XanNelson's page

Name: Dahm Aluk
Race: Dhampir
Class: Rogue
Location: Ettin's lair outside the Excavator
Catalyst: Spiked Chain crit

I had dropped several hints that something big and mean was stomping about, the group had just rested, and with that big open dark cavern it was the perfect place for the rogue with darkvision to set up an ambush. But they, with all 9 Con that they had, walked openly into the cavern, and with top initiative charged the Ettin, trying to hold toe-to-toe with it (despite having a fighter and a barbarian in the party who could have held a front line). The ettin got a full attack with both spiked chains, critted with one of them, and so the rogue was pureed on turn 1 as the rest of the party watched in horror.

I have been using it for my IG campaign (currently in book 3) and I like it a lot. I think it works very well to put the focus on the scrounged tech and equipment they find rather than purchasing new stuff of their own, which puts the blanace heavier on the tech than on magic items. It also has helped out the party in times when they were very far from access to shops (book 2, and I can forsee that happening again in book 4) by given them those stat boosts without relying on buying new gear partway through.

Going over the map of Torch for the Iron Gods game I'm running I noticed that the Foundry where the PCs are staying is right next to the brothel. Clearly this means I need them to interact with some friendly neighborhood prostitutes who have the worst Golarion/Pathfinder puns for names. Any suggestions?

My group will definitely be making as much use of the tech as they can. They have a cleric of Brigh, an android wizard using the spell-slinger archtype and planning on going technomancer, and a gunslinger using the tech-slinger archtype.

That, and the fact that you can control how many uses the PCs get out of their technological items by limiting their access to chances to recharge them, or by giving out timeworn technological objects (which can't be recharged and only have limited uses before they're used up).

I don't want to limit their tech though, as that's one of the things they (and I) are most excited about. As a group we all want to lean in to the sci-fi aspect of this so a couple of the players will be focusing on using guns and I don't want to tie their hands.

I'm debating introducing an armor material that negates the "touch" ability of tech guns. Perhaps use glaucite, as the AP references it often enough. If it's strong enough to make ship hulls out of I would imagine it could handle small arms fire.

My group is just starting out with Iron Gods. Looking ahead at what they are going to get their hands on, I'm concerned with the balance of tech guns, specifically that they all attack touch AC making armor rather obsolete. Has anyone found this to be a problem? I don't want to restrict access to guns as the tech is such a big part of the flair of this campaign, but I worry that a gunslinger with a laser pistol is going to steamroll through auto-hitting everything.

Perfect, that is exactly what I needed to know. I'll try to talk her out of it. Even if she insists, at least she will be forewarned enough to not have room to complain when she spends most of her time grounded.

I'm going to be running IG soon and my players are starting to scheme for their characters. I have one player who is aboslutely dead set on playing a hippogryph-riding bow ranger. Is there any outdoor combat in this campaign or is it, as I'm guessing, mostly inside ship corridors and caverns? Would she get any use out of a flying mount? Keep in mind that I rarely bother with random encounters as my players are far more interested in plot than in filler.

Following the election last week the Office of LGBT Affairs is a permanent part of the Philadelphia Mayor's office and all single person restrooms are unisex.

As a native Philly boy this makes me especially happy :D

Name: Rowan the Greenwitch
Race/Class: Human Witch lvl 9
Adventure: Hungry Storm
Location: The Necropolis
Catalyst: Ghost Katyana

This was the group's first player death. The fight was going pretty well, the cavalier had used the ghost blade to cast Katyana out of the Yeti chief and had done some solid damage to her. As her last action she got a touch attack on Rowan, critted, and he spectacularly failed his save, dying from negative energy on the spot.

It has actually worked out perfectly for our story, however. I had a quick conferance with the player who was very excited to do something interesting with his witch's death. We had already been playing up that the witch was going to be heavily involved in the metaphysical battle between the kami and the oni, so we agreed that when the party tried to resurect him it wouldn't work (which has them very confused, especially as the player is really playing it up that his witch is well and truly dead). Meanwhile he has taken control of Miyaro who is conveniently a kitsune. Rowan's familiar was a fox, and a couple players have already commented on the connection. Our plan is that once the group gets to the spirit portal at the bottom of the House of Withered Blossoms they will find Rowan on the other side of it, having spent the time learning from the kami. Rowan will explain that he sent Miyaro, an awakened form of his familiar, to guide the group here so that they could help him close the portal from both sides. I'm very excited to see the group's reaction to it all.

Playing a PFS missions the team had been told of a woman who escaped from the sewers where she had been held prisoner, but then died shortly after her escape from the filth fever she contracted while there. After I describe the slippery nature of the walkways on either side of the stream of raw sewage the paladin and cleric, both in heavy armor with worthless dex scores, decide to just trudge on in rather than even attampt the checks to stay on the walkway.

Seconds after they announce their decision to walk down into the sewage the bard suddenly has a look of dawning horror as he actually remembers the mission briefing. "Wait wait wait, guys! Guys! The b!%*& died from poop!"

Cleric to me: "Uh...am I already in the poop?"

Me: "Yup."

Cleric: "Well. This is going to go poorly then."

Yeah I have definitely gotten that reaction of "you're just being the fun police" when I've tried to speak up about it. Thankfully I have had instances where I said something and individuals were chagrined and eased off on such things. Having been a teacher for several years now I have a well practiced "you need to reevaluate your actions and make better choices or else" face that I can tap when it's a particular person rather than the whole group. It's harder when you are the only one arguing against it though.

As a lifelong gamer and recently out bi man I was thrilled to find this forum thread this morning :D Having been in lots of gaming groups where all of the guys made constant jokes about elves being gay, crit hits being "totally raping that guy!" and various comments about "running a train" on the female villain, I've been really appreciating the range of my current group. We have a straight monogomous married couple, a single bi woman, a single striaght man, a poly gay fur, and my wife and I who are both bi and occaisionally open. As a result we've had characters and NPCs who are all over the gender and sexuality spectrum (as well as shenanigans with the belt of sex change) and everyone in the group is completely comfortable with it. It's been wonderfully refreshing.

Has any tried using the Advanced Bonus Progressions rules from Unchained in the Iron Gods AP yet? I'm going to be running it in a few months and I like the idea of toning down the overall wealth and glut of magic items but I wasn't sure if it would be a problem with the values and power levels of the tech that the PCs will eventually get access to. If anyone has used it, how did it go?

XanNelson wrote:

In prepping for going through this I'm confused by the Osirian faction missions for parts I and III, as both have them retrieving the Immortality Stone in two different places. Is it two different stones? Am I just missing something obvious?

In part 1, it's recovering the Kathari Fragment, which is an object that provides the location for the Immortality Stone.

In part 3, it's found that the Immortality Stone itself is where the party is going.

But in part 1 when they copy the Kathari Fragment in the library it summons a gollem that has the Immortality Stone in its chest. The book then tells me that after they defeat the gollum I should give them the Immortality Stone handout.

In prepping for going through this I'm confused by the Osirian faction missions for parts I and III, as both have them retrieving the Immortality Stone in two different places. Is it two different stones? Am I just missing something obvious?

I have a beginner group who wants to play through the first PFS season, but they don't want to be changing characters all the time. Has anyone put together a sequence of the scenarios to run a single group through from level 1 to 12?

I'm playing in a campaign set in the northern areas around Kalsgard and Irrisen. I would like to play an ice-themed fey from the region, any suggestions? The GM is fine with putting something together with the Advanced Race rules as long as it is making a playable version of a creature that already exists in Golarion.

I'm putting together a werewolf ranger for Rise of the Runelords, and I am debating between going with the more traditional two-weapon style or trying out the new natural weapon style using the werewolf's claws. How do the two styles compare, and are there any suggestions for feats? I am intrigued by the potential from Feral Combat Training.