Legion42's page

I would also enjoying seeing a Character Option Compendium as well, that could contain all the Feats, Archetypes, traits and drawbacks from all of the 1e content published.

yes because every one always has access to a library that has every single piece of info one could possibly need at any given time ever most libraries barley have books relevant to most plot points much less a 4000000 book series of encyclopedia Britannica of all knowledge ever in every library in existence

That is the literal point of the Pathfinder society, to have that information somewhere. There is of course not going to be any form of library that has everything, but at the level you would be facing the creatures that would need these checks you have access to magics that can get the player's group to where ever they need, whether in party or via NPC. Also most major churches have written histories as well as most kingdom centers. And no they won't have the series of britannica's, but they will have legends and happenings worthy of note for hundreds of years of the local area. This is how you give your players the info they need in game with real reasons and real checks and real rewards. Even failures can lead to new knowledge or new side quests.

The ability to research just about anywhere has been a long standing, but little used part of the game. It plays/ed a major part of Carrion Crown AP and has been sprinkled into many of the APs since then. Any large collection of tomes can be used to provide a +1 to +5 on any knowledge check for various subjects. The content of the collection determines the knowledge checks you can make and how strong the bonus is. Just because the system isn't used by a group or DM doesn't mean it isn't useful. I use it, my players use it and it works for us.

In my world I have created a Specific NPC, his name is Bob. Bob is a 90 year old 20th level wizard and has an extreme case of the scatterbrain. Bob runs a magic shop called Bob's Bargain Basement. His store exists in a small demi-plane that has a random chance to attach its door to any empty store front door in the material plane at any given moment. think Howl's Moving Castle style only random based on the size of the city. His inventory is supplied by a magical contract that transports any "lost" magical item from the material plane directly into the store. Bob does not have the time or inclination to organize or identify any of the items in the cramped shop. He organizes his shelves and aisles by item time but the contract stocks the shelves. His magical rings appear on a peg board that is 10 pegs by 15 pegs and stacked 10 rings deep per peg.

If asked what a specific item is he describes the items physical characteristics and is immune to the effects of any item brought to the store by the contract. Since bob has no idea what the item is he has no inclination of what to charge for them. I roll a d100 to determine what percentage he charges for the item of its actual cost. This may seem like a very monty haulish kind of place until you take into account that most intentionally lost items are cursed items. The aisles between the shelves require that any medium sized character wearing med armor or heavier must shuffle sideways down the aisle to avoid knocking items off of the shelves. Any item, normal or cursed, that falls off of a shelf has a percentage chance, usually 40%, to attempt to equip itself to the player.

all that aside, I once made the mistake of allowing the party to search for Bob's at 1:30 in the morning while in the middle of a sugar high and little actual sleep proceeding the marathon game. The players decided to break into 3 2-player teams and "attack" Bob with 3 competing conversations among 6 PCs at the same time. After 20 RL minutes of round robin appraisals, Bob's failed memory checks, bluff attempts and general all around confusion on my part the players walked away with a tidy sum of gear. As well as a purple PC, a gender changed rogue, a male fighter who's hair had been polymorphed into flowering ivy and magically compulsed dwarf. to this day they still chuckle at me when I start on the sugar train.

I had a group run up against my kobolds in one of their lairs. It was going to be a crazy encounter for them, lots of pain and fear. There were a dozen 1st level kobolds, 6 sorcerers and 6 rogues, in the final trap room. The room was a cylindrical room 20 ft tall with a 15 ft radius. A reinforced oak door barred the exit and a portcullis dropped on the entrance. The top floor of the room had arrow slits every 10 ft around the interior. The sorcerers cast true strike on the rogues every round and the rogues used sneak attacks from the arrow slits.

The only thing that saved the party was a lucky prepped spell. Fog cloud from the druid gave total concealment to the party and gave the tanks time to bash the door down. They still almost got ousted as 6 4th level characters by "a pack of mangy kobolds" as the fighter called then before they walked into that room. But in the players defense 12 CR 1/2s with a APL +2 for the favorable terrain comes out something like a CR 6-8 depending on 3.5 or PF scalings.

I still love to throw low CRs with a sorcerer level at a group. Put a crossbow in hand with a true strike prepped and you can put the fear of the little guy into a player.