try to do that, he probably has a really good CMD", another "what if we tried sneaking in instead", another "let me try talking to them first". Either cut players or cut content, and be ready to pad things out a little in the unlikely event things go too quickly.

You hit the nail on the head with that list there (though they've been good about no phones thus far!). I like the pre-gen encounters to pad it out, will definitely add to the scenario I'm writing! Thank you!

Well Met! I'm currently running my first homebrew campaign with a fairly large group; 7 PCs regularly play each scenario. So far I've been crafting each session to hopefully last about 2-2.5 hours, but they end up lasting 3-4 hours each time, even when I cut out things midway through.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to craft scenarios for groups of 7? Though we are mostly beginners, we all understand the basics of the game well, and the group gets along very well. Combat moves pretty swiftly, and I sincerely can't pinpoint why it takes so long aside from the typical discussion and strategy talks.

Scenarios have been around 10 encounters long (battles, traps, puzzles, etc.), and I don't want to shrink it by too much and risk the scenario flying be too quickly.

Any suggestions from more experienced players, preferably those who have played with large groups before?? Thank you in advance!!
-Cyg, fledgling GM

The golem attacks a PC for [dice=6d6 of Slashing Damage]6d6. Ouch! (actually, that's dead-on average, but still painful.)

He (the PC) rolls a [dice=Reflex save of +2]d20+2 against a target of 14 as discussed above. Since he made it, he takes 21/2 (round down) points, or 10 points, of slashing damage.

If he had rolled a 2 instead, he would have taken the full boat of damage.

Thank you! I see you saw this post before I deleted it (since I immediately saw that someone had already replied with similar info). Thank you for being so awesomely in-depth!

To sum it up:

step 1 golem uses it's splintering ability.
step 2 characters roll 1d20 and add their reflex modifier.
step 3 compare their score to 14. If it is equal or higher they take half damage, if it is lower they take full damage.
step 4 roll and apply damage.

THIS is what I've needed! Thank you! I was under the impression that there was a CON way to avoid the damage completely for some reason. Thanks!

There is no Con save. A "constitution-based save" just means the save DC is based on the attacking creatures constitution score. There is only a Reflex save.

So then a party member would roll d20+REF Bonus and compare that to the creature's CON score?

Thank you all! Makes much more sense now :)

To clarify as well, with the attack described above, how do the PCs order the rolls for the REF and CON save? Do they choose one, do both, does one affect the other...?

The "save DC is Constitution-based." means that the REF DC for the ability will goes up if the attacking creature has higher CON. If you wants to reverse engineer the process REF 14 DC came from 10 + 4 (half Golem HD) + 0 (CON).

Also check out Construct traits.

PRD wrote wrote:

Any DCs or other statistics that rely on a Constitution score treat a construct as having a score of 10 (no bonus or penalty).

Should I generally treat ALL creatures with an absent save score as 10, or is this a Construct-specific thing?

Hello friends! I have a simple question with no apparent answer.

In Bestiary 1, p.164, the Wood Golem has an attack called Splintering with the stipulation that a REF 14 check will halve the damage, and a save DC that is Constitution-based. The problem is... he has no CON score. It's just a dash ( - ).

Can someone help me with how this works? Do my characters roll REF and then CON? What's the CON DC?

Thank you! -Cyg

I like the "several tribes" idea! I'm getting a sense of treating the orc compound as more of an orc trade hub with multiple gangs begrudgingly being civil to one another while within the compound's borders. The party enters seeking guidance to find the villain while working with orcs that may slit their throats at a moment's notice.

Thank you all!

I guess the big hold up is that I have to either plan for them to gain the orcs' friendship for sure and plan the scenario that way, or plan that they always fight. Isn't it a bit tough since you essentially have to create 2 separate branching story paths?

What are my other options?

Greetings! I'm a new GM and am having a blast running this game with a group of 7 lately! This is my first forum post as I seek advice for the next scenario.

Long story short, the party is chasing after the villain and has reason to believe he's passed through an orc mountain-side compound. How can I make this scenario interesting without it just being a straight up brawl fest to get through?

Current ideas are that they have to sneak around a bit, they have to find keys throughout the compound, they have to convince one of the orcs to help them through, etc.

Does anyone have any ideas, or anything I should watch out for when planning this type of scenario? The primary goal is to get through the compound so they can keep chasing the villain.

Thank you in advance!