Okay, this one probably isn't common usage. But it's a concept which I like to call I.D.I.O.T.
Impel
Dice
In
Observable
Trajectory
Or in other words, rolling where people can see. Let's everyone share how awesome your nat 20 is, or help commiserate that -7 you somehow rolled.
Nat Zero: The result of rolling your die off the table. The other PFS GM at my FLGS and I occasionally threaten to apply this rule to a player who rolls more enthusiastically than accurately.
As you're allowing the vigilante, what are your thoughts on the magical child archetype for this game?
I read through it. I don't know. It has a very different 'feel' from what I imagine a vigilante. That being said, this is a solo game. I'll allow it, with reservations. Depends on how the character looks. That fair?
More than fair. Thanks for taking the time to look at the magic child archetype. After a closer look at your campaign description, I don't think I could come up with a character using that archetype that would be a good fit.
I do like this setting, so I may come up with an alternative concept.
I chose not to draw the maps for Traitor's Mews when I ran this yesterday. I didn't feel I lost anything by not using it. In fact, I think the lap of a map reinforced the "these phases are not combat rounds" aspect of the mechanic.
Maybe I've misremembered something, but I thought they recently added a special chronicle to be given to new players for their first character's first adventure. If this exists, I'd appreciate someone pointing me to the right place for downloading it. My search-fu is failing tonight and I could wind up running for some new players tomorrow.
Any word on how Pathfinder Academy will be available outside of GenCon? I'm sure my local FLGS would love to schedule something like this, and we recently had a couple new players join that really would have benefited from structured instruction of this sort before joining regular games.
The Skeleton Summoner feat summons skeletons via summon monster. Summon monster always summons monsters with a matching alignment, even if they would normally have another alignment. Since skeletons don't have the evil subtype, summon monster doesn't gain the evil descriptor when summoning skeletons. Same with zombies via that feat.
Not quite.
Summon Monster wrote:
When you use a summoning spell to summon a creature with an alignment or elemental subtype, it is a spell of that type. Creatures on Table 10–1 marked with an "*" are summoned with the celestial template, if you are good, and the fiendish template, if you are evil. If you are neutral, you may choose which template to apply to the creature. Creatures marked with an "*" always have an alignment that matches yours, regardless of their usual alignment. Summoning these creatures makes the summoning spell's type match your alignment.
Notice that only creatures marked with an asterisk on the Summon Monster list have a matching alignment. Thus, you cannot summon a "good" hellhound because the hellhound entry doesn't have an asterisk.
Silly Digression:
Who's the good hellhound. Yes, you're the good hellhound. Yes, you are! <3
Since Skeleton Summoner adds undead to the list without an asterisk, or other notation waiving their alignment, they keep their evil alignment.
You get an event code by going to your PFS Account then clicking the GM/Event Coordinator tab. On that tab, click the Create Your Event. It should be self-explanatory from there.
My first encounter with Drendle Dreng was GMing Wounded Wisp. I picked up on a vibe similar to Dr. Watson realizing the old opium addict was really Sherlock Holmes and tried to convey that to my players.
I've yet to run into him in "wake you up in the middle of the night" mode, so I don't have that ire.
Ok robertness, first you need to assign your stats to the 6 characteristics.
STR:
DEX:
END:
INT:
EDU:
SOC:
These are Strength, Dexterity, Endurance. Intelligence, Education and Social.
Once those have been sorted out you gain some background skills (based on Homeworld and Education). You get 3+ EDU DM skills and can chose them from this list: Admin, Art, Athletics, Carouse, Drive, Science, Streetwise, Survival, Vacc Suit, Electronics, Mechanic, Medic, Profession. You gain the chosen skill at level 0.
Once that is done you need to chose a career. Any career is open for your Basic Training and 1 term of service. This will represent training from your parents or another adult during your younger years.
Finally you will chose a career from one of the following and spend up to 3 terms in this career. They are Citizen (Worker only), Drifter (Scavenger only), Rogue (Thief only), Scholar (Physician only), and finally Army (Support & Infantry only). This is limited due to your being raised on a small moonbase and lack of trained personnel.
You will need access to a copy of either the mongoose Traveller (2008 edition), or the newer 2016 edition to get the info about careers. Alternatively you can tell me what you are looking to do and I can offer you choices of skills offered by that career....up to you.
Just purchased and downloaded the new Traveller book. I'll get back to you with more specifics this weekend.
Consider me interested. The only version of Traveller I'm familiar with is the first edition from the late 70s, so I'll need assistance coming up to speed with the current stuff.
For what it's worth, a couple of cases where encouraging more role play didn't go exactly as intended, but the results were still worth the effort.
In another system where the Diplomacy and Intimidation are replaced with Negotiation and Coercion and the rules specify: 1) Negotiation involves the PC making an offer for the action or item she desires from the NPC, and 2) Coercion involves a threat of violence.
Face: I negotiate with the antiquities dealer to get the mcguffin.
GM: What do you offer the merchant?
Face: He gets to keep living.
GM: Make your Coercion roll...
School of Spirits:
The Pathfinders are stopped by a bunch of drunk Chellish marines who are harassing J.
PC: I attempt to Intimidate the marines. *rolls well*
GM: What do you say or do?
PC: I glare sternly and say, "You don't know who you're dealing with, do you?"
GM: The marine looks at you and is about to dismiss you as yet another scruffy adventurer when his companion nudges him and points to J. The marine's expression changes to shocked recognition and he blurts out, "Oh! Sorry, Mistress Junia. I didn't recognize you in that get up. On your way to a masquerade? Please give our regards to your mother." The marines step aside and allow you to pass without further hindrance.
PC: I turn to J and say, "I was kind of hoping they'd recognize me as the dread pirate and scourge of the Inner Sea, but that works, too."
A local GM proposed an Intro to PFS gameday for this weekend. He wants to run character generation and Master of the Fallen Fortress in the first part, break for dinner, then run Phantom Phenomena until everyone needs to go home or they run out of quests. I just don't have the heart to tell him they'll need to use pregens for Phenomena, not their shiny new characters.
Given where this thread lives, I'm going to nominate three ships for roleplaying potential.
Bebop from Cowboy Bebop would be my go to as a design for a bunch of adventurers at large in the galaxy. Like Serenity and the Millennium Falcon, it's small enough that the PCs are the only crewmembers. However, Bebop's got a hangar deck, a great addition for games where space combat will be a focus. The hangar gives each player the option of their own fighter and so they can be active participants when pew-pew time comes.
Soyokaze from The Irresponsible Captain Tyler is my ideal for a military campaign. Essentially a baby Yamato, for my money, Soyokaze hits the sweet spot of being big enough to be sent to the frontier but small enough that each PC officer will have a major role in her operation. I also like that Soyokaze's the old clunker brought out of mothballs that the brass doesn't expect anything from, precisely the kind of ship that scrappy adventurers should turn into a legend.
The Death Star fills the role of huge ship that's simultaneously a location, plot device, and enemy. Destroying something like a Death Star should be an epic conclusion.
Starting with Version 2.2 of this document (and not retroactive to any previous scenarios that were run), any GM who runs a scenario gets full credit for that scenario applied to one of her own characters. “Full credit” means the GM gets the following: 1 XP for the scenario, 100% of the Max Gold for the subtier most appropriate to the GM’s PC, and 2 PP (or, for a slow advancement track character, 1/2 XP, 1 PP, and 50% of the Max Gold for the subtier most appropriate to the GM’s PC).
The GM may select any special boons bestowed by a Chronicle sheet, such as free magical treasure, regional boons, or future bonus die rolls. The GM does not get a Downtime.
Talk to the other players and remember that cooperation is a two way transaction. You need to accommodate their character's alignment as much as they need to accommodate yours.
That said, I'll go through your options and tell you how I'd run it at my table:
Can I use social skills to convince/force other PCs to refrain from certain actions (diplomacy or intimidate)? No. Diplomacy, per RAW, is used against NPCs. Intimidate is backed by the threat of force, thus threatening PVP.
Can I use non-harmful spells to limit an allied player's ability to wreak havoc on my moral code (like charm on the player or sanctuary on a helpless NPC)? Depends on the spell and circumstances. I never allow a PC to use Charm on another PC. Casting Sanctuary on the NPC I'd probably allow, but it would depend on circumstances. And do you really want to be the guy spending spell slots just to one-up your teammates?
Can I use spells or items to deliberately impede allies so they are unable to join or are late to a battle (like wall of stone/create pit/caltrops placed in their projected path)? As worded here, no. Looks an awful lot like not cooperating with your teammates.
Can I physically restrain, handcuff, or disarm allied players that continue to behave contrary to a cooperative party? No. Restraining or disarming an ally without their cooperation would need Combat Maneuvers, attacks, which is PVP.
Can I inform the NPC law enforcement of my party member's illegal transgressions? Probably not as your intended result, getting the scofflaw jailed, would hinder the team's ability to complete the mission. At worst, this could even be seen as PVP by proxy.
If none of the above, how reasonable is it to withdraw from an adventure where the players are actively preventing your character from remaining true to their alignment or moral code? Does this answer change if your withdrawal would put the party below the minimum number of players required for an adventure? Remember, your character has chosen to be a Pathfinder. If you cannot reconcile the society's objectives, including getting along with random weirdoes, with the character's moral code, maybe you should reconsider the character's moral code or retire that character from the Society.
I do not want an easy mode. The owner of the FLGS that hosts most of the games I play in has expressed the belief that PFS encourages gamer elitism. From statements he's made, he would probably require that all PFS games be run in easy mode until we mustered enough players to support two tables.
I join the consensus that the GM handled this badly. On the other hand, as a Liberty's Edge player you should have gotten a beneficial boon either way this played out. My Edger who got credit for this one got the "let the world know" version of the boon and I think it suits her personality better.
In many scenarios the opposition should know they're up against Pathfinders and that the Society has a reputation for alignment neutrality. They really should have a "smite neutral" equivalent. Yeah, I know such has never existed in Pathfinder or its predecessors, but...
"In the name of a deity that gives a darn! I smite thee for thy wishywashiness!"
Personally, I don't see an issue with ignoring the social identity. It's there if you need another face, but otherwise why not spend all your time as Batman? That's how most Justice League things work anyways. Bruce Wayne comes up in like one episode where they need a social funtion and then poof bye.
In other words, "Always be yourself, unless you can be Batman. Then by all means be Batman."
I'm not on board with a hard mode option. I've seen many "easy" scenarios come close to generating TPK from a combination of bad rolls and a moment of player inattention.
The only thing I can add is that I would have bull rushed the two playing tug-of-war with the body at the edge of the crocodile pit. Yeah, it's jerkish anti-social behavior, but that's what they want; and how often do you have the chance to push someone into a crocodile pit without provoking an attack of opportunity?
I've been thinking that if you want to run the big magic blast brand of magic girl, your best bet might be a sorcerer equipped with a wand of disguise self. Hit the disguise self wand on your first action for the "transformation" then start shouting spell names and blast away.
Does Paizo have a 'fan works' license that covers distributing this?
Because if not, there is small pesky matter of legal issues.
I love the poster, don't get me wrong, but 'being a fan' isn't really an argument that will stand up on why someone is using someone elses stuff without permission.
-j
It's covered by Paizo's community use policy which is referenced in the small print on the poster and can be found on this site.
Taking the most extreme on one side of the spectrum, knowledge checks are needed to ID creatures you've seen previously in the scenario. Do the players have to make knowledge rolls to remember what they fought when they report back to the VC for debriefing?
Barbarian: Then we fought this thing.
Paladin: You mean the scaly thing or the slimy thing?
Barbarian: Ummm... the green thing.
Sorcerer: I thought the green thing had feathers.
Paladin: Naw, that was the blue thing.
Kreighton Shayne wonders about the choices he made in life and if it's too late to join the Aspis Consortium.
This weekend I met a player running a swashbuckler with Profession: Man of Action! Momentary lulls turned into various attempts to convert the mod into an 80s action movie complete with trailer.
I've never gotten alignment, and would never dream of asking for such a "crunchy" detail, but type when it is not obvious from the name of the creature is something I do expect to get.
eyup. For a diplomat its a pretty important piece of information I wouldn't USE the word alignment but...
It wants food, sex, shelter. (neutral)
You can bargain with it but it will turn on you with the least excuse (LE)
They're boisterous and generally good natured but don't give a flying beeep about social conventions (CG)
Its going to try to murder you with fire the second you're not looking at it and roast marshmellows over your corpse. (chaotic goblin)
The skill doesn't tell you HOW to give out the useful information. I've seen some groups do a question and answer thing which takes time, seems to get literal genie answers, and sometimes gives no information. ie, you ask about damage reduction and it doesn't have any. I prefer to go with information that wouldbe the most useful for the character: for casters what do you throw at it and for martials what do you hit it with.
If i'm out of helpful information i'll say it likes long walks on the beach.
I was playing non-PFS with a group that did the 20 questions thing for what pieces of information would be handed out. One of the players would run out of useful questions after the second or third and ask, "What's its backstory?" I loved having a GM that would make stuff up on the spot to make the player happy. "Fred the bugbear was the runt of his tribe..."
-1: RIP
-2: Aasimar Paladin, no day job. Being a Shining Beacon of Hope takes up all of her time.
-3: Tiefling Wizard, Profession (Librarian, naughty)
-4: Tiefling Rogue and -3's twin sister, Profession (Barmaid, saucy)
(-3 and -4 were rolled and played the same day during the "Let's all make tieflings and aasimars!" madness at the end of Season 5, hence twins.)
-5: Human Spiritualist, Profession (Herbalist) - You need some good weed to keep from going nuts when the ghost of a crazy pirate lives in your head.
-6: Human Cleric - CORE, Profession (Herbalist) - strictly medicinal. Does not approve of recreational uses advocated by some people she could mention.
-7: Sylph Ninja - Craft (Calligraphy) - If Megumi ever uses her Linguistics skill to forge documents, they're going to look good, perhaps too good.
-8: Kitsune Bard - Perform (Sing) - she'd rather have adulation than cash, but won't turn down cash.
-9: Half-orc Inquisitor of Cayden Cailean - Profession (Barfly)
I've been thinking that this might be a fun party concept to play with for an adventure path that is based in and around a town. For example, the magic girls wind up leading the resistance in Hell's Rebels.
I was thinking that too. Sadly I'm already running Hell's Rebels and my player's Aren't magical girls. Oh well, still fun.
I just want to sit down at a PFS table with some GM who doesn't know what we are up to. Then see his reaction when we start describing our transformation sequences, and see the look on his face when he realizes we are all magical girls.
...
If you pulled those shenanigans at my table...
There'd be a five minute pause for guffawing followed by finding and playing the transformation sequence background music from CardCaptor Sakura.
I've been thinking that this might be a fun party concept to play with for an adventure path that is based in and around a town. For example, the magic girls wind up leading the resistance in Hell's Rebels.
Only the currently approved factions are allowed regardless of what season the scenario is from. The faction missions found in early seasons have been replaced with a blanket secondary success condition for the scenario. The secondary success conditions can be found here.
For players who like the feeling that their faction has an agenda beyond the Pathfinder Society's, Faction Cards are also an option.
Remember the minimum age rules for PFS. Fifteen is on the old side for traditional mahou shojo. That said I'd love to see this group built. I wonder if I can con some of the players in my area into doing this.
Maybe I'm missing something, but the only compulsion effect I'm seeing in Area 9 are the fascinating runes. This is independent of the tier you're running at and has the same DC as the initial DC for the wards in Area 8. Would it be reasonable to run this as anyone who fails the DC in Area 8 is automatically stares at the runes as soon as they enter Area 9 in addition to triggering a save if they try to read them?
Expect the unexpected. Running Shipyard Rats was one of the hardest GMing experiences I've had in PFS because the players kept finding double entendres in the descriptive text I was reading. A good time was had by all.
