Paul Zagieboylo's page

I know this was mentioned earlier but it's still true. Archetype-based multiclassing is the way it always should have been done, and it works so, so well. Every class has its "core kit" that you can't change, and then class feats are how you make your bard different from every other bard in the universe.

"My bard can play two songs at once, on a single instrument."
"My bard knows everything that has ever happened, every story ever told around a campfire or to a child in her cradle."
"My bard channels Sarenrae's holy sunlight to redeem the repentant and punish the guilty."
"My bard has a spellbook to hold all of the goofy, special-purpose stuff that I don't need very often."

You see how neatly the multiclass archetype fits in with the others? Making your "uniquifier" be "a weakened version of another class" just works.

I don't know, I think having to take hours and hours to fail makes perfect sense. Just think of it, a wizard slaving over their spellbook for hours on something that they can normally dash off in a few minutes: "This doesn't make sense! Why does it not work? Ugh, maybe I dropped a comma or negative sign or something in this section, let me do it out the long boring way... ... ... What in the Abyss, it still doesn't work!?" &c for several hours until they step away from it to clear their head.

(Yes, I am a mathematician and programmer, why do you ask?)

Time to necro this thread! I transferred this into a more accessible format for my players, and encountered a handful of typos, questions, and so forth while doing so.

• Does Irrigation have any purpose? It doesn't seem like it, if the rivers created are normally considered non-navigable (which I assume is true because of the Boating feat Canal Aptitude, which makes them navigable). I added a bonus 1/2 Food production for any farmland that shares a hex with a river (including an Irrigation canal) or freshwater lake.
  
• Wooden Walls have no skill entry for construction; it should be Defense DC 15.
  
• Planning Bureau has no description.
  
• The descriptions and effects for Thieves' Den and Thieves' Guild seem to be pretty much copied from one another.
  
• I regularized the "improved shopping" effect of buildings, because it was just too confusing. All "improved shopping" effects stack to a limit of three levels above the settlement's real level. If my players want to build multiple temples in one city, I don't care enough to stop them.
  
• I regularized the "upgrade multiple structures" effect too, just for Temples, Castles, and Universities. This also has the effect of being able to upgrade two identical small structures into a single big structure; I'm fine with this.
  
• Trade Commodities was incompletely renamed to Sell Commodities throughout. I recommend a big search.
  
• A few missing entries in the big table at the top of Skills, most notably Build Structure (but there were a few others, I didn't take notes, sorry!)

On the whole: thank you so much for putting this all together so concisely!

Without the party's interference, Tartuccio will EVENTUALLY lead the Sootscales to victory over the mitflits. After all, he can almost mince through the whole hive with his own sickle, if he ever gets off his duff and starts actually helping. After this, under his leadership the Sootscales will quickly become a serious problem for the newborn nation. I would have Tartuccio build his own kingdom starting from the Sootscale Mine hex (probably RIGHT NEXT to the PCs), attracting any remnants of the Stag Lord bandits, other kobold and goblinoid tribes, and possibly even the Lizard King's followers, and opening diplomatic relations with M'botuu. No one says he needs a charter, if he's charismatic enough to attract followers all on his own. (Well, the King-Regent would probably say that he needs a charter, but... too bad for him.) This would set up quite some diplomatic tensions as the two realms race to grab land, possibly from each other. It might even give you an excuse to introduce the warfare rules early!

I don't think you'll ever see Svetlana's wedding ring again, though!

On page 55, it says Bokken currently has a handful of assorted potions in inventory to sell to the PCs. This really doesn't make any sense? He's an alchemist, he ought to have elixirs and other alchemical items. It seems like this probably didn't get updated correctly from 1st edition.

I'm planning to change it to a small assortment of minor and lesser elixirs of life, some lesser mutagens (especially cognitive and serene), maybe a couple of bombs or other tools like silversheen. Any particular recommendations?

A lot of the early encounters are full of -1-level mooks, who really will just perish if any PC even glares sternly at them. Any PC party is just going to mince their way through these guys. Once they level out of the -1-level mooks (I think the fight with Kressle is their final scripted appearance) things should get a bit less one-sided. Even the 0-level mooks hanging out with the Stag Lord are considerably sturdier, although Amiri can still wipe them out three at a time if she rolls well.

Lady Aldori's reward for saving the manor is huge, more than enough for everyone to buy their own horses before they leave. I strongly recommended to my players that they do so, although I changed the date of the party so that if they decided not to, they would still get to Oleg's just in time if they force-marched on the last day.

Yeah... these are pretty much the same changes I ended up making. It really seems like whoever was writing the camping system cared more about campfire cuisine than, like, math. Because the math doesn't work, at all. It virtually guarantees an encounter every single night, often two, sometimes three. That's just not playable.

My changes were slightly less sweeping than yours, but I definitely ended up with a lot of the same things you did, particularly "everyone has time for one activity before dinner and bedtime." I kept the increased chance of encounters for doing camping activities (although I reduced it a little), but I improved the Camouflage Campsite activity a lot, and I changed the roll to only once per night (unless you critically fail at Preparing a Campsite, which is still an immediate bonus encounter check).

I haven't had the companions show up yet, so I haven't yet had to make any decisions there, but your changes seem reasonable. I'm not going to let my PCs adventure with more than two companions at a time, so I won't have to worry about too many of them doing things at once.

I also granted an extra 2 influence points for saving each of the NPCs during the next scene. My players did a GREAT job at the feast though, so this was enough to max them out with a few of the NPCs, and I had them ride with Maegar Varn on the way to Nivakta's Crossing so they could get the last point they needed with him. For the others, they'll show up here and there. Having them meet up at Oleg's or out among the Stolen Lands is the best idea. Having an adventuring party with all five of the feast companions strains belief a little (I just can't see any way that Linzi and Jaethal will get along), but I'm going to have Amiri, Harrim, and Linzi show up at Oleg's the next time my players get back there, while Valerie and Jaethal will show up at some point later.

Just wrote this for one of my PCs, who was trying to gather rumors in Nivakta's Crossing early in Chapter 3.

Although most of what you hear is just more burbling about the Varnlings' passage, an old fisherman tells a spine-chilling tale. "A bridge old Davik once had made, down south on the Shrike below the cascade. He charged the toll for shepherd or knave, but the bandits said they wouldn't pay. They burned his house and killed his hounds, they cut the bridge and left Davik to drown. But no thief could build the bridge once more: for in the dark of night, old Davik crawls back on the shore. From the bandits that him they slew, old Davik now demands his due. Of old Davik's bridge, just one rope yet stands. But the toll is no coin struck by mortal hands. Heed my tale and listen well, or Davik's spear shall be your knell." As the fisherman finishes his story, the shadows that have gathered around him fall back, and the torches seem to light him properly once more.

All the other GMs out there, any fun experiences to share?

NPCs don't follow PC building rules, as a 11th level "Barbarian" NPC 31 is accurate.

Rules link

These companions are called out as being specifically built using the PC rules, because it's expected that the actual PCs may want to adventure with them from time to time.

I was just doing some quick auditing of the companions in the Companion Guide, more to confirm my own understanding than anything else. I can't figure out how the 11th-level version of Amiri has AC 31, unless she's benefitting from her full +4 Dex bonus instead of only the +2 allowed by her hide armor: 10 + 13 (Trained) + 4 (Item) + 2 (Dex) = 29. Am I missing something here? Barbarians don't get Armor Expertise until 13th, so that's not it.

Valerie at 9th-level seems to be correct at AC 28, having been denied her +1 Dex by her plate armor. Only Amiri seems off.

Honestly I'm not sure there's any way to redesign the Test of the Axe so Villamor doesn't win it automatically, without changing the event beyond recognition. He's 2 levels higher than the PCs, he's an axe specialist, barbarians have pretty good single-target DPR anyway, and this event is a test of who can wield a greataxe to do the most DPR to a small number of relatively tough targets. If he didn't have Giant's Lunge he would probably have Whirlwind Strike instead and could murder all the logs in a single round (especially if he found a way to Rage beforehand!).

Any ideas about Villamor's Jousting strategy? It just doesn't make any sense as written. I would definitely allow a cavalier with Unseat to use that action in place of the jousting described in the AP (the main difference is that it doesn't allow a defensive Reflex save on a successful hit, which seems like a good advantage to give someone who actually knows what they're doing).

As far as I can tell, every instance of the words "west" and "east" in chapter 9 is backwards. Every... single... one. Did the maps for this area get mirrored from 1e, so that the spiral would be the opposite of Pharasma's holy symbol, as mentioned in room A9? (I checked and the map on p. 414 has this correct, but every single room description on both floors is the opposite of the map.) The descriptions in Chapter 2 Part 7 of the top part of the Candlemere structure are correct.

It sounds like what you're worried about is an unwinnable event working its way into your game.

Having read through this thread, that's not what I'm worried about. There are other ways to deal with events (even direct adventuring!), and they mostly aren't make-or-break anyway. What I'm worried about is particular skills that seem to be total gotchas: if you don't have them at least Trained, eventually you simply can't do anything with your kingdom anymore, and there is no escape hatch.

• Agriculture has been mentioned: if you don't have Agriculture, you can't build farms, and everyone starves to death.
  
• Engineering: without Engineering, you can't Clear Hexes in order to build settlements. (The actual settlement doesn't absolutely require Engineering, but Clearing the Hex first does, and it's required.) Also required for work sites and roads.
  
• Arts or Trade: is there any other way to get Luxury Commodities?
  
• All of the skills used to Repair Reputation: Arts, Trade, Engineering, Intrigue. These really aren't optional; sometimes Ruin is unavoidable.
  
• Warfare, unless you're all right with pyrrhic victories at best in every mass combat ever.
  
• Some way to recover each of the persistent army conditions, especially Defeated, Damaged, Lost, and Pinned. There are no real overlaps here; you absolutely need one of Defense or Folklore, one of Exploration or Wilderness, and one of Engineering or Magic (but you likely had both of those anyway). Defeated armies are probably easier to deal with by disbanding and reforming them.

I second the being careful with fire sentiment. Last time I played an alchemist, I burned down two ships I was traveling on.

Eh. As well all know, a ship in an adventure game is nothing more than a device which is designed to burn, sink, break apart, explode, or otherwise suffer some form of ill-explained existence failure within a day after the last hero steps aboard. So I wouldn't worry about burning your ship down around you, because at worst you're only hastening its inevitable doom.

(Seriously, when's the last time you ever heard of heroes actually getting where they wanted to be on the first try by sailing there? Yeah, me neither. Shipwrecks are dramatic, and therefore mandatory.)

My point was, you can use the CRB as an Expert Beginner Box (if that's not a contradiction). It's about 95% compatible with the BB, where they overlap, and the very few discrepancies might not even be noticed the first time through. If you're not happy with the amount of rules made available by the CRB, throw them out! Don't understand combat maneuvers? Gone! Can't figure out what a particular spell is supposed to do? Strike it from the list! Can't get your head around the intricacies of two-weapon fighting? Don't do that, then! The game is surprisingly robust to home modifications of this nature. Even fairly major (but complicated) systems like ability damage can be removed: if you just ignore all mentions of it, and avoid using spells that deal it or monsters for whom it's a primary mechanic, the game lurches along just fine, at least through 10th level or so.

As you gain more familiarity with the game, you can (and probably should) consider reinstating some of the systems you threw out during your transition from the Beginner Box. Regardless, Paizo is absolutely never, ever going to make an "extension" for the beginner box, because doing so would very obviously split their customer base, which is automatic death for any niche industry.

Paizo already makes an "expert rules" version of the Beginner Box. It's called the Core Rulebook. No one said you have to use all the complicated rules in the book; as a GM you can slim it down as much as you like without really breaking the system too badly at low levels.

Spoiler:

Oops! Looks like that little inconsistency slipped through dev/editing. Yes, you're correct. The map and the description in D4 are accurate, while the text of D10 should read "He bears the glowing red sigil of Daegros on his left hand, which can be used to open the door to area D13." The text of D13 should read "The door to this room is locked with an arcane lock effect that can be dispelled by a creature wearing Daegros's red sigil."

Ok, I'm officially in love. I especially like the various sorts of dungeons. I have a few questions:

It says dungeons are "randomly generated"; is this just that their location in the overworld is randomly generated, or is the dungeon interior also random? That is, are these like traditional instances except that their entrance wanders about, or are they more like Nethack levels or Diablo 2 lairs, which are generally "themed" but slightly (or significantly) different every time you find them? Random generation is tough but it could be pretty cool if it's done well, much better than "oh look, time for yet another week clearing Blackwing Lair."

I would assume that quest dungeons are considerably less random than the basic ones, because it has to tie into your quest properly. How precise are dungeon quests about telling you where to go?

As a followup question, how are dungeons found? Similar to bandit hideouts? Especially for those that generate monsters on the overworld to hassle my town, I would want to be able to let some of the monsters "escape" so I could follow them back to their lair.

How exactly are type 3 dungeons different from just separate parts of the overworld? If other, unaffiliated parties can end up crashing into my adventure, that would seem very confusing to me.

Are type 2 and 3 dungeons common enough that a mid-size corporation could have a regularly scheduled "weekly countryside pacification night", with a reasonable assurance that something worth the effort of clearing out will turn up each week in the territory the corporation considers "theirs"? In the same vein, if I find a dungeon entrance while I'm out exploring, but I know I'm not going to be able to get to PvE night this week, can I claim it and (later) hand it to someone who will be there? Or as gruffling suggests, sell it on the open market? ("Cheap loot! First come, first served! Bring friends! Delivery not included. Loot not guaranteed: some pacification may be required. ExploreCo is not responsible for customer satisfaction.") I admit, I'm approaching this from the perspective of a WoW raiding guild leader fed up with the excessive theme-park-osity, so I probably have preconceived notions that don't translate cleanly to PFO. If so, please set me straight.

How much thought has been given to having multiple ways to defeat a dungeon? My dream in a game like this has always been the "captured by ogres" adventure: a dungeon full of optional mini-quests and side areas to make the final battle easier. Sure, you could skip straight to your trial (and execution), but if you do that you get to fight the ogre king, his grand vizier, their four best friends, and about three dozen guards, while you're chained up and disarmed, and they pretty much curb-stomp your whole party (unless you're way overleveled). Or you could break out of jail early, sneak around the castle a bit, get your stuff from the prison lockup, bribe one of the lieutenants, lock one of them in a closet, assassinate another one, poison some of the guards, "dispose" of most of the rest in out-of-the-way locations, and sabotage the vizier's magic staff. Then when you get to the big trial scene, you're only left with the king, the vizier (who can't cast his good spells), their two remaining best friends (one of whom works for you), and maybe 4 or 5 guards (two of whom are still suffering aftereffects from your poison); still not a trivial fight, but at least a level-appropriate one. Would scenarios like this be possible?

Everyone here has some great advice. I'll add my own two cents. Rule 0: There will not be a quiz. The system is surprisingly resilient to GMs screwing up the occasional corner case or whatever. So you should read through the books you have, but don't worry about the niggling little details, just make sure you have the major rules solid: how to hit things and keep from being hit yourself, how to sling spells, how to use skills. You're already ahead of the game; you know enough to find the forum and ask questions!

The Hero's Handbook intro solo adventure is really good. Work your way all the way through it. Take it slow; set aside a couple hours for yourself at least. Don't just read it and say to yourself "ok, I get it", because you don't. Pull out your dice, your pawns, and your map, and do whatever it says to do. If you're not actually doing it, you won't remember it; nothing against your memory, this is just how people work. This should give you the basics of how most encounters work, and how the system deals with most situations.

Pretty much anything you do in Pathfinder works as follows: roll a d20 (that's the big round one that goes up to 20), add some "bonuses" mostly dependent on character features, and compare the result to some specific number listed in the adventure. If you tied or beat the target, you succeeded and something good happens, or something bad doesn't happen. If your result is lower than the target, something good doesn't happen, or something bad happens. Ties always go to whichever character was rolling the die. Examples:

• To hit someone with your sword, roll a d20, add your "attack bonus", and compare it to your target's "armor class". If your roll is at least the target's AC, you hit him; roll whatever the damage is for your weapon. If not, you missed, or the target's armor protected him, or whatever; in any case, no damage.
  
• When someone throws a spell at you (usually), roll a d20, add your appropriate "saving throw modifier", and compare it to the spell's "save Difficulty Class". If you rolled at least the DC, you "resist" the spell, which causes most spells to have reduced or no effect; otherwise, the spell hits you full force. Not all spells permit a saving throw (but most do); check the individual spell for details.
  
• To pick a lock or disarm a trap, roll a d20, add your "Disable Device skill modifier", and compare it to the lock's "Difficulty Class". If you rolled high enough, the lock's open, or the trap's safe; otherwise, try again. Assuming something doesn't show up to distract you in the meantime, of course. If you blew it bad enough (more than 5 under the DC) trying to disarm a trap, you set it off on yourself instead.
  

Once you've gone through the HH solo adventure, read through Black Fang. The encounters should look pretty similar to the stuff you saw in the HH. Grab Valeros's character sheet, which came with the box, and send him through a couple of the Black Fang encounters, to see how he handles it. Sit down in your dining room (or whatever), set up the map and such, get some pawns for the Valeros and the bad guys, and go to town. Valeros is a fighter, so he's pretty tough. He should be able to take most encounters up to CR1 on his own, although he might be pretty beat up afterwards. If he really gets into trouble, have Kyra show up and you can learn how to get her to throw spells (she's not a terrible melee fighter either, if it comes to that).

After that, if you actually want to play a game for real, Pathfinder isn't a solo game. That's just the way it is. You need some more people to help you play. Find 3 or 4 friends who want to play also (you really want to have at least 3 players, plus you the GM), and get them all together for 4-5 hours of fun on a Saturday afternoon or something. Lay in some beer and pizza to stave off starvation. Have them pick from the premade characters (make sure someone picks Kyra or they might be in trouble). Then read the intro for Black Fang out loud (dramatic narrator voice recommended), and set up the map for room 1. Good luck! And tell us how it goes!

To meta game a bit in a previous encounter with some natives you should have gotten a talisman that can be used to defeat it. I recall this encounter somewhat.

Yes, this dispel evil MacGuffin has been mentioned several times. We do have it, and it doesn't actually help as much as you'd think. It's an auto-win, IF you beat the demon's SR17 (CL9, 60% success) AND it fails its will save (CR17, the demon needs a 10, so 45% failure), for a total of a 27% chance of this thing actually working. And if it doesn't work... nothing happens. NOTHING.

Magic jar, is the shadow demon in the barbarian? What exactly is going on there because dominated or possessed barbarians is a bad, bad situation.

You are not kidding here. Our GM is being nice and saying that the other use of dispel evil will auto-dispel the magic jar, even though it's only supposed to work on enchantments. Because otherwise, well, we don't exactly have any other way to get the demon out of the barbarian, since we don't have access to dispel magic. I suppose with protection from evil and a lucky re-save we could pacify our barbarian long enough to tie him up and/or find and smash the magic jar soul gem, if we can find it in time. But of course, we don't have protection from evil either; neither the bard nor sorcerer took it, and we didn't buy a scroll or something (this, here, is something we should have done).