DerCed's page

Level 3 files are missing, that is really troublesome for our spontaneous game session next week.

I have the same problem. I pre-ordered in March, and now I still don't have any books because presumably the Lost Omens has not been released yet. :(

Order 7761721 here.

For reference, I posted a different question related to Rough Rider and Goblin Dogs in its own thread: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2vbqt?Does-a-Rough-Rider-Goblin-give-you-access -to#1

For the second Doomsday scenario, I am building a goblin on level 4 with the Rough Rider ancestry feat. This adds the Ride feat which saves you from needing to use Handle an Animal before using Command an Animal. If you select Nature as a trained skill, I would deem it fair to assume the goblin PC had the chance to find an indifferent goblin dog to mount over the course of levels 1-3.

Now, for a normal home game, I would like to think any GM would be fine with having the player pay the cost for a Riding Dog but instead get a Goblin Dog, since they are of same level and similar overall feel (and made for for goblins to ride specifically, it seems). But for the playtest I'd like to stick to the rules -- do you think it's fine to do this?

If you as the GM call it a +1 sword and you complain about that, it's on you. If you call it "Zelazny's sword" and give the description "this sword helps you focus your mind on fighting, allowing you to strike truer, giving you a +1 item bonus on attacks. It is also sharper than any blade you've ever encountered, doing an extra d8 (or whatever) of damage when it strikes true.", you're essentially saying it's a +1 weapon, but making it more interesting.

This is important here. The rules are just rules -- but creating awesome items is the GM's job!

Looks like all those values are constants: frequency, creature level, "type". So, if they are indicated in the stat block, why not just directly state the DC for recalling knowledge? It can still be easily modified if the campaign or circumstance needs it, but for 80% of GMs it will just directly be there without needing to consult a table.

A level 20 character is also a sort of demi-god, so it would be very unsettling if a commoner was able stab her in her sleep.

Conditions only come in play if you have a condition, and they are simple like Stupified 2 (so you just know what the value is).

I think the "2" in "Stupefied 2" would refer to the character being afflicted by the condition through two of their round.

Read playtest rulebook on page 339 ("XP Awards") and the Bestiary on page 21 ("Building Encounters"). Those two allowed me to understand this in my preparation.

I still do not understand the difference between the level and the difficulty in the DC table. For monsters and hazards it makes sense, but for common tasks? If I can set the the level arbitrarily as a short of general difficulty, what did the second dimension then mean?

My party defeated Drakus in a SINGLE round. :/ THey didn't even realize it was the 'boss'.

If the party had 4 members, they would need to dish out 10 damage each. So the rolled really well and/or critted?

It is highly likely that the developers intended for all characters to be Trained in Unarmored Defense and simply forgot to actually state it explicitly.

Just checked again, it's really not mentioned in the rules. But I thought of it as analogous to 1e "natural armor", so it wouldn't be default for everyone?

Paizo content for the Roll20 marketplace would be fantastic!

And stop bringing the charity donation up as a reason people shouldn't be upset.

Correct. I actually set the sliders to 100% Paizo, so for me it's not about charity at all.

You can't put this in a nice way. Doing a Humble-Bundle promo while you know your own server infrastructure is not prepared for the influx is bad decision-making and hurts your business.

The backend that watermarks the PDFs obviously does not scale. I'm disappointed with Paizo.

That's an excellent suggestion, jwes55. I was thinking about this once when I read through another higher level module but thought it was too complicated to weave it in. But I should really do this, great tip.

Regarding quick reference sheet, I recently stumbled across this Reddit Thread containing a combat flow-chart.

Mark, thanks a ton for your answers, helps me a lot.

Chief, I'll follow your advice and work my own content into the campaign step by step. I had a good opportunity for it in the last session as I had to introduce the companion owl of the wizard in the group. I allowed my players to reboot their characters before they reach level 3 and she decided to replace the arcane bond ring with an owl :) So I set up some goblin bird hunters that caught a lot of birds with large nets, the net also caught the owl who was on a messaging mission.
The next chance I'll have when one of my players leaves the country for two months and I'll have to do a solo-side-quest for her via e-mail so she does not lose too much XP :)

The Rot Grub, I'll start with the Masks module in 2 weeks! I had a look around the boards and got a lot of good threads. Also I found an aweseom podcast where the immortality modules are discussed at great length (even including a Q&A with the original author!): http://www.pathfinder-podcast.com/ (the oldest three posts on page 3)

The 8th Dwarf - thanks!

Sooo... Meanwhile things progressed nicely. We will play our 6th session tomorrow, concluding the Crypt and heading on the "masked" sequel. I'll plan a short encounter inbetween to weave in some backstory that my players provided. Speaking of which - wow, have they picked up on the bait. They are drawing their characters in full color, write page-long backstories, buying Core Rule Books. It's incredible, I've unleashed a torrent of creativity in the minds of the ladies! My girl-friend has been drawing a lot when she was younger and was often sad she did not find the motivation anymore. She now spent several evenings drawing her dwarf wizard, how great is that!

I myself also went on a shopping spree and bought: Core Rulebook, Bestiary, Expert Rules, GM Advice and some almanachs and modules. Feels great to finally possess real RPG books! Kind of fulfilling my boyhood dream here, lol.

So I'd like to extend my gratitude to you guys here who helped me in the beginning and conclude the beginner box thread by some last questions:

a) When giving out loot, should I immediately tell them value or write it down for myself?

b) It seems like the beginner box gave out a LOT of gold and items, way more than it is suggested in the core rules. I have backtracked and calculated the wealth of the characters and even without their own gear and weapons they'er quite wealthy. When I now plan for future sessions I see that the loot I can give out is very sparse. For example, from level 3 to 4 it goes from 3k to 6k gold. Which means I can give 3k gold per player, resulting in 12k total treasure for all four. Or is this not relative, but rather absolute and I could should provide roughly 4x6k=24k when reaching level 4?

c) How do I get people to search rooms? They tend to miss a lot of evidence and loot when I'm not forcing them or actively pointing to stuff. Should I just let them roll for perception to "train" them? Or are there more subtle ways?

d) I'm scared of introducing my own hooks, NPCs and encounters beause I fear of introducing elements that will not fit into the logic of the main plot line. My players are quite an intelligent bunch and pick up on plot holes very easily. I tried to explain them to be a little gentle because I am a beginner as well, but I'm still a bit reluctant and this might reduce my creativity..

Thanks for any pointers for any of these questions!

Congratulations :-)

Just a quick update, we're still meeting up! I've done the deadly mines and now transitioned into Crypt of the Everflame, still with BB rules. I'm now going to try transitioning to the full rules, as the core rule book should be in my mailbox by Friday :-D

That's tremendeously helpful, Mark - thanks for pointing out the specific pages as well.

Totally forgot I've written a couple of points the group was uncertain about after the last session:
1) Clerics: What's special about their holy weapons?
2) Clerics: How many "orisons" can a level 1 char cast? Looking at SRD, it's 4?
3) Can a char use untrained skills? Is there difference between BB and core rles?
4) Which spells hit automatically? Can the atackee perform a saving throw?

Just a quick update, haven't had time for more. First session went great, we're doing another tonight! Everyone enjoyed it ;)

Thanks Molten Dragon for your replies. Very helpful! I'll be back with either more questions or a report on how it went :-) It's an all female group (except me), so it's gonna be interesting!

3) Not sure what you mean by "awaken", but based on your description that would be right next to the PC. That is no squares/fields in between.

With awaken I meant a creature that was lurking in the shadows and only attacking when a player is "1.5m close" to it. So your answer was spot on.

Played some RPG before, but never game-mastered. This Sunday we're gonna hit it off with the Beginner Box. While preparing for the session, some questions arose which I hope some of you could clarify:

1) Potions in treasures: Do PC have to identify their magical properties everytime a potion is found? If not, how to describe the potions - just make something up with or without revealing it might be magical?

2) Descriptions that are not in blue boxes but described in the standard text: Do I just tell the players this, or only if they ask?

3) Distances: For example if a creature "awakens" if a PC is 1.5m close (1 field). Does this mean right next to the creature or with one field inbetween?