Aristin76's page

Hmm. Okay, I did some work in Magic item shops that might be helpful. Sadly, I'm in meeting and my phone isn't cooperative. Do a search under my name "Aristin76". Search for the "magicitem shop.....critique please "heading. Some rules I expanded upon after reading Earthdawn's PF ruleset. Hopefully that will help.

Very nice Gents. Thanks Joe and EldonG. I'll take a look at it. Just downloaded it. Definitely sounds like what I am looking for to get some new insight. I like the layout of the adventure. I might have to add some filler, but it sounds like its doable. 3 of my players will gobble up the challenge if it's hardcore. They are pretty creative and enjoy a solid challenge. Once I read through it, I might post some non spoiler comments about it.

Breaking it down in mini episodes would probably be the best way to knock that out. I'd rather be short on stuff then leave them hanging.

I would string together 2 or 3 modules. It takes my tabletop group 6 to 8 hours to level so that would work for us.

Any favorites or particular ones with an interesting subject to build upon?

Anyone play the PF module: Carrion Hill? That looked interesting.

Aristin76 wrote:

Hmm. That actually sounds pretty doable. I might set that up for an agenda so to speak. Might then allow people to get RL stuff done and get back to gaming when they are free. 2 10hours is probably a bit more realistic. 12 would be nice though.

I really need some inspiration on what I could put together for that time allotment. 10 hours and then 10 hours. I would have characters done way beforehand to alleviate character build. Doing that also helps me to add detail in the adventure to tie players in the game.

Yeah, you absolutely need to be prepared. I'd also advise getting backstory to everyone well in advance, so they're ready for their roles as soon as they sit down...

If you want to use an AP module...they all have their own flavor. Kingmaker is the pretty much impossible one, being too much of a sandbox, when you really need something quite pointed. If you don't want a trip to the orient, rule out Jade Regent. Council of Thieves, IIRC, is mostly in one city. Carrion Crown is gothic horror...cool if that's your bag, but YMMV. Rise of the Runelords is a great AP, if you like classic stuff. I hear Serpent's Skull isn't all that great at that level, but then, the claim was that it was very railroady. That might be what you need, actually. Skull and Shackles is pirates. If you all love pirates, that's it. I'm not as sure about the others...Curse of the Crimson Throne might actually be more like the kind of thing you mentioned...the throne definitely seems corrupt enough...

I'm not as sure about the rest...

Oh good stuff. Thanks for doing that quick run down. I've wanted to try an AP, but haven't yet. Not sure who well they are put together. My player's don't like being "Railroaded" and a lot of them think the APs are geared towards that. I would think if you were well read into the AP and understood the concept of the AP, you should be able to deviate a bit to accommodate the outside of the box thinking that frequently happens in my group. I guess this might be a good time to test one out possibly.

Hmm. I'll keep in mind the City of Shadows mini campaign. We are playing a Giant game in Lands of Linnorms with drow in it, so I'm not sure if they would want a change or not. But, that's definitely what I'm looking for in the thought of inspiration.

I haven't played CoC, but I have heard of games being quite memorable. My group tends to be a bit slowish in learning new systems. Plus, I'm not sure if they would even get into CoC. They are pretty typical in Fantasy. I wish they would break out a bit more, but what can ya say.

Ya, I'm really hoping to make the goal obtainable with in the timeframe. I don't want to railroad, but I might have to put a waiver in game that might happen due to the circumstances. But, I would think everyone would be cool with that as long as they accomplished something and kick some BBEG butt to put it in laymen's terms.

Hmm. That actually sounds pretty doable. I might set that up for an agenda so to speak. Might then allow people to get RL stuff done and get back to gaming when they are free. 2 10hours is probably a bit more realistic. 12 would be nice though.

I really need some inspiration on what I could put together for that time allotment. 10 hours and then 10 hours. I would have characters done way beforehand to alleviate character build. Doing that also helps me to add detail in the adventure to tie players in the game.

I don't think we'll do 48 hour straight. I hope not. LOL. Nah, I'm hoping that within 48 hours including sleep, eat, beer drink, etc.. We will cram in as much of gaming as we can. I would be brainless after 24 I think. 27 hours and I was getting pretty much spacey. So, we don't do these often, but a good friend is coming to town, and we have a weekend to cram in as much as we can.

sorry should have clarified on the specifics of it. I wonder if that would be a record of something.

Of course, we are older now and 10 hours might just be all we get, but hopefully it would be a solid 10 hours of fun and such.

I was thinking that starting them off at 6th level then maybe midpoint would level them to 7th with a possible 8th level Maybe about 75% of the way to the BBEG. 8th level being imo a pretty nice spit to be playing a character.

That should help with the CR flexibility. Plus if they go about it in an odd sort of way, I could wing it if I kept the concept simple enough.

Just needed an end goal in mind. I could build from scratch, but I was hoping to find some inspiration to twist the normal game style I usually play with. I figured an AP, box ser, or something to that sort might get the creative juices running. Guess I'm getting bored of my normal ideas. Make sense?

Okay, my group has a good friend returning for a power gaming session over the weekend. I'm trying my best to think of what we could do that would have a beginning and end during that time frame. The longest we have ever ran a game was 27 hours. I GMed while the players slept in shifts and played. Good Times!! Although, I'm much older now, but the desire is probably a lot stronger to do it again.

I was thinking of starting at level 6 with possible level ups to 7th and ending at 8th. That's a pretty sweet spot to play. I have potentially 6 players.

I guess I am asking if there is a decent AP, box set, extended game idea, or anything else that might fit. I at first thought about having them form a group to over throw a king, high priest, evil cult, etc. Leaving it open ended, but complicated enough to take longer than the usual gaming session.

I'm open to anything good that might be possible. Thanks for any input. Of course, this is all wishful thinking. After 10 hours, we might just crash and take it as is. LOL.

Oh, this wont be happening until July, so I have time to prepare.

Nice. Looking forward to a good read. ( Aka dotted)

Bumping to get some Players' viewpoints. And, yes, it's a shameless bump to boot.

Becareful when your players realize that adamantine weapons are far greater in this ruleset. Adamantine anything really. I enjoyed the lower levels using this ruleset, but after 7th level it lost a lot of luster and became a chore to prepare encounters. At 4th level it started to foreshadow the issues at hand. Best of luck to you using them. I love the concept of DR provided by armor but have yet found a successful way to incorporate it into PF.

In Response to both SAMAS and Alice Margatroid; Would you allow for any spell casting in a MH?

Would you keep it to druidic type of spellcasting with a "nature based theme" to it? Alchemist might also fit in it as well. I have some players that would like the "I built this 2handed sword from the femur of a great Jaggi."

Obviously the previous classes I mentioned before would fit in, but not sure if it would make for a sound PF environment to game with. Make sense?

I think if could start off on the right Building Block it could work out quite nicely.

Dotted. I have also thought about running a PF game in the MH setting. Personally, I thought it would be an interesting low fantasy setting.

I was trying to figure out a way to have some magic in game, but could not place a type of magic nor power level of magic to truly fit the setting.

Oracles, Druids, Elementalist Wizards, and perhaps a few types of Sorcs would fit. Or perhaps just, Npc adepts would be a better fit. I also thought fighters, rogues, rangers, gunslingers, and barbarians would be the heart and soul of the classes to be played.

Unfortunately, not all players would want to play this style of low magic setting, but I do think it would be a blast to play.

I also thought about implementing some sort of recipe style mechanic to perhaps make up for the loss of magic that PF would typically have. eg Healing, buffs, etc.....

/affirmative.

Dotting for future world/ campaign building.

CoNGaRaTZ on completing this part of your endeavor!!! Definitely Interested in the consolidation of the rules. Started looking through the rules about a week ago.

Dotted. /pulls hook out of mouth. Less painful this way.

Dotted.

I have a player that just lost a dwarven Archery based ranger in a fight with an Underworld Dragon. I saw your scout write up and forwarded it to him. He wants to give it a shot, but wants to stay archery based. I saw your were working up a sniper archetype. I would be curious to see what you had wrote up.

As a GM that makes for a great plot hook generator, but I'm curious to how the player would handle using this ruleset. Sadly, the ones who sell down charisma for more points to spread around will most likely hound the PC with ranks in diplomacy or even just higher charisma. Some PCs might not like being the party's salesman/ negotiator. Although with the ruleset some PCs might welcome it.

I would enjoy a few PCs to toss their opinions into the pot. None have so far.

I would agree with the same assessment.

Hmm. Forgot the legality of the WMDs. Huh. I guess that could also come to play, but I'm not entirely sure how to handle that. Maybe scale it to a base Caster Level needed for said questionable items, or only items that could cause Mass Damage to AOE's or things such as Cloudkill, etc where they weren't damaging, but could harm a lot of people?!?

Not sure if I would want to handle all the in and outs of that.

SOme thoughts

Waiting times?
Buy an item of furniture say, and you often have to wait for delivery.
So what level of stock does the shop hold against anticipated demand?
What if the local lord confiscates the 'stock' to support the 'defence of his lands'? Is there a local thieves guild? All reasons to keep stock levels low.

Does the crafter have other commitments (e.g. working for said local lord?) What is the shop's (guild?) relationship with the crafters? Extra 'agents/representatives/middle-men' also adds to the expense.

Tax (at several levels including raw resources for construction)? The trade in magic would be very lucrative, too good an opportunity to pass up for the tax-man in my opinion (e.g. just look at the taxes motorists have to pay).

Legality (without wishing to get into a firearms debate)? How legal would a weapon capable of mass destruction (e.g. a wand of fireballs) be? Would the lord want lethal mercinaries (the pc's) to have unfettered access to the 'latest weaponry'? Does the shop-owner/crafter need authorisation to make the item?

Hmmm. Where to start?

The waiting times were just a rough guess on the PC tracking down a merchant that might have said items of interest. It would also represent the NPC might have been busy with other normal day type stuff, etc. Also could represent that the stock level of items could be sliding scale. I just wanted a very simple and general time frame that slowed the game down a bit. My PCs tend to think that every town has drive-thru windows just waiting for them to show up. I thought the time might throttle things a bit.

Stock levels are a valid point along with the taxes, laws, etc. I'm not sure as a GM I would delve that deep into a generic town. In a town of importance, I would spend the time creating such an environment. All those who have spent several hours creating encounters and backstories and have the PCs just waltz right by raise your hand.

/raises hand multiple times.

That's the tough spot. PCs want now (most of the time) and GMs tend to smell the roses and enjoy the setting a bit more IMO. I know that's a broad stroke to paint with. Just my opinion.

Tax might be a fast thing to attach to the ruleset. It would be interesting to see the PCs faces if they got hit with a 3-10% sales tax. Lol. Would be interesting to see their reactions especially a paladin.

So to your points in summary, I think the taxes might be the easiest to implement while the others I would reserve to a special location that would become a pivotal area in the campaign. Make sense??

Shame filled bump.

Okay, I know people are on both sides of the fence when it comes to this, so I am trying to reach a certain compromise to it. A very rough draft that I would like to see some thoughts about this being put to use. Good, Bad, or Ugly I welcome. I came up with this after reading Red Brick's Earthdawn players Guide. I added my own to it and thought it might be doable.

So thoughts on GM's POV for using it? Thoughts on PCs having to use it? Thoughts on if the values in the charts make sense?

Magic Item Shops

Scrolls, wands, and potions are sold as normal per the core rulebook for availability in towns.

Magic Weapons +1 thru +5 with no special abilities sold as scrolls, wands, and potions.

Magic Armor +1 thru +5 with no special abilities sold as scrolls, wands, and potions.

Ring of Protection +1 thru +5 with no special abilities sold as S, W, and P.

Cloak of Resistance +1 thru +5 with no special abilities sold as S, W, and P.

Skill Items +1 thru +5 with no special abilities sold as S, W, and P.

Spell Enchancers +1 DC to a specific school or +2 DC to a specific school sold as 3000 gp and 12,000 gp.
************************************************************************
Purchasing Goods ( borrowed Red Brick’s chart from Earthdawn Players Guide p.240) I added more to what they originally created.

DC 10 for everyday items including Masterworked quality. Caster Level available 1-2. One check per hour that takes 10 minutes to complete during that hour.

DC 15 for average items including +1 items. Caster Level available 3-5. One check per 2 hours that takes 30 minutes to complete during that hour.

DC 20 for unusual items including +2 items. Caster level available 6-8. One check per 6 hours that takes 1 hour during that time to complete.

DC 25 for rare items including +3 items. Caster Level available 9-11. One check per 2 days that takes 4 hours during that time to complete.

DC 30 for very rare items including +4 items. Caster level available 12-14. One check per 4 days that takes 8 hours during that time to complete.

DC 35 for obscure items including +5 items. Caster level available 15-17. One check per week that takes 2 days’ worth of time to complete.

DC 40 for unique items which includes everything beyond +5 items. Caster level available 18-20. One check per month that takes 1 week to complete during that time.

Magic items sold at 50%, mundane items sold at 25%, magic items sold with special abilities at 60-70%.
Unique items modifiers +10, +20, or +30%. Economic modifiers due to supply and demand + or – 10%, 20%, or 30%.

Special Materials

Silver- everyday item
Cold Iron and Darkwood- average
Mithral- unusual
Adamantine - Rare.

Special Abilities and Tailored made items

Players are able to seek out crafters if they successfully use diplomacy to find crafters that are able to create special or unique items provided the players have the resources and time to allow for such. Bluff, Intimidation may also be used, but they will raise the DC by +5. Failed attempts using Bluff and Intimidate will create an unfavorable outcome that the player and GM will have to role-play out during game time. The salesperson will also not sale to the PC for a certain period of time that the GM will deem plausible to the NPCs reactions to the PC’s failed attempt. Other measures may be taken to correct the failed attempt, but the GM will make the final call to these attempts.

Thanks for checking this out.

Hopefully, this won't offend too many people.

@OP

Flying caster has weak fort save. 2nd level spell cleric. Blindness/deafness.

Let the games begin.

Hmm. Dotting for some thoughts later.

Read perhaps half of posts, then gave up. LOL. My thoughts would be to also include banning archetypes, traits, and your previous mentioned feats/ classes. I found that d&d/ PF start to gain power creep thru too many options that a GM has to limit in order to stay on top of the issues in a game before they start.

Also perhaps do 20 point but with limited or no stat sell down. I did 15 point buy with sell down or 18 points with a predefined stat array with decent well rounded stats. Most people accepted those 2 options without a big complaint. Races were my own created, so I don't have much input on that.

No archetypes and no traits seem odd and people hated it. But, not nearly the amount of ths power creep issues.

I would recommend that you use Divination type spells to discern what or who you were fighting on the inside. Determine what their weaknesses and strengths are. Once you have appropriate info on your enemies, then start your planning to assault.

Dim Door with a few select going in while the others provide buffs to the ones going in and distraction on opposite sides they might Dim Door in to the fort.

Strike slowly and methodically into the fort making sure your attempts are successful without loss of life on your side. Use flying summoned creatures to assault/distract while the few Dim Dooring can take advantage of the distraction. Using stone shape, rock to mud, type spells could possible wreck a few towers or punch a hole near the gate to then allow the full team to assault without others providing cover fire.

Normally you would surround the fort with siege weapons and not allow them to come out and replenish supplies. Then disease would set in and food supplies would be scarce.

Oh on zombie types basically plague zombies added to whatever creature it could be added to. And perhaps a few normal mobs tossed in for seasoning.

Thanks gents for the info. I'll pass the zombie links on to our zombie GM. Our Zombie Gm was worried that our planar half of the game would be rough with out an arcane caster. We'll be mostly playing on the second layer of hell. ie DIS.

Our zombie GM probably won't use a lot of traps. Perhaps a few. Our Planar GM is notorious for traps. 17 traps on one chest in a second ed game.

Ok I would like a quick critique of this party composition for a 1-10 zombie campaign then switching to a Planar game at level 10 or so.

25 point buy
Core rule, APG, and possibly add one more book at level 10 to modify our character options.

Paladin
Inquistor
Lore Oracle
Sorcerer GM will play 1-10th levels
Bad Touch Cleric
Fighter/rogue GM will play 10-20th levels

One gm will run the zombie half. Then another will take over for the planar game.
Thanks for any input.

Nu'raahl has a good build. Sword and board 2wpn fighter is pretty decent. High ac and high damage with bull rush options to scoot mobs off ur PCs. Other than this build or pally build, I would suggest a sunder/trip/disarm build fighter type. Aggro doesn't work in tabletop but eliminating weapons and armor does a nice job of reverse-engineering aggro. No weapons, no armor, and eliminating action economy is better than aggro. Just my odd way of looking at it.

Undead touch sorc is fun to play. Plus, you can use enchantment based spells vs undead. With a buff and temp HPs, you can push fighter/barbarian HPs.

Summoner would be interestin but the 2 GMs would probably kill me on a personal level trying to keep with everything I would be able to do. Zen archer does sound cool. I want to try the hungry ghost monk, but fighting undead until 9th level would get old. Alchemists is cool, but not quite my play style.

Ranger would be another option of mine.

I would love to play a rogue or ninja, but after seeing everyone complain about them, it makes it tough to blow my one shot to play on a character that will fail.

Okay, here's a quick summary on upcoming game.

25 pt build.
Core rule book
APG

Zombie themed game in forgotten realms until 9-10th level.
Then another GM will take over at take us to the Planes fighting devils.

We will get to add one book to what we can use. We can also semi-rebuild character using the new content from the book we added.

I have so many concepts on which to play, but I only get one to play. I rarely play. My first thought was Inquistor. He should do well against undead, bit late game on the Planes I'm not sure.

Wizard, Cleric/monk, paladin are the other characters so far in game.

Thanks......

I like having rules-lite players try archery due to how successful they can be. My only issue is I have another new player playing a dwarf switch hitter ranger who shoots things dead all the time. I don't want to steal his thunder. Make sense?

Although most games have multiple melee combatants, I guess multiple archers wouldn't be too bad. It would drive me nutz as GM. LOL.

I saw Ravingdork's post on archers and I'd agree that it is very rookie player friendly.

I wanted to try the gunslinger out, but saw many posts that it was lacking.

Excellent points on all occasions.

Paladin, ranger, and fighter. Might go paladin since that might be the closest to her life oracle. Like the ranger concepts offered up tho. Grrrr. Tough call.

Concept wise she's good. She can follow a story and can figure a path to unfold the story of game. She has a hard time getting people to listen to her observations and ideas on what to do.

Mechanically she's about as green as you can get. She played a life oracle well because she was able to put the " I kill it" mindset to the side and actually play with her brains. As a sidenote, she was on par for observing the clues that were unfolding to reveal the plot. She just didn't have the know how to put it in game terms for the other players to follow her.

She did like the healing aspect, but she surprisingly like being the butt kicker her last character was turning into.

Ya I had a cool grappling tripping earth embrace fighting style monk against giants since they are the themed mob in my game, but too many Damn options in how to attack, etc. Wanted a simple enough character type that could give her a chance to kick butt. Also to fill in for the barbarian and fighter who have been missing games more frequently than usual.

@ MacFetus--- roflmao. Nice.

@ BPC--- Hmm. I heard the shield fighter was an interesting build. Full companion is another nice aspect.

Thanks for input.

@ Story archer..... Sounds good. I'm the gm and I love paladins. Shoot it at me and I'll take alook at it.

@ jiggy. Not sure of the source "blood of angels" you sited. Concept sounds good, but not sure if she would dig the burned hands thing, but with ice trolls being part.of the theme for the campaign major butt kicking sounds very doable.

Thanks guys for all the input so far.

Level 10 is what level she'll be at. Campaign is there almost 11.

I was thinking of a monk build that did the same kinda stuff but it had an overwhelming feel to it. I might just go straight fighter with a few cool moves. I was hoping to see a hybrid type caster type eg inquistor, battle oracle, etc. I haven't played either but again might be a bit much.

Busy with work, so I might have enough time to properly delve into this.

2 of my players out of 5 are having troubles meeting every week. One is every other, and one hasn't played in a while due to work. I'm trying to think of something that she might take interest.

She's played a life oracle once before but I noticed she liked doing damage or rather she liked kicking butt a bit more than she realized.

Game info- 2 players should would be subbing in for sword/board fighter with tons of shield feats/ 2wf and a barbarian. Lands of linnorm. 20 pt build. Other party members as follows cleric, witch, and ranger (switch hitter). Core, apg, uc, and um allowed.

Her opinion is she'll play whatever fits. Her personality is quiet, logical, and very sweet.

So hopefully someone can point me in a right direction. Thanks guys.

Busy with work, so I might have enough time to properly delve into this.

2 of my players out of 5 are having troubles meeting every week. One is every other, and one hasn't played in a while due to work. I'm trying to think of something that she might take interest.

She's played a life oracle once before but I noticed she liked doing damage or rather she liked kicking butt a bit more than she realized.

Game info- 2 players should would be subbing in for sword/board fighter with tons of shield feats/ 2wf and a barbarian. Lands of linnorm. 20 pt build. Other party members as follows cleric, witch, and ranger (switch hitter). Core, apg, uc, and um allowed.

Her opinion is she'll play whatever fits. Her personality is quiet, logical, and very sweet.

So hopefully someone can point me in a right direction. Thanks guys.

Was going to use Compel Hostility and use his high AC and body to force the PCs to attack the witch. She does have supernatural abilities that are mental ie hexes.

Okay, I plan on using magic jar to shake up my PCs.

I know the npc will have her mental capacities, but I plan on possessing either a barb pc, ranger pc, or fighter pc. My question is what physical abilities would be acceptable. Eg physical stats, weapon in hand, plus what feat/bab would be retained. The barbarian is 2 handed power attack style build. Could I use his rage, etc. ? Ranger is a switch hitter build? Fighter is sword and board 2 weapon style build with shield slam etc.

For the fighter, I thought just using 1 full bab attack with sword and shield would be acceptable. Power attacking with the barbarian okay? Not sure what archery based feats would be acceptable......

Any input would be appreciated........

I agree, but in L5R there was an old tale.

Scorpion needed to cross a river and asked a frog to swim him across. The frog knowing the scorpion was a deadly creature knew if the scorpion stung him he and the scorpion would drown in the river. So, the scorpion persuaded the frog to carry him across. Frog was a nice fellow and thought he would outsmart the sly scorpion. His rep was not of a pleasant sort.

So the scorpion climbed on the frogs back, and the frog started swimming across the river. The frog made small talk with the scorpion, but about halfway across the scorpion stung the frog.

The Frog said," Why did you do that? Now, we will both die."

The Scorpion replied, "No, we won't. I learned how to swim."

I like the story and the aura the scorpion held in the story. So, that's why I choose the Scorpion as the Companion. Knowing that in every other sense it did not make a lick of sense. aka GM Fiat. 8p

On the Other side of things, how could I make a dancing Chicken companion a FEARed thing to reckon with. I'm mean really........

Colonel Sanders, Popeye, and the Church of Yummy would have probably been my PCs prime choices for names/ personas. LOL