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After a fun but difficult first year as VC I'm stepping down to join the illustrious ranks of VLs, specifically as VL of Copenhagen. Replacing me is Leó Páll Hrafnsson, former VL of Reykjavík, Iceland. Leó has been instrumental in maintaining and growing Iceland lodge in my absence and his promotion is well deserved. I wish Leó the best of luck and I'm confident that he will make Iceland lodge even more awesome than it is.
Iceland lodge is 1 year old today! I don't know how but somehow the little lodge that could is growing up. This couldn't have been done without the help of my pretty damn awesome VLs, Ásgeir and Leó as well the core group of GMs, Þórarinn, Villi, Brynjar and Birita and all the lovely players... and of course Mike Brock. And to celebrate we held a game-day (but of course!).
King Xeros of Old Azlant: My party thought it better to consult with some experts in Absalom before boarding the creepy crystal ship that had suddenly appeared in Absalom's harbor. And sure enough, we find an expert in Azlant history and the Azlanti ether ships. It should be noted that I was playing a half-orc barbarian who never got the chance to learn and study. So he's dumb as a brick but tries to make up for it with enthusiasm (in his career as a Pathfinder he's even learned to read!). Anyway, this sage explains that this ship, the King Xeros, is an ether ship designed to fly through the Great Beyond and into the Ethereal plane. Realizing that my barbarian doesn't quite get his meaning he uses the metaphor of a ship that flies "in the space in between". Sure enough that freaks out my barbarian who believes that there is this whole other reality, a gulf of "something", between him and everyone else. For the rest of the scenario he wouldn't leave his companions for fear of the "space in between" getting them. Of course the ship had to contain ethereal creatures, that is, creatures from the in between. It also didn't helpt that he was captured by these creatures and sold into slavery... he's Andoran, and that was the second time he's been sold into slavery (by the same GM no less!).
So how strict is PFS on rules regarding class archetypes. I want to make a musket master who dips into the rogue sniper archetype toget the ranged sneak attacks. The sniper says its for crossbows and bows. However, I don't see why that archetypes abilities won't work with a musket. Looking to get an official ruling on it. Well that's your answer. By RAW the Sniper archetype only works with bows and crossbows and as such is out of bounds for the gunslinger. And PFS treats RAW as well... RAW, so there's no getting around it.
That isn't a bug of PFS. Of course the rules could be clearer, but then again that could also be applied to every game system and OP structure. The official PFS rules can only do so much. After that the players/GMs have to take a certain amount of responsibility not to behave like jerks. And yes that does include the rules-lawyers.
There's nothing stopping players from taking a rank in Linguistics to acquire that.
Hi Mike og tak for sidst! I had the very fortunate pleasure of meeting Mike last weekend (and almost aging him to death) at Viking Lodge Summer Games, Copenhagen's annual PFS-only Con. He's a fun player (though there's no love lost between my NPCs and his Gunslinger) and a great GM. He will be a valuable asset to the PFS scene in Denmark. Welcome to the team!
Step 0) Talk to the GM about what happened. There's no need to escalate things if OP can talk to the GM and explain (in a calm, non-confrontational manner) that there's room for improvement, or that there were aspects of the game which didn't live up to his expectations. Of course if that doesn't work then he should talk to the event organizer, or if need be a VO. Maybe the GM had a bad day, was in a foul mood or rattled. There's plenty of reasons why someone might screw up while GM-ing. I've done it, and I haven't yet met a GM who hasn't during Organized Play. It happens, we deal with it and move on. But that can't really happen if the matter is taken directly past the GM up the hierarchy (so to speak). OP, try having a discussion with the GM in a friendly manner. In all likelihood this is a problem that can be solved with a simple conversation.
Black Chicken Studios is finalizing their kickstarter for Holdfast, an old school choose your path gamebook of Dwarves and vengeance! From their kickstarter description: "Holdfast is an adventure gamebook for Print, Android, Mac and PC, following in the tradition of the old '80s and '90s greats: Lone Wolf, Fighting Fantasy, Tolkien Quest and Fabled Lands. Taking up your ancestral weapons, you'll choose your path to reclaim your homeland through orc-legions, hidden grudges, and nameless horrors from the Deeps. You will delve, expand your fortress and confront a mighty army, if you have the mettle it takes to hold the realms of old." Additionally they are offering rewards that are fully Pathinder OGL compatible.
That's not how the world works, that correct. But it is how Campaign leadership wants the Organized Play to work. This isn't (or shouldn't be) an argument on the definition of torture or trying to parse some morsels of meaning form Mike's answer. According to PFS Campaign Leadership torture is evil and torture is defined as causing excessive pain and suffering. Excessive is not a complicated word and there aren't degrees of "excessive pain".
This whole discussion really puzzles me. Why is it even going on? Quite aside from Mike Brock's statement that torture is evil (which should've closed the whole issue down), why are some people trying to argue that torture is ok enough to be used in PFS, or that there are circumstances where torture is permissible? Seeing as Golarion is based (somewhat) off Renaissance Europe (and other real world regions) then it's easy to see why torture would be permissible there. That is to say, if you compare the real world analogue of Golarion to Golarion. But, to me, that's faulty thinking, at least in Society play. We impose guidelines on morality in Society play to keep things (relatively) on the up and up and to avoid situations which might turn ugly/awkward/uncomfortable for a player (or the whole group). We don't live in the Golarion analogue anymore, so why should we accept the morality of those times? That's why you can't play evil characters, vivisectionists and gravewalkers (amongst a host of other classes/archetypes) and it's also why you can't torture (for whatever means). Now, I know that there's the line in the Guide that absolves characters from doing evil deeds if the faction mission calls for it. But that line should be done away with and faction missions kept non-evil.
Here's a quote from James Jacobs on the subject:
It's not unreasonable to say that a Paladin of Calistra just can't happen because he is just too far away (alignment wise) to Calistra's alignement. A character playing this sort of Paladin would spend too much time either doing his deity's wishes, which would result in an atonement spell for breaking the Code of Conduct, or not behaving according to his deity's philosophy (that is staying true to LG), which would result in him abandoning his deity (again atonement because Paladins derive their power from their deity in PFS). So, I would say no.
Hey guys, I'm relatively new to pathfinder and I have a question.. Is Wisdom important for paladins? I'm going as an Archer Paladin and my stat build is Str 15, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 7, Cha 15. Would I be a fool to not get Wisdom on a paladin? i've been reading alot of guides and alot of them actually say Wisdom is the least important stat for a paladin to have. Is this true? Yes and no. If you're going for an optimized build then yes wisdom is definitely a dump stat. I would say no if you want good perception, sense motive and heal skills and boost your will save. Based on your abilities I would definitely boost your Con more, or take the toughness feat. Despite being an archer you will need HP. Also, have you considered the Divine Hunter archetype? Instead of Heavy Armor Proficiency you get, at first level, Precise Shot and other neat abilities.
No mention of King Xeros? Man, that one was brutal...Oh yeah, that one was pretty bad, especially when our cleric ** spoiler omitted ** My 7th lvl Andoran Barbarian : with 109 HP while raging was killed by the Ship's Construct, raised from the dead and resurrected. He was then promptly taken into slavery (for the second time in his career, the other one was Icebound Outpost).
It didn't help that the group had sought advice from a local sage who had described the Deep Ethereal as the space between planets, or people. Taorm unfortunately misunderstood that (8 in intelligence) and took it quite literally that there was this massive gulf of space between people. He then proceeded to cling to his team mates, being very careful not to let too much of the Space Between come in between them. The he was attacked by creatures from the Space Between....
Alternatively you could use the slow advancement track, only receive 1/2 XP (and downsized PP and gold). That way you're still 5th lvl when the second adventure starts and go up to 6th by the end of the second adventure. Though I would recommend what Doug Miles posted, flexibility within the party is always a good thing.
So wait, I'm confused. Technically speaking you're my Venture Captain, so should I send you my Chronicles? In any event, Iceland lodge is fortunate in that we do not keep written records, so no need for me to mark anything!
Not going to argue the point ... other than, I can guarantee you that without a really valid reason Mike isn't going to offer boons up like the book boons. Well said Beazy!
You can never run a table with only 2 players, but you can report a table of only 2 players. By which I of course mean that you need a legal table to begin with (4 players +, or 3 players + pregen run by GM or player) but you can still report the event with only 1 or two players. @Secane: If only 3 players show up just ask them to pick a pregen to run with. That should give you 4 "players" to round out the table.
You can add WarFinder '13 to that list boss (details forthcoming).
It's also that boons are used (among other things) to get people excited about Cons which is a perfectly reasonable way to use them. However, I don't think that the issue should revolve around what Paizo can do for you, after all game-days are near free entertainment. That in and of itself should be enough. If you have a hankering for some boons but can't make it to a large con (believe me I know how that feels) why not set up a local con yourself? It's really not that hard to do and if the table numbers you quotes are correct you should qualify for the 15 table minimum rule. To (mis)quote Iron Fist: "be the change you want to see".
I want to take a moment to introduce the new Venture Lieutenant for Iceland, Léó Páll Hrafnsson. To begin with he will cover the metropolitan area of Reykjavík with VL Ásgeir Helgi. Later we will try and expand into the towns of Keflavík and Selfoss with him in the lead. Leó is one of the "oldest" PFS players in Iceland. He was the first player to show an interest in our games aside from Ásgeir and my home group which I dragged to game days to play up attendance. His enthusiasm and support has been invaluable and I fully expect him to be a huge boon for the Icelandic PFS community as he has been until now. Welcome Leó!
Nitpick: Subtier 3-4: Alistair, Halberds aren't reach weapons... I thought they were too until one of my players or a forum poster pointed it out to me. I had the same thing happen: a player at my table corrected me. After that I just assumed that he uses the brace ability to set against a charge or something like that.
I GMd this yesterday for a table of three (two scheduled players failed to show up :/ ) with Kyra as the GM pregen. I loved it! It's different and rewards players that think outside the box (I had a gnome summoner charm Commander Rubaani with some bubbly and a promise of a midnight stroll on the beach). One player attended PaizoCon UK and was part of the GrandConvocation so this scenario was a special delight for him. The only thing that slightly raised eyebrows was how easy the fights were (the party included a monk/gunslinger, summoner and monk with Kyra as backup). However, I don't consider that something that detracts from the experience. To be honest I would've been happy with no combat (shows how good the Influence mechanic is). My hat off to you Thurston!
Arastrax: Since Arastrax has the young template in subtier 3-4 that means that his strength decreases. But he's incorporeal so he doesn't have strength.
Fair enough. So I have to assume that his attacks are based off Dexterity (which makes sense, and besides the math adds up on that). Does that mean that a lower CR Arastrax has a higher to hit than the regular Shadow Demon? Obviously his damage die decreases. But still... Edit to add: looking closer at the tactics for the lower sub-tier reveals that Arastrax isn't supposed to engage in melee so that shouldn't be a problem (unless a GM doesn't read the tactics). Besides he teleports away quickly enough.
Two things occurred to me while reading this: 1) Running Influence with soft initiative. Getting players assigned to an NPC and then run each PC/Group separately in some fashion. The Influence checks can then be made after each "statement" (be it bluff/diplomacy/intimidate) or grouped together (as in: "please roll for intimidate twice") if they make a really good speech (or the like). Discovery checks can be made throughout the encounter. 2) The Meeting Area on the map is the Pavilion Area (B) right?
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