Pickguy's page

Not sure where else to put this. One thing my gms in the area have been dying for is minis of bartenders, barmaids, dancing girls, and townsfolk in general. The only set I have ever seen is a Reaper metal set. Anyone have any idea if Paizo would do a builder set in the future, similar to a We Be Goblins, but maybe like a We Be Townsfolk? Would there be any support on here for something like that? Who would I contact to get this idea in their collective heads?

Something came up in a recent home game, and I need a clarification on a rule about the Magus. The character in question was a 2nd level Elven Magus who was designed as PFS legal.

The player stated during a dungeon crawl that he cast Shocking Grasp and held it in his hand to be prepared for combat. Once combat started, he used the Magus ability to channel the spell through his sword as a melee attack, rather than taking the ranged touch attack. He stated that this was a free action, and that he also had a standard action to take, so he took a second melee attack, at his same base attack bonus. He hit with both and ended up doing the 1d8 + 2d6 + Str for the weapon and shocking grasp on the free attack, and another 1d8 + Str on the standard attack. I believe he took a -2 on one of the melee attacks because he said it was an off-hand attack.

My question is: Is this the correct interpretation? It seems too much to me to be doing 2d8 + 2d6 + (Str x 2) at 2nd level, with only a -2 on one of the attacks. My interpretation was that the melee attack takes the place of the touch attack, so it would be a standard action to make the attack that channels the held spell. He would still be doing 1d8 + 2d6 + Str, but there's no second attack, or an attack as a free action. It just seems a bit much, and if every single combat will be started with a prepared Magus doing that much damage, I may have to ban the class from my homebrew games. That is a bit excessive for a 2nd level character. Is this right?

I've been running games for a few years now. I have one glaring hole in my DM toolkit, and that is simply this: I have no real skill when it comes to making combats against a mostly-ranged party. This is unfortunate, since I keep ending up with ranged characters. At one point, I had a single melee tank, and four ranged characters. I am really having a lot of trouble figuring out how to make this work. My players are usually tactically smart, so they fan out to avoid AoE attacks, and they typically stay at the extreme edge of range so the monsters would have to take at least a double move to get near them. This has been killing me, because, no matter how I up the CR, combat is a joke this way and no one really has fun. Can anyone give me some good tips on managing ranged characters and making combat more challenging for my players?

I have a friend in the Sacramento area who is thinking about joining PFS, anyone have information on the group up there? I'm about 90 miles south, so I don't know the PFSers from that area.

I'm sure someone has talked about this somewhere, but I just noticed it. The Guide lists Rangers as a d8 Hit Point class, but the Core book lists them at d10. Which are they actually considered for PFS?

I haven't seen it specified anywhere, so I just thought I'd put the question out there.

Can a character jump into the First Steps series at any point? If a PFS event is running Part 2, and a new player shows up, can that new player just jump into it at that point with a new character? I wouldn't think that this would foul anything up, since the intro series are self-contained scenarios that give the same XP credit as any other module.

The reason I ask is because one of our tables at an upcoming event is going to run Part 2, and we may not have enough characters who went through Part 1 but haven't yet played Part 2. It's gonna screw things up a bit if a person can't play Part 2 without playing Part 1. Basically, the players who did Part 1 last week will be locked in for a couple of weeks while we complete Part 2, and then Part 3. I played in Part 1 last week, but my wife is joining PFS, and this will be her first session. Either she can join my table, and play Part 2 without playing Part 1, or I can switch to the other table to play the normal module with her. However, if the only people who can play the Part 2 are the ones who have Part 1 credit, I'm locked in at the other table.

My PFS mentor is being really cool about it and working with us, but I wondered what would be the official answer, so I'm not stepping on any toes.

So, I was interested in picking up a copy of Elves of Golarion. I clicked over to Amazon, only to find that the lowest asking price for a used copy appears to be $900.00. I'm not sure who in their right mind would pay nine-hundred dollars for a small book about one specific race in a tabletop RPG. Just thought I would point this out. If this book is out of print, and if people think that charging this much for it is reasonable, it may be a smart idea for Paizo to start printing more of this book.

This may seem like an odd post, but with all the division on the boards about rules, and the occasional bitter word between well-intentioned communicants, I thought it would be nice to have a unifying topic.

Playing PFS has honestly increased my understanding of RP games in general, and has given me chances to spread the enjoyment of gaming in general. It is wonderful to add a more social aspect to a gaming genre that suffers from a negative social stereotype.

Keep in mind when reading these posts, I am not saying that PFS has replaced homebrew games for me. Rather, PFS is a completely different sort of game to me. And, public games are not better than private games. I just got out from playing a public game, so I may be slightly more upbeat on public games just now. Anyway, that's the spirit of this post.

My favorite thing about PFS so far has been getting out to games at stores. Even when I play with the exact same GM as I do at private games, it feels completely different. Ten PFS players sitting down at different tables, gathering just to enjoy a fun activity together, and knowing that all of us are genuinely sharing in the enjoyment, is a feeling that just can't be gained from home games. Where private games allow a tremendous amount of roleplaying, public games really open a player up to the wider world. It is wonderful sitting down at a table, looking around, and being forced to think, "Okay, where do I fit into this group? What can I do to help us succeed?" Private games just don't provide this sort of thing, since you plan out way in advance what you'll be doing and when. PFS has really helped my improvisation in terms of combat, skills, and roleplay.

One other thing I really enjoy about PFS is that it gives a solid framework to build upon, with set limitations. I know that some people thrive on a completely limitless world, but I enjoy knowing exactly where the boundaries are, so that I can plan accordingly. PFS gives me a chance to be confident in my balanced characters, knowing I probably won't be completely blindsided by some super min/maxer with a PVP bloodlust who built himself using only vaguely worded and esoteric abilities.

Even in private games, PFS gives me a solid framework for my characters to live within. It is great being able to kick back at home and read about the campaign setting in huge detail.

It is even nicer being able to participate in the community here. Being part of this community really makes the world seem bigger and better. Reading someone's post and then meeting them later for a game is just awesome. Maybe my inner nerd is showing, but having a solid community built around this just cements the awesomeness in my mind. As brutal as the commentary can get on here sometimes, it really makes a huge difference knowing that people are constantly building and rebuilding the world. It makes the game feel more alive.

I would be interested to know what some of the people on these boards feel are the best and/or most enjoyable aspects of PFS.

I've been running games for several years now, on a few different systems. I've never run in PFS before, but I am planning to start soon. I've noticed a trend here, and thought I would ask for opinions on it.

It seems like being a PFS GM requires a much stronger backbone than being a GM at a homebrew game.

The reason I say this is because, in a homebrew game, a GM is free to handwave things in or out of the system. All of the arguments lately about reskinning animal companions aren't an issue so much in homebrew games. "Can I reskin my cat to a snow leopard?" "Sure, as long as it doesn't break things later. We'll see how it goes."

In PFS, the law is set down (mostly) in stone. A GM puts their back against it, and makes calls from there. It seems like a PFS GM has to be able eat nails for breakfast, to withstand the onslaught of people dancing (accidentally or intentionally) around the rules. I know my local GM always does a great job of handling situations where people try to step outside of the rules. I usually tend to be a much more accommodating GM and try to use a gentle hand when guiding players, and am a bit nervous about having to put on that steel gauntlet.

That being said... do any of you experienced GMs have any advice on how to handle this? I'm sure it's something that can be learned; growing a GM spine is a skill that needs to be cultivated. Any advice on the mindset you adopt when going in?

So, Seekers of Secrets was replaced in the Core Assumption by the Field Guide. However, important bits and pieces are still only present in Seekers of Secrets. This isn't a complaint, since the book has a fairly tiny price tag. However, I have noticed that things such as generic wayfinders, rules for Pathfinder training, layout and information about the Grand Lodge, etc seem to be reserved for this book. The Field Guide, while a good resource, doesn't really touch on a lot of these topics.

That being said, my question is this... exactly how much of Seekers of Secrets is still legal? I ask this for a specific reason. I saw posted recently a question about learning the handsign language in the Pathfinder Tales book Prince of Wolves. Someone mentioned that it might be a usable language later on, via a chronicle sheet for the book. However, in Seekers of Secrets, it says that handsign is a universal Pathfinder skill, and that, "...every Pathfinder picks up a handful during training, often relating to combat, directions, and hazards..." (Seekers of Secrets, pg. 25).

Is it safe to assume that all of the Pathfinder PCs in my PFS games should be able to communicate this way? The same passage provides context for dialect issues with handsigns, but suggests that most should be easily translated. The assumption with PCs is that every PFS character has gone through the training, and the book states that every person who goes through the training picks up at least a few basic signs. Is this still legal and accepted?

Further than that, how much is legal for my character to understand? One of my fellow players is a deaf Oracle, who has taken the extra skill point in Linguistics to read lips (as approved in a post on these boards). However, could we both assume that we are able to communicate effectively via the Pathfinder handsign language? He would still need to read lips to communicate with non-Pathfinders (ie, most NPCs in modules once the scenario gets off the ground). Would we be able to safely assume that our characters could communicate effectively in the handsign language?

So, I just signed up for my first Pathfinder Society game ever, with a DM friend who wants to run a new group. I have been reading furiously, trying to find all the ways making a Society character is different from making a generic 3.5 character. However, I keep finding references to day jobs, and how they impact game play. My question is, where are the rules for day jobs listed? I checked the core rule book and could not find them anywhere in the index. I have seen a reference to the Profession skill, but I am not sure if that is the case. Can someone please explain day jobs to me, such as: is there a list of them somewhere? How do I pick one, and what are the benefits of each one? Is there a table I can consult in one of the books? I am really lost on this one, hopefully someone can steer me in the right direction. Thank you in advance, guys.