Mathota's page

"Here at the Pathfinder Society we don’t negotiate with kidnappers"

I can't think of a particular example right now, but I'm fairly certain we do in fact do that.

Hi James, I hope your day is going good :)

A friend and I were wondering, the plane of shadow, does it have its own version of the dark tapestry, as in vast stretches of empty space between the “shadow” planets? neither of us were sure, but it sure sounded like a spooky concept.

Hi James, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued presence on this thread. It means a lot to the community having you be so ready and willing to take time out of your day to chat with us.

As for an actual question, is plane shifting pesky undead to the Boneyard a good way to get rid of them, or is doing that likely to get grumpy Psychopomps on my case?

If there is still room the big-hearted Goblin Barbarian(1) Bikpek would love to join

@QM for our own vanity, could we have a final count of Syringe mans HP and total damage reduced? Just to show the scale of what we accomplished.

... Glinting with spilled blood and alchemical concoctions Bikpeks Horsechopper, better sized for the monster he wields it clashes against the creatures "shoulder", digging deep into the wood if its neck and sending out an array of splinters.

Screaming and screeching at the monster to look at him, Bikpek doesn't relent even as the construct falls, smacking their blade against the class dome containing hits eyes and brain. The glass smashes open spilling its contents onto the stone, where it is soon squished by the flat of Bikpeks blade.

"No-one *pant* hurt *pant* Bikpeks *pant-pant* Family-Friends."

With the Nightmare machine finally still and in pieces, Bikpek straightens his back and poses for his companions, like he practiced... And does something he has wanted to do since one of the automatons lucky blows...

"Me-no feel so good..."

...He begins to retch, spilling what remains of his breakfast (fish bones and crustacean shells) onto the floor.

Bikpek will keep retching until he in no longer sickened

Bikpek felt ill, and felt weak, but most of all he felt fury, bubbling just beneath the surface. Fury at this thing that loomed like a skeletal Bugbear of Bikpeks nightmares, thinking that somehow it was okay to hurt those who had shown Bikpek nothing but kindness. His strength was moments away, bubbling beneath the surface.
1 round before Bikpek can Rage again!

But Friends can't wait that long

Bikpek can't see or hear or hear the whippoorwill anymore and takes it absence as an omen.

"Shall not ROUT!!!" He Roars at his foe and his allies as he darts forward once again, thrusting his too-big Horsechopper forward with all his tiny might.

◆stride ◆strike

Oversized Horsechopper: 1d20 + 7 - 1 ⇒ (7) + 7 - 1 = 131d8 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 - 1 = 4
Bikpek may never get another chance like this; lets use that Hero point!
Oversized Horsechopper: 1d20 + 7 - 1 ⇒ (20) + 7 - 1 = 261d8 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 4 - 1 = 9

"Bikpek told you to look at ME!"

◆strike

He swings the Horsechopper around, trying to land another blow.

Oversized Horsechopper: 1d20 + 7 - 5 - 1 ⇒ (11) + 7 - 5 - 1 = 121d8 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (5) + 4 - 1 = 8

"Dont look at green-Friend you Brigh-forsaken pile of Tree-bones!" Bikpek Screaches at the top of his tiny lungs, as he thrusts at the contorted twig-man towering over his compatriot.
◆Strike
Oversized Horsechopper: 1d20 + 7 - 1 ⇒ (20) + 7 - 1 = 261d8 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 - 1 = 6
"Look at ME!!!"
◆Strike
Oversized Horsechopper: 1d20 + 7 - 5 - 1 ⇒ (12) + 7 - 5 - 1 = 131d8 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (8) + 4 - 1 = 11
◆Stride down the corridor, keeping his eyes on his foe
"Now come pick on Bikpek-your-own size you big-dumb-dumb-campfire-in-waiting!"

"Waaaarghh! Leave Braveheart-friend ALONE!"

With righteous indignation Bikpek darts back into the fray, trying to turn the speed from his charge into deadly momentum.

◆Stride ◆Strike

Oversized Horsechopper: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 7 + 1 = 271d8 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 = 9

Bikpek is not feeling so foolhardy as to abandon the plan, and backs up again just as quickly as he charged in.

◆Stride back towards the group

@QM Bikpek is still prone from falling unconscious! Standing up is a next turn problem.

Bikpek awakens to a scene of some concern. With no time to hesitate he lets out a baying cry!

"Let the Tall-Friend go you meaniiiiiiiiie!!!"

Grabbing his Horsechopper from the ground beside him, without even bothering to stand he swings it in wide high arcs, aiming for the creatures head!

"WaaaAAAarrhhHHH!!!" Bikpek shouts in fear and exertion as he rolls on the ground from the momentum of the swings.

◆Pick up weapon ◆Strike ◆Strike

Horsechopper: 1d20 + 7 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 7 + 1 - 2 = 191d8 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 = 9

Horsechopper: 1d20 + 7 + 1 - 5 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 7 + 1 - 5 - 2 = 181d8 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 1 = 11

"EEEunnnghhh..."

Bikpek moans, drooling on the floor.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

"MMhmm Bikpek want to trust.... But best be cautious me-thinks. And Light is good either way. Anything that lives in this dark will be big-used-to it. If we bring hand-sun with us, Perhaps they will be offkilter."

He nods his head in firm agreement of himself, and readjusts his grip on his Horsechopper.

"Gol Amri" Bikpek turned the word over in his mouth.

"Goooooooul Aaaaaaam-Ree"
It was a good Goblin name, he liked the way it pulled his wide mouth into a grin. His name didn't do that, did that mean he had picked his name wrong?

He had been thinking about his words, and his name, a lot on the long hot walk; little else to do without the company of family.

But that is where we are going isn't it? To family? He hoped his family would like him.

Lots of not-family didn't like him he knew. They look at his small body, dwarfed by his Horsecutter, and assume he is weak. They look at his big head and assume he is simple. That never made sense to Bikpek. If his head was big wouldn't that make his thoughts big, with only a little body to distract his head from the really important thinking?

Ignoring the gawkers, he walked towards the dock. Not too many here starred, that was good, even as he stopped to wish a barrel of milky eyed fish safe passage. He looked down at the hand drawn compass rose on the paper clutched in his hands. Its arrow pointed dead ahead.

"Toward Family."

He grinned widely.

Society: +6 Trained

Hi Everyone!

Playing as Bikpek. Bikpek knows the Pathfinder Society is where he belongs. Bikpek knows that friends make you big-and-strong-and-warm-and-fluffy inside. He knows he will keep his new family safe.

Bikpek charges into battle wielding a comically large Horsechopper and knows a thing or two more than most might expect.

Paizo Handle: Mathota
Character Name: Bikpek
PFS / Character Number / Faction: 266148-2002 / Verdant Wheel
Character Ancestry / Background / Class / Level: Snow Goblin / Criminal/ Barbarian (Giant)/1
[b]Downtime Skill / Task Level / Task DC / Die Result / Outcome: [b]Underworld Lore/ 0/ 14 / Underworld Lore: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

Hi James!

Pharasmas daughter Atropos is called "the last sister" are there any references to Pharasmas other children scattered about?

I mean, Cassomir is a pretty miserable place, maybe the residents have just finally caught on? Hoping to see the return of my favorite crazy artist; rollplaying him was how I cut my teeth on GMing.

Hi James!

Lorewise, why can ghosts retain non-evil alignments where other undead can’t?

What degree of involvement did Pharasma have in sealing away Rovagug? I’ve always gotten the impression that she could destroy/cage him by herself if she wanted to.

Hey James!

I’m sure you’ve heard this a lot, but the Windsong Testaments that you have been doing lately are an absolute blast. As someone who’s really into the setting, it’s so amazing to here such in depth in world stories and legends.

On that same note, I was surprised the most recent Testament about Pharasma and the Cycle didn’t include any mention of Groetus that I picked up on. I was wondering, when and how exactly did he crop up, if not at the very beginning? As someone so involved with the cycle of the universe, I would have expected him to have been there since the start.

When using an effect like enlarge, or the giant barbarian instinct, what happens if you use it in an enclosed room, or surrounded by enemies or allies? Some spells like dragon form specify that if there is no room to enlarge the spell is lost, but enlarge and giant instinct have no such language, which implies that there must be some other resolution, but I’ve got no idea what it is.

A Gloomblade Fighter can create shadowy version of any melee weapon with which he is proficient. The feat Improvisational Focus makes you "considered proficient" with improvised weapons. would this allow the gloomblade to create improvised weapons with this ability?

Relevant rules text:

Shadow Weapon (Su): A gloomblade can create a shadowy weapon in a free hand as a move action. This can take the form of any melee weapon with which he is proficient. A gloomblade can have only one shadow weapon in existence at a time; creating a new shadow weapon causes an existing shadow weapon to vanish. At 3rd level, the shadow weapon acts as a magic weapon with a +1 enhancement bonus; this bonus increases by 1 for every 4 levels a gloomblade has beyond 2nd, to a maximum enhancement bonus of +5 at 18th level.

Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls you make using an improvised weapon. You are considered proficient with the improvised weapon and are considered to have Weapon Focus with improvised weapons for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites of feats that specifically select a weapon, such as Weapon Specialization.

I feel like the AR is become quite the point of contention for this community. It feels like hardly a week goes by without a thread about it being either started or resurrected. I cant help but think that a lot of this tension comes from how the community concerns are being dealt with. As has already been said, we have been watching the AR creep further and further out of date, and the Society Team has been quite kind in explaining their busy schedule and giving the occasional update. But despite this, it still doesn't feel like the AR, something of great importance to the playerbase, has been made a priority by the development team. While we all understand that the Organized Play Team has a treadmill of content to produce, it feels as though nothing seems to ever change and that is quite frustrating. Its all well and good to say that "the AR isn't a priority right now", but when its months out of date and has been for a while it starts feeling like it never will be a priority, despite its importance to the community.

This whole thing is made even worse by the approaching end of 1E PFS. many players are starting to think of new characters they want to take through to level 12 for 1E PFSs last year, all the wacky new builds they want to try while there is still time, and realizing that they cant use that archetype they like from Planar Adventures despite buying the book 5 months ago.

I really have no idea how the Organized Play Team functions internally, or how the AR are decided, but it feels like this could all be alleviated by dedicating some team members to it. If no one has time because the team is busy with different priorities, maybe its time to bring in new team members to delegate to this task? Again, I don't actually know how this process is performed, but compared to creating a scenario it feels like updating a new book to the AR should be a relatively minor task. I feel that as a community it kinda sucks to see one of the things we care about constantly pushed to the wayside, especially as the end of 1E keeps getting closer, making the AR more important than ever.

I don't think it would be unfair to say that this remains a persistent concern for the community not even so much because it hasn't been fixed, but because it doesn't really feel like a fix is even being moved towards.

It is my understanding that yes you can. When you are presented with a usually “illegal” character option, that another legal option gives you by default, without it being a choice, then it is legal.

Okay, I’ve come up with a bit of a sample build.
Human for the extra feat
Quintessentialist as our only archetype.

At first level pump your strength and con, bringing strength up to 20. Take spiritualists call as a feat to give your phantom +2 to strength whenever it’s summoned for 10 minutes (which will be the most of the time with this archetype). Take the Anger emotional focus and your phantom gets a +2 to strength again, and your slams deal damage up one size category.

Well done, Your phantom now has the strength score of a raging barbarian, and because you can feed your phantom your hit points when it’s near death, you have more hit points too.

Now let’s talk defence. Your phantom can steal your feats and armor, so armor proficiency feats will be very helpful in building up your defence (which will stack with your phantoms scaling natural armour bonus). What I would do here is take phantom ally and do some multiclassing to pick up the extra proficiency for free, but for anyone not wanting to stay pure spiritualist, sinking your second feat into medium armour proficiency is worthwhile. Buy yourself some chain mail and your phantoms AC is 18+dex bonus at level 1, and 20+dex bonus at level 2.

If you choose the multiclassing route, take a level in fighter and get yourself some full plate, and maybe even a tower shield if you really want to be defensive. A single level in that will nab you a bonus feat to make up for the feat you lost taking phantom ally, and your phantoms AC at level 2 is now at lest 23 if your dex is 10 (10+9+4+dex).

The final issue is the actual spiritualists survival.
CLW is on your spell list, so assuming the dice don’t hate you, you should never actually go down if you spend each turn wiggling your wand. When you can afford it pick up boots of the earth for fast healing 1, and try stay out of the way. In later levels you will have enough hp to actually contribute and do things other than suck on a wand, for for early game, just try look non threatening while your phantom handles it.

Just to put this all in one place,

Your phantom at level two will have 24 strength, 23 AC, two characters worth of HP, and two natural attacks with +7 to hit and 1d8+7 damage before power attacking.

If you want to be even harder on the poor bastard wiggling his wand of CLW, you could also pick up the Haunted archetype as well. The spiritualist can become nauseated to give the phantom the effects of enlarge person, and a bonus to its AC. Stack that with the anger emotional focus and your phantom is dealing damage two size categories up from normal. Just use it whenever you think your spiritualist can survive a few rounds without its wand and there aren’t many things that can stand in your way.

This archetype is actually insane. Having the phantom use your base ability scores makes it far more powerful. The examplar still advances its ability scores as a phantom, so you can get very high ability scores very fast. On top of the the examplar still gets its emotional focus (with many of the DCs dependant on ability scores), and can steal your feats and equipment. And it has scaling DR! Pick up phantom ally at level 1, and then spend your next 4 levels in fighter to pick up all the feats you could want, and suddenly your phantom is basically more powerful than a vanilla fighter, and can respawn after death.

The only downside is that the powerhouse that is your exemplar is dependant on some poor bastard wiggiling a want of CLW to stay alive.

Edit: spelling

Hi mark, quick question me and my GM have been unable to decide on

Does the alchemy subdomain improvised potions follow the normal potion restrictions, or just the restrictions mentioned in the domain power?

P.S love your work, super excited for the future

To repeat a thought I’ve seen here already; please don’t use boons to lock races behind walls. I understand wanting to incentivise GMs and convention attendance, but it’s really disheartening. Imagine being at a table and seeing one of the regular GMs pull out a really cool character of a race you haven’t seen before and thinking “wow, that’s so cool, I want to try a build built around that racial ability”. Now imagine getting really passionate about how you could make that build, imagining all the fun rules interactions you could use to make it work. Then finally, imagine realising that you will never be able to try that character, because it’s a GM boon and for you PFS is a casual commitment and you’ll never have the time to earn that boon yourself (assuming that race boon is even still available). What I’m trying to say is that race boons are disheartening, there have got to be better ways to reward GMs then locking entire character concepts away from people who don’t have enough free time.

The subdomain gives these spells

Replacement Domain Spells: 2nd—touch injection, 4th—amplify elixir, 6th—delayed consumption.

So I think it’s that these improvised potions count as elixirs when used with these domain spells, so that the spells actually work.