Search Posts
It probably didn't get passed up the chain in time, but there is a new convention in Spartanburg, SC: TantrumCon 2019, on Feb. 15-17. The Upstate SC PFS Meetup page provides the details and links.
TantrumCon 2019 is a brand new tabletop gaming convention at the Spartanburg Marriott on Feb. 15 - 17. Upstate SC PFS will be featuring a schedule of PFS and SFS at the Con. Full details with links are available on the Meetup page. Hope to see you there! -- Sam Sampson, Venture-Agent
I have Dwarven Forge dungeon terrain that I'd like to use for an in-store PFS-sanctioned module or Adventure Path segment. The terrain is the traditional "brick" style rather than caverns. I have about 9-10 hours to run it. I'm looking for something with base level 3-8. Some suitable modules have already been run at the store, like Crypt of the Everflame, Masks of the Living God and some others. I'm familiar with Thornkeep and Emerald Spire but I think some players have played a fair amount of those. I'm looking at The Godsmouth Heresy, which is outside my preferred level range but could work. Thoughts? No Response From Deepmar is described as a combination of wilderness exploration and dungeon crawl, which also might work. Thoughts? Thanks!
Yes--it's Tamrin Credence, though a type of co-leadership was hinted at. Here's the post: Mid-Season Faction Updates. Was our new Liberty's Edge leader announced?
I agree! I GMed 3 (of a potential 5) slots and played once. This was my third Gen Con. I'm grateful that all the tables went pretty well. Anything I saw to improve has already been mentioned. Kudos to Tonya, John Compton and the HQ staff for another one in the books!
Revisiting this, finally... The W3C Validator shows a few issues. Perhaps that will be of help. Thanks!
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Tier 2!
Pathfinder Society returns to Geek Out Games in Central, SC for its last session before a summer break. The session is Saturday May 21st from 1 to 6pm.
I'm about to kick off an Iron Gods campaign. IG Vol. 1 has a sidebar regarding glaucite, but there is also a sicatite weapon. I've checked the Tech. Guide and Archives of Nethys to no avail on rules for sicatite and other skymetals. Does anyone know where these rules are, assuming they exist? Thanks!
Hello!
The sessions are Sat. morning & afternoon, Sun. morning & afternoon, and Mon. morning. The Sat. afternoon session isn't listed on Warhorn currently--it is the second session for the first scenario, which takes two sessions. It also may be a good idea to leave Mon. afternoon free as that scenario may go long. We understand that's a big time commitment so we would be very appreciative! If you could reply by Friday (1/8) that will help our planning. Thanks!
Assuming you're looking for Pathfinder, have you tried asking around here?: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AshevillePathfinderLodge/.
Hi Sam, I saw that you located this Meetup Group: Pathfinder Gamers of Upstate SC. I'm just posting it for others who are looking for PFS in Upstate South Carolina. We are running monthly games at Boardwalk in Greenville (1st Sat. of the month) and Geek Out Games (3rd Sat. of the month). See the link above for all the info! Thanks,
Join us Sat. Sept. 19 for another exciting session! The primary scenario will be #30 The Devil We Know Part II: Cassomir's Locker (Levels 1-5). We'll run from 1-6pm--new players and veterans welcome, pregenerated characters and all other materials can be provided.
Here it is... I have my own thoughts on its issues, but I'd like to hear your thoughts. Thanks! Spirit-Catcher
A spirit-catcher is used to capture the essence of incorporeal undead, and later releasing that essence as negative energy. The skein of the spirit-catcher glows with an eerie blue nimbus when incorporeal undead are within 30 feet. When an incorporeal undead creature is destroyed within 30 feet of a spirit-catcher, as an immediate action the bearer may draw its essence into the spirit-catcher. The amount of essence stored in the spirit-catcher is measured by the Hit Dice of the captured creature; it can store up to 10 HD--excess HD are lost. The spirit-catcher can only store the essence of one creature. Stored essence may be replaced by capturing another creature. As a standard action, the bearer can release the essence harmlessly. Alternatively, the bearer may release the entire essence of the spirit-catcher to make a fearsome attack, also as a standard action. The shrieking spirit of the creature emerges and streaks unerringly towards a target creature within 30 feet and line of effect. Living targets take 1d6 negative energy damage per HD of essence released. A successful DC 16 Will save halves this damage. The spirit dissipates after this attack. Necromancers are known to instead use the attack ability of the spirit-catcher to strengthen their undead minions. The attack can be directed against an undead creature, causing it to gain 2 temporary hit points per HD of essence released.
Pledge Week will take place at Geek Out Games in the Walmart shopping center in Central, SC. From Tuesday Aug. 18 - Thursday Aug. 20, I'll be in store from ~6-9:30pm running "on-demand" demos of Pathfinder Society using the new Phantom Phenomena Quests, plus Beginner Box Quests. Pregenerated characters are used, and all other materials can be provided. Friday Aug. 21 we'll have a PFS character creation session starting ~8. We'll then play a Quest or two, time permitting (the store's open until midnight). Saturday Aug. 22 will be our regularly monthly scenario from 1-6pm--this time we're running #29 The Devil We Know--Part I: Shipyard Rats (levels 1-7). PLUS we'll be giving out raffle tickets to win some great prizes at a drawing Saturday after the session. See here for more information and our full calendar: http://meetup.com/Pathfinder-Gamers-of-Upstate-SC. Hope to see you there!
I like to collect a few signatures at Gen Con, and I had a brainwave a week beforehand--what if I were to collect the signatures of all those who had submitted a "Best Character Ever" blog--and have them sign the character cards even?! Of course it would help if I knew what they looked like. Game designers like to maintain an aura of mystery to avoid people like me. Nonetheless I was able to determine the fleshly appearances of most of the group using private investigators and a few favors called in to the NSA. (I'm only saying it was hard so no one copies my idea.) Chad Brown (like that's his real name) and Keith Richmond remained elusive however.
Thursday dawned with my token cards safely in their Ultra Pro box. The Exhibit Hall opens and I shuffle feet with the herd. I'm headed past the Paizo booth to get another signature--and Mike Selinker and Gaby are just sitting there, at a table, with pens in hand! Two down, four to go! Oh wait no--"hey, Chad, come and sign your best character ever!" So "Chad Brown" comes over and puts his Hancock on Seelah. Three down! After zipping around the Hall on other errands, I returned to Mike and Gaby to discern the whereabouts of the other three Designers. Tanis and Keith were in the Sagamore working with Organized Play. I knew I would likely see them the next day as I was also getting "Organized." I was directed to Liz Spain's booth, where she did a happy dance (I lie not) and put some ink on Damiel. She also dropped a tidbit about a forthcoming class deck (true)--they're going out-of-the-box a little with an unpublished class from Jason Bulmahn's notes: the Scrivener (not confirmed). The next day Tanis O'Connor graced me with her X's. Now why does she get two characters? Cause she's awesome that's why! I was a fill-in player in the ACG Open which she GMed, and now I'm afraid to say anything against her. So... afraid... Keith was the last, but not least. He mentioned there would be more Best Characters Ever. That's cool. Their Designers' autographs will be mine. Mine I tell you! Mine!
This came up after a scenario. I certainly don't see anything about forgoing a Day Job check in the Guide. The player in question also thought they could train an animal 1 trick per skill rank in Handle Animal. I don't see support for that in the description of Handle Animal. If you can indicate the rules reference(s) that support your answers, that would be great. Thanks!
Thursday, July 30
Less than 5 weeks away! Huzzah!
Time not wasted! We are running a monthly PFS game at the new Geek Out Games store in Central. The next session is Sat. July 18, 1-6pm. (We'll get it posted soon.) Here's our Meetup which advertises games in Central and Greenville: Pathfinder Gamers of Upstate SC Look forward to seeing you! Sam
I'm finally back to this thread, dreading the rage that I no doubt incurred... only to find discussion of diminutive blue gnomes. ;-) So Core Campaign has been announced... I suspect that will (generally!) be more balanced. Thanks xebeche for the compilation of powerful combinations. Happy Gaming!
I've been drafting responses to this thread that cover the whole "balance" concept, but they are turning into elaborate essays. So here are a few [edit: a lot of] responses:
1) No. 2) You adapt to the best of your abilities.
Thank you!
I see what you mean. You believe it inappropriate to use the GM's rules knowledge (specific to a build) to combat powerful PCs. Or perhaps more precisely, to use it excessively? Well, I feel that there is an appropriate use of that knowledge suitable to the nature of the NPCs. Let’s postulate two NPCs, each of whom has an ability to significantly exploit a weakness of a powerful PC. But one is essentially mindless, while the other is an Aspis Consortium assassin. I would possibly randomize the mindless creature’s actions--but the Aspis Consortium assassin would of course target the weakness directly, assuming that it could reasonably know about the weakness.
Many powerful PCs render this discussion moot since they have no significant weakness or will wipe out enemies before they have a chance to act on any knowledge gained.
See above, but again if I am roleplaying a very competent NPC, it helps to have the metagame knowledge necessary to provide a challenge.
Absolutely true--and I believe that’s an inappropriate approach to the game. Possibly more on that later.
Do you have any examples? I don’t deny that an enemy could have powerful abilities, but more than a player can apply?
The qualities you cite are only good if applied to an appropriate goal. There are numerous real-world examples of people using the qualities above for the wrong goals. (As I already mentioned, I feel that seeking to eliminate all challenge from the game is an inappropriate goal.)
I hadn’t quite thought of that clearly at the beginning, but that is a good aspect of it. Up until recently I’ve been caught off-guard by level 1 two-handed-weapon Power-Attackers, which I don’t even consider to be an inherently powerful build.
This was partially addressed later on (in that you can only make 2 shifts), but here’s a line from the CRB:
So players cannot use high Diplomacy rolls to avoid combats that the scenario makes clear are unavoidable.
I have no problem with powerful PCs in such scenarios, particularly Bonekeep. But most scenarios are easily overwhelmed by the type of PCs I’m talking about.
This succinctly expresses what I was trying to say to Jiggy above. Thanks!
I agree that this doesn’t feel desirable, but it may be the only solution. This problem hasn’t particularly cropped up in my local games yet--our players are largely new to PFS and are mastering the basics. Note that I would ask them not to play the characters, but not outright disallow them to do so.
See note on Diplomacy above--this shouldn’t happen with most combat encounters. Looking at the Bluff skill, it does indeed say you can tell an impossible lie with a -20 penalty, which powerful PCs can overcome. I believe the rules should state that this is not a magical effect and can’t make someone believe an impossible lie. In many cases it would not be effective as enemies determined to attack aren’t going to listen to the PCs.
Your statements are certainly true in many cases. But often the PCs’ weaknesses are very unlikely to be challenged by most encounters.
It seems very easy to build a skill-focused character that will zip through skill-based challenges such as social encounters, traps and so on. The DCs in the scenarios don’t match what PCs can put out there--which is a design issue, not a player issue, I understand. - - -
I’m struggling to elaborate on why without it turning into the long essay I mentioned. I think I’ve said enough for now. So let me know what you think [casts stoneskin]. ;-)
Thanks for the comments. I've got to really drill down on the price/cost (etc.) next time. Anyone: is the formatting issue that I italicized "discs"? Any other formatting issues?
Disruption Disc
Description
A disruption disc will attach to an arcane spellcaster if the attack roll equals or exceeds the spellcaster’s touch AC. (It deals damage if the attack roll also equals or exceeds the target’s standard applicable AC.) Up to five discs may be attached to a single target--each disc adds a cumulative 10% spell failure chance to the target’s arcane spell casting. In addition, the target gains a +1 bonus to AC for every two attached discs. This bonus is treated as an armor bonus that stacks with existing armor bonuses, including those from other discs. A disruption disc clings to its target for 1d4 hours. The most recent wielder of an attached disc can remove it by hand; no other physical means will remove it. Dispel magic will remove attached discs; treat all discs attached to a creature as one magic item. (Unattended discs, or discs merely carried by a creature, are treated individually.) The DC for the dispel check is 11 + the highest caster level of an attached disc + 1 for every attached disc beyond the first. A successful check suppresses the magical properties of all attached discs for 1d4 rounds as normal. Discs that are suppressed cannot attach to targets, and will fall off if already attached. They do not re-attach automatically when the dispel effect ends, though they may be used again. Construction
Note and Thoughts: Note: The price and cost I originally submitted were not computed correctly; I simply had the price (2,500 gp) double the cost. Pros
Cons
I hear you. I think my question is too general and polarizing. And somewhere in there I forgot to say "common" builds. So thanks for listing a few. ---I will study some of the builds and combos mentioned by others and get an idea of what makes them tick.
While I both play and GM PFS fairly frequently, I generally find GMing more interesting. So my out-of-game preparation time usually focuses on preparing scenarios. As a result I am behind the curve on character creation knowledge. I often find that encounters in PFS are overwhelmed by what I'll term "powerful" character builds. I use that term to avoid polarizing this thread. The purpose of this thread is not to discuss opinions on game balance, but to gather information on what you consider to be powerful character builds. Note that I don't plan to misuse this information--for instance by having enemies act on knowledge they couldn't have, or singling out players by criticism or hassling. Instead, this information would be helpful in adjusting tactics once enemies know PC capabilities. The goal would be to challenge players, not to treat them unfairly. Further, this information would help determine what is reasonable to expect when, for instance, a level 7 barbarian rolls attack damage. That would make it easier to identify rules mistakes (and even cheating) without slowing down the game excessively. Please post a summary of the build(s) and which particular components (feats, spells, class features, magic items) make it powerful. Simply posting "tiefling sorcerer" is not helpful. (That's just an example, not a comment on tiefling sorcerers.) I am happy to look up the particulars of rules so you don't have to repeat that information in full. Exhaustive detail, and a lengthy defense of why you consider it powerful, isn't necessary. It would also be helpful to note if there are gray areas or FAQ'd rules that are involved. I think this thread will work best if we just provide information and avoid opinionated commentary. Note: I have done some searching of the forums, but it was difficult to find a thread that aggregates this information. Feel free to point me to other threads. Thanks!
Hello,
Is there a boon, perhaps a Season 5 scenario boon, that interacts with the Imp Servitor Cheliax Prestige Award? The Award is from the Field Guide. The goal is to avoid the 5 PP cost each time. Maybe there's a general boon that would help? Thanks!
PM sent |
