Shale Withe's page

Hello folks! I have a pretty simple question; what options are available for Pathfinder Society characters to reflect their membership in the Riftwardens and/or what might people suggest for a Spiritualist who wants to be a Riftwarden?

I have a spiritualist character who is also a member of the Riftwardens and I'd like to try and reflect that in not only her stats, but her gear and her mannerisms.

Are there any good sources to learning about the Riftwardens, or any magic items that are used typically by Riftwardens? Are the Riftwardens in the Faction Guide?

Hello everyone! I have a question for my game as we have just finished Palace of Fallen Stars.

Zaidow got very smart in the first fight, and after they smacked him around quickly and suddenly in his personal chambers he retreated to meet with Gryne and her kyton allies. He convinced them to aid him in a final stand against the PCs, assuring that destroying them will help both of the groups (Unity and the Chapel of Rent Flesh) realize a common goal.

All but Krimox and Zaidow were slain, many of the heroes were wounded and tired, and the plasma ooze that the heroes accidentally let out by turning off the generators to the area. The ooze burst into the fight, and the heroes had already seen the ravenous mass consume a kyton in a matter of seconds, so the heroes fled the room, hoping to leave the plasma ooze with Zaidow and Krimox and let them fight each other. However, Krimox made his Knowledge (dungeoneering) check to recognize the power of such a creature and urged that they escape if their goal was to become reality. So Zaidow used his teleport spell to evacuate them both to Silver Mount to fight the heroes another day.

So my question is this: where do they end up in the next book? I have found only that Zaidow's morale entry claims that he retreats to the Silver Mount and to look to the next book for more details, but I have found no details.

Does Zaidow appear in The Dvinity Drive in any place of my choice? Or is there a more specific place that the book says he should appear in?

Hello happy people, a player of mine and I are a little confused by some odd wording in the Technology Guide, specifically the Cybertech section.

The first question I have is the Install DC. The text on page 35 claims that the DC is 20 + double the cybertech's implantation value. But as I looked through the cybertech entries a few of them did not follow this rule. Should I use the 20 + double implantation value or just stick to the specific entry's DC? (for example, the Mark II, IV, and V Dermal Plating install DCs do not follow this rule)

Second, does installing the cybertech require a facility? I think it should, as most player character don't have the medical tools you might need for installation (even if they take the feat Craft Cybertech). I know that they require a manufacturing lab to craft them, but I would imagine a medical lab or at least some kind of medical equipment would be needed.

I have made the choice to use the Fame and Reputation campaign system from Ultimate Campaign (pages 180-185) as a shorthand for how well people probably already know the heroes when they continue their adventures, and to give the heroes a few extra edges to use in this adventure path (my party has nearly wiped about 3 times so far).

So far, here is the list of things I have placed down for Fame increases. I'm wondering if completing Fires of Creation with 12 fame seems reasonable to everyone else? I looked closely at the kinds of things that increase fame, and found that most of the encounters they completed did not grant as much fame as I originally suspected.

Character Level +4
Rescued Val Khonnir +1
Brought back Parda’s and Gerrol’s bodies +1
Rescued Khonnir Baine +1
Received posted reward from Torch’s Council +1
Survived four expeditions below Black Hill +1
Turned the Torch back on +3

Current Fame Score: 12

I did not add +1 for discovering the purpose of Black Hill's habitat module because I assumed that they wouldn't tell anyone about it. (with one of the PCs knowing what the Technic League will do should they hear of it) I also assumed they would have kept the discovery of the Power Relay under wraps, so I did not include that either. I am still shaky on whether saving Val Khonnir from the robot at the beginning of the adventure would be worth a Fame increase. I also didn't add any bonuses for completing difficult encounters because none of them were the party's APL+3 in CR.

Does all this seem fair? Is there anything I should adding? They did get Garmen Ulreth and his Ropefists behind bars and they did oust Sanvil Trett as a member of the Technic League.

Hello folks! My party just finished Fires of Creation (with a lot of close calls and near-death-experiences, Hetuath I'm look'n at you) and they are about to move onto Lords of Rust. However, as I like to do, I added a bit to this adventure path:

Before the adventure began, after the PCs had met each other, they noticed a strange blinking light in the Numerian plains outside of Torch. They naturally decided to investigate, and found a long metal shaft of skymetal extending from beneath the earth. A soft, spherical blinking light pulsed quietly on top of the rod, but they couldn't find anything strange about the rod or light themselves.

So they had the warpriest usehis heavy pick to dig out a pod made of more skymetal. The pod was originally carved in a circular shape, but was worn, plates had scraped off, and much of it was dented or sheared away from some great impact.

After some fiddling, the heroes managed to pry open the broken panels that originally would have slid open for them to find that the inside was insulated from whatever impact had taken place. The interior was lit, and contained a steel box with a handle on it (a steel briefcase) that the heroes cautiously opened and found inside four metal rods. The colors of the rods seemed to change as they looked at them from shifting perspectives, and were cold to touch.

Without warning, the four metal rods melted into liquid that seemed to move of its own accord and ran itself to the left forearms of the heroes, where it took shape as a strange gauntlet and dug several long needles into the arms of the heroes, fusing with their nerve systems.

I took the idea from the Pathfinder's Journal in the Fires of Creation book, and have been slowly revealing more details about the gauntlets, which upon casting technomancy the heroes know are officially called "Prism Striker's Companions".

They've been having to conceal these for most of the adventure, as the Technic League would LOVE to slice off their arms to take them back to Starfall for study (as our shaman who escaped from the White Scar tribe told everyone).

They've slowly figured out that the gauntlets needed power, and that charged silverdisks (batteries) can charge them. When finally given enough power to function, they can expend charges to give the heroes teamwork feats for a short time. They can also speak into them and communicate as if via a message spell.

Not only that, but they have also apparently been projecting the memories of the previous owners into the heroes' dreams.

Something I thought I'd add to the campaign to give the heroes more information about the backstory of the adventure, and I think they appreciate it.

I have a funny feeling I know the answer to this question, but I love the concept so much that I thought I would get a second opinion.

I have a PFS who is about to get his blackblade as part of his Bladebound archetype. This character is a tiefling born in Numeria who escaped his tribe and the Technic League to find the safety of the Pathfinder Society.

I wanted his battleaxe to be (flavorfully) a slightly high-tech-looking axe. I wanted the axe to "awaken" after I leveled up in a scenario called Trial by Machine. The axe awakens after the strange stirring take place in the scenario and would activate an AI inside the axe.This would be the intelligence inside the axe as part of the bladebound archetype.

My question is this: can I make this blackblade an axe musket?

The axe musket claims that the weapon is both a musket and a battleaxe. The blackblade needs to be a one-handed slashing weapon (or rapier or sword cane). A battleaxe is a one-handed slashing weapon.

I thought that the flavor of this was excellent but I am not sure it would be feasible for Society play.

Thoughts?

Hello all!

My players and I are winding to the end of our 20th level 10th mythic tier campaign, and I am having a bit of conundrum that we are having trouble finding an answer for:

Wish and Miracle are listed as Universal and Evocation spells respectively. When they use these spells to dubplicate the ffects of another spell that is not Universal or Evocation, does does the Wish/Miracle count as having the school of the duplicated spell effect? Moreover, can a cleric with Miracle and Spell Focus Evocation add the bonus to the DC if they duplicate a non-Evocation spell?

Do Wish/Miracle change scools or spell descriptors wen duplicating a spell, or are they what they are listed as?

Thanks for the help!

My groups of players (3 groups of 5-6 players in a mythic campaign that is nearing the end) are hitting 15th level and 7th tier by the end of the 2nd act, which has ended for one group already. They are all tactically-minded and intelligent players, as well as excellent roleplayers with the desire to see a story.

That all being said, I am at a bit of a loss as to what I can give the players that challenges them. One group fought a mohrg witch who rose the Silver Mount out of the ground and threatened Absalom with a Death Star-esque laser and a huge countdown timer. One group saves Geb from a recently crowned Runelord of Gluttony from taking control of the undead capital and cementing his rule. The last group raced to the top of Kaer Maga which has secretly been a dormant colossus brought to its feet by a golem-loving alchemist who had the Shraen drow family helping him sneak into the city during a small conflict between Kaer Magans and the drow from the Black Desert.

My campaign's climax will take place in Ustalav, where the place of origin and the leaders of the cult who have help orchestrate the three previously mentioned events to cause chaos and fear. They go into hiding from the world and the PCs for a year and a half to find artifacts that will help them bring their Outer God master, Slenderman, from consuming the fear and life of the multiverse like one would devour a juicy steak. I will even use the Carrion Crown adventure path for a basic framework.

My question is this, what can even challenge such high-powered characters? Does anyone have experience with high-level adventurers (APL 18-19) like these? I want to make this part of the adventure horror-focused with paranoia and death biting at the heels of the players. But what actually could inspire fear into the hearts of people who speak to the gods on a semi-regular basis?

Hello all, my question is as follows:

Suppose a villain of mine has a pair of Inescapable Gloves on. This is how they function:

"The palms of these light doeskin gloves are covered with supple ripples to augment the wearer's grip. The wearer gains a +4 competence bonus on combat maneuver checks to grapple. The wearer can expend one use of mythic power when a creature subject to freedom of movement or a similar effect attempts to escape the wearer's grapple with a combat maneuver check or Escape Artist check. That creature must attempt the check as normal instead of automatically succeeding at it. If a creature attempts use a non-mythic teleportation effect to escape the grapple, the wearer can expend two uses of mythic power to negate that effect."

Specifically thinking of the last line of the item's description, if one of my Mythic PCs casts a dimension door or uses a time step ability, or other teleportation effect that doesn't result from mythic powers does it count as a non-mythic teleportation effect? Or does the mythic nature of the PC make it a mythic effect?

Hello all! I have a question regarding Infectious Spell, a path ability for 3rd-tier archmages in Mythic Origins on page 20.

One of my players is playing an Oracle Hierophant, who wants to Dual Path into Archmage to get Mirror Dodge and Infectious Spell. She wishes to combine it with a Persistent Bouncing Major Curse and basically start cursing armies.

My question is this: most of the archmage abilities clarify that they work for arcane spells, but the wording of this one does not. Would it apply to a Hierophant?

I have a player in my game who is currently a level 10 flowing monk with the Guardian mythic path. I'm having serious difficulty challenging this character in my sessions.

He is a monk who focuses on fighting defensively, has taken the Crane Style feat train, Deflect Arrows (soon to be the Mythic version), and sports a 34 AC most combats.

I have put Mythic Flaws into play in my game, and his is Mercurial Mind (becomes confused for 1d4 rounds after being hit with a critical and/or failing a will save) but he has an excellent will save being a monk, and any hits that get through his AC (usually have to be crits) he can deflect. He can also use the Redirect ability in his archetype to make reflex saves against attacks (being a Dex focused monk this isn't much of an issue). He Finally, because he is a Guardian he can use Parry Spell to avoid rays and ranged touch attacks, and he can use Absorb Blows on any attacks that manage to get past all of his other defenses...

I realize that taking away his Dex with things like fienting and surprise rounds are possible, however he has excellent Sense Motive and Perception skill modifiers.

I don't want to kill him, it would be wrong of me to punish him for building an excellent character who is also a vibrant personality in the campaign. I would still like to challenge him, so what options are available to me?

One of my players in my Mythic campaign would like to take the leadership feat so that her character's brother can adventure with her. She is currently level 10 mythic tier 4, while he is level 15 mythic tier 3.

The rules for Leadership (written as it is) only counts character level, and confusingly there is a path ability that gives you Leadership and adds your mythic tier to your Leadership score.

The thing that she has noticed is that when she is actually able to get him as a cohort (17th level) she will likely be 7th or 8th tier. Her CR is 20-21 while his will be 15. The Leadership feat, currently, does not account the increased CR of a character with Mythic tiers, so how should this be handled?

If she takes Leadership, we are pretty sure that if we only count character level into what kind of cohort you get will make any cohort you bring into your mythic challenges will be blood-dust very quickly or will be over-powered.

On the flip side, if the character is two character levels below you but has a greater mythic tier than you do, then you have an overwhelming ally.

Should Leadership in Mythic games base the leadership score and cohort access on character level or the character's CR?

I have a gunslinger in my campaign, and she is about to go up against a lich in our next game. I was wondering about the damage type entry on the guns. They list the damage as bludgeoning and piercing. So they count as both damage types.

How does this react with a lich's DR/bludgeoning and magic? If the pistol is magical, what happens? It counts as both bludgeoning and piercing, and only one of those goes through the DR.

Hello!

I'm a relatively new player and GM, and was wondering what other classes my Free Hand Fighter could dip or multiclass into to compliment the abilities he will receive. I know that FHFs use Combat Maneuver checks often and couldn't decide what classes could augment his abilities. I've been thinking about a few levels of the Monk archetype: Maneuver Master, or possibly some levels in Rogue (possibly the Swashbuckler archetype) but I can't decide; maybe the is another option I've overlooked?