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"Oh, so we met Galdron, but not the Galdrin the pacifist that everyone was talking about but more like Galdron the angry burning ghost with elementals that are also burning and that want you to burn you too and we tried to talk to him but i think rasamoro did a bit to much of the talking and by talkin i mean hitting with a stick and so we kinda fought him and then when rasamoro hit him with the stick enough he said he would stop fighting everyone and protect the market instead and then he turned his fire into gems and we came back. I think i need to lie down for a bit."
Comes back, shaken and scarred. All it's friends cluster round to offer aid. "what happened buddy?"
Maybe this year of pathfinder society is the elemental planes getting their own back for years of abuse at the hands of summoners?
"I understand there is a human understanding that you should "Fight fire with fire", but um, that just seems like a good way to get a bigger fire. So, um, I'm not going to do that." Whitwood gestures and an Earth Elemental rises out of the grey stone Next to one of the fire elementals, and beings laying into it.
Okay, I think I understand your point. I play a lot of other games that have less prescriptive rules than pathfinder, and quite enjoy GM Bob's version of pathfinder (within reasonable limits). When I GM, I take the rules as Guidelines (TM) and use them to direct but not control what I am allowed to do as GM. I will wilfully fluff rolls and spot fix numbers if I think it will make the experience more fun (for everyone of course, not just for me). Obviously I don't do this when GM pathfinder society, the rules are a bit different there :) On prebuffing in general: I have a personal bias against 1 minutes buffs before combat. I like them when the players have setup and ambush or have some other reasonable expectation that there will be a fight soon (enemy charging across the field, battle horns at the gates etc). I sometimes (and specifically not in this scenario where it is quite clearly forewarned) find that players take meta queues to determine when to pre buff. I really don't like it when players use game knowledge, rather than character knowledge, to guide character actions, and Pre-buffing often occurs in this scenario. I fully agree that some classes rely on some level of pre-buffing to bring their full pwoer to the table, but I personally don't love this kind of play. I prefer the warpriest over the cleric for instance because it allows reactive buffing with a swift action, rather than relying on pre-combat rounds to power up. Thats more about what I want in a game, rather than a criticism of the system though. Long story short: I think its great that Pathfinder can provide a play experience that both of us enjoy, despite having such different views on what we want in games.
I understand it isn't a mechanically "fair" outcome, but I would rather have a cool and dramatic encounter than one that adhered without variance to exactly the rules as written. I don't want the DM arbitrating to the level of "rocks fall, people die", but having a 1st level spell precast to increase the challenge and tension of the encounter just seems like more fun :) And this is exactly what happens to PCs in most PFS encounters. As a long time carrier of buffing wands, I'm acutely aware of how few times PCs are given an opportunity to pre-buff. A spell that lasts 1 minute or 7, still doesn't provide enough duration to cast until one is actually in battle. If I give a party 5 rounds to prebuff, I can guarantee they will run right over any CR appropriate encounter. An NPC spell caster doesn't have time to really take advantage of their lower level spells except through pre-buffing. That's part of the reason the quick build options in unchained had options to apply a "Spellcaster" template, that just gave some high level spells to a monstrous base. Really, the fact that my level 11 npc wizard can cast magic missile twice in a day isn't really relevant at that level, it's the high level spells they are going to take their actions to cast. I think it's just laziness. The rules of the game make it hard to set up a of the combats the way authors want them to play out, so rather than figure out an elegant and simple way to make it happen, they just hand waive it. Of course the problems may not originate with the scenario authors, but with PFS editors who try and spruce up the combats. As a GM, I don't give NPCs free action unless the scenario does provide a plausible rationalefor how the NPC gets to act before init is rolled. I don't really think the collective writing and editing teams of pathfinder and their freelancers deserve to be called "lazy", especially not for allowing an NPC a shield spell in combat to bring their AC up from "irrelevant" to "Poor". NPC's don't always have to follow PC logic, they can have abilities that PC's can't and shouldn't have. Allowing an NPC to break action economy to throw the lever, activating the elaborate trap mechanism in a cool laser trap room is exactly the kind of thing that DM's get to do, because the alternative is the bad guy double moving to the control panel, and then getting dropped before the encounter can really start. I guess I see the rules as a series of guidelines, designed to constrain PC action and Guide DM action, but the most important part of the structure of Pathfinder and other role playing games with DM's is that the DM can always choose to break those rules, to adhere to the most important rule of all, The Rule of Cool.
NPC pre-action is often required to make certain types of NPC meet their CR expectations. It is far ore difficult for a high level cleric to actually achieve their indicated level of threat without pre-buffing, as they would only have time for a handful of spells before being overwhelmed. Sometime the scenario writers provide explanation for how the NPC knows to do certain things (from scrying, to alarm spells to peep holes to noise complaints from the neighbours) but I would imagine that sometimes get's cut due to word limits.
"Well, um hello. It's good to meet you. We were wondering if you could help us with, erm, a spirit problem we are having? There are some um unquiet spirits in the Green Market that don't seem to like it when things get louder, but the Aspis is putting the squeeze on Zeeva, and shes trying to be a good person and tell them no but they are escalating it and now they have sent armed thugs and it's probably going to get worse from here and then these spirits might just get mad and trash the whole place anyway. So, erm, If you could help us with appeasing the spirits maybe?"
"Oh... Ghosts. I hate Ghosts. And ghasts. And ghouls. And Goblins. And Gremlins. And Gelatinous.... Okay. It's fine I'm calm. If we're going to go see this Fire-eyes person, um, we should do it soon, so we can be not doing it as asson as a possible." Whitwood will direct the earth elemental to help put the market back together and work the stone and earth back into shape, and then dismiss is and re-summon My Friend.
Whitwood will cast "Summon Eidolon" to get back My Friend while maintaining the Earth Elemental. Terran:
" Strike if they make a move" With My Friend providing backup, Whitwoodspeaks to one of them. "So, you're the Aspis huh? So, I guess you're a mercenary kinda guy, um, right? So, maybe we can work something out?"
Whitwood gestures across the way, and the ground rumbles and shakes. A vaguely humanoid figure of stone rises up from the street and menaces the other agent. "Um... I think it would be best for you if you didn't try to move ,friend" Whitwood also speaks to the elemental (in Terran). Terran:
"If he moves, crush him" If he moves:
"Oh, ummmmm...., thank you Rasamoro, for umm very enthusiastically clearing a way through the streets. Maybe don't yell at the.... never mind. Sorry Ma'am. Erm, okay. So, ummm. We were told you were having some trouble with your business. We kind of specialise in problem solving. Just like Rasamaro specialises in removing obstacles. Like that man he just shoved. Oh, um he doesn't look too happy about that."
"Oh, right yes. The aspis. Do you think they're still around. It's just that, umm... well we have some history. I'm pretty sure we all have some history. I mean, I disrupted their operations at bloodcove, and they never really got over that. So I keep an eye out for them. So does My Friend. It watches out for me. But it also knows when I'm going to die. Apparently. Ummm.... I tend to get distracted when I'm scared. Or when something distrating happens. I'm going to breathe for a moment. Did anyone else have any questions?"
A dark humanoid figure of indeterminate gender drifts quietly into the room. It's features are concealed behind layers of tattered black cloth that cover it from head to toe. The only feature of the creature visible is an alabaster white mask of a human face, staring impassively forward, partially concealed under a deep hood. It pulls out a chair and stands dutifully behind it as a dark haired gnome clambers up onto it. The gnome is dressed in light mail, and has dark bags under his eyes, as though he hasn't slept in several days. He sits nervously, constantly checking over his shoulder, as though expecting danger to leap out from every corner. The masked creature stares passively forward, evidently unconcerned with its ward's behaviour. "Ah.... h-h-Hi there.... names Whitwood, glad to meet you all. Ummm this is....ah.... my friend. I call it my friend, anyway. You can call it my friend too. If you want." He wrings his hands together and looks back up at the impassive mask of the creature standing over him. "It doesn't talk much, umm...it says its nice to meet you as well, probably."
I would be keen to play with my level 9 Unchained summoner (this account). I relegated him to PBP a while ago, as he was more fun to interact with people that way. The unchained summoner really gave him a new lease on life with a fun new eidelon and more balanced game play overall. I would be happy to play up or down, as level 9 puts me right in the middle there.
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