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So my group wants to do something that they never do: be sneaky. We're hoping to do this as a 1-2 game session as a small break from our main campaign. They want to do a full party of rogues (or similar) and basically pull off an "Ocean's 11" type robbery or bank heist. So, looking for some help: --What types of classes would be good at this, and what level should we start at to make this fun, but without requiring too much learning of the class (some players aren't super familiar with the game). Also looking for possible pre-made characters for this. --Are there any pre-written scenarios, adventures, OR parts of a campaign that I could take a part from? --Has anyone done this before, and what type of advise can you offer? We're probably about 3 gaming sessions away from this side-track, so I have a couple months to get set up, but not too long. Thanks in advance!
What spell will you spell store? Dispel Magic, because I'm annoying like that ;) Can you combine the mace with one (or more) of the metamagic rods? Since you cast a spell into the weapon, I believe you can as long as the spell level isn't raised above 3. Can you somehow make that Touch of Chaos a Beam of Chaos or Word of Chaos to give it some range? You mean like with that Metamagic rod of Reach ;)
So....
Spoiler:
I'll be hitting between 40% and 75% based on my calculations. Their oracle of life is a beast of armor, and built to "tank", but easily ignore-able. I also don't plan on using the mace for anything but the spell storing for the Lich. With the AP and Lich I didn't include the other creatures involved in this fight, and they can all spill over which will create a dynamic CR. I also have a pit full of things waiting to get zombie-fied by the Lich to deal with the players. And, if the players get close enough there's a wooden bridge that they have to cross and at a certain distance a pair of Juju Zombie Shadow Mastiffs will reveal themselves. Mind you, all of this is built in to either raise or lower the CR as needed. Also, there will be a chance for: A) a portal effect for a random black tenticles placement B) A lightning bolt random strike C) a gust of wind, or D) Nothing that will be rolled on a D4 at the start of each character's turn.
The battle should go: Crypt Guards + Antipaladin, which can then blend into the Mummies (one advanced and one fiendish for the different types of protection they'll grant to the Lich). Below the mummies are pits of dead creatures that the Lich can raise if they start to get too close (the fiendish part is that the players will roll for their own champion to fight against ranging CR 8 to 11 each). If that goes well they'll advance to the Juju Zombie Shadow Mastiffs, and the Lich himself. The Lich will end up being mostly toothless by this point considering he'll be casting spells in the background the whole time, however if the fight getting there is too tough on the group, this will still give them a solid victory... I have a soft spot for the players... I hang my head in shame ;) Then the rest should go as I described in the spoiler above.
Here's the Lich: Nametaker
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Also, Thought I would output the stat-blocks for anyone to see what I did. I'm pretty sure that these are not optomized, but for the amount of time I spent I think I did well enough. (Also, I loaded them up on gear since the party can't use it HAHAHAHAHAH!) Tzarnomen
You may only apply a single Cruelty ability to each use of touch of corruption, chosen w
You may only apply a single Cruelty ability to each use of touch of corruption, c
You may only apply a single Cruelty ability to each use of touch of corruption, chosen when used.
You may only apply a single Cruelty ability to each use of touch of corruption, chosen when used.
Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at http://www.wolflair.com
Thanks! I like it intense ;) The group really leads this, honestly, they're amazing. I rarely give restrictions on how they can do something and constantly encourage creative and original thinking. I also try to support an atmosphere of collaborative story telling. The result is a really rich world that we've created together, with some unforgettable times. We were lucky to know that our group is breaking up long enough in advance for me to plan this culmination too. Spoiler:
though to be totally honest, I'm just a really good liar. I have set pieces all ready to plop in where ever and link the stories together by leaving it vague enough for the group to draw their own conclusions ... which I just run with and then make up motives for the enemies to do that. It's pretty great, I've had almost 20 years of on-and-off GMing experience to draw on and I've really come to love the GM role. As for the wiping from history thing, that sprouted from another thread I made here about some story/plot ideas earlier in the game. The group had gotten themselves stuck in a nasty place and then sent forward in time four years... and I needed a sort of red herring. So I stole their past, and names, ruining all their efforts they'd built up in Oppara. I had to think of a damn good reason to do this, so I set about raising a god out of it. Sounded like fun ;)
Any thoughts about my idea about when the lich gets killed, its spirit possesses the outgoing PC and sics the PC against the other PCs? So... since I'm pretty sure that my gaming group isn't here... here's what'll happen at the end: Spoiler:
The group thinks they're just going up to a mountain top to perform a rite for Pharasma to appear... when they get there it will be the Lich which stole their names and wiped them from the annals of history. The lich (Nametaker) uses a part of Orcus (probably his toe?) as his phylactery because while the Lich uses this body part, Orcus is also removed from history. This allows the evil god to operate while the mass population is pretty much unaware of the danger here. Phrasma has become aware of the plan, and has set it up so that she has the party going to kill the lich while she is removing this body part from Orcus. When the party finishes killing the lich and then does the ritual that summons Pharasma this will extract her from any danger... because you never know what will happen when gods fight. Orcus has been orchestrating (orcus-strating?!) a connection between the Dark Tapestry and Golarion, and since no one know he exists, he's been free to pull all the strings totally unsuspectingly. So far the party has completed closing a main portal, then a time rift created by another portal, and secured a pocket dimension which a cult of the Elder Gods was using to pull in creatures from the Dark Tapestry, and cleaned up a handful of issues that happen as a side effect (basically I recreated Shadow over Innsmouth and The Color out of Space as two missions). The party will interrupt the Lich attempting to use the missing pages from their copy of Secrets of the Dreaming Dark--which the party has been looking for--to open a rift large enough to let the elder gods through easily (hence the tentacles coming through). Defeating the lich, completing the rite to call Pharasma, then destroying the phylactery will "awaken" Orcus... through really it will just be that everyone has their memory returned. Also, the Nametaker took the party's names, so no one would remember them so they didn't receive any help for their good past deeds and were suddenly treated with distrust... now they will be known again for their deeds. They also will need to close the gate. The soul that was given to open the gate was given by the Son of the General of Oppara, who has a "statue" in their foyer of their son who "died in the line of duty" but the group has already suspected that the body is actually alive and in stasis. The soul to close the portal will release the other soul (awakening the General's son) and then the new soul will be removed and the body placed in stasis (Turning our leaving player into a statue). The group has been trying to solve what happen to the Son for a long time. This will end most of their open story lines, and since the party wants to re-form with new characters and at a lower level this will also create a whole new world dynamic in the game and a new BBEG that they have a personal connection to: a new evil god enters the arena, Orcus the Forgotten.
So, as you can see that won't really work out for the story.
Yeah, environments really help make a fight more memorable. A custom Wall of Force with invisible arrowslits would be a fun challenge, possibly. I currently will just have the massive elevation changes, and a couple different terrain types, and some rough terrain based on corpses. I drew it all out last night and I have the landscape reflect two phases of the fight, and a location for the lich to cast annoyances from high up/afar. There will also be rope bridges with some flimsy wood holding it all together, which the mummies will cut part of the moment the fight starts. I've thought about some traps... but my previous implementation of them has been, let's just call it too deadly... So I get a bit gun shy when it comes to adding them these days. Also, forcing the PCs to make significant decisions every round is exciting. Having multiple creatures (and multiple types of creatures) to target, non-Attack Roll options, different kinds of terrain to choose from, different paths to choose along the battle map, being able to assess different threats and acting accordingly, etc. Yes, I'm hoping to mock up the fight tonight to see if it's challenging/too much/too easy. While I was finalizing my Antipaladin last night I was realizing that every round could be very deadly for ... well anyone. I don't like pulling my punches, particularly in end-game fights I like to roll in the open for BBEG so they all see what my rolls are. A confirmed crit from my AP could kill most of the players (not just unconscious). I'm thinking once they see that things are very dangerous they'll be building out a very in-depth strategy. I'm hoping that terrain will provide some safety and escape routes for some of the more squishy folks, while also giving others the ability to aim for more advantageous positions. If you're going to do the ritual, maybe have a few different timed events that could go off. One making a portal, one corrupting or transforming another creature, one setting up a powerful buff for the enemies, one dispelling a powerful good outsider ally, etc. etc. This is interesting to contemplate. I already plan on having some random tentacle effects and weather effects... but this could add to the tension... maybe making a chart for a D6 with like 1/3 of the effects being good, then bad, then neutral... I like making the players roll for things like this and I could have them do this as the timed event goes off. I like it!
Thanks for all the comments. There's some really mean stuff in here, I love it! I ended up just going with a straight up Cleric of Orcus, and focused most of the Lich's spells on being interesting (i.e. Vision of Hell) rather than being heavily damaged focused. Also, since this will be "ending" the campaign for this group of characters (and 1 player) I decided to equip the lich to the gills with expensive gear that buffs him and even has auras. This way, when he's eventually dead, the party can't really power-creep off them too hard. I have also decided that the Lich himself will do little in the means of combat. There will be two mummies as guards which will be constantly, actively, using aid another on him but I have modified it to do what SmiloDan was refering to above. I plan on having an Antipalidin as well to do combat, and a slew of weaker undead characters. So I like to have contingency plans for what happens if things don't go as planned, so I've figured out the following: If the fight is too easy I will have the combat location scattered with corpses that the lich can re-animate to join the fight.
Now here's the kicker. After a gruelling fight, the heroes slay the lich, the other casters lie dead, they're victorious! Everyone starts to relax and congratulate each other on a job well done. But slowly they notice the portal isn't closing. On the contrary, it appears to be getting bigger. An appropriate skill check informs the party that a freely given... This is pretty genius. I do have a lot of random atmospheric effects in place, and could easily replace them with this... I like that you have a ritual associated with this, but I'm actually thinking that for my story line that a portal throught the dark tapestry may open somehow (the party has been carrying around a copy of Secrets of the Dreaming Dark for a couple years at this point, and have had a very Old Gods based story for a while), maybe have tentacles come out ala the Black Tentacles spell...
Thank you all for the input! I’ve responded below to a few points. The one thing that hasen’t been touched on yet is: What CR should I make this encounter (or at least the lich)? Also, I’m starting to wonder if a Witch Lich would be good for this with Hexes….?
I do not have a preference, but when I was building arcane casters I didn't feel like it was quite right. I was kind of leaning towards a Cleric of Orcus, but Uragathoa may work too! I have a lot of great things happening for terrain, but am more than happy to get more advice. The basics are they will be interrupted while performing a rite at the top of a very dangerous mountain, so there will be high winds, fly/climb checks, gaps, and elevation changes. And thanks! I didn't think about having a backup for things going wrong... Which I know is stupid, but I've just been assuming I'll plan this well enough.
This sounds perfect… except that it’s save or suck (Will) and the person who this will be used against has a very high Will Save… any advice on how to get over that? The only thing I can think of is Misfortune, but that’s a lot of setup and action economy usage. Lots o Spell Stuff Took notes off this! Thanks! That cloudkill is MEAN!
What kind of rules would exist to make this work? I actually dig this idea a lot (I’m a fan of gimmicks and puzzles), but unsure how to make it work in game without house-rules.
Background: Our group has been together for three years now, and one of our members is moving to a new state and will be leaving the group. I've decided to put together an "end" to their story (the rest of the party wants to reform w/new characters in the same world/story, so it will be a big ending) and I've been having a hard time of making this interesting. Advice needed: So, my party is all level 9 (Oracle, Magus, Investigator, Inquisitor, Summoner), yet due to some early power creep from pre-written materials, they can handle a CR14 fight pretty easily. The story has led them to make a contract with Pharasma who has them hunting down a Lich (which happened to be the same enemy that's been menacing them for the past year or more). They know what the phylactery is, and I will have Pharasma deliver it in an epic style after the fight (which will actually create a major change in the world after this happens, but they don't know that yet). I need this lich fight to be AMAZING. I'm not sure what to do to make it more exciting though... The player who is leaving has requested that he is either killed, or sent to a demonic plane, and I need to figure out a way to have that happen through the lich (or something the lich summons). What are some ways to make this happen? I also do *not* want this fight to be a Party vs 1-lich fight. I was thinking about making the lich also a necromancer (as this would piss off Phrasma even more), but not sure how to make this happen and also have the lich himself be exciting in combat? Also, I'm looking for advice on what to make as a target CR for these combatants? This should be a VERY dangerous fight, and they know it, and are prepared. (very prepared) I've built a couple of ideas for this lich... but ultimately end up not creating a great enemy, so I'm looking for all the help I can get! Thank you so much for the advice :D
For just more general adventure ideas related to your plot: tracking down a grimoire or demonomicon that contains the true names of several powerful demons would be one place to hang an adventure hook. Maybe the PCs need to know the true names in order to stop plots by the various demonic entities, and each name in the book requires them to complete some task, quest, or ritual to summon or bind or destroy the entity in question. They need to work through the book because with each name they gain a piece of a puzzle that will allow them to stop an even greater threat. Awesome idea! This will totally be something that I'll probably work into things in some way.
Wow, the Phrenic Scourges sounds great! I'm probably going to have a little bit of both things happening honestly. I think there may be two factions happening: demon and Lovecraft, and they will probably be at opposition with each other. This is the perfect kind of mid-boss! Isn't Dragon's Demand more ** spoiler omitted ** than demonic? It is! However my group decided that that meant Demonic... so they're going after demons! (yeah, I know, but I like to run sandbox style as much as possible.) Memories, and a demon lord commonly associated with the undead huh... Lemeres! A lot of amazing stuff. I think I'm going to have a couple things going on here and tie a lot of items together that have been pointed out, but I think that your Lich ideas are perfect. What I'll probably do is have a high level politician who is in cahoots with a lich (one that has a phylactery that is strengthened in some way by taking power from Orcus, possibly built out of a part of Orcus). I will probably build out a custom one that starts out weak, is killed and drops a hint (maybe a Grimoire about stealing names) then comes back stronger after the phylactery rebuilds him. In the meantime Pharasma is trying to remove Orcus from history/memory so that he loses strength. So these little encounters are basically foreshadowing. If the PCs interfere too much with her plans she'll (somehow? is it too much to have a god literally speak to them?) come let them know what she's doing. Or perhaps I let them release Orcus's name/memories and then Pharasma tells them how they've messed this all up. The politician can be hiring people to clear out Pharasma's minions, and the party can be an unwitting assistant to this... I feel like this could be a little more interesting. I have a few other sub-plot missions that I can tie little pieces of this story into it all. I don't want things to become too complicated too fast, and I don't want to reveal too much of this plot too early. I'm hoping that them going after the Lich (whether they know they are or not) will take them from levels 7 - 10/11-ish
For everyone who stated Wrath of the Righteous, thanks! I have that whole AP. I'm worried about my PCs not being mythic... will that be a problem? Also, what are some good things to do around level 7/8 in there that aren't specifically Worldwound related?
Thanks! I'm usually pretty good whipping stuff up on the fly, but I feel like I kinda got myself to the point that I'll either need to do a ton of research (sort of doing), make stuff up that isn't canon (don't want to do), or ask for help (doing here!). So, the spidery is unrelated to Orcus. I kind of sent off the PC's to a barn where a bunch of people were cocooned to the walls/ceilings (think Aliens)... so I need to figure out where that came from and I'll probably make them a reoccurring enemy/theme. And, that last bit about the Devil is PERFECT! That's the kind of crazy crap a fanatic would shout at them :D
Thanks! I've read most of these threads. I appreciate that Demon Within module! That will come in handy if this is still happening in a few levels. Also, I'm totally going to check out that thread about Demon Lords!
So, I’ve been the GM for an amazing group for almost 2 years now. We finished up Dragon’s Demand late last year, and they really hooked onto the extra-planar themes in it (sorry not going to spoil things, so I’ll just leave it at that). Long story short: I originally wanted to tie that story into The Slumbering Tsar Saga, since I’ve had that book sitting on a shelf for a long time. While we were in down time between campaigns the Druid switched characters over to an Investigator because no one had the ability to find traps… and decided to focus on finding Demons and Evil Outsiders. So, this resulted in the campaign turning into Demonbusters for Hire in Oppara. I’ve since done a bunch of research on Oppara, and surrounding towns, and they keep finding everything I’m not prepping (they told me they wanted political intrigue so I made a sub-plot about that with a whole confrontation related to the “rebel lords” on the outskirts and a Phallanx [I adopted it from a Season 0 PF Scenario], they told me they wanted to dungeon crawl so I prepared a subterranean dungeon crawl. I’ve poured hints and clues about these things all over the game… yet they intentionally go after the demon story line I haven’t prepared). So I’m about ready to embrace the demon story line. I’m looking for help with tips on story line ideas, and demons that will fit my story needs. So far the party has picked up the Secrets of the Dreaming Dark. They have found out that all traces of the god Orcus have been erased from history. They have uncovered a hive of Viduus Psychopomps, which the PCs know have probably been sent to remove the memories from certain people. I feel like I have the start of a great story line wherein Orcus comes back to rise in power, and I can take elements of Rappan Athuk or Slumbering Tsar piece-meal out of those books to use to save on prep time… but I’m honestly drawing a little bit of a blank on how to connect these threads together, have a good reason that they’re happening (since the reasoning that I had has since become moot), and how to unravel these secrets in layers. I also am not sure much about demons! I’m looking for spidery, memory altering, or other things that would work well for this setting. What are some reasons that Demons/Planar creatures would want to cross over for? Why would Orcus want to erase memories? Who would try to enforce this? What would a good mid-boss be who’s been put in charge of this memory wipe? I think that this will also involve politics, what sort of political advantages could someone get to be involved in this (possibly use it to tie into the removal of rogue lords)? As a new-ish GM to running mid/high level adventures (haven't done it since the early 2000's with D&D 3.0), and I’m doing an OK job of balancing encounters for a group of 4 level seven PCs, but the encounters are all very straight-forward. I am hoping to snag some good dungeons/encounters/sub-plots that I can take and re-purpose easily (i.e. I’m already using the level 7 Thornkeep dungeon, and I’ve used that one PFS Scenario) that are either from other Modules, Adventure Paths, or PFS Scenarios that I would have to only make minor (superficial) modifications to drop wholly into my campaign. Also, anything that can easily be taken from Rappan Athuk or Slumbering Tsar. Thank you so much for anything that you can come up with. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that I need to prepare for this as I allowed the cam TLDR: I need help with demon-y planar creature recommendations that are either spidery, or memory altering related. Also, tips on story lines that involve rewriting massive amounts of history by demons. And finally a list of pre-written demon based modules/adventures/dungeons for level 7+ that I can piece out and drop into my campaign.
Hello. I have something to upload but don't know how to do it. I've been prepping the Shore to Sea module, and I found this web bonus, and thought it would be nice to add to the shared prep. Also, I did some photoshop work on the maps for Shore to Sea to remove the key/markings/hints so that they can be given to the players... are we allowed to upload them? I feel like this is iffy gray area since they are just modified versions of paizo stuff. Do we have a ruling on this?
Thanks for the replies so far. I'm still a bit confused as to how an actual round of combat would look for a Magus using spellcombat at level 1. I'm planning on making this character for PFS, so I must go under the assumption that it will be RAW interpretations.
2. You only get the -2 when you are using spellcombat which you don't need to do every round. If you do use it make sure to enhance your weapon to mitigate most of that penalty. Can you go into detail for how to enhance your weapon in early levels?
So, I'm thinking of rolling up a Magus as I'm very intrigued by them. However it seems like they have too many drawbacks before level 3-ish. I'm not exactly sure how combat would work with them either. Do you still draw attacks of opportunities when casting within AOO range? Are you always attacking with a -2 penalty? Basically I'm thinking of making one starting at level 1 and they just seem as though they'd be somewhat useless for a few levels. Please tell me that I am, and how I am, wrong. If anyone is willing to, could you walk me through what a couple rounds of combat would look like playing as a magus at level 1 using them to their strongest potential? Also, what is the consensus on the archetypes for a Magus? Thanks in advance.
I would like to recommend the three part module series that starts with Crypt of the Everflame. While I can't vouch for the sexual content of the second and third book (I've only browsed them, but my guess is they don't have any), the first one is completely devoid of that. The adventure also starts as the "first" adventure that any of the characters have gone on. It's a fairly standard affair of a dungeon crawl with lots of variety, traps, and enemies. There are also some really helpful tips in the book on rules explanations for new GMs as it was the first series (iirc) to come out after the conversion from 3.5 to Pathfinder. To be even more helpful there is a podcast that goes over most of the ins and outs of the scenario for the GM, and what possible pitfalls it has and how to avoid them: LINK HERE (the first part of the podcast is a sort of general news from a few years ago, then it goes into extensive coverage of the module). I also believe that the next podcast after that was for the second part of the adventure, Masks of the Living God. I've only run the first of this series, but I found it to be a lot of fun with some really excellent moments. Best of Luck!
I recommend looking over the forum specifically for RotRL here: paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/adventurePath/rune lords Also, specifically this thread is super helpful: paizo.com/threads/rzs2i3wa?Community-Created-Stuff As for how to start, there's some great threads on how to play up the swallowtail festival with games in the forum, and I recommend doing just that. Some archery, wrestling, ring tossing, what have you. The community stuff has extended scrips for speeches too. Best of luck!
Not that I have any real experience here, but I've always wanted to play an Undead Lord Cleric. Alternatively I'd be down for a Juju Oracle, but I have an affinity for Clerics.
Oh yeah. The Animal Archive also has some outstanding tricks to teach your companion, like flanking. My partner just got her companion for her PFS Ranger and when she learned that it wasn't just a late druid companion she was really sad. So I spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the most out of one. We've come to the conclusion that a wolf with Trip and the Boon Companion feat is going to be pretty amazing. And at level 7 it will grow to large and she's already working on training it to be ride-able. Best of luck, and hopefully no pillow fights go wrong.
I don't think my partner will ever figure out which is the d8 vs d10. At this point I just think it's cute. TI think a lot of good advice has been given in this thread (and a little bad advice). So here's my 2cp I GM a lot. I do it because I love to do it. Whenever I'm sitting at a table and realize I've been drawing a map/cutting out minis/prepping pre-gens/reading a module for the 3rd time/whateverthecase for hours on end, and I think to myself for the slightest moment "why am I putting in 20x the effort of anyone else?" I suddenly realize "who am I fooling, I love this crap." If I wasn't feeling that way I'd push through for a while, but it seems like that's the point where you started and now you're well past that. So, I advise that you become willfully ignorant a bit about the players in the group who are causing you to have a bad time. I think that ignoring people that aren't paying attention and skipping their turn is a good idea. Maybe if those players not participating hurts the group enough some peer pressure may come from other players at the table. By ignoring the people who aren't participating as much it will give you more time to focus on the game with the players who want to play. Occasionally tossing out some hints to the people who are paying attention that a "certain spell that druids/wizards/clerics/whoeverisn'tpayingattention can cast would sure go a long way" might be the kind of push you need to get that peer pressure machine working in your favor. I know where you're coming from though. I GM for some very good friends who are both casual and poor players, but like your group they love playing. I found that pre-gens did wonders for them. I also learned that handing them everything that hero lab (I really recommend hero lab too btw) can print out for skill/feat/spell descriptions did wonders for them. I did what I needed to do to make it so they had to learn/remember as little as possible (basically all they had to learn/remember was to look at their sheets). I cost me more prep time, but much less headache. I also start out every game session with them stating something like "If you don't know how to do something just tell me in plain language what you're trying to do and I'll translate to game language to try to bog down the game session as little as possible." It helps! They just say stuff like "I want to try to check for traps" and don't even realize they're using game terms. This approach puts more pressure on you, but if you want to play with people who don't want to learn rules that's sometimes required. Best of luck, and don't forget that you're doing this primarily because you love it. PS: As a final note; your game may fall apart. But! With the magic of the internet and Skype and virtual table tops, while you may not get to play with a local group, you may be able to still have a comparable experience. This situation you're in is not your only option!
So, it seemed like you wanted experiences relayed, and that is what I'll do. I see them used somewhere between 1/4 to 1/6 of the encounters in my home games. I see it a bit less in PFS games. I used to not see them at all, and then I printed out a handy little cheat sheet for all the martial PCs and handed them out at the beginning of a game oSuddenly I saw CMs getting used. Also, for those that have never seen a bull rush: best use I ever saw was a BBEG that was blocking a passage way so only one person could attack at a time (essentially) get pushed back enough to allow for flanking.
It's explicitly stated in the FAQ I do not see where it is stated. I do see:
Then what I see in the Bestiary 1 (which is, as far as I know, "another legal source") is that it is a valid Ranger companion. This book (Bestiary 1) was released after the Core Rulebook, and before the APG (where the Beastmaster archetype comes from), and this companion is approved in the Additional resources. So, I'm still not seeing how this is explicitly stated. It reads to me like the RAW indicate that the Roc is a legal Ranger companion. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm trying to be clear on this. Does anyone have any links to a more clear ruling on this from the staff? The wording is not clear, and I was hoping for a clearer ruling.
So, I did the research and searched the forums and came up with no official answers to my question, just what seems to be a lot of people saying it's not legal. I'm looking for where this is explicitly stated (hopefully with a link). It is stated that a Ranger, in the core rule book, can pick a bird companion. It is stated in the Bestiary that a Roc is a valid Ranger companion. It is stated in the additional rules that the Roc is a legal companion... Yet the popular consensus is that a Roc is not a PFS legal Ranger companion. Where is this explicitly stated? Thanks :)
So, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone. I'm filling in last minute at my flgs PFS with about 48 hours prep time. I'm a busy person, and well... I'm also new to GMing so my ability to convert from 3.5 to PFS would be overwhelming on top of prepping up the scenario. Then I remembered this existed. Turns out someone did the work for me. So thanks for all the hard work. I greatly appreciate it. I will certainly contribute anything that I can in the future.
Well, there's nothing "wrong" with it, but I've heard my (and other's) players say some version of this paraphrasing: "I'd like to play some other race, but the bonus feat is too strong a choice." So, to compensate this to give players the role-play variety that they're looking for with a more enticing roll-playing option of balancing the bonus feat I wanted some balance ideas for how to homebrew some class abilities that would be good to remove and still balanced with adding the bonus feat option. I'm not looking to get alternatives to this, but to get some homebrew rule balance ideas.
If you're planning on getting a tablet and pdfs, then I'm going to go with saying just the CRB and APG. I also say the Bestiary if you like finding your own monsters by thumbing through books looking at pictures, otherwise... there's an app for that. I have all the hard cover books, and over 50 of the soft cover books. Besides the CRB and APG, they almost all sit on the shelf and I use pdfs for everything else. (I blame PFS rules of needing the splash books if you're going to use anything from them.) Also, I agree with the poster who said that you should buy a physical copy of any adventure you plan on using. Not only is it easier to highlight and tab up a physical copy , but if your tablet is your main source of information then you'll need it available to reference in conjunction with the adventure. Spend all the extra money you save on physical copies and invest it into a better android tablet.
I find that starting a game at level 1 encourages most players to pick humans for the bonus feat. I'm looking for recommendations for how to add a bonus feat to all other core classes and still keep the bonuses balanced so that I can get some diversity in my low level games.
I can agree to an extent, but as a player I have photo copied every page of non-core/APG rules I'm using. This is required, and if a player doesn't have it then, as a GM, you're allowed to not let them play. PFS does not require a GM to know all this information, or even close: it is the player's responsibility. I find the additional rules' bans on PFS legal things to be very balanced, and don't really worry when someone comes to the table properly equipped to show where there character abilities came from.
This! Also, I love to have players roll for checks where even a 1 succeeds and say "everyone hears/sees..." So that they feel that my comments about success and failure are nearly arbitrary. I like to have everyone at the table second guessing even themselves for every called roll. This worked so well in one game that half the group fell into a pit in a water filled room. They were upset at me at the moment, but admitted it was one of the best rooms in the dungeon after the game.
I figure this thread is a bit dead, but based on your time frame The Price of Immortality trilogy of modules my be more what you're looking for. I haven't fully read through books two and three, but unless you have religious complications from cult activity, these seem pretty kid friendly and should last a while. I know you were looking for an AP, but this trilogy is like a mini-AP and I've heard of people running their kids through it. Best of luck!
The face cards are much better than the item cards. But, besides that there are the minis (mentioned above) and also the bestiary box in general is a good thing too. The players guide to varisia and magnimar are also good, as is the inner sea primer. Don't forget about the free players guide too! I've been prepping to run this starting sometime in the summer and have almost everything ready. I recently got the rune giant "mini" and that's the crown gem on my collection for props to run this AP.
I play one home game with 4 PCs. I've GMed PFS scenarios with 3-5 players. I've played in PFS scenarios of 3-7 players. My preferred is 4-5 from my experience. I tend to see smart phones, laptops, and books come out the most when there are over 5 players, and the minute that happens players start to pay less attention making everything go even a little bit slower.
I've had female players but not until recently had I seen any GM in games before. I recently started playing PFS games and have had a female GM a few times there. She was one of the better PFS GMs I've had. Not only that, but for the first time ever the last game she GMed for me there were more females than males at the table. It wasn't a great mod, but she made it awesome and it is in my top 3 PFS experiences at my local game store.
Hexes that last one round last until the beginning of the witches turn. So they have to cackle immediately after they use the hex or cackle will not sustain the ability. That is a key element to be aware of when a witch sets up her cackle.AFAIK if you hex as the second "action" on your turn you can still cackle as the first action on your next turn to extend it as a full "round" has not yet happened. Is this RAW or RAI? I see nothing indicating that this statement is more correct than mine, but my justification is not hard evidence either. Basically after looking over everything the only thing I found related to duration of effects and how it breaks up over time in a players turn is located with:
Granted, this goes contrary to: When the rules refer to a "full round", they usually mean a span of time from a particular initiative count in one round to the same initiative count in the next round. But honestly, this seems to make Misfortune Hex a little bit too weak if you can't extend it in the next round with a cackle. There's too many opportunities for it to fall off anyways. Anyways, how do you request a dev come in and weigh in on the subject?
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