Pathfinder GM Tips

[Talen]

For those that have served as a GM for Pathfinder games on FG, what tips and tricks have you developed that you'd be willing to share? I'm new to PF, but here's a start - please add to the list as I'm sure Im missing quite a bit.


Using the Character Importer utility in conjunction with Hero Lab is a significant time save

The Importer is not perfect - you need to make manual adjustments. For example, I needed to make a manual weapon entry for my rogues sneak attack damage.

Using Trenloe's creature parser utility is also a significant time save when creating scenario modules. Manual entries are again required.

I've started creating hotkey entries for NPC spellcasters - does anyone have a better trick for automating the bad guys' spell attacks?

[Leonal]

My trick for less FG preparation: Only inputting the name, hp, initiative and saves on key NPCs, the rest I roll/add manually. ^^

I make modules of images from the pdfs to have at hand when going through an AP or module. The most time consuming part is naming the image files after ripping them.

[Dershem]

My trick for less FG preparation: Only inputting the name, hp, initiative and saves on key NPCs, the rest I roll/add manually. ^^

I make modules of images from the pdfs to have at hand when going through an AP or module. The most time consuming part is naming the image files after ripping them.

What do you use to rip your images and resize your maps, out of curiosity?

[Leonal]

Some PDF Image extract. It takes all the images though, backgrounds and all, but sorting the images by size makes for easier cleanup after export. Adobe Reader 10+ works fine if there are just a few images you need exported.

I don't resize my maps as I haven't found the need to do so. (I use letter tokens for NPCs due to previous transfer issues, but I've stuck with them).

[Talen]

Any idea I'd there's an easy way to make the background transparent in ms paint? I suppose I could download gimp as well if that works....haven't stumbled across how yet.

[Leonal]

In MS Paint I don't think you can, but I can highly recommend Paint.net. It's fast and gets the job done. Just erase the areas you want transparent and save as .png.

[spacce1889]

move to paint.net only slightly more complex but much more powerful. I love the crop button.