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In Golarion, practice of religion is not a matter of personal conscience or freedom of expression. A worshipper is literally an agent of a deity... and deities are real, actual beings with their own interests and agendas. Prayer has real outcomes. Divine spellcasters can destroy entire communities in a fit of pique at their chosen divinity being improperly adored.

Rahadoum's state-enforced atheism is not a matter of just being authoritarian jerks for the sake of being authoritarian jerks. It's a method this particular society has decided upon to preserve and protect itself from being caught up in the agendas and infighting of these extraplanar monstrosities that have caused nothing but chaos and destruction in that society's history. And the history of its neighbors.

After all, they only have to look across the inner sea to see how well Asmodeus has worked out for Chelilax... how great Zon-Kuthon has treated Nidal. There's the whole history that Garund has with Qadira and Qadira's rabid take on Sarenrae.

And if you're going to flush those out (wisely so) you might as well flush all of them out; being a subject-state to Shelyn might be a lot nicer than being a subject of Urgathoa... But you're still a subject.

Simply put, the deities - even the good ones - are far from benign beings. Worshipers are catspaws for their interests and agendas, whether those worshippers are flame-and-sword Iomedean crusaders, or mumbling little hermits making offering to Gozreh off in the wilderness. Banning a few simply creates more room for the others to gain influence and power which can eventually lead to a situation like Chelilax. So... Might as well just kick them all out. Worship, just not within these borders

Weakest I've seen was in a 3.5 Homebrew I ran. My first step into 3.5 was with the eberron setting, so I told my players hey, "anything goes" - I was fortunate that the other people were as new as I was so none of the CODzilla or absurd template builds popped up.

No, what we got was a Kender Warlock. Imagine a Kender. Now make it an edgelord, played by someone who is intentionally being Ironic. Skull motifs, spikey dyed hair, angsty prose. All while still being a Kender. With all THAT entails. The line "This isn't a phase! This is who i REALLY AM!" was yelped in a squeaky voice to the group's very paternal druid several times before they even got to the dungeon.

Where the kender, brave, fearless, and stupid, rappelled down into the abyss without a second glance. No attempt at stealth or caution.

he got eaten by dire rats that he tried to make friends with before the rest of the party was even halfway down. The player was a good sport about it. "Well, that's how he would have wanted to go." Literally all the character did was steal laundry, hit on the halfling rogue, and feed the local wildlife.

After that... what comes to mind is an Iron Gods game I joined on Roll20. We had a tengu whose player was one of "those" guys. The character was a cleric who never cast a spell, but was first on the corpse to plunder their riches ("OH BOY, PURPLE GOO TUBES!") and a running gag was that he would run from a fight, trip, and get his beak stuck in something. he also frequently made passes at the halfling rogue. Which the Tengu player did in their best Steve Irwin voice... you can imagine where that went. basically he tried hard to play "comic relief," but wasn't terribly funny, sponged (or stole) party resources, and contributed nothing.

He still illustrates that it's possible to write the story so that you don't get shot on sight or dominate the story.

Star Trek is a franchise about politics, discovery, and diplomacy. Ironfang Invasion is a story about chopping hobgoblins into little bits to make them stop chopping townsfolk into little bits.

You could write a Star Trek story where Worf or others like him just get a lethal phaser dose to the face... But then you wouldn't actually have Star Trek. Similarly you could run a pathfinder game where a hobgoblin PC manages to get by without arrows sprouting in his eyesockets - but that game wouldn't be the Ironfang Invasion AP.

It really is comparable to bringing your Lamashtu Antipaladin to a hell's Rebels game. While there is probably some way to make it work at the table, you end up having to basically re-work the entire thing. Which is fine if that's what you wanna do, but at that point you might as well just homebrew from the start.

And yes, if you are drastically re-writing an AP for one player's character, that character is literally dominating the story.

• Toughness is better than you think.

• You're not going to "win" an RPG, so build for fun, not for pwning all the things.

• Don't be afraid to make hasty or even bad decisions; adventure was never had by "playing it safe."

• Use transparent dice with clear, simple faces; They're better-balanced than opaques and you want to know what they say.

• Turn off your damn phone.

• "Evil" is okay, but "jerkass" is not.

• If you have extra gold, buy a mithril waffle iron, just to remind everyone at the table that yes, there are mithril waffle irons in this game.

• Aid another is better than you think.

• It's cool that your character has a +50 modifier to Diplomacy, but remember that there's a barbarian in your party too.

Hey there everyone, I need a little help for a dilemma 'm facing. I recently (finally) caught an Iron Gods game, and suddenly hit a character block. Now the other three players have theirs together and I'm here looking like a yutz.

What we have so far are...
- Android cleric of gozreh. Melee focus, Iron Priest archetype.
- human Archer fighter. Archer archetype. Very complex.
- aasimar savage technologist barbarian. Sword and shield until he finds a gun.

What I'm seeing is a lack of skills, healing (the cleric specifically is avoiding "healbot") and arcane casting. Likely also a need for another bit of melee for when angelbarian gets his gun.

Anyone have suggestion or insight? If it helps I'm leaning heavy ratfolk for my race.

In my games, I use Background Skills 100% (with some exceptions; Perform is an adventure skill for Bards, Craft Alchemy is an adventure skill for Alchemists, etc.). I'm a fan of fractional bonuses as well, since it makes multi-classing a little less painful. Variant Multiclassing is hit-or-miss for me, but I use it as an option for my players.

Unchained Barbarian, Rogue, and Summoner replace the original classes at my table, but players can choose which of ht two monks they want to take - since U-Monk invalidates most archetypes, I figure it's only fair.

The Combat Stamina system is nice as well, though I keep it as a "buy a feat to use this" system. I'd originally planned to give it to Fighters for free, but then they came out with advanced weapon and armor training options, plus item mastery, and a few feats to make maneuvers and styles less onerous, so I figure fighters really didn't need another system put on them (not for free, at least.)

Have a look at the US' "Badlands National Park" for an idea. Essentially it's arid grassland with a lot of ravines and steep hills. The lack of water and difficulty of travel through the terrain is why they're called "badlands."

You need to be an arcane caster to use an arcane scroll.

No, you just need to succeed a Use Magic Device check with a DC of 20+ the scroll's caster level. You can cast automatically (no UMD roll) if the spell is on your spell list (even if it's technically a different "type" - a Witch can cast a Cure Light Wounds spell from a scroll made by a Cleric, for example)

Yes. That's why scrolls with a higher caster level cost more. The caster level is inherent to the scroll itself, not hte person casting from the scroll.

You've seen the trope. You know the lie. It kinda makes sense for Gandalf since he's more of a low level angel than a traditional wizard, but in D&D it's almost pointless for a wizard to carry a sword. One could threaten with it I suppose, but if he's close enough to do that then there are larger issues.

... or is it?...

1) Do any sword or sword-like items exist that would actually be good for a wizard to carry?
2) if you were to design something what would you put on it? Off the top of my head Defending comes to mind, but only if you don't already have a ring of deflection.

Thoughts?

Gandalf isn't just a low level angel. if he were a human with character class levels... he'd be a straight-up bard, whose Performance of choice is Oratory.

Also, if you're playing a wizard, you have the Summon Monster spells. meaning that technically, Gandalf is on your summon list.

So at the moment my parties alignments are spread all over with the current issue being between a CG and LE(now NE).

Synopsis:
BBEG Half-Orc Warchief has sent his stronger minions and their minions after the party who are currently trying to depose him, they arrive at the tavern the party attacks and is attacked.
The LE is the most uncharismatic inquisitor who has a penchant for doing whatever it takes for his mission.
The CG is a rogue on a sudden and surprising mission to aid a god in stopping Orcus from destroying his home and the god. He's also a Caydenite and has actually met Cayden in celebration of his good deeds and is now actually arranging it so that all the slaves in this city will be freed by the next leader (a friendly npc). That said this happened:

Scenario:
During this fight a lot goes down and it is a tough fight but besides a few hp gone and 1 large Friendly Fire amount of damage the fight goes well. The Druid does lose her bear during the fight and is heartbroken but they kill that orc as he tries to escape.
During the fight though mid way through when things aren't looking good one orc surrenders and for 3 whole combat rounds does nothing in an attempt to surrender being on 1/30hp. He actually didn't manage to do any damage to anyone during the fight as well.
During the last round the LE character knowing the orc surrendered and wasn't giving any useful info in the moments he had to grovel was shot. The CG comes over and heals the orc stabilizing him and gets him to talk a bit more about who they are and why they attacked them. He gets a lot of info they didn't know but the LE comes over and says "Well if that's all he's got I'm going to just kill him."
To my surprise even though they're constantly at each other's throats about their beliefs the CG player agrees saying "You better give us something else or I can't see a reason to stop him." The orc starts crying and begging but is quickly and ruthlessly put down by the LE.

My Opinion:
Personally I think...

This orc is a servant of the BBEG, right? Well, said orc had probably murdered plenty in his life, even if this was a bad fight for him. if the BBEG is a slaver, then it's pretty sure that this orc has committed plenty of abuses. And even if he hasn't, even if this orc is some saintly exception, the CG character DOES NOT KNOW THIS. He sees a mass murderer who just got his butt kicked very suddenly blubbering for his life... to do what? probably run off and do more of the same, right?

As far as your rogue knows, ending the life of this orc goes a long way towards helping other people, even if the orc has big ol' puppy eyes. And if this is during an assault on the BBEG's encampment, what are they going to do with a prisoner?

Killing a surrendered opponent certainly isn't NICE, but you're in the middle of a war and said opponent, given the opportunity, is going to run off and hurt a bunch more people. Absent some sort of way of knowing very certainly that this villain had very suddenly turned over a new leaf for-real-and-true, or that this is in fact the orcish Drizzt, your rogue did nothing evil or lawful.

Even if he had, one act isn't going to impact his alignment.

A cavalier does not have to be mounted to be useful in a fight. You've got a lot going for you on two feet. You can also use your mount as a druid would use their animal companion (Well, without the magical stuff.)

Also, all of the archetypes that replace or significantly alter the Mount feature are PFS-legal (except for the Musketeer. Heck, be a Ghost Rider and store your mount in a pokeball whenever it gets inconvenient.

So the new worldscape comics featuring pulp heroes with the iconic pathfinder characters has inspired me to try some theorycraft character building. The challenge is to build Red Sonja as an 8th level character in Pathfinder, 3.5, and 5th edition. 28 point buy for 3.5 and 32,000 gold and 20 point buy for Pathfinder. Standard point buy and a few magic items for 5E. The main thing is to have a viable ac with no armor (maybe haramaki in Pathfinder). I have my own ideas. I want to hear yours.

Well, I sure don't have time to throw together a full build. But if you want to go with a Red Sonja build, I'mma point you towards Robert E. Howard's story, "In The Shadow of the Vulture."

Sonja is a Picaroon swashbuckler from Poland, not some loincloth-clad Hyrkanian vixen!

Azouth wrote:

This is Pathfinder Society / General Discussion you want

advice or general

No no, he wants the Peoples' Front of Judea.

Whatever happened to the Judean Popular People's Front, anyway?

Hey everyone, I've recently got the urge to run a session, maybe two or three depending on time, with a leaning towards halloween themes. The twist is that I want to do it in the "We Be Goblins" way - that's right, all the PC's are goblins, out to cause mischief, mayhem, and petty arson in an unsuspecting nearby settlement.

What I need are ideas for encounters. I know I want the PC's to basically run into an undead infestation in the town (someone beat them to the punch!) and the idea of a side-adventure with a witch or druid is in there (I want there to be a pumpkin-headed dog-monster serving that, too. A Gourd Dog? A Jackal-lantern?) But past that, I dunno, I've really only run from printed mateiral before.

Aim is for 4-5 PC's, of first or second level. Since they're goblins, they get 15-point buy. Anyone got ideas of spooky-goofy encounters for them?

The Great Lord Furbledonker once counted you among his loyal courtiers, as skilled with words as with a blade, always on the edge of court fashion and with your ears in the right places. Sadly, you were a creature of base appetites as well, and alas, the Lord's daughter is quite a lass! Disgraced, stripped of rank and title, you were thrown from the court, with dire threats about how parts of your body would become property of the lord should you ever return.

Since then you've found solace among those you once dismissed, the smallfolk of the land. You're rougher around the edges; small beers fill your liver more than fine brandy these days, and your clothing has more frayed hems than cutting edges. But you have become something of a champion. No, you're no great knight in gleaming armor smashign dragons. But you did best that bandit Rupert Half-Hand in a personal duel, forcing his men to return all their filthy lucre to the town of Kornsburg. You did the same to the tax collector as well. Word has it you're pretty handy with that rapier when it coems to the local goblin problem, too!

You can't entirely shake your past though; Lord Furbledonker has learned who "liberated" his tax money, and now you have to lay low, further afield. By now you're rather used to living rough, but with these companions at your back, at least hte road is a little less lonely.

(i.e, a combination of ronin, goodly rogue, and folk hero archetypes. it works with the Vigilante and Cavalier classes, too! Basically Robin Hood with a rapier rather than a bow. For the crunch, any trait that gives you Survival as a class skill is a must-have. Besides that, there's really nothing to hold the swashbuckler back)

Hey there, folks!

So, there's no way I can ask this without making folks start to speculate and wonder... so speculate and wonder away.

What part of Golarion (preferably the Inner Sea region) would your 18th or higher-level character want to go explore and learn about? If you also have areas beyond Golarion (other planets or planes), feel free to list them too, but ONLY if you first list a place ON Golarion that you'd like to see more about!

Three locations you can't nominate:

• Starstone Cathedral
  
• Gallowspire
  
• Pit of Gormuz

Because I already know folks are interested in those locations! :-P

I've always been of the opinion that Pathfinder doesn't do nearly enough with the Realm of the Mammoth Lords; Deep Tolguth might be a place to visit.

Another option, given the sort of magic at these levels? Time travel to past eras of GOlarion. It's more of a "scenario" than a "place" I guess, but being present at Starfall in Numeria, or Aroden's ascension, the fall of Sarkoris, or the Dwarven Quest for the Sun.

Depends on what you mean when you say "piratical"!

For our Caribbean-themed "generic" pirate stuff, boarding pikes are really the go-to for two-handed weapons, other than just swinging a cutlass two-handed. A variation of the meteor hammer or spiked chain using rope might work, too, especially if you're going for that barbaric flavor (beating the oakum out of someone with a knotted, waterlogged rope seems rather uncivilized)

However, pirates have come in all flavors through the ages! Halberds had their place during the age of exploration, when steel was giving way to powder. The vikings, of course, used their spears and axes to great effect. In fact axes and their variations (such as the halberd) are pretty common in early-era naval combat, since most ships weren't terribly big and most of the fighting was done on open decks.

Truth be told, pirates are just bandits with boats. Any weapon that works at its job was considered useful. And since you're plundrin' and pillagin', you could have just about any weapon. You really want a ripsaw glaive? Found one in the hold of that gnomish Waterworld catamaran you took the other week!

So it's just Strength 19 with Power Attack and a greataxe?

That's kind of bog standard for a barbarian. Yup, every standard action, she'll knock the heck out of something. That's what a barbarian does. Since barbarians are a core class, every adventure is written to handle the presence of such a character.

Let her be awesome at hitting things. There's nothing wrong it it. It's what she signed up for, after all.

I think Android Bloodrager with Air Elemental bloodline. Your body crackling with electricity, perhaps a result of an experiment by the Technic League looking for revenge for your traumatic origin story?

Well, except that Androids can't receive morale bonuses and have a charisma penalty to boot. I guess you could be a BAD bloodrager, but...

Well, that depends all on what you mean by "exploitable or problematic." It's kind of a vague catch-all for "random assortment of stuff I don't like."

"Exploitable" covers pretty much everything in the game with any complexity beyond "I attack as a standard action." That's the funny thing about rules; whatever the rules are, there's ways to utilize them creatively.

"Problematic" is something that actively causes problems for the other players at the table. These sort of things are usually discovered as they come up, and vary from table to table because players are all different. Do your players tend to have no idea how to use an iterative attack? Then maybe hold off on the Master Summoner. Are they the sort that think carrying around a portable hole full of swift runner shirts is a viable adventuring strategy? Then maybe you'll want to be tight-fisted on item creation feats.

I've never had reason to flat-out ban stuff at the table, except for setting / flavor reasons. it's simple enough if a problem comes up to say "hey, this is looking like a problem, how about we change this?"

Honestly, I'd say a good option is to look at Wayang. They're small sized, and so are easily able to ride, and they have no STR penalty, so you can be a pretty competent lancer :) Can go from level 1! :) Not super optimized, but eh.

Also, all of the "halfbreed" races (Aasimar, Changelings, Ganzi, Geniekin, Skinwalkers, and Tieflings) can be small, while still retaining the race's standard traits. There are also small Androids and Shabti.

You can use bracers of armor if the spell failure bothers you. More expensive, but it's a choice if you want 0 failure.

A much cheaper method? Add an armored kilt to silken ceremonial armor or a haramaki. You now have a base of +2 armor, at 0% spell failure. There's also 0% ACP, so you're not losing anything for non-proficiency. You do lose speed (adding the kilt to light armor makes it medium armor) but hey, you just got the equivalent of a 4,000 GP magic item for 50 GP or less, and your wrist slot is free for something.

well, it's +2 Cha, +2 Wis / Int, for what it's worth.

Hulking changeling is good for any "striker" character, really. +1 damage really never goes amiss.

Personally I rather like a changeling rogue / Investigator, especially at low-level play. Both classes can have a hard time really "working" before thei combat abilities start piling on. The changeling though, gives you two 1d4 natural attacks, +1 damage to all melee, and +1 natural Armor.

Probably worksb est on the Investigator, since changelings can boost their core stat, and 'gators have the weaker starting combat ability of the two classes.

Well, as we're all sitting at different tables, the only setting / game commonality we have is what's in the books, right? And that default is kinda-wacky heroic fantasy set in a world of Tropetopia "countries" where interplanetary travel to 1917 Russia is really a thing (and Rasputin is a half-hag creature with Tesla-tech weaponry - even HISTORICAL EARTH ain't realistic in Pathfinder)

if you want to sit at your table and say "Okay, James, you can summon black tentacles fro mthe abyss to cripple every foe in a forty-foot radius becuase you read a book about it, but Andy, you can't half-hand your greatsword' that's fine. Andy's just going to re-roll a wizard, but that's your group.

"But DRAGONS!!!!"

Sigh.

The existence of one or many fantastic things in age do not suddenly mean that all fantastic things should be the mode.

You're creating a false divide on this, where you're basically arguing "realism for some."

It's not "but dragons,' it's "but sorcerers." That's the whole idea of the draconic bloodline, isn't it? That some ancestor of yours was a gigantic scaly reptile that decided to test its biological compatibility with bipedal primates? And now you, the sorcerer, have a list of magical powers that just come out of that?

So you're playing this sorcerer, the offspring of a human (or hey, maybe an elf, from another planet) and a metaphor for greed shaped like a flying iguanodon and you'e sprouting claws and breathing fire. You're fighting a sweeping horde of demons pouring out of a literal hole to another dimension. To your left is a gnomish ninja who is somehow getting in attacks all over this huge goat-headed monster's vulnerable spots instead of just shredding its ankles, and on occasion he teleports via smokebomb. At your back the witch is floating around laughing like a maniac and making the demons fall over through the power of laughter or something. And you look to your right, and the fighter is hacking away with two large swords.

"Dude, that's not realistic," you say.

Nope. It's not realistic to swing around two greatsowrds. But it's not realistic to swing two weapons, period. About hte closest you ever got were the assorted fencing styles that used a dagger in the off-hand.. .and even that was used for parrying, in a heavily ritualized and stylized form of combat. Dual wielding is not realistic.

But twirling scottish claymores like you're a helicopter of death is still more realistic than spewing fireballs because grandaddy was a lizard. 'Cause scottish claymores are real and so are idiots with hands. Put the two together and you get the Wallacecopter. Put a tuatara and grandma together and all you've got is a misdemeanor in most US states.

we accept all sorts of stylized, fantastic elements in the game as a matter of course. It's just an integral part of the game. We accept that being wise makes you harder to hit when you're naked than when you're heavily armored. we accept that being heavily armored actually makes you more difficult to hit. We accept that there are globally-recognized deities that actually empower their worshipers. We accept that a devil-worshiping empire, revolutionary France, Colonial america, and a state based on the writings of Wes Craven are all neighbors. We accept that you can buy magic swords at magic sword stores. We can accept that leather armor is form-fitting and sleek when worn by females of the species. we can accept that a glorified jockey has a larger range of skills than an all-purpose infantryman. But we can't accept if said infantryman whips around with two big weapons.

It's silly.

I think that with the exception of Alchemist and Oracle, all of the "Ultimate" classes need an unchained version. Not because they're weak but because there's not a lot of variety to them. Every witch character is built around hexes. every cavalier is built around mounted charges or trying to pretend it's not a cavalier. Every gunslinger is absolutely built exactly hte same. Every magus is a shocking grasp cheese-loaf. These classes just have 100% obvious "best" build, surrounded by a lo of vastly sub-par builds that are usually only barely functional.

They might as well just be stat blocks in a codex, for all the variety they have going with them.

Triune wrote:

So after reading a thread in which monkey grip was called cheese, it occurred to me that people seem to have lost the idea of what that word means. For those unfamiliar, monkey grip is a 3.x feat that allows you to use two handed weapons one handed, at a -2 penalty to accuracy. This reults in almost all cases in a dps loss, even before figuring in the feat opportunity cost, and is pretty much solely for flavor. Even in the face of that, it was called cheese.

It seems like any time there is an option that lets you do something you couldn't before, it's called cheesy. Guns, for example, hit touch ac, but a well built gunslinger is no match for a well built archer in terms of dpr, yet they're constantly banned and called cheese. Why is a new ability always cheese? Doesn't cheese mean game breaking, not game expanding?

Well, you've a couple minor errors here.

One, dual wielding greatswords is looked as cheesy, not because it's impossible, but because its anime-ish, and not something even a hugely strong person would attempt in reality. The fact you could lift such a thing doesn't mean you could wield them well, as any weapons practitioner will tell you. You don't have leverage, you don't have range of movement, and you don't have momentum. To somehow do this effectively, you'd probably have to be standing at least three feet above the floor to get the full range of effective motion.

And lest you think it's cheesy much, there was an Epic feat that allowed you to wield weapons up to 3x above your size. The depiction was a Halfling wielding a Huge Greataxe.

Lastly, a well built gunfighter will trample the DPR of anything into the Dust, because they can target Touch AC. The resulting auto-hits will nicely trounce any archer in a DPR contest.

==Aelryinth

Arguing cause for "realism" in a game where a 17 year old can have the ability to sprout claws and throw up magical "force bullets" becuase eight generations ago a dragon got busy with his great-times-eight grandma isn't especially compelling. Especially when he was born in revolutionary france and is currently exploring an ice planet because an old lady gave him a house on chicken legs.

"no one wields two great swords because it's dumb!" yeah, same reason no one covered themsleves in belts and straps. same reason swords never had spikes on the blades. same reason that armor was not created to hold to a flattering shape on the wearer's body. Now open your pathfinder books, and flip through some of the art.

"becuse realism" just isn't a valid argument for this game. It's not a game that even tries for realism. it's a stylized gme about often (usually) magical heroes who run out from their assorted trope-and-pastiche-flavored homelands to have heroic adventure against crazy things like pyromaniac midgets with shark-faced melons for heads and inexplicably sexualized snake-ladies in forgotten temples.

It's like complaining that Conan isn't doing the sensible thing and putting on some of that armor that his enemies always wear and is instead running around with his Austrian man-boobs hanging out and never once getting a scratch on them.

No, it's not at all realistic. But it's not supposed to be. it's heroic high fantasy. The characters are supposed to be able to achieve pretty ludicrous things, and I think being able to use a voulge like a double-weapon is, if anything, more realistic than having magical powers because gran-gran got busy with a flying monitor lizard.

(1) Mooks attack rest of party. (2) Mooks aren't worthless. (3) Player choices are allowed to matter. (4) Profit.

What I was gonna say. Go after the turtle's support network. See how tough he is with a party that is chewed up and out of resources.

Also, status effects are a thing. Even something as simple as a grease or create Pit spell can really ruin the day of a heavily-armored character.

If your DM is playing this as an MMO - where the 'tank' actually gets to tank as a matter of course - he's the one doing it wrong.

I would say that you can't summon an exotic weapon by the RAW because your making the weapon martial doesn't change the fact it's exotic, only your prof with it. That said go beg the GM. May want to look at battle mystery to see if one exotic weapon with two or three keywords would suffice for you and maximize its potential with that. Don't forget you as a elf or half elf can be ancient lorekeeper.

That's just the thing. The weapon familiary trait says the following:

Elves are proficient with longbows (including composite longbows), longswords, rapiers, and shortbows (including composite shortbows), and treat any weapon with the word "elven" in its name as a martial weapon.

This trait doesn't grant proficiency. It changes the classification of the weapons themselves, as far as that character is concerned.

So an elven or half-elven Oracle with this trait could, in fact, use the Ancestral Arms revelation to summon elven weapons that would be "exotic" for other races, because the weapons are explicitly martial weapons for those characters.

hey everyone. I recently got invited to a two-player Jade regent game (dunno how that'll work out, but eh) and am just completely stuck about what to bring to the table.

The other person went full-in with a Kitsune Mesmerist (Vexing Daredevil archetype) so we've got "party face" more than covered, and it seems like he would want a flank buddy with the build.

I know that in a duo game, pretty much anything works as good as the next, but I'd like some pointers, mostly 'cause I've never worked with a mesmerist before and don't know what's "good" as opposed to what's "well, we might not die, I guess maybe."

Any advice on class / archetype / build for a good duo partner, or just something that's really good for the AP would be much appreciated.

Hello, fellow Paizlings. I've recently gotten a request to run Pathfinder for some folks in a PbP format, and I'm suffering some terrible indecision.

First off, I'm currently engaged in Carrion Crown, Iron Gods, and Kingmaker games, so those are out.

What I'm looking for is...

• More story than just hackin' and slashin'. As much as I like the concept, this takes Emerald Spire put of the running, since it's basically "While you're here, why not go into this dungeon?"

• Needs to be accessible for "weird" races. I've been rather stingy with the racial makeup of the last few games I've run, and now I'm kind of wanting to just open the floodgates on this. If I end up with a party made of a kobold, strix, two elves and a hobgoblin, I don't want them in a situation where only the elves can talk to anyone without torches and pitchforks in their faces.

• Functional in PbP format. I'm worried that subsystems and daily tracking mechanics (like the work schedules from Skull and Shackles) might end up bogging the game down and causing player interest to wane.

• Similarly, I'd like it to have an early "catch" to bring the player characters on board into the adventure. When I did a Mummy's mask game a while back, the relatively slow start appeared to make people fall asleep at their keyboards.

• Alternately, if people have ideas to pep up either of those last two points, I'd be happy to hear 'em!

One of my players wants to play a Paladin of Pharasma with the Undead Scourge archetype, which I've allowed. But I have no idea how the extensive looting (right down to the funerary masks and gold leafing off the walls!) will play out. At least two other PCs definitely going to take as much as they can from the tombs, and I can already see some serious conflict arising.

Any advice on how to deal with this?

The church of Pharasma in Wati has allowed such pillaging - provided the adventurers aren't too destructive or disrespectful, at least. With the blessing of both church and secular government, it shouldn't be an immediate problem for the paladin. He could position himself as "looting administrator," to keep the other PC's from making disrespectful mistakes and the like.

And hte plain fact is, Paladins can't live off prayer alone! And since for the foreseeable future Wati's entire economy is going to revolve around stuff pulled out of the Necropolis, it's probably better to be on the end of the transactions that has some control over how that loot is gained.

Think Paladin of Abadar, only way more annoyed by the undead.

Well, I gathered up a group of people, and after they all decided that iron Gods wasn't their "thing" we decided on Kingmaker.

For our initial scene, I had these five characters:
• Nezumi Nimh, Ratfolk unRogue. her player is one of my noobs, and is obsessed with making flank buddies. "Can I flank with that tree?" was an actual question.
• Relhana, the half-elven ranger who was raised by wolves. no, really. Refuses to sleep indoors. Even in the rain.
• Menas Stormblade, Human Magus. His major goal in life is to not get his head stuck in a bear trap, like the player's last magus. I will be directing him towards the "trap-filled glade."
• Viviana Albercroft, Changeling Mesmerist. Yes, she is exactly as pretentious as you think she is based on her name. Which is strange for someone whose role was self-described as "feintmonkey."
• Konica Nightstalker, Catfolk Hunter. her role in the party seems to be "hey, someone's gotta be chaotic neutral."

Since I have two newbies and a person who's a little rusty on systems, I decide to give them a run through encounter! On the way to Oleg's, they are ambushed by goblins! More precisely, a bunch of goblins drop a tree on themselves and end up getting their butts kicked. But not before introducing Menas to a wide variety of projectile weapons, teaching Relhana's player about attacks of opportunity, and exposing everyone to why goblin dogs are not cuddly.

After that, some of the players changed their minds about things!

• Menas decided his name was too lowbrow fantasy emo. His player agonized for a long time over making the character's name a meaningless symbol, but remembered that he's not playing an elf magus anymore. He is now Menas Sarterion

• Viviana got grossed out at getting covered in goblin blood, goblin dog dander, and Menas' lustful gazing. Presumably she pout-stomped all the way back to Restov. The other characters will meet up with Poppy Honeymead at Oleg's. Every party needs a drunken gnomish cleric of Cayden.

• Konica's player got frustrated at the similarity between hunter and Ranger, and the lack of blowing-things-up spells on the Hunter list. She cashed in her Wileykat-looking hunter for some shiny-skinned busty elf wench, named it Amara and made it an Ectoplasm Sorcerer. Actual player quote? "I summon tentacles."

Gonna be interesting.

Never have played a character that had "evil" on theri character sheet... but... It's hard to play chaotic neutral gnolls that don't end up poited that way.

Eberron: Ran a duo between the chaotic neutral gnoll barbarian, and a neutral evil changeling rogue. Our schtick was that he was a "paladin" of the Silver Flame, and while the local church was being very puzzled by this oddity, the rogue would slip in and loot the joint. And then my gnoll would heave some pews around and cover the escape. Eventually the church sent a real Paladin after us. Level 7 paladin, against our level 2 butts. mr. Paladin ended up discovering that a 3.5 edition gnoll in a rage with a greatsword is something to be very, very frightened of, five-level difference or no. We took all his stuff, and left the pieces of him in a box at a Silver Flame church in Sharn. The rogue decided to add insult to (gratuitous) injury, and put up a sign saying "free kittens!"

Pathfinder: haven't played it yet, but I have this idea for a chaotic neutral gnoll cleric of Lamashtu who revered her deity's sway over beasts and fertility; Basically a goddess of the savage wild and untamed instinct. Wants to spread this worship through Avistan. Could probably succeed, because the main tenets of the faith are "screw" and "don't die," both of which seem to be pretty popular with all cultures that don't involve elves. And so what if every now and then you have to send a kid or two our, armed with sharp sticks to confront the local wolves / bears / minotaurs / great Old Ones? If they succeed, you have tough kids! if they don't, hey, those bears already ate, no problem! Definite evil leanings, but more of a drive towards survival of the fittest and replenishment of the ranks, rather than actually trying to violate common ethics and mores.

Level 5? Go skald.

Level 1: Skald's Vigor
Level 3: Power Attack, Lesser Spirit Totem rage power
Level 5: Expanded Spell kenning

I've seen it argued that your innate weapon / armor proficiencies 'count' as their respective feats. I have no idea if that's how the rules actually work, though.

barring that, you'll probably have to take a feat.

Truthfully, you're probably better investing in natural weapons for your familiar (I'm pretty sure goblins get some natural weapon feats?)

Ride around on your Mauler wallaby boxer. be amazing. be a goblin!

If we are speaking of Golarion (which i assume we are since Lamashtu) then a Paladin can only worship LG, LN, or NG.

Pretty sure this is only for PFS play. The paladin himself has to be lawful Good, of course, but there's no reason he couldn't revere say, Desna.

I'll grant Lamashtu is a pretty big stretch. but again... Goblins are dumb.

Even taking away the campaign setting how/why would a Lawful Good Paladin (restriction from Paladin) with the Paladin Code worship a CE Demon Goddess? It doesn't make sense.

I'm not speaking of a restriction like a Cleric. It makes no sense for a person that identifies as Lawful Good to pay lip service to a CE demon god.

It's a goblin paladin. We have to assume that this character is not prone to making sound life choices.

TECHNICALLY, there's no rule that a paladin cannot worship Lamashtu. Paladins are not clerics, their divine powers are not delivered by nor dependent on the gods. Now, he couldn't associate with other lamashtu followers of course, barring the occasional chaotic neutral, or other confused oddball. But maybe he believes the mother of monsters is redeemable. Maybe he reveres some other aspect she covers - motherhood, perhaps.

Maybe he doesn't even think about it. Maybe he "worships Lamashtu" because he's a goblin, and goblins worship Lamashtu. Goblins also worship tree stumps, spooky noises, and large goiters. They're not known for spiritual depth.

Now for the core question, can a goblin have the highest AC in the party? Well, no reason he couldn't. But there's nothing special for being a goblin that would make it so.

Of course, high AC just means that the bad guys ignore you to go after easier targets.

I was thinking of opening "on the road." the PC's are en route to Trunau, and are ambushed by a tribe of goblins - anyone who succeeds their knowledge check knows that this tribe isn't "local" and seems to have migrated for some reason - In specific, pushed south by orc movements. if they don't realize that, someone at Trunau will mention it when the ambush is brought up.

This at least gives the PC's a bit of action and a sort of prelude to what's to come, before settling in to the investigation stuff. Some of which could definitely be trimmed down to keep the XP pace roughly the same

You realize that Travel and therefore it's subdomains including Exploration are not valid for a druid, right?

The Wolf Shaman archetype allows you to take the Travel domain, which gives you the option of Exploration

Well, there's all sorts of DM tricks you can pull that others have mentioned - the environment, concealment and terrain, enemy tactics...

Possibly the best way to do it though is to one-on-one, explain to him you're having trouble balancing encounters for him and the other party members - either it's trivial for his long-range death machine, or overpowering for the other guys. Most players will understand and be cool with either toning it down, altering the character, or even trying something new.

I know I would get bored if every combat, i was legolas dispatching an Oliphant while the Rohirrim army watched on like a bunch of useless ninnies.

That's easy.

Shaman with the Battle Spirit. One of the big annoying things about the Battle Spirit is that shaman get no decent weapon proficiencies. You're there with all these tools for war, and you're swinging a 1d6 x2 chunk of wood for your career.

The Tengu gets every swordlike weapon as a proficiency. or a large number of exotic weapons. Natural Attacks are okay for the first few levels, but Shaman don't get Magic Fang on their list, which gets pretty annoying pretty quickly. You don't get shields either, so go straight for two-handed swords (or exotics)

So. Focus on Armor Class for defense rather than Hit points. Build to Str > Wis > Dex > Con = Cha > Int. You can't take Power Attack or weapon Focus at level 1, so Toughness or Dodge are probably your first-level feat. After that, take up your standard combat feats sprinkled with Extra hex every now and then.

Don't forget to make your familiar into a Mauler.

You are now a yamabushi sword-priest who fights evil with the aid of his shapeshifting goat or fox buddy.

Just started one recently...

Nestor, the undead-slaying fanatic Ulfen paladin of Sarenrae. he's here to smite evil and chew bubblegum, and nobody's invented bubblegum yet.

Nesha, a rather less fanatical caster-cleric of Sarenrae, Agathion-blooded Aasimar (the player wanted cat ears). Forgot to take Selective channeling.

Tgamo, a Mwangi barbarian recently resurrected by unknown means, with visions of his future in Osirion. Prone to buying overpriced lucky chickens in the sunburst market.

Rand, an Andorran swashbuckler whose theme song is "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." The team's lockpicker, trapfinder, and haberdasher.

Salimah, Inquisitor of Pharasma, and native of Wati. She does not approve. No sir, not at all.

Together they are the Hand of the Divine!

Zhayne wrote:

PF rewards offense over defense. The ultimate defense is killing your opponent before he gets a turn.

One needs no defense against a dead opponent.

The fact that like 1/3 of the bestiary is made of the living-impaired seems to argue otherwise

No, but seriously, like the other APG classes, the Inquisitor is sort of self-building, and doesn't really require you to get in up to your elbows to make it work for whatever it is you're trying to do.

I guess a better question is, "what kind of battle inquisitor do you want"?

A steady supply of sriracha sauce.

Hmmm. I see that I misread. Gotta admit the wording can be taken in that direction, though.

That does kind of suck some of the sparkle out.

Selecting it again only has the effect that it says selecting it again has - expanding the lists of feats you can ignore prereq's for. Now if you want to read it as giving you a feat each time, it'll only grant you one from the first list, as the talent says; "The slayer selects a ranger combat style (such as archery or two-weapon combat) and gains a combat feat from the first feat list of that style."

Still, either way it has the odd effect of making the slayer better at ranger combat styles than rangers are.

From an optimization standpoint, don't mix fighter and rogue. Though thematically strong, they actually conflict - Sneak attack is level-dependent, as is weapon training. Five levels for a rogue to get weapon training is a very deep dip, and any amount of rogue dip on a fighter is wasted (costs you BAB, earns you two dice of situational damage, woopty-whoop).

The exception is if you are trying for a specific build that needs either extra feats, or a prestige class that needs sneak attacks.

If you're out for flavor, take the Fighter's Cad archetype (or just play a grungy fighter with loose morals). If you want skills, play something that isn't a fighter.

You can actually simulate the mechanics of a fighter with rogue dip, by taking one, three, or four levels of Daring Champion cavalier. This doesn't burn your BAB, gives you free (slightly limited) weapon finesse, the ability to use Charisma instead of intelligence for combat feats, an order ability, a teamwork feat (take Precise Strike, it's Sneak Attack for the whole team) and challenge (not exciting on a dip, but hey, better than a poke in the eye). Second level, you get your order ability. Third level, you get a +1 AC bonus. if you stretch the dip all the way out to 4th level, you get all the good low-level Swashbuckler deeds and the panache to use them. As for skills you'll be getting 4+Int from these levels, which is on par with what Lore Warden would be giving you.