Folkish Elm's page

Sorry Folkish. My players saw swarms coming and immediately cast get away.

:) that sounds sensible! As it happens in my game the players all aced their will saves and so it wasn’t relevant!

Hi All

I'm a bit confused as to how the cenovath swarm's inhabit power is supposed to function. Unless I've misread, the hellwasp swarm inhabit power takes a minute to perform and the intention from the F7 room description seems to be that the swarms might inhabit a hero rendered helpless from the room fear effect. The room effect which paralyses can only last a max of 6 rounds however so there would never be enough time.

How have people run this and does anyone know the original intention of the room?

From my reading of things, an inhabited character gets no save either?

Many thanks - all help gratefully received!

Can anyone help clarify whether a cloud of microbots created by the spell Microbot Assault is limited to a single 20ft move per turn or if it can double move?

The spell just states that it has a 20ft flight speed.

It feels to me that RAW either interpretation is possible?
All thoughts welcome and thanks in advance.

I agree and like how the classes give bonuses to a primary stat. I think they should function just like backgrounds, and have a choice between two predetermined, and a free choice. Gives plenty of freedom to have good stats like an optimized build, or slightly more distributed, but still playable stats for more diverse builds.

Paladins not getting cha baffles me.

I haven’t tried building a Paladin yet but I can see that you might want a higher starting CHA than STR for some builds. It is certainly interesting that the class boost, coming last of 4 types of boost, determines which ability you could start with an 18 in and I imagine the design intent is to give a clear signal to new players which ability they should focus on. Would adding CHA as an option confuse new players? I’m not sure...

Awesome, that's the idea of the way the free boosts work. Each character's ancestry is a little different, even among dwarves. Dwarves from a family focused on crafts (an Int-based skill) might well pass on an Int boost that is great for wizards and alchemists!

Good stuff! I’m glad to see the design intent is showing through in practice. Is it worth widening the list of recommended classes in the ancestry box outs to include more possibilities to inspire new players? I’m picturing my dwarf as the son an aging dwarven record keeper for a king, surrounded by dusty books and keeping careful note of past outrages and victories in leather tomes of runic script. :)

I played a dwarf wizard in PF1. He was my first PF character actually, but not a rookie mistake. I played 3.x a lot and knew what I was doing. He was still a wizard. That is to say, not really having a problem on the optimization side, even if the int was 2 lower than a human.

Good to hear - I wondered if it was just my perception. My wife and I are also trying out a PF2 build for a Halfling barbarian so it is very encouraging that being 2 lower in a key stat isn’t so much of a problem. No small weapons in PF2 also helps encourage this too (unless I’ve missed rules for this?!).

One thing I’m noticing as I try out these rules by building a few characters is that the free ability choices which the ancestries have make me more inclined to choose less standard ancestry/class combinations than in PF 1.

For example, I love that I can now easily have a dwarf wizard starting with int 18 and a host of other reasonably high ability scores. In PF1 I’d always feel this was too sub optimal to enjoy (which is probably more to do with my perceptions than the system).

But now my image of a craggy bearded, grey haired grumpy dwarf with a crow on his shoulder and a rune encrusted staff can enter the game.

Incidentally my planned ability scores are below if anyone has any thoughts (using scholar background) Tempted to put strength down to 10 and boost wisdom to 14 but not sure yet.

STR 12
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 18
WIS 12
CHA 8

Ah. I think it's an ability modifier of 1, since NPCs don't seem to have stat blocks. I didn't catch that until you mentioned it.

This is correct and confirmed in the Companion Types paragraph on p284. Hope that helps. :)

File updated to correct the table of contents, bookmarks, and GM Nova/credits references.

Great stuff - many thanks :)

Many thanks for this. Looking forward to reading it more fully.

Page 16 - Just noticed there are a couple of references to GM Stars still which I suspect should read GM Novas? No big deal but thought I'd point out in case a quick fix is possible?

Hi All

I have an idea for a campaign at my local club and wondered if anyone had run/played/heard of something similar or had any thoughts or tips on how to make it successful.

The idea is to run a series of short adventures. The first one would use the original d&d white booklet rules, the second would use 1e AD&D, et.c. Successive adventures would use each of the d&d editions in turn including 3.0 all the way to 5e.

Adventures would be two or three sessions each with a gap between each for me as gm to get the rules down and the players to prep characters.

I'd ideally come up with a unifying story arc through successive generations of heroes and the players' characters would ideally be descendants of each other.

The idea is to get a feel for how the game has evolved and also have the story evolve with it.

What do you think? Has anyone run anything like this before?

Liking the new guide. One question so far which I can't yet see the answer to:-

With GM Star rerolls - is it one reroll per star per scenario or one reroll per star which when used are then gone? Also I assume you can never reroll the same roll more than once?

Hi lovely folks at Paizo

My downloads page is getting somewhat longer and longer and the thought occurs that personally I only ever use the lite single file option.

Would it be possible to develop a filter option at the top of the page enabling the user to choose their preferred option for both these settings and only see those?

This would make me very happy :)

Many thanks all :)

Quick question on the will saves to disbelieve the shadow creatures - once a player has disbelieved one shadow creature are they set for the rest of the adventure or do they have to try again to disbelieve during the next shadow creature encounter?

My subscription copy arrived yesterday from across the Atlantic. I hadn't yet downloaded the pdf as I'm so focussed on running Mummy's Mask at the moment and there's a good chance I'll end up as a player of this AP rather than running it.

However!

I just wanted to say that this is one beautiful book. The new logo is lovely and clean looking. The stained glass window graphics on the standard page layout is stunning and the new location indicator showing clearly which section you are in is v useful.

Please pass huge kudos to those responsible for improving an already excellent product design.

Just downloaded and flicked through this. Am I right in thinking there is a typo on page 22?

Looks great. Can't wait to run it :)

Folkish Elm wrote:

Hi All

Are people treating the Sepulcher of the Servant as a location already known to the Pharasmin Church in Wati? Or perhaps known only to Nahkt Shepses or considered lost?

Apologies if I've missed it but it seems a bit unclear whether, for example the records of births and deaths are really up to date?

This presumably matters a little as the group may well be looting treasure from here and I need to decide if the church or Nahkt are likely to be upset by an active religious site being looted or happy that this place has been rediscovered.

Any thoughts?

The Sepulcher of the Servant is described as the hidden tomb of Nefru Shepses, which is why its entrance is in the relatively unassuming Observatory of Truth and Wisdom. Likely, it was hidden just so people like Nebta-Khufre wouldn't go and do things to Nefru Shepses' body, so the present church of Pharasma probably does not know its location. As a result, I would imagine the church would be quite happy if the PCs rediscover the sepulcher, provided they followed the same rules as in the lottery explorations: honor the departed, every slave's hut is a memorial, etc.

Thanks Rob, I'll run it like that :)

Hi All

Are people treating the Sepulcher of the Servant as a location already known to the Pharasmin Church in Wati? Or perhaps known only to Nahkt Shepses or considered lost?

Apologies if I've missed it but it seems a bit unclear whether, for example the records of births and deaths are really up to date?

This presumably matters a little as the group may well be looting treasure from here and I need to decide if the church or Nahkt are likely to be upset by an active religious site being looted or happy that this place has been rediscovered.

Any thoughts?

Thanks! I thought that was a bit dangerous....

Presumably power attack isn't included in the stats as this is optional?

Hi All

Just wanted to check I'm reading the Deathweb stat block properly!
It gets 2d8 plus 12 on its bite attack normally right? So if I use vital strike I roll 4d8 plus 12 for damage. (Wow!)

Correct? Or is the 2d8 already counting vital strike?

Planning to use this as a wandering monster for a level 5 party of 4 players. That should be challenging but fine as a cr 6 encounter right?

Thanks in advance!
Chris

The versatility is the reason I like the bastard sword. I have a pfs fighter who can swap between a reasonable 2handed sword fighter and a sword a board fighter depending on the mission or the party or how I feel on the day.

I get to do this all using a single set of weapon focus and weapon spec feats too.
It has been a lot of fun so far and quite effective in either role :)

Thanks all. Really useful stuff. I officially name you all dr doctors (or Dr dr for short) :)

So in summary:

1) cover Bludgeoning dr with a sling and bullets
2) slashing dr by switch to melee
3) silver and cold iron dr by stocking up on special material arrows ( same for adamantine when affordable) until +3 or +4 bow available
4) apply spells for alignment or magic based dr ( by oil, scroll, umd or friendly caster)
5) choose sensible feats like weapon spec and deadly aim to boost damage effectively
6) have some splash weapons on hand - acid,holy water, alch Fire etc

I assume oils should be applied to ammunition?

Many thanks :)

Hello All

Just about to build a human fighter archer for Core Campaign pfs play.
I'm a bit concerned about dr being a real nemesis so I thought I'd ask the community for tips and tricks on how I might overcome this and if this really is an issue?

Many thanks in advance!

First things first! If any of my players are reading this please go no further! Thanks :)

Many thanks for any thoughts in advance!

Great stuff! That's all clear now. Many thanks both!

Hi all

Quick question about the enemies in tomb of akhentepi (spoilers). I'm a newish dm and want to double check how things work:

Any help clarifying would be much appreciated! It seems to be one of those times where you have to look at several entries in the crb and bestiary

Many thanks!

Every group is a little different. If you're group likes knowing all the mechanics they're working with up front, there's no harm in sharing it with them. I personally like things to be a bit of description and a bit of mechanics when I GM, because I tend to have a spread of player types. Initially I might say "The city is in a complete panic, and nearly every business has barricaded its doors," and describe the rules bits of each tier as they reach it. But I could also see how knowing the rules might ruin the immersion for some people. You know your group best.

I was just thinking about this very thing and saw this helpful thread. As my players are still early on in half dead city I think I'm going to try planting a series of scrolls in the house of pentheru for the adventurers to find. These will contain academic research written by a member of the pentheru family who has been studying the levels of panic caused by the plague of madness and the effect on the city at each stage.

The research will present a model for tracking the levels of panic in the city. Later on in book two I can refer them back to this research they found and I have an excuse to tell them the rules for the current situation as if their characters were simply applying the sociological research they had found. A bit contrived but provides a reason for the panic level system to be in game.

What do people think?

So: did that go well?

Well, that was my first paizocon uk and I had a blast! Just writing this on the train home :)

I enjoyed all the games I played but these are the highlights for me:
1) The special scenario was awesome. It felt urgent, epic, special, well organised and a lot of fun. Big shout out to my fellow pathfinders on my table (and carol our gm). We had some great teamwork going and I loved the fact that efficient success in the encounters seemed to depend on behaving like good pathfinders (using a carefully balanced blend of knowledge, thought and controlled violence to solve each puzzle or situation). I was gutted when our valiant paladin fell in the final battle but chuffed that we all chipped in to raise him again :)

2) horn of aroden was a lot of fun and forced us to think about combats in a different way:

3) merchants wake when...

4) learning from all the different gm and players styles at the con. It was great to meet people, chat about pathfinder and pick up new tips, tactics, and different ways to keep the variety, pace and fun levels up in a game

That's all I is can think if right now but I'm sure there's more. Many thanks to all involved.
When's the next uk event?

Chris :)

Another option might be to pick one of the pathfinder modules you like the look of? This would give a good starting point and at the end of the module you could expand the game yourself with some home brew content or you could choose another module or you could put the game on hold for a while.

I'm a fledgling gm in a similar position to yourself. I've run one pathfinder module so far and really enjoyed that. I changed it where I wanted to and added in some bits and pieces in reaction to players' actions. But I personally I liked having the backbone of the adventure there already for me to build on allowing me to get used to the flow of running the game without everything to think about.

You might also think about running some of the pathfinder society scenarios? (either as part of pfs or simply as a home game). These are short, varied, and linked nicely together.

Hope that helps!

Hi!

I went to the uk games expo last year and it was my first roleplay game at a con.
I had a brilliant time and am going again this year (I've also signed up for paizocon uk in July too).

Most of the pathfinder games at the expo are, I think, pathfinder society games and it certainly sounds like the ones you have signed up for are too. To be sure they will say pfs in the description somewhere. (Pfs = pathfinder society)

That doesn't matter a jot however if it is pfs as you can either turn up with your own character or just sit down at the table and choose from a selection of pregenerated characters.

The best place to find out about pfs is this free document here which explains it all.
Guide to Pathfinder Society Organised play This (together with the core rulebook) will take you through the process of making your own character for pfs.
From my experience last year though, everyone is really friendly and welcoming and the GMs were very happy to help new players.

Hope that helps!

Yay! Registered and paid and booked room last night but can't make it till Saturday morning. Just waiting for clearance to book sessions.

This will be my first paizocon having previously only been to uk games expo last year (and had an ace time playing pfs).

So I'm now booked in for both the games expo and paizocon this summer :)

Is there anything in particular I need to know as a newcomer (apart from make sure I understand the guide to society play?)

Wow! Some really useful tips and things to think about here. Many thanks all!

From the descriptions it looks like this is indeed the option for me. My 3.5 wizard was mainly a blaster I guess but towards the end I started prepping more and more non blast spells. I loved the fact that I could cast haste at the beginning of the combat and (at a high CL) boost everyone in the party by so much. Everytime someone did lots of damage with that extra attack or out ran something super fast I really enjoyed the fact that my character had done that with one action.

I'll keep an eye on variety but it sounds like I won't have trouble filling that transmutation slot at each level.

The wizard I'm planning is also a bit of a knowledge buff using the fast learner and improvisation feat tree to have a reasonable score in all knowledges. I think she will also abhor the use of necromancy and enchantments. I'm also thinking she will be an outgoing practical type of person obsessed with finding old stuff. Should be fun!

Many thanks again! :)

Hi All

Our group has only recently started playing PF after a 3.5 campaign finished. Some players have been playing 3.5 for a long long time, others are very new to RPGs.

I'm a player in our main campaign and occasional GM for short side games and I'm trying to get the rules really well known in my own head. I'd like to get confident enough to run some convention games at some point too.

I'm thinking that I might volunteer a short 5 min 'spotlight' on a small section of the rules each session for our current game as this might help me get the rules down (by explaining them) and may also remind players of a few bits and pieces they didn't know about and could use. For example I have never seen anyone in our group use fighting defensively or total defence.

Clearly I need to ask the main GM of our group and the players if they would find this useful but I wanted to ask you, a cross section of the PF community if you had tried something similar in your groups and how this had gone?

Anyone tried this?

Hi All

Planning my 2nd PFS character in prep for the UK Games Expo in May (yay! I had a great time at the 2013 one - we be goblins was especially awesome!). My first PFS character was a fighter to keep things simple.

Want to try a wizard I think. I've played one at higher levels in a 3.5 campaign and really enjoyed it - especially using haste and fly and generally buffing the party.

Therefore thinking of the transmutation school. Is this a reasonable choice for PFS play? I figure if I have a wand of magic missile on standby too I should have enough to do that is of use during combat right?

One thing I found in 3.5 is that the 2nd level characteristic boosting buffs (bulls strength) etc were of limited use. Is this the case in PFS?

Thanks. I really enjoyed the session. I was using a printed module (I won't spoil which) and this encounter was one of the best in the session.

One character very nearly had all the life squeezed out of him whilst his companions blundered around in the dark a bit until the half Orc came along with darkvision and a great sword :)

Good times :)

next session in two weeks!

Oh and yes really want to try the pathfinder card game at some point.

Great! Many thanks for quick response

Oops just realised this is in the wrong forum. Apologies all. Have flagged for moving!

Also just spotted that spell like abilities are normally a standard action. So that's that bit answered!

Hi all

Inexperienced DM here wanting to check I have the interaction of darkness, grapple, grab and constrict right for a darkmantle which is going to come up in game tomorrow!

The darkmantle can use its spell like ability of darkness (is this free action?) then attacks with its slam. If it hits it does 1d4 +4 from its slam attack then gets a free action grapple attempt in the same round with no aoo in response. I roll cmb (+5) against target cmd and if successful immediately do 1d4+4 damage from constrict.

If I'm still grappling the target next round and succeed with a grapple check (again+5 but this time as a standard action but again with no aoo allowed in response?) I do the original attack's damage (slam attack 1d4+4) plus the constrict damage (another 1d4+4) again.

I would do this every round I can keep the grapple going?

Is this all correct?
Many thanks in advance

Many thanks! Good to hear holy water is as useful as I'd hoped.

I spent some time trying to decide from the dr section of the core rule book on this one and couldn't make up my mind - normally I find the crb quite clear but for some reason this seemed to be quite a confusing section.

Much appreciated, it's my second pfs game as gm on Sunday and I suspect this may come up :)

Really like this game!

Hi all

Does the 2d4 damage from holy water automatically bypass an undead monster's damage reduction eg a skeleton's?

Apologies if ths is obvious - I'm still finding my way around the rules

Many thanks in advance

Many thanks to you all for some extremely useful advice. I'm now all ready for the convention!

Hi All

I'm soon to be playing in my first PFS game, which will also be my first Pathfinder game too. I've played a bit of 3.5 before and have been studying the core rulebook fairly closely so I hope I'll be up to speed enough. I've also had a good look at the build guides on this forum and elsewhere so hopefully I'm not asking too much that's obvious.

I've come up with two character concepts I'd like to play and can't quite choose between them. It might well depend on what PFS games are really like so I thought I'd ask for your thoughts.

My aim is to have a good fun time at an upcoming convention - I'll be playing in 3 PFS games and so am looking for something fun to play at level 1 (with some room for good expansion if / when I get to play again). I'd also like to be useful for my fellow pathfinders as best as a level 1 character can be.

One character concept is really quite focused - a big hitting barbarian with a bit of acrobatics to get into good flanking positions (or help others flank?) and lots of hit points. The second is a much more broadly built ranger - a good array of social and other skills - good at archery at the beginning of a fight then switching to melee (at least until Precise shot at level 2).

Here's a quick outline of my plans:

Option 1 - Human Barbarian

STR: 18 (including racial +2)
DEX: 14
CON:14
INT:10
WIS:12
CHA:8

Feats: Toughness, Power Attack (planning Iron Will at Lev 3)
Favoured Class towards hp
Skill points in Acrobatics, Climb, Perception, Survival & Swim
Faction: Silver Crusade
Traits: Unorthodox Strategy (to help with Acrobatics rolls) & Armor Expert
Kit: Great Sword, Studded Leather, Javelins

Summary: lots of damage in combat, limited skills, poor will save (am I likely to end up being controlled and hurting the party?!)

Option 2 - Human Ranger

STR: 14
DEX: 17 (including racial +2)
CON:12
INT:12
WIS:14
CHA:9

Feats: Dodge, Point Blank Shot
Favoured Class towards skill point
Skill points in Handle Animal, Heal, Intimidate, Know Geog, Know Nat, Perception, Sense Motive (from trait), Stealth, Survival
Faction: Shadow Lodge
Traits: Watchdog (giving sense motive as class skill), reactionary (to help get at least one round of shooting in!)
Kit: Longbow, Leather Armor, Longsword, Arrows, daggers

Summary: good range of skills, could lend a hand in melee or pick off viable targets from afar, not yet a damage dealing machine till later levels (especially without a composite longbow yet!)

I'm wanting to keep things fairly simple and only really use content from the core book for the moment. Which build do you think would be more effective for a typical PFS game? Am I missing something vital? I'm not too fussed whether things are super optimised as long as the build is relatively effective!

Many thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have.