Kenrill Greattusk's page

Pretty simple proposal, whenever new,sources become available, allow retraining for a discount to the new feats, spells, traits, and mebbe even classes. Unchained got me thinking of this. Letting people retrain will get the casuals more interested in new books, which is the lifeblood of this industry. The usual gripe of power gamers can plan to retrain is lessened in this case, as it is only available for new stuff, and therefore very hard to plan for. the retraining should only be a short window, mebbe a few months, but I honestly cannot see a downside for this for paizo.

Let's say yer a sorcerer who likes to conjure things. Let's say you like to ride in barrels places, perhaps down a river like a hobbit or whatver. Let's say you do this in pathfinder.

A creature inside a barrel with an eyehole cut out of it can still cast spells targeting outside the barrel right?

Do you have imoroved cover from ranged attacks from outside the barrel?

Can melee attacks hit you while inside the barrel?

Let's say the barrel is adamantine, what then?

Let's say you have a favorite adamantine barrel and have permanent silent image cast on it to cover up the eyeholes so others don't know they are there. What's a decent dc to find the spot where the eyeholes are so your opponent can make the will save to disbelieve the image?

Thannnnmkkss yallllll

so

Many of the spells in this chapter originated with the faithful of a particular deity and are more common among the worshipers of that god. Such spells are denoted with the god's name in parentheses after the spell's name. Worshipers of the spell's associated deity always treat the spell as common, and need not research the spell in order to prepare or learn it. Despite this, all the spells in this chapter are available to members of other faiths, though some temples or religious organizations may proscribe the use of specific spells. Additionally, arcane spellcasters have unlocked the secrets of casting particular spells.

what does that mean for arcane worshipers of a deity in pfs? currently in pfs worship of deities is required for certain traits and feats, as well as certain alternate spellcasting. this statement from inner sea gods implies to me that all worshipers of gods get the spell regardless of whether it is on their spell lists or not. if it doesn't mean that i am rather confused why these lines were printed.

so had the opportunity to run another low level mod, this time i went with the spirit whose secondary power seemed pretty rad to me, the cricket. i like going fast, and for emerald spire tower ruins, ignoring difficult terrain ended up being pretty important. well, not really for me but whatever.

after playing at 4, i wanted to see how much a difference level 1 is. turns out, not much. i didn't have spells that i wouldn't have cast, and i had one less trance per day. my ac was one lower. i had a crossbow and did crossbow damage.

as for the mod, as soon as combat started i tranced to get the higher level power. moving 45 feet and shooting gave me a +7 attack and a d8+4 damage, which was pretty neat. and then i realized i had to reload, so i couldn't shoot again. i could just run up and punch people for a +0 attack and d4+2 damage, and i ended up doing that a couple times. most of my actions were spent running around opening doors and telling my team where the baddies were.

honestly tho, this build prolly isn't very representative of what people will do. sure it would have been nice to be able to do something other than shoot or open doors but i could've chosen other spirits to do that. which begs the question: why are there spirits that do almost nothing at low levels? is the balance set so that there are spirits that are better low and get worse high and vice versa? because if so it seems that will be confusing for a lot of people, not knowing what spirits to learn and which ones to get feats that synergize with. there have been hints of one that gives exotic weapon proficiency at high levels. what is the point of that? exotics is something you want before you buy your first magic weapon, so like level 3 or 4 (to keep it out of splashing range).

theorycrafting with the cricket, if i go medium 1, occultist (transmutation)1, inquisitor (travel) 1, occultist (flame) 1, barbarian 1, and one feat spent on fleet i can activate all my speed things to get to 110 speed before buffs. with expeditious retreat on i get to 140 at level 5, which is pretty sweet. trancing cricket, i can charge 280 feet, and get +16 attack and +28 damage for the charge, not including other things. of course that requires a thing to be 280 feet away in a straight line. i would get a sweet +44 to acrobatics for jumping at that speed, and could reliably jump over large sized obstacles in my path.

so yeah, playtest experience summary: i'm pretty jazzed there is a rogue class that doesn't have sneak attack or spells. seriously, this is a class for roleplayers, and im happy its being worked on.

this class seems like a trip to rp. it gives you plenty of hooks, and some flavorful abilities that work with them.

i don't really wanna get spoily about the scenario, so ill just give nitty gritty. it might still spoil the fights, so if you dont wanna know them, please dont read em.

team was me as a 4th level medium, a level 2 psychic, 2 level 1 occultists, a level one geokineticist, and the arcanist pregen.
my build is in this thread if you wanna see it.

fight one, we know baddies are around, so i sent a wisp around a corner to draw them closer so arcanist can color spray. the baddies attack the wisp and miss it twice during surprise round.

my first turn, i spend trancing to get the lost, as we know there are quite a few guys here and there is a possibility that confusion might be relevant. i didnt trance pre-combat, because we had no idea when the fight would start. baddies go, one attacks the wisp and dies, the others come around the corner, one fails it save against color spray, one is dazed by team. damage is dealt by team. next round i move up to be in the thick of things and summon another wisp, becoming confused at the end of turn. baddies see i am confused, saw what the wisp did, and just ignore me. some more drop, next turn i am still confused and end up babbling. i can see it is getting me nowhere so i end it at the end of turn. more baddies drop, and on my next turn i finish one off with my crossbow.

in 4 rounds of combat, did 12 damage and used one of my dailies. the gm said the animals attacked the wisp because they could smell us, and their masters told them to attack nearest creatures.

next fight, they start buy popping out and critting the earthbender. my wisp is right next to him, but there is no reason to attack it. everyone fights, i shoot off crossbow bolts for rounds 1 and 2, and on round 3 when the last one is standing next to 2 of our downed party members i antagonize it away. (before the session i changed tien and orc to ignan and terran, the sheet posted doesn't list that). the last guy gets killed before it goes again, i prolly coulda just shot it but i wanted to play it safe.

in 3 rounds of combat, did ~8 damage, using no class abilities.

next fight, obviously a boss monster, i spend my first round trancing lantern to get the miss chance. get attacked 4 times and it never triggers, end up paralyzed and just being a meat shield.

in 4 rounds of combat, used one daily. the ac boost from dex spirit made one attack a miss.

last fight, out of abilities, only have spells left which do nothing. shoot crossbows. baddie casts sound burst which pops a wisp and does 8 damage to him and knocking him out.

in 3 rounds of combat did 13 damage, 8 of which is from a source the developer has said shouldn't be applying. i don't know why you wouldn't want the wisp to trigger from aoes, as that is currently the only reasonable way for them to be attacked. in all my games, i have never seen a creature or player attack a dancing light. as that is a cantrip, it can be safe to assume any intelligent creature would have seen it at some point in their lives and assume it is a harmless thing.

questions brought up: what is the creature that is made with wisp? it says a tiny creature, but no stats are given, such as type, move speed, saves, senses.

overall, class plays pretty much how i thought it would. as a 4th level player with a table of 1s and a 2, i felt about equal to them in strength. from what i can tell there is currently no advantage to taking more than one level of this class. the fights would've been the same if i were a level 1 medium/ level 3 warrior. well actually, i mightve not been paralyzed with a better fort save. why does lantern give sleight of hand? it isnt a class skill and cant be used untrained? honestly most of the seance boons seem trivial and tacked on.

so i realized i was prolly doing it wrong posting all that stuff in the other thread, so ill make a private thread you guys can peruse at yer leisure. if all the other posts i made are moved here i don't mind.

so talking with people, it seems a lot are confused by the medium. it seems like you have a ton of options, all up front, and it can be quite overwhelming. i have some time, so ill go over the options here.

at level one you can seance spirits, and once a day trance as a full round action to get a second or boost the one you have.

spirits, by stat:

str:
big sky - +1 attack and +1 damage; +2 cmd/cmb while trying to break grapple; ignore 1 point of dr *trance: +1 ac, +1 reflex *
bear - +1 attack and +1 damage; +2 str to break things; 2 claw attacks *trance: enlarge person*
beating - +1 attack and +1 damage; +1 attack and +2 damage vs people you have already damaged; improved unarmed strike, treat fists like monk-4 *trance: if you flank all allies flank and gain +1 attack*

dex:
cricket - +1 ac and +1 reflex; +2 on saves against entangle, stagger, and paralysis effects; +10 move speed and ignore difficult terrain *trance +1 attack and +2 damage for every 20' moved in a round*
rabbit - +1 ac and +1 reflex; +2 cmd vs disarm and sunder; weapon finesse, +1 attack and +1 damage *trance: immediate action to make attacks against you or enemies you threaten hit on 11+ instead of normal roll*
demon's lantern - +1 ac and +1 reflex; +2 on sleight of hand; move action visible trap that does level/2 d6 damage, dancing lights at will *trance standard action trap shield that triggers 20% of the time and does level/2 d6 to attacker*

con:
the desert - +3 hp, +1 fort; +2 vs disease and temperature effects; you and a friend can trade one point of damage back and forth forever *trance when someone removes a debuff from you, you get +1 attack, +1 damage, and +1 saves for a round*
teamster - +3 hp, +1 fort; +2 on saves against fatigue, exhaustion,
sleep, or knock-out effects; endurance and diehard as bonus feats, treat con as 3 higher when dying *trance: when dying no longer disabled and get 1 temp hp/round*
waxworks - +3 hp, +1 fort; +2 vs polymorph; melee attacks reduce speed by 5' for a round, if speed is reduced to half the target is entangled *trance if you hit a guy you hit at least 2-3 times already this round there is a chance they are immobilized*

int:
hidden truth - +1 on all skills; +2 on perception vs secret doors; always get a check to notice secret doors within 10' *trance +2 on knowledge checks and always take 10*
vision - +1 on all skills; +2 on spellcraft and know(arcana), standard action linguistics check to give ally +1 attack/+1 saving throw once per day per target *trance does nothing until level 4*
rakshasa - +1 on all skills; +2 on intimidate vs attitude; intimidate vs attitude lasts longer *trance does nothing until level 4, after level 4 you can trade your character away for no mechanical benefit*

wis:
winged serpent - +1 will, +1 concentration (?); +2 init; always act in suprise round, +1 attack and +1 damage against flatfooted in surprise round *trance uncanny dodge (full round action to gain this? ouch)*
owl - +1 will, +1 concentration (?); +2 on Heal and Know(nature), +1 attack and +1 damage against targets with 1/4 hp (functionally nothing against almost all cr 1 creatures) *trance +1 attack and +1 damage after you knock out an opponent for 1 round*
lost - +1 will, +1 concentration (?); +2 vs language dependent effects; +1 on confusion rolls within 120 feet (yes, that is 1%), you can become confused as a swift action (why?), when creatures are equidistant, you choose which to attack while confused (situational at best) *trance hide alignment for a minute (in case you have a full round before someone detects you?)*

cha:
unicorn - +2 on aid another checks; aid another for +3 (doesn't stack with other aid bonuses) and they get the bonus for the next 3 actions (awesome!) *trance aid another for attack gives +1 damage, aid another for defense gives +1 to saves*
the twin - choose another spirit and get its powers, but +2 disguise instead of the second one * trance does stone cold nothing til level 5, after which it still does functionally nothing*
liar - +2 on bluff, +1 on charisma checks vs creatures that are already helpful and could be attracted to you (so +1 bluff vs some helpful creatures) *trance does nothing til 4, after which it lets you ignore cha checks to influence charmed creatures*

it seems like a lot right? well mebbe it is, so choose a number of these equal to your charisma mod, and that is how many different ones you know. easier now right? so like 1-4 known. lets max it out, choose 4 you like. now choose one of those you want to use. every day you can choose a different one. its like you are a cleric who can switch between four domains but no spells per day. each even level you get to know a new spirit.

now do that for 3 entire levels, nothing new being added.

at level 4 things get exciting, you can cast a spell per day! actually since we have 18 charisma we can do 2 spells per day. granted, you only know 2 spells, and they are tied to spirits, and level one spells, but you can cast them 2 times per day. i meant to say it is exciting because you can now trance rakshasa and lose your character in exchange for casting command on an npc and letting the dm decide what the command does (exciting!). also at level 4 all those +1 to random things is now +2.

at level 5 things get more real, you get to choose a second power from your pool of spirits. look at the third powers from the spirits, you now at level 5 get to choose a second one to have all day. so at fifth level we have 2 abilities, and 2 spells per day. so yeah, still not anything actually new being added.

at level 6 the trance power is now a standard action and we can use it more. effectively another dead level, as no new options are available.

at level 7, the trance powers become base powers, and some new trance powers become available. i don't really wanna describe them all, because whether they are good or not does not make up for levels 1-6.

from levels 1-6 you are doing the exact same nothing every day. sure, you get to know more spirits, but they do not gain powers until 7. taking a level in this class is great, but each level after that is worth less and less until level 7.

if wizards learned second level spells at level 7, they would still have more options per day than this class.

so according to the faq, you can't add powers to a black blade. the arcanist blade adept weapon starts as a bonded item and later becomes a black blade. what happens if you pay someone to enchant this blade? do the enchantments just stop working?

so touch attacks require you to touch a person right, is there any way you could use sleight of hand to deliver a touch spell or effect and have them not notice?

since people's gear can be taken away with sleight of hand, it would follow that grabbing the gear is assumed to be an auto successful touch attack.

basically im wondering if there is a way to sneakily put the scar hex on someone. the hex itself doesn't say it is painful, and it certainly doesn't need to be obvious. could a character walking in a crowd sneakily brush up against someone and put this hex on their target?

i feel the title of this post explains the premise.

i am pretty sure i am not alone in showing up to play a mod, and finding the short description did not do it justice. i am not a big fan of hack and slash, and i know others who prefer dungeon delves, and im really glad to see the society is putting out mods for all types of players. it might be nice if the players could find out the style of the mod beforehand.

i know of mods that have content that people would not run, and if they had known beforehand that things like drugs, suicide, or slavery were involved they would have prepped something different. i think that simple tags would help deal with these problems, and it could be done in a way that was not too spoily.

we could mark certain adventures as happening in the blakros museum, or the mwangi expanse, or in osirion. and then people that had characters whose backstory was tied to such locations could be better informed on who to bring.

Premise: An option is banned only if it conflicts with the nature or goals of the campaign.
Premise: Paladins conflict with the nature or goals of the campaign.
Conclusion: Paladins should be banned.

-------------------------------

Reasoning:
Premise #1:
It appears is that nothing inside the Core Assumption is banned, unless it appears to specifically harm the campaign. That is, when we examine the core, we "start" with everything allowed, and then Mike looked through it and sees something and says "Hey, X would make the campaign worse" and makes an exception for it (i.e., bans it).

Premise #2:
I am aware of many aspects of the campaign with which paladins conflict.
They often slow down gameplay, due to arguments on how to deal with evil creatures or items, and in many of the scenarios that request that you obfuscate the truth.
They seem to have canon issues - why are the LG holy warriors working with thieves and murderers, ahem, i mean "a legendary league of explorers, archaeologists, and adventurers dedicated to discovering and chronicling the greatest mysteries and wonders of an ancient world beset by magic and evil". In fact their code of honor in many instances requires them to break the code of the society. "Explore, Report, Cooperate." A paladin's code of honor can be broken in many instances by accepting aid from people they should be cooperating with.
They potentially lead to PvP more than any other archetype/class. No other archetype/class has as much built in potential for friction. Other players can put paladins in situations where they should either be breaking their code and losing their class abilities or engaging in pvp and losing their characters.
This can affect wealth for the party. There are many missions (any missions requiring subtlety, theft, or other forms of subterfuge) where the paladin's code requires that the paladin either not take part in the mission or make the party fail. Depending on how restrictive the gm is about wealth from encounters paladins can make the party miss out on many instances of treasure.

Thus, I contend that Paladins conflict with many aspects of the campaign.

-----------------------------------

Based on the two premises above, I believe it follows logically that Paladins should be banned.

Is the point of the society to introduce people to pathfinder in hopes they will break off into groups and do adventure paths? Is the target audience gamers in general? Or optimizers? Is the point of society play to make it so people can travel to different parts of the country and always have a game available? Are we meant to be welcoming to new players? Or adversarial? Is there meant to be a story and roleplaying? Or just a series of combats and then random useless treasure?

I ask this because I see a lot of gms on here who spend more time saying no to ideas than yes. I also ask because I continue seeing scenarios where the only roleplaying happens when I decide to make the monsters speak languages they don't know and talk to the murder hobos that are tramping about. "Assault on the wound" goes so far as to reduce the party to I just their charisma bonuses for the first two thirds of the adventure, and then follows it up with a nonsense dungeon with a bizarre bbeg with bizarre tactics.

Why are there so many adventures where the only talking is during the box text at the beginning? Is pfs meant to just be an organized open play tactical combat game? It often seems as if it is.

Why is it acceptable for there to be "killer gms" in society? Is the management really ok with people openly trying to be mean to strangers? Are they not worried this reflects bad on the game itself? Are they unaware there is social stigma of the game? Are they unaware that people of color and women have had bad experiences with being marginalized in games for sake of "authenticity"? Why is slavery acceptable in golarion? At gencon I was in a sea of priveleged white males, with few minorities and women around. In one of the missions people were sent to a slave auction, and I heard this being run at tables around me, people joking and laughing about slaves. Is it possible the management does not see this as perhaps insensitive? Do they perhaps not see slavery as actually evil?

We pretend dragons and liches are real, but we can't pretend women are equals? Or that slavery is evil?

so disguise self the spell only lets you disguise as creatures of the same creature type, and the charts for the disguise skill only list the penalties for disguising as a different race. does this mean you cant disguise yourself as a different creature?

like can i not buy a bear outfit and pretend im a bear? ive seen some pretty good bear outfits.

so exploration and trade both replace agile feet, does that also replace the 10' move bonus? the one listed under granted powers that doesnt have a name attached to it

so this has to be the worst written adventure ive ever seen. mebbe if it actually had all the player handouts it would be better, but the "start of the adventure" being "the pcs are in the inn. they can do a dc 10 knowledge (local) or diplomacy check to find out (some guy) is a real jerk. then they head to the graveyard.

i had to read this paragraph about 5 times to make sure i wasnt missing something.

i showed up to my table at gencon to run this, and asked the hq what to do, was i missing a page? they said it had been run all day the previous day and that no gms complained about it. at this point i was really unsure to do, there werent quest introductions for like half of the quests.

and then i was told i should just make it up.

which made this adventure the best i've ever run.

sure, theres a horse hiding in the graveyard that can be spotted with a dc 8 perception check that isnt mentioned until page two, but i think its great when people are looking around and they see a horse standing behind a mausoleum looking suspicious. horses are meant to be scary!

the players just teleport around from location to location, no real sense of why written in, so its up the gm to just make up some sort of narrative. its pretty awesome, i would suggest running it only for people that like to roleplay or for people new to the game, people that can appreciate the silliness necessary.

After a year of traveling and helping out low level players and seeing the state of the pathfinder society at large, I have decided that the need for the shadow lodge is greater than ever. Sheila Heidmarch continues to send inexperienced recruits out on missions to their certain doom. The decemvirate continues to hoard artifacts for their own purposes. Pathfinders of all experience levels are sent on suicide missions for simple political gains.
Sure, the man who created our brotherhood was a traitor, but the faction he created was greater than him. His ideals, even if they were just a guise, are still ideals worth striving for. Are the lives of our fellow pathfinders nor worth protecting? Is the spirit of camaraderie and cooperation not worth fighting for?
I have seen the lodge fall apart in the last year, splintered by the despondency wrought by our leader's treacherousness. I have seen the grand lodge attempt to absorb our numbers, speaking with their twisted words of reparations and goodwill. Other factions swept in like vultures, picking our family apart, for who else did we have to turn to?
I have a proposal for all former shadow lodge members, and all those who would stand for unity and the common man in our hierarchical society. We should reform the shadow lodge, only this time instead of one man pulling our strings, we should only follow the ideals we have always followed in our hearts. Stand up for the weak, protect each other, question the orders of unscrupulous leaders, root out treachery, and find proof of the misdeeds of the various factions of the pathfinder lodge.
Going forward, I propose that all those that stand for these ideals sign this charter, so that those in power know that someone is keeping tabs on them.
By signing this charter you divorce yourself from any faction to which you may have had ties to in the past. You agree to stand up for your fellow pathfinders, regardless of their current faction.

Hangman Henry IX, your brother at arms

Trained Legerdemain (Ex): At 6th level, a carnivalist can command a familiar or pet within 30 feet to make a Disable Device or Sleight of Hand check as if trained in the skill, using its own skill ranks (if any), Dexterity modifier, and equipment, with a competence bonus equal to 1/2 her rogue level. The check requires the normal amount of time to complete and the DC increases by 5. The carnivalist must maintain this pet performance each round her familiar or pet attempts a Disable Device or Sleight of Hand check.

looking through the familiars, the only one that has either of these two skills is the raccoon, who has a base +1 to sleight of hand. the dc to steal an item from someone is a 20, raised to 25 by this ability. since both skills are trained only, am i wrong in reading this that there is only one familiar capable of using it, and even then only capable of using one of the two skills? the familiar rules say they use your skill ranks for skills, but this specifically states the familiar uses its own ranks. is this a mistake of some sort?

This ability otherwise functions like and replaces the standard witch familiar.

and beast-bonded (UM) contains nothing saying that it alters the standard witch familiar ability.

unless i am missing something, RAW these two archetypes are compatible, which leads to some very interesting interactions at level 10 when you get Twin Soul from Beast-Bonded. the most basic of which is that you can have your character die and then be inside a mask, and then have your familiar go magic jar some person and then you are the mask and your mask is now a person wearing you. this becomes even weirder if you have enchanted your mask with any sort of face slot enchantment, as you now have a person (possessed by your familiar) with say, an innate Hat of Disguise.

i think some clarification of what fetish mask actually is would be nice. if it is actually treated as a familiar it should be getting an intelligence score and improved evasion and speak with others of its kind (a mask that talks to other peoples masks? awesome!). otherwise it really should just say it replaces the standard familiar. Beast-Bonded should probably also have a requirement that you have a standard witch familiar, to avoid this kind of cheesiness.

is paizo doing anything for this? i am interested in gming but i cant seem to find any info about how to go about this.