Joseph M. Moskie's page

I was looking at buying some sling bullets made of special materials, specifically Cold Iron and Silvered.

In 1E...

Cold Iron doubles the cost of the weapon, which is practically nothing for a sling bullet (2sp instead of 1sp for 10 bullets.)

Silvered sling bullets, I believe would be 2gp per bullet, plus the 1sp, for a total of 20.1gp for 10 bullets.

In 2E, 10 sling bullets would be considered an item of "light bulk" and Cold Iron and silvered would each cost 50gp, while a full set of plate armor costs 300sp (30gp).

Was there a mixup with GP/SP in the Special Materials section, or have they intentionally been made vastly more expensive?

We're streaming the final session of our module, Captured by Adventure. The party is defending the town of Gotian from an orc raid:

As the orcs begin to assemble in the plains around Gotian, you get your first glimpse of the horde. Red banners fly high and red paint adorn their scarred bodies, and many of them wear kelp sashes or jagged shells. These aren’t just orcs. These are Red Tusks. Your hunters have found you! However, you don’t plan to run this time. The orcs begin to set up their battle formations as Mayor Fields waves to you and approaches. “You’ve done all you can do for us up here. Please withdraw to the center of town. We need an experienced strike force like you to reinforce the watch and militia if any of the monsters break through. Withdraw to the town square and charge anything that gets inside. Sheriff Gwen and I will do everything we can to keep the main force outside this gate.”

https://www.twitch.tv/syncrpg

Hey everybody, my name's Joe, and me and my friend Nate work on SyncRPG and Overworld Digital Publishing. We're working with freelance authors and artists to publish original PFRPG adventure modules designed from the ground up to be read and played online, with a full compliment of VTT files filled with maps and fully-statted NPC tokens, ready to run.

The SyncRPG VTT is a fork of MapTool with a bunch of webservices supporting the creation and sharing of assets such as NPCs, maps, token art, and macros. The goal is to help reduce the complexity and initial "learning curve" when using MapTool, and make it as easy as possible to prep sessions and roll dice.

We provide a macro framework for the PFRPG that reduces the most common rolls (attacks, saves, skills) to a single, graphical button click. We synchronize character data from Google Drive, or Herolab, and turn your sheets into tokens that are ready-to-use with the framework.

NPCs can be dragged right into the VTT, and immediately work with all macros in the framework. If you want to throw together a fight with a fachen on a forest encounter map, it's as simple as two drag-drops.

Our adventures are set in our original campaign setting, The Mirror Realms of the Tempest. We're building the entire campaign setting and series of adventure modules from the ground up to be run online, in our VTT. All of our adventures come with a full compliment of VTT assets, but also an online, digital, dynamic "module map" filled with all the content you'd expect in a traditional adventure book or PDF. We're working with artists experienced with VTTs to deliver adventures with gorgeous maps and token art.

We have two out already, and they're COMPLETELY FREE:

• Tempest #1: Captured by Adventure by Brian Wiborg Monster and Nathan Ayronis (1st-4th level)
  
• Tempest #2: The Rescue of Doniert Ironvale by Robert Brookes (4th-7th level)
  

We're actively running public sessions of Captured by Adventure, and looking for more groups/players! Let us know if you're interested in playing a game with us! It's an easy way to hop in and learn the how the system works.

Finally, we stream all our sessions on Twitch, and archive them on our YouTube channel. If you're curious, take a look at any of our videos!

Shipwrecked off the coast of Kithera, a band of strangers find themselves captured by the orcs of the Dankwood Jungle. When a mysterious ranger attempts to set them free, the PCs must learn to work together to escape the orcs and survive the jungle wilds in their first exciting adventure. Can they unite as a team and learn the skills necessary to overcome the wild creatures, swamp-filled forest, and a dangerous, abandoned mine in time to escape their orcish captors?

Captured by Adventure is a free an introductory adventure module for 1st level PFRPG characters that is designed to introduce both new and experienced GMs and players to the digital tools of SyncRPG. It is the first module set in the Mirror Realms of the Tempest Campaign Setting and serves as the perfect way to start a new campaign in the campaign setting designed specifically for online play and SyncRPG's tools. Players can expect to reach 4th level but only if they escape the Dankwood jungle and defeat their orcish pursuers!

This is a adventure spanning four levels, and in our playtests it took an average of six three-hour sessions to play through. I'm advertising this in several places, and am really hoping to find groups of people who already know and have played with each other and can commit to finishing the module, but I'm also willing to throw together a few games with solo players with if there's enough interest in a timeslot that I can manage.

If you have a group of 3-5 people that would like to play together, let me know what day and time works best for you on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. I'll do my best to accommodate you and your group!

If you're a solo player but want to get in on a session, I'm trying out a tool called Doodle to figure out what time slots work best for people. Simply add your SyncRPG user name and check all the time slots* you would want to play in. If 3-5 people cluster around any of them, we can make a game happen. If you're bringing an entire group, you can skip this part and just let me know when you would like to play.

* Doodle is for specific dates (ie, 2/7), but it should be understood that this is for a regular, ongoing weekly session at that day of the week and time. All times are in PST (GMT -8). We'd likely be starting in the second or third week of February.

We're excited to be running these public games, and we'd love to have you and/or your group join us! Let us know if you have any questions about anything!

Character Creation Guidelines

• 1st level, with a 15 point buy.
  
• Characters start with no armor, weapons, gear, loot, items, coins, or wealth of any kind.
  
• Characters may choose two traits, using the standard rules.
  
• Use this Google Drive character sheet as described in this video, or by using HeroLab.
  
• All Paizo-published material is allowed.
  
• 3PP material needs to be cleared with Joe.
  

Other Notes / Info

• Users must be proficient with Google+ Hangouts. Voice is required, video is optional. Headphones are appreciated to cut down on feedback.
  
• As noted above, all sessions are streamed on Twitch and archived on YouTube. By signing up for or playing in a session you agree to be recorded.
  

I'm thinking of running a new game. I normally play online with a bunch of friends who live on the other side of the country, but recently two of my local friends have joined us. They seem interested in getting in more games (our online group only plays once a month), and I was hoping to do a tabletop, sit-down, face to face game.

Can anyone suggest adventure path that would work well for a small number of PCs, such as two? I might be able to find a third, but I'm not certain.

I'm currently in a Rise of the Runelords game, so that one's out.

I'm willing to tweak encounters to make it more conducive to two players, but I was just wondering if there are any APs DESIGNED for that size group, or easily scaled down.

I was thinking of starting up a new group with my buddies. We've moved to Pathfinder in our other games, and this caused a few headaches in Curse of the Crimson Throne and Rise of the Runelords, because the DM had to convert all of the NPCs.

This time around I want to avoid that and just use an adventure that was written using the PFRPG, with the monsters all statted up using the new rules.

Since the PFRPG and Second Darkness both came out around the same time, I was wondering if it used the 3.5 rules, or the PFRPG rules. It looks like a really fun adventure, but I really don't want to be converting baddies for hours if I can help it.

I noticed that Ride now takes an Armor Check Penalty. In 3.5, it didn't, except to do a quick dismount.

I did some searching, and I found this post from 2008:

http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/olderProducts/pathfind erRPGBeta/feedback/alpha1/skillsFeats/armorCheckPenaltyAndRide&page=1

It looks like during their rules simplifying, they globally applied the armor check penalty to all Ride checks.

A 5th level Paladin gets her mount. Assuming she spent one of her 2+INT skill points a level on Ride, every level, she'd have a bonus of 8+DEX. Assuming one of the worst AC penalties (Half plate and a large shield), the Paladin has an AC Penalty of -9. Assuming the Paladin has a +1 DEX bonus (the most you can get out of most Heavy armors), they have a net +0 to Ride checks.

Simply guiding with her knees fails a quarter of the time, and she loses one of her hands.

If she wants her mount to attack, she will fail half of the time.

Using the mount as cover or trying to make it jump are very unlikely to succeed. For some reason, spurring your mount also takes the AC penalty, and is just as hard.

Good luck rolling that 20 for a fast dismount.

Was this an oversight, or an intentional reduction in power for heavily-armored mounted warriors?

I talked to my DM, and he said it seemed pretty terrible. I'm bringing it here for discussion so we can come up with a decent house rule at the very least, and maybe get some errata from Jason & crew.

For reference, here are the 3.5 rules:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/ride.htm

And here are the PFRPG Rules:

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/skills/ride.html

You instantly transfer yourself from your current location to any other spot within range. You always arrive at exactly the spot desired - whether by simply visualizing the area or by stating direction. After using this spell, you can't take any other actions until your next turn. You can bring along objects as long as their weight doesn't exceed your maximum load. You may also bring one additional willing Medium or smaller creature (carrying gear or objects up to its maximum load) or its equivalent per three caster levels. A Large creature counts as two Medium creatures, a Huge creature counts as two Large creatures, and so forth. All creatures to be transported must be in contact with one another, and at least one of those creatures must be in contact with you.

If there is no free space within 100 feet, you and each creature traveling with you take an additional 2d6 points of damage and are shunted to a free space within 1,000 feet. If there is no free space within 1,000 feet, you and each creature traveling with you take an additional 4d6 points of damage and the spell simply fails.

What if you don't know the distance to the area you want to jump to? If you attempt it, and the distance ends up being out of range, does the spell simply fail? Do you teleport to the max distance of the spell in the direction required?

Today in our game my Druid cast Entangle, and I was under the impression that my allies would not be affected by it. The DM ruled that they were, and as arguing in the middle of combat generally ends badly, we played it like that and we ended up slaughtering the goblinoids anyway.

I found this old thread.

There was no clear conclusion, but it seems that the general consensus is that your allies ARE effected.

This spell causes tall grass, weeds, and other plants to wrap around foes in the area of effect or those that enter the area. Creatures that fail their save gain the entangled condition. Creatures that make their save can move as normal, but those that remain in the area must save again at the end of your turn. Creatures that move into the area must save immediately. Those that fail must end their movement and gain the entangled condition. Entangled creatures can attempt to break free as a move action, making a Strength or Escape Artist check. The DC for this check is equal to the DC of the spell. The entire area of effect is considered difficult terrain while the effect lasts.

Emphasis mine.

I take "foes" to mean "enemies of the caster". The text then switches from "foes" to "creatures", which causes people to think "foes" was just a bad choice of wording, and that the plants grab everyone.

I disagree with that, and think that "creatures" refers to the same foes from before, but just generalizes the creature type (so you know it works on animals, humanoids, dragons, whatever). I think the grass only attacks creatures that are your enemies, or that you otherwise designated. While you don't control the plants directly, when you cast the spell, you can say/pray/think "grab the goblins, leave the humans and the elf."

The terrain would still be rough terrain because of all the writhing plants, but it wouldn't be actively grabbing at all your friends.

As noted in the old thread, the wording of the spell was changed from 3.5. It went from "creatures" to "foes" in the first sentence, which appears to be an intentional change. This is the strongest argument for my view.

The best argument against my understanding seems to be "On page 214 of the core rule book, under "Area" it states; 'Regardless of the shape of the area, you select the point where the spell originates, but otherwise you DON'T CONTROL WHICH CREATURES OR OBJECTS THE SPELL EFFECTS.'"

So is the word "foes" really just a bad choice of words? Are druids seriously affected by their own entangle spells? Doesn't that seem odd?

As I mentioned in another thread, I recently just re-rolled and created a Druid. The campaign/world are homebrew, but let's just say I'm a Gnome, and I'm riding my Animal Companion (a Tiger).

I'm only level 1, so I went ahead and took Mounted Combat. It's already paid off twice, being able to make a Ride check to negate hits for my Tiger's poor 14 AC (I'm getting him barding ASAP). I also was able to make a DC 15 Ride check to use my mount as cover (+4 AC) as an immediate action when I was attacked.

I was planning on using the mount as a gimmick until I got Wild Shape and more spells per day, but it worked so well in the first meeting that it has me thinking if I should capitalize on this some more, maybe even take a level or two of Fighter (proficiency with Lance, 2 bonus feats for mounted combat stuff).

I was looking through the mounted feats, and something struck me as odd. My Tiger can also take feats, being an animal companion, and is a competent fighter in his own right. Most of the mounted feats seem to assume a featless horse or other non-attacking mount. This led to a lot of questions, so I'll ask them one-by-one here.

1. If I say that I want my tiger to move in and attack, Do I have to use any actions? I need to make a DC 5 ride check to guide with knees, and a DC 10 check to make the combat-trained Tiger attack. These do not require actions. Does this mean I can still take a standard action?

2. Same as above, but the Tiger used the charge action. Do I have an standard action? Can I cast a spell, and then make the Tiger charge (a single move, to avoid a concentration check).

3. Related to #2, if my Tiger charges in and replaces his melee attack with a Bull Rush or Overrun attempt, do I still have an action? If my tiger does an overrun and beats the enemy by 5, can I then spear the prone guy on my Druid?

Ride-By Attack states "When you are mounted and use the charge action, you may move and attack as if with a standard charge and then move again (continuing the straight line of the charge. Your total movement for the round can't exceed double your mounted speed. You and your mount do not provoke an attack of opportunity from the opponent that you attack."

4. I assume this applies if I want my mount to do a Bull Rush or Overrun. Do you agree?

5. If #3 decided I could have a standard action while my mount was trying the Overrun, can I Aid Another on the Tiger's Overrun Attack? Would Ride-By Attack negate the AoO on the Aid Antoher?

Basically, I'm thinking that the tiger bounds forward in a charge, my gnome sitting atop. When we get in range, I distract him with my spear (roll against AC 10 to aid another), and then the tiger barrels into him, with a +2 to the CMB from my help.

6. What if my Tiger has Improved Overrun, and I DON'T have Ride-By attack? If my Tiger charges in and tries to overrun the guy, does the guy get an AoO on me, on my Tiger's back? What if he was knocked prone?

7. Would Trample let my Tiger get a claw attack if he Overran an enemy and knocked him prone?

8. If my tiger was 7th level and had grab, would he get an auto-grapple from the trample-claw?

9. Does Spirited Charge apply to attacks made by the mount? I don't think so, but I figured I'd check.

I'd also be interested to hear any other ideas you guys had. I found a "Mounted Druid" thread back from 3.5, and I've seen some stuff online and in old copies of Dragon. If you have any ideas, cool feats, or interesting spell combinations for a Mounted Druid, let me know.

We play Core+APG, no splatbooks please :)

I'm playing a Druid with a Tiger animal companion, and I'm hoping to make him into a grappling machine. With Aspect of the Bear and Bull's Strength, you can easily get +4 to CMB rolls at level 3, and you can toss feats into Weapon Focus (Grapple) in there. With the feat and a Tiger's BAB/STR bonus, he's at a +8 at level 2. At 7th level, he gets +8 STR, grab, and pounce, and if I can buff his grappling well enough it should be pretty awesome.

I'm thinking of what my Druid will be doing while my Tiger is tumbling around, rending. She can poke at the enemy with a spear, taking advantage of the -4 DEX grappled creatures get, or she can join in the tumble herself.

I have some questions about grapples with more than two characters involved.

RAW:

"Multiple creatures can attempt to grapple one target. The creature that first initiates the grapple is the only one that makes a check, with a +2 bonus for each creature that assists in the grapple (using the Aid Another action). Multiple creatures can also assist another creature in breaking free from a grapple, with each creature that assists (using the Aid Another action) granting a +2 bonus on the grappled creature's combat maneuver check."

Questions:

1. Does using Aid Another to help a character grapple someone provoke an attack of opportunity?

I am inclined to say yes, based on this: "If you aid someone performing an action that would normally provoke an attack of opportunity, then the act of aiding another provokes an attack of opportunity as well." Without Improved Grapple, you provoke, so I would imagine this provokes.

However, grappled creatures do not threaten / cannot take AoOs. So I guess it only provokes an AoO if you Aid Another on the initial grapple attempt. Helping once the grapple is established would provoke none.

2. Does using Aid Another give a character the grappled condition?

I cannot see anything, RAW, that states this, but it makes logical sense. To help someone grapple, you should be in the grapple, right?

But aiding Another in combat, you don't actually attack. You "distract or interfere with an opponent". What this means is up to GMs. Could aiding another in a grapple be as simple as trying to kick out the opposing grappler's leg, leaving the helper out of the grapple?

Does my Druid have to expose herself (-4 DEX) and lose her AoOs if she helps the tiger grapple?

3. Can you trip someone in a grapple?

This is pretty devious. A person with the grappled condition has a -4 DEX, and a -2 to "combat maneuver checks". Does that -2 apply to CMD as well? Debatable. If it does, the character has a total of -4 to his CMD (if not, then it's only a -2), and does not threaten. This means you are free to disarm, trip, steal, whatever, without an AoO, and are more likely to succeed than normal.

What happens when you trip someone in a grapple? They are knocked prone, but they're "attached" to the other grappler. Does the other grappler fall prone as well? Are they still grappling on the floor? Or would this work more like a pin, where the tripped character gains the pinned condition, and the other grappler gains control?

A debate sprang up with my DM the other day and I was curious what everyone else thought.

Say a goblin is moving past my monk, provoking an AoO.

I decide that I want to trip him in place of my melee attack, but I do not have the Improved Trip feat.

Does my trip attack provoke an AoO from the Goblin, on his turn, while he is actively moving? His AoO count would reset when his turn started, so he's always guaranteed to have one while he is moving.

Does he get to slice at me before my trip, and then continue walking past if I fail to trip him?

The wording of Attacks of Opportunity is this: "Sometimes a combatant in a melee lets her guard down or takes a reckless action. In this case, combatants near her can take advantage of her lapse in defense to attack her for free. These free attacks are called attacks of opportunity."

My argument is that if the goblin has already "let his guard down" to move past me, he should not be able to attack me when I try to trip him, even if I "let my guard down" to do so.

Obviously, other creatures adjacent to me should be able to attack me, but should the moving goblin who is provoking an AoO get a shot?

I did a search here, and found a lot of really old threads (3.5-era) and a lot of quibbling over the language of the new Pathfinder text for the "Share Spells" ability.

The wording is "The druid may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her animal companion (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself. A druid may cast spells on her animal companion even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the companion’s type (animal)."

I'm not interested in reopening the debate or starting a holy war, so let's assume that this means

1. Druids can cast any spell that explicitly states "You" as a target on their animal companion (such as Longstrider).

2. Druids can cast any spell on an animal companion, even if would not normally apply to an animal (such as Enlarge Person, if they had it).

I'm also going to go ahead and say that I don't want to assume any multiclassing. No Wiz/Sor spells here, just pure Druid spells from Core/APG.

Looking at the list of Druid spells, I'm at a loss. Druids don't have many "You" spells, and most of their spells target creatures, which would include animals. There's really not that much you can do with the ability.

• Longstrider, +10 feet of movement
  
• Speak with Animals? Don't see a point in this.
  
• Obscuring Mist. Does not explicitly state "Target: You", but says "cloud spreads in 20-ft. radius from you". Theoretically could cast it on your tiger and have him cloud up the area while everyone retreats. Doubly useful if he has blindfight.
  
• Produce Flame. Again, not "Target: You", but Effect is "flame in your palm". If I'm going up against a well-armored foe, could I cast this on my tiger and have him make touch attacks instead of claws? Could be useful for smaller companions with smaller damage dice.
  
• Aspect of the Bear (APG). Finally, a "Target: You" worth something! +2 to AC and CMB rolls, AND no AoOs on several combat maneuvers. For pre-level 7 tigers, this will greatly help in getting some Rakes in!
  
• Burning Gaze (APG). Tiger that shoots fire out of it's eyes while you're riding it? Kind of sucks that it eats a standard action. Debatable if the tiger could even use it.
  
• Glide (APG). Feather fall for your companion, if you can touch him.
  
• Tree shape. Yeah.
  

And that's all I see, going up through 4th level spells.

At 10th+ Level you can take Improved Share Spells, to get the old effect of having a spell effect BOTH you and your companion, but at low-levels you have to pick who gets the spell. You'll have to decide who is getting Bulls Strength!

Are there any other creative uses for the Share Spells ability for a Druid? I read an older article from Dragon Magazine that recommended using Rusting Grasp to let your animal companion slap someone's armor, but that also doesn't have a target of "You" explicitly.

What else do you guys have?

Today while playing I realized that the Silence spell got severely nerfed, and and I just wanted to make sure it was intended.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/spells/silence.html

Duration: 1 round/level

versus

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/silence.htm

Duration: 1 minute/level

While the spell is far from worthless, it has a much more limited use now. A scroll of silence only lasts 3 rounds. This is only 9 seconds, and essentially pointless out of combat.

Can I get some official word on this?