Trusk, the Warchild's page

Please cancel my subscriptions for the time being. Nothing against the folks at Paizo, but I just haven't really been able to play the game in over year so it's not worth it for me to continue buying the product until I know I'll be using it again.

Thank you.

Lately I've been trying to setup a regular game with a group of my friends, but I've run into a couple problems.

Problem 1 is that there are about 10 people wanting to play, which isn't so much a problem in itself except that I don't generally like sessions with more than 6 PCs. Things just kind of bog down in combat when you've got an initiative list that's 20+ long, and it becomes harder to find time for everyone to do the things they want to do. I just don't want to leave anyone out if I can avoid it while still, hopefully, keeping the party at 6 PCs or less most of the time.

Problem 2 is that of those 10 people interested, only one has a schedule that seems to mesh with mine to the point that we could set up a regular game day/time. Everyone else is on a schedule that changes weekly or is on a different shift than I'm on. It makes setting up a day/time a real pain.

I thought the way I'd solve these problems would be to try and turn them into advantages. So I'm going to try having the game on different days of the week each time we play, see who shows up, and then have things continue from there. I just haven't figured out what to do when it comes to the roster potentially changing each time we play. I mean, how are you supposed to handle the party possibly having all but one person from the previous session missing, when the previous session ended in the middle of some kind of dungeon crawl or diplomatic encounter?

So, anyone out there have any advice for how to run a game with no real "regulars" at the table?

I'm not exactly sure how the PACG works, aside from I think it's supposed to be similar to the WoW CCG, which I never played. All I know is that each player gets a class deck, there's a communal adventure deck, and that you draw and play cards to proceed through the adventure, but that's about it. So I was wondering is people could answer a few questions for me.

How exactly does play progress?

Are you able to customize your class decks or are they set in stone?

Can you use class decks from one adventure(say RotRL) with a different adventure(S&S) or are you stuck with whatever classes are put out for each adventure?

How does your character evolve through play, and how do you keep track of that between play sessions and between parts of an adventure?

I'm looking at this as an alternative to starting a second Pathfinder RPG group, due to limited time for planning a second full campaign. But I've put money into other things that I knew little to nothing about and had them become false starts way too often to risk spending $60+ blindly.

If there's some kind of video that gives a rundown of the rules and goes through a session of the game, sort of like an episode of TableTop would, then that would probably go a long way towards answering a lot of my questions.

So I was just looking at Gunsmithing, and I was sort of amazed by the sheer numbers of it.

Unless I'm misunderstanding, in 8 hours a character with the Gunsmithing feat could, ostensibly, make 10,000 bullets using a simple lead-casting mold and a hot fire(lead melts at around 600 degrees F, which is pretty easy to reach even with wood as fuel). The non-Gunsmithing numbers seem more realistic, since you're limited to 1,000, but even then it's something that I think looks kind of high.

Did I read the feat wrong?

Mixing gunpowder is more understandable for it's high yield, since it's a much simpler process overall. It's grinding, measuring, and mixing a handful of solid chemicals, and it's a process that scales up pretty easily, especially if you have the materials in powdered form already. All it would take is enough material and a large enough mortar and pestle. But casting lead shot, be it ball or conical bullets, is much more intensive. Most portable molds, historically, were for a dozen shots or less, and even after casting you have to go over each shot to check for gross imperfections and to remove leftover flash.

I know, I know, realism and RPGs, especially fantasy RPGs, don't go together, but it just really strikes me as odd. 10,000 bullets in 8 hours feels like it's approaching early mass-production speeds, not single-person speed.

I just recently signed up for the Campaign Setting subscription(read: yesterday) with the intention of having the Inner Sea Gods be my first book. I selected that during the checkout process, but on checking my subscriptions page it has me getting both the Wrath of the Righteous poster maps and Inner Sea Gods next month.

I figure it's just a glitch, but I wanted to ask if it could be looked at just in case. I really don't need or want the poster maps, and would hate to end up buying a copy without intending to.

I'm currently playing in a PbP campaign that's following the Hollow's Last Hope and Crown/Revenge of the Kobold King modules before continuing in a homebrew direction. In this campaign I'm playing a Honor Guard Cavalier(Order of the Dragon) who's the son of a Falcon's Hollow lumberjack, and who has made it his mission to turn the abandoned monastery into a fortress that houses a forest patrol and to greatly diminish the influence of the Lumber Consortium in the town. Basically, my character is the fairly classic story of the wayward son who returns to town in a time of crisis and then sticks around to right the injustices against his family and friends. Thematically, everything has been going well. My character is respected and welcomed by the common folk for deeds he's done in service to the town, while the wealthy, exploitative folks only begrudgingly tolerate him because he's currently keeping people happy.

Mechanically, though, things have been a bit different. Since much of this has been dungeon-delving, I haven't been able to take my mount into combat frequently, and have been basically running around as a fighter. It's been working so far, since at the core I'm still a full BAB class, but I'm trying to find ways to improve my utility in combat to make up for the lack of a mount. Part of that was switching to the Honor Guard archetype and a reach weapon, and now I'm thinking that at level 7 I'll start taking levels in the Chevalier prestige class.

Here's my current stats -

My planned future progression is -
Level 5 - Cavalier, In Harm's Way
Level 6 - Cavalier, Furious Focus
Level 7 - Chevalier, Leadership*
Level 8 - Chevalier, +1 Str
Level 9 - Chevalier, Vital Strike or Iron Will(?)

Do you guys think that Chevalier makes a decent 3-level Prestige Class, or would I be better off sticking with Cavalier the whole way through?

*I've already talked with the GM about this, and he's allowing it given certain concessions on my part. My cohort is to stay and manage my fortress while I'm out adventuring, and is most likely going to be either one of the kobolds that joined our side while fighting the Kobold King, or a member of a Dwarf clan that I've been making a concerted effort to get on the good side of. I've also promised not to abuse it as a money-making or item-crafting cheese machine. General followers will be in the same situation. It's basically a feat I'm taking for roleplay purposes, with all of the benefit going to helping run my buildings.

Does the combo of Scout's Charge/Sap Master and Scout's Charge/Knockout Artist actually work? Scout's Charge says to treat the target as flat-footed for the sake of dealing sneak attack damage, but it doesn't say that they're actually flat-footed. Sap Master requires that the target be flat-footed, while Knockout Artist requires that they be denied their Dex.

So does Scout's Charge actually render them flat-footed against that attack, up to and including denying them their Dex against you? Or is it supposed to just mean "you can do sneak attack damage even if you otherwise couldn't"?

At 4th level, whenever a scout makes a charge, her attack deals sneak attack damage as if the target were flat-footed. Foes with uncanny dodge are immune to this ability. This ability replaces uncanny dodge.

Whenever you use a bludgeoning weapon to deal nonlethal sneak attack damage to a flat-footed opponent, roll your sneak attack dice twice, totaling the results as your nonlethal sneak attack damage for that attack.

When you use your unarmed strike to deal nonlethal damage and sneak attack damage to an opponent denied his Dexterity bonus to AC, you gain a +1 bonus on the damage roll per each sneak attack damage die you roll.

So I've had an idea for a character that's built around nonlethal damage in melee combat. I know it isn't an original idea by any means, and I know that certain feats really lend themselves to it. For instance, Bludgeoner, Sap Adept, and Sap Master. Of course, the latter two require sneak attack damage, so that means rogue, ninja, or vivisectionist, at least until the ACG comes out.

My basic idea has been human scout/thug, with the following in-progress progression.
1: Bludgeoner and Sap Adept
2: Offensive Defense talent
3: Improved Initiative
4: Slow Reactions talent
5: Sap Master
6: Ninja Trick(Pressure Points)
7: Weapon Training talent

Beyond that I start to lose any idea on where to go, but I know I have to stick with Rogue until at least level 8 so that I can get the Skirmisher ability and use my sneak attack as frequently as possible.

I was thinking of aiming for Spring Attack, but I don't know how well it will work.

Looking for any advice on how to really max out my non-lethal damage. Being able to use sneak attack as frequently as possible is a big plus as well.

I'm currently playing in a game that takes place in and around Falcon's Hollow and the Darkmoon Wood. The game started out as running Hollow's Last Hope and Crown of the Kobold King, with the intention of running Revenge of the Kobold King and making it a mini-campaign that might continue past that point as homebrew. We've just finished the Crown of the Kobold King, and we're in a period of downtime where we're investigating some plot leads and going about with achieving some of our character goals.

My character is a NG cavalier(Order of the Dragon) who would have been a paladin if it weren't for their strict code of ethics, and the son of a Falcon's Hollow lumberjack. His main goal is to get the town out from under the heel of the Lumber Consortium, but to do that he needs to establish himself as a powerful and influential person in the area. Since we cleared out that abandoned dwarven monastery between our first two adventures, he's decided that he's going to make it into a base of operations for the party as well as a safe haven for travelers. He's also going to expand it into a fort that serves to deal with the ever present threats of werewolves, bandits, and evil fey.

I've already worked out a basic blueprint of what I'm trying to do with the place, at least for the ground floor, and the GM has given me no indication at all that he's got any problem with what I'm trying to do. In fact, aside from being a little overwhelmed by the rules, he seems to encourage it. As a result of killing the Kobold King I've even been handed my own small tribe of kobolds to lead. Since I've got this small amount of kobold-power at my disposal, I decided that I may as well put it to use by turning them into my first group of soldiers.

I just don't know how to go about turning them into the basis of my forest patrol while keeping my character in the good graces of the town. I mean, to them these are the kobolds who just kidnapped 5 kids and tried to sacrifice them, while my character knows that they were actually a rival faction(and noncombatants like women and children) and that they helped with the rescue. How are the townsfolk going to react when they start seeing groups of them wandering around the forest, armed to the teeth? Our party only ever told the townsfolk that the kobolds were "dealt with" rather than lying and saying that we killed them all, but the way we phrased it strongly implied that they were dead. So I think that there's going to be a bit of a hurdle to overcome in explaining away why the kobolds are even still alive, let alone in getting the townsfolk to accept them.

So, with that background stuff out of the way, I guess the advice I need is on how to both shape my kobolds into a small army while also preventing the townsfolk from freaking out about it. Great King Smashy-Bashy wants to keep his subjects safe from misguided retribution for acts they didn't commit, but Michael the philanthropic Cavalier doesn't want to piss off the townsfolk by giving the impression of harboring and protecting "dangerous beasts."

The description for the Holy Bombs discovery is this -

When the alchemist creates a bomb, he can choose to have it deal good divine damage. Evil creatures that take a direct hit from a holy bomb must succeed at a Fortitude save or be staggered on their next turn. Against neutral creatures, holy bombs deal half damage, and such targets are not affected by their staggering effect. Holy bombs have no effect on good-aligned creatures.

As far as I was aware, Divine and Arcane are simply types of magic and there isn't anything that really differentiates between them outside of casting spells, using scrolls, etc. Good is an alignment, and while there is DR/Good, it doesn't say that the bombs suddenly start doing B/P/S damage, so DR wouldn't apply. There isn't any Energy Resistance: Good or ER: Divine, so there's no way to stop it on that front.

So what, exactly, is "good divine damage?" Is it some nebulous damage type that can't be countered except by your alignment?

If a Holy Bomb is thrown by a Neutral character, would Protection from Good still work against the attack because the damage is specifically typed as good despite the spell saying it works based on your attacker's alignment?

It seems to me that the discovery is poorly worded or at least badly explained. Granted, I don't have the actual splatbook that it's in(Champions of Purity) and am going by the listing on D20PFSRD, so it could be on there with something missing, but they're usually pretty good about getting it right.

I'm toying with the idea of an Invulnerable Rager Totem Warrior Half-Orc with the Beast Totem line. What I'm looking to do is combine my natural attacks with a one-handed weapon. That makes my natural attacks all secondary, which I'll need Multiattack for to reduce the penalty. Then I pounce using Greater Beast Totem, get a full attack, and conceivably get up to 9 attacks at level 20 without TWF or haste. At any rate, by the time I hit Barbarian 10 I could be hitting an extra 2+ times per full attack than a comparable melee that isn't a TWFer.

Obviously I'll be taking the Toothy alternate trait, but I still need two more natural attacks to qualify for Multiattack. I could take two levels of ranger for Aspect of the Beast and get two permanent 1d6 claws, but that seems wasteful when Lesser Beast Totem gives me the same thing while raging. Or I could take a single level dip of witch for the nails hex, since it doesn't specify that the nails are on the character's hands and therefor could be toenails, opening me up for a total of 5 natural attacks by level 3. For options beyond that, I'm at a bit of a loss.

While I understand that, by RAW, there's nothing saying that claws have to be on your hands and so I could stack Aspect of the Beast and Beast Totem, I don't think many GMs will allow "foot claws" without them being actual talon attacks. The same thing probably goes for the witch's nails hex.

What other ways are there to get 3 permanent natural attacks on a Half-Orc? The earlier, the better.

I placed an order a few days back(Order #2949415) and selected for it to be shipped as sidecart items along with my next subscription shipment. Is there any way to reverse that for the items that are currently in stock and have them shipped as soon as possible? The items in question are Rappan Athuk and the Rappan Athuk player's guide. I know that the Rappan Athuk pregenerated characters book is on backorder, and I'd like to keep it in my sidecart if I could.

Sorry for any hassle, but after digging in to the PDFs over the last couple days my impatience has gotten the better of me and I really want to be able to sit down with the physical books and really let it all sink in. And I don't expect my next subscription orders to ship out for another three weeks or so.

I understand that I may have to pay extra postage if this happens, so please just charge the same card as I used for the initial order.

I'm preparing myself for running Rappan Athuk sometime in the future, and as part of my planning I'm setting up a prerolled loot list for just about every commonly encountered creature in the campaign that actually has a treasure listing. For most of the enemies, it's fairly straightforward and you can see that most of their loot would be carried on their person or could be stacked somewhere near the encounter. But I'm running into an issue with incorporeal creatures and figuring out their loot.

As an example, there's the Shadow, a CR 2 incorporeal, intelligent undead. These things are littered throughout the wandering monster tables of RA. Using the treasure tables in Ultimate Equipment, you'd see that their loot would probably be a fair amount of coins, a couple gems, and maybe a few potions. But when I start to think about it, I don't really know how they'd have that treasure. They're incorporeal, so they can't touch it to take it anywhere, can't carry it with them, etc. It's one thing to say that the party finds a couple adventurer corpses nearby while inside the dungeon itself, but the shadows are also encountered in the wilderness outside.

So how do you guys handle the loot from incorporeal creatures?

What the subject says. In a game I'm in I attempted a sunder against an enemy's weapon, rolled a natural 20, followed it up with a second successful roll, and assumed it would be a critical hit since a sunder is essentially an attack with the weapon as the target. The GM ruled that it's not possible for it to be a crit. Since Combat Maneuver rolls are still considered attack rolls, and the rules for attack rolls are what define criticals, I say that it can indeed crit.

I don't want to come off as a rules lawyer, so if it's RAI that sunder can't crit, I'll walk away from it. But by RAW I see no reason why it shouldn't. Which is the actual case?

Also, as a side question, when using a weapon to make the sunder attempt do you add the masterwork bonus to your to-hit roll or do only magic bonuses apply?

So I'm going to be buying Rappan Athuk soon. Probably sometime around the end of January to mid-February. When I do, I plan on running it on here as a PbP.

Tentative rules for character creation:

• 20 point buy.
  
• Core races only, but with alternative racial traits in ARG available.
  
• Any class.
  
• 2 traits.
  
• Maximum starting gold for your class.
  
• No third-party products.
  

I may possibly change these later, once I get my hands on the book and get to look things over. If you feel like building a character, you can. But right now I'm just gauging interest in running the world's most dangerous dungeon.

I'm going to be buying Rappan Athuk sometime soon, and once I get it I plan on running it in a PbP. But before I do, I'd like to get some input on the topic of firearms in the game.

From what I understand, Rappan Athuk is very much made as a firearms-free setting, and so I'd have to make changes to accommodate gunslingers and other firearms-based classes. Which I understand and is something I almost expect to do regardless of if a gunslinger is present or not. What I'm wondering is how extensive those changes will have to be. Is it going to just be loot changes, or will I have to completely revamp some sections? I try not to ban classes from my games, since it's always a put off when it happens to me, but if I'm going to have to rework massive sections of something just to let one player into a game I may choose to do just that.

So I'm just wondering what everyone's experiences with Rappan Athuk are when played with firearms. I'm especially looking for input from GM/DM's who've run it with gunslingers.

I see in the product schedule that both #77 and #78(Wrath of the Righteous 5 and 6) are set to ship out in January, with one releasing early in the month and the second releasing later. I've seen this before on the subscription management page, but never as part of the actual shipping schedule. And when I usually see it like that it's actually two items separated by a month in the release schedule, so I never expect them to ship out together. But this time around they're both actually supposed to ship in January, just at opposite ends of the month.

My question is if they're going to be shipping in the same package the way that they're listed on the subscription page, or are they going to ship separately?

The same package would be great, since it would cut the cost of shipping by just a little under half the cost of two packages. At least according the the subscription page's estimate.

As far as I'm aware, I don't have any PFS games running anywhere in my area(and if I do I wouldn't be able to attend most likely). But I see the PFS scenarios on the main page every once in a while and I wonder how well they'd work as modules to throw into a regular game.

So I guess I'm just wanting to know things like "How long are they," and "Do they require PFS-specific knowledge?"

So this came up in a PbP that I'm running. An enemy cast magic missile, dropping a member of the party. One of the characters is a Tiefling with the suicidal trait, who is currently adjacent to the player getting hit.

He's wanting to use Suicidal to take the hit for the guy, and I've ruled that it works more along the lines of the Bodyguard/In Harm's Way feat chain in that it requires an attack roll of some sort for him to take the hit. In this specific instance, I quoted this line from Magic Missile's spell description -

The missile strikes unerringly, even if the target is in melee combat, so long as it has less than total cover or total concealment.

Is that a correct interpretation or am I completely missing the point of the trait?

Ok, so I'm in a PbP that started out as just running Hollow's Last Hope and has since finished it and begun to move on in different directions. It's a 6 player party with a fighter, a 2-handed ranger, a chirugeon, an inquisitor, and a bard making up the rest of the group. The game started out at a 20pt buy, and I went for making my character more well-rounded rather than trying to min-max towards any particular goal. He's a sword-and-board guy for the most part, and I'm trying to make him the party tank while still being an effective front line fighter. But so far about half of the fights have taken place without my mount being involved, which puts me at something of a disadvantage and makes me think I'd be better off trying to push towards mitigating damage to my allies and acting as front line support rather than trying to directly smash faces.

My system mastery is rather low though, so I don't exactly know the best way to go about it. We were told we would be hitting level 3 soon, and so with that I planned on taking Combat Reflexes and working towards Bodyguard at either level 5 or 6. I was leaning more towards taking it at level 6 due to not knowing what other combat feats would be of real use to me. Also, I was planning on getting myself a set of Benevolent armor to further increase the viability of Bodyguard even more than my improved aid another already does. But beyond doing that combo, which I only know about because I read it in another thread, I've got no clue where else to go with it.

Any suggestions?

Stat block in spoiler.

The fortress city of Kenabres has been abuzz with excitement for weeks now. The festival of Armasse is ready to kick off, and with it has come a surge in morale among the weary troops who long for home. The festival, once a time of learning and education concerning wars as they relate to history, has become a celebration of all things warfare. Jousting matches, duels, and re-enactments of famous battles are the main attractions, though common festival games, food, and drink abound as well. While Armasse itself isn’t set to truly begin until noon, the festivities have already begun among the people. Soldiers on leave have taken to their spirits early, common citizens of the city have put on their best and begun occupying themselves with side attractions, and even the city guard has taken care to look as clean and proper as possible. As the time draws closer for the opening ceremonies to begin, people of all stripes make their way to Clydwell Plaza, for it is there that Lord Hulrune, High Inquisitor of Kenabres, himself will make the speech that formally begins this long-awaited celebration. You find yourself among this early crowd, hoping to get a good view of the ceremony.

Weather: Sunny
Time: 11:30am

The vast tavern spreads out before you, deceptively spacious compared to the exterior appearance. Thoroughly cleaned tables fill the room, though most remain empty at this time. The few tables that have patrons seated at them are littered with scraps of food and spilled drinks, but no one seems to care. Everyone seems too engaged in fervent discussion to notice. Which is odd, because despite the size and emptiness of the room, nothing can be heard. The only way to know that a discussion is taking place at a table is to watch the people sitting there for a moment. You can see gesturing, laughing, and yelling at every group. At the bar, a single bartender lazily cleans glasses and a waiter sits idly on the only stool.

Please feel free to discuss anything and everything relating to the game here. If you have any suggestions on how I should do things, advice, or questions, please put them here or in a PM. You aren't going to hurt my feelings if you come out and say "YOU SUCK, LOSER!" though I do want you to explain why I suck and offer suggestions on how I could get better. Simply saying I did something wrong doesn't help me without the reason why it was wrong, after all.

Ok, so, as the thread title says I'm a relatively noobish GM. A good decade or so back, when 3rd edition was new, I was playing in high school and I ran a couple homebrewed, railroady, overpowered, monty haul type games with friends, but since then I've been pretty well dormant for both playing and GMing. My last real game, until a PbP this year, was around 2006 if that says anything. I made an attempt to run my first Pathfinder campaign at the start of this year with a local group, but it fell apart very quickly due to some personal issues between a husband and wife team of players spilling over into the game and making for a very hostile atmosphere. And since they made up half of the group, well...

But now I've discovered PbP and can play again without having to worry near as much about schedules and all the other hassles of meeting in person! It's not exactly a perfect replacement for a real-life game, but it scratches the itch well enough. And because of that, I've decided that I want to try my hand at actually running a published adventure, which is something I've never done before, as well as running a PbP, which is also something I'm new at. And to make this a complete leap of faith, and to just dive headfirst into what I hope isn't the shallow end, I'm wanting to make it my first Mythic campaign as well. Sounds like I'm setting myself up to fail, right? Well, that may very well happen, but I'm hoping that since I'm running an AP rather than homebrew that the chances will be at least slightly lower.

Whew, got the majority of the introduction out of the way. Or at least I think I did. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. As it is, I'm going to go on to info about the game itself.

I'm wanting to run Wrath of the Righteous, as the thread title says, and I'm looking for 4 people who want to put up with my inexperience and ineptitude as I get into the swing of things and get my sea-legs, so to speak. I would heartily recommend that everyone read(or at least skim) the Wrath of the Righteous Player's Guide, since it's free, it's short, and it's all about the AP I'm wanting to run. So it just seems like a good idea to read it, you know? I don't really care what each person's experience level with the game is, because everyone's new at some point and if you're giving me a chance I can give you one too. The only thing I want is for you to actually stick around and play if you get picked. I'm expecting(hoping) this game to last until at least late January-early February, since that's how long it's going to take the AP to finish hitting the shelves. If we end up rushing through a book before the next one gets released, we'll do some PC downtime or something. I don't know what exactly, but we'll figure it out if that happens.

For character creation -

• 20pt buy
  
• Any Core race or Featured race from ARG(no Uncommon races)
  
• Any class, but be advised that the only firearms available will be Early Firearms unless you specifically craft them yourself.
  
• No stat below 7 AFTER racial modifiers.
  
• No evil characters
  
• 1 trait + 1 Campaign trait(found in Player's Guide)
  
• Give me at least a paragraph of character history, and explain why you're in Kenabres and are basically on the front lines of the Worldwound.
  
• No third-party products.
  

Recruitment will close on September 25th. I will both announce and PM who I have chosen in the days following that. Gameplay will hopefully start up between September 30th and October 4th. For players who have been picked, I'd prefer daily posts, but I know it can't always happen that way so I want to see a minimum of 1 post every 3 days. Posts do not have to be long or expository, but it will make for a better game if you have at least something more than curt descriptions of your action and a few rolls.

If I've left anything out, or if you have any questions at all, feel free to speak up and ask questions. I'm open to everything at this point. TL;DR - Bolded items are important.

Hi all.

I live in Fairmont, WV; work in Morgantown, WV; and am looking for a new gaming group in either area. My current group seems to be falling apart over a few players' ongoing personal issues and/or time constraints that have made us go through two hiatuses of at least 3 months each over the last year. I like the people in the group and we all get along, but not being able to play for any decent stretch makes things kinda suck.

What I'm looking for: I'm looking for a tabletop RPG group, preferably Pathfinder because it's what I've got the most material for, though I also have the core books for original 3rd Edition D&D(no 3.5 books, sadly), and I have books for GURPS 4th Edition(2 core books, High Tech) but I've never actually gotten a chance to play it. I'd also love to give Shadowrun a shot, and would be willing to buy core books for it as well, but I'd have to learn the whole system from scratch. I also have access to the Swords and Wizardry rulebook if old-school RPGs are more to your liking. For the most part, I'm willing to grab any RPG's core book(s), but if I can not spend money then it's a plus.

About Me: I try not to be an annoying or douchy person but I will readily admit that sometimes I come off that way. I'm more than willing to meet in a neutral place prior to joining a group to do a meet and greet. And I will do this multiple times if you want me to, so everyone can get to know me a bit. I don't think I'm too much of a roll-player, and I can roleplay pretty easily even if my character range might be a little limited sometimes. I've also done some DMing in the past, but my more recent attempts have been subpar, and resulted in my buying APs instead of doing homebrew like I used to. So I'd prefer to be a player rather than a DM, unless you're willing to play through published Pathfinder APs. Starting in mid-May I should be able to provide tons of miniatures for all genres thanks to the Reaper Bones Kickstarter, though they'll be unpainted plastic. If need be, I can provide space for gaming, though I may ask for help in clearing it out and getting it set up.

The biggest issue that I'll have in finding a group, I think, is my work schedule. I don't work your average M-F work week and I work a midnight shift rather than day shift.

Please note: While Bridgeport and Clarksburg aren't much farther from me than Morgantown is, and easily drivable, I don't really want to go that way because it will make things much harder if game nights fall on one of my work nights due to increased travel time. If game night happens to fall on one of my days off, then things are different and I can try to work things out.

If you'd like more information, don't hesitate to ask and I'll answer what I can.

If one were to try and build the most complete picture of Golarion that they could, including general ecology/geography, nations, religions, race relations, etc, while spending as little as possible, what would be the books that are essential? I know the Inner Sea World Guide is a definite must-have, but what other pieces of material would I need to get a really good picture of the world? I would prefer to use only the directly for PFRPG materials rather than 3.5 stuff, unless the stat-related items in the 3.5 material doesn't require any actual conversion to PFRPG rules.

Is there any chance of some of the splatbooks being combined into new hardcovers? For instance, the 3 Books of the Damned becoming "The Complete Book of the Damned;" a "Bestiary Revisited" made up of the "X Revisited" books; or a "Nations of Golarion" that has the stuff on Irrisen, Ustalav, etc.

I have a feeling that the answer is no, since there aren't hardcover reprints of the APs(aside from RotR AE), but it can't hurt to ask. I'd just much rather have a handful of hardcovers than have a ton of softcovers. If only for the fact that hardcovers are typically more durable and can take much more sustained use before falling apart. But it's also be nice to just have just a single reference book for multiple things, so long as those multiple things make sense to be in the same book.

This may sound like I'm being difficult for the sake of being difficult, or just come off as nitpicky, but that's not really my intention. I just had a thought, and figured I'd throw it out here to see what other people thought of it.

Would it be possible to shift the closed playtest stuff all the way to the bottom of the messageboard listings once they've been closed for a few months or so? I just don't see the reason for the alpha and beta playtests of the core rules to be placed higher than stuff like Play-By-Post when the core rules have been out of playtesting for 4 years and pretty much no one has posted in those thread since release. The same can be said for the APG, UM, and UC playtests, though the time span is different.

I know I can just hide the topics, but even hidden they take up about two pages worth of scrolling. It's a minor annoyance, to be sure, but it's still an annoyance. I mean, why should I have to scroll past 30 dead sub-sections to reach one that's highly active? I would even say that maybe the old RPG Superstar stuff could use a shifting to the bottom as well, since there's stuff dating back to 2008 that hasn't been posted in in years as well, but at the same time some people are still posting in those old sections.

Bear in mind, I'm not, in any way, asking for things to be deleted. I'm simply asking for maybe a little bit of rearranging. Maybe create a special sub-section of Archived Playtests where all the finished playtests go?

It's not my website, and I'm a newcomer here, but I thought I would just toss my thoughts out there.

I'm currently the DM of my gaming group. I also happen to be the new guy, while the rest of the group has been gaming together for at least a few years. Right now, we're all still getting acquainted with Pathfinder, and things are moving slowly since due to being adults and having to deal with all the issues relating to that, we've only been able to sit down and play together maybe a dozen times over the last 6 months(though we're hoping that improves). Right now we're running a homebrew that I just threw together somewhat haphazardly when our original DM backed out because they didn't have the time to set things up.

I plan on seeing this campaign through to the end, so long as everyone in the group continues wanting to play it, but I'm wanting to plan for the future. With how often we've been able to sit down leading up to this point, I'm expecting this campaign to last until around the end of the year. Which is great, because it gives me time to save up money and buy a few APs, and then if they want me to continue DMing I can use them to do a fair bit of the heavy lifting when it comes to planning the next campaign. I'm just not sure where to start, because I've never run an AP, or any sort of module, before. The few games I've run in the past have all been homebrew.

I was looking at buying Rappan Athuk, Slumbering Tsar, or maybe even Black Monastery because I want to see what it's like to run a game with the old-school sensibilities and a hefty dose of lethality. And also because I've heard good things about the Frog God Games stuff when it comes to these things. My big issue with them is that it seems like the stereotypical Fighter/Rogue/Cleric/Wizard party is pretty much a must if you want to have a chance at survival, and I don't want to end up railroading my group towards that if they don't want to. And also there's that issue of CR 30+ encounters when you're in a game with no epic levels.

I was also looking at the Paizo APs, but I'm reminded of what one of the guys who taught me to play D&D used to say, which went something like this - "Never DM a game in a world someone else created, especially a popular one. Otherwise you're going to have people constantly chiming in to tell you that you're playing a character wrong, that a certain faction would never do something, or some crap like that. It just ends up being a headache." And then there's the fact that I can't buy print editions of the older ones. I've got a laser printer, and tried printing other books to stick into 3-ring binders, but I've found that to be a less than optimal route that has led to me buying print copies anyways. And no one in the group has a tablet or ereader to load the PDFs onto, so printing would be the only means of having it at the table. This would also likely involve me having to buy a few of the Pathfinder Campaign Setting and Pathfinder Chronicles books so that I can be fairly sure I'm following religious tenets and the like when playing NPCs. At the very least I assume I would need the Inner Sea World Guide on top of any APs.

Am I stressing too much about being a stickler for the setting? Are there any particular APs that you would recommend? Does Paizo include some form of printing rights in their PDFs which would allow me to have the local print shop print and bind a copy for me(they tend to want proof of these things)? Will Julia's memory ever return? Is David really the father of Miranda's baby? And what will happen to Michael? All this and more, next time...

Ok, so I'm the GM of a game in which arcane magic has become taboo and is outlawed due to certain events in the past. However, just because it's illegal doesn't mean it doesn't exist, as we in the real world are well aware. In order to deal with it, the government has set up a secret police force that resembles the East German Stasi both in operation and how pervasive they actually are. These guys are seemingly everywhere, and have a knack for "disappearing" people off the streets in broad daylight. They also operate on the belief of "If there's one, there's a dozen." and on at least one occasion they have burnt an entire village to the ground and killed most of the inhabitants because of this. They're incredibly good at what they do, and because of this only the most clandestine groups of arcane casters, or those with heaviest of fortifications, have survived.

My PCs are level 3 right now, and the party composition is Paladin, Cleric, Rogue, Ranger, Barbarian. They haven't had a run in with them yet because they lack an arcane caster, but they've recently come into possession of a lot of magical contraband and their first contact is rapidly approaching. I've got an idea on how to fill the ranks, with Rogues and Inquisitors being the classes of choice, but I'm needing a little bit of advice for setting up an encounter. I figure that my PCs will be at least level 5 by the time they have their first real face-to-face with them, and I want it to be the first fight that they're very likely to have to run away from. They've had a few close calls before, but I want this one to really make them scared.

I'm looking at a Dhampir Inquisitor 5/Rogue 2 and a Halfling Rogue 5, using a 20-point buy, for the two big guys that the party will be facing. They'll be supported by a group of the Halfling Expert 3(CR 1) "Seasoned Trappers" from the NPC Codex. Relevant combat info for the two big guys -

Victor Jameson - Dhampir Inquisitor 5/Rogue 2
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 11, Wis 14, Cha 16.
HP - 45 AC - 19(13 Touch, 15 Flat Footed)
Feats - Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Improved Initiative, Dodge, Feint Partner
Domain - <Not Sure>
Spells -
0 - Detect Magic, Read Magic, Purify Food/Drink, Resistance, Stabilize, Spark
1 - Cure Light Wounds, Entropic Shield, Shield of Faith, Divine Favor
2 - Inflict Moderate Wounds, Zone of Truth, Weapon of Awe
Rogue Talent - Fast Stealth
Gear - MWK Chain Shirt, MWK Buckler, Merciful Heavy Repeating Crossbow, Lenses of Darkness, Blue Whinnis poison.

Matthew McCrae - Halfling Rogue 5
Str 8, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 14
HP - 38 AC - 20(15 Touch, 15 Flat Footed)
Alternate Racial Traits - Fleet of Foot, Polyglot
Feats - Point Blank Shot, Rapid Reload, Dodge
Rogue Talents - Canny Observer, Fast Stealth
Gear - MWK Chain Shirt, Merciful Light Crossbow, Potion of CLW, Blue Whinnis poison, Drow poison.

Prior to combat, Jameson will coat his initial 5 bolts in Blue Whinnis poison, cast Weapon of Awe on his crossbow, and cast Divine Favor and Entropic Shield on himself. McCrae will coat one bolt in Blue Whinnis, and another 3 in Drow poison. The combat itself should begin as an ambush. On the surprise round, Jameson and McCrae will make their sneak attacks on separate targets, hopefully doing a hefty chunk of non-lethal damage and subjecting them to doses of poison. The Trapper NPCs will choose targets and open fire with their MWK light crossbows. If no one has been knocked unconscious on the surprise round, the next round will play out exactly the same, with the exception of McCrae's shot being laced with Drow poison instead of Blue Whinnis. If someone has been knocked unconscious, then anyone who had that person targeted will switch to a new target. For the rounds following, they will continue this method of attack while trying to stay out of melee range. If one of the PCs is knocked unconscious, the Trappers will switch to spears and move to retrieve him while Jameson and McCrae give covering fire. If none of the PCs have been knocked unconcious by the 6th round, then the ambush will turn into a full retreat. Otherwise, combat will continue until either the Trappers are disabled or a PC is captured. If, during the course of the battle, the PCs decide to retreat due to PCs being knocked out, Jameson and McCrae will target any PC who is carrying or otherwise aiding a disabled PC in their escape. This is to prevent their prize from getting away, and possibly gain a second one in the process.

As you can see, I've got the actual combat encounter pretty well planned out as it is, but I'm still looking for suggestions to make it better. I don't want the encounter to be lethal, and I want them to have a chance at victory, but I want to make it so that running is the better option. Leading up to the fight, I plan on having McCrae and Jameson stalk them through a city, and I'd like suggestions on how to handle that as well. I want it to build tension. I also still need a domain for Jameson. He doesn't have a deity, instead being devoted to the cause of eliminating arcane magic and enforcing the ban. I just don't know which domain would work best for him.

If there's any more information you guys need, let me know and I'll try to get it for you.

I'm getting ready to throw a group of Pugwampi gremlins at my party, and I've got a bit of a question about their unluck aura.

The unluck aura says this -

A pugwampi radiates an aura of unluck to a radius of 20 feet. Any creature in this area must roll two d20s whenever a situation calls for a d20 roll (such as an attack roll, a skill check, or a saving throw) and must use the lower of the two results generated. This is a mind-affecting effect that does not work on animals, other gremlins, or gnolls. Any character who gains any sort of luck bonus (such as that granted by a luckstone or divine favor) is immune to the pugwampi unluck aura.

What I'm wondering is if the aura stacks, because no mention is made of that in the description. Is it only ever a single extra d20, regardless of how many auras there are, or if you're standing in the middle of 4 unluck auras are you going to be rolling 5 d20's and taking the lowest result? It could even jump all the way up to 16 d20 for a group of 4, since the wording basically amounts to "any d20 roll = 2d20, take the lower," and the second d20 from each unluck aura is still a d20 roll.

I'm assuming, at the very least, that it doesn't stack in the exponential fashion. That would just be way too much dice rolling, and would make it nearly impossible to fight a group of them because you'd almost never hit. But I could see it as having each instance of the unluck aura add an extra d20 to the roll. At the same time I can just as easily see it as being "only 2d20, regardless of how many auras are there."

Is there something, somewhere, that deals with stacking auras that I overlooked? Or maybe I'm just reading too much into the description given. What's everyone here's take on it?

I wasn't sure if I should put this up here, or in the homebrew section, but since I'm asking for advice on how to pull something off I figured this was the better place.

Here's a bit of background - I'm the GM for a game that takes place in a fantasy analog of Germany, specifically the Harz mountain region. The world is currently low-magic(mostly), as about two centuries prior there was a war between the heads of state and the various mage clans/schools in which the mages lost and magic was, for all intents and purposes, outlawed. The only magic that really survived in any sort of institutionalized fashion was Divine magic, as it's a little less obtrusive and serves more of a "common good" purpose, but it's still heavily restricted. Arcane magic survives in the form of clandestine groups and one or two well-hidden schools and villages. Use of magic that would be considered blatant or flashy in most places runs the risk of you getting chased out of town by a lynch mob, and in the worst case you end up as a wanted criminal with a death warrant on you.

My plan for the campaign is to have the PCs build a small city-state of their own in which they legalize magic, leading to conflict with the existing government. So far I've given them a new silver mine that helped revitalize an almost dead mining town. They've also just discovered the not-quite-uninhabited remains of an old mage academy that the government hasn't been able to destroy(which just happened to be hidden in the mountainside a half day's hike from the town). Once they finish clearing the school and meet its remaining inhabitants I plan on sending them on a bit of a recruiting drive, at the behest of the still "living" former headmaster as part of a quest to pay back a debt the party owes. While recruiting new students, they're going to end up having their first real contact with government anti-magic forces.

My questions are these -

What would be your recommendations for the makeup of a military-style force dedicated to rooting out errant magic users while being as close to non-magic as possible themselves? I think this would be pretty much the perfect job for an Inquisitor, but I can't have too many of them or else the government starts to look far more hypocritical than I want them to be.

How can I push the party to spend their earnings from the mine on expanding the town, building fortifications, and financing an army rather than using it all solely to finance themselves?

How should I handle the government reaction to a bunch of people declaring themselves above the rule of law? I was originally thinking of going the Syria and Libya route, but I'd like to be a bit more nuanced about it than "kill everyone that opposes."

If it matters, the PC party composition is as follows - Paladin, Barbarian, Rogue, Ranger, Cleric. For the most part all of them already think that the restrictions on magic are a dumb idea, but I'm hoping to get them to decide just how far they're willing to go when it comes to opposing the law. Sadly, most of the group is made up of people who don't really care for roleplay all that much, but I'm hoping that I can get that to change a little bit.