Sean Powell Placeholder 708's page

Hello,

For unrelated reasons I was looking at the Shield Augmentation when I noticed something odd.

https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1430

There are numerous methods to modify shields—snarling rods to catch weapons, bladed edges, padding for nonlethal strikes, and so on—but all share basic functionality. A shield augmentation can be etched with weapon runes, much like a shield boss or shield spikes, but doesn't otherwise alter your shield's statistics. ***A shield bearing an augmentation can't be combined with an attached weapon, like shield spikes.***

A shield augmentation grants your shield one or more weapon traits, chosen when the augmentation is created. You can either choose to add the ***backswing or forceful*** trait, or you can choose two of the following weapon traits: disarm, nonlethal, shove, thrown 10 feet, trip, or ***versatile S.***

Which makes me ask "If you don't have a shield Boss/Spikes, what are you giving the Backswing, Forceful, or Versatile trait to?" Would those only be applicable to specialty or magic shields that already have a damage type. Ie. Throwing Shield could be made Versatile (S) instead of just (B)? That seems a rather specific limitation to not just say so.

I found nothing in the FAQ, Errata or rest of the Forum to address this topic.

Thank you,
Sean

Hello,
I've been listening to Terry Pratchett's Diskworld series and focusing on the "Guards! Guards!" chain of novels and it REALLY makes me want to run a players-as-cops campaign where the first reaction on seeing someone with a drawn weapon isn't to open with fireball and follow-up with frenzied barbarian. Unfortunately everything I've ready about AoE has convinced me that the authors didn't achieve this but it's more of a "hack and slash, loot the corpses, why does the dungeon look like a city street?" game.

Is it worth trying to edit the AP into something where clues matter, reputation with informants matters, social interactions with NPCs matter and following the law (at least when you might get caught) matters? Or is it easier to ditch it all and start from scratch?

Or is there maybe a different AP (even in 1E or that game with 2 Ds in the title that shall not be mentioned) that would be easier to rebuild?

Thanks in advance.

Hello,

I'm hoping to pick up more GMing time at the local game store. I like to run longer campaigns with reoccurring villains and have characters tied to the campaign setting (I miss PF1 and the campaign traits)

Pathfinder Wiki has good lists for which games make up the Pallid Ruins plot arc or the Absalom Arc but about year 4 no one was updating the metaplot tags. I can guess some connections like Dacilane Academe, Arc Lord, Equal Exchanges and Godsrain but others are only obvious AFTER playing the scenario. (which doesn't do me much good)

Has anyone put together or know of a list of Metaplot Arcs that extend to the current season (year 6)? All I am finding are 10 year old lists from PF1. I'd like to propose a series of scenarios where players can experience major connected plot points all with the same character.

Thank you

Hello,

We are about to start Book 2 chapter 3 and enter the realm of Harrowed Stories (Which I'm referring to our game as the Story realm because it kept getting confused with the Harrow Court)

There is a good description of the Harrowed Realm on page 48 and specific cards will bring them directly to specific locations but if the party travels overland (which they have to do to reach the Fallen Fortress) there is nothing to serve as a guide.

Does someone have a map of the Harrowed Realm they can share? Even if its their own personal scribble?

Thanks,
Sean

I'm currently playing a remastered poppet champion. I'd like him to have a mount. Generally a little fat shaggy icelandic pony that I guide around with a carrot on a fishing pole and it's little legs go pitter-patter-pitter-patter instead of clop-clop-clop. A player asked me why I wasn't riding a rocking horse and I don't know if I could. If it was a home game I think a GM would gladly re-skin but for a society game I don't want to break any rules.

Is there a way to get a poppet (or maybe an automaton?) as a mount? Or is there any way to apply a poppet/automaton modifier to a mount?

Thanks in advance.

Hello,

I start running this for my group on Saturday. If everyone shows for night 1 we will have 6 players in an AP intended for 4. Someplace in the AP I remember it talking about how to increase the difficulty without getting crazy. Since all but 1 of the players are running fresh built characters I expect there to be fumbling about which ability to use and how so I don't want to over do it and TPK on the first combat.

Can anyone point to where it talks about how to increase the difficulty? Or is there a standard formula for additional characters in all APs?

Thanks in advance.

I'm very much interested in a SF 2ed because I enjoy playing 'crossover' type games because of the fish out of water amusement factor but also because myself and other local players sometimes remember a rule X but it was only X in a different system.

I was looking through the Field test and reading the Android race. There is no longer an option for Xenometric Android which I feel is disappointing as I had androids figure heavily in a home campaign (A BBG was vat-growing Androids to mimic specific politicians and industry leaders to take over a company -> country -> planet -> system -> universe -> Multiverse.)

Anyway, the thought hit that Paizo missed the opportunity for Android to be a Versatile Heritage like Tiefling or Oread. Androids are not written as breeding with any other races BUT all sentient races that trade technology above a certain point would be capable of creating androids in their own image. If versatile heritages exist because they intermingle with other races then it's not particularly logical for Elves to create an android to mimic an elven tiefling and if they did in all likelihood the tiefling features would be cosmetic or addressable with 'adopted ancestry'.

I understand that Paizo needed to make their Starfinder android compatible with their Pathfinder android (Which is GREAT!) and they probably didn't consider the option of a human-android in Numeria might actually be the only yasoki-android from the original crash. Missed opportunity. The benefit to Android as a variable heritage is that each time a (non construct) intelligent races is added to the Starfinder universe the Android doesn't need to be errataed for a new xenometric form. There might even be androids of privative races that can not create their own if other sentients wanted to send observers/infiltrators without disclosing their existence.

Before I attempt to homebrew an Android Versatile Heritage and try to make it as close as possible to the 2E remastered Android Heritage when applied to a Human, has anyone:

1. Previously done this and I'm wasting my time?
2. Got any suggestions?
3. Got any watch outs?
4. Want to help?

Thanks in advance.

What this AP needs…

So despite being in Pathfinders generic world I started by describing Torch similar to an old-west boom-town with prospectors searching the hills for nuggets of tech and then refining it at the torch. Bars have saloon doors, the Silver Disk gambling hall had slot machines, pistols at noon is a way to settle disputes and the honor of a man can be found in the size of his hat. The barbarian tribes are somewhat Native American and the Technocracy would pass for ‘dirty businessman’ in any spaghetti western.

It transitioned really well into Scrapwall and Mad-Max on horseback.

I’m running ‘Choking Tower’ right now and am really under-enthusiastic about it. Idenveigh is largely Amish in flavor but the players found the well too quickly so all of that RP went out the window. Once they do the Aurora I’m really not that impressed with the choking tower itself. I can see why others thought to shorten it. I get who the Dominion of the Black is and their connection but I honestly doubt that my party will make the connection. Honestly the entire campaign seems like chasing 1 McGuffin to the next with no clue as to WHY it should be done…

So I want to do something fun in the middle and I was trying to think what would go well with Cowboys and Aliens in a world of Wizards and Paladins… Until it hit me! Dinosaurs! This game is missing DINOSAURS! Barbarians riding dinosaurs! Barbarians riding cyber-dinosaurs with laser-cannons!

Oh come on, you know that’s exactly what this AP needs. It’s already so off-the wall that we can add Thundar the Barbarian and the Herculoids without disturbing a thing.

So, where in the AP would it be best to add Barbarians on Cyber Dinosaurs?

(Sorry, can't remember spelling of twon that starts the 3rd chapter)

Party has defeated Hellion and recovered Kulgaras notes and someone else's notebook. Thy have put together the heavy handed plot that there is a 2nd AI out there and a major one underneath Silvermount. Part of the party idea is to trade the info to the Technic league for freedom or at least beneficial treatment of Torch. It's not truely stupid. The idea is "Unity is too powerful for us. If we can get the technic league and unity to fight each other we can defeat the survivors afterwards."

I need a wandering encounter with the technic league that casts them in a very bad light. I'm thinking of encountering the destroyed remain of a barbarian encampment and portraying it like an Indian encampment after Custers arm has come through... But I also want the party to be able to do something about it.

Any ideas?

Sean

Hello,

Please excuse me if this has been answered but I don't frequent these forums often and haven't seen an answer in any of the threads that a search function pulled up.

I'm building a summoner to replace an arcanist who got killed to a point well past resurrection last game session. As such the DM is allowing me to come in with new equipment. I am aware of the magic item slot conflict where a summoner can not wear a belt of +2 dex and the Eidolon can not also wear a belt of +2 Str.

There is also the game balance question of what happens to X when the Eidolon is banished and do you need to spend a few rounds getting your Eidolon dressed each time he is summoned.

BUT there is also the "Inscribe Magic Tattoo feat" which includes the info:
"Magic tattoos must be placed on a part of the body normally able to hold a magic item slot, but they do not count against or interfere with magic items worn on those slots. A single slot can only hold one magical tattoo"

Which seems to me that a if a summoner could wear a +2 dex belt and have a +2 con waist tattoo then he could take off his belt and the Eidolon could wear a +2 Str belt. Furthermore it's logical that the process could be reversed and the Eidolon could just get a +2 Str Tattoo in a band around it's midsection or a +1 protection tattoo around a finger/claw/digit?

Is there a hard ruling on this in either direction?
Have I interpreted the rules correctly as written?
Does this introduce a game-balance issue?
Should we extrapolate that a summoner may not have a waist tattoo and the Eidolon also have a waist tattoo (and that the summoners over-rides as per magic item rules)?

If nothing else it makes for a VERY interesting summoner who has the feat, buys the scrolls and has a VERY tattooed Eidolon.

Thanks,
Sean

Hello,

The party is in Scrapwall and having a great time. They met Dinvaya Friday night and made decent friends before going back to Hawks Roost where they have set up camp after killing Birdfood and a bunch or Orcs (and essentially hiring Sevroth and the Steel Hawks to back them up)

The players are noticing that they all have Masterwork weapons and some neat tech but it's high time some of them had a little more magic. They were talking about heading to Chessed to buy and sell and get gear enchanted, then I noticed Dinvaya has Craft Magic Arms and Armor, and Craft Wondrous Item. Cool! A little barter to get her the parts for her improved junk golems and she can upgrade weapons easy peasy...

...except She doesn't have Spellcraft as a skill. Is this a typo? How does one become a spelcaster, even a cleric, without at least a few ranks is spellcraft? Or is this intentional so she only works on items that Craft: Clockwork, Craft: Sculpture, and Knowledge Engineering apply to?

I will probably ret-con this in my game unless smeone strongly believes it will alter game balance too much.

Thanks,
Sean

I need help crafting an ‘out of body experience’ for a character. Our Android Rogue died to a critical hit from a wandering Gearsman while the party rode to Aldronards Grave. He was saved with a Cardio-Amp and spent the next day in a coma before the party traveled on. I want to use the incident for plot development BUT I’ve only read to the end of Lords of Rust and skimmed Choking Tower. I don’t yet know how Unity is or isn’t working with the technique league in Silver Mount or the exact role Casandalee plays later. I understand from other threads that Unity is working on Techno enhanced gargoyles but no other details. Could any DM’s with more adventure path knowledge proof this for me? I want to give a lot of confusing symbolism that will encourage further investigation without giving the answers away.

“Death isn’t supposed to look or feel like this. Death is just an end. It’s supposed to feel like nothing. It definitely isn’t supposed to be floating in blackness surrounded by stars. Is that what happens to androids who are killed instead of re-booting? Do androids float in empty space while humans travel to their various heavens?

Then again no one ever said anything about riding on the back of a giant beetle with drill-bits for legs through space and how is it walking forward if there is nothing to stand on?

The beetle looks up at the sky and you see a face on its forehead. Gears turn and the race rotates until it looks at you. A strange feminine voice surrounds you with one word. “Learn”.

Space is replaces with a light so bright it has flavor and a noise so loud it can be smelled. The light fades to mist and in the distant mist you see a wounded wolf trapped in a metal web and tortured by metal spiders. The wolf grows wings but they are bent and misshapen. It cannot fly away from its web and the spiders continue to bite. The wolf belches forth a white egg with turns into a swan and flies away to hide behind a wall of antlers. Again the wolf tries and belches forth a black egg after the swan but it turns into a black scorpion and also runs away. Then the winged wolf belches forth a rock which stays. The wolf kicks and scratches at the rock and with each swipe rock is removed showing metal beneath but the spiders continue to bite. The metal rock breaks and the wolf tries again and again, each time making a larger rock with more metal but each time failing to create the thing it desires.

The scorpion crawls into a hole. When it emerges it resembles a horned demon with a scorpion tail. The demon sneaks up behind the winged wolf and past the spiders. A shadow follows in the demons wake. The wolf is far larger but with one sting the wolf dies and is replace by the scorpion tailed demon. The shadow covers the spiders which stop attacking the demon and instead spread out across the land carrying shadows with them. The rocks grow arms, legs and wings, free the demon from the web and the shadows become infinite blackness.

The blackness appears to be the reflective surface of a giant beetle with drills for legs and a human face in its head. The face speaks again. “This must not happen. Go back. You have use.” Pain stabs into your chest and for the first time since wonder what death is you feel the very painful first beat of a heart.

You awaken on your back in the countryside north of Torch. Someone has peeled back your armor and Gemi has stabbed you in the chest with a syringe. You try to speak but only manage a feeble “Ouch” before falling back into a darkness that is decidedly not death and much more sleep.”

Thanks in advance,
Sean

Hello,

I need to kill time with my party while they are heading to Alderons grave and Scrapwall, plus I won't have the full party. I was thinking that a wandering encounter with 2 gearsmen and a pack of ghost-wolves barbarians would be a good mix. It gives them a combat and a roll-play when the (wounded) ghost wolves are suspicious of their technology.

The only ranged attack a gearsman has is throwing it's spear... That's kind of a crappy way to build a robot IMHO. I'd like to make their cyclopean eye the equivalent of a laser pistol. I was also debating giving it a +2 strike bonus for a full round action (if it stands still).

I have skimmed "Choking Tower" and am re-reading "Lords of Rust" but have gotten no further. I know that Gearsmen figure heavily in later modules... Am I going to screw things up with this addition? Is there a reason Gearsmen don't have ranged weapons?

Thanks,
Sean

Sorry if I'm asking simple questions. Last post for a while and probably not a specific to Iron Gods question.

Torch is listed as:
Base Value 2,400 gp; Purchase Limit 5,000 gp;
Spellcasting 3rd
Minor Items 3d4; Medium Items 1d6 (plus see areas 2,
13, 17, and 21 for more specific items)

A player has asked about the availability of a specific magic item that is within the price range. It should be a fairly commonly requested item. (like a +1 battle axe or +1 shield) and it falls (barely) within the 2,400 gp limit. I haven't been rolling random minor and medium items regularly because it's not like they have had much money to spend anyway.

Is there a guideline for availability that should be followed? I was thinking
25% + 75% * (1-(item value/base value)) for common items and
75% * (1-(item value/base value)) for uncommon items.

That means a 25gp healing potion is available 99% of the time. A +1 long sword about 26% of the time but something bizarre like a Scabbard of Vigor will also be available 25% of the time.

Does anyone have any other rule of thumb for availability or does everyone just wing it?

Thanks,
Sean

Hello,

Just finished FoC. Party wizard has Sanvils spell-book and is on very good terms with Kohnir to the point where he can probably copy spells. The adventure path does a good job of saying what spells they have memorized at the time but now what other spells they may have in their spellbooks? Any advice on how to flesh it out? I don't want to give out too much or too little. By my understanding there will be limited opportunities to buy scrolls or similar in scrapwall so the players really need to be prepared before going (or take a detour to Chessed)

Thanks in advance,
Sean

Ok, the down side to being an engineer is the brain starts thinking about stuff like this and won't stop. My party is finishing "Fires of Creation" tomorrow and I want to give them some rewards other than: Here is 400K, split it and spend it. We have a gunslinger in the party who was very ineffective against a robot and the gargoyle because she couldn't break it's DR. (not like you can power-attack with a pistol)

I noticed the following: Glaucite is only as hard as steel. Glaucite is 150% the weight of steel which makes it a hair denser than lead. Glaucite can be shaped once the torch is turned back on. Firing a steel bullet in a primitive gun is dangerous because of imperfect fit BUT a lead jacketed round would function the same as a solid lead round. (Not a musket ball but a shaped bullet)

So, I'm thinking that without changing the weight of the projectile an intelligent gunsmith could make a 'lead jacketed sharpened glaucite core' projectile that would mushroom and act similar to regular projectile on soft targets but would shed the lead like a sabot and the glaucite would act like a depleated Uranium tank-buster (Without the issues of radiation poison).

A solid Admantine bullet (which should score up the barrel badly but who is counting) ignored DR 20. I was thinking Glaucite bullets might be good for 5 or 10, not sure which.

What say you all? Cool idea or just a gun-nut playing D&D?

Hello,

I'm just starting an Ifrit Sorcerer Wishcrafter in the Mummys Mask campaign setting. I've been reading all of the build guides which have been really helpful... However there is one thing I'm REALLY not getting.

It seems the master combination for sorcerer builds is to mix Magical Lineage Trait with the appropriate Meta-Magic Feat. From 6th to 10th level an Intensified burning hands is a very nice 1st level spell. But until then Intensified is a waste of a feat. Selective requires 10 Spellcraft which comes at later levels. Piercing isn't useful until higher levels when enemies have SR. Lingering has limited use. Still and Silent even more limited use. I'm not impressed with many of the others. The best combination I can see is Focused for raising the DC of 1 target in the AOE of burning hands and then picking up Intensified later... but a technical reading of the rules says that if there is only one target in the AOE it doesn't suffer a +2 DC.

BUT Unless you burn a feat for 2 more traits characters can only select Magical Lineage at 1st level.

So what's the secret? Burn 2/3rds of your feats on meta-magic and 1/3rd to get magical lineage traits? And is there any way this is useful at lower levels or just gut it out until 5th? Sorcerers get such a small selection of spells that you want to be able to make they flexible with meta-magic but it seems like players will be taking meta-magic feats that are useful with only 1 or 2 spells (and the rods are VERY expensive)

What am I missing here?
Sean