My fellow VOs and I are organizing an event for next weekend and will be running 6-00 Legacy of the Stonelords. We have the interactive maps from the last time it was run in our area, but they don't seem to be working properly anymore. The main image loads but selecting the toggles for additional areas to open, etc., no longer does anything. Unfortunately, none of us are tech-savvy enough to diagnose or fix the problem. Can anyone helps us out? https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mEsmC9y05Vcx4K1gb_7mljOcBT2u2BcH
RH wrote:
Thanks! We played a couple of nights ago and it worked really well. Three of the six (the bloodrager, the swashbuckler, and the archer bard) failed the initial save. Under the regular rules, they would've run away and left the witch, the shaman, and the oracle completely undefended and unable to do significant damage to the Tatterman, who would have easily tpk'd them, so I immediately felt pretty good about the alternate system. After that, the players got into the fear theme pretty well and the combination of constantly fighting off the shaken condition and the penalties for Wound Thresholds (which we've been using since the beginning and are really liking it for this AP) meant they were struggling for their lives the entire time. It was easily the most epic low-level boss fight I've ever run. I nixed the Tatterman's regeneration (the fight would've gone on forever - they had a hard time hitting with his increased AC and their penalties) but otherwise ran it completely as described above. The bloodrager, witch, and swashbuckler all went down but kept getting back up with some healing help from the others. By necessity, they displayed great teamwork and explored rarely-used options for getting bonuses and imposing penalties to get every advantage they could and prevailed in round 15 or so - a pretty long scrap, all things considered. They literally cheered when he finally dropped, so I think it went well. If anyone is interested in trying out this option, I wrote up stats and made up condition cards for the fear states that I'd be happy to share. PM me.
I'm running this encounter in a couple of days for a group of 6 PCs. So far I've added a mook to mook encounters and added the advanced template to single monsters and "bosses" to scale the CR for them. I wanted the final encounters to stand out, however, so I've given Zandalus the Invincible mythic template so he'll be able to survive a few rounds (without making him deadly) and I've given The Tatterman the Agile mythic template, which seemed fitting. It beefs him up a little and improves his action economy. I've written an alternate fear system for the encounter based on the Horror Adventures system. I don't like the idea of one or more PCs missing the entire last fight because of one bad roll, and I think the encounter will be deadly if 3 or more flee, so I'm hoping this system makes the fight last and adds an element of suspense, while removing the deadly aspect of "OMG all my friends ran away and now my character is going to get slaughtered." Let me know what you think. "The mist finally condenses into humanoid form and the Tatterman - the nemesis of your dreams - stands before you. A chill runs down your spine as you relive the horrific nightmares of the past nights, revisiting in gory detail the death you found at your dream-stalker's hands." When the Tatterman manifests, each PC makes a will save against his Fear Aura. Those who succeed become spooked, while those who fail become shaken. Each round, at the beginning of their turn, each PC must attamept a new save. Those that succeed reduce their fear level by one step, while those who fail increase it. A spooked character who succeeds on one of these saves loses the condition and does not need to continue making saves. A scared character who fails is staggered for one round. When the Tatterman activates his Frightful Presence abilty, all PCs must immediately save or increase their fear level. A character who has already fought off the effect of the Fear Aura but fails to save against Frightful Presence becomes spooked and must save at the beginning of each turn once more, as outlined above. Neither of these abilities can impose a condition of Greater Fear.
Blave wrote:
Thanks for the ideas. I'm staying away from paladins (don't want alignment restrictions, plus I've already played a few in my time) and I don't want to double up with another rogue. I think the full-caster idea seems to be a good one - I'm thinking either a necromancer or a shaman. I'll likely make up one of each and keep them on-hand for the inevitable...
Letric wrote:
We're actually a pretty strategic group. The three deaths I mentioned have all been a result of an unfortunately timed crit (one was with a scythe!) or some other random factor, and our inability to "emergency heal" or mitigate the damage. Letric wrote: If you switch classes, you´re Rogue is screwed with the feat Outflank. Also I personally hate 2WF Rogues. Half bab with penalties is a bad idea in my opinion, but to each its own. Our rogue had a little trouble hitting at lower levels but now dishes out massive damage consistently. Outflank makes up for the penalties, and with the bard's buffs he has a very competitive attack bonus. Losing Outflank buddies will hurt him but there are other ways to ramp up your attack bonus and I'm sure our GM would let him retrain the feat. Letric wrote:
Seems to be a popular suggestion! It's a great class, and one I haven't actually played yet so it's a solid choice. I'll play around with some builds and see what works. Thanks! Letric wrote:
Blaster wizards are amazing, as are Occultist Arcanists (the ones with the standard action summoning ability). The only problem is that two of my current PFS characters are.......a level 7 Thassilonian Evoker (Fireball specialist) and a level 9 Occultist Arcanist (Conjuration specialist)! And they're both wrecking machines. I'd like to try something I haven't played before, or at least that I haven't played recently. Solid advice though!
Wheldrake wrote: You can't go wrong with a basic cleric. Healing plus heavy armor plus good battlefield performance plus status removal, all in one package. With a 15-point buy you won't have sky-high stats, and will be very MAD-limited, but you'll have a lot of functionality. One advantage is that since you won't be shooting for offensive spells, your WIS can be a very reasonable 14 or 15 at start, with no real penalty to your spellcasting. True dat. One of my PFS CORE characters is a battle cleric, however, so I might look into something like Warpriest instead, just to be different. Thanks for the advice!
Louise Bishop wrote:
Interesting idea. I've never played a shaman (although I have played a witch, with Slumber, form levels 1-14) but I've heard they're very versatile but somewhat MAD. I'll have to look into it. Life spirit would get us some damage mitigation, too. Thanks! Any suggestions for a good wandering spirit? Louise Bishop wrote: Highly suggest avoiding a "HEALER" build as your Combatants are all too lightly armored and weak HP. They will not survive long enough to heal them you will just be raising them and/or Breath of Lifing them. Great point! We're a team of squishies!
Jhaeman wrote:
Classic, indeed, and you're definitely right about our lack of arcane might. I have a couple of full arcane casters in PFS so I didn't immediately think to make another one, but if I could come up with something significantly different from those characters... I might have to look into some of the less-common arcane specializations. I'm intrigued by the enhanced dispel line of feats from UC so maybe an abjurer would be cool, perhaps with the Thassilonian specialist wizard rules from UM. Thanks!
Suthainn wrote:
Oradin was my first thought but I abandoned it for a couple of reasons. First, I have a Holy Tactician Paladin PFS character who, while not an Oracle, has a similar "heal/buff/smash in equal measure" feel and I try not to play the same character twice. Second, we're using a non-standard alignment system in our game and the paladin's restrictions and abilities would be more troublesome and less useful, respectively, as a result. Your advice gave me an idea for a War-acle (Warpriest/Oracle) that might work as an alternate, however, so thanks very much!
I’m currently playing Rise of the Runelords and having a blast. We’re at the beginning of book three - combat is getting more intense and I’m starting to become concerned about our party balance. Before we began we decided that everyone should play what they wanted to play without worrying about what the group “needed” – it made for interesting characters and backstories which were a genuine surprise for the rest of the group during our first few sessions. We had little trouble in combat encounters throughout book 1, with the exception of the final fight against the Big Bad in which we needed to be rescued by an NPC. However, throughout the second book in the series it became clear – through the death of one character and the double-death of another - that our group can’t cover a few important roles. Our GM has been pretty liberal in allowing us to get Raised cheaply (the church owes us favours, etc.), but it’s cutting into our resources and I feel like we’re going to be behind in terms of wealth-by-level and therefor likely to incur more death moving forward. I like my character, so if/when my first death comes I’d like to get Raised and continue playing him but I’m also open to the idea of playing something else if it will increase the survivability of the group in the future. Our group uses a 15-point buy and the Automatic Bonus Progression rules from Unchained. We are currently level 7. ABP makes character wealth much less of an issue than it otherwise would be, but it also means that our treasure is reduced and what little we get is going toward Raises/Restorations instead of support items, etc. It took me until level 7 to save up for mithral armour – the first expensive item I’ve bought – which my PFS characters (that need it) usually have by level 4. Here’s what we have in the party right now: Ratfolk alchemist – high AC when prepared for combat; mixes it up with melee (claws) and ranged (bombs); has the Infusion discovery, which is used mostly to pass out healing extracts; great knowledge skills. Human fighter/bard – focuses on buffing with Inspire Courage, saving our butts with Saving Finale, and steps into melee with a reach weapon when the other two aren’t required; great social skills. Kitsune rogue – two-weapon fighter (plus bite), lots of damage; has the trap-spotter talent; great physical skills. (Me) Skinwalker Inquisitor of Ragathiel – Monster Tactician archetype; summon monsters to give the rogue some flanking (monsters I summon get Outflank, which the rogue, above, also took last level-up), self-buff, then wade into melee (Outflank + Bastard Sword + Power Attack/Furious Focus); I don’t have Augment Summoning and don’t intend to take it, so the things I summon are pretty much just HP sponges and flank buddies that have trouble hitting/damaging anything; good mix of skills. As you can see, we are all lightly-armoured (melee-) support characters with no dedicated tank or healer. It’s not a terrible dynamic – we have great skills, support spells/abilities, etc., so role-playing and skill challenges, and minor combats go really well. However, we tend to do poorly against powerful martially-focused single opponents that can dish out a lot of DPR. So I guess what I’m asking is this: if I die and decide to play a new character instead of Raising my old one, what will help my group the most? My thoughts were: Life Oracle for the healing battery, but I get bored playing “one-trick pony” characters, especially when that trick is healing; Arcane Bloodrager (with a tank build) for the high hp combined with free buffs (Blur and Haste for free with every rage? Yes, please!) plus it fits my preferred character type (decent skills, able to cast spells but focus on martial), but I’m not sure it would be better overall than the versatility of Summoned Monsters; something with a full animal companion? Note: our GM is generally okay with most expanded character options as long as they’re balanced and fit within the campaign world.
Jeraa wrote:
Makes sense. Can you tell me where that quote is from? EDIT: Never mind, I found it in the CRB. Thanks for the answer!
If a spontaneous spellcaster lacks the required ability score to cast spells of a certain level, do they still have spell slots that they're unable to use or do they lack the spell slots completely? More specifically, could a character who possesses an ability that requires them to sacrifice a spell slot to activate, still activate that ability if they lacked the ability score required to cast any spells?
Sorry to resurrect an old three but it skirts around the answer I'm looking for without quite nailing it. If I want to ride my animal companion and control it in combat as a free action (wiout requiring a Ride check) it seems to require the Combat Training general purpose. The general purposes seem to simply be groups of tricks that could be obtained separately. However, none of the tricks under Combat Training provide the benefit of controlling your mount easily in combat situations (i.e. without having to take a move action to attempt a DC 20 Ride check). Is this an extra? What if I want this benefit but don't want all six of those tricks?
Bristor Gwin wrote: I'm preparing to run this in a few days, and I'm worried about the fight with the oceanid. I'm imagining it taking place in the lagoon, with Jenesara drawing her there, with the PCs attacking from the beach. My concern is that with the DR/10 cold iron and the fast healing 10, and without a way to really effectivelu get at her if she remains swimming in the lagoon, my melee heavy group is going to have trouble. Anyone have advice or experience with this fight? I'm wondering about subbing in some other amphibious creature as a possible solution, so I'd welcome suggestions about that as well. If it's for PFS: drop strong hints about potions or a wand of Touch of the Sea, air crystals, and other helpful items. PFS makes it really easy to buy the equipment you need for a given task. Remind them that good pathfinders are always well-prepared. If they're melee-focused, they should have already purchased a variety of weapons for overcoming different types of DR. If it's a home game: add in the above items as treasure. You could also make the oceanid fatigued from her long chase of the triton and her herd. If the PCs befriend the island's lizard folk, maybe they come to their aid, providing magical items or just helping to herd the oceanid toward the shore.
When I ran this fight (also PFS), the group was already down to three (the Druid met her end in the temple against the necrophidii) - a psychic, a gunslinger, and a blast-heavy sorcerer. They stood on the beach and buffed while the triton drew the oceanid in. I had her play cat-and-mouse for a while, blasting them from the safety of the water (rolling randomly to see who she attacked each time) while they fired back from dry land, then retreating to heal for a few rounds before returning. The psychic got frustrated and cast Touch of the Sea on herself before diving in to go after her. Alone. Big mistake. She needed to be close to use her psychic abilities but the oceanid's speed and range were too much. A crit from the water blast killed her in one shot (I had it blast her body back on to the shore so it least it wasn't lost at the bottom of the lagoon). I felt bad having now two deaths so I had the overconfident oceanid abandon the hit and run tactics and come to the water's edge to destroy the remaining two. They cut her down quickly with the help of the triton, who finally got a hit charging in with her lance.
Differently-worded abilities with the same name!? Gasp! I can't believe such a thing could be allowed to happen!!! [/sarcasm] Seriously, though, I appreciate the input. I didn't even know it existed as a racial ability also. I mostly play/GM PFS so I was hoping there was a concrete rule clarification hidden in some dark corner of the forums but it looks like "GM call" might be as good as it gets.
Fuzzy-Wuzzy wrote: Expert Climber still requires handholds and footholds. Does it? Bestiary 3 wrote:
Maybe it varies by creature, I was specifically looking at the Giant Gecko. Fuzzy-Wuzzy wrote: An actual spider climb specifies that it doesn't require a Climb check to traverse even ceilings, implying that it still does require one for other purposes, such as taking damage, so I say Yes. The DC goes up in 5s before that, so I'd go with 35 for an "unclimbable" surface. That's along the lines of what I was thinking. Thanks for the input!
"Anytime you take damage while climbing, make a Climb check against the DC of the slope or wall. Failure means you fall from your current height and sustain the appropriate falling damage." The CRB entry for the Climb skill lists DCs for each type of surface you can climb, up to DC 30 for "an overhang or ceiling with handholds but no footholds, or a typical city wall". The final entry says "a perfectly smooth, flat, vertical (or inverted) surface cannot be climbed," and lists no DC. However, there are certain magical effects (e.g. Spider Climb) and non-magical effects (e.g. Expert Climber) that allow a creature to climb these surfaces. Does such a creature need to make a climb check when injured to avoid falling? If so, at what DC?
Bump! This question arose as a result of a discussion Rene, Dallas and I were having this morning and we'd love to hear some opinions. My own is that since it affects the target "as the spell" and the spell in question allows SR, Limning would also allow SR. You would use the CL of the effect (CL5) to determine whether a target under the effect of magical concealment who had spell resistance was affected.
"A few very powerful monsters are vulnerable only to epic weapons—that is, magic weapons with at least a +6 enhancement bonus. Such creatures’ natural weapons are also treated as epic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction." If its slams are "treated as epic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction," then they are considered to be the equivalent of a +6 weapon. Weapons with an enhancement bonus of +4 or higher count as adamantine for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Yes, I know this is a fairly liberal interpretation of the text but it doesn't actually say "for the purpose of overcoming EPIC damage reducation". By RAW it implies all forms of damage reduction that could be overcome by an epic weapon are bypassed. After all, we're talking about a CR19 30HD Construct that's made primarily of adamantine. Doesn't it make sense that it can overcome DR that's completely ignored by a level 5 fighter's adamantine dagger?
Every RPG campaign world has its "focus area" - the Forgotten Realms has Faerun, Eberron has Khorvaire, and Pathfinder has the Inner Sea. Each of those other settings has other regions, continents, and even planets to explore but they are purposefully not fully fleshed-out to allow GMs to create their own stories and histories in an established world. Expecting Paizo to delve too far into regions beyond the Inner Sea isn't realistic. Tian Xia is not the focus area of the Pathfinder campaign setting and it has already seen more development than any other non-focus region of Golarion. That all said, Paizo's campaign model has thus far been different from D&D and other companies' (i.e. a new edition every few years that comes with new developments in the campaign world) so who knows? I'm not saying a Tian Xia module/race guide/gazetteer/etc. would be a bad thing - if it happens I can enthusiastically avow that Paizo will get my money for it, as they always do! I'm just saying there's enough existing content for a GM to set up their own Tian Xia campaign with relative ease and that the effort could be better spent elsewhere in Golarion. It's only my opinion, of course. I just feel that there have been enough products set there to sate my curiosity about that continent, and that I'd rather see adventures set in Casmaron, Arcadia, or Azlant which, to the best of my knowledge, have had none set there before.
I love Tian Xia and am always for new modules exploring areas beyond the Inner Sea. However, between the Jade Regent AP and the many PFS scenarios set in Tian Xia, I feel like that continent has been explored in enough detail to provide ample starting points for campaigns set there. What about a module set in Casmaron, or Arcadia, or <crosses fingers and prays to whichever deity will listen> a high-level module where PCs scour the ruins of Azlant to uncover the secrets that led to Skyfall?
Woran wrote:
3 tables for Year of the Shadow Lodge, 4 for Runecarved Key.
Balkin wrote: I was unaware you could run the older specials. No idea why, it just wasn't something I ever really considered. Now I'm going to have to consider it! We ran Blood Under Absolom at the same Convention last year and it was really popular so we've decided to do a different previous-season special each year.
I'm organizing a convention that will take place in November and feature a multi-table special from a past season - specifically either Year of the Shadow Lodge or Race for the Runecarved Key. I thought it could be a neat idea to schedule some other scenarios that lead up to or relate to the special, story-wise, without containing spoilers for those who have never played/GMed the special before. Any suggestions?
Andrew Roberts wrote:
This is a great resource. Thanks for sharing!
John Compton wrote:
Thanks John!
A shield is a weapon (you can shield bash without penalty as long as you're proficient with shields, after all) so as I GM I'd allow a shield to be drawn as a weapon (interacting with feats like Quick Draw and TWF like any other weapon). However, that might not be all that useful as you'd definitely need to strap it onto your arm with a move action before you gained a benefit, either offensive (shield bash) or defensive (AC bonus).You'd also need your other hand free to strap on the shield, so TWF would have limited usefulness. When held in your hand, attacking with the shield would be using it as an improvised weapon rather than a shield bash since you'd be using it in a way different to the intended manner. If you gained the benefits of using a shield simply by holding it in your hand, why would you ever bother taking the time to strap it on? Why would they include shields, and the action required to don them, in the Donning Armour chart?
I'm trying to buy a Double-chained Kama with one mithral head and one masterwork cold iron head. When calculating the price, do you: 1) use the full cost (8gp) and weight (4lbs) of the weapon to calculate each head, or 2) use half the values, or is there some other method? Method 1: Mithral head = 2,008gp (4lbs x 500gp/lb, +8gp), CI head = 316gp (8gp x 2, +300gp for Masterwork); Total = 2,324gp Method 2: Mithral head = 1,004gp (4lbs / 2, x 500gp/lb, +8gp / 2), CI head = 308gp (8gp / 2, x 2, +300gp for Masterwork); Total = 1,312gp Either of those correct? Also, does the weight of the chain factor in at all? What is the final weight of the weapon? (This is for a PFS character so I need it to be as RAW as possible)
I already have both a Hunter and an Inquisitor, so I'd rather go with something new. I'd also like to avoid animal companions, familiars, etc., since I'll already be busy tracking my own character and helping my daughter with hers. Lots of cool ideas though, thanks everyone! I'll definitely be looking at the Exemplar and Divine Tactician.
I'm going to make two new characters for PFS - one for me and one for my daughter - and I was thinking of making use of teamwork feats, since the two characters will always be used together. I've never really used them before since in PFS you're constantly playing with different parties and finding someone with the same feat as you is practically impossible, making them pretty useless (unless you have Solo/Shared Tactics, an animal companion, etc.). I'm looking for suggestions for builds that might be able to pull off some interesting combos. Keep in mind the following: - Both characters should be able to fill different niches in the party (i.e. different classes with different abilities, rather than, say, two trap expert rogues or two tank fighters);
Thanks, I look forward to hearing your suggestions!
She can already fly, and she has all those minor AC-boosting items. I always thought the Witching Gown was a bit pricey for what you actually get but I'll crunch some numbers to see if I can justify it. I'm actually leaning toward the ring of invisibility - I can't believe I hadn't thought of it before!
My witch just hit level 13 and has over 80,000gp to spend. While some of that money is already spoken for, I'll have quite a bit left over and I was thinking of upping my defense. However, my AC is never going to be high enough to matter much so I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for alternate protective items, maybe something that offers a miss chance. The 20% miss chance from a Minor Cloak of Displacement doesn't really seem worth giving up my Cloak of Resistance for, and the Major Cloak has limited uses and takes a standard action to activate as best I can see - is it really worth that hefty price tag!? What are the alternatives?
If you are the controlling grappler you can only attack the creature you are grappling. Therefor you don't threaten any squares besides that one. If you drop the grapple, you immediately resume threatening all adjacent squares. If you don't drop the grapple, you don't. Just because you *could*, doesn't mean you *do*.
This definitely seems to be an oversight. Under CMB in the CRB it specifically states that concealment applies to the CMB roll, but there is no similar stipulation under CMD with regards to cover. I would think it would be entirely justified to apply a cover bonus to CMD if, for example, someone tried to grapple a creature over a low wall or around a corner. Treat it as a circumstance bonus.
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