SPACEBALL12345's page

How does your DM interpret the use of multiple conductive weapons?

Do you plan on taking the full 10 levels of the prc, or do you plan on only dipping?

...Fort/Ref/Will at +17/+14/+15. +2 vs spells...

I'm guessing your DM allowed the undead antipaladin to double dip on CHA for fort saves?

So nobody has any information on the rules around attacking an empty square? That would be the final piece we need to support the situation presented by Fist2Jaw under RAW.

You might want to look into the spell contingent action. That would allow you to fire the arrow and speak the command word at the same time (also you could use a regular anchor instead of a feather token thanks to shrink item).

The way turns/rounds work, you would not have to worry about timing. The only things that really interrupt the flow of combat on your turn are readied actions, attacks of opportunity, and immediate actions. Otherwise, if it is your turn, nobody else should be moving. Really your only concern should be if the enemy readies an action to move out of the way of falling objects.

Targeting the individual square above them is where I'm coming up short. There are rules for splash weapons targeting squares here, but I cannot find anything for normal arrow attacks.

The best I can find is the Imbue Arrow ability of the arcane archer, but it doesn't fully address attacking vacant squares.

Hopefully somebody else has more information on attacking an empty square?

While interesting, let's get you a higher CL using ratfolk because of their swarming ability...

Step 9.5: Depending on how your cohorts are arranged, your caster level will be through the roof. Without using the z axis (You could expand this to a whole sphere of witches), if every space in a 1 mile radius is occupied by an aiding witch, your caster level should be 2,164,801. You can double this by using ratfolk witches (2 per square) or using reduce person.

I'm aware of both using ratfolk and reduce person, I just didn't feel it was necessary to add that much. Realistically, I don't think there is anything I could do with 4 million caster levels that I couldn't do with 2 million for the sake of this challenge. If we started using flight with reduce person ratfolk and went with a sphere configuration...I've no idea where that would put us. Somebody with stronger math skills can figure that out for us.

There are other things you can do with this, like pooling all your cohorts money to create a simulacrum. You could also abuse the duration increase for summon monster. If you can get the scar/coven hex to work on something that isn't a witch, it opens up a few more spells.

It more of just shows how much of a force multiplier leadership can be. The main reason I submitted it was because I didn't see any other builds below level 20.

I have a submission building on the Legion setup Shasf provided. It utilizes a different approach to beastmass, and comes online at level 17.

The end result is a low risk approach to the beastmass, while still providing lots of room for options in the build, as many feats and most of the money aren't needed.

I also have to give credit to the people in the thread that originally discovered the coven/scar witch hex combo. I pulled most of my inspiration from that. Can't find a link to it now though.

Let me know if there is anything rules related that I missed.

It looks like the legion build still works without the use of templates and investing. It can still overwhelm the encounters with raw numbers.

Can we combine legion with the coven and scar witch hex abilities for a near infinite caster level?

It is a crazy build, but it doesn't violate anything RAW that I'm aware of.

This needs work.

The grammar and typos need to be cleaned up.

Stat array: I think it is a waste to invest in int, though an argument could be made if picking aasimar. A human paladin will still gain 2 skillpoints per level, which will be enough to get the 1 ranks you want while still being close to the max on others, without factoring in favored class bonuses.

Mercy choices: Sickened is much worse than fatigue for a martial character, and there are other options for ignoring fatigue built into your class selection (oracle lame curse if you just have to have immunity) as well as cheap alchemical options like allnight. Even without these options, the only reason to be worried about fatigue for a rage dip is if you rage cycle certain rage powers, which you don't have with straight bloodrager.

Paladin Spells: You don't seem to have a section on this.

Mystery/Revelation: If you can get away with 2xcha to reflex saves go for it, otherwise better off going Nature instead of Lore.

Oracle Spells: Infernal healing is consistently more healing than cure light wounds, and allowed for paladin use under PFS rules (not an alignment infraction for using an evil spell).

Gunslinger dip: Attacking vs touch ac is nice, but keep in mind you won't have the grit pool of a full gunslinger to increase the range you can target touch ac at. Also guns are a large investment of wealth, as well as potentially feats (you would at least want rapid reload). Instead you could just use a composite longbow to hit a creature in the air on the off chance you don't have flight. This gets you your str bonus to damage and all your iterative attacks, without investing heavily in resources. When you factor in missfires, as well as the fact you are adding a 4th lvl of dipping to delay your paladin progression, I don't think it would be a good choice.

Traits: You can make up the difference for not having escape artist as a class skill with things like alchemical grease, as well as a casting of grease from either a friendly caster (longer duration, and they can probably spare a 1st lvl spell) or a wand. Extra bonus: these stack with each other and are fairly cheap. With that out of the way, you can use magical knack to help your caster level with the dips.

Feats: I'm going to come out strong on this: You really overestimate the value of the cleave line of feats, as well as vital strike. The investment of 4 feats to get Improved Cleaving Finish is not worth it. There are too many other options that you can use in more situations. Vital strike requires the full chain to stay relevant at higher levels, and even then most of what you would want to do with it involves (or involved, thanks new faq) stacking size increases.

Instead, look into options like unsanctioned knowledge for more spell options (requires 13 int, one of the few reasons to keep int as a paladin). You also have options like furious focus . You could even go with familiar bond since you already seem invested in iron will, which could eventually open up improved familiars with wand access.

Starting Gear: You have no ranged option at all. Again, I'd pick infernal healing over cure light wounds.

Suggested Items: You have temporary hp from rage and swift action healing. You can get by with skimping on armor to increase your cloak of resistance. Also, consider making your weapon a +3 instead of a +2 keen so you can bypass DR for things you can't smite for campaigns where the DM is playing against your class. You can still use your divine bond to get keen if you aren't getting improved critical. Your setup also has no way to gain flight on its own, something I think you really need to invest in at level 12, preferably before then. There are a lot of items you could consider here other than ac boosting items.

Other alternatives/notes: If you are only dipping bloodrager for uncanny dodge, you could consider ulfen guard and save yourself a levels worth of dipping. Keep in mind your movement bonuses won't stack with flight.

Tldr, 5/10 can't recommend to friends without improvements.

So as somebody that has been looking into pathfinder society play for a long time (and I mean a LONG time, my schedule never lines up, but its finally starting to open up), let me ask this:

What incentive do I have, when after 30-40 hours of game time, plus any books I purchase, that my character plan could be invalidated at any time without any recompense, warning, or alternative?

I'm not impressed at all with how venture captains have handled this situation. Some are even accusing players that used the rules of pathfinder society play to their advantage of cheating. I understand you are volunteers, but I cannot believe you are permitted to act this way on behalf of Paizo.

As a customer with paying money, this is not something I wish to support.

I encourage you to use whatever metrics available to you to make your choices, and I don't doubt that leadership involved did in fact spend time on reaching this decision, but know that the decision you made over this came with a loss of several sales to support a future pathfinder society character.

I am not going to spend money with a company that would treat me, my time, or my limited resources like this.

1. Run the AP that most interests you.
2. As few or as many as you are comfortable bookkeeping on
3. Keep in mind that you aren't just a player, you are an entire party. However many and what classes you pick should be dictated by their ability to cover every hazard they come across in an adventure.
4. Don't waste your time with 200 pages of templates/optional rules, you already have a party to manage resources for and an adventure to run.
5a. Read the adventure cover to cover before you even begin, or you will constantly be interrupting the flow of events.
5b. If you want to try and maintain a separation between dm and player decision making, write a few sentences about each characters personalities. Define how they act under pressure, while calm, in social situations, ect.
5c. I'll say it again: preparation is key. The more familiar you are with the builds/books/module, the smoother it will play out.

With raging and armor proficiency, what is the cutoff point for AC requirements of barbarian builds? We could have potential 20 temporary hp from rage and damage reduction, and I'm not seeing the value of getting a barbarians AC in a respectable place. Anything below 20 is going to get hit, and 22 isn't a realistic goal for a barbarian.

A friend of mine likes to play fighters. However, he has been arguing that they are too weak, as even other martial classes like the barbarian are better than the fighter, especially at higher levels...

...I scouted for dangerous looking monster, baited him over to me, then used acrobatics to get the monster between him and me and started to pound him with returning thrown weapons, while the monster acted as a barrier...

...In the end I won quite fairly...

Using smarter tactics than another player does not prove that one class is mechanically better than another. Nothing you did was something a barbarian could not have done.

...I managed to chase while avoiding the attacks by the monster, grappled, then stuck to him till he died...

...My GM has rules that I could use my weapon training bonus to grapple checks...

Houserules kinda throw the whole point of class balance discussion.

I'm glad you guys had fun though.

As you can see, Mathwei ap Niall addressed this on page one of this thread:

I think the part that threw me for a loop there was that I wasn't differentiating between the cost of creation and the cost of modification. My mistake.

I'll have to give the thread another once over.

Would you be willing to rebuild to be able to make money more effectively during downtime? You could pick up blood money and combine it with masterwork transformation? I know it has already been mentioned, but as a 3rd level wizard this could be really good for you and your group, and its a surefire way to make money in a world that fears magic. Nobody will see you make it, and masterwork gear isn't magical in nature. Weapons, armor, ammunition, kits, all can be made masterwork.

Ask your DM about this, and let us know what he thinks about investing character resources (spells known/spell slots) to increase your wealth to be closer to wealth-by-level range.

This sounds beyond awesome, especially when you consider things like wizard familiars and beast bonded witches... But I could use some clarification on this. Here's the bit from the PRD that makes me question the rules legality of it:

I know we always go specifics trump generalities, but I don't see anything in the section on Homunculus creation that trumps the size limitations. The only thing I see is it lists a defined cost for increasing HD (which of course trumps the HD calculation method of cost/existing HD).

3rd Lvl Halfling Wizard - GM makes him keep track of spell components

... Out of worried concern, you mean expensive spell components, right? Not like the minute things that come from a spell component pouch?

Finian, I could really use more context on those situations you provided. If its due to poor play, I can recommend some foolproof builds. If its due to an adversarial dm, well... I can still recommend builds, but you will have to talk to the dm out of character about things first.

Punch your GM IRL (in real life)

I don't think physical violence over a game of pretend is the best course of action for him.

My first character tried to save one of the other in the party, by shooting at the werewolf. It ran me down, and i died.

Ok..... so did you run from the group, were you already isolated, or...?

My second character got killed in his sleep, by a assassins.

This is usually a sign you either failed every social interaction, or your DM doesn't like you/your character.

How thought he was another person.

I don't... I have no idea what you are even trying to say with this sentence.

My next character just dissepeared. He was never seen again.

So he just vanished into the night? Somebody killed him and took the body? Can you elaborate on this?

i think he's name was john smith, and he looked like tintin.

....What?

My next character pissed off a wizard.

Welcome to pathfinder, where full casters are hilariously broken. What did you do to anger the wizard?

My last character got flangt from all directions, he was dead in two rounds

Well that sounds like a learning experience. Don't let yourself get surrounded. Though I am curious on the details of how that happened.

Please sir, give your typing a once over before posting for clarity. We can help better if we fully understand.

I reserve judgment/advice until we get the full story on how all previous characters died.

Would this be the appropriate place to ask if Glorious Heat was written as it was intended to be? It reads now that it heals for half of the character level, instead of healing based on the level of spell used. Should we be using the books latest printed wording, or the wording given here?

Shameless bump for clarification?

So... Uh...

Were we all in agreement that Zen Archery works with the boon posted here?

This! The Mark Moreland and Jason Bulmahn quotes are from three years ago, where they said they would change it to spell level if they reprinted it, but then they went ahead and reprinted last month and didn't change it.

This is what I want to know. Was it intentional? Should we start a new thread/post this elsewhere or should we continue to necro this thread?

Would this be the appropriate place to ask if Glorious Heat was written as it was intended to be? It reads now that it heals for half of the character level, instead of healing based on the level of spell used. Should we be using the books latest printed wording, or the wording given here?

Just to clarify, when you say they kept the restrictions in additional resources, you mean the section that only applies to society play, not the pathfinder rules, correct?

Just out of curiosity, do you find yourself preparing more offensive/save or lose spells, or more along the lines of buffs/defensive spells?

He probably switches his sanctum to a permanent widened Prismatic Sphere. Staff of the Master allows him to widen it. That may give the Cave Druid a bit more of an issue but those using Disjunction are not affected.

Actually, I'm not seeing how that gives the cave druid an issue. The bottom half of the sphere is blocked by the floor, and the 6th layer removes the houseruled wall of force. So there isn't anything in the way of the earth gliding ooze.

Any idea what the dc is going to be in the situation i presented earlier?

Also still waiting on that build you mentioned that can beat this.

Also curious if he is holding the rod of absorption or the staff of the master necromancer when the encounter begins.

Edit: Also, wouldn't the 7th layer remove all of the lava, given enough time?

You. I like you. We could be friends. We should be friends.

It is a variant on forbiddance, hardly unusual for a high level caster to achieve.

My point was that its not achievable RAW, which is generally what these kinds of contests are about. You clearly stated it in your original post though, so not as big a deal.

You think that wish cant reshape a wall of force? You must have a very limited imagination.

Again, my point was that this is not possible via RAW without dm fiat. If we were running an actual game, I'd be down with it. But in a charop contest?

He wont hear the sound of the wall being broken, he *may* notice the change in the internal conditions of his sanctum even while asleep. Being asleep imposes a -10 penalty on his +52 perception.

Let me try and math this as best I can.

Wall of force is invisible and stationary, so +40 to the dc to notice.
Lets assume the goal is to get him while he sleeps, so the dc increases by 10.
I cannot find any modifiers for adding silence to this, so that would be up to you.
The closest base perception check listed is "notice a creature burrowing beneath you", which is set at 25.

So he has a 52 perception vs 40(invisible)+10(asleep)+25(burrowed)+silence. I guess it is in your realm how much silence is worth. And I'm really not sure about the burrowed modifier either. It might be better for you to set the DC so we can build accordingly, unless you plan on running it for contenders (that could be fun!)?

Seriously though, that seems really high. Can somebody check my math?

The noble family bit is entirely fluff text attached to the feat. It is not actually a requirement and is therefore irrelevant.

I was more of giving you a playful ribbing. From the bottom of my post: *yeah, I get it, he's optimized. But seriously? I'm gonna give you a hard time for that one sir. Sorry if that didn't come off as a laugher, I guess I'm not so good at humor.

Spells only require line of effect at the point at which they are cast.

I'm guessing that is at the initial casting only and not for the entire duration? Might be something to ask on the rules forum, don't wanna clog things up here.

I am suggesting that dragons have talons on their front and rear legs both of which are capable of carrying things but the glove of storing idea works much better.

So does he stand on one leg, hold the rod he wants to use in the other, and use the free hand for somatic requirements? Maybe he keeps one held in his tail like a teifling with the Prehensile Tail trait? Help me understand this here. If he still has wealth left over for the gloves, keep in mind that means he can only really have one rod active. To use the other from the glove, he's still going to have to drop the first item to complete somatic components.

Again, my main concerns are that you use a lot of gray areas, house rules, and dm fiat, which (in my own friendly personal opinion) aren't entirely appropriate for a charop challenge.

Edit: I'm still curious about the build you mentioned that succeeded. What approach did you take?

Of course not but high level characters have concerns that go beyond a single town or city.

Assuming intent is not something I'm a fan of. Its entirely possible a character could hail from a tiny island village that has no ties to any other nation.

As has been already mentioned earthquake, demand and gate are all means by which he can be forced from his lair. It is also entirely possibly to remove his defences. The divination block is simply a large scale Private Sanctum and the teleportation block a variant on Forbiddance. Disjunction is a thing after all.

Oh don't get me wrong sir, I'm not saying your challenge is impossible. People have already posted some great ideas. My main concern, which I outlined in my previous post (which you have yet to really reply to, I guess I should be grateful you read the first line of that post? I don't know your schedule, I'm sure you'll get to it eventually), was thus: if you want to pose a RAW tactical charop challenge, you need to 1) play by the same rules your players do, and 2) explicitly state all of the rules/tactics/conditions before the challenge begins. Vague "He may do something in so many days", or "well I houserule breaking force wall works like this" is hard to work with.

Either way, I'm going to give you a B for effort. It looks like you put a lot of thought into the encounter, but there are still a few places you could improve on.

This is salvageable though. Still looking to see what other builds come.

Also, any reason we don't just wait for him to attack the city and deal with him outside of his lair? (Provided we can do some silly things to prepare for him attacking.)

Mostly because you do not know which city he will strike next and due to mind blank cannot use divinations to determine which it is ahead of time.

...Now his attentions have turned to your homeland...

.....Are you telling me my character doesn't know where he's from?

Yeah, I know this is getting a little pedantic, but come on sir. This challenge is getting out of hand. Lets recap:

1)Selective magic trait that prohibits anybody other than the dragon from using teleportation of any kind.
2)Using wish to create an effect other than what the spell was intended (I'm looking at the wall of force used horizontally)
3)Destroying a force wall, even when silenced, alerts him. Even while asleep.
4)He's a member of a noble family (scion of war)*
5)I'll give you this one, it might be obvious, but when Prismatic Sphere states "When you're inside it, however, the sphere blocks any attempt to project something through the sphere (including spells)", wouldn't that remove the shield other effect as soon as he leaves the buff bubble?
6)When you say "He arguably has 4 limbs capable of carrying things" after discussing that both claws are holding rods... Are you suggesting that he casts spells with his wings, his toes, or that he's carrying coconuts under his dorsal guiding feathers?
7)Somehow, challengers forget where they come from.

Also, I'm going to call you out. You say you've got a character that has completed this challenge. Show/share your work please?

*yeah, I get it, he's optimized. But seriously? I'm gonna give you a hard time for that one sir.

SPACEBALL12345 wrote:

Do we have as long as we want to prep for the fight, or are we working on a time limit?

Does it make a difference and if so what is your answer/solution for both?

You can do an awful lot of things with enough time as a higher level character. I don't have anything specific mathed out yet, I just wanted to know what was acceptable or not from andreww.

He could cause an awful tremendous amount of damage in very short order to any town/city/village considering Incendis is a great wyrm.

I'm of the opinion that in pathfinder, death is cheap and preventable, and that is assuming a worst case scenario where we don't respond as soon as he shows up. Again, all depends on what time constraints there are.

And for the comments on CR, I was more of pointing out how selective anti-magic house rules are seen as 'not difficult for a high level character'. Maybe it isn't hard and I'm just horrible at charop (highly likely), but just getting around the environment seems to be more than half the challenge.

Do we have as long as we want to prep for the fight, or are we working on a time limit?

Also, any reason we don't just wait for him to attack the city and deal with him outside of his lair? (Provided we can do some silly things to prepare for him attacking.)

Also...

I have ignored the environment in the CR calculation as nothing about it should create much in the way of difficulty for any high level character.

As noted at the start his lair is warded to prevent teleportation or divination. Naturally it doesn't affect him, although I appreciate that is pure fiat.

I'm not sure how I should feel about this.

...Additionally/alternatively, maybe some nifty consumables or X/day items that could help me deal with weird situations?...

Sipping Jacket. Get potions that last rounds/day to be much more useful. (haste, vanish, sanctuary, abjuring step(?))

Upgrade that cloak of resist to +3. Saves just get more and more important the higher a level you get.

Feather token (tree). Because... You always need more trees. Too versatile to not have one on hand.

... Retraining something like dodge to that would give you two feats, so you could go power attack AND furious focus, giving you the damage without hurting your chance to hit as much.

Sometimes I'm a very special child. Especially when I try to retrain a combat feat into a regional feat and then give myself an extra feat.

Well you aren't doing enough damage to gib things in one round at that level, and if society play is anything like the table here then you can't really afford to go below +18 to hit if you want to hit things at CR 12 or higher somewhat reliably. If I had to choose one of the feats you listed, I'd consider improved critical. Could be useful if your final adventure takes you to a high enough level to unlock the capstone EK ability.

Looking at your setup listed, you seem pretty concerned about getting hit. You only have 2 hits on a full attack at 12, maybe consider wind stance? Kind of an out there choice, but if you just don't wanna get hit, its hard to go wrong with miss chances. Could save you a casting of blur if you plan on it being over quickly.

I know you don't want to retrain, but have you considered Acadamae Graduate? You should have a fort save of at least +9, I'm guessing higher with items, so you might be able to reliably get a flank bonus and more attacks on your own(with cloak of resistance +3, you'd fail the save on a 4-7 depending on spell level, not too bad). Retraining something like dodge to that would give you two feats, so you could go power attack AND furious focus, giving you the damage without hurting your chance to hit as much.

Is there a reason you couldn't attach the chord to your clothes so the wand will hang from your clothes and not hand?

It depends... Can Jason Bulmahn do it?

Soul eater(drinker) will give you infinite money if you keep a healthy farm/ buy wands of summon monster 1. Only need a 2 level dip (or a cohort) to make it work.

I can't find the post now, but there is a combo with a 20th lvl oracle revelation and awaken animal that let's you go infinite on your hd and cha score.

Wizard has true name, which you can use to get a genie to grant wishes.

Simulacrum and blood money can cause havoc.

You can combine the infinite gold with the rules for modifying constructs to have a golem with near infinite str and dex.

If you search for the old beastmass thread, somebody posted a pretty solid diviner that beat big T himself.

How high a level does he plan on the campaign going?

@PSusac: Well now I feel silly. Should have realized that was two standard actions. Thanks for catching that.

Assuming we fly up and drop the object then use the command word, are there rules for how a falling cage like that would work though? I'm not even sure where to begin looking in the rules for examples of things like this. Sorry if this is an obvious one that i'm missing.

Well, if you really really wanna push things to the limit, a few things that haven't been mentioned in this thread yet...

1) Give the retraining rules a read. Use them to increase your maximum hp to the max per die. Or start as a martial character and retrain as a caster when you get high enough level to be able to have the key spells.

2) Battle cattle. Get a combat trained bison and optimize for handle animal for the early levels. It will be a better adventurer than you are for a while.

3) Seriously ask your DM if you can start at level 2 or 3. There is nothing fun about death at the hands of two cr 1/3 kobolds that rolled lucky.

4) If it really is just one character doing an adventure designed for a party of 4, ask if you are going to be standard wbl, or getting the loot that a full party would.

5) Use leadership to get a crafter that has different spells than you do. ex if playing an oracle, get a wizard cohort. Make them an android for the racial ability to add their character level to any d20 roll, great for higher craft dcs. Don't forget he's still a full caster, and casting beneficial spells won't break invisibility for him.

6) Blood money.

7) Repeating spell traps. Seriously, consider it.

8) Get a wand of unseen servant to check for traps. An hour of trap detection per cast is a good deal for 750.

9) Get a scroll/cast contingency on yourself as soon as possible. There will be something you forget, or a roll that will not be in your favor, and this will give you an easy way to escape and recover.

15 point without dumping at first level is going to really really REALLY hurt.

Is this something where your dm wants you to push the system to the very limit, or are you just trying to have a laugh with a one character adventure to see how far you get?

I'm curious now. Can you use shrink item on a mechanical or magical trap? It isn't a creature, but does it count as an item?

Also of note: throw a shrunken cage/net, issue command word while airborne. Would it even allow a save?

Would an animated rope be tiny?

Depends on the length and weight of the rope. I'd consult this page for more information on size restrictions.

But how would it work if the rope tries to secure itself so someone can climb it?

I'm not finding anything that could prevent that. Might go into dm fiat territory depending on how good of a knot you want it to make.

An would an animated flute be able to play itself?

Constructs cannot take ranks in skills. However, you can use the bioconstruct: brain modification to bypass this. That being said, there is nothing stopping it from using the skill untrained.

Where does an animated object with a ranged attack get its ammo from?

Magic. I can't find anything in the rules to suggest they use ammo.

A) Tiny Construct Stats

B) Animated Object Rules

An animated object is not simply one monster, but a whole category. Stats are included here for Tiny through Colossal animated objects (with Construction Points that have not been spent to gain additional abilities), but any object can become animated, most commonly via the spell animate objects. Permanent animated objects can be built using the Craft Construct feat. Unless an animated object uses a Construction Point to be made of another material, all animated objects are made of wood or material of equivalent hardness.

Emphasis was me. You can have that animated object look like anything you want..... what? Don't look at me like that. I'm just saying.

C)I honestly don't know this one. I'm not seeing rules that state either way if you can or cannot. They don't normally 'wield' weapons like a humanoid would, so this might go into DM fiat territory. Anybody else have more info on this?

D)Picking up an item is a move action. I don't believe its any different if it is handed to you or if you pick it up off the floor.

Manipulate an Item

Moving or manipulating an item is usually a move action.

This includes retrieving or putting away a stored item, picking up an item, moving a heavy object, and opening a door. Examples of this kind of action, along with whether they incur an attack of opportunity, are given in Table: Actions in Combat.

Quicken vanish? No no no friend, you want a sipping jacket with potions of vanish.

Save yourself a feat and use some of the dosh you are saving to get vanish as a swift action for a round. 5000 for the jacket, 50 per potion. Up the CL on the potion to get that vanish 2 or 3 times per day. Say hello to cheap 50% miss chance on demand. Or any other potion with rounds/level you feel you should use for the day. Like all those spells not on your spell list. (unless you are using your swift action for something else, just looking at the feats/classes you listed)

Also, I'm not sure if spring attack is worth the feat tax. You plan on using defensive illusions like vanish and mirror image, so I don't think the pre reqs would see any use. Maybe there is a lot of nasty cleaving going on in PFS that encourages only one person being close to an enemy, but I'm not sure how spring attack is going to justify two dead feats for you. Unless this has something to do with the latest seasons meta. I've only seen a smattering of season 3.

If it were me building this without considering other class options, and I just HAD to have spring attack, I'd drop empower, quicken, and toughness. The quicken you can get from the jacket(not all spells, but some good ones), the empower you can get from a rod (if you really gotta have it), and your defensive illusions could cover the hp loss from toughness.

@DrDeth: It is a facebook post from Jason Bulmahn, the man who felt weapon cords should not be a swift action because he failed to do so in real life.

Using that kind of metric for tabletop fantasy design would be the same as me trying to use bat poop and sulfur to cast a fireball, not even getting a spark, and then removing the spell from the game because I can't make fire shoot from my hands in real life.

For those wary of navigating to the page:

Jason, original post: Spent a part of the morning tying my mouse to my hand by the cord and figuring out how tricky it was to get the thing back in my hand. Its not impossible.. but its not a swift action.

Jason, reply: Somedays my job is quite entertaining...

Scott Fernandez: Thinking of revising or getting rid of the weapon cord?

Jason Bulmahn: Yup... we just posted an FAQ changing it from a swift action to a move action. We also walked back the advice on Free Actions.

Fast healer is another option. Has a pretty big feat tax, and only affects yourself.

Fast Healer

You benefit greatly from your healing, be it from spells or natural healing.

Prerequisites: Con 13, Diehard, Endurance.

Benefit: When you regain hit points by resting or through magical healing, you recover additional hit points equal to half your Constitution modifier (minimum +1).

Gets better the more con you have. Not really optimal, but it is an option.

Best I can do was the quote I found earlier from James Jacobs.

I'll link it again HERE if that helps.

The second difference is that all of these race types are 0-Hit Dice creatures, which means that their Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saving throw progression, skill points, class skills, and weapon and armor proficiencies are based on the class levels each member of a race takes.

Ok, THAT makes more sense. Thank you Weren!

Check out the subtype section. Native outsiders explicitly do not get martial weapon proficiency.

Some creatures have one or more subtypes. Subtypes add additional abilities and qualities to a creature.

This subtype is applied only to outsiders. These creatures have mortal ancestors or a strong connection to the Material Plane and can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be. creatures with this subtype are native to the Material Plane. Unlike true outsiders, native outsiders need to eat and sleep.

So the subtype normally adds additional features to the creature type. They do not replace or remove traits, except in this case it modifies the resurection/need to eat and sleep, where those traits are explicitly mentioned. It does not modify any other part. So a native outsider has all the outsider traits, plus those listed under native. Native outsider does not replace everything listed under outsider, it adds to it.

I am a big fan of the multiclass feats. I love them even if you leave them exactly as is.

However, I would be really, really keen for someone to be able to take them at level 1. There are concepts where a character has been trained as an A and a B at the same time. While mechanically playing as an A and then showcasing B a few levels in works, I would love to be able to actually play as an A and a B from the get go. I'm okay if this is only true for humans with an extra general feat, or as a special heritage, or something.

I would like to put in a request for subsection. This is not based on P2E playtest, where intrigue heavy campaigns have not come up, but on my regular pathfinder game I ran today.

I would like a subsection under perception, after detecting creatures, for detecting spells.

This needs to go through the four ways to detect a spell. I believe these are.

1. A spellcaster using a V, S or M component can be detected casting a spell. Explain how hard this is. How much does distance effect it? What about if your normal senses cannot detect them (eg S M spell cast in darkness). Please add a reference to Conceal Spell.

2. Manifestations. How do you adjudicate if a spell has a manifestation? How does this work if your normal sense cannot detect it (eg a thrown ball of acid in complete darkness). How do you know where it comes from? Can I indentify a spell from the manifestation, and is that an action? It is worth noting some manifestations go long enough someone might wander on the scene and see them - can they work out it is a spell, or what spell it is, and if so how?

3. Being affected. e.g. If a concealed, manifest free charm person spell is cast on me, it has an effect if I fail. Do I notice this? What about if I make the saving throw? Do I know I threw off a spell? Do I know what it was supposed to do?

4. Extra sensory perception. e.g. If I have continual detect magic (which some monsters do) and someone casts a spell, presumably even a manifestation-free effect cast from concealment (or distance) on someone else it will be detected. Is there a way to stop this? (This is the place where it might be okay to mention detect levels, and things like Nondetection, maybe?

This area in P1 is a poorly defined minefield where a lot of the way to discover how the rules work was by finding the feats that said they got rid of a problem you did not know you had! This doesn't need to be a large subsection, even explicit "is up to your GM to determine" would help.

What I'd love is a section where, when my players do something crazy, I can put my head in my hands and read through the section to see what the recommendations are.

Edit: there were previous discussion on the manifestation part of this, and on how they interact with invisibility. They asked for more in general, where I'm asking four a four stage parallel to the Detecting Creatures section.

Edit2: If spells had a "Manifestation" trait for perceivable manifestations, that'd be amazing.

This might be too late to suggest.
Reasoning: Wizards tended to be picked by people willing to put in extra effort (working out what spells to memorise, extra feats, discoveries), at the moments wizards are the most powerful of the casters (opinion), and sorcerers are a bit much like inferior wizards (Arcane is the best list).

Could Wizards get proficiencies in schools, instead of just Spellcasting?
Given 8 schools (universalist is probably too small to count)
Specialists could start with 5 'school increases' and get 1 school increase per level.
Universalists could start with 7, and get 1 per level.
If the expert/master/legendary points were 3/7/15 instead of 12/16/19 then highly specialised specialist could have 6 Legendary, 1 Master and 2 untrained. A universalist gets everything at a level at 2 (trained), 10 (expert) and 18 (master).
An "old school" specialist with 6 schools they can cast, 2 they avoid, and with a specialisation in 1 can get 6 schools to master at 14, legendary at 20 and could get 6 schools to expert at 8 (but will almost certainly advance their true specialisation first)

This does come at the cost of additional work to create a wizard. It may be worth keeping universalist "as is" as an option. I'm not sure people signing up to play specialist wizards are necessarily intimidated by one more thing to keep track of, given they need to keep track of spell schools anyway.

TLDR Question;
Is it okay to use character creation software in the playtest?

We ended up spending our first session on character creation. We had a group of 5 with something like 150 years of communal experience in a lot of different systems. Three of us were PF1 GMs. All of us have run games.

It took all session to make characters. We had some technical issues, no hardcover books, not enough tablets and some socialising. All up we believe it took 2 hours per player.

Feedback so far was that making a character was hard. Upon reflection it was not intrinsically harder than PF1. We put this down to four things
1. New system meant things had to be looked up more (though a number of us had already read the rulebook)
2. Lack of a Reference Document or even hyperlinked PDF made looking things up cumbersome
3. No automated systems to assist with character creation (we have a number of systems to help with PF1).
4. Some of the sheet formatting choices were not great.

I am very interested in using software to assist, but I want to check that this will not invalidate the playtest feedback. If the intention is to find out just how hard it is to make characters without software assistance then we can push through. Note that we have made the first characters.

As an incidental if five players is an issue then I will ask someone to step out. I would prefer not to do so.

Hey,
I sent some emails about this, but I don't seem to have a response.
I have two confirmation emails for this order number.
The first says: Submitted Friday, October 20, 2017 02:30 AM
The second says: Submitted Friday, October 27, 2017 06:36 PM

These are two completely separate orders with the same order number.
The first was for Unknown Armies. I do not believe I have been charged for this - though I am pretty sure I remember getting a successfully processed message at the time.
The second was my regular subscription. I have definitely been charged for this.
The subscription seems to have arrived, the UA is marked as being in my sidecart.

I've sent two emails.
The first just asked for confirmation that there was a typo in the title of one of the UA books (marked book 1, book 2 and book 1).
The second asked what was happening with the order number.

I know that you're snowed under, but the UA books are christmas presents and delivery takes a long time to Australia sometimes. More than happy to reorder them, but I don't want to reorder them if it means I'm somehow going to end up with two copies.

Thanks

I submitted a Winter Witch concept to three different play by posts for Reign of Winter before a GM finally took pity on me and explained it was actually a terrible concept for the game.

Is it possible to find out what cool-sounding concepts are actually terrible for Strange Aeons? The Player's Guide gives some clues, but I'm wondering about something much more blatant but still spoiler free.

Like "Don't play a summoner who summons tentacle monsters" or "don't worship any of the evil Great Old Ones, except X". (Note: I'm guessing here.)

I don't want to just read the modules to work it out, because, y'know, Spoilers.

Sort of hoping GMs who have character concepts in their campaigns that prove disastrous can post hints for their successors.

I posted in the wrong thread last night (because I am an idiot). Didn't notice it until I woke up this morning.
I wondered if I should flag it, but none of the options really fit.
Is it possible to get someone to delete it?
If so, who do I ask?
Post is here
Cheers

I keep getting this error: 'You have made too many requests for the same page too quickly'
I only get it from Chrome. Only on one computer. On every page.
If I try it from Chrome on a different computer is all okay.
If I try it from Firefox on the same computer is all okay.
Interestingly if I try and Ping www.paizo.com I get a Request Timed Out.
I tried rebooting - same problem.
I tried different networks (same computer, chrome) and got the same problem.

I'm guessing this is not the website so much as the way I am interacting with it, but any advice would be very welcome.

Qantium, capital of Nex, is the largest, most magically advanced city in the world. The masses of citizens contained in the walled city are seeded with rogue alchemist experiments, escaped summonings and unlicensed monsters. Every day a hundred crimes are reported, and another hundred aren't.
It's the Guard's job to deal with all of them. Most guard squads deal with the everyday misdemeanour's and fights - but not yours.
You deal with the 'unusual' crimes. The ones that no-one else can - or wants to - deal with.

Inspired by Simon R Green and Jim Butcher.

More details here

Crunch:
Starting level: 5th
HP: full at 1st level, half+1 after that
Alignment: anything appropriate for City Guard (CE is definitely not), must be able to cooperate with fellow Guardsmen and follow orders (or at least must seem to follow orders...)
Stats: 25 point buy
Class: any Paizo
Race: any Paizo
Traits: pick any two, two more special campaign traits will be given based on your background
Wealth: level appropriate (10.500 gp for 5th level)

Fluff:
Description: Please provide a description of your character as if someone saw you for the first time.
Personality: Self explanatory. This may include favorite quotes, quirks, etc.
Background: Please submit a rather detailed history of your character including prior adventures/work and how she/he happened to be in Quantium and entered the service. You are starting at 5th level, so you should have some interesting past...

This is a continuation of our campaign. We have lost some players and are looking for replacement characters.
The Guard squad currently consists of a Human Diviner and Clockwork Investigator.
We are looking for 3-5 characters to complement the group.
We need a martial character (preferably melee)and a divine character. The other characters may have any class you feel might be useful for urban investigation and monster hunting.

All submitted characters will be considered by GM and remaining players. The approval will be done by consensus.

The recruitment will probably be opened till April 24th, but if we find suitable characters before that time, we might close it earlier (but prior notice at will be given).

Players, please dot here to report in

I'm interested in running a magical investigators game.
This is a spiritual follow up to Spooky's excellent Darkest Corners campaign, so I have appropriated the name. Other influences are Simon R Green and Jim Butcher.
I have three players already, but would like at least one more.
The discussion thread here has more details.
If this looks like something you are interested in then please speak up.

This is a thread to discuss the formation of a game.
It is inspired by many sources; Simon R Green's Nightside and Haven, Noir detective stories, and of course Spooky's Darkest Corners thread.

I would like a city with enough people to start to run into metropolis problems.

I would like a large class of poor, and a small class of very rich, and Tammany Hall politics.

I would like the death of pretty much any individual to be something that gets investigated. For pretty much everyone to have rights. But I would like there to be an oppressed subclass.

I would like it to be primarily human and human-like races.

I would like it to be in the early stages of an "industrial revolution" using alchemy and magic.

I would like the PCs to be elite members of the "Guards", which are a police type force. The guards also do military and crowd control, PCs unit would be responsible for investigating unusual crimes.

Here so people can dot it

A place to post what happens to the minions, and the minions themselves.

This is the Kingdom Phase 2, 4714-4715AR for the Rise of the New Runelords game at http://paizo.com/campaigns/RiseOfTheNewRunelords

• 4713AR
  
• 4714AR
  

This is the Kingdom Phase 1, 4713-4714AR for the Rise of the New Runelords game at http://paizo.com/campaigns/RiseOfTheNewRunelords

Previous recruitment was at here

The game is an epic game about the creation of a new Thassilon (based loosley on Xin’s original vision). The game is strongly based on Kingmaker (but I will have to raise some threats a lot to actually be a threat).

The premise is that a rich dwarven wizard named Hargran Stonebound ran a small (and illegal) ‘cult’ of Lissala in Cheliax, out of Egorian academy. He has seven apprentices/acolytes who are as much lab assistants as anything else.

A few nights ago he arranged a contract with Brevoy to claim the Stolen Lands. He grabbed his students and ran, but the Cheliax government tried to stop him. He is now near death and his students are largely on their own.

There are Seven students (obviously) but three have or are dropped out, so I am looking for three new characters.

Characters should be ex-students and cultists of Hargran who have answered his call to arms.

The group is about to go Mythic. Recruitment ends when just before they do. I'm guessing a week.

I would like everyone to think about why their character was in the ‘cult’;
Are you a true believer? Are you simply hoping to acquire some of Hargran’s wealth? Seeking secret knowledge? Taking advantage of the fact Hargran will give you a better grade if you are in his cult? Hoping to gain power? Using Hargran’s well known tolerance of strange races to gain a measure of protection in prejudiced Cheliax, which has now turned on you?

This is also a Mythic game. Resurrect the true Lissalan Church and in return you will become her Champions on Golarion.

I think a strength of PbP is that it can cope well with many NPCs on the player sides, so Leadership, Familiars, Golems, Summons etc are all fair game. Be warned that means that this is a large party starting to verge on a small army.

I hope this will be a game where a lot of discussion and planning takes place, so be prepared for it.

Currently we have
The Charitable Runelord in Grey, bearer of Rune of Necromancy, Necromancer Wizard
The Generous Runelord Denat, bearer of the Rune of Conjuration , Conjurer Wizard
The Kind Runelord Simon, bearer of the Rune of Evocation, Gun-using evocation Wizard
the Loving Runelord Anglon, bearer of the Rune of Enchantment, Cleric of Lissala.

Available runes and virtues are
Temperante, Zelaous, and Humble
Rune of Abjuration, Transmutation, and Illusion.

Character creation
Level: 5th level, SECOND MYTHIC TIER (which you will get at game start. 6th level hopefully by end of the year)
Sources: Paizo only
Races: 20 points atts for core races, 25-RP for other races. Human or human derived preferred but not required.
Traits: none (Additional Traits feat allowed)
Feats: Anyone with a Knowledge (History) total of 10 or more gets a free Feat at the start of game.
Gold: 11000 (say what you will about Hargan, he’s not stingy)
Characters Must:

* have craft wondrous and & prof in a martial or exotic polearm
* have worshipped Lissala
* not be a dedicate of another god (or religious philosophy)
* be lawful
House rules:
Bladebound may choose a polearm as their black blade.
Clerics of Lissala may take the separatist archetype without the domain penalty.

Special
I will also consider accepting applications for up to one Kobold character of any class with the following limits
Level: 5th level, SECOND MYTHIC TIER (which you will get at game start. 6th level hopefully by end of the year)
Sources: Paizo only
Races: 20 points atts.
Traits: 2 (Additional Traits feat allowed)
Feats: None.
Gold: 100
Characters Must:
* Have recently converted to Lissala
* Be a local Kobold

FOREWORD

Almost certainly you - dear reader - have heard of the New Runelords. You may even know certain dry facts, or been subjected to the propaganda posing as historical evidence the current Runelords promulgate. Rest assured that this history is different.

I have taken the facts and evidence, statements from various summoned beings and a lifetime of work in the field of Divination and used it to construct - in never before detail - the true story of the Rise of the New Runelords.

This is the start of the discussion thread.

Rise of the New Runelords.

Hargran Stonebound 4312-4714
Lecturer in Pre-Starfall History 4482-4603
Reader in Pre-Starfall History 4603-4713
King of Hargran 4713-4714
Hargran Stonebound is one of the most notable of Egorian Academy’s faculty members. For centuries he quietly educated in pre-starfall history, especially that of Thassilon. While his academic reputation was not widely regarded, his speed at the creation of arcane devices and magical items was exceptional. The sale of these items left Stonebound a rich dwarf and this in turn gave him a degree of protection from the turmoil in Cheliax following the death of Ardoen that occurred three years after he became reader.
Not much is known of Stonebound’s history - his family name appears to have been a pseudonym, suggesting he was an exile. It is now known that he kept two major secrets. Firstly, that he had access somehow to an artefact or site of great significance to ancient Thassilon that was instrumental in his prodigious enchanting output. Secondly, that he was in fact the head of a Lissalan cult.
There are several theories as to why on 7 Pharast 4713 he decided to found the kingdom of Hargran (as it was then known). It is generally agreed that it was due to a desire to make a mark in history, though Stonebound officially claimed it as a divinely inspired dream. The story circulated by the bard Grigori that Stonebound made a bet with a fellow academic that he could do a better job than Xin is almost certainly fiction regardless of its popularity among history departments across Golarion.
Hargran died of old age in 4714AR at 402 years of age. He never saw the heights the kingdom would reach when it passed into the hands of his seven acolytes. While his name is certainly stamped in history it is usually only as a footnote to the names and deeds of those new Runelords.

“Great chaos rose up, and a voice said “Let there be a new Thassilon”, and seven new Runelords stepped forth and faced the Chaos”

I’m looking to run an epic game about the creation of a new Thassilon (based loosley on Xin’s original vision). The game will be strongly based on Kingmaker (but I will have to raise some threats a lot to actually be a threat).

The premise is that a rich dwarven wizard named Hargan Stonebound runs a small (and illegal) ‘cult’ of Lissala in Cheliax, out of Egorian academy. He has seven apprentices/acolytes who are as much lab assistants as anything else.
One night he comes to his group, explains that he has arranged for them to found a kingdom, and in doing so brought the cult to light - very soon the church of Asmodeus is likely to make life very uncomfotable.
Unprepared and unready, but brimming with magical power the group teleports to a small trading post on the outskirts of Brevoy.
As the quote at the start suggests, Hargan is not long for this world. The damp River Kingdoms will hasten his demise, and eventually leave your seven characters in charge.

I would like everyone to think about why their character was in the ‘cult’;
Are you a true believer? Are you simply hoping to acquire some of Hargran’s wealth? Seeking secret knowledge? Taking advantage of the fact Hargran will give you a better grade if you are in his cult? Hoping to gain power? Using Hargran’s well known tolerance of strange races to gain a measure of protection in prejudiced Cheliax?

I would also like everyone to think about a reason why your character would stick it out. This should be in addition to the fact have sworn certain oaths that might be binding, have no easy way to travel out, and are working for a wizard who has Teleport, Scrying, Nightmare and Baleful Polymorph.

This is also a Mythic game. Resurrect the true Lissalan Church and in return you will become her Champions on Golarion. Don’t worry about mythic tiers for now though. I have plans for post-kingmaker play, but as that is a long, long way away so don’t worry about that for now either.

I think a strength of PbP is that it can cope well with many NPCs on the player sides, so Leadership, Familiars, Summons etc are all fair game.

I hope this will be a game where a lot of discussion and planning takes place, so be prepared for it.

I would prefer academic characters, with little survival (you can pick it up later), and while Caster level is NOT required, it is probably a good idea.

You can strongly link your character to a virtue at this time, but actual virtue picking will happen after characters are chosen.

Character creation
Level: 5th level
Sources: Paizo only
Races: 20 points atts for core races, 25-RP for other races. Human or human derived preferred but not required.
Traits: none (Additional Traits feat allowed)
Feats: Anyone with a Knowledge (History) total of 10 or more gets a free Feat at the start of game.
Gold: 11000 (say what you will about Hargan, he’s not stingy)
Age: Max starting age for class/race combo (27 years).
Characters Must:

* have craft wondrous and & prof in a martial or exotic polearm
* have worshipped Lissala
* not be a dedicate of another god (or religious philosophy)
* be lawful

House rules:
Bladebound may choose a polearm as their black blade.
Clerics of Lissala may take the separatist archetype without the domain penalty.

A couple of threads have been grabbing my attention lately and I am strongly considering running a game based on it.

Kingmaker campaign based around the rise of seven new PC 'Runelords'.

I figure the game would start at about level 5 and go from there. Some of book #1 could be used (with increased CR, obviously) and quickly hit book #2.

Kicker would be starting with seven (probably arcane) casters who are not optimised for wilderness adventure.

After re-reading a lot of Kingmaker I think maybe it could work. The two questions I can't resolve are
(A) what's the interest level?
(B) Should it use the mythic ruleset?

Any thoughts?

No spoilers please,

Was just wondering how appropriate or inappropriate a cleric of lissala would be as a PC in shattered star, I've been careful to avoid spoilers but it is pretty obvious lissala would fit the theme... but might be as the major villain!

I've done a PbP Playtest of Ashes At Dawn and introduced the rules to my tabletop group in Broken Moon. The update was not brought into play.

Broken Moon
As a GM very much appreciated the Agile and Savage templates as a way to easily upgrade a few monsters to low mythic.
My experience has been that (Level+Mythic tier) is slightly less powerful than level alone IN COMBAT. I don't have enough numbers to justify this beyond the randomness involved in dice.
One of my players has used their mythic wisdom ability on perception a few times to enormous effect (once to spot guards from two hundred feet away, once to see an invisible caster).
Players had trouble with tracking Lesser Trials.
I found the suggestions around how to make a game feel mythic very useful.

Ashes at Dawn
You can check out the threads if you would like more detail.
Once again I found the templates an easy way to upgrade monsters. Would have been good to have a few more "easy add" templates, maybe at +2, +3 and +4. This would let a GM using a published adventure easily upgrade some monsters to Mythic.
There was a confusion about what happens to a mounted character using Amazing Initiative and wanting to move.
We had a character with DR/- and DR/Epic. The fact these didn't stack made DR/Epic useless for him, despite it was a very appropriate ability for his character to have developed. Not sure if I missed a rule on that.
It did feel to me like there were a few too many points under this system. New iteration should fix that.
"To the Death" proved instrumental in a character's surviving. It was great, but probably appropriately costed.
Despite me trying to push it I saw no love for lesser trials. One players suggested it might be due to the fast pace of the game.

Four days ago you left ill-fated Illmarsh, and your minds rebel at remembering the horrors you faced there.

Four days of hard travelling along the winding coastal road to Caliphas.

You were met at the gates of Thrushmoor by the Bishop of Versex. Looking somewhere between awed at having been visited by his goddess and insulted at being used as a mere messenger he stopped the guards from allowing you entrance.

"Oh no - Thrushmoor is not for you. The Lady of Graves appeared to me in a dream last night, telling me to meet you at this spot with two gifts and a warning."

At a word healing energy washes over you, dispelling your tiredness. At a gesture five pharasmin novices, each leading a fine fresh horse, come forward.

"I was told to tell you this: 'The hunters have become the hunted. Death seeks. Darkness comes. Make haste to Caliphas."

Alright, let's do this!

Can everyone sound off please - want to check we've got everyone.

Sound off question: Do we use individual or shared Mythic Weaknesses.

As for Ascension events, my suggestion is everyone has ended up with a patron (Ustalavic) deity helping them on. Pharasma and Desna are the obvious choices, with Morrack being given the big thumbs up by Abadar.

Sound okay?

Hey all,
I'm interested in running Carrion Crown #5 'Ashes at Dawn' using the mythic rules.
Looking for 4 characters that are level 11 with mythic tier 5, and different mythic paths.
I'll up the CR of encounters appropriately, but otherwise try to run as per book.
Game to last about a month, so I'd like people who can post at least once per day.
Previous knowledge of the book NOT a problem. Knowledge of previous books of Carrion Crown a plus.
Looking for characters, not just stats - don't just want to do combat.
Don't need to post from an Alias, but please link to one.

hey
Don't meant to nitpick, but just wondering
"you can expend one daily use of mythic power to increase any d20 roll you just made by rolling 1d6 and adding it to the results"

This doesn't say bonus, and seems to imply it increases the die result.
If I roll a 19 on an attack roll and add 1, is it a natural 20? Is it a 20 for the purposes of critical?

Guessing I'm just misreading it.

THIS IS NOT A RECRUITMENT THREAD

* I really like these rules.
* I am most concerned about the lesser trials, so I'd like to provide feedback on that.
* I know that the combat system etc is going to be tested pretty thoroughly, so not as worried about playtesting that
* I'm prepared to run a PbP, but I'd like to focus it on the value of the lesser trials.
* Given feedback closes early jan, and I'm getting married late dec, I see this whole thing is going to need to aim for a month-and-a-half (though if it's a good game, I guess I could keep it going after dec)

I'm interested in suggestions in how to best craft a PbP that actually showcases the lesser trials in order the get the best feedback.

I think not just running combats is important. Part of me thinks a sandbox might be the best way to do it, but that might be my favouritism towards showcases.

It is nearly 6:30 when the gate-guard screams out.

Grandmother has been trying to make dinner, but the coughing has gotten so bad one of the older kids has had to take over while she sits down.

Thom-Thom is sitting out on the seat in the front garden watching the gate; his vision means he often pulls night shift, though the silver sky has not yet darkened to black.

Everyone else is bustling around the house but Minnow, and some of the younger kids are grumbling about Minnow being late - mostly because they want to get to the pastries Tarek brought home from work.

Suddenly Thom-Thom screams out "Minnow! Trouble!"

Those who run out into the street or garden see Minnow, arms pumping, covered in sweat, running like the wind away from the gate. A few seconds behind her, just emerging, are a pack of large but mangy long-haired dogs.

You have initiative. Put yourself on the map starting in Thom-Thom's square and move from there. Anyone who wants can look out a second story or first story window, but that has limits where you can see.

NOTES

Anyone want to volunteer to be helping out in the kitchen?

Discussion thread for Leviathan Rises

Setting
The City is immense. A network of demiplanes carved out of nothing by desperate arcanists and gods-touched over years. No-one is sure how many people live in the city, but it dwarfs even mighty Katapesh and Absalom, and every resident a refugee, trying to eke out a living on their flimsy lifeboat of a city in the maelstrom of the Astral Plane.

No one would have believed in the last years of the Age of Lost Omens that the wars and conflicts plaguing Golarion world would vanish into insignificance compared to what was to happen. The stars came into their conjunctions and the Others fell to earth, the Old Ones rose from their tombs and seas, and the Outer Gods returned once more.

Those who did not flee Golarion died, save for some small areas overlooked or protected by the gods or the most powerful of magics.

The City is chaos - every district is distinct. Buildings, streets, even whole suburbs were ripped out of Golarion and placed into a demiplane. Collapsing demiplanes have dumped buildings from one district into another. The laws of geography and geometry apply strangely in some places within the city. Even time can run differently in some districts. Law is applied haphazardly, and in places gangs are the only law. An emergency council claims to represent and govern the various districts - a claim often met with derision.

You were only a child at the time. Half trained in some apprenticeship, or simply living your life. You don’t really remember clearly what happened, just shattered images and memories, but you remember your parents. You were roomed with other refugee orphans, and you banded together in self defence through those first three years - the hardest years.

Your gang now holds a tiny bit of territory and you eat almost every day. But your “grandmother” - the old witch woman who has looked out for you all since you arrived - has gotten sick. Her minor magics can’t cure the cough that racks her night after night. Unless someone does something, soon she will die.

Behind the curtain

This is an urban, high magic sandbox game (like an urban Kingmaker). Golarion still exists, and you might even be able to save it one day, but at the start you need to concentrate on making sure your gang survives.

The game setting is inspired by Simon R Green’s Haven & Nightside, Steven Brust’s Adrilankha, James Blish’s New York City, and the Cthulhu Mythos.

I love games where I can work my way up, and build something in the setting - not just follow an adventure path. Something where I can be proactive in seeking power within the game. I love Kingmaker for the sandbox kingdom building elements in it. I have tried to build a game for people looking for this sort of thing.

I am looking for people who want to build a deep and rich world in an urban setting.
Source is Core, APG, UC, UM and ARG and maybe other Paizo products (ask me)
Looking for young characters (normal starting ages waived) but not too young. Somewhere between 13-16 (depending on race) at the start. Start at level 1 (hopefully end up at level 20 and with characters around 50 years old)
Posting: Looking for people who can post at least once per day, preferably more.
Race: humans preferred, but core races are fine, apg races probably okay and maybe even a custom race allowed.
Attributes: 20 point buy for nonhumans, 25 points for humans.
Traits: 2
Skills: as normal and pick an extra class skill from Survival, Stealth & Sleight of Hand
Equipment: minimum starting amount for class. Wearing medium or heavy armour or carrying large weapons is likely to attract unwanted attention.
HP: Max at 1st, average +1 (d6=4, d8=5, d10=6, d12=7) per level.
Alignment: Any, but character HAS to be strongly attached to the group.
House Rules: Crafting feats have no caster level requirement.
I will need;
* A name and quick description of a younger kid in the gang you look out for
* A time when Grandmother (old Female Human Witch 4) saved you
* A name and description of an enemy in a gang whose territory borders yours.
* An ally or friend you have made in the area outside the gang who will help you out.
If you are selected I will need;
* Three short term goals (eg “Get a heavy crossbow”)
* Two mid term goals (eg “Join a wizard’s guild”)
* Long term goal (eg “Achieve Immortality”)
* Inter-group ties

I've got an idea for a game that's been exciting me, but I'm not sure if it would work.

I love games where I can work my way up, and build something in the setting - not just follow an adventure path. Something where I can be proactive in seeking power within the game. I love Kingmaker for the sandbox kingdom building elements in it.

I also really like the idea of an urban but high magic setting, like the cities in Stephen Brust and Simon R Green's settings. Somewhere people live and work, but anything is possible. Within Golarion the two obvious choices are Kaer Maga and Whitethrone. I'm tending towards Whitethrone.

I want to build a rich and deep world and I am really want players to want to sandbox inside it.

While this sounds like a great game for me I'm just not sure if people are interested in this style of game.

What do you think?

I am considering running a campaign in Whitethrone in Irrisen.
In such a campaign I would like people to take cold themed characters like winter witches etc.
Trouble is, I can see that in a campaign where half the monsters you are going to encounter have Cold resistance, and a sizeable fraction are vulnerable to fire, Cold spells are a poor choice.

I was planning on saying that die to the extreme cold, cold spells (and class spell like abilities, but not monster abilities) are extra effective in Irrisen. This would be for both PCs and non-PCs.

Not sure if I should, or how to do it. Considering
* All cold spells do +1 damage per die
* All cold spells are +1 CL
* All cold spells are 1 level lower.
* All cold spells treat Cold resist as three points less.
* No change to cold spells (PC's Cold resist defence balances PC's weaker cold attacks)

What do people think?