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Realistically? Yes it should, for the reasons you outlined. Within the actual game mechanics? No, for the same reason why the feat Weapon Specialization (Longsword) doesn't allow your character to fly by spinning their weapon over their head really fast like a helicopter: the rules don't say the feat let's you do that. Rules/feats/class features have the impact they list, beyond which would be house rules and GM fiat.
If Paizo had the resources, short stories that "bridge the gaps" between scenarios that feature the VCs doing cool stuff would be neat too. Like a bridge between Blakros Connection and Abducted in Aether from Shane's point of view as he searched the planes for [REDACTED].A product I would purchase, although I have no idea how you would keep it clean of spoilers while still delivering. It'd be neat to have a story like that in a Pathfinder comic.
Yes, but with the PFS Union (Shadow Lodge) no longer in existence, there is nothing protecting you from the consequences of your badmouthing.God that faction is one of the most confusing things I have ever seen because honestly I can't see how they ever went from evil organization with no qualms of mass murdering people to PFS Union. Basically, PFS leadership saw that the campaign was actually taking an interesting direction, and then steamrolled the Shadow Lodge faction leader into a moustache-twirling cardboard cutout, lest they actively encourage anything more than murder hoboes in PFS.
Ranks in Knowledge (engineering)? You got something that puts those to use? If not, I'd sooner pick up Bluff of Intimidate.To be fair, he's getting those ranks for free and free ranks in Perception too. It's also based on which weapon group he has. Clearly, you have never had to distract the party paladin before.
"Don't kid yourself Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance he'd eat you and everyone you care about." And if it has the fiendish template, it may eat your soul as well.
This is why when I sit at the table I just shut off all my moral hang-ups. Instead of pressing my views into the game, I just have a good long chuckle about all the pretentious lives we got to peer into and vicariously live in for 4-5 hours. When I play the game, it's Golarion's rules, a world where a four year old child can be forcibly witheld from heaven because a level 5 cleric with a 25 gold lump of onyx decided they wanted an animate, smooth skull to pet like a kitten, and when said cleric is killed, they get a jumpstart to becoming a lieutenant in Hell's armies. That sweet grandmother that adopted eight children, including a tiefling that went on to become a doctor, so inspired he was by her act of kindness? Well, she's gone now, a daemon ate her soul, all possibility for her existence to have any direct impact on the future has been wiped out of the face of existence, and off the bottom of a daemon's privy. Golarion is a cruel world of arbitrary existential torture, and I accept it as being as dark and horrid as Warhammer 40K. I accept that there are going to be characters that are blissfully, horribly ignorant to this fact, and sometimes play them myself.
I have been playing around with a character idea. A Puppetmaster Magus who believes he is doing good by ruining villain so that they can rebuild themselves right. To me, while this is not Good, I am not sure if this is Neutral or actually Evil? He is willing to offer his targets aid in turning their life around. Maybe try including a link to the archetype you're discussing would help you get replies. I don't see how this archetype would go about 'ruining' a villain, let alone coercing a villain into changing their way of life.
As the abomination lumbers towards Rrruh, and the few brave crewmates engage it gives out a haunting, garbled howl as the attacks bruise its flesh. ""Em pleh aramseb! Struh ti niap eht! !Hguuaaa!"
As a sticky mass of white threads erupts around the creature, it becomes anchored to the ground, though it still flails wildly.
That scenario was very well done to encourage teamwork.
Slave Ships of Absalom: I saw that fail dismally with our group. The scenario had already made the party extraordinarily paranoid with talk of divination shenanigans. So when the person we were giving the mid-game report to started pointedly trying to get information from another party member, they effectively ended up talking to a brick wall as our Pre-Gen Ezren (the player didn't have an in-tier character at the time) put on one of the best performances of senility and obtuseness we've seen. It made for a good roleplay, but in terms of encouraging more talking from others that were not party faces, it fell flat, horribly, horribly flat.
I pantomime at the game table a lot. I also tend to stand at various points during the game to see the map better while planning out my turn (and also because sitting for three hours straight gets uncomfortable). Both of these have earned me some comments and annoyed looks at the table, even though I've never knocked anything over. My characters also tend to be flippant during briefings venture captains treat Pathfinders like latrine straw. Thankfully Aram Zey has only had to brief a character of mine once.
Yup! A kinetic blast is a kinetic blast no matter what. The form is changed by the Infusions, but it is still a blast. Now, that being said Blade/Whip do not gain the extra damage from Elemental Overflow. Losing the Elemental Overflow bonus seems like a good trade for iterative attacks, and attacks of opportunity, especially if you're using energy blasts where the decrease of accuracy on iterative attacks isn't too much of a setback.
The night passes, but in the wee hours of the morning, just as the crew begins stirring, the group hears the trap door to the bilges clatter shut, and a few moments later the squelching sound of writhing flesh mingles with the brief sound of a muffled cry. Soon thereafter, a scream sounds off in the hold where most of the crew is. Jaundiced Jape, one of the men that waylaid you the previous morning, scurries on his hands and knees beneath hammocks, fleeing a terrible sight. One of the crew members stumbles about, a writhing red-streaked nautilus dangling off its head, producing a sickly squishing noise alongside an agitated moan. Yet more crew members flee towards the stairs leading upwards on the deck, creating a line between yourselves and safety as crewmen clamber frantically to get away. Shouts and the clattering of personal effects dropping to the floor dominate the room, along with increasing amounts of swearing. Perception 10:
Amidst the chaos, you spot a dagger snagged by the hilt in the netting of a nearby hammock. Knowledge Dungeoneering DC 12:
You recognize this horror as an incutilis, a type of tentacled monster that can couple with helpless humanoids, slaying them and then puppeting them much like a zombie, but is not in fact undead.
Zalhar is puzzled by this creature, what religious training she has she knows it to not be a conventional undead, and so opts to assist her allies for the coming fight, casting Bless.
The creature then stumbles towards Rrruh, albeit too sluggishly to follow up with any attack.
Rust Monsters occupy a unique spot in the bestiaries that they share with others. Rust monsters destroy equipment, which calls for replacement, and as such impacts wealth by level, in moderation, they provide a dampener on Wealth By Level, much like permanent negative levels, curses, petrification, and at higher levels, even death. The issues with this in terms of player reactions stems from a central issue: "How can I afford to be prepared for this?" Rust monsters are a CR3 creature, and therefore something a level 1 party could, within the logic of the CR system, face off against. The thing is, there are dozens of other ostensibly low-CR creatures to deal with that also have niche equipment to handle. A second set of non-metallic armor and weapons is a huge investment with starting gold and level 1 wealth, which is going to be on top of having DR-penetrating backup weapons, alchemical weapons for swarms, holy water or an oil of magic /bless weapon for ghosts, and smoked goggles for a basilisk. Throwing this monster at very low level players can feel like punishing them for being low level, which is a silly feeling to try and elicit at the game table.
Magical Girl / Paladin: You get ungodly saves thanks to covering the Magical Girl's weak fortitude save and adding Charisma to your saves. You get heavy armor proficiency and a d10 hit die, making you all the better at combat yourself. Adding the mauler archetype to your familiar means you'll have an effective combat buddy. Magical Girl / Bard: You've got 6th level casting in spades. Your hit die and saves won't be improved, but you'll be unnervingly good at skills, and you'll always have an option to buff your familiar for battle. Magical Girl/Sorcerer: Why not be a 9th level caster with an uber-pet? Magical Girl/Oracle: Be a 9th level caster with an uber-pet, but a lot of mysteries are arguably better than sorcerer bloodlines.
Alright, this proficiency issue sounds like a FAQ candidate with relevance to the system as a whole, not just PFS. Question: Are the rocks thrown, as described in the Stone Mystery Oracle's "Rock Throwing (Ex)" revelation considered improvised weapons for purposes of penalties to attack rolls and interaction with the "Throw Anything" feat?
That night, the group's attempts at information yield merely a small amount on the captain of the ship. Harrigan is is a foul tempered captain, and Mr. Plugg serves as his right-hand man. The treatment and leniency proffered towards Plugg by the captain is something of an in-joke among the crew that Mr. Plugg is like a son to Harrigan, albeit still a bastard son.
When I first spotted this I thought you meant disarming as in the combat maneuver, but looking over your post it looks like you mean it in terms of disarming traps. You're correct that the Archeaologist Bard is probably your best bet for being able to cover all the roles you need to. Given this, I'd recommend Weirdo's stat recommendations, but go with for archery instead of melee. Given that you're starting at 6th level, I'd say go for flavor in terms of race selection, as you'll be able to pick up your Archery Essentials of Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot. Make sure your character has Silver and Cold Iron Arrows, Bludgeoning arrows, and an Oil of Bless Weapon along with Ghost Salt. Have a magic shortbow, and you'll be able to handle most kinds of DR. Pick up some Adamantine arrows as you continue and eventually the feat Clustered Shots to help out with any niche DR you can't get around. For spell selection I'd take Heightened Awareness and Heroism as essentials, and pick up Haste once you get to 7th level.
A paladin of Erecura could work with gestalting Mesmerist. She's Lawful Neutral, albeit married to a Lawful Evil Archdevil Dispater, and has the nobility and Trickery domains. Her favored weapon is the Light Mace. As for the wizard, a Kensai Magus with a whip could be downright scary. Alternatively, a wizard gestalted with a class that gets a companion could be useful nice, as it will effectively allow a fourth action to keep their action economy up.
Petros moves up to the next chamber and looks upwards to the ceiling before he smiles. "Dorin, get in here! I have an idea!"
At that point, the skeleton upon the throne along with one of the ones flanking it move in and strike at Kaley, one with a claw, and one with a falchion!
While the falchion misses, the claw strikes Kaley! Then, a figure steps out from behind the curtain, skeletal hands waving about as it chants before pointing to Kaley. A bastard sword appears before Kaley, formed of blue translucent energy, and strikes!
The phantasmal weapon slashes at Kaley! As the skeletal figures glare at Kaley, malice in their eye sockets, she prepares for her rebuttal...
Near as several members of the party can tell, the creatures all appear to be a normal skeletons. The voice hisses with great annoyance at Kaley and Dorin's responses, and the three skeletons on and around the chamber's central chair begin to move, drawing their weapons.
Sensing that things are going very, very wrong in the room, Coglen springs into action...
So what you're saying is, once I get the flamethrower, all the Great Old Ones are now absolutely nonthreatening? Time to roll a pyrokineticist!
With no signs of traps, Kaley opens the door, sidestepping quickly out of caution. No traps spring, and they peer into the room beyond. Shabby mold covered tapestries hang from ceiling hooks, cloaking the southern wall of the chamber in scenes depicting huntsman stalking their prey, now faded and drab. A plain wooden chair of massive construction stands centered before the tapestries, facing into the room. A large stone table stands against the eastern wall. Upon the chair sits a skeleton, and standing by its flanks two more skeletons. A raspy voice emanates from it, like crawling spiders and the howling wind of a storm. "Who are you?" |
