Firelock's page

Hey, am I reading this item's description wrong?

I think it's the best armor in the game...

"These boots look and act as the minor burglar boots, but grant a +10 competence bonus on Perception checks and to AC and on Reflex saves. Also, once per day on command, these boots grant the wearer the ability to use find traps as the spell."

Does that actually say it gives a +10 Competence bonus to AC?

So... it stacks with armor and shields?

EDIT: Yes, I know it means against traps.

A 7th level Kensai has Iaijutsu which says:

"A kensai may make attacks of opportunity when flat-footed, and may draw his favored weapon as a free action as part of taking an attack of opportunity."

If the Kensai also has the Flamboyant Arcana: Opportune Parry and Riposte, which says:

"At 1st level, when an opponent makes a melee attack against the swashbuckler, she can spend 1 panache point and expend a use of an attack of opportunity to attempt to parry that attack."

Does this mean the Kensai can parry attacks during the surprise round with weapon initially sheathed by expending an attack of opportunity?

Sorry, this is in regard to the PRD Bestiary index.

When you go to the index and look at the filter by Type checkboxes, there is no checkbox for dealing with "untyped" creatures. Untyped creatures always therefore show up in all monster searches, which is annoying. By including a checkbox to filter those, monster search results would be improved.

What do you think of the idea of a high level Rajadhiraja being able to grant spells to their followers? The descriptions of Rakshasas seem to support this, since they believe underlings should be worshiping them, not the "real" gods. Are there ramifications I may be missing?

My understanding is that they would correctly interpret normal context cues, but that as soon as it gets into subtext and additional hidden meanings you're a bit at sea without appropriate linguistics checks.

That said, if a GM told me that a language was unhelpfully translatable with Comprehend Languages, I'd be hoping for a fun puzzle to solve to get at the meaning of the alien language.

If you don't have a fun (for the players) follow up to "no, Comprehend Languages doesn't work," then I'd recommend saying yes instead.

This is a nice sentiment, but not practical. Will you create a puzzle for every single thing written in this language? This might make a great idea for a group of 1st level adventurers in a dungeon where they have limited alternatives and are trying to translate an ancient stone tablet, but that's only one use case. In real life the ancient Egyptians are gone, but not necessarily so in a fantasy world. If I have a living culture in my game world that writes everything in heiroglypics, it's not practical to create a puzzle for every sign, poster, book and label this culture writes.

Besides, even in the case of an ancient dead language, if your players are using the CompLang spell instead of role playing to figure it out, they are already trying to skip gameplay and an additional puzzle in their way is not likely to excite them. They could go find someone who speaks the language to translate for them, they could use Linguistics and a library to figure it out, there are lots of alternatives. But instead they pushed the magic win button to skip gameplay and normalize the in-game world into plain English... they already aren't interested in a puzzle.

Besides I'm not sure if I'd want to use my limited GM prep time on mitigating a 1st level spell failing to make the PCs lives easy.

Since CompLang says the caster only gets the literal meaning of a language, what would happen if it was used on heiroglyphics? Egyptian heiroglyphs use pictograms to convey meaning in more than one way. As a made-up example of how actual, real Egyptian heiroglyphs work, sometimes a glyph of a duck means "duck" and sometimes it means the "D" sound, and sometimes it's part of another meaning entirely depending on proximity of other glyphs. Since CompLang only gives you the literal meaning of a language, would it interpret pictograms accurately, or literally? The spell description specifically says it does not decipher codes. Are pictograms not a form of code when used in the way Egyptian heiroglyphs were? They were not an alphabet that could be read like English. Real humans tried unsuccessfully to decipher heiroglyphs for thousands of years due to the many ways each glyph is used and the fact the language can be written and read from right to left, left to right, or even vertically, only succeeding after discovering the Rosetta Stone which decrypted the language accurately for them.

What do you believe the rule is?

What does "Grok" mean?

Irrelevant, you can't make AoO against creatures that you can't see.

No, not true. Creatures with Blindsight that can't see you still get an AOO if you provoke one.

So either you wav a way to see/perceive the caster and you can notice that he is letting his guard down, or you don't have a way to do that and you can't take a AoO.

This part is true.

Firelock wrote:

Lorewalker wrote:

... Manifestations are just the excuse why you can spellcraft and get AOOs vs spells that have no visible or audible components such as psychic casting. ...

This.

Except that excuse was never necessary. Spells require concentration. It has always been enough to say the lack of focus (on one's own defense) due to casting the spell was enough to trigger the attack of opportunity.

An enemy doesn't need to know your casting to get the AoO, he just has to know you've suddenly let your guard down.

Except this whole topic is about an invisible spellcaster, which you can't see to tell that their guard is down.

I am looking to use both of these feats. So if I'm attacked but missed I have the opportunity to feint as an immediate action from Swordplay Upset. Greater Feint says the target of a successful feint loses its Dex until before my next round in addition to my next attack.

So what benefit do these feats gain from being paired up?

Since feinting only makes the target lose their Dex bonus to YOUR attacks and not anyone else, the only benefit of using Greater Feint in this particular situation instead of just a normal Feint (though as an immediate action) is that if they provoked an AOO from you during their turn, it would qualify for being a sneak attack.

Quote:

Constructed (Ex) Although inevitables are living outsiders, their bodies are constructed of physical components, and in many ways they function as constructs. For the purposes of effects targeting creatures by type (such as a ranger's favored enemy and bane weapons), inevitables count as both outsiders and constructs. They are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects, necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). Inevitables are not subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. They are not at risk of death from massive damage. They have bonus hit points as constructs of their size.

It does mean they are Constructs, as well as being Outsiders.

Thanks for the info. To offer a bit of (semantic?) clarification based on the rules you kindly pointed out, Inevitables are not really both constructs and outsiders. They are just outsiders that "in many ways function as constructs". For instance, they do have a Con score, they have two good saves and they do still need to eat and breathe, all things that are not common to constructs.

Like the title says. There doesn't seem to be any definition of the "constructed" ability in the PRD.

Please be aware that I know the Inevitables are "constructed" out of different materials, what I'm asking is the exact game mechanic effects of the Defensive Ability listed for them called "Constructed".

It is my opinion that this was NOT meant to imply that they are constructs - they don't have all the same traits as constructs ie: they do have a Con score, their Type is not "Construct" etc. So what exactly DOES it mean?

... Manifestations are just the excuse why you can spellcraft and get AOOs vs spells that have no visible or audible components such as psychic casting. ...

This.

Without regard to any ability score increases, based just off of the hit die gained from adding a class level, does the monster's special ability DC go up?

For instance, an Aboleth's Slime ability is Constitution based, and the Aboleth has a 22 Con, and 8 hit dice, giving it the listed DC20 Fort save. If I give the Aboleth 2 levels of Sorcerer, bringing it's hit dice to 10, do those additional hit dice increase it's Slime DC to 21?

The point of contention in my mind here is the difference between Racial hit dice and hit dice from class levels. In 3.5 I think it was pretty solid that only racial hit dice increased a monster's ability DCs, but I can't find anything in Pathfinder that speaks directly to this. Does becoming a Sorcerer make the Aboleth's Slime more potent?

Now that I am at a computer:

Quote:

An otherwise solid barrier with a hole of at least 1 square foot through it does not block a spell's line of effect. Such an opening means that the 5-foot length of wall containing the hole is no longer considered a barrier for purposes of a spell's line of effect.

It doesn't say that sticking your hand in the hole stops the barrier from blocking line of effect. It just says that the barrier provides it unless the hole is a certain size, and no other exception is given.

So no, putting your hand in the hold per a strict reading of the rules does not allow you to ignore the barrier. If we are really going to go by RAW that is how it works.

Interesting. If I put a 1' wide hole in every room of the dungeon (say, air duct system, or a drain system in the floor), the BBEG can cast spells on the PCs from hundreds of feet away, having full LOE to them in the first room... wow. So the BBEG appears in room 1, using Project Image, hits them with fireballs and lightning bolts. Then vanishes into thin air. Room 2, repeat. Room 3, repeat, ad nauseum. LOL

It seems I've created a monster (again). ;P

Well, I think this one is just because you keep it going RD. I have a lot of respect for you as I've been reading your posts on here for years and years, and I agree with most of what you say when it comes down to it. Though, it seems lately some of your threads are more argumentative than they used to be. Maybe it's the game you're in.

The fireball spell pretty much says you can do what you're trying to do, but the GM shut you down, probably because he doesn't want the player (you in this case) to hurt his precious NPCs. I get it. As a GM I sometimes cringe when an NPC I spent hours carefully crafting with stats, motivations, backstory etc, suddenly gets wiped without even getting a word out first. But it's not really 'your' game as the GM, it's shared between you and the players. There is a reason that roleplaying is called "interactive storytelling", it's the interactive part which requires cooperation. So as the GM you need to be willing to give as much as you take when it comes to control over how the game plays out, or else it's less fun for the players, and there will always be that adversarial overtone to the game which can really kill the fun. If that's a consistent theme in the game you're in now RD, I'd consider leaving that group.

A better way for your GM to react is to allow what you want to do, then think about the consequences of that action. Was the NPC on the other side of that door a minion of a more powerful bad guy? Will that bad guy want revenge? Will some shopkeeper hear about it via rumors and give RD a discount for killing that scumbag who collected the protection money every week? That is the job of a GM, to build story. Not to look for ways to shut down the PCs ideas.

After some searching it doesn't look like this has been conclusively discussed, so here goes.

The PCs search the ocean for a ship. They find the ship eventually, but it's deserted. Could the party ranger, with water as his favored terrain, use Tracking to find the missing crew?

Pulg uses his own beard hairs to weave intricate origami-like hair sculptures when he's bored, or as creepy holiday gifts for children.

GoatToucher got his nickname because he invites goats to listen to him preach sermons at the local church, imploring them to change their evil ways.

It's a wonder anyone can see the moon at all, if you apply distance penalties. But then I guess the moon probably isn't actually trying to hide.

...or is he?

Veil can only make creatures look like other creatures.

Veil wrote:

The subjects look, feel, and smell just like the creatures the spell makes them resemble.

Sorry for late reply, but I'm currently researching illusions and I have a question about Veil related to this.

By the way RD, I've been reading a lot of posts here about illusions spells and seen that you've posted several times about your frustrations with the wording of illusion spells dating all the way back to 2012 I think - just want to say dude that I feel your pain!

Ok here's my question:

The spell description for Veil literally contradicts itself when it says you can make the subjects appear to be "anything you wish" and then "just like the creatures the spell makes them resemble". Notice the wording "anything" not "any creature".

So which is it? Anything I want, or just creatures? The description seems to me to be saying that if you wanted to look like a creature, you can, not that you can ONLY look like another creature, probably because of lower level illusion spells like Alter Self etc. But why couldn't you make yourself look like a chair or a bookshelf if you wanted to? If you don't think it should work this way, is there any other illusion spell that does allow that?

"Necro-ing" a thread this old is somewhat frowned upon, even if not forbidden. And one reason for that might be that...

The posts earlier in this thread refer to stats from D&D 3.5 for the Aboleth and the Large Shark... which are somewhat different from those of the Pathfinder versions you are referring to.

D&D 3.5 Large Shark: 38 hp; AC 15; Bite +7 (1d8+4)
D&D 3.5 Aboleth: 76 hp; AC 16; 4 tentacles +12 (1d6+8 plus slime)

Pathfinder Shark: 22hp; AC 14; Bite +5 (1d8+4)
Pathfinder Aboleth: 84 hp; AC 20; 4 tentacles +10 (1d6+5 plus slime)

Large Sharks were much more of a threat to the Aboleth in 3.5 than they are in Pathfinder. Generally, summoned creatures are expected to be more of a nuisance or distraction than a true threat to the enemy, but in the case of the D&D Aboleth vs a D&D Large Shark, that's not so much the case.

I may never understand why some people hate thread necro so much. As long as you know what you're talking about what's the problem? I freely admit at least some of the time I don't know what I'm talking about, but that's neither here nor there. :) Thanks for taking the time to reply though Urath, you seem like a cool person.

It may take the Aboleth more recovery time in 3.5, but exactly the same thing would happen.

Even by 3.5 the Aboleth only needs to roll a 3 or better to hit the shark, and does an average of 44 damage each round (average, not maximum), killing one shark per round, which makes the maximum possible damage the sharks can do to the Aboleth (barring any critical hit for both the sharks and the Aboleth) before all 3 are dead a mere 72 damage (this is maximum, not average), meaning the Aboleth's survival is almost guaranteed.

There's also a point in the game when players get access to greater teleport and all the overland travel speeds becomes less important.

It's good to do research, yet it's best not to dig too deep into things when the players might do something that completely bypasses the matter you spent a lot of time researching.

Point taken, but until mid to high levels teleportation isn't really feasible, and it also depends on the party having a wizard or a Sorcerer willing to dump a spell slot for it, or a lot of gold to hire NPC wizards, or a lot of gold on scrolls, etc., etc. so teleportation isn't always the answer in every game.

Plus as a side note, in my game world teleportation doesn't work, so travel speeds, ships, wagons, horses, caravans, etc have all taken on A LOT more importance than they ever have before in my games. I must say, I greatly prefer it this way for many reasons. Among those reasons are that the PCs get more time to interact with one another and various NPCs out of combat. It gives me new plausible ways to introduce new NPCs into the game, who happen to be traveling with the same caravan/ship/etc. It gives the PCs a new source for hirelings and contacts. It allows the players to role play their downtime in more variations by taking part in shipboard/caravan activities. It allows the PCs new ways to put their non-combat skills to good use in ways that feel important. It gives the GM more angles for plot hooks. Virtually every aspect of my game has been improved by nixing teleportation magic. And the best upshot is that my players don't even miss it. They can have fun on the ships and caravans, partying and spreading the word of their epic exploits to new NPCs all the time. And when playing out the travel seems pedantic or would hurt the pacing of the game, we just hand wave it, and it is effectively almost identical to teleportation anyway. I never realized what a game-killer teleportation magic was until I took it away.

Can someone explain how the Orc Witch Doctor can cast 5th level witch spells while having an INT of only 12?

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsterCodex/orcs.html#orc-witch-doctor

Is there some rule I'm missing, or is this NPC actually built incorrectly?

In the PRD, in the section about Poisons, under the heading of Multiple Doses of Poison, it says:

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateEquipment/gear/poisons.html#pois ons

(I'm not sure why it won't paste the URL correctly, it puts a space in the final few characters which is not what I paste into this post...)

==begin paste==

"This has two effects, which last until the poisons run their course.

Increased Duration: Increase the duration of the poison by 1/2 the amount listed in its frequency entry.

Increased DC: Increase the poison's duration by +2."

==end paste==

I think that last part is supposed to say it increases the DC by +2, not the duration. For one thing the line immediately before that sets the duration effect, and for another increasing a poison duration by "+2" doesn't really make any sense since poison durations are expressed as "1/rd for 6 rds" etc.

I'm currently running a game that has the PCs on a ship, and I've done a bit of research into this as well.

The rules on ship travel include some abstraction, but I think overall it works much like a PC's travel does.

Rationale
For a ship, like a PC, it's top speed is a lot faster than it's "overland travel" speed. Realistically, with favorable winds and currents and sails and sailors, etc, etc a ship can reach faster speeds than it does on average over long journeys, but the average speed it will have attained includes times when the wind is calm, the current is against you, you must tack against the wind, etc. so the average speed is less. It's similar to how a PC may have a run speed of 120', while a move action is only 30'. And, while a realistic comparison of a walking human might happen to match, remember that the distance traveled in a day of walking is explicitly stated to include taking breaks for meals etc. Plus, what if every single step of that journey is not on perfectly flat, solid ground? Even the rules for walking distance in a day have included some abstraction you see!

Realism
Plus factor in the difference between types of ships. Is the typical sailing ship in your game world a caravel? In reality the average speed of a caravel was about 4 knots, which translates into 90-100 miles per day. On a world map with 30 mile hexes, that's 3 hexes per day, while the game rules say a sailing ship can only travel, as you've stated, 48 miles. A caravel is a very old style of ship that was available in medieval times. If your game world also includes ships typical of the golden age of piracy, like sloops and schooners, those ships could cover well over 300 miles in a day. The game rules say a sailing ship can travel 2mph for 24 hours... that works out to about 1.7 knots... slower than even the slowest sailing ships in history and more in line with such a ship being propelled by rowers with oars.

Conclusion
I think ultimately the realities of sea travel, and the rules in the book should be balanced with the needs of the fantasy campaign. Do you want distances in the campaign to seem vast? Is water travel just a nuisance to be redlined? If you want ships to travel more slowly, go with the standard book speed. If it's just something getting in the way of the adventure, let them travel on a faster ship and get it over with, or just hand-wave the travel all together. But to answer your question, the rules aren't really "inconsistent" so much as "abstracted". A ship might travel 90'/rd in a combat battle map setup but only make 48 miles a day on the campaign map. That's just abstraction and gamey-rules to make the game work and in most cases it's fine. If you wanted to get more realistic though, you might find that there are an awful number of those "inconsistencies" already built-into your campaign world. If your fantasy port includes a Chinese junk sailing alongside a 17th century Spanish galleon and a medieval french cog and an 18th century English brig and a 19th century mediterranean Xebec? These ships all have different cultural roots, sail plans, handling characteristics, construction, speeds, etc. Well, with wizards and dragons in your world already, why not?

*Chuckles* We made our saves or were protected by spells from its opening round of spells, and then the Druid dropped 1d3 Large Sharks on it. We then watched as it swam for its life, unsuccessfully. ;p

Aboleth not so scary when Jaws is eating its face. They aren't to great in melee.

I know this is a bit of a thread necro, but if threads weren't meant to be necro'ed, they'd be closed so we couldn't necro them :) I've been doing some research on Aboleths and found this post kind of amusing.

But it was nice of this GM to go easy on his PCs.

An average Aboleth should have no trouble killing 3 large sharks in melee. With it's 4 attacks/rd it only needs to roll a 4 or better to hit their AC14, and if it rolls no 3's or less each round it is pretty much guaranteed to kill one shark per round with 4d6+20 tentacle damage vs the large shark's 22hp. The Aboleth also has 15' reach which could be an advantage, and 84hp which is more than three large sharks can possibly deal before all three are dead in 3 rounds even if every attack hits (unlikely since the sharks have to roll a 16 or better to hit the Aboleth's AC21) and deals max damage (which is a theoretical max of 72 damage).

Not to mention that the Aboleth's swim speed is exactly the same as the sharks at 60' so if it has room to run, all it needs to do is keep going for a couple minutes until the spell's duration runs out or just hop out of the water in a safe spot with it's 10' land speed and go where the sharks can't touch it. Even if not amphibious, an Aboleth can hold it's breath for almost 4 and a half minutes.

Or maybe he meant "enlarged" sharks or something?

What kind of check would be appropriate for a character to determine if goods being examined in a store are stolen or not? What about being able to determine which goods in a pile are stolen? This is useful for shopkeepers buying goods as well as for PCs buying them from merchants.

As the GM I'm inclined to give the PCs a chance to detect that something is not right, but I'm not sure what kind of check that would be. Appraise? Profession, depending on the kind of items you're looking at? Knowledge?

I noticed that in the rules for underwater combat, in the table called "Table: Combat Adjustments Underwater" it says that if you DON'T have a swim speed, and DON'T have freedom of movement, and DON'T make a swim check and DON'T have firm footing, that your movement is "normal". Is that a typo? It should say "None" there, not normal, right?

I've been making conversions for warhammer Age of Sigmar monsters, particularly the undead, into Pathfinder, and wondered if I'm reinventing the wheel. Does anyone know if this has been done before?

So far I've converted the Vargulf, Terrorgheist and Crypt Horror and working on the Vargheist.

Thanks for answering promptly Katina!

At this time I would prefer to cancel the entire order. If you could handle that for me please, I would be very grateful.

Thanks!

Order number 3252306

It's for 7 ogres.

In my order history, it says "unavailable" below the item.

If you could tell me please, will my order ship, and if so, when?

Hi,

While generating treasure for my group, I noticed the random weapons table in the Appendix is missing results from 65 - 85. The table goes like this:

64–65 Rapier
85–87 Spear

There's nothing between 65 and 85.

In 3.5, incorporeal creatures were "winked out" when within an antimagic field. But in the PRD, the entry for Antimagic Field says nothing at all about incorporeal creatures. It specifically says undead are only affected if they were summoned. I can't find any reference in Pathfinder that incorporeal creatures of any kind are winked out by Antimagic Field. Am I just missing something or was this intentionally changed in PF?

Most animals have an Int of 2, though some that rely more on instinct than intellect seem to have a 1. I'm sure nobody would argue that a common iguana should be able to fight like a well trained, seasoned veteran fighter, even if it had the disposition to do so. Even a guard dog has a rather limited repetoire of attacks that it uses, if more than just "bite it till it's dead" those must be trained I think.

So, with that in mind, most of these animals have a 2 Int, how would a Fighter be affected by being reduced to a 1 Int?

Would they still be capable of using their fighter feats?
Could they still use a shield properly?
Would they understand how to use flanking against enemies?
Would they even be capable of effectively wielding a weapon?

It can be argued that even a caveman can use clubs and spears, but even a caveman has a higher Int than a Feebleminded Fighter.

I assume the text in Feeblemind that says someone is still capable of recognizing friends and protecting them is just there to prevent GM's from ruling that your Feebleminded friend automatically attacks the party or anything like that, not that it means a Fighter can disregard being Feebleminded. The spell description specifically mentions some skills and abilities, but if you can't even remember how to speak your native language, how can you remember all your martial training?

How would you adjudicate this?

Please explain your answers so I can learn why you think so.

Hi James,

Why is the spear a 2 handed weapon? I've been asked this numerous times throughout my GMing of Pathfinder and also 3rd Edition. I think the spear should be a 2 handed simple weapon, and a 1 handed martial weapon, sort of like a bastard sword (but not exotic). What are your thoughts on this?

Is there a way for a high level caster of any class to transport a few hundred troops without using any spells that touch the planes such as Teleportation (uses the Astral) Gate, etc?

When I use my droid to go to the NPC classes it displays the entire prd menu on the page with the NPC classes at the bottom. Waaaaaaaay down at the bottom.

I've had numerous other issues using the new PRD on my droid tablet and phone, and so have others in my gaming group this past Saturday. We would have liked a way to view the old site until the bugs are worked out of the new one.

I could have sworn I saw a feat in one of the books that adds 2 to your cavalier level for purposes of determining your challenge abilities, but now I can't find it. Anyone know the feat I'm talking about?

I like the explanation that the Worldwound is an extension of Deskari's domain in the Abyss. The other explanations are kinda weak and implausible given the nature of demons.

I'm relatively new to Pathfinder, and wondering why a bunch of equally powerful demon lords including Baphomet would allow Deskari to be "in charge" of an invasion of Golarion? Why would the devils and evil deities, much less the other demon lords, allow him to get all the glory and mortal souls? For example, it kinda seems far fetched that Baphomet would "hasten to comply" with Deskari (The Worldwound Incursion pp7). Is there some lore I'm missing that makes Deskari more potent and able to intimidate Baphomet?

As for red herrings, what about those burned down mills? Who did it? My group is seriously investigating that as possible ties to the murder but there's no help in the module. So who burned down the mills in your games?

Say you have a situation where a given PC is the only one who can act in the suprise round. Instead of acting, can he delay until the start of the first full round and thereby make use of a move and standard action (or a full-attack action)?

It seems like he should be able to do this based on the wording of Delay in the SRD. Of course, the follow-up question would be: What if the party is setting up an ambush and all PCs (and no enemies) get to act in the suprise round? Can they all delay until the beginning of the first full round?

Forgive the thread necro (strangely some people get unnerved by adding to previous conversations instead of starting the whole thing over again) but here is how I read the rules on this:

The surprise round includes very specific restrictions on what actions can be taken, including, and limited to: Standard, Move and Free actions: (bold italics mine)

The Surprise Round: If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard or move action during the surprise round. You can also take free actions during the surprise round. If no one or everyone is surprised, no surprise round occurs.

Nowhere does it say you can delay in the surprise round. Delaying is explicitly stated as "waiting to see what happens" before you act. How can you act first if you're waiting to see what happens before you act?

So if you get to act during the surprise round, the rules do not allow you to delay. The rules say you can take a standard, move or free action, that's all. The rule is worded this way for very specific reasons, in my opinion.

If the PCs are the ambushers, they get to act once before the normal initiative order takes over - in which a particularly quick foe might outmaneuver them otherwise. If the PCs are the ones being ambushed, it allows a PC who notices the ambush to call out to his friends, move to block the enemy attack, or strike at the hidden ambusher first - if the PCs are being ambushed, "waiting to see what happens" should have quite obvious results! The PC simply does nothing during the Surprise round, and then the normal initiative order takes over.

Why a new thread?

Two handed spears never made any sense to me either, either from a historical standpoint or a game mechanics one. Spears have always been 1 handed weapons, since the times of ancient Egyptians 10,000 years ago up until the late 19th century Native Americans. Any spear typically wielded in two hands was more of a pike, not a true spear. Plus there is no 1 handed martial 1d8 piercing x3 critical weapon. Nor is there a simple one. But the battle axe more or less proves it's not a broke combination to have 1d8 damage and x3 critical in a one handed martial weapon. Simple weapons try to stay away from x3 criticals to give martial weapons more damage, which is understandable.

Perhaps the Spear can have a Bastard Sword like Mechanic?

Simple Proficiency:
Spear is Two Handed

Martial Proficiency:
Can use a Spear as a One Handed weapon

So I would take this one step further.

The spear is ALWAYS a 1 handed weapon, additionally:

Simple Proficiency:
Spear is x2 critical

Martial Proficiency:
Spear is x3 critical

I've been wishing this would make it into official rules since the first time I opened a 3.0 PHB.

I have to disagree with this idea that a PC shouldn't be able to make money by creating and selling magic items. Should you allow them to make 40,000gp on it? Of course not, but how about 400gp, or 40? What's the difference between making a skill check to earn cash at a Profession skill (or Bardic performance) and making a Spellcraft check to earn cash by making magic items? You don't have to let them make 50% markup, but neither should you shut them down just because their schtick is making magic items instead of playing a flute.

Also, imagine all the loot items most PCs leave behind anyway. They could be saving every normal mundane sword just to get the 2.5gp for it. All that money is technically slipping through their fingers anyway. Think they can't carry it all? Wait till they get a bag of holding. Or a horse. If you try to actively discourage the PCs from making money in more ways than killing people, you're creating an escalating situation that you as the GM cannot win - because your job is to make the game fun and fair, not stymie the players. Let them earn some money making a "normal" living during their downtime if they want to. Just don't let them abuse it.

As the GM, allow your PC who puts forth a little effort in finding a buyer or making a deal with a consignment shop to earn a little cash during his downtime. Give them a fair, non-game-breaking payoff for their effort. You don't even need a formula - if you arbitrarily pick a payoff that seems fair (like the same amount another PC could make doing other skill checks) the player will likely never even ask how you came to that amount. If they spend a few weeks making a 4th level wand in their spare time, they are at least a 7th level character and earning a few hundred gp on it is not going to break anything.

Plus just imagine all the role playing opportunities you are wasting by not allowing the PCs to make and sell things! The NPC who bought something might come back with another specific order, or he might tell his friends about the PC and then you have instant plot hooks when the NPC asks them to make something exotic that requires hard to acquire components. Or maybe the item is flawed somehow, perhaps by a poor Spellcraft roll and the NPC gets hurt because the item failed in a time of need and their friends are out for payback, or maybe the item was found at the scene of a crime and the PC crafter is now implicated. The possibilities make my mind swim... We spend a lot of time as GMs looking for ways to herd the PCs into doing what we want and making it feel like it's what they want... never pass up a good opportunity to turn something a PC actually DOES want to do into a plot device for your own purposes.

Scott

I guess what I really meant was "did I read this rule correctly or miss something, or does this call for a house rule?"

Apparently I did, but the jury is still out. What is the game rule purpose of it taking so much time? Since gold is clearly meant to be the limiting factor and is 100% within the GM's control, why should it also take days and days of game time, or weeks or even months? Compared to other game mechanics the crafting rules seem like they're borrowed from another game. Why not make it a ritual taking 8 hours like a wizard's bonded object, or something along those lines?

I guess maybe now I am getting into the speculative.

So a PC in a game I'm in is debating Craft Arms and Armor feat. We talked about it and suddenly it dawned on me that this is the kind of feat that a PC will probably never take, because it takes too much time.

At level 5 you could spend 2 days making the fighter's sword +1 without too much hassle. You'd need to be between adventures obviously, but 2 days isn't a problem for most groups. But then things start getting unreasonable. Making a +2 weapon at level 6 takes an entire week, and making a +3 weapon takes closer to 3 weeks. If you plan to make any armor, or enchant more than just a single weapon, be prepared to spend MONTHS doing it. Most campaigns can't wait that long. So it just doesn't seem useful and nobody does it.

So my question to the hive mind is this: how would you house rule this to make a crafty character more useful with minimum impact on game balance?

Firelock wrote:

Chris P. Bacon wrote:

You're close; adding a +1 enchantment to a sword that already has a +1 enchantment on it would cost 6,000 gp.

So, following your example, a +1 longsword would cost 2,315 gp. A +2 longsword would cost 8,315 gp, so the difference is an even 6,000 gp. That would be your base cost.

Actually this is not quite right either. A +1 longsword would cost 1,315gp to make, not 2,315gp. When making magic items you only spend half the base price, plus the cost of the item being enchanted, in this case a masterwork longsword costing 315gp.

Adding a +1 equivalent special ability to a +1 weapon would require spending 3,000gp. Adding a second +1 ability would require spending an additional 5,000gp. For instance: buying a +1 keen, spell storing long sword would cost 18,315gp if you could find one for sale. Making it yourself would cost a total of 9,315gp.

NOte: This post was written assumingf the costs were for crafting the weapon yourself, not buying an enhancement from an NPC to your weapon. And that your PC has the time needed to do the enchanting themself.

And doesn't include all the confusing additional information needed on things like the Spellcraft checks (and modifiers to the target DC thereof) needed to successfully enchant an item.

Ok I understand now. Though it may be nitpicking at this point, paying an NPC to craft something for you should probably cost the price of the enchanting plus the wages of the NPC, including paying any spellcasting they need to do during creation. But I do see that the OP was looking at the magic weapons table as if someone other than himself was doing it. Oops!

Let's say an enterprising young gish-type character uses a spell storing short sword, and he casts true strike into it. Then later, he declares he is scratching himself for 1 hp of damage with the sword to impart the true strike spell upon himself, claiming (plaintively) that doing so is said to be a free action in the core rules. In fact the spell storing ability description does say that casting the spell on the weapon's target is a free action if the target takes damage.

My inclination is to rule one of two ways:

Allow it to work, but decide that the attack deals full damage to himself (no criticals or precision based damage) to reward his ingenuity but deter it's overuse.

Allow it to work but decide it takes a standard action because it takes an actual attack on himself to cut himself.

What would you decide?

So, I'm introducing a friend to PFS. He wanted to play an alchemist. He was very studious and read through the PFS Roleplaying Guild Guide. He then showed me his character, and asked how he gets his discount items when using "Brew Potion". I told him that feat wasn't legal for PFS, and that he should take "Extra Bombs" instead. He asked me where it said that in the rules. A perfectly reasonable question. I searched through the guide, first by eye, then by text search... nothing.

Then I went down the rabbit hole...

It is mentioned numerous times on the forums, but nowhere officially. It's not on the FAQ (though the bit about crafting alchemical items is), neither is it in Additional Resources.

I finally found it in my old version 7.0 (year of the serpent) Guild Guide, under character creation Step 3: "Race and Class":

Alchemist: Alchemists receive the Extra Bombs feat at 1st level instead of Brew Potion.

So I checked version 10.0 (curent), under the same section:

For classes outside the Core Rulebook and for all archetypes, see the Additional Resources document regarding which are legal for play within the Roleplaying Guild, as well as the Campaign Clarifications document (paizo.com/pathfindersociety/rpg/clarifications) for alterations.

So, I went there (after manually typing the link, because the PDF has a broken link). It's not there either. Many, many Google searches with different parameters later and I can only conclude that the information has dropped off a cliff. An alchemist absolutely can't have Brew Potion, and for balance the feat needs to be replaced.

What hope does a new player have? Any chance this can be corrected on the website (and fix the link in the PDF)? I'm sure there are other omissions, too.

Discussion thread if the gameplay thread is too crowded.

Checks to identify the items in the box (using the technomancy spell):

Engineering (strange clothing): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Engineering (orange and white cylinder): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Engineering (all-white cylinder): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Engineering (brown and white cylinder): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Engineering (pistol): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

Hey all, just thought I'd start up a bit of a blog from the very first HypoCon, here in Michigan!

Day 1 has been an absolute blast. After we arrived in the accommodations - which are amazing - we received our T-Shirts and settled in to a game of Star Wars d20 (run by me). The boys ate it up, and in the end the Vault of Daritha Xim was looted and the crew was being chased by the vicious gangster, Ostain the Hutt!

Then it was time for dinner. The lasagna was incredible, as was the Hoth Bread (cheese bread) and Tatooine Bread (garlic bread) - not to mention the Alderan Bread (left over crumbs)... and the Sweetwater Death Star Donuts to follow were huge enough to destroy us all. The Force was not with us and the meal won.

This was followed up by Chris's fantastic Call of Cthulhu game, set in 1921 Detroit of all places! We've managed to begin an investigation into the death of a strange professor, and have restored the car that he crashed. One should always bring a good mechanic along!

A special shout out goes to John, who we wish could be here. We miss you buddy.

Bring on HypoCon Day 2! Looking forward to some old school AD&D, the brewery tour, a catered dinner and Ryan's Pathfinder game - set in his very own Ravenloft PF conversion. Man... loving, loving, loving HypoCon!

Ability score generation below!

Method I: Roll 4d6 6 times, adding the best 3 results. Arrange as desired.
Method II: Roll 3d6 12 times, take the best 6 scores. Arrange as desired.
Method III: Roll 3d6 6 times for each ability, in order (so roll 3d6 36 times, 6 times each for STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON & CHA in that order). Take the best roll of each of the 6 rolls.

Ability score generation below!

Method I: Roll 4d6 6 times, adding the best 3 results. Arrange as desired.
Method II: Roll 3d6 12 times, take the best 6 scores. Arrange as desired.
Method III: Roll 3d6 6 times for each ability, in order (so roll 3d6 36 times, 6 times each for STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON & CHA in that order). Take the best roll of each of the 6 rolls.

Hey boys, this is for Ishbaad and Kheycear. Chime in as and when you like, I won't be keeping this daily (necessarily) and you shouldn't bother either.

Ishbaad, if you would like to keep your cavalier levels, then we can talk about getting you a true dragon mount. Otherwise, a dragonkin will be your mount. We will have to modify the cavalier class a bit, but suffice it to say that your mount will be more powerful than a regular cavalier mount - and to balance things with the other PCs, also more powerful than a dragonkin mount.

Oh, and yes, this is why I figured keeping levels in cavalier would be awesome.

Hey boys, this is for Ishbaad and Kheycear. Chime in as and when you like, I won't be keeping this daily (necessarily) and you shouldn't bother either.

Ishbaad, if you would like to keep your cavalier levels, then we can talk about getting you a true dragon mount. Otherwise, a dragonkin will be your mount. We will have to modify the cavalier class a bit, but suffice it to say that your mount will be more powerful than a regular cavalier mount - and to balance things with the other PCs, also more powerful than a dragonkin mount.

Oh, and yes, this is why I figured keeping levels in cavalier would be awesome.

The citadel of Spurhorn is a cold place... but more borne from no need for heat rather than the cruel, unforgiving chill of Irrisen. The companions have been well received by Commander Pharamol and the council in general. The commander has even consented to give away his prized two-headed eagle - a cauldron key to their next destination - provided the companions take out Malesinder and join in a raid on Ivoryglass (where the second key, a bearskin rug, is located). The companions agreed, and were told that they must take to the skies if they were to be effective in combat.

The revelation that some of the slightly humanoid dragonkin are willing to take on humanoid form has been astounding, to say the least. Two dragonkin stepped forward, willing to be bonded with aliens from Golarion. Talsune, a literally huge copper dragonkin wielding a greatsword gruffly challenged Eoferwick to ride him, if he could... and the two went off to train. Aoife found kinship with Nevra, the female blue dragonkin who greeted them upon their arrival at spurhorn. She wields the traditional glaive, and the two young females seem to be getting along famously.

Marcos himself finds training with Calissus, a female white dragonkin summoner who teaches him how to grow his eidolon's wings. Redwood meanwhile is given a pair of winged boots and trains himself in their use.

Kheycear was stunned by the revelation that he is this 'Promised One' a prophesied 'Traveller from Beyond the Stars' who was to restore the Skyfire Mandate as the one true power on Triaxus. What this meant, he did not know, but Marlen - a robed white dragonkin and high priest of Apsu - stepped forwards and collected him from the council meeting. The two now go to the chapel at the northern edge of the underground complex of Spurhorn. --> Marked on the map

"Is it true?" Marlen asks Kheycear, "Have you come from beyond the stars to restore the Dragon Legion as the caretakers of Triaxus? Will you be the one to tip the balance against the Draklanders and allow us to rule once more?"

Ishbaad seems at a loss at first. His companions are taken away and paired off or given some other means of flight. The light-furred Commander Pharamol approaches him with a smile on his lips. "Have you a means of flight?" he asks the beleaguered inquisitor.

Wilmannator's PbP Tips #1: The Leave Off

To help improve our community of PbPers out there, I thought I'd start up a series of 'snack-sized' tips and tricks for making the most out of your PbP games.

First one is based on Painlord's principle of "Always Be Pushing" (keeping things moving) and it is a little something that I call The Leave Off. This is an out of character comment that you put at the end of your post, summarizing what you want to do next. It really helps the GM and other players out, and is more in line with what you might say at a tabletop game when the GM calls for your "next move".

Sometimes, your in character post gives your GM and other players no real indication of what you would like to do next, or even what you would be prepared to do. It can slow things down when they have to wait for you to post again after the GM requests the next action - and it gives players little opportunity to follow where you're going.

---
Eg.

"Ha!" cries Brandywine, "You elves sure have a way of sticking your ears into everyone else's business. Well, if you want to get yerself killed, then go ahead."

Brandywine crosses his arms over his chest and glowers at Hollister the Elf.
---

An okay post, but does Brandywine wish to continue or just stand there staring?

Adding this clarifies matters and allows players (and the GM) to move along.

---
Brandywine will follow, at a distance, if Hollister (or anyone else) decides we should go into the trap-filled maze. If we want to stay in town, my vote is for the Inn.
---

Depending upon Hollister's next post (and the posts of others), the GM can now determine if the group is happy to go into the maze or the inn without any further input from Brandywine.

You can also use the leave off for other things: a good GM can use them to make the next decision point clear to players, and you could even use it for things like distinguishing between an antagonistic in-character post, and your feelings on the matter as a player (helping put the other players more at ease, like Deussu did with his abrasive character Targath here).

More good examples of the leave off in action:

• In this post, Pooka lets the GM know that he is happy to move on - provided there is nothing further to do - despite his companion receiving a beating. His in character post responds to the previous post, but they are trying to preserve their cover so 'saying' what he's doing isn't quite appropriate. Great time for a leave off.
  
• GM Leave Off: Here, the GM needed a big 'reveal' post, but uses the leave off to make it clear what specific action is required of the players. It allows everyone to enjoy the read, and then move on in a coordinated fashion.
  

Important note: I touched on this before a little, but I want to be explicit: The preference is for you to make your in-character post clear on what your PC does next (maybe with an in-character Leave Off) but if for RP reasons it isn't, that's the time for an 'ooc' Leave Off. Even if your in-character post is explicit, an 'ooc' Leave Off can still be a good idea if your post was a long one (it helps the GM a lot when s/he goes back up for a second read to figure out the party's overall direction).

So, next time it's unclear what you want to do next - consider putting in an 'ooc' leave off to help your fellow PbPers along.

It has been hotly contested in one of our PbP Games (and at other times) as to whether or not an animated object continues to have the properties of an object (in addition to the construct traits that it gains). Specifically, objects take half damage from most energy attacks (and then apply hardness) and are immune to critical hits, whereas constructs are not (construct traits are here).

In the bestiary, an animated object is called out as a construct, here. Constructs have a series of their own traits.

However, our GM (and others), notably in PFS have ruled that they are also treated as objects and have inanimate object properties as described in the Core Rules, here under 'Smashing an Object'.

It should be noted also that, while animated objects do get a mention in the above section, that mention also says not to treat animated objects as inanimate objects (but leaves it ambiguous as to whether it is for just AC purposes):

Animated Objects: Animated objects count as creatures for purposes of determining their Armor Class (do not treat them as inanimate objects).

Bold formatting added by me.

My feeling is that the above section and rules for objects are for smashing a regular inanimate object (it is called 'smashing an object' after all), and that animated objects cease to become objects upon creation and become constructs (per the spell animate objects). Otherwise, animated objects are far too powerful.

Since animated objects can be made using craft construct, it is reasonable to assume that they are constructs only and no longer objects, right? Otherwise, perhaps you could break an animated object with a strength check... or give them the 'broken' condition. It doesn't seem to fit.

Suffice it to say, it is currently ambiguous based on the rules I have found, and I'd like to know for sure.

---

So, can anyone help? I'm looking for Rules as Written or some kind of clarification (perhaps an FAQ?) to clarify this point for the future... especially in PFS where one has to stick to RAW and not the GM's ruling.

Please do not say that because the name is "animated object" it is an object, because a boreal wolf is not an animal (like a "wolf" is), it is a magical beast. Things that affect only the animal type (like ranger's favored enemies) should not affect the boreal wolf. The names of things don't seem to make a difference in Pathfinder, so I'm after only Rules As Written. I'm also not interested in the standard PFS "expect table variation" fob off either: I know that I need to expect variation, but I really do want to get to the bottom of this.

So, please respond with RAW if you have it. Not to be indelicate, but unless you are a developer, your opinion doesn't matter to me . Please point me to the rules if you have some that shed light on the matter... or hit the "FAQ" link to mark this as an FAQ candidate if you agree that you'd also like an official ruling.

So, this game is for players who are new to play-by-post!

If you are new to Play-by-Post and would like to get into a game, I have decided to run one specifically for new players. Please feel free to have a read of my recruitment thread and, if you're interested, give it a go.

The Confirmation Recruitment

Please post on the above recruitment thread rather than replying here (I won't be monitoring this thread).

The Confirmation Recruitment

For those of you who are new to PbP and who are enthusiastic about telling a story while they roleplay, this is the game for you! I'm an experienced PbP GM and would like to help some people who are new to PbP to get into it. To achieve this, I will be running the Confirmation for PbP Gameday 4.

Application is simple, but not easy. I want to see you enthusiastic enough about this game and this format to take the time to read up on how to do it properly, and to do at least one in character post (when everything else is ready). If you can manage that, I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun together.

If you have any questions, please do ask. I'm not expecting you to know everything - so I am happy to help out however I can.

Requirements

If you would like to play in this game, you must meet the following requirements:

• This must be your first or second PbP game ever. I want to help new people find a game, not play with folk who are already gavin no trouble finding one.
  
• You must read the guide on my profile and agree to abide by my rules and conventions. If you don't, that's fine. Just move along and I wish you best of luck finding another game.
  
• You must create (or have created) a PFS character for this game with a full character sheet on the profile page and the tag line properly filled out with your vital statistics. I understand this can be tricky for newcomers, so I am more than happy to help out. Please just ask. It will not affect your application to this game in any way.
  
• You must agree to post at least once every 24 hours during weekdays, and at least once over the weekend.
  

Get Recruited

In order to get recruited for this game, you need to do four things:

• Read over and meet the above requirements.
  
• Post here (using your PC's alias), on the recruitment thread, a little about yourself (especially your roleplaying experience) and why you want to play-by-post. Your recruitment post must also include the following text (copy-paste is fine):

  I agree to post daily, or notify the GM if I am temporarily unable to do so. I promise to respect others and to allow everyone - myself included - to have fun playing.
  

• Post on the discussion thread (using your PC's alias), telling us about your PC. More details on what to post are on my first post in that thread.
  
• Post in the gameplay thread in-character. Your in-character post must include the following elements:

  "Some spoken words,", Your character's internal thoughts, an out of character comment, A dice roll of your choosing: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 (make it a knowledge check if you're stuck for ideas) and...

  A spoiler for the GM:

  Please!

I plan to close recruitment and select my players (6 of them) on Monday, September 28th. I plan to begin playing on Thursday, October 1st. I estimate that the game will go for about 4-5 weeks (finishing by early November), but please do note that the GameDay is until the 20th of December, so be prepared to commit to playing until then.

Note: Depending upon the quality and quantity of responses, the above start dates may vary. Also, since we are playing with a group of intentionally new players - the end date could well creep out until the end of GameDay. I will, however, do my best to help us finish in early November.

Character Creation

This is a PFS, non-core (regular ongoing campaign) game, and as such character creation is governed by the rules of the Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. I would prefer level 1 characters, but level 2 characters are also fine (this scenario is tier 1-2). Pathfinder Society resources can be found here. If you are new to PFS and need help getting set up, please do let me know.

Please note that if you have already played The Confirmation at level 2, you may only play again at level 1.

Why The Confirmation?

Thematically, I like it for a first play-by-post. It fits well with the pacing and there are some challenges in there that reveal some Golarion lore. I think it can get a bit lost when played in real life (because just reading out block text isn't usually that fun for GMs). It's perfect for PbP though!

Finally, there are a lot of players out there who have played through quite a few PFS modules but haven't done any PbP. I wanted to make sure that anyone who wanted to get started on PbP could play... so an evergreen (infinitely replayable) scenario like this one was a perfect fit.

About Me

I love roleplaying, and have been doing it for over 20 years now. My main profile has got a lot about me on it, but the essence is I love to roleplay and I've got much time to post, little time to game in person.

I started play-by-post a little over a year ago and I've really gotten into it in a big way... 5,000+ in character posts since then!

If you'd like to read over some of the PFS games I've run, you can get a list of them from my campaign listing or click on some below (warning: spoilers, of course):

• Hall of the Flesh Eaters
  
• Scions of the Sky Key
  
• The Segang Expedition

When you have a character, please introduce your PC in an out of character post here on the discussion thread. Just some details about your character's motivations and why they joined the Pathfinder Society will be more than fine. If you want to post a background, that's great, but please either include it on the profile for your character alias, or put it in a [spoiler].

Either before or after that, make sure you go to the gameplay thread and make an in-character post also!

Please do post on recruitment first, and read my instructions on that thread thoroughly and make sure you really do want to play before posting on any thread.

This game will start, assuming we have finished recruitment by then, on October 1st.

The invitation delivered last night was remarkably simple, especially given the importance of the occasion: “Start where it all began. Meet us at the Pig’s Paunch one hour before dawn."

Of course, it wasn't as simple as it seemed. The Pig's Paunch was only referred to as such by veteran members of the society - including certain potted plants - but the actual name of the tavern was the "Wounded Wisp". Still, the smart ones managed to find their way...

---

The taproom of the Wounded Wisp tavern is abuzz with activity. The most recent round of Pathfinders have just finished all three classes (Scrolls, Swords and Spells) and are ready to start their Confirmation together. The conversation inevitably drifts towards who will be selected to go first. Which group of Pathfinders will be selected to face the final trial and become the next full Pathfinder Field Agents? What task will be asked of them?

"Settle down, settle down!" shouts Heryn Gale, the barkeep, "One at a time! Orders pleas. Oh and no tabs tonight! Cash up front." These are the new recruits? Iomedae save us. They get greener every year...

Just chatting.

Please dot in if you have been invited. The insanity will start on September 19. Yaargh.

Feel free to chat about your characters here, ask any campaign questions and so on. Also, if you've been invited and need convincing to do this thing, here's the place to chat about it.

Also, I know this alias may be a bit weird, but just refer to me as "Damo", "GM" or "GM Damo", I'm fine with any of those. I think though, overall, it will give a nice feel as the island itself describes to you what is going on. If you prefer a regular "GM BLAH" alias, let me know. You've got 7 more posts fro me before I can't change it.

The Isle of Dread

Welcome, intrepid explorers. For you select few who are bold or foolhardy enough to reach for ancient glories despite the terrible danger that faces you, the fabled Isle of Dread awaits!

See campaign tab for more info... dot in (preferably with an in character introduction) if you've been invited! If you don't have a character concept yet, a simple 'dot' will suffice.

The musty but familiar odor of the Grand Lodge is a welcome relief to the companions' nostrils. The colds they all developed while in Irrisen and the Lands of the Linnorm Kings have finally subsided. Lort decided to stay a while longer to visit old friends and relatives, but the rest could not wait to get back to warmer climes.

The next mission is not far around the corner, but for now it is time to drink.

Please dot in when ready.

Hey all, please reply with the following to this thread so I can get the chronicles all lined up and ready to go!

PFS #:
Faction:
Chronicle #:
Day Job Roll:

Also, if you could pre-emptively level up to level 6 (have the copy-paste text ready to go - don't change your profile and interrupt From Under Ice!), that'd be great. You'll have time to retroactively make purchases between games.

For faction reward cards, if you want me to sign the chronicle sheet and you know what the reward will be (eg. adventure in Absalom) we can do that now, otherwise we'll sort it out at the end. I don't think I need to sign anything, though, so the honor system totally works for me (since we all play these characters together anyway).

Thanks in advance for helping us to hit the ground running on this one!

Hi there. I'm just wondering when to expect the Pathfinder Unchained rules on the PRD. I'd like to introduce it in my game, but it's not fair on the players who don't want to buy it yet to introduce it before it makes the reference document. No rush (I know it was only just publicly released today), but I'd just like to give my players a timeline.

Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask, but I've been unable to find a similar question elsewhere. If anyone knows of a better place to post this question, please do let me know.

Reign of Winter relevant stuff taken from the Zedroom.

Character Building Rules

We get to make our own deal here. I have always been a massive fan of high fantasy. Unless we have strong objections, we will be using a 25-point buy for all your characters. Take max gold for your class (eg. if you get 3d6 x 10, take 180). It makes it consistent (ie. no random), fair, and your GP values will be eclipsed by the first few treasure hauls anyway. Max HP at first level, and then PFS HP afterwards (I love removing random from character advancement). d6 = 4, d8 = 5, d10 = 6, d12 = 7.

No evil characters are allowed.

Any other rules, just ask me!

You do not need a copy of the relevant rules to take an item, race, class, etc. ALL Paizo source books are available to you, if you should desire (except other APs' exclusive rules). Material from other publishers' books will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and only if the rules are OGL and available for free somewhere (unless you think you can convince me to buy the sourcebook myself!).

Everyone will need to (at some point) grab a copy of the Reign of Winter Player's Guide to begin creating (or retrofitting) their character.

Jyri (or anyone!) if you'd like to play a witch, there's a Winter Witch archetype in there.

I would like each of you to select one of the available campaign traits. If none suit you, we can work together to modify the flavor of another trait to help tie you in to the AP.

For emphasis, character advice from the Players Guide:

During this Adventure Path, the PCs will visit a number of interesting and exotic places, but humans can go unnoticed in most of these locations. Members of more unusual races might have a harder time blending in at first. However, as the PCs progress through the Adventure Path, they will find themselves farther away from home and what is considered normal. Because the PCs will all be foreigners in strange lands, this campaign might be a good chance for players to try uncommon races.

Character options with winter themes are available to PCs, and while having protections against cold will be very helpful, remember that it is likely your character will be fighting creatures that are acclimated to the cold and resistant to the cold energy type.

This adventure begins in the sleepy Taldan village of Heldren.

The sleepy village of Heldren has rarely seen so much excitement or concern. Hunters from the nearby Border Wood speak of unnaturally cold weather at the height of summer that descended on the forest just days ago. Heavy snow followed, and those who returned spoke of an uneasy presence in the woods, as well as new, dangerous predators. No one knows what this event means, but the town’s soothsayer, Old Mother Theodora, claims dark times lie ahead.

As if in proof of that dire prophecy, a badly wounded mercenary arrived in town yesterday, claiming to be a bodyguard of Lady Argentea Malassene. He told the village council that the noblewoman’s escort came under attack by bandits and strange, wintry creatures near the edge of the Border Wood. He alone escaped, and Lady Argentea was dragged away into the forest. Now the townsfolk cast fearful eyes toward the snowy forest, worried what else might emerge to threaten their peaceful village.

But this was many weeks later. Perhaps we should begin at the beginning. Fate has deigned that a group of six adventurers - unlikely companions all - should all find themselves in Heldren on this fateful day. Their paths may have crossed before, others may have been strangers before today, but what follows are their tales. These are the where, how and why they are here - on today of all days.

Okay! That should be ample preamble for you back stories! Have some fun with it, meet up if you like. Feel free to tear off chunks of the world and make them your own. Most importantly, take your time with all this. There is absolutely no rush. You don't even need to finalize your characters... just post along and massage those stats right up until the time we begin!

Ready when you are! Keep chatting on the gameplay thread, dot in, whatever. Feel free to share purchases you've made here, or just keep them on your ITS.

Everyone, please update your taglines as well as your main statblocks before saying "ready". Thanks!

The Pathfinders have quite some time to spend in Nantambu while they wait for Aya Allehe to call them with news of Nieford Sharrowsmith.

As ever, while they await a summons to Sharrowsmith Exports (the subtle front for the local Pathfinder Lodge) they find themselves sitting around a table at a tavern. This one is the Mermaid's Tale, though where the nautical reference came from so far inland, no-one knows - not even the new proprietor, a dwarf named Hemming Longbottle.

Feel free to chat amongst yourselves. Head over to discussion and let me know when your character is ready, geared up and/or leveled up.

Here we are! Get into the gameplay thread and start things up. You'll have time to level up (if needed) before any action starts. Have some fun.

The Pathfinder Society was only just recovering from its massive, systemic restructure when the group we know so wee was called to the city of Nantumbu on the Mwangi Expanse. Mission briefings are typically given by the Venture-Captain on location, but even so, they were kept very much in the dark as to the nature of their mission.

Unfortunately, there was only one way to travel that far south of the Inner Sea Region: ship. By the time the rolling waves a sudden storm hits the ship, everyone is thoroughly seasick, including the captain. Putting in at Sothis in Osirion proves a dangerous proposition, and the vessel the Pathfinders travelled on is heavily taking on water by the time the captain docks. Repairs will be needed.

Rather than take the usual boat down the River Sphinx, everyone elects to walk instead. It proves a welcome relief from the sea travel, despite the arid landscape and the mountainous areas the Pathfinders are forced to climb before arriving in the jungle. There, they reluctantly charter a river barge - much more stable than the sea vessel - and navigate the Mwangi Expanse's river ways and lakes, docking at last in Nantumbu.

* * * * * * *

The sun bears down oppressively through the jungle’s humidity, causing the air to shimmer and lending an even greater feeling of otherworldliness to the Mwangi city of Nantambu. Aya Allehe enters the sweltering room in the local Pathfinder Lodge with a worn and harried look in her eyes. “Thank you for agreeing to meet here on such short notice,” she begins, “As you may already know, the venture-captain of this lodge, Nieford Sharrowsmith, has been away for several weeks heading an expedition into the interior of the expanse. A week ago, I received a letter addressed to Sharrowsmith from our agent working in the Aspis Consortium-controlled city of Bloodcove, Malika Fenn. The letter appeared to be a routine report, though I recognized that it hid an encoded message that describes an impending Consortium expedition up the Vanji River, planned to depart within the week.

“Though these are grim circumstances, they also present us with an opportunity. Once you have infiltrated the city, try to sabotage the Consortium’s preparations for the expedition. You won’t be able to stop it completely, but you can at least buy us some time to determine its nature and formulate a response. I also want you to make some inroads for the Society in the city. Gaining the ability to move agents and supplies through Bloodcove more easily would be a massive boon for our operations in the Expanse. I have some information on some disenfranchised citizens of Bloodcove who may be up to the task. Finally, gather some intelligence of your own. Talk to the people of Bloodcove and see how complete the Aspis’s control over the populace is. Report to me any groups or people of influence who may be sympathetic to our cause and support us in future moves against the Consortium. Once you’re done, get out of the city. Leaving in a different way than you arrived tends to be best.”

Take your time to absorb this wall of text. Ask any questions you like and dot in at your leisure!

I’ve been musing over Painlord’s fantastic Guide to PbP GMing. If you haven’t read it, please do so. You don’t need to read it before reading this, but if you want to be a PbP GM I doubt that there is any resource on the web that is better for it. When I started, all I had to go on was Doomed Hero’s Guide To Play by Post gaming and Painlord's Advanced Play-by-Post guide. Both are great resources, but if I’d read the later released GM guide before starting, I’d have been able to do a much better job from much earlier on.

So, Painlord’s guide touches on recruitment, but I would like to contribute some more detailed thoughts on how to do it successfully for PbP (apologies for any repetition). Most of this, admittedly, is from what I’ve seen rather than done - but when it came to put these ideas into action, I ended up with an absolutely stellar group of players in my PbP games. I would strongly recommend you see what you like from the below guide, and use it as you see fit for your own recruitment. My ideas won’t be for everyone, and your feedback is more than welcome in comments - after all, it’s why I’m posting it! Hopefully together we can make this whole process easier, and easier to get right.

For this, I’m going to adopt Painlord's formatting as best I can.

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PbP Recruitment

Recruitment is something that I firmly believe can make or break a game. Get the right players, and you can constantly inspire each other to do great things, both as roleplayers and as PbPers. Get the wrong players and everyone can become demotivated. “Wrong players" doesn't even have to mean “bad players" - sometimes good players don't mix with other good players. Attitudes and posting styles can clash even amongst the best of players.

For those interested, this is the recruitment thread where I managed to recruit what has to be the best group of PbPers ever (certainly feels like it to me). While I don’t use all the techniques I list here in that post, it does cover the main points. Many of these points are things I’ve picked up later down the track from reading others’ recruitment threads and discussions like Painlord’s GM guide (linked above).

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Thanks for reading! As with anything I put out there, your constructive comments and opinions are more than welcome. Let’s help get this difficult and important aspect of PbP gaming done right. I hope it helps you to recruit better players and to have more fun in your games! Best of luck.

I’d also like to give special thanks to my PbP Superstars (alphabetically: Acre, -Karma-. Lufien “Silvertongue” Loamin, Papasteve08, Silbeg and TheBobJones) as well as Painlord for providing me with invaluable input and feedback on this guide. You guys rule.

The companions find themselves once more in the familiar taproom of the Grand Lodge in Absalom. The journey was a long one by land, but all agreed that they'd rather not get on a ship again until they absolutely had to.

It was only when they arrived at the Lodge that they realised what time of year it was: Turkey Day! A holiday where everyone in Absalom pays homage to the lost empire of Azlant by eating copious amounts of roasted bird and mashed root vegetables while drinking strangely flavored drinks that they would never consume any other time of year, before passing out from either over-eating or excessive drinking.

The taproom is filled with traditional Turkey Day decorations, and delicious smells emanate from the nearby kitchen.

Dot in when you're ready!

IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ

This table already has a full complement of players. Please do not submit to this discussion thread unless you are one of my pre-recruited PCs. There will be no recruitment thread.

Adventure description from the scenario page:

Rumors of a lost shrine in the Segang Jungle draw the Pathfinder Society’s attention, but the prohibitive cost of sending a team into the wilds of Jalmeray threatens to shut down the expedition before it even begins. Fortunately, a wealthy patron has offered to fund the PCs travel expenses in return for their help in his decades-old quest. Can the Pathfinders balance this new obligation with their exploration of the archaeological site?

This game is part of the Official Pathfinder Society PbP Game Day. For more information please visit: http://PbPGameday.com.

Didn't realize (but should have realized) that you needed to dot into gameplay to have it on your campaign list. It appeared on mine - but I created the campaign (so of course it would). D'oh. All good now. Just dot here and then head back to discussion.

My plan was to have epilogue (and prologue) posts appear here.

Hey all! This is our new discussion thread. Any discussion not related to one of our games (like discussing the possibility of running an AP) can go here. Let me know if you object, and I'll shut it down. Otherwise, I'll try my best to keep this clean (no need for a gameplay thread as yet) and I'm happy to modify it anyway you like!

So, first up, it's called the "Zedroom" because of the alphabet. Starting with a "Z" means it will most likely be last on our campaign listings pages, until we play a module / scenario called "Zombie Smash" (or similar). "Zed" is how we Australians say "Z", so it made sense to me. Sounds cooler than "Zeeroom" in my opinion. Oddly enough I prefer the sound of "Zed Four" for the BMW Z4 but "Zed Zed Top" for a rock band just sounds weird.

Now for the juicy one: an adventure path. Based on everyone's comments so far, this would be my suggestion:

1. Only one GM. Multiple would be nice so we can rotate the chair a little, but spoilers, spoilers, spoilers - and I think there is a lot to be said for having a consistent cast of characters with a consistent vision.
2. Start after Thorrnkeep. That way those who are at the limit of there PbP don't get an additional game.
3. Silbeg has expressed an interest in GMing, but only after Thornkeep. This would seem to be the ideal option to me - finish Thornkeep and then move on to a full Adventure Path. That way I keep GMing PFS scenarios for our original group (and if anyone wants to take over GMing that group for a scenario or module, they can) and I get to play in an AP (my preferred option).

So, assuming everyone is happy to play after Thornkeep and Silbeg is happy to run it, the real next question is: what do we play?

Finally, what does everyone think about using real names for this? I've got mine on an alias that I'm happy to use. We have two Chris's, though, could get confusing. ;-)

For my part, you can call me Damo, Damien, Wilmannator, Lort, Arturo, Mr. Girl or whatever else you like.

Smoke and merriment fills the air of the Pathfinder Lodge today. There are excited mutterings about a group returned from Riddleport - having recently solved the murder of a certain elven ambassador. Discussions still continue with the Mordant Spire Elves regarding the opening of the ancient ruins of Azlant.

Though a rather boisterous half-orc is currently off exploring his roots, some of the very same group of pathfinders have decided to meet here at this lodge on this day to reminisce.

The taproom is full and crowded, but a watchful person would catch a glimpse of a familiar feline tail swaying to and fro as drinks appear swiftly and gracefully in front of the Lodge's patrons. A reserved table sits off to the side somewhat, but still near enough to the bar and kitchens. The sign on the table, written in alluring catlike scrawl, reads:

Cyrus the Flea, Party of Six

IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ

This table already has a full complement of players. Please do not submit to this discussion thread unless you are one of my pre-recruited PCs. There will be no recruitment thread.

Adventure description from the scenario page:

Shrouded in thick fog, the shifting Gloomspires north of the Shackles have long frustrated explorers. However, a recent discovery by the Pathfinder Society has revealed a brief opportunity to navigate the columns safely and search for the lost treasure of the legendary pirate Eightfingers. The only problem is that the Pathfinders are not the only visitors to the Gloomspires.

This game is part of the Official Pathfinder Society PbP Game Day. For more information please visit: http://PbPGameday.com.

Dot in when you have a character alias created! I'll set the scene when I have a little more time.

Hi all! Starting up a new thread for Crypt of the Everflame. Let's move all "group 2" discussion over here.

First discussion - party composition! Man, I love character generation. I get the bonus of making the 7th character - the one that will replace Silbeg's character - so I'll stay out of this one for now and swoop in with my GM toon (for Thornkeep) when it's all said and done.

I'm happy to start this as soon as all the characters are in. I know people work best with a deadline, though, so let's say Friday. I don't need a full set of stats for the opening part of the adventure, but stuff happens pretty soon in. So, if you can't get a name and a class together by Friday, followed by a full character sheet over the weekend, please let me know!

As a suggestion, let's just open up the discussion with your preferred class (or classes). If we need to adjust, we can. I'll let GM Silbeg weigh in on whether or not we need a different party mix, too, since he will (after all) be taking over this group for Thornkeep and onwards!

About a month after the success in the Red Redoubt of Karamoss, the intrepid pathfinders have all gathered at the Grand Lodge to swap stories and make merry. The taproom is very crowded, but they have reserved a table suitable for six hearty adventurers and have just begun to arrive.

Just before the first pathfinder sits down, the lithe catwoman called Sheeba gently puts down two written notes next to the "reserved" sign.

First note:

Jaender, it appears, is otherwise occupied. He sends instead his friends, Ibid. Oxley Abel and Cyrus the Flea, in his stead. They have just parted ways with their old adventuring buddies, and he believes they will have some interesting stories of their own to swap.

Second note:

After an incident some weeks back where he saved Amaranti's life, Trapper Mors has left Absalom to find adventure elsewhere. He wishes the group all the best and hopes to some day find his way back to face new challenges with you some time in the future.

Dot in and arrive in order. Feel free to "play" with Sheeba's character - or add in some more of your own. Take it easy, enjoy the drinks, and when the adventure is released, I'll move us on to that.

Starting the discussion thread for our next PFS game! Please feel free to discuss whatever you like here, and dot in to the gameplay thread when you're ready.

Again, the release date is set for the 24th, so I'll start in earnest then (reading it fully as we get started). I've got some new Pathfinder books coming, including the technology guide, so I'm looking forward to getting into the meat of season 6 a bit more.

Technically this is a flashback, since the adventure assumes you all meet on location. I'd like you to introduce yourselves first, though, and this seems a nice spot to do it. I'll flash back to the "present" when everyone's submitted an introduction and / or set of chronicle sheets.

It is a fine Spring morning as you all find yourselves relaxing at the Grand Lodge. The late afternoon sun sends spears of light through the shutters on the western side of the building, occasionally sparkling through your refreshments. You are seated separately, most likely having never met one another before, but each of you is tended by the same waitress.

Sheeba tends tables with more grace than almost any other waitress in the Lodge. She is quick and efficient, gliding through the tables on her long, lithe legs. Her black velvety fur brushes flirtatiously against some patrons' arms as she serves their orders. When she laughs, her whiskers wave alluringly up and down and her ears twitch ever so slightly after each mirthful outburst.

It is from her slim paws that you each receive the following note:

Player Handout #1

"You may meet in the Sable Rrroom," Sheeba purrs, "Venture Captain Valsin rrregrrrets that he will not be able to join you. Once yourrr fellow pathfinderrrs have arrrrived, you arrre to make yourrr prrreparrrations and leave no laterrr than the day afterrr tomorrrrow."

The Sable Room is more of a partitioned booth at the lodge. A thin divider decorated with scenes from the Society's adventures separates the large, horseshoe shaped booth from the general lodge area. Sheeba will show each of you to the Sable Room when you are ready, and continue to serve you food and drinks while you are there.

The note is repeated below for ease of access:

Idle Pathfinders are Pathfinders needing work. Having a bit of downtime is no excuse to sit around and let our skills lapse! So I have come up with a training exercise for you and a few others waiting around the Grand Lodge for a job. I trust you are familiar with the Red Redoubt? If not, for shame! It’s an important part of Absalom’s history. You might want to spend a few minutes researching it before heading out. While it is technically a “cleared” ruin, it’s a perfect location to test your skills.

Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin

Please post here if you have any useful suggestions. I'm all ears! When the scenario starts, this thread will just be for my players.

Hi, I'm running the first season 6 Pathfinder Society scenario using subtier 1-2. If you are interested, please read my recruitment thread here and reply!

http://paizo.com/campaigns/PFS601TrialByMachine/recruiting

See also my campaign info thread on what I think of the negative reviews... most of which were from GenCon (where the tables are random and the play can be dicey - unless, like me, you were extremely lucky). Make up your own mind, but it should be a pretty decent scenario for anyone interested in season 6!

Please read below and then post here if you are interested in playing! I will aim to start this scenario some time in the first week of September. If I get a lot of responses, I am more than happy to start early. Please do let me know in your recruitment reply if you have any time constraints.

While I have GMed a lot in real life and played both PFS and PbP, this will be both my first time as a PbP GM and a PFS GM. I will be running this as sub-tier 1-2.

Please read the play guide on my profile before asking to join up. If you don't like it, please find another game. That said, constructive comments are welcome. Please post those in the discussion thread for this game.

Maps will be handled via Google Drawings. If you do not have and do not wish to create a Google account, please find another game.

This game will be run quickly. Please be ready to post at least every 24 hours. Players that regularly don't post within this timeframe when it is their turn will be asked to improve or leave. I will assume actions where necessary to move the game along. I'm hoping to have it finished in 6-8 weeks, but please be prepared to play for up to 12 weeks (I can't control players' post frequency).

For my part, I will endeavor to be able to post at least twice in any given 24 hour period, as required.

If you would like to play, please post as your character here with:

• PFS#
  
• Faction
  
• Link to character sheet (this should be in BBCode on your character alias's profile, or you will need to send me a PDF of the full sheet).
  
• Link to your character background - preference will be given to those with a better background. Please don't post your background in the reply unless you use a spoiler tag.
  
• About you and your PbP experience. First time Play-by-Post gamers are welcome, but experienced PbPers will generally be given preference over inexperienced ones. Provide a link to your PbP threads if they were not on the Paizo forums.

You are welcome to play as a pregenerated level 1 character if you would prefer to leave your real life characters free for other games. This will not affect recruitment in any way. Pregenerated characters are just as welcome as custom characters. You will, however, still need to provide a character background (see above).
Download pregenerated characters here.