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I'm not sure how to implement this, but something like if you have at least 7 characters of at least level 5, you've shown a commitment and the fact that you're capable of understanding how low-levels work.

I was thinking about something like this when I was writing the first post, and yeah - this is a good idea and something I would be totally ok with. Even though my current state of characters wouldn't trigger the reward yet, it would be something I'd gladly work towards over time.

I actually, personally, have the most fun with my PCs at lower level, and tend to loose interest in them by level 7 or so. I can often "push thru" to get them to level nine or so, but at that point they sort of just begin to gather dust.

Yeah, it's different for me. I'm usually really invested, both in gameplay and roleplay, whenever I'm discovering something new. If I feel I'm not getting much out of the experience, I take really long breaks or don't repeat the experience at all. This is why I'm very interested to see what is going on at the higher levels as I've never been there before, yet I've seen the lower levels many times. I do understand someone could consistently have fun at lower levels, too. This is why it would be great if we can have an option that could satisfy both parties. Also, I find it really cool you've been gaming longer than I've been alive :)

--there is also the issue of "oops, you're dead." Sure, character death is possible at any level, but as you gain levels, it either becomes less likely or something you can better deal with.

There's possibly a safe region around 4th level, but I've found both unexpected one-round kills and unwinnable situations are distinctly possible in mid-level, high-level and (out of PFS) epic level play. I'll agree that a 1st or 2nd level character is highly unlikely to come back from such an event.

This is a real problem at lower levels, but I feel higher levels have the capacity to prepare for it more easily. My main, for example, had two near-death situations where potions I've bought beforehand saved his life, something a lower level character couldn't have afforded to do yet.

Anyway, the general idea of this is in the interest of time more than anything else. More options at character creation means more power to the player, and this is something I can see a lot of people could be interested in (at least in my play group). One can always start at level 1 to trigger all the rewards, but an option to start slightly worse off at a higher level would be really nice.

This was probably discussed at some point, but I'd really like to see an option to start a character at a higher level, up to a maximum of starting level 4. I don't think this would fundamentally break anything but it would make me personally, along with most of the players I know, more motivated to play. Here are the arguments:

-Levels 1-2 especially feel like a formality. It was interesting playing these levels when I was just starting with PFS and PF as a whole, but now it feels like waste of time. If you don't randomly die, you get a 100% of rewards provided you're at least minimally invested.

-In homebrew campaigns, I always have players start as level 4. The feedback is overwhelmingly positive. All the members feel useful, they gain a +1 to an ability so they can plan their character accordingly, but I also give them less gold to make them more motivated to work for it. This never bothered anyone as long as the campaign was well balanced and the rewards were good, which was the case most of the time.

-If you have a group interested in PFS, they usually come to play together. Say all of them reach level 5 and then one of them dies. What now? Do they all start at level 1 again, or does the dead player play pre-con characters until the same happens to the rest of the group? Maybe he or she or the whole group start playing less frequently or not at all. There is really no good solution if this happens, and playing pre-cons is not a solution as the player still needs to play through the lower levels.

To do this, you give the player less gold, prestige and fame than what he would otherwise get on average, and they're good to go. Keep in mind this would also prevent the player from gaining other boons that could be useful at some point, so the players that actually start at level 1 would almost always be better off.

When I just started PFS, I played with a group and a character I really liked. That character is still alive, close to level 7, but the rest of the group died. I stopped playing for a while, the rest of the group gave up on PFS because starting at level 1 bored them. In the meantime, I played a bit with some other characters but quit as lower levels are indeed boring. They waste a lot of time too, because balancing PFS and work can be difficult for me.

So, are we ever going to have an option to start at a higher level? If not, why not exactly?

Taenia, this is very much similar to the first build idea I had for the character, which then progressed towards the Planar Wild Shape focus. However, given that this is for the Core only PFS, I think your build will perform amazingly.

Anyway, survived the first scenario, and the character performed really well. Entangles landed on two thirds of all opponents, all spells were resisted, and the damage contribution was good enough. The companion was also amazing, having utilized the Flank and Aid tricks in combat.

The next 6 prestige would be spent on the following in order: Wand of CLW, Darkwood Breastplate and membership in the Hunter's Lodge. Can't wait for the next scenario ;)

The only annoyances were that I had to start using a Light Shield because of all the one-hand free/draw weapon while moving at BAB+1 nonsense while casting, but what can you do.

DocShock, I agree it's usually best to specialize, but very often it happens that you cannot predict what the party composition is going to look like in PFS, along the lines of what deusvult said. With that in mind, my idea is to lean more towards a melee-based build, but still keep Wisdom high enough to allow most spells to land. Both won't be just as good as a specialized character would be, but it would be good enough, as you only need to survive until level 12.

Stoneplate I would consider if Wild wouldn't be so damn expensive in terms of enchantments. It would cost a feat also, but I can see it working if I was to multiclass into a Heavy AP class that allows for some other benefits.

Silent Saturn, Druid is kind of a new territory for me and I hope you're right xD And yeah, for the first few scenarios the heavy wooden shield and a scimitar/club would be the way to go.

In the end, I opted to reduce Wisdom for a single point which I added to Strength. At level 4, both of them are going to be 16. Not the best you can do if you were to specialize, but IMO very solid both ways.

Thank you for the tips, everyone!

I found potions really useful in the time that I was running PFS. A potion of Mage Armor lasts an hour... which is enough time to finish substantial portions of PFS scenarios, and is at least usable in anticipation of combat. That would give you +4 AC that is usable in Wild Shape. They're 50 gold a pop, so they're slightly expensive at low levels, but keeping one on hand for emergencies never hurts.

Aye, my other character (Cleric) has a stockpile of about 10 potions and 10 scrolls for every situation, and very often uses one of them during a scenario. Last time, Delay Poison saved his life.

I think I'm going to go for Planar Wild Shape and Natural Spell for the next two feats, get Druid's Vestments, damage increasing equipment, and go for Wild armor when the opportunity presents itself. That should be interesting enough.

I did some more research, and there doesn't seem to be a strategy for either increasing AC or damage reduction without a significant investment. And even if you do, it won't scale well from levels 5-6 and upwards.

There's the planar wild shape feat, where you can gain DR 5/good||evil and some other neat abilities, but you would need to expend an additional use from wild shape. However, at level 5, you would typically be able to remain wild shaped through most PFS scenarios, and this looks like a really good choice for a feat. Shaping Focus also seems handy if you were to multiclass.

Basically, it's about buying Amulet of Mighty Fists and Belt of Giant Strength to kill the opponents before they do the same to you, eh? :)

Yes, I thought about this and I think you're right. However, I would prefer to go only up to 16 Strength because the point cost becomes too steep afterwards. Also, the character should be able to cast all spell levels up to level 11, so I wouldn't drop too much Wisdom (perhaps down to 12 before applying the Dwarf modifier?).

Reading further on some other issues, I believe this additional Strength modifier, ability to cast some spells and wild shaping should also take care of the CMD vs. grappling, leaving AC and taking hits really the main problem.

What does a druid typically do to alleviate this?

EDIT: Also, I forgot to ask - abilities like Ghoul's paralysis don't count as spell-like abilities for the purpose of Dwarf saves? (Hardy/Steel Soul/Glory of Old)

Hello,

I made a Dwarf Druid recently, the reason being I've never seen a single Dwarf in the scenarios I've played so far, and the Druid seems reasonably fun to play.

This is the character:

STR: 14
DEX: 14
CON: 17 (+2) (4th lvl increase)
INT: 10
WIS: 17 (+2) (8th lvl increase)
CHA: 05 (-2)

I took Steel Soul as the feat, and Second Chance/Glory of Old traits to improve the already amazing Dwarf and Druid bonuses to saves. I've planned to also take the Cloak of Resistance at the first opportunity to further improve the saves. Animal Companion was taken over the domain power.

My idea was not to play a fully optimized, specialized build, but more of a generalist role with solutions to most problems that could occur during the game.

The things I believe are going to be a problem are low AC, susceptibility to grappling and perhaps low damage dealing capability, even though having 14 Strength doesn't seem to be all that bad.

Any recommendations on how to improve the character on those regards? Also, what Magic Items and equipment do you believe would benefit the Druid during each tier of PFS?

Ah, yes. Thank you for the clarification :)

No, it was actually the exact situation I described - if I was to withdraw, I would have provoked two AOOs from two other opponents anyway. I figured that a third AOO was worth the additional +6 on AC for all three attacks.

I checked the list, and it seems to be legal. I'll link it to the GM at the first opportunity.

Thanks for the response!

Hello everyone,

I have two questions:

Is it possible to use the Total Defense action and then make a Move action, retaining the AC bonus for any AOOs that you could possibly provoke? My local group seems to rule that you can't, but some sources on the internet suggest that you absolutely can. I have the Mobility feat and three ranks in Acrobatics, so this would amount to a +10 AC bonus in cases where the Withdraw action won't cut it.

I'm relatively new to Pathfinder Society, so I don't really know when and if you can use Adventure Path material in regular play. To be more exact, certain Fame bonuses in the Shattered Path Player Guide caught my eye:

Fame 15: Purchase ioun stones from a Pathfinder Lodge at a 10% discount.
Fame 20: Purchase any magic item worth up to 10,000 gp value from a Pathfinder lodge at a 10% discount.

10% may not seem like much, but it's something. Can you use these bonuses in regular play?

Thanks.

Thanks for the recommendations!

I've managed to find this for Warmachine, and it does have most of the symbols that are needed.

Rummaging through dafont.com, I didn't find the fonts that suit the game, but these M:tG edition symbols might actually come in handy: Planeswalker Dings

Searching over Google some more, I actually did find an interesting font with symbols that would probably find use in the game: Fourth Edition

None of the fonts/icons have all the required symbols, but if they're combined together, all the requirements would be met!

Once again, many thanks for the help, guys!

Hello, fellow gamers!

Lately in my free time I've been working on a board game that could be classified as a modern dungeon crawler. From the design standpoint, it has very few connections to the likes of Pathfinder or D&D, but I'm pretty sure it would easily appeal to that kind of players because of the strategic opportunities players can take advantage of during the game. This is why I'm posting on the Paizo messageboards.

At about 40 pages in Word, the game is 50% complete.

The game is going to use variations of custom 6-sided dies, and I'm looking for an adequate font or icons containing symbols to represent events in the game. These symbols would then be pictured on the dies and in the text of cards players are going to encounter during the game.

The following is required:
Melee attack symbol - Something along the lines of two crossed swords
Ranged attack symbol - Bow and arrow
Action symbol - Something to represent that an ability has an action cost

Strength symbol - A single sword or fist
Agility symbol - A foot or something similar
Willpower symbol - A brain or a face with a circular symbol on the forehead
Knowledge symbol - A book

Skull symbol
Two other random diabolical symbols, like pentagrams or chaos sigils

The fonts and symbols won't be used for commercial purposes, but private only just to make the first draft version look appealing. Also, to players that see a connection to the board game Descent: Journeys in the Dark - I assure you that this would work completely differently ;)

If anyone could point to the font or an icon pack that fulfills most of these requirements, I would be very grateful :)

Apologies for posting in the wrong forum. This was my first thread/post and I had no idea where to put it.

I've read about what this 'until next round' should be referring to, and so far it seems to me that if I was to use Bit of Luck at any time during the round, the effect would end at the end of that very round? Which implies that if I'm last on Initiative it has no point, but if I'm first - any ally can benefit from it. Or is it then the more practical way around - if I was to cast it when my Initiative begins in a round, it ends just as my Initiative begins in the next round?

Zrinka, that's exactly where it is used some of the time. Also, some of the encounters with ghouls could have ended really badly if an ally wasn't given a chance to roll twice. With either Protection from Evil cast or even Resistance, the chance to resist paralysis increases significantly. This is the main reason I inquired about the Shining Wayfinder.

Magda, this Headband you mentioned looks amazing. I'm actually considering not buying the Headband of Wisdom and taking it instead now. However, I only have 14 Wisdom. What do you recommend for increasing Wisdom, save for the regular every 4 level increase and the Ioun stones?

Thank you for the replies, I figured as much :) Giving Bit of Luck to someone else before an important check seems to be the way to go then.

Hi,

I'm playing a Luck/Travel domain Cleric, with Silver Crusade as his faction. The character is amazingly fun to play, and I have two questions regarding two of his most excessively used abilities.

I typically use Bit of Luck in preparation for reach attacks and as support for the front character in tight corridors. However, is it possible for me to use it before making a skill check? For example, if I was about to make a 10-foot jump using Acrobatics, is it allowed for me to cast Bit of Luck on myself and roll twice for the check?

As for the Shining Wayfinder - is it possible to cast Protection from Evil on someone else other than myself? Something along the lines of either placing it against someone and casting, or lending it to someone just so he can cast it on himself.

The question is asked in respect to legality when playing in the Pathfinder Society :)