sciencerob's page

Yes, I gathered from looking around that figments would affect them.

I guess the deeper i look into illusions the more confusing things get. Lets say soldiers have barricaded a hallway and are waiting for reinforcements before moving on a group of PCs. The wizard casts silent image on the hallway to make it look empty. The soldiers saw it happen, heard the magical incantation(recognize it as magic). Do they need a save since they essentially have proof?

What if a wizard was in the group of soldiers and recognizes this as an illusion spell? Does he need a save?

What if a construct is there now instead? He is lurching toward the group and watches them vanish. He rushes towards the illusion of an empty hallway. He obviously(I think) gets a save. I think he would be able to fail it.

Can silent image do all of this?

Further more:

Lets say a wizard is concentrating on this spell. 2 of 5 soldiers enter this 20 ft area(lets say this is how far the wizard chooses it to extend given a high enough level). The 3 soldiers watch the 2 enter the area. What happens? Do the 2 soldiers vanish? Does the mere concentration of the wizard allow him to make changes on other characters turns if he "would have seen them entering and changed it"?

I ran into an issue with a campaign and the full-effects of illusion. I find this typically happens when a GM and player don't see illusions in the same light.

So what exactly are illusions?
Do they have "substance"?
Do constructs see illusions?
Should a construct ever make a saving throw against an illusion?

Fleshing out the first question: Is it a mind altering effect which causes you to believe you see something?

Are the illusions actually there and the saving throw just decided whether or not you believe it is "real"?

Finally are there any sources beyond core that go more in-depth into this?

I don't know why you say "give them time". If they don't intend on updating the thread... then don't say that you're going to do it. Quite simple. Don't make a promise you can't keep.

Valuable contribution bookrat...

SS: I decide what I think a shopkeeper would have before hand. Then I have shipment days where the shopkeeper will get some new items from the incoming wagons once a week.

I also think it is crap when a shopkeeper just happens to have the exact item the PC is hoping for. If they are in a big city(read huge) then they have much higher chance of such items being shipped in but I think any DMs who make magic shops a vending machine (IE the player always gets what they want if they have teh money) are guilty of two things:

1) Breaking verisimilitude
2) Not being a good GM

When bringing in a new character I have them use appropriate wealth by the chart. If I have a feeling their gear is a bit off (in either direction) then I might grab a character sheet and calculate their wealth level and compare it to the chart to slow down/speed up gear/old.

As a DM I don't see this as a hotspot at all.

http://imgur.com/a/6fWn7#XQs6Np6

What do you think? Advice? Tips on painting the eyes( no damn idea how to get them to look good)?

sciencerob wrote:

I like everything in this except..... retraining feats....

I don't know.... it just feels so MMO-ish.

So what?

I mean... I'd understand you don't like retraining feats, for whatever reasons. But "it feels mmo-ish" isn't a reason.

You know... I can say I don't like mexican food, because it's too spicey. But saying I don't like it because it's too mexican-ish isn't really a reason.

So yes, retraining is used in videogames (which goes beyond MMO, by the way. A ton of single player videogames use it too). So what? sure, you might not like it because... it doesn't feel simulationist for you. Or maybe because it does allow for more min-maxed builds. Or because of the oppossite (it also allow for more organic "let's try this" builds). But "because it's used in some other entertaiment" isn't a reason per se

I said it feels MMO-ish because it is in fact derived from MMO gamestyle. Why should you suddenly be able to retrain a feat? You suddenly gain expertise with a bastard sword instead of a long sword that you have been using for 15 levels! [Switching weapon focus]

This has no place in a tabletop and shreds verisimilitude. So yes, feeling MMO is in fact a valid criticism. But if you want to be pleased the real reason I don't like it is a lack of verismilitude. It won't feel real, merely contrived.

Also I hate min-maxers. I'm not using that word lightly. They usually ruin games I run because most people I run with are not min-maxers. Just giving them more tools in their arsenal to ruin games. I think I would take a rules-lawyer over a min-maxer.

I like everything in this except..... retraining feats....

I don't know.... it just feels so MMO-ish. Definitely getting the book but I'm learning towards disallowing retraining.

This thread will lead to a calm discussion that will resolve all of the disagreements of the various parties.

Said no one, ever.

The more comments I see on these message boards the more I am convinced that most tabletop gamers do not know how to have a calm discussion in which their opinion differs from another persons.

Are we really talking about sample sizes in regards to whiners? I think most people's personal experience in dealing with complainers is the same: If you give into them they will keep pushing the envelop.

I think if you are waiting for a large "sample size" you will have to wait awhile... I doubt anyone will publish a peer review paper on complainers...

Remind me to never ask for advice from Vincent Takeda. I think I would then be transformed into the BBEG-GM. =\

Hi there.

I have a couple questions.

1) can someone break down the Crafting DC for a level 3 Oracle to make bracers of armor+1? I just don't have a strong grasp on crafting in general.

2) Suppose a wizard casts silent image. An enemy sees and it and believes it. Wizard make it run into teh trees beyond his sight.

What happens to the image once its out of his line of sight?
Does the enemy get will saves every round (I'm imagining that this image is running through trees since the wizard can't see the trees)?
Can he make it go up a tree?
Would the enemy get a will save again when it tries to do something that it knows is impossible?

Given the information it doesn't seem like a fight you should be picking. If your DM intended you to fight him(and win) then he might be a bit over optimistic.

That being said all teh CR nonsense is silly. I usually flip through the CR around APL through APL+5 and decide if I think the party can beat the monster based on the chance to hit(and its chance to hit). CR and APL is a guideline but at no means should you consider it when trying to decide if you "Should be able to beat it". One party might be able to easily defeat a CR 7 while another party at the same APL might have trouble with a CR 5. You just have to know your party.

I think you should just show your GM this thread if you have concerns.

As an aside, about people pointing out the "point buy". Its a monster, an enemy, perhaps a BBEG. If teh Gm handwaves it that he has an abnormally high str, then it has an abnormally high str strat. It's silly to suggest that a GM should be bound by point buy when stating out a monster.

Not unless you metagame... which you should be avoiding.

It depends on where you ended the game. If the last moment was him falling out the window, then maybe a bit of leniency is in order. If they hit teh ground already and he made the math errors... reroll or raise.

If you really did have to roll a 20 to hit (which seems unlikely... )then something is off. Thats a 5% chance not to mention anything else.

Maybe he had the boss encounter set up in such a way that you were supposed to do something other than fight him. I had a cleric with pretty high AC up against my party recently and they had something like a 35% chance to hit her (and this is what I would consider a very hard fight).

Without hearing more details about the exact encounter I can't exactly say for sure but it seems a bit crazy.

Just curious on what you think the CR rating is for a particular encounter. I gave out XP but upon reflection... I'm not sure I did it right.

The combat:

Skeleton Champion CR 2[3 Cleric Levels] (giving it a CR 5)
Skeleton Champion CR 2[3 Warrior levels] (same as above
Spriggan CR 3[2 Barbarian levels] (Total CR 5)

Thats what I went with but I just realized I didn't take into account the magic items... the cleric had a +1 chain shirt and teh warrior had two +1 dwarven waraxes...

I really don't know how to take magic weapons into account for the CR.

I had the same issue when my girlfriend wanted to play a Grippli ranger.

This will be my first time getting a map-pack from subscription. About what time of the month do these usually get sent out? (So I can plan a sewer in my campaign).

I'll just say the few times I've seen someone create an evil character.... they all ended badly for the evil PC.

AD, I don't know why you acting as if this "Captain" is a mature reasonable person. A mature person doesn't call people "F***ing noobs" or whatnot. The conversation seemed to be anything but reasonable. Anything but mature.

I don't buy it being a single personal life issue bleeding into the game.

I don't know your relationship with this exact group but if I heard a player say s$$* like that.... I dunno, I would tell him to respect the people he gamed with a bit more or I would just drop him.

It would infuriate me to see someone disrespect someone like that.

I think this thread shows quite clearly that you don't(6 months is not very long anyhow).. what are you?

Giant subtype....
speaks orc/common...
slapping tail?
"stone giants with a high intelligence..."

What is this? A stone giant/orc with a tail? The DM really should not have allowed this. It appears you just looked at the ARG and picked out traits at random without any concept.

If you want your DM to improve discard this character and play a standard race. You are not doing any favors in bringing this BS to a gaming table.

i cant' really turst my gamemaster because he doesn't even kow what an armro check penlty is, and he never makes us rolls initiative ... we are all new...

Really? If this is your position why are you even playing. I'm glad I play with adults...

Your character is overpowered by quite a bit. If you are new don't touch the race builder. Use regular classes and races from the core book. If you are all really new then you should show your GM understanding instead of opening telling him "I don't trust you".

Trust me on this... start off with core, it will help the DM learn the rules much faster.

A skeleton champion retains its intelligent and even keeps its class HD (Best 1). Looking at the example they provided it even has plenty of feats (looks like 3).

I understood that skeletons lost all their class features but this has me wondering if a Skeleton Champion keeps any class abilities (IE could a Cleric Skeleton Champion cast?)

How does this work out?

You can bypass almost everything that would normally come up. It's the obscure stuff that's somewhat questionable.

See that is what I really have trouble with. Can he bypass magic type? Can a divine caster create an arcane item this way? Why? He is only tapping into one magic source, how can he even remotely have access to cast the other?

Can a wizard 3rd level use create a higher level spell item with a mere +5? How and why? How is it that they can enchant a spell onto something they have no familiarity with?

I seriously have issues with this. Why should they be able to do it with a +5 penalty when they haven't the first idea how to cast the spell?

Grr... SKR got my hopes up. It said by the end of January... I told a player that I would have resolution from Paizo by the next game on crafting ( what constitutes DC+5 and what can't be hand-waved) by next game(this Sunday).

Guess I will just come up with something on my own.

If you could do that Sara... it would be much appreciated. Thanks a bunch!

I ordered on Jan 14... still pending.... is this a usual thing? I'm so sick and tired of refreshing everyday hoping for a "shipped" status.

*Note: First time ordering directly from Paizo*

I personally don't see a reason to home rule such a thing...

I had a similar situation not too long ago. I told him to knock it off otherwise I'd leave him out of the group. You should do that same. Tell him that this is a group game not a solo-player game.

RumpinRufus wrote:

"You have acted disruptively in the past, you slow down games and ruin the immersion for everyone by playing with your computer, and you act like you're bored at the table. With such a large group, I don't have room for a disruptive player, I'm sorry."

You aren't so good at the people thing, are you

I would probably kick a player out if they played computer games/were always on their electronics during gaming sessions.

So I DM and I'm not terribly experienced (I've ran about 20 sessions total. Crafting leaves me with a headache...

First off...

1) where does arcana magic come from? Divine power is from the gods... Where does Arcana come from?

2) Why does the DC only increase by 5 for a prerequisite not obtained? How does it make any sense to imbue an item with magic that you are simply not capable of?

3) Why is the DC so low? 5+caster level of item? This means by putting a a few points into a craft magic item there is little chance of failure [Example Wizard Int 18:, 3rd level = 3+3+4= 7, meaning very little chance of failure for anything they are capable of making and very little chance of failure for missing one requirement)]

4) What is the rationale for making magic items so easy to create? One feat and BAM a wizard has a 50% discount and is his/her own magic item shop (I don't think one or two feats will impact a wizard very much anyway).

I don't know... crafting just makes me think wtf? How does it make sense for a divine caster to make a arcane piece of gear when they don't cast any arcane spells?

Why is it so easy to make these items in the first place? If every blasted wizard is popping off making gear wouldn't there be an over abundance of gear, making it cheap as a winter-blanket?

I'm not trying to start any flamewars here (I know power gamers get testy on these forums when someone touches their favorite feats) but I'm just looking for a solid explanation and reasoning as to why I should follow the RAW when I think they make little sense

@Gustavo: I have to head off but I thought from reading this thread that your opinion(and thus my fair approximation of your position) is that without a wand or similar method the party will be stuck in the 15 minute "work-day' and will be unable to run through most dungeons successfully.

After reading through this thread I think I will simply be succint in my response.

1) Robert Yang appears to be the most snarky and unpleasant person in this thread(needlessly so... it appears you don't read the caption before you post "Don't be a Jerk").

2) MPL and Peda seems to be the most spot on and reasoned in their approach on this topic. The idea put forth by some seems to be a strawman of sorts. Things change when you tactically retreat from a dungeon. Also... tactics.

Small anecdote: I recently had my party run against skeleton raising spriggans (BestII) who raised two Zombie Ogres along with resurrecting a bunch of skeletons. Now had the party proceeded with caution, carefully send someone ahead with high perception and decent sneak they could have crept up to see what was going on(thus giving them time to quickly ambush and kill the two Spriggan minions who were doing the raising (the semi-BBEG was several halls down). Instead they simply barreled down the tunnel, alerting he spriggans who managed to resurrect the zombie ogres due to the parties lack of tactics of any sort [The whole "WE ARE POWERFUL" mentality].

15 rounds later... the party is out of heals, hauling an unconscious Human fighter out of the crypt being chased by one Ogre Zombie.

The point of my anecdote is that the lack of caution, decent tactics, led them to a near party wipe (if they hadn't run away). Because of the entire "we are powerful, and have a wand to heal us" mentality they almost died.

I think MPL is also spot on with his organic dungeon and others who have commented against it have been throwing up quite a few straw-people.

My solution to the wand is make it less readily available and to increase the cost a bit.

Lastly, I've seen a few people suggest that they can't survive without a CLW-W (a slight exaggeration, to be sure). If you cannot survive without one I think your view of Pathfinder is quite limited. I also don't agree with the view that without a wand your combat experience will be limited to 15 minute days.

To me this thread seems to be a bunch of min/maxers trying to claim that they are not in fact "optimizing" and a few who even say there is no such thing as optimizing. I've been burned by optimizers in the past as a DM, to the point that I don't allow custom classes or monstrous classes of any kind.

So I made an encounter and I'm not quite sure what the best way to judge CR is.

Scenario I created: The party enters a very large room filled with Sarcophagus. They see two CR 3 Spriggans drive a spike into the ground that awakens the nearby tombs. 5 Skeleton Dwarves rise up, they do this again one more time before they are stopped so a total of 11 Dwarven skeletons and two spriggans. Now I gave the dwarves a d8 weapon and an extra AC plus an extra +1 to hit.

The party members were 4 level 3s. Now I'm just trying to rationalize what the CR of that encounter was.

I used to DM a group of 7-8 that had 4 guys and 3 girls and there was another girl who would come in every now and again. One loved hitting s@#! with her sword, another wanted to be the role-playing dominatrix inquisitor with a whip and another was a meditating monk who tried to keep the party honest.

I don't think there is a huge difference.

Do what other people suggest: Put some role-play in there, mix a bit of mystery-suspense and finish it up with a light dungeon crawl, noting reactions. If you're not sure which part someone enjoyed the most, ask them.

Thanks Jeraa. I've read The core book up through the Game Master section front to back but I didn't finish the appendix yet... thought it would be in the magic section.

Any chance of a page number? That is the way I've been playing it(ignoring the first 10 dmg) but I couldn't really see where it spells it out.

"Defensive Abilities: A blighted fey gains DR 10/cold iron and good; immunity to disease, paralysis, poison, and polymorph; and resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10. A blighted fey also gains spell resistance equal to 11 + its newly adjusted CR."

I understand overcoming spell resistance is a caster level check(I think) but what about the resistance to cold? If it is a CR 5(thus SR 16) and someone casts cone of cold does that mean he has to overcome a SR of 26?

So I just had a few question about a character concept I have. I am making a Kitsune Bard who will eventually multiclass into rogue. My primary idea for him is that through a troubled past with bad interactions with others he has gotten an idea to collect a male and female of every species and "stuff them" like a hunter would stuff a deer. He goal is to create a museum of every race in the world. (A bit grim I know, I will do something a little less gruesome if my DM objects).

Now for his change shape ability I plan on having him change into a human female (he has 19 Charisma if you get where I am going with this). Now part of the eventual idea I have is to get an insane diplomacy/bluff/intimidate and lure away people to capture for eventual "stuffing" (or find a way to permanently freeze time around them if my DM won't let me).

My question is: Is there any items that are "use items" that will boost those skill points temporarily while I am luring them away?

So I recently switched over to PF from 3.5. I was DM'ing(GMing) my players through the carrion set (Halloween and all) and the druid decided to go scavenging by himself and two zombies found him. Did I mention that I misread the beastiary and gave the zombies 22 AC instead of 12?

Well somehow he ran to the party and they managed to kill them through spells. I told my players I would tell them through our facebook group how much xp they earned. I am at a loss for how much XP to give them for the 3 zombies (they fought the dead professor later on).

So 4 LvL 1's... vs a CR 1/3 except I misread it giving it 10 extra AC... not sure if I should bump the zombies up to 1 CR at least? Maybe more? I see that CR 8 zombies have 23 armor or so but they also have a lot of other stats.... help please.