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So I compared orcs vs. gnolls and this is what I got:

Orcs:
AC 13
HP 6
Melee +5 (2d4+4) = average damage per hit of 9
CR 1/3
XP 135
Special Ability: Ferocity (lets an Orc essentially fight all the way until he hits -12 hp, in a staggered condition)

Gnolls:
AC 15
HP 11
Melee +3 (1d8+3) = average damage per hit of 7.5
CR 1
XP 400

To be honest, I think a Gnoll is BARELY tougher than a single orc. There is no way 1 Gnoll = 3 Orcs in terms of a tough encounter.

A gnoll has better A/C and more HP.

An orc has Ferocity (which means you have to dish 18hp of damage before he is completely dead - more or less) and has a better melee attack.

Am I misunderstanding the Ferocity ability?

Why would a Gnoll be worth three times the XP of an orc?

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

I'm running my group through this module Tuesday, but I'm not sure how many XP to give them for Room 8. There are 7 trapped statues in the room with "Shocking Grasp Traps" on each one. So if the PC's "defeat" the first trap and then figure out that each statue is trapped in the same way, do they get XP for each trap they disable or work around?

My concern is that each trap is listed as CR2 (600xp), which means the PC's would get 4,200xp for disarming (or working around) all 7 traps in the room. This seems very excessive for a 1st level module, especially since the traps are all identical in nature - and thus much less challenging than running into 7 different traps.

The room description says CR 2+, which doesn't help me. I figured it says 2+ because you get CR2 for each one you experience.

I'm considering giving full xp for the first trap, and maybe 1/2xp for each subsequent one.

Any advice?

Thanks,
George

Other than Paizo's site (which I like a lot), are there any other good blogs or forums related specifically to PF?

I like to get my reading in!

OK, new to PF. Instead of many, many questions I'll try to keep it at one ongoing thread.

Here are my first 3 questions:

1) When stocking your adventure, do you assign "Average Hit Points" per the Bestiary, or actually roll for hit points? My gut tells me I'd roll for tougher monsters and use average hp for numerous minions.

2) I'm trying to understand AOO. If you run up to an Ogre (10' reach) to attack him, does he automatically get an AOO? I'm asking because once you reach 2 squares away from him, you are now threatened by him. Then, when you close the gap into the final square (adjacent to him), you have left a threatened square. Doesn't this give him an AOO? So how does someone charge a monster with a 10' reach without being subjected to an AOO?

3) XP for traps/hazards: when is XP awarded for traps/hazards? I assume if you cleverly circumvent a trap, you get XP. But what if you fall into a pit trap, take damage, and scurry away afterwards with your pride and body wounded? Do you still get XP? What if you blindly trigger an arrow trap but the arrows whiz by and miss you? Do you get XP? What if you tumble down a mudslide and take 20 points of damage. XP?

Thanks

Where can I find such things?

Thanks,
George

I'm new to PF and I'll be GM'ing a game where I have two fellow players. I've never played PF or 3.0/3.5. Same with one of the players. The other player has played 3.0/3.5 but not PF.

So overall, we don't have a lot of experience except one guy.

Question: would it be easier/better to:

a) Have the players each run one PC (2-PC party), OR..

b) Have the players run 2 PC's each (4-PC party) so that it would be a lot easier to use pre-published materials

Here's what I think are the pros/cons:

Option (a) - 1 PC each:

Pros:
*combats (and the whole game) will go a lot more quickly
*it will be easier for the players to learn the game if they only have 1 PC each
*one of my players doesn't like running multiple PC's (although he will if he has to)

Cons:
*I'll have to customize a lot of the Module or AP that I use to make it work for small party (which may be challenging as a new GM)

Option (b) - 2 PC's each:

Pros:
*It will give the party more diverse abilities
*I can use modules as written and I can set up encounters in a more conventional way using the tables in the Core Rulebook

Cons:
*May be difficult for new players to master 2 classes
*One of my PC's isn't wild about running 2 PC's - in any type of RPG

Looking for advice! Thanks

Question from Mr. Noob here.

I'm putting together an encounter with 3 orcs (CR 1/3), so the total CR is 1.

Their treasure says "NPC," so I went to Table 14-9 and looked up "Total GP Value" for a Level 1 NPC (since it's a CR1 encounter). It returned a value of 260gp.

So far, so good.

I then went to the Bestiary and looked up their treasure, which is "Studded Leather, Falchion, 4 Javelins, and Other Treasure."

But the problem is this. When I add up the value of their listed treasure for 3 Orcs, I get this:
75gp = 3 suits of studded leather
225gp = 3 falchions
12gp = 12 javelins

So I'm already at 312gp of NPC Gear value for the 3 orcs. Meaning I'm already past the 260gp and without even adding in any coins or jewelry.

Am I erring somehow?

Hi,

I'm getting ready to be a GM for a game with just myself and one friend. To avoid undue complexity (since we are both new to PF), he's only going to play 2 PC's. We'll start at 1st level.

My other friend is also going to join in about a month, when he gets back from vacation. And he's played 3.5 so he's familiar with the rules in some respects. But for now, it's just me and the one guy.

So.. my questions:

1. For 2 1st level PC's, what are good recommended CR levels for a party like that? It seems like CR 1/2 would be too easy (since 200xp is only 1 orc, or 2 kobolds, or 1 zombie). How would 300xp-encounters seem? So that could be 2 orcs, or 3 kobolds, etc. And for a really challenging encounter, maybe I could throw a 400-xp encounter at them.

2. Any suggestions for fun encounters?

3. If there are only 2 PC's, should I throw them some extra bling like extra starting money (for finer equipment) or a couple of Healing Potions?

Thanks!

Hi there,

I’m trying to figure out the GM guidelines in Chapter 12, particularly about Placing Treasure. If I follow the guidelines on Table 12-5, it states that a party with APL2 (to use an example) should have 550gp of treasure per encounter for Medium progression.

So here are my questions:

1. When Table 12-5 says “Treasure per Encounter,” I assume I should just add up all the treasure I place and divide it by the total number of MONSTER encounters, and this should be close to the Treasure per Encounter.. right? Granted, some encounters will have 0 treasure and others will have a large horde. But the average should be 550gp (in my example of APL2, Medium Progression).

2. When I’m placing non-magical valuable items (such as Masterwork weapons and Jewelry/Gems), which value do I use when totaling the treasure horde amount: the Price or its Value to the PC’s? For a Masterwork Lt. Crossbow (which costs 335gp), would I use the 335gp as the value in the horde or 167gp (50% value – which the PC’s could sell it for)?

3. Same question with Magic Items. Chapter 15 says +1 Weapons are worth 2000gp, but a PC could only sell it for 1000gp. So which value is used when I try to arrive at the “Treasure per Encounter?”

I also have the same questions on Table 12-4 (Wealth by Level):
-Similar to the above question, is a +1 Weapon worth 2000gp or 1000gp? If I’m allowing a PC to start at 3rd level, they should have about 3000gp of wealth. So it seems pretty important to distinguish which value to use.

Thanks!

I'm new to DM'ing PF.

Are there any good rule of thumbs for mixing different CR levels? I.e., how many Easy, Average, Challenging, Hard & Epic.

*Potential Spoilers Follow* (Not really major spoilers, but better safe than sorry)

I tried looking in Crypt of the Everflame for some ideas about appropriate CR's. Crypt states that it's for 1st level PC's.

Here are the CR Levels for each encounter:

Wilderness/Upper Level Dungeon:
1
4
1
3
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
2
3

Lower Level Dungeon:
4
2
4
3
1
4
2
5

So the Wilderness/Upper Level has a CR average of 2.1 (for 1st level PC's), which means the average encounter is "Challenging."

On Lower Level, the average is 3.1 (presumably for 2nd level PC's, since they have hopefully advanced to 2nd by now), which also means "Challenging."

So my LONG-WINDED math leads me to beleive that APL +1 is a good general average to shoot for during an adventure.

Thoughts?

As I'm getting ready to DM my first game of PF I'm struggling on a couple of combat questions.

1) How is reach measured? If an ogre has a 10' reach, how does that work with diagonals? I assume he can't go 2 diagonal squares. But can he go 1 diagonal and 1 horiz/vert square?

Better yet, is there a handy diagram somewhere that illustrates reach? I liked the "Spell Areas" diagram in Chapter 9 that shows how area spells work. I wish I had something similar for combat reach.

2) I don't have too many minis. Are you aware of any good cardboard "counters" or markers that can be used to represent creatures of various sizes?

Thanks!

Sorry if this is lame, but I'm new to the rules.

In the combat section, it says that Size Modifier is added to both "Attack Bonus" and "Armor Class."

According to Table 8-1 (Size Modifiers), does this mean that a Colossal creature gets -8 on its Attack Roll and -8 on its AC?

And does this mean that a Fine creature attacking a Colossal creature would effectively get a +16 bonus? (-8 to AC for the Colossal, and +8 to Attack Roll for Fine creature).

I imagine I'm just misunderstanding this.

Thanks
George

I'm going to be DM'ing a PF game. I bought the hardcover books, but in case my players want to wait a while before making the hardcover purchase, is there any kind of free, LEGAL download of the basic rules?

Thanks!
George

Hi there, just got the Core Rulebook and I don't see a lot of info on hit points for PC's.

From what I could piece together, here is what I think is supposed to happen:
-At 1st level, PC's get max hit points + CON bonus
-At 2nd level and beyond, they roll their hit die (d10, d12, etc) and take the results of the roll + CON bonus and add that to their existing hp

But what threw me off was this comment on page 31 (2nd edition book), in the paragraph titled "Favored Class":

"Whenever a character gains a level in his favored class, he receives either +1 hit point or +1 skill rank."

Does this mean a PC only gains 1hp per level? Or is it an ADDITIONAL +1 to his hit points? (so for a Barbarian gaining 2nd level, you'd roll a d12 + CON bonus + 1hp)?

Need a little help please! :)

George