Goblin Squad Member. RPG Superstar 8 Season Star Voter, 9 Season Star Voter. Pathfinder Society GM. 891 posts (947 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. 2 wishlists. 22 Organized Play characters. 1 alias.
I'm pretty concerned about Marcon's statistics in Tier 3-4. Specifically...
Marcon's Tier 3-4 Stats:
He has an AC 35. This is unreachable by attack rolls at level 3. If the party is more powerful than four level 3 characters, it bumps pretty quickly to 37. A character specialized in what they do (i.e. a fighter) with a +1 weapon at level 3 is only going have a +12 to hit at best (+4 STR, +4 Expert, +3 Level, +1 item bonus). They still can't hit the creature short of a natural 20.
An Elite Ghast, per Bestiary rules, should have an AC of 20 (18 for Ghast, +2 for Elite).
So, I'm wondering if an Expulsionist's Expel Spirit ability can be combined with the Channel Smite feat, or if that counts as "fundamentally altering" vs. "improving". See spoilers below.
I'm looking specifically for "Does RAW support this?" as this would be for a PFS character.
Expel Spirit:
At 1st level, an expulsionist receives Alignment Channel and Turn Undead as bonus feats. She can channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier as per a cleric with an effective level equal to her inquisitor level, but only to harm or turn evil outsiders or undead (treating all evil outsiders as undead creatures for the purpose of determining whether they can be affected by Turn Undead). She can take other feats that add to this ability, such as Extra Channel or Improved Channel, but not other feats that fundamentally alter this ability, such as Elemental Channel, and she cannot select Alignment Channel multiple times. The DC to save against this ability is equal to 10 + 1/2 the expulsionist’s inquisitor level + her Charisma modifier.
At 8th level, an expulsionist can expend one use of her channel energy ability to attempt to force a possessing creature from its host body. The expulsionist must make a melee touch attack against the possessed creature; if successful, the expulsionist deals damage to the possessing creature as if it were targeted by the expulsionist’s channel energy ability (regardless of the possessing creature’s creature type), and the possession effect ceases as the possessing creature is ejected from the host body. A successful Will save (DC = the expulsionist’s channel energy DC) halves the damage taken and negates the expulsion.
This ability replaces domain.
Channel Smite:
Prerequisite: Channel energy class feature.
Benefit: Before you make a melee attack roll, you can choose to spend one use of your channel energy ability as a swift action. If you channel positive energy and you hit an undead creature, that creature takes an amount of additional damage equal to the damage dealt by your channel positive energy ability. If you channel negative energy and you hit a living creature, that creature takes an amount of additional damage equal to the damage dealt by your channel negative energy ability. Your target can make a Will save, as normal, to halve this additional damage. If your attack misses, the channel energy ability is still expended with no effect.
As we've gotten news that Season 10 will be the last "Pathfinder 1st Edition" Season for Organized Play, it's gotten me wondering about what kinds of things I'd love to see in terms of story beats for the season. I'm not certain how far things are in development, but I imagine it may still be helpful for John, Linda, etc. to hear as things get finalized.
So, to start...(and if there IS a scenario that already does one of these, point me at it!)
Sequel to King Xeros of Old Azlant. Pretty self explanatory. But I'm even more eager for this as I realized today this ship could easily have been a very early incarnation of the Drift Drive (uses another plane to travel through space!).
Zarta Gets Her Comeuppance. We saw some of this in Faithless & Forgotten, but I'd really love to see her start to really begin moving & shaking around those revelations.
Serpents Trilogy We've already got Rise & Ire. Why not a third part to round things out, close up some of those NPC stories, etc. Maybe even reference <redacted>, which might have changed the Consortium's view on the Society.
So, I've put off asking this again until the Lore Warden was resolved, since the thread it went up originally got locked due to that debate.
bdk86 wrote:
What Changed: The Tempest Druid (AG pg. 183) now has an Alignment Requirement (Chaotic Neutral), where none existed before (per its Inner Sea Magic printing, pg 41).
What's the problem: The current Role-playing Guild Guide only allows limited rebuilds due to changes in a class/PrC/archetype to an ability-score-dependent feature or weapon/armor proficiency. There are a host of corner cases for the aforementioned changes this does not cover: [list]
Gear with an alignment requirement (i.e. Axiomatic Weapons)
Feats with an alignment requirement, if not a Deity requirement that does not allow one to worship them while Chaotic Neutral. (i.e. Deific Obedience [Irori])
Characters multiclassed into another class with an alignment requirement (i.e. My Tempest Druid/Unchained Monk*) At present, the character MUST change alignment at PRD update to become legal or they lose their druid powers.
In the case of multiclassing, you've got a character that must choose between losing Druid powers or losing powers/being unable to progress further in their second class (in this case, I'd become an ex-monk and just have to figure it out from there).
So, because eventually the PRD will update and I will have a character that is caught between keeping one class/archetype or the other....what do I do with this character? There are no provisions in the Guide for rebuilds due to an alignment requirement change. If I've missed something somewhere, please let me know.
So, for myself and my fellow hollows, is there any rules reading we should do ahead of time? The board game having just come out, this will be my first go at playing it.
So, a curious thing was pointed out to me last night about the Unchained Summoner: By RAW, no new Summoner spells that don't explicitly name themselves as for the Unchained Version of the class are accessible to it.
I can't find any campaign clarifications or other forum threads on this, so I'm wondering if...
A) Is this true? False? Not something I actually need to be concerned about? Sources would be ideal, since I may need to make my case to folks beyond this post.
B) If so, are we going to ever get any sort of clarification on this?
I've got a 13.2 APG Summoner who did EotT long before Unchained was even released and hasn't been played since long before the conversion period began. I was planning to update him to Unchained Summoner ahead of an All For Immortality run, but now I'm honestly hesitant to do so if it means he's locked out of newer spell options as he advances.
Just tossing a post up on this board, in case anyone doesn't regularly check the Paizo Blog itself:
There's a new Pathfinder Humble Bundle up today that includes a mega pack of all Season 5 PFS Scenarios at the $15 level. This is in addition to PDFs of a fair number of other Pathfinder products, including People of the Stars, Iron Gods, and the Technology Guide.
Normally, all 27 of the included scenarios alone would run you $108.
Was working on a a Hellknight of the Torrent concept when I ran into some bumps that have left me with a few questions. Apologies if these have been answered elsewhere, I was getting nowhere searching for threads that might have addressed it.
1) Hell's Rebels Pt. 2: Turn of the Torrent is not listed at all in Additional Resources. Is this intentional or an omission? This specific item I'm looking at is the Order of the Torrent Discipline, "Seek the Taken".
Assuming, for now, that it was intentional and nothing in the book is legal...
Additional Resources states that all orders in Path of the Hellknight are legal for play; this would include the Path of the Torrent. However, if Pt. 2 of Hell's Rebels isn't legal, there is no way to take the Order Specific discipline it describes for the Order of the Torrent...which a Hellknight must take as their first discipline.
2) What does an Order of the Torrent Hellknight do? Take the Order of the Scourge specific discipline (as it is the analogous order)? Take any discipline at all? No discipline?
[Edit: Clarified that the Discipline for Order of the Torrent is in Turn of the Torrent only].
So, normally, I'd take this to the Rules forum, but we're dealing with a unique to PFS item.
The question is, how does Dragon Ferocity (Style Feat) interact with the Braid's activated ability?
Dragon Ferocity:
While using Dragon Style, increase your Strength bonus on unarmed strike damage rolls by an additional one-half your Strength bonus, to a total of double your Strength bonus on the first attack and 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus on the other attacks.
Braid of a Hundred Masters:
f the wearer of this necklace has levels in monk, his fast movement and unarmed damage are treated as a monk of 2 levels higher. If the character is not a monk, he gains the fast movement and unarmed damage of a 2nd-level monk. This fast movement functions just like the monk's fast movement class feature. These bonuses do not stack with those granted by other items or effects. In addition, as a swift action three times per day, a character with the flurry of blows class feature can use the Braid of a Hundred Masters to apply 1-1/2 times his Strength bonus on a damage rolls for successful attacks made with flurry of blows. This ability must be activated before the damage from the attack is rolled, though it may be activated after the attack roll is made and before the damage roll. Once this ability is activated, its effect lasts for 1 round.
Does this mean that when the Braid is active, I'm in Dragon Style w/ Dragon Ferocity, and I flurry, my first attack is at 2.5x STR Bonus and my remaining attacks at 2x STR Bonus? Or do these abilities not stack in any way? The language specifically calls out an increase of "1/2" versus? Or does the "to a total of" override that and cap things at 2x & 1.5 respectively?
GaymerX, the first ever LGBTQ-focused gaming convention, is an annual convention focused on games and gaming culture. GaymerX is a “queer space”, in that many of the panels revolve around queer issues or queer devs, but GX is made for everyone and everyone is welcome! For its third year, the event will take place under the name “GX3: Everyone Games”, celebrating a space where all can join in discussion, play, and community without fear of harassment or discomfort for being who and what they are. GX3 will take place in San Jose, California at the San Jose Marriott and Convention Center on December 11th-13th 2015.
We're proud to be including Pathfinder Society at GaymerX3 as part of our tabletop programming in addition to having several wonderful guests from the tabletop games industry joining us, including Paizo Editor-in-Chief F. Wesley Schneider . A full list of our tabletop industry guests can be found as part of this blog post.
So, I definitely understand there is often a lot of work involved for our intrepid Pathfinder Society team. And among this work, I can imagine that reporting errors and the requests for corrections rank fairly low. This was probably exacerbated by Michael Brock's transition out of the coordinator position and the period it spent empty.
That said, when I went to do a sweep of reporting errors, I found that none of the four I've reported via email since 3/2014 have been corrected. One of these was emailed on first in 3/2014 and again 9/2014. I've heard similar reports from other players.
Our session records online are the only thing we have to verify play in the event anything happens to our Chronicles or there is ever any dispute on them. Having reporting records in conflict with what we have on paper leaves us in a precarious position. Is there any plan to begin addressing this immense backlog?
So, there's some discrepancy between the Ghost Mount entry and the base phantom statistics provided.
From Ghost Mount (Su), p. 117:
The phantom takes the form of a ghostly creature analogous to one of a cavalier's normal mount options for her size and class level, such as a Large horse for a Medium ghost rider or a wolf for a Small ghost rider.
Emphasis mine.
Then we get to the base statistics presented for said Phantom...
Ghost Mount Starting Statistics, p. 117:
Type animal (phantom) Size one size category larger than the ghost rider; Speed 50 ft; AC +4 natural armor; Attack bite (1d4), 2 hooves (1d6; this is a secondary natural attack); Ability Scores Str 16, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
....so my wolf has hooves? I'm assuming this is a failure to include the "canine" state block to start.
Also, how does this interact with non-traditional Cavalier mount options? For example, there's a Pathfinder Society reward where you can take on an Axebeak as a mount. Do you still use this same base phantom stat block?
3 people marked this as FAQ candidate.
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Occult Adventures, p. 35 wrote:
Energy Font (Intermediate, Su):You can channel energy a number of times per day equal to 1+your Charisma Modifier. Choose whether you channel positive or negative energy each time you contact a hierophant spirit; the choice must match the spirit's faith. If you choose positive energy, add cure spells at each level you cast from the cleric list to your medium spell list and spells known. Otherwise, add inflict spells in the same way. These spells count as divine, as in the divine spirit surge power.
So, my confusion is thus: Are you Channeling Energy as a Cleric? If so, as a Cleric of what level? Your Medium level?
So, I've been tinkering with some concepts for a Vigilante and there is one thing that really sticks with me for the class: The Capstone ability, Vengeance Strike.
I do want to say that thematically, it's awesome. Swoop in from the shadows and obliterate your foe? Kick in the Startling/Frightening/Stunning Appearance? Super.
Except it comes way, way too late. Most games never reach level 20, much less engage in significant play at said level. Worse, it does not vibe well with the abilities that lead up to it in the class: Social misdirection/manipulation, disguises, and scaring folks when you pop out of the shadows. Other capstone abilities are natural extensions of the class as it progressed (i.e. The Slayer's Master Slayer), took some of the limits off other abilities, or just access to some of the nastier talent/discovery/etc. choices. Instead, we make the leap from dual identity and being frightening to an opening round finisher move.
Now, if this was about scaring your foes to death or something along those lines, I'd get it. But it isn't. Worse, if the Vigilante is spell casting focused, it does very little for them unless using a weapon-like spell (Ray or Touch).
My recommendation? Create a pool of "general" Vigilante Talents any specialization can take. Relegate the Appearance chain, Loyal Aid, and some of the higher end disguise stuff (Many Guises, Everyman). These don't fit every concept. In its place, make Vengeance Strike a scaling ability throughout the class that has less of a "jump out of hiding" feel and more of a "Super Hero Finisher Move" feel. Have a choice of two effects that are flexible to accommodate both weapon oriented and spell oriented characters, or instead make Vengeance Strike as an ability specialization dependent (i.e. Vengeance Strike I/II/II etc. with a full listing under specialization in addition to the base ability). Vengeance Strike's level 20 mechanic still fits very well for the Stalker, for example and could actually be a good model for the power level the Stalker's Vengeance Strike should be scaling towards. But for a Warlock (mage) or Avenger (front line fighter), it feels clunky and not quite right.
Yes, I know this adds word count. It adds more fiddly bits to the class. But I think, thematically, it gives them something exciting that no other class has beyond just the secret identity piece. Plus, it encourages the super hero takes on this by having your character pull ye ole "special move" in combat.
So, as is a continuing trend for me on Faction Journals, I forgot to print some out for my characters before heading up to Seattle. As I know PFS HQ usually has spare character sheets, pregens, etc. I was wondering if they might have spare Faction Journal sheets this year as well?
I'm more than happy to suck up the cost of printing some out at the hotel business center, but wanted to check before I spend the money.
I want to preface this with the statement that badge pick-up at PaizoCon has, traditionally, been exceptionally fast, efficient, and easy. I've seen conventions half the size of PaizoCon stumble on this.
That said, I was wondering if there was any possibility for a brief early badge pick up for pre-registered folks on Thursday night? Based on the tentative schedule put forth for volunteers, I'm assuming we'd have games starting as early as 8:30 or 9 AM. I also know a lot of us will be in town Thursday ahead of the convention. It would smooth things over come Friday.
Gaymer X is the first gaming and geek lifestyle convention with a focus on LGBTQ culture. Gaymer X is open to all, whether you’re bisexual, transgender, gay, asexual or an ally and we hope to make an experience that will be meaningful as well as educational and fascinating.
I’m working to organize Pathfinder Society play at GaymerX in San Francisco this summer. My hope is to introduce new players to Pathfinder, old hands to Pathfinder to Society play, and create a space for LGBTQ members of the Society to play together as part of the convention. Because this is a new convention and there are a lot of unknowns, currently I have only proposed a single slot of formal Society play. Based on preregistration and demand, this could expand further before the convention (or just become some pick-up games in open gaming areas, depending on space requirements).
GaymerX is doing Panels/Events/Gaming on an Upvote/Downvote system for their inaugural year. This means that all proposed events are voted for on their website as part of the approval process, to see what people do and don’t want to see. If you’re going to GaymerX or interested in going for Pathfinder Society,register on their website here and vote for panels here.
The deadline for panel voting is April 30th. Should Pathfinder Society be approved, this post will receive a heavy duty edit into a more formal call for players and volunteers, as well as updates on pre-registering for games.
So, let me just say that I am so happy Jadwiga is a Human Ethnicity and not a race. And that it's allowed in PFS. I feel like this makes it so much easier on PC Winter Witches across the board. That said...
I have A Level 7 Winter Witch (Base Class)/Winter Witch (PrC). I have intentionally left her ethnicity vague, both due to some conflicting source material defining canon Winter Witches (like Elvanna) as Kellid and at other times Jadwiga and out of hopes that it would turn out to be an Ethnicity.
So here's the question: Can I go ahead and switch the character from Human (Unspecified) to Human (Jadwiga)? There's no real mechanical benefit from doing so and it isn't like I haven't role-played her as an actual Irresini Winter Witch prior to this. The only thing I stand to gain is getting Jadwiga Scion via the Additional Traits feat at some later point.
So, I volunteered to run From Shore to Sea for an all day "mini-con" put on by one of the FLGS here in Austin. The coordinators placed modules in ~9 hours lots (10 if you took no breaks at all), so I knew I was going to be in for a time crunch. To speed up some of the more complicated moving pieces I made a number of tracking sheets/aids/handouts. Most of them were just reproductions of rules that would need to be used, but a number were custom. More on those in a moment.
As for running this in a PFS setting, a few observations. This way lies spoilers:
Figure out a PFS oriented hook for caring about Blackcove..
Spoiler:
My original "hook" was that they were traveling back to the nearest lodge in Cheliax after a round of guard duty at a dig of Azlanti ruins and worked well to explain why they were at the Hellmouth Coast and traveling together; it also meant they'd spent time together and knew each other in character. I thought that should be enough.
Only two of the characters at the table were good aligned and neither were of the more benevolent factions (Andoran & Silver Crusade). I found the party not terribly interested from a role-play perspective until the appraise check was made to realize the comb Adler offered them was of Azlanti origin. They were still happy to go help Blackcove, but I felt there was the meta-game action of "if we don't, we're done" going on without a good leaning group/good alignment driven lead PC.
The PCs were much better prepared than I'd expected.
Spoiler:
If PFS has taught players anything by 5th-7th level, it's to be prepared. I was concerned being on the island without a reliable way back might make the module a bit too difficult, as they could not retreat to retrieve resources or aid from Blackcove's Druid in the event the healer was lost/incapacitated. One of the joys of a module over a scenario is that you can, at times, retreat to lick your wounds when things go bad. But the party had plenty of items in addition to the loot found to deal with things like ability damage and potentially being submerged in water.
Another factor of this could also be that the resources of 5-6 PCs (average PFS table) outweighs that of 4 (expected group for the module). I noticed that only a few fights seemed to pose serious challenges (the Phase Spiders, the Aquarium, & the Final Encounter with both Gerlach & the Aboleth).
Ten hours was a struggle.
This probably isn't a surprise to any of you. I say it because I feel like somewhere/someway it needs to be stressed on the materials for running PFS sanctioned modules that a minimum of twelve hours (three rounds) should be given for those coordinators not familiar with running these at events. Perhaps even a requirement (like scenarios needing to go no more than 5 hours). I've bulled through a couple of modules as a player at game days by buckling down for 12 hours and even that's a stretch. Ruby Phoenix Tournament can take even longer if done in its entirety as I understand it.
The coordinators have run some PFS events in store, but nothing involving modules, so they just weren't fully aware I think. I did give them the friendly feedback that 9-10 hours just isn't enough for most modules.
Spoiler:
To finish on time, I still had to cut out a number of the "speed bump" fights in Pt. III and the characters never triggered the role-play heavy encounter at the dig site (B6); it would have otherwise never come even close to finishing in time. And that's with making the Orrery check on the first try with some luck and smart thinking; if they'd had to comb the island for clues or more Spellcraft bonuses, the module would have dragged out. And even then, we cut it extremely close.
Now, for the GM aids I made, if anyone wants them. Spoiler cut added due to their titles/quick descriptions:
GM Aids/Trackers:
Lighthouse Attack Tracker
For tracking assigned random numbers for tentacle targets, tentacles severed, and villagers captured.
The Warping Tracking Sheet
As paperwork and other things were being settled at the start of our session I rolled taint location at random ahead of time based on the table. I otherwise used it to track who had progressed to what level for their taints.
The Warping Taint Handout Cards
Truncated text for each taint and its description/effects. Not going to lie, it was great to see the looks one each player's face not as I described the visual of their warping but also handed them a little card. Cards were renamed from "Minor" and "Moderate" to avoid giving away immediately that the taint could get worse/had gradations.
Orrery Spellcraft Bonus Tracker
Reading the module I realized immediately it would be a nightmare to track all the potential bonuses accumulated throughout the island and/or to remember what all players could also do to get more. Fairly useful when the time came to make the check.
I know Magical Lineage has been discussed to death on the boards, so if this has been answered elsewhere please point me to the appropriate thread.
That said...
Let's say I have a 12th level spell-caster who knows Cone of Cold as a 6th level spell, has Magical Lineage (Cone of Cold), and Rime Spell (+1 Spell Slot Level). Can he use Magical Lineage (-1 Final Adjusted Level) to have a Rime Cone of Cold (normally a 7th level spell slot, but 6th due to Magical Lineage) even though the character doesn't have 7th level spell slots?
Discussion has been had indicating that Witch Patron Spells which are given before a Witch could cast the spell at it's normal Witch/Wizard/Cleric (or whatever) level become a spell of the highest level the witch can cast (usually meaning they get it a spell level early).
Looking at the Hypoboreal Patron and Winter Witchcraft text, it is pretty clear the intent is to replace the patron spells from levels 6-15 with another set of spells (assuming that the witch starts taking the PrC as soon as possible and sticks with it) and then allow progression to pick back up at 16th level right where it should be without any lag.
I say 6-15 based on the regular spells levels of the granted spells (Ice Spears is 3rd level spell, Hyperboreal Patron would effectively grant it at 6th level for the witch. Freezing Sphere synchs up so that it's gained at 12th level either way if the Witch had the Winter Patron previously.)
Hyperboreal Patron Text:
Paths of Prestige, p. 62 wrote:
Hyperboreal PatronA winter witch's patron reeals an icy aspect, granting her the following spells as patron spells at the following class levels: 1st-ice spears, 3rd-wall of ice, 5th-icy prison[/i], 7th-freezing sphere, 9th-fire storm(deals cold damage instead of fire). These replace any patron spells a winter witch might receive from a previous class.
Winter Witchcraft Text:
Paths of Prestige, p. 62 wrote:
Winter Witchcraft: Levels of the Winter Witch prestige class stack with witch levels for determining a winter witch's spells per day, spells gained at each level, the effect of her hexes and other witch class abilities (including archetype abilities), the abilities of her witch's familiar, and the level at witch she can select major hexes or grand hexes.
All in all, it's rather neat; the PrC more or less allows the PC to swap in levels with almost zero lag for base class abilities. But I'm left with a ton of questions about how it works.
1) Winter Witchcraft is gained at 1st level and specifically calls out spells gained and spells per-day. However, in the column usually reserved for spellcasting increases/spells per day the table instead lists "+1 level of witch class"...from 2nd level on.
So, does Winter Witchcraft skip a level (1st) in regard to spells per day/caster level? Does this only impact spells per day and not spells gained, or do all of the Witch's class features lag behind by 1 level (hex & ability DCs/progression, spells gained)?
2) I also am curious; Winter Witchcraft calls out "spells gained". Does this mean that the Winter Witch still gets their "2 free spells per level" for their familiar, unlike every other caster class in regards to spell book style spell casting? (I'm assuming yes.)
3) What spell level are non-witch Hyperboreal Patron spells granted way beyond the "ideal" progression (6th-15th) I saw above? For the sake of illustration, we'll assume the Winter Witch is lagging behind a caster level for the time being. That seems to be the norm for PrCs.
But let's say I take all 10 levels of base class witch first. Then I start taking levels in Winter Witch for 11-20. At level 13, Wall of Ice is granted to me. If I took the PrC as soon as I qualified (5th), this would have made Wall of Ice a 4th level spell (gained at 8th level). But because I'm gaining it at 13th, does this mean Wall of Ice (normally Sor/Wiz 4) is a 6th level spell for my character (the highest level a Witch 10/Winter Witch 3 can cast). In turn, does this mean that Icy Prison will be a 7th level spell (Normally Sor/Wiz 5)? Freezing Sphere 8th (normally Sor/Wiz 6)? Fire Storm 9th (normally Sor/Wiz 7)?
If so, this is going to create an interesting amount of PC variation based on just when you started taking levels in Winter Witch (ranging from getting a spell a level early to two levels late). I definitely love what the PrC is doing. It's expanding on an archetype even further and blending rather seamlessly with it...but only if you take the PrC ASAP. Otherwise it becomes a bit of a headache.
What kind of documentation needs to occur for 1st level retraining and/or restats due to major rules changes? The next chronicle itself? An attached sheet to said chronicle?
The conditions lost/items sold & conditions gained/items bought boxes are pretty small to even account for the gear shift that may occur in a 1st level retrain, much less class details.
A "retrain/restat due to rules change" Chronicle might be useful in this case.
I was taking some time to start creating a high level bag of tricks (AKA Scroll Library) for my Summoner, and realized it might be handy to have a a scroll of Planar Adaptation and of Plane Shift on hand. Just in case a Prismatic spell goes horribly awry. That, and the frequency with which I'm seeing adventures involve travel to demi-planes, the shadow plane, etc.
Which lead me to notice that the focus for Plane Shift (A metal tuning fork attuned to the destination plane) has no details in core as to its acquisition or creation.
So just how, if at all, would one go about purchasing this focus in PFS play? I can certainly understand that some forks may be an issue of Chronicle access, but I'd hope it wouldn't be difficult to acquire one attuned to the Material Plane.
So, I was looking over the Seeker Archetype for Oracles & Sorcerers in the Pathfinder Society Field guide while musing on an Oracle/Sorcerer based Mystic Theurge when something occurred to me...
...can you multi-class as a Seeker Oracle/Seeker Sorcerer? I'm reading the texts and I see no conflict of class abilities. In fact, the Tinkering Class ability is written with language that implies the Seeker Oracle & Seeker Sorcerer class levels would stack with each other all on their own without any special ruling.
Michael Brock, being prescient to the question I intended to find and ask him this morning (would you be alright with a thread dedicated to discussing the Convocation/how it went?,) requested some feedback on the Grand Convocation in the PFS Bloggery Thread.
That said, I think it's worth stating a few ideals/ground rules for such a conversation (in addition to the standards of the forum at large):
1) Be clear about how issues you encountered impacted you.
I know some people weren't happy with some of the bumps in the Convocation. I certainly got frustrated at the start. But saying "x sucked" isn't helpful. Instead, "x sucked because it created y inconvenience/problem which interferes with z and/or having fun". This gives context to why the particular item of note bothered you.
2) For every issue/problem, make your criticism constructive/solution focused.
Suggest a different way PFS may have done things to avoid the issue(s) you describe. A different means of organizing, of mustering players, of structuring a given encounter/quest/event, etc. If you're not sure how it could have been done differently, that's OK! Solicit feedback from others in the thread.
3) Point out what you liked/went well!
With any event this new in format and on this scale, it helps to know what was enjoyable and what went well/right. This helps future writers/coordinators know what they should keep and do the same. It's also a good place to give kudos to the volunteers/VCs/VLs/Paizo Staff whose individual efforts helped make the Grand Convocation a success.
4) Spoilers
This event is still going to occur at PaizoCon UK/Europe. Please, please, please be wary of spoilers. Use the tags when necessary. If you are going to be playing at said convention, it may be best to not read this thread at all!
I know we've had a some discussion previously on selling racial boons (and how it isn't OK). Some people commented on the idea of trading or giving them away as being perfectly alright (something I agree with). However...
What, if anything, is the procedure or policy for trading racial boons? I have two Tengu boons at the moment and while one is in use, I don't foresee any desire to play a second Tengu anytime in the future.
Is this price intentionally significantly lower than normal? Standard pricing on a weapon like this is usually as follows:
Base Weapon Cost (Quarterstaff): 0 gp
Adamantine Material Cost: 3000 gp
+1 & Spell Storing (Net +2 Magic Weapon): 8000 gp
Total Cost: 11,000 gp
Quote:
scroll of heightened hold person (375 gp; CL 3rd, limit 1)
I'm assuming the 'CL' means Caster Level 3rd (as it normally does on chronicles), but this is rather misleading (as 3rd is the minimum caster level for a wizard or cleric to cast a 2nd level spell at all). I'm assuming it means the spell has been heightened to be 3rd level based on extrapolating the math:
Scroll Cost: Cost=25 Base x Caster Level x Spell Level
Above Scroll:375 Total Cost/25 Base=15; 15/CL 3=5.
As a level 5 spell can't be cast at Caster Level 3, I'm assuming this just got swapped somewhere. It took us awhile to parse out the point of this scroll until I saw the price and realized CL 3 wasn't meant to mean Caster Level, but Spell Level.
I'm not sure if this has been noted yet on the boards (a search yielded nothing), but the Level 7 Cleric Pregen has a pretty powerful error in it's stat block. The Cleric's Channeling damage is listed at 6d6, which is the channeling damage for an 11th level cleric; not 7th (which should be 4d6).
There is no Phylactery of Channeling (Positive) in the gear list (which would explain the bump. I'm not sure if this was part of the gear originally (and removed) or intended and left out.
While playing an undead heavy module today with my Winter Witch, an interesting question arose: Can the Frozen Caress Hex be used to modify the Cure Light Wounds spell cast by Healing Hex, specifically to allow for the application of Ice Magic and/or Elemental Focus benefits? This issue arose in the case of utilizing the hex offensively against undead (See this FAQ entry for a ruling on doing so, which may also influence the answer to the question at hand.)
The question is important because Frozen Caress adds 1d4 Cold Damage (negated if the spell allows for a save for half/no damage) and adds the Cold descriptor. A Winter Witch's Ice Magic class feature adds +1 to the DC of spells that deal cold damage and/or have the Cold Descriptor; therefore it would modify the damage & save DC of the Cure Light Wounds via Healing Hex. The addition of Cold Damage/Descriptor also kicks in Elemental Focus (Cold).
For your reference...
Elemental Focus
Advanced Player's Guide, p. 158 wrote:
Choose one energy type (acid, cold, electricity, or fire). Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against spells that deal damage of the energy type you select.
Frozen Caress:
Inner Sea Magic, p. 43 wrote:
Frozen Caress (Su) Whenever the winter witch casts a touch spell, she can infuse the magic with cold as a swift action. This grants the spell the cold descriptor, and adds 1d4 points of cold damage to the spell’s effect. If the touch spell allows a saving throw, a successful save negates this additional cold damage.
Ice Magic:
Inner Sea Magic, p. 43 wrote:
When a winter witch casts a spell with the cold descriptor, the save DC of the spell increases by +1. A winter witch cannot learn or cast spells with the fire descriptor at all.
Healing Hex:
Advanced Player's Guide, p.66 wrote:
Healing (Su): A witch can soothe the wounds of those she touches. This acts as a cure light wounds spell, using the witch’s caster level. Once a creature has benefited from the healing hex, it cannot benefit from it again for 24 hours. At 5th level, this hex acts like cure moderate wounds.
Spell-like Abilities:
Pathfinder Core Rules, per www.d20pfsrd.com wrote:
Spell-Like Abilities (Sp)
Spell-like abilities function just like spells, but are granted through a special racial ability or by a specific class ability (as opposed to spells, which are gained by spellcasting classes as a character gains levels).
I currently play Pathfinder Society, but I'm itching for a home game that would have a bit more continuity of story. If anyone has a PF game/group in the area looking for a new player, let me know.
In terms of experience, I've played since the advent of 3.0 and also played HERO System, World of Darkness/Exalted, and D&D 4th for the last decade or so. I've done a variety of other Living/Organized Play campaigns, and GM'd for two groups in D&D 3.0/3.5.
The following spells are different from your standard cantrips. They are rare cantrips. Spellcasters that gain access to all 0-level spells at 1st level do not gain access to rare cantrips. A spellcaster gains access to rare cantrips only by uncovering their secrets in some other way. Some are guarded by jealous mages, while others are lost in missing libraries or molder on forgotten scrolls.
These cantrips are not legal in Pathfinder Society play.
(Emphasis Mine)
Given the first bold/italicized statement, I wonder, could access to these cantrips be gained through play at some point? As part of a chronicle reward, perhaps? I ask mostly because the first statement seems a bit more definitive, but I can't help but wonder/suggest the idea.
I'm wanting to create a PC for Pathfinder Society who, while not necessarily an actual Winter Witch of Irrisen, follows along that theme. I'm torn on just how to go about this, though.
The Boreal Sorcerer bloodline is more focused on melee combat buffs than ice-casting, Elemental Bloodline (Water)/Elemental Wizard (Water) help with cold damage but do still stick to a mostly 'water' theme. Witch and Druid (Nature Bond: Ice Domain) don't have much in the way of cold damage spells in their lists. Thoughts?
I'm looking through this module and had some questions. If these have been addressed in another thread, please feel free to point it out/link it as a response; I have not been able to find answers searching the forums.
Question 1 SPOILER:
In Act 1, it appears as though the Druid in the encounter has not had Bonus Spells applied for his Wisdom score. The Tier 1-2 statblock only has 'Shillelagh (Used)' for his 1st level spells, even though he should have two of them for day (1 Base+1 for Wisdom Score). In the Tier 6-7 Statblock he olny has three 1st level spell (Cure Light Wounds, Longstrider, & Shillelah (Used)) and two 2nd level spells (2x Bulls Strength (Used)). Based on his Wisdom score he should have four 1st levels and three 2nd levels (3 Base+1 Bonus and 2 Base+1 Bonus) Is this intentional?
Question 2 SPOILER:
In Act 4 the fighter stat blocks include Combat Expertise. Their intelligence scores are 10; the prerequisite is 13. While not too much of a problem at Tiers 1-2 and 3-4, at 6-7 this makes their feat chains invalid. Should their INT scores adjusted, the prerequisite waived, or the feat(s) replaced?
While reading a Society Message board thread discussing the legality (or lack there of) behind a Paladin of Asmodeus, I was reminded of something I really enjoyed about Paradigm Concepts' Arcanis setting. In this setting, deities had no alignment; particular sects/churches/interpretations of the faith were what determined the actual alignment at hand.
Still, many deities did not mesh well with Paladin. So in their 3.5 update, base classes for "Holy Champion of X" were made for each deity that stuck to the flavor of a given faith to allow for a martial champion who was not necessarily a cleric/priest. Paladins were just considered virtuous paragons within a given faith. I really liked this approach because it let you be a divine character who was not a pure spellcaster or a Paladin.
Obviously, I have no intention of advocating for base classes representing holy champions for all of Golarion's deities, prestige classes, or even just one or the other for the major deities only. But the APG presents a new way to approach this: Archetypes.
What about archetypes which modified or adjusted Paladin in small ways (Smite Law vs. Smite Good, code of conduct differences) that allowed for a holy champion of a less than lawful good faith? Many have criticized anti-paladin as not filling the role Blackguard once held due to it's Chaotic Evil focus. What if Blackguard was such an archetype?
