Lyarie's page

In the description of the kyoketsu shoge, it says that "the rope and circlet can be whipped around and swung at opponents as a bludgeoning reach weapon." Does this function like a whip insofar as using it provokes an AO as if using a ranged weapon?

(I checked out other threads and couldn't find an answer to this... or any definitive answers about this weapon's jumble of special properties. There's too much rationalizing and not enough rule citing.)

Thanks all, especially Rynjin for the link.

I have a cleric of Korada (favoured weapon unarmed strike). Does a cleric's proficiency with her deity's favoured weapon essentially give her the Improved Unarmed Strike feat (allow her to do lethal and not provoke attacks of opportunity) or is it mechanically useless?

For:

If I was GM'ing in a home game, I would probably allow it to function as Improved Unarmed Strike, because it's essentially the same as getting the martial or exotic weapon proficiency to use a longbow of Erastil or starknife of Desna. I mean, the whole point of being proficient with a deity's weapon is to be able to use it with at least a small degree of competence.

Against:

Pharasma, Nethys and several other deities have simple weapons (which clerics are already proficient with) making them mechanically useless. Unarmed strike is a simple weapon, so why should a cleric of Korada get anything special?

I have a couple of Dev question about things my PC's did that I wasn't prepared for.

First off they decided to try sneaking the dwarfs out. The Holy Abendhile saw them cause they're pretty terrible at covert ops, but it was a noble effort. Where I had trouble was with her reaction to that. I just pretended their weren't 3 half-naked dwarfs in the common room for the sake of her combat strategy, but I'm not sure if that was how I should have played it.

Second the module says that a cart has been pushed up to block the main door. They decided to try getting out that way. I let them do it with some rules I ad hoc'd. Is that something that I should have done or is the cart supposed to be an impassible obstacle?

[...]choosing a course on the river [...] has absolutely no bearing on the combat to come.

Actually, the tree-canopied vs open sky option can greatly affect combat if you are tactically-minded enough to work with it (I'm not, so the module should probably point it out). A drake is both a flying and swimming creature. If you go open sky, it is going to spend as much time in the air and out of range as possible. If you go covered, it's hard for it to get distance in flight so it should be spending more time using water as cover.

If choosing starts to be a time waster, like if the party is bickering, have the captain grumble in frustration and arbitrarily pick a course (determined by random roll).

Okay thanks, I did.

I can't find the secondary success conditions for the older scenarios, specifically 3-23 The Goblinblood Dead.

The Guide to Organized Play says I should be able to find them at paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/pfsproducts/pfsFreeProducts but I can't. Maybe I'm just missing it.

As for me I had the PC become mythic when the spirit of Garund performed a ceremony on him while he was unconscious after the ship sank.

At the beginning before they wake up on the beach? Also, do you mean the spirit of the county Garund? Or are you referring to Jask, the Garundi priest of Nethys?

I'd stay away from making a PC (or multiple PCs) mythic unless they have actually just done something worthy of it, nor would I make some PC's mythic without making the rest mythic - that sort of thing could cause bitterness between players or you and players. I wouldn't make them mythic from the get-go, but I'm mostly basing my thoughts on the matter off the first 3 pages of a module I'm just starting to read, so take it as you will.

I'm only just starting into reading new AP The Worldwound Incursion but the progression guide states that, at the end of the first book, following the climactic finish, the PC's should be catapulted to 6th level and attain their first level of mythic. I would run a similar progression of Mythic in Serpent's Skull. Perhaps they attain their first mythic tier by removing the island's curse.

I've tested the waters of how the players want to proceed - how open they might be to a second chance. I'd really like to see more of the interesting cast of characters they currently have, but they seem to be embracing the idea of making a new team from one of the rival factions and picking up where their old characters left off rather than hoping for something to allow their old characters to survive.

I don't think a single one of them has particularly lamented the loss of their characters. It's not that they didn't enjoy playing them, they just relish the chance to try something new. I think I'm the only one who is having a serious issue with it because I feel responsible, you know what I mean? The whole point of a game is to have fun, and if that means I have to suck up not getting the poetic ending I wish I could give, then that's what I'll have to do.

Thank you for the good suggestions though. They may come in handy for future misfortunes.

...

I think I'll at least give them an epilogue of their characters surviving in a sailing-into-the-West sort of way. Closure that's not "And you all die in your sleep as the fighter kills you off one-by-one." I'm thinking the fighter kills off the NPC guide (Nketchi the priest of Gozeh) and it wakes the party up. They manage to knock out the fighter (they have a subdual expert) and the demon emerges. They scatter all directions into the jungle, the druid healing the fighter enough that he can flee too. The demon gives chase but is distracted by a tyrannosaurus (legit random encounter).

The PC's who were really bent on the idea of joining the Zenj rebellion do so, fermenting the civil war that may eventually end the Sargavan oppression. The druid joins Athyra in protecting the lives and freedoms of the dinosaurs and chickens of the M'neri plains with extreme prejudice. The fighter hooks up with his basket weaver buddy and they sail into the sunset in his beloved boat (he really likes his boat). The half-orc ranger of Gozreh joins a Mwangi tribe and, after a montage of training and studying, hunts down Itombu, killing the shadow demon to avenge Nketchi.

They already used up the fetish on the dire ape which failed >.>

Impending TPK...

They're content, even happy, with making new characters, but I feel wrong ending it this way. I want to have done something wrong that I need to ret-con, or have a reeeaaaaally convincing reason for the NPC to go completely against his CE desire to destroy everyone.

It has to be really convincing because they will be very unhappy with a blatant Deus Ex Machina. Suggestions? Calling it a fair and legitimate TPK, and advising me to embrace them making new characters is a perfectly valid piece of advice, but I'm hoping for something to keep them alive.

Scott Young wrote:

• If a player at the table casts the spell, the GM must record the name and PFS # of the person who casts the spell. It is considered good form for the dead character to provide the costly material components.
  
• If other players contribute gold, the GM should record the name, PFS #, and amount of gold contributed from each player on the dead character’s Chronicle, and the name, PFS number of the dead Pathfinder and amounted contributed in the "Conditions Gained" or "Notes" section of each contributor's Chronicle. Remember these people, you owe them your life!

I am wondering a bit on this. How, exactly, can one reimburse other PCs for this? Just buying the items? I thought it was illegal to buy things for others or to give them money, aside from chipping in for spellcasting services--for example, if I blow 5000 gp on a diamond to Raise Dead someone (don't ask my why I would even be carrying it around in the first place), that guy can't just toss me like 1k gp to help cover the cost, can they? Likewise with components in spells like Restoration, or stuff like using your own wand charges on people, either directly or inadvertantly (I ate a lot of charges on my wand of CLW during Gencon and had to buy a new one for my Life Oracle due to Life Link).

I mean I don't think I'd ask someone to pay me back but that stuff could get expensive, y'know?

I take this to be a note primarily for RP purposes. It's a reminder that this character (and player) helped save your life, possibly in a substantial financial way. It's a suggestion that, while you don't legally owe a debt to that character*, you might show in-character gratitude and/or charity to him/her. If the game was at a convention and you don't think you'll ever see that person again, you might con sider "paying it forward" by being more generous than you would otherwise be to other characters who end up in similar situations that you did.

Ex: A greedy character might exhibit surprising, if resentful, generosity for a while after receiving help from others. A very honour-bound character might consider himself in a debt that needs to be paid and can really play it up. Even a player who is usually of the opinion that he has no obligation to help others financially might change his tune a little... at least until he's paid out the same amount as was donated to him.

*helping another player financially does not in any way entitle you to reimbursement. You can RP a desire for it as long as it does not interfere with the course of the game, but you have no mechanical right to expect them to return your generosity. It's a donation, not a loan.

I'm told there's a season 5 primer or something along those lines - an overview of the changes, etc. Can anyone confirm that this or is not available and, if it is, where I can find it?

Next time I am definitely doing that.

It might not even be an issue, as far as reporting it goes, given the lack of response on getting back to me with PfS #'s.

Are we allowed to pregenerate PfS #'s and hand them out to players who don't have them? The only other solution I can think of it to pass my laptop around the table and have people create PfS #'s before we start!

I was running one game and had an emergency extra GM running another game. I was shuffling players to one table or the other depending on whether they had already played one of the sessions that morning. I also had three people sit down to play, realize it was going to be four hours long and leave, which meant I could bring in more people who were waiting for a seat.

I had two sessions running and 14 players in the room, they just ended up being unevenly distributed. I didn't notice that there were 8 bodies at my table because it was round so not immediately obvious. I didn't notice it on the sign up sheet because one person forgot to put her name on. I didn't even notice when we were leaving that I signed off on 8 chronicle sheets because I had printed out enough sheets for two session and because we were in such a huge rush as the con was closing down around us.

I was in the car on the way home and talking with the other GM about my assorted players and the things that they had done when I realized that there had been 8 of them.

Thanks guys. There's a lot less panicking going on in my head now. :)

At an event at a con, I just ran, I realized after everyone was gone that I had run 8 players. What do I do now?

Can I report it with 8 players?
Should I claim I ran two games and split the party? (because it's the same session, I don't get two gm credits so there would be no issue of doubling up)

Say I have a table of five players for a tier 1-5 game (subtiers 1-2 / 4-5). Four players have level 5 characters and one player needs to use a pregen. Obviously, the players want to play up. What level should the pregen be?

I'm excited to run it. It looks like a fun little dungeon crawl. I'm thinking of running one of the First Steps as well. Any thoughts on which is the shortest of the three?

I'm running two games at a convention next weekend and my timeslots are a tight 4 hr timeframe. Any suggestion on scenarios that keep things short but sweet?

Worrying about a divine-caster-less party going against haunts is the same as worrying about a fighter-type-less party fighting a big stompy or a rogue-less party doing a highly trapped dungeon crawl. You don't gimp the monsters or traps just because the characters aren't specifically designed to handle it. Likewise, don't make the haunts easier than they should be.

If they didn't plan their party dynamic, one or more of them are going to die and can bring in a cleric or similar more effective character.

That said, if you think it will seriously hamper the fun your players will have, then do what you feel is best. You are the DM and this is your home game. However, if you're going to make the haunts easier to beat, lower the CR severely (half or more).

I would agree with you on the issue of it saying "invisible, ethereal creatures," but the line on the bottom specifically states that "Force effects and abjurations affect you normally" so I rule Magic Missile can hit.

I'm just being difficult in this case, but what if there is no safe space outside the cage to dive to? Perhaps I'm surrounded by a sea of acid or walls on 3 sides and a 1000ft drop on the other side?

A reflex save supposedly negates the effects of a force cage. I can't wrap my head around how a medium creature in the middle of a 20x20 area could negate being enclosed in a cage with a reflex save. Do they get shunted 10ft out of the effected area? Does their amazing reflexize ability so distract the caster that the spell fizzles? Are they so dextrous that they can slip through the bars of force?

When we went through we had the advantage of some PC who had positive energy abilities, but we defeated most of the haunts by completing the quest-things to release them.

"The subject's outline appears blurred, shifting, and wavering. This distortion grants the subject concealment (20% miss chance)."
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/spells/blur.html#_blur

"Force effects and abjurations affect you normally. Their effects extend onto the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane" http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/spells/blink.html

Magic Missile would still affect you.

This gives you a 15lb. saddle. Actually, if that is -not- how it works, I can't see a riding dog being able to carry an armored gnome cavalier at all, assuming a 40lb gnome, 25lb. saddle, and 25lb gnome plate armor, we're already deep into his medium load and riding dogs have a 15 Str.

A riding dog would have a max light load 99 (str 15 = 66 x 1.5 quadruped bonus) and a max medium load of 199.5. With the weight of the saddle and rider that you have above, that's only 105, barely a medium load.

Furthermore, if we're talking cavalier, the mount gets a +1 str/dex every three levels, increasing its carrying capacity.

TGMaxMaxer, Christopher Rowe factored in the half weight of the exotic military saddle which is usually 60. The issue at hand, however are the need of an exotic saddle (I say yes) and whether as snake should have quadruped carrying capactiy or not (I say yes it should).

The musculature of serpents is not conducive to withstanding downward pressure anywhere along their length--they are, in other words, spectacularly unsuited to be mounts, at least according to my experience and observation.

I would assume that an exotic saddle for a serpent would be made to alleviate the centering of the downward pressure, spreading it out along the body to avoid impeding the snake. The whole point of an exotic saddle is to make a normally unrideable creature rideable.

That was what I thought and how I ruled it when it came up in my game last night. I opperate on the policy that you should almost always rule in players' favour if you aren't sure on a rule and are unable to find it with a quick search. You don't want to kill a PC (or NPC ally) and three games later find out that they shouldn't have died.

If I roll a 1 on and attack that would cause sneak attack damage, and the card says that you take damage instead of your opponent, is the sneak attack damage included or just normal damage?

Arguement For: The card says that the damage is applied to you and does not say anything about ignoring precision damage (like sneak attack).

Arguement Against: Precision damage (like sneak attack) is based on choosing a vital position to strike and based on the target being flat-footed or flanked. It does not make sense for damage to the self to be either to a chosen vital spot, and if you are making an attack, you are probably not flat-footed.

Afterthought: If the above card is drawn, and you would have been recieving favoured enemy bonus to damage, against your target, does that damage apply to you even though you do not qualify as a favoured enemy?

Lyarie wrote:

This isn't about girl gamer issues. This is about not wanting to feel like I'm choking. I have the shirt. I want to wear it as a shirt.

So to reiterate my question: Can I still get my reroll if I heavily modify the shirt as long as all the important bits (image and tag) are there?

Yes

Thanks! I'll begin work on the shirt and let people know how it turns out :)

This isn't about girl gamer issues. This is about not wanting to feel like I'm choking. I have the shirt. I want to wear it as a shirt.

So to reiterate my question: Can I still get my reroll if I heavily modify the shirt as long as all the important bits (image and tag) are there?

The Murder on the Throaty Mermaid, as many of you know, is a murder mystery where the murder can be a different NPC each time you play. The Chronicle Sheet lists certain items that are only available if person x is the murderer. You cross off the items that would be available if one of the other suspects was the murderer.

As the GM, do I get all the items from the Chronicle Sheet, or just the ones from the murderer I chose this time through?

Someone with good sewing skills should be able to take the current one and re cut and sew it to something more to your liking, if there is enough spare cloth (always order a size or two to big when you suspect you'll want to do this)

It was bought for me so I didn't get any size or style imput. I don't know anyone who would be both willing and able to change the shirt. Also, baby-doll t-shirts (the most common generic girl style t-shirts) are usually specially shaped for the female figure. It would be hard to modify the shirt while keeping it intact without a base to work off. Hence, the best way to 'fix' the shirt would be to cut the logo off and sew it to another shirt.

Heh, nice question... you might want to re-title it to something that'll get more official attention, like "Paizo Shirt Reroll" or somesuch.

Good plan.

I just recieved a Paizo t-shirt as a birthday gift, but they only come in boy styles so it's not very comfy for a girl and generally makes me feel like I'm choking. I am considering cutting up the shirt and sewing the image of the goblin onto a more girl-friendly shirt.

As most of you probably know, a Paizo t-shirt allows a player a once per session reroll. If I use the full image from the t-shirt, it's not like someone else could use the open-chest remainder of the t-shirt to get a free reroll. I could even remove the tag from the original shirt and sew it to the new one just in case.

So the question is: Would I still get my free reroll if I dismembered the shirt?

If the PC completes both faction missions and also the overall senario goal, they still only get 2 fame correct? They do not get 3

I know that they never get 3, even if they complete everything their faction wants and 'win' the scenario. Max is 2.

I was under the mistaken impression that winning the scenario (ex: finding out whodunnit) was essentially an extra chance to get a prestige if you failed one of your faction missions.

I now understand that, winning the scenario is not worth prestige at all. Each goal on the faction mission is worth a prestige, one of which counts as if it were the faction mission and one of which counts as if it were the scenario mission. (Note: which one is which is irrelevant as no distinction is made on the Chronicle sheet).

Remember: in season 0-2 missons, each faction has 2 faction missions. Prestige is not simply awarded for success (unless that is the faction mission); both terms have to be met for ANY prestige to be awarded.

I was aware that each faction has two goals (in some scenarios more) in season 0-2, but if I'm reading you correctly, you're saying they have to complete both of their faction goals to get any prestige from their faction? Or do you mean that both one (or more) faction goal(s) and the group goal have to be achieved for any prestige to be given?

I am running Murder on the Throaty Mermaid and am curious as the RAW versus RAI for success on some of the faction missions. Each faction mission has two possibilities for prestige and at least one requires that the PC's convince a given crewmember to become involved longterm with their faction.

A problem arises if the PC's, after convincing that given crewmember to work with their faction, have to kill him/her. They met the requirement for the prestige in the RAW which only states that they need to convince the person, but the person is clearly not going to be doing what they agreed to if they're dead, so the goal was not ultimately accomplished.

So the question is do I award the prestige or not?

NOTE: This is a what-if situation as each faction has two possible goals which would allow them to get both prestige awards even if they kill off one of them. It is also probable that not all factions will be represented in which case it would be easy to avoid forcing the PC's to fight the person in their faction goal.

I forget which book it is in, but one published description of Absalom states that many businesses use elephants to transport the residents of Eastgate to their places of work in other districts of the city.

How does one pronounce Zenj, as in the Zenj tribespeople of Sargava?

I would have posted it as in character, but I would have had to leave out the mechanics as the Faction talk is all IC. I shall rethink my wording and repost there, I think.

I just realized that, as a bard with Perform: Oratory and Lingering Performance, I can begin combat by shouting "For Andoran!" and it will actually give a morale/competance bonus. This amuses me greatly.

I would love to hear amusing or inspiring moments of PC's shouting "For Andoran!" (or "For Freedom and Democracy!")

Note: As we all know, we must be careful not to give spoilers no matter how awesome the story is.

The point is not the APG. It could be a more obscure source, like a trait from Legacy of Fire. My point was answered in that, if you don't have the reference, and your GM is not familiar with it, you can just not use that feat/trait/piece of equipment for the duration of the session.

All is good :)

Cool, thanks guys.

Scenario: I have a feat such as lingering performance (AVP). I forgot to bring the AVP to a game and no one else has one on hand. Can I still play my character and just not use that feat, or do I have to play a pre-gen/alt if I want to play that session?

I want to play an aasimar cleric of Sarenrae with the Merciful Healer archetype (UC). The traits I want to take are:

Are both/either of these legal for PfS play?