karpana's page

Hi There.

My Group and I are in the late stages of finising up another AP (currently middle of its book 5, with an anticipated conslusion in November or so).

The group as a whole has decided on Tyrant's Grasp, as the next adventure they want me to run for them. I've been gaming with this group for 5+ years now, and I would really like to run a prequel adventure before starting book 1 of Tyrant's Grasp.

One of my players, a veteran PFS player&GM like myself suggested finding a way to amp up an encounter from Book 5 of Carrion Crown (that he himself TPK'd on), but I'm wondering if there are some reasonable lead-in adventures I can lean on instead?

Something where the players could play a "levelled" version of their PCs to get a feel for party dynamics would be exceptional, but I recognzie that that I would really need to make sure that their gear from the "prequel" encounter doesn't get pulled into Tyrant's Grasp book 2 though.

Thoughts? Ideas?

@Totus,

My group came up with a pretty ingenious work around...
After having looked an item (the boots I think), they wanted to try and swap the halflings boot's for the stored boots, but Factor 12 saw through this ruse.

The halfling then said, "Well I still want to put my boots in storage".
Through my eye-rolling, I decided this "storage facility" was like a coat check, so I had Factor 12 generate a claim slip for the halfling's boots.

They then proceeded to look at EVERY item Factor 12 had, one at a time, and based on the claim slip Factor 12 created, then proceeded to forge a claim slip for every item they had looked at.

I had to pause the game for a few minutes as I did some rule checks. But the gist of my 5 minutes of research is that a forgery can only be detected via Linguistics (something Factor 12 did not have), they got away with stealing everything Factor 12 had, and got the halfling's boots back as well.

Thanks @Trichotome and @Darrel Impey UK.

I like the idea of them being "war maps", and something Martella would definitely have on hand. Thanks for the clarification that they represent the end of the book.

Another question...
This time related to the "Succession Loyalties" maps in the front of books 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

Is this something that the players should be provided?
If so, when is a good time to share this with them?

The group is definitely prepared for both aspects of this AP.
I'm just a bit worried about characters that are specialized in specific types of weapons, who will be noticeably impacted by not being permitted to have their weapons with them during the first part of the AP, as they head into part 2.

My group is comprised of the following
Half-orc cleric (archer)
Halfling fighter (star knives)
2x Human Wizards.

In the group's opinion, would the halfling be able to bring his starknives in?

The cleric, technically won't be able to bring his bow in, but he has invested heavily in bluff, and combined with a trait (Power of Suggestion), believes that he'd be able to pull a Gandalf, and convince the guards to let him keep his walking stick. I think I'm going to play this one by ear...

Hello fellow GMs,

I can't find any guidance as to how to manage this aspect of the first book, and it's the transition from Part 1 to Part 2, specifically in the context of what is going on in Part 1.

Players, as we all know, are at a "royal gala" that has a restriction on weapons. Top of page 10 reads:

Quote:
-------------
Only light and one-handed weapons are allowed inside the senate building; ranged weapons and twohanded weapons are not allowed inside the building. All weapons brought into the senate building must be peace-bound—secured in a sheath with a length of decorative cord. Drawing a peace-bound weapon requires a full-round action. Guards do not need to peace-bind their weapons.
-------------

Two of my players are intended to go with specialized weapons (one is using a 2-handed reach weapon, the other some form of ranged weapon [undecided]), and at 2nd level, as they transition to part 2, will have the issue of not having their weapons with them.

The other challenge I'm anticipating (based on my past experience with a particular 4-part PFS scneario chain in S0 and S1), is that my players aren't likely to bring any weapons or equipment with them for this sort of event (part 1). This is fine and thematic for part 1, but means even their most basic accessories will be inaccessible to them.

What have other GMs done to resolve this?

I'm debating switching out the equipment in B4 to something "close enough" that any given character still has some sort of viability.

Thoughts?

Thanks @Kujaku.

I'm not sure how my group is going to handle this to be honest.
I want them to experience the dregs of having to explore the land (especially where then amed locations are), but on the same token, with our large group size (5-6 PCs + 1 NPCs played by a person), I worry about pacing.

What I'm thinking about doing is while they're on the roads, one encounter per day with a random roll to figure out in what hour it occurs.

While they're actively searching through hexes, make a full exploration of the hex take 4 in-game days, but only have them actually get one encounter with a random roll to figure out what day, and another random roll to figure out what hour.

This way, the characters get to be subjected to the realities of exporing 25-mile hexes (400-500 square miles), but not subject the party to ennui of 4 combats per hex.

I did see in a google search I just did, that there's maybe some new rules in Ultimate Wilderness. So I'm going to check that out real quick.

Hello fellow GMs,

My group and I are on the cusp of starting this part of the adventure. If all goes well, we'll wrap up book #2 May 4th and start book #3 on May 18th.

I have a question about the "Hexploration" portion of this adventure.

In Kingmaker, the hexes are 12miles across, and for forested terrain on horseback, exploring a hex takes 1 day.

In Hell's Vengeance, these hexes are 25 miles across, are, for all intents and purposes, 4 times the area, and thus by comparison take 4 days to explore.

The road-based travel across these 25-mile hexes is mathematically correct, with it taking, by my estimate 6 days on horse-back to get from Longacre to Senara (the book says it takes 5.5)

How have other GMs worked with the Hexploration phase of this adventure? How many days does it take for the party to find someting of interest/value? And did you run a random encounter on each of those days as indicated by the adventure itself?

I suspect my players will get very tired of constant combat while they search for the things they need to search for.

Any updates to this issue?
It's now January 14th, and I *Still* cannot access the Player companion page (https://paizo.com/store/pathfinder/sourcebooks/companion)

I have one player (for my session Tuesday December 11th) that specializes in raising undead. (for reference he's an L9 cleric and we're playing high subtier (10-11)

Is there any guidance on how the destroyed devils the party will inevitably create (areas F, A and G+), could (if at all) be statted out as Undead?

Tonya,

Thank you for recapping the discussion for those of us that are just entering the fray of these important topics.

Regarding PFS 1E Replays: I'm of the opinion that Option 1, is probably the most viable for the veteran players who have been the foundation Organized Play, and will provide the means by which these veterans players might be able to continue to provide value to 1E tables, both as players, and as GMs, while still permitting them to receive benefit (i.e. chronicles), for so long as 1E retains interest.

I believe it's a safe assumption that the cadence of scenario publication is unlikely to change from the current model (~2 per month). If we assume that our veteran players (who have few, if any, playable scenarios) will pick up PFS 2E, this means that those veteran players, who are often the backbone of our store presence, and attend on a weekly basis (sometimes more) will have PFS 2E "completed" each month in 2 sessions with nothing further to play (for benefit), unless we provide a means of allowing them to continue to garner benefits (i.e. chronicles) for their 1E characters via replay.

The ability for these veteran players to continue to garner "personal benefit" in the form of chronicles for 1E scenarios will also help to maintain the flow of traffic in our Friendly Local Game Stores, who are the backbone of some of our Lodges facilities.

Thank you for permitting me to provide my thoughts.

Also, I'm not sure why the orcs are taking such a steep penalty for using their nets in combat. They are all listen as having weapon focus regardless of tier.

I agree..

I wanted to point out that both sets of stats list the Red Reaver as having 10 ft space and 10 ft reach in spire of having the Giant Template (the rest of its stats seem to check out).

I agree Cornelus... The base Red Reaver is a 10' creature with a 10' reach (as per page 476 of the Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path).

I think this error is a result of Hero Lab ... because when I recreated this monster in hero lab, it results in a "HUGE size" creature that has a 10' space and a 10' reach.

I am of the opinion this should be a 15' size (to match huge) and also have a 15' reach.

Thank you for the additional information and guidance.

Knowledge check DC33 to recognize it helps. (15 for Rare, 17 for CR.)

I thought myhic ranks added to the CR ... So would this not be a 15+17+2 for a total for 34 (instead of the 32 you proposed)

I've come here for some advice on what happens if the PCs engage the reaver at the start, choose not to run and actually kill the thing.

The group of six I'm running for has one, possibly two APG summoners as well as a heavily optimized brawler, amongst others.

Like Basara, I'm looking to acquire the Condordance pin, if only to fill out my collection.

I know it's been a busy few weeks, but is there an ETA when this will be purchasable from the paizo.com store?

http://paizo.com/store/pathfinder/pathfinderSociety/pfsrpg/apparel
-or-
http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/c/campaignCoins/pathfinder

Thank you Michael!

I'm in the process of prepping this scenario for next tuesday.
As I read the the Combat tactics of the two anacondas (in low subtier), it reads

During Combat Each cobra strikes at a different foe, preferring
to target enemies that seem weak. They target characters
suffering from the manifestation’s confusion effect or who seem
particularly wounded first. If they kill or disable a creature, they
drag it down the ravine and toward their burrow.

There's no mention of a ravine or burrow anywhere else in the scenario. Thoughts on how to handle this (if should come up)?

Thank you James.
I hadn't thought to check the boats stats... /doh

I'm reading through this as part of my prep for next week.

When Navigating (via the Swan Boat) from C1 to C2 (top of page 14), there is a specific set of checks needed to navigate safely. How much movement does a successful check give? (I see that a failed check is a 20 ft penalty)

Do we have an ETA on when we'll be receiving our downloads?
(as noted earlier, I'm schedule to run this in a few days, and need time to prep)

I'm also still waiting for my Scenarios PFS & SFS to "finalize" so i can download them...

I'm scheduled to run 9-12 on Tuesday, and would love to get my hands on this...

I suppose I could "double pay" to have gotten it 2 days ago... but seeing as how I'm subscribed, I'm a little dismayed that it hasn't arrived yet. :-/

Just a quick update, my subscriptoins for SFS and PFS came through around 8pm Central last night.

Thank you Paizo for your diligence on resolving this issue. I recognize that these kind of events can strain the IT and Customer Service Staff, so your efforts at resolving this, and keeping us apprised of what was occurring is very much appreciated!

Thank you,
Karpana

Hi There,

Being an IT person, I can appreciate the difficulties that this month's release of October SFS & PFS scenarios has caused. I'd like to thank the Customer Service Staff for their openness on the issue and the IT Staff for getting this rectified as quickly as humanly (and digitally) possible.

As noted in this post, I was having issues with my PFS scenarios not arriving as I am GM'ing this in a few days.

I spoke with Customer Service on the phone yesterday (shortly after 12pm Central), and the fine lady I spoke too (sorry, can't remember her name) indicated that if really needed the scenario ASAP, that I'd be okay to purchase the scenario outright, and that when the transaction finally went through for the subscription, you'd be able to credit back one of the transactions.

When I got home yesterday (~5PM Central), PFS 9-06 hadn't yet landed in my downloads so I bought it under Order #4553050. (with my Paizo Advantage Discount, this came to $4.24).

I noticed this morning that Order #4551018 went through a few hours later (~8pm Central), which included the final authorization to my credit card for 9-06 ($3.99).

Because it's not actually possible to these digital products twice, can I ask to have one of them refunded (credit on account is fine, as I have a number of subscriptions).

Thanks,
Karpana

Hi Katina,

I'll add my name to the list of people that are PFS (and SFS) scenario subscribers that haven't gotten their scenarios.

I'm most concerned about PFS 9-06, as I'm GM'ing that in a 5 days... and need at least a couple days to prep it.

I did receive the email indicating my account was being setup for "auto-order". I see the hold on my credit card. and I see that the scenarios are available for public purchase.

I really don't want to have to buy it at the retail 4.99 price, when I've already essentially paid for it through my subscription.

Thanks in advance.

Hello friendly folks at Paizo!

I'm a subscriber to PFS Scenario Subscriber.
I got the expected email yesterady (Oct 24) that my automatic order was being processed.

BUt now, 8:48pm (central) on Oct 25th, I still don't have the scenarios in my downloads, even though the scenario is avialble for the public to purchase.

Please help!
I'm GM'ing this in 4 days, and really don't want to have to buy it outright at full price when, by all accounts, I've already paid for it with my subscription.

Please help!

Hi There...
I went to record my recent GM session for PFS... a running of 9-04.... But this scenario (or 9-05, 9-06 or 9-07) aren't listed.

9-04 and 9-05 are released.
9-06 and 9-07 are announced.

ANy idea what the ETA is for them to be added?

9-04 The Unseen Inclusion
9-05 Call of the Copper Gate
9-06 The Shores of Heaven
9-07 Salvation of the Sages

@Doug + @Jurassic.

I've reread the test for the dinner debate... and you're right... the phrasing of the clout earnings is "PCs earn" ... which is group-level earning, not individual earnings. This means the dinner has a max total of 10 clout.

I've also reread the callout box about Clout on page 4...

Clout is the simple numerical measure of the PCs’ standing with the local patron, representing both attention and goodwill.

Based on that, I agree... earnings from the earlier events (such as the performance) count towards this 10-count requirement on pages 9 and 10.

Also Doug... The wording of that block leads me to believe points garnered prior to the dinner with Amal don't count in this case, as the phrasing seems to indicate that if the party doesn't earn 10 points while meeting with Amal

Rewards: If the PCs do not meet with Amal al-Sahba, reduce each PC’s gold earned by the following amount. If they meet with her but do not earn at least 10 Clout, reduce each PC’s gold earned by the amount in parentheses.

Which is why I'm asking the question about whether the debate is a potential two points per PC (instead of 2 points for the party (like the rovagug event).

@Doug ... But the discussion topics you mention specifically calls out max 6 in the same call out box...

Question about the clout rewards for the meeting with Amal al-Sahba...

Top of page 10, it says if the PCs meet with her, but do not get at least 10 clout, reduce their gold...

I'm only seeing a max of 10 clout during the dinner...

Max 6 for practice bringing up topics.
Max 2 for bringing up the roidirans
2 (or 1) for debating for (or against her) on page 9

That's a max of 9-10.

Or is the debate a case of each PC can earn a max of 2 clout?

The APs I run don't use XP, we use level advancement as the story progresses, currently running Curse of the Crimson Throne.

I pretty much ignored random-encounters for the first 4 chapters, until the party set out into the open wilds. They're a big group (6 players) and they're somewhat over-powered. Every random I throw at them is a "more wealth for them" encounter, which perpetuates the wealth/power problem I am having with this group, to the point where I've actually held back one level from them.

Now that they're out in the open wilds, I've brought randoms in, but these randoms are creatures (so minimal chance at affecting the wealth curve issues).

For starters, I had the party give me a bunch of pre-rolled dice (d%, d12, d10, d8, d6 and d4s), that I've used to generate "WHAT" they encounter. This is so i can plan the encounters better

For "WHEN" they encounter something, I'm using a sliding scale for the randoms which seems to be working well. Every 8 hour period, (daytime/travel, evening, overnight) the chance of a random increases by 5%. It starts at 0% (and resets to 0% after a random occurs). Each "day" that they're out in the wilds, the party has to give me d% rolls. If the value is less than the current chance, then an encounter occurs. The idea behind this is that the local fauna (and in some cases flora), have figured out that there's food out here, and going to jump at the opportunity to feast.

The players don't know, but they're also getting a bonus of 5% per NPC in their party, as these folks know the terrain and are acting as guides (so in effect, after an encounter, the rate resets to -20%).

The idea behind this particular mechanism is to guarantee that they'll get some form of encounter eventually, but it feels COMPLETELY random, as the party can roll a d% of 5 and get nothing, but at other times roll a d% of 94 and get a random.

Hi There,

Books 2 through 6 of Hell's Rebels (adventure path) make reference to the Rules/Chronicles for Sanctioning a game for Pathfinder Society by linking to this URL: http://paizo.com/include/PZO9000-17-Rules.zip.

However book #1 In Hells's Bright Shadow has the exact same text/language, but is missing the link.

Thank you!

First, I want to apologize for the necro on this thread, but my hope in doing so is that the original poster (@SirDaemos) will be able to provide some insight.

Question 1)
In your opinion, would the NPC Codex and Inner Sea Codex share a design?

Question 2)
In your opinion, would all five of the current bestiary boxes fit the same design as the one you used for Bestiary 1? (I'm okay storing the bases outside of the boxes)

Aside from (the seemingly inevitable) flipping to each module and reviewing each chronicle to determine whether or not a "Campaign Mode" option is available, is there a definitive list of such?

For example, "The House on Hook Street" has a specific paragraph in the rules on page 1 of the chronicle, that a "Campaign mode" option exists, but "Academy of Secrets" makes no such reference (in fact the "rules page" seems to be absent from the PDF).

It's a good question and one that I'm looking for clarification on as well... (I'm playing an investigator at the moment), and would like to nip the issue in the bud before it comes up at the table.

Thank you to both.

And yes Sara Marie, I agree, UPS seems to have a tendency to attempt to nickel and dime at every opportunity when doing parcels. it's why I've preferred USPS shipping, as most of my packages coming from the states are well below the limit that even CBSA will look at for customs charges, but UPS will charge their ridiculous fees, sometimes more than the item itself.

to be completely honest... the fact that they're talking again, surprises me...

The Latest indications, at least from the news outlets, is that the 30-day "truce" that was being explored, seems to have fallen apart. At this point in time, it seems incredibly likely that Canada Post will be locking staff out sometime on Monday.

Hi There,

With the looming strike / lockout by Canada Post and its Postal Workers Union, (the date has been pushed back a few times, but currently expected to start on July 9th, 2016), I'm wondering what Paizo's plans are for redirecting lettermail (which would likely be USPS from your perspective) to other providers, or freezing the mailouts from the warehouse so mail doesn't get frozen at the border as we wait for CanadaPost to get back to work?

I recognize that other shipping/postal providers have different costs, so I'm curious what the next cheapest provider is that you work with, so that I can determine if I want to eat that cost during the postal event so I can get my subscriptions and other orders, or just freeze the outbound shipping of my orders (including my subs) until the event has ended.

Thank you for the information...

I had seen the RSS feeds for various pages...but found that the product page ones were always empty, and thereby unuseable... and thus assumed the forum ones were the same...

It's probably just me, but I don't get any notifications that a thread I've replied to (or created for that matter), has been replied to.

is there an option somewhere I can set to do this?

Thanks in advance.

This is not an issue related to any specific browser, but is the ongoing continuation of the issues that are currently affecting paizo's site due to the massive popularity of their humble bundle.

For current status of the ongoing download issues:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2thdr?My-Downloads-Humble-Bundle-Downloads-Issu es#1

For one possible solution:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2th4m&page=21?My-Downloads-PageHumble-Bundl e-Downloads-Issues#1013

You can try any http downloader.

Thank you Alejandro. I had never thought to use a download manager. I've sort of stopped using them since I got higher speed internet in the last few year.

But I just installed one, and you were right... the downloads are starting to trickle through. I guess my download manager has more resilience to the timeouts/delays currently inplay with paizo's site.

Thank you sir!

Sorry for necro'ing this thread (albeit it is only a small one).

Modules count as 2 tables each for determining GM stars.

How do Sanctioned AdventurePaths function?

karpana wrote:

Looking for some quick advice...

The initial encounter run up for Ewigga in J4, it speaks about how Ingrahild and her brother decimated Ewigga's coven before she fled into the vault.

My player party has Ingrahild in the group for the moment...and while Ingrahild won't recognize Ewigga (due to Ewigga's disguise), it should be evident that Ewigga recognizes Ingrahild.

What's the best way to role-play out this initial encounter?
Should I do this by the book and "pretend" that Ewigga doesn't recognize Ingrahild? Or should I have Ewigga go ape-s!~* on the group in retribution against Ingrahild.

Has Ingrahild be cured of her madness/curse?

If no, Ewigga bides her time and savors the cruelty of it. If she has been healed, Ewigga should curse her again - on the sly.

Carry on.

Steel_Wind... that's devious...

Looking for some quick advice...
The initial encounter run up for Ewigga in J4, it speaks about how Ingrahild and her brother decimated Ewigga's coven before she fled into the vault.

My player party has Ingrahild in the group for the moment...and while Ingrahild won't recognize Ewigga (due to Ewigga's disguise), it should be evident that Ewigga recognizes Ingrahild.

What's the best way to role-play out this initial encounter?
Should I do this by the book and "pretend" that Ewigga doesn't recognize Ingrahild? Or should I have Ewigga go ape-s%&$ on the group in retribution against Ingrahild.

Established group looking for an additional player who is also willing to alternate GM duties.

Message me for details.

I'm still working through this group with my party...
it took us 2 session and about 20 hours to work our way through Part 1 and in to the early stages of part 2. We spent the better part of 90 minutes RP'ing the Ingrahild encounter, with the resulting effect that the party dwarf managed to convince Ingrahild to put down her arms and pass over the two potions she had on her person. Now the party has a useful ally, as they wander aimlessly through the swamp picking up randoms. If not for Ingrahild's efforts last night, Gripwort (scaled for the party size) would have been quite the challenge; he hits like a truck to start with, not to mention having an extra HitDie added to him.

My PCs party is a party of 6, and most encounters have to be scaled to accomodate the increased party size and resulting favourable PC action economy.

The only piece of the puzzle they had trouble with thus far was "how did Melira manage to get on the boat before us, since we didn't find out we were going on a boat until the same we left to go on the boat" and by extension "How did Tark know where to find us... surely traveling on foot would have taken him longer than by boat".

other than that it's some pretty smooth sailing (pardon the pun).
I'm really looking forward to the vault encounters (including randoms in the swamp), and very much looking forward to the redlake fort.