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 Alfndrate wrote:
You're exactly where my party stopped, and will be picking up this Sunday.

Some more filler for my spoiler

Spoiler:

The party has found the catacombs, and they're probably just going to investigate their first. One of the party members is in the town guard, so he respects and listens to Shalelu, or else the party would have run off to Thistletop as level 1 >_<

What experience track are you running them on? I'm assuming fast since you guys are playing very infrequently.

Two of our party didn't show up on time, so we decided to head into the catacombs. One joined not to much later, and we 5 manned the place when the GM had built it for 6. The fight in the summoning room took forever. Our GM could not have played it out any more intelligently then he did.

My character is now rocking a magic weapon.

 djones520 wrote:
Two of our party didn't show up on time, so we decided to head into the catacombs. One joined not to much later, and we 5 manned the place when the GM had built it for 6. The fight in the summoning room took forever. Our GM could not have played it out any more intelligently then he did.

My character is now rocking a magic weapon.

My players went to the summoning room first >_< as level 1, the Ranger dropped from a charging sinspawn, the party freaked, pulled him out, shut the doors, and booked it back to town. They rested, and I told them that they were to level up their characters. (Found out that the the fast track is the default for the game). They went back down in there as 2nd level characters, And it took them like 90 minutes to beat the Quasit, with all of her little tricks and at will invisiblity... It was rough on them. Then after that fight the cleric was out of heals, the party was at like less than half health (the rogue had 2 hp). The Rogue says, "screw it let's clear this place out". I'm not sure if your DM uses the Critical Hit and Critical Fumble decks, but they add an interesting twist to crits and fumbles.... later on, our poor gunslinger (musket master) was kissed by a Vargouille, and had 8 hours to live (would have died if they rested), and then was charged by a sinspawn, the sinspawn got a crit and hit for like 10 points of damage, and did 8 points of Dex damage with shot to the spinal cord... it was a brutal dungeon for the party... Everyone thought they were going to die, but no one did

I sent 3 of the party into the tunnel, and they killed a sinspawn and varghoul before they came back up. Then the whole group went it, and we cleaned the place out. We did the summoning room last. We went in as level 3, so it wasn't to bad. Our cleric was more then up to the task with the healing, and he even rocked pretty hard in melee, being the one who killed the quasit.

We're going to be starting Rise of the Runelords soon with a new (to us) GM. He's been playing with us for years, though. We're doing the 20 point buy method, which is significantly different from our historically 3rd edition method of 4d6, drop the lowest.

He's also really into role play versus roll play.

I'm looking forward to this campaign, actually.

 kronk wrote:
We're going to be starting Rise of the Runelords soon with a new (to us) GM. He's been playing with us for years, though. We're doing the 20 point buy method, which is significantly different from our historically 3rd edition method of 4d6, drop the lowest.

He's also really into role play versus roll play.

I'm looking forward to this campaign, actually.

We used the 20 point system as well. It's... quite differant.

I'll stop talking about events in the module now, don't wanna ruin it for you.

 djones520 wrote:

 kronk wrote:
We're going to be starting Rise of the Runelords soon with a new (to us) GM. He's been playing with us for years, though. We're doing the 20 point buy method, which is significantly different from our historically 3rd edition method of 4d6, drop the lowest.

He's also really into role play versus roll play.

I'm looking forward to this campaign, actually.

We used the 20 point system as well. It's... quite differant.

I'll stop talking about events in the module now, don't wanna ruin it for you.

As someone that has played Pathfinder Society, I wasn't a big fan of 20 point buy, so I bumped it up to 25 point buy. One of our players was sad because he, like me, tends to roll high on the stats, but he's taken on the cursed class of a Blade Bound Magus (Magus Archetype from Ultimate Magic). Every time we have a Blade Bound Magus in our party, they die just before they find their Black Blade, an intelligent weapon that they're linked to for the character's life... He almost died yesterday, but the stand in cleric managed to keep him alive (our normal cleric wasn't there and we couldn't find her character sheet, so I just used the pre-generated one from the Game Mastery Guide.).

And Kronk we can stop talking about events if you want, though personally I only know the events up to the Hook Mountain Massacre (book 3). The Skinsaw Murders probably contained my favorite location encounters I ever ran . By far one of the coolest plots of the book (so far) and coolest locations. As players, I can't wait for you two to get there

Nah, it's fine. I've just been ignoring any discussion of what a group is actually doing to avoid spoilers. I think I'm done with input to this thread, anyway.

Best of luck to the new Pathfinder players!

I started playing aswell. PFS mostly, but im working to get a home game. got 3 players so far and a GM. We will be running modules mostly.
The GM said though we have to play Tomb of horrors first for Ad&d

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I started playing aswell. PFS mostly, but im working to get a home game. got 3 players so far and a GM. We will be running modules mostly.
The GM said though we have to play Tomb of horrors first for Ad&d

Don't do it! You'll die D:

I just talked my GM into letting me drop my archetype and play a pure fighter. Turns out I'll be a better archer that way, then if I stuck with the archer archetype.

I've found that Archetypes can be good in the teens and beyond, but I'm losing out on a ton of benefits while I'm waiting to get there. I'd suggest only using them if your starting a character whose going to be level 10 or above. If your starting out fresh, just stick to the regular version of your class.

 djones520 wrote:
I just talked my GM into letting me drop my archetype and play a pure fighter. Turns out I'll be a better archer that way, then if I stuck with the archer archetype.

I've found that Archetypes can be good in the teens and beyond, but I'm losing out on a ton of benefits while I'm waiting to get there. I'd suggest only using them if your starting a character whose going to be level 10 or above. If your starting out fresh, just stick to the regular version of your class.

That's not always the case, the gunslinger in my game is the Musket Master archetype, and he's firing off bullets that do d12 vs touch AC as fast as my gunslinger without an archetype that uses a pistol.

My Heretic Inquisitor (based completely off of Gregor Eisenhorn) hasn't lost anything of note (I lost monster Lore for the most part), but I have an awesome stealth check, great Intimidate, and a few other things.

And the captain of my Inquisitor's ship is the Corsair archetype for fighters, and he's getting all of these nice benefits for his archetype.

But I don't know enough about the Archer archetype to comment on it sadly .

Fighter ones in general seem to be rather lack luster. Ranger don't seem so hot either. Those are the only ones I've really looked at in depth.

But in my case, I get better protection, and quicker solid use of a bow (lvl 6 I won't be provoking attacks of opportunity, as opposed to lvl 9), leading to less need of melee weapons and wasting time drawing them, etc...

We have a Fighter-Weapon Specialist (Composite Long Bow) from the Advanced Players Guide that does an insane amount of damage in our group.

Just started my Pathfinder game after 16 levels of D'n'D 4th.

I have to say, Pathfinder is refreshingly straightforward compared to higher level 4th. Higher level Pathfinder would probably be just as long to run a combat for, but probably not longer. My favourite part of it is how the system allows for a lot of different things to happen because players get a little more creative with it.

I still like a lot of the ideas in 4th, but I think it is best at heroic tier, which is a lot of the same problems that 3rd had.

 djones520 wrote:
I just talked my GM into letting me drop my archetype and play a pure fighter. Turns out I'll be a better archer that way, then if I stuck with the archer archetype.

I've found that Archetypes can be good in the teens and beyond, but I'm losing out on a ton of benefits while I'm waiting to get there. I'd suggest only using them if your starting a character whose going to be level 10 or above. If your starting out fresh, just stick to the regular version of your class.

My Persistance inquisitor is way better then if i chose a domain.
And have you seen a weapon master monk?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
I just talked my GM into letting me drop my archetype and play a pure fighter. Turns out I'll be a better archer that way, then if I stuck with the archer archetype.

I've found that Archetypes can be good in the teens and beyond, but I'm losing out on a ton of benefits while I'm waiting to get there. I'd suggest only using them if your starting a character whose going to be level 10 or above. If your starting out fresh, just stick to the regular version of your class.

My Persistance inquisitor is way better then if i chose a domain.
And have you seen a weapon master monk?

>_> I don't like to kill characters, but I will kill monks on sight...

Also I'm loving my Heretical Inquisitor... Blistering Invective is the best spell ever

Thought I'd share these. My GM hired Amparan Art Studio's to draw characters up for us.

My main character.



I'm playing this guy as well, but will be handing him over to a friend when he returns from a deployment.



This was a scene he had drawn up of the Festival. He's having the Cathedral of Wrath drawn next.

That's awesome!

Super sweet!

Wow my thread keeps going!

VERY nice illustrations! I have been contemplating having some custom art done myself.

As someone that has played Pathfinder Society, I wasn't a big fan of 20 point buy, so I bumped it up to 25 point buy. One of our players was sad because he, like me, tends to roll high on the stats, but he's taken on the cursed class of a Blade Bound Magus (Magus Archetype from Ultimate Magic). Every time we have a Blade Bound Magus in our party, they die just before they find their Black Blade, an intelligent weapon that they're linked to for the character's life... He almost died yesterday, but the stand in cleric managed to keep him alive (our normal cleric wasn't there and we couldn't find her character sheet, so I just used the pre-generated one from the Game Mastery Guide.).

The Magi gets the Black Blade at level 3, right? They can't make it to level 3?! Coincidentally I am wanting to play a Blade Bound, as an alt PFS PC or in a home campaign--just need to find a home campaign. The Blade Bound is of course based on Elric, author Michael Moorcock's famous anti-hero. I am reading Elric of Melnibone for the third time (first time in a while) and it's quite good. (I was afraid it hadn't aged well--no problems there.) I wanted to indulge a retro-fantasy kick, but I would say it's timeless--I highly recommend it!

Back to Pathfinder. I'm GMing it for the first time at a convention*. I have immersed myself in the module and have fleshed it out, so hopefully that will help when dealing with PC actions. I realize you can't prepare for the "unexpected"--although handling the unexpected is one of the strengths of RPGs. I will work on being flexible during the session.

I have pulled out the stops a bit and have affixed the printed map on posterboard. Then I cut sections of the posterboard so that rooms are revealed as PCs explore them. Nothing revolutionary or anything, but I think it looks good. In the future I think I would make a digital cut-out of each room, then print each room on cardstock. I would possibly get the map pieces laminated depending on the expense.

I've also got some minis for the monsters and NPCs. Lovin' Reaper Minis! (I've mostly had all GW up till now.) However, I avoided some expense by printing some tokens for creatures. I plan to pick up the Bestiary Box as you are looking at less than $0.07 a "mini."

Happy role-playing!

* Just in case you are in Western NC/SC, the con is MACE West, Gateway Hotel, Hickory, NC: MACE West. I will be running PFS #3-21 Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment at 8am Sat.

Storming Thistletop right now... it's redonkulous. Everytime we drop something, something even harder shows up.

Cleared out the first level. Killed the chieftan. That was an interesting fight.

 djones520 wrote:
Storming Thistletop right now... it's redonkulous. Everytime we drop something, something even harder shows up.

Cleared out the first level. Killed the chieftan. That was an interesting fight.

I loved running that fight... It's been about a month since we've been able to play, but I loved running Thistletop, and I agree there is a large ramp up in the difficulty.

Have you guys come across the demon she's trying to release?

I had a good time at the convention I mentioned above.

Saturday morning when the time came for my GM debut, not enough players showed. A friend who had joined me and I jumped into another game as players. We also played in the afternoon.

That evening we talked to a girl at a board game who said she'd be interested in playing my Pathfinder session Sun. morning, and she might be able to bring others.

Sunday morning rolled around and we waited... and waited... needing her to show up. Finally she arrived and a friend of hers joined shortly thereafter. We were go! And Mike Welham, RPG Superstar 2012, who had GMed for us Sat. afternoon, jumped in.

I think it went well. They were complimentary about the posterboard map I made and the miniatures I'd painted up. We had some PCs fall unconscious but no deaths. My friend got to debut his elven wizard.

I played a few sessions with a guy whose PC was a halfling druid who rode a rhino named Sausage (plus he had a rabbit named Tater, etc.). Which leads me to my question for you:

How do you feel about humorous characters in relatively serious games?

I feel that it affects my suspension of disbelief a bit, but then I kick myself for taking it too seriously. It should be noted that the player was quite sharp and knowledgeable about the game.

-- Z

A lot of it depends on the player too... I'm currently playing in a Skull and Shackles game and we've got a goblin firebomber in our party... As evil as could be... except that he was in love with my rogue... sweetest he could be to her, and would protect her as best as he could... Also would go on and on and on about the "cookie" it was the word he used, but he insinuated that he would sneak into my character's quarters every night and climb into my hammock... It was awkward...

In another game, he plays a Warforged that only speaks in song lyrics... Like real life song lyrics... It's supposed to be a "gllitch" in his creation, but no one minds... it just becomes a little rough when the player, who has a massive wealth of lyrical knowledge becomes constrained when he's trying to explain something to the party.

It's a weird thing to get used to..

Should be finishing The Serpent's Skull campaign tonight. It's been a very fun campaign. We're all about 15-16th level, which is a shame as I really wanted to get to 9th level spells!

Anyhow, either we all die tonight, or we're triumphant. After last week, there is no escaping this show-down. I'll avoid spoilers, but this is going to be one wild ride. I'm bringing beer, I think. :-)

 Alfndrate wrote:
A lot of it depends on the player too... I'm currently playing in a Skull and Shackles game and we've got a goblin firebomber in our party... As evil as could be... except that he was in love with my rogue... sweetest he could be to her, and would protect her as best as he could... Also would go on and on and on about the "cookie" it was the word he used, but he insinuated that he would sneak into my character's quarters every night and climb into my hammock... It was awkward...

In another game, he plays a Warforged that only speaks in song lyrics... Like real life song lyrics... It's supposed to be a "gllitch" in his creation, but no one minds... it just becomes a little rough when the player, who has a massive wealth of lyrical knowledge becomes constrained when he's trying to explain something to the party.

It's a weird thing to get used to..

I think that would wear me out, particularly the Warforged.

At the convention there was also a girl playing a half-orc bard who spoke in broken "Common." I asked her what her Int was. "13--she just acts stupid because people expect half-orcs to be stupid." That was one thing, but in one session she made a decision that could have cost us the mission. That frosted my friend a bit. In the end it didn't matter.

In the end, you have to deal with unusual "characters" (both real and imaginary) if you are into role-playing. Sometimes they add some unexpected verve to the proceedings.

-- Z

We have a player that REALLY wants to play a Centaur barbarian in our next campaign. I tried to point him towards something else. The GM of the campaign finally said "Play what you want, but just know that there are rooms that you can't enter, and that goblins will have no problems hitting you (small versus large to-hit bonuses)." He's an old school GM that won't pull punches, so I'm thinking my buddy is in for a frustrating time.

The reason I tried to talk him out of it is that his last 2 characters were disappointing to him in terms of "helpful" to the party. I think he's really going to hate playing a Large creature that has no 10' reach and uses medium sized weapon damage. Ah well, he's got to learn the hard way.

 kronk wrote:
We have a player that REALLY wants to play a Centaur barbarian in our next campaign. I tried to point him towards something else. The GM of the campaign finally said "Play what you want, but just know that there are rooms that you can't enter, and that goblins will have no problems hitting you (small versus large to-hit bonuses)." He's an old school GM that won't pull punches, so I'm thinking my buddy is in for a frustrating time.

The reason I tried to talk him out of it is that his last 2 characters were disappointing to him in terms of "helpful" to the party. I think he's really going to hate playing a Large creature that has no 10' reach and uses medium sized weapon damage. Ah well, he's got to learn the hard way.

I just can't wrap my head around this sort of approach/attitude at all. Why in the world would a GM want to go forward knowing one or more of their players is likely going to be frustrated? It seems like you should either constrict character creation to match the game you're going to run, or if you have open-ended character creation flex your game to match the characters you get.

"I'm going to do what I'm gonna do, and if you don't bring something for that you're gonna have a bad time" just feels like a plain degenerate approach to running a game that's almost sure to create bad play experiences. This goes doubly true if you're dealing with a player you know has had trouble really making the game work for them in the past. The GM should be doing everything in their power to make sure that player expectations are in line with experiences that they can reasonable expect the game will produce, in addition to making sure those expectations are positive.

What in the world is the upside to going forward like this?

Chongara wrote:
The GM should be doing everything in their power to make sure that player expectations are in line with experiences that they can reasonable expect the game will produce,

He has. Willful ignorance on a player's part cannot be discounted.

Honestly, sometimes a person has to find out the hard way after being warned they'll have issues.

His character will still contribute and I'm sure will be fun to role play encounters. But there will be times that he'll struggle. I think he isn't going to like it, but it's his choice.

All GMs (at least the ones that I've met and played with/under) give players enough freedom to be able to do what they want to do. They offer insight when a character is looking like it's going to be extremely powerful to tone it down and bring it in line with the other characters, and they often give you just enough rope to let you experiment/hang yourself.

In the last game I DM'd, I had a rogue and a Barbarian that would shred everything in sight. They told me flat out they wanted to kill as much as they possibly could. I told them that this wasn't that kind of adventure, but I could accommodate them somewhat. After a random encounter in which I rolled openly in front of the party, they had failed enough survival checks and lost their way in a woods, came upon a clutch of dragon eggs... Mama came home... they killed a CR 12 dragon in a few rounds with 0 deaths... They were level 6... At that point I showed them that they weren't in control of the game, and things became more puzzle related, and less combat oriented and started to fit with the scope of the game... The rogue died in a series of bad rolls and getting curb stomped by a few traps and a combat in which they should have rested. He snuck up on an enemy, critted his sneak attack and killed the thing, the enemy's brother critted him, and killed the rogue... The Barbarian, the rogue's brother ran in critted the remaining enemy and combat was over... The party was cheap and the rogue took a reincarnation spell instead of a resurrection spell... Got a decent roll and came back. The next encounter the party got in was against a spell caster and her body guards. The spellcaster drained life and health from the barbarian while the party was in combat with the body guards. The barbarian drops unconscious, the wizard puts of a flame wall, setting the building on fire, and the barbarian dies... He doesn't roll well on the reincarnate table and comes back as a goblin... He quit the game right then and there...

He hasn't been invited back since... He asked me when we were playing our next game (we had since started a new campaign) and I told him that he wasn't invited because he stormed off when the dice didn't go his way, and frankly I didn't mind being friends with him, but he wasn't allowed back at my table....


As to the singing warforged... I'm not playing in that game, but the party likes the gimmick, and it's far from a serious game.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 kronk wrote:

Chongara wrote:
The GM should be doing everything in their power to make sure that player expectations are in line with experiences that they can reasonable expect the game will produce,

He has. Willful ignorance on a player's part cannot be discounted.

Honestly, sometimes a person has to find out the hard way after being warned they'll have issues.

His character will still contribute and I'm sure will be fun to role play encounters. But there will be times that he'll struggle. I think he isn't going to like it, but it's his choice.

Exactly as Kronk says... I hope my anecdote relates this better than it probably does