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After a year of so of GMing many of the PFS adventures, spanning all the seasons I find my list of stuff that just don't make any sense getting long enuf to share with y'all.
Mind you, I'm at looking this at a novice viewpoint from the players perspective of 1-3 Tier level sessions with a bit of humor and touch of cynicism. Veteran players who experience the recurrence of NPCs, know the geography and politics of factions through constant playing may not have these concerns nor do I when running such players. But for the 1st level adventures, some stuff jez make no sense...
1) Overly complicated plots- for a 4-5 hour session many of the background story elements don't see the light of day and many of the players really don't care or simply don't know enough to care. Some of the dialogue is simply terrible as well...
2) Silly Maps- adventure specific maps are too complicated to redraw effectively unless you follow a You Tube video to reprint the map? The little map full of colorful details looks great on the text page of the adventure, but of what use to the GM who cant' draw well enuf to make the PCs appreciate the tiles and chairs, shrubs etc, etc.
Anyone who plays my games know I do my best using a combination of tile sets, pre-printed maps and such- but to get the right translation it takes a lot of arts and craft time. Something many GMs may not have time for.
3) Not enough player handouts- the above issue could be easily solved with more player handouts. Maps, NPC portraits, monsters picture would make the interaction with the PC and adventure more visual thus more interesting. Pictures embedded within the adventure limits the GM to do a show and tell across the table! Especially city maps and creature pics!
4) The covers of the adventures give away too much info or don't match the adventure inside at all and many of the pictures don't reflect what is described in the text or the bestiary.
5) No rest for the wicked? Some adventures just seem to be a march between encounters with little respite or occasion to use the complicated plot points and such. Not every party has a cleric or a healer and potions of healing are rare than a third nipple in many 1st level adventures. On the average there are 3-4 encounters- the 1st level fighter with a healthy 8 HPs, gets hit with a spear wielding orc for just 4 HPs on his first encounter is left with 4 HPs for next several encounters...
This is just a short list of things that make me scratch my head at times. It doesn't take away from the fact the majority of times we have a great time and I tweak things well enough to make things make sense. I appreciate the creativity and hard work the writers do when creating these adventures and would not dare say I could do a better job. But did you ever meet that person who seems more impressed with his own story than those who are listening?
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1) Complicated Plots
I think every GM shares your concern here. A lot of great background is in those books and it can be really tricky/impossible to convey it all to players, except maybe at the end of the scenario. Sometimes not even then.
I personally think a lot of info the GM gets needs to be written up better - more dot points, more improvisation, more guidance. Less specifics unless it's necessary. Less novel.
2) Complicated Maps
Disagree here - I run games both in person and online; I haven't had a problem drawing them reasonably well enough, and they're required for online games as we extract the images from the books. A lot of GMs print out the maps from the books, though I'm not familiar with their methods for doing that. The GM Shared Prep drive on google drive has some of these.
3) More Player Handouts
Would make the game more immersive, for sure.
4) Covers
Never been a problem, though some titles could be less spoilery - we advertise those to get people to join games!
5) Limited Resting
This shouldn't be a problem after your first game in PFS in most cases. 2 prestige will buy a character a 1st level wand, and it's an unspoken rule that everyone's responsible for their own healing. Someone must be able to cast cure light wounds or infernal healing from a wand? It's a rare party to have a fighter, a monk, a gunslinger and a barbarian.
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while the others have spoken well towards the other parts, I'd like to address the player handouts issue.
Yes, there should be more, however, as has been said the more there are the less content there is for the scenario. If you check out the GM Shared Drive you'll find that a lot of the missing pieces may have been filled in. If you don't see what you want and you end up creating it yourself, think about sharing it on the drive so that others coming behind you have that bit of additional help
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I'll just point out that besides getting a cure wand with their first 2 prestige, every one of my PCs also has a potion of CLW after their first scenario. Even my positive channeling focused cleric with a wand of CLW carries a potion that someone else can pour down his throat if he hits negative HP.
It is possible to play with a party without spellcasters that can use cure wands. You just have to plan a little for it.
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I have two PCs with SR, so they are very careful to point out to the other PCs NOT to try a wand on them if they go down. Often it doesn't work. So they both carry Potions in a vest pocket.
(Potions are inside the SR, 1st level wands need to overcome the SR and are only Roll+1 vs. the SR.)
[slightly off-topic] You can voluntarily lower your SR to accept the spell from a friendly wand, can't you?
And good point there, Tony!
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I have two PCs with SR, so they are very careful to point out to the other PCs NOT to try a wand on them if they go down. Often it doesn't work. So they both carry Potions in a vest pocket.
(Potions are inside the SR, 1st level wands need to overcome the SR and are only Roll+1 vs. the SR.)
[slightly off-topic] You can voluntarily lower your SR to accept the spell from a friendly wand, can't you?
And good point there, Tony!
I believe lowering your SR requires an action (don't remember what kind) and gives up the SR vs everything while it's down, not just one particular thing. But since it requires an action to lower it, you must also be awake to do so, which doesn't help if you hit negative HP and an ally is trying to heal you.
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I'll just point out that besides getting a cure wand with their first 2 prestige, every one of my PCs also has a potion of CLW after their first scenario. Even my positive channeling focused cleric with a wand of CLW carries a potion that someone else can pour down his throat if he hits negative HP.
It is possible to play with a party without spellcasters that can use cure wands. You just have to plan a little for it.
I have two PCs with SR, so they are very careful to point out to the other PCs NOT to try a wand on them if they go down. Often it doesn't work. So they both carry Potions in a vest pocket.
(Potions are inside the SR, 1st level wands need to overcome the SR and are only Roll+1 vs. the SR.)
This is so not true.
You can't cast spells on yourself if you have SR, without overcoming your own SR. So what makes you think a potion would work?
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A creature can voluntarily lower its spell resistance. Doing so is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Once a creature lowers its resistance, it remains down until the creature's next turn. At the beginning of the creature's next turn, the creature's spell resistance automatically returns unless the creature intentionally keeps it down (also a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity).
A creature's spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities.
Emphasis mine.
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This is so not true.You can't cast spells on yourself if you have SR, without overcoming your own SR. So what makes you think a potion would work?
SR never affects spells you cast yourself. Wands, potions, scrolls all have the user/imbiber/reader as the caster. Therefore, as long as you're the one using the item, you do not have to beat your own SR.
A creature's spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities.
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Emphasis mine.A creature can voluntarily lower its spell resistance. Doing so is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Once a creature lowers its resistance, it remains down until the creature's next turn. At the beginning of the creature's next turn, the creature's spell resistance automatically returns unless the creature intentionally keeps it down (also a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity).
A creature's spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities.
I would assume this applies to "always on" items like armor, weapons, etc. I don't know if it applies to potions and wands that you happen to own, since they're casting spells on you from a source outside yourself.
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I would assume this applies to "always on" items like armor, weapons, etc. I don't know if it applies to potions and wands that you happen to own, since they're casting spells on you from a source outside yourself.
The drinker of a potion is both the effective target and the caster of the effect (though the potion indicates the caster level, the drinker still controls the effect).
I know I've read similar for wands and scrolls and the user being the caster, but not finding them right now.
EDIT:Emphasis added
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I would assume this applies to "always on" items like armor, weapons, etc. I don't know if it applies to potions and wands that you happen to own, since they're casting spells on you from a source outside yourself.The drinker of a potion is both the effective target and the caster of the effect (though the potion indicates the caster level, the drinker still controls the effect).I know I've read similar for wands and scrolls and the user being the caster, but not finding them right now.
EDIT:Emphasis added
Works for me. Thanks for pointing that out.
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Emphasis mine.A creature can voluntarily lower its spell resistance. Doing so is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Once a creature lowers its resistance, it remains down until the creature's next turn. At the beginning of the creature's next turn, the creature's spell resistance automatically returns unless the creature intentionally keeps it down (also a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity).
A creature's spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities.
I stand corrected.
Which means I can use my own wand, cast my own spells, drink my own potion, and get through my own SR.
But someone else could not dose me with a potion while I'm unconscious.
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Emphasis mine.A creature can voluntarily lower its spell resistance. Doing so is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Once a creature lowers its resistance, it remains down until the creature's next turn. At the beginning of the creature's next turn, the creature's spell resistance automatically returns unless the creature intentionally keeps it down (also a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity).
A creature's spell resistance never interferes with its own spells, items, or abilities.
I stand corrected.
Which means I can use my own wand, cast my own spells, drink my own potion, and get through my own SR.
But someone else could not dose me with a potion while I'm unconscious.
Yes they could, as Sniggevort pointed out above. The drinker of the potion counts as the caster, not the person pouring it down their throat.
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But above, the quote from SR includes the Caster's "Items".
Presumably a wand and a scroll they used themselves would be considered an item, right?
And the only thing the language in the potion would specifically imply in this case, is that someone else could dose me with a potion, and it would ignore my SR.
The lack of that language doesn't make me using a wand or a scroll different from me using any other item that ignores my SR.
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Actually, while the potion says that you are considered the caster, wands and scrolls do not (as far as I know). So my PCs with SR cannot actually use a wand (or scroll) on themselves.The rule: "The drinker of a potion is both the effective target and the caster of the effect (though the potion indicates the caster level, the drinker still controls the effect)." makes a special exception for Potions, I do not beleave there is one for wands or scrolls...
In fact, because you DON'T use the CL of your PC or the casting stat of the PC to calculate the DC when you are using a wand/scroll, you can actually tell that the wand/scroll is outside the SR (and you would need to overcome the SR for it to work, using the CL of the wand/scroll).
I could be wrong on it, as I say, I couldn't find the reference I was sure I had read about the reader of the scroll and the wand wielder being considered the caster. However, in response to:
In fact, because you DON'T use the CL of your PC or the casting stat of the PC to calculate the DC when you are using a wand/scroll, you can actually tell that the wand/scroll is outside the SR (and you would need to overcome the SR for it to work, using the CL of the wand/scroll).
The same thing is true for potions as well. You use the CL (or lower) and casting stat (assumed minimum) of the potion maker to determine the DC (if necessary) of a potion. Most potions are made of spells that don't require a save is all.
I am a lot less sure about that wand/scroll thing, but might try and look it up after work this weekend.
EDIT: And Andrew makes a good point about the "items" mention in SR too.
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You make a good point about the creators casting stat and not the item. I was putting my own spin on there somewhere. The casting stat DC appears to solely be minimum, regardless of creator.
I could be doing the same on wand/scroll things too. However, I haven't found such straight out not being the caster language as I did about the DC's. (Then again, I haven't found the language I thought was there to support my initial assumption either).
Either way, I do think Andrew's point about a PC's items not being affected by the SR. Why could an Aegis of Recovery be able to heal you, but a wand not?
I'm basing the Aegis off the language that SR never interferes with an character with SR's spells, items or abilities. The Aegis is simply a worn necklace slot item of a character.
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In home campaigns, I'm sure it varies wildly. But the correct way to do it would be to determine the DC by the casting stat of the PC that created the item.
In PFS, where everything is assumed minimum required, you would calculate the DC based on the minimum casting stat required, assuming that was the creators stat.
Wands and Scrolls don't need the special potion language in regards to someone having SR, because they are considered that person's item, and SR doesn't interfere with the person's items.
Someone applying a potion to someone else does need the extra language, because otherwise you couldn't apply a potion of healing to someone who was unconscious that had SR, without having to defeat that SR with a crappy CL of the potion.