David Foley's page

A combat trained tiger can't learn any more tricks. Its int of 2 allows it to know 6 tricks, which is the number required for combat training.

The sorcerer with a combat trained tiger in my lodge got around that by buying a bridle of tricks.

She has invested some cash, a trait and a feat.. the mad high CHA she already had. So she can command that tiger to do what ever she wants. I'd be fine with this, she actually has put some investment into the animal except that the tiger is much better than the animal companion of an equivalent level character except for the requiring move actions to command it, but not a problem for her as she has little to do with her move actions anyhow.

I say ban the combat trained animals and limit involvement of animals in combat to class feature animals only

I also need this fixed

If that X-Card system ever caught on it could be the end for Call of Cthulhu as we (some of us at least) know and love it ;)

While I would clearly feel sorry for the person in question if that was to happen to me and perhaps avoid that scene should I know in advance that there was to be a player with such a life history, I am not sure what I would do if I was not to know the players life history in advance.. are we to announce to all players that a given Scenario has triggers X,Y and Z before each time we play? and exactly what are the issues that we should be labeling as triggers? I once played a scenario with a player where they started really freaking out when giant spiders were introduced.. I just thought it good role-playing but it turned out they really did have arachnophobia. I am afraid that if we do that the creating of these trigger label would be in itself a form of censorship, as writer would become reluctant to add too many such trigger labels to their scenarios so as not to be seen to reduce the potential audience and that in turn would lead IMO to blander scenarios.

Just as an information point I have played
The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment

(and also the Throaty Mermaid) with my (then aged) 12 year old son without any issues... people are different and people do bring up their kids exposed to different things

While I think there are a few scenarios that could have some issues, I think we should assume that PFS is at a minimum PG13 and anyone who wants to play with kids younger then that do so at their own recognizance. Perhaps a statement in the guide along the lines that it is ok to change the theme or content of a scenario to reflect the sensibilities of younger players when necessary.

IMO covering scenarios with trigger warning and the like hopefully should not be necessary and GMs should act upon their on initiative as to what they are comfortable GMing in their own communities

My big regret from my trip to Portugal this past summer was not hooking up with the local Pathfinder community.

Please do look us up next time around!

Do those other countries have all of the bloat in their own language? If not, that would explain why they are gaining traction: they don't have to deal with the initial sticker shock of bloat.

or worse like here in Portugal.. we have to deal with the bloat in another language since publication in Portuguese has been infinitely delayed and so PF rulebooks are only available in English

Animal Archive especially the 500gp combat trained tigers

Thanks for replying

The consensus here seems to be going towards the interpretation that any tier can attack or "engage" the dragon

if a character of any table tries to attack the dragon then it counts as a table engaging the dragon and also as an autofail at sneak and the dragon will respond with a tail swipe and two rounds later will attack

If Zythrustianax spots the PCs before they enter the
Mausoleum, she initiates her attacks with a single tail
slap, causing part of the building to collapse and sending
a shower of flying rubble that deals 2d4 bludgeoning
damage to all targets within a 20-foot-by-20-foot area
(DC 14 Reflex save for half ).
Following the tail slap, the PCs have 2 rounds to dash
inside or flee before she attacks.

If enough (3/4) tables of any tier engage the dragon then the dragon flies away, if 1/2 of them do so then every body else can sneak in easier.

Those that fail sneaks or fight and then dawdle will be toast 2 rounds later or very soon after.

I am not sure if the scenario intended this, but it seems to be as per the wording.. I guess we couldn't ever imagine 3/4 of the tables being 10-11 seeing as we won't even field 1 table 10-11.

BTW the map for the Courtyard has 2 doors leading out of it to the right and to the left.. I take it that the door on the left (unmentioned in text) is unopenable and goes nowhere.. are players to know that somehow?? you could get in a lot of heat if you were trying to open an unopenable door and the dragon came!!! did anyone GMing this draw that second door as an player destination option?

The Aveiro and Porto lodges are coming together at RiaCON to play the multi-table special for season 2: The Year of the Shadow Lodge

Yeah for us!

There has been some discussion amongst GMs preping for the event about a part of the scenario and we would appreciate some advice from GMs who have already run or played the scenario.

What is written for Act 4 regarding whether tiers other than 10-11 can fight the dragon Zythrustianax doesn't make any sense and seems contradictory

First we have

While upper tier parties can attempt to slay the dragon, lower level PCs have ample opportunity to sneak or run past the beast and into the Mausoleum

ok so clear here only upper tier parties (we will have no tier 10-11 alas) can fight the dragon

However then later it has

If a group chooses to engage the dragon, then a runner from that table should be sent to inform the Overseer GM. If at least half of the tables engage Zythrustianax, she is unable to attack other parties entering the Mausoleum.....
If more than three-fourths of the tables (of any tier) engage Zythrustianax, she realizes that she is outnumbered and flees Absalom

What does engage mean here and it specifically mentions "of any tier".. so it does look like lower level tables can engage the dragon somehow (no matter how unwise that might be)

But however finally it also states..

Tier 10–11 (CR 14)
Only Tier 10–11 PCs are afforded the opportunity to bring down Zythrustianax

So the scenario seem to be simultaneously telling us that tiers other than 10-11 may and may not attack the dragon and that presents us with some possible but ridiculous conclusions

for instance

imagine a CON running the scenario with 4 tables tier 1-2, if 2 or less of the tables attack the dragon that leaves a whole pile of dead PC attackers, but if 3 tables attack then the dragon flees!

Also what does a non 10-11 tier engaging Zythrustianax entail? because

At this point, the Table GM of any Tier 10–11 table should ask her players to roll initiative, as the dragon looks as though she’s preparing to launch herself off the roof.

It would seem she doesn't come off the roof for anyone who is not Tier 10-11, so they can throw rocks at her but she ignores them, but if 3/4 of them throw rocks then she flees away.

So can lower level tables "engage" the dragon? and if so what does that mean for them? and if they can't "engage" the dragon how is it that GMs are to present that to players without making it seem rail-roading them or requiring their players to metagame. I.E. I don't want to present to my players "The dragon looks busy, you can sneak past her perhaps" when there is nothing at that point that indicates the dragon is not the objective and sneaking past her is not obvious. I like to think my PCs are heroes no matter their level and I'd hate for them to go OOC and have to think that dragon's CR is way to much for my character I better not fight it.

To me it is clear there is no way for lower level tables to engage the dragon and I am in favor of adding some narrative device to present the fact that the lower level tables have less choice in a better way. Perhaps by having the lower level PCs encounter a well know pathfinder say a master or a VC and have them say that the dragon is too powerful and they will go look for a group perhaps strong enough to fight it and in the meantime would the low level group please try to sneak past the dragon and see what it is guarding inside?

Congratulations Miguel! hope to find time to visit one of your events in Valhalla.

Now we must teach you the secret handshake!

In order for the tiger to gain it's rake attacks, it must begin it's turn already grappling. Thus on the charge/pounce, it is "only" the 2 claws and bite with the grab attempts.

but the Tiger has the Pounce ability, which states

"Pounce (Ex) When a creature with this special attack makes a charge, it can make a full attack (including rake attacks if the creature also has the rake ability)."

Animals and animal companions are limited to neck and barding slot items, unless they take a feat to open up other slots. FAQ

Ooh that is going to go down just fine when I try to have the "your tiger is too powerful, why not continue to have a young tiger" talk :(

Well she agreed to "voluntarily" take the young template for her tiger and has played with the tiger like that. The tiger still has a big impact on combat, especially when it charges and gets the rake attacks.

She has overcome the restriction on the number of tricks (and has thus thought Attack twice) by getting her animal a Headband of Vast Intelligence. At least now she has paid money enough to justify such a major asset.

My problem now is that at the time I promised that she need only have the young template until her character reached lvl 5, which her character now has, so I dread the next scenario as I look over the full tiger stats

http://paizo.com/prd/monsters/tiger.html

on a charge the tiger gets

4 attacks +12
and 1 attack +11

plus 3 attempts to grab

if they all hit (and there is a good possibility of this happening)

4d8 + 2d6 + 54 points of damage + grab

please somebody tell me where I am getting this wrong.. in particular does the grab have to succeed for the tiger to get the rake attack during pounce?.. how many grabs have to succeed?

So combat will become a case of everybody else waiting until the tiger comes and charges their opponent

I think I will have to persuade her to keep the young template.. but if anyone thinks this will be easier because she is my daughter.. then I say they probably don't have a teenage daughter.

Sigh, guess she is learning valuable skills rule lawyering ;)

It seems to me that the last place a sorcerer wants to be is in the thick of combat.

She is happy enough to dismount, command the animal to attack and in subsequent rounds throw in the odd magic missile

It was an effective enough tactic at lower levels with just the riding dog

Ain't no fun to not get invited back to play again.

Unfortunately the player in question is my daughter, wouldn't be able to NOT invite her without causing a family crisis.

I suppose I should count myself as lucky that this is amongst the least of problems that a teenage daughter could cause ;)

I am pretty sure that the Guide to PFS allows you to teach an animal 1 trick per scenario (although I can't find the specific section in it except to mention in the chronicle filling in bit where it says you note the trick there - interestingly it says train an animal companion there)

However I get what you are saying, a Tiger can know 6 tricks, a Combat trained Tiger knows 6 tricks "attack, come, defend, down, guard and heel"

I can't see any rule that says you can replace a learnt trick with a new trick, although I do think common sense would say you could, but common sense can be put aside in this brave new world of player vs GM ;)

So the player will only get attack vs humanoids, monstrous humanoids, giants or other animals, otherwise a "push" is needed (the Handle animal of the player is high enough that they might just succeed anyhow)

So basically the situation is controlled by telling the player at every opportunity they can't take their tiger there (but would have have to restrict a druid's companion or a familiar in the same way or would they be more socially acceptable?) and nitpicking at the Handle Animal rules

Would still prefer a ruling that "No bought animal companion greater than HD (or HD+1 ?) can be used for combat"

Thanks for the replies everybody.

So it seems it is legal :(

I think the biggest problem is the low price, if I was running a home game I could easily insist that the price be higher or that you had to find a tiger cub to raise.

I am afraid allow this thing will start an arms race and require me and other GMs to take on a confrontational GM vs Player attitude that I don't enjoy as a game concept.

i.e. either I set out to block the player's actions at every step, or attempt to kill it or worse everybody will get a Tiger or a Battle Cattle, if I was a Druid why wouldn't I, this thing is better than my animal companion etc!

Players and GM all come together to make a story, the job of the GM is to set a scene, interpret the players actions and turn them into challenge that in overcoming (or not) the players seem like the major actors and that success was not guaranteed.

I know it would not be legal to make me insist that the Tiger take a young template, but I think the player is mostly taken with the concept, they used to have a riding dog (which at low levels was a significant help all by itself) and were just looking for an upgrade, if I asked nicely they might accept to take the template for game balance. The young tiger would still be powerful, after a few more levels I could remove the young template. Would it be PFS legal to apply such a template?

Forgive my ignorance if this is a quite basic question, we are still new to PFS here in Portugal.

I have a player that has a 4th level Gnome sorcerer with a high Handle Animal skill that has bought a copy of Pathfinder Player Companion Animal Archive.

"Animals: all animal companions on pages 28–29 are legal for purchase. Animals on pages 14–15 are legal for purchase except dinosaurs and megafauna (unless already allowed in this document in Bestiary 1, Bestiary 2, Bestiary 3, or Ultimate Equipment) and dire animals. Additionally, only creatures of the animal type of size Large and smaller may be purchased. Goblin dog is restricted for purchase and only available to goblin PCs" from additional Resources

who wants to buy a combat trained Tiger for 500gp, the resource would seem to be allowed and they clearly have fame enough to make such a purchase

"An animal trained to bear a rider into combat knows the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel."

You can try to teach the animal one trick per scenario according to the PFS guide. Does the tiger come being rid-able by a Gnome, it is in a section headed Riding animals?

A Tiger would seem a very good buy for 500gp and if I was a 4th level Druid I'd be a bit annoyed as this tiger seems better then my tiger companion, ok they don't get a +4 bonus on handle animal and the Druid's Tiger knows more tricks, but!

Is my player allowed this tiger, am I doing something wrong?

Congratulations to Shadow Stalker!... certainly beats the pants off my 12 year old no star GM son, he'll have to earn more stars if he wants to have dessert again ;) Kids make great GMs, they seem to be able to prep things much faster, I keep saying "are you sure you have prepared enough?" and they seem to be able to get the scenario on first read through. Guess the old memory is not what it used to be.

Hurrah to new blood!

Thank You, Raul for giving me this opportunity to help in the growth of our Hobby. Thank you fellow pathfinders for your congratulations.

My RPG career began way back in Ireland of 1982 when my brother responded to an ad at the back of 2000AD and bought himself the 3 original tomes of AD&D. When he got bored of them about 3 years later there was a group of people meeting in our house every Saturday who needed a GM. So I sort of inherited the group. We played D&D, we then claimed to grow out of D&D, we played a ton of other games and then we all drifted our own separate ways around about 1992.
Then followed many years without RPGs until I found myself living in Portugal with kids the same age I was when I started playing.. One day, about 4 years ago, my kids found my old 2nd edition D&D books and asked to play with them.. I had a go GMing it for them, but maybe the old brain cells were not firing so well as they used to or maybe back in the day we never tried to read each and ever line of Mr Gygax's wisdom, I found the old rule books not at all user friendly. So I had a look around to see what were the modern equivalents.. the current version of D&D just didn't seem like D&D, get your computer game out of my RPG please!.. the other, Pathfinder, not only seemed to have the best of D&D but had it organised in such a way that some of the rules made sense for the first time. I can't overstate the fact that IMHO one of the best things about Pathfinder is its index.. oh and the fact you can search on the net and have access to lots of well written resources AND adventures.
I was very happy to find that Raul, Bruno and the rest of the Pathfinder Porto team were organising PFS in Porto and now my kids and myself go there each month to play. I was able to get involved with our very first and successful National Pathfinder Convention.
Now there are sufficient players in Aveiro for us to start running games here too on a monthly basis. I am confident enough in my Portuguese to play but not GM, but we hope to have some Portuguese speaking GMs soon too. Amusingly enough when I first started going up to Porto, two of their campaigns were run in English because of one Scotsman.. I personally had delayed contacting RPG players in Portugal until I felt confident enough in my Portuguese to play and then I got there and everybody was speaking English! so international visiting PFS member never fear there is a game waiting for you in Portugal should you care to join us.
I will make myself available to assist any pathfinder player in Aveiro. The best way to find other role players in Aveiro is to join our fb page https://www.facebook.com/groups/708098852547932/