Antioch's page

Valeros will not become a sword and shield fighter. That's a case of the art driving the design. Personally... a two-weapon fighter is, in many ways, a better option than a ranger; fighters certainly get enough bonus feats that it's easy to make him a two-weapon specialist.

Fighters DO make the best two-weapon specialists. They can not only take the same feats that other two-weapon monkeys can (rangers and rogues...I suppose), but they can take them much faster. Not only that, they can also take nifty fighter-only feats such as Weapon Specialization and Weapon Supremacy from PH2.

Compared to the ranger and rogue, they will have a better chance to hit, better hit points, better AC, and better options.

I LIKE the idea of a TWF fighter. Valeros as an iconic works, and I think he'd work pretty well.
Sure, he's not that other greatsword-wielding brute that's running around duel-wielding Wis and Cha as dump stats and a Strength so high that it makes a storm giant cry, but it works.

I prefer the length to top out around "anime" length, or shorter. WoW ears are too long (as are the eyebrows) for my tastes. Then again, its just the art and its very easy to change.

I've run the game pretty much as is without much trouble and no deaths at all. The brunt of the problem is the players doing little, if any, investigation into the whole Age of Worms business. They have little idea what is going on, and seem to think that "nothing is going to happen" at all.

I have no problems with firearms existing in D&D games. Really it comes down to the setting and the DM's decision. In Forgotten Realms they do, while in Eberron it doesnt make sense for them to be there.
Since firearms are equipment, it should be fairly easy to simply swap them out in exchange for any other ranged weapon.
Though I personally play Eberron and really enjoy it, I'm not about to say no to guns in general: I'll just change them into something else.

I'm really digging the iconics thus far, but then I've always liked anything and everything WAR has every drawn. His art accounts, in some part, for why I am getting Pathfinder.

I'm kinda glad, as I pretty much intend to adapt these things to Eberron and the less I need to change stuff around, the better.

Thats good to know. I'm definitely gonna snag the first issue of Pathfinder.
I got high hopes for it and as long as its easy to adapt then I intend to keep it.

All I gotta say is that if the adventures are easily modified/ported into other settings, I'm in.

I guess the best way to phrase the question is, will the adventure paths be generic enough to adapt to existing campaign worlds, or will they essentially require you to use the new campaign setting they seem to be developing?

I'm mostly referring to stuff such as locations, critters, and basic plots. Age of Worms didnt reference anything Eberron, but it was fairly simply enough to swap some names and change locations to make it work.

Will Pathfinder be easy to convert to an existing campaign setting (such as Eberron) like previous adventure paths?

Based on Keith's instructions, the area I ended up dropping DL is east of the "E" at the end of "Tilorn Expanse", all the way by the river.
Not sure just how accurate this is, but it takes the party almost 9 days to reack BK by foot.

Most of this has probably been repeated numerous times.

"How would you deal with door jams? Character puts one(or several) under a closed door to keep it closed."

Whoever is trying to jam it, adds their Strength modifier, as well as their size modifier to grapple checks, to the DC to force it open. If the door isnt even locked, then the break DC becomes 10 + aforementioned modifiers.

"Character carries couple slabs of meat to toss at guard dogs or other creatures."

Give them a +2 on a Handle Animal check, or Diplomacy check, to calm the doggies.

"Carrying weapons around in town. Do you allow it? What about casting?"

The laws of the city apply here on a case-by-case basis. Some places might allow only weapons or armor. If it is not allowed, they need to conceal their gear to avoid prosecution.
Magic is also case-by-case. Casting a spell might carry heavy fines regardless of what the spell is, or a fine might be levied only on offensive magic. Fines might be low for using defensive magic and higher for enchantment magic to charm people.

In my current game they are well known in a somewhat lawless town anyway, so weapon permits arent an issue.

0 level spells are capable of generally inflicting 1d3 or less points of damage. Of course, those are spells intended to be used as direct damage effects (such as ray of frost or acid splash).

Conjuration spells cannot be used to create substances within a creature, so the cleric's only avenue is to attempt a downpour on top of the elemental. It is entirely up to you if rainfall is sufficient to adversely affect a being made of fire (I am inclined to say no, as I would not have one damaged by stepping in a puddle, and the spell makes no mention at all about using it for such purposes).

Of course, if you really did want to use it in such a fashion, I would have it inflict 1 point of damage, DC 10 + Wis modifier Fort negates.

D&D books, D&D minis, and Dragon/Dungeon mags.

You dont need to max out ranks in every skill you take to be considered "good" at it. A standard bard with a Cha bonus of +2 or +3 can easily get a 14 or 15 result on any Perform check with just 2 ranks in it.
One thing to understand about skills is your skills relative to the rest of the populace, as well as which ones can be used untrained. Just by having one or two ranks, if your key scores are above average then you are ahead of the curve.

Most classes excepting perhaps the druid or cleric can be killed by an otherwise "easy" encounter, especially if solo. The fighter can be taken down in two hits. A barbarian MAY last three hits. Even the cleric, however, will have to spend most rounds curing madly just to stay up, and once shes out, she goes down to. Regardless, you are going to have a lot of rest periods involved unless you run a game that shys away from a standard D&D game, especialy at the start.

I prefer to use a houserule invented by Andy Collins (I believe). When you die and are raised by anything that normally causes you to lose a level, you instead gain a negative level. This level cannot be removed by any normal means.
When you gain enough XP to gain a level, you lose one negative level suffered from death in addition to gaining a new level.

This mechanic makes death a bad thing (and repeat offenses will suck, badly), but not too bad.

I'd like a copy if you are still sending them.

antiochcow@hotmail.com

The only real experience I have had with playing a fighter/wizard class is a friend trying to pull it off in another game (that I do not run).
He decided to go into the spellsword class, but took only two levels in fighter and five (I think) in wizard. The drawback of this build is that he lacks a good deal of hit points and BAB that would be great to allow him to actually hit things. He also prefers to use spells such as scorching ray and voice of the dragon.

An ideal build if you wanted to go this route would be to keep your fighter and wizard levels equal, and primarily use buffing spells (such as magic weapon, bull's strength, etc) to give you a nice boost. At low levels you can slap on mage armor and shield for a good AC without armor, and when you can get 2nd level spells you can use alter self and get a natural armor bonus.
All in all the method I suggested to him could have gotten him an AC of almost 30 without actually using any armor at all (and a bite attack).

Basically, if you are smart and think ahead (and dont try to spread your spells out too thin) I think it can be done, and can be done well.

My simple, barebones called shot system was created not for personal use, but to prove that it could be done and not overly complicate the game or be too broken to use.

Basically, there are two versions; the one where anyone can attempt one, and the one where you need a feat to do it.

VERSION 1
Attempting a called shot is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. If you are damaged while attempting a called shot you must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + damage dealt) or the attempt is wasted.
Declare where you wish to strike the target (head, arms, hands, body, legs, feet); the part of the body receives all of the standard AC bonuses as the creature does but also receives an additional size bonus depending on the proportions of the creature (DM's discretion here).
If you hit the target, the creature suffers normal damage and must also make a Fort save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or suffer penalties to its actions as described under Damage to Specific Locations in the DMG (I forgot which page).

VERSION 2
As the other version except there would be the feat Called Shot which would allow you to try them. I prefer the first version, where called shot becomes another action type like sunder, disarm, etc, so there could instead be an Improved Called Shot feat where you get a +4 to the check and dont provoke AoOs.

The idea came from reading the Damage to Specific Locations in the DMG, where if you reached into a nook to grab a gem and a crushing trap hit you, that it wouldnt make sense (even in the abstract hp system) to just simply chalk of some hps and keep going (despite the fact that your hand just took like 20 damage).
Therefore it introduced a very simple rule that if a specific body part got damaged that the DM could place penalties on the PC for certain actions and skills (for the hand I beleive it was for Climb checks, attack rolls with that hand, and Swim checks).

Leadership is definately a feat that requires DM approval, as my group has six people as well and I would be loathe to have to play yet another NPC on top of the work that I already have to do, and the rest of the party might not look kindly on another person gobbling up treasure and XP. Basically, there is some discussion that needs to go along with taking this feat.

Thankfully, my current game has allowed me to actually explain what I did with the feat.

First of all, I do not think that you need the feat to gain the attention of others and surround yourself with people (you cant have friends without a feat?). I think its more of an improved method of doing so (you gain them whether or not you have that kind of environment or status).
As for the cohort, I allow the player taking the feat a good deal of control (just as I allow a player with a Item Creation feat the ability to make whatever they want, time and money allowing). However, I dont give them complete, full control. The swordsage that took the feat said he would like another martial adept as a cohort, someone who has heard of his exploits and is coming to him to learn more. He also wants to found a martial adept school of sorts.

Basically, since in my Eberron game the goblin empire originally created the martial disciplines (or at the very least, started to), his cohort will be a hobgoblin swordsage. As for his school, well thats where his followers come into play. They will build and manage the place while he is away (perhaps his cohort will serve as a figurehead if the PC does not want him following him around).
He gets a home, and a bunch of people that will do as he says, and perhaps eventually a small kingdom (or more) in exchange for a feat. The only restrictions are that I will require him to make an appearance there and actually manage the place (it also provides ideas for more adventures).

That being said, since the player is taking the feat, they should have a good deal of control over where it goes despite the fact that it demands DM approval. At the very least how your DM wants to manage it should have been made clear beforehand (if he was gonna use it as a means to play one of his own PCs, you could have argued with him, or at worst just not taken it).
I am fairly flexible and what my player wanted to do with it was plausible, reasonable, and in the end completely workable.

There is still the option of body language. If the party enters the lair with weapons sheathed and their hands up as a sign of peace, the lizardfolk might understand that they mean no harm. This would be a combination of Diplomacy checks and Sense Motive rolls to determine how successful the plan is.
I would not make the attempt a rushed on, but would impose a penalty of some sort as the lizardfolk are at war with humans, and they cannot understand them (-2 to -4).
I prefer Richard Burlew's Diplomacy system (www.giantitp.com) as it allows for a more in depth resolution and also has rules on using offerings to sweeten the deal (if the players come in slowly, and place their weapons on the ground, hands up, and back away, that should grant some sort of bonus to the check).

My Age of Worms game is being ran in Eberron. They have almost completed Three Faces of Evil, getting ready to head into the Temple of the Shadow (Vecna).

Renji (human warblade 4); uses a no-dachi (basially a stylized greatsword).
Both this player and the player for Senshen wanted to appear chinese, so in Eberron I included tribes of humans that migrated from the Frostfell north of Khorvaire. The environment there made them appear to be somewhat oriental. For oriental-type weapons, I just said that hobgoblins have been known to make weapons like those, and through early interaction (before humans came from Sarlona), they learned to make weapons like those.

Senshen (human swordsage 4); duel-wielding character that uses a katana and wakizashi.

Albie Tealeaf (half-drow bard 4); journeyed with a Talenta halfling until they ran into Trelk while traveling across Khorvaire. The halfling was killed by a Kyuss zombie and both her and Trelk fled until they reached Diamond Lake.

Trelk (human fighter 1/dread necromancer 3); his squad was wiped out by undead and he fled before he too was killed. He wants nothing more than to master the powers of undeath and hunt down the person who killed his friends. While heading back to Sharn, bumped into Albie.

Harmony (tiefling rogue 3); sent by a thieves guild in Sharn to monitor the various mine managers as an industrial spy. Became friends with Albie.

Thasten (kalashtar ardent 2/cleric 2); came to Diamond Lake to try and make it a better place. Failed miserably. Was found in a dumpster by the party.

The group got together when Harmony found an old map while invading a manager's house at night. With the help of Albie, she was able to find some hired muscle (the two foreigners in town). The only brought Thasten because he stumbled out of a dumpster while the four were discussing their plans of how to divide up the vast amounts of treasure they assumed they would find, and noticed his holy symbol.

Trelk came in a little later and was brought because he was a spellcaster (he was still a level 1 fighter at the time, but kept insisting that he could cast spells).

For my group, a Knowledge (local) check was sufficient for the rogue to know that they can fetch upwards of 3,000gp to the right buyer (which could have been Allustan).
Despite that they wanted to keep it, so I played by the books and told them that they would need (in accordance to A&EG) some very good Handle Animal checks and food to keep it inline.\

Though the MM states they cannot be domesticated, A&EG allows for I believe a DC 25 check in order to train one.
I told the group that at best it would readily attack strangers if scared or hungry unless they keep it on a very, very tight leash, though with time and patience they could train it to usually not attack them.
However, it would be an excellent guard animal if they decide to fix up the miner's office or get a house elsewhere!

My ruling is that unless specifically mentioned in their descriptions is that undead do not continue to rot from the point where they have been animated/changed into undead; negative energy prevents this decay as it provides it a state of "life".

Therefore, a zombie looks as it always did from the point of being animated; inflict spells restore its body in a matter akin how to cure spells restore a living being. This means that the body's condition will not continue to worsen over time due to use or damage.

Gentle repose works on corpses. Corpses are objects, and not creatures.
This means that you cannot use the spell on an undead creature, the primary purpose is to increase the time that raise dead can be used (it does not work on the time for other raising spells such as resurrection and true resurrection).

I'm running it now and will STILL purchase a hardcover copy seeing as this is something I can run for other people I meet in the future.

Not to mention that they are taking quite a beating from the sticky notes and highlighting. :-P

That particular encounter occured after the party made lots of noise from fighting the skeletons, so I had nine of them (1 1/2 times the number of party members, beefed up to 1st level fighters) in the chamber. Six were setup in a 2x6 column five feet away from the door, while others were waiting near the walls out of sight.
The battle took awhile, and was still easily done thanks to liberal placement of summoned monsters and the ardents energy ray powers.

In perusing the average level I would like my party to be before I start up these quests, I found out that they have some time to bask in their glory after completing "Champion's Belt", meaning I can kick off their own personal goals.

Thanks again for the advice!

Is that Hall of Harsh Reflections, or the Champion's Belt? Essentially I need a good campaign stopping point so they can pursue their other agendas without the clock ticking against them. Thanks for the information! ^^

I'm running with a party of six as well; three fairly new people and three experienced players. So far no one has died, though the rogue did come close twice in the first adventure when she tried to take on the earth elemental by herself and again from the brown mold.

Basically, I've just been using the Scaling the Adventure sidebar as if the party were above the recommended level and its been going just fine since the first session.

I have at least three members of my group that will need to go on sidequests to either complete item Legacy quests or qualify for prestige classes. My party is currently in "Three Faces of Evil" and at 3rd level. By the time they are done with "Champion Belt" they should be set to wrap most of their side-quests up.

My question is what points have enough downtime (like a week or so) to accomplish these things?