you had to throw in gunslinger didn't you..... grrr :P Are we still allowed to call them 'gunslingers'? Isn't the more PC term 'firearm afficionado'?
So what spells are actually affected? You've missed by far the most commonly* cast Evil spells: Summon Monster <whatever> When used to summon a creature with the [Evil] subtype (such as a Lemure or Dretch), Summon Monster x is an evil spell. . *Not counting, in PFS, Infernal Healing.
Hello, my name is Bigrin da Troll. You killed my joke. Prepare to die (after we finish this important mission for the Venture Captain)!
"Mornin' Sam."
Lesser Planar Ally and Lesser Planar Binding are Conjuration (Calling) spells, which among other things allow the devil in question to use its own summoning abilities and to pass through a Magic Circle vs Evil. Monster Summoning V is not. It is a Conjuration (Summoning) spell with a drastically shorter duration, and thus is not "a similar spell."
Does the "traitor" have a high Bluff skill? I think an abject apology and obvious contrition, coupled with a story about being weak-willed in the face of the enemy's foul enchantment magic that temporarily turned them against the party should buy a lot of forgiveness - probably total forgiveness and some grumbling about upping one's WILL save. Because if the only difference in how the party treats this "traitor" when he genuinely fails a WILL save and turns against him versus when he chooses to turn against them is based on the metagame knowledge that he failed a WILL save, that's a problem. . P.S.: I'm assuming that this group is made up of mature individuals who are more interested in having a fun roleplaying experience than keping track of slights and plotting vegeance for every (real or imagined transgression.
My Chelish wizard loves Drendle Dreng, as he seems to be the only VC to keep reasonable hours. Most of the others expect me to be awake first thing in the afternoon!
"I'm sorry Journ-O-LST-3, the answer to your query is restricted to GREEN clearance. Would you like a Bouncy Bubble Beverage instead?"
Wearing armour lowered our AC, and we liked it!
My party almost killed themselves to disease, by misunderstanding how dangerous diseases could be. The key is that everything is based on the DC of the disease - the Heal check to get a +4 on saves, the Caster Level check to remove the disease with the spell, all of it. My PCs took no precautions against catching diseases when they spent a day adventuring in the stinky sewers because they figured the Fort saves were a breeze and the Cleric could take Remove Disease if they did roll a '1' and get sick. I made them roll a save when they first entered the disease-infested sewer water, then again for every fight they had in the knee-deep sludge (as they dipped open wounds into the water), plus an additional save every time a Fireball or similar effect had them breathing a cloud of sewer steam. Sure, most of them only failed on a '3' or less, the first time! But that's the other hidden danger - once you are diseased, further saves to resist repeated exposure are made at DC+2 (+4 after two failed saves, etc.). By the end of the days adventuring, every member of the party had Sewer Disease at at least DC +2, and the Elf Wizard had it at DC +10. The first night, the Cleric, the Paladin, and the Ranger/Rogue stayed up all night treating the other three's diseases, failing to get rest and making the Paladin & the Cleric fatigued. Then the Pally and the R/R failed their Heal checks (which they had been assuming were merely a DC 15 - a holdover from 3.5 - and not the save DC of the disease) which meant only the Cleric's patient received the +4 bonus. At least at that point they got a bit more organized and loaded up on magic for the day designed to promote rest & healing and removing diseases. Unfortunately, the Cleric failed all six checks for the Remove Disease spells he'd memorized in his third & fourth level spell slots, because his +8 caster level checks weren't any better than the PCs Fort save numbers. Eventually they started tossing Lesser Restorations left and right to mitigate the stat loss, remove the fatigue, and everybody except the Cleric took complete bed rest but it still took several days for everyone to recover or be cured. In other words, for a disease to be serious enough to endanger a PC in the first place, it is also serious enough that getting rid of it is no minor matter. PCs who load up on the protections and then expose themselves to disease willy-nilly can find themselves in a world of hurt. . That said, a disease* (or poison) with a DC equal to eleven plus a character's FORT save is 75% likely to have no real effect, whereas one with a DC equal to 16 plus the character's FORT save is 43.75% likely to. At 17+FORT that drops to 36%, 18+FORT 27.75%, at 19+FORT 19%, and at 20+FORT 9.75%. *For a "Cure: 1 save" condition. For a "2 consecutive saves" condition the numbers are about 3/4 of what's given above.
A Kingdom. The Ultimate Campaign rules are available here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCampaign/kingdomsAndWar/kingdomB uilding.html At the bottom of the page is the table for converting gold to Build Points (BP), the currency of Kingdoms, so you can build yourself a starting Settlement and, if necessary, an Army or two.
Actually, no video game has ever made YOU count your arrows - the software does it for you, and in Pathfinder if my character sheet tracks my arrow expenditure for me (such as most VTT software), I'm thrilled. When I'm stuck with plain old pencil & paper, I grit my teeth, count every non-magic arrow fired as 'expended' and buy another 20 every chance I get. I only track 'special' arrows - and even then, not all that closely unless they cost more than 50 gold. Most of the time, we treat such things as 'housekeeping' that gets ignored - it's assumed that we have regular enough access to some source of food/water/ammunition/rope/chalk/etc. that it's only important when we head off to cross the trackless wilderness or delve the deepest dungeon - in other words, when the adventure calls for it. Would I prefer to have every pound, every meal, every shot accounted for all the time? Absolutely, but unless I'm using computerized character sheets to track everything for the players, it's just not worth the hassle. . On the topic of the 'Endless Ammunition' enchantment, I think Paizo made a huge mistake in making it a '+2 equivalent' enchantment instead of a fixed cost enchantment, such as 'Adaptive'. While it might be worth the extra 10,000gp a +1 endless ammunition longbow) costs, it certainly isn't worth the extra 32,000gp for a +3 endless ammunition longbow.
True, however you can call someone a jerk for playing their perfectly legal character in a disruptive manner. People have said it time and time again and I agree that it's players and not builds that ruin PFS for others.And how do you measure disruptive? At what point or standard deviation from the party does someone HAVE to slow down for the rest of the group? When the rest of the group is not having fun.
My preference would be to see the rule (clarification?) that having a weapon dangling on a weapon cord does prevent reloading a firearm. Failing that, I would like to see weapon cords banned in PFS. My home campaign has already adopted a house rule that reloading both barrels of a double-barreled firearm is at least a Swift Action, in order to keep Gunslingers more in line with Manyshot archers.
Five 7th level characters sit down for a good old-fashioned dungeon-crawl scenario . . . with a 3rd level Zen Archer Monk. The bard immediately pulled out a rod and offered the monk an extended Heroism, followed by a wand of Mage Armour and a score of cold iron arrows (they were expecting to face foes with DR/cold iron). The opening round of every combat the bard would cast Abundant Ammo or Feather Step on the monk, and in the two big fights he Hasted the party - making the tactical decision to include the monk in the effect instead of the other outlying PC. The bard pretty much single-handedly turned the party from feeling like 'five people and somebody's annoying kid brother' to 'six equally contributing members'. It was one of the finest examples of 'support' I've ever seen from a 'support class'.
An 'Undead Uprising' (not-so-)natural disaster should get their attention, and it's easily tailored to the level & abilities of your PCs.
This is what I did with the Varnling Host in my campaign: These powerful adventurers are being sent into the hills and tors south of Restov (and east of the Kamelands) to confront the giants there, and the centaurs of the Nomen Plains. Maegar Varn, (N male human Ari 3, Wiz 6, EldK 3, surprisingly high CHA) fifth or sixth son of Baron Andoth Varn of Wernock, is often noted for having more money than sense. Fancying himself something of an archaeologist, this aristocrat dabbled in wizardry before buying his way into the ranks of the Eldritch Knights of the Technic League, where he wrote dozens of dreary and mediocre papers on the Rain of Stars. Willas Gunderson, (CN male human Ranger 8) an Ulfen nomad from the border of Numeria, he accompanied Maegar Varn on his return from his most recent journey to the Numerian capitol Starfall. A skilled ranger and woodsman, Willas crossed Brevoy to put as much space between him and his people's historical enemy, the Tiger Lord barbarians, as he could. Kaspar Morgarion, (NG male human Clr 12 (Erastil – Community, Good) Patriarch of Erastil and close friend to the Varn family, is a surprising sight amongst adventurers. Long past middle age, Kaspar abandoned thirty years of peaceful ministering to his flock in the Barony of Wernock to return the adventuring life. Erastil has called him to go into the Stolen Lands, he says, and protect the worshippers who live there from 'the storm that approaches'. Gorney Howitt, (NG male human Ftr 10, Brd 2, Master Craftsman, max ranks Craft Blacksmithing) guardsman and shieldmate to Maegar Varn since childhood, grizzled veteran of a thousand battles, and surprisingly talented singer. He has of course accompanied his 'young master' on this latest expedition. Regarding the coming adventure as 'the foolishness of youth', Gurney seeks nothing more than to settle down to the peaceful life of a village blacksmith, working during the day and playing his lute in the evenings. Cephal Lorentus, (CN male ½-elf Wiz 12, pigeon familiar, more comfortable with animals than people) like many half-elves, is rumoured to be the illegitimate offspring of a Chelaxian noble and his elvish slave-concubine – rumours that are rarely spoken in the presence of the powerful wizard or the birds that he loves. Seeking a place to establish an aviary and bird sanctuary larger than any have seen before, Cephal jumped at the chance to join the Varn expedition. Baron Varn has recently married the young daughter of an old family friend - a minor noble whose estates neighbour those of the Varn family
I would rule that the troll automatically succeeds on the FORT save vs death if its regeneration is functioning that round - though having just read the sections on regeneration and coup-de-grace I note the situation is not specifically addressed by the rules. Though I must point out that most trolls are perfectly nice people who just want to be left alone to eat whatever they find - be it animal, vegetable, or mineral. We are woefully misunderstood by adventurers who have been listening to too much dwarven propaganda.
[Halfling Slaves] don't eat as much.But what about elevensies? "I don't think he knows about elevensies."
Character: Zorbo, Male Human Barbarian 6, General
At the Thorn River camp, Kressle escaped and headed south to warn the Stag Lord. When the PCs showed up there, Kressle luckily escaped again, and hasn't been seen since. Sixteen months into owning their own kingdom, the ASSASSINATION! event occurred, targetting General of the Kingdom Zorbo. Recalling that advantages in terrain, planning, stealth, etc. can up an encounter's CR, I left Kressle as the third level ranger she'd been when first encountered (by my 6 PC party). Carefully sneaking into the General's quarters in Stag Castle one night - an event aided by her thorough knowledge of the layout of the ruined version - after Gen. Zorbo had been drinking heavily in town (an event witnessed by Kressle, so she knew he was drunk). Kressle awoke the General with an axe to the head (an automatic crit, though we don't use the coup-de-grace rules) costing him about a third of his hit points, then won initiative and hit the flat-footed, prone, and drunken (sickened) Zorbo twice more - despite the chain shirt 'pyjamas' his perenially paranoid player insists he sleeps in every night. Finally able to act, Zorbo raged and leapt to his feet, suffering an attack of opportunity (hit) and lunged across the room for his greatsword. He'd have been better to wait until he had a weapon in hand before raging, but old reflexes die hard in some players. Next round Kressle closed on the General with a 5' step, and hit him high & low. General Zorbo bellowed for the guards and took two mighty, power-attacking swings. While the first came close to hitting (close enough that had he not been power attacking, it would have landed), the second was quite wild. There arose a commotion in the corridor where the guard responded to the General's call for aid, but not before Kressle took another pair of swings, stepping past the General to get between him and the door. She only landed a single hit, but it was enough to bring him dangerously close to death (single-digit HPs). As the guard slammed into the door, trying to dislodge the small wedge Kressle had placed beneath it before her attack, the General abandoned his power attack and swung true, hitting Kressle a vicious blow that left her well-bloodied and thinking of escape. Unfortunately, his follow up swing again missed by a mile. Equally unfortunately, Kressle's best way out was through General Zorbo and she launched a vicious pair of blows that not only felled him, but decapitated his downed body. As the guard and his backup succeeded in breaking down the door, Kressle scooped up the general's head and made for the window. Unfortunately for the two guards (hum War 1, I let Zorbo's player control them), they caught up to her before she could climb through and escape. Kressle cut down the first guard with her axe, and demanded the other back off. When he hesitated, she gutted him too. Despite the commotion raised Kressle succeeded in her escape over the castle walls and into the city. The following week saw the PCs (and their troops) turning the city upside down to find her, but Kressle was long gone with her trophy. |
