Paldasan's page

All I'm gonna say is that somehow poisoning comes across as evil or at least not very nice, but poisoned people (in-game) still have a chance to live, time to seek healing.
But immolating an entire group of people with a fireball is somehow okay. Listening to the screams as their body's ignite, no problemo.

There are lots of double standards in the game, but people need to use their suspension of disbelief more actively, get into their character's head and not apply their own views and opinions to their characters, or the characters of the other players.

Except that one guy who always plays a TWF elf ranger. You KNOW there is no suspension of disbelief going on there...

downerbeautiful wrote:

Now don't be hasty! And, wow, that's a lot of blood; maybe those classes/archetypes have like, twice as much blood as a normal person of their races?

I be more worried about what happened in your family to give you abyssal, draconic, and celestial bloodlines... Especially since your an Ifrit Sorcerer.

I'm dealing with the whole multiple bloodlines bizarreness by using that as the explanation for my Pitborn(devil)/Abyssal(demonic)speaking(oracle curse)/Dragon Disciple only having a 5 intelligence. So many bloodlines have taken a toll on his mind.

I would have given him the abyssal eldritch heritage feats but it would have made such a sub-optimal build even worse. Level 6 front-liner with a BAB of 3?!

I've found Paladins to be generally well behaved, it's usually the other players at the table to go out of their way to make life miserable for the Paladin, even the other 'good' party members who will be as flexible as possible with 'good' in order to screw over the Paladin. As a result I generally tend to NG and N characters myself just to reduce the opportunity of other players acting out their own personal issues in game.

That said I do have a Paladin in play currently who hasn't encountered players being idiots but I suspect that's because everyone loves him.

G'day peeps,

I've been searching around lately for a decent tracker so I could see more easily which scenarios I had done and if I could line up any story arcs for particular characters, it's always a disappointing feeling when you have done x in a series with one character to later find out you've levelled them out of the (x+1)th. All of the ones I found were well out of date, at least a year and a half, and they were usually PDFs which are a little more difficult to edit on the computer.

So I made my own, it's not finished yet but I'm working on it and I've copied it over to google drive so other people can use it. I'm going through the arcs listed here so if you could help me by adding any arc additions to that thread it would be appreciated. If I have made any mistakes then please let me know in this thread.
I also need to thank the people behind the Golariopedia for their tabulated listing of the first 3 seasons.

PFS Scenario List/Tracker

John Compton wrote:

Glad to hear that being a Pathfinder no longer means being a murder hobo who happens to also be an errand-boy for a random third party. Now people will have to actually be, you know, Pathfinders.

Down with murder hobos!

I've already missed out on 1 PP and most of the scenario's gold specifically because we weren't murdering hobos even though we did loot the 'big boss' that we captured before sending them on their way.

Also usable for rerolls at PFS events?

Hey Jadeite,

Just wanted to suggest upgrading the Conversion Inquisition to green.
While it doesn't have a lot of power on it's own it does make one important contribution. It saves you from having another good ability score. By being able to dump Charisma you can put a little something more into one of the other 4 useful stats for Inquisitors.

Hot water...

As Billy Joel said, It's Only a Matter of Trust.

Let the players keep an eye on it unless something major happens, like poison/ability drain. Sure sometimes a player will skirt the line, particularly in world wide campaigns like PFS but then they're just cheating themselves and the player is usually going to get caught out in other ways, such as having every skill at an exceptional level.

The Spell Component Pouch is a glaring Achilles Heel for the prepped caster. I don't think it's a douche move to target it as such. It's not considered a douche move when you hit the fighter with Will Save Effects every other encounter (which happens in every game I play in as a pickup).

Except that the caster can be hit with the Fort Save Effects every other encounter too, so SCP =/= Will Save Effects.

Quote:

Paldasan wrote:

What I want to know is does the OP make his players get wax for bowstrings, oil for wooden weapons, whetstones for edged or pointed metal weapons, basic smithing tools and an anvil to repair dents and chips in metal armor, leather strips for scabbards and ties? Do archers have to restring their bows at the start of each combat or is it okay for them to walk around with strung bows for hours (stretching the bowstring and making it useless), after rain (does it ever rain?) do players have to get the rust out of their weapons?

I'm not the OP, but I'll answer.

To a certain degree, yes I do. It encourages Skill Usage. Specifically Craft, Profession which are kinda ignored in some games. My players tend to take them and I ensure that there are benefits beyond just not having gear degrade. In the end my goal is not to punish players but to leave them with more well rounded characters. *

I do use a variant magic item crafting system, that doesn't require spellcasting and also offers some non magical masterwork mechanical advantages. So there are strong...

The difference here being the benefits to 'taxing' your BSF and 'rouges' with craft skills and occasional repairs. Taxing the spell component pouch for cheap (the sub 1gp stuff that never has to be bought according to the rules) components provides no long term interest to the spell caster.

Unless of course you encourage them to take craft 'gather body parts' and profession 'find obscure matter' which later gives them the ability to do something they otherwise couldn't.

The idea of a spell component pouch is to allow certain very powerful spellcasters to be disarmed, which is far more damaging an event to a spellcaster than classes with weapons. Having your players spend money on it takes away their opportunity to buy 'cool stuff' in an unequal manner. The BSF doesn't face the same penalty, yet all players need to buy rations in equal amounts (regardless of their build and diet). It's about keeping things equal.

What I want to know is does the OP make his players get wax for bowstrings, oil for wooden weapons, whetstones for edged or pointed metal weapons, basic smithing tools and an anvil to repair dents and chips in metal armor, leather strips for scabbards and ties? Do archers have to restring their bows at the start of each combat or is it okay for them to walk around with strung bows for hours (stretching the bowstring and making it useless), after rain (does it ever rain?) do players have to get the rust out of their weapons?

There are excellent game systems for those who want to get involved in minutiae but Pathfinder wants you to focus on the more exciting things rather than if players have enough dry twigs and kindling to build a fire.

Well done Sibel.

George! I really wanted to vote for an Aussie this round but I'm sorry I just can't.
There are issues that are covered above so I won't repeat them aside from saying that 1d6 per spell level increase seems low, even if it was real damage.

From a concept point of view a flagellant (for metamagic) seems more inline with a Cleric (and it would have been a great move to do a cleric) as flagellation isn't really a spur of the moment thing but something done privately between a person and their god, suiting itself to prepared casters (during preparation) rather than spontaneous.
Secondly by tying in the Flagellant to particular gods in the rules (perhaps by specifying which deities can add Zeal or Fervor to their Inquisitions) you can tie it much more strongly to Golarion and the River Kingdoms. At the moment you've just made an archetype that is popular with a particular god set in the River Kingdoms, and a deity I believe is less in tune with flagellation (being a self inflicted punishment for disobedience which seems more Lawful than Chaotic).

Good luck, I would like to see you in subsequent rounds but I suspect if you do make it it will be because of your Skipping Stone.

My biggest gripe with the archetype is you start off with a level 1 ability called Never Again and by level 8 we're back on it even if it is a diluted form. It's a bit like an alcoholic that quits swearing never to drink again and later on is back on it drinking low alcohol beer (we call that light beer here in Australia as opposed to the reduced calorie version in the US).
But in a game that has people being burnt to death by fireballs, and scantily clad succubi I have no difficulty with actual drug use or drug references.
The difficulties with Fugue Walk and taking the drug can be simplified by making it astral projection as the spell for x hours per day yadda yadda as you've learnt to replicate the out of body experience as a way of mastering your addiction. Or whatever greater minds than me can think of.
I'm still going to give you the vote because the concept is good.

The MAD. MAD! It's MAD I say!
Yeah, Charisma is a nice touch but who's going to roll well enough for all the stats?
Replace Ring the Temple Bell with Stunning Fist, 6th level bonus feat instead of 2nd and Quivering Palm and it's a winner. (Changing it to the 6th gives more of a progression feel, as it's own power progresses).
Think of a way to get rid of the MAD (That's Multiple Ability Dependency for those who don't know, too many stats need to be high) and you've got a winner.
You still get my vote.

Landon, your Water Snake contains elements of another popular assassin called Snake which I find a bit worrying, but many of the actual elements of the archetype I do enjoy.
The sneak attack being restricted to the river is a massive disadvantage.
I feel the King Snake ability could be substituted for something grapple oriented as that would lead players down the mental path towards Hold Under. As others have stated there isn't a strong RK tie which means players are more likely to want to use it based on it's relative power level and it isn't powerful enough meaning it's likely to be shuffled in to a disused corner of the warehouse.

I am going to be voting for you, the deciding factor being your use of the word favoured. If you want to get beyond the 3rd round don't do it again but for now, on behalf of all those in the world who speak English I say Stick it to the man!

:D

I have no problem with the Immolating Strike ability. A skilled rogue may well be able to cause sparks and set their opponent alight. I'd suggest some restrictions on it however (like striking metal armor, having two metal weapons, one hand holding flint). I am concerned that there is no real abilities directly related to arson or the use of chemicals or any ability related to controlling fire (rather than just causing it). There is also no further mention regarding their fighting style, oil soaked projectiles and vials of flammable liquids. I look forward to hearing what sort of difficulties you encountered in getting the archetype done as there is a lot of polish missing from this one.

Someone 'thought' they had seen my item The Wizard's Companion but it hasn't turned up in this list. I fear the worst.

@Paldasan think I remember the name refresh me what it did.

@Saint Caleth I remember the name, saw it a few times but there were a few items that were anti wizard items. I hope yours isn't the one that randomly b*cth slapped anyone casting a spell in its vicinity, that one stuck out in my mind for the wrong reasons. I don't think it was your was a nullifier if I recall correctly.

A brooch that combined light with an image of the holder up to 15ft away.

Did The Wizard's Companion turn up? I know it wasn't a particularly good name, and there were problems that occurred to me as time went on.

Paldasan wrote:

I really like this item but I agree with Joana's assessment of the time required to scrub a 1 sq. ft. area, especially if it's just a dry block of soap. People, I want you to go to the bathroom and pull out a new bar of soap and then colour in a square on the bathroom wall. Takes a bit longer than 2 seconds right (I split my 6 second rounds into ~4 seconds for a standard and ~2 seconds for a move action).

My only other gripe is it's nearly 1kg weight. 2lbs is one heck of a large bar of soap, even for a filthy seer. ;)

I do like the 10ft limitation on wall thickness, though 5 is probably enough for most uses (think of a very short person lying down, there's ya 5ft thickness) as it probably stops you from looking through the walls of a keep but let's you look through most internal walls.

Congratulations, I'm looking forward to seeing your next entry.

Thank you!

The 10ft was quite deliberate, since many such items really limit the creative uses you can put them to just because they're sized to only look through doors. Going past that limit lets you start thinking beyond just finding out what's in the next room.

Also, items and abilities like this are a great excuse for GMs to start using more symbol spells and monsters with gaze attacks.

I picked the weight based on the Soul Soap from the APG. I guess there's a lot of filler material compared to active ingredients. :)

Lol.

Excellent thinking then on the 'uses beyond looking in the next room' which is what my poor brain was clearly limiting itself to.

I'd suggest that the Soul Soap (flavour text calls it a small bar) is a flat out mistake in weight rather than a typo. But this is nothing new in a world where we sometimes have rings weighing a pound and is something that should be something picked up by the editors anyway.

Jason Bulmahn! There's a mistake with your soap!

Good item! This one never popped up for me during voting. I wish it had - it's better than a lot of other quiver items that were submitted. I don't instantly think that spider-themed = drow-themed, personally, and I wish there were some supporting material in a popular campaign setting that would break that perception so that arachnid-themed material wouldn't instantly be slapped with the accusation of pandering to the drow fans. The quality of the writing here is very good overall.

Editing nitpick: Spells should be presented in lower-case and italicized.

Oh where oh where would we find a popular campaign setting company that could produce a few spider themed / non drown oriented modules? ;)

As for the item it strikes me as both overwhelming and underwhelming. Outside of combat it seems really nice and handy, inside it seems ripe for abuse. It clearly isn't designed for an archer type character (20 arrows in a quiver means you're changing quiver mid-combat) but it does give 20 uses a day to a grapple/strength based combatant to get within range of that flying nasty. I really do like that ability to allow the grapple monkey to get involved but the potential abuse man... wow.

Looking forward to see your next one. Forests are full of spiders right?

I really like this item but I agree with Joana's assessment of the time required to scrub a 1 sq. ft. area, especially if it's just a dry block of soap. People, I want you to go to the bathroom and pull out a new bar of soap and then colour in a square on the bathroom wall. Takes a bit longer than 2 seconds right (I split my 6 second rounds into ~4 seconds for a standard and ~2 seconds for a move action).
My only other gripe is it's nearly 1kg weight. 2lbs is one heck of a large bar of soap, even for a filthy seer. ;)

I do like the 10ft limitation on wall thickness, though 5 is probably enough for most uses (think of a very short person lying down, there's ya 5ft thickness) as it probably stops you from looking through the walls of a keep but let's you look through most internal walls.

Congratulations, I'm looking forward to seeing your next entry.

My spellcasting characters will henceforth set aside 25k in anticipation of this item being published. It seems like every time you ask the GM how much time has elapsed since the casting of your spell, the answer is always a few rounds/minutes/hours after the duration of your spell.

I think that has a lot to do with the vagueness of time in a module. Yes combat is measured in 6 second increments but when it comes to searching, talking, fart-arsing around the player/character time spent can get confusing. If you were to sit down and time a basic dungeon crawl round by round you might find that they've gone through the entire place in about 20 minutes. But that doesn't factor in the time spent picking one's nose while waiting for someone to volunteer to open that rather obvious door, or getting into position to lift up that heavy beam lying on that poor goblin you need to get coherent answers out of. So GM's make a guess that's long enough to make sure rounds/level are finished, minutes/level are being pushed and hours are still passing by.

As for the item. I love it. It isn't a must have but it's a nice to have and will make anyone who needs buffing spells to be effective consider it strongly.

Thanks for all your hard work Metz.

Luke, congratulations. I'll be sure to pester you soon, just for the sake of continuity.

Ben, welcome. I hope I can catch up with you at a con this year.

Aaron.

How do you feel about wondrous items that seem a little... okay very over-powered? As someone who has ran a few games I'm seeing a number of items that just make me shudder, either because the power/cost ratio is well off or it is just too extreme. How do you treat them in the voting? What if it is up against an item that fails on other levels?

I'm also seeing item trends, at least one of which disturbs me because I think it suggests both DMs and players don't really understand how to use a fairly large segment of the game.

Woo! I avoided it, but I did make an arguably similar error which for obvious reasons I will not elaborate on.

I figure there must be quite a few if SKR felt the need to comment on it. I haven't particularly noticed it myself but 1) I'm not a judge with years of writing under my belt and 2) I'd never let the flavour text guide my efforts to find new uses for an item. ;)

While I've seen quite a few that are SAK or SIAK I'm not auto-rejecting them. As SKR pointed out in Advice no. 27 these are just more general guidelines. There have been a couple of SIAK items that I've liked and given them the nod and there are other items that don't appear to fail any of the obvious auto-rejects that I've voted against simply because they look a lot like a desperate player's attempt to make his favourite character a battlefield god. Surely their DM 'must' allow their item if it makes it into the Top 32!

Braaaaains.

Err I mean I am quite happy with the delay. It does make me read both rather than just reading the first one and disliking it when the second one could be so much worse. Even when I see repeat items I will re-read and maybe, just maybe there was a nugget of gold I missed the first time around. ;)