Questions tagged [pathfinder-1e]
Pathfinder is an RPG originally derived from the open licensed rules to Dungeons & Dragons v3.5. It was published by Paizo Publishing in 2009. (For questions about the 2nd edition, use the tag [pathfinder-2e] instead.)
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Managing a Medieval Low Orbit Ion Cannon
Sometimes I hate my players.
My table is currently composed of five diabolically inventive players. They come from a mixed IT/Engineering background, so more often than not, I have to deal with some ...
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What are the primary differences between the rules of D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder?
What are some of the rule changes that Pathfinder brings in comparison to D&D 3.5? I am curious what changes were made so I can explain to my group what it has to offer.
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What can I do when I accidentally gave out an overpowered item?
In our last game, the players worked their way through a series of fiendish traps into a high security vault, where they recovered a Staff of the Magi. After the game I looked at the stats, and ...
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Evil Campaigns: How to explain the difference between being evil and being a jerk?
My friend has recently started running an evil campaign. His players are having serious difficulty telling the difference between comitting evil deeds and doing random things that are evil acts.
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What is E6? Why would I use it?
I've heard a number of people reference an apparently common set of houserules for D&D 3.5e and Pathfinder called E6.
What do these variant rules entail? What problems are they intended to solve?
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How do I play a paladin without being a stick in the mud?
What are some tips for/examples of an epitome-of-good type paladin who does not disrupt the 'sinful' fun of the rest of the group?
As an example of the type of paladin I'm talking about, one of the ...
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What is Pathfinder's relationship to D&D?
Pathfinder is often conflated with D&D, 4e I think, but it isn't actually named "Dungeons & Dragons." What is Pathfinder's relationship to D&D, and how does it fit in with the various D&...
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How to stop a player constantly using Detect Magic/Evil?
In a group I play with there is a player who, assuming he has the ability to do so, constantly uses Detect Magic/Evil. There's nothing in the rules against this (that I'm aware of) when it's a class ...
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The Stack'O'Mounts
This is an exercise in ridiculousness, but I find it quite fun to consider - hence powergaming.
Let's consider three characters: a gnomish cavalier (small) with his wolf mount (medium), half-orc ...
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What is the point of a spell component pouch?
While I'd like to think I know the general Dungeons and Dragons / Pathfinder rules pretty well, one thing I've never quite understood is the spell component pouch, especially in relation to the Eschew ...
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What makes grease a good spell?
I often see people list grease as good go-to 1st level spell. Why is this?
The spell description lists 3 of its uses: forcing saves and slows movement of enemies, disarming enemies, and preventing ...
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My player wants to watch the world burn
Several times I've had experiences where I was running a fairly standard campaign, and I got a player who wanted to, essentially, watch the world burn.
I had a character who offered up his life force ...
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How are Fighters Linear but Wizards Quadratic?
The phrase "Linear Fighters, Quadratic Wizards" gets bandied about a lot, but I've found I don't have a good way to explain it to newer players.
The tier system post has some examples of how wizards ...
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Shoe-themed race or class features
My character is really into shoes and I'm planning on taking Leadership next level. I want my cohort to be devoted to the old norse god of shoes and vengance, Víðarr. While there is a retribution ...
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Abuse: Is it fair if it's in-game?
I play a half-orc barbarian, while everyone else in our group is dwarven or elven. So in a town heavily-populated by dwarves, my character received a fair share of abuse, which is to be expected.
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What are the major changes between Pathfinder first and second editions?
The Second Edition of Pathfinder came out today. As a long-time player of Pathfinder, what changes should I expect to see when I play the second edition? What are the major points that have changed?
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How do I handle a group that does not understand the 'assumption rule'?
1st rule of D&D (as of 3rd edition/pathfinder): The GM is the final arbiter on all rules.
I understand this, completely, and do not disagree. That said, I'm having trouble with a group that doesn'...
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GMing for a hyper optimized character
One of my players loves building characters that are, for lack of a better term, broken. I don't mean he min/maxes them, I mean he builds characters that are way more powerful than they should be ...
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How to communicate to my GM that not being allowed to use stealth isn't fun for me?
I started with a group some times ago a new campaign. I made a thief that used a bow and was very very stealth based (level 3 thief having +21 on stealth with all effects applied). The intent was ...
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What rules say that summoning undead is evil, and what rules say why?
My question is: Where can I reference the RAW as to (1) that summoning undead is always an evil act, and (2) why summoning undead is always an evil act?
Some of the players in my game keep coming up ...
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How should I go about stopping metagaming based on Roll20 showing unexplored areas?
In the campaign that I'm running, the party is currently in a dungeon. They cleared most of the entire dungeon except a hidden door to an area that holds some loot but nothing integral to the game.
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Can a red dragon be boiled to death?
Red dragons have immunity to fire. They take no damage from fire, lava, or anything like that.
But in both Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 and Pathfinder
Boiling water deals 1d6 points of scalding damage,...
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Who actually makes the Magic Books that boost stats? [closed]
The Pathfinder game has a series of Tomes and Manuals that, when read, permanently boost a specific ability score. Examples include the Tome of Understanding (Wis) or the Manual of Gainful Exercise (...
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Differences between 5th Edition D&D and Pathfinder?
4th Edition took D&D on a very different path from 3.5, and Pathfinder (often referred to by players as 3.75) filled the niche of the continued evolution of the 3.x system.
I enjoy Pathfinder ...
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Techniques for making high level D&D play more manageable?
Many people complain about high level D&D 3.x play. It can become less enjoyable for both players and GMs because of the huge nest of rules and complexity required for every character, the prep ...
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How To Divide Up Loot?
I've been GMing a very successful (Pathfinder) campaign for quite a few months now, but we've developed a bit of a problem I'm not sure how to resolve: loot distribution.
None of my players are ...
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Can you escape a Maze spell by turning into a Minotaur?
The Maze spell states:
Minotaurs are not affected by this spell.
So could an enterprising victim escape the Maze spell by using a spell like polymorph to turn themselves into a Minotaur?
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How do I prevent a character from being resurrected?
I'm part of a team of level 20 characters (5 players total). I am a Shadow Dancer 10 / Investigator 10.
Our party is in a war, and I am a spy within the group. I am planning to betray them. The ...
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Can a lich redeem itself?
According to the rules,
The process of becoming a lich is unspeakably evil and can be undertaken only by a willing character.
What if a lich, having done this, slowly over time realizes its ways ...
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How to roleplay my character's ethics according to the DM when I don't understand those ethics? [closed]
Recently in a Pathfinder campaign I encountered the following in a combat situation, after our group made an ambush on a castle inhabited by a small Gnoll clan. Our group clearly had the upper hand ...
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Do Teleportation spells transfer kinetic energy?
The Short question here is do teleportation spells in Pathfinder/3.5 carry over any kinetic momentum you were subject to before the teleportation. For context, please see this example situation (which ...
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Why is Survival not a class skill for animals?
Question in title.
Seems odd that an animal isn't naturally inclined to get bonuses to Survival, which typically involves dealing with the wilds and it's associated difficulties (an animal's natural ...
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What explanation do the D&D devs have for designing spontaneous casters to lose out on a spell level compared to prepared casters? [closed]
In D&D 3.x, spontaneous full casters (like the Sorcerer or Oracle) gain their higher level spells a level later than the equivalent prepared caster classes (like Wizard and Cleric). For example, ...
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How can I better show players that enemies are not friends?
I'm a new GM playing Pathfinder with other newbies.
The problem I'm facing is that the group tries to be friends with almost every humanoid that they meet. It's not that they dislike combat, it's ...
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What are the rules differences between Pathfinder and Starfinder?
Paizo's Starfinder system is heavily based on their long-running Pathfinder system (itself based on D&D 3.5). What rules are different between the two systems?
To clarify, this question does not ...
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How do I deal with a DM that throws encounters at us that are way above the party?
I'm not sure if the question was worded in a coherent way, but I have recently played in a Pathfinder game and a 5e game and both times the DM (same one both times) gave us overpowered encounters.
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What is the reason to use the Heal skill assuming that other means of healing are not prohibited?
Reading the description of the Heal skill in Pathfinder and comparing its outcomes to other ways of healing, such as wands, channel positive energy, etc., I have found that skill useless. The ...
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What should a GM do about players using magic in unforeseen game-breaking ways?
Firstly, a quick anecdote. In our most recent Pathfinder session our cleric jokingly mentioned he will soon be able to summon 1d3 dolphins. Another player then mentioned that some dolphins (orca) can ...
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How to run a campaign for intelligent players with idiot PCs?
I've just started a pathfinder campaign, and all of the players have taken intelligence as their dump stat. This is causing problems, because usually I depend on knowledge checks to determine what ...
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Can a lich be controlled by control undead?
If it is possible, which to me just does not seem at all fair to a lich, are there ways to avoid this silly little thing? If you have the feat or spell and the lich rolls badly, he is essentially dead,...
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What is the history and significance of the "dire" prefix to creatures?
Some animals in Pathfinder bestiaries are prefixed with "dire".
Does this come from the wolf species Canis dirus, an early edition monster/template or something else?
Where does this come from and ...
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How can a GM justify changing a player's alignment?
Lately, in one of my campaigns, I've been having problems with a character who everyone agrees is acting out of alignment. Everyone, that is, but him. The problem, of course, is that he's playing a ...
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As a DM, what changes do I need to make to my preparation when transitioning to online play?
I, like many others, have been forced by the current situation to re-evaluate how my games are played. I current run/play in pathfinder 1e and D&D 5e campaigns that have been played entirely in ...
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How does Stealth work with Sneak Attack?
So, in Pathfinder, it seems that being able to use stealth in order to gain sneak attacks only works in the surprise round, with the rules as written.
So, imagine a scenario where we have a sniper (...
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How do I balance a very-low magic campaign?
Recently, my players and I got kind of bored with the fact that Pathfinder relies heavily on magic items than martial prowess for fighting classes. I realize and accept the fact that spellcasters are ...
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How many kobolds does it take to dig a Pit Trap?
I did some maths, based on PF SRD for both traps and crafting, and this is what I found :
a Pit Trap is a CR-1 trap (but it's a lazy kind of trap, so let's assume, as PF SRD tells us to do, that it ...
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True Resurrection ruins plot hooks
The existence of the spell True Resurrection is playing havoc with my plot hooks. A king's daughter (his heir) was a high level adventurer who got TPKed while fighting an excessively powerful monster. ...
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What reason would there be for a ruler to forgo having himself resurrected?
If a rich ruler has trustworthy relatives, or even multiple lackeys (only one of which would need to honor a command to have them resurrected), why would they ever choose to pass on?
Since the only ...
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How do I help players frustrated by darkness in Roll20's dynamic lighting?
I recently moved my pathfinder 1e campaign online. After some experimenting I decided that the Roll20 dynamic lighting system was worth the investment. However during our first session using the ...
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How playable is Pathfinder at higher levels?
I know this is rather subjective, yet I'm curious about your experience. We're considering switching to Pathfinder from DnD3.5, partly because we've always found problems with the playability of the ...
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