Mortagon's page

Are there any rules for converting magical items from pathfinder 1st edition into Starfinder (official or 3rd party)? Our GM has allowed me to craft items from Pathfinder but I'm uncertain how I would go about converting the cost.

What do you consider to be the best and worst things about Starfinder and what would you like to see added to the game to improve it?

My worst is space combat. It's just a slog. I also think the mechanics of a lot of the class abilities and feats are very underwhelming.

The best things is the cool classes and aliens and the wildly creative setting. I also love how it connects to Pathfinder and Golarion.

I think expanding even more on spellcasting and crafting would add a lot to the game, and the space combat needs a complete rework IMO.

Does anyone know of any 3rd party supplements with options for a witchwarper? I have the advanced occult guide, but haven't found much else. I'm mostly looking for spells, but any kind option is appreciated.

I'm currently playing in a Starfinder Campaign and it is very fun except when it comes to space combat. Every time we enter space combat the game grinds to a halt while we go through the same motions and actions almost every turn trying to slowly grind the opponents hull points down. It's ridiculous how much punishment a spaceship can handle before being destroyed. In fact we haven't been able to destroy a ship yet, only disable them enough that they become inoperable. When I think of starship combat I think of X-wings carefully outmaneuvering tie fighters lining up for the perfect shot only to make a killing blow. Not a couple of space tanks shooting BB guns at each other.

To make the problem worse my GM absolutely loves the system and tries to use a space combat at least every other session, each such combat taking between three and five hours to complete. So far none of the combats has been very challenging and our ship has only suffered minor damage.

Given we're low level, only level 4 and the GM says space combat becomes more interesting at higher levels but after reading the rules I don't see how. I'm not sure where the other players stand, they seem to enjoy it for the most part but did understand my arguments.

Now with the Starship operations manual coming out my GM is more excited about Starship combat than ever and I hope something in that book will make it more interesting but I'm seriously considering skipping any sessions with space combat.

Are there anyone else that has similar concerns about Starship combat and has anyone found any ways to make it more exciting (and faster)?

I've been playing a Kasatha gunsliner and my entire concept was based around the fusillade feat since I thought it seemed so cool, but since starting to play I've been able to use it once having three enemies in my area of effect and only hitting one and nearly hitting one of my allies in the process.

I've found that this feat is extremely underwhelming IMO and my GM agrees, but I have yet to find a way to balance the feat without making it to complicated. have anyone here found a way to make this feat a bit more usable?

Thanks

After a several years long hiatus from Pathfinder I returned to these forums to gain some inspiration after trying to give Carrion Crown another chance. When it came out it was my most anticipated AP to date but unfortunately my players at the time had little interest in a horror campaign so even though I spent months preparing for the Campaign I ended up having to scrap it.

This time however, I managed to convince my group even though they consist of mainly the same players so a few days ago we had our first session of the Haunting of Harrowstone.

My party consists of Pudge; an Id rager Bloodrager aspiring to become a paladin playing a homemade Frankenstein monster race know as a stitched, Dr. Alexei Zeki; An old human monster hunter/scavenger investigator that swaps out his extracts for temporary inventions and has a possessed mechanical arm, The Great Calcasio A gnome curator occultist with an obsession for numbers, Magdrak Freiherr Von Mushausen; A dwarven noble graveslinger and Karl Breckenridge; a human Inquisitor of Pharasma inspired by Castlevania. Another player that couldn't make it is going to play "E" a Dhampir White Necromancer that helps undead find a purpose for good before they can peacefully enter the afterlife.

I started the session as the pc's were headed to Ravengro in a carriage along a muddy treacherous path while a storm was raging. Up in the distance they could see the silhouette of the town and the prison as they were illuminated by the occasional strike of lightning. As they approached all pc's got a feeling of discomfort and the horses pulling their carriage became upset and unruly. As they neared Kendras home, Karl thought he saw a robed figure watching them from the side of the road, but as no one else noticed the figure, he kept it to himself assuming it was just one of the locals. They pulled up in front of Kendras home and was greeted not only by Kendra but by a couple of other visitors that had come to pay their respect. Among the other guests were a corpulent, nervous antiquarian named Lorne Maltrov and his bodyguard, a grim mercenary called Talbot, A trenchcoat wearing half-elf traveler named Icharo Legrosse and a crippled nobleman named Adivion Adrissant, all former friends, students, colleagues or associates of the professor. All of the pc's had arrived apart from Calcaso who had been traveling alone in a separate carriage and was running late and "E" who will be introduced into the Campaign at a later date.

The pc's got to know the npc's a bit before they turned in for the night and especially got a fondness for Adivion despite his arrogant aristocratic demeanor. They also learned that another guest had arrived, an unpleasant elitist halfling author named Jaques Ellias, who had refused Kendras offer of accommodations and instead chosen to lodge at the Outward Inn.

That night the pc's were plagued by nightmares where they were feverishly writing their names in blood with their skinless fingertips. Karl woke up noticing he had pulled out his dagger and started to carve his name into the floor were he slept. Pudge, needing no sleep was alerted by Karls sudden awakening and came to investigate from the hall outside were he had been sitting watch. Then the two of them noticed a tapping on one of the windows, but they assumed it was just a branch from the tree growing near the house and went back to their normal positions. Alexei however, having gotten up to relieve himself later that night, also heard the tapping and went to investigate noticing a ghostly raven tapping at the window. As Alexei went to investigate the raven fled of into the stormy night, but moments later Alexei noticed the silhouette of a robed man staring at him from between some trees close to the house. The silhouette quickly disappeared into the shadows and Alexei assumed it was just his mind playing tricks on him before he went back to bed.

The next morning they all gathered at the road leading up to the Restlands where the professor was to be buried. The pc's also noticed several locals, including a couple of the towns more prominent members, Councilman Muricar and Hearthmount as well as the towns Alchemist Jomanda Fallenbridge and the proprietor of the local tavern, Zokar Elkarid and his son Pevrin, there was also a mysterious robed foreigner that Kendra explained was a former assosciate of the Professor named Nazul Ebon. Nazul had no interest in speaking to anyone meeting all greetings with silence. Right as they were about to start carrying the coffin, Jaques and Calcasio came running up the muddy road, their clothes soaked by rain and mud. Jaques swore and muttered to himself ignoring any greetings from the pc's but instead commanding the procession to "get on with it". The halflings rudness was met by scorn by most of the attendees and Kendra almost exploded at the halflings lack of respect but was calmed by Adivion.

Soon the procession started, but as soon as they got up the hill they saw a gathering of locals wielding farm implements and improvised weapons. The mob was led by an old grizzled man with sideburns and rotted teeth that the pc's soon got to know as Gibs Hephenus. The mob demanded the procession to leave the graveyard and bury the professor somewhere else, insinuating they dump him in the river outside of town. Kendra exploded, Adivion unable to restrain her as she started to yell at Gibs. The pc's soon intervened, carefully lowering the coffin before adressing the mob. The pc's tried to convince Gibs to get his teeth checked as his rotted teeth may be a symptom of a more serious disease but Gibs couldn't be distracted by personal remarks and came with further threats. The pc's tried to use reason, but eventually Pudge stepped up to reveal his hideous face and told them to back up or face his wrath. Unfortunately the reveal only strengthened the mobs resolve and a skirmish ensued as the locals ganged up on the pc's. The other attendees stepped back, terrified of the violence except Adivion and Talbot. Adivion stepped in front of Kendra to protect her barely able to stand on his one good leg as he put his cane in front on him in defense. Talbot brought Lorne to safety and stood back to protect him leaving all the fighting to the pc's.

The combat wasn't deadly as the locals only tried to chase the pc's away, but that all changed when Karl pulled out a knife in an effort to intimidate the locals. This led one of the locals to pull out an axe and take a swing at Karl, luckily missing. Seeing the deadly threat, Alexei punched the man in the chest with his mechanical arm breaking several of the thugs ribs. The escalation of the combat was enough to scare away some of the thugs, but a few still remained, now changing their tactics to lethal attacks. Calcasio quickly de-escalated the battle however, as he used his magical abilities to create an illusion that the voices of the dead suddenly started to talk from the surrounding graves. This was enough to scare away the rest of the mob as well as most of the guests.

Finally, after getting rid of the mob, the procession could proceed to bury the professor. As they reached the burial site they were greeted by an ancient looking man wearing the robes of a priest of Pharasma. He was standing close to an open grave with a drunken, babbling man resting on a shovel near a pile of dirt on the side of the grave. The priest instantly started to curse Gibs and his cronies assuring the pc's that they would be punished. The priest then asked the attendees to share a few words before they buried the professor. Adivion gave a heartwarming speech about his time studying under the professor impressing the players with his eloquence. Lorne and Talbot had fled when Calcasio used his illusion, but Nazul stepped forward chanting something in ancient Osirian before he placed a box on top of the coffin, Kendra was barely able to hold back her tears and Adivion had to hold her to assure that she didn't collapse from her emotional stress, Icharo gave a short but heartwarming speech about his time traveling with the professor and Jaques gave a short, but almost mocking speech where he insinuated the inferiority of the professors work compared to his. To remain respectful nobody confronted the halfling about his rudeness. All the pc's told how they had met the professor and the relationship they had with him throughout their lives. Pudge remembers how he saved the professor from highwaymen and how he had taken him in, offering a job as a bodyguard and driver and learned him how to control his inhuman anger; Alexei told how he went from the professors student to his colleague and how the professor had aided him in his work to gain his doctorate in Arcane sciences; Magdrak told the story of how the professor had thought him the secret techniques of how to defeat the ghosts that killed his family and Calcasio how he respected the professors understanding of the occult and how he brought several rare artifacts for the gnome to study, becoming one of his closest associates. Karl had been studying under the professor to better learn how to hunt undead and monsters, a profession his family had been undertaking for hundreds of years and he saw the professor as his closest mentor and a father figure. After the speeches, Father Grimburrow performed the last rites before the drunken gravedigger filled up the grave.

After the funeral the pc's as well as Adivion, Kendra and Icharo returned to Kendras house where Councilman Hearthmount was to read Lorrimors will. Due to the ruckus at the graveyard, Hearthmount had been scared witless by Calcasio's spell and did not arrive as intended. The pc's contemplated to visit the councilman, but agreed to stay with Kendra and Icharo went to fetch him instead. Also present in the house were Lorne and Talbot. Lorne was fervently packing his gear, planning to leave as soon as possible. The pc's didn't try to stop him but convinced him to at least stay for the reading of the will by telling him the truth about how they scared off the mob.

Finally Icharo returned with the Councilman in tow. Icharo had told the Councilman about Calcasio's illusion, but he was still noticeably nervous as he shakily pulled out a letter opener to remove the seal of the scroll case that held the will. Reading the names on the will the councilman respectfully asked those not mentioned to leave the room, leaving only the pc's and Kendra present. Upon the reading of the will, Hearthmount gasped and paused as the will mentioned magic and occult secrets, but still managed to complete the reading. As soon as the will had been read, the councilman quickly signed the papers before leaving, almost stumbling on his way out.

It seemed the professor had left a cache of rare books to the pc's to be delivered to certain individuals in Lepidstat. Calcasio thought he recognized the symbol on one of the books but couln't quite place where he had seen it. Alexei, being an initiate of the order of the Palatine Eye immediately recognized the sigil but kept its significance to himself. After studying the books, Alexei decided to read the professors journal.

End of part 1

I would like to cancel all my subscriptions.

Thank you

I haven't received my shipping notice yet so I still don't have the pdf so I was wondering how the new action economy system works since this is of particular interest to me and my players.

Hi I want to restart my Pathfinder Roleplaying game subscription (starting with Pathfinder unchained). I tried to do it through the Paizo shop but I couldn't place my order.

Regards Morten

The Rencroft asylum

I made this adventure a while ago as an interlude to my Curse of the crimson throne Campaign. I've never got to play it, but I thought the people here at Paizo might like it. It's a horror adventure for level 8-10 characters that take place on an island containing an old asylum built inside an old lighthouse. The caretaker of the asylum is conducting horrific experiments on the patients under the influence of an alien entity, all to open a portal to let the madness of the dark tapestry onto Golarion. The adventure uses some stuff from Legendary games' Gothic compendium, but this could easily be replaced or ignored.

It is with great regret that due to recent changes in my economical situation that I have to cancel all my subscriptions.

So my players were having some difficulties getting past the entrance to citadel Drezen and my players are getting frustrated after they lost one of their cohorts and nearly TPK'd at the beginning of exploring the citadel.

They have come up with a plan of letting the paladins clear the fortress for them and then explore the citadel after it has been cleared of enemies.

I have asked the pc's to consider just taking some of the npc's in the adventure or a few paladin's with them, but they seem adamant on having the paladins do their dirty work.

I don't use XP in my Campaigns so my pc's won't miss out on that reward and I can't see a bunch of paladins under the pc's command stealing all the treasures in the fort (my pc's are willing to give them a fair share anyway.

What should I do? Should I just let the paladins clear the fortress and be done with it? or should I have the paladins suffer so many losses that the pc's have to step in (thereby weakening their army and further frustrate my players)? or as I considered tell the pc's that the paladins are needed for other duties around Drezen (which I know will end in a long debate about why the pc's can't command the paladins to do whatever they want since they are in charge)?

In our last session the following happened; the party druid summons an ankylosaurus, the enemy bard proceeds to cast suggestion on the ankylosaurus and tells it to go as far away from the battle as it possibly can, it fails its saving throw, but at the start of the druids next turn the druid casts dominate animal to try to make it continue attacking for him.

To settle the matter in an expeditiously and peaceful manner I ruled in the druids favor since his player was getting tired and grumpy, and neither me nor the other players was interested in a long and drawn out rules discussion.

How would you rule this? I suggested that the druid and the bard should roll opposed charisma checks to see who was in control, but the druid claimed that since he cast the last mind-control spell that his magic should trump the bards.

Hi, one of my players in our Wrath of the righteous Campaign is in need of a cohort. He is a druid (Druid menhir savant 9/mythic 2) worshipper of Pulura and I want something thematic, cool and useful. The cohort must be level 7 or a monster with no higher equivalent than 7 total. The NPC must use the heroic stat array or the base monster stats in case of a monstrous cohort and basic NPC wealth for a level 7 NPC. All Paizo books are allowed as are Kobold press' Deep magic and all of Legendary games' stuff.

The Druid in question is unbeknownst to him the child of Pulura and ancient Sarkoris itself and is in fact the seed that will make the land bloom again. He is mythic but his cohort isn't yet (not until he takes the mythic leadership feat at least). The players are currently involved in a siege in Citadel Drezen so I could use a good reason for why the cohort would suddenly appear.

Any help would be highly appreciated :)

Hi, I just wanted to share our house rules for iterative attacks that we have been using for a while now and we think it works really great and makes combat much more dynamic.

Basically we have gotten rid of the full attack action and instead divided the iterative attacks into multiple actions.

At base attack +0 you can make one attack at your full BAB as a standard action.

When your base attack bonus is +6 you can use a move action to make an attack at a -5 penalty.

When your base attack bonus is +11 you can use a swift action to make an attack at a -10 penalty.

When your base attack bonus is +16 you can use a standard action to make an attack at no penalty and one additional attack at -15 penalty.

Primary natural attacks always use the full BAB, while secondary natural attacks are always made at -5 BAB (or -2 with the multiattack feat).

The two weapon fighting feat grants you one additional attack with your off hand weapon when making a standard action attack (at the normal penalties for two weapon fighting).

Improved two weapon fighting grants you an additional attack when making a move action attack (at the normal penalties for two weapon fighting including the penalties for making a move action attack).

Greater two weapon fighting grants you an additional attack when making a swift action attack (at the normal penalties for two weapon fighting including the penalties for making a swift action attack).

Other actions which requires a full attack are unchanged.

Other standard actions can be combined with these rules, f.ex if your BAB is at least +6 you can use a standard action to vital strike and a move action to make an additional regular attack at a -5 penalty or you could cast a spell with a casting time of a standard action and make an attack at a -5 penalty.

In our last session my players went up against an alchemist. One of my players decided to take a ready action to try to disarm the alchemists bombs before he could throw them.

I couldn't find any rules on how to handle this situation so i ruled that the alchemist dropped his bomb and it scattered and exploded where it landed dealing splash damage as normal, but no direct hit.

My question is, are there any rules governing this kind of situation and can you even try to disarm alchemist bombs? How about normal splash weapons? How would you have handled this kind of situation.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

My current economical situation has forced me to cut back on some expenses, so I regretfully have to cancel my Deluxe comics, card game and pawns subscriptions.

Can someone please explain to me how evade works in the game? I've read through the rules several times and can't seem to find any mention of this anywhere in the rulebook.

When you are eligible to evade an encounter (for example by using Merisiels power), do you ignore the entire encounter regardless of what type it is or does the encounter count as undefeated? Can you evade any kind of encounter? What happens to the encounter after you evade it, is it banished to the box or do you reshuffle it into the location deck?

Hi, I have a friend who is considering playing a sorcerer with the Imperious bloodline from the advanced race guide. Seeing that the class gains an ability which increase the effectivenesss of morale and competence bonuses I was wondering if anyone here could recommend me some sorcerer spells which grant these types of bonuses. I allow 3rd party spells on a case to case basis.

This is a set of epic rules I have been working on for a couple of days, that I wanted to share with the community. This is just a rough draft of my basic ideas, but I would still like some feedback and ideas from the community.

I have taken a vastly different approach than the old 3.0 mess. The basic idea is that once you hit level 20 you stop progressing in normal levels and instead gain mythic levels and start to gain divinity points and mythic abilities. Eventually you will gain the option to ascend to godhood, immortality or some other form of higher being.

Mythic characters no longer gets to increase their base attack bonus, skill ranks, hit dice, saving throws or caster level. They do gain the +1 ability point for every four levels and a new feat every two levels as usual. Class abilities reliant on levels are capped at level 20 and can only be improved by taking mythic abilities.

Mythic creatures attacks, spells and abilities may surpass the immunities of any creature with less divine points than them, but they gain a bonus to any saving throws against such equal to their divine points. Creatures with elemental immunity reduces damage from that element by 10 per hit dice and 10 more for each divine point.
An antimagic field will only affect your magic if it was cast by a creature with divine points. Even so, if the caster has less divine points than you, you may try to cast the spell by making a concentration check DC 32 + the divine points of the caster.

Mythic levels:

Level Effect
21 Bonus feat, Divine point
22 Mythic ability
23 Bonus feat, Divine point
24 Ability score bonus, Mythic ability
25 Bonus feat, Divine point
26 Mythic ability
27 Bonus feat, Divine point
28 Ability score bonus, Mythic ability
29 Bonus feat, Divine point
30 Mythic ability, Ascenscion-Demi God
31 Bonus feat, Divine point
32 Ability score bonus, Mythic ability
33 Bonus feat, divine point
34 Mythic ability
35 Bonus feat, divine point
36 Ability score bonus, Mythic ability
37 Bonus feat, divine point
38 Mythic ability
39 Bonus feat, divine point
40 Ability score bonus, Mythic ability, Ascenscion-God hood

Divine point: At these level the mythic character gains a divine point. Divine points determine where the character stands in the hierarchy of Gods and other ascended and mythic beings, and also grants access to mythic abilities and divine bonuses. Mythic characters add a +1 divine bonus to skill checks, saving throws and attack rolls for every divine point they possess. All creatures with more than 20 HD are assumed to have one divine point at 21 hd plus one divine point for every four hit dice thereafter.

Mythic ability: Allows the mythic character to gain a mythic ability he meets the requirements of. A mythic ability is similar to a feat but usually much more powerful.

Ascenscion-Demi-God: At this point the character starts to transcend his mortality. He may choose a path of ascenscion from the list below and will gain all the abilities of that path. Once chosen he can never switch path, not even with the most powerful magic. Only a greater deity can change this path. Usually to reach this point requires a quest to unlock your true potential. Sample quests are listed below.

Path of immortality
You become immortal, either by the grace of the Gods or through some rare happenstance. You stop to age and any penalties you have from old age disappear but your physical appearance does not change. You never need to sleep, eat, drink or breathe. You gain regeneration equal to your divine points. This regeneration can be overcome by creatures with more divine points than you, by artifacts and spells and attacks with an alignment descriptor diametrically opposed to you. Wholly neutral creatures can choose a single energy or material which bypasses their regeneration.

God-hood: You become a true immortal. Only a greater God can ever really destroy you. When you die you are affected by true resurrection after 1d100 years have passed.
Sample Quest: You must journey deep into the heart of the first world to learn the secrets of immortality from the elder beings that lives there. The price for immortality is often steep however.

Path of divinity
You join the ranks of the Gods as a lesser deity or hero God. You gain all outsider traits and access to a single domain of your choice. You may cast all spells and use the domain granted abilities from that domain as if you were a 20th level cleric. You also gain an aura as if you were a cleric and outsider equal to your total level. You can only choose an alignment domain if it matches your alignment. Upon touch you may grant a creature access to one or more of your domain spells as if you had used the imbue with spell-ability spell. This is a spell-like ability and you may use it a number of times per day equal to your divine points.

God-hood: You become a true deity. Your physical body cease to exist and your divine essence is bound to an avatar and deific realm created by your divine will. In your own realm you are nearly omnipotent, but also bound. You can only venture outside of your realm through an avatar, and creating an avatar is both time consuming and eats at your divine essence. You can now start to grant spells to your followers. See statistics of sample avatars in the bestiary section later on.
Sample Quest: You must perform the test of divinity by entering into the tower of ascenscion alone and succeed in all the trials within.

Path of transcendence
You transcend your mortal body and are reborn into a new form. This new entity is an outsider and has all the normal outsider traits. You retain all your class levels, skills and abilities, but any racial abilities you may have had are lost. Instead you may create your new body using the rules for creating an Eidolon. For the purpose of creating your new body you are assumed to have a number of evolution points equal to that granted by a 20th level summoner, plus an additional number of evolution points equal to your divine points. Once chosen this form cannot be altered and it is not considered an eidolon for any purpose.

God-hood: You create an entirely new species by dividing your essence into thousands of new bodies. You cease to exist as a sentient being but your legacy will remain for as long as this species exists.
Sample Quest: You must travel to were all life started to find the secret of creation, then harness its power for yourself.

Path of omniscience
You start to become one with everything and your physical form is starting to fade away. You gain the incorporeal subtype with all the benefits and drawbacks of that subtype. You add your divine points as a bonus to any int and wis based skill checks and to your initiative score, you can never be surprised and don’t need to sleep, eat, drink or breathe. You gain low-light vision and darkvision equal to 60 feet per divine point and blindsense up to 10 feet per divine point. Once per day for every divine point you posses you may use commune and true seeing as a spell like ability at caster level 20.

God-hood: You have finally achieved true omniscience and become one with everything. You truly now everything, but by doing so you cease to exist and you become only a vestige an omniscient spirit upon which pact makers can call for magical aid.

Sample Quest: You must travel to the great black library of the astral plane and persuade its timeless guardians to teach you the secrets of the universe.

Path of the pariah
You spit in the face of Gods and immortals. You remain mortal, but still collect divinity points and gain mythic abilities. You gain a bonus mythic ability. You neither loose nor gain any other new abilities.

God-hood: You never reach god-hood or any other form of ascenscion. When your time is up you die and will be judged by the Gods just as everyone else unless you find some unnatural means to avoid it.

Path of the undying
You choose to gain immortality in a different way by embracing undeath. You may choose to gain the lich template, the vampire template or the Graveknight template. At the Gm’s option you may choose another appropriate undead template. Anyone choosing this path becomes irredeemably evil.

Sample Quest: You build your phylactery, consort with vile fiends and perform horrid rituals to deny the Gods your soul. Or maybe you are just cursed.

God-hood: A lich becomes a demi-lich. A Graveknight becomes a greater Graveknight (will be detailed later) and a vampire becomes an elder vampire (will be detailed later)

After reading the description of the scent ability I was wondering if a creature with scent would be fooled by a mirror image spell when pinpointing that creature as it says in mirror image that the effect is visual only.

Also I was wondering what kind of action it would be to pinpoint someone with scent. The description of the scent ability lads me to think it would be automatic, but when reading the description of the perception skill I was thinking it might be a move action instead as one of my players pointed out during our last session).

I just received my package, but when I opened it my Gamemastery flip map: mountain pass was not included. Instead I had received the urban tavern flip map.

Our group usually play heroic fantasy where the Pc's are good guys racing to stop the numerous evils the world has to offer. I have a strict "no evil alignments" policy in my games and most of the time my player's have good alignments. But there is certain things which bugs me and takes me out of the heroic feel of the game, mainly my player's tendency to use dirty tactics to gain an edge in combat.

I know it is a sound tactic, but is it just me or is it not exceptionally unheroic when the PC's just gang up on their foe and beat him senseless?

Or when they strike down a helpless foe even one begging for its life with the argument that this is an evil creature which needs to be put down no matter what (which they back up by using in game effects like detect evil and knowledge checks).

Now I don't want this to turn into another alignment/morality thread, I mainly want advice on how one can evoke a more heroic feel in ones Pathfinder games without forcing my players to act a certain way.

I'm looking for some random map generators with a combat grid for outdoors terrain for use with my home-brew Diablo style, table based game. Preferably free and with a simple design so that it's easy to discern what is what on the grid.

Thanks in advance

So recently some of my players complained about Pathfinder becoming bloated with new options after the APG, ultimate magic and ultimate combat was released.

I find this somewhat puzzling and ironic seeming that these same players couldn't get enough options during the 3.5 era, and every book was carefully examined repeatedly to find the most cheesy and OP options available.

Are my player's getting lazy, or is it the increased responsibilities of RL which has reduced the time they want to spend on roleplaying games?

I'm concerned that their heart is no longer with the game and that their enthusiasm has waned. Have anyone else experienced something similar to this?

I was thinking we could create a list were we post the top ten things we think is great and the top ten things we think should be fixed with the Pathfinder system. Here's my list.

Things I love about Pathfinder:

1. The monsters
2. Channeling rules
3. Archetypes
4. The style feats from UC
5. 3.5 Compatibility
6. Favored class system
7. The classes
8. The races
9. Production value
10. Artwork

Things I dislike about Pathfinder:

1. The item creation system
2. The way the intimidate skill works
3. Spells, powers and effects that grant absolute immunity to something
4. Paladin's smite (OP in my opinion)
5. No love for finesse based martial characters
6. Maneuvers cost to much for to little gain
7. Monsters are to weak
8. Raising someone from the dead is way to easy
9. People getting hurt has no consequence unless you go below 1 hit point
10. The firearms rules

As I have no need for the Pathfinder beginner's box I would like to cancel my Pathfinder Roleplaying game subscription (But not my other subscriptions). I will resume my subscription later.

Sincerely

M.J

new feats:

Deadly opening (Combat)
Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +6, Vital strike, Combat reflexes
Benefit: You may add the additional damage from your vital strike feats on any successful attack of opportunity.

Improved weapon finesse (Combat)
Prerequisites: Weapon finesse, Dex 13+
Benefit: You may add your dexterity bonus instead of strength to damage with any weapon you are using the weapon finesse feat with. You add only half your dexterity bonus on attacks made with your off-hand weapon. You may not use the power attack feat when you are using a weapon in this way.

Greater weapon finesse (Combat)
Prerequisites: Weapon finesse, Improved weapon finesse, Bab +7, Dex 17+
Benefit: As improved weapon finesse, except you add 1.5 times your dexterity bonus to damage with weapons you use weapon finesse with, and your total dexterity bonus to your off hand attacks.

Momentum (Combat)
Prerequisites: Dodge, Mobility
Benefit: Whenever you move and then attack you deal extra damage. For every 10 ft. you move before attacking you deal 1d6 points of damage. You may not use this feat while mounted (all though your mount may if it have this feat), but you may use it on a charge. This bonus is not multiplied on a successful critical hit.

Spell channel (Metamagic)
Prerequisites: Ability to channel energy
Benefit: A spell modified with this metamagic feat affects all targets of the spell as if you had used channel energy on them. You must spend one of your daily uses of channel energy when casting a spell modified with this feat. Any saves to resist channeling from this feat uses the spells DC. A Spell channeled spell takes up a slot 2 levels higher than normal.

Improved dodge (Combat)
Prerequisites: Dodge, Bab +6
Benefit: You gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC. This replaces the bonus gained from the dodge feat.

Greater dodge (Combat)
Prerequisites: Dodge, Improved dodge, Bab +11
Benefit: You gain a +3 dodge bonus to AC. This replaces the bonus gained from the dodge and improved dodge feats.

Greater unarmed strike (Combat)
Prerequisites: Improved unarmed strike, Bab +6
Benefit: Your unarmed strikes now deal 1d6 points of damage. If you are a monk, treat your monk levels as 2 higher for the purpose of calculating unarmed damage. Add this feat to the list of bonus feats available to monks at 1st level.

Improved combat reflexes (Combat)
Prerequisites: Combat reflexes, Bab +6
Benefit: Increase the number of attacks of opportunities you can make each round by 2. In addition you gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls when making attacks of opportunities.

Greater combat reflexes (Combat)
Prerequisites: Combat reflexes, Improved combat reflexes, Bab +11
Benefit: Increase the number of attacks of opportunities you can make each round by 2. In addition you can act as normal in the surprise round.

Vital follow up (Combat)
Prerequisites: Vital strike, Two-weapon fighting, Bab +6
Benefit: When you use the vital strike feat to make an attack and you hit you may make an additional attack with your off hand weapon as a swift action. This additional attack does not deal additional damage from the vital strike feat.

Vital maneuver (Combat)
Prerequisites: Vital strike, Any Improved maneuver feat, Bab +6
Benefit: When you use the vital strike feat to make an attack and you hit you may make a free combat maneuver against the target of your vital strike as a swift action.

Pacify
Prerequisites: Persuasive
Benefit: You can make Bluff and diplomacy checks to make creatures reluctant to take hostile actions or persuade them to attack other targets. No matter which skill you use, pacifying a creature takes a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, and has a DC of 10 + targets level or hit dice + targets wisdom modifier and bonuses against mind affecting effects and compulsion effects. You cannot make this check against a target that does not understand you or have an intelligence score of 3 or lower. Before making these checks you may make a sense motive check (same DC as above) to gain an insight bonus on these checks equal to your wis modifier until the end of your next turn. The benefits you gain from this feat depend upon which skill you use. This is a mind-affecting, compulsion effect.
Bluff: By looking pitiful as if you pose no threat you goad the target into to attacking another creature than you while giving you an opening. If there is no other targets the creature merely hesitates for one round and may only take a move action on his turn. If you attack the creature persuaded in this way before the end of your next turn, he is considered flat-footed for your next attack.
Diplomacy: You calm a creature making it hesitant to take any hostile actions. The target takes a -2 penalty to all attack and damage rolls, and must roll a concentration check as if casting defensively to cast any hostile spells (hostile spells are those that would break an invisibility spell) any rage effects the target has ends (with all the usual penalties).

Here's a thread to post your homebrew templates.

Here's some I've created:

Not a video game but a web based minisodes series showcasing the various characters before they entered the tournament. First episode is out now.

PS: contains some harsh language and gratuitous violence

While I love the idea of somehow involving the harrow deck into the Carrion crown AP, I was kind of disappointed with how it was handled in the PG.

I have been thinking about a system where each card grants both a gift and a curse and those should be thematically appropriate for the card. Furthermore I was thinking that each card could have a one time effect if you spent the card, in which case both the curse and the gift would be gone. In addition each cards gift would be more powerful if it was aligned and the curse would be worse if the card was misaligned. Drawing a card should be completely optional and should only be done at the beginning of each AP installment.

Here is an example of what a card might look like:

The paladin:

Gift: As long as you have this card in your possession you can take the adverse affect that one other creature within 5 feet suffers, be it a failed saving throw, a negative condition (including death) or raw damage. You can spend this card as an immediate action to have any creature (including yourself) ignore the effects of one attack or failed save.

Curse: As long as you have this card in your possession you take a -1 penalty to AC and saving throws and will also be the first chosen if an effect calls for a random target. If the card is misaligned you suffer double the penalties. If the card is aligned you suffer no penalties from this card.

If we work together we might make a system including all 54 cards.

I have been working on a system based on the stability and sanity rules used in the Trail of Cthulhu game for my Carrion Crown Campaign.

Here's the basics:

Stability and sanity

All characters have a stability score of 15+Wis modifier+level (minimum 10)

Each time a character is subject to anything that might result in stability loss he must make a will save or lose stability.

• A mundane shock like seeing a dead body or experiencing something frightening or bizarre but not necessarily dangerous has a DC of 10 and a stability loss of 1d3 (for example seeing someone animate the dead with magic)

• A more terrifying visage like finding a mutilated corpse or being in physical or mental peril has a DC of 15 and a stability loss of 1d4 (this is the usual check for normal combat)

• A horrific experience like being in mortal peril, witnessing something mind shattering or being subjected to torture has a DC of 20 and a stability loss of 1d6 (you must usually make this check if you are reduced below 50% hit points or see the most competent of your party fall)

• A truly horrific event like being subjected to one of your greatest fears, being forced to kill or torture a loved one, being brought back from the dead or witnessing a terrible supernatural evil has a DC of 25 and a stability loss of 1d8 (If you are the lone survivor and must face the horror alone this is the check you must make)

• The most terrifying experiences like being buried alive or possessed by a malign evil or witnessing cosmic horrors has a DC of 30 or higher and a stability loss of 1d10

Martial characters have more resistance to physical perils and the DC to resist and stability loss from such effects are treated as one step lower meaning that they can ignore seeing a mundane dead body, blood etc. Likewise characters with magical experience treat supernatural threats as one step lower.

On the DM’s discretion certain characters may be resistant to certain maladies as fitting for their background, alignments and vocations. F.ex a good creature forced to harm an innocent would have a higher difficulty than an evil one, and a fighter would probably not falter if someone threatened him with physical violence. Likewise characters may treat certain specific turmoil’s as more potent if they have a personal fear or aversion to the triggering event.

The save to prevent stability loss is treated as a mind-affecting, fear ability for the purposes of bonuses and penalties to the save. Creatures immune to fear or mind-effecting effects gain a +5 bonus to saves against stability loss and reduces the amount lost by half (minimum 1). If your stability reaches 0 any further stability loss is taken as wisdom damage instead. If you reach 0 wisdom from this loss you must make a new will save at the same DC that lead to the stability loss. If you fail you don’t go unconscious but instead suffers an insanity as mentioned in the GM guide. If you succeed you immediately faint into a comatose state and won’t wake up until your wisdom score is increased to one or higher.

When you have less than 10 stability left you are treated as shaken, when you have less than 5 you are frightened with the source of your stability loss as the source of the effect. If you have 0 or less stability remaining you are panicked. If you are immune to fear or mind-effecting effects you are instead fatigued, then exhausted then staggered. These conditions last until you can regain enough stability to recover. Mindless creatures like vermin are immune to stability loss as are creatures immune to ability damage.

The bravery ability also reduces any amount of lost stability due to mundane threats by the listed amount.

My players almost constantly has protection from evil and magic circle against evil going. This has made all encounters with creatures dependent upon charm and domination really one sided and boring.

The succubus posing as a Zenj dancer was immediately spotted by the paladins detect evil ability before combat started. The cleric cast magic circle against evil before the succubus could act and managed to catch the dominated dancers in the effect, suppressing their domination. Since the succubus was rather useless in combat without her charmed minions and spell-like abilities, and the paladin had used his smite evil and moved in for a full-attack, she decided to teleport away ending the encounter before it even got interesting. The serpentfolk enchanter in Tazion was nigh useless without his most potent spells and so has all the other dozens of creatures based around mind-affecting abilities been.

Is it just me or is the protection and magic circle spells overpowered for their levels? I was thinking about maybe having them grant SR against enchantment spells and effects instead.

So I am looking at running Carrion Crown as soon as I finish my Serpent Skull Campaign. Carrion Crown is suppossed to have a gothic horror theme, but I have always found horror to be a difficult theme to invoke in such a gamist system as Pathfinder.

My players have little experience with horror, but seems to be keen on the premise. They do however have a pretty gamist and tactical mindset. Most of our other Campaigns have been pretty combat heavy and RP'ing and fluff has taken a backseat to the action for the most part. I think this is in part due to the way the rules work and my players familiarity with them.

Usually we run pretty powered up games, but for Carrion Crown I am planning on going for the standard 15 point buy and try to focus more on the characters than the mechanics. I have been looking into modifying some of the stability and sanity rules from Trail of Cthulhu, but frankly I am concerned that my players wouldn't like it that much as it would be yet another thing to keep track of during the game.

I do have some experience running horror games using other systems like Call of Cthulhu and Dark heresy, but that was with other groups and mostly one-shots. This will be the first time I try my hands at a full horror Campaign with players that have little to none experience with the genre.

Have anyone here successfully run a horror game using Pathfinder or similar rules heavy systems? Do you have any advice on techniques to use or recommend any optional mechanics to amp up the horror feel?

This feat does something no other feat does mainly grant someone access to another class' main feature without the need for multiclassing. Does this feat mean we will see feats like amateur monk granting ki pool and ki powers? Or amateur ranger granting a limited version of favored enemy?

If the gunslinger has to be its own class I think we should let grit be unique to that class. You can easily be an amateur gunslinger by taking proficiency in a firearm and blazing away no need to copy the main feature of another class.

So this feat allows you to cloak yourself in an illusion as an extraordinary ability although it doesn't really change your appearance?

I don't think this feat was very well thought out. It would be better if it granted a penalty to gather information and knowledge checks regarding your identity IMO.

Level 11 Ninja and Samurai playtest

I had a group with a human order of the warrior samurai, human ninja, human cleric of Irori (Healing and strength domains) and tengu monk face eight highwaymen (level 4 ftr/3 rog from gamemastery guide) (hereafter referred to as HM #1-8) on a path in a forest. The highwaymen waited in hiding as the party approached.

All party members have consumed a heroes' feast in the morning. Ninja spots one highwayman, surprise round starts.

Surprise round:
*Ninja uses forgotten trick to throw a choking bomb on the only visible HM (HM 8). HM 8 fails his save and is staggered for five rounds.
*HM 1 Five foots out of the forest and shoots an arrow at the ninja and miss
*HM 2 Five foots out of the forest and shoots an arrow at the ninja and hits for 3 points of damage
*HM 3 Five foots out of the forest and shoots an arrow at the ninja and hits for 6 points of damage
*HM 4 Five foots out of the forest and shoots an arrow at the samurai and miss
*HM 5 Five foots out of the forest and shoots an arrow at the ninja and miss
*HM 6 Five foots out of the forest and shoots an arrow at the ninja and miss
*HM 7 Five foots out of the forest and shoots an arrow at the samurai and miss
*HM 8 is still staggered. Draws his spiked chain

Round 1:
*Ninja throws a choking bomb on HM 6 and 7, HM 6 fails his save and is staggered for one round
*HM 4 drops bow and draws spiked chain goes behind ninja to flank with HM 8 but miss with his spiked chain
*HM 8 Flanks with HM 4 attacks ninja with his spiked chain and miss
*HM 6 Shoots an arrow at the monk and miss
*HM 7 full attacks the monk with his bow but miss on both attacks
*HM 2 Shoots two arrows at the monk, one hits for 4 points of damage
*HM 3 Shoots two arrows at the ninja and miss on both attacks
*HM 1 Shoots two arrows at the ninja, one hits for 6 points of damage
*HM 5 shoots two arrows at the ninja both hits one for 4 points of damage the other for 5 points of damage
*Monk takes a a 5 foot step spends a Ki point to gain an additional attack flurry's and full attacks HM 4 with his temple sword, first succeeds in a disarm check tossing the HM's spiked chain 15 feet away using his greater disarm feat, second attack succeeds in tripping HM 4, third attack is a stunning fist which hits for 7 points of damage, HM 4 makes his save against the stunning fist, the fourth attack4 hits HM 4 for 4 points of damage, attack five hits for 4 points of damage, attack six is a miss, the tengu then uses his bite secondary attack and hits for 3 points of damage.
*Samurai mounted on his horse five foots in to full attack HM 8, the horse hits with his first hoof for 11 points of damage, the second hoof deals 5 points of damage, the bite miss, the samurai scores a critical hit on his first katana attack dealing 54 points of damage and killing HM 8.
*Cleric casts Blessing of fervor (APG) on the entire party

Round 2:
*Ninja uses his invisible blade ninja trick and full attacks taking one additional attack from the blessing of fervor spell HM 3 and HM 7 with shurikens, first attack hits HM 3 and deals 22 points of damage, second attack is a critical hit against HM 3 dealing 22 points of damage. Third attack hits HM 7 for 22 points of damage, fourth attack hits HM 7 for 18 points of damage. Both HM 3 and 7 are poisoned and must save on their turn.
*HM 7 makes his save against poison, full attacks samurai twice with his bow and miss.
*HM 6 full attacks, shoots two arrows at the samurai, both miss.
*HM 2 full attacks samurai with bow first attack hits for 4 points of damage, second attack miss
*HM 3 fails save against drow poison and drops down unconscious.
*HM 1 moves into position and shoots an arrow at the samurai, but miss.
*HM 5 moves up to samurai and tries to trip him with his spiked chain, but fail.
*HM 4 draws his sap and fights defensively against the monk while he stand up provoking an attack of opportunity from the monk which hits and deal 7 points of damage.
*Monk trips HM 4, then attacks him with his temple sword four times and hits three times for a total of 12 damage, then bites but miss.
*Samurai overruns HM 5 moving in to engage HM1, HM6 and HM 7 with a cleave, he scores a critical hit on HM 7 for 55 points of damage dropping him down and cleaving into HM 1 for 24 points of damage and HM 6 (with his mighty cleaving sword) for 22points of damage.
*Cleric casts flamestrike on HM 1, HM 2, HM 3 and HM 6. HM 3 is helpless and automatically fails his save taking the full 35 points of damage. HM 6 makes his save avoiding all damage due to his evasion ability. HM 2 fails his save taking 35 points of damage. HM 1 also fails his save and dies.

Round 3:
*Ninja draws his sword of subtelty and attacks HM 5 for 23 points of damage.
*HM 2 tries to trip the samurai but miss.
*HM 6 goes in to flank the samurai with HM 5, HM 6 attacks samurai with his spiked chain but miss, HM 5 does the same and hits for 19 damage.
*HM 4 uses his sap to fight defensively against the monk while he stand up provoking an attack of opportunity from the monk, the monk miss.
*Monk successfully trips HM 4, then disarm him flinging his sap 15 feet away, then attacks for 6 and 11 points of damage dropping HM 4.
*Samurai uses his blessing of fervor to stand up without provoking any attacks of opportunities. He uses his cleave feat to attack HM 2 dealing 29 points of damage and killing him, he then cleaves to HM 6 for 27 points of damage dropping him. He uses the last cleave to deal 26 points of damage to HM 5.
*Cleric moves in to flank HM 5 with the samurai then attacks with an unarmed strike and hits activating his amulet of mighty fists +1 spell-storing to target HM 5 with an inflict serious wounds spell. HM 5 fails his save and takes 23 points of damage from the cleric.

Round 4:
*Ninja moves in to attack HM 5 dealing 22 points of damage killing him. the battle is over.

Conclusion:
The samurai worked almost exactly like a fighter or cavalier in this combat. I couldn't see any glaring problems with his special rules and he seems fairly balanced and interesting to play.
The ninja worked much like a rogue, although his ability to use greater invisibility from his invisible blade ninja trick really made all the difference for him in this combat. The poison use came in handy and the choking bombs and flurry of stars were flavorful and useful abilities. So far I haven't found any glaring problems or issue with either of the two classes and both felt like they were contributing and filling their party roles.

Are there any specific details about Azlanti culture in print or on the web. I'm looking for anything from details on clothing, naming, architecture, religion, politics, customs and laws etc. My pc's are currently on an archaeological expedition in some Azlanti ruins and I want them to discover some interesting tidbits about the Azlanti to spice up the game.

When playing Racing to ruin tonight we were doing Nkechi's spirit quest and I choose giant porcupine as the totem animal for the elven ranger. Since i couldn't find stats for that creature anywhere I created my own based on a dire rat from the bestiary. Behold the mighty giant porcupine!

Giant porcupine (Mwangi) CR 1/3
N, Small animal
Init:+3 ; Senses: low-light vision, Scent; Perception: +4;
Defense:
AC: 15 (+2 dex, +1 size, +2 natural) ; FF: 13; T: 13; Cmd: 11 (15 trip)
HP: 6 (1d8+2)
Fort: +4 Ref: +4 Will: +1; Defensive roll
Offense:
Spd: 20 ft.
Melee: Quills +1 (1d4) and bite -4 (1d3)
SA: Quills, Quill rattle (DC 12)
Statistics:
Str: 10 Dex: 15 Con: 15 Int: 2 Wis: 13 Cha: 4
Bab: +0; Cmb: -1
Feats: Skill focus (Perception)
Skills: Perception +4
SQ: Quills

Quills (Ex):
The giant porcupine is covered in quills which it may use to attack by backing into a foe, anyone attacking the porcupine with a natural attack or light weapon is subject to a free attack from the porcupine with its quills.

Quill rattle (Ex):
The giant porcupines rattle its quills to scare away predators. As a standard action the porcupine can rattle its quills. All creatures of the animal or magical beast type with 1 or 2 in intelligence, that are within 30 feet, must make a will save DC 12 or be shaken for 1 minute. This is a mind-affecting, fear ability and is based upon dexterity.

Defensive roll (Ex):
The giant porcupine can roll up into a ball to protect itself from harm. When the giant porcupine takes the full defensive action its natural armor increases by +2. It still gets to use its quills against creatures attacking it with light or natural weapons.

My pc's have been really secretive with the information they found in Smuggler's shiv and hasn't shared anything with the other castaways. Furthermore they are determined to start their own expedition and is reluctant to ally with anyone else.

Is it possible for the pc's to start their own expedition or is the rest of the AP dependent upon the players to join a faction?

How likely is it that all the other factions will find out about the secrets the Pc's learned in Smuggler's shiv if the pc's don't share this information with anyone?

I assume the other factions might launch their own expeditions to Smuggler's shiv, but I see no reason for them to do so since my pc's have been tight lipped about anything they found there.

I have a slight dislike for the item creation system as it currently stands. I especially dislike that a crafter has access to every item in the book as long as he has the correct feats. That is why I have come up with a simple solution for my own Campaigns that I would like to share with you.

Magic item schematics:
You must identify the item and write down its schematic in your workbook costing 5 gp per caster level of the item. You start with 3+int modifier schematics when you take an item creation feat. The caster level of the items described in the schematics can’t exceed your caster level or ranks in relevant skill (Usually spellcraft) whichever is higher. Successfully writing a schematic into your workbook is DC 10+caster level of the item using your relevant item crafting skill. Each time you gain a new caster level or rank in the relevant skill you gain a new schematic in your workbook. Potions, spell-trigger and spell-completion items don’t need schematics and are only limited to the spells you can cast or have access to. A typical workbook has 100 pages and weigh 3 lbs. It costs the same as an empty spellbook +5 gp for every page of schematics in the book.

If you want to include schematics as treasures you can replace some scrolls and spellbooks found with similarly priced schematics and workbooks.

Warning: Spoilers will follow....

The party consists of Toshiro a Tien "samurai" Paladin (warrior of the holy light), Bhrenit an elf Spirit Ranger archer from the Mwangi, Erzbet a cat-like female Tiefling rogue from the shackles, dubbed "kitten" by the groups paladin and Ewan a young Cleric of Desna.

So my party has had a fairly easy time at the island except for the horrible diseases and poisons they have encountered and the fungi infested island. They have finally gotten to the sunken temple and performed the ritual.

So my party enters the sunken temple and straight up moves right to the temple after dealing with the various traps and monsters on the way there without to much hassle. The paladin suffered a nasty critical from a javelin from one of the serpentfolk skeletons in the Sanctum, and they didn't like getting caught in the trap in the cleansing shrine, although they didn't take to much damage there. Other than that the trip to the temple area was pretty straightforward as the rogue managed to discover and disable all of the pit traps and the soul-bound dolls in the sunken chamber went down fairly easily.

Due to my party's uncanny ability to wade through most of the encounters on the island I had beefed up the last showdown with Yarzoth quite a bit, changing the human skeletons to serpentfolk skeletons (Ruling that Yarzoth was able to control them by attuning to the altar) and adding an unhallow effect to the altar (also granting all evil creatures in the temple the benefits of an aid spell). I also ruled that all the undead in the temple would automatically be destroyed when the altar was destroyed.

The battle was truly epic with the rogue constantly going down due to massive damage from Yarzoth and the skeletons. I allowed the pc's to notice that there might be some sort of evil magic attuned to the altar (as are common in evil temples) by rolling a Knowledge religion check, and the paladin decided to use a hero point and his only smite evil for the day to try to destroy the altar as the skeletons was tearing them down real quick while Yarzoth got her defenses up. We use the hero point rules from the APG, so the Samurai asked if he could spend a hero point to smite the altar using his only daily use of his smite evil ability. Since the party was in really bad shape and the effects of the altar and skeletons was really tearing the party to pieces I allowed the altar to shatter from the smite in one fell blow, so now the unhallow and the aid effect connected to it was gone and the skeletons destroyed. Now they only had Yarzoth to deal with.

Being devoid of her skeletal minions Yarzoth decided to try to dominate the paladin who luckily succeeded in his will save. Then the pc's had a really long streak of bad rolling allowing Yarzoth to poison both the cleric and the rogue and downing the rogue once more. As the party finally managed to reduce her to below 15 hit points with the rogue and cleric having almost no strength left and the paladin severely wounded, Yarzoth decided that she would try to flee by using the gaseous form ability gained from the statue of Zura (I ruled that it counted as a spell like ability), but she was cornered and threatened on all sides so she had to roll a concentration check to be able to do so and luckily she failed. In her last round of actions Yarzoth yet again failed her concentration check to heal herself with a cure moderate wounds spell, and the archer finally managed to put her down with a lucky shot.

After this they all used the gaseous form ability from the statue and rested in the secret x shaped room above the temple. The day after they encountered the gibbering mouther as they were exploring the remaining rooms of the temple, but it was aptly put down by an aberration slaying arrow the pc's had found earlier in the nest of the red mountain devil.

When they returned to camp the pc's, and the remaining npc's (everyone except poor Ishiro who had been ritualistically murdered by the cannibals earlier) finally manage to repair the lighthouse and a few days later they were rescued by the Red Gull. We had some excellent roleplaying aboard the ship, including a stalking of the groups female tiefling rogue by the Red Gull's Tien cook, and a brief romantic moment between Aerys and the groups cleric. We are all really looking forward to the next part and I would like to thank Paizo for yet another amazing adventure path installment.

I am about to start the Serpent's skull adventure path and my player's have asked if they could use the hero point system from the APG. I was wondering if anyone here had any experience with this system. Any input on how this works in game or just general opinions will be appreciated.

I was wondering if there was any third party companies producing gaming mats featuring jungle terrain. I already have most of the gaming mats produced by Paizo and I am planning on using the woodlands, pirate island and river crossing mats when appropriate.

I would like a physical product, not a pdf and preferably of a size equal to the game-mastery flip mats. They should also include squares for movement and measuring of course.

On a second related note does anyone know of any other game aids that would be suitable for this adventure path?

Bump* Anyone?

I just subscribed to the Adventure path line of products and to avoid doubling up on my order I would like to have Pathfinder Adventure Path #37: Souls for Smuggler's Shiv (Serpent's Skull 1 of 6) removed from my order 1457765 if possible.

So we currently wrapped up another Kingmaker session in which I'm playing the fledgling ruler Baron Janos Valazkov a 4th level cavalier of the order of the dragon (from the APG play-test pdf). While most of the session was used for building the Kingdom we did have a few encounters and one battle with an evil "scythe" tree.

So our group was preparing for a tough fight, I used my first round prepping the rest of the party with my tactics ability and on the second round I challenged the thing and charged him with my saber on my trusted mount. I roll a 20 to hit, followed by a 20 to confirm and from a house-rule we use I got a chance of confirming again for a possible insta-kill unless the monster made a massive damage save. My crit deals 28 points of damage but the tree monster survives the insta-kill save. I then roll for a hoof attack from my horse, a natural 20 followed by a 17 on the die, a critical hit. Unfortunately the horse drew a really bad card from the critical hit deck and the damage didn't penetrate the trees DR. The tree hits us for some minor damage, the other party members deal some damage to the tree, then my turn again. Knowing my horse has a snowballs chance in hell of damaging the plant I use handle animal (as a free action due to the mount ability) to aid me on my attack roll. I roll a natural 20, followed by a 20 followed by another successful confirm. This time the tree rolls a 2 on its save against the insta-kill and I instantly slay the thing. That's 5 natural 20's in a single encounter. To top it of I rolled another natural 20 later on when rolling for stability for the Kingdom.

Sometimes it's good to be King :D aheem, I mean Baron.

Well so the party just entered the vivifed labyrinth, and the entire party, except for the sorcerer failed their saves against symbol of insanity in room E8. So the sorcerer managed to knock out the entire party and is now dragging them around on his own.

The situation looks kind of hopeless, and with most of the party knocked out it isn't to much fun to play for most of my players. The sorcerer is about to meet Vimanda (In the guise of Vencarlo) and I was thinking she might help him get out of the dungeon.

Its a pretty frustrating situation, not only is the dungeon a pain to run, but running it with only one player seems to be doomed. How am I supposed to get the players out of this pickle in the quickest way possible? I just don't want them to find a teleport scroll or something, but I still want them to succeed.