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After searching the message boards, this came up a couple of times, but there was no definitive response. In a PFS game I was running yesterday, an alchemist was rolling Craft: Alchemy checks to identify found potions. This morning, it was pointed out to me that he may have been interpreting that ability incorrectly. RAW states:
In addition, an alchemist can use Craft (alchemy) to identify potions as if using detect magic. He must hold the potion for 1 round to make such a check. The clause "as if using detect magic" seems to muddle what had been, up to that point, a clear rule. Detect magic doesn't allow you to identify a potion. It allows you to identify auras. I believe the phrase "As if using Spellcraft" would also have been easily understood. I would house-rule this in favor of the player. But since this is PFS, I feel like I need to make sure I'm being consistent with the larger community. Does an Alchemist's successful Craft: Alchemy check identify the potion? Or does it identify the potion's auras?
I arrived late last night, and was pretty excited to see the famous Seattle skyline at long last. I've wanted to visit here for years. Based on suggestions made in some earlier threads, I am staying at the University Inn, and headed for Space Needle, Sci Fi Museum, EMP, and Pike Market today. Tonight and tomorrow are still pretty fluid. Is anyone else here, and planning on something fun for tonight or tomorrow? I have been living on an island in the Caribbean for the last year, and have not had any Indian food or Mexican food during that time. I'm jonesing for both in a major way. Any suggestions?
Seattle people (or people who know a lot about Seattle) - I am thinking about flying up a few days early for PaizoCon and doing some sightseeing, including renting a car and driving up to Vancouver one day. Any suggestions for a first time visitor? Money saving advice? I have wanted to visit the Pacific Northwest ever since I fell in love with the scenery in X-Files and Stargate SG-1.
Hey, friends... I am planning on flying to PaizoCon from the sunny Bahamas this year, and I am a little bit concerned about meeting the PFS criteria of having physical copies or watermarked PDFs of the novels in order to use the associated chronicle sheets. I am packing for a month, so I am a little reluctant to throw four or five paperbacks that I've already read into an already heavy bag. And I'm even more reluctant to purchase PDFs of books I've already read. Does anyone have any advice in this area? Do I need to just forget using those chronicle sheets at this event?
Hello, friends. Spoilers aplenty. In reviewing Silent Tide for tomorrow's game, I noticed a pretty stark difference between the way Grandmaster Torch is presented in ye olde venerable Silent Tide and the last of the First Steps module. In the former, he's presented as a no-nonsense, quid pro quo underworld information broker. In the latter, he's presented as the head of a group of benevolent watchdogs that seem to be Golarion's version of Anonymous. I've been trying to come up with some ways to make the difference a little less jarring, particularly for the player who instantly and enthusiastically embraced the Shadow Lodge after that encounter last week. (I prefer the way ol' G-Pain was portrayed in Season 0, but I didn't start the thread to editorialize.) In reviewing the messageboards, I found two people who'd made suggestions about this issue. I decided that some Pathfinders had been abandoned by the Society during the original invasion, the Lodge needed the skull to try a hail mary 'speak with dead' to see if they knew the Pathfinder's remains. This is good. I like this. However, I am reluctant to use it because it adds story to another author's adventure - something I do all the time in home play, but not in "living style" campaigns.
While clever, it is more complex than the previous. And far-reaching. Not only does it add story to many author's adventures, it also a campaign story arc. This would be a great idea for a home game, but not for Society play. I was personally leaning toward having Torch warmly (heh, heh) greet and congratulate the PCs, ask them to open the safes as a favor to him, and provide the needed information regardless of whether or not they are successful. If they are unsuccessful, or refuse, their rewards would be adjusted accordingly. That seems to me to be the best way to keep the big picture, the world of the Pathfinder, consistent for the players with the smallest impact on Michael Kortes' most excellent adventure. What do you guys think? Suggestions? Ideas? Comments?
I ran a playtest of To Delve the Dungeon Deep tonight. It's a good little adventure. I particularly enjoyed the part about the huckster skulk prophet. However, I had difficulty with two portions of the module. 1. The first was the Suicide Well in Area 12. In the text for the room, it states that "...any creature that [looks down into the well] is subject to a suggestion that urges it to throw itself into the hole." However, the suggestion spell text states that "asking the creature to do some obviously harmful act automatically negates the effect of the spell." This is confusing. The wording should probably be changed. How would/did you handle this apparent contradiction? (Also, because this is an introductory scenario, and the Haunt rules are found in the Advanced Player's Guide, they would make a good appendix -- with a note in the room description referring the GM to it. It's not clear that players are supposed to enter initiative when someone looks down the well unless you have the Haunt rules at hand.) 2. The second issue was regarding how I perceived two of the three factions introduced in this scenario were presented. Amara Li of the Lantern Lodge was a friendly, generous person. But Major Colson Madris of the Andoran faction was described as ostentatious and pompous, and dropped a mild insult on the party. And the brusque exchange with Trade Prince Aaqir al’Hakam (Qadira) made my players decide to only take him one of the many trade agreements they found in the structure. This seems to me to be inconsistent with the stated purpose for the First Steps adventures. I am all for colorful characters, but I had to do some improvising in order to feel that I had communicated the aims and objectives of the factions involved. Am I making much ado about nothing?
I am planning on running the First Steps series at a local store, and am thinking about using MapTool on my laptop's screen instead of using a mat. Are the maps from those adventures available without the location keys and text? If not, has anyone photoshopped the existing maps? Recreated them in another program for use with a virtual tabletop?
Pathfinder Society play will begin in Nassau, The Bahamas with a special holiday premiere session on Sunday, December 18th at 1PM. We'll be playing at The C.A.G.E. Club off Soldier Road near Marathon Mall. We will begin regular weekly play on Sunday, January 8th at 1PM. The contact at the store is Stan: (242) 393-4652. The store's website is C.A.G.E. Club You can contact me (Ken Austin) here or at saint dot meerkat at gmail dot com. More information will follow. I'm very excited to be a part of launching PFS down here. Some of you may remember me being involved in PFS in the Knoxville, Tennessee; and convention play around the southern US. I have obviously relocated, and am looking forward to resuming my role as Paizo evangelist here in this beautiful new setting.
Persistent virtual spaces like Second Life and the late There.com always seemed to me to have a lot of potential for the extension of a campaign setting. Why haven't they been more widely employed by authors, publishers, and homebrew GM's? I was stoked when Never Winter Nights, with its DM tools for creating your own online adventuring space, was announced. And the sheer number of people who turned out their own reproductions of modules A1-4 in the months following its release tells me that I wasn't the only one. But it didn't take off. Millions of people quest and do the XP grind that Poppa Gary and Uncle Dave popularized, shelling out $10/month or more to explore online worlds despite their lack of Vancian magic. Everquest and World of Warcraft have been the source of hundreds of hours of enjoyment for me. But my personal impact on those massively multiplayer worlds isn't profound, like is at my Thursday night Pathfinder table. We are spending a lot of resources and energy on turning the monitor into our game table. And we've gotten pretty good at it. Fantasy Grounds, RPGTools, Map Tools, d20Pro, are getting better and easier to use. I enjoyed playing Living Greyhawk and Blackmoor online. Tough on the arse, but it beats eating a mod, right? Maybe it has been difficult to develop a thriving online TT RPG community because we are forcing a 1970's analog on potential participants. Most of us have a supercomputer in our hands at the tabletop now, but all we use it for is a high tech book bag and dice cup. Why hasn't something intermediary arrived on the scene? Where is the online equivalent of the neighborhood haunted house, where everybody chipped in, decorated for a week, and let the whole community have a great time enjoying their efforts? One part True Dungeon, one part Pathfinder Society, one part Second Life, one part Dungeon A Day? I challenge everyone and anyone reading this post -- authors, publishers, entrepreneurs, hobbyists -- to begin thinking of a way that I could learn about and participate in your stories and share with you my own in a totally new manner. Let's take the participatory tabletop story telling and role playing game into the 21st century. We're overdue.
Good news and bad news: Good news: We are adding Star Wars SAGA to the con! Even if you generally avoid media tie-in games, this is a must try. It's a real winner. Bad news: It appears Shadowrun Missions is not going to happen due to conflicts with the gentlemen who were going to run them. So, unless you hear from me again, SRM is off the docket. If you are am SRM enthusiast and would like to run even a couple of slots to spread the Shadowrun gospel, contact the store owner. Witch Hunter: Dark Providence is a go! One of the GM's is a contributing author to the core book and new expansion! He's top notch at running a scary game, even when sunlight is still streaming through the store windows. FYI: A regular contributor to these boards, Sean Molley is part of the production team for WH - and if you remember Arcanis, some of that creative team are also on board for WH. Several people have contacted the store owner about running a slot or two of PFS. We would LOVE to have you help out. (We would waive the registration fee, but there isn't one!
We can't guarantee those prices or offerings will be the same, but we do plan to provide a similar deal if there are enough people that would like to take advantage of it. Finally, not only is OpieCon FREE, FREE, FREE; but all Pathfinder, Witch Hunter, and Star Wars SAGA merchandise will be available at a discount to anyone playing at least one slot. See you there!
I'm starting a Pathfinder game in a campaign world of my own creation, and I am eager to use, and allow use of, all my Arcana Unearthed/Evolved, Arcane Might, Divine Might, etc., with it. Does anyone here have enough experience with the Malhavoc Press products to make a knowledgeable guess or a first-hand observation that might help me out?
I just noticed this con on WarHorn. GameCon Memphis
I am posting this because of Josh's thread from a few weeks ago about how can we promote PFS. Some suggested getting motivated volunteers to cons. According to WarHorn, they still need judges for
Sunday at 8AM: Murder on the Silken Caravan
It doesn't look like the Sunday at 2PM is going to make unless someone charismatic goes to the LFR mustering area and nabs the extras. Any Paizonians in the greater Memphis area? 
Dude, who let the girl in? Don't let her use your dice. You'll get girl cooties on them. What's that, Lisa? But you're cool. You're like...like...an honorary boy, or something. /Lisa can use my dice anytime.
I read on a blog of a Paizo employee that you could swap a Pathfinder item card for a kiss. Somebody at GenCon demoed this, I understand. I gave my wife an item card tonight and she stared at me like I had grown a third eye. I want a refund. Or pictures. Of the card. And the young lady in question. (He's out of town, right?)
I hope this is the right discussion thread. I would be interested in purchasing posters or t-shirts with the iconic class portraits on them. I know full color t-shirts are expensive, but I would love to have an Ezren shirt and a Harsk shirt. Or, on a lighter note, wouldn't it funny to have a t-shirts that say: I thought I hated Lorraine until I met Hasbro.
Hello, fellow gamers! I'm an experienced gamer who is interested in getting into any play-by-post game, but I prefer Euro-fantasy and Lovecraft/C.A. Smith weirdness. I would like to learn and use the current Pathfinder rules as a show of support for Paizo, but I am open to any system. (I don't own 4E books yet.) My writing and spelling is decent, I play well with others, and I don't try to drive or wreck the plot trolley. Give me a shout back if you have a game I can join, or if you're willing to run a Pathfinder game for me and any others we can press-gang into service. S. Meerkat
On the CY Timeline for Greyhawk in Oerth Journal #1, there is an entry for 580 CY stating that the Magnificent Talking Goat Party was formed in Greyhawk. Can anyone point me toward more information on this organization with a peculiar moniker? Any PDF I can purchase? Or maybe someone just knows what it is and can post here?
Anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for good play-by-post Dungeons and Dragons games? If you don't mind a plug, my current favorite is the Realms of Adventure game(s) hosted at RPOL.net. I won't go into a great amount of detail, but the best part about it (from an experienced play-by-poster's point of view) is that they have a large community of DM's from which a replacement will come if your DM has to quit mid-campaign. You don't have to start over. They use 3.5 and they do a really good job with the Forgotten Realms setting. Players start at 3rd level, and they're looking for DM's and players now. The URL for their OOC forum at RPOL.net is:
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