Am i the only one to notice a general lack of tension/conflict in the first half of the adventure (ie up until the masking ceremony)?
I was generally enthused by the fact there's less emphasis on combat, but tension is an important ingredient of a successful tale. I don't think errands (egg-fetching, letter distribution) scratches that itch for me.
Anyone else feels the same way?
Advice on cranking up the tension? I was thinking about conflicts between students and/or teachers, and foreshadowing insect/gremlin/villain troubles.
Except that none of these items almost double a character's impact on a fight... :/
A +1 weapon in Pf1 gave +5% chance to hit and maybe +10% damage.
Rune of Striking gives means +50-100% increase to damage, depending on flat bonuses!
I have a question, coming from a group that player PF1 for a long time, à long with many other RPGs.
I have trouble understanding Rune of Striking. For now, Ive décider to roll with RAW and not house rule something I haven't playtested enough yet, but here's the problem.
When the first PC getsthat rune on a weapon, his damage output gets way better than his teammates until they catch up.
I.e. if the barbarian gets a Rune of Striking on a greataxe and deals 2d12, while the ranger still deals only 1d8... Hé outshines pretty much everyone for some time!
Aside from making sure everyone gets Rune of Striking at the same time, how do you deal with that? On fact, am I getting something wrong? Do other people have a problem with that?
I received shipment notice (and access to the pdfs) on September 8th and September 10th, respectively, after some problems with the first order.
I still haven't received any of the two books.
Any news on your side?
My friend suggested I posted this class online in case anyone would have a use for it, so here it goes.
First of all, a little introduction on how this class came to be. After many edition changes on my main D&D campaign (4e - PRPG - 4e again), my friend's character was quite a bit hard to represent in 4th edition. FYI, he was playing a shapeshifter ranger (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/ranger/archetypes/paizo---ran ger-archetypes/shapeshifter), essentially a ranger to uses a toned-down version of the druid's wild shape, but still getting spells, and fighting only with natural weapons.
As I only wanted Essentials-style classes in my campaign (too long to explain), I decided to create this class: yet another Essentialized Druid class, but specialized in shapeshifting.
I must warn you about many things:
- This class was crafted specifically to recreate his character in 4e
- While its structure is (I think) completely original, almost all the powers (especially the utilities) were copied/refluffed/retooled to the correct level from existing material.
- It has only been played from level 10, currently to level 11. So it has not been thouroughly playtested. I would be really interested to know how it turns out for a level 1 character.
- I have not taken the time to reproduce the "first page" of the Essentials classes, on which proficiencies, healing surges and such are explained. If I remember correctly, it used exactly the same stats as other Essentials Druids, with the important exception that this class uses Ki Focuses (to support the use of "natural weapon attacks" without needing a totem in hand).
- As it is used in-house only, there may be many sections of the text that I understand implicitly and don't explain correctly.
- Finally, as english is not my first language, please be indulgent with any mistake I made.
So, without further ado, click the link below:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1g93yyYzW8tSDAxTFJIZlVSOHM/edit?usp=sharin g
Feel free to comment, critique (in a well-mannered fashion of course) or use and distribute.
Totally clear now!
Happy to have this cleared up before doing anything else than playing solo to learn the game (and show it to other people later "GM one day...")
Thanks everyone!
So, if à bane requises only à single check to defeat, only thé current character can attempt it. But if there is two or more checks, one after thé other, many characters may try?
How is it working?
1- Amiri succeeds at thé first combat check and ends her turn. Then Lem can attempt thé next check on his turn?
OR
2- Amiri succeeds at the first, then immediately, Lem makes thé other?
Seems a little confusing, no?
...or my English Second Languages classes are too far behind! :P
So, I'm not sure that I really understand, so here is a noob comparison:
From the FAQ:
When Harsk encounters a henchman, can Merisiel evade it for him if she's at his location? Can she make Harsk's combat check against it? If Harsk beats the henchman but can't close the location, can she try to close it? What if it's a barrier—can she use her Thieves' Tools to defeat it?
She can't do any of those things. It's Harsk's encounter, and Merisiel can't do any part of it for him unless a card or other rule says she can.
From the rulebook(p.10):
Any character at that location can attempt one or more of the checks, as long as the character who encountered thé bane attempts at least one of them.
...So! What if Amiri is with Lem at location X. It's Lem's turn and after exploring, he encounters a hill giant.
1) Can Amiri attempt to defeat thé giant out of her turn?
2) Does Lem takes damage if Amiri defeats the giant but Lem does not?
I just received the book finally, and didn't realize it wasn't my usual subscriptions, so I accepted it...
As I asked to cancel the order before I received confirmation of the order, I would like to think the pdf I paid for Ultimate Campaign would be refunded, as I received it for free with the physical book...
Would it be possible?
Actually, that's precisely what I was searching...
Am I the only one thinking this is the worst kind of overpowered feat, completely unbalanced against other feats?
Seriously, for one feat, you can get one of these:
- Toughness (3 hp at lvl 1, +1 for each level over 3)
- Great fortitude (+2 fortitude)
- Persuasive (+2 Diplomacy and Intimidate)
Or you can get Tribal Scars (Bearpelt), which gives you:
- +6 hp (so a little bit less powerful than toughness in that regard, as you need these hp the most at lower levels)
- +1 Fortitude (so exactly half of Great Fortitude)
- +2 Intimidate (so exactly half of Persuasive).
That's about 1,75 feat to me... :/
Why take any of these other three feats (if it fits thematically for sure)?
I just received the shipping confirmation email, at 11:09AM, even though I asked to cancel the order yesterday evening. Would it be possible to still cancel the order before it ships, please?
Hey!
Searched everywhere but couldn't find the answer...
Does anyone know how to determine soldier levels using either Kingmaker rules or Ultimate Campagne rules?
What I mean is, how do you know if the PCs' soldiers are fighters 2 or 3, or rangers 2 for that matière?
It would change things totally, even more using UCmp rules (paladin 4 army getting Channel energy, f.ex., and ranger 2 getting combat style)
Hi everyone,
Just a bit worried right now about my order (number in thread name).
It's been more than a week that I subscribed to Pathfinder RPG to get Ultimate Campaign, Mythic Adventures and Bestiary 4 (and get the free pdf for each of these books, because with these books shipping to Canada, they are cheaper overall at my FLGS, but I wouldn't get the pdf). I thought I was making a good deal because I'd get the pdf even before FLGS would get the book in store...
As of right now, Ultimate Campaign still has not shipped, order is still pending. PDF get out today. If I just bought the pdf online and bought the book at my FLGS, I would have paid approximately the same price, but I would have both right now...
So, considering this and the fact that my next game (in which I would LOVE using the new kingdom building rules) is friday, any chance I'll get the pdf today??
Or am I better off cancelling my order, ordering only the pdf and buying the physical book in my FLGS?
Thanks a lot!
This is another aspect of Kingmaker that did not get foreshadowed enough in the original adventures. I want PCs to worry about Nyrissa and her fey from the start of the campaign, not just on the last adventure.
It was not something I had in mind at the start of the campaign; it rather came from a PC’s actions. When they encountered Tyg-Tatter-Tut’s nest, a player asked me what he knew about this nest, and I half-improvised that fey don’t like people noticing and approaching their nest. Each of the next mornings, there was always some kind of circle visible near their camp (a twig sculpture in a tree, or ring of leaves on the ground, etc.) A Nature check allowed the same character to know that it was invitation from a fey to make a gift, so the fey will not play tricks on them. On the following days, the fey was invisibly following, but the party didn’t make any gift to it. So, it began playing tricks on them. As one of them was getting tired of these stupid tricks, the fey received a quite insulting gift (which I will not describe here).
So, I decided that this fey (Tyg-Tatter-Tyt) was insulted by the gift and pursued the characters during their adventures. Eventually, I determined that Tyg was a high-ranking member of the Unseen Court, the Court over which Nyrissa presides. At this point in the game, Nyrissa is only evaluating the party and their kingdom, but Tyg has been named as the de-facto leader of the fey who opposes the character for the moment. Of course, Tyg will not be the same fey species that it was supposed to be: I described him as a quickling. (Anyway, there will not be a quickling in the Forgotten Keep in my game, see Numeria spoiler below)
Many other fey the party encountered (Tyressia, Perlivash, Melianse, etc.) have allied with them, at least nominally. They told the party that the Unseen Court is not taking care of them and is letting them fend for themselves against the trolls and other menaces (such as the scythe tree).
Eventually, I plan on having the Unseen Court retaliate against the fey allied with the kingdom, forcing another front, maybe when they are fighting Armag (which I plan on invading the PCs’ kingdom too). Tyg-Tatter-Tut’s last stand will probably happen at this time.
Finally, the characters have asked for help from the fey to help free Anton Lebeda’s family from the Swordlords in order to get help from the Lebedas in the coming civil war.
Kobolds of the Stolen Land:
Spoiler:
As was the case in many other campaigns, the PCs in my game have allied to the Sootscales.
It happened after the characters captured one of the kobolds from the radish patch. I named this kobold Kalekatotusa and she became the face of the revolution against Tartuk and Chief Sootscale. The characters decided that Tartuk had to be killed or captured, but also that the Chief was not fit to lead the kobolds anymore.
On one hand, the characters helped Kalekatotusa rally kobolds to her cause while Tartuk was trying to capture them through his warriors. On the other, after Tartuk had fled deeper in the caves and the Chief had stated that the characters had to leave if they didn’t want to get killed, the PCs decided to confront the Chief and exile him, naming Kalekatotusa in his stead. As you can guess, I really expanded on the Sootscales’ lair, because I wanted it to be the lair of many hundreds of kobolds, not a mere 20ish.
As for Tartuk, I changed his motives for leading the kobolds to their doom against the mites. He was in fact still a gnome, using illusions to pass for a kobold, and working for Tyg-Tatter-Tut and the Unseen Court (see Unseen Court spoiler above). Look at the Gogunta spoiler below for explanations on what he was planning to do with the statue.
Now, the kobolds even have one of them representing them on the Council of the kingdom, a warrior-diplomat named Malemiak, Kalekatotusa’s lieutenant. He was the kobold leading the other kobold warriors when the PCs asked them to prove their allegiance to the kingdom by fighting against the Stag Lord.
Gogunta:
Spoiler:
One of the biggest additions to my campaign, it all started with the Sootscales’ sacred statue. I decided that it would be coolest to have this statue mean something more than just being a tool for Tartuk to control and manipulate the Sootscales.
So, in this campaign, the statue is in fact the Statue of Gogunta, the Demon Lord. A herald of the Lord has been imprisoned somewhere in the Stolen Lands and this Statue is the only remaining link to the herald. It serves a single purpose: as this herald is a mad and wretched thing only interested in decay and bloodshed, it allows it to be fed and thus kept in dormancy, to prevent it from raising and breaking its cage. All fights, battles and confrontations around the statue serve this purpose. So, Tartuk’s mission from the Unseen Court was to encourage fights between kobolds and mites (and eventually other tribes if necessary), to maintain the monster’s prison.
So, by wiping the mites and rallying the kobolds to their cause, the party unknowingly risked everyone’s lives in the Stolen Land. After interrogating Tartuk and understanding what was at stake, they decided to keep the statue with themselves. This way, they could keep it in a constant state of strife and conflict.
That was without taking into account the fact that the herald was slowly waking up since the time the Statue was stolen and the characters just stored it without exposing it to conflict. So, when their mage decided to keep it at all times, he was exposing himself to voices from the Statue. The herald was cajoling him, manipulating him to use its powers (you see where it is going). Eventually, after using the Statue’s power (at minor artefact level, nothing less) to save himself and for varying things during hard fights, the group decided to keep the Statue hidden in their town hall, until they knew what to do of it.
They’re afraid that destroying it would just release the herald, but they fear that it could be stolen by one of their enemies, either to release it or to use its power. In fact, it’s eventually going to be stolen in their capital anyway (see Unification spoiler).
Ha damn, out the windows goes my messageboards-fu. I didn't even know there was a time limit on editing posts... XD
redcelt32 wrote:
Interesting changes...I take it from the rebellion you are planning on involving your group into Brevoy politics from early on?
I thought it was a neat twist that the swordlords are the bad guys and Surtovans the good guys. Makes me wonder how different my own game would have been politically if my players had chosen different houses to align themselves with as part of their backgrounds.
[...]
In fact, the Surtovas are not really good guys in the classical sense in my campaign. Let's just say they have more political savvy and can outmaneuver the ruthless Swordlords.
Their objective then is to provoke the civil war while they can still contain the Swordlords, instead of waiting for them to be ready. If they can rally other kingdoms to their cause in the meantime, so be it.
Herein, behind the spoiler buttons, you’ll find all the changes I made to the Kingmaker I am currently running. There are many changes that I plan on doing also, which I hint about behind the spoilers. These changes were made mostly for two reasons. 1. They allow me to foreshadow things better, something that is really necessary for my group. 2. They allow me to expand on character background or plot complexity. I do not include any changes that I made solely on a rules basis (changing monsters, maps, treasures, etc.).
I put so much time on these modifications that I thought they could be useful for other GMs out here.
Also, spoilers abound. Behind the spoiler buttons, which serve to shorten the length of this post, there is *nothing but spoilers*. PLAYERS BEWARE!
Finally, as English is not my first language, please be indulgent for any grammar errors I can/will do.
Changes from other posters:
Spoiler:
First, as I have six to seven players on a regular basis, I had to use the 6-player conversion made by the Paizo community and compiled by Alexander Kilcoyne, in the link below. Moreover, we use the Poof! rule (PCs of absent players are just absent, without need for an explanation, and come back on next session when the player is back) because it’s impossible to predict who will be there on each session. This conversion allowed me to balance fights for a larger group, going back to the book with a smaller group.
Also, I used all the notes from Dudemeister about “Hargulka’s Monster Kingdom”, from the link below. This guy’s work, as many people already said before me, changes the second adventure for the better and brings a lot more to a villain that is not foreshadowed at all in the book.
I also want to state that I have read the messageboards for some time now, even more about Kingmaker. I may have borrowed ideas from others posters that don’t come to mind right now, or from other books. If you notice the work or the idea of somebody else, please tell it that this person may get its due.
Relations with the Swordlords:
Spoiler:
One of the first problems I had when reading the second adventure (and my players thought the same), was that the Swordlords give the PCs 40,000 gp-worth of BPs and basically say : “Do your best” and it’s done. There is no follow-up, no intervention from the Swordlords, no basic overwatching of what the PCs are doing with their money and men. The only possible explanation is the looming shadow of civil war, but it doesn’t play any part in the scenarios and PCs never hear any more of it.
My first change was to add a simple NPC (at first), Anton Lebeda. He is a minor noble which was indebted to the Swordlords and which was sent to my PCs’ kingdom to “help them develop and rule the kingdom in the name of the Swordlords”. Everybody understood from the start that he was an official spy that was to send regular feedback on what is happening in their kingdom.
He is an arrogant man, sent to a backwater station to repay his debt, so he treats the PCs for what he sees them: barbarian/brigand/wannabe rulers. He counts on the Swordlords backing to protect him from the PCs’ wrath.
During play, I eventually added the fact that he was forced to act this way by the Swordlords who have his family “as their guests” in one of their country houses, to “protect them until he comes back after this little service” (read: they’re detained as hostages to insure his loyalty). This way, they can count on him, even if the PCs eventually want to buy his silence. Yes, in my game, the Swordlords are real a**holes, because I wanted the players to be scared of them, at least at the start.
The first impacts of this change are starting to appear in my game. Anton is sending regular updates by courier to the Swordlords. When the PCs started to do certain things (recruiting a redeemed werewolf in the group, for example), they began worrying “What is Restov going to think of that”. In fact, they became so paranoid about Anton (who I play as being opportunistic and selfish) that they had an “interrogatory session” with him, trying to force him into a pledge of loyalty to their baron. They just learned in what kind of situation he finds himself. He explained that his first son has already been killed (for what he may know) when the Swordlords learned that he was trying to hide certain things from them. (Yes, Restov has some men slipping into their kingdom, mostly merchants and the like, who get paid some gp to give them information).
The other think I’m changing is this whole “civil war” story, which never gets used in the books. I’m actually making this civil war come to life in this campaign, mainly by having the first skirmish between Restov and the Issians (mostly Surtovas) on the PCs’ kingdom. (See the next spoiler about that).
Relations with the Surtovas:
Spoiler:
One of the PCs in my campaign (the baron himself) is the third son of Noleski Surtova. He never quite adhered to the religious convictions of his family (they are secretly Asmodean cultists in my game), being a paladin and all. So he was disowned and was sent in the world to fend for himself. He still does not know why the Swordlords chose him to go in the Stolen Lands.
As we are in the middle of the second book, the PCs begin thinking they have too much on their shoulders right now: Pitax and/or Drelev seems to have something against them (learned through Grigori), the Unseen Court opposes them since the start (see Unseen Court spoiler below), there’s a herald of Gogunta imprisoned on their land (see Gogunta spoiler below), they are beset by Gyronna cultists (see Gyronna spoiler below), and Hargulka is stirring his troops south. So, the baron had the great idea to call on his father… twice!
The first time, his father sent him some men, an architect and some stone for building (i.ex. some BPs), while asking him to take care of his cousin Andretti Surtova, bringing him to his land south and make a man out of him. No one in the group knows precisely for what I sent him with them, as I worked a lot to make him seem like a real nobody. He is in fact a priest of Asmodeus in disguise (see Unification spoiler below).
The second time, the baron sent a letter to his father asking for help against the trolls. Some weeks later, a small elite contingent of Surtova house troops, led by a Surtova vassal, was sent south to help them. These guys are real crack troops and they entered Olegburg (my players weren’t in the mood to start naming things) in full stride, stating they were here to defend Olegburg in their absence, while they go south hunting for trolls and taming the wilds. My players are now really worried that they attracted the wrong kind of attention from the Surtovas (and they’re right!)
My intention here is to have the troops take control of the town guards in the PCs’ absence, supposedly to “restore order” after a small protest against the PCs going in the wilds while they defend the town against the coming troll army. The warden (Akiros Ismort, which they recruited to lead the guards in town) has been imprisoned and martial law is established.
Following this event, if the players retake control of Olegburg by force (and that’s what I think they’ll do), the Surtovas will send another (bigger) regiment down south, to hold the baron accountable for this loss of their troops and demanding compensation. This will eventually come to the ears of the Swordlords, who will send their own troops. Thus, the first battle of the coming civil war will be fought on their nascent kingdom.
During this time, the Unifiers’ plot will unravel (see Unification spoiler below).
Thank you both for your advice!
Effectively, motive is pretty simple. I'll just roll with it.
I like Mistwalker's idea for NPCs' level, letting Shalelu help out in the swamp. Maybe that's what I'll do if the player chooses a campaign trait that links him to the elf!
OMG Ruloc, you've got some mad skills! O.o
I just found this thread on August 8th, just as you gave the 12th as deadline, so, I guess (beg?) that I may add my current character to your list?
This is my character for the Skulls and Shackles AP.
My gaming group would be so jealous! :D
Spoiler:
Baolo
Human (mwangi) witch (gravewalker)
Str 8
Dex 10
Con 13
He is 6'3", only 160 lb, really wiry.
He's only 30, but people usually think he's way older that that.
Completely bald, no facial hair neither.
Piercing, almost crazy stare. Perfect ultra-white teeth standing out of ebony skin.
Facial tribal marks like this:
Shluh
...but only above each individual eyebrow!
Uses a "spell poppet" instead of a familiar: it's a voodoo doll named Kalfu, with tufts of hair stolen from potential rivals. He often whispers to Kalfu while talking about someone present. :P
Think voodoo, witch doctor, etc, and you got the theme!
I'm about to try something special for this AP. I'm about to start it with only one PC. I thought about getting all the NPCs (Koya, Ameiko, Sandru, Shalelu) to level 1 and here's the party!
I've even got a buzz about making it FF-style and permitting three NPCs at any time on the party, including all the ones that will join later (Spivey, Kelda, etc.) I think this will clear any eventual problems about "lazy NPCs" staying at the caravan while we get the throne for Ms Kaijitsu...
...BUT!
I lack any good ideas about how to start the whole thing. Ameiko is supposed to be a retired adventurer... at level 1? Koya going in the swamps being 70 years old?
I can't seem to find any good motives for the NPCs to start the adventure (or I'm too lazy to do it alone and needed some help XD)
Anyone did the same or have any tip/advice for me?
Thanks a lot!
My subscription has benn on hold for quite a time now because my credit card was expired and I didn't change the data on your site.
Now, I wanted to subscribe again, but I wanted to get Pathfinder AP #38 Racing to Ruin, instead of #39. Is it possible to do this change for me please, as I haven't found any way of doing it myself?
Am I the only one thinking about Breland vs Droaam being a good setting for Kingmaker?
From the Player's Guide:
For years, Breland claimed the region now called Droaam, but few humans ever attempted to establish colonies there; it is the abode of monsters.
It fits quite well with the swordlords motivation of "we don't wanna get hit in the back while fighting elsewhere" if you rule that the Second War is rumored to start soon between some of the Five Nations, no?
I'd like it if you could change something in my order. I want Street Magic (Shadowrun 4) instead of Arsenal, as I just bought it from my local gaming store.
As the prices are the same, there won't be much fuss, I guess!
Last week, when I ordered my Hordes minis, my credit card was billed, as usual (placeholder, is it?).
Yesterday, juste after I got an email telling me my things were shipped, the "Paizo" entry in my credit card info on internet just disappeared. It haven't reappeared yet.
Have you guys been paid and I haven't seen it correctly? Or should I expect the same amount to be billed on my credit card soon?
I live in Canada and just received at the end of last week PF #18. My mailman (correct word?) just crammed it in my small appartment mailbox when he is supposed to give it to me hands-on. So, it's quite destroyed now from having been bent in two and pushed forcefully in the box.
Canada Post Services, to which i complained, told me that I could be compensated for that by telling you to send me another one after contacting them. They're supposed to pay you back this issue. They got a copy of the order invoice and the post sticker on the enveloppe.
I think I've got a little problem with my last payment (for Pathfinder subscription). My credit card has been charged twice, on June 6th and 13th, for the same order. My credit card account lists a payment of 21,44$ (on the 6th) and another of 21,38$ (on the 13th).
As my only subscription and only thing I bought for quite a long time from Paizo, can someone explain to me what is this double payment for?
In case some of you didn't know, there's social combat mechanics in Exalted 2nd Edition that really "rules"!
I have to say, while I do want a social conflict system in D&D, I don't want it to be quite as dice-heavy and complicated as Exalted. I have found that Exalted really does cut down on the role-play, and its resolution system can sometimes be as complex as grappling in 3.5. Of course, it doesn't help that Exalted uses the ridiculous White Wolf "dice pool" system in which you're rolling twenty dice for every action.
I do think Action Points should be spent defending oneself from social attacks, and I like that aspect of Exalted.
I think a middle ground can be found in between what we have now and Exalted
In fact, I know of some people who find Exalted too complicated and dice-heavy (which I disagree, but that's for another topic...)
What I meant was that there are ways for social character to be cool in other ways that by roleplaying alone. Mind you, I'm really a role-player, not much a roll-player, but I like my character having some impact on what's going on in the game.
That's why I posted regarding Exalted's Social Combat. I know it's probably REALLY too much for D&D, which had next to none social combat apart from Diplomacy vs DC and the like. But I think there could be some rules permitting people adept in social situations to really SHINE.
Btw, I know that roleplaying is the essence of the game and that it's the majority of social encounters. But what's the point in having a social character if the warrior just kills everything that moves, the wizard can resolve approximately every situation if he have the good spells and you, all you can do is *roleplay*.
So, the central idea of my posting here is to say that there needs to be a social system to make that social characters don't just roleplay well (something any good player will do, whatever his social skills)...
In case some of you didn't know, there's social combat mechanics in Exalted 2nd Edition that really "rules"!
I'm a big fan of this game and, during all of 1st ed, I looked at social encounters and thought "Warrior-type characters just love combat, but social characters just do their thing. Social characters simply aren't cool enough."
I think the thing is, if you're a physical character, you have rules that can implement your personal tactics and character-building skills. If you're a mental character, there will be plenty of situations where your mental acumen will let your group solve problems easily, there will be artifacts to analyze, there will be information to be had, etc. All of these will be easier if the player itself is somewhat learned and intellectual.
But if you're a social character, all you have is high Charisma (or other social stat) and high social skills. Your DM will use one of two methods.
1) He asks you, after a short role-playing sequence, to roll dice and will check the result and decide what's going on. There's no hard consequences as "You hit him in the left arm" or "You find how to use this eons-old artifact weapon". You just modify the role-play further. That, all characters can do, you just have to roll dice before the DM tells you.
2) He just plays out the sequence by role-playing, where you must convince the other party you're right (or what have you). Thus, you ain't any better than any other player around the table who's a real social jack.
In Exalted 2nd Ed, this has been fixed this way:
1) Social combat rules have been implemented so that a social attack must be made if the issue of the social situation is important. (No rolling in negociating a room's price, unless you're really broke)
2) Social attacks are resisted by some other skills (Integrity and Willpower, as well as other social skills).
3) The quality of the player's roleplay is added as a bonus known as a "stunt".
4) Depending on the success of the action, the other party will be forced to act / acknowledge your right to be there / etc.
5) Important NPCs will then use Willpower points (something that could be related to action points) to resist further your attack, so that you must start again later.
6) As there is a social combat system, there can be plenty of rules related to social. In D&D terms, it could be feats and spells, primarily. e.g. A spell could prevent the use of Willpower points from NPCs, which would assure that, if your social attack succeed, you will succeed in your social attempt.
7) Finally, to prevent someone to just accumulate social skills and capacities and then ordering the enemy boss (which isn't necessarily social-wise) to let them be, there is a structure of Motivation and Intimacies, which are things important to the character that help him resist social attacks even further. e.g. The enemy boss has the Motivation to "Ascertain his control over all of this realm" and the characters are in his way, they're pretty sure to fail social attempts to let them be!
So, after this too long post, I wanted to say that I'd really really like to see social combat have a better place in D&D that it have now...
Hi everybody, long-time lurker, first-time poster...
As I live in Canada, I'd like to know if Pathfinder Campaign modules (I mean Curse of the Crimson Throne, etc.) are shipped as magazines (and thus screwed in my too small mailbox) or as other shipments (and I have to go at my mail office to get it).
I wouldn't want to subscribe to Pathfinder and find all my treasured books bent...
