Category: Pathfinder

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–22: Out of Anarchy

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Product-Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–22: Out of Anarchy

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– $ 4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9cu1?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-6-22-Out-of-Anarchy

TL; DR– Too many ingredients spoil the soup! 78%

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Basics-The society never leaves a man behind-they just might take five years to help him…and it might be someone’s pet project as well…. In this adventure, the Pathfinder Society sends in new recruits to find a long forgotten Pathfinder in a blockagged town in Cheliax.  There, the young Pathfinder have to navigate several different rival groups, find their target, and get him out…all while not starting the third burning of the city!  This adventure is designed for level first to fifth level characters.

Mechanics or Crunch-What’s here is good, but there is just too much here!  This adventure has some serious roleplaying opportunities (which is great) and some serious combats (there are over four!).  That is too much for a four-hour time slot!  Each part isn’t bad as the roleplaying characters get some time to shine and the combat monkeys can take center stage at different points, but in a four hour adventure slot at a con, this adventure simply is too long.  GMs will have to drop part to keep this one going fast enough to cover all the ground. 3.5/5

 

Theme or Fluff-So, not only is there a lot of mechanics, there is also a lot of story to cover as well.  It’s not bad, but it’s too much!  First is a missing Pathfinder.  Then,there are four factions to contend with.  Next is trying to get out and get help.  And lastly is dealing with other enemy groups in the city.  That is too much talking!  I love good roleplaying in a Pathfinder Society adventure, but with so much going on here, it’s hard to make all the pieces shine.  If you don’t ham up each group, then players don’t notice them.  If you do, then it takes too much precious time that you won’t have for the fights and talking to the different groups later.  It’s too difficult a balance to walk-especially for a 1-5 level, four-hour scenario. 4/5

Execution-Overall, this adventure has the Paizo polish.  Lot’s of pictures to help describe things, lot’s of included information to make running this easy, and a decent amount of breaks to make the text flow better.  However, the organization isn’t perfect.  This adventure is about 40 pages!  Some pages are copies of Bestiary books to help run the adventure, but I would like a few more breaks and a table or two detailing how different groups interact with the players at different locations.  Those little things would help speed up the pace of this adventure and possibly get it out close to the four-hour runtime. 4.25/5

Summary-If I had eight hours with a single table, this would be a great adventure to put them through.  They could really dig deep into the roleplaying, and the combat-crunch players would have an absolute blast as well by being able to paint the town red with their enemies.  But, this is written with the goal of four hours.  For that time limit, there is just too much here!  It’s written well enough, but will all the twists, turns, and fights, you CAN’T get this adventure done and be on time.  And any adventure I can’t run in a time slot at a con, written for a con, isn’t one I run a second time. 78%

Daily Punch 10-28-15 Critically Fast feat for Pathfinder

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I have a bunch of friends who hate when they roll a 20 for initiative.  I’d like to find a way to reward them for doing well.  Let’s see what we can do.

Critically Fast 

You move so fast that it’s a blur to the eye and the senses.

Benefit: When you roll initiative and roll a result that is within the critical range of a weapon you are currently wielding (use a natural 20 if you are not wielding a weapon), and you are the first to act in the round, you gain an extra standard action for only that first round of combat.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 10-15-15 Haphazard Slash feat for Pathfinder

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Haphazard Slash (Combat)

Sometimes you just need to get that last hit in there to not die!  It might not be pretty, it might not even be graceful, but if the other guy is dead, later in the bar it can be the most amazing attack ever swung!

Benefit: When you make a full attack, you can gain one extra attack at your lowest attack bonus  – 5.  This may result in a negative attack bonus.  Add all other modifiers to this last attack as normal.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 10-05-15 Improved Raging Blood feat for Pathfinder

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You can dabble as a bloodrager from a sorcerer, but let’s build on that a bit.

Improved Raging Blood

You strengthen the rage in your soul, fueling the fire in your heart.

Prerequisite: Raging Blood, 8th level

Benefit: You gain a 4th level bloodline power from the same bloodline as the one you selected when you took Raging Blood.  Increase the number of rounds you can be in a bloodrage by 2, and the bloodrage you can enter is exactly the same as a normal Bloodrager with all the same penalties and bonuses provided by the bloodrage ability.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 9-17-15 Schooled Sorcerer archetype for the arcanist in Pathfinder

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Just finished the Pathfinder book Advanced Class Guide, and I have a few ideas I’d like to see from it.  Here is one for the Arcanist.

Schooled Sorcerer (Archetype)

You went to school like all other wizards did.  You hit the books hard, learned from the masters, and showed great promise, but you also had something else up your sleeve-you were a closet sorcerer.  You cultivated the talents in your own blood along side your own class-based studied.

Dual Focus(Su):  At 1st level, a schooled Sorcerer chooses a school of magic and a bloodline.  The arcanist also chooses either one to gain at a slower path.  For the one progressing at a normal pace, the Schooled Sorcerer gains all the benefits as described for that school or bloodline.  For the chosen ability gained at a slower pace, the Schooled Sorcerer gains the benefits of the school or bloodline as a wizard or sorcerer four levels lower than his or her actual level.

The archanist must select two additional schools of magic as opposition schools and has all the penalties of casting and preparing spells from those schools as a wizard would.  This ability replaces the arcanist exploits gained at 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th level.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 9-11-15 Force the Blade feat for Pathfinder

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I love Power Attack, but I’d like to go in reverse.  Let’s see what we can do.

Force the Blade (Combat)

You grit your teeth and force the blade through armor sacrificing damage for accuracy.

Prerequisites: Str 13, base attack bonus +1.

Benefit: You can choose to take a –2 penalty on all melee damage rolls to gain a +1 bonus on all melee attack rolls. This penalty to damage decreased to a -1 penalty if you are making an attack with a two-handed weapon, a one handed weapon using two hands, or a primary natural weapon that adds 1-1/2 times your Strength modifier on damage rolls.

When your base attack bonus reaches +4, and every 4 points thereafter, the penalty increases by –2 to damage and the bonus to attack increases by +1.  These bonuses and penalties are modified for two handed weapons as above.

You must choose to use this feat before making an attack roll, and its effects last until your next turn. The bonus to hit does not apply to effects that do not deal hit point damage or non-weapon damage rolls.

Thoughts?

Daily Punch 9-10-15 Many Strikes, One Wound feat for Pathfinder

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I like Clustered Shots for Pathfinder.  We can do that in melee too!

Many Strikes, One Wound (Combat)

You’ve learned to strike hard and deep instead of the sloppy cuts of an amateur.

Prerequisites: Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, base attack bonus +6.

Benefit: When you use a full-attack action to make multiple melee weapon attacks against the same opponent, total the damage from all hits before applying that opponent’s damage reduction.

Special: If the massive damage optional rule is being used, that rule applies if the total damage you deal with this feat is equal to or exceeds half the opponent’s full normal hit points (minimum 50 points of damage).

Thoughts?

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Pathfinder Player Companion: Familiar Folio

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Product– Familiar Folio

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo Publishing

Price– $12.99 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9au2?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Familiar-Folio

TL; DR– Useful if you already like familiars.  88%

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Basics-Every great wizard has a familiar, why can’t you!  Familiar Folio is a Pathfinder Player Companion book discussing familiars, how to add them to new characters, and how to improve them.  Like every other book in the companion line, it adds new feats, archetypes, items, spells, and other options for players and their familiar’s alike.

Mechanics or Crunch-This book is amazing, if you already like familiars.  This book won’t really win you over if you didn’t already have a character concept for familiars.  Every option added in this book is great, but familiars tend to work just like alchemy in Pathfinder, great if you love them, bad if you don’t.  After seeing what’s here, I can say that if I played a character who wanted a familiar, I’d absolutely want what’s here.  However, if I played someone who had the options of not having one vs having one, I don’t think this book would win me over to the familiar side, even with a mascot (familiar). 4.25/5

Theme or Fluff- This book discusses some of the story aspects of familiars, but it doesn’t really go out of its way to add them in deeper.  The book covers topics like how to roleplay with them, and it does have a bit of how different locations in Golarion would use familiars and the types in those locations. But, it’s not much beyond that.  This is primarily a crunch heavy book.  4/5

Execution-This was put out by Paizo.  For anything you can say about Paizo, the unarguable truth is they know how to make a book well.  It’s got great art, great layout, and was a pleasure to read.  5/5

Summary-The simple question to this book is, “Will you use or want a familiar?”  If you said yes, then you get this book.  If not, then don’t.  Like I said with alchemy, familiars are extremely divisive.  You love your familiar, then you will love this book.  If you couldn’t care less about your wizard friend’s odd toad in his pocket, then you don’t want this book.  What this book is is well written, a bit light on story, but overall well put together.  Just decide if you want a tag along before you begin.  88%