Shawn S.'s page

Thank you all. I appreciate the guidance and kindness.

Option 3 it is!

Hi Mr_Smileys,

Glad to see another Lehi gamer! I won't be able to join but I would suggest dropping a note on the bulletin board at Dragon's Keep (Location Link, Event Link, General Link), the Lehi location specifically. We do PFS games on Thursday evenings if you wanted to come and chat up the players.

Good luck!

Thanks for the great replies! :D

Hello,

I have seen many discussions around regarding how this class feature applies in different situations. I had not seen a 'definitive' answer on whether one can use an unarmed strike as an appropriate weapon (assuming you can get an unarmed strike to be piercing damage) for the bonus damage?

If the answer is 'yes' to that question then may I further use the Feral Combat Training feat to apply Precise Strike to a natural attack?

Thanks!

Hello,

Have:

Magaambyan Dilettante

(Not many major cons, sadly)

Want:
Sylph or Grippli (though I understand the later is more rare)

Thanks!

Addendum: I would also be willing to throw in some exclusive figs. I have a few... drop me a ping of what you are looking for.

Hello,

Have:

Magaambyan Dilettante

(Not many major cons, sadly)

Want:
Sylph or Grippli (though I understand the later is more rare)

Thanks!

Thanks Woran, I appreciate the suggestion. I have the information on the GM for the table so I'll see if I can find out the coordinator.

Hello,

I apologize if this is mentioned elsewhere as my searches were not fruitful.

I audited my character today and noticed that I am missing a session from PAX Prime 2014, specifically "The SilverHex Chronicles". I did see many threads about issues reporting this "Pathfinder Quest" and wanted to know where the dust settled?

Thanks!
Shawn

Thank you for the quick and helpful response. :)

Hello,

I recently won the Cohorts & Companions book and wanted to know when I can expect the rules in it to be added (or excluded) to/from PFS?

Now before everyone goes nuts about the word "cohorts" I don't care about Leadership or any of the disallowed things in the book, I am interested in the cool stuff for animal companions. There are also some nice traits.

Thanks,

Shawn

Hi Alanya,

Thank you for the response. Interesting that there are so few options for those not going to the banquet. Ah well, I'll see if I can scrounge up a game.

Hi everyone!

So why doesn't Saturday night have more events? Friday has seven, Sunday has 13 (awesome!) and Saturday has... three! It's Saturday night people! Where is all of the action?!

I am getting in some mega action on Friday night and Sunday night but I wonder if I am missing something for Saturday night? I am hoping it states somewhere that Saturday night is open gaming madness but maybe not.

Can anyone let me in on the secret?

Thanks!
Shawn

Thank you all so much for the great responses! :D

Hi!

I will be attending PaizoCon for the first time this year with my family and wanted to ask if there will be a location map available before the con starts? I am planning travel time between locations and meals and wanted to know if any of the locations were going to require extra time.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Shawn

P.S. I promise I searched before posting!

My group is still slugging through Armageddon Echo but I don't see any problems up through the end of it (some tweaks here and there). I haven't yet read Endless Night but I don't think there will be much of a problem there (from what I have read on here) aside from the changes to "who is on who's side?" aspect.

I do see a problem with the feel of A Memory of Darkness so I have a question.

Drood,

In brief, how does the "Skeletons of Scarwall" fit in the place of the 5th book? I only ask because I may want to borrow the idea. My group likely will not make it to that book until the end of this year so I have some time to make plans.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Android - Samsung Galaxy S

I'd vote for Midnight Syndicate. They are known for the atmospheric music they make for gaming, specifically table-top RPGing. It's nice background music.

Also, I'd like to note that music is very important to me. Making good music that matches the setting really makes the difference in a game. it also sets it apart from other games that don't have the right level of polish.

It's worth it to get the music right.

Great idea.

I think it would be especially meaningful if the players actually knew that these types of quests are as important that they are. Perhaps on the lowest level of the quests (the first iteration) it is only in the quest text so you are forced to read it, something along the lines of "We have reports that XY evil overlord is behind these raids". And then in the next level of the quest (or perhaps a few levels higher) it becomes clear who is "pulling the strings" and it is clearly denoted as a special note at the bottom of the quest.

I think it will be very important that at some point in the quest chain it is very clear how important this quest chain is to make sure the players don't feel excluded from the fun. Assuming that some of these chains get far enough to really be a threat to a hex or a larger region, I would hope it would be obvious.

Finally, this method might be really great for primary quest chains that are important to the overall plot of a region. Quest that actually matter to how the world forms, especially those that are time-sensitive, is a really great way to feel like you have an impact on the world. For example, having an epic quest chain that changes a part of the world (say burning down part of a forest or erecting a npc-controlled keep) should start with these quests and if the "good" people fail then whatever was going to happen, happens and is permanent (or semi-permanent). That way people can talk about how they were a part of that process.

TL;DR: Make these types of quests and make them have an impact on the world and feel unique.

What I DON'T want to see if a click-fest, twitch based combat system mostly because it suffers MUCH more from a poor connection or a poorly performing system.

People can trash-talk WoW combat all they want but many people still play that game because it is much easier to have a computer that can still run it without much of a problem. Also, the WoW combat system is much more forgiving on lag spikes and poor connections. I used to happily play that game with a frequent lag problem and it was tolerable because of how the combat system was designed to handle it.

That being said, I do think that WoW's combat is extremely simplistic and a lot could be done to add skill into a combat system without making it system/connection dependent (at least not unreasonably so). I have confidence that the Goblin Works folks are up to the task. If I find any awesome combat systems or suggestions I'll be sure to post them!

Note that Makarnek referenced:

Saving Throws and Illusions (Disbelief):

That section is clearly explaining illusions that do allow for saving throws. Such illusions are normally patterns, and are mind affecting while glamers(which is what illusions are) are not.

I'm sorry but this is not clear at all. That is a subsection under the general Illusion heading. It applies to all illusions. The heading does not say "Saving Throws and Patterns" it says "Savings Throws and Illusions" so I don't see why you would narrow that down to just patterns.

Glamers may be different then Patterns but both are not real, as stated in the paragraph between figments and glamers:

Because figments and glamers are unreal, they cannot produce real effects the way that other types of illusions can.

For this reason alone I would say that all illusions can be subject to a saving throw, as long as it is studied carefully or interacted with.

Also, I notice that Invisibility does allow a saving throws, though is says "(harmless)". Looking up the definition of that criteria it reads:

(harmless): The spell is usually beneficial, not harmful, but a targeted creature can attempt a saving throw if it desires.

That should seal the deal right there. If a character knows Invisibility is being cast on them allow a saving throw (with appropriate modifiers) and go with that.

Hello,

I have a situation coming up in our next gaming session which I'd like to get some advice on. It involves a cleric/rogue casting Invisibility and then sneaking around (or possibly retreating).

Let's say that my rogue has +10 on Stealth normally (Dex mod, ranks), medium-sized creature. So I have a question about the total modifier he will have for each of a set of actions:

Q. The round I cast invisibility if I move less than half my speed afterward, what is my total modifier to Stealth?
A. By my math it would be +30 (+10 base, +20 for being invisible but not immobile and moving that much).

Q. The round after I cast invisibility if I move more than half my speed but less than my full speed, what is my total modifier?
A. By my math, it would be +25 (+10 base, +20 for being invisible but not immobile, -5 for moving that amount).

Q. The round after I cast invisibility what if I hold still but I am carried away by something else (in this case an air elemental)? Do I suffer penalties to my Stealth check?
A. I am not sure about this one. My invisibility shouldn't be hurt because I am remaining still but getting carried should it?

Also it seems to me that being invisible and moving you get a double-penalty, one for moving while invisible (+40 to +20) and then the additional penalty of -5 if I move more than half my speed but less than my full speed.

What do all of you think?

Thanks,
S.

Although it is worth noting that most creatures don't get to choose what they attack with, they use their primary attack form. Some creatures however, the raptor included, have more than one "primary" attack form.

Thank you all for your information.

I did pick up the Kingmaker book (Blood for Blood) and looked at those rules. As Mijoszew points out, it doesn't break down to individual buildings very well.

I'll take the advice of picking up the Stronghold Builder's Guide. I'll consider myself lucky to get my hands on it.

Grick, thanks for pointing out the breaking of the plural.

ossian666, my apologies. It does seem that there is a breaking of the subject(s) in that sentence so either interpretation works.

To me I see it as Grick outline, a creature-by-creature basis. I can see how it would be annoying to track multiples but how many times is that going to happen? As the DM you at least partially control how many summoned, evil creatures are in play. Know your limits. ;)

One thing to keep in mind is that Withdraw is a full-round action. So you can't normally attack and do a withdraw in the same round (action points or time-altered exceptions exist).

I missed the back and forth about bolding and quoting text and I was not trying to be inflammatory. The fact is that is states a single creature. There is no reason to think that it goes beyond the one creature being mentioned.

Rules of grammar indicate that if the words "creatures" is used at the beginning of a sentence you would continue to use it (or a word that implies the same use, such as "all") unless you are changing the meaning.

I would think that if they intended to have the effect break against all creatures it would say something like "warded creature makes an attack against or tries to force the barrier against ANY blocked creature." It would have been that simple. Yet they didn't make that change which leads me to believe that it doesn't break against all creatures.

And that logic is sound for spells that specifically state that the effect breaks -all together-. Protection from Evil says nothing about a blanket effect of breaking. It exists as a barrier against each summoned, evil creature.

The protection against contact by summoned creatures ends if the warded creature makes an attack against or tries to force the barrier against the blocked creature.

Emphasis mine.

Some people might think this is an "overpowered" interpretation but you have to realize that there are few spells that grant you immunity to certain types of creatures or attacks. Protection from Evil is one of them, but it is not so powerful that creatures with SR can't just bypass it. Again, that is specifically stated in the spell description.

There is no need to infer that the protection breaks against all summoned creatures if you attack one. It is a perfectly fine interpretation but don't confuse an interpretation for the RAW.

I completely agree with Nebelwerfer41.

Why would it end against ALL summoned creatures if you only attacked ONE of them?

The barrier breaks because you force the barrier against that ONE creature. Just because i force it against one doesn't mean it is forced against all of them. That doesn't seem to follow with the rules at all. It doesn't say that you break the effect ALL TOGETHER. To me that is an extension of an interpretation.

That's my take on it.

hello!

I'm glad I found this thread. My PCs are wanting to build a small fort on an island and I have no idea where to begin! I remember the Stronghold Builders Guide but I don't know if I could get my hands on it.

Are there and "open" resources out there for this? I had tried to base some prices off the cost of buildings or parts of buildings (doors/walls/ etc.) but there are a lot of variables that I can't sort out.

Thanks for the helpful information.

The problem with the indocrination theory, as a Forbes article mentions, is that if it's what they meant to do, it kills the 'videogame as an art form' thing people have been discussing for years. Because it means you can end a game in the middle and offer the ending as a DLC, destroying artistic integrity and breaking narrative flow and angering the audience all for some extra bucks.

See if this sounds alright to you:
"Hey, to see the climax of this super cool movie/book you have to pay an extra five dollars and wait a couple months"
To me it doesn't. Frak that BS.

And I agree with it being a totally crappy way to write the ending. I just meant that I can see it being one that is at least plausible where trying to piece together the complete nonsensical madness that is everything the star child says will never make any sense. I think the ending should have been exactly what the original writer meant it to be.

I was going to post a lengthy response but this has really been gone around and around. I don't like the ending and knowing that it was handled the way it was (very poorly) which I didn't previously know just makes me slightly more annoyed. Thank you to magnuskn for posting the links. If that information is true about the ending being done as stated the "artistic integrity" argument is out the window.

I love the entire Mass Effect story and the ending of it didn't make me stop loving it. I can imagine whatever ending I want, regardless of what I saw. To that point:

Anyway thanks for the discussion and the "favorite" moments. I'll post mine later.

Howdy folks!

I just had to chime in here because I like the idea of familiars being valuable party members but there are a few things to consider:

1.) Why would you want your familiar to seek out danger? The idea is that you actually like your familiar and don't want it to get hurt. "Here little guy go drag this bag over to that mean-looking orc and throw it in his face. I'm sure he won't try to squash you..."

2.) The familiar (almost any familiar) would take -4 attack penalty for using a weapon-like object that it is not proficient with. At the moment I can't find the rule for weapon-like items matching a proficiency but I know it's there. Also, there is a size problem, a normal tanglefoot bag isn't the correct size for a Tiny-sized critter. I'll go with another -4 (possibly a -2) attack penalty for that. If the familiar wants to roll out there with a -8 (or -6) to attack, I'd probably allow it.

3.) Why isn't scouting a valuable skill for the familiar to do? Most familiars are small and can fit into places that their masters can't and a scroll of Speak with Animals isn't so difficult to come by (though may take a UMD to activate if a fellow PC can't) Also as time goes they gain the ability to talk with other animals and with you. There are many non-combat options for a familiar to contribute.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

-S

I like this encounter. I think you have some good themes working on each other and have a good overall concept.

As to Ryan's question about Protection from Energy it is linked to Unhallow as per the third effect of that spell:

Finally, you may choose to fix a single spell effect to the unhallowed site. The spell effect lasts for 1 year and functions throughout the entire site, regardless of its normal duration and area or effect.

Protection from Energy is one of the spells listed that may be tied to the unhallowed area.

Now the question to me is where did this unhallow effect come from? I'm guessing Mehnit UMD'd a scroll of the spell once she decided to make a new home here but that is just speculation. It would have been nice to know how the effect was put in place so the CL and other effects can be determined (as Ryan states).

I'm presently playing Second darkness, and I used your hero lab file since the beginning, but I'm curious why you augment the shadow demon from 7 HD to 10 HD. In the listing it's a CR8, but in the Herolab file, it's a CR10

Demon shadow 7 HD + 3 HD?

Eretas,

I have noticed the same thing with Joey Virtue's posts and I believe he mentioned somewhere that his group was pretty tough and he wanted to give them more of a challenge. So, the answer to your question is that Demon Shadow 7 HD +3 HD is an ADVANCED creature, made to be more of a challenge.

I am part way through Children of the Void and wanted to go with the "normal" versions of the encounters. I'll be converting everything to Pathfinder from Clegg's camp to the end of this part of the AP and if you want I can post it here.

Let me know what you think.

Hello!

Note: I have not read through all parts of the AP yet because I have not purchased all of them. If the following questions could be answered by doing so (such as question #3) please let me know!

So my group is moving through Children of the Void and have made it past the "Akata Siege" (or as we called it, "Tower Ride!") portion of the adventure. I have avoided giving any direct information on the akata's up to this point but I fear that between now and the end of the adventure there will be many questions from the players.

I have read through the adventure twice and searched these forums a few times but I can't find answers to the following questions. Any advice or suggestions are welcome. So here are the questions:

1) Akata's are aberrations but they are from space. What sort of information will the PCs be able to glean from simple Knowledge checks, if anything?

2) Unless I missed it the adventure itself does not specifically state (though some posts I found were informative about this) how much something like an akata would sell for, assuming the PCs decide to capture one alive, and wanted to know DMs out there had to price one?

3) If the PCs decide to leave the island without exterminating them, did any DMs out there toy with the idea of having some akatas make it to the mainland?

That is all I have for now. I am having a great time running this AP and look forward to your suggestions.

I like this item. As mentioned it really opens up a whole new area for wondrous items to move into and for that it is almost invaluable. I'll start pondering other types of "picture inserts" for lanterns in my campaign. (The breadth of options here with different classes and abilities is very exciting to me.)

My suggestion would be for those that fail the save to be compelled to continue staring at the image. Then you can throw down the Fort save the next round for the damage aspect (though I would reduce the damage). Those that make their Will save can avoid the image as Sean suggested, similar to avoiding a gaze attack.

Perhaps another limiting factor is the ambient lighting? If you were outside in the daytime the image would be hard to discern and perhaps that reduces the effect? This could reduce the effectiveness and bring its power level down. I would definitely still up the price if this item.

Finally I think that the duration should be modified. As a user of the item you would want it to last at least 2 rounds, which I am guessing is the reason for the 2d4. However, the max rounds of 8 is a little disturbing so I would go for 1d4+1.

I like this item and think it is different in significant ways from the previously mentioned "Liquid Sunlight".

One thing I like is that a campaign where this item would be most useful, say a campaign that takes places mostly in the Darklands, would not allow you to recharge it very often. It is in times like this that I see it as a "last ditch" item when all the spells are used and the party really needs just 10 more minutes of sunlight!

I think this is exactly what my PCs will want in an upcoming fight.

As for mechanics, I think the price point might be a little low for its usefulness. In the middle levels I think it would almost be a "must have" depending on the enemies one faces in a campaign.

Hello,

Sorry for the necro-post but I haven't read up on all of the Golarion-specific lore yet and would like to know if there was an "official" answer to the question of the drow?

If not I am thinking that it is more like a curse that was placed upon the first drow (and any others that follow in their footsteps) and any of their children. The power of this curse would have to be from a deity and I'm not even knowledgeable enough with the deities to know who would have placed such a curse.

Hopefully I can get answers to these questions before my PCs start asking. ;)

Thanks in advance.

As my group has just now started Children of the Void I felt I needed to chime in on this thread.

To me void zombies are not undead in the same sense that normal zombies are. the are being controlled by a parasite that manipulates their brainstem.

There is already an example of this in the game, the Yellow Musk Zombie (see the bottom of the page).

The example is a plant and not an undead, it specifically states, "They are treated as plants, not undead, for the resolution of magical effects and attacks. Channel energy cannot harm a yellow musk zombie, for example, nor does negative energy heal a yellow musk zombie."

This is a great example of how a creature that is being animated is treated as a zombie in some ways (attacks, saves, etc.) but not in all ways (vulnerable to crits in this case, fast movement, etc.).

For me it's not about negative energy at all so nothing that works in those mechanics (channeling energy, disrupt undead, etc.) is going to work against them.

I don't think this is as difficult as you think. Even a monster with unlimited SR can voluntarily allow any spell to be cast on them. Any worn item or armour uses its wearer's saving throws and a person can voluntarily fail a save.

Now if the person became dominated or possessed then you would have another concern. ;)

-S

Shawn S. wrote:

Bloodline name, class skill, bonus spells, bonus feats, bloodline arcana and bloodline powers. Of these only the bloodline powers will take up a lot of room and should probably be printed separately.

Wait, you're suggesting a whole separate sheet for each power in addition to the Sorcerer sheet? Or am I reading that wrong?

Well, I was suggesting that but now that I look through them the bloodline powers wouldn't take up as much space as I thought. I don't think you'd be able to squeeze them into the current sheet though because some of them are very wordy.

I think it is probably most flexible to let the players manage their bloodline powers on a separate sheet. That way the only parts that would need to be include are spaces for bloodline class skill, bloodline bonus spells, bloodline bonus feats and bloodline arcana.

Sadie,

Great sheets. I just found them and I will be passing them on to my players for their characters and using them myself for the DM pages.

Suggestion for the Sorcerer sheet:

Every sorcerer in pathfinder uses a bloodline and each bloodline has a few specific pieces:

Bloodline name, class skill, bonus spells, bonus feats, bloodline arcana and bloodline powers. Of these only the bloodline powers will take up a lot of room and should probably be printed separately.

Why not cut the scrolls/potions/wands area by half (cut the wands to 2, potions to five lines and scrolls to four or five lines), leave the "Bloodline" field first box there for the name of the bloodline, cut the three lines below then use all of that space to make the necessary section for bloodline details (this would include all of the areas I listed above minus the powers). These would just be a "fill in the blank" area and wouldn't need to be check-boxes or anything like that. I am thinking it should be pretty simple and would fill the need for almost all sorcerers.

Again, just a suggestion. In the meantime I am off to print some NPCs! :)

Edit: got a little too wordy.

Was there a supplement or a download that gives more information on the Winter Council?

Brilliant Dexion!

I love the evidence of his trickier as well. Plus it helps the PCs see how they can be duped (some of them are new to RPGing) fairly simply.

Thanks for the great idea!

Thanks for the quick replies.

The reason I gave him Spellcraft is because I was confusing the Read Magic spell with Identify. I guess a potion of Read Magic is as much as someone needs to decipher a scroll. However the Spellcraft would allow him to identify magic items, but it makes more sense to take it away from him because he never trained in it.

@Adamantite: Sound reasoning and you are exactly correct because scrolls are spell-trigger items. I was making it a bit too complex.

@Khrysaor: I like the use of Linguistics and figured it would head that way so his Linguistics is solid.

As for the idea of a magic aura, that is easily solved by the rogue UMDing a scroll (oil?) of Magic Aura onto the fake scroll. Also, not every scroll salesman is going to allow a read magic to be cast on all of scrolls they sell, especially if they buy from people who go exploring. Read magic triggers cursed scrolls/scrolls with explosive runes. Shady dealers would just tell the buyers they found them in ancient runes and they purchase them at their own risk.

Also, I'm not trying swindle the PCs to a mean DM. This rogue is actually involved in some other activities in the story and this is one of the methods that the PCs take notice of them. Rumors start the he sales fake or "cursed" scrolls.

Hello,

I did a search for this but couldn't get the key word combination to work out if this has been asked before.

So the Scribe Scroll feat requires 'Caster level 1' as a prerequisite, which I understand. However, I want to insert an NPC into my campaign that swindles people that don't know much about magic. He will have potions of Read Magic so he can read scrolls and other magical writings to "prove" he knows magic. He will have appropriate ranks in UMD and Spellcraft as well. However, I don't want him to be able to take any levels in a class that uses magic, he is a rogue with no formal training and just a con-man (and no bloodline that would give him innate magic). So my question has two parts:

1.) What is the "special something" that enables Scribe Scroll users to write magic which no one else can obtain? (Example: I can use UMD to emulate many, many things but I can't scribe a scroll?) And could somehow "steal" this knowledge from someone or some magic library/school?

2.) Are there any feats out there that give you the ability to scribe scrolls without a caster level? (In effect giving you that "special something").

If it ends up that he is a failed apprentice with just one level of wizard I can probably live with that, I just want to exercise the rules to see if there is a way. :)

Thanks ahead.

Thank you both for the kind words and encouragement!

@Joey,

I'm glad you're still here on these boards and I am very grateful for he conversion to Pathfinder, I was just looking over your conversion last night.

My group is about to run the final part of Shadow in the Sky and wanted to ask about one of the creatures you converted: the Darklands Sentinel. In your statblock I didn't see a notice of their 'tremorsense' ability, was it excluded on purpose or just an oversight?

Thank you very much for the work and I'll keep you posted!

Hello!

I am just now starting this AP for a group of friends and we are really enjoying ourselves! I am the DM and I have two new players that are new to roleplaying games and two veteran players; we are all having a great time so far!

We are just now reaching the end of Part 1 and I have really enjoyed reading about some possible problems and solutions (missing location of the GG on the map of Riddleport! Ha!) that are coming.

As a "newbie" to the world of Golarion I wanted to ask for a resource on one of the proposed solutions for the end of the series, the Winter Council. One of the proposed solutions was to get the PCs knowledge up on the council so I could roll into the later parts of the AP without a problem. So my question is which resource is best for getting information on them? I was guessing the main campaign setting book would be a start but it appears that a lot of information about the world is also tucked away in AP books and want not.

Anyway I wanted to say thank you to everyone for posting helpful information about the AP, thank you to the writers and editors that put it together and a big thank you to Paizo for making it happen!

Hello,

I came back a while ago from a convention where one of the better DMs did his best to describe each blow in the combat. I liked it quite a bit. So I wanted to check and see how many DMs and players out there actually did this and how many liked it.

To clarify, I'm not talking about a two minute description of each roll of the die, just a quick, clean-cut description that keeps the combat from being a bunch of die rolls.

-Shawn S.

I have a classic story but it's not my familiar that did the saving, though I was a player at the table to witness it.

The story begins with some pirates attacking a ship that myself, my brother, my girlfriend and another two players' characters (one a cleric) are on and combat ensues. While myself and my brother's wizard are battling pirates in the section of the boat where the rooms are my girlfriend, the cleric and the other player are out on the deck battling their own group of pirates, along with the wizard's familiar (a rat that was enjoying the night air when we got attacked).

After two rounds of combat my girlfriend's character was unconscious/dying and swept off the deck into the raging sea (we all heard the splash and the cleric yelled that she went over board). Everyone is busy trying not to get killed by the pirates so my brother's wizard yells to the rat to take the end of a coiled rope on the deck out to her. The next round (right before she would start drowning) the cleric casts Close Wounds and she becomes conscious, but is still in the drink, about 10 feet from the ship - bad news. But wait! The little rat swims the rope out to her (being able to take 10 on its swim check of course) and saves her from almost certain death in the murky depths! HAHA! It was great!

That will certainly go down in history as one of the best saves by a familiar. :)

-Shawn S.