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We will be starting a Hell's Vengence AP soon and I chose to go with the Slayer. I have the character basically set up, but am struggling with feat choice and what to do for later levels.

We have an Anti-Paladin in the group and part of my concept is to be his 'follower' as long as the money stays good. The background will be a primal/hunter-centric upbringing in an orc tribe, so I am really going for a cunning hunter-vibe.

We have agreed that there will be no in-group fighting. We are going to play the first book and then we will decide if we will continue, so this could be a one-off.

We need a front line fighter, so I innitially considered a sword/board, but I am not quite sure where to go from there (two-weapon, single weapon, etc). Any paizo books are fair game, but the GM reserves the right to veto a concept or ability that is overpowered or useless (and I am ok with that). No homebrew.

Half-Orc Slayer1 (no archetype) (NE)
STATS: STR 16, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 12, WIS 14, CHR 8
SKILLS: Acro +6, Intim +5, Local +5, Nature +6, Perc +6, Sense +6, Surv +7
TRAIT: Finish the Fight (+1 to hit previously hit opponents; raised by orcs)
TRAIT: Savage (Nature as skill; +1 Nature/Survival)
FEAT: ??
WEAPON: ??
ARMOR: ??

So, thanks to anyone who takes the time to make suggestions.

This weekend will be the first time I will have a player who will have a small pet running around with them. I am fairly familiar with the rules in regards to cover and concealment, so outside of the benefits which those may give, I assume the familiar has no other protection.

For instance, most non-line of affect AOE traps and spells would be a problem for a pet even if they are hidden, correct?

I think most groups kind of hand-wave the whole familiar thing since they are so squishy and because most players don't want to think of their little pet being smooshed.

I don't want to be too harsh on the wizard, but I also don't want to be wishy washy aabout it, especially considering how dangerous adventuring can be.

Are there any other rules I should be aware of or does anyone have any advice?

After a long hiatus from PFS, I recently came back. After purchasing Pathfinder Unchained, I saw that we were allowed to do one rebuild for certain classes as long as the character had not been played after April something-or-other.

So I rebuilt my Rogue, but the GM at the event was not sure if he needed to do anything. Do we need to worry about a PFS GM signing off on the rebuild since selling/buying/retraining is involved?

Once I had the Pathfinder Unchained book in hand, I began to look at the classes to see what I would like to utilize in our game. I started with the Rogue. I liked most of what I saw, but there were a few I felt could use some adjustments.

My proposed changes to the Rogue are detailed below and I think the balance is good. However, I am not as well-versed in all of the Pathfinder rules as many of you forum-goers are. I am hoping that anyone who is interested might point out any issues these changes may bring (such as loopholes, crazy ability combinations, etc). Below, I have noted the Class Features from Pathfinder Unchained that are relative and then the Homebrew adjustments. We use the Core rulebook, APG, Ultimate Combat, and Ultimate Magic in our game.

GOAL:
- Retain the power level of the Pathfinder Unchained Rogue
- Give non-Finesse Rogue characters an option to NOT take Weapon Finesse/Finesse Training and use that feature for something else
- Give non-Rogues characters the option to gain melee weapon damage from dexterity
- Utilize some of the Skill Unlock ideas without players utilizing feats/class features to do so
- Keep the changes as simple as possible
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PATHFINDER UNCHAINED ROGUE: (Compared to Core)
GENERAL INFORMATION:
These are the Class Features that Pathfinder Unchained introduced for the Rogue that are addressed in the Homebrew Rogue. They are noted here to give some context for the Homebrew Rogue adjustments given later.

TALENTS:
Added: Added or updated a number of talents
Removed: Befuddling Strike* (AGP), Offensive Defense* (AGP), Entanglement of Blades* (AGP), Thoughtful Reexamining (AGP)

FINESSE TRAINING:
Added: At Level 1, Rogues gain Weapon Finesse and Finesse Training

ROGUE'S EDGE:
Added: At Level 5, 10, 15, and 20: Rogues gain Rogue’s Edge with one skill

OTHER CLASS FEATURES RETAINED:
Base Attack Bonus, Saves, Rogue Talents, Sneak Attack, Trapfinding, Evasion, Danger Sense, Debilitating Injury, Uncanny Dodge, Advanced Rogue Talents, Master Strike
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HOMEBREW ROGUE (Compared to Pathfinder Unchained):
TALENTS:
Added: Keeping all talents as described in Pathfinder Unchained talents except what is removed below.
Added: Finesse Rogue talent added to Rogue Talent list
Removed: Befuddling Strike* (AGP), Offensive Defense* (AGP), Entanglement of Blades* (AGP), Thoughtful Reexamining (AGP), Certainty (PU), Cutting Edge (PU)

FINESSE TRAINING:
Removed: Finesse Training
Added: At Level 1, Rogues gain a Rogue Talent

ROGUE'S EDGE:
Removed: At Level 5, 10, 15, and 20: Rogues gain Rogue’s Edge with one skill
Added: At Level 5, 10, 15, and 20: Rogues gain one non-combat feat (exception: may not take Extra Rogue Talent feat to gain a combat feat)

OTHER CLASS FEATURES RETAINED:
Unless otherwise noted above, Base Attack Bonus, Saves, Rogue Talents, Sneak Attack, Trapfinding, Evasion, Danger Sense, Debilitating Injury, Uncanny Dodge, Advanced Rogue Talents, Master Strike are unchanged from Pathfinder Unchained
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NEW FEAT:
FINESSE EXPERTISE (COMBAT) FEAT: This feat can the taken by any character with a 13 Dexterity and the Weapon Finesse feat and allows the character to add their Dexterity modifier for damage instead of Strength for any weapon usable with Weapon Finesse. It is compatible with feats such as Double-Slice and Power Attack (but does not grant x1.5 damage for two handed weapons).
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OTHER THOUGHTS:
The only thing about this proposal that sticks out in my mind is that the Pathfinder Unchained Rogue receives Weapon Finesse and Finesse Expertise at level 1, which is 2 feats...while the Homebrew Rogue receives a Rogue Talent, which is only 1 feat.

However, later on in exchange for Rogue's Edge, the Homebrew Rogue gains 4 non-combat feats. I think the versatility of the feats does serve to bring this back into balance as a whole, but the Homebrew Rogue is a still little weaker at lower level compared to the Pathfinder Unchained Rogue. I have been unable to come up with an alternative, but I think the difference is minor enough to be acceptable.

Again, any suggestions or observations are appreciated.

Under the Climb skill it states the following:
You need both hands free to climb, but you may cling to a wall with one hand while you cast a spell or take some other action that requires only one hand. While climbing, you can't move to avoid a blow, so you lose your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any). You also can't use a shield while climbing. Anytime you take damage while climbing, make a Climb check against the DC of the slope or wall. Failure means you fall from your current height and sustain the appropriate falling damage.

Let's say that a character is hanging from a 90 degree ledge such as an edge of a pit or cliff (handhold only; no foothold). Instead of climbing up, he is trying to maintain his position.

From the passage above, it appears that no climb check is needed for the character to maintain his position. I can understand that no climb check would be needed if the character had a foothold and at least one handhold, but I would think that a check would be needed when only using hands.

I would also look to apply this to characters who swing on ropes.

Does anyone know if there are any more detailed climbing rules outside the core rulebook?

FYI, I am asking as a GM so I can fairly adjudicate situations with one of my players whose character is a skilled at climbing and acrobatics (a bit of a parkourist).

I played a few demo games of the Skull & Shackles PACG as our local game store was preparing for Organized play.

One of the elements that I was really disappointed in was the limited way in which characters are able to interact with each other. Sure, there are blessings to grant additional dice on rolls and abilities that will allow one character to give another character a small die buff (usually 1d4), but there is very little in the way rules that allows two (or more) characters to actually working together.

As someone who generally plays 'hero' characters in Pathfinder, I found the lack of this element a little disappointing...disappointing enough that I lost interest in doing organized play and possibly loosing interest in purchasing the game.

A good example occurred during one of the demos we were playing. The alchemist had gone to a location and got caught in an underwater spike trap. At the start of each turn, he had to discard the top card of his deck (he was basically bleeding to death). The difficulty to get out of it was something like a DC 9 Dexterity check and I believe his Dexterity die was a 1d4. At the time, there little to no way for him to succeed (even with blessings from the rest of us). However, there was this Goblin player (1d12 Dexterity die) at another location who could handily take care of such a trap, but the rules do not allow the Goblin to interact with the Alchemist's trap...so over the next three turns, the Alchemist slowly died.

I understand that the designers wanted to make sure that the game would be challenging for each player, but as it is based on a role playing game, I think that not having a stronger element of teamwork will turn people away. It certainly has done so for me.

Now, I do want to say that this post is not intended as a negative review of the game in as much as it is feedback about one aspect. The main reason I wanted to throw this out was to see if I am in the minority or are their many others who feel the same. If there are enough of the same opinion, it may prompt Paizo to brainstorm some additional rules to allow for more character interaction during events.

I am seriously thinking of getting into the PACG, but am unsure which base set to start with.

I am not much of a fan of the pirate theme, but it also looks like S&S has been reviewing better than RotR.

Any suggestions from people who have played both sets?

Our homebrew game is set in Golarion and now I would like to include the Pathfinder Society as an element of the story. The PCs will not be in the Pathfinder Society. Instead, PFS will be an organization the PCs come upon from time to time.

I have been looking for information on the history of the Pathfinder Society, how it started, how it evolved, key figures, etc. While there is a good amount of information on how the Pathfinder Society is in AR 4714, I have not had much luck finding details on it's history. The only thing I have found is that the Pathfinder Society is about 400 years old.

If anyone can point out any resources, I would appreciate it, although my main interest is about the founding of the PFS as well as the evolution of the PFS over the past 70 years.

It should be noted that I did play (and GM a bit) in the Pathfinder Society for about 2 years before starting my homebrew game, so I am familiar enough with PFS in general.

I have a player that would like to take the Lore Warden for a character in our Pathfinder home game.

I reviewed the archetype and found it to be a little too powerful. Most of the trade-offs feel balanced with the exception of Maneuver Mastery. I don't see Armor Mastery 1 being equal to gaining +2 CMB/CMD every 4 levels.

I am looking for ideas to rebalancing the archetype while still making it worth while. I don't want to over-weaken it.

My initial thoughts were:
Cut the Maneuver Mastery bonuses in half, but leave the rest as-is. This makes the benefit similar to the Brawler's Close Control.
...OR...
Make the Maneuver Mastery benefit a one-time +2 CMB/CMD bonus.

I am wondering if someone has any other suggestions.

In the stat block for the Ogre on the PRD, it lists the ogre's speed as 30 ft. (40 ft. base).

So is the ogre's speed 30 ft or 40 ft?

Also, why would the two speeds be listed?

I am a little confused on what guidelines to use for a player that wishes to research a spell. Ultimate Campaign says 100gp/level while the Core Rulebook suggests 1000gp/level.

The time varies somewhat as well, but I am more interested in determining what a fair gold value would be. 100gp/level feels way too low...but is 1000gp/level too high?

Anyway, if someone can clarify this for me, I would appreciate it.

So, I understand how to determine if a target has cover for both melee and missile attacks (using the corners of the squares). However, it seams to me that visibility is not determined in the same way. I have been unable to find any guidelines in the rulebook for how visibility is determined.
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For example, from the PRD:
Partial Cover: If a creature has cover, but more than half the creature is visible, its cover bonus is reduced to a +2 to AC and a +1 bonus on Reflex saving throws. This partial cover is subject to the GM's discretion.

As best as I can tell from reading the rules and the Ogre example from the section on cover, visibility would likely be determined by drawing a cone from the center of the attacker to the 'visible' portions of the target. If 50% or more of the target is not visible, the target has normal cover. If more than 50% is visible, the target has partial cover.

Is this the correct way to determine visibility? If not, what is?

I've done some searching in the forums, but did not come across any definitive answers. Thanks guys.

I have always considered the Fighter/Thief to be one of the classic multi-class combination for d20-type games. Any thoughts as to why this hybrid was not included in the book?

Recently, I ran a Pathfinder Society scenario where a hidden wizard used a Silent Image spell to create a skeleton warrior to hinder the or hopefully scare away the PCs. I was wondering how GMs handle using this spell in this way.
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How I handled it was that each time a player attacked or cast a spell at the Skeleton, I secretly rolled a Will save on their behalf. If they failed the save, they did not see through the illusion. If they made their save, they saw something that made it plain that it was an illusion. I also would have given an additional save if someone studied the skeleton (such as using knowledge religion).

Each time the skeleton attacked, I rolled the dice and had the skeleton purposefully miss the attack so the illusion was not spoiled. For one round, I also had the skeleton step back as if to let out a silent scream at the PCs (as an intimidation).

Since the spell has no audible component, I wonder if I shouldn't have just given each player in melee with the creature a save each round since it woul dbe pretty obvious that weapon parries would make no noise.

Anyway, just wondering how others would have handled it. It will also be helpful to know when more powerful illusion spells come up in games.

With the recent FAQ ruling from the Pathfinder Design Team regarding Power Attack and using two-handed weapons one-handed, I would like to know if the same logic should be applied to other feats that involve two-handed weapons. In comparing the wording for Power Attack and the feats below, it would make sense that they should

My interest is due to having a dwarf character in Pathfinder Society who is using a dorn-dergar from Dwarves of Golarion with the Dorn-dergar Master feat.

These are the feats I could find related to two-handed weapons.

One of the great things about "We Be Goblins" was that the death of their little goblin did not affect the character they were applying the credit to. It allowed players the freedom to do all sorts of goblin silliness that they might not otherwise try.

I have been unable to find whether We Be Goblins Too will have the same stance. If the normal rules on pregen death are used, I think players may take the module too seriously and it will loose some of it's impact.

Does anyone know how it should be handled?

I used the link under the GM/Event Coordinator tab of the Pathfinder Society account to create ten Pathfinder Society Cards.

I am trying to report an event that included a new player that I gave one of these cards, but the event will not accept the new number (citing it as an invalid number).

The card states to go to paizo.com/pathfindersociety to activate the account. The only link I can find on that page that sounds correct is labeled Join the Pathfinder Society and create your character now! whose address is http://paizo.com/pathfinderSociety/myAccount, but when the link is clicked, the page is redirected to http://paizo.com/paizo.

It looks to me that Paizo does not currently have an error page for bad links, so it is automatically redirecting to http://paizo.com/paizo.

Is there another way I can go about registering this new membership for this new player? I cannot add him to the event until I get his account resolved.
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Also, it would really be helpful if there was a link on the paizo.com/pathfindersociety page that says something like 'Got a new Pathfinder Society card? Activate your Pathfinder Society membership HERE.

In early March, I set up event 23073 and 23042 for a game day on March 16th in Clearwater, Florida.

The GM for 23073 did not get me her PFS number until today. I attempted to report the session today and I cannot find it in the list nor can I find a way to search for it.

Event 23042 is for a module that will be completed on April 20th. I was also unable to find it in the list.

Can someone help me in finding these sessions?

I was running a combat where a merrow engaged the characters from the water. The merrow was submerged in the water enough to be granted improved cover (+8 AC, +4 Reflex, +10 Stealth, improved evasion).

Several of the characters engaged the merrow in melee in the more shallow water near the shore; however, the gunslinger sat back and fired from 30' away.

With the other characters standing between the Gunslinger and the merrow, I decided that it made sense that the merrow would be even harder to hit due to soft cover (+4 AC).

Unfortunately, the Gunslinger also did not have Precise Shot so he was penalized with a -4 to hit.

I was not able to find a definitive answer in the rules or in the forums as to whether bonuses from cover are typed or untyped (though opinions seams to lean towards untyped). My decision feels right based on the situation, but I am not sure if it is supported by the rules. Did I adjudicate this correctly?

Under the Combat section of the PRD, it states the following about Readied actions (LINK):
The ready action lets you prepare to take an action later, after your turn is over but before your next one has begun. Readying is a standard action.

You can ready a standard action, a move action, a swift action, or a free action.

I had always understood readying an action meant that a player could ready one or more types of actions in a single turn and when the trigger occurred, they could take any or all of those action. For example, I could ready a move action to move if an opponent charged as well as ready a standard action to attack (with my bow) if they charged.

If I am reading the rules correctly, since it costs a standard action to ready an action, only one action can be readied in a given turn...and when the trigger occurs, I can only take THAT action. Is this correct?

For example, I ready a standard action to attack a foe when they move adjacent to me. When this triggers, I can take my standard action to attack, but I cannot take a move, swift, or free action.

Second example, I ready a free action to call out to a party member when I see them. When it triggers, the only thing that occurs is that I use the free action. I cannot use a standard, move, swift, or any additional free actions.

I am looking for an archetype for the Paladin that is similar to the Ranger Skirmisher (APG) where spell casting is traded for mundane abilities.

Does anyone have a homebrew they would be willing to share?

Are there any rules regarding spell casters being able to end their spells before the duration expires? For example, a wizard casts Web and chooses to dismiss it early when a companion becomes caught.

How do you like to handle this in your games?