Aside from knowing the mechanics of powers, traps and situations that may arise, what else should I make sure to remember RULES wise.
Firing into melee...etc.
Thanks!
To me, the most important "rule" to remember, particularly for your first session, is that as long as everyone is having fun, then you are doing it right. What this means is that you don't necessarily need to worry about getting the RAW correct on every possible ruling. Sometimes, you just need to make a call and move on rather than scouring assorted rule books looking for the answer.
The other thing I try to do, if a situation comes up and I don't know the answer right away, I will simply make a ruling, tell the group that this is the ruling for the session, but acknowledge I am not certain about it. Then after the session, I will look it up and let the group know what the correct rule is. The bottom line is, particularly when you are starting out, it is extremely hard to know all the RAW. Then, even if you did know most of them, you'll get a player that wants to do something that sounds really cool, but for which there are no exact RAW to cover the situation.
As an aside: I am assuming you are already familiar with the basics of combat, but obviously that will be important.
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Being able to make a quick ruling rather than wasting valuable game time researching is a big plus.
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Know what your players can do.
If you have a rogue, understand sneak attack. If you have a wizard, understand combat casting. If you have a cleric, understand channeling to heal vs channeling to harm. If you have a barbarian, understand rage. If you have a bard, understand performance. If you have a monk, understand flurry.
Etcetera!
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Understand what your players can do is a great advice and I will also say that you need to know what rules are going to come into play during the session. While I don't guarantee that you will be ready for everything, just try to anticipate like if you plan to run a campaign in the desert, did you check the rules for survival in the desert? the blazing heat? etc...
And be ready to improvise, a lot of times players do things totally unexpected, just roll with the flow sometimes if you are lucky, they will write the story for you.
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One rule I always forget is that PCs and NPCs are flat-footed in combat until they've acted.
This thread also has a lot of commonly forgotten rules. It's huge, but you may want to skim over it, it's got some great reminders in it.
Thank you all so much!!! Great help in every response!
Reread the entire section on environments. Those are often forgotten rules that can add a lot of flavor to any encounter.
Also, if you are just starting out there are a few things characters without a +1BAB can't do. Like they can't draw a weapon as part of a move action and can't take a bunch of feats that require at least a +1 BAB.
RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Being able to make a quick ruling rather than wasting valuable game time researching is a big plus.
To expound on this, make sure that you look up such issues after the game or during breaks. This can be the difference between becoming a great GM and becoming an awful one.
When you follow up your table ruling with finding out the right answer, two things happen: one, you gradually get sharper with the rules; and two, your players see that you're "playing fair" and learn to trust that an incorrect ruling at the table is no big deal.
When you don't follow up with research, then the very same practice of making a ruling and moving on suddenly transforms the game into "rules do what feels good to the GM at the time". Players learn they can't rely on things working like they expect, they might start to think you're out to get them. This is what teaches players to weaponize the rules.
I make it a policy to look up anything I'm challenged on, even when it's as basic as whether or not an AoO can disrupt spellcasting. Not during the game unless there are serious consequences on the line, but I do look it up. That detail is crucial.
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With all the great responses alread, I can only add to remember Rule 0. The DM sets the rules for the game. Not that the game needs to be strictly controlled, just that some players will try to dictate exactly how the rules should be applied or thier own houserules that you may not be comfortable with.
For rules issues, I usually go with a 2-5 minute timeframe for checking d20pfsrd.com and if the rule cannot be located within that timeframe, it will be checked after the session is over. The same limit fo any discussion on DM calls.
my two copper pieces from work.
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Overlooked rules? Sure.
Wall of text incoming.
-Firing into melee:
Firing into melee is a -4 penalty, but most forget that there is another VERY important penalty.
If you fire through an ally into melee (the ally is positioned on the line between you and the target) the enemy gets a cover bonus. That means you get a -4 for firing into melee, and the enemy gains +4 AC for your ally (or whatever other creature youre shooting through) for a total difficulty increase to hit of 8.
Recap:
Firing into melee = -4 to hit.
Firing through a creature, even an ally, = +4 to enemy Ac.
-Creature size:
Creature has a very noticable effect on the space it takes on the battlemap, and large creatures have a unique set of flanking rules, as do small creatures have unique reach and attack of opportunity mechanics.
To flank a large or larger creature, both flankers must be on completely opposite sides of that creatures 4 possible sides. You cant flak if your ally is standing to its side and youre at its front, one must allways be behind it and the other in front.
Not all larger than average creatures have extra reach. Generally a large creature gets extra reach for every size category it increases, but creatures that walk on all fours often have 5ft reduced reach.
Tiny and smaller creatures usually dont have reach, or rather, their reach is 2,5 feet or less. Creatures this small must enter the target's square to melee attack, this means that to use most Familiars offensively can amount to suicide for the familiar, this also goes for Small characters who use reduce person on themselves. These creatures also do not threaten any squares, and dont get Attacks of opportunity unless someone walks right over them.
Remember the size bonuses and penalties.
For every step larger then medium you are, you take a -1 penalty to AC and Attack bonus and a -4 penalty to fly and stealth. They get +1 to CMB and CMD.
The modifiers are completely reversed for small creatures.
To recap:
Large creatures often get extra reach, but take penalties to attack, ac and some skill checks. They get bonuses to CMB and CMD.
Small creatures get armor and attack bonuses and some skill bonuses but are penalised in CMB and CMD. Tiny creatures dont have reach and may need to take deadly risks going into melee.
-Implied spell effects.
Many spells have lots of effects in their descriptions that dont have an effect on the game, in fact some spells have spell effects with little or no numerical factors to contain them.
This includes all illusion spells (the usefullness of which depends on how your DM interprets Illusion spells and how imaginative you are).
Grease (is it flammable? I know Gm´s who say it is).
To recap:
Spells are very complex, go over their effects and usefullness with your GM to clarify them and so youre both on the same page. As a general rule, a spell does what it says in the description, if its not in the description then the spell wont do it.
-Bows.
You cant shoot a bow if youre prone.
Combat bonuses and penalties.
For easy combat calculation, summarise your basic "allways on" bonuses into one big number on yoru character sheet, then draw up a bunch of boxes next to it. Fill in the boxes with temporary buffs, benefits and penalties on the go. This will quicken up the game a lot, especially if youre new at this. Allways on bonuses include your Str for melee or Dex for ranged attacks, Base attack bonus, weapon masterwork quality or enhancement bonus, the Weapon focus feat and similar class features.
To recap:
In some groups theres so many bonuses flying around that it gets hard to monitor them all. Use some method to keep seperate track of your normal attack unmodified attack bonuses and your buffed attack bonuses.
GM's game. Play it.
Once youve got a story or two under your belt you can play with a bit more finesse. An experienced player can run circles around a newb, even though their characters are essentially the same. The same goes for GM's, and all GM's have an intentional or unintentional theme to them. Is your story combat focused or is there a lot of intrigue and NPC's to deal with and talk to? Select a class appropriately and let the feats follow suit.
Its not just vanilla.
Its an imaginary game, if youre not using any imagination then youre not trying hard enough.
Every game rule has a real-world precedent or some in-game reasoning that makes sense, at least to us all-powerfull players. If something doesnt make sense, or if something is missing then dont be afraid to expand upon it with your friends.
For example: The Alchemists Vestigial arm discovery grants him a bonus arm, it does nto grant extra actions, just the arm, it may grant attacks though, which lead me to beleive that certain types of multitasking were possible with it, even though there were no such mentions in the feat, after a short chat with my GM we decided that the arm, in addition to its norml rules, would let me reload both barrels of a double firearm at once (if I had at least two hands free, with the third holding the firearm), not faster mind you but two at once. Is it owerpowered? It doesnt sound important, and the DM is like to be good sport and make some NPC's give me trouble over my mutation, but I woudlnt have picked the extra arm if I wasnt willing to be subjekted to that!
Extra arms arent the only thing, theres also "homebrew" rules that are unique to your group or your GM, 3rd party material and silly things you need to improvise on the spot. Such things are by no means "bad" and shouldnt be ignored (save perhaps for Organised play, where everyone needs to be playing by the rules). If you cant find a feat or item thats JUST right for your character, have a chat with the GM and see what you come up with together, and if its horribly unbalanced it can all be waived away and fixed at the drop of the GM's hat.
To recap:
If an unforeseen situation arises, check with your GM to see his official ruling on it. Dont be afraid to browse 3rd party stuff or make up your own rules, the Pathfinder game designers arent the only good game designers in the world, they just happen to be among the best in a huge pool of men and women who´ve made a living of the 3.5 system.
The familiar:
Dont forget your familiar, so long as youre forgeting your familiar youre not making use of a good class feature. Dont try to hide it ("Hide" as in never mention it so your Gm wont think about it) away either, a good GM will remember it and might pick a nasty time to kill it vengefully.
To recap: Dont forget the familiar! or the animal companion for that matter.