Feegle's page

I didn't participate in the playtest, so this is my first encounter with the Ruleset. As was the case with 1e, the book is hard to parse when you have a specific question - the Glossary and the Index are both lacking in this regard. Specifically:

Shove (Single Action)

Attack
Requirements You have at least one hand free. The target can’t be more than one size larger than you.

You push an opponent away from you. Attempt an Athletics check against your opponent’s Fortitude DC.

What is a "Fortitude DC?" Is this like a defense, where it's 10+Fort modifier? Or is it an opposed roll? I've just spent 45 minutes with the Core Rulebook attempting to find a definition somewhere, plus another 15 on AoN.

I would love some feedback on the following idea. It's long, and I truly appreciate anyone who is willing to push through the whole thing to offer critique. I'm not interested in critique on the philosophy of the system, but rather on its implementation. If you're familiar with Fate Core, much of the information will be familiar, but this is the full text of a document that I wrote for my group, with the assumption that they weren't familiar with it - even if you've never heard of Fate Core before, this should tell you everything you need to know. Thanks in advance!

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There are elements of character creation and mechanics from Fate Core that I’d like to lift and adapt for a Pathfinder Campaign (specifically, the Hell's Rebels Adventure Path, though I think there are many campaigns where this would work). There are a number of reasons for it, but ultimately, it comes down to encouraging thoughtful character backstory, having links between characters in place before the game begins, and reducing Trait twinking. :) This system is built on Aspects and Fate Points, and starts with Character Creation.

Aspects

From the Fate Core SRD: An aspect is a phrase that describes something unique or noteworthy about whatever it’s attached to. It can be thought of as the title of a Feat or Trait, though there is some crafting that needs to go into writing a trait to make it work with the proposed system. (see below).

Traits will be replaced with Aspects. Each character will have 5 Aspects that are developed during the character creation process, which are a High Concept, a Trouble, and three Qualities.

An Aspect can, if appropriate to the circumstance, be Invoked to allow a character to add a +2 Aspect bonus to any d20 roll. Multiple aspects can be Invoked on the same role if they are all appropriate, and multiple aspect bonuses do stack.

If an Aspect might hinder a character in a particular situation, a GM may ask to Compel a character’s Aspect to give them a -2 Aspect Penalty to a d20 roll, or an enemy a +2 Aspect bonus to a d20 roll. Players always have the option to decline this Compel.

Fate Points

Fate Points are a mechanic to rein in abuse of Aspects and to make their use a more judicious thing. Each scene, a character will begin with one Fate Point.

In order to Invoke an Aspect, the player must pay one Fate Point. Invoking multiple Aspects on the same roll costs multiple Fate Points - the same as the number of Aspects being Invoked. If a character has no Fate Points, then regardless of how appropriate the Aspect might be to the situation, it may not be Invoked for that roll.

To earn more Fate Points, characters must accept Compels on their character. Whenever a player accepts a Compel offered by the GM, they earn one Fate Point for their character. Fate Points may be banked, but at no point can a character have more than 5 Fate Points. Once a character has banked 5 Fate Points, they may no longer be Compelled by any of their Aspects.

Making a Good Aspect

Aspects should be double-edged, flexible, and clear.

Double-edged Aspects let you Invoke them, but also give the GM opportunity to offer to Compel them - remember that without Compels, you won’t have the Fate Points to Invoke later. Greenhorn sailor is an example of a double-edged Aspect - it speaks to both inexperience and training in a particular area.

Flexible Aspects let them be invoked and compelled in a variety of situations, which makes them useful more often in game. Local celebrity tavern singer is a good example of a flexible Aspect - it might allow for bonuses on Diplomacy while on home turf, bonuses to Perform when earning money, penalties to Stealth if trying to stay unnoticed in a tavern, and so on.

Clear Aspects are important to define the boundaries of their flexibility. A vaguely-worded or metaphorical Aspect might seem to be useful in every situation, which will get overused and just slow down play. Aspects should also be worded in plain, system-neutral language - within an Aspect, Warrior means someone who fights rather than an NPC class, and Fighter just sounds strange, unless you mean it in the sense of organized sporting slang to refer to a boxer or MMA competitor.

Character Creation

Using the following structure helps to create fleshed-out characters with pre-existing connections to each other. The mechanical advantages of Aspects should allow them to gel nicely with Pathfinder and make the Phase Trio meaningful for the remainder of the game.

Once you have your character mechanics created, this part of character creation begins with developing a High Concept and Trouble for your character.

High Concept
From the Fate Core SRD: Your high concept is a phrase that sums up what your character is about - who he is and what he does. It’s an aspect, one of the first and most important ones for your character. If someone asked you for your character concept, this is the answer, as brief and complete as possible. Connected to the discussion on Clear Aspects above, you should avoid using, for example, their class name.

While it’s not specific to high fantasy, the Fate Core SRD has some good advice on different ways to develop a High Concept that can be found here.

Trouble
From the Fate Core SRD: In addition to a high concept, every character has some sort of trouble aspect that’s a part of his life and story. If your high concept is what or who your character is, your trouble is the answer to a simple question: what complicates your character’s existence? Troubles are usually fall into the categories of personal struggles and problematic relationships.

As the Trouble is an ongoing element of a character’s existence, it shouldn’t be easy to solve. (If it were, they’d have already done it.) On the other hand, it shouldn’t be an ever-present threat in the character’s life, lest it take over their every waking moment. Avoid making your Trouble an extension of your High Concept - you have a limited number of Aspects, and duplication of circumstances for Invoking or Compelling aspects should be avoided. Finally, remember that every Aspect should cut both ways; so your character’s Trouble should do so as well.

Your Story - The Phase Trio

Once you have a sense for your character’s High Concept and Trouble, you will develop a story from their past, and connections with two other characters, along with associated Aspects for each of those instances.

Phase One - Your Adventure
This may be your character’s first adventure, or something that happened very recently. It should be a time when they were the star of the story, though, and not merely a bit player - you can think of it as “that movie or book that starred my character.” It usually takes place after their coming-of-age, whatever that means for your character, and should be recent enough that it allows other characters to cross paths. For that reason, and for this Campaign, Your Adventure takes place in or around Kintargo.

Determine a title and jot down the basic details of the story. There shouldn’t be a lot of detail, because others will add to it in Phases Two and Three later. Limit your summary to a few sentences to avoid from getting too detailed.

If you’re stuck for ideas, look to your character’s High Concept and Trouble, and think of a dilemma or problem that might arise because of one of them or both. Then, imagine what happens next.

Once you’ve got a title and a summary, write an Aspect that connects to your story. This is the first of your three Qualities.

Phase Two - Crossing Paths
In this phase, you’ll be a minor supporting character in someone else’s adventure, and someone else will play the same role in yours. The GM will determine who contributes to each other’s adventures.

Begin this phase by reading the adventure of another character, and envision your character’s supporting role. Supporting roles come in three forms: they complicate the adventure, solve a situation, or both.

If your character complicates the adventure, they manage to make some part of the adventure uncertain. Obviously, since this has already happened, they got out of it alright, but the method of resolution doesn’t matter - leave that for someone else or leave it open.

If your character solves a situation, they have resolved a complication that the main character had to deal with. How that complication arose is irrelevant, you just need to determine how your character took care of it.

If your character does both of these, then your character either solves a complication while creating a new one in the process, or creates a situation but later solves a different one. Mash up the two ideas using the word 'later' between them.

While your character isn't the star of this story, your role needs to be important and cast a spotlight on them for something specific - you will be developing your second Quality Aspect from the role you create, so what happens should highlight something you’re known for, something you can do, something you own or have, or someone who have a relationship with.

Once you’ve decided on your role, summarize it in one sentence, and then write an Aspect that connects to it; this is the second of your three Qualities. The limit of one sentence is to reinforce the idea that this isn’t a story that stars your character - you’re a bit player on someone else’s stage. If you can’t summarize it in one sentence, it’s likely too big a role.

Phase Three - Crossing Paths Again
Phase Three is a repeat of Phase Two, but in a different character’s adventure. Develop your role in their story, and create another Aspect that draws from that role; this is the last of your Qualities.

Now your character has five Aspects: a High Concept, a Trouble, and three Qualities

Character Progression

As a character grows and develops, so too do their Aspects change with them. In Fate Core, this is built into Character Progression. In Pathfinder, this will be more informally represented using Milestones.

Milestones represent key events in a story, and will be decided on and announced by the GM. As a general rule, Milestones will take place approximately once every two levels.

When a character reaches a Milestone, they will have the opportunity to change one of their Aspects. Their High Concept may evolve as they live their adventures, or they may have dealt with their Trouble and move on to a different conflict. Qualities may become less important due to experiences and fade into the background as more prevalent Qualities take the fore.

Aspects can change by Evolving, (From Bumbling Apprentice to Mostly-Competent Spellslinger to Feared Archmage, for example.) or they may be replaced by something completely different. High Concepts usually Evolve, Troubles are usually Replaced, and Qualities change in both ways, though there are exceptions to every rule. In general, new Aspects should reflect some element of recent adventures.

For an Adventure-Path length campaign, I'm creating a Transmuter Wizard that I am to end up developing as a polymorph specialist. I'm not usually a caster-builder, so I've no idea where to start, really. I'm looking for advice on Feats, and archetypes, if there are any to grab. The ones I'm already considering, in no particular order, are mostly the obvious ones:

* Eschew Materials
* Spell Focus & Greater
* Spell Penetration, eventually
* Brew Potion (for flavour and flexibility, not for optimization)

Any other suggestions, including things like "Spells not to miss" or "Items you definitely want to grab at first opportunity," are definitely welcome.

Hello,

At this time, please cancel my Card Game and Maps subscriptions.

I'd also like to hold my AP and Campaign Setting subscriptions; I will likely start them back up in a couple of months, and I'll be looking to complete the collections one I'm back in the country. I'm pretty sure there's a term for this, but I can't remember what it is at the moment.

A player rolled a survival check. Her dice pool was d4 (no skill) and a d10 (recharge this ally to add d10 to your survival check).

Another player played a blessing to "add a die" to a check. Can the player then roll 2d10 + 1d4, or must it be 2d4 + 1d10? There is a d10 involved in the roll, and the blessing does not say which die must be added to the check.

The rulebook is also unclear - the only example (under "Assemble your Dice") involves a single die in a check, and so which die to add is obvious.

If there's a quote I'm missing, I'd love a citation. Note that this is for Organized Play, so I'd like something concrete, not simply, "It's obvious that it's intended to work in this way."

I ordered this product here because my FLGS has it on backorder, and it was showing as available at Paizo. The email I received shows it as backordered here too, and now the website lists it as such.

If Paizo does, in fact, have it backordered, please cancel the order; I'd rather buy it at my FLGS when it becomes available again.

So, I've noticed recently (like, over the past few months, recently) that Pathfinderwiki is slooooooow loading a lot of the time. Like, my browser times-out slow, and more than half of the time that I try to go there. Happens to me on both Firefox and Safari.

Over the past week, after several attempts to visit the site, I'm always getting the same message on the page:

Gateway Timeout: can't connect to remote host

I sort of figured I wouldn't be the only one noticing this, so figured it might be just me, but going on several months of trouble now, I figured I'd ask to see if it's just me.

I know there are issues with the display of subscriptions, but I just wanted to be sure that there's no mistake. I stopped and then restarted my ACG subscription with the class deck to avoid the shipping costs associated with a core set; I plan to buy it at my FLGS.

With the adjustment to the core set's shipping date, it's reappeared in my pending subscriptions. I presume that's because I have a subscription active at the time of its release.

Can someone verify that I will not be charged for, or receiving, the ACG core set, please?

I was wondering if I could cancel my subscription for ACG and then immediately restart it. :)

Basically, I just want to skip the Skull and Shackles core set (prohibitive shipping; I'll pick it up locally), but restart with the Extra Character deck.

I spent this past weekend in Boston, and I knew ahead of time I was going to have a block of time on Saturday afternoon, so I started a couple of months ago looking to see if I might be able to squeeze in a PFS game.

When I started looking, it was only a day or two before Lucas Servideo, the VL of northern MA, pinged me on Facebook. Over the next month, he proceeded to literally arrange a table for me. He found a GM to run a game, asked me what scenario I wanted to play, and made the whole thing happen. (For the record, I was pretty flexible about the scenario - I just gave him a list of the stuff I hadn't played before.)

The day before the event, I got an email from David Montgomery, the VC of Boston (who signed up to play at the table with me), with a slew of instructions on how to get to the venue by public transit, as well timing and whatnot, and contact info in case I got lost or needed clarification.

The GM, Ray, was well-prepared, engaging, and fun. The other two players, Michael and Arial, were a pleasure to game with, and a good time was had by all while battling demons and dinosaurs.

I can't praise those members of the Boston/MA Lodge enough for the quality of experience I had while randomly in Boston with a few hours to spare. Thanks for a fantastic time, everyone.

If you, other person on the forums who is reading this, find yourself in Boston, do yourself a favour and look up a game. You'll be glad you did.

Hi folks,

Hardcover book shipping to Canada is notoriously expensive, and with the Inner Sea Gos book upcoming in the May shipment, I'm looking at a big ding in the wallet that month. Most of the hardcovers aren't worth the price of shipping for a free PDF, but this one might be.

Is it possible to get a comparison of the prices (including shipping) of my May subscription shipment with and without the Inner Sea Gods book?

Thanks.

Well, I do, anyway. Two of the four scenarios he wrote for PFS are solidly in my top five favourites to run (3-01 and 3-15), and the other two are also great.

I know he's been called up to the big leagues, writing AP chapters, but can we get him back once or twice a season to write something for PFS, please? :)

After December's shipment (ie: after Magical Marketplace) please cancel my subscription to the Player Companion line.

Thanks.

Tonight I hosted a few members of our PFS community as we ran through PFS Scenario 3-25: Storming the Diamond Gate with level 6 ACG classes. Creation was done using pure WBL guidelines. The classes were: Warpriest, Brawler, Arcanist, and Slayer.

All of the players had done the scenario before, though exclusively at the low tier. (They didn't metagame the scenario at all, regardless.) One character died during the second encounter. (We allowed a 'respawn' once the fight was over so we could continue the playtest.) Two characters died in the final combat, and the other two fled.

I'll leave it to the players to comment on their experiences with their specific classes. I'll just speak in general, comparing my experiences as a GM with these classes.

Overall, none of the classes stuck out as being tremendously unbalanced or overpowered. The Warpriest seemed overshadowed by his Slayer and Brawler colleagues in terms of melee combat, and the middling level of his casting stat meant that the power of his offensive spells were somewhat limited.

I'll be sending a link to this thread to all the players, so hopefully they'll weigh in in the next couple of days with their own reflections on the classes strengths and weaknesses at level 6.

I was... apprehensive about this game at first. I bought it after a couple of months of hearing people rave about it. I love it. I really appreciate the feeling of an RPG adventure in a quick session, and I commend you, Mike, for being able to recreate that feeling in a card game.

(On a formatting note, there's an extra double-quote in the link to the Desert Bus for Hope website that's breaking the link at the moment.)

Hi,

I had a few things that were on sale (Adventure Path volumes, primarily) in my cart. When I put them in my sidecart, presumably because my next subscription shipment is not due until early December, the price jumped to the normal price (less the Pathfinder Advantage, of course). Is this the intended result? I don't believe that's ever happened with the Black Friday sales before.

I picked up the Base Set a week or so ago, and happily went about dividing all the cards into their appropriate locations with the diagram in the rulebook. But there's a LOT of space left - I'm specifically thinking about the henchmen space, for example.

Is the intent for me to break out the adventure packs and sort the cards into their respective sections? And if that's the case, then why on earth would I want to have space within the box to hold the adventure deck/character deck add-on boxes, if all their contents are going to be spread throughout the rest of the thing?

If that's not the intent, then where are all the cards that will fill this baby up going to come from?

Could we get all the pregens in a single file, rather than one per class (or in addition to?) Ideally, a file that's all the level 1s, and a seperate one for level 4 and level 7, but even all 39 pages in one file would be great.

I'm trying to print off just a set of level 1s for an upcoming convention, and it's a huge pain in the butt to send 13 print jobs when I could make due with selecting pages in Preview or Reader and sending a single job.

As in the title. The shipping on the hardcovers is prohibitive, I'm afraid.

Earlier this summer, the Ontario Pathfinder Society website relaunched with a slick new design and a better interface, thanks to the hardworking efforts of Toronto Venture-Lieutenant Michael Iantorno, whose degree in Fine Arts means that he knows a whole lot more about design aesthetics than I do.

In addition, we took the opportunity to launch a series of community-focused columns, written by members of our community with experience and/or passion for writing. Our goal is to publish a column every Monday, rotating through the different columns so as not to overwhelm a particular author.

The columns are:

5-foot Theatre: A column focused on useful tips for GMing in general, but with a particular focus on the challenges for GMs.
Asmodean Advice: Similar to the Mergy's Methods, this is a column on advice for players. It's designed to be useful tips for new players and experienced ones.
Companion Corner: Wondering if the newest volume of the Companion line has anything useful for PFS play? This column has the answers! Every month, with an aim to look through the newest release, we'll look at a few of the new options (equipment, feats, and so on.)
News from the Front: For members of our community who have an idea for a column post, or something to talk about that they'd like a soapbox for, News from the Front is the space for them to do it. You never know what might get posted here until it goes up.

If you're interested, this link will take you to an index page for all the columns.

...because of a health emergency. (Not to mention the whole convention - Boo!)

My subscription page says that my August subscription shipped Aug 12, presumably because that's when it left for Gen Con. Is there an easy way for you to find out if it's been put in the mail yet? (No is a perfectly acceptable answer - I'm happy to be patient if that information isn't readily available.)

It's been quite a while (nearly 2 years, if my search-fu hasn't failed me)since a Golarion Day post in the blog, and I've been itching to ask about it. Now that the Gen Con crunch is over, I thought it might be a nice time to bring it back up. I really loved the idea that once a week, there'd be a little post - a few hundred words - about a specific element of the Campaign Setting, and it's been sorely missed by more than just me. Is there any chance we might convince the staff to start that part of the blog up again?

It's possible that this thread belongs in Website Feedback. Mods, feel free to move it if that's a more appropriate place for it.

I've no idea if this is the right place for this feedback, but there's a typo in yesterday's press release about the new shirts. Correction capitalized and bolded. Maybe it's too late, and maybe it doesn't matter, but I just thought you should know.

"We are thrilled to have the license for Pathfinder RPG apparel," says Barbara Tillburg, CEO of OffWorld Designs. "Our shirts are well-knowN in the gaming industry and Paizo, as well as Pathfinder, are both fan favorites, so this is all a natural fit!"

Questions:

p. 6 - Caphorite says it 'absorbs light.' Does this include nonmagical sources like torches and lanterns, or is the only effect the one notes in the boxed text, influencing spells with the light descriptor. Additionally, does Caphorite affect existing spells that enter the room, or only new spells being cast?

p. 7 - Does the magic suppression effect cover the entire room, or target individual creatures? Am I correct in thinking that there is no save against that part of the trap's effect?

The Ontario Pathfinder Society is pleased to announce that we'll be present and running games at Phantasm: Gamer's Equinox this year.

Because it's a new presence for us, and we're expecting mostly unexperienced PFS players, we're choosing to be very flexible about what offers. Rather than pre-registering for individual scenarios, we'll be mustering on-site based on player attendance, experience, and demand. GMs will be present with a number of scenarios available to play, and we'll do our best to accommodate everyone.

If you're a very experienced player who's planning on coming to the convention and want to make sure that you'll have a table you're eligible to play at for credit, please send me an email at jeff@ontariopathfinders.com so I can make sure that we have a table ready for you.

Hope to see some of you there!

The "Join the Pathfinder Society and create your character now" link on the Pathfinder Society landing page takes you to the "My Pathfinder Society" user page if you're logged into the site.

If not, however, it just redirects to the store blog - I had a new store owner who wanted information on getting started who was very confused by this yesterday. Is there any way that for guest users, it could redirect to the login/create an account page instead?