King.Ozymandius's page

I was recently asked about this by one of my own players. I read the description provided for Pageant of the Peacock, and promptly advised that the use of Bluff for Knowledge implicitly means his Bard PC would be making stuff up and persuading other people he knew what he was on about. And that he should be fully aware that relying on anything I told him after a use of Bluff in place of Knowledge would be unwise.

Golarion appears to run on slightly different rules than reality, but it does NOT run on rules that different. Suspension of disbelief is ruined when any Bard can potentially know anything with simple performance. From my perspective, the 'this does allow Bluff to provide real Knowledge' interpretation is being pursued by people who want it to be true, without any apparent consideration for the consequences.

One major consequence is this: if a Bard PC can do it, then a Bard NPC can do it. This would mean that their enemies in the campaign would eventually know EVERYTHING about the PCs. Down to what colour of socks they had chosen to wear that day, what their plans are, how much resources they have left, how badly they want to buy stuff... just imagine haggling with a storekeeper who knows everything about you.

My reason for posting this? I am unhappy with both the performance itself, and my handling of it, which seems to nerf it. What have other people done with it?

Proposing to play the below, will be multiclassed to Archaeologist, appreciate any feedback/thoughts.

Half-Elf (Wildborn) Barbarian (Urban Barbarian) 1
CG Medium humanoid (elf, human)
Init +2; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+4 armor, +2 Dex)
hp 14 (1d12+2)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will -1; +2 vs. enchantments
Immune sleep
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee chakram +3 (1d8+3) and
dagger +4 (1d4+3/19-20) and
scimitar +4 (1d6+3/18-20) and
unarmed strike +4 (1d3+3 nonlethal)
Special Attacks rage (14 rounds/day)
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 14
Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 16
Feats Additional Traits, Extra Rage, Skill Focus (Perception)
Traits berserker of the society, rich parents, seeking adventure, vagabond child (urban)
Skills Acrobatics +6, Climb +7, Disable Device +7, Knowledge (local) +6, Perception +8, Survival -1 (+1 to avoid becoming lost), Swim +7; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception
Languages Common, Elven, Kelish, Varisian
SQ controlled rage, crowd control, elf blood
Other Gear darkleaf armour, heavy wooden shield, chakram, dagger, scimitar, wayfinder, backpack, bedroll, blanket, canteen, coffee pot, flint and steel, grooming kit, ink, black, inkpen, journal, kahve (per cup) (14), mess kit, thieves' tools, trail rations (4), waterproof bag, whetstone, 3 gp, 3 sp

Well, I allowed my players to create 2nd level characters for the start of Wrath of the Righteous, and all of them discussed it, then created characters with Paladin as one of their levels. All of them. Even the Sorcerer. And it was amazing...! No intra-party conflict, plenty of healing reserves, tactics and strategy was all flowing without me as GM needing to do anything at all. In fact, I would have to say that Wrath of the Righteous is now easily in my 'Top 3 Best Adventure Paths Ever For The GM' list. And even better, all the players said afterwards they enjoyed themselves!

Things I never expected to say in the Kingmaker AP: 'Well that sounds like the best plan we got. We are sending the Faerie Dragon and the Hedgehog in as an NPC Scouting Montage. They are NOT wearing Red Shirts.'

The Players Guide and Adventure Path of Rise of the Runelords say that the domains Desna can grant are Chaos, Good, Liberation, Luck, and Travel.

The newly released Pathfinder Gazetteer contradicts this, saying on page 60 that her domains are Chaos, Good, Liberation, Luck, and Protection.

I am tempted to tell the PC in my test campaign that both are true, that her domains are Chaos, Good, Liberation, Luck, Protection, and Travel. But to keep my testing valid, I am wondering, which is correct? Which will be included in the final form of the campaign setting? Does anyone know? :)

I have recently been playing an actual Silver Dragon, using rules published in a 2004 issue of Dragon magazine, where the dragon is very young and roughly equivalent to other player characters in terms of power. Silver Dragon is the class and my GM tells me multi-classing will not be possible until about 12th level, which seems fine.

I have been surprised by how much fun this has actually been, and am wondering if there are plans to have something similar in Pathfinder?

One of the things I would like to see in Pathfinder RPG: removal of the convenient 'colour coding by alignment' for Dragons. Make them striped for camouflage like tigers, like the Dragons in the novel Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly, which was the best novelisation of Dragons I have read, ever.