Ah, maybe a chance to meet a certain spirit oni again?

[almost titled this Cinder Wonderland)]

I've been gm'ing CotCT for two years now and we are slowly drifting into A History of Ashes. The party(oracle of bones, chirurgeon, fighter, sorc, divine hunter) just arrived at Harse and received major plot drops. They seemed more interested about the ongoing rodeo in town though, but oh well.

Anyhow, it's the 31st of Lamashan, or October IRL, and once these stooges get to the Cinderlands it'll be mid-November(unless they buy horses). This presents a challenge for me since the scenario is written with the intention that they're in the middle of Storval summer. It should be hot, hot, hot. Now it's not as hot.

Any ideas? How would the Cinderlands change in winter? Animal migrations? Giants coming down from the mountains? Major flooding?

This is not a "help me, I screwed up" thread but more of an attempt to pool ideas. I'm sure I could run it as is and just explain that the Cinderlands don't change much during the colder months, but eh, this might be cooler.

Something has been bothering me and it has done so for a few seasons to boot. Back when J. Frost was the campaign lead, the undead were rather plentiful. Season zero had them in droves, in fact so many that every Ranger, mine included, was an undead hunter. Season two saw a lot of adventuring in, and here I'm quoting a local player, that "hideous affliction" called Taldor AND continued the Zyphus plotline which included some undead-heavy shenanigans as well.

Now during Frost's reign it became rather obvious that at least some of the staff hadn't studied on how the undead creature type actually works. The most memorable face palms in my career as both a player and a gm have included, for instance, a ghost barbarian that rages if attacked on the Ethereal, a ghast barbarian with renewed vigor, and, as a cherry on top, a troop of skeletal champions raging in a cornfield.

My question is pretty simple: How should we run these creatures? As they are with the rage applying to a creature incapable of benefitting from morale boni or increased Constitution? With the rage applying to Charisma instead of Con, as I recall was Josh's suggestion? Should we omit the rage stat boni but allow rage powers to work?

Some general guideline would be sweet as I quite like running AND playing the early seasons, but this tendency sticks out like a sore thumb.

Hullors from the Finnish scene.

We had a smallish test of the ACG classes a few days ago. Two scenarios and 5 of the new classes in all, with yours truly playing a shaman. I'll be posting some data from my point of view and linking this thread to our IRC channel in hopes that the rest of the gang decide to wander in at some point. Without further ado then:

I used Paurun, Dwarf Shaman of nature lvl 1. The idea behind the class choice was that there'd be a wealth of new abilities to test, so both Arcanist and Swashbuckler were off the table. The rest of the party consisted of a bloodrager(Wayang), an investigator (Elf) a slayer (Halfling) and a warpriest of Iomedae(Human). In word, an unplanned circus troupe of a motley crew as things tend to go in PFS.

Initially the Shaman played as a regular high AC Cleric, but once we got up to speed, which I figure was sometime past the boss party of First Steps part 1, a power disparity between the two classed begun to rear its ugly head. Bear with my comparisons between the classes, for though it does not correlate with the hybrid class' parts themselves(oracle and witch), they play very similarly.

Anyway, since a Shaman loses the Channel Energy feature in the outset and only gains it back if proper spirit abilities are taken, it looks like a Shaman and a Cleric of equal level and diposition would play pretty similarly, but, PFS being the way it is, skills were a deciding factor, funnily enough.

Here's the nitty and gritty. A Shaman has a lot to do in a session. relatively. Those two skill points more might not seem a lot, but are a huge thing in an idiosyncratic campaign such as the Society. Home campaigns might have dedicated skill characters, but in PFS nothing goes as planned and one might find themself in a party of six sorcerers of all things. 4+Int adds to versatility, something a Cleric sorely lacks.

Gear proficiencies bare a mention, I guess. Simple is enough for me, since it supports races with weapon proficiencies and I like the fact that they are not proficient with shields at all. But only if the final version has some spirits give out shield and better armor proficiencies. It fits the flavor of them not being as militant as inquisitor and clerics, but hopefully players are still given a choice of picking up some of that militaristic feel.

Then on to the special abilities of the class: I guess the choice of Spirit speaks for itself. Nature's Whispers is very powerful, just like its predecessor Sidestep Secret. However, this one runs on Wisdom, which is likely the most ubiquitously referenced stat in the system, ruling over a saving throw, two incredibly useful skills(Perception & Sense Motive) both of which directly contribute to the success of any a party, and also has a good list of synergies with multiclassing(Sensei and Inquisitor come to mind). Make it a casting stat too and suddenly Shamans become almost SAD.

Hexes, in turn, were pretty disappointing, with erosion curse doing just about nothing and life leach being too weak. With them being spread out thin over the levels, I don't see players picking this class to use hexes at all. Spirit magic, too, felt hardly there. Once a day per spell level simulates domain spells to an extent, but it misses the best part of the Oracle: interesting spell lists thanks to mystery spells.

With that said, it otherwise functioned just like every other divine caster I've played: first level is about rationing abilities and spells and walking softly while carrying a big weapon.

In any case, I'm intrigued what chances the class might see in the future.

[exeunt, pursued by the laundry.]

Edit: yeah corrected some errors.

Greetings, fellow forumites.

Due to peer pressure I've found myself gm'ing CotCT. Two sessions into the campaign the party is preparing to raid All the World's Meat. So far so good, but several decisions made at party creation have the potential to turn the campaign, or at least some of the AP adventures, upside down! So, I baaadly want ideas. And cool character-driven adventuring of course.

Here's the spread:

The most confuzzling currently being that one of the player characters ended up being of Arkona stock: The group's oracle of bones is a black sheep of the family, specializing in wiping floors and being a pesh/shiver addict. His family threw him out after a confrontation between him, the city coffers and some very illegal substances

Anyway, the character is currently fighting his addiction, inspired by the trust bestowed upon him by his comrades-in-arms after witnessing the power of his magic. I want to exploit both this torturous process and his standing/background as an Arkona somehow and make Escape from Old Korvosa something memorable. But how?

Another interesting thing which I will definitely puzzle myself with is that one of the characters in the group is a dhampir. Now, the guy(a paladin of Shelyn of all things) is oblivious to this, which isn't surprising consider how full of crazy blood-related shenanigans Golarion is, so anything is possible and surprising both the player and the character is in the cards. I wish I could somehow tie his background into Ramoska Arkminos, but the dhampir is not nosferatu-kin and it would be a big stretch anyhow considering how little time the good doctor has spent in good ol'Korvosa. Maybe he's a remnant of a dead noble house? Too cliche?

Finally, I have a Shoanti character in the group. Coolio beans, really hyped for History of Ashes! However, I'm gm'ing in a shared Golarion in the sense that the campaign is an indirect continuation to two earlier ones. The first of these, RotRL to be exact, ended with one of the characters becoming the warleader of Shadde-Quah. I so want to use this somehow, but fear that introducing another clan into the scenario would really upset the balance. Any ideas?

So that's that. Any input heartily appreciated.

Something has been bothering me for a while. I'm in the midst of advancing a character through PFS that has levels in both barbarian and bard and have a question. First, let's look at two different effects:

The spell heroism states that "This spell imbues a single creature with great bravery and morale in battle. The target gains a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks."

While the rage class feature goes on to say that: "While in rage, a barbarian gains a +4 morale bonus to her Strength and Constitution, as well as a +2 morale bonus on Will saves."

Would these two stack? I realise that the morale bonus on Will saves definitely won't, but what about morale boni to hit rolls stacking with morale boni to stats that modify the same rolls? Is this kosher?

Salutations swell co-gamers!

Allow me to make this really short and to the point: The seventh level samurai pregenerated character, Hayato, has somehow gotten himself the feat Greater Weapon Focus. Now I see two problems with this: First, the samurai does not have the required levels and second, he would not qualify on the 8th level anyway, since the weapon expertise class feature specifies that "his samurai levels stack with any fighter levels he possesses for the purposes of meeting the prerequisites for feats that specifically select his chosen weapon". Hayato does not possess any fighter levels, correct?

Anyhow, since I'm about to use this pregen come Saturday, it'd be nice to know whether I must run this character as is or may I indeed change the feat to something else. What say you?

Doshio?