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Now to me too a couple of the other ideas:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Bear with me here, and it doesn't HAVE to be dwarfs and there don't have to be seven. The PC's (who all have a trait focused on their connection with the Princess, but servants of some kind) overhear that the queen (not by blood, her husband died and she isn't the Princess' mother) is going to kill the princess to keep the throne.
I am really enjoying the third book after picking it up last night. As usual, the story is top notch, with epic encounters and a real build on the PC's villainous path. While production values are good in that the layout is nice and the artwork fantastic, quality control seems to have suffered. There are a lot of grammatical mistakes and the bookmark to Mitra: Lord of Light is broken for me. Of course, the great thing about the electronic format is those things can be fixed. An example of an important mistake:
I'm not saying anyone needs to stay away from this book, but it appears you guys are having a harder time keeping up, and it's bleeding through some. I'm just glad book 3 still stands strong, despite those.
After he arrives, Hollander says to Cirnos: "It's not guts. I'd rather be in charge of my own destiny. Name's Hollander, and while I'm a crack shot at a distance, I wouldn't mind teaming up with someone better suited for the "hands-on" situations."
whispered to Cirnos: "It occurs to me, that with a 5 foot step, we could be in a spot to eliminate 1 or 2 as they come up, and step right back to safety."
To take it a step further, I can remain in stealth if I cast Interposing Hand, but not if I cast grasping hand? Why does an attack spell that doesn't visibly originate from the caster break stealth?
I'm not trying to be difficult, and RAI vs RAW is the best argument I've seen so far (NPC spells should end just like PC spells).Zape, I don't think that's the intent. If a villain casts blindness or contagion on a PC, I don't think anyone intends for those effects to wash away harmlessly at the end of the scenario. For one thing, people would have to track whether a disease came from a spell or normal disease-catching. You could just as easily say "Purchased NPC spells end just like PC Spells". It's still a point of contention until such a change finds it's way to the guide, or the spell gets removed from availability. Sadly, I feel like these are just justifications to maintain the integrity of the patched heirloom weapon trait.
I think the simplest fix is just to expand the list of prohibited spells. If you can't cast a spell in a PFS module, then there are no arguments over what happens when the module ends. This is already done for Awaken and other spells, I don't understand why there is reluctance to handle new problem spells in the same way. Agreed, if the spell is that much of a problem, that is the simplest fix. I think the problem isn't really the spell but the heirloom weapon trait.
Where do you see it being allowed? paizo.com/pathfindersociety/resources Adds all spells from Ultimate Magic, as I mentioned above. The organized play guide essentially states that "generally speaking" in a large enough settlement spellcasting services may be purchased as per the rules on pages 163 and 159 of the core rulebook.I'm not trying to be difficult, and RAI vs RAW is the best argument I've seen so far (NPC spells should end just like PC spells). I see no flaw with that logic, except that it means you can't hold DMs that interpret it as written accountable when someone gets their heirloom weapon made masterwork and then enchanted. I'm looking for something in the rules/guide that stops that.
From the resources page, Ultimate Magic:
Since it is explicitly allowed, what makes Masterwork Transformation a prohibited spell, that NPCs won't cast?
How can I take that back to a player? It is not in the restricted spells list from the resources guide, and Spellcasting Services section of the guide pretty much says spells less than 7th level can be purchased using the cost rules from page 159 of the Core rulebook. Sure, it's not been used in a scenario, but that same logic could be applied to a large range of spells. "Sample spellcasting costs for common spells" and look on the following page for rules on pricing other spells both make me wonder where I can find the text you are suggesting says it violates some rules.
The problem with your statement is that it's based on the false assumption the PC will cast it. The only rule that would prevent Masterwork Transformation from lasting beyond the current session applies only if a PC does it. There is nothing in the guide that says spells cast by an NPC go away. I know I have a player who has every intention of spending the 450(300+150) GP soon, and I see no grounds to deny this spell casting service.
Is this blanket rule in the Guide to Organized Play?Any spell cast by a PC during the course of a scenario that is still active at the end of a scenario ends when the scenario does. For example, if your cleric PC casts bless on the party and bless is still active when the scenario ends, the bless spell ends at the conclusion of the scenario. This includes spells with an instantaneous or permanent duration, such as continual flame, create undead or fabricate. Seems easily solvable... pay an NPC to cast the spell on your weapon.
Hey, I have a question I'd like to float out there. Has anything been done to fix registration and/or badge pick-up for DragonCon this year? I ask because, although I had a great time last year at the Con, the brutal 4+ hour wait to get my badge has turned me off to going again this year. I wondered if anyone involved with PFS and DragonCon knows any info related to this. Thanks. They've been bragging in the newsletter about how much more streamlined they expect things to be due to using barcodes for those preregistered, and allowing those registering on site to print barcodes with all of the demographic information before they show up: DragonCon Barcode Generator. I hope they are right... My pals were 7+ hours in line, I was a "lucky" one only spending 4 hours in line.
Thanks for the info. I didn't know you could start with 4th and 7th level pre-gens. Important to note: when you pick up a 4th or 7th level pregen and play it, you won't be able to carry that over as a playable character. Me and my group are excited. I signed up 4 of us for 8 sessions, including the 8 hour session. 36 hours of gaming goodness, and we COULD pile on more if we get the urge.
I don't see a problem with it. If I was GM'ing a table and you wanted to play after spending the PA, I'd certainly let you. It sounds like you kind of got the shaft, anyhow, since Josh had indicated at one point (before there was a mechanic for it) that if a TPK or some such happened, the Pathfinder Society sent agents to retrieve the bodies, anyhow. We did get the shaft from that GM. It was at DragonCon 2010, and looking over the module after the fact, the NPCs did impossible things(Blind Oracle seeing people and casting fireballs 130 ft. away). It was a particularly lethal module, and if I had it to do over, we wouldn't have played it at all. The only group that GM had survive it ran out of time before the bad part.
I had a character with enough faction points for a raise dead involved in a party wipe. My character was deemed removed from being able to play due to him being "lost". Since then, the rules for having your body recovered have been added. Can I spend the prestige points (5 + 16) and bring the character back now, even though the rules were not there to do so then? Thanks!
Kyle,
Thanks and thanks for the great tool,
Time, I suppose for the actual DM in question to speak. I knew this thread was out here, but hadn't read it. I want to clear up at least a couple of questions. It might help give better feedback to the player posting here.
I have a hard time picturing an LG character saying the ends justify the means. You kill the baby, you committed an evil act. Per the paladin code, you have fallen. It doesn't leave any wiggle room there. Robin Hood fought to restore order and remove an evil man by doing wrong things to bad people(Greater Good). That is the definition of CG, but you would have him pegged as LG because he had the foresight to take the long-term solution to rid the world of an evil ruler. <edit>
If a polymorph spell causes you to change size, apply the size modifiers appropriately, changing your armor class, attack bonus, Combat Maneuver Bonus, and Stealth skill modifiers. Your ability scores are not modified by this change unless noted by the spell. It was NOT easy to find this section that gives the over-all changes a polymorph spell makes to an individual (like if you become a fish you do get to water breath).
If role playing was all you wanted, you should have taken the original suggestion of use the Half-Orc and call him an Ogrekin. Give him high physical and weak mental stats and you're done. If you want to play a midget, I wouldn't make you go out and find a "Vertically Challenged Person" template, either.
The bestiary rules are purely designed for NPCs to challenge the party. It's not possible to create any character using them without DM fiat. There is nothing balanced or fair about applying templates to characters, though it can certainly add fun when it is a part of what happens to characters in the game.
While I'd still rather stick to Paizo published/more balanced races, I'm allowing the Half-Ogre. It will give him the slightly exaggerated stats he was aiming for without blowing the power level through the roof. It also closes the door on the level adjustment arguement which never balances itself out. I'll just have to make sure he regrets not having that Orc Ferocity, at lease once. :)
why not just play a half orc fighter? As the DM he is referring to, that has been my counter argument all along. For the discussion, it is important to know: he has the Ogrekin attribute that increases his natural AC bonus to +5 and the other one that makes him light-sensitive. +5 to AC is pretty stellar, and only offset with a -1 when in sunlight. I think it, with the other bonuses, makes up for the missing hit points, and by higher level, his CON will more than offset the missing hit points. If I don't offset with 2 negative levels, this character will dominate at lower levels, be a hard to hit meatball by mid levels, and a beast at upper levels.
So, my friends and I went to Dragon*Con to play a little PFS. We really wanted a chance to experience playing together, so we were pretty pumped. We realized that there was a level 5+ game, and a level 7+ game. In preparation, we played through a slew of scenarios both before and during our downtime at the Con(since there were only a total of 6 scenarios and 14 slots, we had plenty of spare time). We knew we couldn't possibly get up high enough for the level 7 game (though one of us would, because he had played PFS previously). But we did get into the evil module that is 2-03, and came close to a party wipe. One person survived, but failed to succeed in a grapple/pin that would have allowed characters to return after a raise dead(this isn't a spoiler, it was simply our situation). As it was, the rest of the party could only be brought back with a resurrection. Lacking THAT much Faction, characters were lost for good, time to reroll. PFS succeeded in making us attatched to our characters which is a good thing. Unfortunately, the proof of that is that some of our group have sworn off PFS for good. The thought that a random DM, or a module with a high mortality rate can scratch characters they spent hundreds of dollars for the privelege of playing and put 60+ hours of play into isn't a risk they want to take again. We all had fun, and I will at some point play PFS again. I hate that some of my friends won't. I know serious consequences are needed, because without something on the line, it isn't nearly as exciting when you DO succeed. But, not everyone plays Diablo hardcore, and it's a shame there isn't some mechanism for a session to be scratched. Here is the kicker... looking at the rules afterward, the NPC being pinned only had 1 chance / round to escape, not the 2 the DM mistakenly gave(basing it off attacks, not off it being a standard action). All was lost for rules error (can't blame the DM, not one of us realized this at the time).
Randal Silversand: Randal Silversand, Human Wizard(Evoker) Growing up, Randal was known as a bit of a hot head. The only thing more impressive than his willingness to start a fight with someone bigger than himself was the ingenuity of the ways he would get revenge on them later(they were bigger, after all). His parents were quite glad when Faslo, the town wizard showed a willingness to take Randal in as an apprentice. While he wasn't always the most attentive student, Randal's raw talent often pulled him through his lessons. After the recent, burning incident at the local tavern, Faslo decided Randal was trained "well enough", and dismissed Randal from the rest of his commitment, urging him to travel "far and fast". Randal has decided to prove himself in a new land, and to live up to the legends his grandmother used to tell him of his great-great-grandfather the brave adventurer. His leadership role could easily be that of Magister.
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