Da G8keepah's page

My group is still fairly early in Burnt Offerings. They have not gone to the Glassworks yet and have not received the letter from Tsuto to Ameiko but all of the other parts of act 2 are complete (with a few other NPC interactions thrown in for good measure).
I had Shayliss approach the party ranger and he accompanied her back to the general store where they were found by Ven Vinder. Things didn't go so well for the ranger. His social skills are fairly lacking so I had Ven attack him. I rolled a natural 20 on Ven's first attack, confirmed the crit and did exactly enough damage to bring the ranger to 0 hit points.
A few days after this, the PCs were exploring Sandpoint and a few of them decided that they wanted to restore the ranger's honor (and they were upset about being barred from the general store for associating with him). Things went south pretty quickly there too. The barbarian and witch goaded Ven into another fight. The barb only hit Ven once, but he left a nasty wound before running out.
Later that night, the PCs decided to go bar hopping. They wanted to hit up each tavern/inn and now are fairly drunk. The session ended with them finding out that Ven has a stash of rare and exotic alcohol in his basement and now they are on their way to the general store, hoping to break in and steal some potent liquor.
What do you think would be a good way to handle this? I don't want to steer them around but I can think of several ways this could go poorly. First off, Ven is somewhat important to the beginning of chapter 2. They already have him pretty pissed off and if he catches them breaking into his store, he is even less likely to be helpful to them in the next chapter.
It seems very likely that they will be caught and probably arrested (at least if they don't kill the guards who try to). Overall, they have been doing a good job of ingratiating themselves with the townsfolk but breaking and entering could easily turn that around quickly.
Worst of all, they might kill Ven which could easily end with one or more PCs dead and the rest shipped off to Magnimar for trial.
How do you think I should play this? I don't want to just give them a free pass to break in and take whatever they want but I also don't want to see the campaign come to screeching halt.
TL;DR: Ven Vinder hates the party and they are about to make it worse by drunkenly breaking into his store. What should I do?

My group is about to start an AP (as soon as everyone is back from vacation). There are four people who will be a part of the core group showing up to all or most of the sessions. There are also a couple people who are either new to the game and aren't sure if they want to play all the time or who have a lot of experience with it and enjoy it a lot but don't have the time to commit every week due to life.
My question is, how should I handle experience and treasure for these players?
I don't really want to end up in the situation where the sporadic players are taking an equal share of treasure and then bailing on the next few sessions, especially if they take some valuable magical loot. I considered increasing the gold (and platinum etc) found during the adventure but that is really not a significant portion of the wealth. But I don't want to increase the actual loot found because I don't want the regular players to take it all and have such a significant advantage.
I also don't want them to drag down the group, a level 3 with a few level 4s isn't going to make a huge difference but if the group is level 12 and the random player is level 7, the level 7 will be nearly useless. I thought maybe I could treat those players somewhat like cohorts, just keep them two levels below the main PCs, but I'm not too keen on just handing out experience so they can keep up.
Fellow GMs, what have you done in these situations?

Can barbarians with the Disruptive and Spellbreaker rage powers gain the Teleport Tactician feat?

I asked this question over on the Rise of the Runelords Forum but I thought I might get a quicker response here.

I recently picked up the Anniversary Edition and I have noticed something about the two-weapon fighting npcs in the book. They seem to be listed with too many attacks.
Vale Temros' Melee line says "+1 battleaxe +10/+5 (1d8+7/x3), +1 handaxe +10/+5 (1d6+5/x3)."
Teraktinus' Melee line reads "+1 dwarf bane heavy pick +20/+15/+10 (1d8+11/19-20/x4), +1 light pick +20/+15/+10 (1d6+6/x4)."
This seems to indicate that Vale gets 4 attacks with a full-attack action while Teraktinus gets 6. Both characters have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat but not the Improved or Greater versions.
So should their full attack look like (in Teraktinus' case) +18/+13/+8 (1d8+11/19-20/x4), +18 (1d6+6/x4)?

This next part isn't a rules question but I may as well ask you folks what you think, how do you pronounce the "ou" in Karzoug? Is it like in "about" or "soup" or "Doug"?

I recently picked up the Anniversary Edition and I have noticed something about the two-weapon fighting npcs in the book. They seem to be listed with too many attacks.
Vale Temros' Melee line says "+1 battleaxe +10/+5 (1d8+7/x3), +1 handaxe +10/+5 (1d6+5/x3)."
Teraktinus' Melee line reads "+1 dwarf bane heavy pick +20/+15/+10 (1d8+11/19-20/x4), +1 light pick +20/+15/+10 (1d6+6/x4)."
This seems to indicate that Vale gets 4 attacks with a full-attack action while Teraktinus gets 6. Both characters have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat but not the Improved or Greater versions.
So should their full attack look like (in Teraktinus' case) +18/+13/+8 (1d8+11/19-20/x4), +18 (1d6+6/x4)?

My other question is, how do you pronounce the "ou" in Karzoug? Is it like in "about" or "soup" or "Doug"?

I am soon going to start DMing a new game and am wondering what the Paizo community feels is the best adventure path for our group. I've never run an AP. I prefer to homebrew my games but I no longer have to time to create them like I used to.
The group consists of a brand new player playing ranger, a semi-experienced player playing a druid and another very experienced player who is undecided but is leaning towards inquisitor. Possibly a fourth who is a new player but unconfirmed if he will join or not.
I'd like an AP that has a fair amount of RP based challenges to keep the experienced player interested. Also, seeing as there are two nature-themed characters in the group, I'd prefer an AP that allows them to play up that aspect of their characters, but this is not required.
What do you all think?

If a Bard is using an instrument, say a bagpipe with Perform(Wind) or a lute with Perform(Strings), are both of his hands occupied as long as he maintains the song?
Say the Bard is wielding a short sword and then decides to begin using Inspire Courage. Does he need to drop or sheathe his short sword, draw his bagpipe, and then keep both of his hands occupied with the instrument in order to maintain the song? Or can he use the Bardic Performance as long as he has the instrument on his person without needing to take actions to pull it out? Can he still cast spells with somatic components and wield the sword all while activating and maintaining the song?

I am DMing a new game soon and am having some trouble figuring out the details of the first adventure. The overall story arc will involve an undead plague spreading and the PCs fighting off an undead army and eventually (around level 4 or 5) confronting and defeating the Cleric of Urgathoa who is responsible and curing the plague (or stopping it from spreading further at least).
My idea for the hook to the first adventure is that the PCs take a job from an eccentric alchemist NPC who wants them to track down the source of a strange blight that is afflicting the flora and fauna of the land in order to develop a cure. I don't want the players to know right away that this will necessarily lead to a longer story arc.
I had thought about sending them around the countryside to gather samples of blighted animals, plants, earth and water. However, that seems like an adventure that will be mainly comprised of random encounters out in the wilderness with no real "boss" encounter at the end. I would much rather send them into a dungeon with a somewhat linear focus, a clear goal at the end and a memorable encounter with some villain or monster.
I also don't want to use undead much at this stage of the game because that will be a large focus later on. I would like them to have some variety in creature types they face.
Do you have any tips on getting this story to work? Perhaps a way I can turn my "collecting samples" idea into a more cohesive adventure? Or perhaps a way to get them to a dungeon where they might find the source of the plague in the area without shutting it off completely. The ultimate source is the aforementioned cleric and I want the plague to spread and the situation to worsen as the story progresses.

I want to give a high level Orc Barbarian npc a magic item I am calling "Gauntlets of Titan's Grip." Anyone who wears them will gain +4 to climb checks, +4 to CMB to start or maintain a grapple and +4 to CMD to resist being disarmed. In addition, if the wearer has 18 strength or better he can use weapons as if he were 1 size category larger. So he can use a Great Axe intended for an Ogre or can dual-wield normal Great Axes. How much should this item cost?

I am creating a Cleric for PFS play and am trying to optimize the build. I have decided on Dwarf and will probably go with the Good and Travel domains. My goal is to create a primary buffer/debuffer with the ability to participate in melee.
PFS uses a 20 point buy and so my stats will be 16, 14, 13, 12, 10 and 10. The final stats after racial modifiers will probably be Str 13, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 14. Or I will possibly switch the Wis and Cha so it will be Wis 18 and Cha 12.
I don't want to have lower than average Int because I don't want to roleplay a dumb character. And I don't want less than 10 in Dex because I don't want a penalty to my AC.
I will probably pick Combat Casting as my first level feat.
How does this all sound? Viable? Strong or weak? Is it worth giving up the one point of AC in order to have a higher stat elsewhere? Is it acceptable to have a 7 Int and still roleplay as a reasonably intelligent character (and give up the 1 skill point per level)?
Any advice on better feats, better stat distribution, better domains or any other kind of general advice would be greatly appreciated.

All of the class guides that I have read seem to agree that Obscuring Mist is a great spell. It is recommended very highly over most other spells.
I don't get it. It creates a cloud around you that is impossible to see through for everyone, including you. I can see it being situationally useful as a means to cover your escape or to prevent archers from turning you into a pin-cushion. However, you can't cast spells targeted at allies or enemies that you can't see and you can't direct your summoned creatures to attack specific targets.
So what gives? Am I missing something? Is there some amazing use for this spell to which I am blind?