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How do you handle prophecies in your campaigns?

Are they strict, immovable and deterministic and the PC's have to work within their confines, or are they subject to free will and can be changed and modified by the actions of the characters, whether it be PC's or NPC's?

I find the second option more interesting but I wanted to check the waters and see what others think.

In popular fantasy you can find both of these examples. How would it work on Golarion? Are there any modules or AP's that deal with prophecies?

Thanks.

Greetings

I would like to create a Fire Giant with the Terror template. Basically create an even more formidable version of the giant with a touch of the supernatural to strike fear and awe into the hearts of the PC's. I also need it for thematic reasons having to do with my campaign.

It says the the aura fear effect acts as a Fear spell. However, the Fear spell is limited in its duration. Since the giant in this case has the aura permanently "on", does that mean that a panicked creature stays panicked as long as they are around the giant?

Let's say there is a fight, and a PC fails their Will save roll, does that mean they are out of the battle for good? They just run somewhere and don't come back until the monster is down?

Also, if you have ideas for templates other than Terror that will give me the same effect I'm looking for, please let me know.

Thanks!

Hey everyone, here's a little challenge for you.

So I have a cleric of Rovagug who sets out to awaken one of the spawns of Roavgug (Volnagur). My idea is that this attempt backfires and the cleric turns into a much weaker, humanoid version of the spawn, or simply adopts some of the spawn's characteristics. This character should be a major antagonist for the PC's. I am looking for a CR 12 build.

Any ideas how this can be done and where to start? How should he look? What special abilities should he have? Just weaker versions of the spawn's abilities? What class should he be under? Should he still have hos cleric spells or shall I transform him completely?

Any and all thoughts are welcome.

Thanks you!

Hello folks

Is there any artifact or spell that allows one to teleport another creature to a set destination from a distance of many miles, without touching or even seeing them?

I did some research but could not find anything.

Thanks!

Hey folks

One of the PC's in my campaign has recently acquired the Axe of the Dwarvish Lords.

The item's description says: "Additionally, the wielder can summon an elder earth elemental (as summon monster IX; duration 20 rounds) once per week."

The Summon special ability, hyperlinked in the description says: "A creature with the summon ability can summon other specific creatures of its kind much as though casting a summon monster spell, but it usually has only a limited chance of success (as specified in the creature’s entry). Roll d%: On a failure, no creature answers the summons."

I am not sure what is meant by "creature entry". The page for the Summon Monster spell does not list any failure conditions, and when I click on some of the creatures just to check their individual pages, I don't see anything either.

My question is simple: can the PC summon the Elder Elemental automatically using the axe, or is there a roll involved?

Thanks!

Hello

I am not clear about how this works.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/mass-combat/

So you have different army sizes, the biggest one available is 2000 units (colossal)

However, how do you claculate ACR for a massive army of 20,000 troops? Is "unit" considered a single soldier?

If so, do I just take this "2000 units" entry and multiply it until I get to 20,000? It doesn't make sense. Do the rules stop at Colossal because that's the biggest army you can have and therefore it's the maximum bonus to ACR? So any size above 2000 units will get a bonus of +8?

Thanks!

Hey folks

I am planning to run a large battle betweem Orcish and Dwarven armies which the PC's take part in.

I do not intend to make this rules-heavy but to streamline it in order to give it an epic feel and to make the players feel like they are in a large, chaotic battle, so I am not bothering too much with number of units etc. I'm keeping it fairly general and would only use the combat rules for individual skirmishes the PC's are engaged in. I already know the result of the battle.

I am looking for any general advice you can give, perhaps from your own experience, on how to run such a battle in Pathfinder. For example, which warbeasts would the Orcs and Dwarves be using? Will either of the armies be mounted in any signifcant way? Is magic prevelant in such a battle or is it mostly blood and guts?

My aim is to narrate the battle, soak the players in the atmosphere, and then to just let them fight without bogging them down with too many rules that will hurt the pacing. My main inspiration for this is the large battles from the Lord of The Rings trilogy of films.

Thanks.

Hello

Some things are not clear to me regarding the rust monster attack:

- the antenna is making a "touch attack" against a metal object (let's say, a sword or an armor). What is the touch AC to roll against? Is it the character's touch AC?

- does the attack destroy all metal objects in two strikes, completely disregarding HP and Hardness?

- do magical weapons/armor get a saving throw or are subject to the same two-strike rule? (you're supposed to add 2 Hardness for every +1 of a magical object but it's meaningless if the rust monster only needs two strikes to destroy it).

Thanks!

Hey guys

I'm working on building my main antagonist for the campaign. He is originally a human turned half-orc, started out his "career" as a Wizard (level 9), but later on became a cleric of Rovagug (level 8). He is NE in alignment.

I am using Dingle Games generator to create the NPC, and this is the most complex one I have yet to create. As a result, I'm simply overwhelmed by the amount of choices. I have to pick feats, spells, and magic items, and in these levels there are dozens and dozens to choose from. Especially when it comes to spells. So far I have decided that the Wizard's school would be conjuration with prohibition on Universal and Illusion, and that the cleric's domains will be Destruction and War.

I am looking mostly for any advice regarding which feats and spells are best for this build, I am interested in making him very aggressive with lots of buffing and attack spells, since he's the final boss of this particular campaign. Ditto for feats. He's at a pretty low AC right now (15) so he needs to have strong offence.

Alternatively, if there is a pre-made build that I can have access to that more or less correspond with the above, that would also help. I did not find anything matching in the NPC gallery. I am flexible in that I can play a bit with the levels but I still wanna keep him at CR 11+.

Thanks!

Does anyone know what "dwarven trade bars" are? It's a type of treasure in a Paizo module but I found no reference for it whatsoever in the rulebooks.

The only thing I found is from a Forgotten Realms wiki page where they talk about it being mostly silver but also gold. But nothing official from Pathfinder.

My players use PC Gen and if I give them treasure they need to be able to find it in the database and add it to their character sheets.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Howdy

I occasionally use Pathfinder Society scenarios to mine some encounters for my homebrew campaign. I found an interesting one where the PC's are challenged by a band of Orcs for a "test of strength" with the Orcs' champion.

However, there is no mention anywhere in the scenario what this test of strength should actually be. Is this just regular one-on-one combat? The scenario stipulates that "if the PC's win, do so and so, but if the Orcs win, do so and so". If it's a regular combat, then if the Orcs win, it means they could potentially kill the PC. It doesn't make sense. This is an encounter that opens the scenario and should be a kind of skirmish, not a battle to the death.

Do you have an experience with similar situations in your games? How should this be carried out? Should I just have them duke it out with their fists for non-lethal damage? Should I let them lift heavy boulders above their heads and have them roll a strength check? The first option is more suspenseful because it's evolving, but the second option is a classic "test of strength".

What do you think?

Sometimes I really wish these scenarios would be written more clearly... but hey, it's a time saver.

Hi folks

The PC's in my campaign are after the legendary Axe of the Dwarvish Lords.

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/artifacts/major-artifacts/axe-of-the-d warvish-lords/

They are very close to (hopefully) acquiring it.

Idea 1: In my campaign legendary artifacts need proof that they are the real deal. A +6 bonus is not something visible, nor is a keen ability, and the exterior ornamentation can be forged. The only visible characteristic of the item is Hands of the Maker. i.e, if you hold it/use it for an extended period of time (a few weeks), and you are not a dwarf, you will turn into one.

This is essentially the only proof that the Axe is the real one.

Since finding the axe is supposed to convince an entire dwarven populace to gather behind the PC's, I feel that the more suspicious of dwarven rulers will require proof before expressing their allegiance.

Idea 2: an offer is being made to the PC's, that one of them who is not a Dwarf will carry the Axe instead of his usual weapon. If he begins to show dwarven physical attributes, then this is the proof that the PC's have acquired the artifact.

My concern: this will involve "forcing" a player to use a different weapon then the one they carry. They might like the idea, they might not like the idea. The party has three PC's, so there are two possible choices since the third one is a dwarf.
I believe both other PC's are proficient with martial weapons.

Of course, the PC's can refuse to do it altogether, so in that sense I'm not really forcing anyone, but let's be honest: it will be evident to them that this is the way story "should" progress. Now, I'm completely open to them refusing and to any creative alternative solutions they may find for the problem. But my players seem to sense when I would prefer them to go in a certain direction even if on my part they have the freedom to do whatever they wish.
For me, having another character use the weapon is an interesting idea because it involves themes of sacrifice and camaraderie. (of course I will not let the affected PC remain a dwarf unless they would wish to).

The question: do you think it's a good idea to even introduce such an element into a campaign, where a players choice, at least on paper, seem to be restricted by what the GM wants? I don't want someone with a powerful magic sword he worked hard to acquire to be given the Axe (a powerful weapon in itself, to be fair) and then resent it, nor do I want the dwarf to resent not being able to wield the Axe himself, even if it's only for a limited time. I plan to have at least two full session where the Axe will be wielded by a non-dwarf.

Your opinions are welcome!

Hey folks

Tough battle last session with a Black Pudding. Some issues came up that I had to resolve on the spot, so coming here to pick your brains about it.

1) one of the players, which was grappled by the Pudding, asked me: "if I attack it and hit, and it splices, won't it release me from the grapple automatically?" I could not find a reason to not make it so since it seemed logical to me, so I ruled that it's possible. I could not find any corroboration to that in the rules, not in the Black Pudding stats, and not in the Grappled entry. What do you think? Does a Black Pudding lose its Grapple when it's spliced?

2) another question from the players: "when they splice, and become smaller, they attack with the same force"? This time I ruled that yes, their attack doesn't change, because there was only one Offence entry in the stat block. However, does it really make sense that when a Black Pudding splices, and is now smaller with less hit points, that his offence capability will still have the same attack roll and the same damage? I mean, when I look at Enlarge Person for example, the offence and defense capabilities change with the change in size. Why wouldn't it be same for a creature that become smaller as it's hit repeatedly? But there is no mention of anything like that in the stat block.
What's your take on this?

Thanks!

Hi all

The PC's are about to enter an underground library belonging to a CR 8 Drow Flame Oracle. The Oracle will not be there when they arrive. I plan to hide the entrance with a secret door but other than that I'm looking for some challenges within the room, it can be a trap or a guardian monster/monsters.

Do you have any ideas/advice in the matter? I'm not experienced with Drow encounters. Are there certain monsters they like to enslave for these kinds of purposes? Something incorporeal that springs on them might be better than just a big monster sitting in the room. The room itself is not that large.

We have two clerics (Serenrea and Torag), one ranger, one Barbarian and one investigator. APL is 7.

Thanks!!

Hi all

There are several forum threads discussing this, but none that covers my exact questions:

- When a PC falls under the spell of the Harpy, do they move at their regular speed, half speed, or 5 foot increments? For me, it doesn't make sense that a PC will continue to walk normally while under a spell but there is nothing in the rules addressing this.

- I plan an encounter where one Harpy in hiding lures the PC's in with a song and then two other Harpies pounce on them. The monster's description and every thread I read refer to a PC vs. the actual singing Harpy. Does that mean the moment they are attacked by a different Harpy they shake the spell off?

- despite what the rules say, it doesn't make sense to me that an affected PC can still defend themselves. It goes with the logic of moving slower. Would it be unreasonable to deny the PC the Dex bonus for the sake of realism? When I imagine a mesmerized creature it's hard for me to see them doing flip flops and parrying. To compensate for that I would not consider them helpless (which they are supposed to be within 5 feet of the monster, according to the rules...), but again, is it only against the monster that actually does the singing?

What are your thoughts?

Thanks.

Hi

So something is not clear to me. Once a character reaches BAB 6 it's capable of performing a full attack, i.e, consuming its entire turn to perform two attack. This is from a PC character sheet in my game:

Greatsword, Total Attack Bonus +16/+11

So the / separates the first attack from the second attack. I got it right so far?

But when I look at the Bestiary online, there are some monsters with a BAB of above 6 that don't seem to get a second attack. Just for example, an Undead Warlord, with a BAB of 9, fighting with a greatsword, does not appear to have a second attack:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/undead-warlord/

How does this work?

Thanks.

Hi all

I have a question about this line form a monster's stat block:

Melee +3 keen greatsword +16 (2d6+10)

Is the magic enhancement bonus already calculated in the +16 or is it separate, and this should actually be +19 and 2d6+13?

Here is the full listing:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/undead-warlord/

Also, "keen" means double threat range, so this would be X4 for the greatsword, meaning it would crit on a roll of 17-20?

Thanks!

Hi all

So in our last session, during a heated combat, the bad guys threw the artifact the PC's were after through an opening and planned to close the door to prevent the PC's from grabbing it.

The ranger, on her initiative, decided to send her wolf, using Fetch, to grab the artifact and bring it back to her, all in the same round. A debate ensued.

The description is:
Fetch (DC 15): The animal goes and gets something. If you do not point out a specific item, the animal fetches a random object.

The dry interpretation would be that yes, this is exactly what happens. The player argued that this is the point of the trick. I resisted because I felt a bit disappointed that my plan to make the fight more interesting was derailed so easily... by a simple Handle Animal trick. It felt too powerful to me. But by the end I had to concede to the player because I couldn't find any evidence to the contrary.

But I want to be clear about this, and about Handle Animal in general, going forward:

- With Fetch, can an animal companion run, grab an object, and come back (while sticking to the speed limitation, of course), all in the same turn?
- does the animal act on the ranger's initiative because the ranger gives the command?
- what then happens to the initiative of the animal companion? Does it get to act again in the same round? We cancelled its turn during the round once it was commanded to fetch. But this was just on instinct.
- when an animal grabs an object, is it a free action? (it's a move action for any other PC). That's how we played it, anyway.

Thanks!

I could be mistaken, but to my eyes it seems like there is conflicting info regarding this artifact. Since I plan on making it a big part of my campaign, I wanted to ask your opinions.

- in Artifacts & Legends, it's said that Theocrat Ordrik realized the threat the axe represented to his rule, and so hid it deep beneath Droskar's Crag.

- in Dragons Unleashed, it's said that the axe was carried by a team sent by Ordrik to explore the ruined city of Jernashall. The team was destroyed by the magma dragon Moschabbat's, which now has the axe in its possession.

I guess you could say the axe was hidden and then brought out of hiding for the sake of the Jernashall mission. Why, I'm not sure, but it's plausible. But was this the intention? Or are these two separate stories simply inconsistent with each other?

Thanks.

(P.S: yeah, I know, it's my campaign and I can put the artifact in a jungle in the middle of the ocean if I want. But I prefer to stick to official setting as much as possible because every detail connects to another).

Howdy

I am looking to create about 3-4 mid to high-high level NPC's for my campaign.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to create all these characters manually.

I know there is the PF NPC gallery but I'm really looking for very specific stuff and would like to have more control.

For example, I want to create a 7th level Investigator Dwarf. Essentially I'm looking for a Dwarf NPC that will stay with the party on a regular basis and that will have rogue abilities but not be an out-and-out rogue. His backstory fits perfectly with the Investigator class.

I also need to create high level Orc wizard and Orc Warlord among others...

I looked at PC Gen but found no Investigator option, and PC Gen anyway is a lot of work to create anything from scratch that is not level 1.

Most of the free tools out there are limited. I found Dingles NPC Generator which allows you to create high-level NPC's but you have to pay for it (15$ for 6 months). However, it seems like the website has not been updated since 2014 or so.

- Do you use Dingles for your NPC's and is it worth the money?
- Do you know of another NPC generators that will allow me to create detailed mid to high-level characters easily?

Thanks!

Hey folks

I am pitting an adult white dragon (CR 10) against a party with an APL of 6. They will have magical items and some plot-stuff to make it easier for them. The fight will most likely be outdoors, which will give the dragon a lot of opportunity to fly around.

So I'm a little unsure about the range. I know it says 40 ft. cone, but how can you measure a 40 ft. cone from an airborne position? Let's say he overs 40 feet straight above them. Can he just blast them from that height? That's gonna make it very hard for any character that can't use ranged weapon effectively from afar.

The adult white dragon has no limitations on the use of the breath weapon. Is there any reason why he shouldn't just hover 40 ft. in the air and use his breath weapon repeatedly?

Please let me know if I'm missing something.

Thanks.

No, not the video game. The literal age of dragons.

How old would you say an adult dragon should be? Are we talking hundreds of years?

Also, why are Metallic adult dragons so much more powerful than adult Chromatic dragons? Is there a big difference between them with regards to actual age, or are Metallic dragons simply more powerful as a type?

I want to pit a gold dragon against a white dragon in my campaign, but the differences in powers and abilities and strength are pretty substantial.

Thanks.

Hey folks

In my campaign, a white dragon has taken over a small village, subjugating its people. The dragon has people working for him. Now, I know there is the Dragon Disciple, but it is a PC class and I requite this for NPC's.

I have a dragonborn sorcerer. This sorcerer was born out of a tryst between a golden dragon and a human, but he has been corrupted by a white dragon and foresook his heritage.
He has disciples that were also corrupted by the dragon. They can be humans or even orcs or half-orcs. I imagine they will have certain magical abilities in tune with the white dragon's abilities (much weaker obviously).

Yes, there is nothing in the rules to suggest an evil dragon can "corrupt" people, but it's just something I added to my campaign.

I need advise on how to create these NPC's and which possible builds I can use for them. The sorcerer needs to be much stronger then his disciples, but much weaker than the dragon (duh), and he needs to be approx. CR 6.

Thank you!

This is for all players and GM's playing in Golarion. Where are you currently in your campaign? What dark nooks are you exploring? Are you on the sea, in the snow, in the desert? We're all in the same world (hey, maybe we passed each other on the way and didn't even notice!) So... give a shout out!

After a long time spent in the Shackles, my group sailed to Taldor and is currently in the Verduran Forest off the Isle of Arenway, ready to face some nasty druid spellcasters. But this is just a quick stop. They will shortly be heading for the Fog Peaks via Yanmass, where their quest beckons.

And you?

Hey guys

I usually meet in person with the group I GM for, but due to some practical reasons I suggested we do this one session online. I checked for some tips about this but most of what I could find refers to Roll20. We are not going to use Roll20, partly because I think setting it up will be too much of a hassle, and partly because there is a resistance in the group to play online and using Roll20 will psychologically feel like this will not be the only time. So we will be using either Skype or Google Hangouts with me in location A and the rest of the group in location B.

But this raises other practical issues... since everything will be done physically with no online tools, I'm not sure how I'll be able to see their die rolls or where they are on the map. If they use a laptop camera, which seems to be the case, it will be stationary and my angle will be static.

Is this not very doable, or do you have any ideas how to pull this off?

Thanks.

Hello good people

I am preparing to run a heavily modified version of a PFS scenario in my campaign. One of the encounters in the scenario has the bad guys casting the spell Stone Call. The scenario lists this spell has having a DC 14.

However, in the rules, Stone Call does not have any saves associated with it.

This can prove important. Is this a misprint in the scenario or am I missing something here?

Thank you.

Hi all

I am planning a sea encounter using the Sea Scourge monster:

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/oozes/sea-scourge/

The monster has an Acid Jet ability that causes 2d8 points of damage. The description is only referring to damage to creatures, not inanimate objects. However, in the monster's description it specifically says:

A sea scourge’s acid is capable of dissolving wood in addition to flesh and bone, making it a particularly dangerous threat to most boats.

The ship the PC's are sailing on has 900 HP. So just based on this, the Acid Jet can't significantly effect it. However, based on the description above, the creature does have the capability to potentially destroy sea-going vessels or at least make a hole big enough to make them drown. I am thinking of the movie Alien, where damaging the creature causes it to spew acid, which then trickles down all the levels of the ship, causing damage.

What would you say would be the right way of approaching this? Would a single hit with the Acid Jet be enough for potential drowning? Should I have some kind of ticking clock for the PC's to work against in order to contain the damage, like in Alien? Would you set a certain amount of damage, beyond it the ship drowns? There is just a certain disconnect between the actual damage the creature inflicts and its supposed capability of drowning a ship.

Thanks.

Hi folks

So... one of the things the Pathfinder game (and all OGL based systems, to a degree) is known for is the relative easiness of finding information online.

This presents an interesting dilemma for the GM and players alike.

While in the past you had to deal with physical books exclusively, and only used the rules and options in those specific books, websites such as the D20PFSRD include tons of information from virtually every Pathfinder rules compendium, including adventure paths, ever made.

So while at the table we only play with, let's say, the Core Rulebook. the Advanced Player's Guide, and the first bestiary, a player sometimes comes to me wanting to use a feat, a spell, an ability or an equipment from another book. And I, as GM, would sometimes want to use monsters from bestiaries other than the one I actively have on the table.

It's kind of a good problem to have, I admit, but where do you draw the line? Do you use anything and everything as long as it fits your campaign and/or characters, or do you simulate the experience of using physical books exclusively and only allow material from those books to be included in your game?

This is something I wondered about for a while now, but what prompted me to ask this now is that I'm introducing the players to the idea of traits, and thinking to myself if I should limit the players to the traits in the Advanced Player's Guide, or send them the enormous list of every available trait from the D20PFRSD...

Hello folks

So kind of unintentionally (I had other plans for them), the PC's in the group I'm GMing have managed to find themselves off the shore of Oagon in the Sodden Lands.

Upon reading about this place, I was intrigued. Flooded city, giant diving bells lowering treasure seekers into the depths... it's all very evocative, and I think it can be interesting to set a small adventure there, possibly some kind of an underwater dungeon crawler.

However, after the scouring the internet, I could not find anything about this place other then a short paragraph from the Inner Sea Guide. More specifically, there is nothing about those diving bells and how they operate exactly. How much air is in each one, for how long does it last, what is their hardness, HP... who exactly operates them in Oagon... I did some research concerning ancient diving bells but could not figure out how this could reflect itself in game terms.

Also, there are no modules of PFS scenarios set in this place.

Anybody have any ideas about adventuring in this region, using these types of contraptions, etc...?

Thanks!

Hey guys

I need your help since I'm a bit out of my depth here.

I wish to create two NPC's for my adventure.

One is a dual-class Rogue 4/Fighter 3 ship captain (this is an NPC from a PS scenario that does not have any stats in the adventure itself. The only info I have on her is the above. I modified the scenario for my campaign and I need the character to be engaged in combat and to be able to interact with the world).

Second NPC I want to bring in is a race from 3.5, specifically a Fishman (I did not find anything comparable in Pathfinder). He is a first officer on said ship and about to become an important character. I found its racial stats and all, but do not know how to create a stat block.

I searched in different NPC generators but none of them are as specific as I need, and I'm not really sure how to create these from scratch.

Any advice on how to proceed?

Thanks.

Hello folks.

This is from the Grizzled Mercenary stat block in the GM guide:

Melee mwk heavy flail +9/+4 (1d10+3/19–20) or mwk halberd +9/+4 (1d10+3/×3) or longspear +8/+3 (1d8+3/×3) or morningstar +8/+3 (1d8+2) or cold iron kukri +8/+3 (1d4+2/18–20)

Can someone explain to me why the different attack roll bonuses? For example, "flail +9/+4". What does is signify?

Also, what is mwk?

Thanks!

Hi all

A simple question:

According to the core rules, a double damage on a critical hit means rolling damage twice and adding those up as opposed to actually doubling on one damage roll.

I am looking into different critical roll apps and I see that many of them have "double damage" as an effect, including the Paizo official decks.

Would you say that double damage in this case is exactly the same as the double damage in core rulebook, or is it actual double damage? Could be the Paizo ones follow the core rulebook but others not necessarilly? I'm a bit confused regarding the interpertation of Double Damage as a special effect.

Thanks.

Hey guys

I have adapted the season 6 scenario Hall of Flesh Eaters for my non-society home campaign, basically changing the nature of the artifact the PC's need to find and completley altering the background of the adventure, but keeping most of the encounters intact.

However, the final baddie in the scenario seems a bit of an anti-climax for my purposes. Meaning, it seems to me the PC's are finding their holy grail too soon. So I am interested in purchasing the sequel to this (or both of them) in order to have the PC's delve deeper and deeper into the spire, hopefully to confornt Sevenfingers himself in the end, getting the artifact, and getting tons of treasure.

The question is, for you in the know, is: do the scenarios go there? Is there a final conforntation with Sevenfingers or does this battle never take place? I would like to know this before purchasing.

Thanks!

Hi folks

Would love you sage advice on this.

I'm GMing a party of 3 PC's on an escort mission (I know, very original!) for a fourth character which is an NPC.

I am not experienced with running an NPC for an extended period of time. This is a level 3 female draconian sorcerer which is hanging out with the party as essentially a fourth memeber, both augmenting the party's strenghth while serving as the lynchpin for the adventure.

But it's very strange to run a character and make decisions for this character when I ALREADY KNOW what's coming. How can I possibly play her objectively and not metagame the whole thing? She will probably mostly be very passive, just helping in the combat but not really making any suggestions to the party. She will only talk during "cut scenes". Not very realistic but I can't think of anything else. I can give her to a player to control but from former experience it just confuses them and I prefer they focus on their own character.

Do you have a better strategy to deal with this?

Also, as an added side note, I find it hard deciding her origin on Golarion. She comes from a village I invented but we are playing in Golarion. It should be a cold place because the main antagonist is a white dragon. I considered Irrissen or Land of the Linnorm Kings but the former seems too harsh and the latter... I just don't imagine her people as vikings. Any recommendations?

Thanks!

Hey guys

I'm preparing an encounter with potentially one or more animated whips that attack the PC's. It will be a combination of regular whip and Scorpion Whip. One to grab/grapple and one to give damage.

I have searched everywhere on how this should be done and came up with something like this:

Animated whip (small)

Reach: 15 ft
AC: 16
HP: 21
Melee slam +3
Special Ability: Grab (1 constriction point)

Animated Scorpion Whip (small)

Reach: 15 feet
AC: 16
HP: 21
Melee slam +3 (1d3 damage)
Special ability: Additional attack (1 Constriction Point)

Can you give me some feedback or let me know if I'm doing this right? This is basically improviesed and cobbled together from exisiting rules. I could not find anything specific regarding animated whips. Off the bat I can tell you that 21 hit points for a whip feel like a lot to me. But "small" is the best approximation I could go with. I don't think an average whip is "tiny".

Also, if the whips are flying through the air, would that necessitate a -4 on all attack rolls from the PC's?

Thanks.

Hey guys

I own the Core Rulebook and considering supplemanting it with the 1st Bestiary before I embark on creating a homebrew adventure.

However, I see all the Bestiaries appear online and they are quite extensive.

Is there a real benefit in owning the book vs. the online version? Does the book contain more monsters? More information?

Thanks!

Hey guys

What would you say would be a sensible way to break into a safe according to Pathfinder rules, other than finding out the combination obviously?

Will a spell of Shatter work?

Will acid make any difference?

Just bludgeoning the thing with an axe?

And how would you time it?

I'm thinking of a small safe, Hardnes 10 and HP 30.

Thanks!

Hi folks

I am developing a campaign that will prominently feature a dragonborn NPC. I have tweaked the rules regarding chromatic dragons a bit, and the gold dragons in my setting are capable of staying in human form for years. This young woman NPC is the offspring of a golden dragon in humanoid form which had a relationship that went for years with a human woman, including a family etc.

I would love to have any auggestions on how to best prepare and play such a character. There are NPC creation tools online that lets you create dragonborn characters, but it's the small stuff that I'm not sure about. Should I give her a tail? Should she be able to fly? An important part of the story is the PC's will not necessarilly learn her real identity early on. Will she look conspiciously alien? Or can I get away with just having her have blond hair and golden eyes? How powerful are dragonborn characters in general? It's important that she'll help the PC's, but not make them feel useless.

Thanks for any advice.

Hi all

This is kind of a general, meta-question that can apply to all kinds of RPG's.

I am running a PF module right now for 1st level, and after that I'm thinking of running a homebrew adventure (have not decided yet if it will be set in Golarion or not because adhering to a specific world instead of just doing general fantasy seems to hamper me more than anything, but that's for another thread).

I have a story and ideas for at least the first couple pf encounters. The thing is, everything is based on the fact the PC's will succeed .
So it feels like a video game, where the whole thing is designed around the idea that you'll succeed if you get good enough or try hard enough. But in a video game you can fail/die multiple times and still have a go. But if a PC dies then it's a little more "serious" and not as easy as pushing a "try again" button.
So it makes me feel, when designing the adventure, that it's hard for me to come up with something that could be considered a true challenge, since my aim is for the PC's to succeed and progress in the story.

For example, let's say that in order for the PC's to progress they need to climb a castle wall in order to gain entrance. So they need to do Climb checks, right? But what is the point? They need to climb this wall. Why can't I tell them, "you climb the wall"? Sure, they do the check, maybe they fail, so it takes them a little longer, but eventually they must succeed. Even if I've given them an alternative way to gain entry, it's still the same thing. What's the point of all these skill checks if the story dictates they must succeed eventually?

How do you create real challenges in a narrative focused campaign? Challenges with outcomes that are not pre-determined? I would love to hear different opinions on this.

Thanks!

Hey guys

I've been playing PFS on and off and have a character level 3. However, I recently moved and I can't really find thw character sheet.

I see the character in my PFS page but there is just a name and class. Maybe it's a silly questiion, but is there any way to reclaim this character based on my player #? I didn't put it online but maybe one of the GM's did?

If not possible, what would you say is the best thing to do if I want to get back into PFS? Should I start from level 1 again? Do I have to use a pre-gen like last time or can I create my own?

Thanks!

Hey guys

About to have my first session where I'll be GMing for the first time, and couple of things are not clear in the rulebook for me, I thought I could find some help here. I might be adding more questions to this thread as I go along. So here goes:

- Walk speed vs. Hustle speed in Tactical Movement: there is almost a throwaway line in the rulebook that says "characters don't usually walk during combat. They hustle". However, all through the book the speed referred to is the base speed for all characters, meanaing, 30 feet for most cases and not 60 feet (hustle speed). Also, when I played Pathfinder Society back in the day I remember we used to move up to 30 or maybe 40 feet on the map. I don't remember anybody moving 60. So I'm confused. What speed do you use for combat/tactical situations?

Generally speaking I find the hustling rule somewhat cumbersome. I have an inkling to just ignore it and use Walk and Run instead. So much simpler.

- Climbing gear: There is a climbing gear package that costs 80 GP. I have a PC that took Climb as class skill. Nowhere in the description of the skill does it say you have to have this 80 gp gear to perform it. Can you advise if there is any reason whatsoever to buy this?

- Age: do you incorporate aging in your games, and if so, how do you keep track of the aging of the character. How do you decide how much time the character ages between sessions, and did anyone here actually used the penalty/bonus mechanics for aging characters.

Thank you!

Hello guys

I am starting as GM for a group of three players. I'm the only one in the group that ever played Pathfinder (through Pathfinder Society), but this will be my first time GMing.

I'd like to start off with a module so I can ease my way into the job instead of having to prepare everything from scratch.

I see there are a lot of modules available.

I'm looking for a 1st level character adventure that can fill around three sessions of 3-5 hours each, maybe something that will bring characters to third level?

If there are any modules that include a rewritable map, that would be preferrable (I don't know if any exists).

Finally, I'm inclined to just get a printed version, but what is your experience with PDF downloads? Is it convenient to use? I will have to go and print it somewhere else (and pay for it) because I don't think my printer will be able to handle it.

Thanks!