JolarEQ's page

My group is using MapTool. Is it as pretty as the others? Not really, no. Does it have all this built-in functionality, like rule-sets and such, where all you have to do is set up a specific character, and a lot of the functions are already there? Nope. Does it allow me to do absolutely anything I want, and not limit me to specific things? Oh yeah!

I've tried out all the different VTTs out there, after using MapTool, and I have to say, all the others are lacking something. Yeah, they may have nicer looking interfaces, they may have some built in functionality, compatibility with other systems (like integration with Hero Lab), but all-in-all, I love that with MapTool I can program a button to do anything I want it to do, only limited by my imagination (and macro-coding ability!)

I can definitely see the draw of other VTTs, and when new ones come out, I'm all over them, seeing if they'll work for me, but in my opinion, MapTool is definitely one of the better ones.

Yeah, I read it as it's just to the person trying to use it, but my GM wasn't sure, and someone else in the group was siding with it not being able to be used by anybody.

According to the rules, "if you ever roll a natural 1 while attempting to activate an item and you fail, then you can't try to activate that item again for 24 hours." My question is, is the item unable to be used by anybody, or is it just unable to be used by the person that failed to use it and rolled the nat 1?

Those were page references that pointed you to the old 3.5 books. In this case, DMG 237 was Dungeon Master's Guide page 237.

Ahh, thanks! There was a moment that I thought "Dungeon Master's Guide? Nahh, that can't be it, there is no such beast!" Of course, I was thinking Paizo/Pathfinder, and didn't think it would be referencing 3.5. :P

Thanks again!!

I have a question about the critical fumble deck. A few of the cards have something like (DMG 237) or some such after the description of the fumble. Can anybody tell me what, exactly, that means? At first I thought it meant "damage" but I'm seeing it on a few that don't necessarily deal with damage.

Ok, great! I figured it would be that they already know the tricks, but I'll discuss that with my GM. With the +4, I'm only at a 7, which still isn't too bad (-1 on Cha.) So, a 10 shouldn't be too hard to get (although with my rolls lately...)

Thanks for the responses!

I have a question about how Animal Companions work, when it comes to tricks. I'm going to be playing a Mad Dog, with a wolf as a companion. Now, since she has 2 Int, I know she gets 6 tricks, plus 1 bonus trick. My question about the tricks is, does she know them already, or do I have to train her before she can use them? I know the bonus trick doesn't need any training time, but what about the first 6?

Also, when having her do one of her tricks, whether it be attack or flank or whatever, do I need to do the Handle Animal check to get her to do any of those tricks? Again, I know the bonus trick can be done without the check, but wanted to double check about the original 6.

Thanks!

Ok, thanks Oladon! I figured as much, but wanted to make sure.

From the rules:

Dazed - The creature is unable to act normally. A dazed creature can take no actions, but has no penalty to AC.

It doesn't mention if daze can be broken, though. I'm prepping a module for my first time GMing, and it includes a necrophidius. It does a Dance of Death that can daze the PCs for 2d4 rounds. It also says that it is a mind-affecting compulsion effect. My question is, if the monster hits one of the dazed PCs, will that PC remained dazed, or does it break out of it? Not sure how attacks affect mind-affecting compulsion effects.

Thanks!

6 from the hit die, +1 from my con, +1 from favored bonus, and then +3 from toughness feat.

Ok, thanks VRMH. I figured that would be the case. Wanted to check here before I went to their forum to question if it was a bug or not, to see if I had it straight in my head!

Last night was my first night playing a wizard, and I chose arcane familiar. As I needed a bump to my will save, I decided to go with a hedgehog. I use Hero Lab to take care of all my characters, and according to Hero Lab, my hedgehog only has 1 HP. Now, according to the the Familiars rules, he should have half my wizard's HP. My wizard has 11 HP, so I'm thinking he should have 5. Is this an issue with Hero Lab, or would he only have 1 HP?

Again, I'm new to a wizard, and any class that has a familiar, so I'm not too up on what things should be. Since Hero Lab is usually correct in most cases (I have found a couple here and there where it was wrong, but I was able to figure out what it should be) I'm not sure if I'm just not understanding something about how it works.

Hey, this is the Aaron that replied to your thread, JolarEQ. I want to let everyone know that we've had trouble in the past implementing ambiguities one way or the other based on forum consensus. For that reason, I tend to be pretty conservative when it comes to changing something in HL. I myself am not allowed to converse with the purple Paizo people personally, so it seemed a better solution to send you. That's why I asked you to investigate this issue and see if you could get an official response before making the change.

That said, my fellows here at Lone Wolf have checked into this as well now, and their consensus is that the issue isn't as ambiguous as I'd thought. So I made a bad call, was duely chastened, and I do apologize for the difficulty I put you into. I'll make the changes so that the two interact as you proposed.

Thanks for the response, Aaron! I understand completely why you asked me to come and find an answer to this, and I'm glad the issue has finally been put to rest.

FAQed for you.

I'd give Hero Lab some credit - if they don't want to change something then they think it is RAW. Likely though it's just a bug and they do fix them. If the Hero Lab folks responded directly to the OP saying they won't change it I'd personally like to see the message. I suggest that a post is made on the bug report thread on the Hero Lab forums though.

It was posted on the Hero Lab bug forum. Twice. Once by me, once by someone else. The answer was, and I quote, "This was previously discussed and decided against making a change unless there is some official eratta." Thread is titled "Bug Reports - Version 7.1", page 55. HL - Pathfinder Roleplaying Game subforum.

So, they're sticking with RAI as opposed to RAW.

I would send a message to the Herolab people.

This is not really a Paizo thing.

I did, they told me without official word, no change. Hence why I'm asking Paizo.

Faq'd.

FWIW: Jolar, by RAW you are correct and it appears Hero Lab is not correct - at least how I read RAW.

I've been hesitant on purchasing this program - would you say it's worth it even with the bugs? Which in all fairness to Hero Lab should be expected in certain instances when RAW is unclear.

I would say it's worth it. Bugs are usually taken care of right away (most of them, at least!) and some of them are actually taken care of by other users that write addons for it. The only issue with Hero Lab is the pricing. The base is ok, but all the different packages for Pathfinder, it can add up.

But, in general, I love the program. Makes things a lot easier for me to keep track of.

That's an issue with HeroLab, not the rules.

I am not sure this is the appropriate place for this.

Oh, I know it's an issue with Hero Lab. The problem is, they won't change it in Hero Lab without an official response from Paizo about how it works. Hence why I was asking here. Wasn't sure how to go about getting an official response, figured I'd try the rules forum.

I'd like to know what calculations Hero Lab uses before I comment if they are right or wrong.

JolarEQ: could you please elaborate on what numbers Hero Lab is giving you?

Sure. Level 6 fighter, uses a longsword and light shield, which is for shield bash. Has Two-Weapon Fighting, Double Slice and Power Attack.

Power Attack not active, the longsword has an attack of 12, and the shield bash has an attack of 9. The damage from the longsword is 1d8+7, and the shield bash is 1d3+5.

Power Attack active, the longsword has an attack of 10, and the shield bash has an attack of 7. The damage from the longsword is 1d8+11, and the shield bash is 1d3+9.

Both mainhand and offhand are getting a -2 to attack and a +4 to damage when Power Attack is active.

Sorry, I should have explained better, which I didn't.

In Hero Lab, when you have both Power Attack and Double Slice, it shows as full damage bonus from Power Attack on the offhand, when it should be halved.

The wording for Power Attack's damage increase for offhand doesn't say anything about your strength bonus, just that it is half the damage bonus that you would normally get (2 damage, 1 with offhand, for example.)

Yes, I know this has been discussed, and yes, I know how it works. However, I use Hero Lab, which I know a lot of other people do, too, and it shows up wrong in Hero Lab. Unfortunately, they will not fix it until there is an official response about it, so I ask it here, in the hopes there will be an official response, and they will fix this once and for all.

Power Attack gives you a bonus to damage, but that bonus is halved when using an offhand weapon.
Double Slice allows you to use your full strength mod when dealing damage with your offhand.

When you use both, does the damage penalty for offhand Power Attack disappear, or is it still halved?

Again, while I know the answer to this question, and I have linked the other thread about this same issue over on Hero Lab's forums, they have stated multiple times that they need an official response. So, any non-official responses, while appreciated by me, will not sway them in the slightest.

So, just humbly asking for an official response to this. Does the offhand penalty to the Power Attack damage disappear if you also have Double Slice?

JolarEQ wrote:

Let me ask this way. If I have a masterwork light shield, and I want to put Bashing on it, do I need to make it a +1 shield first, and THEN add Bashing to it? Or does adding the Bashing automatically make it a +1 shield? (This will also determine if I paid too much to have this done, and I'll have to adjust monies with my GM if that's the case.) The way we did it was, enchanted the shield to +1, and then added Bashing to it. If adding the +1, and having Shield Master, treats the +1 as weapon enhancement, wouldn't adding the Bashing, which also causes the shield to act as a +1 weapon, stack with the +1 already there?

You did it correctly. A weapon, armor, or shield item must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus BEFORE anything can be added to it. Thus, +1 bashing is the minimum for a bashing shield.

And no, the +1 from the bashing effect itself would not stack, because it allows the shield to function as a +1 weapon but does not increase the EXISTING enhancement by 1. Same-type bonuses do not stack, so Shield Master makes your +1 shield into a +1 weapon or bashing lets you treat it as a +1 weapon. The end result is, either way, a +1 weapon.

Heh, yeah, just found that out. Sometimes my research is a little slow. ;) I ended up deleting that post, hoping that it would be gone before anybody saw!

But thank you for the response!

Yes, it is all a part of armor training. The discussion is whether it is taken away with the loss of the levels of armor training, or if it is its own specific thing. An armor training 0 of sorts.

I edited my above post, right when you were posting this. ;)

It looks to be part of Armor Training I and II, since it happens at the levels you get I and II. It's not an Armor Training 0, it is part of Armor Training, which you don't get if you go two handed.

I think in this case, "in addition" could be swapped with "also" as in, "Armor training does this. Also, it does that."

It is saying that Armor Training not only gives you the dex and armor check changes, it also gives you the maneuverability changes.

All of it is a part of Armor Training.

*edit* Also, it does, in a way, show that is IS a part of Armor Training I and II, as it is 3rd level and 7th level, which is when you get I and II.

JolarEQ wrote:

Now, when I take Shield Master, would my damage and hit increase? Aside from the removal of the TWF penalty, that is. It says for Shield Master "Add your shield’s enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls made with the shield as if it were a weapon enhancement bonus." Would that increase my hit from +17 (current hit) to +18, and my damage to 1d6+7, since it's a +1 shield? Would it count as +2, due to the +1 and the Bashing? Or would it not bring any of that into account?

You add only the enhancement bonus (i.e. the "plus" part). Other enhancements such as bashing, arrow deflection, etc. do not improve the bonus to attack and damage.

Ok, so it would go up to +18 and 1d6+7 then. I can deal with that. ;)

And yeah, I didn't think the shield would change. I think that was more a "wishful thinking" than anything else.

Thanks!

I have a couple questions about shields, and I'm hoping someone can help me!

I am playing a fighter that uses a sword and a light shield. I have taken Two-Weapon Fighting. I have Double Slice so I can use my full strength bonus (+5 currently) for damage on my shield bash.

The shield I am using is a +1 bashing light shield. So, with the Bashing, I go from 1d3+5 damage to 1d6+6. Now, when I take Shield Master, would my damage and hit increase? Aside from the removal of the TWF penalty, that is. It says for Shield Master "Add your shield’s enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls made with the shield as if it were a weapon enhancement bonus." Would that increase my hit from +17 (current hit) to +18, and my damage to 1d6+7, since it's a +1 shield? Would it count as +2, due to the +1 and the Bashing? Or would it not bring any of that into account?

Second question. Is there a way to reduce the weight rating of a shield? I know that mithral armor is one category lighter, so a heavy armor counts as medium. Is the same similar for shields? Can I get a mithral heavy shield, and it would count as a light shield? Or does that not work that way? I'm thinking it doesn't, but I thought I'd ask anyway, just to make sure.

Sorry if this was a little rambling, just trying to get all my thoughts out. Thanks for any help in advance!

Download the Jade Regent Player's Guide. The last page is the Caravan Sheet.

Yeah, but unfortunately, without resorting to nefarious practices, I can't extract the last page of the PDF to have all on its own, so I can edit it and fill it out.

Anyway, it seems my group wants a copy of the spreadsheet, so I'll just give them that. The character sheet would be so much easier for them to read. ;)

My group is running Jade Regent, and I am in charge of the caravan. To keep track of everything, I am using the Excel spreadsheet created found on the forums here, but for the rest of the party, I want to fill out the caravan sheet found on the last page of the player's guide. We play remotely, so it's not something I could just hand out to people, I need to have it in PDF format, so i can send it to them. However, I can't extract the last page of the guide, either by using tools in Adobe Acrobat Pro, or printing just the last page to a PDF. I would print it out and write everything in and then scan it, but my handwriting is not close to being legible, so that wouldn't work out too well. Does anybody have a copy of sheet in PDF format? Any help would be appreciated!

I'm going to be starting Rise of the Runelords, playing over MapTool, so I'm trying to get my maps together. I have the map folio, but right off the bat, I notice the first few encounters, Swallowtail Festival and Die, Dog, Die don't have maps for them. According to my book here, the Town Square flip-mat should be used. My question is, if I grab the PDF of that flip-mat, will I be able to use them in MapTool? I don't want to buy it yet, if it won't work.

Any help would be much appreciated!

The only way that I can think of would be to be the Two-Weapon Warrior archetype of the fighter. You would have to wield two light weapons, so a Light Shield and a Light weapon (such as a light steel shield and a short sword). The penalties are reduced at l11 and l15.

Other than that, you'd have to 'negate' the penalties through weapon training, feats, and enchants (and maybe buffs from your party).

Ok, great. Thanks for the help!

1. You only take a penalty to attack if you are actually two-weapon fighting. If you decide that you only want to do shield bashes that round and not attack with your actual "weapon", there's no penalty.

That hadn't occurred to me, thanks for pointing that out. I'll have to keep that in mind, in case I come across a situation where I may need to know that!

2. Shield Master only removes the penalty to attack from the shield, the main weapon will still take the appropriate penalty from two-weapon fighting.

That's what I figured, but I just wanted to make sure. Is there any way to remove the penalty from the main weapon, if I do both a main attack and a shield bash? Or am I stuck with that penalty forever?

Ok, I so have a level 1 human fighter. As one of the bonus feats, I took Improved Shield Bash. Now, I'm aware that when I use Shield Bash, I'll take a -6 penalty to main hand attack and -10 to the bash. If I take Two-Weapon Fighting, it will reduce both to -4.

My question is, after his long climb to higher levels, if he takes Shield Master, will that reduce the attack penalty on the main hand weapon? Shield Master removes penalties to attack rolls made with a shield while wielding another weapon, but it doesn't say anything about the main hand.

Thanks in advance!

Hey Apocalypso! If you send Xenomorph an email at tpkoch@gmail.com with a subject line Virtual Game-Pathfinder and your Facebook profile, he can invite you to the Facebook group we have going.

I'll admit, I've never done much in the way of role playing, but wouldn't mind trying my hand at it, hence one of the reasons why I'm looking to get into this. I've just played so many CRPGs and MMOs that I finally decided to really try and find a group to play a tabletop with. After so many years, I figured it's time. ;)

Wow, Xeno, thanks for all this! Looks like it's coming together. I will send you my info via email.

Now, this may be a good time to announce that I will be unavailable July 28th and August 4th, as I will be out of the country. Other than those two, Saturdays are a go for me.

Would this be an every week thing? I'm guessing it would be, but I know that things come up (like my trip in a couple of weeks) so what would be done on those days that people may not be able to show up?

Heya Xeno! Don't feel too bad, I'm slightly intimidated myself, having never had any experience playing any tabletop. ;) Hence why I was looking for people that wouldn't mind someone completely new playing.

From looking at what people have said so far, it looks like Saturday night would be the easiest for everybody. A 4 hour session, starting around 9-10pm Eastern, works for me.

I guess the technical stuff would need to be worked out, like how we would communicate. I'm used to using Ventrilo with MMOs, and have never used Skype, so I'm not sure if you can have a group of 5 or so people on Skype at one time. Also, I'm not familiar with MapTool either, but I downloaded it, and will be taking a look at it.

I'm open to any module, to be honest. Whatever everybody decides on works for me. I will say I like the whole goblins and orcs and whatever settings best, but I'm game for anything.

Ok, so that would be 4 players. Now all we need is a DM to hop on this thread, and we should be good to go!

So we need a few more players and a DM huh?

That's what it looks like. Hopefully a few more see this and jump in, would be really nice to get this going!

I'm in Eastern, so we'd have to figure out what times, but Friday through Sunday nights are good for me, too.

Thanks for the responses all! I have posted a message in the Connections forum, so I'm hoping that I get some hits there.

I live in Canada, about an hour outside Toronto. Unfortunately, the only close gaming group I know of doesn't play any tabletop. I'd have to travel at least an hour or so to get to a group that possibly plays. I'm still looking, though. ;)

Not sure why this message was moved to the Pathfinder Online forum, though, considering that it's not about the upcoming MMO, but about playing virtually. Probably my subject. Ah well!

I am new to tabletop RPGs, mostly. I've been around for quite a while, owning the old Basic and Expert D&D sets, and AD&D books from editions 1 through 3, I believe. I have played CRPGs from the days of Wizardy, Bard's Tale, Ultima, etc., and have played a number of MMORPGs. However, I have never actually played any tabletop game.

In my youth, I tried. I really wanted to. Like I said, I bought the sets and the books! The problem was, nobody I knew played. And when I did meet those that wanted to, nobody had a clue HOW to, so nothing ever happened. I even joined a club back in high school, and I think we met two or three times, and it fell through. We never even played once!

Flash forward to now. I'm married, and moved to a new town (hell, a new country!) and it seems the town I live in has a gaming group, and they play Pathfinder! Or, they DID play, but now, they only play Magic and Warhammer. I don't want to play those, I want to play something like D&D or Pathfinder, but no, they don't really do that anymore, because nobody really wants to.

So, here I sit, with my Pathfinder Core Rulebook, with nobody to play with. At this point, I don't know if I'd even be any good, but still, I would love to give it a shot.

I have looked through the forums here, and noticed that people do play online, when they can't do it in person, for whatever reason. I see that they use Skype or Vent or TeamSpeak to do so, along with some RPG specific whiteboard type apps (which I haven't downloaded yet, but I plan to, cause they sound rather cool.)

My question is, how likely am I to find a group that would be willing to have someone that has never played before? I understand the basics, obviously, but I really don't know how I would do in a real game, and would love to find people that would be a little more patient. I'd also want to start at the beginning, level 1, and learn as I go. I know some people start new games (encounters? adventures? not sure what exactly you would say here) but start off as higher level, and I'm not really looking for that.

Sorry about the giant wall of text here, but I wanted to try and get down most of what I was thinking. If anybody could point me where I should go, or is someone that wants to start something new, and doesn't mind a complete newbie coming along, who may ask a few questions here and there, please let me know!

I'd love to play, would love to get involved, and hope that the community out there can help!

Thank you in advance!

Hi there! I had posted a while back, asking for some help on a rule that I couldn't quite figure out, and I introduced myself there. However, considering the nature of my inquiry today, I thought it would be wise to do it again, in a larger area.

I am new to tabletop RPGs, mostly. I've been around for quite a while, owning the old Basic and Expert D&D sets, and AD&D books from editions 1 through 3, I believe. I have played CRPGs from the days of Wizardy, Bard's Tale, Ultima, etc., and have played a number of MMORPGs. However, I have never actually played any tabletop game.

In my youth, I tried. I really wanted to. Like I said, I bought the sets and the books! The problem was, nobody I knew played. And when I did meet those that wanted to, nobody had a clue HOW to, so nothing ever happened. I even joined a club back in high school, and I think we met two or three times, and it fell through. We never even played once!

Flash forward to now. I'm married, and moved to a new town (hell, a new country!) and it seems the town I live in has a gaming group, and they play Pathfinder! Or, they DID play, but now, they only play Magic and Warhammer. I don't want to play those, I want to play something like D&D or Pathfinder, but no, they don't really do that anymore, because nobody really wants to.

So, here I sit, with my Pathfinder Core Rulebook, with nobody to play with. At this point, I don't know if I'd even be any good, but still, I would love to give it a shot.

Which brings me to my inquiry, about playing online. I have looked through the forums here, and noticed that people do play online, when they can't do it in person, for whatever reason. I see that they use Skype or Vent or TeamSpeak to do so, along with some RPG specific whiteboard type apps (which I haven't downloaded yet, but I plan to, cause they sound rather cool.)

My question is, how likely am I to find a group that would be willing to have someone that has never played before? I understand the basics, obviously, but I really don't know how I would do in a real game, and would love to find people that would be a little more patient. I'd also want to start at the beginning, level 1, and learn as I go. I know some people start new games (encounters? adventures? not sure what exactly you would say here) but start off as higher level, and I'm not really looking for that.

Sorry about the giant wall of text here, but I wanted to try and get down most of what I was thinking. If anybody could point me where I should go, or is someone that wants to start something new, and doesn't mind a complete newbie coming along, who may ask a few questions here and there, please let me know!

I'd love to play, would love to get involved, and hope that the community out there can help!

Thank you in advance!

Weapons (and armor) are indeed designed with sizes, to match the various creature sizes in the game.

Usually the weapons you find will match the size of the creature that was using them. If you slay a giant, his sword will probably be Large sized. If you dispatch a halfling, hist shortbow is most likely Small sized.

You do take penalties when attacking with weapons that aren't properly sized for you, and in some cases you won't be able to use such weapons at all (such as especially large or small weapons). That's covered in the Equipment chapter.

It's also a pretty safe bet to assume that if you go into a shop, you should be able to buy weapons properly sized for you, but there are exceptions. A village of gnomes might only have Small equipment for sale.

Great, thanks for the response! I think it's all straight in my head now. So now, onto yet other issues, I'm sure. ;)

Thanks again to both you and Silent Saturn for the help!

Ok, thanks to the both of you for that explanation. It makes a little more sense now. I am still not completely sure of it, though, so let me ask something more.

Are weapons designed with sizes? Is that part of a weapons description? I guess what I'm wondering is, if in my characters travels, he comes across a weapon as loot, that weapon may be of any size? I'm asking as the rulebook mentions something about inappropriately sized weapons, so I'm assuming that there are various different sized weapons, as there are various different sized races.

Which also makes me assume that, if my character goes into a shop to buy a weapon, it'll automatically be the right size for him.

Sorry to go on about this, but for some reason, this is the one thing that just won't get unstuck in my brain. ;)

First, the introduction! I'm new to Pathfinder, and, to be honest, tabletop RPG games in general. Now, I've been around for a bit, even had the Basic and Expert D&D sets, way back in the day, and have AD&D books up to 3, I believe. The problem is, I never got to play. I never found anybody to play with, and when I did, it seems that they didn't know how to play. So, I've been out of luck with tabletop. I've played more than my share of computer RPGs, whether or not based on D&D rules, but still, I've always wanted to get into playing.

I recently moved, and there is a gaming society in my town. They mostly play MTG and Warhammer, but someone is going to be starting up a Pathfinder group. So, I'm here, gathering what info I can, learning what I can. I decided to create a character, just to get the feel of doing it. I've had some issues figuring some things out, but, between the core rulebook and the Hero's Handbook, I've figured most stuff out. However, I have a question about weapon size.

In the spoiler tag is the section about Weapon Size from the PRD:

I guess my question is, what does this mean? How do I know what the weapon size is? If I'm a medium sized race, does that mean a 1 handed weapon is small, if I'm using one?

I'm sure I'll have other questions here and there, but this one, I just can't figure it out, no matter how I think about it. Any help would be so very much appreciated!