Dwilimir's page

Here's an intriguing idea.

This article written by a middle school teacher on "Starting and Running a Role-Playing Games Club" seems to me to tie in rather nicely with the Beginner Box and the Beginner Box bash. This teacher has 30-40 students in her game club (they use D&D 3.5).

Seems that without too much work Paizo could create a kit for teachers or parents who wanted to start a student game club with the Beginner Box as the core product.

Note the "Setting Up A Learn-To-Play Convention" section at the second half of the above article.

Seems to me with not too much effort Paizo could create a 'Beginner Box Learn-To-Play Club Kit' specifically for student organizations. I'm beginning to hear more and more of such student organizations. Another one is here: libraryroleplay.wordpress.com.

A 'Club Kit' in my mind would be the Beginner Box plus some free PDF downloads -- essentially the 4 Word Docs that teacher lists in the above article, but formatted to fit Pathfinder's trade dress.

One other thing that would be nice is if Paizo would offer the Player's Handbook (I forget what they call it) which comes with the Beginner Box as a standalone purchase, and offer a student discount on both the Beginner Box itself and the 60 or so page Players Handbook. This would be the perfect gateway for teenagers in school trying to learn the game on a tight budget -- teachers or parents buy the Beginner Box and 2 or 3 Player's Guides for each student game table. Once they're hooked after a few months of play, the Core Rulebook get's on their Christmas wish list :-)

I’m about to embark on running the Pathfinder Beginner Box adventure and I’ll be taking this opportunity to learn the Pathfinder rules better.

What adventures should I run next after the Beginner Box adventure? Here’s one road map; feel free to give feedback:

Start with the Beginner Box rules and the four iconic character classes. After that, run adventures in this order:

• Beginner Box Adventure in GM Guide (1st level)
  
• Pathfinder Module: Crypt of the Everflame (1st to 2nd level)
  
• Pathfinder Module: Masks of the Living God (3rd to 4th level)
  
• Pathfinder Society Scenario #17: Perils of the Pirate Pact (4th to 5th Level)

Around this time, I’d add in the following missing Beginner Box rules and convert over to the Core Rules:

• Attack of Oppor­tu­ni­ties
  
• Charg­ing on Sur­prise
  
• Com­bat Maneu­vers and Com­bat Defense
  
• Con­cen­tra­tion Checks to cast spells
  

Then I’d move on to

• Pathfinder Module: City of Golden Death (5th to 6th/7th Level)
  

After this I might switch to an Adventure Path (Rise of the Runelords possibly, the new edition will be out in June) with new characters (opening up possibilities for all the Core classes), or perhaps continue on with the same Beginner Box characters along this path:

• Pathfinder Module: Realm of the Fellnight Queen (7th Level)
  
• Pathfinder Module: Cult of the Ebon Destroyers (8th Level)
  
• Pathfinder Module: Curse of the Riven Sky (10th Level)
  
• Pathfinder Module: Academy of Secrets (13th Level)
  

There is an XP gap in Crypt of the Everflame (taking you to almost, but not quite, to 3th Level) and Masks of the Living God (taking you to almost, but not quite, to 5th Level), but the Beginner Box Adventure and Pathfinder Society Scenario #17: Perils of the Pirate Pact adventure, plus a couple of random encounters should fill the gap. Similarly, if there are gaps after any other Pathfinder Modules, simply grab a level appropriate Pathfinder Society Scenario, or add in some random encounters. The XP gap in some of the modules in intentional as it is expected many GM’s will add in some additional material between modules.

Which type of Paizo adventures take the least amount of prep time -- Society Scenarios, Adventure Paths or Modules?

I’m somewhat new to Pathfinder and still learning the rules. I’m also strapped for time so I’d like to use some commercially published adventures that will actually save me time over writing my own adventures. From the adventures I’ve read and from posts on Paizo’s forums I’ve come up with a stab at how long Paizo’s different adventures take, compared to how many pages you have to read and digest in order to run those adventures. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

• Pathfinder Society Scenarios -- 14 Pages for 4 Hours Play (3.5 pages per hour of gaming)
  
• Pathfinder Adventure Path (e.g. Rise of the Runelords) -- 90 pages for 40 hours of play (2.25 pages per hour of gaming)
  
• Pathfinder Module (e.g. Crypt of the Everflame) -- 29 pages for 20 hours of gaming (1.45 pages per hour of gaming)
  

I’m sure people’s mileage may vary in terms of how long a game takes to run, and feel free to alert me if you think some of my numbers are way off.

Based on the above though, it seems that for me, a new GM, that the Pathfinder Modules might be the lowest prep time adventures to run. My experience is that when there is lots of text (e.g. Society Scenarios or AP) I may read it, but if a few weeks pass before I run the adventure, I forget a lot, and text-heavy adventures require re-reading or highlighting which can be very time consuming.

Thoughts?

(By the way, my favorite adventure format is what Savage Worlds does -- they have One Sheet Plot Points adventures which are 2 pages for 4 hours of play (0.5 pages per hour of gaming)).

I'm about to start running "Rise of the Runelords" with 1st level characters.

It looks to me like Adventure Paths end around 13th to 15th level. Society play restricts you to 12th level (forcing them to retire or stay at 12th level I believe). I've also heard it get's harder to play and/or GM at higher levels.

So, in home games, using Adventure Path modules or homebrew campaigns, do folks typically 'retire' a character once they're around 13th to 15th level? How many keep their character going after 15th level?

The reason I'm asking is I'd like to set a cap on level advancement so as not to have players in my group play with 19th and 20th level characters, but I'm not sure what the right lower level cap might be.

About how many 4-hour game sessions does it take to get through a typical 90+ page Adventure Path chapter?

I'm about to start running "Rise of the Runelords" (starting with the 1st book, "Burnt Offerings") with 1st level characters and I'm new to Pathfinder and I never played 3.x.

I'm trying to get a sense of how long it will take to make it through this and future "Rise of the Runelords" AP chapters.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

-- Dwilimir

Anyone have suggestions for a module progression that would take PFBB characters from 1st to 5th level, ideally with PFS credit?

I used to run Pathfinder, but the high crunch level and the 2-hour prep times for 4 hour sessions (reading and creating maps for PFS scenarios) turned my group off of Pathfinder. But, I bought the Beginner Box, and my son was so intrigued (he's 17) that he's wanting to resume play.

(Aside: Kudos to Pathfinder to creating a product which produces such interest from kids!)

So, I'm trying to figure out the best module path for our new PFBB characters.

As mentioned in this thread, Crypt of the Everflame is a logical next choice. Crype of the Everflame has two sequals, but there is an XP gap as I recall, so any suggestions on other existing modules I could run to get us to 5th level?

Ideally all the modules we run good get us PFS credit so by the time we're at 5th level, it's all with PFS XP so we can use these characters at Society events.

Or perhaps this isn't practical, and we need a separate set of characters for PFS, and we'd start with non-PFS adventures, then just over to PFS with new characters? Is that a better strategy?

I totally understand the need to not split the Pathfinder product line by creating an entire new ‘Basic’ product line. Here is what I suggest as an alternative.

Just as there are different XP tracks in Pathfinder Society (so you can stay at 7th level for a long time if you want to), so there could be a different ‘combat complexity’ method, a sort of sanctioned house rule which is called out in future editions of the product. It would be consistent with much of the Beginner Box rules. The “Basic Combat Style” might look something like this:

-- No Attack of Opportunity
-- No Charging on Surprise
-- No Combat Maneuvers or Combat Defense
-- No Concentration checks to cast spells, you cannot cast spells when you are next to an enemy unless it is a touch attack spell
-- No Ability Damage or Drain (Poisons mostly give the sickened condition or penalties to whatever is affected by the stat they would normally be associated with. Level Drain replaced with an aging effect (touch = +1d6 years to your character's life). Ability damage/drain into a temporary effect which goes away on its one at a rate of 1 per hour.)

That’s it. All else would be the same. The idea here is GM’s could declare “I’m using ‘Basic Combat Style’ at my table to run this Pathfinder Society module,” and players would know what that meant. Also, new products might adopt the friendlier PFBB formatting, but that’s just a style thing.

You’d have one set of rules, but approving a slightly different style of gaming which would let those accustomed to the Beginner Box to continue to play a lighter combat style while still coming into the full game. Sure, you can do this in home games already, but I’m particularly wanting to see out a codified, sanctioned way to run the game which you could bring with you to a convention and still feel like you could legitimately run the PFS game with.

Another way to approach this would be to make the Basic Style the default option for combat (continuing the PFBB approach) and call out "Advanced Combat Style" in it's own section with all the traditional AoO type rules.

I’m sure the list I have above could be improved upon, but I wanted to see if anyone else shared an interest in a sanctioned ‘Basic Combat Style’ option within the game.

I'm new to GM'ing Pathfinder, and I'm trying to decipher a couple of the stats for some of the NPCs listed in a Pathfinder scenario.

For these offense stats:
"Melee shortsword +3 (1d6+2/19-20)"
"Ranged shortbow +3 (1d6/x3)"

1) Does the "Melee shortsword +3" mean an attack bonus, pre-calculated to include all bonuses such as Base Attack Bonus?

2) The "Melee shortsword +3" is to hit only, and is not a damage bonus, right?

3) Does the "19-20" for the melee shortshord mean "possible critical on a 19 or 20" and if the critical is confirmed, it's double damage?

4) Does the "x3" for the Ranged shortbow mean "possible critical on a 20, triple damage if critical is confirmed"?

Thanks in advance for any feedback. Below is the full statblock for the example I'm referencing.

---------------------------------------------------------------

=================================
BANDITS (4) CR 1/2
=================================
Male or female human fighter 1
LN Medium humanoid
Init +6; Senses Perception +2

---------------------------------
DEFENSE
---------------------------------
AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 16 (1d10+6)
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +1

---------------------------------
OFFENSE
---------------------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee shortsword +3 (1d6+2/19--20)
Ranged shortbow +3 (1d6/x3)

---------------------------------
TACTICS
---------------------------------
Before Combat At least one agent is on watch at all times. During Combat The agents try to flank when possible and only attack the bandits in force (trying to kill all of them) if the PCs haven’t given them a reason not to.
Morale If an agent is knocked unconscious, another will attempt to drag him from combat. If two are knocked unconscious, the others will attempt to retrieve their fallen comrades and flee from battle.

---------------------------------
STATISTICS
---------------------------------
Str 15, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +3; CMD 16
Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative, Toughness
Skills Linguistics +1, Perception +2
Languages Common, Vudrani
Gear chain shirt, shortbow with 20 arrows, shortsword

I'm starting a play-by-post PFS game hosted at RPOL.net. Our first scenario is "Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible."

This is a Pathfinder Society Scenario for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2 and 4-5).

The Pathfinder Society sends you to the fabled Kingdom of the Impossible, the island of Jalmeray, to stop an Aspis Consortium black market relics dealer who is organizing the local bandits and violently robbing Jalmeray and Pathfinder Society caravans laden with relics, artifacts, and magical mysteries. When a venture-captain is murdered by the Aspis Consortium agent, it's up to the PCs to find him and do whatever it takes to stop him.

This game is for official Pathfinder Society credit; I will fill out and submit a Chronicle sheet for your character at the end of the adventure (which I'm attempting to complete in 4-6 weeks, but we'll see how it goes).

To speed up play I will not be using a battlegrid (instead I will using maps and text descriptions) and we will roll four rounds at a time during combat (to speed things up). The end result is faster action and (in my opinion) a more enjoyable play-by-post experience.

I am looking for good writers who enjoy colorful role-play with other interesting characters.

Learn more online here: Pathfinder Society: Tales of Legend. If you have questions feel free to email me at eli.shinn@rareclarity.com.

In the past I've played 0e and 1e editions of D&D. I've been playing a house-ruled version of Swords and Wizardry.

I really like the quality of the Pathfinder adventures. Rather than convert them to Swords & Wizardry, I'm considering making the jump to Pathfinder/3.5 OGL and using the Pathfinder adventures and rules.

I had a bad experience a year ago playing a demo of D&D4e -- I had a high level character (12th level maybe?) and it took 40 minutes for a single combat. Booooring. Too many dice rolls slowing down the game. Also, I run a game group with kids 12-17 years old, and I'm not sure they have the patience to read a 300+ page manual to understand a game before playing.

Questions:

1) How long does combat typically take in Pathfinder? (I'm thinking 4th to 8th level range).

2) What kind of rampup time is there to learn Pathfinder if you've never played 3.5e? Are there any quick-start guides or anything to get people started in a game short of reading the huge manual? (I wish the Pathfinder boxed set being talked about was out -- I'd buy that for sure!)

Thanks in advance to any tips!

-- Dwilimir