Symar's page

I'm trying to purchase the Despair on Danger Island PDF.
There's this lingering Transaction Declined on my order, that doesn't seem to go away even if I empty the cart, that showed up when I accidentally tried to use an old card. I don't know if this has anything to do with it.
Thanks.

Not the encounters, though. They actually enjoyed being spellcasters and managing to get information on an encounter in advance so they could prep spells accordingly. Example, knowing they were going to be going up against a red dragon, thanks to the cyclopes, and then being ready with appropriate spells (mostly cone of cold, in their case, but still).

No, it was the hex crawl that did it in. With the time limit, plus the vast majority of hexes have literally nothing in them unless you crit for a clue, left the players bored and frustrated. And this was using the original, lower DCs (I have no idea how a player is supposed to crit on the updated higher DCs outside of a 20). Even random encounters would probably have made this better, as bad as random encounters can be.

So we only played half the chapter, they gave up, I told them what encounters they missed or were coming up, and they went "oh, we can cheese that by doing x/y/z" and figured nothing of value was lost. Whether their strategies could have worked or not, I don't know, and that's not the point of this complaint.

The point is that hex crawl with so few spaces that do anything is boring. *I* get that its supposed to be a flashback to Kingmaker stuff, but I'm the only one in the group that played and enjoyed Kingmaker, and even then, the hex crawl was the worst part.

We'll be playing chapter 5 since one player is excited to try the grey maiden archetype there - but that very well might be the end of our testing.

Assuming it's with a Melee weapon, but you're throwing it, does Double Slice work? It obviously wouldn't work with the thrown ranged weapons.

The Quasits in Lost Star deal 1d4-1 damage on their claw attacks. What happens if I roll 1 for a total of 0 damage? Is there a minimum of 1 damage, or do they have a 25% chance at doing nothing?

Example: Lust Demon (Succubus)
Are these renames, with the old name as a playtest holdover? Do these monsters now have two names? I wasn't really understanding what was going on. My example is particularly vexing because it uses both names in the little flavor blurb.

And on another note, thanks for actually writing out the rarity of monsters. (If only it was applied to the spells and feats in the main rulebook too.)

Hey everyone.
My players have pointed out that, yes, their ship is significantly faster and more maneuverable than the enemy ships they've encountered so far. So they want to just book it, assuming it's not an enemy they have intentions to disable/destroy.
It's not that starship combat isn't *fun*, but it is clunky, and the enemies tend to have a lot more hp and guns, which scares my players.
Specifically I'm running society adventures, if that makes any difference in the math?

Criticals are when you make an attack roll and get a natural 20.
Maneuvers make an attack roll, and additionally use your weapon's reach, implying the weapon is involved in the maneuver.
Therefore, can you critical and get any critical effects attached to your weapon, while doing a maneuver?

Some spells require attack rolls. The rules on pg331 talk about it some, but never mention what stat to use.
Are melee spells forced to use Strength with no Dex option?
I presume ranged spells use Dex?

The rules say

The DC for any of these abilities equals your DC for the polymorph spell used to change you into that form.

That's great and all, if you're casting the spell. Wild Shape is a SU ability. Even if we go by that (which would be 5 for Beast Shape III), what stat do we use?

The Serpent Herald Skald in Legacy of the First World gains a limited form selection of Wild Shape, namely, Reptiles and Aquatic animals only.
Aquatic is an actual subtype I can search for, but Reptiles seems to be a vague descriptor relying on real-world information.
I'm going to do some of my own digging, and update as I come across decent choices, but if anybody has anything compiled for wildshape already, I'd love to see it.

And of course, this brings up a question, are dinosaurs in Pathfinder considered to be reptiles?

I thought I saw a feat recently that had both Weapon Focus and Blind-fight as prerequisites. I don't remember what it does. If such a feat exists, I'd like some help finding it so I can look it over again. My own searches turned up nothing.

I don't know where else to ask this, so might as well ask here.
I'm DMing a 4e Eberron group, and we're about to finish up Seekers of the Ashen Crown. They all seem to be enjoying it enough to keep adventuring. I have a copy of 3.5's Eyes of the Lich Queen, and I've poked around the internet seeing if anybody has converted it already. The answer seems to be yes, but its not actually *posted* anywhere, so I was wondering if anyone out there had the work done and was willing to share.

Thanks!

In my current campaign I'm playing a Bolt Ace Gunslinger, and we just hit level 9 and came across 100k gp. I'm leaning towards just being boring and getting a +3 crossbow and upgrading my cloak of resistance, but there are so many good items hidden away in the myriad of books, I was wondering if anybody had any they could recommend.

Thanks in advance!

Greetings everyone.
Our current campaign has an interesting setup of classes going on: Wizard/Pathfinder Savant, Zen Archer Monk, Paladin, and Ranger.
I swore I'd never play a Wizard, but after multiple poor players and characters in the arcanist role over the past three campaigns I've bit the bullet to make sure we have at least one solid one.

Anyway, we've just hit level 6, so 7 is on the horizon. My eventual goal is to have a ton of scrolls and use the scroll master class feature to have ridiculous versatility. But I get this lovely little Esoteric Magic feature along the way, and I'm having trouble deciding what's good.
Heal and Breath of Life seem like must haves later on, and Sacred Bond could be okay, but isn't worth it yet. Barkskin would be awesome, but we have a Ranger going to pick it up shortly.
What'd be most nice is a level 1 or 2 spell so I can actually cast it right away (since it's at +1 level for non-wizard spells), and then after a couple of those I can look into higher tier stuff.

Any ideas?

My group is starting up Legacy of Fire shortly, and one player is planning on a Paladin of Sarenrae. He saw the Strength of the Sun trait and pointed it out to me and we were wondering, what exactly does it apply to? Is it only going to be Cha skills and Concentration checks, or will he also get it to attacks while Smiting and to saves once he gets Divine Grace and so on?

Full wording:
Strength of the Sun
You take solace in the purifying light of the sun. During the day, you gain a +1 trait bonus on all Charisma-based checks.

Not in the market for optimization here, since we accidentally overoptimized for one campaign and mashed its face in for the entire latter half. This means remain effective, but there's no need for starting stats of 20 or perfect feat selection.
We're only allowed to use core races and classes, but spells/feats/archetypes are allowed from any of the books.

Next campaign I'm going to play a Wizard, and have been considering taking a touch/ray spell subfocus to the character. If I do so, are the two CL lost from going into EK painful? Am I better off taking 1 level of Fighter and not bothering with EK? Or just having a decent-stats pure Wizard with proper feat selection?

And speaking of CL lost, is Magical Knack the only way to get any back?

Thanks everyone.

Hey everyone.
I currently have a Bard5/Paladin3 (no archetypes, all future levels going into Bard) in Curse of the Crimson Throne, and we're really close to hitting level 9 I believe. I'm at a loss for what feat to take.

My current stats and feats are
Str 16
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 10
Wis 9
Cha 17

Lingering Performance
Arcane Strike
Weapon Focus: Glaive
Spear Dancer
Extra Performance

Versatile Performances are in Oratory and Dance.

In combat, I start up my Inspire Courage and then melee with a glaive most of the time.

Dodge is out of the question because of my Dex or I'd be taking that. Discordant Voice is on my list for a later feat (although its the only thing on that list; advice there would help as well.)
Talking with my DM, the only thing we could really come up with was Skill Focus: Perform (Dance) to help with Acrobatics checks. Toughness is an option, but I'm at 63hp as it is, which seems to be enough given the immense healing output our cleric has. My Lay on Hands is too puny to invest the feats into it.

Any help is very much appreciated! Oh, and pretty much any official Pathfinder book is allowed for this, although my DM does prefer sticking to Core + APG.

Posting this on behalf of my GM...
We'll be using the program Maptools, and possibly Ventrilo for voice as well. The rest of the information is as follows.
If you are interested, please email me at symar(at)live(dot)com with the information requested below and any questions.

Needed: 4-5 players for a Star Wars Saga Edition Dawn of Defiance Campaign.

I am recruiting for a new Dawn of Defiance campaign using the Star Wars Saga Edition rule system. This is a widely liked series that takes characters from levels 1 to 20 and takes place between Episodes III and IV in the Star Wars universe.

I am looking for players that can meet once or twice a week on the weeknights around 8 or 9 EST for 2-4 hours. So far we have 2 players committed and myself (a committed DM).

I am an excellent DM who puts time and effort into making my campaigns the best they can be with a good mix of story (first of all and most importantly) and action. This is not arrogance; it is fact. You may ask any of my prior players. I was recently burned by a group and have been forced to take off about 3 months from DMing, as well as totally switch universes for campaigns, due to what occurred. I am not interested in players who will be a remix of my prior experience, and will not settle for mediocre.
There have to be reasonable, dedicated adults still out there who enjoy playing RPGs.

Qualifications:

1) Do not be a flake.
I cannot stress this enough. I am looking for players for this specific campaign, but also keeping my eye out for mature and committed players for future campaigns in the Star Wars universe, in the Pathfinder universe, and D&D universe. The current player who is in the group and I have been playing together for over a year and are tired of getting burned by people who have no business signing up for any campaign. If you are too busy to easily take a regular night or two to commit to a campaign, do not email. If you have an extensive social life in college, probably do not apply. If you are below the age of 18, probably do not email.

2) Do not be a hack and slasher or RP-snob.
I see RPGs as an exercise in cooperative storytelling. I attempt to craft really great scenes and opportunities for dialogue. If you are not in this for both the story AND the action, do not sign up. I am not interested in hack and slashers who are easily bored or who will walk away from their computers/minimize the client during non-combat scenes. I am also not interested in RP-snobs who purposefully hijack the game/monkey wrench the plot at hand or refuse to engage the plot because it is not to their taste for whatever reason. In other words, be rounded. If you are in one extreme group or the other, you will not be happy, and neither will I.
In addition, though I know Star Wars, I am not a full-on Star Wars encyclopedia. I will give you a good time, but I cannot promise I know as much about the universe as Star Wars acolytes.

3) Stop reading all materials intended for the DM.
This particular campaign is out there and the modules can be VERY easily spoiled with one look in the wrong place. If you are a serious player who wants to join this campaign or even go for a spot in my long-term gaming group, stop reading all modules and DM-specific materials. This is not up for negotiation and is a really simple requirement. If you have played in Dawn of Defiance before, do not apply. If you heavily DM and have exposure to a lot of modules and/or enjoy reading them, do not apply. It will be very obvious to me and the other PCs if you are, in fact, cheating.

4) Be ready to put in time outside of games for maintenance of inventory, any extended roleplaying discussion, and sheet updates.
I have to put in time to make sure things run smoothly for the players. I am owed the same respect. Not negotiable. We will have a message board that you are expected to keep up with and post upon.

5) Do be patient
This will be my first and other players’ first Star Wars Saga Edition campaign. Be patient with rules confusion.

Campaign Details/Restrictions:
Book Needed: Saga Edition Core Rulebook. Character Creation is as in this book with the following caveats and details. Force Unleashed is also allowed.

Starting Level: 1 (if this saddens you, don’t apply to be in the campaign, as you probably aren’t the type of player I want)
Alignment/Attitude: No dark side-leaning or outright evil characters.
Species: Any in Saga Edition Core except for Ewok, as they have not been discovered yet. Nautolan are allowed. Devaronian are allowed. These latter two are not in the core rulebook and are available as web supplements. You may play as a droid, see below.
Class: Any in core rulebook except for Sith classes. Note that Jedi are rare and fearful of being exterminated by the Empire. You may play an orphaned padawan or jedi with very basic training to start. No knights, no “bad asses” at start.

Organic Generation Method: Planned Generation Method, 28 points. Each ability score starts at 8 before point buying.
Droid Generation: Use the Playing a Custom Droid Option. No standard droid models. 23 POINTS (Not 28 as above)
Credits: Max possible credits at start
Equipment: All equipment with a military or illegal rating are unavailable for purchase at start with the exception of Heavy Blaster Pistol and Hold-Out Blaster Pistol. You must pay the licensing fee for any equipment with a Restriction rating (no need to make a skill check to find them, just pay the fee). You may later find military, illegal, or restriction rating weapons, but they will be noted as Unlicensed, and if you are caught there will be legal consequences. You may attempt to purchase licensed or restricted weapons by legal or black market means during the campaign. Black market-acquired weapons are considered legit for purposes of Imperial scrutiny.
Vehicles: Available. No military or illegal vehicles available. No droid starfighter or tri-fighters.
Destiny: You are allowed to choose a Rescue, Discovery, or Destruction destiny if you wish to do so (with all the penalties and potential rewards that come with it) You should have a general destiny goal and also delineate a fairly specific destiny within the destiny goal. It is possible to fulfill your destiny multiple times during the campaign. It is very possible to take steps towards it.
Force Points and Destiny Points: Yes, as normal, and if you qualify.
HP on Level Up:
Noble/Scoundrel: 4 + Con modifier
Scout: 5+ Con modifier
Jedi, Soldier: 7+Con modifier

What I need from you if you are interested:
1) Full character sheet with all feats, skills, racial bonuses etc spelled out. You cannot be too detailed. Be prepared to convert this into a text format and post it on our messageboard.
2) A compelling character backstory. You all must have three things in common. You must have a reason to dislike the Empire. You also must have a reason to avoid/be on the run from them. You must all have booked passage on the transport ship Freebird. Be creative and have an attachment to this character. The goal will be for you to stay with this PC throughout the campaign.
3) Availability ranges during the week.
I will accept these from everyone until I have made a decision on who I would like in the party. I look forward to getting started again.

Is this spell intended to replace followers of Shelyn having access to Eagle's Splendor as a first level spell, as per Gods and Magic, or do they get access to both (DM permitting, of course)?

Smite Evil (Su): Once per day, a paladin can call out to the powers of good to aid her in her struggle against evil. As a swift action, the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is evil, the paladin adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack rolls and adds her paladin level to all damage rolls made against the target of her smite. If the target of smite evil is an outsider with the evil subtype, an evil-aligned dragon, or an undead creature, the bonus to damage on the first successful attack increases to 2 points of damage per level the paladin possesses. Regardless of the target, smite evil attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess.

In addition, while smite evil is in effect, the paladin gains a deflection bonus equal to her Charisma modifier (if any) to her AC against attacks made by the target of the smite. If the paladin targets a creature that is not evil, the smite is wasted with no effect.

There's the text. It says two things here.

So is it a total waste, or would you still get the DR bypass (and maybe the deflection AC) against a nonevil target?

I just got my hands on Faiths of Purity, and I see the feat Spear Dancer. Since I'm already playing a follower of Shelyn that uses a two-handed reach weapon (glaive, to be precise), and I believe I'll have some later level feats free, I'm wondering if it's worth it at all?

My only prior experience with Dazzled was from a sorcerer using Rainbow Beam, but I don't know if it was getting applied or making any noticeable difference, playing at mid to high level.

I really can't fit it in before, like, Level 11. Level 9 if I skip on Power Attack.

So I've got a new campaign coming up in a couple of weeks, and I'm going to be going in as a Bard/Paladin. (Of Shelyn, but that doesn't matter much for this situation.)

Part of the issue is I may wind up being the party's only frontliner, depending on how recruitment goes. I'm fairly positive we'll have a Cleric, Alchemist, and Rogue/Wizard/Arcane Trickster in the group, with possibilities of a Ranger. Builds unknown by me, other than the Cleric is not melee-capable, and if the Ranger does join, he will be melee capable.
I suppose a lot of that comes down to self-survivability, which will have to be mostly covered via equipment and magic (Mithril Breastplate, Blur, +Dex and +Con items or spells, etc).

I have read Bard and Paladin guides.
Here's what I have so far. We're starting at level 1, and I'm presuming it'll end near 16.

I'd much prefer to use a Glaive for flavor reasons.

And I suppose my real question here is feats. Did I pick decent enough? Anything I'm missing I should have? Should I rearrange anything? Level 1 is kind of set but the rest is up in the air. Would more Paladin benefit me instead of this much Bard? Drop the archetype and go normal?

I think another part of the issue is I'm insecure starting at level 1.

Human
Str:16 Dex:12 Con:12 Int:10 Wis:9 Cha:15
1st level up point will be into Cha, and then the rest likely into Str.

1 Bard1 (default class abilities) Feats: Arcane Strike, Lingering Performance. Traits: Ear for Music, Unhappy Childhood(Religious)
2 Paladin1 (Warrior of Holy Light archetype)
3 Bard2 Feat: Devoted Performer (DM nerfed it slightly from 3.5 after taking into consideration the power of Smite Evil now)
4 Paladin2
5 Bard3 Feat: Power Attack
6 Paladin3
7 Bard4 Feat: Lunge
8 Paladin4
9 Bard5 Feat: Combat Reflexes
10 Bard6
11 Bard7 Feat: ?
12 Bard8
13 Bard9 Feat: Improved Critical
14 Bard10
15 Bard11 Feat: Power Critical?
16 Bard12

So Ive been running a Sorcerer on the side ever since our previous one quit the game, and he's about to hit 16th level.
This means I get an 8th level spell. I've both never played a spellcaster near this level, and have little idea what to take. Everything that sounds good might not be.
The catch is it will be only used in one or two battles.