Yesterday's Hero's page

Does the feat Magical Striker (Wizard 4, lets them empower their next weapon strike on a round they cast a spell) still exist in any way, shape or form?

Has "Take 10" been brought back? What about Assurance?

How different from each other are the Longsword and the Bastard Sword compared to the playtest? If you could write their stats that would be great!

It's just PF 2e Xcom! PF 2e Xcom and their adventures, Jason! PF 2e Xcom forever and forever 100 years PF 2e Xcom some things! Me and Jason and Mark runnin' around and... PF 2e Xcom time all day long, forever, 100 days! PF 2e Xcom forever 100 times!

I made a Cleric of Gorum for the 7th lvl DD part and it was very powerfull. You might have to drop WIS to 16 to get enough STR and CHA and I agree that FGT multiclass is a must. Stats for a first lvl human cleric:

STR 16
DEX 12
CON 10
WIS 16
INT 10
CHA 14

CON 10 seems dangerous, but since the 1 action Heal heals just sooo much you'll be good (otherwise, further drop WIS to 14).

This is great, but a bit too much considering you have 1 skill feat every 2 levels.

So either divide every feat's benefits into two halves (one lower level, one higher) or just plain reduce the amount of skill feats by half or something.

Thanks for the comprehensive reply.

Animal Companion
Animal Companions are minions which use different rules. Now you can spend your actions for theirs at a 1 to 2 ratio but only once per turn. There is an inconsistency in the rules here where this is better in most situations than the ride feat but specifically if you want to make a horse for example gallop then stride you cannot do that with an animal companion because they can only ever have 2 actions on a turn as minions. Strange.

[A] Command -> Mount get's two actions maybe Stride then Strike
[A] Rider Strikes
[A] Rider Strikes

Follow-up question. If you command the AC like you said above could you take your remaining actions in between it's actions?

Example:

[A] Command -> Mount get's two actions, it uses 1 of them to Stride
[A] Rider Strikes
[A] Mount uses remaining action to Stride
[A] Rider Strikes

I've re-read the rules many times and searched the forums, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer to this.

If I'm riding my animal companion, how many actions do we have?

3 total? (as per the Mounted Combat Rules)

3 for me and 2 for my animal companion if I spend 1 action to command it and none if I don't? (as per the Animal Companion rules)

And what happens if I'm a 4th lv druid and take the feat that grants the AC an action even if you don't command it?

Aside from these corner cases, I'm loving the new action economy!

You can also qualify for the feat with DEX 16 (incidentally the maximun dex bonus for breasplates)

I agree that this seems to be a problem and I even agree that your solution seems reasonable, but I have very little experience with the system (only a single session where we compleated the first part of DD that I DMed).

I think we need more hands on experience to make this call.

Yes, INT is useless in this particular build (sadly, your class only lets you bump your int so you'll end up with a 16 STR max).

I think this is a feature, not a bug. Being able to make such diverse builds out of a single class is cool.

If you take the Fighter multiclass feat you gain proficiency with armor, weapon and shields. This is an interesting character to try out.

Hi! I'm the guy from the new reincarnate table on the SRD:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/r/reincarnate

/Shameless plug

I've been working on a new base class. This class is inspired by the characters from fighting games, mainly Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter (there is also some Dragon Ball thrown in for good measure).

This class hasn't been tested yet but I got a ton of feedback on it from a series of posts on a big Pathfinder facebook group. Once I have enough feedback I'll do a playtest.

Before we begin, two notes:

1- On Combo: The class has the ability to perform two melee attacks AS A STANDARD ACTION ON LEVEL 1. I know this is technically more powerful than what the monk/unchained monk/brawler can do. But please have an open mind! Each of those clasess has access to other goodies, so please don't compare them solely on these grounds.

2-E8: This class has been made for E8, so only the first 8 levels have been mapped out. You might notice some mention of abilities gained on later levels here and there, but the first 8 levels are the focus of the class (once that's been done I'll move on to the remaining 12).

So, without further ado, I give you:

------------------------------------

The Challenger

"Here comes a new Challenger!"

Overview: From all walks of life come the Challengers. From the lowly oppressed classes to the highest echelons of society. And they all have one thing in common: a burning desire to be the best at what they do. And the thing they do, make no mistake, is fighting. Honing their bodies as if they were mighty weapons, these athletic and vigorous combatants scour the lands looking for their equals, to engage in a battle of fists, spirits and wills. Be certain that there WILL be a champion, and she will be unstoppable.

Role: A Challenger is a highly mobile melee burst damage dealers. She relies on STR for accuracy and damage and CHA for her more supernatural abilities. A decent DEX is important for AC while a decent CON is important for staying power.

Alignment: Any
HD: d10
BAB: Good
Saves: Good FORT and REF

Skill Points 4 + INT

Class Skills: The Challenger's class skills are Acrobatics, Climb, Craft, Disguise, Fly, Heal, Intimidate, Kw (Geography), Kw (History), Kn (Local), Perception, Profession, Sense Motive, Stealth, Survival, Swim

Weapon and armor Proficiency: A Challenger is not proficient in any weapon or armor, nor she needs to; her body is a lethal armament beyond comprehension. Because of this, her unarmed strikes are considered to have the Deadly weapon Quality (giving them a +4 to the DCs of the Coop-de Grace attempts they make). She always deals full STR damage with unarmed strikes, even when made with the off-hand.

Class Features

Combo: A quick dash and a rapid succession of punches or kicks is oftentimes enough to end most encounters. Challengers gain Improved Unarmed strike as a bonus feat on lvl 1. As a standard action, a Challenger can make a Combo, which consists of two unarmed attacks. If one of them hits, it deals 1d4+STR modifier damage. If both of them hit, the second deals 1d6+STR modifier damage. At 8th level, the Combo gains an extra attack. If the 3 of them hit, the third deals 1d8+STR modifier damage. At 16th level the Combo gains a final attack. If the 4 of them hit, the fourth deals 1d10+STR modifier damage. They are treated as a single attack for the purposes of Damage Reduction.

But the Shirt on Your Back: Travelling light along the road is dangerous for most people. Challengers, on the other hand, are never caught off guard. At first level, a Challenger can treat any clothes she is wearing as masterwork studded leather armor (Armor 3; Max DEX modifier 5; Armor Check Penalty 0; Arcane spell failure 15%; Light Armor) and gains proficiency with it. She is treated as not wearing armor for all other purposes. At fourth level and every 4 levels thereafter, the base AC provided by this feature improves by one. She loses this benefit any time she is wearing any armor or shield.

Adept Dodger: The grueling training that a Challenger endures leaves her on a state of constant alert. At first level, she gains Dodge as a bonus feat. At fifth level she gains Mobility as a bonus feat. At Ninth level she gains Sidestep as a bonus feat. At thirteenth level she gains Improved sidestep as a bonus feat. If she would gain any of these feats and she already has it, she may instead select any other combat feat that she qualify for in place of it.

---

Specialty: The road to supremacy is a varied one. At second level, a Challenger must choose a Specialty from the following options. Any time a save is called to resist an effect caused by a Challenger class ability (such as a Specialty or a Challenger Talent), the DC is 10 + 1/2 challenger level + CHA modifier:

-Mortal Combatant (Ex): Focusing all their might on a single punch is enough to bring most opponents to their knees. As a full-round action, a Challenger can perform a powerful uppercut. She makes an unarmed melee attack against an enemy. If it hits, it deals 2d6+STR*1.5 damage and the enemy must make a FORT save or be knocked prone. Power attack increases this damage as if this was a two handed weapon.

-Tournament Fighter (Ex): Boasting one's prowess properly is a key combat tactic most people neglect. As a Standard action, a Challenger can perform a taunt to an enemy up to 60' away who must make a WILL save. If the target fails he must attack the Challenger on his next turn. Weather the save is successful or not, the Challenger gains a bonus to her AC and Saves against attacks from the target equal to her CHA bonus. She also gains this bonus on attack and damage rolls against him until the end of her next round. This is a language-dependent mind-affecting effect. This also counts as attacking the opponent for the purposes of Power Meter.

-Z Warrior (Su): The Energy of the self can be expressed and released in many different, oftentimes deadly, ways. As a full-round action, a Challenger can gather his inner power and project an energy attack. This attacks takes whatever form the Challenger desires (a ball of energy, a blast of cold, a torrent of fire, etc). Its range is 10' per challenger level and point of CHA bonus (so a 4th level challenger with a CHA bonus of +3 would have a range of 70'). The target must make a REF save or receive 1d8 damage per 2 Challenger levels (Max 5d8 at 10th level) + CHA modifier; with minimum damage on a successful save. Regardless of the form this attack takes, it always deals force damage.

Challenger Talent: As her combat style begins to develop, a Challenger perfects her unique movement pool. At second level and every even level thereafter, a Challenger may choose a Challenger Talent from the list at the bottom.

---

Power Meter: As the battle heat up so does a Challenger's desire to win it. At third level, whenever a Challenger attacks a worthy opponent (Max 1 per round) she gains a Power Bar up to a maximum of 3. At the end on any round in which the Challenger wasn't in combat with a worthy opponent, she losses any Power Bars she had. While she has at least one Power Bar she may stand up from prone as a swift action (it still generates attacks of opportunity) and all of her unarmed attacks count as magic weapons. A worthy opponent is any creature whose CR is at least equal to the Challenger's character level - 2, but any creature regardless of CR that damages the Challenger counts as a worthy opponent too. Any type of offensive action that would break invisibility counts as attacking for the purpose of gaining a Power Bar. Furthermore, the Challenger chooses one from among these options.

-Fatality: With one gruesome display of gore you end the combat. By spending 3 Power Bars as full-round action, a Challenger can perform a Coup de grace against an opponent within her natural reach even if the target is not helpless. This doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity from that opponent. Instead of the normal save DC, the DC of this attack is the damage dealt + CHA modifier + 4 (for the Deadly weapon Quality of their Unarmed strikes).

-Bombardment: A barrage of energy leaves destruction on its wake. By spending 2 Power Bars as a full-round action, a Challenger can shoot a mighty blast of power that deals 1d8 force damage per level (Max 10d8) to all enemies on a 10' burst within Medium range. The enemies get a REF save for half damage.

-Power-up: Beware Challengers once they enter "The Zone". By spending any amount of Power Bars as a swift action, a Challenger gains a competence bonus equal to the amount of Power Bars spent to her attack rolls, damage rolls, armor class and saving throws. She also removes the Shaken and/or Sickened condition from herself if she spends at least 1 Power Bar, the Dazed and/or Staggered condition if she spends at least 2 and the Confused of Stunned condition if she spends at least 3. These bonuses last an amount of rounds equal to her CHA modifier (Min 1).

---

The Road of Life: Having walked the distance of the horizon, Challengers are knowledgeable people. At fourth level a Challenger can apply her CHA bonus to her Knowledge (Local) checks. She also chooses a WIS or INT based skill, other than perception, and can apply her CHA bonus to it too.

---

Round two: There are always reasons to keep fighting. At fifth level, whenever a worthy opponent reduces a Challenger to half her hit points, the Challenger can immediately, as a free action, gain an amount of temporary hit points equal to her level + her CHA modifier. These hit points last for one minute. This effect can't happen more than once per hour.

---

Improved Specialty: Honing their skills to super-humanoid levels, their prowess gains more perfection still. At sixth level, a Challenger can choose a second specialty from the list of specialties she gains at second level. Alternatively she can improve her chosen specialty on the following way:

-Mortal Combatant: The damage increases to 4d6+STR*2. Power attack increases the damage of this attack by +4 for every -1 penalty on the attack roll.

-Tournament Fighter: The taunt can be performed as a Move Action.

-Z Warrior: The opponent is sickened for 1 round per CHA modifier. This effect occurs even o a successful save.

---

The Hero's Journey: The deeds of the Challenger have reached far and wide by this point, and so did she. At seventh level, a Challenger gains Skill focus on any one skill as a bonus feat. As long as she has less than half her hit points, she gains Fast Healing equal to her CHA modifier (minimum 1).

Improved Power Meter: Charging one's power is a well kept secret of those who attain it. At seventh level, whenever a Challenger is in combat with a worthy opponent she gains a power bar at the begining of her turn instead of after attacking him. Additionally, she may choose a new Power Meter option from her choices at third level, or may have her previous Power Meter choice improve in the following way:

-Fatality (Ex or Su): The Fatality can be performed to an opponent within 60'. If the fatality is not performed against an opponent within natural reach, then it is considered a Supernatural ability.

-Bombardment: The opponents are blinded for 1 round on a failed save. On a successful save, they are instead dazzled for 1 round per CHA modifier.

-Power-up: The bonus increases to 1 + the amount of Power Bars expended.

Challenger Talents

Swift feet: Your base speed increases by +10'. You must be 4th level to select this talent.

Beast of Burden: Your carrying capacity doubles. You also gain a bonus to your CMB and CMD equal to your CHA modifier.

Heroic Landing: You always take minimum damage from falls. Standing up from a prone position doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.

Monkey Leaps: You may add your CHA modifier to your acrobatics checks. You also double any distance (both vertical and horizontal) that you jump.

Evasion: You gain evasion as a rogue of your level.

Test Your Might: You deal double damage to objects. At 6th level your unarmed attacks overcome Silver and Cold Iron Damage reduction.

Request Assistance: As a move action you may have an ally that threatens the same enemy as you perform an Aid Another action. This doesn't cost your ally any action and is performed immediately. You can't use this on the same ally more than once per day.

Improved combo: The damage dice of all your combo attacks improves by one step (1d4 to 1d6. 1d6 to 1d8. 1d8 to 1d10. 1d10 to 1d12). You may select this talent more than once, but the damage of a single attack may not increase above 1d12. You must be 6th level before selecting this talent a second time.

Teleport: As a move action you may teleport up to your speed. You may use this ability CHA bonus times per day. You must be 6th level to select this talent.

Gather Power: When you take a total defense action you gain one power bar. You must be 4th level to select this talent.

praguepride wrote:

Also if there is 11 classes and 11 companions one would think it's a 1:1

What are we missing then? We need a Monk, Inquisitor (presumably that blonde elfy looking person), Bard (maybe the halfling?), Sorcerer, Cleric (maybe the Taldan fighter-y looking guy?)

There are 14 classes (the core 11 plus Alchemist, Inquisitor, and Magus).

Of those 14 classes, we have companions which definitely represent 8 of them: Barbarian, Ranger, Cleric (of Groetus), Alchemist, Rogue (twice!), Fighter, Magus, and Wizard.

Either Chris Avellone or Alexander Mishulin said in the first AMA that there will be a Bard, and the Elfy-looking guy in the main image for the campaign definitely looks like an Inquisitor of Sarenrae.

We're probably not getting a Sorcerer because Regongar used to be one before they switched him to Magus.

That leaves one companion's class unclaimed. I'm betting on Druid, but Monk's also a possibility as well. I think Paladin's probably something that Valerie might claim, given her backstory.

In the latest twitch video Valerie is identified as a "Fighter 5". Plus, she seems to be using a tower shield and paladins don't have proficiency with those (she might have taken the feat, though).

You can reincarnate as a Wyrwood? Seems a little odd...

Oh, they're constructs. Good catch!

Shouldn't aasimar, tieflings, etc be in a table of their own, since they are outsiders(native) and not humanoids? Reincarnate preserves type.

You are right in that! I use the houserule that all Aasimars, Tieflings and other planetouched (Oreads, Sylphs, etc) are Humanoid (TYPE) by default, but I should take them out for the "official" table.

Thanks!

Hey!

I wanted to let you know that the PF srd has updated the page for Reincarnate using a suggestion I sent. I made an expanded reincarnate table that takes into consideration all 1st party races (I might be missing a few, since I made the table about a year ago).

If you want, take a peek here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/r/reincarnate/

Also, since you gain/lose all Physiological racial traits (as opposed to the "cultural" ones), I noted those for ease of use.

If you find any incosistencies/missing things, please let me know and I will update the table.

Hi all!

So, a situation has come up on a game I am currently running.

A player started the game as a Bolt Ace and took Point Blank Shot as a first level feat.

Later on, he is planning to multiclass to Marksman (a ranged psionic class from Dreamscarred Press) that gives him Point Blank Shot a bonus feat.

So, what's up with that? Is going to have the same feat twice for no benefit? Can he retrain the feat he took on lvl 1 when he gets it again?

RAW answers greatly apreciated!

It's weird how the LN cleric of Asmodeus (The BBEG!) has more in common, alignment wise, with a LG Paladin than with a CE Blackguard.

Well, they are. If the spell required a touch attack.

THX, Oladon!

"The Next Ally", that's excacly what I said!

Yeah, the intention is not to use the same attack for the critical, but the next one on a full attack.

To me it doesn't, but I got the question from one of my players and thought about asking the comunity. I already said no to him.

It is obvious by Rules as intended, but about Rules as written?

Hey!

Quick question about this feat.

The rules for Ally specify that you can treat yourself as an "ally" if the situation makes sense.

So, can you dual wield kukris, fishing for a crit, and as soon as get one, you drop your kukris and quickdraw a scythe so that you can get a x4 critical?

What about Spell combat, from the magus? You start attacking and once you get a crit you use your spellcombat strike and hit with Electric Grasp for 2d6 x lvl (max 20d6 at lvl 10).

Thanks!

Mark - or anyone else that can give me a solid answer,

What is the call for using creatures multiple times in one encounter when only one pawn exists in the box and it's not part of the minis?

For instance (CR/Tiers aside), if I wanted to have an encounter with 2 Iron Golems, can I do that or do I have to limit it to just one?

Thanks for any help, and sorry if this has been asked - couldn't find it when searching.

RB

So yesterday a bunch of us ran through Fellnight Queen, and one of the players who was on slow progression leveled up after the adaptable was over.

But here's the thing - he had 23 xp, received 1.5 xp for the mod, leaving him technically at 24.5 xp. However, he wants to switch back to Fast Track at 9th level (24 xp).

So does he eat the .5 xp and just sits at 24 xp, or would he sit at 25, allowing the .5 to round up (since he is in the Fast Track and it "sorta" is equivalent to a full point of xp)?

I looked around some, but couldn't find any definitive answer...anyone have any type of official answer?

So lately we've seen a lot of discussions and calls to offenders about min-maxing, optimizing, roleplaying, ruining the game, org play and beer. The beer doesn't really have anything to do with the rest directly, but still.

And so as someone who would probably be judged as an "offender" (as would the group I play with) simply by looking at our sheets...I am throwing my opinions in the ring.

The crux of my opinion...play the game as you will. It.Is.A.Game.

The corrollary to my opinion...have fun and aim to help other have fun too...no matter how you build your character.

Do you want to be a jack-of-all-trades/master of nothing who rolls out with 12s and 14s and is successful half the time and needs to be rescued from near-death by the hero the other half? Awesome, have a blast playing the would-be superstar who juuuust can't quite get there...honestly, it's a good, well-rounded schtick.

Do you want to be a One-Trick-Pony Nackle, due to the fact that you are playing a crazy-@$$ gnome who really thinks he's a pony who can only do one trick and who's best stats are Cha and Int, but took levels in Fighter? You have fun with that...seriously, as long as I'm not playing in the world's hardest death-rally, I would love to be at a table with you.

Do you want to be a min-max, flying, bomb-dropping, 25 rage-per-day barbarian who wields 4 keen falchions, has 18 attacks a round and has more HP than a geek has action figures?? Awesome, I will let you wade into battle before me and have fun RPing in the background if I'm not as strong as you. Again, have a blast with it.

Do you want to be a skill-monkey bardic rogue who picks locks while playing a drum with your third hand and inspiring the masses of virginal lasses while diplomacizing the king and giving us a lecture on all the knowledges of the world...while performing acrobatic feats? Awesome once more...be in my party...sounds like fun.

In all seriousness...I really think we need to knock off the "optimzation sucks" threads. Jason S (who just happens to share my first name and last initial, as well as at least some of this opinion it seems) put it well when he said this is really more about "the player" not "the character". My group tends to play cracked-out characters. We enjoy building characters that are "uber"...sometimes on their own...sometimes because the three of us specifically who play often meld together in a wicked synergy. People have complained that we are too powerful...and then I laugh like the Emperor and force-lightning them.

And yes, we have characters that could probably finish certain year zero mods solo...with only one leg and arm. But we also know how to play nice with others...we paid attention in Kindergarten you know.

For instance...we have three barbarians that can carve through enemies like 'butta', but when we're at a con with less-optimized characters, we'll hold back as long as we're not going to get killed doing so. We have spent entire mods before without swinging a weapon and instead grappling and cornering enemies so a weak ninja and a weaker neg-energy cleric could do their thing happily. And you know what? We all had fun.

Because all the players made it fun. Optimized characters fraternized with newbie heroes who had no idea how to build a character...and the Earth didn't implode and the table didn't run away sad or angry.

Why? Because of the players...not the characters.

So, here's is my plea to the smart masses out there...end the hate on character builds! Instead, support free-thinking creation of your own hero or heroine and support the idea that players make the game fun no matter what character they bring to the table!

And if you are still reading to this point...thanks, that was long. :)

So I haven't played some of the Season 2 ending mods yet...and so haven't found out any major reveals about the Shadow Lodge as that arc gets wrapped up.

But I did purchase the Field Guide....and on page 21, just got hit with (I'm assuming) the major reveal.

Ouch.

It's a sweet bit of info...but I would have liked to find out in-mod instead of in-book.

So, I pass the caution to you...if you don't want to find something out about the Shadow Lodge arc, stay away from page 21 of the Field Guide, which is about the SL faction.

You have been warned!!!

As I just downloaded it but haven't looked at it yet....am I the only one hoping this is a mod involving a futuristic snarky android?? :)

So going over the latest (April) Guide, a friend just happened to notice this rule:

Additionally, any magic items that have usage frequencies above 1/day (such as 1/week or 1/month and so on) are now considered to have the frequency of 1/scenario.

The reason this is of concern is because we each own an Ebony Fly Figurine...something that we purchased originally because of the wonderful utility it allowed with a 3/day usage...but in all honesty now we can only use it 1 per scenario?

How does this rule make sense when many scenarios actually last over multiple days?

And is there any chance this is something that is getting reviewed for the next update?

Hyrum/Mark - any word on when we'll see an update to the additional resources on what is legal/not legal in UM now that it's out?

So, I am keeping a log of my kills for one of my characters...and recently just played in these two mods.

Problem is, I forgot to keep track of them for those two, and I don't own them either. Yes, I could spend the eight dollars to buy them, but I thought I would go to the boards for some help first.

Could anyone that has these mods perhaps reply back in a spoiler block to tell me what enemies are in the Tier 1-2 for Penumbral and 4-5 for Infernal please? I only need the enemies for each encounter and how many per...don't need anything more than that.

Thanks!

Came across a build this weekend at a Con and wanted to know if it was legal per rules or not.

It was a druid with an animal companion (ape) who had an INT of 3, and had taken Additional Traits as one of the animal's feats. With that, he took Heirloom Weapon (Lucerne Hammer) as one of the traits.

Is this really legal??

I've looked for an official answer on this but haven't been able to find one.

If I have an eidolon with six limbs, and thus a total of six claw attacks...would a single Improved Damage evolution grant each of those 6 the proper damage bump? Or do you have to take ID 3 times (since 2 claws is "one" attack per the evolution?

The way it reads with "attack form" in the description I would say Improved Damage (Claws) would apply to all Claws, thus only needing one, not three.

Any official rules wording on this??

Thanks!

I know we don't know if anything is legal out of the Bestiary II yet, and I know I most likely won't get a definite answer out of this question, but I was wondering from Hyrum/Mark if there was any chance at anything out of there becoming legal to summon, such as the new elementals or anything like that?

No, it's not some kinky new reality show on Fox.

So, reading the following:

Larger swarms are represented by multiples of single swarms. The area occupied by a large swarm is completely shapeable, though the swarm usually remains in contiguous squares.

What I'm wondering is - what happens when one swarm attacks another swarm.

Remember, they don't attack, they just do damage to any creature whose space they occupy...so does this mean they can damage each other? Or do they not do anything, in effect just swarming around each other?

Given some talk about how to make Factions better/work better, I thought we might start a thread on community ideas...if there is already one out there, my apologies, I didn't see one.

1. Faction-specific rewards, past just module boons.

Boons are great, but they usually are for the whole mod, not just a faction.

For example, have some special weapon that isn't in any books or a neat favor/boon for completing a faction mission. It would take a bit more work and creativity, and maybe these special items would have to be created by Hyrum/Mark instead of the authors, but this would be something neat for us to play for within the faction instead of just Prestige Points.

Rewards like this add to the fervor of completing the mission and sting just that much more if you don't complete it. For this to work though, the mission tied to the reward would need to be harder....bringing up my second point.....

2. Make Faction missions a bit more challenging.

Recent mods seem to be doing this, which is great...a lot of earlier mods seemed like either a.) you got the faction mission if you just simply completed the mod as written or b.) if you just asked someone a question, you were golden (simplified, but I think you get my point)

More challenging missions make it more rewarding when you actually get it.

So I'm starting this thread instead of tying it to Dragnmoon's so I don't clutter that up (per his request...and a good request it was).

Anyway...I have an issue with the "can't simply choose to play up" rule.

So let's set the game up here: a tier 5-9 mod with a group of 5 level 6 players. APL = 6.

I know the table however, and they know each other, and I know very well that if I play 5-6 as written, instead of having them play 8-9, as they have requested, I might as well just write up the Chronicles now and we can just go watch a few Firefly episodes.

Why? Because they will breeze through the mod in 1/2 the time, take little to no damage and have little fun because there is absolutely no challenge whatsoever to them.

Or, we could run it at 8-9, make it a challenge, have more fun and still get done in the 4-5 hour time range we're supposed to.

And this game is supposed to be about fun, yes? So why not let a group choose that even if the APL isn't correct?

I was reading over the Scenario Submission advice again and something struck me as slightly funny, having just come from GenCon.

Josh writes: "Avoid child endangerment stories. It's cheap, it's trite, and I'm tired of reading them."

And yet...

I'm thinking of submitting a scenario idea, but was wanting to know if the one or two locations I was thinking of had been used/abused in any of the previous scenarios.

I can't remember them being used in any of the ones I have DM'd...or even played...but my memory ain't that good either. :)

So, is there a list of locations used by scenario out there somewhere, sorta similar to the list of maps?

First off, I want to say thanks to the whole Paizo clan...the APG truly has some very cool stuff in it, complementing the rest of the PFRPG line wonderfully.

That said, why do you hate the summoner so?

The summoner is a great idea for a class...I loved the idea as soon as I saw it, but with each pass at it from the original playtest, it has been beaten further and further into "Not Quite as Useful" land. Now, maybe most of this frustration stems from having seen it from "beta" to "final" and seeing what it once was and could have been, but I think my issues stem from seeing that view, and then hearing the reasons why it's not that view anymore.

Here are a couple of examples I am really refering to:

* Eidolon Can't Wear Armor - yes, armor cracked the Eidolon out too much, but taking it away completely made them a bit too squishy. Without my summoner basically casting (or wanding) Mage Armor "constantly", my Eidolon has a great chance of dropping. And since the Eidolon is honestly meant as a front-line warrior, this seems odd to me.

* Magic Items - awesome addition/clarification, but to make it either the Eidolon or Summoner? As we level, that essentially makes me choose between making my summoner a more effective caster or my Eidolon a worthwhile fighter. I guess this was the intent...but I'm not sure why there couldn't have been some crossover.

* Nerf of our SLA - really?? This is one thing that made this class fun to play -- our beater/tank was out there and we could still throw some utility/ranged help out as well.

Battlefield spamming? We couldn't spam any worse (if even as well as) any druid, sorcerer or wizard. Maybe, if a summoner for some reason took the Summon spells, we might be able to throw one more creature out there...but I for one never had more than my Eidolon and one summoned creature out there at at time.

If you were going to make the Summon Monster SLA and Eidolon use the same "source", why couldn't you have given us something else...anything...more skill points, skill focus, throw in spell focus(abj) and/or augment summoning...more evo points for the Eidolon...almost anything like that would be more useful....especially because.....

* Eidolon still takes 1 min to summon - I'm hoping this is errata'd given this statement from the preview:

APG Preview 2 wrote:

the big one was a change to how often the summoner can call his eidolon. He can now summon the ally as often as he likes (provided it has not been banished due to damage recently), but he cannot use his summon monster ability at the same time. This allows him to keep the flexibility needed with the summoned creatures, but prevents him from overrunning the battlefield with too many creatures.

And please don't tell me the Summon Eidolon spell is what that was referring to...because as far as I can tell this spell is nearly worthless, and I can't see anyone taking this as one of their few, precious slots.

OK, well, I think I've been negative enough, but I had to get some of that off my chest and see if anyone can give me some answers/advice. Like I said, I'm really happy with most of PFRPG and PFS and I really like the idea of this class, and it is fun to play overall, but I just kinda feel like we got the shaft while most of the other classes (Alchemist specifically) got some sweet, sweet Bulmahn love. :)

Oh and in closing, I did want to say thank you for giving us Haste back at level 2. :)

So, Eidolon's HD/BAB get reduced, fine....it's a little harsh I think, considering it's our damage output, but makes more like a companion, and we do get to have our summoned monsters a lot longer and quicker...so guess I can't really argue.

With the reduction in HD though, do we still treat their first level of HP as a companion, so they only get 6 (5 from the d10 and 1 for CON) at first level, or do they get full like a character at first?

Whatever the answer is, thanks for the new playtest rules...awesome job on all of this and for listening to the playtesters!

I'm getting ready to start up Burnt Offerings Friday night, and am wondering what the norm is for what info in the beginning to tell the PCs.

Obviously they need to know that they are in Sandpoint for the Festival, and I can give them a bit of background on the town, but what about all of the Adventure Background/Nualia's Story details?

Has anyone shared bits of these details right off the start? If so, did it help or hurt?

Thanks!