Jack Amy's page

I'm in support of this, the main thing to consider is determining how much gold is lost when objectives are not met/significant loot isn't found.

It's a real shame that 1,000 doesn't divide nicely into 3. I could see other potential advantages to having a more flexible XP system than just being more inclusive of quests.

Out of subtier XP anyone? At least in PF1, it's possible to find yourself ahead or behind you wealth by level if you play up or down a little too often. But if XP is increased or reduced relative to the gold that is awarded, the problem goes away.

However, to ensure that all levels have 3 sessions, I think you'd need to award 335 XP per level, which is kind of a messy number.

I think 3 XP per level, 1 XP per scenario is going to be the cleanest way of tracking paperwork. Maybe quest chronicles don't have to be specific to a set of quests?

Looking forward to seeing Scribbleface resurrected as a Pathfinder Chronicler.

It might be tricky to know what the best system for setting tiers is until we have a better idea of the disparity between levels. It makes sense for Starfinder to have subtiers 1-2 & 3-4 at tier 1-4 as level 3 characters get a pretty big power boost from weapon specialization (I have no idea about higher levels though, we're still naturally at the level 1-3 range), but that might not be the case in 2E. With low level disparity, we might want actually want broader tiers.

I would like to see a revision on how tier is determined. APL works for the most part, but sometimes the results can be weird. A system of addition could be a little more balanced as adding more PCs will only increase the difficulty of the scenario. With this, the 4-player adjustment could be rebranded and you'd have four distinct subtiers: Low Easy, Low Hard, High Easy & High Hard. Using Tier 1-4 as a quick example, T1-2 Easy is for parties with a combined level of 4-6, T1-2 Hard is 7-10, T3-4 Easy is 11-14, and T3-4 Hard is 15+.

If the new campaign does decide to have scenarios that are exclusive to 4* and 5* GMs, then I would like to see those scenarios available to 1E PFS GMs that have already put in that time.

I think GMs should still be able to earn 1E stars, and those stars should be displayed on the message boards still. I can't speak for everyone of course, but I certainly have a degree of pride in having earned them.

I don't know how popular it would be with the existing 5*s and other GMs who are working hard towards the 5* requirements, but it might be necessary to relax the requirements for that prestigious 5th star as it gets progressively more challenging to earn with no new specials being released and fewer players available to play them. Or just make Bonekeep evergreen ;)

I look forward to the challenge of earning 15 'stars'.

As there will be a finite amount of content, I think that opening up more replay options would be beneficial. At the moment, with new content coming out every month, there is always a opportunity for people to play no matter how much content they've consumed so far. From August 2019 onwards, that will no longer be the case and players are going to find it harder to find to assemble tables that have had nobody play a particular scenario yet.

Really excited the see this change. Until this announcement I'd never really considered Pathfinder combat to be that restrictive, but compared with this, it feels like 2nd Edition could be a significant improvement.

Looking forward to the next blog, keep up the good work.

A little disappointing this hasn't seen more traffic, where's the contention! ;)

I guess we've just got to hope that Tonya or John run their eyes over this post, think it's a good idea and give it the thumbs up. Thanks for the backing this has gotten so far though, and the insights posted certainly help support this idea.

With Crypt of the Everflame, Masks Of The Living God and City Of Golden Death all being included on the latest humble bundle, now felt like a good time to ask for this series of modules to be set up for play in campaign mode.

I've only got two brief arguments for this, but they are:

• Each module is spaced 2 levels apart, meaning that in order to run this in sequence, other scenarios need to fill the gap which unfortunately breaks up the trilogy.
• Crypt of the Everflame's coming-of-age theme makes the scenario more appropriate for characters that are not yet Pathfinders, and the 2nd half of the book I hear can be tough on 1st level characters as the expectation is you level up partway through.

Hi Team,

When viewing any of my Pathfinder Society aliases, clicking on the Sessions tab would usually give me a view of all sessions assigned to that character. Currently, only player sessions are visible and GMed sessions are missing from that view. Please could you advise.

Hi all,

The question of the interaction between these abilities has come up for a player at our local PFS lodge, and there is some disagreement among the GMs there as to how it should be ruled, thus I'm bringing it here.

Abilities in question

The character in question has a sorcerer level with the draconic bloodline (white) to increase the damage of his cold spells.

Using magic missile as an example (an evocation spell with the [force] descriptor)
Step 1 Apply the elemental spell metamagic feat to magic missile to change the damage to fire. The elemental spell feat doesn't care about about the spells energy descriptor, nor the type of damage so this should work. elemental magic missile is now a [force] spell that deals fire damage.
Step 2 Versatile evocation can now be used to change the damage type of elemental magic missile as it doesn't initially check for the descriptor of the spell, just that the spell deals acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage. We chose to change the damage to cold, and as per versatile evocation, the spells descriptor changes to [cold].
Step 3 Apply the bonus damage from the draconic bloodline, as elemental magic missile is now a spell with the [cold] descriptor.

Are there any reasons that this interaction doesn't line up with the RAW and should be disallowed at a PFS table?

Thanks for the feedback. The way we played it was that the gear stayed with the humanoid part and it worked out fine. The extra 5 attacks were good, but certainly not game breaking due to them being secondary.

Hi All,

When using monstrous physique II to take the form of a Vouivre, is all of your gear assumed to be at the creature's humanoid end? If so, would this allow manufactured weapon attacks from the humanoid end and all 5 natural attacks from the dragon end, or should it be assumed manufactured weapon attacks would have to be used at the dragon end, replacing the claw attacks?

Hi Katina,

Bonekeep has appeared in my downloads, many thanks for your help. :)

Hi,

Would it be possible to have 'Pathfinder Society Special: Ruins of Bonekeep—Level 3: The Wakening Tomb (PFRPG) PDF' added to my downloads?

Many Thanks,
Jack

Inquisitor can be a good 1 or 2 levels dip for wisdom synergy. I don't really see what an alchemist gets out of it though.

Anyone know of a scenario or module with an Oracle in it? I am having some difficulties with figuring out formatting for the character I want to submit.

You may be able to use the pregen oracle for the formatting.

My personal recommendation for class and archetype for this kind of challenge is the build an optimal Rogue (Phantom Thief). Your call if you want to unchain it, but that would certainly be an optimal choice.

I would start with Honor's Echo or another quest line as they are designed to be 1 hour shorts. It will be a good test to see if this way of playing Pathfinder works for you and your colleagues.

I would think that playing a scenario over several days might disrupt the flow of things, but then PbP works so I don't see why this wouldn't. It can be difficult to predict how long any part of a scenario is going to take, so splitting any of them into episodes ahead of time will be challenging.

Also, while not immediately relevant I'm sure, some higher level combats can go on for over an hour.

My point is that your contributions to this thread are not constructive. Don't tell me not to play a Rogue just because you somehow can't make a good one.

I'm pretty sure BNW knows how to make a decent rogue, I believe he's just pointing out that a character doesn't need levels in rogue to be a good rogue, and that other classes may help realize your concept better.

We're currently crushing emerald spire with 6, so if you can I'd go with 4 players. If that's not an option keeping everyone a level behind will add some extra challenge.

If everyone is currently at 3xp and you want to play all 16 floors then you'll want to slow track 4 more floors than recommended, 2 to bring them in line with the expected level, and another 2 to put them 1 level behind.

I think the 2 levels of ZAM would start to feel like dead weight at the higher levels, so I'd be inclined to go with the full archery bard build.

If you wanted an arcane bond & arcane strike, then the arcane duelist archetype offers both at the price of no longer being a skill and knowledge monkey.

QFT. A level 1 character with 7 CHA, class skill, and 1 rank will have a +2, +6 when it's their animal companion. That means a 19 to push, and you cannot successfully push if the animal is injured. Good luck with that. If you're in a situation where you can't take 10, there's a chance you'll fail to get it to respond to a known trick as it's a DC 10 check for that.

Player: "I tell my lion to attack. It's got the attack trick trained twice."
GM: "Roll that Handle Animal."
Player: Only a 3 on the die, total is 9."
GM: "Your cat is now compulsively grooming itself, though still following its last command of defend."

Imagine the party's reaction when you fail that check on Heel to get it to stop attacking a surrendering NPC.

+8 with a training harness. Calculating a lesser value to prove a point without acknowledging the original number quoted is pretty poor form. If you see an error in my calculation please inform me, or the bonus as 1st must be considered to be +8 and not +6.

Why are people pushing their animal companions in combat? DC 25 is high regardless of your charisma being 7 or 10. Allocating 4 points of your 20 point-but for a +2 to handle animal checks to increase your push chance percentage from 15% to 25% is not good.

The situation you mention seems pretty anecdotal, and isn't really a compelling argument for a higher charisma. Assuming your animal companion is injured, the chance of your AC failing to follow your command is 15% at 1st level. The loss of action economy is pretty bad here, but it's at 1st level and the benefits from a strong ability array show much better than at any other level. The character gets so much more from having +1 to hit & +2 to damage from a higher STR, or +1 INIT, REF & AC from a higher DEX than a +10% chance to handle your AC. Not only that, but this drawback is completely negated by 4th level, and extra points invested into charisma would now effectively be meaningless.

Handle animal works off Charisma. I would not suggest dumping Charisma if you want to be able to have a reasonable shot at pushing your animal companion.

True, but does pushing an AC happen often enough to justify lowering another ability score?

At first level you're looking at a +8 (1 rank + 3 class skill + 4 link + 2 training harness - 2 charisma) so you're only failing to command your AC with known tricks on 1, or on a 1-3 if it has taken damage.

Once you've hit 4th level and have a +11, you arguably don't need to take any more ranks in handle animal as you'll always pass the DC 12. Yes you'll need a 14+ on the dice to push your companion, but you shouldn't be doing this in combat and have the time to make the check out of combat.

Of course, more ranks in handle animal is handy to have if you ever decide to retire an existing companion.

The Wild Child dip is great, martial flexibility works well with hunter tactics in addition to brawler's cunning allowing you to bypass the INT 13 requirement.

Alternatively, you do not need a wisdom of 14, 12 is plenty with a headband to give you access to your higher level spells (I suppose will saves are a thing... but I wouldn't worry about it).

Or both, and treat yourself to a starting strength of 18 (after mods) ;)

My assumption is that the choice of word 'operate' is to allow the greatest number of barbarian archetypes to be legal for use with the unchained barbarian, and to use good sense to determine what is compatible.

Mad Dog does not appear to change the way rage operates, and simply alters its availability in a way that is easily calculable with zero confusion. This is contrary to the urban barbarian archetype which changes the function of rage in such a way that it's obviously incompatible with the Unchained Barbarian.

To disallow a player option due to a dispute in the language that appears to contradict the developers intent feels like shaky ground to stand on unless we get some commentary from the team.

To those opposed to the Unchained Mad Dog, what would be the negative impact caused by someone sitting down at one of your tables with such a character? How would it's inclusion be detrimental to organized play, or to your play experience?

Would there be room to extend these benefits to charitable conventions? For example, if the whole table just spent $50 on tickets for the charity raffle, could they enjoy the extended benefits?

My lodge is small, so I certainly can't offer any core games where I am. I could only see using it to allow players to replay scenarios in a home game environment, but then, no one locally has asked for core so its existence doesn't hurt anything here.

I would like to see core characters able to play at regular tables without losing their core status, allowing members of the old guard a chance to replay old scenarios with new players. But this is simply because, as you say BNW, it splits the player base otherwise.

Going for 6 & 4 splits sounds like a logical way to divide players considering scenario design.

To me, keeping as fewer players from playing OOST would be a priority one. If a couple/group are looking to play together, then hopefully they had the good sense to make sure their characters are within a level of each other.

Party balance seems like the best way to divide players from there, but it may also be worth considering player experience, making sure any newer players are mixed with those stronger rules knowledge.

Also shout outs to BNW and Geek Sudoku.

I'll admit that one of the things that makes me less interested in Core is that there are no oracles, cavaliers, inquisitors or alchemists*. There are still bards -- my favorite class in Pathfinder -- but I like having a diversity of options.

APG is a fantastic book. To me, it defines Pathfinder because it was the first book Paizo made where they weren't just following D&D's footprint. I know that the appeal of core is its simplicity, but it would be nice to have in it a book that has more of Paizo's own vision.

Thoughts?

I agree that there is content that makes Pathfinder feel like Pathfinder, rather that a level of polish on the original 3.5 rule set. However, I don't think adding more books to the campaign is the correct way to go. Putting the slippery slope fallacy aside, one of the main reasons for core existing as a campaign option is the lower level of complexity, and players not needing to invest/bring additional books.

The best I've been able to come up with (and it's far from perfect) is that a 'Core Player's Guide' could exist, in a similar fashion to a player guide for an AP. This document could include all the functional details of the core campaign to save space in the PFS Guide, provide background & lore on PFS, and include additional character options, primarily from the APG & Pathfinder Society Field Guide/Primer. It would also be a good place to include the traits from the additional traits document, either removing or replacing the traits that are not PFS legal so that everything looks on the level instead of tacked on.

The kicker is that the document would have to be free. Great if something like that could increase interest in the core campaign, but if it doesn't, then it's just wasted a whole bunch of developer time.

What if there were some new scenarios written specifically for CORE (that could be run with Classic characters) that gave rewards more tuned for CORE campaign than Classic?

Or perhaps even some boons such as 'unlocking access' to some of the APG classes, or the like?

It would certainly be an interesting boon to receive at the end of a three part adventure, along the lines of 'In proving yourself exceptionally honorable in rescuing the maiden fair from the tower of doom, a young squire bearing the banner of his house has chosen to accompany you. You may (once) create a character that has levels in the cavalier class in the core campaign, providing a copy of this chronicle with that character. This character may also take teamwork feats from the APG, but only as bonus feats awarded by the tactician class feature'.

Archives of the Seeker / Chronicles of the Deceased Boon

Once a character reaches 12th level or is marked as permanently dead, this boon may be assigned to them. List below all chronicles assigned to that character, the date the chronicle was assigned and if it was earned as a player or a game master.

If marked as a scenario played, present this boon alongside the original chronicle to the GM at least three years after the associated chronicle was initially earned. You may replay that scenario with any character that would otherwise legally be able to do so, but may only earn the gold, experience and prestige from the scenario with all boons and items being crossed out of the earned chronicle. Cross the played scenario off of this boon.

If marked as a scenario GMed, you may cross the scenario off of this boon to award the chronicle to any character that could otherwise legally acquire it. The chronicle may only contain earned gold, experience and prestige, all boons should be crossed off of the chronicle. Note that this does not not have the same three year restriction for replaying previously played adventures.

Scenario | Date Earned | Player/GM | Replayed
_____ | _____ | [ ] [ ] | _____
_____ | _____ | [ ] [ ] | _____
_____ | _____ | [ ] [ ] | _____
_____ | _____ | [ ] [ ] | _____
_____ | _____ | [ ] [ ] | _____ etc…

I'm noodling ideas on how to do this without it causing bookkeeping problems, and avoiding the idea of replaying an old scenario 4 hours after you first played it. This one hit my brain out of left field.

There are those that dislike the expansion of the allowed races beyond a certain point, claiming that it makes PFS feel like a trip to the zoo. What if we split off a third stream of the campaign and have PFS / Core / Menagerie options?

Most of the currently legal races would remain in PFS. Menagerie would open up another set of races that could only be played at tables that were formed from that group of races alone.

Would a third chance to replay be enough?

So long as those legal races included Rust Monster, Mimic & Gelatinous Cube, then I'm sold.

You're not wrong, shadow companions are awesome. Once you're at 8th level and are a Paladin 4/Bloodrager 1/Shadowdancer 3 you'll have a good idea what your strengths and weaknesses are where the holes in the build are.

You are lacking some of the staple combat feats, so a level of fighter early on may not hurt to pick up power attack. You could just rely on rage and smite though and pick it up at 7th though.

As for bloodline, elemental will let you do some extra damage which is especially useful early on, or undead can give foes the shaken condition for 1 round without allowing a saving throw, which will help allied casters land their spells.

Even though shadowdancers are only proficient with light armour, you'll still be proficient with medium & heavy from the Paladin levels. However mobility will be a concern for you as a gnome so light is probably the way to go. Chain shirt until you can afford a mithral agile breastplate.

If you find the 20ft. movement speed to be too much of a problem, you do have the option to dip one level of bloodrager for +10 ft to your movement speed. Bloodrage can also offset your lowish strength for an encounter or two each day and can be combined with Smite Evil for devastating impact.

What point-buy are you using? Assuming 20, something like Str 15, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 7, Cha 16 after racial modifiers might be workable, with your level bonus going into strength every 4 levels. Smite should help overcome the lower strength score against the tougher foes.

A light mithral shield should work as it has zero acp/asf and still leaves the hand open for spell casting. Heavy & tower shields are something of a no-go though.

Vanilla paladin does work, but you do have to commit your 1st, 3rd & 5th level feats to combat reflexes, dodge & mobility. You will also suffer for skill ranks until you enter the shadowdancer class.

2-4 levels of paladin is probably ideal as there is little to be gained from the 5th level. Oath of Vengeance is probably a decent archetype to take as you can trade your lay on hands uses which get weaker as you grow in level for always relevant smite evils.

1-2 levels of fighter can help with the feat tax. Levels of ranger or slayer can help with skill ranks if required.

In terms of flavour, Kelinahat is the Lawful Good Empyreal lord of spies, stealth and intelligence gathering. Shadowdancer powers would be a good fit for a Paladin of She of Ebon Wings.

A Bloodrager with the Steelblood archetype can cast in heavy armour, but is a poor spellcaster. A shield that isn't a mithral buckler will still incur arcane spell failure though.

Are the spells you are looking to cast more offensive or defensive? If you're looking for defensive buffs, heavy armour and don't mind you character having religion, then the Warpriest is a very strong hybrid option.

Almost anything with a full base attack bonus can make an effective shadowdancer. Average base attack bonus classes can struggle if they want to go into shadowdancer ASAP as they end up with no BAB progression at levels 1, 5 & 6. Dipping 1 level of a full BAB class can correct this slightly, but this is nothing to worry about if you're playing a home game that uses fractional base bonuses.

Paladins make interesting shadowdancers as they are a full BAB class which get a lot of mileage from Charisma which is a good score for the gnome and also the driving force for a shadowdancers shadow conjurations.

Slayer is also another decent route to take as it's a full BAB class that is probably also the most thematic with the concept of a shadowdancer.

So to clarify, the objective is to build a strength-based, heavily armoured arcane caster? The Magus is probably the most obvious choice as it combines martial combat with spellcasting and gains the ability to cast in heavier armour as it gains levels.

Array is probably something like:
Str 18, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 18 (+2 racial), Wis 13, Cha 12

1st level feats might be something like Arcane Strike & Improved Initiative

Equipment should include the best mundane light armour you can get your hands on until you gain medium armour proficiency. Mithral buckler is also a good defensive option. As a magus you're going to want a weapon with a high crit range like the scimitar, or perhaps take exotic weapon proficiency at 3rd for the falcata.

Is there anything, mechanical or flavour, that you wanted for the character? There are certainly other options for this kind of character such as the bloodrager, skald, bard, or eldritch kngiht, so if the casting options of the magus are not what you're looking for there are several other choices.

Certainly an interesting idea and one I would be in favour of, but I can't really provide much insight. It would be good to hear for some of the larger & older lodges that would have a better idea if this would be a positive or negative change to them.

This doesn't seem like a game breaking combination in 8-9s & 10-11s where full casters may struggle to cast all of their spells over the course of a day, and it comes with a heavy gold cost for the extra versatility.

Is this better than a familiar using a wand of haste, enabling a powerful buff and high level control effect to fire off in the first round of combat?

Alain appears to be showing off with Outflank as his 1st level teamwork feat :D

I suppose it is possible that Seltyiel was given spellstrike at first level to introduce that mechanic, given that it's quite iconic to the class.

Andrew, don't know if you can help with this one.

Campaign Mode: For sanctioned modules and Adventure Paths, GMs are allowed to use their own rules for character creation and running the presented content (the entire book or series). Credit is applied to an appropriate Roleplaying Guild character as if the character created was a pregenerated character.

The language used here would indicate that the campaign mode option is now available to all modules (which I suppose also technically includes Free RPG day modules). Do you know if this is the intent, or perhaps an oversight?

That's great! Thanks so much.

You're welcome :D

FWIW, I find Master of the Fallen Fortress to be pretty tough on a 0xp adventuring party because it is very combat heavy and they don't have CLW wands yet. I'd suggest swapping The Confirmation and Master of the Fallen Fortress. The Confirmation has a pretty neat boon for first-time players that play it with a 0xp character as well.

This is true and worth keeping in mind, however, if these are all new players you can hand out the 'Welcome to Pathfinder' boon to each of which will certainly help with healing.

The list is rushed, but those first three scenarios I quite like to run in succession as it's a nice set up for new players in PFS. MotFF assumes the PCs aren't pathfinders, by they rescue a pathfinder over the course of the adventure who introduces their character to the society. First steps has them running a few errands before becoming fully fledged pathfinders in the Confirmation. However, you should run it in a way that works for your group. If they don't like dungeon crawls, then you probably shouldn't open with MotFF.

Starting this Friday, I may have a handful of Pathfinder gamers who are interested in running through PFS scenarios, but as a home game. These guys have never done PFS, so I very much want to give them a solid introduction. I figure at most I have 33 modules to guide them (levels 1 through 11). I know Confirmation and Wounded Wisp should be on there, but after that it's unknown to me.

All I know is that I want them to interact with a good core group of NPCs. Rather than meeting 10+ Venture Captains, I'd love it if they met 2 or 3 and had repeated interactions. Rather than continent-jumping, I'd prefer they focus on an area, or at least just a few lodges instead of going all over the place. I want their memory of locations and people to be one of the big advantages that this home game has.

Can any of you experts direct me in this? A new list would be a courtesy, but if you think one of the older lists is a perfect match then let me know and I'll check that out too. Or a modified version.

Knocked up very quickly, but should include scenarios based mostly in Absalom, and includes Blakros and Shadow Lodge story arcs, some filler and ending in Eyes of the Ten.

Invest 100gp into a meditation crystal to get the most out of your oracle channels.

The hospitalier archetype is great if you want a paladin that specializes in healing, oradin or not. Paladins get access to shield other and paladin's sacrifice at 7th level, both of which are great at mitigating damage to the group. Greater and Ultimate Mercy are also pretty awesome to have at your disposal.

Life link doesn't scale well, so unless you're taking 3 or 4 levels of oracle, you may find the oracle dip lackluster as you approach retirement. Of course, you could always retrain those levels later in your career.

Finally, Channel + Oath of Vengence Paladin means a lot of smites every day.

I would guess it's to prevent abuse of the retraining rules, as retraining lets you pick options that are beneficial at low levels and trade them away for better ones later one.

For example, a barbarian picks up cleave as their 3rd level feat which serves them well but ages poorly. Retraining this feat at 8th level allows the barbarian to pick up improved critical for 400gp & 5pp and leaves the 9th level feat slot open to take critical focus. That's could be worth it.

The retraining rules also let you dip classes early on for the benefit and retrain away once they've outstayed their welcome.

Vigilante with a social identity that is a member of the Aspis would be fun.

I've recently been considering rolling up a Vigilante with and Aspis social identity that works as a double agent for the Pathfinder Society. Any suggestions on how to make this a viable option, assuming it could even be considered a legal PFS character? Maybe high ranks in bluff, disguise and linguistics would be enough to pull off the concept.