Glewistee's page

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Yes

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Absolutly

dragonhunterq wrote:

As soon as one party declares an attack you roll initiative before determining that attack. The person declaring the attack just has to wait their turn in the initiative order as they moved too slowly and were preempted.

A common houserule for if two parties are talking to each other and one side wants to attack the other sneakily/suddenly you can roll using alternative skills to perception vs stealth such as bluff vs sense motive (whats that behind you!) or sleight of hand vs perception (to move your hand closer to drawing your spell components pouch to get that speed edge) to determine if there is a the surprise round.

I agree. I think if there is any question about timing, then it suggests that one side was attempting to "surprise" the other side. In those cases, a bluff check opposed by a sense motive or a stealth opposed by perception.

If you completely forego the surprise round then you end up with the awkward.
"GM: Ok, Player A goes first"
"Player A: um, ok what's the BBEG doing?"
"GM: nothing, you go first"

at least with the sense motive/perception route, it's more of
"You can see the BBEG starting to reach for their ceremonial dagger, but you're able to react before they are able to get it out."

If players declared they were waiting for the BBEG to do X then it seems reasonable to atleast give them a bonus on initiative during the surprise round.

As a DM I will often run the surprise round in those circumstances even if everyone is aware since character actions are limited during a surprise round and it gives the start of the combat a more cinematic feel.

Thanks, this is what i was looking for. I just needed a way to get the order in my head in a more cinematic way.

so, spells.
As a 1st level druid, you can "prepare" 3 0-levels and 1 1st-level spells per day. this means, that your character "must spend 1 hour each day in a trance-like meditation on the mysteries of nature". After this hour, he can choose his spells (3 0-level, 1 1st-level) from the entire list of druid spells of those levels. The next day, he can do it again, and pick again from those same lists. He does not need to choose the same spells each day.
During that day he can cast each of the 1st level (and later higher) spells one time. The 0 levels are different, they can be cast as many times a day as you want. Also as a druid, you can give up your 1st level spell for the day to cast a special spell "Summon Natures Ally".

Clerics handle spells using the same mechanic as Druids. Wizards, Bards, and Sorcerers use different mechanics for selecting and casting spells.

As a gnome druid, your BAB is 0. Lets say you have a strength score of 12 and a dexterity score of 14. your BONUSES for those would be +1 STR and +2 DEX.
Your Meele attack bonus would be your BAB+ your STR + your size, so
0+1+1= +2 to hit with a club.
Your Ranged attack bonus would be BAB + DEX + Size, so
0+2+1 = +3 to hit with a bow.

some of the things you asked.
CMB is Combat Maneuver Bonus. It is your BAB + Your Strength + Size bonus. In your druid's case that will just be your strength bonus, unless you are playing a Halfling or gnome, (you get +1 for being small)
CMD is Combat Maneuver Defense. it is 10+Strength bonus + dex bonus + size bonus + {extras}. the extras come from feats or class abilities, they will tell you if you get them.
Touch is your AC without armor. Touch is used for attacks that affect you if they touch any part of you, including your armor.
Flatfooted is your AC without your dexterity bonus. It means you don't have time to react the attack and cant dodge / move out of the way.
BAB is Base Attack Bonus. it's the number added to all your attack roles. At first level your druid will have +0.
Spell Resistance, you don't have any, and wont for a long time.
Melee, is your BAB + your strength bonus. it's what you use to hit some one with a sword / mace/ big stick.
Ranged is your BAB + your Dex bonus. you use it to hit some one not next to you with an arrow / dagger/ big rock.

hope that helps nome

Pathfinder does have a guide. Check out the Strategy Guide. Despite being horably mis-named, it is pretty much exactly what you are asking for.
it gives step-by-step instructions on character creation and advice on skill / feat choices. It also walks you through all the rest of the rules you need.
The beginner's Box is awesome, but it uses a watered down version of the rules. The Strat Guide uses the core rules.
It only uses the core rules, however, so there is still more to learn, but it gives you a pretty good base knowledge.

So, say our intrepid band of <Hero's> is facing off against the BBEG. Both sides are in the talking "feeling each other out" phase, waiting for the other to make the first move.
The BBEG makes the first move, fireing off a supernatural ability.
Exactly when is initive rolled? Does the BBEG get off her attack, then roll? Does everyone roll, and go in order as normal? Both sides were ready, waiting for a trigger. Does the trigger happen before everyone gets to move?
On a related note, can you ready an action outside of combat? "I stand arround the corner and as soon as someone comes into site, i shoot them."

Wouldn't androids qualify as fully sentient AI?

Glewistee wrote:

Athaleon wrote:

You can change someone's alignment by strapping them to a chair and repeatedly casting Protection from ____________ on them.

Where are these rules. I'm not finding them.

That was incorrect. However you can change your own alignment by doing it. Now if you can force them to keep casting it then you can make them do it.

OK, where are those rules, because I'm pretty sure they would be in the same place I looked for the others and couldn't find them.

You can change someone's alignment by strapping them to a chair and repeatedly casting Protection from ____________ on them.

Where are these rules. I'm not finding them.

I believe the note is there in case you're running this outside of Organized Play. For Starfinder Society games, the credits earned are listed on the chronicle sheet, as usual.

If your question was just about the 10% rate, people seem to have answered that!

no, it was specifically about society play. I haven't run a lot of PFS Scenarios; is adding non-PFS awards common in those?

I can find reference t selling a dead PC's gear at 10% to pay for removing a condition, but it specifically says that they cannot sell items found during the adventure, unless they have already purchased the item.

Also something about selling back unused consumables purchased during the scenario at 10%.

Nothing about selling foes equipment.

Ran "Into the Unknown" last night and noticed that in the first quest, under the Rewards header at the end it says the PC's can sell gear.

The PCs can also sell their foes’ gear for 10% of its value, as usual.

I'm not finding any mention of this in the Roleplaying Guild Guide, and this is a significant change from the PFS rules. Am I missing something?

Voss wrote:

Glewistee wrote:

I noticed some thing in the Themes section. The format of abilities goes something like;

Reduce any penalties to (skill) checks you make when (relevant event happens) by 1.

Is there any mechanical reason to reduce the DC over giving an equal bonu to the skill check?

Yes. Quite a few- the biggest is the more bonuses you throw on, the less the die roll matters. The d20 systems that came out of 3rd edition D&D (and 3rd itself) have a huge, consistent problem with making die rolls irrelevant, and worse they largely did it unintentionally.

Reducing penalties (and taking 10 on mundane tasks, but still needing to roll for 'adventuring' tasks) are lateral improvements that don't kick the resolution mechanic in the head.

Just adding more bigger numbers always makes a joke out of the task resolution system. And d20 skills are wobbly enough anyway (often surpassed or rendered obsolete by spells, or exist, but don't really justify their own existence with useful effects)

(But Amith is correct- as you wrote it, reducing penalties is not the same thing as reducing the DC).

The OP was simply incorrect. Themes typically say things like "reduce the DC to recall information about relevant subject by 5", nothing about reducing penalties.

Yup.. it was late and I was thinking about a related question I had about Pathfinder. I did mean DC instead of penalties.

I noticed some thing in the Themes section. The format of abilities goes something like;

Reduce any penalties to (skill) checks you make when (relevant event happens) by 1.

Is there any mechanical reason to reduce the DC over giving an equal bonu to the skill check?

I've been noticing similar wording in some published adventures, i.e. Reducing DC over adding to the roll. It just seems to me to be easier to add a bunch of bonuses to the roll than to add bonuses to the roll and alter the targe number.

I let my players choose and run their cohorts with the understanding that I get veto on any choices.
As for controlling them, I treat them the same way I treat animal companions / familiars / etc. The player controls them until I do.

that sounds like a pretty good way to handle it.

I ended up using the troop rules for the undead and sent them in in groups of two troops, with 2 more each round. I have a large group with some power players, so this kept the fight exciting and prevented it being a blow out.

Not really up on the ritual rules, but i'll look them over and see if I can be helpful.

LOL... I found this in the Reign of Winter Chronicle Sheet:

Adventure_______Sanctioned Content______________Level
"The Snows_______An Early Frost and The Depths__________1-2
of Summer"_______of Winter"(area A1-P5)

the second part appears to be a misprint imported from the RoW Chrinicle

Qadira is famous for its horse racing

James Jacobs wrote:

In a lot of ways, this simplification of language is in the same category as not having different coinages for every nation. It's a simplification put into the world to ease game play.

But it's also not that unreasonable a simplification (in either case).

For most of the history of the world, every country used its own coinage, but people would cheerfully accept almost everything, based largely on its weight (and purity, as far as it could be assessed). A silver coin was a silver coin, and a big silver coin was worth more than a small silver coin. (And that iconic image of a pirate biting a coin? Yeah, gold (and silver) are both really soft; if you can't dent a "gold" coin with your teeth, it's probably fake. Cheaper and easier than using the aqua regia test on it like a real alchemist would.) Even today, there are lots of spots where i've been able to pay for something that I wanted with a mixed handful of US dollars, British pounds, and Euro's -- basically, the shrapnel at the bottom of my pockets after a long trip.

I see the universal coinage as being a result of the Church of Abadar's influence. Having a god whose churches are also banks goes a long way to the standardization of monetary systems.

I thought about doing something like that, but wanted a little more direct interaction from the NPC's. I want them to be making a tangible effect on the encounters. We already scraped the relationship rules, and they are quickly falling more into the background than I'd like.

I want something like half way between your solution and actually running them as separate characters. Using the cards lets the players choose how they are helping, but only takes a couple of seconds of game time to make the effect felt.

I also planed to have the NPC's condition match that of the player controlling them, but I like your idea of using the key to randomize it a bit.

A while back I posted my idea about using the Jade Regent NPC's as buff cards. I put it on the JR Forum, but i don't think there is much traffic through there.

For those not familiar, in JR the PC's are traveling for months with a caravan. they are accompanied by a large number of NPC's. The NPC's include not only a bunch of NPC-classed followers, but a large number of fairly powerful PC classed characters. These NPC's are important to the storyline and are one of the selling points of the AP.

The problem I'm having now is that in book 3, 90% of the encounters are outdoors, using the Caravan Combat Subsystem. We decided to not use Caravan Combat (the rules are broken and at higher levels guarantee failure). But doing so created some other problems. The NPC's are all present for all the combats. I am going to either ignore them and come up with reasons why the are not helping, or have someone else run them. This option will potentially double combat time, as either I will have to spend time running them as the players watch me fight myself, or have them running 2 characters each.

A couple people on the boards proposed having the players choose to have the NPC's give static buffs to the combat. My rough ideas are on the above forum.

Some non-spoilery background for the NPC's

The text keeps mentioning "the Caravan Master's pendant", but I can't find any other mention of what it is. Looking over his stat block in BL doesn't mention a special pendant. I even looked at his picture and while he is wearing multiple necklaces, none of them stand out.

sorry about the double post;

Doram ob'Han had a great idea in the Hungry Storm (GM Reference) thread about “NPC Action Cards” that I’d like to expand on.

I found another lower on the boards from bbreitz Alternate System for including major NPCs that does something similar.

I’m thinking of having each NPC be represented by a card that is given to a the players. Each card will have 3-5 buffs that the controlling player can choose from each round at the start of their initiative, and maybe an option that will cause the buffs to stop for the rest of the combat (the NPC throws themselves in front of an arrow and are out of commission for the rest of the encounter or even the rest of the day/week if bad enough).

the NPC's general health will mirror the controlling player's character. As the character gets damaged, the NPC will take damage also.

Some thoughts,

Glewistee: ** spoiler omitted **

Thanks, that is helpful.

my players probably wouldn't have even noticed, but my OCD kicked in and I was having trouble rectifying it.

Arise dead thread!!
I'm planning on running this as soon as my characters get out of Ravenscraig (I was already planning on having them run into Goti's mother and when I ran into this book I was elated).
One question though, I noticed a small problem with the basic premise. The problem is with

The Obsidian Fold is a world spanning order that is composed of bonded pairs of male lovers.

Glewistee wrote:

I will point out that there is a legal cleric archetype that does allow this, the Separatist.

Not quite.

2 Things

1) Is that getting the benefits of that archtype (picking your domains) without the costs of that archetype (one of the domains functions at -2 everything) is one thing you can do if you try to swap one deity in for the deity you want to worship.

2) the archetype doesn't say that you're getting your power from a different god than the one you worship.

2) but you are getting the benefits from the one you are worshiping while potentially convinced that they are a different Diety.

My first PRPG character is a wandering gambler that I wanted to worship the goddess of Luck. Desna and Calistria didn't really fit into my concept, so I went Seperatist. He worships Luck as a divine being, and Calistria finds it amusing enough to grant him abilities. I'm not obnoxious with it though. Most people at the table don't even realize he,s a cleric.

3. A player bringing a character to the table who has a deity listed from the specifically allowed list, receives mechanical benefit from that deity but venerates a different deity that is not on the specifically allowed list and in character attributes her mechanical benefits to the deity that they venerate?

...

I will point out that there is a legal cleric archetype that does allow this, the Separatist.

the Strategy Guide is actually really good for stepping someone through character creation and understanding basic rules.

So the Belt of Fallen Heroes got a significant upgrade. Changes are in bold.

you missed half of Varisia. how about;

(10) Varisia
• Northern Varisia
• People; Humans-Shoanti, Orcs, Half-Orcs
• Wasteland inhabited by tribes of Shoanti nomads
• Sothern Varisia
• People: Humans-Varisian and Cheliaxian, Dwarves, Elves, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halflings
• Wild Frontier of independent city states.
• Large Chelish presence, but not control.

Not bad.
Couple of things, though. The Inner Sea is the entire region shown on the big map, consisting of Avistan to the north and Garund to the south of said Inner Sea.
Also, the portals in the Worldwound open to the Abyss, not Hell. There is a difference (Hell is Devils, Abyss is demons).
Lastly, if you look under the box you type your text into, there is a button next to the words "How to format your text". It show you how to make your web page addresses into links.

Sorry for the late reply, been out of touch for a few days...

thanks for the link.

Unfortunately, it just reinforces what I was finding. there are no good tiny choices for my Alchemist looking for a cool alternative to reduce person..

Has anyone done a list breaking down the various Monstrous Humanoids by size? it would be really helpful for using the different levels of the spell.

Also, this

Inner Sea Explained (Little Cheeky language)

Numeria = Cimmeria vs evil robots from space
Nidal = Fascist Italy ruled by Pinhead from Hellrazer
Jalmeray = India
Varisia = Americas - Colonial Expansionists displacing the natives, forcing them to the desolated regions
Thuvia = Northern Africa
Alkenstar = Steampunk

I know it is an Arcane focused book, but any thing that a druid or hunter can access in the book?

there are Prayer Books that give divine casters access to preparation rituals like the ones wizards get from spellbooks

Actually I think I missed this part,

The fighter selects a number of combat feats that he knows equal to his weapon training bonus.

So, if I already had "Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Katana" I could be considered to have "Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Bastard Sword"

under "Advanced Weapon Training" we get the ability,

Would "Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Combat)" be considered a valid feat choice?

in other words could a 9th level fighter with Weapon Training in Heavy Blades be able to use one of his 2 Combat Feat choices to choose Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Bastard Sword?

under "Advanced Weapon Training" we get the ability,

Would "Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Combat)" be considered a valid feat choice?

in other words could a 9th level fighter with Weapon Training in Heavy Blades be able to use one of his 2 Combat Feat choices to choose Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Bastard Sword?

Illusion School wrote:

Pattern: Like a figment, a pattern spell creates an image that others can see, but a pattern also affects the minds of those who see it or are caught in it. All patterns are mind-affecting spells.

Emphasis mine.

If you cannot see it you do not have to save. Always played it like that (despite the line of 'caught in it').

If I made a Figment (some fearsome dragon RAAAAAWWRRR) in the deeper darkness that you couldn't see, you wouldn't have to save against it either, to disbelieve or otherwise.

look at it this way,

Pattern: Like a figment, a pattern spell creates an image that others can see, but a pattern also affects the minds of those who see it or are caught in it. All patterns are mind-affecting spells.

Emphasis mine

We do not know what other races live on Castrovel except Lashunta, Elves, and whatever beastmen are.

The Formian control an entire continent and are in a constant state of war with the Lashunta.

i'm not sure the flags are in the right order either. The names seem to match the designs in a different order, ie the second flag would be more fitting for "City of Keys" than a nation of warrior women. The red and black one brings to mind hobgoblins more than not-indian city of arches.

We should also note that we know less about Garund than a quick glance at the Inner Sea map would lead you to believe. I read somewhere that the Golarion equivalent of the Tropic of Cancer passes through the Mana Wastes near the southern end of the map. In the real world, the Tropic of Cancer passes through the Sahara Desert slightly north of its center. So, either Garund is positioned further north than real world Africa or it is noticeably bigger. If the latter is true, then there is a LOT of unexplored territory off the south end of the Inner Sea map.

Looking at the world map, it seems that the portion of Garund shown on the Inner Sea map is about 1/4th of the continent.

I was reading through the Corentyn section of City’s of Golarion. The section states that it is “a city perched on the richest trading route in the known world.” Which got me to pull out all my maps of Golarion and wonder why exactly would that be the richest trading route in the known world.

The North Track begins/ends there, and the South Track runs past it to Azir. Looking at the world map, it seems that the only trade that would pass through it would go to Varisia, Nidal and The Land of the Linnorm Kings, including the trade coming from Tian Xia over the pole. To the south there is Sargava (which Cheliax will not trade with) and lots of Pirates and small scattered realms, and we don’t really know anything about Droon, except that it is ruled by lizardfolk. There are only 2 known trading partners across the ocean in Arcadia, and I have the impression that neither is very large.

On the other hand, there is the eastern exit from the Inner Sea. You have at least 5 major nations along the east coast of Garand; Osirion, Katapesh, Nex, Geb, and Holomog as well as points south. There is Jalmeray. There is Qadira, the gate between the Inner Sea and Kelesh, the largest empire on the planet. It would be the most direct sea route to the Impossible Kingdoms.

Trade with the interior of Avistan (including all the Lake Encarthan natons, Berovy, Mendev, the River Kingdons, Galt, and Numeria) would flow down the Stellen to Cassomir.

Looking at all that, it would seem that both Katheer and even Cassomir and would be more deserving of the title of “a city perched on the richest trading route in the known world”

I remember seeing a map that showed all the trade routes, but I don’t remember where it was and can’t find it.

LOL...

Friendly Local Gaming Store

see what happens when you look in the right place (in this case further up the same page)?

thanks

So...

Frost Bomb*; When the alchemist creates a bomb, he can choose to have it inflict cold damage. Creatures that take a direct hit from a frost bomb are staggered on their next turn unless they succeed on a Fortitude save.

What is the DC of the Fort Save?