Wondering if this is Society legal somehow

[DrkMagusX]

My character uses a frying pan and serving glasses as weapons.

I found in the DMG the Barmaid uses a Frying pan as well as serving glasses and serving tray as weapons. My character is a cook by profession so I see him using the same with the Catch off guard feat. However I could not find any pricing for any of these items.

I was wondering if i could use them or not. Also a big size cleaver would be nice. Sticking with the cook theme and all.

[Thorkull]

DMG? Oh, I see where you got it.

No, it's not standard equipment -- I can't even find any prices listed for the stuff so you can't really buy it in PFS. Even if you could, they would count as an improvised weapon with all the penalties that apply, etc.

Best you could do is get a light mace and a throwing axe, and describe them as the frying pan and the meat cleaver, although then you run afoul of the "no reskinning" rule.

[DrkMagusX]

Dungeon Master Guide in the back where it list npcs and their stat blocks.

[Thorkull]

I found it in the GameMastery Guide. "Dungeon Master" is a copyright owned by Wizards of the Coast.

[Cheapy]

Do you mean the Gamemastery Guide?

[DrkMagusX]

Yes sorry.

[DrkMagusX]

With the Catch off guard feat you don't get the penalty.

[Michael Meunier]

I think these would all follow rules for improvised weapons.

[DrkMagusX]

Thats what I m thinking. Where would I find PFS rules for Improvised Weapons and How would a First level Tavern worker price it all out for start play lol

[Todd Lower]

DrkMagusX wrote:

Thats what I m thinking. Where would I find PFS rules for Improvised Weapons and How would a First level Tavern worker price it all out for start play lol

Don't buy the items, steal them from a pub like the rest of us. :-)

[El Baron de los Banditos]

I always went with an Iron Pot for my cooking characters. Another option is Artisan Tools for Craft: Food (Or the Cooking Kit, if you have Ultimate Equipment); Theoretically, there's plenty of Improvised weapons in that box. Just run this point by your DM BEFORE you start whipping cookware around (like every Improvised Weapon fighter should about their "weapons.")

Aditionally, in the Adventurer's Armoury, there's the Rough and Ready trait (which isn't a psuedodragon or elephant, so it's legal)

Adventurer's Armoury, page 31:

Rough and Ready: Your intense familiarity with the tools of your trade allows you to use them in combat as if they were actual weapons and makes them more effective for that purpose than they would normally be. When you use a tool of your trade (requiring at least 1 rank in the appropriate Craft or Profession skill) as a weapon, you do not take the improvised weapon penalty and instead receive a +1 trait bonus on your attack. This trait is commonly used with shovels, picks, blacksmith hammers, and other sturdy tools—lutes and brooms make terribly fragile weapons.

[Andi A.]

Note that Ultimate Equipment has prices for things like Frying Pans.... though if you're serious, buy yourself a non-Stick Mithril Frying Pan. It's in Ultimate Equipment as well.

[Elvis Aron Manypockets]

For cutlery I'd suggest getting a set of ginsu knives from HSN (Hao-Jin Shopping Network).

[Jiggy]

So after three years of boot camp before getting a pass from the Master of Blades (and of Spells and of Scrolls) and becoming a Pathfinder, your character turned out to be better in a fight with cookware than with weapons?

That sounds like some interesting backstory.

[Kyle Baird]

I've got a feral gnasher with both Throw Anything and Improvised Weapon Mastery. I've been very apprehensive about using improvised weapons in society play because there's a lot of GM interpretation involved. If you want to go this route, expect a lot of table variation and go over what you're using with your GM before the session starts.

I suggest questions like:

"I've been using a frying pan with the Catch Off-guard feat. I paid X for it on this chronicle and most GM's have been cool with it being the equivalent of a club. What's your take on it?"

"I also have a serving glass as a weapon. I'm following the bar-maid in the GMG. (present page number or copy of page) You cool with this?"

[DrkMagusX]

Would be yes. I try to develop characters forced into the adventuring life. If running a tavern was what he did best he would be more accustom to using his tools of the trade. Perhaps he self train to use these so he could better defend his business and who would suspect a traveller with a skillet as a weapon. Undercover spy might work well. Another instant is a gravedigger\robber he always has his shovel why not just use it as his main choice of weapon since its what he is most commonly has on him.

Then u get in the area of adding enchantments and making special tools out of new material.

I just like to break away from the normal and be unique to a point. Pathfinder society promotes day jobs. So i used my professions alongside my combat and story of thr character.

[Derwalt]

I Think your idea is awesome! And every GM I know would let you do it with no problems involved. There's no special benefit and no loop hole to exploit. You've just Got a good concept and you're using the rules to back up your concept. Awesome.

[asthyril]

Derwalt wrote:

I Think your idea is awesome! And every GM I know would let you do it with no problems involved. There's no special benefit and no loop hole to exploit. You've just Got a good concept and you're using the rules to back up your concept. Awesome.

i concur. i would love to play at a table with a character like this. i might even steal your idea (except chef, not tavernkeeper) ;)

[Todd Lower]

Speaking of gravediggers. One of our local players has a character that is a gravedigger and uses his adamantine shovel as his main weapon. Very colorful. And good for digging too; ignoring hardness and all.

[Pendagast]

Severing glass with....whats that feat.... shattering weapon er sum thing to increase crit threat?

[asthyril]

just wondering what your class/archetype was? i went ahead and made one as a fighter with the cad archetype, who would be the party cook hireling, who will eventually two weapon fight with a mithral skillet and a mithral tankard (since they either come in mithral or can use the existing rules to be made of mithral) and occasionally using a mithral cauldron 2 handed :)

not sure if you can get them enchanted as weapons though, i'm guessing probably not, although it shouldn't be any different price wise than enchanting anything else, since theyre already made from mithral.

should be fun to play regardless though :)

[Jason Wu]

Had a character once with a Adamantine tankard of Frost.

To keep his ale cold, of course. :)

I don't recall if I ever actually used it in combat, though.

Same character had a two-handed hammer described as a reinforced beer keg with long handle attached. A beerhammer.

-j

[DaWay]

Humble Beginnings
Source Varisia, Birthplace of Legends
Requirement(s) Varisia
You didn’t have any intention of becoming an adventurer, but a single, unexpected confrontation changed everything. Choose one of the following: boot, bucket, frying pan, mug, rolling pin, spade, or stool. You are treated as having the Catch Off- Guard feat when wielding the chosen item. (These items should all be considered improvised melee weapons that deal 1d4 points of bludgeoning damage.)

[Jiggy]

DaWay wrote:

Humble Beginnings

Source Varisia, Birthplace of Legends
Requirement(s) Varisia
You didn’t have any intention of becoming an adventurer, but a single, unexpected confrontation changed everything. Choose one of the following: boot, bucket, frying pan, mug, rolling pin, spade, or stool. You are treated as having the Catch Off- Guard feat when wielding the chosen item. (These items should all be considered improvised melee weapons that deal 1d4 points of bludgeoning damage.)

Name this movie! wrote:

Is this the same character who once declared with total conviction that the late Colonel Smollet had been bludgeoned to death with a blunt excrement?

[DrkMagusX]

I glad you all enjoy the concept. I thought about humble beginning however if I already had the feat catch off guard would I not need this trait?

[DrkMagusX]

I can't remember the trait off the top o my head but it states u use the tools of your trade ask weapons and get a bonus with them in combat as long as u have at least a rank in the proper craft or profession. What craft would cover all cookware creation?

[Bearded Ben]

Profession: Chef?

[DrkMagusX]

I guess would metalworking be the best bet for making stuff like forks knives spoons plates mugs and cookware? If so how do I size out my items for damage. The gamemaster guide uses a frying pan as 1d6 meaning it would be a small item. Would a 4 lb skillet be the same size? As for things like metal plates would they be 1d4 damage as in the gm guide a drinking glass is 1d4 dmg. I really looking for info to back up my society character should I take it to a game and the gm ask for reasons and such to keep it legal for society play. Thanks for the input

[RainyDayNinja]

DrkMagusX wrote:

I can't remember the trait off the top o my head but it states u use the tools of your trade ask weapons and get a bonus with them in combat as long as u have at least a rank in the proper craft or profession. What craft would cover all cookware creation?

You're thinking of the Rough and Ready trait. I took that for my Aasimar cleric of Torag, with Profession (miner), and he kicks butt with his shovel.

[Mike Mistele]

Now I'm totally thinking about the Blue Raja and the Shoveler from Mystery Men.:-D

[DrkMagusX]

I found a waffle iron in the ult. Equipment guide. I thought hmm attach a chain and swing hit things with it.

Also the Gamemaster guide says if it is heated the skillet/frying pan does a additional point of fire damage.

[TetsujinOni]

Hi. I'm the GM who would look at you and ask you to go through the 10 Questions To Explain Why You're a Pathfinder Agent (see other thread, title not copied exactly) and explain to my what you could possibly add to the Pathfinder Chronicles.

Sounds like a GREAT character concept.... but utterly inappropriate to this campaign setting.

Like most paladins.

[Some Random Player]

I don't see anything in those questions that indicate choice of weapon as important.

[DrkMagusX]

Tetsu I m doing your questions and will post for u. As for reasons of being a pathfinder. Perhaps a tragic event shifted my interest , got tired of day in and out life of being a tavern cook , gather rare and exotic spices and recipes , or figured pathfinders need a good cook.

More detail post with all answers in the works

[Funky Badger]

Why are you a Pathfinder agent?

Lots of Pathfindering is about local knowledge and gethering information. And where better to do that than a local tavern? Also - its much easier to Catch people Off Guard when you aren't:
-knocking over everyone's beers with your biceps
-hefting a falchion and bad-attitude
-petting you magic pony/moster from the id
etc.

Awesome idea, fits perfectly with the Pathfinders.

[TetsujinOni]

Seekers of Secrets - getting into the Society requires impressing some pretty ornery folks.

I'd really encourage a different background for Society play. I love the concept for a home game, but I just don't see it working well for the Explore, Cooperate, Report mantra of the in-world Society.

Good writing on the backstory could convince me otherwise. I'd be happy to bounce ideas around on how to get from point A to graduation from society training...

I just really feel that not all concepts, or all classes, are appropriate in PFS.

[Mystic Lemur]

TetsujinOni wrote:

I just really feel that not all concepts, or all classes, are appropriate in PFS.

And I thank my lucky stars that you aren't in a position to enforce your feelings.

[TetsujinOni]

Mystic Lemur wrote:

TetsujinOni wrote:

I just really feel that not all concepts, or all classes, are appropriate in PFS.

And I thank my lucky stars that you aren't in a position to enforce your feelings.

I don't try to enforce them. They're not policy. I don't want to tell people they can't play the concept they want to, I just want them to think about how they fit into the core conceit of the campaign, which is that the PCs are Pathfinder agents who are supposed to be good enough candidates to make it through to being full members of the Society.

Where did you get the notion that I'd want to ban things? If you want a PC to be bad at their job as a Pathfinder agent, that's fine, but some scenarios are going to go against your concept and being spanked by them may not be something that is going to be easy to creative solution a way around.

And that's what I want people to realize: the Society asks you to do some pretty underhanded stuff pretty consistently, and go out and be effective at fighting stuff that can be pretty scary. Realize that you're getting into a campaign that lives in the grey areas, and is frequently a humans-conflicts spy game when it's not a dungeon raiding game. And remember that Absalom is on an island, so you're going to be on boats a lot.

Having players who are informed about things that are likely to cause them to feel that their character is being beaten on for their class or concept before it happens just seems like reasonable and friendly advice.

Does that make me reasoning and resulting feelings make more sense, Lemur?

[Mystic Lemur]

TetsujinOni wrote:

Does that make me reasoning and resulting feelings make more sense, Lemur?

Yes. Still, something about your post(s) rubbed me the wrong way. I don't like the implication that some character concepts are "good" and some are "bad". If I want to play a Paladin in the Cheliax faction, tell me why you think I'll have a hard time. But don't tell me I wouldn't make a good Pathfinder.

[TetsujinOni]

I don't think paladins in general make good Pathfinder agents, because of the things the VCs send you out to do. I have a specific list of things you'll have to dance around hard to do it. I want you to be aware of WHY they don't generally make good Pathfinder agents.

Then, if you want to play one, I'll try to adjudicate what happens fairly and consistently with the world. Sometimes it'll be easy and the paladin will power the party up a lot for the scenario.

Sometimes it'll turn into a case of the paladin should fall if they do the Society mission, or their faction's mission.

And the players need to be aware of that.

Similarly, there's concepts that just don't mesh well with the core conceit of PFS. That's fine, but forcing the concept into the game doesn't mean I have to bend the scenario into a pretzel to make your PC fit.... and it shouldn't.

Some concepts may be far enough out of the core conceit that I think bringing them to the table violates don't be a jerk.

[asthyril]

Not everyone who goes on a mission, is a pathfinder agent. i'm pretty sure those characters that own slaves and bring them along, those slaves are not actual pathfinders.

the same thing can be said about a hired cook.

and as far as factions are concerned, i don't see sczarni being all too picky about anyone necessarily being a pathfinder or not, as long as said person has access to, and can complete, their missions.

[Paz]

asthyril wrote:

Not everyone who goes on a mission, is a pathfinder agent.

The main PFS page says 'Pathfinder Society Organized Play is a worldwide fantasy roleplaying campaign that puts YOU in the role of an agent of the Pathfinder Society'. That's pretty unambiguous. Why is a cook being invited into VC briefings, sent on voyages to Tian Xia, and visiting the Blakros Museum?

[Pai Song]

Because, besides being a famous and well-known chef, he has a lot of hidden other talents that might just make him perfect?
Where others obviously being knights or magic-wielders would be eyes suspiciously if being merely present, he can stumble around while everybody thinks he is just on the hunt for new recipes or ingredients or was called to supervise the kitchen?
Just like bards can be famous and invited all around, being admired even by else bad guys with a softness for music?

[Nebten]

Paz wrote:

Why is a cook being invited into VC briefings, sent on voyages to Tian Xia, and visiting the Blakros Museum?

Somebody didn't see Under Siege

Tagline:

A former Pathfinder, now cook, is the only person who can stop a gang of Aspis Consortium when they seize control of an Andoran battleship.

[Paz]

Nebten wrote:

Somebody didn't see Under Siege

"If you walk by a dungeon door and you see a member of the Aspis Consortium, you become the dungeon door."

[Paz]

Pai Song wrote:

Because, besides being a famous and well-known chef, he has a lot of hidden other talents that might just make him perfect?

Where others obviously being knights or magic-wielders would be eyes suspiciously if being merely present, he can stumble around while everybody thinks he is just on the hunt for new recipes or ingredients or was called to supervise the kitchen?

This is a Pathfinder agent who maintains the persona of a bumbling chef to better misdirect his foes. Rather than a bumbling chef who inexplicably accompanies Pathfinders on their missions. It's the latter that is nonsensical to me.

[BigNorseWolf]

Is this character a melee type that always uses these weapons, or a caster that has it as a side schtick?

For a caster there's no problem. The pathfinder society includes gnomes, I'm sure that they've seen weirder eccentricities and sent it out into the field to see what came back.

For a fighter type,

while improvised weapons weapons certainly have enough mechanical support to be raw legal (and as an aside I think throwing away feats on using them could make a more viable character than throwing away feats for two weapon fighting) you pretty much NEED magic weapons at the higher levels to contribute meaningfully. I think raw you can get a magic frying pan: mithril weapons are automatically considered masterwork,so you could argue that you can enchant the mithral frying pan as a +x weapon.

.. but that would be an argument. With every dm for a very vital part of your character. If you have a local group and they're ok with the idea of a +3 mithral frying pan go for it.

As to why the pathfinders would let someone like this in..

1) I've lost count of the missions where you reaaaaly shouldn't be wandering around the place with weapons. Having someone able to be deadly with an inconspicuous item (or able to arm themselves from the enemies own kitchen once they were passed security) could be pretty handy. As to why they send him other places.... why do they keep sending druids and barbarians to formal balls and weddings? (For Drendle Drang's sadistic amusement, THAT's why...)

2) Built right, they're probably still more useful in a fight than a spoony bard, dagger thrower, or any number of other concept characters.

[BigNorseWolf]

Paz wrote:

That's pretty unambiguous. Why is a cook being invited into VC briefings, sent on voyages to Tian Xia, and visiting the Blakros Museum?

Well, while the players probably don't mind eating trail rations 3 times a day, every day, all day, I'm sure that after 8 weeks of eating treebark in the mawangi expanse that their characters would gladly give up an extra share of the loot for some waffles.

[Matthew Morris]

If we had a ruling you could cast magic weapon or greater magic weapon and other weapon enhancing spells on improvised weapons, that would help.

Though I'd point out that many weapons come from humble farming impliments. From the threshing flail to the nunchucks, to the peasent who secured a cleaver on a pole to make a simple polearm.

[Paz]

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Paz wrote:

That's pretty unambiguous. Why is a cook being invited into VC briefings, sent on voyages to Tian Xia, and visiting the Blakros Museum?

Well, while the players probably don't mind eating trail rations 3 times a day, every day, all day, I'm sure that after 8 weeks of eating treebark in the mawangi expanse that their characters would gladly give up an extra share of the loot for some waffles.

True, but you don't need to take your caterer on a day trip to the museum, do you... ;-)