markrivett's page

Is there a resource anyone knows of that evaluates class strengths and weaknesses in a relatively simple way?

I'm moving through the Beginners Box, but want to give my players a simple tool for evaluating what class they would like to be for a longer campaign.

Something simple like a 1-to-3-point scale or 1-to-5-point scale for general concepts like toughness, damage, combat control, healing, skills, and versatility for each class.

Thank You

I'm studying this adventure path, and I haven't found any reference to how The Broken Tusks (and the Burning Mammoths) cross the river to Gleaming Sun Lake then the other river of their way to Red Cat Cave?

Do most GMs just assume that, being that the tribes are extremely familiar with the terrain, know how to ford a river?

I don't see where the adventure path address a couple points that I, as the GM, may be overthinking?:

I thought the setting just came out of winter and is now in spring. Normally this would mean rivers are taking in all the melted water and are high, fast, rough, etc.

There are at least 3 newborn babies traveling across these rivers.

Is this something I don't really don't need to/shouldn't need to be concerned with?

If there isn't any reference to crossing these rivers in the adventure path, is it a good idea/bad idea/neither good nor bad idea to homebrew some increased drama around these crossings?

Thank you in advance.

Hello,

I feel like this is sound logic, but I wanted to run it by the community. I'm thinking about building a monk who wants to be able to do the following...

1st level feat: Monastic Weaponry
https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=434

The important bit here is: "You can use melee monk weapons with any of your monk feats or monk abilities that normally require unarmed attacks, though not if the feat or ability requires you to use a single specific type of attack, such as Crane Stance."

Equipment: Hook Swords in each hand
https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=287

They have the twin trait
https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=197
The important bit is: "When you attack with a twin weapon, you add a circumstance bonus to the damage roll equal to the weapon’s number of damage dice if you have previously attacked with a different weapon of the same type this turn."

I assume, based on the text of Monastic Weapon, I can use Hook Swords when using Flurry of Blows
https://2e.aonprd.com/Actions.aspx?ID=9

For one action I "make two unarmed strikes" using a single attack roll with a -5 penalty (Hook Swords are not agile).
If I hit, the damage is 1d6 +strength mod +1d6 +strength mod +1 for twin trait

I'm really just asking whether the "twin" trait circumstance bonus (in this case, +1) is "baked in" to flurry of blows.

I like the versatility of hook swords, but is the +1 damage worthwhile? Should I instead consider Butterfly Swords
https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=275

or is a shield on one arm + kama in the other just a better choice for a front-liner?
https://2e.aonprd.com/Weapons.aspx?ID=54

During combat, can a Kineticist using Extended Kinesis proliferate earth in a square to make a wall/impassable terrain?

If so, does a Kineticist need to first generate earth through Base Kinesis, or could the Kineticist simply proliferate earth from existing material such as rock or dirt ground?

Thank you

Goblin Druid
Animal Companion
https://2e.aonprd.com/DruidicOrders.aspx?ID=1

Level 2
Beastmaster Dedication
https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=1900
+ Hieghtened Summon Animal

Turn 1 riding my wolf the druid summons a wolf to go with his two wolf animal companions

Turn 2 3 command animal actions to give your wolves a command: "run up and bite that guy!"
each of the three wolves run up. The first one bites for 1d8 +trip
the second and third wolves bite for 1d8+1d4 +trip

Turn 3 command animal action: "bite that guy twice!"

------

Is this allowed by rules and if it is, is it minmaxing or flavorful to build this awesome goblin wolf shaman and his two riding wolves and sometimes also a third wolf of crazy bitey wolfpack who becomes more and more useless after level 4?

is that allowed by rules, and is it fun?

Title says it all.

Is a Ruffin Rogue
https://2e.aonprd.com/Rackets.aspx?ID=1
able to sneak attack
https://2e.aonprd.com/Classes.aspx?ID=10
via Gouging Claw attack?
https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=920

Wrapping up a campaign soon with the party, now level 15, finally going up against the BBEG - an ancient Blue Dragon.

Party is Barbarian, Druid (and bear animal companion), Wizard, and Cleric

They have some NPCs assisting them (no one higher than level 14. basically sacks of HP to tanks some of the initial damage).

The Blue Dragon is a caster and between his spell list and his AC, I'm a bit worried. Even with assistance, is this combat encounter out of reach for a 15th level group?

The party has some "advisors" who can suggest some things to help.

So... internet advisors... how might these advisors offer a strategy/tactics that prevents the dragon from casting Maze on the barbarian, cating Baleful Polymorph on the Wizard (or Cleric), and then mopping the floor with the remainder of the group?

Or... if the dragon starts to lose, he casts disappearance and/or dimension door and lives to fight another day.

Thank you in advance.

My players, being level 14, are going up against a level 14 wizard, a level 14 fighter, and their cannon-fodder of low-level guards. I can't find a suitable substitution in the list of regular monsters available in the various beastiaries. Do I have to MAKE these characters, pick their spells/feats, etc?

This seems like a lot to keep track of.

Bonus if this can dragged and dropped into Roll20

My players have, on occasion, mentioned that variance can often take the wind out of an otherwise fun game session. I've seen my players roll a natural 1 and hero point into another natural 1. I've watched moderate encounters turn into a slog because damage dice after damage dice roll low. I've watched chase encounters and social encounters get set back because of a critical fail.

I get that there is probably a bit of negative memory bias at play, and I don't let dice dictate the over-arching narrative. I also know that, as the GM, I can puppeteer things in a way to minimize the impact of bad luck (which solves the issue, but creates another: diminishing agency). I do, however, see where my players are coming from.

As this current campaign wraps up, and starting to plan for the next, I'm thinking about changing the default die roller in Roll20 (our platform of choice) from d20 to 2d8+1d6-2. This will double the odds of getting a result between 8 and 13, dramatically reduce results of 7 or less, 14 or more, and make natural 1s and natural 20s one in about 400 rolls.

There is no practical issue since Roll20 will handle all the die rolling.

I understand that this will make east DCs and combat encounters much easier.
Average DCs and combat encounters will also become easier because players will tend apply their best abilities.
Difficult DCs and combats will become much MUCH harder.

Outside the above assumptions, are there any other unforeseen issues I might inadvertently provoke?

dragon in humanoid (elf) form is surrounded by a player on each non-diagonal side.

Can dragon transform into its natural huge form?
If so, what happens if there are walls behind the players?

Setup: My 11th level players go to a town to discover a Vrykolakas Ancient has subjugated the people. Werewolves, Vrykolakas Spawn, and other low-level creatures maraud the countryside.

I want to set up a dungeon crawl where my players have to fight their way into the Ancient's lair to face Spawn (probably too low level to be a threat to 11th level characters), Vrykolakas Masters, and other horrors (suggestions welcome).

My question is how do I set this up?

I assume I run the dungeon in exploration mode.

How many encounters and at what difficulty make for a challenging (but not tedious) dungeon crawl if the "boss fight" is moderate to severe?

Thank you in advance.

Imagine you had access to pretty much any 6th level and lower magic (including rituals).
Imagine you wanted to protect a sizable area (maybe a temple, or a small keep, or maybe just a house) from intruders, scrying, shapechaging druids, and just about anything you can think of, but also want you and your friends to be able to come and go as you please without accidentally falling into a spiked pit.

What creative things would you do other than standard Elemental Sentinels, Consecration Rituals, and Ward Domain? (And regular guards)

For context: The players have been invited to visit an organization with such a headquarters that is "on their side" against the BBEG. The BBEG has an agent within this organization who may turn the this headquarters against the players.

I have a druid that likes to toss around Guidance in scenarios where the party is not really fighting: during chase encounters, research encounters, talking to NPCs to help with social skill checks, etc.

I've allowed it, but should I be allowing it?

The guidance spell specifically has a duration of "until the start of your next turn"

So, in a non-linear encounter where people aren't really "taking turns" but rather moving organically through a discussion, chase, or research, does Guidance really apply or, should I be looking at the spell as I am: as long as a player use the bonus when they are speaking, recalling knowledge, or making some other roll that is relevant to the encounter, it's fine?

Apologies if the answer should be staring me in the face.
I have a mage who is pretending to be a warrior.

What are the effects of wearing heavy armor as a mage?

Thank you in advance

https://2e.aonprd.com/Rituals.aspx?ID=12

This may belong in "Advice", but I'll start here.

Can an unwilling target of a (heightened) Geas ritual pretend to be willing?
If an unwilling Geas target succeeds at their will save, are the casters aware?

Scenario: An NPC used a 7th level Geas ritual to bind a band of people (some PCs, others NPCs) to a contract that says (in a nut shell): "Overthrow Big Bad from his kingdom."

One NPC is on the Big Bad's side, but has to pretend to be willing to be bound by the Geas ritual in order to fool the PCs and other NPCs. That NPC takes certain measures to ensure he succeeds at his Will save.

Do the Geas casters know if he succeeded at his will save as an unwilling target even though that target pretended to be willing?

Thank you in advance.

If I am grabbed by an opponent, do I need to manipulate my arrow into the bow in order to fire it?

Basically, does being grabbed potentially influence firing a bow via an implicit act of manipulation?

Am I my own ally?

Basically, if I am a liberator champion and I become the target of a grab, restraint, imobilization, or paralysis effect, can I use my reaction to attempt a new save or attempt an escape check?

Or... can liberators only liberate others? Their patron deity is like "you do good work, but you're gonna have to figure out some other way out of this. Tough luck for you. Maybe you can find another one of my liberator champions to help you out!"

I have an Adult Blue Dragon who has as "silver tongue". He has existed for many decades as a high-ranking elven politician within the ruling organization of an elven nation.
https://2e.aonprd.com/Monsters.aspx?ID=131&PWL=true

As I understand dragons, they are either "fighters" with the Draconic Frenzy and Draconic Momentum abilities or they are "casters" without those abilities, but a spell list instead.

I would like to create a "socialite" template and forfeit both archetype abilities for the "Protect the Master" ability found under the Cult Leader.
https://2e.aonprd.com/NPCs.aspx?ID=930

Additionally, I want to switch the "Frightful Presence" ability to "Adoring Presence" which makes all "Helpful" creatures (Critical failure vs DC 32) function as "Cultists" for the purposes of "Protect the Master".

Does an Adult Blue Dragon with these abilities still sound like a DC 13 creature/encounter?

I am setting the groundwork for a new campaign (I'm about two years into a current campaign that should be wrapping up before too long). The 1000 ft view of the new campaign is that the players will be hired on retainer by a noble who is the youngest child of a recently deceased noble. He is building an entourage to sabotage his sibling's claim to the title. He is not a good person, but neither are any of his siblings (inspired by the kids from the Righteous Gemstones HBO series).

I have two questions.

1) Does anyone have a good recommendation for a setting within Golarion for a political intrigue campaign that draws inspiration from: Gilded Age, Darkest Dungeon (video game), The Great, Victoria. I don't want to do Absalom.

2) Is the "hook" below funny? Can it be funnier? How? Does it adequately resonate/mock real-world parallels? How would a bad person who doesn't see themselves as a bad person write a job description?

--

Now Hiring Assistants!

Following the heartbreaking passing of Duke Godefory Daucourt, Lord Vincent Daucourt is seeking highly motivated candidates to support his hereditary ascendancy. Lord Daucourt strives to maintain a racially, religiously, and philosophically diverse and inclusive workplace.

Education Requirements:
• Can read or be read to (writing optional)

Ideal candidates are…

• …Ambitious! Ready to earn more gold than can be spent in a lifetime.
o Candidates who are not ready to be absurdly wealthy need not apply.

• …Imaginative! Able to creatively interpret laws in order to facilitate positive outcomes.
o Candidates with the ability to convincingly justify their creative legal interpretations will be given special consideration.

• …Determined! Willing to confront unique obstacles each day with violent enthusiasm.
o Applicants who are boring people seeking tiresome non-violent routines should explore employment elsewhere

• …Tenacious! Proficient in identifying teachable moments to better inform future endeavors.
o Individuals with the ability to quickly recover from defeat, injury, illness, and death are encouraged to apply.

Ideal candidates will possess…
• A talent for potion and elixir creation
• A knack for entering a blackout rage when appropriate
• A proficiency in heavy armor
• Aptitude for identifying a competitor's weaknesses and exploiting them
• Expertise in circumventing security using stealth and guile.
• An ability to exercise improvisational magic through force of will
• A talent for entertaining at both low-brow and high-brow functions
• A commitment to workforce retention through proactive intervention on behalf of colleagues targeted by competitors
• Trained in punching and kicking through obstacles when those obstacles are sometimes also people
• Patronage of a deity (Note statement on religious diversity above)
• Ability to transform into different creatures.
• Enthusiasm for facilitating stakeholder collaboration by hunting those stakeholders down for surprise collaboration
• Advanced knowledge of arcane spellcasting
• Loyalty

This is an entry level position with compensation commiserate with project-based outcomes. Successful candidates will be held in retainer and referred to a non-compete policy. Open interviews will be held at Redwood Mansion daily until positions are filled.

It seems like all the "change a creature into another creature" magic only targets self.

Are there polymorph effects that target others?

I may be missing something about the crafting rules, so please point me in the right direction if so.

If I am a 7th level wizard who knows the spells burning hands, flaming sphere, flaming sphere, and fireball, can I craft a greater staff of fire, which is an 8th level magic item?

How does crafting fit into the allocated treasure per level?

thank you in advance

Can a druid wildshape out of manacles and/or ropes by transforming into a tiny creature? If so, what is a good non-shoehorn way of capturing a druid?

My players (Healer Cleric, Druid[caster], Mage, Ranger[bow], all 7th level) have been pretty much walking through combat against encounters that I think should pose a bit of a challenge.

Today I put them up against a Graveknight(lvl10) and a Nightmare(lvl6) - guardians of an area the players wanted to explore.

The players put down the Nightmare after taking some hits, but the Graveknight pretty much critically hit every time with his great sword and took huge chunks of HP with every attack.

The Cleric had a big heal spell countered by the knight's aura. The druid went to Dying 1 when he attempted to cast a spell within counterattack range, and the Ranger went to Dying 1 when the Graveknight took his turn. We ended the session with the players and I deciding that the Cleric and Mage were able to use all their spell resources to escape through trickery and grit.

I know that Extreme encounters are supposed to be just that - extreme. Did this fight just go exceptionally badly for the party? Moderate encounters seem almost like an exercise in rolling dice until the monsters are dead. Severe encounters are not much better - just more drawn out. Is there a threshold with extreme encounters that I should be conscious of?

Advice welcomed. Thank You

Good morning,

I am curious on whether there is a good resource for a gothic horror or eldrich horror settings within Golarion. I see that there are a couple out of print first edition sourcebooks, but I was wondering about the current eddition.

Are there any recommendations for nations/regions/contents that have an established cannon of horror tropes within the lore?

Should I just pick a part of an unknown continent and develop my own gothic horror setting?

Thank You

Is there a good visual resource of the location (not adventure path) of Tyrant's grasp?

https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Tyrant%27s_Grasp

Does this location exist purely in the abstract?

I’ve had an itch to write some Pathfinder short stories, and I’m having trouble understanding the FAQ regarding community generated content found under the “How can I start writing for Paizo?” section found here:
https://paizo.com/paizo/faq#v5748eaic9qtf

I am a published author, member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, and have earned professional rates for my writing.

The first link found here:

""Writing for other RPG publishers—especially those who produce Pathfinder RPG–Compatible products""

…doesn’t appear to link to a resource. Or, if it does, I’m not clear on the resource that differentiates from Paizo itself.

The second link found here is somewhat confusing to me:

""or writing fan-generated content using our Community Use Policy can bring your writing to the attention of Paizo.""

So here are my questions:

If I comply with “Requirements” and “Usage Requirements” (including adding my story to the community use registry) I can use the contents of the Community Use Package on/in my writing – including the Pathfinder logo?

If I write a short story, comply with the community use policy, and include a Pathfinder logo on the front page of my story, is there a way to submit my story for publication to the Pathfinder Tales /Web Fiction section? https://paizo.com/community/blog/tags/pathfinderTales/webFiction

If so, how do I do this? If not, is it then my responsibility to publish the story on say, my own website or other free fiction writing platform?

Is the community use policy as simple as: comply with policy, add logo to free product, publish free product on my own platform?

Is there a Paizo-sanctiond platform?

The FAQ says "“…can bring your work to the attention of Paizo”". How does Paizo notice your work?

Thank you, and apologies for not clearly understanding this community use system.

So, the Bestiary says that Blue Dragons often live near or WITHIN cities.

How do they disguise themselves to live within a city? I don't see any ability that allows them to change themself to look like a normal human/elf/dwarf or other typical inhabitant.

For that matter, what spells/abilities would a large or bigger creature use to hide within civilization? Disguise self only lets you change to same size.

I feel like I'm missing something essential about how Blue Dragons (and other monsters that hide in plain sight) operate within civilization.

Thank You

I'm a bit stumped here, and may ultimately completely revise this encounter if it doesn't seem interesting.

Context: The (4 5th level) PCs have been asked to function as the rear guard of a retreating army which is being pursued by an overwhelming legion of undead. There is a tower that overlooks a road which they are to defend as long as possible before lighting a signal flame to indicate to any straggling soldiers trapped on the wrong side of the road that the way is lost.

They have a couple days to prepare, and soldier NPCs can be with them to help hold the tower/road.

Is there a good subsystem that might be adapted to work here?

I DO have a chase encounter later in adventure so I'd like to avoid using that if possible.

I'm looking for something simple so I don't have to go into a lot of explanation regarding how the PCs will succeed (fail). Decreasing victory points was my first thought, where the surrounding area is slowly consumed by howling undead, but I'm not sure of what kind of skill checks to use outside combat, survival, nature, and maybe thievery.

I also don't want this to be a series of combat encounters (they will have just had a combat encounter before this one).

Thoughts would be most welcome.

Hello,

I'm starting to see an odd trend in some of my combat encounters where the players shrug and give up their 3rd action. with a -10 penalty to attack, their chances of a critical miss are higher (in some case by a wide margin) than their ability to hit.

Many monsters, being melee attackers are happy to play rock-em-sock-em robots.

So, is there something my players (and monsters) should be doing with their 3rd action when they aren't moving?

I'm designing an encounter where the players need to navigate a series of rope bridges. The encounter is largely open space, but with restricted movement. The main bad guys of the campaign are undead, and I was looking to put some ranged-attacking monsters amongst the rope bridges.

Much to my surprise, there appear to be very very few undead with ranged attacks.

Frankly, there aren't many monsters with ranged attacks at all.

Can anyone suggest some low-mid-high challenge monsters for a 5th level party?

I can, of course, dump some skeletons in there, and call it a day, but skeletons are basically like mosquitoes to a 5th level party.

my homebrew started about 6 months ago with 4 players. About three months in we lost one of the players to life obligations (we are all adults with families and full time jobs). A couple weeks ago, we lost another.

We're down to me and the remaining two players who I believe are exciting and able to continue the campaign.

We have plied our networks for 2 people who might be interested in joining, but have not found anyone. We are wary of asking strangers through various online networks because our schedule is not regular (some weeks we can play maybe once, other weeks we can play two or three times, or sometimes we go for two or three weeks without playing).

The players are getting to a level where it isn't easy to run characters as NPCs... and it isn't really fun to run 2 characters half-time over 1 character full-time.

Trying to scale back the power level of the encounters to accommodate 2 players is proving challenging.

Does anyone have any suggestions for this predicament?

If I just took a Young Brass Dragon template, removed all its spellcasting, and gave it slow 1, negative healing; Immunities death effects, disease, mental,
paralyzed, poison, unconscious; Weaknesses positive 10, slashing 10

Would you call that DC 5, 6, or stay with 7?

Thank you in advance

(I know there is "Creating a Zombie" callout in the zombie section, but it doesn't seem clear to me)

Hello,

I've been looking at using a Grave Knight in my homebrew, but they seem quite powerful for a level 10 monster.

Theoretically, a Grave Knight would be a "tough fight" for 4 level 3 characters, but my characters are level 4.

My specific hangup is the Devastating Blast which seems quite nasty at 6d12 damage (dc29 reflex) every 1d4 rounds.

From a variance perspective, a PC that fails their reflex save seems likely to straight-up die if the Grave Knight rolls on the higher end of 6d12 damage. Even average damage (39) seems quite nasty.

To add insult to injury, a +21 frost bow attack seems likely to crit many players.

I'm imagining a Grave Knight winning initiative, critting a player for ~30+ damage with a frost bow, and then just Devastating Blast to finish that player off while buttering up the rest of the party. If the remaining players can't kill the Grave Knight THAT TURN, he stands a 25% chance to simply rinse and repeat (or use his greatsword).

Can someone help me understand why this monster seems so nasty compared to other level 10 monsters? My players have the appropriate treasure for their levels, and this all seems like a recipe for a TPK.

I will preface this by saying, back in my D&D days I NEVER liked the idea that Elves were just so good and pure and bright that they possessed the innate ability to ignore a specific effect - ghoul paralysis.

Now I'm running into this again, but want to make sure that I'm reading the rules right: Half-Elves possess the "Elf" trait and are therefore ALSO immune to ghoul paralysis.

Are there other examples of specific races possessing advantages against specific effects? If not, this feels like an outlier that constitutes an edge-case racial imbalance. If I were to package my adventure for mass consumption on platforms like Roll20, would I have to modify the encounter in a way that accounted for the possibility of an all-elf or all half-elf party?

To be clear, I'm talking specifically about the Ghoul paralysis not affecting elves. I'm not concerned about an entire party of Death Warden Dwarves who are making trade-offs for advantages against Necromancy.

Insight on this is most welcome. Thank You.

The 4 players in my champaign are all level 1. We are all beginning our understanding of the Pathfinder system.

I designed a combat encounter where 3 ghouls (level 2) were fighting hit-and-run style in a dark cave - leveraging their nighvision to vanish into darkness after each attack. Unless I'm misunderstanding, this would be considered an "extreme" combat encounter worth 180xp (each ghoul is at party level +1 = 60xp x 3 ghouls =180xp)

The PCs basically walked through the ghouls with very little effort. They cornered each ghoul one-by-one, tanked the attacks that came in, and focus-fired each enemy down.

Am I misunderstanding the design of combat enounters? Are monsters like ghouls supposed to use all three actions to attack the PCs instead of being cagy?

I don't want to overwhelm my PCs, but I do't want combat to be boring either. I do consider rockem-sockem-robot combat to be a bit boring.

Thank you in advance.

Am I interpreting Staff of Nexus rules to mean it is better than a normal spell staff in that it lets you cast a chosen cantrip and a chosen first-level spell infinite times per day? However, it is worse than a normal spell staff in that the first level spell and cantrip cannot be changed, nor can you get free imbued spell slots per day (1 at first and second level, 2 and 3rd and 4th level, etc)?

While the latter seems like a bit of a bummer, the former seems like it may be ripe for abuse.

Isn't a first-level character spamming 3d6 +5ft knockback every turn via Hydraulic Push a bit powerful?
Or, a first-level character just healing themself and party members 1d10+4 every turn (and in between combat encounters) make for a near-unkillable party (unless the DM over-clocks the encounter difficulty)?

Am I not understanding something important about Staff of Nexus?

I'm having trouble evaluating the XP reward for an encounter where 4 PCs have a fistfight with 3 Thugs of PC level +1, and 1 elite Thug of PC level +1.

Think about a band of hard-drinking toughs who are the "big kids on the block". They want to test the PC's mettle in a brawl, but not inflict any serious damage.

First, what is, and how do I handle non-lethal damage of a punch or kick?
(For Non-monk characters)

Second, what should be the XP reward for the PCs "taking their lumps" (One PC reduced to 50% HP)? Should there be a different XP reward for the PCs potentially defeating the thugs by reducing any one of their number to 50% hp before the thugs retreat, and buy the PCs a round in thanks for a good brawl?

There is no REAL danger to the PCs.

To be clear, a fistfight is not the only way the PCs can navigate this encounter. It's just the most likely since, well, brawlers like to brawl.

Thank you in advance.

I’m new to Pathfinder, and I understand that 2nd edition dispensed with firearms that were present in the previous edition. While black powder weapons are not essential to my campaign, I am leaning towards a Victorian/pre-Victorian flavor within my narrative.

Is there a Pathfinder 2nd edition supplement that covers firearms rules, or a balanced set of unofficial rules that exist in the RPG-sphere?
Thank you in advance.