K-Rod's page

Hello everyone, I wanted to get a second opinion on what a sorcerer with the impossible bloodline is able to affect on constructs. The impossible bloodline states the following:

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Constructs are susceptible to your enchantment (compulsion) spells as if they were not mind-affecting.

Constructs are treated as living creatures for the purposes of determining which spells affect them.

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From the above, I understand that a sorcerer can target a construct with any spell that normally refers to a living creature in the "target" section or in the body of the description. Furthermore, it removes the constructs immunity to enchantment (compulsion) in regards to mind-affecting spells, which means it would bypass that specific immunity only.

Another person believes that the second line references that all spells should work and that the construct become a living being, for the purpose of the spell, which means that it loses all immunities as per it's construct type for any spell cast by the sorcerer with the impossible bloodline. So, therefore, the construct would lose it's immunity to all death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). Constructs would be subject to nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or energy drain. Constructs would be at risk of death from massive damage.

Which understanding is correct? If we went with the broader idea that all immunities are bypassed by the impossible bloodline, will this cause balance issues? In a more specific example, would spells, such as ray of exhaustion (which is a necromancy effect that causes exhaustion/fatigue) or Stinking Cloud (which causes nausea and poison effects) work on a construct if cast by a sorcerer with the impossible bloodline?

Thanks

Hey everyone,

I have a game coming up this week and was thinking of my players abilities versus a swarm. They will be fighting a Bionanite cloud, a variation of the Granule Variant Swarm (http://www.archivesofnethys.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Granule%20Con struct%20Swarm) which has immunity to weapon damage. I'm interpreting weapon damage to mean all forms of B/P/S.

I have a player who is playing an elementist from the sphere of power book. He specializes in the destruction sphere, which has a AoE blast that deals bludgeoning damage (I believe it's described as a shower of rocks exploding everywhere). My initial impression is that because it is bludgeoning damage, it would be considered "weapon damage" and the swarm would be immune to it. I'm comparing it with a other spells like stone discus, which is similar but not the same as the above mentioned spell, which i think the swarm would also be immune to.

I wanted to know if anyone could confirm or correct the above. My group has been playing for a long time, so I'm not worried about them not being able to handle themselves if it comes down to that specific blast being ineffective but I would like to know if I'm interpreting this incorrectly.

Plano boxes work good. I can get one of the smaller releases into one box and the big releases take two.

Hey Stan,

Just curious, which Plano boxes model do you use for the medium pawns. I've been having issues trying to find the right size for these.

Lord Fyre wrote:

Ascalaphus wrote:

So now the players are discussing acting as champions for the Hawks, and going into the arena with that. Problem is, they just turned level 5.

I'm struggling a bit to justify the quest to destroy the receiver array and go to the haunted canyon for the cylex. It looks like the players are moving to the endgame already. Right now they're gonna talk with the Hawks about stuff and then gonna catch a show at the arena, so there's still opportunity to try to sway them. But I'm a bit lost on a good pitch.

A couple of things:

Use the "Show" at the arena to demonstrate them how brutal Helskarg's Ogre-chariot is. There allies may suggest that the PCs will want something to counter it.

You may need to add to the canyon encounters (see my suggested Technic League team above).

But, at a certain point you need to let them progress as they see fit.

I still need to work out the chariot encounter. I think that even right now the party could quickly vanquish it. A troll with no elemental protection to speak of stands little chance against a party with a serious evoker in it. I'm thinking that she has Nalakai cast Resist Energy on him before arena battles just to be sure.

I'm a bit hesitant to put the League on the stage, because I've portrayed Scrapwall as a place that's basically not on their radar. I'm planning to feature them heavily in part III however. I've made up some new gangs, among which is the Waywards. They're crusaders from the worldwound who've fallen into disgrace. Their leader, Alistair of Lauterbury, is hoping to provoke a conflict between the League and Ghost Wolves and then swoop in to "teach the barbarians a lesson". He's hoping that the League will appreciate that, and that the crusaders on the Sellen are happy to have a crusader "guarding the route".

It may be time to start some foreshadowing on that however. Maybe give them a prominent spot in the arena. He could try to get some influence over the Hawks by...

Hey, I'm running Iron Gods right now and I am a little bit of ahead of you (my group is 2/3 through the excavator) so I can probably give you some general advice. I didn't like the random encounter table that they had in the book, so I instead opted to keep the encounters centered on the areas they visited and to keep the momentum by having each location able to be completed with a day of exploration. If you want to give the party more time to explore Scrapwall, have Helskarg send them a challenge to meet him in the arena in 3 days (enough time to explore 2 locations and prepare on the 3rd day). Depending on how your party is acting the challenge could be an 1 of 2 things. 1) if they are openly trying to destroy the LOR, then have the challenge be a fight to the death. or 2) if the party is being secret about their actions, then have it be a try-out - if they defeated Helskarg then they will receive an invitation to join the LOR. In my campaign the party was with option #1 so he basically told them to show up or the entire town would know they are cowards and offered the chance to fight him 1 on 1 or in a group combat.

If you are scared the PCs are going to go ahead anyways, you can have one of their ally NPCs warn them, the LOR is a powerful gang. While they have built up a reputation in Scrapwall, a lot of people are still loyal to the LOR and it might be best to make a name for themselves before they move forward with their plan. If they decide to proceed anyways, then let them. The excavator is set up to provide more difficuly fights depending on their rep, and they should be able to retreat if they find it overwhelming (remember the LOR don't report failure in fear of Hellion).

I planted a lot of seeds for these places throughout the AP. For the canyon they heard about the canyon from the Hawks as a place to stay away from, and in the Smiler base they found a report in Marrow's lab that reports how she had attempted to explore the canyon previously. She had documented detailing her discoveries (she mentioned the strange glowing light (will-o-wisp) had drawings of a gun, a id card, grenades) and she mentioned getting attacked by invisible creatures (poltergeists). The possibility of treasure interested the characters. Maybe have the characters come across this information? Or have a former Smiler come up to them and offer Marrow's notes for 50gp? Also, the skeletal technicians were a pushover, I'd suggest adding 1 or 2 and throwing on a template.

For the receiver array, I mentioned it was an obvious landmark in Scrapwall and I had Redtooth mention it was a staging ground for Hellion's troops under Meynada. You can easily have the Hawks pass on this information instead. There was still a small garrison there that were protecting the array. Anyone with the technologist feat should know that this is how Meynada was transferring energy from Torch. Redtooth told that that the receiver had become a symbol of Hellion's control in the area and that destroying it would be a huge blow to the Lords of Rust. I even had Redtooth mention that by destroying the receiver array it would temporarily divert some of Hellion's minions. If you wanted to include additional encounters you can rework the Receiver array to have Hellion's acolytes, led by either a Lords of Rust or an NPC, battling alien creatures. This could allows you to forshadow the Dominion of the Black a bit more, besides just the Rhu Chalik.

For the Arena battle, I was pretty unimpressed. The vehicle is slow and easily defeated. If I had to rework it I would Helskarg come in on a propulsion vehicle (the man-power ogres were useless and died way too quickly) and rework his character to be more effective at vehicle combat. I remember someone mentioned the idea of people in the crowd cheating, and there being traps on the field, which i think is a really cool idea that could make the encounter interesting. earlier, the party had insulted the arena master, so I had him insulting them through the fight, which led to the sorcerer using a spell to increase the sound of his voice and sway the crowd to their side). The resist elements would be a good call but it depends on your party's composition. My party only had the wand of scorching ray from Marrow as their only source of fire, so I opted to not have him protected because I knew he would manage to last for a while. If you think the PCs are going to go in hard with fire/acid and drop him in a round or two, then I'd suggest having him protected.

In which case, no one gets raised and we just bring in new characters.

You could use these reason for every situation though. You can always bring in a new character, or come up with a way to avoid any consequences that comes with resurrection, no matter what is suggested. Personally, I think the key to balancing resurrection is to make the players ask themselves if they feel the possible consequence of their actions is worth resurrecting their character. I don't think death can be meaningful or scary in pathfinder because it is relatively easy to resolve (both in game and out of game), so I prefer the idea of making resurrection still viable but making the consequences of those actions be meaningful and possibly scary.

As it was mentioned before by others, it's hard to balance making death scary while keeping the game fun. If you start messing with the mechanics of the game you could potentially end up harming the party or turning resurrection into a major chore.

So far, the idea I liked the most was bringing back an equally powerful NPC back from the grave, which can be cool once or twice but I think that could get overdone really quickly if the party has a string of bad luck and needs to basically revive everyone (Imagine have to resurrect 4 or 5 evil NPCs because of a near TPK). Also, I think you run into the issue that you are making it only scary for the PCs but not for anyone else (would other people think the consequences are acceptable (i.e. BBEG, King or a rich merchant) and they really care if they brought back another individual of opposed alignment? (also how would you deal with a TN?))

One idea I did have is inspired from the T.V. show "Pushing Daisies." If you aren't familiar with the show, the main character can revive someone who has died. The catch is that that in order to remain alive someone nearby has to die. Using this idea as inspiration I came up with the following:

If the PCs revive anyone then an NPC they know will die. I'd keep a running list of all notable NPCs that have played an important role to the NPCs (I'd exclude minor acquaintances that the party never met for more then a few minutes). If the PCs try to revive a party member, I would roll on the running list to determine which NPC died. The NPC could be relatively unimportant like the innkeeper they became friends with at the beginning of their adventure or maybe it was someone important like a cohort, a brother or a current ally.

I would make them aware of this change at the beginning of the game so they are aware that they are putting others in harms way by performing the ritual. Even if your characters don't care for the NPC, they may begin to care when they realize that they just killed someone who was actively helping them in their quest. To avoid an endless cycle of PC death I would probably rule that all the PCs, not just the caster, are involved in the ritual and that being involved in the ritual makes them immune to the resulting death effect.

Of course, the drawback is that this makes your list of NPCs expendable, which doesn't help if you are a GM who has preplanned events for your NPCs. You can always negate this by adding a saving throw to negate this effect, or just give the NPC some plot armour. I would probably not allow the saving throw only because you are back to the beginning where death potentially has no repercussion.

In any case, it would also give your world a reason to not have rampant resurrections - people understand the consequences and that it could potentially kill someone that is important to the person being revived/doing the reviving.

Okay, first things first. I am finding a hard time getting into the idea of this campaign because I find that Pathfinder is doing every genre but the kitchen sink on one world. I don't mind sci-fi in fantasy (I love the idea of Star Wars). I have a problem with it being paired with French Revolution, Colonial USA, Horror, Standard Fantasy, Egypt, Pirates, and Vikings as neighbors.

That being said, my group has a subscription and has the entire path and I have said I was not going to participate in a couple of the paths already. I do not want to be the reason that this one is not played.

So, I am looking at ideas for a character for this path. I enjoy story and creating a character to influence said story.

I have no clue where to even begin fitting a character into this campaign. What are you trying to accomplish? How does the story progress? What are goals that actually work for this path?

I do not want to experience the blindside that many people (not me thankfully) got hit with in Council of Thieves.

I don't even need to get class or race suggestions, just some ideas to work with to make an enjoyable character for this path.

Thanks for the help.

Generally, anything works for this AP. The big attraction is the introduction of technology. You can either embrace it or hate it. If you hate it magic is still widely available in this setting. The APs string together decently and it shouldn't feel forced if done right, so all you really need is a motivation to help out in Torch to begin with and an urge to adventure and help.

I'll give you what I am writing up for my players so they have a minor feel for the setting and the beginning of the AP. Minor spoilers but nothing that an adventurer wouldn't necessarily be privy to/heard rumours of.

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Setting

The Player’s Guide will go over most of this information but the gist of it is as follows:

Iron god’s takes place in Numeria. In -4363 AR (it is currently 4714 AR) a large metal vessel broke apart in the atmosphere and created a meteor-like shower above Numeria. The largest piece that fell into Numeria is the structure now called Silver Mount, located near Numeria’s capital city , Starfall. Numeria itself is bordered by the River Kingdoms to the South, Ustalav to the West and Worldwound to the Northwest. It’s a pretty harsh barren land which is home to a variety of people, but the two largest groups to be aware of are the Kellids and the Technic League.

The Kellid’s are basically a diverse group of mostly nomadic barbarian tribes. The different tribes all have different values but they all essentially hate technology. The closest thing they have to a central power is the Black Sovereign. The title is reserved for legendary barbarians who are thought to be able to unite the Kellid people. the current Black Sovereign is Kevoth Kul, and he currently resides in the capital of Starfall.

Some of the main Kellid Tribes are as follows:

Blackhorses - The Black Sovereign originally came from this tribe. They have currently found themselves shunned from Starfall. Mostly found in central Numeria, including the area around Torch.

White Scars - Loyal to the Black Sovereign and reside in the area around Starfall. They are known for being corrupt and are not liked by other tribes.

Blood Gars - Barbarian Pirates who live close to the Sellen and raid towns and ships. They are extremely violent and notorious for their cruelty.

Ghost Wolves - Live on the eastern plains of Numeria. They will destroy any technology they come across and will kill any member of the Technic League they come across. They are more known for their acceptance and use of magic.

Sunder Horns - Notorious raiders and slavers in Western Numeria. They are known for being accomplished smiths and for controlling several mines in Numeria.

The Technic League are a group of magic users who are united in their obsession with technology and the power that comes with it. This group believes that they are the rightful owners of all technology in Numeria and will go to any means to acquire and keep it secret. The Technic League exerts control over most of Numeria through their spies, taxes and it’s legion of robot servants all the while pretending to serve the Black Sovereign.

Hidden throughout Numeria is also an extremely rare race called the android. No one knows where they come from but they seem to emerge from the buried structures through Numeria. Android are extremely rare and not much is known about them in general. Some towns and cities are more accepting of androids, while others would just as easily kill them out of fear or turn them over to the Technic League for a reward.

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The Adventure

The AP takes place in Torch, a town known for a mysterious purple flame that continually is lit at the top of Blacktop hill in town. The flame was found to have the perfect properties for smithing as the flame is hot enough to work even the most difficult sky metals, but precise enough to allow delicate work to be completed. This has led to many Smith’s throughout Golarion to travel to Torch in order to work with the flame. This pilgrimage of Smith’s has been Torch’s main source of income since it was created.

While the flame is known to intermittently erupt hundreds of feet high, the town has become familiar enough with the tell-tale signs to know when this danger is coming. Very recently though, the flame atop the hill has gone out and has not reignited. An expedition led by one of its council members, Khonnair Baine, was sent out but never returned and now the town is faced with 2 large issues

Most people are anxious about the fate of Khonnair as he was a well-loved man in town. His ingenuity and intelligence have improved and helped many in Torch. The larger, more looming issue for the town itself is that the loss of the flame has led to Torch’s economy tanking. This is a major issue as the town is required to pay a tithe to the Technic League and failure to do so would most likely not end well. Word has spread around that the town council is offering a reward for any adventures brave enough to find the missing councilman and find out what is causing the issues with the flame.

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Hopefully the above has given you some decent ideas to work with. Reading the Player's Guide can give you some general ideas but I find a lot of them too constricting. Also, there is some potential plot real estate for android characters but it all depends on your GM on that one.

3 uses to split. And I think you'd gain two extra uses, but that's a max per day, not two extra each time you Divine Bond.

Thanks.

I have two questions about the defiant ability. The entry for defiant on a weapon says

"This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons. A defiant weapon helps its wielder stay alive in desperate conditions. It stays in its wielder's hand even if she is panicked, stunned, or unconscious. She adds the weapon's enhancement bonus as a bonus on checks to stabilize when dying and on saving throws to end ongoing conditions such as disease, poison, and hold person. If the wielder possesses Heroic Defiance, Heroic Recovery, Improved Great Fortitude, Improved Iron Will, or Improved Lightning Reflexes, she gains a number of additional daily uses equal to the weapon's enhancement bonus that can be used on any of these feats."

My question is specifically about the last sentence "If the wielder possesses Heroic Defiance, Heroic Recovery, Improved Great Fortitude, Improved Iron Will, or Improved Lightning Reflexes, she gains a number of additional daily uses equal to the weapon's enhancement bonus that can be used on any of these feats" and how it interacts with multiple feats. For example, say I have a straight +3 sword and I have the feats Improved Iron Will and Improved Lightning Reflexes - do I get 3 additional uses for EACH feat OR is it 3 additional uses that is divided up amongst the two feats however I decide to use them?

Also, Would a Paladin's divine bond (which grants a temporary enhancement bonus to the sword) give me additional uses of the defiant reroll ability while the divine bond ability is active. I.e. if the sword goes from a +3 to a +5 for 10 minutes, would I gain an extra 2 uses of defiant while the ability is active or would I still only have the 3 additional uses?

Hey, I'm in a similar boat. I've been looking for a game but haven't found anything in Toronto yet. I'll keep you in mind if I ever come across anything, but in the meanwhile I would suggest you check meetup.com. It has a couple of table top game groups (Toronto TAG) and I think even one specifically for females only(Geek Girls in Toronto). Keep an eye out there, who knows, it might be a bit easier to find something locally. Good luck.

Rodrigues