SarNati's page

I dont remember if it lets you "take 20" on untrained knowledge checks or not... but basically, yes, you are correct.

If its untrained 20 + skill mods.
If its trained 20 + skill mods + 1D6 (provided you have a use left).

At least this is how I would use it. The 1D6 functions much like the monk abilities that function so long as you have points in your ki field.

I have been using the DC that she started with. If she started centered, then she uses that DC. If she started uncentered, then she uses that one.

The idea for me is that if she focuses and constructs the thought methodically, its easier to maintain. If she did so hastily, she then must work harder to keep it in her mind.

The way I would rules this case, is that they are separate ability uses.

A) You can spend 1 use to add 1D6
B) You can spend 1 use to take 20 on a Knowledge skill check.

So in the case of your specific question, if you use Eidetic Recollection, you would be able to take 20 on a knowledge skill check. (trained or otherwise). I would argue that you could then spend a second use, to add 1D6 if you wished... but again, they are different abilities that each expend a use from the pool.

Just a Guess,

I would rule that you would get to roll a second save, but that the immunity is not passed along. Snowblind is correct in this case. So, B in your example.

Hiruma Kai,

I'm very glad to hear you had an excellent experience at GenCon. I know we all try our best and its great to hear when it pays off.

A lot can be said about right/wrong in character development. But one thing I know I live by when working with my group is "Is it Fun". Its more important that you all enjoy your characters and have fun playing them than worrying about optimizing them. (Ok, I'll stop before I get to any farther on that soap box. LOL) That said, the stat distribution looks good and you have a good bit of backstory. I think you'll be well set for starter characters. If you want to branch out into other books, there are a plethora of options, but if you are just getting started, I suggest sticking to the books you have. Branch out with other books after you get comfortable with the ones you have.

In general Pathfinder Society scenarios are designed to accommodate a wide variety of play styles. We try to avoid having to optimize characters simply to succeed. In my opinion, you should be well set with what you have.

I wish you the best of luck in your adventures! Good hunting and may the road be ever clear in front of you! I hope we hear more of your adventures next year at GenCon!

Psyren, I would rule that you use ALL features of the unchained version, including cost. Basicaly it fully replaces the normal version with the unchained version.

Trying to encourage an encounter to go in a way that would not result in the utter crushing of your players can be sometimes hard in those instances, and I sympathize if you felt railroaded. But at the same time, I'm sure your GM was simply trying to do their best to help the story go in a fun direction. As I said, thats not always easy and I know we try our best.

Hey all,

I wanted to share my Warforged conversion. Its partly custom work and partly using the Advanced Race Guide. It works out to be an advanced raced (23-25ish points, give or take depending on how you view my changes to the construct sub-type). It is not expected to be a common type of race at all, and was created as a monk though i tried to make the Living Construct subtype flexible to accommodate other variants. I view them in the world as artifacts and one-off rarities. Hand crafted for specific purposes.

(Living Construct sub-type)
+2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma: Warforged are built for strength and learn quickly but have a hard time interacting with others.

Medium: Warforged are medium sized creatures, gaining no bonus or penalty based on size.

Normal Speed: Warforged have a base speed of 30 ft.

Low-Light Vision: Warforged can see twice as far as normal in conditions of dim light.

Darkvision 60 Feet: Warforged can see in the dark up to 60 feet.

Immunities: Sleep-Effects, Fatigue, Exhaustion, Sickness, Poison, Disease, Bleed and Non-Lethal Damage. Warforged to not grow tired or suffer from "organic" frailties.

Shut-Down: A Warforged that is reduced to 0 or fewer HP auto-stabilizes and shuts down. It will not reactivate until repaired to positive HP.

Cannot Heal Naturally: Warforged cannot heal damage naturally and receive only 50% effect from divine healing. They receive full benefits from Mend and Make Whole however and the use of the Craft Construct feat.

Crafted Body: Warforged are crafted from strong but mundane elements. As such, they are affected by spells that manipulate such elements. Warforged take damage from spells such as Heat/Chill Metal and are repelled by Repel Metal/Stone/Wood. Spells such as Stone Shape or Warp Wood slow a Warforged as per the Slow spell, but otherwise do not harm them.

Resist Ability Damage: Warforged are never permanently harmed by ability drain. All ability damage is treated as temporary and heals at a rate of 1D6 per 24 hrs. Furthermore, if a stat is ever reduced to 0, the Warforged shuts down as if reduced to 0 HP but are not destroyed. Healing happens naturally, but the Warforged does not reactivate until all damage to the stat is healed.

Protected Mind: Warforged are immune to Charm and Compulsion effect, but not to other mind affecting spells such as Illusions or Fear.

Singular Body: Warforged can only be raised from the dead if their body is available. Should a Warforged be destroyed, at least 65% of his original body must be used in repair/reconstruction. This repair must be completed by someone with the Craft Construct feat as if creating a new construct. Then the spell to call his soul back from beyond may be cast normally. Should his body be disintegrated, nothing short of Wish may bring him back from death.

Tireless: Warforged do not need to breathe, eat, or sleep unless they want to gain some beneficial effect from one of these activities. This means that they may still drink potions or eat food to benefit from their effects and can sleep in order to regain spells, but neither activity is required to survive or stay in good help.

Hardened Body: Being made of hardwood, stone, and metal provides the Warforged with a +2 to Natural Armor.

*edited for typos*

Hey Doug Doug--glad to hear from the 5-Star GM himself! I have to say I'm a bit unnerved though, as it sounds from the way you phrased your post that the way the GM ran it may not have jibed with the scenario. Personally I thought the GM did a good job and I wouldn't want to second-guess his decisions or play style (as per page 19 of the guide), but if he really did run things differently and people think it's OK for me to do so, I'll be happy to point out my new perspective once I've bought the module. I just want to help in whatever way I can (and if there's really no issue and the best way to help is for me to be quiet, I'm happy to do that too ^_^ ).

Hey all, Friendly GM that ran the scenario here to add to the discussion. I'm not afraid of a little criticism as it helps me grow as well. Wanted to clarify a few points.

GM fumbles:

Points of clarification:

I may post more later. Wanted to keep this simple and just point out these specifics.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts when you see the actual setup. I appreciate your kind words on my decisions and choices and your enthusiasm to make Pathfinder the greatest game available. In the end, all we GMs want is to make the games as exciting as possible for the players and as successful as possible for Paizo. =) I hope to see you again next year, and your continuing thoughts on the forums.

Well, here's my shortlist for new products i'd like to see. =)

1. New "Revisited" books. I'm a sucker for well thought out monster books and the revisited books have got to be some of my favorite anywhere.

2. Class based books more to the idea of class ideas. Something between 2e book of fighters/theives etc and the complete books. I really like class books that give me new options for classes, or varient classes. I also enjoy Prestige Classes... but i'm very leary of a huge list of new feats (tends to unbalance the game) and new core classes (tend to outplay original classes or suck. Warlocks/Duskblade AWSOME, spell theif suck... imo). I love the idea of books that give me new ideas for how to play, or vaiants on how to play a core exisiting class.

3. Detailed region books. (which we are already seeing, but still).

4. Item Compendium type book.

5. Lastly, more Ecology books like the column from Dungeon and Dragon magazines. These were the whole reason i started my subscriptions to the magazines in the first place!

Cheers! and keep up the GREAT work guys!

I am planning to go to Gen Con 2009. But this would be my first time so i was wondering what i would expect. Such as room costs, food costs, how crowded it is or anything else that i may need to know.

Here are my Tips/Tricks. See Spoiler:

I know everyone is wanting to volenteer, myself included. I ran 6/8 games last year and am looking/hoping to do AT LEAST that many again this year. I was just wondering if there would be any advance notice, or deferance to people that volenteered last year. I am just curious. I dont want anyone who wants to help miss out. Pathfinder is a really fantastic world and the society a truely remarkable group of creators, GMs, and players. I will be checking the boards as often as i can over this week hoping not to miss the signups. Looking forward to seeing everyone again this year and making it even better than last year!

Figured since it was bound to come up, I'd start a spot on this board for a collection of new bloodlines for sorcerers. I know in the beta board we had talked about it some but though since we were focusing on the sorcerer, now would be the time.

One I would TRULY love to see would be: Shadow Bloodline.

Snark aside, I think the Perform skill does serve a purpose. I have seen it crop up in adventures and such (especially paizo adventures) as a way to get certain results. If i could think of specifics i would list them but I'm at work and don't have my books. But one i do remember is using perform in conjunction with disguise as a way to pass yourself off as another person. Disguise gets you past the initial test, but perform(acting) was your way of continuing to stay in character. There was even a synergy bonus. 5 points perform(acting) gives you a +2 to disguise. Anyway, i like perform. Its even something i will invest in with characters who are not bards. I think, just like the profession and craft skills, its a way to give depth to a character. And i do think profession and perform are different. I've always seen profession is something people will take 5 ranks in for a synergy bonus and a background... perform is something people will invest in for future use. Yes its not as tangible some of the others, but a good DM can use it in alot of ways. While most concrete classes are tied to concrete skills (spellcraft for wizards, disable device for rogues, etc) the bard, an intrinsically fluffy character is tied to a fairly fluffy skill. It makes sense to me.

First of all, I agree that it's dumb to have an ability that requires both N ranks in Perform and N levels in bard.

But I don't have a problem with having some bard abilities require the use of the Perform skill, just like I don't have a problem with some wizard abilities (writing spells in a spellbook) requiring the Spellcraft skill or some rogue abilities (finding and disarming magic traps) requiring the Search and Disable Device skills.

I also don't have a problem with a Pathfinder "skill tax" when there's a huge, corresponding Pathfinder "skill tax credit" offsetting it.

Exactly hogarth, that's exactly what i'm trying to say =)

I would think that having a static turning point would be better than having to roll a skill check every time you do something would be better not worse because once you get it is reliable.

I totally agree Dennis.

The other part of my point is that Perform isn't a required ability of a bard any more than opening locks, disabling traps, or back stabbing is part of the rogue. Yes you can argue that they are "required abilities" but the fact is you CAN build a rogue without them, just most people wont. You can open locks untrained, you can perform untrained. You are just going to suck at it. Yes, you cant do certain perform actions without skill ranks... but you cant open certain locks without open lock ranks and you cant disable certain traps without disable device ranks either... I guess that's my point on how they are similar abilities.

*edited for spelling*

Honestly? What seems simplest to me is to get rid of the Perform Skill altogether.

I mean...what does it do?

Seriously, it's a really, really pointless skill. Forcing bards to spend points in Perform skills simply to access their class abilities just adds insult to injury.

Remove Perform altogether. If you want to use the mechanic with your chracter, Profession (Dancing), Profession (Comedian) etc. will all serve just as well.

Give the bards their class abilities at the appropriate level - let them choose, let them spend feats to get alternate abilities, whatever, but this seems the simplest solution to me.

With all do respect Jess, that is like saying rogues can open locks without spending points on open lock, or disable a trap without ranks in disable device.

Bards are a skill based class just as rogues are. That means their abilities need to be tied to skills. Changing perform to profession isnt changing anything at all except the skill that its based off of. Perform is how well a bard can do his performance. Just like disable device is how well a rogue can disable a trap. Its a skill to measure one of their key abilities.

I personally see no issues at all with the current bard skill system. I love the fact that i have options for my performance and as a DM i truly am happy that most people now invest in more than one perform skill.

To the poster's issue:

To the Developer's responses:

My biggest concern with the Cleric is that he so heavily steps on the Paladin's toes. There is nothing that a Paladin can do (in general) that a cleric cannot do better with the right choice of domains/deity.

Part of the problem as i see it is that Paladins used to be a prestige class, just like Blackguard. It was a prestige class a cleric could shift into, either good (Paladin) or evil (Blackguard). So by turning the paladin into a base class, we have CREATED the problem between the fighting cleric and the paladin.

While this may not solve the problem, this is the best idea i could come up with. If we drop clerics to only having light and medium armor, and shields, but not tower shields, this would balance them somewhat against the bigger fighters. They could still be well armored, and could make up the difference between medium and heavy armor with a little bit of dex bonus anyway, if they didnt want to take the feat. Add to that, restrict their weapon choices to a few simple weapons and the weapon of their god. This would tone down the fighter aspect of the character just a little, hopefully enough to let the paladin shine more in that role. Then we could buff the paladin's class to fully take advantage of what his role is, the Divine Crusader. (Buffs to be discussed in another thread).

All in all these changes are fairly minor, but i think would help distinguish the paladin from the cleric and make the rolls more defined without breaking backwards compatibility.

While this isnt a bad system so far, I do like the Rage Points system better. I still dont agree that as a DM it makes for more work. And i think the keeping track of "can be used Once per minute/Once per round/etc" is even more book keeping than the original.

I respect people's desires to keep the barbarian "simple" I dont think this compromise is bad. Its a fairly balanced compromise imo. I just like the original Rage Points system better.

Just my 2cp.

Put me on the list for Option 1.

My solution is that light armors should add up to 7-8 points armor/dex, medium armors 9-10 points armor/dex, and heavy armors 11-12 points armor/dex.
To wear heavy armor requires three feats, (light armor medium armor and heavy armor), so by this philosophy mediuim armor should provide a better benefit than light armor and heavy armor even better than medium. The problem is backwards compatibility with non-core armors in other books.

I love this idea. Very well stated. My thoughts exactly.

Really, a mithril breastplate is almost indistinguishable from a mithril chain shirt. There is almost no difference.

MBP = +5 armor, +5 max dex
MCS = +4 armor, +6 max dex

The root problem here is really that the chain shirt (mithril or otherwise) itself is too good, giving a combined armor/DEX bonus better than ANY of the medium armors (save that it is equal to the breastplate), and only two of the medium armors (chain/BP) even give an ARMOR bonus (irrespective of DEX) that is better than the chain shirt.

Medium armor is almost completely pointless in the world of D&D, other than as default stuff for monsters to wear. Whatever is done with the armors, the chain shirt needs to be nerfed or eliminated and/or the medium armors made better by comparison.

While i understand this isn't the original post's point, i whole heatedly agree here. I think that medium armors should be reworked and by extension heavy armor. While i understand the concept of using dex to offset the lower ac, i still think higher tier medium armor (aka banded mail/breastplate) should be fundamentally better than any light armor, and higher tier heavy armor(aka full plate) should be better than any other armor at all.

So the people voicing support of rage points ... don't bother to track them when they DM?

I can definitely understand that (the PITA of tracking them is my point, after all), but if character creation rules are only intended to limit PCs, this should be made very clear in the final Pathfinder rules, because that's a major paradigm shift.

--Jeff

Your point is well taken. At least on my end, i don't propose using rage points for generic guys without tracking them. That would be cheating in my book. I just think that generic barbarian hordes don't use the rage powers, they just rage, get the basic benefits, and then fight. I see only the best barbarians getting to use the rage powers. Its what makes them the cut above the other masses. While yes this is a departure from the strict reading of the rules and my personal interpretation, i think it works very well and is an answer to how to deal with the tracking of lots of difference characters at once.

I don't see it being any more complicated than tracking spells on a spell list for sure. But when was the last time you saw 40 wizards attacking a party? Lol. Hence my ruling of basic rage vs rage powers. Yes, i think Paizo should probably make it clearer for how DMs should handle it. Give us suggested guild lines or something. But i don't have a problem with the system. In fact i like it a lot.

Just my 2cp for what its worth.

I can see that rage points can get very unwieldy. I ran a module called Thieves of Badabaskor last year. One of the encounters/battles was between the heroes and a barracks style room full of orc barbarian soldiers. Forty of them. Some used missle weapons, others charged. And one ran out the door to get help from the two dozen or so orc barbarians scattered throughout the rest of the level.

I cringe to think of trying to run such an encounter with Pathfinder's barbarian class rage points. Actually, I won't do it. I'd use D&D barbarians. Which means I am also torn on allowing Pathfinder's version of the class in the game.

Honestly, to me, i see the rage points as a Boss/PC thing only. Your average barbarian bad guy will just rage and be done with it, but the NPC (boss) barbarians will use rage points as will your PCs. This is how I've been running it and it works out great for me. I don't think we were ever intended to track rage points for 40+ random barbarian horde members.

I add my vote for the war sling/sling-staff. I like the idea of finger darts, but a base damage of 1d2 or whatever it would be for small creatures is so small I'd never see it used in my campaign. But the idea of a sling that reloads faster, or a staff sling would make alot of people in my game happy.

Add me to the pool that would be happy with +2 Int (or) +2 Wis, +2 Cha, -2 Str. I think the +Con bonus is hard to explain except from a comedy perspective (see fireball example earlier). To me, the +Cha bonus really needs to stay, I'd just shift the +Con bonus around.

I like the +Cha because of the fey connection. That makes perfect sence to me.

I can see an argument for the +Int or the +Wis. To me these could easily be done as sub-races. (Maybe a "options" side panel in the book?)

The only reason i see the +Con working is because of the +Physical/+Mental stat balance. Con simply helps keep it from stepping on the halfing's Dex toes, and making no sence from the Str side. It does lead to comical visions at times.

Just adding my 2cp in here.

I personally have house ruled it to work that way for a long time. So I whole heatedly agree that gnome racial spells should be usable at will.

Hey there all, I'll add myself to the list. I'm in Niles (SW corner of mitten). I'm happy to DM or play in a game if we have enough interest and a centralish location to meet.

Hey there all. I'm about 2 hrs out of Chicago but i thought i'd throw my name out there. I live just north of South Bend Indiana. I might be convinced to drive out there to DM a game on a weekend if there is enough interest and someone had a location in mind.

Here's to his speedy recovery for sure! Get well soon!

The bard only needs to wear his favorite instrument, the gong, in more creative way ;)

Lol! That is awesome Zmar! I gotta remember that one.

For what its worth, I agree that officially I understand that they DO in fact incur spell failure from shields, so it would seem the first reference is a typo.

In my own house rules, i don't count spell failure for the buckler if they use that... but like i said, that's just a house rule.

Robert: I agree. Thats how I fixed it in my campaigns. Just made the extra smiting feat available. I was simply trying to adress some of the issues other people were having.

LastKnight: I agree, I dont think a class should have issues w/ more roleplay than crunch. I'm the first to argue that they should AT LEAST get more smites. Just see this as an issue of trying to make a PrC into a base class. It just doest work well. I think we should have left the Paladin a PrC along side the Blackguard. That being said, there is no reason we cant try to make the best out of what we have. =) Cheers!

MikeSmith: Yes, using splat books we can do all these things. Your totaly right. My discussion at least was focused on how to use core books to make it work well with the other classes, not borrow heavily from the old material to make it function. Yes its backwards compatible, but all those books are out of print, and we should at least be able to create a basic class that balances with the rest. I like the paladin. I'm not against him. Just discussing how I think it could be better. Not that those aren't awsome ideas. They are feats I usually suggested myself to my players.

I considered that as an option as well. Wasn't sure how effective it would be in comparison.

Well, would depend on how totally they redesigned it. My thoughts would be we would have to totally re-due how Smite, LoH, and the auras worked.

LoH would be something like
Lay On Hands By spending 2 Holy Points the paladin may touch a target, healing them for 1d4+lvl hit points.

*Maybe by spending extra points they can increase the D4 count. This would be like Cure Light Wounds, but less effective. But they could do it more if they focused on spending the points.

Smite would be something similar
Smite By spending 3 Holy Points the paladin imbues his weapon with his righteous fury. He gains his charisma modifier to his attack and damage rolls against evil targets this round.

*Again, all up for balancing. Should be somewhat helpful, but not overpowering.

Then we use the aura's he gets later on the same way, making them cost points to activate, then an additional point per round to keep them active or something. We could also add in lower level auras if we wanted. Granted, this would be a significant overhaul for the paladin and would greatly hinder backwards compatibility. But i think might make it more appealing over all to a lot of people.

First, I agree with you that the Paladin is a role-play heavy class. The problem then becomes: does a Paladin encourage the type of play that it's designed for?

I'd argue it doesn't. Druids can pull off the Holy Fighter-Priest thing better than Paladins. Clerics do Priest-healer better and can beef up fighting capability with spells.

As a holy warrior,imo, the Paladin suffers from lack of complimentary abilities. The Aura of Good doesn't assist in courtly situations and barely offers benefits in a fight. Their fighting ability is less than inspirational or legendary and subpar for smiting the evils they're said to smite.

players playing paladins should want to throw their character at unabashed evil partially because its the right thing to do, but also because they can do something about it. or if not in a fight, the Paladin character should be able to let his piety speak for him in some fashion. essentially the player should have an incentive to play those aspects up instead of leaving it just to role-play motivation imo.

I totaly agree with you NeoS. I have always been one to say that Paladins should be the holy fighters, and the clerics should be the holy casters. I think part of this problem comes from bringing a cleric/fighter prestige class into a base class possition. If i was redesigning from the ground up, i'd strip clerics of heavy armor, if not medium as well. Force them to play more like wizards in light armor but using holy/healing magic. And give alot of their combat ability to make the paladin unique. As it stands the two tend to step on each others toes alot.

My answer for this would be to make smite more intrinsic to how the paladin fights. I think against evil foes, the paladin should shine above the fighter, but against non-evil foes, he should be a fighter with less feats. (Only way i can think to explain it atm.) To preserve backwards compatibility about the only thing i can think of is to let him use smite alot more. But if we wanted to change it up a bit, i'd give the same treatment to Pallys that Barbarians got. Give them a "Holy Point" pool to spend from, letting them spend it on lay on hands, smiting, and auras. Combining all these abilities into a point system would hurt backwards compatibility, but i think would adress alot of the cleric/paladin foot stomping thats going on.

Ok, I understand your arguments but they make a lot of assumptions

Detect evil, yes it is a good roleplay ability, but not every group is roleplay oriented, a dungeon delve group or a monty haul group aren't getting any utility out of the ability, and switching it to a swift action doesn't limit it's roleplaying effectiveness.

Yes, i am making some assumptions. It has to do with playstyle and purpose. I honestly think there are some classes which are more roleplaying oriented and then there are classes which are more dungeon delve/monty haul oriented. This is something Paizo will have to adress, what they see as the purpose of the class is. But to me, the Paladin has always been a roleplay heavy class. It has the most restrictions and such of any core class an requires a much stricter view of gameplay. It even started out as a prestige class, which i think shows that it was supposed to be roleplay heavy. So on those grounds I think it is perfectly fair for it to have abilities that play to that roleplaying ideal more than the dungeon delving ideal. If you want to dungeon delve, dont take a class that has roleplay aspects (the special mount comes to mind as well here). Pick something more suited to dungeon delving.

And i have no issues making it a swift action to activate. But then i agree that it needs to be limited. The standard action still takes 2 rounds to pinpoint specific evil. If you just wanted to turn it on as a swift action and then spend time concentraiting, that seems just fine to me but not have it activate fully as a swift action.

I dont mean to attack your playstyle with this. Just trying to explain where my comments are coming from and why.

I have been playing with a paladin in our test group and here is what we've come up with.

We've tested with gorups at lvl 1, 5, 10, and 15th lvls.

In regards to the paladin,
I found that Detect Evil was a very good roleplaying ability, but one that didnt get used in combat as much. This made sence to us. It feels like a roleplay ability to us.

Smite Evil is an ability that needs more uses per day at the lower levels. Even with it NOT being used when the target is missed, it was something that didnt feel very "signature" when it could only be used once or twice a day. We fixed this by creating an "Extra Smiting" feat, that works just like "Extra Turning". Gave the player +2 smite attempts per day. I did allow it to be taken multiple times, but my players only took it once so this might be a non-issue but i see it as a chance for someone to focus on a smiting paladin if they wanted.

Lay on Hands worked great out of combat. I think this is an ability who's functionality depends on an individuals role for the class. I see the ability to heal out of combat as a very good roleplay ability, just like Detect Evil. I see it as a way to stabalize dieing comrads. I dont see it as a dump heal to heal the pally durring a fight. So on those terms, i see it working much better this way. But i can see how people who used it as a dump heal to keep themselves alive would feel it is broken. I dont see a paladin using it that way, personaly. IMHO that seems a selfish way to use the gift, sometimes necisary, but not as its primary use. *Shrug* just my roleplaying side of things.

Just my 2 cp.

Lol gotcha. Should have used "Deep Gnome" instead.

*Edit* Ahh, feels much better to be back in my own skin. =D

I too use a shaken state rather than running in my home games. At least as far as turning goes. Fear effects are different, but for turning the undead just get increasing penalties. Thought i'd add my vote for that change. And yes, i usually just "handwave" them off the table and out of the game unless its important.

Ah, that part of the rules was totally confusing to me, then. :)

Most tables didn't get those cards. They were keyed to specific characters who had a clear and defined story option for loyalty or betrayal. Examples being Fade (House Vexidyre) and Urudin Foehammer (Also house Vexidyre).

They were a special case. =) Be glad you didn't have one. Funny thing is, both of them chose to be loyal to house Vexidyre and took the loyal option. It was people who weren't given anything that clear that betrayed the house.

Loveg Vexidyre (Trickster)
Smirphniblin(sp?) (Engineer)
and i forget the 3rd.

Betrayal is part of drow society though, so it wasn't totally out of character. Sucks for the rest of the house though.

*edit* Alright, who's the wise guy who polymorphed my kobold goodness into this blue smurf monstrosity!?

Long live High House Vexidyre, though we are now laid low, we will sow chaos in the city!

A fierce grip makes a blade of chaos!

Well, it was too bad that Vexidyre fell to foul betrayal (likely partially my fault, since I failed to suss out the betrayers soon enough), but I think for my character, Haradro Vexidyre, causing chaos in the city should fit him just fine.

Agreed both Haradro and Shoyle will find the role easy to fill. I worry about poor Thera and Urudin, but I think they shall find pleasure in playing the role of an insurgent force. Thera and Urudin planning the downfall of the other houses though gorilla tactics and lightning quick strikes!

*All Hail Shax! Savior of his people!*

Calling all house Vexidyre members (alive and dead). Thought I would post here so you could all discuss things if you wanted. Your criticisms, your joys, your thoughts in general.

I wanted to convey my personal thanks to each of you for giving it your best. I truly enjoyed being one of your DMs. I hope to see each of you next year. Till then be safe, and keep your dice close at hand.

Long Live High House Vexidyre! Long Live Thera Vexidyre and the scions of the house!

Not to contradict Sar there, but did you play Murder on the Silken Caravan on the projector set-up? If so I was your DM for that. If you didnt, my mistake.

Hmm. Ok, could swear i had him twice and i only ran 2 modules. No worries, either way cheers! The more we are connected the more fun we have.

*Sorry to hear about your luggage man*

Definitely a clearer description for both players and GMs the purpose of the event and how things would play out. Most of the full stat blocks were not needed, and a simplified, stripped down version of it would probably go down a lot better (heck, maybe even True20). A whiteboard with "current events" and standings posted on it would be great too.

Regardless, I had a blast with this event! :D

I'm with Lilith on this. I think clearer descriptions for players and GMs would have gone a long way. I did have a blast and it certainly gave me a new GM perspective.

To paraphrase some feedback i got from other people:

1. Clearer descriptions of everything (aka rules, characters, houses, city, etc)
2. Clear DM guild lines for interaction. (aka, some DMs helping players to much, others not enough)
3. A way to help spread out seasoned players and new players. There was a feeling of lopsidedness among houses that knew what they were doing and houses who were a mix of people who had never tried this before.
4. Some way of tracking events to refer back to.
5. More room, less noise.
6. More clarification on what the the event will be. People bought tickets thinking it was going to be more RPG and less LARP. This lead to several people leaving.

These are just paraphrases of what some people told me during/after the event. I took time to talk to people and collect their feedback.

I personally had a blast with this from all levels. Helping make the characters to running a house to helping clean up and take feedback afterwards. I look forward to next year!

I was your DM for a couple of Games actually. Silent Tide and Murder on the Silken Caravan. I'm the one with the "Blah!" deaths and the Critical Failures house rule. ;)

Ratpick

You are totally right in that we need to make sure the balance is there. I come from the camp of trust the players. But if we have find a position that does break the game then it should be fixed. I stand with you in that. I also appreciate that you recognize they are in the testing phase this year. Cudos.

I would say that, while yes, the rules should be a major source of authority, but I do believe that by letting us DM at con's and such, Paizo is also trusting us as DMs to look after the enjoyment of the whole table. The DM should ALWAYS be the highest authority at the table. Yes, we should follow the rules as much as possible, and strive to make the rules as clear as we can, but DMs are the judges as well as storytellers. If you dont trust them to be fair then you already wont be having fun.

*edited for spelling*

I ran Silent Tide and Murder on the Silken Caravan 3 times each. I lost 1 player to each scenario total. (Grand total of 2 deaths in 6 modules, 36 players). My hat is off to both of them. They both did wonderfully and took the bad turn graciously. It was the final fight in both cases that did it.

One a bad stabilize role, and the other an unlucky crit.

*Bows his head in a moment of silence for the fallen*

SarNati wrote:

Well William, I'm not sure how much of a drive it is, but if we do something, it might be worth a3 hour drive for an afternoon fo gaming once a month or something. ;) Depending on how motivated you are.

I dunno . . . I deal with a 90 minute drove every weekday for my work commute. But, if you do get anything set up, let me know . . . Knowing something is set up a head of time might make it worth it.

WilliamPall@sbcglobal.net

Will Do William. Anyone else out there interested? I'd love to put something together!

SarNati wrote:

Hello all.

I am putting out a call for those of you that happen to be in the South Western area of Michigan, or Northern Indiana area.
If we have enough people, i'd like to organize games in our area to play. South Bend, St Joseph, Grand Rapids. I live in Niles and am happy to run/organize events if we have enough people. Let me know if your interested.
For those of you who were at GenCon, I was DMing Silent Tide and Murder on the Silken Caravan. (Erik Merickel)

Gah! I almost thought my prayer were answered. You shoulda said southeast michigan . . .

[underbreath muttering]rassin' frassin' podunk out of the way town of Port Huron . . . middle of nowhere[/underbreath muttering]

Well William, I'm not sure how much of a drive it is, but if we do something, it might be worth a3 hour drive for an afternoon fo gaming once a month or something. ;) Depending on how motivated you are.

I saw a couple imbalances in some of the games i ran as well. Diplomacy very high, etc. I guess for me its a matter of, as a DM, we are trusting the players to play for the right reasons. There will always be groups that try to "break" the game using combination stuff. Like in alot of other ways with the Pathfinder Society, or any organized play event, we have to trust the players to be fair, and allow for the fun of everyone. Thats not to say we cant fiddle with the balance a little for next season, i guess i just feel as if life isn't always balanced. Let the players do their best to "balance" it themselves. I play and run the games for the stories and adventures, as i hope and trust most other players do as well.

Just my 2 cp.