Joe the Devout's page

A heavyset man in travel stained cloths smiles warmly. "I'm Joe. Happy to meet you. I've been assigned to the team to ward your minds and bodies against the horrors we may face. May Desna guide us."

Joe is a Cleric and focuses on buffing and condition control. He does not have a lot of healing or direct damage.

I tried to do a guide to communicating with familiars here. It may have errors, and I haven't updated it but if you can pull anything useful from it that would be great.

_Ozy_ wrote:

Yeah, but where in the rules does it say an active search is good for the next 30'? Does a move action active perception check assume you are standing still and looking, or moving and looking?

If you're standing still and looking, how do you spot a trap that's 20' away and hidden by cover until you get right up to it?

You know that Perception through a closed door is only +5 to the DC ya? So you hope that +7 to the DC (5 + 2 for being 20 ft. away) is still beatable. Or you move next to the cover and search. Or just shrug, soak the trap damage, tap with a CLW wand, and move on. People need to remember that Perception is all five senses, not just sight.

Halt, I smell the blood of past adventures and the sound of a flea walking on a taunt bowstring.

Actually own a tavern on Akiton, permits were a nightmare to get but it is an escape from Golarion politics.

They would not stack. You would use the higher one at all times, which, in pathfinder society play, is the exalted resistance, because you're not going to be getting a 13th level monk anytime soon, since technically all 12th level characters are mostly retired.

Just because you do not see the Seekers does not mean we are not out there, looking out for the field agents, keeping the Ten accountable...

4-26 The Waking Rune: Didn't know there was anything special about this scenario, not sure if the other players at the table knew there was something special about this scenario. We were not prepared... My character plane shifted away when he was the last one standing.

Encounter A: As you approach the gates of this abandoned temple a well-fed man comes out to great you. Setting out a tea set or offering alcohol to match the tastes of his guests he invites the party to parley.

How many powerful artifacts have you recovered? How many of those have you seen again? The Decemvirate is using you to fuel their own plots and power struggles... I can not allow the artifact contained within to fall into their masked hands; they have no checks and balances, no accountability.

...You haven't attacked me yet, that is good. There is hope for the society. Here is my offer: A shadow demon resides close by and his minions have been making daily assaults on our stronghold. He holds a minor artifact, the pommel gem of the sword the Decemvirate seeks. I will aid you in retrieving it and vanquishing this evil. In return you will tell the your Venture Captain that you routed us in battle and the pommel is the artifact they scryed.

Sense motive DC20 confirms that Joe is sincere in his offer. If the players attack Joe he uses the Refuge trigger to flee into his sanctum, Proceed to encounter B1. If the players accept Joe's help proceed to encounter B2, Joe travel with and aids the Players (using the refuge trigger if betrayed).

If the players accept Joe's offer and present the lesser artifact, they receive full gold and experience but zero prestige points. They also receive the Under Suspicion boon.

...cast Protection from Evil on the wisdom-dumped barbarian for the next ten sessions."

For a drink I'll tell you about the time I went to a high class theater in Ustalav.

I swear it was with the best intentions. He was wounded and in danger, and I was all out of Heal spells, and I only had two tuning forks, Elysium and the Abyss, and given his religion, I thought he would prefer the Abyss.

This is tangential, but if you insist familiars use miniatures it really helps out with balance. Suddenly everyone remembers that the familiar also got hit with cone of cold, black tentacles and attacks of opportunities.

I've used Breath of Life on my familiar twice and had it die once more.

Edit: don't think this spell is a problem.

Playing a 10-11 and we encountered a couple flying archer types, so my cleric of Desna casts air walk on an ally with a sword and assumed things would take care of themselves. A couple rounds later two party members are unconscious and the enemies are barely hurt. So Joe, Devout of Desna, casts animate object to create a flying stone dragon and rides it into battle. A few rounds later one archer is plane shifted elsewhere and the stone dragon has the other one pinned to the ground so the muscle can finish it off. Joe doesn't like to flex his divine might, but I really like it when he gets a chance.

Did I just hear someone ding a new star?

It takes a second to recognize the overweight man in a breastplate weighted down by bandoleers full of potions and arcane rods. But it is Joe, the barkeep that works Sundays at the Wounded Wisp.

Hello friends, I'm here to make sure that everyone comes home alive.

A, Bit of Luck, an old favorite. You will use it three times.

You have a multiple attack critical based martial compatriot.

Things are wrapping up, and you want to pretend to help while not blowing spell slots.

Initiative has been rolled, you are adjacent to a tempting compulsion target, and the enemy looks fairly magical.

Oh, and skill checks. Keeps rogues happy.

More anecdotal than anything else.

When I played through we did our investigating due diligence and took the hairbrush from the dressing room, because, ya, scrying is a real thing. Then; because it is PFS, and we are good pathfinder agents that expect the unexpected, we continued the mundane investigation.

When we met the swamp folk and were faced with a gold penalty or and undisclosed cost, we tried to bargain for a more agreeable solution, and failed. At that point we flexed our adventuring muscles as near-seeker agents, found a pool of water in the swamp, scryed our missing abductee and the wizard had a brief conversation through message.

So the group sat down, weighted the risks, buffed up, and teleported in like the crack squad of experienced agents from one of Golarion's most recognized organizations. (oh, and someone may have flipped the swamp people the bird on the way out, the report is conflicted on that one.)

At the end of the scenario the DM said it fell under the creative solutions clause and rewarded full rewards (removing items from the chronicle sheet not recovered, and checking to see if we received the second prestige point, which we did through inaction...)

As a player, it felt great that the DM said: yes, that is a creative solution, way to go. It would be a huge downer if they instead penalized us for playing smart agents that used a well established rules mechanic to solve a problem that mechanic is particularly well suited for.

For some the scry/fry may feel like cheese, and in a home game it is very fair to establish an informal agreement with your players that if they don't, you wont. But that is not on option in PFS, as a player I have faced swarms and invisibility at lvl 1, flying and Hardness-10 at lvl 3, and I am fully expecting that one day someone will scry and fry my player as he sleeps. So we can not call out something that is well-defined in the rules as cheese, while as player's we suspect that one day it will happen to us without warning.

Sorry, ya, that wasn't clear. I just finished playing a scenario where every encounter was grapple/paralyze/entangle. And the Freedom's Call Liberation ability was a hard counter to everything.

On another note, beware the #1 downside to being a debuffer; your GMs will eventually run after you howling demonic warcries and brandishing the binder containing the scenario which they spent a week prepping and which you have now managed to break so thoroughly there is no longer a playbook.

Joe, a devout Cleric of Desna takes it as a point of pride, that when a fellow pathfinder gets grappled, their next action is to delay until after Joe.

Please, make it out to Joe.

Turning to address Mr. C. Pardon me, I did not mean to interrupt your conversation with Mr. Grundersnutt. Is that black dragon scale armor? You've felled such a terrifying beast? I must hear this, over an ale, another day? Wait! Instead of ale, just last week I encountered a novel new drink, they called it the White Hallit they mixed coffee, spirits, and milk! I'm sure you would love it.

Now Mr. Grundersnuff, we would not be having this conversation if my praise was not sincere, you have a gift and I want to ensure future scholars witness it. Your technical knowledge is top tier, but to not mince words; you've repeatedly failed to communicate and market it to the audience; The Thasallonia essay, the Korvosa Academy, this Lecture. Gestures to a still napping pathfinder. Have you considered a role as a Expert Material Advisor to writers addressing a larger audience?

Handing across the manila folio.

This is an advisory essay on the arcane and in some cases divine interaction between a master and their bonded familiar, specific to the thaumatic enhancements of the base creature's language centers. Prepared and practiced technical pitch of the research: Knowledge(Arcana): 20 + 9 = 29 I've presented this to a small audience whom frequent the Grand Lodge library, the initial response was ... lack luster. With your technical input and my marketing, we can correct any mistakes in the research and address the second edition to a MUCH larger audience!

Tucking away the journal of notes from Grundersnutts comprehensive lecture, Joe joins the rest of the attendees at the carafe; pausing to gently wake a snoozing pathfinder en-route.

Professor Grundersnuff, is it Professor? I greatly appreciated your work with the Worldwound Guidebook. Just last month I lent my copy to a compatriot patrolling outside the Worldwound, he said the footnotes on holy water and outsider swarms was a literal life-saver.

Would you sign my copy?

The manila folio remains conspicuously tucked under-arm.

A portly man in his middle years steps into the lecture room, and patiently takes a seat. The divine symbol of Desna hangs prominently from his neck and his great coat is in the white and blue colors of the faith. A weasel appears from under the great coat, runs down the mans leg and starts running around the room sniffing people's boots.

As the gnome drones on he mumbles quietly to himself. So this is the gnome that presented that in-comprehensible essay on Ancient Thasallonia, and now lecturing on negotiations. What an ambitious jack of all trades. I'll wait this out and see if I can speak with the gnome when we break for tea.

The man sits patiently with a manila folio in hand and pays rapt attention to the lecture, apparently immune to the monotone boredom.

I have a weasel familiar on my cleric for some fun utility (delivers touch spells to allies with an acceptable acrobatics skill, and a boost to reflex saves)

Anyhow, I once went toe to toe with a witch that had a weasel spirit animal. We didn't fully read the Attach special rule, so we both ended up grappled by the others familiar as we tried to spell sling and beat each other with clubs.

Saddest fight ever.

Inside a thin folio full of loose parchment you find the following essay, it smells slightly of weasel.

In service of the Society I, Joe the First, have created the following summary and catalogue of experience with my familiar as a Pathfinder Field Agent. I present these publicly so that others may critique and as a resource for future pathfinders.

To start with a thesis statement: Your familiar will not know the Common language, but it can.

No one knows better than a Pathfinder Field Agent that teamwork is key to a successful mission and communication is key to successful teamwork. Your familiar can be a great boon to the team but we must address the elephant in the room, that you have severely limited communication with your familiar.

Your familiar does not know Common because:

• Gaining 6 intelligence does not it immediately grant a language
  As addressed in the FAQ, increasing the intelligence to the magic number of greater than 3 has no effect other than giving it the ability to learn languages. Nothing shows up for free.

• It is only a magical beast for effects related to type, otherwise it remains an animal.
  The bestiary is fairly clear the Magical Beasts know a language, this mislead me for a while until careful reading of the familiar description revealed that it only counts as a Magical Beast for effects relating to type. It would be a stretch to say that gaining a language is the effect relating to type intended.

• It does not gain your languages
  This admittedly is an assumption made by omittance. No where does it say they do, no where does it say they do not.

• Your familiar did not start with a rank in linguistics
  My weasel used it’s one skill point on escape artist. I guess that makes sense in its born environment.

• Familiars do not gain additional skill points.
  The CRB says “For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master's skill ranks, whichever is better.” Unfortunately this means that the familiar does not gain your skill ranks, but only may use them. counterintuitively your Familiar my create a perfect forgery of the holy test name, but will not understand a word it says.

  Again the CRB says “For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master's character level or the familiar's normal HD total, whichever is higher.” As it the theme today, we see that the Familiar does not actually gain Hit Dice, only counts as having them for avoiding sleep spells and the like. The sad conclusion is, no gaining Hit Dice, no gaining feats, no gaining skill points.

• Empathetic link does not have the bandwidth to communicate language.
  Although this is a rich form of communication that can can bring your attention to danger and curiosities alike, it remains limited compared to a full dialect.

• The speak with master ability is your own little private language.
  “a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.” The phrase of import is the as if they were using a common language. Your familiar will be able to communicate with you after you develop a strong bond, but it will not be able to eavesdrop on the secret meeting between the Count and the Baron, or will it be able to tell you allies that you’ve fallen in a pit trap and can’t get out. Scribbled in the margin you see the note: Beware of magical eavesdroppers. I have not dared to summon a celestial for the sole purpose of testing the limits of Truespeech, but I suspect they, and those applying similar magic may be able to eavesdrop on your private conversations.
  

Your familiar can learn Common if:

• It is a raven or a thrush.
  There is wisdom in the legends of old, where mystics of great power would send ravens abroad to collect the news of the land. Take one of these Familiars to resolve this issue right out of the gate.

• You acquire an improved familiar that already knows Common.
  The simple powerful solution is to turn in your rat or turtle for a fairy dragon or one of many other alternatives. These improved familiars with an existing understanding of language will be a powerful aid, spying on enemies and passing messages on to your allies.

• You reach level 13
  At caster level 13 your familiar will gain 12 intellect and its first new skill point, assign this to linguistics to finally pick up the language it has been listening to the past 13 levels.

• You give it a Headband of Intelligence
  To gain an early jump on level 13, give your Familiar a headband to increase it’s intellect. These headbands are known to grant additional skills and languages when doned. Note that I have not had the budget to test this, so I can not confirm that an increase from 6 to 8 intelligence would grant the additional skill and language, but I am confident that an increase from 10 to 12 would grant these. Do not forget that your familiar will require the Extra Item Slot feat and the proper anatomy to equip a headband.

• You give it an gold ioan stone.
  Far cheaper than a Headband of Intelligence, The Flawed Gold Nodule (Ioun Stone) will allow your familiar to comprehend a single language. For the premium price the Gold Nodule (Ioun Stone) will allow it to speak that language also. I goes without saying that the circling ioun stone may reduce the effectiveness of the inconspicuous animal spy gig.

• You cast one of many language spells on it.
  This is my prefered middle ground for a pauper Pathfinder; call in a quick favor for a Wand of Comprehend Languages, make use of the share spells ability and you have a 10 minute one way line of communication. Not perfect but it is a great deal better than nothing. In addition at level 5 your will be able to communicate and it will be able to report back what it has seen. All that is missing is the ability to communicate with others, this can be solved at greater expense with more powerful language spells that will magically grant the familiar the ability to speak.
  

Regards,
Joe the First, Field Agent
Grand Lodge, Pathfinder Society