DM Livgin's page

I had grand plans of the dragon throwing the gauntlet down in a dramatic manner: It made some fly-by breath attacks on isolated ravens outside the lucky bones, then perched on the roof of the temple in full view of the city. My plan was to give the group a good chance to buff to the nines and have a dramatic fight with larger stakes than just killing the dragon. So when the group approached the temple fully buffed the dragon took to the skies and flew full speed towards the opera house (the focal location of the song of silver), it had planned to spend a few rounds lighting the building on fire before the ravens arrived, I would get to use those maps again, and the players would have a chance to show off some of their more mobility orientated abilities (teleport, fly).

Unfortunately the clues I left about where exactly that dragon was flying were not successful, the group believed the dragons was fleeing. In their eyes the dragon was fleeing and they just spent an hour planning buffs. They were not allowing this to go to waste. They kicked open the temple doors and charged in, Starting a 3 session long epic encounter involving all of the temple and the dragon.

The dragon specifically arrived late to the fight because it took many rounds to realize the ravens would not be pursuing it and return to defend the temple. Because the group was still fighting the high priest and the vampire when the dragon arrived it served as a good flanking pressure on the group terrifying the casters. I also didn't want to TPK quickly so the dragon made some subpar tactical choices: throwing out breath weapons every time it was available and destroying summoned monsters that were doing a number on mooks. I'm quite sure the dragon would have caused a TPK as it came in to wipe up a wounded, depleted group, but the skald/hellknight multiclass got a very lucky curse on to the dragon, then it rolled to not act for 3 of the next 4 rounds...

So we are cruising to start the argument on what is good and what is evil. (The P word has already been dropped...)

My general advice is to ask your player how their character rationalizes their behavior to themselves. This does two things; it give you a good RP scene as they get to discuss their characters inner thoughts, and it avoids the players arguing with the GM over what is right and wrong and hopefully ends up with the characters arguing with each other over what is right and wrong.

I don't think this was already answered in the threat, but I apologize if it was. What happens to Kintargo as far as the 'Rebellion in Play' rules go when the players are abroad? My group went from Vyre straight to Acisazi, and it's quite likely they've been gone as much as two weeks before they decided to return to Kintargo now. Do you think it makes sense to have xdy supporters leave per week since the PC's presence in Kintargo is lacking? Or perhaps the Silver Ravens' allies (Octavio, Laria, Rexus, etc.) kept the effort up while the PCs were gone? What other effects might there be from the players being away from home base?

I never found anything that directed what to do in that case.

If your players took off for two weeks did they consider the rebellion phases?

If they thought about it and decided that the rebellion will be just fine without them, you have free reign to handle it however you wish. everything from mass mayhem, to a silver raven figurine waiting for them at Acisazi with a message from Rexus asking for direction.

If they didn't consider they were leaving for two weeks, why didn't they consider the rebellion phases? If they are not enjoying the rebellion mechanics, harsh consequences may suck the last of the fun out a sub-system they are already not enjoying. If they took off without considering the rebellion phases, is this because the rigid timeline isn't emphasized in your game and they assumed it would just work out? Or are their character a bunch of reckless Chaotic character that struggle with the organization aspect of a rebellion and this is a great chance to role play that disorganization.

This is a great time to grab any subplot that is remotely time sensitive and make it into a 5 alarm fire when they return.

Decide on the theme you want for your game; It sounds like your group is being intentional in this, so I'd add some extra notoriety. One point for each survivor, but not the Nox bonus because these mooks don't have Thrune's attention and audience like Nox had.

1) Make this notoriety feel like a good thing (even if it is not), have citizens and guards sharing stories about the ravens where they can hear it. Emphasize the myth they are creating for themselves.

2) Since Thrune isn't willing to mention the Ravens, that means any arrest bounties have to list the two individually. And two more arrest warrants in these troubled times? Those could get lost in the pile. Do the redactors even have good IDs on these characters? An eccentric tiefling is going to stand out in their community, but they are all red skinned with horns to a guard... This lets the players recognize their own face on a poster, but allows you to run it that any given guard has a small chance of connecting their face to the poor one on the poster. (You can use this to foreshadow Thrune is spying in book 2 by having the posters increase in accuracy).

Shout out to GM Wageslave and Lau Bannenberg's comments, and to every PFS GM and writer that does this. Prisoners fading to black was one of the high points of the first PFS game I attended.

But on topic;
1) Do Not Narrate the Disruptiveness; Everything happens only with the GM consent, so do not narrate anything further regarding the prisoners; Tell them no, and just move straight into the next scene without discussion. This is a stalling tactic until you can resolve the situation in a better manner, it also reinforces that being disruptive does not get you extra attention.

2) Have the 'this isn't that type of campaign' discussion; Explain that this campaign doesn't really do ruthless nitty gritty, and that the a neutral character worshiping an evil god is going to struggle. It if a fun concept, but maybe best to shelf it until they are more familiar with the campaign themes. There is entire section here that I glossed over on why do they want to kill the prisoners, the answer to that will frame this who discussion?

3) Be ruthless; Give fair warning then deem their character evil, requiring atonement to continue playing. Not recommended as a first option, and speak with your Venture Agents ahead of time. But sometimes a player needs an ultimatum to halt their disruptive behaviour.

Legacy of Fire 2 has the entry on Sarenrae.

Thanks for pointing me towards this.

I now have a plan. A Dawnmother from Absalom will come to aid, but also a member of the Dawnflower Cult will attend. They will both ask a different task to help consencrate the temple, from one a gift from any enemy given freely because Sarenrae treats even evil with kindness and respect so that they may one day repent, from the other the blood of one who has refused redemption as there are no second chances in the desert.

Either way will bless the character with Mystmorning, the 'sentient' scymitar.

Reach out to the event organizer with feedback. They will appreciate all constructive comments, whether they are positive, neutral or bad.

The event organizer should be the local venture agent, if the GM was the venture agent, then give your comments to the venture lieutenant or captain. They coordinate GMs and make sure the burnt out GMs get the breaks they need.

It can sometimes be hard to figure out who the local venture characters are, so you can always email the Captain or Region Coordinator for the area with the location and time, so that they can get the feedback to the right organizers. Link to captains and regionals upthread.

Ward Davis wrote:

Rysky wrote:

But previous examples of asking for this and employees obliging did not help the situation sadly, it just made the grar more bold.

What does grar mean? Where is the word from?

No idea the origin, but rage, whining, fights, that sort of unpleasantness.

Thanks!

I joined the campaign late and have been spoiled these past several years by having PFS games weekly or multiple times per week. It was a shock to not have enough PFS content to satisfy our appetite.

We are adjusting by;
1) Running games every second week and by taking a full month off so that we were behind the release schedule of the scenarios.
2) Letting players know that that PFS2 won't be able to scratch that gaming itch if they want more than every second week. But that they have several new friends sitting beside them that also want more games, so they should totally throw together a plaguestone/age of ashes game for the off week...

As for replay. I trust what the veterans of the system have told me; replay is bad. I know I still hold a grudge against the player that was playing the Confirmation for the 3rd time when I was playing it for my first time.

I think the main thing with these anathema is that they shouldn't be hard and fast gotcha rules. Intent is important. CC is a CG god who gets to peek inside your head because you invited him. You aren't going to legalese him into submission.

Well at least Cayden won't, Asmodeus however...

PFS seems to ignore how long it takes to put on and take off armor. I accuse PFS players who also ignore those rules of metagaming!

In the scenarios text, or the players are ignoring that rule?

One of my favorite sessions included a team knowing they would be going undercover (and unarmored), so with wizard bought, wrote, and prepared the spell Serren's Swift Girding so that when they broke cover they could gear up fast.

Imagine that Iron Man scene where his armor flies on to him, but instead there are four people's armor flying onto them out of an extra-dimensional space while they are fighting off monsters.

Song of Silver: Session many.

I've been failing to update, so I'm just going to jump to the highlights.

I'm loving Thrune and his temple. The group just fought him for the second time. The first time they had him stunned and in the negatives the Gardener dimension doored him away. This time Thrune attacked while they were near the end of their exploration in the temple and low on resources, the group fled with dimension door.

Every time Thrune fights the Silver Ravens he is getting smarter and more cautious. After the first fight he acquired a few scrolls of true seeing. After this fight I think he will acquire a phase locking spiked gauntlet.

My plan is to have him teleport to the belfry instead of completely away during the next fight so that the when they win in the belfry the book is completely done. But if this works it means the they will fight him 4 times!

Dear Treerazer.

While GMing I rolled a percentile and said that a 00 and a 0 was a zero. No one said anything.

How to a retaliate against such a brash display of respect and discretion by these players?

Played my enigma bard last night. Was fun but the GM started getting frustrated with my lore (everything and anything).

I am a Golarion and Pathfinder Society veteran in a group with a lot of players new to both so I'll be continuing to invest in the lores and other knowledge type feats to reflect me player knowledge of the world.

Wei Ji, this sounds like a problem with certain GMs more than a problem with the rules.

I've been in that terrible situation where our group of poor knowledge characters were fighting a 'medium' enemy because the GM felt that was the information we earned. The answer wasn't changing the rules, it was going to the VC to discuss this hostile GM. Not saying I didn't want better knowledge guidelines, it just wasn't the root problem.

...I'd much prefer that than being offered the same +1 cloak of resistance on every chronicle, which was already always available...

Minor nitpick and one of my complaints about PFS1. The Cloak of Resistance +1 was not always available and was not available until 9 fame. For this reason I would often chronicle fish to put GM credit for a Confirmation on any caster characters I was making.

Yes, calling that chronicle fishing is a huge exaggeration.

Pearls of power were another contender for the first major purchase that was unavailable for characters that did not want armor.

Yes this is/was minor but with some module credits in the mix, 9 fame felt like a long time. Especially when you would fail a save by one in the meantime.

I'm running a campaign that has a Lawful Evil villian that uses a great deal of devils. They often do not flee because they are under 'Contractual Obligations'.

I think you are mistaking advice on how to write an adventure with rules on how the game runs.

When creating your own adventure and there is a check that everyone must succeed at (balance across a rickety bridge or they fall and take damage) it is advisable to make that challenge relatively easier. However if only one character needs to succeed in order for the group to progress (climbing over a wall to open a gate from the backside) it is advisable to increase the difficulty of the challenge so that the success feels more meaningful and you can reward your players skill investments.

Does this help?

Looks good. I'll be giving it a try with a Demon's spells all in one bookmark later.

I couldn't find it by searching in the the store, I had to follow your link.

Coming up with false information is one more step in the GM prep. During the playtest I would write down an ability from a different ooze or skeleton than the one they were fighting.

Today I created a new top level folder in my Drive; 'Pathfinder 2'

Felt like a momentous occasion.

Thank you to everyone a Paizo for the year of joy you have already given me and the years of joy to come.

Tem turn on Poe, his rage awoken! "Have you learnt nothing! Julius is dead but will live again due to the efforts of this team. In every battle they will be losses but I am not ready to yield!!! Return to rest you failed soul!"

Tem usurps Poes power and strikes at the offending phantom.

Tempting offer, but Tem makes the decision in this team ;) Everyone else can look at the Poe spoiler.

Just saw the post, decision incoming this afternoon.

24) Through a dark ritual completed in the caves deep beneath the city; they turn all the geese in town into gooseweres.

25) Fire elementals are released in the armory destroying the gunpowder stores (Alkenstar).

The druids are evil! No angry! Maybe just moody! The motivation is going to vary but the result is the same; they are attacking civilization!

What are 100 attacks and plots carried our by the local druid circle to put an end to the local industrial / logging / basket weaving complex?

"That won't do!" Val gasps as Setare gets slammed and burnt by the acid.

Idealizing and conjuring the image of the winter's ultimate schoolyard bully, Val opens his had as the spell completes itself. A hard ball of ice lands in it, formed from the fantasies of entire generations of children taking things too far.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Damage: 5d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 2, 1, 1) = 14

Moving forward and palming the Martyr’s Tear, Val then folds the smallest ripple in the material plane to shift behind Setare. Teleport path shown in dotted magenta. Walked path is solid.

Lutorinus, because it is only a 5' whirlwind it was able to dodge the eagles.

Xave, is the roof more than 10' tall?

Is pbp convention to to put stuff like the above in the discussion thread or the gameplay thread?

Ride + Handle Animal

ok, I'm starting to following.

How does this effect characters that are not using a class feature mount (with link)?

I notice the lance says 'when on a charging mount' so a fighter can tell a mount to charge with the attack trick as a move action and then attack with the lance as a standard action benefiting from double damage.

Once in a melee the combat trained purpose includes defend so depending how your table runs a mount under a mundane rider will still retaliate.

You need to make a Handle Animal check to command a mount to do anything other than move (including charging).

Guide with Knees: You can guide your mount with your knees so you can use both hands in combat. Make your Ride check at the start of your turn. If you fail, you can use only one hand this round because you need to use the other to control your mount. This does not take an action.

Fight with a Combat-Trained Mount: If you direct your war-trained mount to attack in battle, you can still make your own attack or attacks normally. This usage is a free action.

Control Mount in Battle: As a move action, you can attempt to control a light horse, pony, heavy horse, or other mount not trained for combat riding while in battle. If you fail the Ride check, you can do nothing else in that round. You do not need to roll for horses or ponies trained for combat.

I did not come to the same conclusion from the ride skill section.

DM Livgin wrote:

Large creatures get a size bonus to breaking down doors. I will have to remember this one.

That's . . . weird. And smaller creatures get a penalty. I'd have figured size was already well represented via Strength score in most cases.

I like the idea. Ability checks are very swingy and I'm a fan of anything that adds some reliability.

Large creatures get a size bonus to breaking down doors. I will have to remember this one.

Is this something that the community could maintain in the Wiki?

Blosodriette

So, I had an experience that was a little similar that might provide inspiration. campaign journal link.

So my question is; assuming that these clerics of Abadar are attentive, cautious, and competent characters with access to detect evil and invisibility purge, what will they do when they discover an Imp trapped in their Vault? Will they kill it or interrogate it? Will they consider killing the Imp destroying property that was entrusted to them?

If they interrogate it and learn of the ravens, how do you want them to react to this in your story? Imagine a contingent of Abadar clerics making a very public return of the lockbox to the Ravens, declaring that they operate a Vault, not a prison.

We TKPed. Two players.

We had a troll in the deck. Neither of us had acid or fire in our decks. One us looted a fire weapon earlier in the scenario but buried it before realizing there was a troll.

We had a good laugh about being defeated by a lowly troll.

TriOmegaZero wrote:

The fact that your allies provide soft cover, which prevents AoOs.

I've actually seen it posted in a FAQ that your allies do not provide cover from AoOs.

Please, sir, I want some more (links).

I tried to use Exploration mode in the Playtest and it felt utterly useless and complicating things that never needed to be complicated. Added on top was the utter pointlessness of choosing tactics in most Scenarios so it felt like wasted time to even do so. Worst offender was the Manticore that only didn't find you if the whole party went sneak tactics, completely independent of their actual skill in Stealth.

I am still interested to see if it has evolved into a working system, but it will only ever be used by me if it gets integrated in their scenarios.

Downtime never was interesting to me either, all their systems before were minigames on top of an already complicated game. I do not see that changing much in the current iteration. It feels like something for Pathfinder Society.

The group being able to sneak around an enemy is a fantasy trope that I want to be able to have in my games (even if the group isn't particularly skilled at stealth, as bumbling dwarves sneaking successfully is a movie trope).

I found the manticore in the playtest didn't represent that well because it was this hidden behind the screen mechanic. Out of the playtest it would be interesting to instead run that encounter so that the party sees the manticore hunting and it becomes a decision to travel up the mountain at a normal pace (risking attack), or to sneak up the mountain (traveling slower but avoiding the attack). In the scenario it was a auto success if everyone sneaked, and that can stay as the GMs decision to have a stealth DC or not.

... "child's game" ...

Down-playing this as a 'just' a game significantly undersells it. This hobby, and more so organized play, is a social activity that builds stronger community relationships, provides a sense of belonging within the community, while developing personal and interpersonal skills. This is the how I spell it out to my employer's bureaucracy in order to get the volunteer time recognized. Every PFS table makes some number of people feel less alone and isolated then they would have otherwise.

I recognize the irony of getting worked up in response to Bob's point that this isn't something to get worked up about.

Looks over at the pale creature with a runny nose... returns a flat look at Zey..

Kett makes a nervous sideways glance at Orst, then steps forward. "The scary librarian ghost is gone now. You can use the it for reading instead of traps now..." Kett retrieves his favorite book 'History of Osirion; An Illustrated Guide', opens it to his favorite picture of an pyramid, and offers it unapologetically.

Here is a good blog that addresses this topic; A big takeaway is do you have an agreement with your players that the villain can break simulationism to monologue just for the sake of the game telling a story.

If the party shoots the villian during the monologue are they;

• Not interested in the narrative?
  
• Afraid their buffs are running out or the villian is stalling for reinforcements?

Now this all assumes the monologue is followed by a fight. Having a monologue that is not followed by a fight is harder, make it clear that 'now is not the time' by getting the monologue out of the way before the party is strong enough to challenge the villain.

DM Livgin wrote:

The knights will gift a suit of armor that the character is not permitted to wear until they have completed their first mission... Cause the prestige class only grants access to this armor at it's second level??

"All right, Sir Noob, we've taken your measurements, now our master smith will make you personalized armor. In their professional opinion, it will be done just about the time you return from your first mission."

"Now that you are a trusted initiate and your oaths have been received, you will begin your training in the super-secret utilization of super-heavy-videogame-grade plate armor. Training will take a while so we advise against wearing into battle during this time."

Book 3 Session 1;

A slow start to this book but we had the first silver council, somewhat established who had keys to the the hideout, and traveled to the aquatic elf village (fighting the warden and speaking to the elder). At the time it felt like a slow session where nothing happened, but that summary covered a lot of ground. We also spend a lot of time on the economics of their row boat ferry system and on the logistics of a mint garden in the former opium den.

The group grappled the warden to the ground and threw some chains on him to keep him restrained. They made a few attempts to dispel the domination but couldn't beat the dispel DC. However the mesmerist was able to use share memory to see the 'elf druid ghost' commanding to keep outsiders away as they are 'the cause of the plague', and her instructions to return in 14 days.

I also figured out why some of the sessions go so slow (What? it only took 6 months... I might lack a little empathy...) One of the players really likes the sitting around the table making jokes aspect of the game and intentional derails the game to get back to that atmosphere. And of course they are funny enough that we all enjoy it... This is a problem because others in the group (myself) really like the feelings of accomplishment from progress and come away unhappy if there were no milestones achieved during a session. Now that I've identified what is happening I feel better prepared to recognize the behavior and redirect attention so that we can hit a milestone every session. It also opens up the chance to find a compromise; during the Thursday game they run I as a player will double down on the table fun that they enjoy while they dial it back on the Tuesday game? I haven't discussed this with them much beyond the point of identifying and recognizing that is something they enjoy and try to encourage at the table.

Also the inquisitor with the corruption (ghoul) curse is dominated with orders to sit and do nothing else for 16 days (they need a 20 on the caster level check to dispel it). So the team pulled straws to see who had to force feed him his 'special' meal... There is definitely a theme in this campaign of how much is the group willing to sacrifice for the greater good.

Book 3 Session 2;

This session was a real highlight. We accomplished a major milestone, the group excelled in combat, I got to revive and old joy by making custom monsters, and the boss fight kept the group on their toes.

To make a 6 player adjustment I decided to open up my long neglected Bestiary, appendix 2: monster advancement to make first a draugr ogre fighter for the first group, add 2 hit dice to the shark, and then make a lvl 4 rogue draugr captain. I opted to leave the final encounter as is, in hindsight a ghost or wraith addition would have been appropriate. The group trounced these additions, in part due to the mesmerist rolling hot with Pilfering Hand and disarming the orge's trident, and both the rogue's shortswords... but I'm happy he got a chance to shine in the level of undead that were immune to the rest of his tricks.

Although the initial fights were relatively easy they were complicated by the wizard failing his will save and being compelled to dive to the bottom of the pit. We ruled that the compulsion was to 'dive' so he didn't dimension door to the bottom, or shift away from allies trying to grapple him. This resulted in a staggered arrive for the group to the shark fight, and then a rush down to the second draugr fight.

The aboleth fight was a real highlight, the players loved the double illusions and their only protection against domination was a summoned hound archon with it's aura of protection from evil. It became a game of protecting the archon that the aboleth was determined to kill. The aboleth dominated the inquisitor, then the hound archon gave the inquisitor a re-roll that he passed, which he then turned and bane-crit the aboleth with... My advice for running this encounter is to create a few cards that explain the truth of the situation; then role their will saves behind the screen. When someone passes a will save give them a card explaining that the ghost is actually the aboleth, or that that aboleth is actually an illusion and the real one is behind them, or that they are dominated and are to stop attacking. Then inform the player that they can tell others what is on the card but can not show it. It takes the core idea of taking them out of the room to share info and speeds it up a little. After a few people have made their saves abandon the cards so it doesn't become too frustrating, as it is the sense of confusion and uncertainty in those first couple rounds that the group will look back on fondly.

Next session the group will be recruiting the Nobles or heading to Vyre. I wrote a few encounters for the Nobles, but only one is a combat encounter, so they may not take too long. I'll need to prepare a few random encounters in Vyre, especially something for the priest of Norgorber that the group, and Captain Handsome, believe is a priest of Pharasma. I did drop some hints that someone was using the rowboat ferries to kidnap, Vyre is a good place to wrap up that side-plot. I could also tie the missing persons into the Jarvis or Jhaltero recruitment as either missing workers or a missing cousin.

Ha. My 15 point buy group had a very different experience... They won initiative, closed to melee, with the AoOs missing or failing to poison, then the mesmerist passed the SR check to cast hideous laughter, which the devil failed with a natural 1.

This was the 4th or 5th session in the lucky bones, the players were laughing that even the dice wanted this to end.

"ooo, I love Philosophy!"

knowledge (local): 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (13) - 3 = 10

"Guys I'm not getting it. Normally the books have pictures..."

Agreed with all of the above. There's also the problem that with the playtest rules you'd have to work between the rulebook and the last update document, which can be pretty annoying.

Ha, I was just going to not give them the rulebook or updates; just a few per-made characters and make up everything I'd forgotten. Again; one session, not a campaign.

Suddenly serious Emira Elyse glides down to the table and into a meditative sitting position. As she speaks her questions they echo across the planes and in time, return with answers.

Using her once per week casting of commune.

"Is this lock on Tar-Baphon's magical prison being assaulted?
Will this lock fail if we move slowly?
Is this lock still intact?
Is there a dragon at this site?
Do undead defend this site?
Will Lutorinus Exsuberia betray us?"

Val shoots the Azata a dark look at the last question.

knowledge(arcane): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (20) + 16 = 36

"A barren no-man's land populated by only cultists and the depraved. Shame" Val responds despondently.

knowledge(local): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (14) + 18 = 32

"Yes, they used a broken key defence. Robust in the short term but subject to information decay.. Hard to account for the Ship Factor when you plan to defend for all eternity... Val stares at down at the table mulling information security.

My monitor wasn't doing it justice, click the image and scale to 100%.

I love the look and am happy to see an evolution.

Leaning back in his seat Val dwells on Lutorinus's question before being interrupted by Nalaia. Getting up to follow the tiefling into Venture-Captain Besnik's office Val winks at Lutorinus and answers. "It was a pact for power..."

***

Seeing the ancient tome, Val comes to hover of the desk and dons a pair of silk gloves. "Everyone please ensure that your fingers are free of chocolate."

A tiny woman arrives late, circling the room on butterfly wings before landing on Val's shoulder. Studying Lutorinus with a conflicted expression she speaks in a sing-song voice;

"This is a mean one... Mr. C."
"He really is a heel"
"He is as cuddly as a cactus"
"He is as charming as an eel... Mr C."