Zach M.'s page

Ice Titan and Martin have some great ideas. Let me throw one more out there.

If your players are still dead set on traveling across the ocean, through territory that has never been explored with untold dangers, have one of the seven Linnorn Kingdoms suddenly, and unexpectedly, blockade Kalsgard. They aren't, after all, united and they're VIKINGS. Devise a story for why Kalsgard and one of the other Kingdoms would be at each other's throats. Design in such a way that it would take months for the situation to resolve.

Here's an example from my game. My players decided that they didn't want to waste their time trying to find Ulf. They went to the two named merchant guilds that travel across the Crown of the World - the Rimerunner's Guild and one other one named in the back of the book. The latter told them that they only deal with referenced clients, and both of them told the players that it would be 3-4 months before trade started up again. My players absolutely did NOT want to wait 3-4 months. I didn't make it off limits, but rather made the option less attractive.

If you go with the blockade route, you might run into the problem of your players railroading from the AP and wanting to get involved in the national turmoil. You'll have to take that into consideration and devise something that will make it less likely they'll want to do that.

I wanted to get some others' feedback about the Shark-Eating Crab encounter (p.22). My party at the moment consists, regularly, of 3 players: a rogue, wizard (abjurer), and a sorcerer (boreal). I'm concerned, that even with the support of two NPCS (Spivey and Kelda) this is going to be an extremely challenging encounter that may result in a TPK.

Did anyone else's party have problems with this encounter? Any ideas how I might go about keeping it a challenge, but one within their abilities to handle?

Small correction: The formula in cell C3 should be:

=$A3/C$2

Then copy and paste-special, Formulas to paste the formula without changing the cell colors.

The dollar signs "lock" the cell reference when you copy - so this version makes it always refer to Column A for the numerator (total miles) and Row 2 for the denominator (speed).

You're right. Small oversight on my part. Thanks Cintra.

EDIT: I couldn't format it right on the forums, so I made it a google document.

Hungry Storm Travel Time

I could not for the life of me get this to show decimal points because I am not a person who uses Excel. If anyone knows how, please tell me so that I can make it show decimal points. It really irritates me that the 56 mpd caravan's first trip from Iqualiat to L takes 2 days and its second trip takes 1 day. >:/

Thanks so much for this Ice Titan! This is incredibly helpful.

From what I can gather with your excel doc, the problem seems to be with the formula - the "QUOTIENT()" formula, by definition, returns an integer rather than a decimal. You have a couple options:

1) At the top of the google doc, go to "Format", then "Number", then "custom decimals" (or simply pick "2 decimals"). You should be able to change the numbers are displayed, although using the "QUOTIENT" formula will make the decimals all 0s.

2) The other option, and what I would recommend, would be to do a simple division in the cell (e.g., =A3/$C$2) rather than using the quotient formula.

I hope that helps!

And neither players or GM(me) realized the implications of what had happened until the session was over, they had just beaten back 6 Viking Huskarls with an episode of My Little Pony....never saw that one coming.

This is classic! I love it. It's moments like these that make Pathfinder and RP games worth it.

Zaranorth wrote:

Jason Nelson wrote:

Long story short: You might remind your PCs from time to time that they have options other than ALL-OUT ATTACK. :)

Just remember to award them XP even if they do run. Nothing like fleeing from something that they know will kill them, only to be told they don't get any experience from it. That'll lead to the players choosing to take on horribly out-matched fights that the characters would never choose because they meta-game know that that's the only way to get XP. (Thankfully we broke the only DM in our group that had that attitude of it early on. There's little more aggravating than being "punished" for doing something wise in-character.)

I think both of the above mentioned things are pretty good options, I'm generally quick to award my players for navigating an encounter by means other than combat, so the XP reward would be a given. After my players Ogre encounter in the first book they re-read the escape rules for themselves. With luck they might take them to heart in the future if they land a bad string of random encounters.

I agree completely with all of you. It was a poor oversight on the part of myself and the players, and I introduced the encounter with wording that unfortunately made the players think that there was no possible way to avoid it. I'm still relatively new to GMing, so this was an important lesson learned. I still gave the players XP even though they died. I might, at some point, even provide small XP bonuses for innovative ways of navigating encounters. I will have to find some good way to balance this out though.

I'm almost thinking the book might be taking into account attacks from the PC's or something supplemental that I might be missing in my skim of the book thus far. That seems like the only way to manage the damage totals for most of these fights.

Also, I suppose this might be further incentive to not 'rush off' half cocked and actually have them take their time? Still speculating though, others with a bit higher level caravans chime in with your thoughts!

My players just finished the first caravan encounter in Book 2.

My players decided, after looking through all of the feats and rules in the player's guide, to focus on offense rather than defense. They had the same worries that you did - namely that the caravan wouldn't be able to pump the caravan's AC high enough to counteract the high attack modifiers and damage. On the flip side, they are also rather stingy about putting their own money into the caravan, so they haven't bought any armored wagons to increase the caravan AC. On the whole, it seems that the best feat investment for survival is the increased damage feat. By about 7th level (roughly the start of book 3) the caravan could be doing 5d6+7 points of damage - an average of 23 points/round. Fights would basically be a "who can kill who first?" situation. When the caravan has 200 hps and the enemies have 100, it's likely the caravan will survive the fight simply because the damage discrepancy is lower and the caravan has twice the number of hit points.

I would also be interested in hearing about some of the strategies other groups have used.

What I will probably do is inform my players that it's possible to gain notoriety points, but not inform them as to what actions add to their total, or even what their total is. If they somehow decrease their notoriety points, I will probably add in subtle in-game clues that will hint at that fact.

P.11 of Frozen Shadows: ** spoiler omitted **

Thanks SnowHeart. I somehow didn't see that in the AP.

Ignore my second question. I found the answer to my own question (~440 miles).

I have a couple questions about this adventure:

1) "The Brinewall Legacy" mentions a reward from Kelda Oxgutter should the PCs take her to Kalsgrad, but I haven't found any mention of that reward in "Night of Frozen Shadows." I can always improv this part, but I was wondering if I either missed it in the Adventure Path, or it was left out and there was something specific planned for this piece of the adventure.

2) About how long, in distance, is Kalsgrad from Brinewall? I want to make sure I have the correct number of days that the PCs will take to get to the city.

Zach M. wrote:

Do you have any long-term plans for how this other caravan will tie into the overarching story?

Nope, because I don't really know how it will all turn out. Most of the AP authors work on the design team but not only would I never ask them what happens in future episodes (since they are under NDAs) but they would never tell me (ditto). So I won't know how it will wrap up, or what role things play in the over-arching story, until you do. BUT I figured building in some extra conflict doesn't hurt. If I don't need it, I can drop it.

Oh sorry! I wasn't implying that you would try to get information preemptively. I was asking based on your current knowledge of the campaign. By the way, I have to say that I am taking a lot of inspiration from your ideas; namely adding in interesting and novel events not scripted in the book. For example, I'm going to be dictating all of the caravan encounters that the PCs run across rather than relying upon the random encounter table.

Also, very nice job with the newspaper! I think it's a little too late for me to steal it myself, but I really do like it.

Hadn't seen a thread for this yet and I like reading other people's concepts. I'm down with OPC.

I'm GMing the campaign, and these are the characters my players have picked:

F Drow Rogue (Scout)
M Shoanti Barbarian (Invulnerable Rager)
F Half-Orc Sorcerer (Boreal)
M Half-Elf Cleric of Desna

I think the half-orc is my favorite archetype. His character wades into combat with a great-axe. The Boreal abilities will eventually become very cool. It also fits the setting of the campaign quite well.

Deadliest Warrior dropped the ball on this one.

They got close. The did a Samurai vs. Viking episode. The Samurai won ... naturally.

I had a Fighter/Barbarian character that had max ranks in a craft skill and also took the feat that allowed him to craft magical arms and armor (without being a caster).

Another character (barbarian/sorcerer/dragon disciple) has ranks in all of the social skills, as well as skill focus (intimidate), the intimidating glare rage ability, AND the feat that allows you to add your str mod to intimidate checks. He's a scary fellow.

Personally I think having feats & abilities like these give your character tons of flavor. Given they're not required to add flavor, but I always like it when characters take feats and skills that relate to how their character behaves.

I'm working on my "Sandpoint Chronicle," a newspaper of sorts that I do during my campaign. I use it as a way to introduce rumors (without having to do the tedious rumor gathering in town), and to plant seeds and foreshadow things. I also use it as a way to recap the PCs achievements (from the eyes of the public, which is sometimes not so favorable). I also use it to set up tension with rival NPC adventuring parties. For instance, I intend to introduce a made up Kaijitsu brother of Ameiko's that has just come to town. His actual heritage is questionable. But I intend to have him and his band of roguish friends create a competing caravan to follow after the PCs to provide for some more fun and RP moments and chances for the PCs to interact with the caravan NPCs. I started this newspaper angle back in my first Shackled City campaign when I did a "Cauldron Chronicle". Of course, a campaign that stays in one core location gains more from such a device, but it is still worth it here. By the way, the Chronicle is run by a diminutive Joan Rivers-esque "gossip gnome," so lets just say the accuracy of the reporting is not always the best, which is part of the fun. :)

I love this idea! I'm actually a pretty new GM and just starting up my own Jade Regent campaign. I have to admit to patrolling these forums looking for creative and inventive ideas other, more experienced, GMs have used. I'd love to hear how the "Sandpoint Chronicle" and the competing caravan works out in your game.

There's a feat for Shoanti tribes in the Inner Sea World Guide. Also, there's a big article about the Shoanti in Pathfinder #10.

Thanks James! I must have overlooked that feat; it's exactly what I was looking for. I'm about to start the Jade Regent campaign, and one of my players is playing a Shoanti barbarian. I wanted to make sure he was aware of the flavor feat just in case he wants to take it.

They are likely covered in Humans of Golarion and the Inner Sea World Guide.

Thanks Liz. I don't have Humans of Golarion, but I did check the Inner Sea World Guide. It details all of the specific clans; I may have misremembered the in-game rules specific to the Shoanti clans. An enterprising GM can always ad-hoc rules if a player wants to play a Shoanti. I'll post back if I find anything in Humans of Golarion.

I have a quick question about where to find some information about the Shoanti. A few days ago I remember reading a source book that had some in-game rules regarding the Shoanti tribes. If I remember correctly they were either racial traits or alternative racial (human) abilities. I can't seem to find the source despite a long search through various books and the forum archives. Can someone help me out? Thanks!

Hey everyone!

I'm new to the forums and Pathfinder Organized play, however I have played with 3.5 rules for about 7 years and pathfinder rules more or less since they came out. I recently moved to Reno, NV and would like to get involved in Pathfinder play in the area, but I can't seem to find any games. I would like to get some people together for Pathfinder Organized play in the area and if possible, I would like to make it official play.

What constitutes a block of downtime. Reading the crafting rules for Orgainized play (copy/pasted below) it list the requirement to spend 4 downtime days per block of downtime to prepare before beginning actual crafting.

IMO a block of downtime is 8. If that is true 4 out of 8 downtime days is spent just preparing for it. How about if you only have 2 or 4 days of downtime? Can you spend 2 downtime days and the next session prepare 2 more then spend the next 4 downtime crafting even if it is spread over another session?

On another forum a poster believe a block of downtime day is however long you spend crafting the item. Meaning you spend 4 downtime days preparing and every additional day you craft is 1 downtime. Meaning you can spend 32 downtime days to prepare 4 days and craft 28. Makes sense but IMO that is too optimistic.

IMO this makes the Faction Boon Crafters Wookhall pretty important. Does anyone know what the text "However, your fellow faction members expect your assistance in return." means in actual gameplay? I do not mind doing a quest or running errands during game, but if it is spending gold or downtime days than it defeats the purpose.

Crafting: Some characters may choose to spend their time Crafting a piece of equipment. The rules for crafting can be found on pages 244-245 and 503–504 the Core Rulebook. Use the DC based on the level of the item from Table 10–5 for common items, applying the hard DC adjustment from Table 10–6 to the DC for uncommon items and the very hard DC adjustment for rare items. You can Craft uncommon or rare items only if you find their formulas. Crafting requires that you spend the first 4 days of a block of Downtime preparing before attempting your check to Craft; unlike Earning Income, Crafting tasks can be continued across as many Downtime days as necessary until the item is completed or you pay the remainder of the Price required to finish the item.

I have a few questions most of which relate to shield. I have searched the books and as much info as I can find but do not see it printed anywhere.

Question 1: Shield boss and shield spikes are listed in the melee martial weapons table. Weapon runes can be attached to them and they scale based on martial weapon proficiency from what I have read. They have weapon critical specialization and a few other places mention its a weapon attack.

This to me means they can be considered melee weapons.

Wouldn't this imply that a sword and shield user is wielding two weapons. So feats like Double Slice should apply and I can attack with both and gain the benefit of the feat.

Wouldn't this also imply that you can use parry feats. Example Dueling Parry or Twin Parry depending on if you are wielding a shield and unarmed or sword and shield. (sword is an example and could be any one handed melee weapon). This means you can add another +2 to AC.

Am I missing something?

Reason being is this: Raise Shield +2 AC, Dueling Parry +2 AC for 4 AC. Normally this would require 1 feat and 2 actions. Take Dueling Dance or Paragon Guard to offset it at level 12 (fighter) by making one of the actions include a strike or make it free.

Questions 2: Crafting confuses me, but since I plan on investing in shields I will want to be able to repair the shield to the best of my ability. How heavily depends on the DM and hopefully answers i find here before the game.

Lets take a simple Steel Shield. Its item level is 0. From reading the book to craft or repair the shield the normal DC should be 14

Lets assume I have a 12 Int (+1), Trained in Crafting at level 1 (+3), and Specialty Crafting (blacksmithing) (+1) for a total of +5.

With a 14 DC and a +5 i would need to roll a 9 or better to succeed. A Nat 1 would cause a critical failure and deal 2d6 damage and may destroy the shield. At level 3 I take expert in crafting so I will have +9. This means I need 5 or higher to succeed but it is still a critical fail on a nat 1.

Now lets assume I have the Assurance feat. Still a DC of 14 but now I should only have a +3 as I can't add specialty crafting or the int bonus. At level 1 there should be no point as it will be an auto fail. At level 2 and beyond it should be an auto succeed with no risk of a critical failure.

From the above the Assurance feat seems worth it.

Now I do not plan on having a steel shield long. I plan on upgrading to a sturdy shield (minor) as soon as I can afford it. Sturdy Shield (minor) is a level 4 common magic item. If I read the book right the DC should be 19 to repair this shield.

Lets assume I have 12 Int (+1), Expert in Crafting at level 4 (+8), and Specialty Crafting (blacksmithing) (+1) for a total of +10.

With a DC of 19 I would again need to roll a 9 or better to craft or repair it with a nat 1 a critical failure. At level 5 with the Assurance feat it will succeed every time.

With just a quick check it seems when I upgrade to Sturdy shield (lessor) at level 7 I should auto succeed with the Assurance feat. The other upgrades are the same.

Question 3: Tower shields seems to have little information about them. Tower shields are more expensive, have a movement speed reduction and have a much higher bulk. Overall not worth it. I want them to be worth it though but can not figure out how. I can remove the speed reduction with the dwarf feat Unburdened Iron and increase my bulk limit with feats but that would require 3 feats just to increase my AC and Reflex saves by 2 which also requires an action. (the action is take cover which is where the +2 ac comes from as well as the reflex save)

There are also no Specific tower shields. Sturdy Shields are by far the best IMO and those are just normal magical steel shields. Is it even possible to make a Sturdy Tower Shield and if so what should be the increase in cost. As I do not think there are rules for this I assume it would be one of those where a DM has to decide. Rather not even bother at that point.

Am I missing something?

Hell and thanks for reading. Have a few questions that I am unsure on.

1. Enhancement bonused do not stack but want to clarify items worn and spells cast. How I read it if you have belt that gives a +6str enhancement bonus then you cant benfit from getting the spell Bull Might since both say enhancment bonus right? Thats how I read it but someone in game uses both.

2. The DC to make a magical item seems low and wanting to make sure Im reading it right.

[qoute=D20srd] The DC to create a magic item is 5 + the caster level for the item. The DC to create a magic item increases by 5 for each prerequisite the caster does not meet [/qoute]

So if I have master craftsmen my rank will be my casterlevel. I use the scrolls for each day. If I want to put a 1st level spell into an item with CL of 1 what would the DC be? Have the item crafting feat.

DC would be 5+5+1 = 11 right?

I would like to find a group to join. There are recruitment threads, but since I am new to this I thought it better to post this type of post instead. That way the GM and group may be more understanding and I wont ruin the fun for the group by being a noob.

My play style is I enjoy working on my backstory and class. I can play a healer, caster, or melee without a problem. I have played many over powered games and dont mind them but would prefer core rules only. Less likely a few group members would be way overpowered while others underpowered.

Game play: Prefer a lot of dungeon and monster fights with some roleplay. Means I like at least 25% of the time playing to be actually fighting. Dont even mind if its a lot higher but am ok with it not being. I will be able to roleplay my character a lot better by typing rather then using voice chat so prefer no voice chat ( not sure if thats possible).

I am 32 and a college tutor while working for an advanced degree. Have the time to play. Would like to learn how to play on these boards and in the future GM. Designing realms and game play really interest me.

I am currently a 4th lvl Zen Archer and just made 5th level and trying to decide whats the best path. This is a powergame where we could pick any race or class on the D20pathfindersrd site. The group will likely see 20 and there is a possiblity to seeing above level 20.

Heres what I was thinking and wanting to see if anyone has any advice.
I have a +2 Adaptive Deep Crystal Composite Longbow that the GM allowed to be crafted (rolled % and I got lucky).

I plan on getting 6 levels of Zen Archer. Then 10 levels of Physic Fist. That way ill have my 7 flurry of blows attack, full unarmed bonus and AC (with monks robe), and 50speed boost.

I have 4 levels where I can choose another class and not sure what would be the biggest bang for the buck.

Should I take the classes now or wait till after 16.
Instead of spending a feat on wild talent (Requirement of having a powerpoint reserve for psionic fist) should I take a psionic class instead (was thinking Marksmen though have to ask the GM since its not on the D20srd site yet).

I will be getting a crafting item feat when I meet the requirements since I enjoy crafting and will fit my character backstory. Also want the ability to cast spells (psionics in this case). In combat I want to normally use my flurry of blows so wont cast much if at all while in combat. Normally have to to prepare in our game to buff and so forth.

[wall of text]

I have just started playing pathfinder after nearly a 10 year break
from DnD. Have a few questions I could not find anywhere or had more then one answer.

* 1. Can my caster level be higher then my charecter level.

* 2. How does crafting an item (wonderous, weapon, armor) if I do not have the spell on my spell list. This is from the book.
"Most of the time, they take the form of spells that must be known by the item's creator (although access through another magic item or spellcaster is allowed)." and "In addition, you cannot create potions, spell-trigger, or spell-completion magic items without meeting its prerequisites" I think that means I cant make wands, scrolls and potions but I can make weapons, armor, wonderous items, rings.

I understand that my DC to craft it at the end increases for not knowing the spell.

Example: I want to craft bracers of shielding (continuous) but can not cast shielding though have a lvl 5 sorcerer.

Base Cost: Caster Level(min3)x Spell Lvl(1)x 2000x2(for duration)
=12000gold base cost. So will take 12days to make normally(in town).

Can I make it using a Scroll of Shield.