Yethazmari

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** Pathfinder Society GM. 84 posts. 3 reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 9 Organized Play characters.


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Silver Crusade 2/5

Kelly Youngblood wrote:
They are a 4-part adventure which you must play start-to-finish with the same character.

Where does it say this? The only comparable thing I can find is that pre-gen characters aren't allowed.

Silver Crusade

Ekram in area F9 carries a key to area F2. What does this key open? The only thing in area F2 is a few kegs of saffron.

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The great majority of the buildings are not keyed or identified. One of them could easily be a temple of Sarenrae if that suits you. The church of Sarenrae is certainly present in Osirion and has played a large role in the country's history.

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Not having a divine spellcaster is going to add difficulty.

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Spoiler:
That encounter foreshadows the appearance of the Scorched Hand later but isn't really essential for the adventure to progress. If the PCs don't pay attention, they won't be forewarned that someone else is interested in the Erudite Eye. I might give a penalty to perception checks in part C because they are less aware of possible trouble. I might give the Scorched Hand a chance to ambush them. The story award is for interacting and finding out about the Scorched Hand's interest in the Erudite Eye. If they don't do those things, they don't get the award.

Silver Crusade

Pan wrote:

Oh I don't know Dude, it takes a pretty long time to drown. Could be the source of much dramatic tension where its needed most. :)

Concious characters can hold their breath for a long time but the encounter can get deadly quickly if any characters are unconcious because they have been reduced below zero hit points. There are also the complications in the rules for fighting and spell casting underwater to consider. It has the potential to turn that encounter into a real killer.

Silver Crusade

I am having the same problems with my copy. Pages 19-30 have fallen out.

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I and one of my players have arrived at conflicting conclusions about Radiance's stats based on different readings of its entry.

Mine is that these are the total stats

This +2 cold iron longsword becomes a +5 holy cold iron longsword in the hands of a paladin.

When wielded by a paladin, this sacred weapon provides spell resistance of 5 + the paladin's class level to the wielder and anyone adjacent to her. It also enables the paladin to use greater dispel magic (once per round as a standard action) at the class level of the paladin. Only the area dispel is possible, not the targeted dispel or counterspell versions of greater dispel magic.

That's the total of what it gets at first.

One of the players is reading the word holy in the title to indicate the holy weapon quality.

Price +2 bonus
Aura moderate evocation; CL 7th; Weight —
DESCRIPTION

A holy weapon is imbued with holy power. This power makes the weapon good-aligned and thus bypasses the corresponding damage reduction. It deals an extra 2d6 points of damage against all creatures of evil alignment. It bestows one permanent negative level on any evil creature attempting to wield it. The negative level remains as long as the weapon is in hand and disappears when the weapon is no longer wielded. This negative level cannot be overcome in any way (including by restoration spells) while the weapon is wielded.

Which would make it the equivalent of a +7 weapon bypassing dr/epic already and giving it more abilities.

Which is these is the correct reading?

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Exactly what vile magical traditions was Millorn researching anyway? His spell list is quite normal.

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It doesn't say what the bones are. I would guess they are probably dire rat bones. No one in my group actually looked at them or asked about them.

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You know I didn't even notice that.

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I'm already past that part so it's too late to add a body there. Maybe I will just have a convenient mongrelman ask if they have seen any signs of other mongrelmen in the area they came from. I am a bit leery about killing the son off to since his fate is left vague and he may appear later on alive or be shown to have died elsewhere for some specific plot related reason.

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There's no corpse to loot. The campsite is abandoned. If they had found it on a dead mongrelman, it would make sense that they would want to return it to that person's relative but there is no corpse. It's just abandoned there with nothing to suggest it has anything to do with the mongrelmen at all. The mongrelmen aren't the only people down here either. There are also crazy dwarves and who knows what else.

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1 person marked this as a favorite.

In part G, the PCs can get in by showing the guards the broach they found in part A2. My question is why they would do that? What suggests there is any connection between this place and that broach? Is there something like the bat on mushroom symbol from the broach symbol here that the PCs can spot with a perception check to suggest some connection?

Silver Crusade 2/5

Bit of a sticky wicket, eh old chap?

Having Castle Falkenstein flashbacks.

Silver Crusade 2/5

N N 959 wrote:
If you can't understand the difference between saying something is fair and something is balanced, then I can understand your in ability to understand the discussion. People using the wrong word to say what they mean does not make it the right word. More to the point, the word is chosen specifically to convey something. To lend a credibility/objectivity to subjective decisions. Your refusal to accept this or recognize it is similar to your refusal to accept any experiences that contradict your assertions about bandwrongfun and makes it clear you're not interested in a good faith discussion.

I understand what you think the difference is. I just don't that distinction has any validity at all. I understand what you think the word means. I don't think it actually means that at all.

You keep using this phrase "refusal to accept" as if your opinion represented objective fact. That's just begging the question. I don't accept your premises because I don't think they are correct.

No one ever actually says "you has badwrongfun". No one. No one has ever said that. Can you quote me someone actually saying, "That's badwrongfun"? Anyone? I mean saying that actual thing not something you represent as "really" meaning that. That is just what you characterize them as having said. that you used that term tells me you are giving a skewed representation of what they said in the same way that saying "trickle down economics" tells me someone is politicizing and skewing a comment someone else made about economics.

Jiggy wrote:


Then these last two decided to spin the merry-go-round as fast as they could while practicing their best English accents to each make the other look like a commoner among collegiates. The only words I could were "I say!" and the occasional "indubitably".

You forgot poppycock and Rah-tha

Silver Crusade 2/5

Power gamers are as holier-than-thou in their own way as role-players and both groups need to grow up. That's my end anyway.

Also the old argument about whether RPGs can be balanced and what saying they are balanced means. He defines balance in such a way as to make it impossible to achieve. I define it rather differently. It's an example of what I was talking about before with two people using the same word to mean very different things in the same conversation.

Plus a dash of silly rpg.net-ism with badwrongfun and how language like that prevents adult discussion in the RPG community. That's my end anyway.

Silver Crusade 2/5

Brett Cochran wrote:


Yep, the entire idea of playing up was removed, so why would you think they would keep it around for a no risk GM chronicle. The concept is still there, it is simply not a choice, except for a few corner cases. A level one playing in Tier 4-5 is still "playing up" the gold reward isn't quite as nice as it used to be though.
[/quote}

This straw man again. Seriously, I state exactly what I am arguing above in very clear terms. Go read it.

Brett Cochran wrote:


Again the entire idea of of interpreting rules

I am not interpreting rules *at all*. I am not arguing for either answer *at all*. I am pointing out that the question isn't answered and that arguments people are making claiming it is are fallacious.

Brett Cochran wrote:


There is playing up (see first above). IF you are not happy using the phrase, simply substitute "taking rewards from a higher tier". There are four previous seasons and numerous message board posts, and probably some leadership clarification on this topic...

None of it in this version or about this version and therefore none of it a bit relevant.

redward wrote:

The reason I advised you to assume that GMs get only the lower tier items is that it is a potential headache if you start buying items off the high tier chronicle sheet and the Guide is later clarified. Now you've got to sell back the items. If the items you bought are consumable, it's even more complicated.

So until or if the rule is cleared up, it's in your best interest to assume the more conservative interpretation.

Now that's a reasonable argument.

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N N 959 wrote:

What?

I doesn't matter where the arbitrary numbers for damage and hit points come from. It just matters how large they are relative to each other.

N N 959 wrote:


Here's a definition of balance which I've already posted:

Quote:
To offset or compare the value of (one thing) with another.

An applicable term for balancing:

Quote:
To act as an equalizing weight or force to; counterbalance.

The term derives from a physical device:

Quote:
having two scale pans, from Latin

All of those elevate the problem of balancing encounters to an insoluble level by insisting that all system elements have exactly the same weight and counter-balance each other exactly all the time which would require them all to be identical. It's a definition suitable to chemistry or commerce, not a role-playing game.

N N 959 wrote:

In fact, they are. You need to look up word definitions if you think the word fair is not inherently subjective. As such, our conversation is mostly pointless if you insist on clinging to false definitions of words.

Saying that something is a fact does not, in fact, make it a fact. I didn't say that fair isn't subjective. I said that in this context they are both inherently subjective and effectively mean the same thing. Responding to what I actually write would help the conversation along immensely.

N N 959 wrote:
] No, it's not meaningless. People (developers) in the gaming environment are using "balance" in an effort to suggest an objective state when none exists. That is the core problem.

Yes, it is. It's a distinction without a difference that you have conjured. The core problem is your assumption of what others "really" mean.

N N 959 wrote:


If you can't see this or don't recognize this, that's fine. We have nothing to discuss.

Saying "don't see" or "don't recognize" assumes that something is in fact there to see or recognize. It assumes the conclusion and begs the question. If that is all this is going to be, it was never a discussion to begin with.

Re-read your own posts. Look up what the phrase "in a different league" means. I can't say what you "really" meant but I can read what you really wrote. It's all there.

I quoted people exactly. What exactly did they say? ot a silly characterization like "they said I badwrongfun" but their actual words?

Silver Crusade 2/5

human
half-elf
human
human
human

Silver Crusade 2/5

N N 959 wrote:

No, the system uses math, it was not derived mathematically. The weapon damages stats, a core aspect of the math in the game, is arbitrary. The majority is straight from the earliest versions of D&D.

It doesn't matter a bit how they were derived. All that matters is relative magnitude.

N N 959 wrote:

In fact there is. You cannot set a metric between things whose values are orthogonal to one another. There is no metric that compares a feat which allows you to gain a +2 on a skill check and a feat that gives you an extra attack if you kill the target. If you think you have one, please share it.

Nothing of the sort is needed or even relevant. Comparing between feats that was is not necessary at all. It's how difficult the encounter is not how good this feat is relative to that one. Noe you are the one conflating things.

N N 959 wrote:

I can prove to that two 5+5 = 10. Prove to me the encounter is balanced....any encounter. You can't. The term is nonsensical in the context of game. Fair =/= Balanced. The former is subjective, the later is objective. There is no objective balance in an RPG.

That's what a balanced encounter means. I don't know what definition you are using for a balanced encounter but it bears no resemblance to any I have seen used anywhere else. Neither term is inherently objective or subjective in this context. Do you mean that there is no perfect balance? Welcome to the real world. There's no perfect anything.

N N 959 wrote:

The point of the CR system was to provide guidelines to GMs for providing fair encounters. It allows GMs to ballpark difficulty. But it's got all the precision of chopping chop down a tree with a bazooka. The CR system is based on an assumption. As soon as you start to change the conditions under which the assumption was made, the CR system breaksdown and quickly passes into the realm of disinformation.

In this context, fair and balanced mean the same thing. This division you keep insisting on is meaningless. Ballparking difficulty is all you are going to get ever. That's the way complex nonlinear systems work.

N N 959 wrote:
Yes, you are. You are attempting to combine optimizers vs RP'ers as tantamount to good players and bad. You're conflating two separate categories of players. You're also lumping optimizers in with people who think everyone who doesn't optimize is incapable of doing so. I disagree with that as a general truth. I certainly haven't claimed RP'ers think people who don't RP can't

I am using your terminology how you have presented it. I'm not the one who introduced this terminology or implied that one group is capable while the other is incapable. That was you. In the same topic that you say that one side shouldn't look down their noses at the other you say that there should be different leagues based on capability with character optimization and ability to work the tactical system representing superior capability. Which is it? I am not lumping one group together any more than you are lumping the other together. You are doing exactly the sort of thing you are complaining about. Both sides need to get off their high horses.

Not having heard what they actually said and having only your skewed "they said I was having badwrongfun" characterization of it, I am highly skeptical they said what you represent them as saying. Probably neither was any "badwrongfun" claims or anything of the sort. That's just how you portray them to dismiss them. You are reducing what they actually said to simplistic badwrongfun terms to dismiss it. There are endless variations of translating what other people say to some conveniently ignoble sounding straw man and dismissing it and they are all fallacies. Every single one. This badwrongfun nonsense is one of the silliest examples I have seen. I have never heard anyone talk about badwrongfun except to accuse other people of saying it. Ever.

Silver Crusade 2/5

N N 959 wrote:

You can't "balance" PC's against the encounter when you have no idea what it is you're metric is. More importantly, what PC's are you balancing? The author has no idea what builds/classes will be present. The authors try to create an encounter that is challenging for a given spectrum of builds. They aren't "balancing" the encounter they are making one that is fair.

The system is quite mathematical. There ins nothing intrinsically impossible or even especially difficult about setting a metric. Making an encounter that is fair *is* balancing the encounter. An encounter is balanced whe it is challenging but not too challenging. That's the entire point of the CR system.

N N 959 wrote:

You have a bunch of statements and comments here that indicate you are conflating issues.

I'm not conflating anything.

N N 959 wrote:


The label of RP'er, in my denotation, says nothing about whether you've optimized your character or not. An RP'er as I am using the term sees Role Play as superior to Roll Play. Someone who, regardless of their build, is heavily focused on policing what is meta-game, and wanting the rules to take a back seat to the story.

You are defining the terms so that those other people are inherently the ones being unreasonable. I am not using those definitions. Role-player would also include someone who thins story comes first or who makes their character based on a character concept rather than what is mechanically optimized. I am contrasting them with min/maxers who see their way of play as being the right way and people who have other priorities as simply being incompetent.

N N 959 wrote:


An Optimizer, as I use the term, is not necessarily a "good" player. Just someone who focuses on what is possible within the rules. You seem to assume that they strictly focus on combat and I've made no such association. I've seen plenty of skill optimizers who are constantly looking to use a maxed out Diplomacy to avoid combat. They are less interested in role playing the scene because their huge modifier means that they are going to succeed.

The terms you have used in this discussion such as "more capable" or "Higher league" to refer to optimizers and "incompetence/incapability" to refer to role-players suggests otherwise.

Pathfinder is not a competitive game. Why would a setup for competitive play be the right one? Inherent in the idea of leagues is the idea that some players are more capable than others because they optimize their characters better and work the tactical system better. You used that language yourself.

It's not the propensity of people to think in those terms. It's the propensity of others to dismiss what others say by reducing them to those terms. No one has ever actually referred to badwrongfun or said anything like that. It's a term people use to characterize what others have said and dismiss it. No one says badwrongfun. People say that other people have said it.

A - I would like to play my character once in a while instead of doing nothing but fighting.
B - You are saying I can't play the way I want to because badwrongfun.
A - Well you are saying I can't play the way I want to because badwrongfun so bleh

and we are children calling each other poopy heads on rpg.net.

The RPG community needs to grow up and stop this nonsense.

Silver Crusade 2/5

N N 959 wrote:

[That's exactly right. Which is why game developers usually don't want to say they think the game is fair, they want to say it is "balanced." As i said before, the world "balance" conveys some objective state. "Fair" suggests a subjective state which one intuitively feels can't be defended with any authority. And yet, the game developers are ultimately doing what they think is fair since they really can't know if it's "balanced.".

That depends on what you are trying to balance and how. Pathfinder seems most concerned with balancing the PCs against challenges rather than against each other.

N N 959 wrote:

I saw that post and it's the only one I've seen like that. And to be fair, the guy was criticizing bad play, not bad RP. I guess I read his reant as more about not having fun with people arguably making bad decisions.

That may be the first time you have seen that but it's far from the first time I have seen it. That's only bad play if you define making optimized characters as good play and not optimizing your character as bad play. People who don't optimize their characters are bad players making bad decisions. That's exactly the sort of thing I was talking about.

N N 959 wrote:

]I haven't seen that, but I'm sure it happens. There people who engage in all types of amoral behavior, so I'm sure we can find someone who does what you claim. Yet, while I find some people who are totally focused on the numbers aren't as enjoyable to play with as those who combine RP and pragmatic game play, I have not experienced near the self-righteous attitude of the RP'ers.

I don't have to find them. I already know them. That wasn't a claim of what someone might say. It was a quote of what someone did say. You haven't. I have. In spades.

Quote:
Everyone always thinks that it's those other people who are
N N 959 wrote:

Once gain, I don't see optimizers calling RP'ers "unreasonable." RPing doesn't really interfere with optimizing. Players whose goal is to build utmost character aren't impaired if someone wants to role-play. The reverse is not necessary true.

No. They say that RPers are bad players who don't know what they are doing making bad decisions. The language is different but the holier-than-thou attitude is the same.

Really? So if the role-player wants to role-play out all the scenes and entirely avoid combat, the player with the combat optimized character isn't impaired? Isn't unable to do what his character is good at?

The ideas of leagues is an implicit statement that optimizers are better than (literally in a different league from) players more focused on role-playing. It assumes that the difference in one of ability not a difference in how one views the game and chooses to play it. People who don't don't optimize their characters are just too dumb to do it right.

Neither style of play is intrinsically better than the other. Everyone who makes a less than optimal character doesn't do so because they are too dumb to google how to do optimize their ranger. Everyone who wants to make a character that is effective isn't a knuckle dragging "roll player". We need to stop using childish language like badwrongfun. We need to put this childish nonsense behind us and grow up as a community.

Silver Crusade 2/5

Humans are easily the most common. Of the races people can play without a special chronicle sheet, halflings are the least common. The only one I can think of was a cavalier made to be able to fight on dogback indoors.

Silver Crusade 2/5

The entire concept of choosing to "play up" has been removed entirely so references to "playing up" are no longer meaningful or relevant. Nothing has been done to discourage "playing up" because the concept is no longer a relevant one. You playing according to average level and number of players.

Nothing in the current version actively discourages or encourages or addresses one option or the other at all.

The whole "playing up" thing just isn't relevant any more because there is no such thing as playing up. In the one edge case described, the default is playing the higher tier and players can chose to play the lower one instead. Even if were still a relevant reference, the tier an adventure was played at has nothing to do with what the GM receives. That's quite clear.

This isn't just a matter of unscrupulous players trying to "cheat". There is room for legitimate, actual disagreement here. No one in pH unbalanced's example is trying to cheat. They are simply trying to answer a simple question asked by a new GM by reading what the document says. Reducing other views to simply unscrupulous people trying to cheat is disingenuous.

Silver Crusade 2/5

Fairness is also a word that means very different things to different people.

Your experience does not match mine either in person or on these forums. I have seen optimizers who are at least as vocal in passing judgement an any RPer. I have seen a person on this forum quite recently saying that we was considering quitting PFS entirely because of bad players who made suboptimal choices like making a ranger with a 16 strength. I have seen optimizers loudly refer to themselves and players like them as good players who "know what they are doing" or something along those lines implying that others are incompetent and incapable because they don't play the same way. Optimizers and tactical players are as holier-than-thou as any RPer and have been since D&D first came out. Everyone always thinks that it's those other people who are being unreasonable.

The suggestion of tailoring encounters is fine for a home game but it's not useful for scenario based PFS play. GMs are not allowed to alter encounters in scenarios.

Please don't give me that old badwrongfun rpg.net cliche stuff. Please. Just don't.

You think enforcing the rules is badwrongfun so bleh
Oh yeah well you think caring about the story instead of arbitrary rules is badwrongfun so bleh

Just don't.

The problem isn't those other guys. It's that people see things in such basically different ways that the basic terms in use mean different things for them. They aren't even in the same conversation. For example, no one is actually saying that everyone should be mandated to have the same amount of fun. That's how what some people are actually saying is being characterized to belittle it.

Silver Crusade

There just isn't any equivalent to PFS for other systems like Unisystem. There's D&D Encounters but that's for 4th Edition which is at least as rules heavy and tactical as Pathfnder. I can't think of anything else besides maybe Mind's Eye Society which is for LARPing and has an entirely different style of play. Unisystem or Roll & Keep or Storyteller or what have you are fine and I have run all of them but you need a home group.

Silver Crusade 2/5

Even if Gms hand them out the players don't have to pay any attention to them if they don't want to. Not doing them doesn't cost the players anything. Some fo them can be fun and some can be silly or pointless. It depends on the faction and scenario.

Silver Crusade

Jokerkingz wrote:
or let me try as a player first

What exactly is preventing you from doing this now?

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They are optional now. You can give them out or not as you chose.

There was supposed to be a document that said what the new goals for older scenarios would be but I haven't seen it yet. Until I do, I am going to keep handing out faction missions for older scenarios just like before. That's just me though. You don't have to use them at all if you don't want to.

Silver Crusade 2/5

That would be my guess as well. Therefore there is no way to really know which they intended for this new rules version until they clarify.

People seem to think I am arguing that between tier characters should absolutely get the higher tier items. I am not. I am saying that there is no definite answer in the current version and therefore people could argue for either one based on what their idea of appropriate is.

I am also arguing that just saying that people get the appropriate award doesn't really answer anything at all since that word can be argued to mean just about anything especially if we are talking abour role-playing gamers. Role-playing gamers are brillinat at arguing that rules mean whatever it suits them for the rules to mean. They are almost as adept at it as miniatures wargaming grognards. We are a rules-lawyering, rules-arguing bunch and yes I include myself in that category as well as the miniatures gamer one.

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Can you give the exact wording of a boon of the sort you are talking about? I mean the specific wording from the actual chronicle sheet.

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TriOmegaZero wrote:
I can say it, but not make you agree. :)

Anyone can say anything.

redward wrote:
[
  • Is it on one of my chronicle sheets?
    If you answer "yes" to any of those questions, you can buy it. Otherwise you can't.
  • This is exactly the part that is in question. Is the answer to that question yes or no? It isn't specified anyplace that I have seen or that anyone has pointed out to me. Whether that item is avilable from the chronicle sheet or not is exactly the question.

    redward wrote:


    As for balancing, think of it this way: a character with GM credit will, on average, have higher fame than an equivalent character because they always get the full Prestige for a scenario. Therefore, they are not as likely to need items to be on a chronicle sheet, since they'll have, again, on average, higher Fame, and be able to purchase them normally.

    Players generally get full prestige for scenarios anyway or they generally do every time I have played. If this is the case, that essentially argues for eliminating subtier gear lists entirely or even eliminating chronicle sheet gear entirely and just allowing players to get whatever they want based on their character's fame.

    redward wrote:


    So you think it is more reasonable to ignore the previous version and make up your own rule in the absence of a clear answer?

    As many others have stated, before out-of-subtier gold was introduced, out-of-subtier characters receiving GM credit always took the lower gold and items. Until a clarification is made, you're better off assuming that this remains true for items.

    If so, why is one specified while the other isn't mentioned at all and is only mentioned in an a version that is no longer available using the "playing down" paradigm that doesn't exist in the rules any more. It makes no sense to say you get awards as if you had chosen to play down any more since there is no such thing as chosing to play down at all. Why wasn't this language or some equivalent carried over? Citing an obsolete and no longer available version of the rules that uses language for an option tha no longer exists is pretty dubious as evidence. The option of playing up or down was around for a long time as well but it's gone now except for one edge case. It's all based on APL and number of players.

    We don't take the lower gold though. We take something between. The average.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    Actually, if the player is actually problematic and the only alternative is to cancel the game for 6 others, I doubt I will have a problem with the venue owner. I doubt he wants to enable one customer to drive away the others.

    There are costs to be paid for everything. Everything is a tradeoff. That's reality. There are no solutions, only tradeoffs. I am fine with the tradeoff of requiring one person to leave to avoid spoiling the fun of several others or forcing all of them leave instead.

    You don't define what rights I do and do not have. You don't make the rules in PFS. You have authority whatsoever to tell me what rights I do and no not have. None at all. Don't cite RPGA rules as authority either. This isn't RPGA.

    I reserve the right to eject problem players if I feel that I need to. That's the bottom line. It's not negotiable. It's not something I would do lightly but it is something I reserve the right to do if I need to. So far, I have not even had to consider it but if I need to do it, I will do it regardless of what you think I do or do not have the right to do so.

    That's the authority that any GM has in any RPG. If I have a player that insists on being disruptive, that player will have to leave or someone else will have to do the judging. Period. I will not put up with one person spoiling the game for everyone because you say so. I won't put up with it AT ALL.

    At large events, I will have probably never seen that guy before and won't know him and there will be other tables for the people leaving to go to. That doesn't apply to most local PFS events. All events are not large con events. Where I judge, that would mean cancelling the game and sending everyone else home because of one problem person quite possibly for several weeks in a row. I am not prepared to do that to satisfy you.

    Does anyone else have an issue with being told they must accept all players regardless of their behavior and track record and that ther only response to a problem player is to have everyone else at the table leave? Does anyone think this is not a reasonable response to a problem player?

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    TriOmegaZero wrote:


    Very well then, no argument.

    Not for saying that this or that answer is definitely the correct one anyway. At this point, I can't say that one answer or another is definitely the right one.

    Mike Bohlmann wrote:

    Except there is nothing anywhere that even comes close to suggesting that would be appropriate.

    Suere there is. I just outlined it. It looks appropriate to me. Everything there is quite appropriately appropriate. You say it isn't appropriate. I say it is.

    Guide wrote:
    The Out-of-Subtier gold value is the average of the high and low subtiers; for slow progression it is half the normal Out-of-Subtier value, rounded down."
    Mike Bohlmann wrote:


    It's not the lower tier gold plus a portion of the higher tier gold - it's the average. You are making up an interpretation just like you are trying to do with equipment subtiers. The character isn't getting the higher subtier gold reward, so why would it get the higher subtier equipment reward?

    It's a perfectly appropriate interpretation. It's full of appropriately appropriate appropriateness. What could be more appropriate than that? I am simply taking the appropriate award as is appropriate.

    I'm, not making up interpreations. I'm demonstrating how malleable the definition of appropriate is and how useless it is as a standard here. I can use appropriate to mean anything I want it to mean and so can everyone else. If people are good at anything, it's justifying why what they want to do is appropriate. You may as well say that they can chose from that treasure which they are rightfully due or something similarly vague.

    Mike Bohlmann wrote:


    There is zero reason other than the argument that the Guide doesn't say you don't get the higher subtier equipment reward.

    That's not even an argument at all. It doesn't mention equipment at all. Therefore GM characters can't get equipment from chronicle sheets at all? This has already been discussed and dealt with.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    I have the right to tell someone that they can't play at my table. I can't throw them out of the venue but I can throw them off my table if I need to. If I need to remove a disruptive player and I am told I can't, I will simply stop running open events there. If other GMs are told that their only response to a disruptive player is to shut the table down completely, I doubt that I will be alone.

    RPGA rules are not relevant here. I did not agree to any such rules and they do not apply to PFS play at all. There is a reason why I don't participate in RPGA or run RPGA events.

    I can't tell them leave the store. I can tell them to leave my game. If the person's behavior is genuinely disruptive, I won't be the only person that feels that way.

    I was in RPGA. I'm not any more. There's a reason for that.

    I and all the players will have made a special trip to the venue lugging all their stuff and making whatever arrangement they have to make specifically to participate in PFS. You are telling me that, if I have a persistently problematic player, that my only option is to have everyone else leave the game which will practically result in all of them going home without being able to play instead of just ejecting the one problem person? That I am going to have to possibly do this for several weeks in a row if he keeps coming back? That is completely unreasonable.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    TriOmegaZero wrote:
    So all you're saying then is that there is no guideline.

    Yes, unless you can point me to one in the current rules.

    Mike Bohlmann wrote:

    Reread what I wrote. I didn't say the players at the table, I said his own imaginary table of other characters that fit his own most appropriate subtier. The dice example is no less absurd than your argument that there is any possible interpretation for an out of subtier GM credit to get higher subtier rewards.

    I did read it. It refers to a table of undefined players in an entirely undefined "most appropriate subtier" and ties GM rewards with what the player award would be when they are explicitly not connected in the Organized Play rules in any way.

    Appropriateness is so undefined that it means whatever I want it to mean. Here's an example.

    If I am level 3 playing in tier a tier 1-5 scenario, I get out of subtier gold which includes the lower tier gold and a portion of the higher tier gold. therefore it's appropriate for me to be able to get the lower tier equipment and a portion of the upper tier equipment as well. I can't buy it all since that would not be appropriate but it's appropriate for me to buy one of the items. I will now appropriately buy that amulet of natural armor for my level 3 monk with appropriate appropriateness..appropriately. What do you mean it's not appropriate? I see nothing inappropriate.

    What exactly are you even proposing here? I should recalculate the APL as if that character were playing and then look at the number of people and base GM rewards on what tier we would have played at if I had been a player playing that character? Is that what you are saying? Where does that come from? If it isn't, what exactly *are* you saying?

    The dice example is not even vaguely comparable. There is a commonly agreed upon standard of how dice are made and how they are read that goes well beyond PFS or the Pathfinder game or even the role-playing hobby. It arises from the basic nature of math and the shape of those polygons. There is no such commonly agreed upon standard of what "appropriate" GM credit should be. The two things are not even a little bit comparable. What GM reward a PFS GM should get and how many sides a dodecahedron has are hardly comparable in general level of agreement or factuality or anything else.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    We aren't talking about RPGA. This isn't RPGA. This is Pathfinder Society. RPGA rules are irrelevant.

    I don't have to avoid anything. That just doesn't apply. Also, rules like that are not sacred writ handed down from the heavens and set in stone. If they become counter-productive then should be reconsidered. Everyone shouldn't be tied to what seemed like a good idea at the time. These are group rules, not scripture.

    No, it isn't. It's saying that everyone else doesn't have to sacrifice their own enjoyment because of one disruptive player that refuses to change his behavior. Expecting people to have some minimal consideration for others at a social event is not a bit unreasonable. Ejecting people who refuse to show such consideration is also not a bit unreasonable.

    There is no such moral requirement, It doesn't exist. I should make every reasonable effort to accommodate people when possible but that doesn't include accommodating a problematic person at the expense of every other player at the table including me. There is no moral requirement to accommodate him at the expense of everyone else any more than there is a moral requirement to put up to someone being disruptive at a theater while everyone is trying to watch a movie.

    In practice, it does. If there is no other table or not enough spots for those people, they lose their chance to play because one person can't behave himself.

    Public event doesn't that everyone must always be accommodated regardless of their behavior. Businesses are open to the public but still have the right to refuse service. I also have the right to refuse service. I and all the other players don't have to sacrifice our own time and enjoyment in the name of inclusion of everyone all the time regardless of cost. I don't drive an hour and a half to judge Pathfinder events so that I can essentially dissolve the game and send everyone home or do that multiple times in the name of symbolic inclusion at all costs.

    The reasonable response to one person persistently causing a problem is to remove that one person not to remove everyone else.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    TriOmegaZero wrote:
    yosemitemike wrote:
    The existence of out of subtier gold is irrelevant here since there is no equivalent out of subtier item list.
    Then you agree that without such a list, we must determine which of the two actual lists is appropriate, or grant neither list?

    No, I don't. Saying that this or that list is or is not appropriate just doesn't mean anything. That word means whatever you think it means in this context which essentially makes it meaningless. An appropriateness standard is useless.

    Mike Bohlmann wrote:

    Hey, yosemitemike, did you know the rules also don't state that the dice you use have to have a different number on each side? Heck, it doesn't even say the numbers have to be a number between 1 and the max number of sides.

    That argument is nonsense. Dice are standard products. They are widely available. Everyone knows what they are. Everyone knows what they are supposed to be. Everyone knows what numbers are. That example makes no sense at all and has nothing whatsoever to do with the issue at hand unless you are saying that there is a similar level of agreement on chronicle sheets and GM credits as there is on dice and how numbers are read. The two issues are not even remotely comparable.

    Mike Bohlmann wrote:


    It's really not hard to fill out a chronicle sheet as a GM if there's any question: fill it out as if the character had played the scenario at their own table of imaginary characters. In order to argue that a 3rd level character should get subtier 4-5 rewards in a 1-5, you have to read the dice text as allowing dice that have the whatever numbers you want on them.

    Again with this. What the players got is completely and utterly irrelevant. It has no bearing at all. None. None at all. It is explicitly not connected with GM credit.

    No, you don't. That argument is, to be frank, absurd.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    hustonj wrote:

    One of the things about running a public massively shared campaign event is that you aren't supposed to turn people away because you don't like them. Another is that everybody (including the volunteer judge) has the right not to sit at a table with a player (or judge) they dislike. Note that this does not mean the individual is removed form the table, it means everybody else leaves the table.

    Turning away a player that is being disruptive and who refuses to change his behavior is a far cry from turning away a player "because you don't like them".

    It's unreasonable to essentially cancel the event and deny everyone else the chance to play because one person refuses to stop being disruptive in the name of including everyone at any cost. People who are being persistently disruptive and who refuse to change can be excluded. You don't have to include everyone in everything despite the cost to everyone else every time.
    http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html
    Geek Social Fallacy #1: Ostracizers Are Evil

    GSF1 is one of the most common fallacies, and one of the most deeply held. Many geeks have had horrible, humiliating, and formative experiences with ostracism, and the notion of being on the other side of the transaction is repugnant to them.

    In its non-pathological form, GSF1 is benign, and even commendable: it is long past time we all grew up and stopped with the junior high popularity games. However, in its pathological form, GSF1 prevents its carrier from participating in -- or tolerating -- the exclusion of anyone from anything, be it a party, a comic book store, or a web forum, and no matter how obnoxious, offensive, or aromatic the prospective excludee may be.

    As a result, nearly every geek social group of significant size has at least one member that 80% of the members hate, and the remaining 20% merely tolerate. If GSF1 exists in sufficient concentration -- and it usually does -- it is impossible to expel a person who actively detracts from every social event. GSF1 protocol permits you not to invite someone you don't like to a given event, but if someone spills the beans and our hypothetical Cat Piss Man invites himself, there is no recourse. You must put up with him, or you will be an Evil Ostracizer and might as well go out for the football team.

    This phenomenon has a number of unpleasant consequences. For one thing, it actively hinders the wider acceptance of geek-related activities: I don't know that RPGs and comics would be more popular if there were fewer trolls who smell of cheese hassling the new blood, but I'm sure it couldn't hurt. For another, when nothing smacking of social selectiveness can be discussed in public, people inevitably begin to organize activities in secret. These conspiracies often lead to more problems down the line, and the end result is as juvenile as anything a seventh-grader ever dreamed of.
    ----------------------
    You should make every reasonable effort to include everyone who wants to play at PFS events (or any public event like a public game at a con) but that doesn't include punishing everyone else for one person's bad behavior.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    TriOmegaZero wrote:
    yosemitemike wrote:
    I could just as easily argue that giving level 3 characters awards appropriate to level 1 and 2 characters means that they will be behind the curve and lacking the expected equipment when they hit level 4. There is an expected level of wealth and items as well as character abilities based on level.

    And thus they have come up with the Out of Subtier gold to correct that.

    However, items listed are not actually granted to the character. It simply opens up some items the character may not be able to afford via Fame yet. So it actually does not affect the level of wealth, only access.

    The existence of out of subtier gold is irrelevant here since there is no equivalent out of subtier item list.

    If fame is really the limiting factor, then letting a level 3 character take any item on the sheet would make no difference at all since that character could only take items their fame level allowed them to take regardless of what subtier sheet they got. That's an argument for letting them take items from the higher tier if they have the fame to be able to get them, not the other way around. If that held true, it would be an argument for getting rid of items by subtier entirely and letting players take from any of the lists. It doesn't really hold up though. Here's the 4-5 subtier list from the last scenario I ran: Echoes of the Overwatched.

    amulet of natural armor +1 (2,000 gp)
    lesser elemental metamagic wand, cold (3,000 gp; Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide 294)
    wand of protection from arrows (8 charges; 720 gp, limit 1)

    3 items including a very useful amulet. None are over 3.000 gp. A third level character could easily have enough fame to get it after that scenario was over even if that was their first scenario at level 3. Characters commonly have 14 fame at that point and getting a 3,000 gp item only requires 13. Gold shouldn't be an insurmountable obstacle either since out of subtier gold for that scenario alone could be as much as 1,168 gp added to what they already have.

    Having access to the item (and possibly having it and being able to use it) is the point. If possible access to the item isn't important, then the idea of different lists of items by subtier is nonsense in the first place. Clearly that isn't the case or at least Paizo doesn't think it is. Characters are expected to have a certain level of item as well as gold. Magic items are an expected part of a character's capability according to level. Low magic settings for 3.X where magic items are scarce where magic was scarce like Midnight had to add new character abilities to make up for lack of the expected magic items.

    If I don't have access to the item, I can't have it. if I can't have it, I can't use it. If I can't use it, my character isn't as capable as it is expected to be. If this wasn't a factor, it would not be necessary to have different items for different subtiers at all.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    TriOmegaZero wrote:

    Obviously! So we look at the two remaining sub-tiers and determine which may be appropriate for a 3rd level character. Since sub-tier 4-5 is higher than level 3, it may contain rewards that are not appropriate for a 3rd level character. Sub-tier 1-2 is lower than level three and only contains items appropriate for 1st and 2nd level characters, which must also be appropriate for 3rd level characters to have. Thus, sub-tier 1-2 is level appropriate for 3rd level characters.

    I'm anticipating a response of 'those aren't 3rd level rewards'. If you think that, I would ask what changed between 2nd and 3rd level that they are no longer appropriate? Do 3rd level characters not use those items anymore?

    I could just as easily argue that giving level 3 characters awards appropriate to level 1 and 2 characters means that they will be behind the curve and lacking the expected equipment when they hit level 4. There is an expected level of wealth and items as well as character abilities based on level.

    The problem with arguing based on what is or is not appropriate is that the word appropriate has no specific meaning in this sort of context. It means whatever the person using it thinks it means or wants it to mean. I could just as easily argue that it is not appropriate to under-gear the characters by sticking them with gear meant for lower levels as I could argue that it is not appropriate to over-gear them by giving them items meant for higher levels.

    Saying to take the appropriate items is seriously about as meaningful as saying to take "ye goodly amount" or "ye right quantity". The phrase "appropriate subtier" has no actual definition. Appropriateness standard are too undefined and subject to subjective interpretation to be of any use at all. Saying "appropriate subtier" is really just saying "subtier I think is appropriate".

    What has changed between second and third levels? The same thing that changes between third and fourth levels or between any two levels. The character is a bit stronger and is expected to have more wealth and better items to fight the higher CR and more dangerous enemies they will be expected to face. It's the same thing that happens when characters increase in level in any level based system.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    In my experience, you have to deal with this in a firm, straightforward way. Tell him clearly and specifically what behaviors are problematic and why. Tell him that these behaviors have to change or he will no longer be able to participate. You have to be willing to follow through on that past part. If, after being clearly told which behaviors of his are causing problems, he continues acting as he always has, you have to be willing to eject him.

    Here's something to think about.
    http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html

    Radiostorm wrote:

    If he wants to turn every encounter into a fight, let him. Sooner than later it will result in either his character getting killed or banned from organized play for an evil action.

    It might seem harsh, but he needs to learn a lesson. Right now, he's interpreting his method as play as one hundred percent valid because other players and game masters have been covering for his actions. Just step back and let the fireworks go off. It only takes one shredded character sheet to correct that kind of behaviour.

    That is unless, as previously suggested, he's 12 years old. Then just have a talk with him.

    That sort of approach sounds good. I have seen it suggested many times, tried several times and actually work zero times. A person who responded to social pressure would have changed his behavior a while ago after seeing everyone being obviously annoyed by his behavior. That obviously didn't happen. He is much more likely to feel himself to be picked on and dig in his heels more, quit the game in a huff or blow up at the table over what he sees as mistreatment. Meanwhile, everyone else gets to be annoyed every session for an indeterminate period of time.

    Attempts to change people this way just don't work.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    Malag wrote:

    This isn't even an argument. It's common sense to use that GM get's same or at the very least similar (without Day Job) chronicle as player.

    That's directly at odds with what it actually says. If I run subtier 4-5 and apply the credit to my level 1 character, I get a tier 1-2 chronicle sheet not a tier 4-5 one. If I run it at tier 1-2 and apply it to my level 5 character, I get tier 4-5 not tier 1-2. What my character gets is entirely based on that character's level and explicitly not connected to the subtier I ran the scenario at or what the players got *in any way whatsoever*. This point is very clear. I wish people would stop saying that the two things are connected when they very explicitly are not.

    Mars Roma wrote:


    Still doesnt change the fact, that In this very thread, two different Opinions where made

    That is not the case. Read it again. A question was asked. An opinion was stated. Backing for that position was asked for. I stated no definite opinion because I could find nothing to back any definite position in the document I have.

    TriOmegaZero wrote:


    You consider which tier the character actually qualifies for. Since there isn't a Level 3 Tier, you can't assign the rewards from that to the character. So unless you can justify one of the actual tiers as being appropriate, they get nothing.

    That is very obviously not the intent.

    Preston Hudson wrote:

    Previously if the GM credit is given to a character in between subtiers, that character would be treated as if they had played down receiving the gold and items for the lower subtier since the GM's character assumed no risk and did not have to use any consumables. The introduction of the Out of Subtier gold value should not have changed anything else about how GM credit is applied to a character in between subtiers. Unless I am wrong, the way GM credit for characters between subtiers was awarded (before Guide 5.0) has been around since Season 3?

    That's not an unreasonable guess but it is a guess and requires reading a version of the Organized Play document which is no longer available from Paizo.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    The Osirion stuff was interesting but I didn't have any Osirion PCs so it never mattered.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    I haven't ever heard of any sort of achievement like that for PFS but whatever floats his boat.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    TriOmegaZero wrote:
    yosemitemike wrote:
    It sounds like you think a GM applying a credit to a 1st level PC gets all the items, even the 4-5 ones.

    That bears no resemblance to anything I have posted.

    TriOmegaZero wrote:
    Version 4.3 wrote:

    Should a GM receive a Chronicle sheet that indicates her character is between subtiers (for example, if she runs a Tier 1–5 scenario with Subtiers

    1–2 and 4–5 but has a 3rd-level character), she must always play down, taking a Chronicle sheet for the lower subtier. This rule is meant to balance the fact that the GM’s character does not have to expend any resources or risk death while gaining a Chronicle sheet for running a scenario.
    Version 5.0 wrote:
    Should a GM receive a Chronicle sheet that indicates her character is between subtiers (for example, if she runs a Tier 1–5 scenario but gives a 3rd-level character the Chronicle sheet), she must always receive the Out-of-Subtier gold value. This rule is meant to balance the fact that the GM’s character doesn’t have to expend any resources or risk death while gaining a Chronicle sheet for running a scenario.

    The reference to playing down and taking the chronicle sheet for the lower tier has been removed but that's as close as I have seen to a definite, official statement.

    Brett Cochran wrote:

    Perhaps a better question might be...

    Why would you think a character should or would get items from a higher Tier? is there any indication or precedent to make that assumption?

    Read what I posted again. I never said this.

    Brett Cochran wrote:


    Have you ever had a character earn tier 4-5 rewards when playing in tier 1-2? It would seem to me the idea of getting rewards outside of a played tier (or character level appropriate tier) is the one that would need a precedent, not the other way around.

    Player credit is irrelevant here. What I have earned while playing is irrelevant.

    What exactly does charater level appropriate tier even mean? If my character is level 3 and gets cedit for a scenario that has 1-2 and 4-5 subtiers how exactly do you decide what the "level appropriate tier" is?

    Played tier is entirely irrelevant since we are talking about GM credit only which explcitly has nothing whatsoever to do with played tier. Character level appropriate tier doesn't actually mean anything in this context. You may as well write 'ye goodly amount of gold and right treasure". It means about the same thing.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    Did the previous version specifically address this? If it did and there isn't any change mentioned in the change log, then that rule would still apply. If it didn't, then everyone will just have to do what they think is reasonable until we get a clarification.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    None of that actually answers or addresses this question. The quote on handling player credit is simply irrelevant and inapplicable since it talks about the subtier the scenario was run at which is explicitly irrelevant to GM credit. It's simply inapplicable and irrelevant.

    You are the one saying that the character definitely wouldn't be able to get those items. Burden of proof is on you, not me. I don't have to disprove what you claim. You have to prove it.

    It does say that the GM character does not get a day shop check explicitly but does not say that the GM character does not get items. that implies an omission more that it implies that GM characters don't get items at all. That doesn't actually logically follow unless you include an additional principle that isn't stated anywhere in the document. If that principle actually applied, the part about day job checks would not be needed at all. They could simply be left unmentioned which would mean that you don't get one since it doesn't say you do. Clearly that principle doesn't actually apply here.

    So are you saying GM characters do not get any items at all? From any tier? That is where your argument logically ends. Are you saying that? I have never seen anything of the sort stated or implied anywhere by anyone from Paizo ever. Considering the apparent intent of giving GM credit, I very much doubt it is the case at all. It would be a disincentive to GM which is entirely inconsistent with the apparent intent of giving GMs "full credit" in the first place.

    So the real answer is that the Organized Play document doesn't say.

    Silver Crusade 2/5

    Mekkis wrote:
    Guide 5.0 p5 wrote:

    You must inform the Game Master that you plan to use Additional Resource material before play begins, so he has a chance to familiarize himself with the new material.

    We already have an inventory tracking sheet. Why not just create an additional resources tracking sheet, that has columns for Resource, Source, Page number, and GM/VO signature. This would be the sheet that can satisfy both the "prove ownership" and "inform the GM" criteria - and also allow players to know which pages they need to print out.

    It would be used in conjunction with other rules sources (aka hardcopies, watermarked PDFs, printouts or photocopies) in order for the relevant rules to be viewed.

    It also has the side benefit of deterring the people who rely solely on unofficial third-party websites (they generally don't include page number - also making checking against Additional Resources a challenge).

    People don't want to deal with the inventory tracking sheet now. Adding another tracking sheet won't increase compliance.

    In order to actually prove ownership, the sheet would have to be checked each session and updated as needed. Otherwise, it wouldn't prove ownership at all. It would just prove that at some point the player showed someone a copy of that book that he might still own and might have never actually owned. That would mean the player would have to produce all their books each time to be checked again which would mean they have to bring them all anyway making this a waste of time.

    If it's a GM's signature, this whole exercise is just a waste of time and paper to satisfy a few people that the rules are being followed. Anyone inclined to bypass the rules could easily get a buddy to sign off on it in exchange for signing off on his. It would only work for people who are inclined to follow the rules and none of this is needed for them anyway.

    Those sites might not have it but pirated PDFs certainly do. It wouldn't take more than a minute to find that information.

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