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While I try and be as impartial as possible, I can’t help but chuckle at tables picking the slow heavy hitters trying to breeze through scout hunt like any other sfs starship combat and then seeing the ship run away and not being able to keep up and going “hey! This isn’t supposed to happen, come back and let me clobber you!”
My table is really upset about the grandmothers embrace trap, and honestly I don’t disagree with them. A negative level in tier 1-2 is instadeath. Does anyone know if that was supposed to be changed or anything? About half of them failed their saves, not a tpk but it’s going to functionally end their chances of “winning” since they haven’t even fought the elf yet.
This is literally why I asked this question. The presence of a biohacker would almost completely invalidate half of the first book in Threefold Conspiracy if it automatically pierces disguises. For this reason I was not comfortable letting it do so. Back to a previous point made about a 20cr item bypassing a special ability, take it the other direction. You have a level 1 ability that will automatically bypass any amount of money spent on technological or magical disguise unless that item replaces 100% of a creatures DNA, which would functionally make it not that creature anymore because at best you’re going to get two different readings. All of this speculation is great and all and I love all the theory and logic thrown behind it but sadly there is no right answer without the purpose of my OP being answered by the devs. Does biohacker scan bypass disguises or not.
BigNorseWolf brings up the main problem I have with the biohacker identify skill. It completely nullifies everything but the most outrageously high checks automatically since it not only grants an automatic 20 but also boils several different knowledges down into life or physical science which a bio hacker will almost always have maxed. I’ll leave my general distaste for the ability aside and say that even in some of the above examples even if you don’t outright beat a given check, you’re still left with the equivalent of an automatic “something is wrong check again” if your scanner isn’t matching up with your own perception. They don’t have the exact modifiers in the bluff/disguise/sense motive tables anymore but, it’s similar to getting a free “unbelievable lie” modifier on something that is supposed to be very, very convincing (racial shapshifting abilities is what I’m thinking and what brought this all up to begin with).
When operatives take the enhanced and later uncanny senses exploits they gain blindsense and blindsight respectively. However there is no type given for the senses they use. Assuming that it is not based on sight as per the blindsense/sight description in the CRB, are players to assign one type of sense upon taking the exploit? Is the GM to decide what sense it uses? Does it work universally in place of all available senses? Clarification would be greatly appreciated.
With the exception of some select features such as the expansion bay or extra dimensional space there is no reference to how much bulk a vehicle can carry. Other than the number of passengers allowed I can’t find out how much bulk I can stack on an all terrain vehicle, or a hover truck. Smaller vehicles may have substantial capacities as well, for instance an exploration buggy can hold 3 passengers, assuming most medium characters weight 15-20 bulk or more, does this mean they could carry 45-60 bulk if no passengers are onboard?
To the above question, it seems to suggest that the PCs should have about 10 rounds (providing Trioletya isn’t distracted) before she attempts to detonate the bombs and flee. I could be misinterpreting though. I had a different situation pop up in my game. One of the players had a signal jammer, the description of the item is vague enough to suggest it might block a remote detonator, and the specifics of the detonation switch are non existent. I rolled with it and let them block the signal (not that she had a chance to try it anyway, the solider hacked her down in a few rounds). Anyone else would have done the same or different?
I suppose you are correct that giving the extra 5 feet of reach for free isn't as big a deal when there is no corresponding damage increase, but it still seemed intentional. I honestly expected the racial stat block in AA to not include large size, based on how they wrote the boon, so I was a little surprised I still needed to try and clarify the point. I'm a RAI person, so I'm tempted to use the stat block straight out of AA, but I now there would likely be plenty of RAW people out there that would point to the boon language and say its not large. Given that this is society play I wanted to fish around for some consensus before I start playing a Haan Solider with a 10 foot reach in society play.
I've been waiting for the Alien Archive to come out hoping it would clear up my question without having to ask but it didn't change from First Contact so now I feel I should double check for clarification. In the alien Archive Haan Entry on page 59 for racial traits they are listed as being Large Monstrous Humanoids and having Darkvision, neither of which are printed on the boon. In a strict RAW sense the phrase on the boon "use the updated rules printed here" would be that no, they do not get darkvision, they are not large, and in a very strict RAW sense they aren't even monstrous humanoids (thus why I tend to look at RAI). The boon is also missing the Racial HP number, so again in the strictest RAW sense it doesn't have HP. Now, I'll admit that from the moment I received the boon at GenCon it was probably a pipedream to think this would allow a large character, even if they are listed as large in AA. However, it would be helpful to receive clarification if they do or don't have darkvision. I would bet we can use the Racial HP number of 4 as well. I'm also pretty sure RAI is that they are monstrous Humanoids, I'm just being petty about not being large...
Hi Bob, just wanted to confirm that I did get my schedule (Trent). I sent a reply to the email you sent out about confirmation a few days ago but I heard you hadn't been receiving them so I'll post here. I'll try and shoot a response via email again as well as requested. Thanks!
Hi all, I ran into this situation this past weekend running this at a small con. If a character with spell resistance triggers the trap, how should you go about resolving penetration. Another GM worked out the rough caster level of the spell to be level 11. So the trap would roll 1d20+11 to overcome the SR of the character who triggered it?
I'm glad that other people are confirming what I decided to do when I ran this on Saturday. During my initial prep I had only scanned the scenario, so I missed the fact that the Memory Pool ritual did not include DC's. So as the players got to that portion and I started looking for the DC's on the checks I kind of panicked. I Decided to go with a DC 25 (low tier) and would have used 30 for high tier. Otherwise this was a fun scenario, though very challenging, lots of new rules from the Occult book and little things to remember during each encounter.
Hi all, It was great reading through all of your experiences with this particular scenario. I must say I enjoyed running it myself. I thought my mixed group of levels 1-3 handled it fairly well, only 3 ko's for the encounter 2 against the big bad yeti. I have a question concerning something else however. For the Silver Crusade faction, they are given the task of deciphering the inscription on the Two Brothers and then meditating on the words to gain the credit for their extra faction point. My two players that were part of the Silver Crusade could not succeed on the linguistics check to decipher the passage, so instead they took a rubbing and returned it to Goka/Absalom with them. I interpreted the success conditions for the faction point to mean that they must have done the meditation at the site of the Two Brothers, so I didn't end up giving them the prestige point. I was just wondering if anyone disagreed with this ruling, or if you thought I handled it correctly. Thanks for the input!
So it would mean that at level 4, I can't use Martial Maneuvers to take Improved trip 1 round, and then the next round take Greater Trip because this would violate the 2 feat improvement at level 6? Thanks for the clarification! *edit: Or have Improved Trip and Improved Grapple at the same time as mentioned above. =D
So I'm personally a little confused about some of the text in Martial Maneuvers. I understand the per day limit, and how to activate it, and taking multiple feats at 6th and 10th level, and the 1 minute duration, etc... What confuses me is this:
So, my example is this for simplicity sake. I'm a level 1 brawler, and I use my 1 daily use of Martial Maneuvers to temporarily take the Improved Trip feat (assume I already have Combat Expertise). I can now use a trip action at any time in the next 10 rounds at the +2 bonus the feat gives. If I use a trip action on my second round, thus "triggering the ability before the duration expires" the text would suggest that I can no longer use improved trip for the remaining 8 rounds, and that I must replace it with another feat... Is this correct? Can you replace it for the remaining 8 rounds with the same feat? or do you need to swap back and forth? So Improved Trip, make a trip attack, take dodge for 1 round, switch back to improved trip on round 4, etc... I'm also going off the assumption that my use of Martial Maneuvers does not expire after using improved trip on that 2nd round, and that I can continue to have it active for the remaining 8 rounds. Hopefully someone can help me clear this up. Thanks!
Page 38 in the Slayer section, there are two entries for Sneak Attack. The first describes it simply as being like the Rouge ability of the same name, and indicates 1d6 damage at 3rd level and and additional d6 every 3 levels after that. The second entry is more specific in the language, like other entries for sneak attack generally are. The entry is confusing however, it states that it starts at 3rd level, but further down in the entry it says the sneak attack damage is 1d6 at level 4, and then increases every 3 levels after that.
The diplomacy vs bluff check was completely my fault. I didn't understand what the player was telling me that his character was going to do (he bluffed me pretty good actually haha). In hindsight bluff would have definitely been more appropriate. I'm glad to see I didn't mess it up too bad though. Immediately after the encounter I was sitting there wondering if I had botched the whole thing, but I just had to swallow my nerves and keep going. Onward and upward.
Hi all, I could use some advice from more experienced GMs. This was my first time GMing a PFS game, and I only have a few months experience DMing at all. I chose to run "In service to Lore" for the first game. It was fairly straight forward, and I didn't run into many instances where I had to make rulings that weren't already in the scenario or that seemed fairly intuitive. However, when they were completing Act 4: A Promise of Dominance, trying to secure the artifact from the rampaging Imp. The Bard in the party succeeded in using diplomacy to convince the Imp they wanted to try and help open the box, and followed up with a successful fascination. Following the text for fascination I ruled that the Imp would calmly allow for the parties rouge to try and open the box. All PC's exited the room other than the bard and the rouge, at which point the rouge snatched the box. I decided that the imp would consider this a threatening action, thus breaking the fascination, and that they should roll initiative. Both the Bard and the Rouge rolled higher on their checks and were able to withdraw from the room and close the door before the Imp could act. I just wanted some feedback from some more experienced GMs on if this would have been a good "creative solution" by the PCs or if I simply didn't play the situation correctly. Thanks in advance!
Thanks Thod! I have personally found the PFS scenarios to be fantastic tools to hone my GM skills. I started DMing a 3.5 game about 8 months ago and have been struggling with the learning curve, especially balancing the encounters and providing interesting obstacles that aren't always a straight hack'n'slash. PFS lets me see how the pro's do it, and gives me plenty of experience on rule adjudication and even improvisation. As "linear" as the PFS scenarios may be, there is still a lot of things that can happen that aren't written down on the pages. Either way I'm glad to have the opportunity to GM such quality material with some really awesome players at my tables.
Haha, Sitri, I love the idea of the lessor follower. It could easily provide a circumstantial bonus of +1 to any Charisma or Intelligence based check. As the saying goes, "Want to look young and beautiful? Hang out with ugly old people." In response to Timothy's post, I thought about this when I first had the idea as well. The current system already gives a heavy bias in favor of Bards because of perform checks, so I would actually like to see other classes high-tier skills be available to them for day job checks. Some of the vanities do this, like the temple with heal checks, or the theive's guild with slight of hand. I just thought it would be nice to expand the selections.
Hi all, I had a question about firearms, and this seemed as good a place as any to ask it. I know this may seem like a no brainer but I was wondering if the characteristic of firearms that they resolve attacks against touch AC in the first range increment still applied to constructs, or other creatures with no vitals. I looked through the FAQ and didn't see anything, and I searched "firearm golem", and only this thread came up. Again, it may be that I'm being naive, but it would seem like piercing armor plating to wound the flesh underneath is a lot different than shooting something that is completely made of stone, iron, whatever. If the rule applies as normal, then gunslingers would be exceptional construct hunters, especially when taking deadly aim.
Haze owning his own merc company would certainly make his back story much more interesting. =D In reference to CRobledo's comment, I thought of a follower. Engineer: You never know what kind of obstacles you may come across on your travels. An impassable ravine, a raging river, a collapsed archway, any number of obstacles can be found in the forests, towns and dungeons of Golarion. The engineer provides just the knack for ingenuity, combined with a knack for working with his hands. The Engineer gives you a +1 circumstantial bonus on Knowledge (engineering) checks, and also gives a +2 circumstantial bonus to improvised tools or objects to overcome an obstacle.
I was originally going to ask about day job checks in relation to skills that are not craft or profession, but then I read up on Vanities in the Society Field Guide. So instead I have a few suggestions. Mercenary Company: You run a band of bodyguards, ex-soldiers, and ruffians. Protection is a valued commodity both inside Absalom, and out, and many will pay a premium price to secure it. Owning a Mercenary company allows you a +1 circumstance bonus on Profession (Soldiering) checks made for Day jobs. Circus: You own a circus show with acrobats, jugglers, animal tamers, jesters, and all manner of other oddities. Sometimes you even partake in the festivities yourself, entertaining the masses of Absalom. Owning a Circus allows you to make an Acrobatics, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, or Ride check for your day job. Diplomat: You have spent years navigating the political scene of Absalom, and have positioned yourself as a key diplomat with one of the other countries of Golarion. You may make a Diplomacy check for your day job. Locksmith: All manner of boxes, crates, chests, doors, and any other opening have been unintentionally sealed by those who are less than careful with the keys that open them. You have decided to put your skills to use, helping everyone from common laborers, locked out of their homes, to eclectic adventurers who couldn't quite open that abandoned chest. You may make a Disable Device check for your day job. Pawn Shop: All manner of goods and items in this world may bring riches or ruin to those who possess them. You have taken pride in your ability to distinguish which one is which. Many items pass through your store, some of great value some of little, but each one finds its proper place, and its proper value. You make make an Appraise check for your day job. Essentially, I'm trying to figure out a way to encourage virtually any skill to be allowed for a day job check. With the emphasis on balance that PFS prides itself on, it would seem rather unbalanced if certain skills could be used for day jobs while others couldn't. I hope my above suggestions are reasonable and people like them!
If your crazy, then I'm right there with you. I've got 4 kids, full time school, and a wife also in school who's schedule is almost exactly opposite of mine. I just last week started to GM PFS games as well, and its been a great experience. As stated above, the best piece of advise is to know that everyone makes mistakes. All you can do is grow and learn with your players. Good luck to you, both of us in fact. haha |
