Daeryn Dorner's page

I'm gonna add vehicles to Iron Gods. Not technological ones. They will be introduced in Lords of Rust. Think Mad Max drizzled onto the Numerian plains. I have a Nexian Alchemist that has been simmering first as a PC and now an NPC whose time has come.

Anyone else done so, yet? (I know a number of you have thought about it...)

[edit] I am currently running two separate games of it. This will happen, soon.

I'm going to start GMing a campaign soon with three PCs of less than martial bent. A tiefling wizard, kitsune alchemist and human oracle of bones. I have plans to add an NPC Mad Dog Barbarian Half-Elf for at least a little bit of front-line presence. But I definitely want the PCs to be the ones at the forefront of gameplay.

They will be specialist employees of a Katapeshi merchant house, so it should be easy to frame adventures as "missions" handed down from their superiors. I'm wanting to craft a campaign made up of a lot of Indiana Jones style ruin raiding as well as diplomatic networking but not a lot of dungeon clearing.

I'm looking for inspiration as regards different plots and situations to mold into role-playing, skill using and knowledge delving gameplay. Suggestions? Both specific encounter types and resources to root through myself.

Thanks in advance.

I'm currently crafting my secondary character for a home game should my Barbarian Titan Mauler meet his final fate. I want to go in the opposite direction of huge, dim bruiser with an ultra-caster, eldritch energy wielder. Here's my current thoughts, open to mutation and suggestion.

edit - Core plus GM approval (GM hates Assimars)

20 point build Human Cleric of Nethys
Str 10
Con 13
Dex 10
Int 12
Wis 16
Cha 16
(I'm not one for dumping, usually. Open to it, but not my first inclination, for sure.)

Current vision is channel-heavy supporter behind a shield.

Levels & Feats
Cleric 1 - Selective Channel; Extra Channel
Domains - Magic, Runes
Cleric 2
Sorceror 1 - Magical Aptitude
Bloodline - Arcane
Sorceror 2 +1 Cha or Wis?
Cleric 3 - Versatile Channel
Sorceror 3
Cleric 4 - ???
Sorceror 4 +1 Cha or Wis?
Cleric 5 - ???
Mystic Theurge 1+ (I understand there's no optimizing this prestige class, but oh well, progression in each spell list is still tasty.)

For context, the current group dynamic (w/o my Titan Mauler) is:
Storm Druid
Ranger Archer
Wizard Universalist
Paladin

A storytelling roleplayer at my core, I have taken to optimizing as a way to keep characters alive, not as a way to 'break' anything. I am open to concepts beyond my channel-focused one. I'm not even married to Sorceror if Wizard makes more sense to a particular build. The only important thing is magic-using devotee of Nethys, god of all magics.

Any thoughts are welcome, thanks.

Last night, I was inspired to seriously consider volunteering as a PFS GM at Gencon, this year. I'm curious what other GMs' experience with it is. Ups and downs. Boosts and hurdles. Player problems and great games.

To get the ball rolling, but not limit the conversation to these:
What's the reality of running three games a day, three or four days in a row?
I like to haul around a metric s#!@-ton of GM tools and supplies. How feasible is that in the environment?

p.s. Input from players is also appreciated.

I don't enjoy killing PCs.
In my last Organized Play table, I chose to trim one hp of foe inflicted damage such that the player was at maximum negative rather than one under. He would still need to stabilize next round or truly die, but not from just one round of misfortune. I felt justified in this "cheat" as it was in the first encounter and I felt sympathy toward the young player who would lose his first PFS character at 4th level without seeing anymore of the scenario. (In addition, it made the opening encounter a rescue of two instead of merely one, upping the challenge and excitement.) Was my choice outside the parameters of the GM fiat expressed in the Guide?
Is the GMs place to fire all phasers on kill or can we occasionally choose stun when there is tangible benefit to be had for the table?

I have a couple of hopeful questions about the Pathfinder Society Chronicle items from the Inner Sea World Guide and Society Primer.

Do the bonuses to Knowledge rolls allow an untrained roll, particularly in the case of the Primer chronicles with their much more specific areas of study?
The second is perhaps more appropriate for the Society forums: are they considered mundane (i.e. non-magical) for consideration as "Always Available"?

The latter seems almost too obvious to ask, but since I'm bringing the subject up, I mention it.

My bard has purchased an eagle. I took the rank in Handle Animal to train it myself. I have a friend who plays a druid who, when I started talking about it, offered to help in the training. My immediate assumption was she could not do so legally. But thinking further about it, considering the fact that spellcasters can trade spells if it doesn't interrupt the flow of the game, is it legal for someone to assist another in training their combat animal at the end of the scenario? Either with Aid Another or by making the Handle Animal roll themselves?

I just ran my first PFS table yesterday and had a player need to leave after three encounters with one more plus the BBEG left to be played. I've heard a number of people talk about there being official rules on these situations. I didn't find anything in the 5.0 Guide or the FAQ.
Gold will be easy to figure since the scenario gives amounts for each encounter, but what about XP and Prestige?

Is it ever permissible for a player to arrive late to an event and join after the scenario has already begun? I don't imagine so, but I told the player who wants to that I would double check with the boards on official policy.

I may have missed it, but I haven't seen any statement on whether GMs must roll in the open or not. Is there an official statement I haven't caught?
Feel free to debate and discuss it philosophically if you wish, but I'm looking for the official Organized Play stance on the subject.

So, reading up on Sanctioned Adventure Paths and Modules in the Guide 5.0, I discovered today that all of the iconic pregens from NPC Codex are playable in Society Organized Play. But that is only mentioned under Adventure Paths and Modules. Regular character creation mentions only the four download pregens. Can I get a clarification on whether it is possible to use the NPC Codex pregens in regular Organized Play Scenarios or not? I'm asking as a GM as well as a player.