Denim N Leather's page

Basic Fantasy is pretty good; if I were looking to separate race/class I would just run the Advanced Edition Companion for Labyrinth Lord.

Moving on from the inevitable wave that is 5th Edition. What would you do to simplify the Game down to a Home Play Role-play Game reminiscent of the 83 Red Box?

Play BECMI, B/X, or Labyrinth Lord.

Did anyone else get their advance PDFs for the Shadowlands campaign setting yet?

I have started reading the Conversion Guide. After my current campaign wraps up, I really want to run a campaign set in Saemyyr.

The setting is a bit too ... how to put this nicely ... persnickety ... in some aspects. For example: whilst I love the fact that money is called different things in different regions, I will NEVER remember all of these trivial details, and the Conversion Guide puts a lot (too much) emphasis on how important these differences are. I play rpg's to get away from stuff like this in real life, not to simulate it all in-game.

I haven't come across any typos yet, which is a Plus. Layout-wise, it's very nice, though I think some creative editing would have eliminating a few clunky word-breaks.

Minor nitpicks aside, it's a very creative setting and I'm enjoying it very much.

Cool idea! Thanks!

Thanks so much for the ideas! On my phone now so I cannot type much, but will follow up later. Thanks again!

I need help refining a rough idea I have for my current Pathfinder campaign and would welcome any thoughts!

SETUP: The party is currently level 2 and consists of
- Barbarian
- Pirate
- Samurai
- Bard

They are currently acting as Guards/Heroes for a trade caravan heading North out of Iceferry towards Turvik.

MY IDEA: I had a cool visual idea of the party seeing a full-blown pirate ship on its side outside of Turvik. As they get closer, the Pirate will recognise the ship as one he's had dealings with in the past, perhaps even having worked with some of its crew members in the past.

How did the ship get there? They were engaged in a raid against a merchant ship when something happened, and the next thing the crew knew, they were crashing outside of Turvik hundreds of miles away.

How will they get out? Well, the crew has an idea: They purchased (at great expense) a scroll of Favorable Wind (From Stormwrack) from a wandering wizard.

The plan: Being some 25-30 miles from open water, the crew has devised a plot to repair their ship and fit it with an undercarriage and wheels. If they can get the ship's wizard to copy the scroll, he can cast the spell enough times to push the ship back out to sea.

The problem? Their ship's wizard, currently the ONLY caster in Turvik, has gone into a deep depression; after shipwrecking, his spell book has gone missing and he spends all of his time either getting drunk or casting cantrips for coin to purchase drink.

This is where the PC's come in. Can they help the pirates rebuild their ship, afix the wheels, and convince the wizard to dry up and help the crew?

The population of Turvik would certainly be happy to see this merry band of cutthroats leave for good.

++++

Any and all thoughts on how I can fine-tune this chapter would be appreciated.

Any ideas or suggestions?

As a player, would you find this fun?

Does your GM allow non-Pathinder feats?

If so, take Energy Substitution and change the descriptor of your spells to [Sonic].

Thanks for the assistance; I feel fairly confident I can run a mounted combat in tonight's session!

Mine is the same ... Magus archetypes are under Inquisitor.

Never mind, found it; core rules page 201 -- MOUNTED COMBAT -- duh!

Thanks so much!!

Thanks so much, Elfgasm! Can you please point out the reference for the mid-movement mentioned in #5?

I am starting a new campaign set in the Lands of the Linnorm Kings and I would really like to try my hand at running mounted combats this time round. I have never run a mounted combat in 3.5e and really want to spice up the combats this time with mounts.

The party is currently Level 2 and are all warrior-types.

Am I reading the rules correctly in the following instances?

1 - The mount moves/attacks on the same initiative segment as its rider

2 - On a character's turn, they use the movement rate of their mount

3 - A character can still take an action that is during their personal movement phase before or after their mount has moved, separate from their mount's action during their joint movement phase

4 - When a character takes damage, they make a Ride check to Stay In Saddle; do they also do this when the mount takes damage?

5 - Can a range-based character's mount move and the ranged attacker still get multiple attacks, or does this fall under the ruling of movement = single ranged attack/round?

6 - Military saddle + armour for mount = Good Things

7 - Amour penalties apply to Ride checks

8 - Can an opponent on foot and without a reach or brace weapon reach someone on a mount? [Assuming: rider is Medium, opponent is Medium; mount is Large; both are on adjacent squares]

9 - Does an opponent on foot with a reach or brace weapon choose whether they are attacking the mount or rider? Or is it automatically assumed they are attacking the mount and it is a "Called Shot" to attack the rider?

10 - Can a rider reach an opponent on foot if they do not have a reach weapon? [Assuming: melee weapon, rider is Medium, opponent is Medium, mount is Large, both are on adjacent squares]

++++

These are my immediate questions.

Thanks in advance!

Some great info in this thread! The main protagonist in the campaign I am running now will end up being a Mystic Theurge. Right now he is a cleric of Gorum and will multi-class into the White Necromancer class from Kobold Quarterly.

The "In The Company Of" series from Rite Publishing is a must-have. Evocative, great fluff, very interesting concepts, solid mechanics, and no typos!!

The magnets link is wonky ...

Just 'leafed' through the PDF of this.

WOW!

Amazing work! Tonnes of info, but v well laid out. The pages are very consistent from one to another.

Hit 15 hrs and I am loving a pimped-out Behemoth in the Aggression-X paradigm.

Great podcast on the subject, here.

About 10 hours into it and loving it.

Or don't. Better to be able to still have fond memories of a decent book. You will waste months of your life only to be profoundly disappointed by one of the worst endings of all time.

To be fair, King DOES say not to go past a certain point unless you are ready to deal with the consequences after the 'end' ... unless you DID stop at that point and were still disappointed? (Can't see how that's the case, tho)

I know I had a 'wth' reaction to the ending, as well, but then I shrugged and accepted it and re-read the whole thing from top to bottom a second time!

Denim N Leather wrote:

What is it?

What is it as in what's the product? A compilation of all the your whispering humunuculus articles and new ones, as well as one or two surprises.

If you've not seen any of the articles before go here and have a butchers.

Huzzah!

Ah, thanks. Didn't know it was a KQ article.

Gauntlets are pretty pointless for a monk to use, and they also kind of fly in the face of the idea of an unarmed guy or gal who does bare-handed kung fu.

hmmm ... I respectfully disagree, at least from a real world/historical perspective. To this day it is common practice to wear gauntlets in some martial arts, most notably the 'tiger/crane' style of hung ga. Example. Kung fu players have a history for all sorts of unconventional armour (such as Iron Robe's armour plated robe here), weapons (including the steel plated boots seen here, sleeve dart guns and toe-knives), and shields. The idea of a 'fair fight', bare-handed man-to-man/fist-to-fist combat is a WESTERN ideal. Fists and feet are a means of last resort, and that includes real world monks! :)

What is it?

1. Dunno, I usually use homebrew adventures with material borrowed from Adventure Paths.

2. Don't worry about it. I usually have a 60-second rule: if something comes up that I don't know the exact rule on, and cannot locate it within 60 seconds, I just adjucate on the fly and move on. You will develop your own house rules as time goes on, no need to overly complicate it with someone else's house rules which may not work in YOUR house.

3. Never played, 4th, sorry.

Denim, what type of pen and what size point did you use? Did it threaten to smear?

Nope, didn't smear at all!

I used a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point pen or a Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine. The Pilot ink takes longer to dry before you can turn pages; the Sharpie is better.

I have written the changes in by hand; my book is 1st printing. Was very labourious, but gets the job done!

Welcome!

You should definitely check out the Know Direction Podcast Episode 0, which is an introduction to Pathfinder/Paizo. Great stuff!

link

I cannot edit my post for some reason, so I will add:

Seeing as there are dragons, you can use someone with the arcane skill set who can craft magic items tailored to your environs.

You're in a great position, because most of the core positions are already filled. You can play whatever you want!I would go with sorcerer, and hide behind the archer during combat.

Unimportant combats are usually 2-3 rounds. Medium encounters around 6 rounds. Boss encounters usually run around 12 rounds, with a few high level ones going over 20!

BAB is short for Base Attack Bonus. It's a number, based on your class and level, that you add to your attack rolls. I'm not sure where it's listed in the Beginner's Box rules, but in the full version of the rules, it's listed in each class's entry.

... and your TOTAL attack bonus is the sum of your [BAB] (which is class and level dependent) + [whatever modifier is used] (Str or Dex) + [any enhancements the weapon may have] (magic enhancement or masterwork).

Yes, that is what I meant by tweaking -- just changing the verbiage.

Is there any mechanical reason why a Gunslinger cannot (or, more importantly, SHOULD not) become an Arcane Archer if the requirements are tweaked to swap bow proficiency with firearms?

You can be an ex-paladin without any paladin levels.

That is what I would do; take fighter/rogue; go into Paladin if/when redeemed.

Denim N Leather wrote:

5 x Lvl 8 PCs = APL 9

3 x Lvl 10 NPCs with class levels & no racial hit dice = CR 12
Appropriate minions = at least CR 6 unless they are super-mooks at CR 3

Estimated CR = 15-19

That is at least 3-5 magnitudes of order beyond an Epic challenge according to the core rules.

Bottom line: this encounter is super unbalanced and will end in PC road pizza.

I have a really hard time figuring out how you arrived at the CR=15-19 number.. As you said, the 3 wizards make for a CR 12. Mooks would typically be far lower level than the wizards themselves, and would likely not add more than +1 to the total CR (assuming the mooks are worth around CR 9 in total, which would for instance be the case for 4 CR 5 mooks, or 8 CR 3 mooks).

In my estimation, this encounter would be CR 13 at most, with a successful ambush adding to that number.

It would still be a very difficult encounter, and may very well lead to several party deaths, but it's not as high as CR 15-19.

Sorry, shoulda been more clear; I was estimating the mooks would be at about 1/3 in level to the 'main' villains. Seeing the difficulty level of the wizards, having a total CR 1 for the mooks doesn't make sense to me --- but --- whatever! It's all theoretical anyway.

In any event, a CR 13 encounter for an APL 9 will probably end badly for the PCs, unless it's mismanaged by the DM. Even by your reckoning, CR 13 is 2 steps beyond an 'Epic' challenge.

Although legal, this tactic is blatent cheese. Surely you can think of some better way to use THREE 10th-level wizards (and their MINIONS!) ganging up on FOUR to FIVE 8th-level PCs. And I do hope that you realize this is a fight well above their CR? If played right, your player character's are dead.

Master Arminas

5 x Lvl 8 PCs = APL 9

3 x Lvl 10 NPCs with class levels & no racial hit dice = CR 12
Appropriate minions = at least CR 6 unless they are super-mooks at CR 3

Estimated CR = 15-19

That is at least 3-5 magnitudes of order beyond an Epic challenge according to the core rules.

Bottom line: this encounter is super unbalanced and will end in PC road pizza.

Thank you all for the replies so far :)

You're welcome!

Hmm, A crime syndicate hiding in plane of shadows, using the planar hopping (need to come up with low level way to do it)

There is a low-level PFS module that takes place in Absolam Voices in the Void; the Blackros Museum, specifically, and there is a planar gate as part of the plot ... No reason why you cannot use the same location/gate but altered to suit your needs.

Campaign I want to play... Something a mixture of drama and action I guess.

This is usually the type of campaign I run. The beautiful thing about Absolam is that you can throw sooo many different styles and NPC's at the players and let THEM pick the type of adventure they want to play.

What's Eureka BTW?

Eureka is a system-neutral book with 500 ready-to-roll plot hooks for your campaign. It's like inspiration-in-a-box!

Oh, btw, if you're stumped, you should definitely pick up a copy of Eureka. It's a god send!

Absolam can easily accommodate full 20 level campaign if you so desire. Do you have the Guide to Absolam; that has lots of ideas for adventure hooks! I used Absolam as a major focal point in back half of my last campaign.

Absolam can literally support any kind of campaign from intrique to dungeon crawl. What kind of campaign did you want to run?

In my campaign, I had the players helping a minor politician who had set his sites on loftier goals. They did some dirty work for him, and he got the credit/accolades in exchange for near-unlimited resources in helping the PC's track down their main objective. Worked out quite well.

Thanks for the first-hand experience.

PBR
Lone Star
Harley Davidson
Iron City
Red, White & Blue
Schlitz

... my favourite beers of desperation!

Ah, looks Aid Another only applies when the driver opts for a Wisdom check opposed to a skill roll.

I've decided that I'm going to work in some kind of training that will allow skill bonuses when used specifically for drive checks. I will have to double check, but I'm pretty sure you can Aid Another for a Drive check, which would be very good!

Thanks for that firsthand account!

What I found interesting was comparing the Drive check DCs against trap DCs, and I noticed that most low CR traps still have high DCs, often a DC of 20. In fact, most CR1 traps have a DC of 20.

I wonder if Pathfinder's default DC is 20 instead of 15 ...

With vehicle combat DCs starting at 20 and quickly going to 30+, they effectively squeeze out having any interesting combat setups for lower level parties.

Has anyone else used them with a low level party?

Another quick fix is to add 20-50hp to single creatures or up their AC a couple of notches. This will make them harder to hit/kill without going overboard.

Extremely cool. I might "borrow" your idea and try to do something similar in metal/plastic with some extra feathered wings I have laying around from Reaper.

I hope you don't mind!

Not at all! I would love to see what you come up with!

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far, too; really appreciate it!

I'll admit, I was thinking of this :-)

I wish I had the time and skill level to scratch build a squadron of those! =P

But your shapes are awesome.

Thanks!

Are they true gliders or propelled?

I haven't yet decided on how I'm going to work them. It will tie back into the overarching plot, so it's something I'm going to have to decide at one point.

One thought is to to have them be true gliders and to have an airship in the middle of the battlefield with a mage inside creating currents for them to ride on. Another is to have them ride on magical currents. A third is to have a mage on the ground create a current to whip them into the air and then let natural air currents to the rest. Really depends on how the story flows ...

That is cool!

Thanks!

Do you have plans to make the minis stay on, or do you plan to keep it level?

There is a photo I forgot to upload of the bottom of the mini; it is resting on a 'raft' made of drinking straws; it lifts the glider off of the ground and can handle two metal minis without tipping over.

I have no plans (yet) to secure the minis to the gliders, however.

What new rules are you referring to?

The vehicle rules from Ultimate Combat.

Have you seen the warhammer mounted minis? Specifically the wood elves warhawks and the lizardmen pteranodons (terrordons?)? I think they have captured the swooping, diving, and derring do you mention :)

I have, and if it weren't for 40k I wouldn't be able to make terrain or anything even close to realizing this idea!

I held the boxed set in my hands at the Compleat Strategist yesterday. Serious heft! I really want this!