fatouzocat's page

Low level (cannot remember)Half Orc Barbarian and party out in the the wilds left without weapons due to unrelated circumstances. We were attacked by Wolves amongst other (I cannot remember)The HO kills one wolf (unarmed), and the next round makes a grapple check and succeeds then uses the wolves as wolfchucks to attack other wolves and the mentioned other things... the rest of us were really pretty useless in the battle as most of us were casters with out components and the like.

Go Synthesist, you get 1d8+1d10, natural attacks, relatively good AC, you can dump physical stats. Spell casting, pounce. What's not to like and abuse.

ooo I totally forgot about that build, very nice.... Off the top I don't see a weakness here no one will be casting banishment or similar spells. I like it, good damage and you can cast. Better all around physical stats than any other class due to the synth.

I vote Monk, Boar style and Beliers bite(sp), then Alchemist if he can carry bombs into combat if not forget it (will he be able to prepare and so on) Halfling Alch with High int can stealth, and hit hard but is done if grappled or caught in true melle, but if given even a small chance he can Bomb D6+int so 5-10 dmg + cure light wounds, true strike (not that you need it since your hitting touch)and lots of other spells that rock increase range and so on. If you take gnome get Pyromancer racial trait for added fire damage... At first level if you get a chance you hit and you do damage that will hurt all three builds badly lets assume the barb has 14 hp you bomb and hit for average dmg 7 he is at 7 hp and attacks you with his fists, claws or gore and due to rage does pretty awesome damage but we can assume that you have 9hp (+1 for con?)with these opponents and will probably survive long enough to five foot step and end his life. Now if he grapples you you are done and so is the fighter and Sorc. The Sorc is the Alc's worry as he can own you with sleep spells and the like (your will save will be low as will your charisma since you would dump these for your other stats in the ring).
Monk, therefore, is still my first choice but the Alc can be a devastating char that unlike the other three can cure and buff nicely (I know the sorc can but he shouldn't, he should cast spells like colour spray and sleep to quickly drop foes and either slice the throats of his foes or let others do it for him).
Oh and in a short battle without gear a small alchemist with his mutagen up will have decent AC to boot can any of the other three say that (soc I guess if he uses a spell on Mage arm rather than Sleep or Colour Spray).

Hmmm well I know there will be groans. However, having played it a Bard/Rouge can be quite effective I would take half elf, with three levels of bard then focus on the Rouge. You are a super skill monkey that can help him/herself and everyone else. Not a full caster class choice tho, you are skill first buff and similar, and good combat support. (I know there will be arguments to just go switch hitter Ranger and really that is a very effective class in Pathfinder so I would look at that as an option too, great damage and can provide skills.

I demand further satisfaction.

Listen to Death Carcass and Entombed then create a Inquisitor of Pharasma glee... and not the kind on TV. ooh and just for kicks throw in a little Strapping Young Lad.

Ok so I ran a campaign of strix Chars and this is what I discovered. Part 1: Flight (it seems to be the big one) makes moving from place to place less dangerous. For combat there are issues. If you want to fly and attack you must make a fly check or drop 10 feet so be careful you cannot just flyby and attack without purchasing feats.. this takes a number of levels, it is not a given. Your in the air (no cover) you get hit with ?whatever? you make a fly check or drop. Summons can be BAAAAAD vs you falling hurts.
Part 2: Interactions with Humans (you are Drizt) basically being a rare and unknown that looks evil things are going to treat you as if you are evil until (maybe) you act in ways to really earn trust (regionally) despite this some people are just racist and will still fear/hate you.
Part 3: Nocturnal, not as bad as it could be but... A GM could nail you on the bright sunlight thing... just depends.

Creating a Nocturnal Creature

Weaknesses: A nocturnal creature gains the weakness Light Sensitivity (Ex).(Creatures with light sensitivity are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.)

Skills: A nocturnal creature benefits from a +4 racial bonus to Perception and Stealth checks. When inside or looking into an area of bright light (daylight spell or greater illumination), the nocturnal creature takes a -4 on Perception checks.

Part 4: Wings ok so here is the real problem and there are few rules i have seen laid out. A Strix has a wingspan of 12 feet so flight is near impossible in any space confined to less than say 15 and you cannot just hover/featherfall down with partially open wings either (In my opinion) so indoors, caves, in trees and so on you are grounded. Furthermore if you look at the picture the wings would likely be restrictive to movement so I think the Strix would have difficulty with backpacks, and similarly restrictive items, armor would be almost a no go other than custom crafted leather. Try crawling through a confined space with those wings...negatives? it's not written as such but really an obese human would likely get through a small hole easier due to lack of encumbrance.

Well that’s my wish list, what are yours?

Mine is simple really and melds with those of many others I would appreciate a pathfinder society equivalent in the game rather than seemingly random quests to get loot. Having a society lodge or some other similar sorts of adventure hubs can act to spawn adventures, then as "ulgulanoth" noted quick travel ie you agree to the quest and can start it now rather than traveling for hours/even half hours through a massive map to begin the quest only to run out of time to take on the adventure before you even get there and have to start all over again. I played DDO quite a bit and found this to be quite annoying along with the limited number of quests I could partake in that I had to repeat to get high enough leveled to reach the next quests that I would have to repeat endlessly and so on.

OK how about a Sapper I have been tossing this one around for a while since it is a style of warrior that was super efficient yet totally ignored in most games. I would guess a restriction to hammers and picks might be understandable know dung, engineer, geo would be obvious. I would guess some spell abilities like the cleric ability (Exploration)"Door Sight" would be good,a number of shatter and earthquake like spell choices and so on. something to allow for magical tunneling and magical timed explosives doing damage mainly to structures.

Wow, that helps a lot, thanks! I think I'm going to edge away from the asexual idea I had, since my GM pointed out that I'm already playing an asexual narcissistic summoner (oops, not sure why I forgot about that). I should still be able to figure out a reason why he's not fully in the temple...or maybe he's still in it, but decided to take a more 'hands on' approach on spreading the faith, instead of spending his days as a temple prostitute.

I played a male half orc inquis of calistra and focused on freedom. It worked really well. the dude hated social law (written or not) that prevented someone from acting in a 'natural' manner. Thus he despised the chain of marriage when it got tired, but respected those who freely chose to be loving life long partners.. get it? He also detested slavery and the creation and use of 'undead' since most did not choose to assume the template and are instead enslaved to the necro that created them.

A few observations that may or may not be useful to you.

-- I am always very leery of threads begun by players complaining about GMs and GMs complaining about players. Even assuming that the original poster is trying to be balanced in their portrayal of things, they are limited by their own perspective.
-- Many of us completely forget that (I have been guilty at times) in our rush to provide "helpful" advice. Also, way too many of us on this forum are way, way too quick to throw around harsh judgments on players and GMs we've never met based on very limited information provided from a single source.
-- Every poster on these boards also brings their own "baggage" based on their own experiences and preferred style of play. Some tend to think the worst of GMs in every situation. Others, like me, tend to defend them. Never treat anything any of us says here as anything more than, at best, an educated and well-meaning opinion.
-- Any player or GM who tries to use advice provided on this forum to "win" an argument at his own table or make someone else look bad is being kind of a jerk. My advice to all, worth what they paid for it: be a man (or a woman) and deal with the problems at your table directly (I recommend over a beer between game sessions) rather than running to Mommy (the boards) for support.

General stuff aside, a couple of more observations:
-- I too have GMed for many years, through every edition, and have had to adapt my style with each significant change in the game. Pre-3.0 it was very common to have party members of significantly different levels, and it wasn't a problem. It certainly can be in PF/3.X.
-- The game is much more high-powered, and the math plays a far greater role than before, so dramatic differences in level and/or gear can have much greater impacts. I don't think that is a particularly good thing, overall, but there is no turning back the clock.
-- Pre-3.0 there was a steeper penalty for character death, so players were frequently tempted to create a new character...

A+ I copied the whole thing just because I think it was so on point. After re reading my original post I sound like I needed to eat some humble pie. As I said before some things I have changed an hopefully it will work out .

Jon Otaguro 428 wrote:

I have played in other systems where characters weren't remotely balanced. There is nothing inherently wrong with that as long as players are enjoying the game. However, constraining a starting character with restrictions on gear, to put him into a position where his character is a "sidekick", seems from an outsider's point of view unfair.

I imagine a lot of this is 'plot' driven. Obviously this player showed up after the game had already started... (or at least the characters did...)

Bringing new characters in can be pretty tricky when your group is in the middle of nowhere.

The last 'back up' character i had to bring in. Was because my paladin died in a one-on-one fight with a dragon... Which was an awesome night...

But the next character was introduced as one of the hostages of the cult and as a wizard the only item he had with him was his spellbook in a chest. He'd been there too long for the rest of his mundane gear to be around... and if it hadn't been for 'eschew materials'... he REALLy would have been up a creek!! As it was he was only at about half effectiveness until they got out of the dungeon and he was able to track down some better components.

I seem to remember making the comment, 'Ok... umm... 16 hps... and a Dragon still out there... Ummm.. If this is a TPK, then the guy in the cage.. WASN"T my new guy, He'll join in with the next group!!! ;)"

Not EVERY night is an ideal time to join a party ;)

Yep that's sort of how I go about it too. Although, if your in a big city and you want to dump char A and take on a new one.... well ok. Roll play it and tell me/the group why char A wants to leave and how why char B wants to join up (was he recruited or... just saw shiny new adventurers in town...sigh:( )

I'll refrain from commenting about specifics here before it descends into he said - she said, but if you are sincere about being a better GM I can get you a few tips.

Playing with the same group of people for years can lead to lead to some peculiarities that will look weird to a newcomer. As a group you may fall into some habits, gaming shorthand, house fules and style of play without realising. My suggestion would be to get some experience outside your group as both a player and GM. PFS is great for 'dipping the toe' as it's a small time commitment with one shot scenarios. If you play at your local gaming store, or at a conventions, you're likely to get a wider exposure to GMs and players. I've grown a lot as a GM since being involved with PFS for the last few years and I've been playing this game since the Red Box Basic.

I'd also suggest breaking up the chapters of your campaign by playing other RPGs (controversial on this board I know!). I've found a new appreciation for the Pathfinder rules by doing this. You see the game with new eyes.

Further, reading a bit of game theory can be really inspiring. Monte Cooks journal is a good play to start. I've also found Ben Robbin's blog http://arsludi.lamemage.com/ a great read and I wish I knew about it when I was running my home-brew scenarios.

Chin up.

Thx, yep play (myself) in PFS events and occasionally with another group. People do things differently PFS doesn't use fumble!!! shock aghast!.. meh, its all good I didn't have to prep it and was done in a few hours brilliant. Love it! but no Fumble.. hehe.

It's actually not that hard, it just requires encounter design that takes into account the relative power levels, and players that realize that that is happening.

Back in 1st edition, we regularly had PCs 5-6 levels lower than the current PCs due to player death, or even a 10th level character that decided to dual class and was functioning at level 1. Because of the way experience worked, these tended to be short-term problems, but in cases like this the DM would normally have an encounter against, say, an Ogre Mage. But because there were some cohorts/followers/low level PCs/whatever, there would also be hobgoblins or orcs or gnolls or whatever that were going to set off a trap, drop a boulder to set off an avalanche, whatever... the high level PCs would go after the big threat, while the low-level PCs deal with the smaller threat, and potentially get access to something that let them be effective vs the big threat if they wiped out the little guys quickly enough.

Yep, and when there is little disparity in player level the tweaks get even simpler. As GM you control the battlefield at least to some degree. If the weaker player sends his char after the BBG when there are three obvious weaker threats nearby... well.

Hey I don't think that makes you a bad GM at all. In fact, I only run my players at an even experience level because i am afraid of my own GMing. If you can handle it, and your original players are having fun, then the problem is with the new player. Ask him/her to kindly conform or find a new...

Thank you for the encouragement. And yes there is some creative work that goes on to make player survivability possible.

Ok People I'm back. Thank you for all the input. Despite rampant speculation on what thread excreta this is referring to I found much of your input useful. I should have worded my post differently. It would have helped and in truth I think I was a bit angry at the time.

I have a game style it creates a 'type' of reality and it seemed that the reality that I created was in conflict with the play style of my new player.

Also after a few lengthy discussions with said player few of his concerns really had to do with play style but with "player style." In my games if the characters are jerks natural responses tend to occur.

Therefore, (and here is my major fault I suppose, because I allow it) they often act out for and against other PC's (were not talking society play here people) which can be aggravating. Eventually characters tend to develop a niche both class/skill/mechanically and socially. In this case the player was having difficulty since his characters never found a niche socially and he felt like an outcast.

I have since spent wayyyy to much time talking with the player and thus far an agreement has been made. Play style sticks however, player dynamics will change. I hope this will deal with the problems. For all the players (and I play when I can as well and understand you will have differences of opinion) out there PLEASE talk to your GM first when you have troubles/issues you will likely find us to be quite humane (when not playing the evil overlords of Nex of course).

As far as bringing people into a story... It's a story it shouldn't always be the same or similar. Furthermore when a character dies deep in the underdark or abandoned tomb of Kermit the Frooong it seems highly illogical that an equivalent level character with similar worldviews would be waiting just around the corner eager to step up and help; there need to be some transition or the story looses out big time. Therefore due to situation requirements my players find characters in places other than the tavern, but often not in wandering the aforementioned Tomb of Kermit.
Cheers
And a big thank you to all of you. I have read, understood and learned something from most of the posts.
Thank you.

Ive been a GM for well, years and made the transition from 3.5 to Pathfinder with only a few House rules still in place. I regularly survey my groups and have high enjoyment rate and the players like the way I set things up. They have to think, work for their loot and roleplay though a lot of dangerously overpowering situations. I have recently had a player join the group and it has not gone well. His play style is different which is fine but instead of trying to mesh with the group the player is fighting against it. What to do?
The player recently lead a rather skewed post regarding what I am doing and why... in which I was lambasted. I have run campaigns with characters that range +- five levels and had no problems but it now seems that everything needs to be vanilla the same and equitable. Is this weird?
To me a fighter is good at what they do; a caster is different and good at what they do but they are not the same. faced with the same problem they are likely to deal with the situation differently. Thus players can have different strengths and still enjoy playing no?
Some of my players are richer but physically weak others might be stat strong but magic poor, in that regard I try to find some balance (but not equity) and when the players work together (roleplayed) they share to create a natural instead of a plastic (insert equitable clone character here) balance.
Please help me out here.
If I'm a bad GM then I have been for years developed a group of players that like it and or lie but still show up for years.
Should I simply suggest that the player that doesn't just not come? or change everything for the one (to the likely disdain of the others.. unless they are lying)?
Help.

Hi Cody
So far I have voted for pretty much all of your entries. At this point sadly I cannot. There were better proposals in this round. I look forward to seeing more of your work and wish you all the best. By the way I thought that The Hound Master was the best piece to come out of this entire superstar year so congrats; It's awesome I really hope to see it become part of the fold because that is a class I could get into playing. I also thought that the chase sequence in the crucible was nice and novel (although easy to avoid). Good luck as you continue on.

Ooops sorry Neil I just commented on the above play style "i've heard enough comments on this part" ditty. Me baaad, very bad, I will go find a nice hole in Cheliax to stew in.

I've voted for you pretty consistently and didn't really notice until now, which I think is a good thing, while thematically it's good, the fluff is nice, but I think it needs more crunch, but with some good old shlacking of some editing it'll be a great module.

Yup Yup.. I voted for this one and yet am still scratching my head a bit. I don't LOVE it but it is acceptable. There are some issues with the church, and other already noted sentiments. However it is a proposal with a limited word count to flush things out sooo I will give it some leeway however the adventure came out very similar to how it is written i would probably pass it by.. That said I did vote for it as the best. I have really enjoyed looking through the work presented and applaud everyone's efforts. I also look forward to seeing some of these writers after the Pathfinder polish has done it's deed.

Ah, so when the T-rex eats the dog, instead of a doghouse dangling on a chain from it's mouth, it will be your character dangling on a rope. :)

Haha yeah, I can see that and other tangle issues coming up for sure. Enemy circles the caster again and again or the dog attacks creature on one side of tree player attacks creature on other side..oops. Lucky for me not to many PFS scenarios are likely to have a T-rex in tier 1-2. regardless I would need free hands to cast soo give and take. Eventually my handle animal roll would get higher and in time the pooch wouldn't be much help and a summon spell would be more effective.

fatouzocat wrote:

Leash around waist, with handle four feet from waist 10ft long least total. As a caster you keep the dog close 2-6 feet. When combat arises you release the least and begin casting or what have you. If something attacks you the dog defends which buys your first second level character time, and for a caster of this level this is golden.

If you are referring to a quick-release type leash, I do not recall anything like that in any books. So it wouldn't exist. The dog would essentially be tied to you just like using a rope. It would cost you at least a standard action (maybe full?) to release it. IMO, this would hinder the caster more than the value of the protection. Just take some ranks in Handle Animal and buy a combat trained dog.

No not a quick release. It is a leash tied around the characters waist (use rope) four feet off it has a loop(handle) and carries on a further six feet to the dogs neck. If the loop and leash are held the dog may have very limited movement when the leash and loop are released the dog has a ten foot radius from the caster (just have to be careful about tangling. Yes with training the dog can be commanded so a hand held short leash would work and a DC 10 to enact the command, either way a leash is necessary to keep tinkles from running to smell everything along the path.

Thanks Mark this clears this up I can always bring the computer and this thread too which clears things up.
Cheers

Leash around waist, with handle four feet from waist 10ft long least total. As a caster you keep the dog close 2-6 feet. When combat arises you release the least and begin casting or what have you. If something attacks you the dog defends which buys your first second level character time, and for a caster of this level this is golden.

So Ive got a new sorcerer starting out. And Im plotting to be a controller type Elf

I was thinking instead of using a bow for damage (meh), using a sling to throw thunderstones, tanglefoot bags, alchemist fire and other stuff.

Is there a reason I couldnt? and what else could I throw?
(obvious;y, I like "outside the box" characters)

I would impose a penalty to toss Alch Fire, Acid, and Tangle foot bags as they are not stones (bullet size and shape) however you might want to consider this Go to http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/weapons/weapon-descriptions/flask -thrower-1. You should also use light it can be super useful as a distraction or as a tracer/illuminating enemies. Perhaps Caltrops? Indelible Ink to mark a foe running away in a city (easy to identify later). I don't think there are a lot of spells you can simply cast on a stone and let loose unless you want to craft a magical item (I would make the cost equivalent to a magical arrow). For example you could create a sleep bullet for 70gp or purchase one for 132gp (it's a poor item choice however since the save is DC 11.

Ps you are a skill monkey already 6+int so a 9 or 10 in int will not hurt you much I actually played my Inquisitor with average 11 Charisma too. You will likely have to choose between dex and Strength and have the other option sub optimal for the benefit of Wisdom 1st stat and prime secondary stat. Con third, Dex or str fourth
cheers and have fun

could you explain how [The Half Orc Favored class option is +1/2 to Intimidate and Knowledge's to indentify creatures] works? is it just +1/2 point every level to Intimidate and all knowledge skills (situationally for iding monsters?) Essentially 1 point every 2 levels?

and Monster Lore is Wis+Int+Knowledge(type)?

Ok I was forced to play a Half Orc Inquisitor and was a bit squeemish about the class BUT it is a very enjoyable experience. I should add that I started play at higher level since the party had already been playing for a few years and I stepped in fresh at level 10. Regardless here's the scoop (played a Half orc of Calistra took freedom giving freedom of movement to myself and party members) Stats were ridiculous so I will not even share them that said Bump your Wisdom first, then Strength or Dex depending on combat style (I chose dex and ranged combat with the multiple arrow feat selections.) Con is important, Very. Your AC will be low in comparison to many other classes, this can be boosted by spells at higher levels. Personally I let my Inquis get hit and traded off massive Damage to my opponent. I chose Justice but switched it to destruction (destroy weak creatures fast) or smiting (hit the un-hitable)regularly. The Bane is great dealing incredible damage but must be selected wisely)

Cunning initiative is very nice

Determine Lies -You should use this a LOT you get the whole truth. When tying to get info you know who has it and who does not. No red herrings. As a GM I would Hate this ability.

Moster Lore -Suuuuuppper potent put ranks in Knowledge and use this ability if you know your enemy you know how it can be harmed and what it can do to harm you simple. Buff apropriatly without meta gaming. Great.

Weapons
Being an Orc you have great high Damage options right out of the hop choose something like Gr Axe d12+str very nice for melle combat

If you go ranged Composite Longbow is nice do big Damage (with Bane, Destruction+Str) and with the right feats multiple attacks (just have a backup oh that Axe looks nice. hehe

Feats to consider
Yes the scent ability is a great one.

You could consider going Vital strike+
Great axe d12x2+str+bane+destruction=nice happy player yes?

I would focus on combat style and making your inquisitor hit more often. He will do damage so just worry about hitting things.

Your saves are good so don't waste feats on these.

Crispy3ed wrote:

Doug Miles wrote:

Pendagast wrote:

I dont have adventurer's armory, but why would you spend 25gold for a dog if it was NOT trained?

Thats alot of gold for the family pet! whats the point of 25 gold if it isnt trained?

So you could train it to perform a task. Like hunting, heavy labor or performing. See the 'Handle Animal' skill for more.

I think the point was why pay 25GP for an untrained dog. When you pay that high a price you are paying for the training, not the dog.

Huh? What? You are paying 25gp for a Trained Dog...

Additional Resources wrote:

Pathfinder Player’s Companion: Adventurer’s Armory

Everything in this book is legal for play with the following two exceptions: a pseudodragon is not legal for purchase unless you’re a wizard with the Improved Familiar feat and elephants are never legal for play.

I don't see anywhere it says the Combat-Trained dog is unauthorized for PFS play, which come Combat-Trained...

Yay for 'Combat Trained Tinkles the Terrible Terrier' and his chew toy bimbo action barbie (it squeaks too).

I think you should name it Tinkles

Tinkles the Terrible to you bub..

Thanks all found the info. Now to look into training.

Can I purchase a Guard dog at first level? And if so how is it trained ie will it Defend, Attack, Heal or would my character have to succeed in a DC 25 check to train each of these abilities... Or pay someone to train the dog for me? I will be playing a Sorcerer with weak physical stats having the dog seemed to make sense to my characters 'feel' but I would like to know it of would be legal? I don't need a riding dog although I could see my character purchasing one later to carry gear for him.

Sigh
I totally forgot Mok wasn't asking or looking for advice, or even discussion regarding his 42 Point buy he was making a statement. "What I want is a 42 point buy." Well, If your GM and the other players want to hang out with your superhero I suppose that's cool.
Have fun 'Winning'
Sigh

PS What would Deadpool's stats be ... Hehehe

Cartigan wrote:

So can I then repeatedly kill myself until I get actually playable stats instead?

You can kill yourself repeatedly? I can only do it once...

Nice

So can I then repeatedly kill myself until I get actually playable stats instead?

If you simply took a point buy system here 'hey no problem'. Decent fair stats, and you can play the char you want easily.. seems to be an easy solution to me. Perhaps ask your GM to adopt a point buy system and run your existing character into a fumbled dagger whislt tripping into a ravine while doing a back flip and performing the Pathfinder version of Rent the musical.

My charters are why my group now uses a 15 point buy. 25 Point buys brake the game more then you know. Try running just 15 point buys some time and you will notice a huge difrence in power.

Some of my players would revolt at a 15 point buy. Therefore, I compromised at 25 point max build. We were rolling stats at first.. ext but it just started to go crazy. Soon we will be switching over to organized play and a 20 point buy. Therefore, we will also continue to get well written (short) scenarios via Pathfinder. Everyone will be on even ground and Yaaay NO Whine with the cheese. I like cheese and I like wine but not Whine.

1 to 100 scale system.
A 25 meant that there was a rough 25% chance of death.
I tend to GM between the 50 and 75 rating.
And actively sought out the 75 to 80 rated GMs. (I always did like it challenging.)
I have only ever played with one GM who rated a 100.
You did not play his games to survive but to go out in a blaze of glory. Because every death in his games were unique and spectacular.
Killer GM or not his games were always good for a decent laugh.
I remember the last time I played with him I had a Fighter/Cleric make it through the entire delve only to die by having the crushing weight of the now dead dragon land on him (I made the poor choice of being under him hacking away at his legs...). And since every one else was in negative HP and guess who the last surviving cleric was... LOL!

As long as everyone's laughing and having fun what a great way to die hehe. Did you suffocate or crush death.. One of my players almost TPKed his group when he set a barn he was in on fire via fireball.. they had to do con checks due to smoke inhalation and two characters were physically dragged out of the building by the cleric/fighter, the players still talk about this encounter quite a bit due to it's total stupidity near death experience.

With my AP's I tend to increase the HP and AC to compensate for the 25 point buy. Just curious though.. You don't live on Vancouver island do you??? You might be one of my players..hehe

calagnar wrote:

15 point buy = CR

20 point buy = +1 CR
25 point buy = +2 CR
30 point buy = +3 CR
40 point buy = +4 CR

Generaly speaking you incress the CR by +1. For every 5 points of stat buy you start with. With maxing your primary stats with 30 points it realy dose not change till you past 40 points where you are good at every thing.

From my own analysis this doesn't sound right. Point buy stats don't have a very big effect on the game because there is a cap of 18. If there was an option to get beyond 20 with normal character creation then high point buys would start to make the CR go crazy, but merely being competent at several things while being under the cap doesn't make things really go off the rail.

I'm sorry Mok but I tend to agree with Calagnar here and as I run AP's i would basically have to rewrite every encounter...not fun.

My two cents as a GM I have had great frustration with stats when one char (through the roll method) gets insane stats sometimes other players get stat envy and the characters tend to creep toward optimized superhroes instead of charachters struggling to overcome obsticles. I detest this type of gameplay it reminds me of video games. You don't have to play at my GM'ed table but if you do these are my rules point buy 25 pretty good, mundane items may be bought no prob magical items will be found or rarely encountered in large communities or by fluke in a small ones.
I tend to use Adventure paths and as such the encounters are pretty well completed in such a manner that the math works. Challenging fun, good stories. Sometimes characters die it keeps the players thinking.. playing rather than watching their stat beast kill everything. If you just want to "win" maybe this will explain my feelings
When people ask my players if they won their game last night they usually answer "we never win, we learn survive and overcome challenges before facing new ones". To win would be to end the game, this is not a game with a static beginning and end its and adventure you have fun going through creating storylines and defeating great challenges together. As GM I want all my player to have fun while I have fun as well creating an epic story together, a story with heartbreak, challenges and great celebrations.
A 42 point superhero in my style of table creates nothing but a swath of death to the inevitable end without challenge or thought. So if you brought me a character like that I would politely say no. If you argued a lot I would either suggest another GM or just tell you that you 'won the game, here read the AP you killed everything good job'. I know it seems harsh, maybe I am but my job isn't to make sure A player has fun it is to make sure everyone has fun (me included).

I am looking forward to this next step. Although you have all produced work to be proud of it will be here in Round five that I believe your true superstardom will be shown. Congrats to the four of you going on and the four that didn't make it to the finals. Some of my top 4 votes are in and some are out so... it just goes to show, you never know. I think it gets harder as the competition goes on due to the fact you are competing against others that have shown to be of a similar class. It might come down to 'I Love mummies' or 'The mummy thing is sooo overdone' in the end. Regardless this is quite the verbose Congratulations.
Cheers.

Ok i did this (human's though) not too long ago gnomes claimed to have a gift for the bride (or her future offspring due to a vision of the child's future) then chloroformed the bride (performed a rite to lamashtu (dancing and singing naked over the body whilst spraying it with unholy water (ala wet tee shirt) before dumping the body with a note and toy explaining what just went down ( a strange toy for any babes the pair have).

part 2 finding the gnomes (they are known but where do they live...? you find NPC who offers the PC's the info they need but only if they can beat him in a game of strip poker... if they do they get the info.

Part three crashing the gnome's house to find that they are really part of a strippers association and since the groomsman didn't pay for the previous nights activities they enacted the rite. To get the curse removed the wedding party will have to ---------- (strip for the next bach/bachelorette party perform check) or whatever, insert deed here... the act used wasn't PG13 sooo use your imagination.

I like the goblin farm concept too perhaps to get the blessings of the goblin shaman the wedding party must bring her the farmers prize chicken? (they are hard to catch by hand you know). Doing so without waking the farm, it's dogs, horses and farmer's will be difficult especially when there are so many things that can burn... With so many things burning will the goblins loose sight of their goal, will they burn the chicken, themselves, or will the farmer end the union with a well placed pitchfork..
Hmm I quite like this.

See the goblins comic for more inspiration (i love it)

Tikael wrote:

Jason Rice wrote:

I don't see why flight wouldn't trump every section of the chase

Those are the rules for chases, per the GMG.

There are rules and then common sense. Fly overcomes these obstacles. As Gm I would just be punishing my players for their ingenuity which is bad i want them to think not rules/metagame.

Regardless I still like this a lot Cody

Jason Rice wrote:

I don't see why flight wouldn't trump every section of the chase

Those are the rules for chases, per the GMG.

There are rules and then common sense. Fly overcomes these obstacles. As Gm I would just be punishing my players for their ingenuity which is bad i want them to think not rules/metagame.

I like it.. Perhaps the head did not come from space but was created long ago by a previous Pharaoh? Whatever, I really matters little to me; there is a head in the desert that shoots flame out of it's eyes and contains a crystal of power. I really like the thunderbird/villan entry very impressive. The combat sequence is quick, too quick six rounds? This dude is in and out and then the PC's will be left wondering what to do next. If Voracek gets away then what happens next.. Lots of loose ends. I also wouldn't allow the cannon 360 targeting. An intelligent PC will sit on it and hit Voracek every round till he flees. Regardless I'm a sucker for the desert and giant heads so... one vote fer you

Cody
I really like the feel of this, it has a cinematic flavor to it that I really dig. From GM experience however this is how i see the chase scene working. Dude runs. Players scramble about for a moment before one of the players casts fly or summons a creature or some other inventive method to follow our escapee. The PC's then arrive at the foundry. The PC's then call for the city guard to surround the building before entering and systematical destroying the people and place.
Regardless this is common with my group they really analyze their situations and react in the manner they feel that endangers them the least. If they knew the place was chock full o baddies (via spells or whatever) and that no innocents were present, they would probably wait outside and just demolish the building (summon earth ele's. pump them in and swing batter batter)... that's just their style.
Regardless I still really like this I would love to play it. Just at a much lower tier and thus increasing the likelihood of the chase and showdown at the forge.
Cool +1 vote

yeah, I believe it won't let you edit a post after a certain amount of time. Found that out the hard way, myself :)

Cheers Dane,

LazarX wrote:

Does this mean we're going back to the idea that we might see some Factions "win" or "lose" in the overall chess game?

It won't be a zero-sum game. Each faction will have its own storyline both publicly and behind the scenes. We'll be looking at what specific missions particular factions succeed on over the course of play to determine how these play out over the course of the season and beyond. Some of this has already begun, in fact, and "winning" factions are going to be rewarded, while "losing" factions will see things shaken up a bit.

Excellent this makes a lot of sense to me. I am looking forward to how it shapes up.

Tangent: When I GM a table of experienced PFS players, I ask them (a) what their day jobs are, and (b) how their factions contact them with assignments. I offer some possibilities: like they find theirs between pages of an obscure book in the Society library; or they regularly buy bagettes, and sometimes there's a faction mission baked into the loaf.

Prompted thus, some players come up with great mission-drop mechanics. The Taldan agent who receives his missions from copper coins with magic mouth was inspired.

I, too, have had to finagle when the mission needs to be received before the Venture Captain's briefing.

I like this very slick. I will probably follow through with a similar mechanic

fatouzocat wrote:

I am a little skeptical on the wording here, will you need to play in Cons or at games offered at retailers local's to possibly receive rewards? If so were not going to get them in most places here in Canada. Gaming is not done (often)in stores (I have never witnessed it) and Con's do not seem commonplace at all (never seen one even offer Pathfinder as an option to play).

Where in Canada, Fatouzcat? There's a thread on Canadian Org Play with some good ideas on how to kick-start this...

I'm in Courtenay on Vancouver Island. I will have a look at the thread. Thx

As others have said, the more you report, the more we know about who's playing and how often. It gets us more resources so we can provide you guys better scenarios and a better program.

First off I am happy that factions will become a larger part of PFS. Secondly I have been asked why I would consider PFS instead of simply picking up a new AP. Many of my players are shift workers thus the group fluctuates in size; running a PFS style game allows for some continuity while still allowing players to port in and out. Secondly sometimes I like to take of the GM hat and play too (my players would prefer I GM so that they could play (not confident in their GM skills).

Well I called a few players about this post and it's responses. One of them put the reporting this way (I understand that generally it would be me doing the reporting).
"It is kind of like going to the supermarket and getting asked to fill out info for a shoppers card. In this case you use the card when your done your experience/shopping and the store learns about you as a customer. This might improve your future visits to the store, however, most stores give their customers special savings for using the card (helping them become a better store), points or some other incentive otherwise no one would sign up."

So are there "points/incentives," no not right now, however....

Reporting will also let us know how the Shadow War is going and what's going on with the factions. We're already introducing some changes and you should see those as Season 2 winds up.

Starting in Season 3 we're going to be making factions a larger part of PFS and actively tracking how they're doing over the course of the Season.

We're also working on a more direct form of player and GM reward that we're hoping to debut at PaizoCon and then roll into full release at Gen Con. We'll be working with the Venture Captains and retailers to get rewards into your hands as well.

Hyrum.

More faction, reaction and or rewards could bolster incentive for sure. I am a little skeptical on the wording here, will you need to play in Cons or at games offered at retailers local's to possibly receive rewards? If so were not going to get them in most places here in Canada. Gaming is not done (often)in stores (I have never witnessed it) and Con's do not seem commonplace at all (never seen one even offer Pathfinder as an option to play).

Finally, if your tracking faction info now why not make it public?

TwilightKnight wrote:

I'm not sure how you could have SL faction missions without having PvP. That would not be healthy for the community.

To a lesser extent this is kind of the inherent problem with having 'season faction winners.' Players are going to do everything they can within the rules, right up to the redline, in order to ensure their faction is victorious. Not exactly 'Explore, report, cooperate.'

I know there is worry about PvP but really this is part of the GM's job. Player A acted in such a way that he/she impeded or did not cooperate with player B thus that character is now banned from PFS play. Ohhhh, I doubt my players would try the PvP rout again if they knew that was a possibility to their actions.

Again I really appreciate the openness of this forum and all the comments that have been given. I will repeat here I think PFS is a great idea, and I will try it with my players, I will even report these mods as I go through them (for now).
Thanks all.

there is, as of yet, no such direct impact for player reported data. One can assume and infer that the reported data has shaped and will continue to shape the future of the campaign. However, the kinds of motivations you are talking about here generally degenerate into rules redlining of the no-PVP rule which is something most everyone is happy to avoid.

Actually my players are not so interested in the PvP style of play but had thought from reading the season PFS guidebook that they would (due to faction action) have more direct impact. You answer this for us as has been done earlier of which I am thankful.

On the flip side though, if you did find yourself in a situation where you could play in sanctioned events would you rather do it with the characters you've been playing already in your home area, or would you rather play them as level 1 n00bs? It's a choice you can't really reverse if you find that suddenly it does matter for some reason.

Quite true, although thus far this has not come even close to passing unless I wanted to travel to Seattle. I live on Vancouver Island (not the same as Vancouver) and so travel would be costly.

I'm curious though if you are wrapping up an AP and curious/interested in PFS play shouldn't you go for the full experience? Otherwise why not just pick up the next AP and go that route?

Here is a piece of truth. I am the motivating factor to try the PFS, my players really don't care either way. I tend to purchase the AP's and so on and tend not to do things on a surface level. Soooo I would likely purchase the Factions Guide, Guide to Absalom, and The Pathfinder Society book ditty. I understand how my players are motivated and know that they like(d) the idea of having in world effects (re Factions) and getting feedback on how these political groups are changing due to the PFS influence. Without this type of feedback I am unsure if they will buy in.

I'm not going to give up yet on PFS with my players and I really do appreciate the honest answers to my questions. I think it's a really great concept. I will perhaps run a few of the 3.99 modules with the boys and who knows. However, I will now do this before purchasing all the paraphernalia which might make for a PFS light experience but we will see.
Thank You again
Oh and Happy 'Presidents Day'?