Genuine's page

When no one in a level 7 party can get up a 20' cliff.

Maybe he likes these guys.

Hey, I may be evil, and I may be chaotic, but I'm not a sociopath.

They're following a treasure map, right? Why not just add the 10k gold into the hoard to put them back at the proper wealth-by-level? One hand giveth, the other taketh away...

More seriously - if you let the ship sink, they'll be irritated but they'll also probably talk about it for years. It sounds like the broken ship isn't going to cripple your campaign (they can still reach the treasure island and you have all sorts of options from there to help them off it). So why not just leave it broken? Don't forget that getting stranded on a desert island is a very common pirate story trope, why not indulge a little? At level 8 they won't be able to trivialize it by teleporting away, but they do have all sorts of available options. Let them reach the island, spend some time with survival checks and let them botch a few profession (carpenter) checks to build huts and such. See what they can come up with.

You don't have to kill them off - you said they have lifeboats and can reach the island. But you don't have to deus ex machina them out of the situation, either.

I suppose if they get stuck and *totally* fail to come up with an option, you can have another ship full of treasure hunters show up.

When the telekineticist carries a 250lbs rock in a bag of holding to set off traps when nothing else is heavy enough.

Recent experience: Your pre-gen Kinetecist (a 9-year-old little girl) is the party face.

Suspicious cleric guarding cemetary: "Why are you here?"
Little girl voice performed by large bearded man: "We're here to find the thing that the lady didn't give the other people because we need the thing to finish the other things and she gave the thing to the guy who died here and we think it's here." Rolled diplomacy....

Later: Suspicious cleric: "Did you take anything?"
Little girl: /cries. Rolled diplomacy...

Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:

Indiana Jones does not work because his identity is fully known by both his peers and his foes.

Sure it does. He just doesn't get his bonuses against those in the know.

This is assuming you even care about the bonuses. The only real bonuses you get are the disguise check (against people recongnizing that Clark is actually Superman) and the divination check (against Luthor detecting Clark whilst scrying for Superman).

In PFS (where people are grumpy that identities don't matter), the scrying really never shows up (maybe in an AP or high level Module, but I haven't seen it in any scenario yet); the disguise check might come up if you're disguised as a non-pathfinder and don't want to be recognized.

So why not be Indiana Jones? Respectible professor by day school year and adventurer by night summer? If Indy doesn't care about who knows what, why should Murderhobo #84593-7?

I should add that much like your idea Genuine, my vigilante is a murder hobo. The Bloody Maw has been "touched" by Groetus. His social identity is a beggar. So he quite literally is a homeless person who uses the society as a means to travel around and do his part in sowing chaos and tearing down civilization.

I love giving my characters authentic in-story reasons to be murderhoboes. :D

I'd just run the social version as the character and just have the vigilante form there for fun if you ever wanted it. That way you get your social bonuses while still having all your combat options.

I've been tempted to do that, seeing as there is no mechanical penalty for people knowing your identity. It just seems less fun to not even bother with a major piece of a character's design. It's kinda like building a rogue who never finds traps. ;) (Note: Minor sarcasm)

I'll see how it plays at the table - one question though: Is there a problem having one of a vigilante's identities *not* be a member of the Pathfinder Society?

Snip:...active and passive efforts by the various stores that discouraged PFS groups, campaign leadership with a complete hands off approach leading to an organization having no organization...

I've played in 3 areas now. One just like you describe, and two that are stable/growing with multiple weekly tables. While I know this is anecdotal in the extreme, I've noticed that while the leadership is instrumental in driving growth, it is the stores that prevent decay.

A leader who ensures that games are posted early, that everything is reported, and that GMs don't get problematic can make it far easier for new players to get involved.

However, a store that visibly and clearly appreciates keeps them there. I've seen two stores that do free printing for PFS materials (chronicles, printing sheets, handouts, maps) and even buy scenarios for us. One of them gives $5 in store credit to anyone who GMs a table (which can add up quick, and frankly is nicer than my stars:). Being willing to open the store early, late, or even arrange for free wifi makes a big difference long term. The bad area had store that planned magic tournaments on the day when PFS usually played; they kept our table available, but filled the other 8 tables with magic players. We we changed days but the relatively early close time caused problems - they wouldn't stay open past 8 on weekdays, which made it very hard on us.

I wish we could have access to some of the big data from reporting. It's hard to know for sure how relevant of a problem this is - a loud minority appears the same as a quiet majority.

I'd love to take all the players who have played in the last year; I'd like to see how many times they've played in that year and compare it to how many times they played in their first and middle years; what percentage of total scenarios have they played; what percentage of scenarios in each tier have they played; how much played-scenario overlap they have with people they have recently played with; all of the above as relates to GMing; which players have done APs or multi-part modules; other combinations/issues that may come to mind.

Frankly, it'd be an interesting analysis project in and of itself. I wonder if (and hope that) Paizo does this on their own. If they don't, are they hiring?

A couple tricks I use when I GM homebrew campaigns:

1st, I appoint a co-GM. I try and pick out the rules lawyer of the group (not the munchkin or the min-maxer, I look for the guy who takes perverse pleasure in catching anyone with a rules violation). His job is to know the rules for anything the players attempt. That spellstrike thing the magus is doing - is it really kosher? Does that monk archetype really let him wear armor? Can bloodragers' dragon bloodline stack with the Dragon Disciple's bloodline? This guy is also responsible for helping look up quick reference rules.

This does require trust, but it speeds things along in a remarkable way. It's also nice when you don't remember off-hand what the DC for spellcasting after you've been tanglefoot bagged is.

2nd, I sometimes limit books. Not anything specific, but the absolute number. Back in 3.5, I had great success simply saying that players could have core and 1 non-core book. That gave players freedom to do something interesting, but it cut down on the irritation of having to access dozens of other books to figure out what someone's attack modifier is.

Last, and not really a trick, do everything in your power to play somewhere with wi-fi, and bookmark d20pfsrd.com. They aren't perfect, and I've found the occasional error, but it makes looking up details soooooo much faster.

Two other things that I've found help a lot: Large dice and typed character sheets.

Get dice with larger, printed numbers. I don't know why it helps, but it does. Kinda like turning down your radio when you're lost. For some reason, adding modifiers to a large and easy-to-read number is easier than smaller ones. I've never seen elven dice used without slowing down play.

Next, make sure that everyone has a clean, printed sheet. Lots of character sheets are repeatedly erased and re-written, have notes added to them, doodles, crossouts, etc. I personally print out a whole new sheet for myself every time I level up. This minimizes the distractions when you're trying to glean a handful of numbers off a sheet.

I'll be honest - I saw the class and had just one thought: "Now my murder-hobo PFS dungeon crawling maniac can also be a suave & socially acceptable hob-nobber; even the pure role-play grognards can't complain about the inconsistencies!"

In other words, I get to keep building the axe-crazy characters I love but still get an effective option in social encounters & scenarios.

a spell is not an object

mist is not an object

fog is not an object

gases are not objects... liquids are not objects... objects must be in solid form to be objects

So Obscuring Mist is a no-go, but Solid Fog is kosher. Gotcha.

Broadhand wrote:

fantasy-era

What does that even mean? Especially in relation to this:

Broadhand wrote:

realistic

You got realism in my fantasy!

No, you got fantasy in my realism!

I agree with most of the advice here. One thing I find lacking is that they're all telling you to give the Bard encounters he can handle, but aren't giving you many examples.

Assuming for a moment that you're really tied into this all-construct campaign, why not introduce a few third parties? Perhaps the constructs have displaced a tribe of orcs (or goblins, kobolds, lizardmen, bugbears, you get my point). Perhaps there are other adventuring groups wandering around the same dungeons.

These could easily become encounters where a manipulator bard could feel relevant. And if he really wants to be a hero, he could even find a way to sic those third parties on the constructs. There is nothing a manipulator caster likes better than having things fail their will save v. domination. Or having a bluff check believed that sends an enemy into another enemy's mouth.

Owen, Mark,

I sincerely appreciate it when you actually respond to us, despite our characteristic internet hostility.

Thank you

The warpriest must meet the prerequisites for these feats, but he treats his warpriest level as his base attack bonus for these feats (in addition to base attack bonuses gained from other classes and racial Hit Dice)

Word count: 37; Characters: 180

The warpriest counts his level as his base attack bonus for prerequisites (in addition to base attack bonuses gained from other classes and racial Hit Dice), he must meet the other prerequisites normally.

Word count: 33; Characters: 170

So, being more clear about the prerequisites requires a smaller word count than what they put in.

Using more words means they must have intended something different. ;)

Eric Clingenpeel wrote:

I think you really screwed your players over. The captain's timer doesn't start until combat starts with the trollhound in F2.

How I read it, they were already screwed. But sure, the captain shouldn't come topside in any case. I doubt they would have fared against the gunslinger, who apparently was almost unhurt during the whole fight.

What do we learn here? This isn't the first time I've heard of a paladin completely blowing up the job, and low-level monks with low constitution should avoid melee. :)

I dunno. One solid minute of gunfire? 23 shots fired between two gunslingers? Why wouldn't he have come topside?

That being said, reading the scenario far more carefully, I did run it wrong. I read the bit about 'hears first signs of combat,' 'first sign of trouble' and 'conflict above' and entirely missed the 'when combat begins in F2' part. At best, this is a table variation problem - I'll bring it up with my VL.

Of course, by the time the captain showed up, the mate was unhurt (though nearly out of ammunition), two PCs were unconscious, the paladin was down to just 2 lay on hands, the cleric was out of spells, and their 1d6 channeling was healing the bad guys as much as the good guys.

Also, the paladin was (oddly) built as a heal-bot and charisma monkey, rather than for straight up combat. (His Str and Dex were both just 12). He designed his damage output around Radiant Charge, and never got a real chance to get it off - the boat was a difficult place to line up a charge. Worse, he wasted one smite on a mook (the 1d8+6 non-PA damage scared him, I think) and his other on a non-evil character.

Yay! I finally saw my item!

And I hate the name I settled on. Just couldn't think of anything better. :(

I just saw a truly incredible staff. Hard mode won. I spent several minutes looking for errors, pricing mistakes, etc. and it was wonderful. :D

Also, I can't believe that's your item. Derivative, seen it since the Romans, been done, what, gonna give someone a leadership feat. Yeah, how would you even do... ok... not what I was expecting. If the name wasn't so misleading it would be truly awesome.

This particular weapon is actually not this particular weapon at all, but is instead something else.

Hmmm... perfect formatting, spelling, but I have no idea what this thing actually does v. poorly formatted SIAC item.

The map is not an encounter map: it's a magic map. Yup, that's right, round 2 is a wondrous magic item. :)

What I'd really like to do is have permission to re-order my GM credit for a playtest.

For example, right now I have a GM baby with 13 credits stacked up that I haven't ever played.

It would be cool to start a playtest character, play him once as a level 1 character, then apply two of my GM credits, play him once as a level 2, apply two more and play him as a level 3, and so on until I had caught up with my credit.

Then I could take advantage of my stack of GM chronicle sheets while still playing through the playtest gradually.

I also wouldn't mind seeing more generous re-build rules for playtest participants.

A thought about the Skill thing...

I like skill points, I really do, and I'm strongly tempted to add to the voices clamoring for additional skill points. However, I can't help but think that there is a more flavorful option.

Couldn't you write Wild Talents that are explicitly designed to cover for a lack of skills? For example, an aerokineticist could have access to a wild talent that adds her level to her acrobatics checks. Or half her level to acrobatics and stealth, or similar. The talents available are limited by element, and only make the talents apply to skills that operate of Str or Dex.

So while you still only get 2+Int mod skills, a kineticist has options out of combat, still feels like they can take Knowledge skills without giving something up, and are required to give up combat power to do so.

And they can say that it's their Earth Bending powers that help them climb. :)

So far, I really like the Kineticist.

He kinda reminds me of the 3.5 Warlock, with some Psionics flavor thrown in - at will blast, all day buffs, some great flavor, but not much raw power.

He's gonna freak some people out (At will powers! Oh noes!), so I hope he doesn't get nerfed too much.

Your Pushing Assault tactics remind me of something.

Quote:

Invisibility

The ability to move about unseen is not foolproof. While they can't be seen, invisible creatures can be heard, smelled, or felt.

I think for this quote it's saying that if you cast a spell it still makes sound. Thing is the invisibility spell says +20 to stealth checks while moving, not just sight based stealth checks. So the boosted stealth against a perception check.

Who knows why it's to all types of stealth, maybe being under invisibility spell means you can focus more on the other stealth parts since you know you can't be seen. Since it has a stealth bonus for standing still and for moving you could say that the +20 is taking into account more than sight, since standing still is just sight. But whatever reason it's +20 to all while moving. And that means that it's his stealth against a perception check.
So RAW is +20 to all moving stealth checks, and to locate stealth it is an opposed perception check.

This, absolutely. Invisibility gives a bonus to stealth checks. Stealth covers both hiding and moving silently. Therefore, invisibility gives a bonus to moving silently and to hiding.

Why is this difficult?

If they want something definitive from the developers, the FAQ questions about the magus in the Complete Magic faq should be clear enough.

So if I grab a whip proficiency, I can use whips with my swashbuckler. That alone makes me happy.

I'm not entirely sure if charmed life makes up for lack of a fort save however... I'll have to see how it plays out.

I like the limited school idea as well. Although I think evocation maybe aught to be on the list instead of illusion. Sure, fireballs and lightning bolts aren't quite as tactically useful as a well-placed illusion, but it's a bit more thematic I think.

Perhaps the different bloodlines would have different school access? Dragons get transmutation and evocation; Fey get enchantment and illusion; abbyssal gets conjuration and evocation; etc. It gives a way to shore up weaker bloodlines (like fey), while while offering a backhanded penalty to the stronger bloodlines (give divination and enchantment to arcana).

I think Blessings are too much work to learn and memorize. I think Sacred Weapon and Armor could be going somewhere. I think channeling is better left to an archetype.

I was really hoping for a divine equivalent to the Magus.

This.

Also, it's been mentioned that there is a lot of book keeping in this class. Spells, channeling, sacred this and that, it all adds up.

Why not combine all the non-casting abilities into a lump and control them through an arcane pool or ki type resource. This would allow more channeling die (making it useful in combat), while still falling behind clerics in overall healing ability - sacred armor and weapon would work like the magus' similar ability.

For that matter, other abilities (perhaps a brief charisma boost for social interaction, or additional blessing powers) could be keyed off the ki-type pool as well, allowing warpriests to be made more unique and different while staying true to the design work that's already been done.

I'm still curious about the Dragon Disciple/bloodline questions, as well as whether racial features that give an effective charisma boost to sorcerer casting apply to the bloodranger.

This could finally be a class that makes me interested in using that ifrit...

So if someone comes and explains he likes stabbing himself in the leg or in the forearm, but asks us what kind of tool he should use, answering "keen fork" or "rusty screwdriver" is more reasonable than saying "dude, wtf, just stop stabbing yourself" ?

Ah, yes. Self-mutilation and suicide are indeed the same sort of activity as a possibly awkward game session with an ex. How can we in good conscience possibly allow this fine person to play in a game that they want to play in when the DM is being douchey. I wouldn't let someone kill themselves, after all.

can you imagine how a horse thinks?

Yes. Yes I can. I have an imagination, and have interacted with a few horses in my time. If you haven't spent time with horses, pick a dog, or a cat, or something else.

first of all, why are you on this quest?

I can think of all sorts of reasons. Designate another PC as your 'master,' or 'rider,' or similar.

the driving force behind all animals (those with mental stats 3 and below), is reproduction, their entire life cycle is built around that, there every action is explained by it, there existence is deveoted to the idea of reproduction, why arent you trying to do that.

Really? Have you ever interacted with an animal more advanced than a goldfish? A decent bit of training can easily prevent dogs and horses from running off and mating instead of following directions.

second animals are not self aware, they cannot plan for future events. if you are doing these things and ignoring your drive to reproduce, byt doing things like going on quests, planning for future events then you are a trained animal, and then you don't make independent decisions beyond what your trainer tells you.

So what? I've played lots of characters who don't plan for the future and just follow the party without good reason. Why can't the horse-brained druid?

it is not possible to play anything of an animal intellegence in this game as player character.

Why are you working so hard to tell us that it can't be done? The OP's DM asked her to do so, the OP wants to do so. What right do you have to tell someone what they can't do in a game of make-believe?

well think about what the GM is doing when he is playing those animal intellegence creatures. are those creatures interacting with people in a social setting? are they walking in town? are they obeying customs, and rules?

Why is this a problem? I would love to see a druid [try to] lick the face of the mayor, or crib on a fence. Awesome.

do they try to purchase items? or seek lodging for the night?

No. Why would a horse or dog do so? If his master put something on him, then sure.

did they have to learn how to swing a sword? did they need to learn how to communicate? or read signs?

Designate a few tricks that your druid knows besides his innate abilities. Require diplomacy/handle animal checks to 'push' you to do other things.

did they need to think plan a schedule? or make appointments.

what a gm does with animal intellegence creature, is very different from the actual daily rountine of a pc.

Again, so what? Who needs a schedule? You fight till you're tired then sleep. Rinse and repeat. Do what the party does and you're fine.

the two are totally dismilair and have really nothing to do with each other.

Which is why this is a great RP possibility.

@Zergai: Fight passive-aggressiveness with passive-aggressiveness. If he wants animalistic characters, then play one and go whole hog. Be the group pet, or assign yourself as animal companion to one of them. This is an opportunity to have some fun. Go lick that mayor, sniff his wife's crotch, and mark territory when you feel like it.

If you're far enough along to wild shape reliably, then you can boost your physical scores easily enough. Get at least one other player to help you out and act as a master (give him your share of the loot with the understanding that he'll deck you out with necessary magic items and such).

You may want to take improved unarmed strike (or a race with a natural attack) for flavor reasons.

Play an Int 2 character. But don't play it as a severely disabled human - play it as a standard animal.

Be a druid. Your backstory is that you swapped minds with some random animal; now, despite the appearance and powers of a druid, you are actually a horse. Or wolf. Or whatever.

Anytime a decision comes up, just ask yourself: 'What would a horse do here...?'

It would be great fun, and true to the character. :)

It may have been mentioned before, but what level is this starting as?

Getting back to the original thought: I think that bluffing a druid into thinking that your character is also a druid is probably the best way to go.

Someone on the False Priest PrC track aught to be able to mimic a low level druid easily:

"Sure, I've spent my life developing my bloodlines as a sorcerer, but the time I've spent with you has convinced my of the awesome awesomeness of nature. I'm a druid now! Teach me druidic, so I can learn properly from our brothers in the forest!"