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Two people from our group got into an argument (in character) and it spiraled out of control so hard, that they wouldn't talk to each other anymore - even outside of the game. One of them left the group over this. The thing was, we had bought the campaign books together (everyone chipped in - we were poor school kids back then) and he took the books so we couldn't finish the campaign. We told him we would give him his share of the money but his astonishing answer was "I don't want money, but I give the books back. But since a quarter of the books belongs to me, I rip out every fourth page and keep them".

In the end we let him keep the books and never spoke to him again. The rest of us saved money and bought all of the campaign books again to finish it without him.

It would work as written.

Spell Resistance wrote:

...

A creature’s spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities.
...

This means even low-level items like a potion of cure light wounds will not have to be checked against SR when he drinks it. It may (GM's call) be checked if the dragon were unconscious and someone else were administering it to him (aside from being harmless, of course.)

Ah, that explains it. I missed that line. Thanks.

P.S.: Sorry, didn't intent to spoiler something. It seems i can't edit my [EDIT: opening] post though to remove the name of the Adventure Path.

At the end of the Adventure Path Rise of the Runelords, there is an adult blue dragon that has in his tactics, that he casts mage armor on himself in the first round of combat and shield on himself on the second round. He has a caster level of 5 for these spells and SR 24.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, lowering the SR for 1 round is a standard action, as is casting those spells, so he can't do both in the same turn, meaning he has to overcome his own SR of 24 with a roll of 1d20+5 (his caster level).

Since mage armor has "SR no" in its entry, that works, but shield has nothing about SR in its entry. So, does the dragon attempt to cast shield on himself, probably wasting a turn because he only succeds on a roll of 19 or 20? I mean, that fight is hard enough, so the PC's can use this break, but is that how it is handeled or am I missing something?

Perhaps the constructs could be animated by giant life force bound into the constructs' bodies with runes?

Oh, I like that a lot.

Which parts of repeated enemies do they dislike? (For example: Thematic/motif repetition, mechanics, or strategy)?

Honestly I'm not sure. They said something along the lines of "In Carrion Crown it was undead all the time, now [in Legacy of Fire] it is fire based enemies. It gets old fast." Seems to be a thematic thing.

Thanks for your answers.

Yeah, I have have experienced Rise of the Runelords as a player and now I prepare it as a DM for another group.

I know that it is not always giants, but they are very common. Ogres are close enough to giants. A ranger with favorite foe (giant) will get his bonuses against ogres because an ogre has the type humanoid (giant), so technically, yes they are kind of the same thing.

I understand that this is an Adventure Path has a theme, but my players seem not to happy with it. They complained about always fighting undead in Carrion Crown even when there are many different types of undead and one of the books has not even one undead creature in it, but still the complaint was there.

I see what I can do and maybe add in some more Leng stuff and look into the things Pnakotus Detsujin suggested (the attack/siege at the end seems a really cool idea and shake up).

Hi, I will start a Rise of the Runelords campaign with my group of players in about 2 weeks. We finished the Carrion Crown Adventure Path and will finish the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path next week. Two of my players have complained that they got tired of the same enemies over and over again. In Carrion Crown it was undead and in Legacy of Fire it was Efreeti and other Fire based monsters.

In Rise, the first book is heavy on Goblins, the second has quite a variety of enemies but starting from the third book it is giants in all forms: Ogres, Trolls, Hill-, Stone-, Cloud and Rune Giants etc.

I see these players hitting giant fatigue soon when the Adventure Path progresses. Are there other monsters that would fit in the theme and make sense as Karzoug's minions?

tl;dr: Are there other fitting enemies than mostly various giants for the end of Rise of the Runelords?

Thanks in Advance

You are mostly correct. The only exception is that precision damage is NEVER multiplied on a critical, even if it's a flat number and not extra dice.

All your examples are accurate.

Thank you. I didn't know there was any other precision damage apart from sneak attack. I will have to read up on that.

I am a bit confused with what gets multiplied when a critical hit is rolled.

Multiplying Damage: Sometimes you multiply damage by some factor, such as on a critical hit. Roll the damage (with all modifiers) multiple times and total the results.

Note: When you multiply damage more than once, each multiplier works off the original, unmultiplied damage. So if you are asked to double the damage twice, the end result is three times the normal damage.

Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon's normal damage are never multiplied.

So, here are some examples how I read it:

Paladin [+1 holy longsword] with smite evil active crits on evil monster:
Normal Damage = 1d8+1 (+1 longsword) + 3 (ST Mod) + 2d6 (holy) + 12 (smite evil)
Crit (x2): 2d8+2 (2x +1 longsword) + 6 (2x ST Mod) + 2d6 (holy - not doubled) + 24 (2x smite evil)
As far as I understand, the holy is not doubled because of the stated exception and the 2d6 from holy are "Extra damage dice over and above a weapon's normal damage" right?

Ranger [+1 giant bane longbow] with favored enemy (giants)+4 vs giant:
Normal Damage = 1d8+3 (counts as a +3 longbow vs giants) + 2d6 (giant bane) + 4 (favored enemy)
Crit (x3) = 3d8+9 (3x +3 longbow) + 2d6 (giant bane) + 12 (3x favored enemy)
Again all modifiers are multiplied, but the extra damage dice from bane are not, correct?

Rogue [+1 vicious flaming dagger] vs flanked enemy:
Normal Damage = 1d4+1 (+1 dagger) + 1 (ST Mod) + 2d6 (vicious) + 1d6 (fire) + 5d6 (sneak attack)
Crit (x2) = 2d4+2 (2x +1 dagger) + 2 (2x ST Mod) + 2d6 (vicious) + 1d6 (fire) + 5d6 (sneak attack)
In effect, the rogue gets only +1d4+2 extra damage from his crit because he has no flat modifiers but only extra dice from various sources?

Am I reading this correct? Extra dice are not multiplied but every other source of flat damage mod like power attack and so on is? Thanks in advance.

Okay, got it now. Thanks.

The wall blocks line of effect, so spells treat it as they would any other solid barrier despite being invisible. If a wall is shaped in such a way that a spread can flow around it, it does so.

Is it just spreads that can go around or also target spells?

In a dungeon with a 10 ft. high ceiling and a wall of force, no spell cann get through?

Wall of Force

Effect wall whose area is up to one 10-ft. square/level

A wall of force creates an invisible wall of pure force. The wall cannot move and is not easily destroyed. A wall of force is immune to dispel magic, although a mage's disjunction can still dispel it. A wall of force can be damaged by spells as normal, except for disintegrate, which automatically destroys it. It can be damaged by weapons and supernatural abilities, but a wall of force has hardness 30 and a number of hit points equal to 20 per caster level. Contact with a sphere of annihilation or rod of cancellation instantly destroys a wall of force.

Breath weapons and spells cannot pass through a wall of force in either direction, although dimension door, teleport, and similar effects can bypass the barrier. It blocks ethereal creatures as well as material ones (though ethereal creatures can usually circumvent the wall by going around it, through material floors and ceilings). Gaze attacks can operate through a wall of force.

I'm not sure if I understand the text for wall of force correctly and I hope to get clarification. The bold text above seems easy enough to understand for rays and templates like cones and lines such as burning hands or lightning bolt. It blocks line of effect and ends when it hits the wall of force.

My question is about other spells like cloudkill, feeblemind, baleful polymorph and so on.

1) Spread spells: Most spread templates just appear when the spell is cast. While the description of fireball says that a bead is flying prior to the explosion, I suppose it would crash against the wall of force and detonate early(?), but what about spreads that are not emanating but just appear like solid fog or cloudkill or a elemental bloodline sorcerers elemental blast?
Are those effect completely halted? Does it make a difference if the wall of force doesn't block completely (fighting out in the open or in a 15ft. high room with a 10 ft. wall of force)?

2) Spells that just target a creature: Does a feeblemind or baleful polymorph just smash against a wall of force and not effect anything behind it? Again, does it make a difference if the wall is not as high as the ceiling (can a target spell "hop over" or "go around" the wall of force if it isn't high or wide enough?

3) Form of the wall: There is no (S) for shapeable in the spell description, so can you only make a 10 ft. high straight wall or can you enclose it around yourself or someone else? Can you make it 20ft. high by building the wall squares atop one another?

That's all for now.
Thanks in advance.

Ah, I see. I will check that out then. Thanks.

The City of Brass seems to be a fun and interesting setting. Alas in The Impossible Eye you don't get to see this setting and you are stuck in one place.
I wanted to make use of the City of Brass and let my players explore it a bit. But there is only little information in the book. Any suggestions where I can find more about this setting (the artwork suggests flying ships - I'd like to know about that in particular, should be fun).

Here is the text for the alkali flask:

This flask of caustic liquid reacts with an ooze's natural acids. You can throw an alkali flask as a splash weapon with a range increment of 10 feet. Against non-ooze creatures, an alkali flask functions as a normal flask of acid. Against oozes and other acid-based creatures, the alkali flask inflicts double damage. Crafting this item is a DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check.

At first I thought this was a special way to fight oozes, but nearly half of the oozes have immunity to acid damage. By the rules as written the alkali flask would deal no damage against these oozes at all because the damage counts as acid, am I correct?

Against oozes without immunity to acid, how does the double damage work? is it a d6x2 (similar to how the enervation effect is made against undead)? Or is it 2d6 (similar to a critical hit with a x2 weapon)?

My group played the Legacy of Fire AP. They were all 1st Level and encountered some enemies in an old monastary at the beginning of the first adventure and got extremely "unlucky".

The wizard casted acid splash on the last (but strong) enemy and rolled a natural 1. He confirmed the critical fumble and draws a card from the critical fumble deck - it said: roll rod of wonder table twice. The first result from the table was a 5d6 fireball and all characters (including the wizard) were in range.
After the enemy and each character took 23 fire damage, the second roll was made. The badly burned enemy sprouted green leaves all over his body...

How unlucky. The end.

Name: Brianni Goldheart
Race: Dwarf
Class: Cleric 14
Adventure: Shadows of Gallowspire
Location: Renchurch Catacombs
Catalyst: Revenants

The gory details:

Yeah, pretty much this. Figure out why the characters keep needing to rest in the dungeon. If they're novaing and blowing through a couple encounters then resting to do it again, then you want to convince them not to do that. Preferably by talking to them, but making it dangerous to rest can be an backup option.

If they're clearing a significant chunk of a dungeon that isn't designed to be swept in one pass, then resting has to be accounted for, one way or another. Leaving and returning. Safe areas to rest. Something. Often the dungeon can be designed in such a way that it's broken into poorly connected sections and resting after clearing one of them should be fairly safe.

Even with leaving and returning, there's a temptation to punish the party by having the enemy reinforced or on high alert, ready to ambush a returning group. That might make sense, but design around it.

I do not design the dungeons myself, I'm using an Adventure Path. I have no idea if the dungeon was designed to be cleared in one go or not.

In the group where I am the DM, it happens frequently that the party decides after a level or portion of a dungeon, they need to rest up. The spellcasters especially burn through their spells and after half an hour of in-game time the characters leave the place and rest up for 8 hours.

There are times where this is easily done, but there are also times when this would give the enemy time to prepare or even retaliate.

I wanted to know how common this is in your games and how it is handled - is it no big deal, are you adjusting the enemies left or do some of them even come after the party?

One of the latest ideas might even kill the party:
Spoiler for Carrion Crown: Shadows of Gallowspire

I liked the Nexian Galley from Legacy of Fire chapter 4 "End of Eternity". The pictures on page 9 and 23 show the helmsman as a golden minotaur - it's Minoton, a stop motion monster from the movie "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger".

In Haunting of Harrowstone from the Carrion Crown Adventure Path, the Haunt Siphons are introduced. Their design is the same as the vials of acid that Keldor/Skeletor uses (skip to 3:40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk2yuCc5c-I

Murder is murder, rape is rape. Both are atrocities no matter the victim or how often it happens, and it happens way to often in real life, yet here we talk about a hypothetical in a fantasy game. I don't see how you find one of these things too terrible to write about here and another not just because you differenciate between "murdering babies" and "all murder".

The Paladin doesn't think things true. He has to guess which babies are evil. If he only kills half of the babies, he risks killing only the innocent ones. What a disservice to the world. Better to be thourough.

Well, thankfully the level of spell completion items can't be jacked up, but your point about money is not much of a point. As to character wealth in game and theoretical scenarios, character wealth per level is meaningless, because guess what my players are doing *right now*?. They are not being greedy, uncooperative, stupid fools, and so are pooling their money to have the magic item crafters make stuff to benefit the group. Pretty savy, no? So far they have made a wand of magic missiles (CL 5) and they have just made a wand of fireballs (CL 6), which cost 6,750 gp. They look forward to seeing it roast many enemies, and no doubt they will see it do just that. They have also made eight scrolls and a few potions. The downtime is not really a factor either (14 days to make the wand of fireballs; less for the others); merely relegating most magic item creation to downtime between adventures, or between parts of adventure series, which is what they are doing. How's that for theoreticals in a white room?

And this is perfectly acceptable if they are Level 6 in my opinion, but I'm waiting for one of this dreaded in-game example where the group pools money by selling their whole stuff to afford crafting this single imba item...

And saying they are not greedy because they pool gold strikes me as odd, they are just greedy as a group for magic items, not individually for gold. It is not as if the group isn't getting something out of it^^
They may not be uncooperative or stupid fools, but greedy... I would argue that ;)

I see what you mean about the FAQ. It throws everything off a cliff. How about one just creates a wand of fireballs at 5th level that has a caster level of 10th? That's just a DC of 5+ 10 + 5 = 20. Why, my Wizard 5 has five ranks in Spellcraft (a Class Skill), Skill Focus (Spellcraft), Magical Aptitude, and Int 18 for a total bonus of +17. So...to create an item which will break the game by allowing him to chuck fifty 10d6 fireballs against CR 6 encounters, he needs to roll...a 3+. Brilliant. If we are all understanding this correctly, the pearl of power FAQ person dropped a load in the bed on that one. Usually it is players who wil lbe hunting for ways to break the game balance, but you don't often have developers doing it for them in such a simple way. I thought the magic items creation rules were pretty bad before, which is why I use little to none of them, but apparently they are worse than I thought. They are certainly more complex than they need to be, are overly indulgent, and are unnecessarily scattered throughout the book.

Aside from not being possible as Diego Rossi stated:

This wand of fireballs (CL 10) would cost 22,500 gp (3*10*750). The wizard would need 11,250 gp and it would require downtime to make it in 23 days. If the wizard keeps adventuring, it takes him 92 days.

The character wealth by level indicates, that a level 5 character should have 10,500 gp, so he falls 750 gp short and is not able to craft it because he can not pay for the materials (which have to be bought in advance).

Even if he could get those 750 gp, he would sink all his gp from 5 levels in creating this wand. He has no other gear whatsoever - no protection items, no ability boosting magic item, no nothing.
How realistic is this in actual gameplay?! Answer: it isnt. You all asume theoretical scenarios in a white room. That is not how gaming happens.

OMFG! Ok, forget the g@! d!~n potion. A Disruption Weapon that has Heal as a prerequisite, ok? A wizard can make one of those completly by himself. Is it clear now that we are talking about an exemple of a mage creating a magic item by himself which would normaly requires a divine healing spell? Do you get the point, that it's weird to see an arcane spellcaster doing something only a divine spellcaster should?

A dwarven mastersmith/craftsman can - with the right feats - create magical arms and armor, wondrous items and rings, even wands and staves without even able to cast spells at all, but a wizard who can make a disrupting weapon bugs you because it has a healing requirement?

I see no problem with this at all. I think it is even intended. If there is no cleric in the group to help this wizard craft this, the party might be in dire need of some magic gear to balance out the odds.

Crafting a magic item needs some requirements to mold magic into an object. Not everyone has divine magic, but this crafting wizard has the spellcraft skill, so he knows how magic on a fundamental level works. He can circumvent the requirement for a divine spell - he knows how to do it because of his skill - but it will be harder, hence, the DC+5.

Wealth isn't a a good way to control that.

The first problem is that player characters can pool their money to craft items that will change the balance of the encounters.

The second, and for me, more important problem, is one of setting believability. Why rich reign don't have an abundance of useful magic items? An example I have often made is using Craft wondrous items to make a statue of the local hero that enchant the weapons and armors you place on its pedestal with greater magic weapon and magical vestment at CL 20 an unlimited number of times in a day. Place it in the local garrison courtyard and have your troop use it before entering service. You troops will have +5 weapons, armor and shield for 20 hours.
Costly? Not really for a government. 600.000 gp at most. 150 BP or the equivalent of 2.000 masterwork weapons.

Time and circumstances. It takes 600 days to craft this and it doesn't happen in a vacuum.

But let's craft an adventure:
Spies have reported that Cheliax has spent many ressources on a task to create a magic statue that bolsters the weapons and armor of everyone that lays down his gear at the feat of this Thrune Lord statue. After more than a year, the crafting process is nearly at an end and the surrounding countries fear, that this is not made for guard duty, but invasion.
The party is hired to infiltrate the location, assasinate the crafter and destroy the not yet finished statue.

Or, if it is already completed:

The Crusaders of Vigil finally revealed their latest trump card against the evil of Virlich: The Statue of Saint Iomede will give the Paladins an edge by bolstering their weapons and armor if Vigil is attacked.
Unfortunately, this was not done exactly in secret and spies or divination spells took this information to their dark masters. Earth elementals, an evil party with teleportation magic or the wish spell (the material component is quite cheap in comparison to the crafting cost) can steal this statue. And guess who has the edge now without pooling ressources and putting a wizard to crafting for over a year...

Disruption Weapon(+2): CL 14, Heal. (DC 29 for a wizard)

A Lv 8 wizard, with Int 20, a headband of Int +4 (a must) and an amulet of +5 spellcraft for 1,250g can craft items up to DC 34 with a take 10, enough to make that, something that normaly would require a 11th lvl cleric or druid, AND, since it's "paying" the +5 on DC to eliminate the Heal requirement, he won't have to reserve a 6th level slot every day for the item, during the creation process.

A weapon has to have a minimum of +1 enhancement bonus before you can apply special properties. So, this has to be a +1 disrupting weapon (which costs as much as a +3 weapon).

The price for this weapon (I assume a quarterstaff since it costs jack) would be 18,000 gp (+300 gp to buy a masterwork quarterstaff but I will handwave this).
This wizard needs to sink 9,000 gp in materials for this +1 disrupting weapon, but maybe he makes it for an ally and so money is not his issue - except it is, because of the time it takes to craft the magic item.
The price for the weapon would be 18,000 gp (even if the wizard crafts it with 9,000 gp) So it will take 18 days (assuming 8 hour work days).

Many people forget that this stuff does not happen in white rooms. 18 days can be a lot of time. Also, the circumstances may make it difficult.

If the caster is out adventuring, he can devote 4 hours

each day to item creation, although he nets only 2 hours’ worth
of work.

This means, while adventuring, the crafting process will need the quadruple time - for this item 72 days. And that is only, if the wizard can spare 4 hours per day.

@Casterlevel: Well, it is clear, that a crafter can create items with a casterlevel higher than his own. But that does by no means mean that he can choose it freely. The casterlevel is used for dispelling, identification via spellcraft (DC = 15+CL) and as a bonus to saving throws the weapon makes.
At best case, this means, a crafter can make a CL 15 item while he is, let's say CL 8, and the item is actually a CL 15 item. But I would argue, that this crafter may circumvent the need for CL 15, but cannot really create an item with a CL higher than his own and the item would be a CL 8 item rather than a CL 15 one. The rules state that you can create an item at a lower caster level, but nowhere indicates that you can make them at a higher CL.
This item would be easier to dispel and would have worse save bonuses. On the plus side, it would be easier to analyze it with spellcraft too.
That is at least what I take away from my reading of the rules.

I made a rough overview for the vampires. I wanted the vampires to be distinct creatures, not whole groups. throwing dozens of vampire spawn at my players diminishes the vampire theme in my opinion. They complained about fighting werewolves all the time in broken moon and that it got old after a while because it was to many of the same over a short time and I agree to apoint. So I want to make them the select few who are memorable.

I will keep Merrik Sais and her lair, but replace her vampire spawn with more plant creatures. There is also no entrance to the vampire underground there, but she acts on her own.

These are the Vampires I have come up with:

Shukuris - The Rat King (male half-orc vampire ranger 6/rogue 4)

Theme:
Vampire as beastlike predator with power over lesser animals

Location:
The sewers under [district? North and/or West Cushing?]

Coffin:
In a destroyed sewer tunnel under lots of debris.

Hunting style:
Shukuris hates elves and hunts them exclusivly for their blood. He stalks through the underground tunnels and grabs elves that are in close proximity, drags them into the sewers and feeds on them.

Hunting the hunter:
stories of numerous rat swarms go through the district and in the morning, there was a blood trail leading into the sewers. The characters can explore the tunnels until they find Shukuris and the
rats he feeds with vampiric blood to keep as his pets.
Cave-ins, close quarter fights in the tunnels and lots and lots of distracting, clawing and biting ratswarms are obstacles.

Lady Evgenya Zunaida - The Charming Killer (female human vampire aristocrat 1/sorcerer 10)
- keeping her stats from the book with a few spell changes, may change her name

Theme:
Vampire as enchanting seducer, posing as mortal noblewoman

Location:
The Mansion of the Lady on Laurelight Hill

Coffin:
Behind a secret door in her room

Hunting style:
The Lady keeps many servants, and sometimes, one of them vanishes. No one seems to mind. To many of her household are already under her spell.

Hunting the hunter:
A tip from Luvicks agent or the tale of a former escaped servant who saw to much can bring the PCs on her trail. The PCs may have to get an official invitation for an audience or her party to get close
enough to her (which is possible with OotPE contacts). When investigating by day, the PCs can be brought before her for an audience, but PCs can make checks to deduce that the windows aren't real (a combination of a silent image and a sunlight spell with permanancy). [If the PC go to the high society party, they may encounter Adivion Adrissant. Interesting if they have Raven's Head. Time for a chat with the bad guy and some Whispering Way assasins later. Not Adivion though, he has to leave for Renchurch]
Problems are her high status and her many dominated mortal servants. How to get near enough to slay her without harming the innocent mortals?

Liek - The Silent Shadow (male halfling vampire rogue 8)

Theme:
Vampire as mysterious creature of the night

Location:
The at night always misty harbour district

Coffin:

Hunting style:
People go into the fog at night, but do not always emerge from it alive. As a rogue, Liek is already stealthy. This is turned up to eleven with his ability to turn into mist. When a lone victim passes by
he turns back and silently kills his mark.

Hunting the hunter:
The trouble is not fighting him but finding him. PCs could dress as sailors to play bait or try to snuff him out another way. When discovered, turning into mist in sight is to dangerous (slow and the PCs
have magic weapons), so it will probably be a chase through the foggy harbour streets. (wanted to try out the cards for some time). Liek will only fight when cornered.

Florian Lamorath - The Song of Blood (human vampire bard 8)
- keep his stats from the book, change motivation and background

Theme:
Vampire as trickster

Location:
The taverns of Caliphas and the campfires of the nomads and immigrants out of town

Coffin:
He has a coffin with some of his dominated Varisian Nomads in a wagon

Hunting style:
He uses his hat of disguise to take on different forms (but always a musician with a fiddle). He then charms, seduces or tricks a victim to a place where they can be alone and kills them.

Hunting the hunter:
The PCs can ask around the communities and will sooner or later discover that the victims where last seen with a bard. Although the description varies (sometimes a Varisian, sometimes a Chelaxian or even elven),
the distinct masterwork fiddle is always the same.
Focus is on the role playing and finding out who he is and which of the nomad caravans protects his coffin.

Radvir Giovanni and his lair will stay the same, vampire spawn will be replaced. Also, I don't like the bladed scarf as a weapon... it seems so silly.

Any suggestions? Something I missed (first time I statted some creatures, so my math could be slightly off...)?

Since the "vampire murders" and the pact with the vampires will not fly with my group (LG cleric of Iomedae, LG pro Pharasma Monk and CG Ranger who hates the undead - favored enemy undead), I will have to rewrite the Caliphas part a bit.

There are no vampire murders, but vampires kill the living. Giovanni gave the bloodbrew to a few specific vampires who are free now from their masters (and quite a bit stronger), but in exchange, they have to collect blood for the whispering way (in my version, the witches work for the whispering way). The blood is needed for aritual as Adivion Adrissant's failsave to compensate for the lack of Raven's Head.

Luvick does not like that vampires show their actions so openly and uses the PCs for his own needs. A letter or agent will give the PCs hints, where these rogue vampires hunt.

Now there is still a problem. I wanted to let every vampire to hunt in a different part of town, but the info on this is a bit perplexing. In Ashes at Dawn it says there are seven districts, each made distinct by its geography, population, or trade. This is great, but is there anything more specific? Another thing is, there are ten names for seven districts: Ashtown, Blackwood, North Cushing, West Cushing, Dowell, Eskcourt, Hawthorne Rows, Laurelight Hill, Leland, and Valpole.

Laurelight Hill seems to be the place where the countess has her castle, so, a very high class victorian environment I would assume. Ashtown I would place at the borders. Its name suggests, it is where the ash from the brass and iron works comes down. Seems to me like a many common workers. Blackwood seems similarly at these outskirts. The name invokes in me the picture of trees black with coal and ash. Lumbering should be the trade of this district.

Any other suggestions or references to the districts? Some of the vampires will remain the same, and to mix the hunt up, I will stat some new ones to make their hunting style different.
I got the Silent Shadow, a halfling rogue vampire who preys silently in the mists of the harbour for foreign labourers, and I got an Idea for the Rat King, a half-orc vampire ranger with a taste for elven blood who stalks through the sewers, accompanied by his swarms of rats under his control.
There are more ideas, but I want to have the theme of the districts down before I place the specific vampire there and flesh out his methods and how the PC can get hints and means to destroy them.

I talk with the player in question, and if there is a good reason, I think I will go with the 1.5 times of the normal cost version.

I will have to be careful with the balancing by slot things... I guess adding magic powers to existing things is ok for 1.5 times the price.

Thanks for your answers

Huh, didn't know about that^^ Thanks

I read into the magic item creation and had some questions about the slots. If a character takes the craft wondrous items feat, he can ... well, craft wondrous items. Say he wants to make a hat of disguise, but, he already has a cool hat (or magical headband), can he craft an amulet of disguise instead (same powers, but different slot)? Is there a restriction in place? I saw that the item costs more if it doesn't take a slot at all, so this is ok?
What if the character has the forge ring feat too? Can he create a ring of disguise?

Ok, got it. Thanks for your answers.

Vampires have DR 10/magic and silver.
Does that mean you need a weapon that counts as magic and silver (like a +1 silver/mithril weapon or a +3 weapon)? Or is either ok, meaning, the DR is completely bypassed by magic weapons and even mundane silver weapons?

Name: Xanben
Race: Human
Classes/levels: Monk 6
Adventure: Trial of the Beast
Location: Last Tower of Schloss Caromac
Catalyst: The Guardian of the Tower

The Gory Details: The Flesh Golem went into berserk mode and attacked the nearest foe with all attacks. Xanben stepped in to take the attacks in place of the healer. Four hits with the claws (one of them a confirmed critical hit) later, he was down to -16 HP, so we spared his mutilated corpse the rend damage... It was heroic, but bloody.

Ring of Wizardry I-IV doubles the amount of spell slots of the Ring level
(Ring of Wizardry 1 doubles the slots for level 1 spells, Ring of Wizardry 2 doubles the slots of Level 2 spells and so on).

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rings/ring-of-wizardry

For some reason I did not reread the vulnerability to silver and just assumed it was the usual +50% damage. Thanks.

I have a question about the Vilcaris:
How do you exorcise this spirit out of a possessed creature? I think I read somewhere in Broken Moon that he leaves the possessed body if he ist damaged with silver, but I can't find the part anymore. Was I wrong?
How can you save Corvin or a PC who is possessed?

My players are at the end of book 2 and will be facing the Guardian of the Tower and the Promethean next.

Athenriel: female half elf rogue 6 (two weapon fighting with daggers, minor and major magic rogue talent)
Brianni Goldheart: female dwarf cleric of Iomedae 6
Thrinia: female elf druid 6 (hawk animal companion)
Variel: male elf ranger 6 (ranged built, will take a level in bard next, "aims" to be an arcane archer)
Xanben: male human monk 6

@Blazej: You have a very good point about the Necromancer, I didn't think of that. If this was spelled out as a reason for his tactics, I wouldn't have any problem.

@Turin the Mad: Probing is a good reason for this, but not with maximized magic missiles.

@Taku Ooka Nin: It seems you misunderstand me. It is not that Difficult = Fun (although curve stomping every encounter gets old soon). I don't want to kill the PCs. I want to give them a challenging and fun encounter with a belivable enemy. If everytime, they face someone stronger than them, this person has quirks so they do not kill them, it gets unbelivable soon. "So the Warlord was crazy, the wizard underestimated us and gave us the first round... are quirks a byproduct of evil?"

Again, my argument is not: The wizard has the TPK spell - so he should use it.
Instead it is: So, the wizard has the TPK spell and will not use it - why give him that spell in the first place? Make him weaker, drop the TPK spell, so the players feel good about themselves, because they defeated a dangerous and clever foe (who was actually nerfed but used his weaker abilities better).

I think it gives the party a better sense of accomplishment if the enemies are dangerous (or seem that way, I'm not out to kill the PCs), than they used the obvious quirk or the oh-no-my-one-weakness-was hubris-factor. It might be fun once in a while to play a snobby caster or something similar, but if every caster encounter is only survived because the caster was an idiot, I don't it is believable.

@Dark Immortal: Sure, there are some nasty encounters out there and it is really easy to kill PC's if the GM wants to (but honestly, a GM who wants to do this is just not somebody others want to play with).

My problem is not, that the encounters I described above are not deadly enough, but that they would be deadly if the villains as written were players and not NSC. Players can be smart and tactical, but the villain as written has to summon d3 dire rats so the characters can swing at him during his full round action... If the wizard was a player, he would blast the greatest threat, then employ defensive spells and act with a lick of sense, but alas, he is an NPC and therefore has to be lobotomised, because the party would die otherwise.

My point is: Don't make the villain caster overly powerful but too dumb to use his power, but make him moderate or even lightly powerful and for this let him act as if the Intelligence Mod of +3 meant something apart from bonus spells he doesn't use. Compensate for the CR with an additional minion or two.

In the game I am running, the second example, the Necromancer is coming up. I guess I strip two levels from him, make his minions a bit better to meet the CR and play him intelligent. It is a much higher threat and more fun this way.

Well, thats good for this adventure path then. I'm glad that this is nothing that is done universally.
Are there examples where the enemy casters are supposed to hold back? If yes, do you follow this as written? Or do you change some things?

This is something that bothers me. I have seen that quite a few times in official publications. There is the Big Bad, a spellcaster with terrible arcane (or divine) power, but when you read his tactics as written, he does stupid things.

Example 1:

The enemy was a wizard who had prepared 2 maximized magic missiles. It was a 3rd Level encounter, so he could have blasted one or two of the characters away with 20 damage (4 maximized 1d4+1 missiles) per spell. But what does his During Combat entry say: "He is cruel and spreads his magic missiles on as many targets as possible to prolong the suffering".

Example 2:

Necromancer with 2 (not particularly strong) undead minions. In his arsenal of prepared spells are things like circle of death. What does his entry say? "He bolsters his undead minions." yeah, right, he has one desecrate spell prepared between all this attack spells.

I am aware that these things are there to prevent a TPK by enemy caster, but it doesn't sit well with me. Why was it designed that way in the first place? If someone doesn't want them to TPK the group, make them weaker, give them different spells and add a second in command who is a fighter or something. But just coming up with some excuse to not use all the deadly spells that are written there stretches my imagination and the believe.

Have you similar observations or is it just me? Did i pick two bad examples? If you know this "problem", what are your solutions (because simply TKPing the group is nothing I want to do. It can happen, but the odds should not have benn stacked against the players)?

Here comes some thread necromancy...

I found this thread via search and it fits my question. It only has four answers, so I hope it is okay to ask here instead of making a new thread.

I was reading the Research and Designing Spells portion, but there is still a question. In my group is a sorceress who wants a healing spell. I thought it would be simple enough to copy cure light wounds and give it to her if she spends the time and money. But the thing is: cure light wounds is not always at the same spell level.
It's bard 1, cleric 1, druid 1, paladin 1, but ranger 2. So, if she researches this spell, would she get it as a Level 1 or level 2 spell?
What about cure moderate wounds? It's bard 2, cleric 2, druid 3, paladin 3, ranger 3.
Is there a guideline? Should you always use the highest spell level there is?

What if the cleric wants an attack spell like magic missile? Copying the effect is easy enough. Am I correct in assuming, that the spell would be spell level 2 for the cleric, instead of level 1 (because of the damage cap for divine spells)?

About the last point... Is there any difference in XP if they manage to defeat the Abberant Promethean alone? Say, when there are 5 Players and the Beast, the XP gets divided by 6 and if they manage to do it alone, it is divided by 5? Or does it not matter?

And yes, the dead Beast lying in the room and reviving it is a better way than just having it showing up out of the blue in seven rounds... (heck, seven rounds is a lot of time in a pathfinder fight).

Well, we will see tomorrow what they do - if they make it that far the next session. Thanks.

I'm currently running Trial of the Beast as a GM
I'm putting spoiler tags, just in case:

Two feats with the Disharmony trait also specify that your weapon shatters and must be manifested again: Shattering Impact and Twin Guard

For Shattering Impact, it is merely redundant as the Disharmony trait makes you unattuned after the action and all your manifestations vanish while unattuned.

For Twin Guard, it is worse. As a reaction, a balanced solarion could not use Ascended Stability to keep your attunement. The text says that only one of your weapons shatter, but both would vanish when you become unattuned.

I wish Baranthet the best on his grand adventure!

I got the email and tried to download the PDF, but the file had no data inside it.

I want to get on with the game!

The first edition kineticist had a chance to ignore critical hits based on how much burn they had accrued. Here's an idea to bring that forward into Second Edition and give Constitution something special for the class.

Elemental Fortification: Whenever the kineticist would be critically hit, the attacking creature must make a flat check with a DC equal to the kineticist's Constitution modifier. On a failure, the attack is instead a normal hit.

An excellent story to lead into Quest for the Frozen Flame, with a good message. I'm looking forward to this AP

Chances are good my party will be interested in Lord Tegora as a sponsor for the tournament. So I wrote him up as an alternative sponsor.

Lord Buken Tegora
UNIQUE N MEDIUM HUMAN HUMANOID
Male Tian-Shu magnate
Perception +30
Will +27
Discovery DC 29 Merchant or Underworld Lore, DC 32 Society, DC 34 Perception
Influence Skills DC 34 Athletics or Intimidation, DC 38 Performance or Society, DC 40 Deception or Diplomacy
Influence 1: Lord Buken Tegora bids 8,000 gp and a greater fearsome rune.
Influence 4: Lord Buken Tegora adds boots of speed and two doses of purple worm venom to his bid.
Influence 8: Lord Tegora’s final bid includes another 4,000 gp and a wondrous figuring (obsidian steed). In addition, if chosen as sponsor, Lord Tegora can use his connections to help the party spy on or harrass other teams.

Resistances Lord Tegora dismisses appeals to his emotion. In addition, he finds overly deferential treatment a sign of weakness. He has little patience for contenders who attempt to win his favor with courtly manners or formalities.
Weaknesses Lord Tegora enjoys contenders as ruthless as he is.
Background Lord Buken Tegora, also known as the Spider of Goka, is a cold, calculating magnate who operates a generations-old private lending company who exploits the poor and hires unscrupulous mercenaries to collect overdue payments from them on a regular basis.
Appearance Lord Tegora is a middle-aged man with long, slender fingers. He dresses in a fine foreign suit no matter the weather, always accented with a silk kerchief.

What do you think? Let me know if you have suggestions for improving Lord Tegora's bids, especially.

I added a fifth member of Tino's Toughest to keep the challenge of the team for a five player party. My addition was a samsaran staff magus (yes, I was excited to try out the Secrets of Magic rules).

What other character ideas do you have as potential additions to Tino's Toughest?

Sign-in Sheet

Please fill out the character questionnaire with your character alias.

What is the first thing other characters notice about you?
Why is your character in the Pathfinder society? A few sentences about your character and his or her previous adventures, either in or out of character.
What ancestries and genders are your character attracted to?
What are your strengths, interests, or skill sets outside of combat?
What are your go-to combat tactics?
What special rules, boons, or corner cases should I know regarding your character?

Just after midnight, one of Heidmarch Manor’s servants, a young man named Jardan, gathers you all, apologizing for the late hour and informing them that the venture-captain needs to speak with you.

Jarden leads the way to the library, where Venture-Captain Sheila Heidmarch stands waiting, along with two seated guests: an elderly man and a woman in uniform. The venture-captain finishes reading a paper with a satisfied smile, and dismisses the servant. “Thank you, Jardan. Welcome, friends. I apologize for the hour, but Aspis spies are about, and this matter requires they suspect nothing. As you know, we have struggled with the Consortium’s stranglehold on city politics. Maiveer Sloan and his agents still hold sway with Lord-Mayor Grobaras; fortunately, the Council of Ushers has grown tired of the Consortium’s illegal smuggling of Thassilonian relics and the LordMayor’s failure to enforce the law.”

She gestures toward the seated man, “Lord Deverin represents members of the Council that would see something done. They have provided a writ empowering the Pathfinder Society as their agent in this matter. We are to investigate a smuggling operation, find evidence of the Consortium’s complicity, and, once we have proof, tear apart Bronze House to uncover the rest of Sloan’s illegal activities.”

Lord Deverin speaks, his words interspersed with rasping coughs, “Please, Lady Heidmarch. You are merely authorized to search for evidence and defend yourselves if any resist. We don’t want a war in the middle of the city.”

Heidmarch offers a placating gesture, “Of course, I understand. Pathfinders, remember you are acting as the city’s agents; do not literally tear the building apart, and absolutely do not harm Maiveer Sloan. This is an investigation, not an assassination.” She turns to the seated woman, who rises. “Kasadei is a member of the city guard and she will act as your liaison. She has some authority to request assistance, but is primarily an observer. Kasadei?”

Kasadei moves to greet each of you in turn, and then continues the briefing. “Thank you, Lady Heidmarch. I’ve read of your Society’s exploits, and heard much of its actions around the city, mostly good things. I’m eager to see you in action. The city guard recently identified one Thassilonian site we suspect the smugglers are looting. I will guide you there when you’re ready.”

Lord Deverin grumbles about the hour and needing some wine to soothe his throat and departs. Kasadei escorts him out. Lady Heidmarch turns toward you, waiting for the others to depart before speaking again. “Officially, we’re working for the city to stop this smuggling operation and, if you succeed, we can drive a wedge of public embarrassment between Sloan and the Lord-Mayor. More importantly, the Aspis dared attack the Grand Convocation. We’ve learned from an inside informant that Sloan was instrumental in planning that attack. The Grand Convocation should have been a celebration of our achievements, but thanks to Sloan, Pathfinder agents lost their lives that day, and the Society lost valuable artifacts that we’ve spent the last year collecting. Sloan must pay. Physically harming him is not an option, but find as much evidence of illegal activity as you can, and any information on Aspis activities while you’re at it. We have a rare chance to legally go in and look at his books. You aren’t authorized to seize property that the Consortium obtained legally. That being said, if a particular object catches your eye, well, I’m sure I can explain away one item disappearing from the Bronze House, as long as you can prove it is not of Thassilonian origin. If you do meet Sloan, trick him into revealing as much as you can. He’s a cunning old fox, but he’s not infallible; the Council turning on him and our knowledge of his complicity in the Absalom attack might shake him. Desna smile on you, Pathfinders.”

Please cancel my Starfinder Rulebook subscription and remove the Alien Archive 4 from Order 36292910.

Thank you

The party!
A: an alchemist who favored pepper bombs
B: a dragon summoner
C: a gnome flickmace magus
D: a human sustaining steel magus

I played the gnome flickmace magus. I built the sustaining steel magus for a player who didn't have time to build a character for themself. It is largely a conversion of their ranger character.

The other magus had a bad experience with Plaguestone, so the GM went a little easy on us for the encounters.

The theme of the night was lizards. Up first were a couple frilled lizards and a hodag, then a pair of hydras, and lastly a Krooth.

Against lower level foes, we got by with Striking Spell on cantrips. The summoner summoned a bear in the first encounter that distracted the frilled lizards long enough for D to clean up the hodag with a lucky crit.

Against the hydras, I used both my focus points to add a corrosive rune on top of my frost rune. A +2 frost corrosive striking flickmace does a very satisfying amount of damage. I was about to Energize Strikes with fire to just make extra sure those hydra heads stayed dead, but the summoner and alchemist finished it off. The halberd magus didn't bother with magus potency before turning his wounding rune into a corrosive rune. The hydra was bleeding already. D basically soloed that one.

I still had most of my spell slots for the Krooth encounter. The alchemist failed a skill check and managed to get himself separated from the rest of the party across a fast moving stream. I caste haste on the alchemist to kite the creature and when I got across and closer, hit it with paralyze (4th). It succeeded on the save, but I think it died before it had a chance to suffer from the stunned condition.

Overall both I and the other magus were impressed with how much damage we could deal to on-level or below creatures. We each had several critical hits on our Striking Spell Strikes.

One question we ran into was whether the Strike and the Spell were separate for the purposes of proc'ing the Hodag's Ferocity. The GM ruled them separate, so when D reduced the Hodag to 0 with a Strike, it used it's reaction, and then died to the spell damage.

I am GMing for a group of new players and helping to build their characters. This Ancient Elf phantom Summoner plans to wade into melee with their eidolon and play the tank. How does it look? I've been debating whether to swap out Tandom Move at 4th level for Lay on Hands or Cry of Destruction, but sticking together is important for the concept. Any advice?

Ancient Elf Pilgrim Phantom Summoner 8

STR 18
DEX 12
CON 12
INT 16
WIS 10
CHA 18

Perception: +12
hp: 94 AC: 27 (+1 full plate)
Fort: +13 Ref: +11 Will: +12

1st: Champion Dedication
1st: Elven Verve
2nd: Reinforce Eidolon
3rd: Prescient Planner
4th: Tandom Move**
5th: Defiance Unto Death
6th: Champion's Rection [Glimpse of Redemption]
7th: Prescient Consumable
8th: Ranged Evolution

Plan on using a +1 striking greater mentalist staff as a weapon, or telekinetic projectile at range.

The iruxi have a level 1 class feat for a 1d8 unarmed attack. How can I leverage that as a magus?

Building out to level 8 for a playtest session next week.

Post your starting deck lists here.

Faction's Favor - Chasing Yellow Sails

Still recovering from the fierce battle for Absalom, the Pathfinder Society was appalled to hear reports that a former ally—onetime faction leader Pasha Muhlia al-Jakri—helped coordinate the betrayal and subsequent two-pronged attack that had threatened the city. Though citizens, soldiers, and Pathfinders alike rose up to thwart the foul plot, the assassin al-Jakri managed a narrow escape. Not only is the Pathfinder Society embarrassed to have trusted a betrayer for so many years, but it is horrified that she used Society connections to nearly bring Absalom to its knees. Uncertain whether she may possess other secrets or allies, the Pathfinder Society desperately needs to track down and capture al-Jakri before she can hatch any other sinister plots. You have been set the task of bringing her to justice.

After some preliminary investigation, it becomes clear that most of al-Jakri’s lieutenants perished in the battle. There is one who was seen escaping, however: a Keleshite man named Satyar Siddique. He was last seen boarding a ship that was then intercepted by a large galley bearing the infamous yellow sails of an Okeno slaving ship. Siddique is now undoubtedly being ferried to Stonespine Island off the coast of Katapesh to be auctioned off at Okeno’s notorious Fleshfairs—markets where slaves of all races and nationalities are sold like chattel. If the Society wants any chance of stopping anything al-Jakri may be setting in motion, you must track down Siddique and convince him to share what he knows. Every moment you delay brings him a greater risk of being traded, tortured, or killed by slavers who are unaware how valuable he is.

Venture-Captain Roderus of the Winding Road Lodge, one of the Pathfinder Society’s local headquarters in Katapesh, has done all he can to equip you for your mission and warn you of the cruel gnolls that are seen as villains elsewhere yet are welcome in Okeno. You’ll cross to Stonespine Island on a merchant ship, and from there you must keep a low profile to avoid unwanted attention. Into the Yellow City of Okeno you must go, with hopes you will not fall to a slaver’s noose.

In PF1, player options are evaluated without the assumption that retraining is available. Changing your build was done by the grace of GM. This means that niche options are not considered valuable for players. Feats that are only valuable for part of a campaign aren't worth including in your build over more generally applicable options.

This time around rules for retraining your build choices are going to be included in the Core Rulebook. Does having retraining as a defined Downtime activity from the start change how we consider situation feats and abilities?

Finally! Oh, I could just sing!

Isn't Wis mod of Spell points to few? or are all powers going to add additional Spell points?

Speaking of powers, each one cost a class feat right?

Navigating to "http://paizo.com/community/forums/pathfinder/playtest" loads the home page, both from my bookmark and links from the messageboards.

Edit: It seems the whole Pathfinder forum is not working correctly.

Online play tools are really neat! I'll have to give it a go sometime.

Intriguing write up. I want to know more about the mysterious Zova.

Well done!

I see a lot of favorites on the list, and several new things to check out, as well!

Incense hangs heavy in the air in a meeting chamber of Manaket’s Swordmeet Lodge, where Venture-Captain Obo stands before a low table. “I won’t mince words,” he declares as he strokes his graying beard. “This mission is of vital importance to the Pathfinders’ success in the Worldwound. The Society has many powerful spellcasters, yet few can compare to the Riftwardens in feats of demon-banishing. That Abyssal scar spawns many demons, and the aid of capable abjurers would be a great boon in our march to Jormurdun, the newly discovered Sky Citadel . When our leaders requested the Riftwardens’ aid, we were denied; too many of their wizards are already committed to Mendev’s cause.”

Obo’s face betrays his chagrin, and he continues. “However, in saying no, they tantalized us with a means of securing their trust and alliance. Several Riftwardens led by Jahani Jodinaj and stationed in Azir were recently preparing for a dangerous task, but they recently stopped responding to magical missives. Were we Pathfinders to investigate these Riftwardens’ disappearance, we would have performed a great service to be repaid in kind. Ah,” he notes with some pleasure as two servant carry platters of drinks and fruit into the room, “We have refreshments. May you find them to your pleasure.”

As he begins peeling an orange, he frowns and adds, “We have one potential ally in this investigation, though I doubt he will leap at the chance to help. A contact of mine recently spotted the former Pathfinder Eando Kline in the sook of Azir. He has donned the guise of a copper merchant and likely prefers a degree of anonymity, but he is also a very well-connected man; if anyone knows what ills have befallen the Riftwardens, it is he. Should he not wish to speak, tell him, ‘Sasha Antif-Arah sends her regards—healthy and alive from Andoran.’

“Beyond that, be careful, Pathfinders. The sands of Rahadoum are unforgiving, and the Pure Legion is even less so.”

-----

The Story so Far

SEASON 5:
YEAR OF THE DEMON

The Pathfinder Society discovered the location of Jormurdun, a dwarven sky citadel whose very existence had been lost to history. Following the monumental discovery that Jormurdun was in the Worldwound, Pathfinder agents flocked to neighboring Mendev to prepare for an expedition. However, an invasion of demons interrupted the announcement of their grand foray into the abyssal wasteland.

With the Fifth Mendevian Crusade underway, the Pathfinder Society knew they could not reach Jormurdun without assistance. To gain support, the Society sent diplomatic envoys to recruit influential luminaries in Absalom, the Eagle Knights of Andoran, the elves of Kyonin, and the Riftwardens. At the same time, Pathfinder agents gathered histories of Taldan victories against evil forces, gained control of powerful Jistkan artifacts, and acquired a powerful relic to rally behind.

5-07 Port Godless includes Dark Archive, Scarab Sages, and Exchange story elements
____
Player's forum handle:
Character name:
PFS#:
Race/Class(es)/Level(s):
Faction:
Day Job Roll, if any:
____
1) What special rules, boons, or corner cases should I know about regarding your character?
2) Why is your character in the Pathfinder society? A few sentences about your character and his or her previous adventures, either in or out of character.
3) What are your strengths, interests, or skillsets outside of combat?
4) What are your go-to combat tactics?
(Please also include this on your character sheet as a Bot Me! spoiler.)
5) What deity does your character worship? Do they carry religious texts, holy symbols, or other symbols of their faith?
6) What time(s) of day are you usually online to post?

Yessss

That thief looks awesome.

Well done. I'm looking forward to seeing the results!

In Qadira and throughout the Padishah Empire, Sarenrae’s worshipers praise the Dawnflower through dance. Her more warlike followers adapted these dances into graceful martial forms, and their swashbuckling style is feared throughout the Inner Sea region and beyond for its ability to devastate foes with a scimitar through motion and agility regardless of strength of arms.

The Whirling Dervish archetype in Advanced Class Origins does not include a restriction to worshipers of Sarenrae in its text. However, it is clear from the description of the archetype and description of the abilities that it is strongly tied to Sarenrae.

Should a restriction be added to the Campaign Clarifications document?

Discussion for The Darkest Abduction.

Please make your Day Job rolls here!

A young halfling runner enters the lodge at a trot yelling, ”Urgent missive from Karcau! Lady Kalistoff needs our best in Ustalav.”

He waves a perfumed letter in the air, then pins it to the notice board.

If you dot, please delete.

Recruitment for a standard table of 6-23 The Darkest Abduction (7-11).

The occasional unexplained disappearance is common enough in Ustalav, yet a rash of unexplained abductions has led to fearful speculation on the verge of panic in the streets. Hoping to improve the Pathfinder Society’s reputation in Ustalav, Venture-Captain Basia Kalistoff has offered her lodge’s services in putting an end to this crime wave.

*This scenario calls back to 1-47 The Darkest Vengeance

Already confirmed are a lvl 11 sorcerer, cleric, and a large cat. Game to begin around April 7.
____
Application Form
Player's forum handle:
Character name:
PFS#
Race/Class(es)/Level(s):
Faction:
____
1) What special rules, boons, or corner cases should I know about regarding your character?
2) Why is your character in the Pathfinder society? A few sentences about your character and his or her previous adventures, either in or out of character.
3) What are your strengths, interests, or skillsets outside of combat?
4) What are your go-to combat tactics?
(Please also include this on your character sheet as a Bot Me! spoiler. You can even have your dice rolls ready to go.)
5) Will you be able to post 1-2 times a weekday, barring occasional days off (Cons, Work, Vacations, etc.)? What time(s) of day are you usually online to post?
Bonus! Has this character played 1-47 The Darkest Vengeance?

Please help N N 959 by gathering links to relevant FAQs, blogs, dev comments or previous discussions.

We can discuss how this tricky topic might be codified for PFS.

Branched from Compilations thread here.

Discuss here!

Lightning

I also sent an email, but in case anyone else has the same issue:

My PFS scenario subscription has been processed; I have an email and the product pages indicate that I have purchased the most recent scenarios, but they have not been added to my downloads. The email says the PDFs have yet to be shipped.

Will the system figure it out, or does it need a kick?

A place for out-of-character discussion or tangents. Keep the gameplay thread heavy roleplay, please.

Decades ago, a group of affluent Pathfinders founded the Restful Pathfinders’ Lounge, a members-only club in the Petal District of Absalom where they could relax when not adventuring, while simultaneously avoiding having a venture-captain tell them they weren’t busy enough. Without the riffraff of a public tavern present, they may spend time with their closest companions and enjoy a good brandy or a light smoke in peace and quiet.

A well-stocked bar runs the length of the room. On the far end, the embers of a fire warms the room. Elegant sofas and easy chairs surround several low tables. Opposite the door, a bay window with a cushioned bench looks out upon a small garden. The torches in the wall are magical, and yet the air smells faintly of smoke. Smoke and spice.

Anyone else getting extrememly slow response times from paizo.com intermittently? I'm generally browsing the messageboards.

For me, sometimes a page loads fine, sometimes loads after about a minute, sometimes it loads without styling, and sometimes the connection just times out.

I got inspired by the new Legacy of Dragons book to make a Charisma based Monk/Sorcerer. The alternative bloodline arcana for imperial dragons gives a bonus against shaken, frightened or panicked foes, so I included an Intimidate focus.

This character is a Tian half-elf descended from the ruling family of Xa Hoi. He studied martial arts in the ranks of the imperial army before his magical abilities expressed themselves. He takes after his Sovereign Dragon heritage in many ways, not the least of which is the divine wind his mightily destructive voice.

I'm looking for advice on feats, spell options, and items. This build is mostly for flavor, but anything to make it more effective is welcome.

Here is a sample build (without items) I've been tinkering with:

I'm building out an elemental ally druid and am looking for suggestions. Without evolution points, I was planning to specialize each with different combat feats and decide which to use based on what tactics would work best with the party.

What are some combat tactics that might be useful depending on the party?

Ideas so far:

Fire eidolon (movement - + 20ft base speed)
Quadruped - 40ft, bite
Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack
Fast mover to chase foes and position for flank

Air eidolon (movement - fly speed)
Quadruped - 40ft, bite
Power Attack, Step Up, Death from Above
Flight is super handy on it's own

Water eidolon (movement - Swim speed)
Serpentine - 20ft, bite, tail
Combat Reflexes, Bodyguard, Stand Still
Use Dex for AoOs, boost ally's AC

Earth eidolon (movement - burrow speed)
Biped - 30ft, slam
Power Attack, Blind Fight
Basic damage dealer, eventually able to burrow and fight from below

What else could I do with them? I'll probably just rotate them unless I have a reason to pick one over another.

Are there feats the eidolon could take to make it a better mount? I'm not sure if I'll run into many small sized cavliers in need of a flying mount. But, I have the flexibility to build it. Alternatively, I could have my elven archer mount up on an Undersized Air Elemental.

The Exchange seeks to rule the markets of the Inner Sea. The Exchange’s board of directors merges the independent wealth of Qadiran merchant-nobility and the resourceful cunning of Sczarni smugglers. There are countless ways to earn a fortune, and the Exchange rewards Pathfinders for any number of them. Not all of the Exchange’s dealings are legal or even honorable. Members of the Exchange often must choose between an aggressive approach and a more reputable one, and those choices help to shape the faction’s practices.

The current faction goals and rewards for the Exchange faction lean a little more toward the merchant side of the operation than the cunning smuggler side.

What sort of goals might be appropriate for a character less interested in Profession(merchant) than Profession(smuggler), Disable Device, Bluff, and Sleight of Hand?

Current goals:

Visit one of the following centers of trade during the course of an adventure: Goka, Katapesh, Katheer, or Kerse. While in the city, purchase or sell an item worth at least 100 gp per character level.

Recruit a named NPC merchant, trader, smuggler, or similar figure to cooperate with the Exchange. Doing so requires a successful Diplomacy or Profession (merchant) check with a DC equal to 15 plus your character level.

Resolve a combat encounter nonviolently through diplomacy, trickery, bribery, or a similar tactic.

Earn at least 50 gp as the result of a Day Job check.

Know how to speak and read seven or more languages, at least one of which must be Dwarven, Kelish, Osiriani, or Tien.

Undermine a rival entrepreneur or merchant so that you can claim his market share. Doing so requires a successful Intimidate or Profession (merchant) check with a DC equal to 15 plus your character level.

Acquire a merchant’s license in a city with a population of 5,000 or more other than Absalom. Doing so requires spending 25 gp per character level and succeeding on an Appraise or Profession (merchant) check with a DC equal to 15 plus your character level.

This reward is particularly merchant focused as well.

Once per adventure, you can use your Profession (merchant) bonus in place of your bonus for a Disable Device, Knowledge (engineering), or Use Magic Device check as if you were trained in that skill.

I am looking for fellow Pathfinders to play-by-post high tier 6-09 By Way of Bloodcove.

I have a Skald 6/ Barbarian 1.

Silbeg was kind enough to offer to GM if I can form a table.

Taldor is thriving! All "evidence" to the contrary is the result of lies and deceit by the enemies of the Empire.

The thread you've all been waiting for!

While our talented top 32 +4 work furiously on our map round, this is a chance to post your item and get some feedback on what you did well and what you can do better next year.

Let's all learn together.