yuki_sc's page

Hi.
I'm Japanese pathfinder's GM.

3 days ago, we had a session with 4 people, who are all beginner about this game. Their levels are all 1 (means first session).

However, this game was failed. I used a CR5 monster (only 1 monster) as a final Battle and party was decimated and went to TPK.

After game, Players very complained that that monster was too severe and this session should be nullified immediately.

I've read three basic books (player's, master's and monster's), but, I can't understand what level is appropriate about this level(1lv with 4 people).

That game included 3 middle battle (CR1 x2 + CR0.5 x1, CR1 x2 and CR2 x1) and I placed two(2) cure wounds potions in the dungeon.

So...
1) Considering 1lv and 4 people, what level is appropriate for final boss?
2) Is it OK to include 3 middle battles in this game?

Plus 1 question

3) In this session, I decided this scenario that your(our) party lives in XYZ city(which is my original city) and a dungeon was discovered. Your party was ordered to go there by that city's king. I think that this scenario's story is too poor. To motivate to go dungeon or cave or tower and so on, what story is appropriate?

Any comments are appreciated.

Hi there.
I'm Japanese pathfinder gamemaster.

Yesterday, My party(4 people, all 3lv) except cleric was dead. They said that 4 monsters (all CL6) are too strong and you(I) should consider this.
After that, A cleric surrendered that game was over.

Next, I altered some monsters and started our new campaign (all member are same and 3lv).
My wizard asked me to what spell is useful for this game. (His game experience is only 6 month).
I could not answer this question because my knowledge was too poor.

1) What spell is useful for 3lv wizard?
2) Considering 3lv, 4 people (fighter,cleric,wizard,rogue), what monster is appropriate?

3) They demanded that my campaign should decrease some monsters (total 6 battle, 7hour). What should I do this demand?

thanks a lot!

Hi,there.
I'm Japanese gamemaster who play this game.
Thank you for answering for my previous question.
I decided to play game using this book with 5 players.

Today, I have 4(plus 1) questions about this book.

1) About Spirit Planchette (see 20)

　I totally can't understand what this board means.
Should I surmise that this is just a "Ouija board"?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouija

I think that the letters which are written in this board look like alphabet like characters. If playing this game in Japanese, is it OK to replace these characters to Higarana / Katakanas?

2) About trust point (see 58)

I think that, if trust point is 0 or less, this scenario automatically ends, I think. Is this true? If trust point is 0 or less, what action should characters do???

3) About angry Mob (see 58)

I couldn't find these stat. Should character say he/she want to fight with them, what data should I use?

4) About Free Healing (see 59)

I couldn't find Vauran Grimburrow's stat in this book. Can he/she use

a) Bull's strength
b) Divine Power
c) Heal ?

5(plus question)

a) My friend who lives in America says that this book is very suitable for beginner because this scenario is simple and understandable. If there are some plus advices in playing this book, please give me them.

Also, If there are some points which are important in this book, please teach me them. (example, confirm xxx's rule before starting this game, etc.)

b) I understood that this book's enemy is very strong considering starting this scenario with 2lv 5 players (without paladin !!!).

I can't understand whether I should pass some useful items before starting this game, or not. Is it appropriate? If yes, what should I gave them?

Hi there.
Thank you for answering my previous questions.
It helped me a lot.
Today, I have 3 questions.

All our player's level is 4 and it will be 5 for next play.

1) To expand critical hit range

My wizard player asked me whether they can "expand" weapon's critical hit range by using some spell or item, or not.

I couldn't answer that question immediately. Is it possible? if yes, what?

2) About "True strike" spell

This spell says "Targets: you". I totally can't understand how to use this spell usefully. Please explain how to use this spell usefully.

3) About making scenarios

In Japan, it is very difficult for us to use paizo's original(official) scenarios book (for example, we have to use amazon.co.jp to import these books ). This means that we have to make our original scenarios.

I have finished our 4 games. However all games were only...

a) party was asked to go to ***'s (i.e. goblin) cave
b) go there
c) explore there
d) decimate their boss
e) FIN

that's all.

Our player says that he/she wants to play another type game.
In Japan, it is not common to play "dungeon type" game. we love to play "character's roman scenarios" , "city adventure" or "mystery type" (i.e. searching murders) game.

Is it possible to play these type games by using this game's rule?
If yes, please give me some clues.

Sorry for my poor English skills and your answers will be appreciated!

As you know, it is very difficult for me to understand paizo's original scenarios because of my poor English level :).

Hi there.
I'm Japanese pathfinder GM & player.
My English is intermediate, I think.

(1) we started our campaign (now 10 sessions have been finished) with 5 people

(1) lv7 fighter
(2) lv7 rogue
(3) lv7 cleric
(4) lv7 wizard
(5) lv7 paradin

One day, cleric's player didn't attend our campaign. After play, I received his e-mail saying that he has to enter hospital, which means he no longer can participate in our game.

In this case, what should I do? (for example, should I search another people who wants to play this game?)

(2) my wizard (see above) asked me whether he can buy "half charge" magic missile wands (means that it has 25 charges). he insists that

(a) these "half charge" wands should be found in large market.
(b) It is difficult for us to use 50 charge in entire session.

and so on.

I searched this problem with google and yahoo. Based on these, some says that "half charge" is OK and the other says it is NO.

What should I do in this case?
If I admit that "half charge" is OK, what price is appropriate?

Thank you for reading!

Hi there.
I'm Japanese pathfinder player/gameaster.

Yesterday, we've finished pathfinder's beginners box.
4 players (including 1 new-commer player) said that they wanted to continue play this game.

However, I can't make some "appropriate" scenarios which are suitable for them(new players).

I bought some official scenarios from amazon.com and so on. However, I found that playing them is very difficult because these scenarios require us to know this game's basic knowledge.

In this case, what should I do next?
As for me, my pathfinder (and d&d3.5) experience is high.

Hi there.
I'm Japanese pathfinder gamemaster with almost 2 years experimence.

Yesterday, my company 4 collegues asked me to play this game because he was interested in this game. Then, I decided to hold a "trial" game with them (Of course 1 level character!!).

However, One player is totally beginner for RPG (in Japan, we say TRPG (lit. Table talk Role playing game). Others say that they have played another RPG.

In this case, what class should I recommend for him( totally beginner player)?

Oh, we use English if needed (for example, having a meeting with Globals). So our English level is upper, I think.

Now, I have completed a very very easy dungeon scenario ( going to cave and explore there and decimate goblins)

I think that a wizard is appropriate for him because there are a lof of spell and he can learn them during the game.

Thanks a lot!

Hi there.
I'm Japanese pathfinder gamemaster starting almost 1 years ago.

As I was a novice, I used official scenarios or simple dungeon scenarios.

Yesterday, my players asked me to play city-adventure scenario in this game.

However, I could not find any official city-adventure scenario at all.
Furthermore, As you know, this game has some powerful spells (for example, detecting lies or knowing true things, etc). I think that it is very difficult for me to make these scenario as these spells easily can be used to complete scenarios.

Oh, My 4 players are, fighter, cleric, wizard and rogue (all 5 levels).

To make interesting city-adventures, what should I do?
And, what should I consider when making these type scenarios?

Thank a lot!

Hi there.
I'm Japanese pathfinder player/gamemaster who has started this game since 2010.

Now, I am running a campaign (lv5 - 6) using official scenario.

Yesterday, the following problem occurred.

As you know, this pathfinder rulebook says that a wand has 50 charges. However, my player, who is cleric, said that he wanted to get half (=25) or 13 (quarter) charges wands (cure minor wounds).

I thought that this half charges wand was too convenient for him and said NO.

However...

Pros) This book says that (only) a wand has 50 charges exist.

Cons (He says) It is rare to use 50 charges in the session. You should admit this immediately. You may ignore this description because this is OUR game.

So...

1) Is it acceptable to pass these half/quarter charges wands?
2) If Yes, How should I compute the value of these?

Thanks a lot for reading?

Hi! How's going?
I'm Japanese player playing this game.

Once a day, some character (cleric, lv5) told me(as GM) that he wanted to "create" new spell. This spell functions like this.

(1) functions like Bull's strength, however, chaster can select any stat when casting this spell.
(2) Expanding weapon's critical rang
(3) make 1 creature exhausted condition ( 25ft + 5ft/lv , caster level / round) with sucsesfull app. save.
(4) make "Heal Minor (up tp 50HP)" spell in this game!!!

I think that these proposals may currupt our game balance.
However, it is impolite to turn down his option immediately.

What should I do?

Thaks a lot!

Hi! How's going?
Thank you for answering my previous questions.

I have a problem...
In Japan, playing pathfinder is very diffucult. However, Totally, I could start this game Lv1 and now Lv3.

Some says that like this...

(1) GM likes turtle. So Next boss enemy should be "turtle".
(2) This item's data is printed in XXX YYYp. It is very useful! (Without knowing it by check)
(3) This is 3lv session. Based on this, final boss will be XXX.
(4) Enemy X's stat is... (Without checking monster)

I think that these are totaly "meta-gaming" actions.

What should I do to enjoin these actions.

Very thanks!

Hi there! How's going?
I'm Japanese pathfinder player/gamemerster.

I found that some of this game's scenario says that TPK (total party kill) is allowed in some occasion and player should make his/her new character.

However, it is not common for us to create TPK because of some problem. In Japan, it is said that character should not be died and GM should avoid character's death.

Based on these, In Japan, TPK is clearly avoided. Should TPK occur, GM simply declears that it was "yumeochi" (lit. means "It was just a dream!") and so on.

We don't experience TPK at all. Because of this, I can't understand when/how GM should do TPK.

1) Is it common for this game to be TPK?
2) If Yes, what should I do to deal with TPK?
(For example, I should use weaker monsters or simply pass powerful magic items)

Thanks a lot!

Hi there.
I play this game from Japan. My English skill is intermidiate, I think.

As you know(maybe not), D&D and pathfinder are not common in Japan because of English problem.

In addition to this problem, I can't explain what pathfinder RPG is (for example, cyber space, SF series, so on). I always say this game is sword and magic fantasy. However, they can't imagine this game.

Playing pathfinder in Japan is very difficult, but not impossible, because some volunteer(s) always translate materials(which is only open-license) into Japanese in order to play this game smoothly.

What should I do to play pathfinder RPG with everyone in Japan?

(Plus two questions)
(1) Is it possoble to buy "25 charges" (= half-charge) cure-light-wonds-wand ? Some say that it is OK, but other say NO. I can't solve this problem at all.

(2) I would like to be great GM in this game, to achive this, what should I do? (For example, reading a lot of official scenarios and learn new vocabularys, and so on)

Thank you for reading.

Hi there.
How's going?
I'm Japanese pathfinder player&master in Japan.
My English level is intermediate, I think.

I think that posting this message in this category is appropriate, however, if it is not true, please tell me or simply change category.

I bought this book brom amazon.com. It is very nice of me to know how to make pf's scenario(s) and know American's culture.

However, I have some questions (including spoiler(s) and rule's question).

The book I bought is paizo's original book, which means that this book is not translated into Japanese. So please see the indicated page(s).

(1) About P15
> Seventeen Days Ago.
> I return to the prison. It is imperative that the Way does not finish.

I can't understand what this sentence actually means. I think that this sentence should be "... the Way not finish." (subjuntive mood). However if changed so, I can't still understand what this sentence means.

What does "finish" mean in this sentence?

(2) About P 58
> Obvious Crime
> ... the group loses 3 points of Trust. If the crime is particularly violent, ...

I can't imagine what "particularly violent" means. In Japan, we enjoy RPG(which is called TRPG, lit. Table-talk role playing game). However, it is not common for characters to commit any violent crimes (for example, murder...). What kinds of crime should be "particularly violent"?

Thank you for reading this message.

Hi.How's going?
Thank you for answering my previous question. your comments were very appreciated.
Previous post: http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz5n8u?Restarting-this-game-from-1st-lv

In Japan, we are enjoy "golden-week" in this week. This week consists of a lot of holiday!
This means that some RPG players enjoy their campaign or go to game convention (including D&D and pathfinder).

By the way, finally, I decided to re-start my game from 1-st lv and my players(4 members, paladin, cleric, wizard, rogue) agreed it.

However, It is very difficult for us to use book-published scenarios (for example, using paizo.com, amazon.com and so on) in this game. I think that my English skill is intermediate, however, playing game using these books without using dictionary is totally impossible. Actually, It is very difficult for me to understand English-related culture in these books.

---

So, I decided to make my original scenario and asked them(players) whether it is OK or not. They said OK.

But, When making original scenario is too difficult.... My tentative scenario is the following.

1) A village (Let's say XYZ) was attacked by some goblins.
2) Its house and land were totally eradicated.
3) Its village head asked party to get rid of these evil goblins. He also says that some mysterious hole was found at the XXX mountain.
4) Party goes there and finds mysterious hole. They enter and find some dungeon.
5) This dungeon consists of only 3(THREE) rooms, plus 1(ONE) boss area.
6) Party finally defeats goblin's boss and return to the XYZ village.
7) FIN

That's all... I think that this is too poor. There is no room to deviate from this scenario. It is not interesting at all.

In Japan, it is not common to make such a poor scenario. Japanese people tend to like to enjoy more narrative fashion.
Here is Japan, not America or France and so on. This means that I must adjust my above scenario in order to enjoy all players (including me).
However, I can't find any idea to achive this.

What should I do to make this scenario more interesting ?

---

(Plus 2 questions)

a) My paladin player asked me to give 1 Bull's strength portion. Is it OK to pass?
b) My wizard player also asked me to give magic missile wand (only 5 charges). Is it OK to pass? (I think that this is too strong)

Hi. How's going?
Thank you for answering my previous question. It helped me a lot.
Previous post: http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz5m25?About-appropriate-battle-balance

Based on your comments, I realized that I don't have enough skill to maintain 5-6 lv battle in this game.

So, yesterday, I asked my players to re-start this game from 1st level. They agreed my proposal, anyway.

As you know(Actually, I don't know!!), in Japan, we don't have enough translated manuals, scenarios(and so on) in this game. My English skill is intermidiate, I think, however, others can't read English at all!!

So, I have the folllowing questions.

(1) To restart campaigns from 1st level, what should I be careful about(for example, appropriate class, race, and so on)?

(2) Is it possible to use D&D 3.5's scenarios (which are translated into Japanese) in this game?

(3) To learn this game's rule from ABC(basic) with me and my players, what should I do? (I bought beginner box and played it, however, player complained that this "box-game" is not acceptable because some rules were omitted (for example, AoO))

(4) In Japan, It is NOT common to enjoy dungeon type scenario. They like city-adventure, rommance-campaingn (which is difficult to explain...) and role-play-type game.

When we enjoyed 5-6 lv scenarios, my players always asked me to "avoid" dungeon type scenario because they don't like it at all.
However, I understand that this game can play "MOST ONLY" dungeon type scenarios. How should I do to solve this problem?

Thank you for reading!

Hi.How's going?
Thank you for answering my previous questions.
This helped me a lot!

Based on your advices, I decided to "make" a magic store in XXX shop and that party bought "Bull's strength(50 charge)" wands. plus, my paladin bought a +1 *** sword. (Sorry, I forgot it).

By the way, After this, I can't manage my game at all.
When starting battle, the parties always use Bull's strength's wands and use XXX portions and so on. This means that they easily decimate every monsters. I think that this is not fair. (It is common in this game?)

So, I(Actually, final evil wizard) decided to use "fireball" magic in the final battle. However, after using this spell, that parties were almost destroyed bt that spell.

After this session, my players comlained me a lot! They say that this is not fair at all! But... I think that this is the only thing that I could do....

After finishing this session, they earned enough XP to be 7lv characters. This means that some character(means, cleric, wizard, paladin?) can now learn new spells.

Are there some "special" magic that I have to careful about?

Thank you for reading!

Hi. How's going?
We play pathfinder RPG in Japan. This is very difficult game, isn't it?

By the way, we started to play this game with 5 members (including me, which means that players are 4).

Once a day, my clelic player insisted that I should give her(that character) Bull's strength wonds (50 charges) immediately. I think that this may crush our game balance, I think.

Addition to this problem, my wiz 5 character asked me to learn "Animate Dead, lesser" (which is included in UM book). I think that learning this spell is TOO strong. Based on this information, I would like to reject its idea.

Moreover, my paradin character always asks me to give some **** +2 sword and so on.

Is it common to pass such a magic item to 6lv characters?

Thank you for reading.

Hi.
How's going?
Thank you for your kindness comments!
It helped me a lot.

As I noted above, I will challange my first pf session(3lv) after 3 days.

I have already made some reference(which does not inflinge copyright) or something, also read gamemaster guide.

My session will be,

1) A villege was attacked by some goblins.
2) Party was asked to eradicate them and find ruins.
3) They go there and explore it.
4) Finally, they decimate a lot of goblins and fight with very very strong 1 goblin.
5) They will return to that villege and get XXX gp.

This will be my last post as I have to prepare my session.
So I would like to confirm the following 3 questions.

(1) How to run the game

Japan's most famous tabletop game, "Sword-world 2.0", runs as

a) Each player introduces his/her character each other.
b) GM declears that session starts.
c) Party was asked to do something(ex, go to ruins, eradicate dragons,etc)
d) They should investigate information so that they solve the problem.
e) They go to the enemy's dungeon.
f) GM declears "Climax phase".
g) Most offensive battle starts and ends.
h) Party wins and game now ends.

like this. I think that this flow can be used in the pf's session. Is this right?

In addition to this, in Japan, it is recommended that each GM take some 5-10 minutes breaks per 1 hour so that they go to toilet or smoke(but I don't smoke at all!). In pf session, Is it acceptable to take a break in the encounter(battle)?

(*) I think that pf's encounter(battle) is very long. It is said some battle(including D&D3.5) lasts 1 hours or more longer. In this case, some player may ask me to take a break.

(2) about paizo's gamemaster guide

This book says that GM may prepare or order some pizza or drink or snack so that each player doesn't have to prepare them. In Japan, this is not common! Each player should prepare his/her favorite drink or snack or so on(It is commonly said that It's mot good to eat/drink others). In pathfinder session, must I(as GM) have to prepare pizza or sushi or yakiniku?

(3) game balance question

As I found that Fighter's str was not so high, So I decided to include two(2) Bull's str portions in the chest (which should be obtained after 1st battle). Moreover, since this party has no cleric, I prepared 3 cure light wounds portion, too. Is It OK to do that(Prepareing some magic items in order to play game smoothly)?

Thanks a lot!
Yuki

Hi!
How's going?
Thank you very very much for this messsage.
http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz4zy9?Sessions-without-any-Cleric
Thanks a lot! It help me a lot!

I decided to start our 3lv campaign (which includes 5 or 6 adventures) without Cleric (=Fighter,paradin,wizard and rogue) next week!

Since this is the our first pf session, I will make a very very simple scenario.

1) A villege was attacked by goblins.
2) Party was asked to decimate them immediately and get XXX gp.
3) They go to ruins and find some traps and simple puzzle.
4) Finally, Party will eradicate evil goblins and return to the villege.

That's all.

However, Fighter's character said "Why should I go to that ruin?", meaning that his motivation (to go there) is too weak, I think.

In this case, I have to add some events in order to motivate them.

To fix this problem, what should I do to improve my scenario?

Thanks for reading!!

Hi!
How's going.
Thank you for your very interesting comments.

I have met some member to start our pf sessions (which starts lv3).
However, I found that there is NO cleric character in that party.

1) Fighter
2) Paradin
3) Wizard
4) Rogue

I think that this party is too weird.
So, I recommended that cleric should be included that party.
However, they refuse it... They always say that they will use some portion when need.

However, I think that any party which has no cleric is too weird.
I have already some simple session.

1) Some monster attacked a vilage.
2) Pary was asked to eradicate them.
3) Party go to ruins (or caves) and expore it.
4) Finally, they decimate very terrible monsters.

I made some monsters which will be used in my session.
However, some encounter will be difficult if there is no Cleric.

In fact, I will use some un-dead monsters in this ruins. However, without cleric, it will be very difficult for them to solve that encounter.

In this case, what should I to do?

1) decided to postpone the game until they make at least 1 Cleric.
2) play game and decimate them. (without Cleric spell, it is very difficult for them to complete the game)
3) some portions (such as cure portions) may be gathered in the dungeon.
4) etc.

By the way, Is playing pf without some important class (ex, Cleric, Wizard, etc) common or not?

Thanks a lot!

Yuki.

Hi.
How's going?

I would like to host a pathfinder 3lv campaigns which contain 4 or 5 sessions.
However, in Japan, it is very diffucult for us to read paizo's official scenarios by amazon.com or etc, because of language problem. In addition to this problem, it is almost impossible to get D&D 3.5 scenarios (which are commonly almost compatible to pf) because D&D 4.0 was released.

Based on this, I decide to make an own scenario by referring some offical materials. However, the scenario which I made is too simple, I think.

Ex.)
1. A villege was attacked by some monsters.
2. Party was asked to eradicate them immediately.
3) Party goes to cave (or ruins) and explore it (Let's say that some traps exist.)
4) Finally, they decimate very terrible monsters and get some treasures.

That's all... Nothing is more..

I think that this scenario is TOO simple and I am afraid that our members (meaning players) finds it boring immediately.

I have read some official scenarios and realized that some math puzzles or word puzzles should be included in each game. However, this is very difficult for us(Japanese) to utilize them because English and Japanese are totally diffeent language(which makes us hard to use these puzzles in session).

(*) We (in Japan) use "nazo-nazo" (lit. means "word puzzle-puzzle) when hosting Japanese game. However, pf's scenario is written in English, which means that we can't employ these word puzzles at all.

If I could use official materials, I would run more attractive game, I think. However, running a game without consulting with dictionaries is almost impossible. Using these books requires us to utilize some basic English skills, I think. However, not everyone is like that.

So...
(1) Is it acceptable to host very simple game? (For example, go to ruins and eradicate monsters and find treasures)
(2) If not, What should I do to improve sessions.
(3) What kind of sources can I utilize to improve our game? (I can read or write some basic English..., I think.)

I would like to hear your opinion.

Hi. Happy new year!
Thank you for answering the following quesion.
http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz4za1?About-using-some-spells-from-DD-35

Based on these comments, I decided not to introduce "dance of ruin" spell in my game(actually, I indended to host a game and intended use it).

By the way, I have some questions.
In japan, we don't have a chance to play D&D or pathfinder because of language problem. However, we (including me, 5 members) decided to play pathfinder campaigns which start with 3lv.

But... When playing 3lv sessions, I don't know what is an appropriate enemies or treasures at all... Is it OK to pass 50 charges Bull's strength wands or OK to pass cure light wounds 50 charge wands?

My players asked me to pass these special(magic) items (including some +1 sword, +1 armor, etc) when we first met each other. Are they totally common when playing pf series?

2) I think that there is no special magic to restore dead body when playing 3lv session. (raise dead and etc are more higher magic...) If character dies, what should I do to mainthin the game?

Should I employ some higher cleric who can cast these to continue game? or should I ask (a) player(s) to re-make characters when s/he died?

Best Regards;
yuki

Hi.
I play pathfinder well in Japan.
It is very fun, I think.

By the way, I have a question.

(1) Is it OK to use some spells from D&D 3.5 source?

I found this spell in the D&D book.
"dance of ruin"
http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/spells.php?ID=5516

I think that this spell (clr2.etc) is TOO strong.
However. I understand that pf and D&D3.5 are compatible.
Based on this, I think that it is OK to use make "dance of ruin wands" etc.

I understand that this "dance of ruin" spell is too strong for clr2 player to use it (It should not be used or game-balance will be ruined).

On the other hands, when making some "evil" cleric, I can't find any "evil" or "strong" spell in the pathfinder books (including Ultimate Magic or etc).

Do you know (or exist) some guindlines to use D&D3.5 spells when playing pathfinder game?

My English is very poor, sorry for this.
Bye!