aeontrin's page

Thank you.

I noticed that the pregen zip file was updated yesterday. Is this related to the ACG errata changes? thanks.

Any idea of an ETA for this?

Thanks,

Will

Oh yeah, armor and weapon training are pretty good, no doubt. Since you were level 1 and the fighter wouldn't have it yet, that's what made me curious. The hp thing makes sense, thanks!

I was looking ahead to plan out how this Avenger was going to grow.

Will

Thanks for playtesting aeontrin; rock on! I agree with Doomn that you keep assault training.

Also, and I'm curious; we've heard from people who weren't playing it, but I'm interested in your perspective: you say you felt like a weaker fighter, what made you feel like a fighter would be stronger than you are? What were those times when you said "If I were a fighter, I would have been doing better?" As you said, the extra skills gave you some times when you could shine over the fighter (and I guess you have an edge up in saving throws too; my forum research has led to many people saying that Will>Fort>Ref, so Will+Ref is a big edge up from Fort alone), but I'm curious about vice versa.

Even though it did not really come into play, the fewer HPs gave the impression of being weaker. The saving throw differences did not come up at this particular table. The Fighter's Armor and Weapon Training abilities also might give a bit of an edge over the Avenger. OTOH, though, many of the Avenger's Talents are Feats with a little something extra so the two classes may be closer competitively than first appearances would indicate.

Will

I playtested a level 1 Human Avenger Vigilante at a PFS Game Day last Saturday. Most of the notes I made are PFS-specific and so I will not discuss them here. The biggest question that was not PFS-specific was how many of the Vigilante's abilities are shared between identities. Page 3 states that "Many of the class features of the vigilante are usable only when the vigilante is in one of his two identities, as noted in the ability." This, however, does not cover Feats, Skills, or Traits. The GM at the table and I agreed that these were shared, but Feats went inactive if the prerequisites were not met. For example, the level 1 Avenger Vigilante has the Assault Training ability which gives +1 BAB/ Vigilante level. My PC took Power Attack and Furious Focus for his two Feats. If he was not in his Vigilante identity, he would not receive the benefits of Assault Training and thus could not use either Feat. Were we correct in this?

In play itself, as expected, the Avenger Vigilante was a weaker Fighter. The loss of 1 HP was negligible as the one encounter that took him to negatives would have taken him down regardless. Attacks went the same as they would have for a 1st-level Fighter. The additional skills, particularly the Charisma-based ones, are a welcome sight. I did have the brief opportunity to use his Social identity to go into town and do party business without tying the activity back to the party. I suspect that he will do a number of investigative tasks in his Social identity in the future.

I look forward to playing him some more and leveling him up during the playtest period.

Thanks,

Will

Thanks for the update.

I saw that the timestamp on the Additional Resources page got updated to yesterday's date. I am assuming that is because of the sanctioning of Wardens of the Reborn Forge. Is there an ETA on the regular Additional Resources update (the last one was 10/29/14). Thanks.

Now that the Andoran faction is now Liberty's Edge, how does the Honored by the Twilight Talons boon work? I have a table of this running tomorrow and people are going to ask, I'm sure.

Thanks,

Will

Are we going to get an updated set of pregens this year? I ask this of campaign management for two reasons. First, the existing set needs some editing to remove errors. Second, we have a slew of new classes coming out (and some older ones that never got pregens).

Thanks,

Will

Okay, I see the traits in the Additional Resources under Inner Sea Primer. I can then assume that the selection of regions that provide those traits is PFS-Legal as the traits are regional requiring such a selection?

Thanks.

I had assumed that they were until I got the latest beta from PCGen, which they explicitly removed them from PCs for PFS. I looked at the Additional Resources and it does not indicate anything about this, which usually means that they are not PFS-Legal. Is there another place that I can look to nail this down one way or the other?

Thanks,

Will

It replaces the Whimsy subdomain from Blood of Angels with a new, useless one.

It replaces the Butterfly Sting feat that everyone could take with one that only followers of Desna can take.

It muddies the stance of Taldor vs. Sarenrae.

Is that they type of stuff you're looking for?

Exactly.

Thanks,

Will

I am trying to figure out if I need to get this ASAP.

Thanks,

Will

1) Can a wizard retrain an opposition school via the retraining rules in PFS?

2) If so, is this accomplished by one retraining session of 5 PP or two for 10 PP (basically, training out of the original school and back into it)?

Thanks,

Will

Two items that are different:

1) DEG mentions Kitsune Feats found in the Dragon Empires Primer. These probably would be available for all Kitsune.

2) DEG and ARG have different starting languages and bonus languages.

I don't have the boon in front of me just now to confirm, but the issue appears to stem from Additional Resources where kitsune is mentioned for both sources.

I do. I am just running into a character generator issue as to which source should take precedence. The ARG version is more generic while the DEG version is Tien-centric.

Thanks.

When making a Kitsune PC for PFS, do you use the version in Dragon Empires Gazetteer or Advanced Race Guide? I would think ARG would trump the earlier source.

On assigning a higher level chronicle played with a pregen to a low level character: simply replace earned gold with a generic amount that's level appropriate for character. Say 500 gp for a 1st, 1200 for a 3rd, etc. GM could sign off on gold amount on chronicle.

That also makes sense and eliminates the need for using the last Chronicle played. This idea is shaping up.

Will

Will, help me out here with your 3rd point. You have brought up a complaint about holding pregen credit, but I don't know that I've caught your proposed fix for it. Making 3rd level pregens would just mean having to hold the credit for a slightly shorter length of time. To borrow and modify your language above, that would still "simply suck," which seems like no perceived reward for me as a developer (or us as a campaign) in exchange for significant work from the art staff, the editors, and me.

What is your proposal for updating how pregenerated character credit works?

First of all, thank you for responding.

Second, I need to think about this a bit more before having a proper proposal. Upon reflection, I agree with you that addressing the issue with pregens only lessens the duration of inconvenience/"suckage". I can understand the lack of value, both personal and business, of expanding the range. Any solution, therefore, has to be more holistic in nature, of value to players, developers, and Paizo.

It may be that a shorter duration is the only way of improving this situation. Given that it is not that much of a value add, the campaign may not be able to go down that path. Resources are indeed a fixed commodity and such a proposal would to need to work within these parameters.

I acknowledge that my suggestion needs some more work. Please allow me to think on it some more and get back with you.

Thanks again,

Will

EDIT: Just read BNW's idea as he posted while I was posting this. The idea of an immediate use option is intriguing to me. It is no more jarring than applying the Chronicle to a 1st level for 500 gp with regard to character progression. There would be no need to modify the existing pregen structure to implement it, thus freeing the resources you mentioned for other things. A flaw I see with this is when the player does not have the Chronicles for the PC available for the GM to check so that the GP/XP/PP ends up correct. Maybe this is a third option?

Option 1) The player wants to apply the Chronicle to a PC and has that PC at the table. The GM can, as BNW suggests, look at the last Chronicle for the PC and, if the PC is of lower level than the pregen, use the last GP amount awarded. XP and PP stay the same.

Option 2) The player wants to apply the Chronicle to a PC, but does not have it at the table. Current rules then apply. The suckage remains, but then again, Option 1 would reward a player who plans ahead.

Option 3) The player wants to apply the Chronicle to a new PC. Current rules apply.

I still want to think about this more, but the idea is interesting.

And that's perfectly fine. At no point I meant to imply "you are doing it wrong". Discussions are just that, and two ways. I actually don't think your suggestion would change the game for the worse, just that I find it unlikely.

Truth be told, re: it being an unlikely change, you are probably right. :) Still, it is good every so often to tilt at windmills.

Will

On #1, I'm just saying it is a hassle. How much is subjective. Especially when the party doesn't earn 100% of the treasure.

One minute for a GM to do the math using paper and pencil, less if you have a calculator (which IIRC every smartphone/tablet has).

Going by CRs in scenarios, I believe encounters are balanced based on the higher level of a subtier. Subtier 3-4 readily allows CR 7 encounters, which is APL+2 for an APL of 6 level 4 players.

So yes, I do believe scenarios are balanced assuming the APL is the higher of the two numbers. Which in turn, means that I would rather give pregens in the higher of the two choices.

That encounter, IMO, is a bad design. Using your example, a party of 6 level 3 characters would have a hard time with that CR 7. Better to design the encounter with the lowest common denominator in mind. Will that mean more of a cakewalk for that level 4 party? Sure, but how is that really a problem?

aeontrin wrote:

3) Waiting three levels before applying a Chronicle to a PC simply sucks. Applying it to a 1st level only sucks slightly less.

I've waited 5 levels for a chronicle sheet before (applied a level 7 sheet to a level 2 character). It'll be there. This is also greatly subjective. No sympathy from me here.

Ah, so you believe that, because you suffered that inconvenience, everyone else should as well? OP should never be about paying dues, but about improving player experience. Where the campaign can make a situation better, it IMO is duty-bound to do so. After all, if it isn't fun, why do it? From the company's perspective, it is just good customer service.

As a customer and consumer of this product, I have made a recommendation for improvement. I respect you, Carlos, as you should be well aware at this point. On this, however, I disagree with you.

Will

I don't know how this would help. All it would do is force more GMs to calculate out-of-tier gold, since level 3 pregens would need them in all tiers 1-5 scenarios, and level 5 pregens would need them in all tier 3-7 scenarios. Also, more work and all that for probably miniscule value. You can always play a 4 where you could play a 3, and a 4 or 7 where you could play a 5.

1) Out-of-tier gold is not shabby and, if a GM can't do a simple average for seasons 0-4, well, that's another problem. Sorry, I have no sympathy for this point.

2) You are making the assumption that every table should play as high as possible. My position is that there should be a pregen available to make a table at the lowest level for each tier. If we are running with tiers 1-5, 3-7, 5-9, and 7-11, it seems to me that pregens should be at the lowest level for each of these tiers. Besides, aren't we supposed to be getting away from always going for the higher tiers?

3) Waiting three levels before applying a Chronicle to a PC simply sucks. Applying it to a 1st level only sucks slightly less.

Will

Yep, this about covers it. I know of several minor formatting glitches and several number hiccups thanks to this other pregenerated character thread, and I'll be implementing these as I make time after finishing other projects. In the meantime, I recommend citing any specific errors (mechanical errors, please, rather than choices in character design) you have found in that discussion.

If and when you get a chance to reexamine pregens, can you consider getting rid of the level 4 pregens in favor of a level 3 and a level 5? Given how the tiers break down now, it would make more sense to have 1, 3, 5, and 7 rather than 1, 4, and 7.

Thanks,

Will

correct, only his SLA is a standard action. when casting from a wand, or when casting summon monster 1 if he chooses it for one of his spells known, its the normal 1 round casting time.

Thanks,

Will

Is it correct that a Summoner using a Wand of Summon Monster casts a spell from the wand as a full round action, and not a standard action like the Summoner's SLA?

Thanks,

Will

Will,

You are able to replace the spell with one of the same level.

Thanks,

Will

I have an Alchemist that has Blood Transcription in his formulae book. This spell is now banned in the recent Additional Resources document. Do I just remove the spell from the formulae book or do I get to swap that spell for another one of the same level? Reading the PFS Guide did not make this clear to me.

Thanks,

Will

1. All of the retraining has to be done in one go. Can't be a half-grenadier.

2. correct

3. Interesting question... I would assume that by RAW yes, you'd need to retrain the original Precise Bomb discovery into something else. I would personally think that you get to select any discovery in place of the bonus one you get from grenadier (much like a lot of classes who get bonus feats if you already have it you can pick any) but there is nothing RAW to support that.

At least, you can wait to retrain that discovery, you would just have duplicate ones for a bit.

Thanks.

Will

Hello,

I started out my Alchemist with no archetype and was thinking about adding the Grenadier archetype from the Field Guide. I have some questions regarding retraining. For clarity, I only need these questions answered for PFS:

1) Do I have to do all of the archetype feature retraining on one Chronicle or can I spread it out over several Chronicles?

2) W.r.t. the Brew Poison > Martial Weapon Proficiency retraining, I assume that, for PFS, this is a Extra Bombs > Martial Weapon Proficiency retraining, right?

2) W.r.t the Poison Use > Precise Bombs retraining, if I picked up Precise Bombs at 2nd level, do I have to retrain the discovery at the same time I retrain the Poison Use class feature?

Thanks,

Will

If your PC was Shadow Lodge or Lantern Lodge for the year until the finale scenarios and then transferred to a new faction, do you select the boon for the old faction or the new one?

I do not like that I cannot download this guide, either as a .docx or .pdf file.

I seem to have a problem downloading this guide as a PDF. There is no Save As option for it and attempting to print as PDF gives me a 404 Not Found error. Can we put this back on Google Docs and let them do the PDF conversion? Thanks.