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12:43 AM
@MikeQ I'm picturing Stallone rolling buckets of dice, drawing and erasing a battle mat hundreds of times, running uphill with the Pathfinder Core Rules strapped to his back...
 
If someone piled all the Pathfinder 1e publications, how tall and how heavy would the pile be?
(Is that a valid question for the site?)
 
Scope matters. Mainline "Pathfinder Roleplaying Game" hardcovers? Player Companions? Adventures, both in Adventure Paths and out? Pathfinder Campaign Setting?
 
Yes, all official paizo publications that have existed in print.
No, this is not meant to solve a practical problem
 
@MikeQ My next dungeon of ridiculous traps is definitely going to have one that drops a pile of Pathfinder books out of the ceiling.
(Is "how much damage would that do?" a valid question for the site?)
 
> The fourth wall collapses. Make a Reflex save.
5
 
1:01 AM
@MikeQ haha!
We dont' have a 4th wall in my games.
"Everyone make Perception checks, to see what stage you notice the upcoming ambush" ...
 
@MarkWells In a sense that is what I'm doing - Researching maps and modules that fit my style, going through the Pathfinder source material and devising a coherent set of house rules, etc. And since I don't expect a consistent player group, there's the issue of how to communicate all this effectively.
 
GM: Narrates cut-scene of Villains in their lair, plotting Evil Schemes. "So if we flood the mines, it will advance our plans? Send minions to build the dams!" ... "So, players, you hear vague rumours of 'minions' moving machinery somewhere upstream of the mines ..."
I have a consistent player-group. Does make a big difference. We all know (after 20+ yrs) how we all play
 
 
1 hour later…
2:08 AM
0
Q: What qualifies as an "actual problem"?

Amethyst WizardIt was put to me by moderators that my question did not pose an actual problem, and when I did pose a problem statement, it was characterized as "doesn't seem like a real problem" and "disingenuous". Can I recover a single arrow? Is a "real problem" required for a question? And what qualifies...

 
2:45 AM
One thing that I've always wondered is why do small characters get an attack roll bonus. The ac bonus, stealth bonus and strength penalty all make sense. Smaller targets are harder to hit, when an object is below your line of sight you are less likely not notice it right away, and a smaller frame means less muscle mass. On the other hand, I don't see the logic for smaller characters having higher accuracy.
 
It's more of a perspective thing
for them attacking one of their own is "normal", but attacking a bigger target, is easier :)
 
It also balances out the AC bonus when fighting another small creature.
 
as someone who regularly used her size to her advantage fighting teachers and the like back in junior high I can say fighting a target larger than you lowers accuracy not raises it
then again I only ever fought people larger than me so that may be a moot point
ah those were the days when I could beat the snot out of people who irritated me and get off with nothing but a slap on the wrist
but that's beside the point
 
is this enough lakes for this country to be known as the Lakes region?
or do I need to add more? xD
 
well pathfinder isn't the most balanced game in the world cough summoner cough cough
it's a pretty sad sight when a base class gets banned from organized play
 
2:56 AM
was the summoner in pathfinder OP?
as little as I know of PF, I thought it was underwhelming... but never really tried it
 
never played it but most people consider it poorly balanced
it's a problem with a lot of the more customizable classes
they have the potential to be either really weak or really op
look up sythesist summoner some time
i think that archetype is a large part of why it's considered poorly balanced
well gotta jet ttyl
 
It's unbalanced for a few reasons, first it throws off spell progressions quite a bit, getting access to high level spells at lower levels, which has consequences for item crafting
Second, while it will never outperform the magical game-breaking potential of a tier 1 caster, a summoner's player can easily optimize their eidolon to outperform in the frontlines compared to a dedicated martial character
 
so it's a best of two worlds situation?
 
Best of the martial world (except for ranged or some specialized builds), so-so of the summoning world.
Personally I ban APG summoner (but allow unchained summoner) for thematic reasons, in that the eidolon is meant to be some mystic otherworldly creature, but everyone just turns it into "thing with too many claws"
 
3:20 AM
I like the idea of having a mystic overworldy being helping you
 
The unchained summoner does that a bit better. It fixes the spell progressions to match that of other 2/3 casters, and it packages the eidolon choices to themes (such as angel or elemental) with fewer build choices or moving parts
 
I remember reading the description, and thinking: Hey I could make something interesting! I tried to make a "wind based" thing, half avian half man, with wind powers or whatever. Then I got to the descriptions and it was super weird and underwhelming, If i didn't make it cuadruped and with teeth everywhere it was stupidly underwhelming
 
Correct. Funnily enough the "best" way to build a summoner is to optimize them as a caster, and not optimize their eidolon. Having played an optimized eidolon (with a summoner who tagged along for buff spells), it was really really boring.
 
3:35 AM
@Helwar All it needs is more lakes than the other regions.
 
@BESW Yeah......................
haha
 
Or it's the least lakey part of the area, but some guy named Lake owns it.
Or it was named for Princess Lakes, who financed farming in the area.
 
haha
It takes a minute for Inkarnate to save...
 
3:57 AM
@Helwar I dunno, I think it needs 1 more lake. Otherwise it's just not lakey enough.
 
It kinda has a few more now. It looks like the picture you put as an example of how to make your map not look like a real place
also it has a lot of mountains now... lots of empty space where i didn't know what to fit in there... it's either a forest or a mountain now. Or a forest on the mountains.
 
It's some sort of green/red land for sure. Maybe a Gruul Guildgate.
 
Just had to run an emergency one-shot for my group because the DM was sick
It was an "Isekai", but the party was Transported to Another Place in Their World, where they fought a demon incursion that concluded in them defeating Iisk, a demon "foot soldier" who collected the legs of all his victims.
Boss fight involved him throwing reanimated undead legs because the party managed to lock him down with Sentinel and Polearm Master
 
It must have cost them a leg and a leg
 
They asked me if the tokens were pairs of legs or just single legs.
"The ones on the left are left legs and the ones on the right are right legs."
I will never stop hearing "There's something afoot" puns.
They're STILL going in Discord
I did this to myself.
 
4:15 AM
They are merely pulling your leg after going toe-to-toe with a demon
 
well, you clearly wanted that, so I call the pun-fest a success?
 
It only turned into a punfest because the encounter didn't really stand a chance.
Aside from the opening surprise attack where the demon busted out of the barn and nearly took out two players and the moment when he hid in the debris and got a surprise opportunity attack, the fight was fairly safe.
So it just resorted to Leg jokes
They had 1 hour to make characters. I'm very proud of them.
It was like a Deadly x2 encounter
I was saving it for if they just rolled through everything.
They did.
:)
I had to remind them after they'd cast two Fireballs into the barn that there were CHILDREN HIDING IN THERE, but no kids were killed in the making of that one-shot.
But man, did they almost not have enough potions.
I don't know how to describe the emotion, but how is a group supposed to feel with the Long-term Madness table makes you forget your backstory, when you don't have one?
 
Perhaps they gain a fake backstory?
 
It's like a "Huh." with a period after it, I feel.
That would be a good way to turn it around.
We just kind of hand-waved it.
@MikeQ I guess we could do it like this:
 
Or, slightly more coherently, they've suddenly remembered their backstory, and are aware that they've suffered amnesia up until now
 
4:26 AM
You gain the backstory: "TACTLESS ELF FIGHTER FROM A HALFWAY HOUSE WHO UNWITTINGLY MISUSES WORDS ALL THE BLOODY TIME"
I can't expect someone to make that up on the fly in the middle of play
Man, I forgot how good this site is
 
It's called improv and the DM has to do it whenever the PCs interrogate a random barkeep
 
Oh, for ME to invent it on the spot?
I thought you meant for them.
That would be a good way to do it.
You suddenly remember that you've been a DISRUPTIVE HALFLING CLERIC FROM AN EXTREMIST TEMPLE WHO IS DOWNRIGHT RACIST TOWARDS LIVING SKELETONS this whole time.
 
 
3 hours later…
7:37 AM
lol
 
8:36 AM
2
Q: Can a multiclassed bard/druid use the Bardic Inspiration feature while in Wild Shape?

Astro MenuisixI’m playing a multiclassed 6th-level bard/2nd-level druid. Could I still use the Bardic Inspiration feature while in Wild Shape? I looked at the rules; I think technically you can, because all you have to do to use these features is music. So, I can’t see how being a beast would prevent me from ...

 
8:51 AM
An Unrecognizable Sports Legend by John Erwin: This definitely not Tony Hawk character is a free background for Troika! RPG.
 
 
1 hour later…
9:54 AM
0
Q: Mobile site repeatedly asks me to join

Stop Being EvilEarlier today I was accessing SE on my iPhone X via the app, and when I tried to access RPG Meta, the app told me I wasn't joined on the site (!?) and asked if I wanted to join. It did this every time I opened a question to view. It doesn't do this with the main site. Is anyone else experienci...

 
 
2 hours later…
11:38 AM
4
Q: Can a character with the Actor feat mimic speech they heard before they learned the feat?

M. VienneauThe Actor feat (PHB, p. 165) says: You can mimic the speech of another person or the sounds made by other creatures. You must have heard the person speaking. or heard the creature make the sound, for at least 1 minute. If a player learns this feat at 8th level, can they mimic speech the...

 
 
1 hour later…
12:44 PM
@HotRPGQuestions this but on a bear
 
 
3 hours later…
3:54 PM
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, pattern-matching email in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (262): How can I let my PCs create new spells in a balanced and fair way? by mairan mundy on rpg.SE
 
 
2 hours later…
5:43 PM
Grammarly doesn't agree with my use of Acadæmia for both singular and plural... what would be the plural of Acadæmia... Acadæmii?
Acadæmies?
 
What are you trying to refer to? Multiple academics?
Or is it the æsc it has a problem with?
 
6:00 PM
I used a fancy name and a fancy letter (the ae thingy) to name the magic schools in my world
grammarly is upset about me using Acadaemia as a plural, and I found it funny, that's all :P
I guess technically it would be Acadaemies? but I don't care enough. It's just that, of all the possible things for Grammarly to complain within a text that references magical races and invented places, it complains about what's a plural and what not
 
6:37 PM
@Helwar Acadæmiapodes.
 
@Axoren Look no further than that!
 
I feel like if you make it wrong on purpose, you can just say "This word's root is in a dialect of Underuncommon where plurals don't exist."
"Damn, I only speak Underultrarare."
 
haha
 
 
2 hours later…
8:24 PM
3
Q: What does multiple castings of Arcane Lock on a door actually do?

ET got homeIf you cast Arcane Lock twice on a door, would the second spell take effect after the first one is suppressed? I realise the effects do not stack but if two spells are active on a creature/object and one is suppressed the other is still active. The way I see it is that if a door has two Arcan...

7
Q: Can Enlarge/reduce and catapult be combined to hurl boulders?

Kryštof VondráčekOne of my players is constantly bugging me about using Enlarge/Reduce to reduce a boulder to a smaller size and then hurl it via the spell Catapult, cancel the concentration on Enlarge/Reduce before the impact and let the enemy be smashed by a much bigger one. Does it work like that?

 
9:19 PM
Only sixteen hours left on Kickstarter: Snow and Salt: Monsters from the Taiga & Mangrove by Wheels within Wheels. Two anthology zines of monsters intimately tied to their biome. Part of the SWORD DREAM.
 
Man, Tensor's Transformation not working on fists but working on improvised weapons is weird.
You get really buff and punch someone for 1+STR damage vs. hitting them in the face with a cup and doing 1d4+2d12+STR.
 
9:35 PM
@BESW I love this :D
 
9:49 PM
Man, though. Is wearing Plate Armor worth it on a Tensor's Transformation wizard when Mage Armor has the same maximum? Difference is it can't be magic full plate or otherwise special plate.
That stuff usually isn't Wizard dibs. A Tensor's wizard would probably be a Dex fighter using two Shortswords to get 3 attacks total.
Man, a wizard focusing on Yoga training to hit 20 Dex before hitting 20 Int. Feels wrong.
 
In 4e, you could add the better of Dex or Int to your AC. Made it so much easier to do outside-the-box builds.
Same with Fort (Str/Con), Ref (Dex/Int), and Will (Wis/Cha).
No more agonizing over ability points spends just to boost defenses.
 
10:05 PM
@Axoren It takes longer to put heavy armor on than the spell actually lasts. When asked about why heavy armor proficiency was even included in the spell, Mearls basically said there was no reason not to include it, rather than any expectation it would be used (IIRC).
in 5e at least
@Axoren Huh? Unarmed strikes are "weapon attacks" (and "melee weapon attacks"), just not "attacks with a [melee] weapon".
 
@V2Blast Are they? I think you might be confusing older editions.
I remember being told the opposite.
 
Yes. I've never played older editions, only 5e.
Pretty sure we have several questions about it on RPG.SE.
It's also in the Sage Advice Compendium.
that said, you wouldn't have advantage on the attack when attacking with a non-weapon (whether unarmed strike or improvised weapon).
 
I'm gonna go investigate that right now. I remember reading an errata that said Unarmed Strikes aren't weapons.
 
37
Q: Is an Unarmed Strike considered a Weapon attack?

CadaranFor the purposes of the fighter Battle Master archetype, whenever a maneuver calls for a "weapon attack" does that include an unarmed strike?

@Axoren That is correct.
They are "melee weapon attacks" that don't involve weapons.
2
Q: Do unarmed strikes count as attacks with "weapons" for purposes of features like Enlarge/Reduce and Brute Force?

FallapedeAccording to this tweet by Jeremy Crawford: Unarmed strikes have always been weapon attacks. Here's where the confusion comes in: your unarmed strike (fist, elbow, knee, butt, etc.) is not considered by the rules to be a weapon the way a longsword is a weapon. But the rules let you make unarm...

Also:
15
Q: What is the fallout of unarmed strikes no longer being weapons?

GMNoobIn the latest errata for the D&D 5.0 PHB, unarmed strikes apparently ceased to count as weapons, being something you use instead of weapons: Equipment Weapons (p. 149). Unarmed strike doesn't belong on the weapon table. Combat Melee Attacks (p. 195). The rule on unarmed strikes...

 
Okay, so when a rule says "weapon attack", unarmed strike counts?
So, Tenser's grants unarmed Strikes 2d12?
I'm trying to consolidate all those Q's and Q's right now.
Like, the Sage Advice compendium made my understanding even worse. They insist that your body isn't a weapon and that melee weapon attacks are attacks with a melee weapon, but then they say unarmed strikes are melee weapon attacks.
I think they just need to come out and say that your body is a weapon.
It only takes a quick glance at a muscular Orc to see he's packing some big guns.
 
10:20 PM
They are melee weapon attacks made using a non-weapon.
All attacks are either melee or ranged attacks, and all attacks (with 2 exceptions) are either weapon attacks or spell attacks. (The 2 exceptions are grapples and shoves, which are described as "special melee attacks".)
 
The only thing I can see this affecting is that they don't want you casting Holy Weapon on your bare hands.
Since the spell can't target things that aren't a weapon.
I guess this avoids the situation where a Tackle isn't a Punch, so your Unarmed Strike committed with your Chest isn't enchanted but your Fist is.
And then there's all that complications of does Holy Weapon enchant the whole body
This is probably for the best, but it's really awkward definition dancing
 
10:34 PM
Looking for the user jgn, but apparently they changed their name, does anyone know the current name?
 
@Akixkisu pwi
 
@Someone_Evil thanks :)
 
10:47 PM
I personally like how Shadow of the Demon Lord did this:
Once you empty your quiver of five arrows, you still have arrows until you crit fail to shoot. Then, you must refill your quiver from your backpack during combat or have no ammunition to shoot with until you get more. In that system, crit failing is rolling a dice total of 0 or less, which is only possible with really low rolls on the d20 and getting hit with a really high d6 penalty from banes.
 
@BESW I miss this
@Axoren I've seen this done on CR... never second-guessed it
 
Honestly, I asked a question before to figure out how much a custom magic item would be for a long-running campaign. Apparently the cost of "as many arrows as you'd ever need to cast" is about 150 gp.
7
Q: How many arrows is an archer expected to fire by the end of the Tyranny of Dragons pair of adventures?

AxorenTyranny of Dragons spans two supplements: Hoard of the Dragon Queen Rise of Tiamat If an archer was expected to buy all of their arrows up front, what is a reasonable estimate of how many arrows they would need throughout the coarse of a full Tyranny of Dragons campaign? Assume that we are n...

So I don't find the need to track ammunition to be even worth it.
If they buy at least one quiver full, they have arrows for life.
Enchanted arrows? Normal rules.
Painted arrows? Quiver full, lifetime supply.
 
@Axoren Where are you storing your 3,000 arrows?
 
@BlackSpike Across time and space. The "I go to the store and buy more packs of arrows for a handful of silver shillings" song and dance is not engaging or engrossing.
 
@Axoren "I have plenty of arrows at home, but this Outing went on longer than we expected, and my quiver is running low" can be an interesting situation.
 
10:57 PM
In my living expenses tab from where I only retrive them if anything surprising happens.
 
@BlackSpike If it's an outing where you don't have your bag of holding? Sure.
To the average adventurer, it is not an interesting problem at most points in a story.
 
In most games that aren't build on the premise of survival, things like that hardly create anything interesting.
 
@Axoren Yes, Bag of Holding etc chnages things. But your "Ever-Full Quiver includes one, so is not just "150gp" value.
 
5e is fairly gamified to the point where even survival games require homebrew or another system.
 
Exactly.
 
10:59 PM
The average adventuring party will have somewhere to put loot.
Loot is expected. Loot will be had.
Arrows can be with the loot.
 
I suppose things change. "How many sacks did you bring? Can you actually carry all the loot home? Make INT <skill?> rolls to sort the light, valuable stuff from the heavy, cheap stuff" used to be a thing in our games
 
A quiver full of arrows is 3/7 cubic feet of storage.
 
There is a point at which that becomes an issue, quivers aren't that point.
 
If it helps you envision how easy it would be to store in a party supply
 
tbh, we did try to move past these things. "We're expecting to use 40-50 arrows? OK, I pack 100. 2 quivers, and a bundle that the barbarian carries. Any rest-period, I refill my quivers from the bundle." :)
 
11:03 PM
If your players care about it, then that is when you do that - or when anything happens like your gear being submerged/left somewhere.
Usually characters do a ton of things that you don't play out, and it is rarely interesting to be boggled down by things like keeping track of arrows that you can easily resupply almost anywhere.
 
Nowadays, we generally only care about "Special" items (Magic items, maguffins, etc). Everything else ... "sure, you still have lots of arrows"
 
So, a full 3,000 arrows, packed readily in 150 quivers, would take up a an 7ft by 10ft by 1ft section of your wagon.
You could rack them on the back wall
You'd only lose a foot of cargo space
Mind you, that's if you were planning to get all the arrows you'd ever fire before retiring.
 
One of our Table will say things like "Can I just drop the 150gp ... heck, make it 175 ... I have lots of Arrows, and every time I go back to town I buy more ... I've already marked the GP. "
 
That's perfectly fine. That's the Living Expenses way of doing things.
It's honestly a great way to handle it, because it's not a thing to get stuck on
 
@Axoren Ah, is there a Living Expenses system?
 
11:08 PM
Mostly people's own homebrew, but it's always the same
You pay into a fund, that fund covers you for minutia.
 
5e also has living expenses.
 
You can cover a lifetime supply or a month or a year
 
Fair enough. Board, lodgings, food, <arrows>, <spell components>, stables, etc
 
Does it? In the DMG or in Xanthars?
 
DMG.
 
11:09 PM
Oh, that's for things like hirelings, subscriptions, and board, isn't it?
 
Downtime section.
Yes.
Translates very well to general play.
 
Fates Worse than Death (gutterpunk 2080AD) you play Gangers. Each Gang gives a PC a certain "income" each week, assuming a certain level of Living Expense
 
Lifestyle expenses are also on p 157 of the PHB
 
So unless you're splashing out, you're covered for day-to-day stuff
(despite being 2080AD, NO GUNS, so arrows/quarrels/rocks are a thing). If you just use a few normal Ammunition, no cost to replace
If you spend the whole week beseiged in a Tower Block, sniping at attackers ... yeah, you're gonna run low, and have to buy replacements
 
Man.
 
11:13 PM
I like how Splittermond handles it as a resource that you usually don't care about unless for narrative purposes, but that you can also deplete for rare costly purchases.
 
How do I award a bounty without waiting a day?
I kind of want to give the person who answered that arrow question a bonus.
@Akixkisu How does that work? What do you trade it for?
 
I played some Old School D&D a year ago. We were expected to track ammo and stuff ... but "A weeks Rations" was also assumed to cover in-town expenses (unless you wanted to stay at the Posh Lodgings)
 
@Axoren I'm pretty sure you can't. Bounties have to stay up for a minimum of 1 day as I understand it
> The bounty period lasts 7 days. Bounties must have a minimum duration of at least 1 day. After the bounty ends, there is a grace period of 24 hours to manually award the bounty.
From the help page
 
Well, I'll just put that up and it's gonna be tempting for people looking to snag bounties.
But I've already got my sights set on who it's going to
 
There's a notice reason for Reward Existing answer, and I believe you can add text, specifying which answer you intent to reward
You're free to give whatever reason you would like though, really
 
11:24 PM
@Axoren at character creation you have ranks in resources which you can also get as adventure rewards. Those are things like your social rank, your renown, a relic, a hideout, a companion, wealth or contacts. How many resources you spend on your lifestyle determines how high your living expenses are and how much money you have at the start of the game. You may choose to exhaust your wealth every few months, then you drop your lifestyle to a lower rank for a set amount of time.
 
@Akixkisu Are you familiar with Shadowrun? There's a similar mechanic there where you have a handful of ratings and you must spread them out around your Attributes, Wealth, etc.
I don't read German so I was having trouble finding out more info about it
 
@Axoren yes, Splittermond offers you fewer restrictions and more shenenigans in that regard.
 
3
Q: Which of these two homebrew adaptations of the Elemental Weapon and Flame Arrows spells to work is more balanced?

Orc's PlunderWhich of these two homebrew adaptations of the Elemental Weapon and Flame Arrows spells to work with ranged weapons is more balanced? I was thinking of adjusting a couple of existing spells, namely Elemental Weapon (PHB, p. 237) and Flame Arrows (XGtE, p. 156), so that it is more versatile for a...

 
@Akixkisu Sounds neat! I look forward to an English printing.
I've gotten a few glimpses of how the system works and it's pretty different.
 
@Axoren it is unlikely to happen, but it would be pretty neat.
 
11:57 PM
@Someone_Evil Yep, all the bounties let you add clarifying text, I think
 

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