Denim N Leather's page

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.

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?

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]

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These are my immediate questions.

Thanks in advance!

The magnets link is wonky ...

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?

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?

The new vehicle rules have me all kinds of fired up! To the point where I have dreamed up a new set piece I am building for my Pathfinder campaign.

The premise: aerial glider combat!

This will be a multi-tier clear plexiglass battle mat not too different from an earlier one I had done, but instead of being freefall, this will simulate the swooping, diving, and other acts of derring do possible using the new vehicle rules.

Now, the question of what to use as a glider came up. I decided to design and build a set of gliders from scratch. My first one is ready to be cleaned up and painted.

You can see the build pics here.

I have been reading through the vehicle rules from Ultimate Combat and am getting all sorts of crazy ideas.

My problem, however, is one of scale -- literally.

With vehicles either being so large or moving so fast, they cannot be contained in a standard battle mat.

I was thinking of doing something like a 1:4 scale, where one square = 20ft. This will effectively make the map 4x larger.

If anyone has run a combat using vehicles I would love to hear how you did it!

For the new Pathfinder campaign I am working up, it begins in Osirion. I am thinking of having First Speaker Dahnakrist Phi as a major NPC.

Since part of my idea involves one of the party members being unjustly thrown into prison, I am thinking of having Phi use some kind of divination to foresee when people may do things to endanger his political agenda. He then stages events (in the case of the PC, an altercation which will lead to the PC being imprisoned) to change the future.

My question is: Is there anything in Osirioni fluff that would make this a bad idea? I have read both the Osirion book and the Osirion entry in the Inner Sea guide and Phi looks like the most likely candidate because I want the antagonist to be a high-ranking official.

I have a cool idea for a new Pathfinder campaign that starts in Osirion. I have the Osirion book, but are there any Adventure Paths or modules set in Osirion?

I am in need of some inspiration!!

Can someone please tell me what Adventure Path has the caravan rules? I am looking to integrate them into my current campaign.

Thanks!!

I am designing an encounter for my campaign which includes a Treant with the crystal template. The party is 3 members right now, all lvl 12.

The crystal template says to apply DR 5/- unless the creature's natural DR is "better".

Now, due to the circumstance of this encounter, this Treant is a bit mad, and I am adjusting its alignment from NG to NE.

The Treant's natural DR is 10/slashing.

Now, here is my concern. Since I shifted the Treant's alignment, I am worried that the party's paladin (level 12) will be able to mop up the floor with this variant (provided she doesn't go blind or get diseased by Brilliant Pestilence first).

So, in this case, I am thinking that the 'better' DR would be 5/- not 10/slashing. But I don't want to be unfairly stacking the odds against the party.

What do you think?

So, I am the guitarist/keyboardist/riff-writer for the NYC-based proto-metal band Phantom Isle. I thought I would share our mega-epic prog rock song Mythloria with you fine folks. Hope you like!

SONG LINK

Mythloria

I. Intro

II.
The woods of Avalon are felled
Their joys no more resound
‘cross all the blind and toiling world
In chains of Reason bound
Yet beneath lone sentinels
The Dreamers gaze afar
And sow the seeds of Arcady
Reborn under the stars
Silver horns
Trumpet the Dawn
Alight on gilded shields
Ancient citadel rising high
Battle standards upon the field

III.
I feel the wind come sweeping from groves of old
I hear elder voices whisper to me of tales untold
Mariners on lost oceans I behold
Fabled legions leading charges bold
Ne’er retreating
Blessed isles rise from otherworldly seas
Under newly imagined skies realms beyond the reach of time come to be
I see the silver light of stars that were ancient long ere Man was made
I hear the hooves of the hunt thundering in the hidden glade
Weary children of Babylon
Hearken to us now
Within you sleep unkindled fires; healing songs of leaf and bough
Come, clothe yourselves in raiment adorned
With gems of spirit and mind
Sail with us in ships of wonder across the gulfs of time

IV. (Instrumental section)

V.
All harmonies
Are born of the one melody
Golden leaves on the silver tree
All rivers weave
Paths that lead back to the seas
All you need do is believe

VI.
I see twin moons shining above a circle of standing stones
I hear distant worlds singing out their remote, unearthly tones
Wayward travelers,
Heartily we call you home
Wander not unlighted paths despairing and alone
For here are poets lordly; the music makers forever mighty kings
And within the deathless Hall their songs we will forever sing

VII. (The Big Finale)

I was introduced to D&D by playing Basic many moons ago. As a early teen we played a hybrid of Basic/1E. I didn't follow subsequent editions and stayed with B/X until I got married/starting having children.

Cue mandatory 10-year gaming hiatus ... only to return during the birth of the so-called OSR and the creation of Pathfinder as its own game. Jumped into Labyrinth Lord after checking out OSRIC, S&W, C&C, and BFRP. After 2 LL campaigns, Pathfinder was released and we started playing that.

2 years later I am still enjoying Pathfinder, but I have always missed the Labyrinth Lord game I was running.

Recently I have FINALLY obtained a copy of the Rules Cyclopedia, and it has got me all fired up again to play B/X. I will probably run a dedicated B/X campaign using the RC after my Call of Cthulu campaign wraps up.

Anyone else here play B/X edition D&D?

I am now running my 3rd homebrew campaign for the Pathfinder system, my 2nd set in Golarion. As my campaigns usually involve a lot of globetrotting, I am wondering if the Adventure Locations map from the original Campaign Setting has ever been updated to include all of the modules, adventure paths, and society play modules?

I like to cherry pick Adventure Paths for certain areas depending on APL and mine them for ideas/monsters.

Any information as to where I could find either a keyed map or list by country/region in Golarion would be appreciated!!

I've started doing the 'real' work now on my next campaign. Since this setting is going to be homebrew, I thought it would be fun to make a small player's guide to the starting city as well as leak various bits of background for the actual campaign so the players will get a feel for what's in store.

This is my first draft. Please have a look and I would welcome any and all feedback, particularly on the grammar. I know next to nothing about publishing, and I did the whole thing in Photoshop, so I basically followed my gut as to what I thought would look cool/interesting.

NOTE: As I wanted this setting to be more gritty, open to the imagination and less tied to game mechanics and 'balance', and also more pulpy in the approach to magic, this campaign is going to be using B/X rules with a smidge of 1e classes for the more advanced players. (We will actually be using the Labyrinth Lord core rules and Advanced Edition Companion from Goblinoid Games)

Click here to download.

11 months since we started my campaign, the story ended last night. Surprisingly, the party still wants to do a few related adventures pursuing some of the story lines that were never completed in the campaign.

The ending battle was in a ruined temple atop a mountain pass in Varisia. They party was tasked with taking down the last 2 Lords of a secret organization dedicated to Chaos and the destruction of the Material Plane in association with a Protean.

So, atop the mountain pass, with low flying stormclouds of purple and scarlet and tempestuous winds, the battle was joined.

THE PARTY:

Lvl 11 Paladin of Erastil
Lvl 11 Fighter (Aldori Duelist)
Lvl 10 Ranger 7/Cleric 3 of Erastil
Lvl 10 Magus

THE BAD GUYS:
1x CR 10 Protean
2x Lvl 10 Ironborn Fighters (based on the amazing Irornborn race from Rite Publishing) with Lucern hammers.

THE SETUP:
I'll have to snap some pics of the battle map, but it's loosely based on the Temple of Juno in Pompeii. 3 levels separated by stairs. Cover/obstruction from dead trees, statuary, and pillars.

Battle mechanic: warp stones The Protean has caused rifts in the Material Plane; mini-eddies of the Maelstrom have formed on the battle field. If anyone in the party touches specially marked squares (even passing through one), they roll d100 for a random result.

Random results include:
-- Full healing of HP to that character
-- Summon an ally to aid the party (Archon Hound)
-- Summon an enemy to battle (Minotaur)

+++++

Needless to say, the battle got very complex very fast and lasted into the wee hours of the morning. Despite the Paladin repeatedly having Dispel Magic cast upon his magic sword and the nasty side effects/status ailments/ability damage dealt by the Protean's warp attacks and Chaos Hammer, they ultimately prevailed and saved Golarion!

It was an exhaustive campaign that stretched from New Stetven in Brevoy back in January, down to Absolam and into Katapesh, into Qadira with adventures on the Plane of Dreams, the City of Brass, the Maelstrom, through the Inner Sea by ship and ultimately ending in Korvosa. WHEW!

I learned a LOT about Golarion, Pathfinder, and 3.5 in general.

+++++

I've already begun writing my next adventure, though it is being written for Labrynth Lord; the setting calls for the more gritty LL rules set and I will be running it in my old LL campaign setting, Aerinor.

Having reworked my lvl 10 Magus so he works correctly now, I noticed that the Metamagic arcana doesn't scale. I think this would be a cool way to keep the arcana evolving with the magus. For example, you can take Empowered Magic at 6th level but you can't select it twice. Why not have the option of being able to use it twice per day at 9th level instead of selecting another arcana?

Just a thought.

Location: an underwater shaft opens to a cave with a subterranean lake and a mysterious island fortress. The fortress is abandoned of its original inhabitants and contains the remains of an ancient, advanced (alien?) civilization. The fortress is in partial ruins aside from the walls, a temple,and a huge altar.

APL is 10.

I'm at a loss as to what would be a good encounter here. Automated sentinels guarding the temple? A tribe of Lizard Men? A series of technology-driven traps? I dunno.

It doesn't have to fit thematically into my campaign as this is a side-side-side area the party has wandered into.

Any interesting monster ideas? Please share!

Well, I ran a playtest of the Magus tonight, level 10 Human.

My 2 Cents:

While I think that the Spell Combat ability is useless/weak/broken, the rest of the class works pretty well.

The build was pretty simple: First I gave him a +2 whip, and then the Combat Expertise and Improved Trip feats. I also gave him the Maneuver Mastery arcana for Trip. Then I gave him Spell Focus (Necromancy) and Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy). I'm sure you see where this is heading. :)

To offset the armour failure penalty for the spells not on the Magus list, I gave him the Arcane Armour Training feat and Mithril breastplate. This brought his arcane failure down to 5%.

Finally, I gave the whip fire and frost enhancements with the Arcane Weapon ability. This offset the fact that the whip does no damage when tripping.

The idea of this build was to have a medium range character that could trip opponents prone to allow the heavier melee types a chance to buff, flank, etc before wading in. He could also deliver Necromantic touch spells through the whip from 15 ft away.

As a tripper, the class worked really well. As a debilitating caster, he did ... okay.

There are several holes in this build which will have to be addressed, but as a first run, it is the best gish class I've come across yet. I like having a choice of specialization with the arcana, and not being limited spell-wise, so long as you take the spell failure along with it (which wasn't difficult for me to marginalize).

With spells like Bestow Curse, Blindness/Deafen, and Vampiric Touch it made the Magus an interesting tactical player when combined with tripping and the added DC from Spell Focus.

Being able to buff with True Strike and then deliver a trip attack along with a debilitating spell made for a fun time.

I'm in the planning stages for the end-of-campaign boss fight. The party will probably be APL 12.

I would like for the main villain to be a Protean (fits my story), even if I have to scale back the Protean from Legacy of Fire from CR 10 to CR 9 to accommodate a decent body guard contingent.

My plan for the final fight is ... strange. I'm building a piece of terrain that uses a cut up Deck of Many Things for some of the floor tiles. There will also be 'warp pools' on some areas of the terrain which will transport players to smaller, sub map/mini-battles.

I suspect that my players will avoid the warp pools, so I would like creatures that can charge/bull rush them into the pools.

Any suggestions would be welcome!

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this question.

Can someone tell me if Slam attacks from creatures are supposed to have any special side effect, or was this removed from Pathfinder?

One of the players in my group may be running this race. (Long story short -- the plan is: win the race, infiltrate a vizier's palace during the celebratory feast, rescue a Daivrat's half-Janni girlfriend, and have her bring back the party's Paladin who is trapped in the Plane of Shadows!)

I know it is expressly forbidden to cheat during the race, especially using magic, but how rough is the actual race? I would like to detail the race instead of simply hand-waving it. And rolling Handle Animal checks would be boring. However, when the racers are miles from prying eyes, is whipping your opponent out of the question?

Any ideas would be appreciated!

I know there is a bit of info about the planes in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting, but I may have a situation coming up where one of my players is cast into the Astral Plane.

Is there any Paizo material that's Astral-Plane-specific? Does The Great Beyond have the info I'm seeking?

Thanks!

My wife is playing a multiclassed cleric/ranger. She started with cleric 2/ranger 4 and has since leveled up twice to cleric 2/ranger 6. She has decided that now she wants to add another level of cleric, which would be cleric 3.

At 3rd level, the cleric's BAB increases by 1. In all of the cleric levels above level 6, each time the first attack increases, so do 2nd and 3rd attacks.

My question is: I know that her first attack will increase by 1, but does her 2nd attack increase also, or is this increase ONLY for the first attack, even though her actual level is now level 9.

Thanks in advance!

My band is playing 2 nights with Budgie this Friday/Saturday (at the Sterling), and that means I will have some time on Saturday to kick around.

Is there a good gaming store in Allentown that anyone can recommend?

If I have a selection of wands, as well as the Quick Draw feat, can I effectively draw the needed wand as a free action? I am leaning towards a 'yes' on this one for my group.

Thanks!

If someone has Hold Person cast on them and they fail their subsequent save, are the considered helpless as far as combat is concerned?

Thanks!

I cannot find where in the core rules it states how much damage a splash weapon does in its splash radius (5ft). Is it full damage? That does not seem right and I cannot find anything under the "Splash Weapon" rules that says what the splash damage is.

Any help would be appreciated. (Page reference would be super-appreciated)

Is there anything in the core rules about crafting a magic item to have a Metamagic property?

I don't see it in the chart on page 550.

Or will the item have to be a Wondrous Item?

Question 1. True or False: A fighter cannot use a wand of cure moderate wounds.

Question 2. True or False: A wizard cannot use a wand of cure moderate wounds.

According to the core rules, neither of these classes have Use Magical Device, the skill necessary to use a wand.

Fighter I kinda/sorta understand, but wizard?! That makes no sense to me!!

Am I reading this correctly?!

Thanks!

A quickened spell uses up a spell slot four levels higher than the spell's actual level. Casting a quickened spell doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.

Am I reading the rules correctly, that a 1st level quickened spell takes a 5th level spell slot? If so, what's the advantage of having a low level spell quickened at the cost of a much more powerful spell?

Thanks!

Boss fight will be coming up either in tonight's session or our next one, so I put together a quick 3D battle mat for the encounter. I do this for every major encounter. I find that it makes the encounter really 'pop' in the memory of the players.

Arrangement: 50' x 50' room with ramps going up the side walls. Under the elevated portion are 3 locked doors with store rooms.

Supplies: a couple of Fat Dragon sheets from the Deluxe Dungeon set, 20" x 30" sheet of foamcore, PVA glue, glue stick, X-Acto knife, couple of steel rulers, hot glue gun.

After placing the floor tiles down onto the foamcore using a glue stick, I constructed two 6" wall sections to support the elevated portion. The ramps were then assembled and attached to the sides. The elevated floor portion was laid across the tops of the ramps and hot glued to the wall section and the ramps were hot glued into place as well. I made a substructure under the elevated portion using pieces of foamcore. The 2" arch sections were cut out and placed onto the 'studs'. I then glued more stone to the sides of the ramps.

It still needs a few finishing details, but is basically ready.

With minis.

Can someone please explain what, if any, mechanical benefits are derived from teaching an animal companion the Defend trick?

The Core Rules state that the animal 'defends' a person of the handler's choosing. But does this have any benefit to that person?

I'm always on the lookout for new material to add to my own campaigns: interesting monsters, NPCs, new feats, and details on areas.

If I'm not planning on running an Adventure Path, per se, is there enough information inside to appropriate to my own campaigns?

Thanks!

Nevermind, I figured it out!

In the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, if you have Kyonin affinity, you can select the Sniper Shot feat. I've read through this feat several times and STILL can't make heads or tails out of how it's supposed to work!

Can someone please elucidate?

Thanks! :)

Is there a recommended starting distance for random encounters in the Pathfinder core rules?

I was using the old school 3d8 ft for indoor encounters and 3d8 yards for outdoor encounters, but recently have been doing 2d10+10ft and am still not happy.

I've been thinking about doing 1d8+1 squares since we do all encounters on a battle mat.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I have the hardcopy version of Guide To Absolom, but it doesn't contain a pull-out map of the city.

Is there way I can obtain a digital copy of a map of Absolom without having to purchase the PDF of the entire Guide?

I will purchase the map alone, if it is available. Or is there an adventure path or Map Folio that includes a map of Absalom? Any of these solutions are acceptable, and I don't mind spending a couple of extra dollars to have the map, but would rather keep redundancy to a minimum.

Thanks in advance!

I had to make a battle mat for a session today and thought I would make it available to whomever wants it. It has a simple bridge, river, and grass terrain.

You can access it here.

If you have a staff/wand/rod with a touch-based spell (like Cure Light Wounds), does the staff/wand/rod in question have to touch the recipient of the spell?

I think I've answered my own question, but am curious.

Thanks!

Has there been anything written about the Isle of Terror yet?

I'm thinking about picking up the Dragonlance campaign setting book. My question is: is it any good?

Bear in mind:
1. I own very few 3.5e supplements aside from the Pathfinder Chronicles/Companions (I've only been playing Pathfinder for 6 months or so)

2. Aside from being friends with Matt Stawicki, I know nothing about Dragonlance

3. I will either be taking ideas from this setting and using them in Golarion or running a short campaign using Pathfinder rules

Thanks!

In Chapter 15 of the core rules, Magic Items, there are several community sizes noted re: availability of magic items, and in the Pathfinder Chronicles campaign setting it gives the populations of most of the cities and important areas of the Inner Sea region.

Is there any place that says what the approximate population, in numbers, is when trying to match up the city sizes?

The community sizes listed are:

Thorp
Hamlet
Village
Small Town
Large Town
Small City
Large City
Metropolis

Thanks in advance!

I didn't see anything in the core rules for when your animal companion dies. What is the procedure for obtaining another one? Can someone point me to a page number?

Subject line says it all: Do shield and mage armour stack for a total bonus of +8 to AC?

I've started reading the Pathfinder campaign Setting which focuses on the Inner Sea region, and am definitely going to use this setting for my next campaign. (I have a great way to get the party into Golarion from my current homebrew world without having to upset or destroy anything -- as it is sea-based, the Eye of Abednego will do nicely! :) )

I want to have a Helenic flavour to the buildings, background, and such, however.

Is there anyplace around the Inner Sea where a Helenic type setting would fit in without breaking what you already have?