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It's been a while since I was a new GM, but we've all been where you are. My main tip is to not worry about knowing the details of every single ability. A typical fight only lasts 6 rounds or so. You only have to know the abilities they will use in this few rounds (ie. just their best 4-6 abilities), and you only need to know those at the simplified explanations that you give in your example.
If it's a non-spellcasting character, you can get away with only knowing their melee stats, whichever feats, abilities, or combat maneuvers are listed in their tactics, and any passive abilities under defensive abilities or listed next to their attacks.
For spellcasters, you only need to know their most powerful level of spells (and the spells one level lower at higher levels). Focus on the spells listed under their tactics.
Don't worry about skills for NPCs at all. Mostly skills are a way of challenging PCs outside of combat. There are few rare circumstances where they could come up in combat, but you can ignore those without too much difficulty. If your players ask about an edge case for an ability or skill and you need any more detail, you can either look it up during the game (if you have the option) or just go with what sounds reasonable and look it up after the game.
Also, one chunk of good news is that Erlyium is the most complicated opponent your players will be encountering for a while.
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I use a computer to GM - I also use a program called 'dm's familiar' although hero lab and the combat manager app (combat manager is free for the PC) also would work - pick one that works for you or just use google and make liberal use of searching (if you need to look something up in google type 'pathfinder <ability name/skill/spell here>'
So - if the statblock lists a 'before combat' note - this means the monster is *assumed* to have already cast/done/whatever is in the before combat section - before initiative is rolled. This is important because if the monster casts any buff spells or uses a potion/etc. it will already be incorporated into the stat block.
In my opinion this is the most important part of the tactics section - the monster is placed and built assuming the stats as written, if your party surprises the monster or you allow them to get the jump somehow then you should expect the fight to be easier for them, and you may need to remove the buffs by hand. During Combat and Morale are suggestions based on how the monster was added into the story. Sometimes these have a very good reason for being 'fight to the death' - if a monster is charmed or compelled in some way if the party can't figure that out and dispel the compulsion then there is no chance the monster will surrender.
Attacks: If a monster moves more than 5 feet (one square) it only gets one attack (usually the first one listed) regardless of how many are in it's statblock - it only gets the extras if it's standing still - it does get a free 5 foot step each round like a player.
Cheat sheet for special abilities:
Special attacks: Typically one as a standard action unless otherwise noted - like sneak attack where it just is situational. This section can also include class abilities that modify other attacks (like light blades from the warrior class - which should already be included in the statblock)
Special abilities: Typically one standard action unless otherwise noted.
Spells: Typically one standard action unless otherwise noted.
Spells: This can be tricky - as you get higher level monsters they may have feats that increase the spell DC - in the spell section anything that has a higher DC is called out with a DC number next to it - so if you see spells with different DC's in the same level tier that's why.
Feats: This is the most difficult part - if a monster has power attack - it's not in the printed statblock, ditto for vital strike, or awesome blow, or many other feats that modify the attack roll. You should have a cheat sheet with how the combat feats work - and very likely should have a cheat sheet for the most common ones. I try to go through the statblock of monsters the PC's are *likely* to encounter and look for feats I don't know and make a note of them before the session - for the first book be on the lookout for the goblin chief's rideby attack and spirited charge for instance.
FINALLY: Monster special attacks have DCs - these are all tied to a stat and if the monster gets a buff spell (or you used the advanced simple template on them for instance) the DC of the special abilities also should go up. Special note is anything tied to constitution becomes tied to charisma if the monster is made undead. This can be important because many times Paizo will use a line such as 'advanced goblin dog' without the stats and make you do the conversion yourself. When you do so - don't forget to increase the DC of any special they have by 2. This is also important if they get hit by a spell or effect that increases or decreases a stat - if a player hits them with a curse that reduces the stat tied to their abilities it will reduce the DC (1 for every 2 stat points increased or decreased) - this is why when you go through the bestiary you will notice a line in monster descriptions that indicates what stat the ability DCs are based off of.
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Being a GM takes some prep time, especially the first couple times you use a particular rule or monster. As you gain more experience as a GM. Right now, everything is new to you. The best thing you can do is take your time and dont sweat the details.
If you had asked about this prior to starting Runelords, I would've advised you to start with something smaller or shorter than a full AP.
-Skeld
I too chose Rise of the Runelords as my first attempt at GMing (we're still at it, just finished chapter 4!). I remember Erylium being pretty overwhelming at the time the party encountered her. Heck, I still find spellcasting NPCs quite hard to prepare!
The most useful thing I cam across in my attempt to make the prep for those kinds of enemies was something I stumbled on: someone had written out a round-by-round list of actions for one of the spellcaster enemies. Something like this:
Round 1: Cast X
Round 2: Cast Y
etc.
I found that incredibly useful for running spellcasters - saved me a bit of panicked thinking on the spot since I already had a plan for that enemy. Some alternatives can be handy in case the PCs do something weird ;)
Also, the players probably will never see the monster stat block, so mostly they will never know/care about what abilities the NPC had that weren't used in combat - I find it's ok to just ignore some abilities if they don't make a significant difference ;)
I find that the complete spell list for an NPC is largely irrelevant most fights end in a fairly small number of rounds so the NPC only gets to do a few things . This means the important spells/abilities are the ones that can be activated before combat or as Duiker suggests just use the most powerful spells usually they are the most powerful and should be cast quickly, it is rare that an NPC plans for multiple fights in one day leave that for the pc's.
After GM'ing for 20+ years I still find it useful if I have time to make a list of an NPC casters most likely first few spells if I have time as when I actually run the fight there are so many other things going on it is easy to forget your original plan.
Skills on NPCs have always been strange to me because quite often, only things like Perception,Stealth,Disable Device(pesky safehouses)Spellfract for IDing spells come into play. Craft-Basketweaving is pretty much just fluff.
Perhaps something for future aps is to do cut down skilll lists so that designers don't have to figure out where to cram those leftover points.
I also started GM'ing Pathfinder with RotR. In the beginning I made spell lists with only the relevant part of the spell descriptions and with the precise numbers for that NPC (so I calculated e.g. 1d6 per level before hand).
Now I got two approaches: When an enemy got a statblock in the book I use small postit page markers which I place close to the spell or feat I need some details on. Then I just write directly on the page marker. When an enemy is not directly in the book, I copy the statblock to a document and make small notes after each feat or spell that I need more info on and usually highlight (by making the background yellow) the stuff I think will be the most important.
When I get in doubt about a feat or spell which I only got few notes about, I only look it up if it's very important; otherwise, I'll just wing it and look it up after the game, so I hopefully get it right the next time. One thing which I find rather annoying is that the type of save for a spell is not stated before the DC in a statblock. Anyhow, just picking the one which feels right usually works (will for mind-related stuff, fort for sickness/health, and reflex for getting out of the way).
Play as a Summoner or Conjurer in a game for a while. It will get you used to juggling a spell caster and multiple monsters in one combat, but you won't have to worry about the rest of a GMs responsibilities.
Zookeeper casters are a great way to practice for eventually GMing.
I've found that, for me, the key thing is to have an idea of what the most likely actions any given monster are. As the monsters become more powerful, and particularly with spell-casters, they've got many options that they're not going to get to use. For example, here's a suggestion for Erylium:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2r13j?How-do-you-deal-with-Erylium#25
Rise of the Runelords is a good choice for your first GMing experience, as there's a wealth of useful information on these boards from other people who've played through it.
RotR was my first attempt at GMing Pathfinder and we're about to jump into book 5. Honestly we didn't know half of what we were doing when we started and now were more or less power gamers. Honestly use this AP as a practice run, learn from the mistakes made and the next AP you jump into run it using what you've learned and cultivated from this. If you are really serious about it here's a few things I suggest, not all of them are crucial to play but can really help:
- Create pawns, it's really easy. This guide will help you to that end.
http://rpghacker.com/rpg-hobby-games/diy-pathfinder-beginner-box-style-pawn s/
- Get a giant pad of grid paper and some markers, I pre-draw the maps to put some detail into them and cut them out and use sticky tact to stick em to the table as my players explore dungeons/locations but you can just as easily draw on the fly.
- If things get too easy for your players dont be afraid to apply templates to NPCs to spice up the difficulty, or if encounters are getting too difficult play down the monsters where possible. Player's should always feel like they are facing down extreme difficulties but giving them the feeling of impossibility will just make them not want to play.. unless you have an overzealous Fighter like we do.
- Your goal is NOT to kill your players, in an ideal situation your players are victorious to the end. To that end you should also show them that errors in tactics and poor play will get them killed. Ex:
In our game we had a sorcerer walk into a room with a stealthed boss who had created an illusion. Had the player stayed behind the Fighter/Cleric then I would have chosen one of them as my target but he was the clear choice. As a result I made a FR attack out of invis and killed him. The Fighter was the most upset about this tactical mishap, but none of them could blame me for killing that player because he messed up.
In essence your players should never feel like its you trying to kill them.
- Have fun and enjoy the fantastic adventure, the pathfinder APs are really great and if you have a solid group even a few mistakes won't bring it down if they are enjoying the story.