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Hey folks,

Is it me, or are AP encounters very easy? Playing through Hells Vengeance my players are level 15. CR 13-15 encounters all have DC 20 or even lower (Some are SIXTEEN) and attacks that do like 15 damage. My players do 150 damage and have 15-20 saves so they breeze through everything.

We found this item: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/a-b/banner-lord-s/

I thought for some reason to remember this was a cavalier specific item, yet it says nowhere that this is the case. Am I misremembering? Thanks!

Thanks for all the input folks! This is what I am going with:

- They can buy it, but they have to perform an infernal ritual with 2000GPs worth of components to 'defile' it, as per the rules for another item in part two of Hell's Vengeance.

I realize this is more of a fluff question, but how do you guys feel about evil characters wearing Celestial Armor? And would they be able to procure it at a high level in Cheliax? I don't want to railroad my players, it just feels a bit weird for evil characters to wear Angel armor radiating good.

You guys are awesome - thanks for the replies! (Sorry, noticed I hadn't responded to this yet and thought it rude of me)

Hey folks,

I have a swashbuckler in my party wanting to buy a blue scarf, as they have just acquired some loot and are looking for items to spend it on. Another player in my party is strongly cautioning against this, saying that he had a swashbuckler in his party (where he GM'ed) suck all the momentum and fun out of the game because of the reach + AoO combination of the item - he ended up banning it in his game, saying 'it's severely overpowered'. I'm looking at the item description and it doesn't strike me that way particularly, although it does look very useful. I'm leaning towards just giving it to the player (if it really sucks the fun out of the game I'll remove it, we're a pretty chill group of friends who would have no problem with that), he's not a minmaxer anyway. But I just wanted to ask around here: perhaps I'm missing something or someone here has their experiences with the item that they want to share. What do you guys think, is it overpowered?

Thanks! :)

Thanks for the answers! I don't think your armor bonus still applies to AC while wild-shaped, because that's what Wild Armor is for at 9000gp.

I indeed have quite a low DEX for the character (he's old-aged, it's a rather non-optimized build for a oneshot). I figure I can convince some of my kind co-players to put it on me after I wildshape haha.

Hey folks,

I'm building a 7th level druid currently. I might have focussed a ... tad too much on Strength currently, so my wild-shaped tiger form would have an ac of 14. Not incredibly useful. Now, I did notice the spell has a duration of seven hours. And since I have Wild Speech and Natural Spell as feats I actually would not have to leave my wild shape any time soon. Therefore I figured, would the rules allow for it to have a set of Lamellar armor made and have someone put it on me after I'm wild shaped? Would that cost any extra?

Thanks for the replies! I know Torag hates dishonesty but I indeed figured an inquisitor would be willing to bend the rules in this case! I think I can work with this guys :) A narrative has been established where the Cleric doubts if what he is doing reflects Iomedae's intentions, so this could actually tie into that. He will of course challenge the PC honorably once they actually face each other.

* oh and Dave not too get too pedantic but in our world The Hague Convention specifically prohibits most ruse de guerres, so eh, be careful with that! ;)

Hey fellow adventurers. I know this question does not have a 'definitive' answer but I'd like to hear your take on the matter. Warning: light spoilers for the Adventure Path Hell's Vengeance will follow. If my players TOM or MIES are reading this: get out now!

So my (evil-aligned) players are currently infiltrating a town which is led by a Iomedean Cleric. He is starting to suspect the PC's of having ill intentions and I think it would be interesting if he confronted the players and preferably, if he managed to capture one (only for the other players to bail him out, of course). However, setting this up would entail some light diversion, and I don't know if I can reconcile this with this character's faith.

I know these code of conducts are less strict for clerics than for paladins, but would a cleric of Iomedae (in your opinion) invite a character who he strongly suspects to be evil to his quarters under false pretenses, only for the cleric to arrest or fight the suspected PC there? Iomedae is a warrior goddess with little sympathy for her enemies but perhaps she would frown on this kind of trap as opposed to a more direct confrontation.

One mititating factor might be the fact that the PC in question and the cleric have had a lot of conversations in private quarters before where the PC has misled the cleric about his true character. The cleric using their final conversation to spring a trap on the PC would perhaps 'even the scales' so to speak: the PC is reaping what he has sown.

I don't know how I will approach this, just curious about what you guys think. There is also an Inquisitor of Torag involved, maybe she could have pressured the cleric into taking an approach he would have otherwise found disdainful.

Sorry I just slipped up;I had been talking about flurry all along. Don't know why Stunning Fist is in that title! Thanks for answering my question! PCGen is a character generator which I find especially useful for short notice character generation and entering information on sheets!

It seems like the generator is somehow applying old monk rules at full BAB to flurry.

Hey folks. I'm getting a bit of a weird result out of PCGen. A level 10 Unchained Monk has BAB +10/+5. Stunning fist gives one additional attack at highest BAB.

So my flurry (ignoring strength and all other modifiers) should look like this: +10/+10/+5 unarmed attacks.

PCGen says I have FOUR attacks with Flurry: +10/+10/+5/+5. Is that correct? It would be pretty neat of course to have additional attacks, but I think PCgen is making some sort of calculating error here.

My con is 10. I'm going for a bit of a high risk, high reward built, haha. Thank you very much for the answers!

Hey folks, just a question about the Elemental Fist Feat.

I am a level 9 Unchained Monk. I have the 'Dragon Style' and 'Dragon Ferocity' Feat. The latter feat mentions this:

Special: Taking this feat allows you to qualify for the Elemental Fist feat even if you do not meet that feat’s prerequisites. If you do not meet that feat’s prerequisites, you must choose one of the damage types that feat offers, and you can use only that damage type with your Elemental Fist attacks until you meet the feat’s normal prerequisites. A monk with this feat can use Elemental Fist as if he were a monk of the four winds."

The paragraph of the Monk of the Four Winds says this:

At 1st level, a monk of the four winds gains Elemental Fist as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. At 5th level, and every five levels thereafter, the monk increases the damage of his Elemental Fist by 1d6 (2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 10th level, and so on).

This ability replaces stunning fist.

So if I were to take Elemental Fist as a FEAT (which I qualify for because of Dragon Ferocity), do I lose my Stunning Fist? Or do I get an additional ability?

Thanks for the advice! I don't really feel like multi classing (I just think it's a bit of a hassle), but thanks for the tip!

Hey folks,

I know the Unchained Monk officially does not mesh with Archetypes, but would taking the Master of Many Styles Archetype still work with the Unchained Monk? It seems to replace as many bonuses (the bonus feats) as it would with the normal monk, and therefore not give an unfair advantage.

My GM and I have adequate (but certainly not good) system mastery, but we are still a bit wary of giving my Monk some unintended bonus or otherwise breaking some important aspect of the class/progression if we give it Master of Many Styles.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Hello Mr. Jacobs, as a GM who is running his first evil campaign, I have one more question:

1) What would you consider to be the biggest pitfall to look out for as a GM who is switching from traditional heroic adventures (RotRL etc.) to Hell's Vengeance?

This doesn't have to be specific advice for *me*, instead I was wondering more about what you would personally consider to be the general differences between GMíng for traditional and evil campaigns and what might go wrong.

I also realize this might be too big a question for this thread - in this case do not hesitate to let this know and move on to another question! I really do appreciate what you are doing here and would not want to put undue stress on you!
*Edited to say I am a BIG fan of the setting of Golarion that you and your colleageus have created. As someone who is system-agnostic it is the excellent lore, great AP's and the expansive world that are genuinely the biggest reason I am sticking with the Paizo Products. Thank you very much.

I mean that's nice but everyone knows what the rule actually means, as a GM I wouldn't let that slip by to be honest.

Also I'd actually argue Vow of Poverty's massive penalty (SO much of your abilities and stats are given to you by gear in this game) is not outweighed by the ki bonus. Now, some free ki bonuses for not lying and taking a bath every now and then, what is wrong with that?

Hey James, thanks again for answering questions.

I read you played through Hell's Vengeance. Since I am currently GM'ing it:

1) how did you like it so far?
2) Anything you would have changed if you were to GM?
3) How do you like playing an evil character?
4) You did a lot of the work on Hell's Rebels, which I haven't played but hear very good things about, do you mind fighting against the Reclamation?

Which encounter would that be, Gratz? :)

What do you like about the one and dislike about the other if I may ask? :)

Hey folks! I've always wanted to run an evil campaign, however due to limited time I cannot run the entirety of Hell's vengeance. I have heard good things about for Queen and Empire, and I was wondering whether I could buy it as a stand-alone? Would I have to significantly change up the story, or are there things that do not make sense? I read there's a betrayal at the end of the previous part, for example.

Any help before I end up committing my (meager) finances to 'for Queen and Empire' would be much appreciated!

Hey guys, one of my players (a Skald) wants to make a unique magic weapon that's ... pretty wacky. Normally I play a bit more grounded and would shoot down this particular idea immediately, but it's a one-shot so why not let him have his fun for once. The thing is, I have no idea how to calculate the cost of that particular weapon. I'm pretty shaky with magic item creation in all honesty, and any and all help would be much appreciated!

Basically he wants a guitar/battleaxe combo, which also functions as a sort of 'magic electric guitar'. Yeah.

So what he asks is:

'Unique battleaxe that can also be used to use the perform skill with. It is enchanted with Ghost Sound (only amplifying whatever I play) which can be cast at will. Optional would be prestidigitation at will'

I told him it's probably going to be too expensive under the RAW (he's level 3), but we'll see. Thanks a lot in advance!

So now that we are three years later - which modules would you guys add to these lists?

Awesome, thanks for the suggestion!

Buri Reborn wrote:

James,

Do you ever sit back, look at this thread, and go "holy s~++?"

Have you ever gone back to earlier responses and see how your personal philosophy has changed? Maybe go "what was I thinking?"

Happy Friday

I don't.

And I don't, although now and then when someone dredges up a quote from me that's 10 years old and it contradicts what I might say today, that's annoying. And frustrating and demoralizing if the someone is using the quote as a weapon against me. That's one of the ways the internet sucks.

Adding to that, do you realize what frikking amazing service and support you personally and Paizo as a whole provide, not just in this thread (which is amazing) but on these whole forums and throughout this community? Seriously, this thread and what it represents astounds me, and it makes me very glad to be a Paizo customer!

11. You arrive at a new town. When you look at anyone except a player character, their first blink seems to be sideways. Nobody else sees it.

Hey guys! I am looking to (for the first time ever in four years GM'ing...) write my own module! It's going to be horror-themed, since that is the kind of stuff which always worked best for me and my players while running campaigns (The Sanitarium and Foxglove Manor from the Skinsaw Murders come to mind).

Now, since I am looking for some inspiration I am planning to maybe run one or two great horror-modules to see what does and doesn't work for me and my players. Do you guys have any suggestions? I am also planning on getting the Horror Adventures book by the way! Thanks!

People know they've been charmed or even if they don't know exactly what happened, magically compelled to do something they did not want to do, don't they? That's gonna be a mess once it wears off!

Both Midnight Run and the Harrowing sound awesome, to be fair! I might just buy them both and move on from there! Thanks!

I'm running Midnight Mirror and it's a blast. And it is even on sale right now!

Sweet, what's so good about it? I see it's gotten really good reviews!

Hey good folks of the forums,

I want to run a one-shot campaign (maybe one or two days tops) for a group of experienced players. Does anyone have a good suggestion? I'm looking for something original and unexpected, something a bit of the beaten path. An example would be the Foxglove Manor from the Skinsaw Murders Adventure Path, which you could run with your players stand-alone. My players loved that adventure!

I heard good things about the Tomb of Horrors and Werewolves of Hargaldor (although that might be a bit too generic, I haven't read all of it yet). Any suggestions? Thanks!

Hey good people! I'm GM'ing a one-shot Paranoia XP session in a week from now. None of us have ever played Paranoia before (but we have played Pathfinder for three years, which I understand is nothing like it), but I managed to get my hands on the instructions, some adventures and a GM screen, and frankly it sounds really awesome and different than most other Tabletop RPG's.

I'm just posting here to ask if someone has any good tips to improve a first-time Paranoia experience? Maybe some known pitfalls with the system, or some cool tricks for the GM to torment my players with? I'm asking because this system seems like it could be great for some incredible fun, but the rules and general atmosphere also seem really really different from your average sword and sorcery tabletop RPG. I've been wanting to play this game for ages now, and unfortunately this will probably be the only time I will manage to get the people together (It's already really hard getting our group together for Pathfinder so every Paranoia session would cut into that) in the next six months, since I will leave for Japan soon. So I would like for it to go as smooth as possible! Thanks in advance!

A monk with let's say 3 elemental fists a day. If I announce an elemental fist and proceed to miss, do I only have two left after that or do I keep it for later?

Thanks in advance!

So I get that Rift of Ruin is a 5 feet wide line of 5 ft/level. However, it is unclear to me whether this needs to be a straight line or not. Could the Rift form a pattern? Because this would greatly affect the effectiveness of this spell, of course.

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for your response guys! Yeah, I just realized that without it applying to everyone it would just be a worse Finger of Death (which only has partial save and no sonic resistance), and that's a level-7 spell.

So I´m playing my BBEG game tonight, and I´m planning on using Wail of the Banshee tonight. I feel like 200 damage is on the low side for a level-9 spell, but I also DEFINITELY don't want to hear that I hit them with 600-800 damage in one round illegally afterwards.

Can I use WotB as if it does 200/level/creature or not? If it's too unclear I'll swap it out with mass Icy Prison.

Hello guys! After two years and three months we'll finally be getting to the final battle of Rise of the Runelords (Anniversary Edition for the last year and a half), and this being my first BBEG boss fight I must admit to being a bit nervous. I mean, I have never played a character with lvl-9 spells for goodness sake!

We have a party of six lvl-16 PC's, and they had a VERY generous (Like 35) point buy due to us not knowing the exact rules when we started out for the first time. The Sorcerer has a Charisma score of 32. I do not want them walking over Karzoug, especially after the awe-inspiring image of him they have constructed in their minds by now.

So here are my changes, plans and questions for you guys, maybe you could help me out a little bit!

What do you guys think of these tactics? Am I missing something obvious or messing something up? Maybe I'm overlooking one of the tactics a lvl-20 wizard has to his disposal? Thanks in advance!

Okay, sounds like it won't be too bad to make all items available, then :)

@Matthew and Matt, we have one fighter trying to max out his AC (it has come to a point where I'd almost always have to throw at least 18 to hit him) but he's not trying to be overpowered and will absolutely listen if I ask him to invest in something else for the last adventure.

Hello guys, I have a quick question regarding magic items.

I'm GMing a level 14 (almost 15) party playing Rise of The Runelords, and I wonder how strict I should be about the availability of Magic items? At this level there are a lot of specific, expensive magic items my party would like to acquire, but most of these will not 'naturally' come up because of the way items are rolled (e.g. only 1d4 major items in Magnimar and a cap of 75.000). Magnimar is basically the only major city in the vicinity.

Thus far I've been saying that they can buy any magic item they want through contacts in the Bazar of Sails (the open market in Magnimar) for a 50% markup, but with items costing more and more this is starting to get ridiculous.

Any people who might want to offer a solution to this? My chief concern: is it gamebreaking if I say they're allowed to buy anything for the normal price? Thanks in advance!

I might put an Angelic Guardian on every floor (They're only a paltry CR 5) and change the Golem in the Mayor's bedroom to a Brass Golem which is a CR 14 creature with See Invisibility!. Magnimar has an enormous Golem workshop so that would certainly be an option.

EDIT: The Contingency spell (with perhaps some sort of Heal spell attached to it) is a good one, I know it's normally a spell which you can only cast on yourself, but I'll work in some way to make an exception to that!

I'm currently running the Rise of the Runelord Anniversary Edition with my group, and they're close to finishing the Sins of the Saviors AP. I'm going to include a break of a few in-game weeks between this AP and the final one, so my players can take finally really reap the rewards of their newly-earned money and fame in Varisia. I reckon it's going to be a really fun, sandboxy few sessions.

Now here's the thing, the rogue in our party confided to me that he wants to use that time to become the leader of the Night Scales and kill the mayor of Magnimar and install someone else in his place.

Now, before I would've find a way to stop this, but let's face it, he an incredibly famous level 14 or 15 rogue, he could and should get away with this. But I don't want to make it easy for him! How could I provide a realistic and fun challenge for him? Realistic is a key point here, the Mayor wouldn't have three level fifteen Stone Giants or something like that to defend his manor.

Here's what I already got:

- The Mayor is a level 9 aristocrat with a ring of Protection +2 , so he can't do that much himself.
- He lives in a four story mansion (The Defiant's Garden) with the entrances and sleep accomodations warded by CL 15 'Alarm' and 'Forbiddance'.
- There's an Angelic Guardian on watch in the bedroom of the mayor.
- 4 level 11 fighters patrol the inside of the house, a number of low level city guards patrol the gardens.
- Level 13 Shadow Dancer in the hallway leading up to the bedroom.

Any other good ideas (spells, wards, bodyguards) to make this an interesting encounter? What defenses would the Lord Mayor have? Thanks in advance!

I'm sorry but if I could ask two related questions:

How much Hellknights are there in the Order of the Nail? Because I have no idea. Hundreds, thousands? Are they a relatively large order?

Secondly, why are the hell knights in Magnimar? I know they don't concern themselves with petty crimes, so what grand overarching chaos (in their eyes) are they fighting? Or am I totally wrong?

Sorry for the double post.

So my groups doing the Skinsaw Murders and is going to Magnimar soon. One of the most interesting little things there -aside from the epic city, adventures and everything- are obviously the Hellknights.

I know how I should describe the Order of the Nail Hellknights but I also gathered that the bulk of the Hellknights stationed there are only level 3-4: e.g. they're not full fledged Hellknights yet, merely Armigers.

Now what kind of outfit do the Armigers wear? Are they also entitled to the ebony armor with the horns and whatnot? Or do they wear an apprentice outfit or something like that since they're basically squires?

Thanks in advance!