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So I'm moving to Portland, once I get settled in with a job and all that fun stuff I'll be looking for a group to run games for. I'm a GM through and through and playing is something I only do once in awhile so it's kind of important I find a group I can be a primary GM for. The systems I enjoy are Pathfinder, Savage Worlds (particularly Hellfrost and Deadlands), Star Wars Saga Edition, Castles and Crusades, and more. Those are what I have that I've played, I have and want to play many more games from d20 variants like Iron Heroes, Arcana Evolved and Midnight; to strange RPG's like Monsters and Other Childish Things, Don't Rest Your Head, All Flesh Must Be Eaten (and the Army of Darkness game); I also have the Dresden Files RPG. I am, and will be for some time, primarily a Pathfinder RPG player, it's the one I've invested much of my funds in. I have, however, been with a group that hates the thought of trying something new and different, that had players who'd latch on to one mechanic in a system they didn't like and then loathe the system because of it and thus refuse to play, I've felt like I've been suffocating being unable to run other games would like to stretch my DM wings. That said a group that is at least willing to try new RPG systems is definitely a requirement. Might sound like too much to ask but a GM can hope can't he? :P 
So I was discussing the changes made to Alkenstar with one of my players and a side comment I made caught his attention, I mentioned that Alkenstar has Alchemists and he was confused about this, after all, isn't it a dead magic region? It's a good point, why would anyone be an Alchemist in Alkenstar when the bulk of their abilities (Supernatural effects) are rendered useless? Or are Alchemists some sort of exception for this? Near as I can tell there's no crunch supporting this so unless the Alchemists in that industrious city are the poor bastards who made those items that become worthless after a level or two (you know, *those* items) why would there be any of the base class from there? Unless it was, of course, an oversight and something not quite thought out when it was written up... Any input on this?
A little over 800 years ago Hella, keeper of the dead, went mad and threw open the gates to the abyss freeing thousands of wicked souls before fleeing to become the goddess of the undead. Until then undead had never been seen on Rassilon. Scaetha, a war goddess, fought her way to the gates and shut them taking Hella's place but the damage was done. Soon the civilized peoples of the land had to face the Liche Priest and his undead armies. As per the usual in a fantasy campaign setting: they triumphed, though it took them some three hundred years before his hordes were defeated and he was shut away for eternity. Not three years later the Blizzard wars start as armies from the north, taking advantage of the southernlands weakened state, march upon the remains of civilization. The gods of Sun and Fire disappear without a trace as armies of frost giants, hellfrost dragons and other frigid beasts lay waste to the land. The armies of the south finally rallied together and pushed back their foes in bloody and costly conflict meant to utterly destroy them. As the enemy retreated to the north a massive wall of ice rose, literally over night, blocking the advance of the armies of civilization. The cold glacier lands became known as the Hellfrost. Now, five hundred years later, winters have grown longer, the sun has grown weaker, the very land seems to be dying in some places, and something is causing magic to fluctuate. The "Victory" of a half a millenia ago tastes like ash in the mouths of those who struggle to keep their homes warm and their families fed. The Kingdoms of Man are stretched thin, orcs and other beasts dot the out of the way places, bandits roam much of the roads unchecked and there are whispers that the armies of winter are growing stronger... Greetings, I'm looking to start a Hellfrost campaign. I've found myself fond of the world and system and dove right in buying all the books and then found myself without any interested players. Solution: take this show online! So I'm here to drum up interest. I would be running this game on RPOL, a site made for play-by-post games, as I've grown quite fond of them and used to their layout. If you're interest go to www.rpol.net and sign in then go here http://rpol.net/display.cgi?gi=4738&ti=5235&date=1289374718 and comment that you're interested in playing. Or simply comment here and wait until I have the game setup on RPOL to sign up and submit a request to join.
So, I'm running my second attempt at a face-to-face game of Kingmaker. The previous group dissolved due to conflicting schedule and by the time they had started gaming again I wasn't available so they started other games. They were good roleplayers and sort of made the exploration interesting on their own playing off of little bits I'd toss them about the weather and general traveling conditions. My present group has one or two good roleplayers but seem a little more focused on the hacking and the slashing. They can get down with the role playing (instead of the roll playing) in certain situations but dice rolling heavy aspects of the campaign (like the exploration) sort of fall flat. So, does anyone have any ideas on how to make things interesting and get rid of the monotony between encounters? Anything help would be welcome.
I'm considering opening up a Kingmaker and Serpents Skull play by post game. It wouldn't be here on the Paizo boards however, I've grown comfortable and used to the play-by-post sight www.rpol.net as it is designed quite specifically for pbp games as opposed to being a modified message board. If there are any takers feel free to post here and make an account on rpol.net where you'll be able to post an RTJ once I figure out whether I'll be doing one, the other, or both.
I have two players interested in joining a game of mine. They both have ideas that deviate a bit from the norm and I wanted to get some opinions and advice. The first on the list is Snowy.
Then there's the other player. His gnome Cavalier is based heavily off of classic gnome D&D archetypes of big noses, mischievous pranks, etc. I'm trying to get him brushed up on Golarion gnomes but I think his concept can work with some tweaking. His Cavalier Order is that of the Forest Moon... unfortunately I don't have a full write up yet. When I get it I'll post it to see what people think. Thanks
Using the Paizo Critical hit deck in a pickup game recently one hit resulted in "Normal Damage and target is sickened" which I figured didn't apply to a creature made of fire. Looking through the Bestiary I only found that they are immune to being stunned but nothing about fire elementals stated they couldn't be sickened, this doesn't make much sense to me so I decided to ask here: Can an elemental be sickened?
So, I was running Kingmaker with a very good group. They stayed on task, and while goofing off and joking did occur we were able to get through many encounters. They all role played, even the new and casual gamers, and were a winning group all in all. Alas real life got in the way and the host got a job that involves heavy over time. So now the game is canceled and we haven't even made it to the second module yet. My other group is working their way through Legacy of Fire, which is a good AP altogether, but it still saddens me that I won't be able to run Kingmaker any time in the foreseeable future. :-(
Greetings, I run two tabletop games. One game runs smoothly, we get a lot done and still have room for the B.S. that's inherit in all but the most hard core of gaming groups. The PC's in that group are very prepared. They have printouts of their special ability as well as printed lists of their spells and what page number of what book they belong to. They roll their damage dice with their attack dice. They review their characters to make sure they fully grasp what they're capable of to avoid flipping through the book for ten minutes in the middle of combat. They even have a simple rule wherein you must use the restroom before initiative is rolled for going to the bathroom during combat is not allowed. While combat isn't over and done before I can blink this Player Preparedness helps things move quick and smooth. The other group provides a study in contrasts. Until recently we rolled initiative every round. I put my foot down and started using static initiative. The speeds things up a little (I've even timed) but not much. I've tried to convince them to help me out in this field but to no avail. It could be that the players are just more casual gamers compared to the above group. It could be I just fall into old bad habbits as this group holds two of my oldest friends whereas the above group I only just started gaming with in the past couple months. Anyone have any tips and tricks I might use to keep gameplay flowing relatively smoothly in spite of the Players themselves? I'm running Legacy of Fire if that is of any assistance. Anything from techniques on how to speed up combat to DM preparedness would be welcome. There are some ideas floating about in my head but I am curious as to what I can get from the community itself. Thank you for your help.
The PRPG answered many problems I had with 3rd edition. It condensed the skills down into something that made more sense to me mechanically. It gave me new rules for grappling and tripping that made such things not only viable in combat but easier to manage. It improved upon most of the melee classes (though I still think the Barbarian is grossly underpowered compared to the other warrior classes). It is not without it's flaws however, at least not in my eyes. Apparently there was a consensus amongst the community that spellcasters were too powerful. I could kind of see that but felt that they needed a trim but what they got seemed closer to castration. Sure they got some niftiness with the bloodlines and the domains but ultimately it didn't make up for what happened to their bread and butter: their spells got nerfed to near uselessness. There are some who do not think so, well... a lot, these changes couldn't have occurred in the RPG unless there was a substantial mindset that said spells were too powerful. If you are of that mindset: this thread is not for you. I agree that some spells were a little too powerful, some, not the vast majority that seemed to be fall under the axe. Those that I felt merited a little weakening instead of being trimmed the %10 they needed got cut down to half their potency and rendered nearly useless. Practically making battlefield control magic pointless and forcing one to focus on combative of defensive spells seeing as enchantment and illusion have always been flawed schools. Rant:
By way of example: Solid Fog.
Verbal, Somatic and Material components. A wizard isn't going to be stealthily casting this spell if he's in sight of anyone. The components seem easy enough to come by. Duration of 1 minute a level. More or less guaranteeing it will last a combat session. Perfectly reasonable. It acts like the 2nd level Fog Cloud so it only covers a 20ft radius, that's 40x40ft square and 20ft high. Not a lot of ground. It hampers movement reducing it to 5ft a round. Can't really see in or out. Those withing suffer -2 attack and damage penalty and falling objects are slowed. This doesn't seem over powered for a 4th level spell to me. It's good for battlefield control, keeping that onrush of minions from getting at you until you've dealt with some of the heavier hitters (or vice versa) or maybe letting the BBEG slow the PC's down so he can either cast a fireball or buff himself or heal himself. Or the PC's could use those same tactics, all in all a reasonable trade off. Now let's look at the PRPG version... Virtually the same as far as components duration and area of effect go. In fact it's virtually the same save for one glaring difference: It's considered difficult terrain rather than hampering movement to 5ft a round across the board. I could see that working for a second maybe third level spell but not 4th. It'll only really effect any enemies for what, two rounds at most and that's if you caught someone smack dab in the middle. A 4th level non-damaging spell that only hampers it's victims for a round, maybe two. I could see it work out if the AoE increased some. Maybe to 40ft radius, but it doesn't. I can kind of see the reasoning. What happens if you use Solid Fog on someone with a higher movement rate, is it fair that he's slowed just as much as everyone else? Maybe, maybe not, but rather than think out how to balance it for such a case, trim it down to the %80 percent it probably needed they took the cheap way out and cut it down to near uselessness. And it's not just that spell. This is done with many spells that got hacked up and spit out sad shadows of their former selves. Game balance is well and good but it seemed they went to far with this. I could go on as to how the Druids shapeshift abilities just aren't worth it in comparison. I could see how the 3.5 version could be abused but did you need to render it pointless now? Now the druid can shapeshift into the weakest brown bear in the woods. So this long winded rant brings me to my request of the community. I have two players who love playing spell casters. Unfortunately the game just isn't fun for them any more since the spells got neutered. I want to try and make it fun for them again by making spells worthwhile but not going back to 3.5 spells completely. Do you guys have any suggestions for handling this so that I only need the PRPG book and don't have to carry a 3.5 PH around to reference it's spells? Should I go through them and adjust them on a case by case basis? One player recommended I create wands that act as the 4th edition implements and serve to enhance the PC's spells rather than store charges of spells themselves? How would you have edited the wizard spells that got nerfed? How would you have handled the Druids shape changing ability? One of my PC's is quickly losing interest as he realizes glitterdust is virtually useless now and that web might as well never grace his spellbook, he's basically reverting to what he hates: a blaster and it's because the utility and battlefield control spells have been chewed up and spit out in a manner that made the great 3.0->3.5 nerfing look like a power up. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
The time has come. For the past few months, since it was announced that you were selected for the coming trial of the Quest for the Everflame, it seemed every day has been spent training. Those you've learned your skills from have been working you three times as hard as normal in their enthusiastic pride that their respective wards have been chosen. Thankfully you've all been given a days rest for contemplation and to settle your nerves though whether or not it has worked depends on you. Not that there's anything to fear. While some have gotten hurt on the Quest for the Everflame it's usually been by their own stupidity or accident rather than any real danger. Everyone knows that the traps are safe and the danger only in your minds. Still, the solemnity with which the people of Kassen deal with the quest is quite infectious. You find yourselves there, in the town square on that cold fall morning. A winters wind blows through the town cutting through garments and chilling you to the bone. No one in the town can be seen save the others who are undertaking the Quest for the Everflame and the silence is rather oppressing. As leaves are blown across the cobbles when the wind blows through again you realize you have some time to yourselves to prepare for the coming challenge.
Those who are questing...(More information forthcoming)
Those who have come before... None... yet. Character Creation/Advancement Rules: Abilities
Hit Points
HD HP/lvl
Material's Allowed
Character Traits
Experience Advancement
Starting Gold
Barbarian: 10gp 5sp
There are two exceptions:
House Rules
Races Humans get the Multitalented ability that the Half Elves get. Why: Quite simply, I thought the humans got the shaft. One of their perks was that they were better at multi classing than everyone else because they were able to pick a favored class. Now everyone can pick a favored class, which is, to me, the humans losing out. So they get the Multitalented ability. I think I recall someone writing me wondering if they could get the weapon proficiency that was available in the PRPG Beta testing. I figure if someone is willing to give up the Multitalented ability above they can get the Martial Weapon Proficiency feat. Classes Clerics get Heavy Armor Proficiency if it fits their deity.
Clerics can Turn Undead.
Feats Spell Focus and Improved Spell Focus give a +2 bonus.
Spells I thought they went overboard on weakening a lot of the spells out there. Cutting them down by %50 potency when a mere %25 trim would have balanced them out nicely. The result: a lot of spells I feel are far too weak for their levels. These will be adjusted on a case by case basis. Remove Disease and Neutralize Poison
Why: I respect the desire to make Poison and Disease more deadly, really I do, but I don't like the idea of a poison or disease grinding my game to a halt. Personally, I thought it could have been an opportunity to make the heal skill more worthwhile, as it stands there's no real reason to pump more than a few points into that skill and call it a day. Now there is. Encumbrance I'm not a big stickler for encumbrance. I might peek in occasionally and see if that pack you carried into combat is overstuffed but if it's a few pounds over the weight category it's no big deal. If, however, you're carrying everything and the kitchen sink and you're the wizard with 8 str expect me to apply penalties to your rolls. Critical Hits I'm not a full on Grognard, my starting edition was 2nd Ed. AD&D, but back then a crit was a crit and I've carried that well into 3rd edition. I don't, however, want to make this too deadly for those who are not used to my method of doing things so I'll used a trimmed down version of my home game house rule. A roll of what is normally a "critical threat" results in the following based on your critical damage multiplier. x2 = Max Damage
See? Simple, and makes rolling a crit worthwhile, no more wasted natural 20's and you no longer have to worry about confirming a crit only to roll a 1 and do poor damage regardless. Of course if you have sneak attack or some magical ability on your weapon that adds a die of damage you still have to roll it and it doesn't get multiplied but that's normal. Does this mean fights will be deadlier? A little, but I think you'll be fine. I can't think of much else in the house rule thing. If I update I will post here in the OOC thread then edit and update this post accordingly. Posting/Combat Alright, this isn't like my usual PBP site so I have to adjust my standards some. Here's some basic guidelines as well as things I like and dislike as well as things you can expect from me as a DM. When you post please include any actions you take that have a game mechanic attached to them and post them using BBCode for OOC posts along with relevant information I'm including a crude example below. Finius waved his hands about and murmured a string of strange syllables in draconic before pointing at the brigand and whereupon a dark mist seems to surround the highwayman displaying unto him his darkest fears
Simple enough right? This goes for other things as well like skill checks. Sure you can assume I understand you're picking the lock if you describe yourself picking the lock or what not but I want to see it written out briefly in OOC. A few things not to do. Some go without saying but I'd rather spell it out then hear someone say 'but you never mentioned anything about...'
Skill Checks I like there to be a degree of uncertainty in my games, however I don't like to remove all control from players, so I strike a simple balance and swipe one of the few things I liked from 4th Edition: Passive Skill Checks. Basically it goes like this. Occasionally something is going on that you guys (the PC's) don't know about. Maybe an Assassin is sneaking into position or someone is lying to you. I will have these NPC's roll checks against your Perception or Sense Motive as though you were taking 10. This will not always be the case of course. Should you wander into an Ally way and roll a perception as you keep an eye out for danger then they'll have to beat that instead. Or if you don't trust that street urchin when he tells you the thief went that-a-way you can make a sense motive check. You can do this in two ways: either post in OOC that you're making a check and I'll roll it myself. Or you can post in OOC and use the BBCode to roll your skill check. That goes for any skill: you either roll yourself, or declare your skill check ooc and let me do it. Sometimes I'll use my own judgment if you forget or don't think of it. If you're trying to talk your employer into bumping up your reward but you don't post anything about making a skill check then I'll probably roll your diplomacy (or intimidate depending on the method you use IC). Languages
Whenever you are hearing someone speaking in a language other than common I'll check everyone's known languages. If someone knows the language being spoken I will post it as a spoiler with something indicating what language it is and those that can read it may look at the spoiler. Those that can't read such and look at the spoiler and then I find metagamed based on such knowledge will receive an XP penalty on the first violation and then get booted from the game on the second. So, you can look at stuff said in languages you do not speak but you cannot act on it unless someone translates. It's an honor system thing. Also, when posting in a language other than common, do one of two things: either post it as a spoiler identifying the language or post it without a spoiler identifying the language. Whatever your preference is provided you make it clear what language you're speaking in. Internal dialogue should be italicized. Knowledge Checks The results of a knowledge check will be posted as a spoiler. The spoilers will be listed with the name of whoever is permitted to read the information within. Knowledge checks work like skill checks above, you can declare and roll via BBCode or you can have me roll. Dice Rolling In case you haven't guessed, dice rolls made by players will be done via BBCode, pure plain and simple. I know some people like to use some website that's out there but I'd rather not deal with that. Any rolls I make will be made in private, think of it as your DM who rolls behind a screen at your table top game and you'll be fine. Combat
Whew, okay, I think I've covered the necessary bases. I know it seems like a lot but, well, I've played PBP with all types and I'd rather have all the above than not. Let me know when you're character is made and ready for me to look at. Send any questions, comments, concerns to dmofpayne at gmail dot com.
"Once again the winter winds blow through the Fangwood, marking the end of another harvest. There are wolves in the woods, howling at our walls, and serpents in our shadows, waiting to strike. Just as it was one hundred and seventy-four years ago, when Kassen himself left these walls to protect us, so it is today. Where are the heroes? Where are the brave folk that will venture out to Kaseen's tomb and retrieve the flame to keep this community safe for another winter?"[/i] It was these words Mayor Uptal spoke to the assembled crowd that cool fall day as the winds did indeed blow through the town heralding the coming winter. It had been four years since you last saw the Mayor climb up and recite those words, four years since a small group of young villagers, each on the cusp of adulthood took that rite of passage, four years since the Everflame was returned to Kassen to keep the village safe for another winter. Sure the whole thing was little more than symbolism but it brought the small community to life and was an exciting ritual to undertake. Those who did were surely destined for great things in or out of the community and many a village youth longed to prove themselves against the tests the village elders and mentors pit against them. You have been given the honor of undertaking this rite, you have been selected by the town elders based on your merits and the praise of your mentors, are you ready? You've spent the past few years or perhaps all of your lives listening to stories about those who have gone before, of the experience and the legends behind this ritual and now it is your turn. Don't worry though, only rarely are people injured, the traps are harmless and the threats are simply clever illusions after all. It's for the fun, the experience and the prestige, what could go wrong? ************************************************************************ So, in case you didn't get it the first time, I'm starting a PbP game! Looking for first level upstarts... er... heroes to run through with spears... I meant the Crypt of the Everflame as well as the following modules. I've run plenty of PBP games over at www.rpol.net which is a wonderful site dedicated to the craft but I wanted to try my hand here. What I'm Looking For
English: I'm not too picky on spelling and grammer, gods know I'm certainly not perfect with it myself, just please make an effort to write legibly. Reliability: Things happen, that's understandable, but try to post regularly. What's regular? I'd say once a day but sometimes you're waiting on someone else to post or for me to update so I understand. I'm bad at updating on weekends so I'd say about five times a week is a good number to aim at. Secondly, do not try to join if you think something will happen soon that might take up all your spare time and keep you from posting. Are you taking 20 credits this semester? Perhaps you are expecting to switch over from part time to full time work? If you can handle posting under such conditions: Great! If not, might not be a good idea to join a game right now. Group Cohesion Your character doesn't have to be best friends with everyone else but I would like them to be able to work with the rest of the party. Look for role playing opportunities instead of conflict. Paladin doesn't like rogues? Maybe they can try and redeem them, provide something of a moral compass, plenty of RP opportunities abound. That being said if we have a Paladin we shouldn't have a child murdering necromancer in the group. Inter-party conflict can be fun, let's avoid making it not-fun. Alignment Good and Neutral alignments. If anyone is thinking of Chaotic Neutral they better prove to me they can play it. Want to Join?
This e-mail should tell me the following things:
That should be enough. If you have a general idea how you plan on building your character as far as multiclassing or prestige classes go let me know. I like to have PC's roleplay entering into a prestige class rather than just getting in and advance notice gives me a better chance to set it up. I'm aiming for five players but if I get enough good submissions six is more than doable. Once I have my players I'll give out character creation information.
So, It would seem I have a little excess time on my hands, which means I want to get my DM Juices flowing by running another PBP game. Thing is, I've never run a game on the Paizo boards, I mostly stick to rpol.net which is specifically designed for PBP gaming and is where I run a Black Company game as well as a Pathfinder game (specifically the Darkmoon Vale modules). So I guess I'm here to see if there's any interest in a Crypt of the Everflame game that would include the following modules as well as whatever else comes to mind. Meanwhile I shall dig around the PBP boards and see how things are done here while I debate directing interested players to RPOL.net or trying my hand here at Paizo.com. Anyway, let me know what you think,
So I was originally planning on playtesting the Summoner on Sunday but I got impatient and wanted to see it in action. That and who knows how many other people are running 1st level play tests and the like? So I canceled our standard Saturday game of a rather colorful take on the Red Hand of Doom and opted, instead, to have a playtest night. I tried to give my players as much of an advanced notice as possible but alas we were only able to get in a few hours of gaming. The test run would be for a higher level campaign than that of the game we're running later today. I decided to start our Rise of the Runelords game from where we left off. The conclusion of Fortress of the Stone Giants would offer the recap of the campaign up to that point (quite convenient with the library there) and run the beginning portion of Sins of the Saviors which is a nice mini dungeon with only a few encounters. Perfect for a quick play test. So, they rolled up a trio of 12th level characters. Two of the players played APG characters while a third, deciding that the witch and the cavalier held no interest to him, decided to play a paladin seeing as he had rolled up some good stats. The characters were: Imub: A 12th level human Stone Foci Oracle. Anyone familiar with a certain Earthbender from a certain animated TV show would know who this guy was based off of if they examined his name a little. Arthas: A 2nd level human Fighter, 10th level Paladin. A reluctant Paladin who answered the calling for reasons that went beyond his wants or his family. Ka'Im: a 12th level halfling Summoner. A halfling from the distant South East with an Eidolon of disturbing qualities. Gorthrek: a NPC meant to fill the rogue slot if we got far enough that it became necessary. Suffice to say it did not. Sources:
Magic Item Problems: Suffice to say it's been awhile since I've started a game at higher levels and one of the first things the PC's thought about was getting item creation feats to halve the cost of magical items. Suffice to say I wasn't too keen on it but couldn't find advice on how to handle it and maintain balance without otherwise demolishing a valid idea. In the end I permitted two items made per PC at half value but instituted a market value cap. Actual Play (Warning SPOILERS ahead.) The PC's teleported in to the town of Sandpoint and were almost immediately summoned to see Father Zantus considering they chose to appear near the church. They had a feeling something had happened, Sandpoint couldn't seem to go three days without some crises or danger cropping up. Apparently one of their old haunts, the Catacombs of Madness, had decided to open up a 30ft diameter sky light. After a squad of 10 of the town guard went down to investigate they disappeared. Given the disturbing noises that had been issuing from there since the town leaders were certain that death would flow forth from that pit and into the streets of the town above. With a wearied sigh they chose to investigate rather than kick back in the rusty dragon. The Oracle proved the most proficient to this task. Putting his Earth Glide and Crystal Sight as well as his blind sight to use when he needed, he explored the former catacombs of wrath eventually coming across the cleared stairwell. Finding a patch of earth to glide into was easy enough considering the cave-in that had occurred so he followed the shaft to it's base and easily found the secret door with his Crystal Sight. A quick cast of Detect Magic also revealed a faint abjuration aura further down the corridor. He poked his head into the main chamber inadvertantly setting off the Alarm spell he had seen before heading back to report his findings to the party. *Note: While their exists a strong mechanical argument for why the Stone Speaker Oracle cannot glide through worked stone. The flavor reasoning is kind of weak. The same went for the Eidolon and the reasoning behind why it couldn't wear armor. They understood why it shouldn't be able to but the reasoning felt weak and cheap, they sort of damaged the flavor of the classes in both cases. The PC's eventually made their way into the main chamber of this temple to Lamashtu where they were confronted by a hidden scribbler. Refusing to answer any of his questions unless he showed himself, something even he was not mad enough to do, he grew angry and set one of the guardians on the PC's, one guardian who promptly became two as it summoned a second Glabrezu to the fight. Battle: Playtest classes and a paladin vs. 2 upper echelon demons! When they spied the demons through the fog they wasted little time. The Paladin charged forward into melee declaring a smite evil and promptly made the first Glabrezu feel his blade. Meanwhile the summoner sent his Eidolon forth and the large sized creature couldn't move in to attack the other one without getting an Attack of Opportunity from the first. With a +20 to hit it EASILY cut through the Eidolons defenses. The Oracle cast Divine Power on himself. As both Eidolon and Glabrezu had a fifteen foot reach they didn't need to close much further. The Eidolon went and full attacked with claws, bite and a tentacle strike and after damage reduction came into play did a total of 5 points of damage. The Glabrezu's went. The one on Arthas the Paladin didn't even scratch him what with the Paladins bonuses from Smite Evil in place it boosted his normally considerably AC to over 40 meaning the Glabrezu had to roll a nat 20. The other one full attacked the Eidolon and with it's 27 AC they hit with both pincers, a rend, both claws, and it's bite. The Eidolon was dust by the end of the first round. When it's handler Ka'Im went he promptly cast haste. The second round proved devastating. We roll init for every round though it didn't matter much as the only change in order was the Summoner went before the Glabrezu's. The Stone speaker used his Earth Glide to bypass the Glabs' Attack of Opportunity range and popped up behind him but the damage dealt was a mere 7 points after reduction. The Paladin used his hastened full attack to good effect as he promptly tripped the Glab, rolled a critical on the first attack and hit with the following attacks. By round two a Demon with 180 hp was dead. The Summoner, well, the Summoner knew it's summons would effectively be useless so he just sort of stood there. The other Glabrezu moved in to assault the Paladin, it had a better chance to hit the man but still needed a pretty absurd number to get past his normal AC. This is where I groaned. Both the Claw attacks, and the Pincer attacks came up 3's. The bite was a little better but not enough to hit. So a full attack wasted that might have been put to better use using a spell like ability like Reverse Gravity or Powerword Stun. Though on a meta game level those wouldn't have done too well either. The third round was where things ended. The Oracle tried to cast Dismissal but couldn't get through the Spell Resistance and the Paladin got another full round of attacks wherein he tripped and brought the Glab from near max to 31 hp. When it tried to use a spell like ability the two got attacks of opportunity and killed the thing. Battle End Conclusions? The Eidolon isn't all it's cracked up to be even at mid level play. Now to be fair, it could be it probably wasn't as properly optimized as it could have been, but anyone looking at it would have thought it competent to go through a 12th level game. Against such powerful things the Summons weren't even considered, the flanking bonuses they could have contributed might have been nice but the PC's had no trouble hitting the Glabrezu's they needed to damage them which only the Paladin was any good at. The Oracle was pretty good. I had to think on my feet a bit more than usual with the Earth Glide in effect and I can see that causing considerable problems to unprepared GM's in dungeon crawls along with Crystal Sight. In combat, well, I can speculate that against non Demonic entities that mighty pebble ability would have come in handy as well as the rock throwing but alas we were only able to get in the one combat. Given the starting gold and the stats rolled primary stats were easily placed above 25 and while the Oracle and the Summoner had their AC's in 20's the Paladin was at 37 prior to the smite. I also had another thing of note. I limited the use of this for the purpose of the playtest but one of the PC's acquired the Craft Wondrous Item feat and wanted to know how much they could buy at 1/2 off. I permitted a few items and imposed a GP limit on them but wasn't used to how to handle it seeing as it's been years since we've tried to start a game at such a higher level as opposed to working from 1st level on. Unrelated I know but I will say I'm hoping the Game Mastery Guide will have advice for situations like this. All in all it was a good session. The Glabrezu's weren't altogether pushovers but with the Paladin in the party they were mincemeat from the beginning. I might of made the encounter even more challenging but two CR 13 creatures should have been more than enough. Considering one full attack dropped the Eidolon (who was softened by one attack of opportunity) I'm hesitant to view the Eidolon as the all powerful monstrosity some people have been claiming it to be. Anyway, not sure if that helps you folks over there at Paizo but it made me re-think a few things. I'll post again after our first session in the Legacy of Fire wherein we have a Summoner and a Witch.
As someone pointed out recently this is a lot of Adventure for free. Apparently the sequel is in the works and will cost a small sum of money. I haven't gotten too far in but this adventure of ancient ruins, dark cults and a region locked in the grip of an ancient demonic terror is already getting my wheels spinning. Rather reminiscent of a dungeon module dealing with the same Demon Lord but it is it's own story all the same. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if some enterprising DM's wove them into connecting plots. Give this game a look through, can't hurt seeing as it's free right? :P
This is just a couple odd things that have hit my mind since looking at the PRPG... Alright, I have to say, I'm not an expert on horses. I worked with them a little when I was younger but I won't claim years of ranch hand experience with the beasts or anything like that. Still, I noticed something strange, apparently a horses hooves aren't it's primary attack... I'm sorry, but I have seen an upset horse and let me tell you something, their teeth are not their primary mode of attack. So I'm incredibly curious as to why on earth is their bite attack their primary and their hooves secondary? On another note, I finally saw the changes for the Remove Curse/Poison/Disease spells and while I can see the reasoning behind it, well... it just seems too much. Or too little for a 3rd level spell. A caster level check against the poisons DC? It becomes far too easy to make that a wasted spell than anything. Wasted spells and conditions you cannot get rid of in such a manner do far more to encourage a 15 minute adventuring day than to move away from. What's done is done however so I ask this, what would you do to make those spells, well, not suck. Let's face it, they suck, I as a DM have no intention of making poisons, diseases, or curses a major part of my campaigns any time soon and if I wanted them to be more deadly I'd raise the DC to slightly more realistic levels (let's face it, a nip of arsenic will drop you be you a football star or a pocket protector wearing nerd). One of my players suggested using it in such a fashion: have the spell allow the caster to make a heal check instead (much more likely to be higher than a level check) against the DC of the poison/disease/or curse and perhaps provide a bonus of some sort. Any thoughts?
I know much of these are unlikely to turn up. However I figure it couldn't hurt to post these wants and desires here in the hopes that they might get the ear of someone on high. For those reading this thread here's the deal, what would you most like to see from paizo in regards to the Pathfinder Setting and RPG. It can be anything really, it is a wish list after all, who knows... maybe something will be mentioned that might actually make it on the production board a year or five from now and you can go "Hey! I posted a request for something just like that!" Or not... Either way, I'll begin with my bit of wishful thinking: Compilations. Maybe I'm obsessed, maybe it's my collector bug, but I love compilations. I'm the guy some comic book companies hate because I don't buy comics by the issue, I buy them by the compiled volumes. One of the reason I'm eagerly awaiting the next Fables release (and a second job so I can continue to pursue that particular love). The same goes for Paizo and their products. Now I know it's already been mentioned that a compilation project for the other two Dungeon AP's (Age of Worms and Savage Tide) are pretty much never going to happen but I loved what they did with the Shackled City compilation and would love to see something similar in the future. How cool would it be if, a couple years down the line, they republished the Rise of the Runelords AP in a hard back compilation book. Perhaps added a little reformatting here, updated to PRPG there, tossed some of the more extraneous articles but kept bestiary creatures that were actually featured in the AP as well as the articles most relevant to it (i.e. the guide to Sandpoint and Magnamar). Or to go a step further and eventually make a compilation of all the articles on the various religions of the world that are featured in the AP's. Or perhaps produce a Bestiary featuring all the AP bestiaries published. I personally would love to see something like this so I can avoid having to page through a stack of AP's to get the right combination of monsters and information on the various religions for my campaigns. Do I expect this to happen? Not really. Paizo has plenty on it's plate it seems and the profit might not merit the cost of such endeavors. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the second Pathfinder Bestiary featured monsters from the AP's and that, personally, strikes me as the compilation most likely to occur. Either way, that's my 'wishlist', what's yours?
A little about what I'm posting first. I've had this character stuck in my head for some time. Maybe some day I'll play him but until then I'm simply going to write about him. I'm not sure what it is, maybe I've been reading too many Planet Stories... alright, that's not it, I'm afraid I've only read one of the Elak of Atlantis stories (I have a long 'to do' list when it comes to reading) but I've wanted to write some adventure stories set in Golarion for some time now. It's nothing spectacular, just a little idea I decided to go off of, and while it's not a Campaign Journal perse I figured this is the best place to post it. So I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer:
The subject in question? Point Buy Stats. I have never been satisfied with them as written. What's worse is that I find if infuriating that a set of stats are considered appropriate for "epic fantasy" setting that I have come to view as... sub par or moderate at best. In short I would subject my players to the PRPG's 25 point buy system only if I were feeling particularly mean or spiteful. Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's how I ran my games growing up. Maybe it's the simple fact that stats a couple points higher always seemed worth it to me. They made my players happy and never seemed to break my game and if I did feel that balance of power shift it seemed easier to compensate than to have my players grumble about their stats being unable to meet their characters concept. Good concepts, by the way, not munchkiny concepts. What gets me the most is the whole the implication that epic fantasy is so... mediocre. Honestly I'd put the 25 point by in High Fantasy or Standard at least. Then if I had 25 be my High Fantasy I'd feel I had to allow a 1 for 1 exchange up to 14 rather than having 14 cost 5 points. With the 25 point spread keeping your stats at ten and above allows for two sixteens and a 14 which just seems insufficient. Maybe it's that whole line of thought that in order to have a character who's not only good at what they do but good for role playing they have to have some sort of weakness to balance out their perks. I'm not sure how that mentality came about, I think I recall it being referred to as the 'Stormblade Fallacy' or something, not sure. It is a fallacy though, good roleplaying is good roleplaying, whether you have a stat or two below ten or not. Maybe I've just been spoiling my PC's all these years I've been letting them play with stats that looked something closer to 18, 16, 14, 12, 12, 10 (36 points per PFRPG Beta's point buy) than 18, 16, 10, 10, 10, 8 (25 point buy). The PC's all die the same when a troll crits them. I think it's because that part of me that over thinks these things always feels like I'm being told "You're doing it wrong!" whenever I see things like that second example being considered 'epic'. Just needed to get that off my brain. I don't expect this to change at all, I don't expect many (if any) people to agree with me, but it's irked me since 3rd edition came out (during second edition I never really considered other methods of stat developing beyond rolling them up).
Feats have been one of the best, and occasionally most annoying mechanics of the D&D game since 3rd edition came out. Since then I've heard the phrase "You can never have enough feats!" I created a system in my homebrew (3.5, not PRPG Beta) where a player could sacrifice a feat for a stat point and, well, no one thought it was worth taking. Well, one did and that was only to round a 15 that was bugging him up to a 16. I ran into two feats, one I traced back to Book of Nine Swords and one I only know the origins of in a PbP game. I'm sure it exists elsewhere but I've no clue where that might be. The BoNS feat was Superior Unarmed Fighting (or something to that effect) and I think this feat is just plain cool. It allows someone to make an effective pugilist and increase their unarmed damage without dipping into monk or getting the shaft. It grows with the player and while the damage is never as good as a monks it's enough that it doesn't suck. The other feat I found was Ambidextrous, with 3.5 we saw that feat go the way of the dodo as the mechanics were combined with the then Two Weapon Combat feat to make the now Two Weapon Combat feat. Still, some people found it strange that while it combined the two feats the person who took them was never, in fact, ambidextrous. Ambidexterity is the equal use of both your right and left hand/arm, by definition you have no off hand. The feat I ran into fixed that by saying that your character had no off hand. I.E. A two weapon fighter using that suffered no strength penalty with his "off" hand. My main regret is that I was absent during the feat discussion of the PRPG and never thought to at least try and get some variant of the above two feats into the system. Gods know I'm house ruling them. Still there needs to be a purpose to what I'm writing so here it is: What sort of feats out there do you think are just plain cool? Not stuff for some uber build but feats that are downright neat? Perhaps the flavor of them struck you or maybe you thought "why the hell wasn't this made sooner?" whatever tickles your fancy.
Well, I'm running a 4th edition campaign set in a future Golarion, certain things have occurred and while some aspects of the world have remained the same a significant amount has been changed to fit my personal vision of a 4E version of Golarion. Chances are in some twisted alternate dimension where Paizo jumped on 4th edition and converted their 3.5 Golarion to said RPG system and used the setting as I have some of the changes would ignite nerd-rage across the message boards akin to what occurred with the Forgotten Realms transition. :P I, however, digress. I am curious, there are certain elements of 3.5 that don't transfer well to 4e and certain elements of 4e that I'm having trouble finding a Golarion counterpart for. One example are the gods. In the first gen 4e core books each god has a Divine Power feat associated with them. Any advice on who might get what feat or has anyone written up anything custom to the gods of Golarion? If so I'd love to see a thread or website that includes it. Should I not get anything here I suppose I could get off my lazy butt and page through the PH to find various equivalents.... :P
My group and I are about to go through the Red Hand of Doom adventure. I'm going to start the group off with Tower of the Last Baron and toss in a lead in to the Red Hand of Doom story line. My only problem is where to set it. I had originally thought the River Kingdoms wold be perfect but unfortunately that does not seem to be the case. Any advice? I'd rather it wasn't too much further than Andoran...
I have to say of the various lust gods and goddesses I've seen in D&D I have to say I've found Calistria to be one of the more interesting in that, well, I find nothing about her appealing. Everything about her meant to be enticing is simply... a turn off. Nothing about bees or wasps is appealing, I find the color of yellow unappealing in just about any form... hell, even traditionally it deviates from things lustful, heh, even the hair in her depiction. I'm not against it or complaining I just found it personally amusing. On the other hand there are interesting aspects to her. Combining her with Trickery and Revenge, two portfolios that are typically relegated to separate deities (i.e. Trickery to a god of Illusion or Thievery, Revenge toward some more sinister or violent god that sort of thing) but remains a combination that makes sense. Personally I'll probably try to lose the bee motife and go with something like a red rose and a mask which keeps the Calistria's Sting element and adding something indicative of trickery. Anyway. Interesting concept I have to say, though I don't agree with it, maybe I'm just finicky, just felt like commenting on that.
So it happened, and technically I should have seen it coming but, alas, I did not. Anyway, I'm seeking advice as there is a slight problem in my group. Our parties Cleric has become rather powerful and normally this isn't a problem for me, I always thought that 100% game balance for for sissies as far as GMing goes (my beliefs that whatever the PC's can do bad guys can do too has often worked as a great counter when handled properly) but this is a different matter entirely next to my usual issues of encounters being too easy. Basically the other PC's feel over shadowed by the guy. One of them has apparently been quoted saying "I don't come to game to be *players name* *explicative* sidekick." and, well, that's a problem. When a good half of the group aren't enjoying themselves then something is wrong. Now much of this is my fault. The player has out damaged the fighter, out stealthed the rogue, out initiated everyone (though I think the rogue is actually better now and just rolls poorly, I'll have to check the character sheets), and while he hasn't out blasted the Evoker he's come close. He has, through the rules: summoned over a hundred celestials capable of casting Raise Dead and Hallow over the course of a week, teleported long before he should have via little loopholes. And is an all around bad ass. The scary thing is this isn't him trying, all of it has role playing elements behind it and he has worked for his abilities. He's written two packets to explain down time activities. Suffered ability damage for some of the cooler actions he's done, and sacrificed xp to summon those celestials. And all with good in character reasons. The player himself is a freakish blending of a master Power Gamer and a good role player. He has the free time and the will to study the various books in the apartment and suffice to say the other players simply can't compete. Oh, and everything I mentioned was done during or before 9th level. The other player involved in these issues it the player of the party's Wizard. Well, one of the parties two wizards, and in general is a good and solid gamer but has some personality quirks that are hard to ignore. Suffice to say it seems there's no satisfying him and he has been prone to sulking after a fashion during game when things don't go his way. This isn't saying the player of the cleric has an Angelic personality but it hasn't been an issue in game, well, not as persistent at least. The wizards irritation comes from the Cleric and a strong dislike for the lack of good loot in the adventures we've been running (Rise of the Runelords), he also dislikes how certain things make little sense (to him) throughout the module Spoiler:
(His most recent issue being the Fortress of the Stone Giants wherein the PC's encounter a mummy that is not only a monk but has his arms and legs bound tight and is in the middle of an otherwise empty and hollow tower. No explanation for the PC's, nothing in the tower that they built up to be the actual fortress rather than the gaping pit in the ground, etc.) and has been bringing the game down on many levels. At the same time he has also brought to light the issues two of the other players are having (these issues have been confirmed the Wizard is simply more the speaker than the other two) with certain aspects of the game as well as the Cleric. Now I'm tired of tiptoeing through the tulips, of hearing all of these complaints from both sides, and I have issues of my own. The advice I'm seeking though is on the two players mentioned. We have one who is far too powerful and one who does a lot of complaining. There were issues with the magic items but ultimately that's an easy fix. I'm also to blame for some of the Clerics uber-mojo. I permitted him to build his cohort when he took the Leadership Feat which, while he had fairly altruistic designs with him he still got to customize the guy entirely which rubbed people the wrong way. One player, the Wizard in question above, wanted to take the Leadership Feat but lacked a good in character reason for it and was accused of trying to step on the clerics toes. So the issues:
Any advice is welcome though I'd like to avoid anything involving kicking the players in question out. Quitting the game. Killing any of the characters. And please, I understand that it is my fault for permitting the powerful character to be as powerful as he is, I'd rather not have it ground into my face any more than it already has. Especially seeing as it wouldn't actually lend itself to helping solve the problem. Any takers?
Adventure modules are a great thing. Whether you use them entirely or simply pluck bits and pieces from their pages to enhance your own home brewed game. I myself like to run modules for a variety of reasons from simply not feeling I have the time to run my own adventures to the fact that Paizo has some pretty badass Adventure Paths and I can't help but want to run them all, but for all the good things about modules (Pathfinder AP's especially) there are just some things the designers can't quite cover when working on them, events when players go left instead of right or home rules that may make it easier or more difficult to bypass an obstacle in the game. These things are expected to come up and a bit of clever or quick GMing is all that's needed when handling them. But then you get those Doozy's. You know what I'm talking about. Something where the players deviate from that neatly laid railroad drastically or perhaps do something that doesn't damage the rails per-se but makes for one hell of a scene or an effect. So I'm starting this thread as a place to tell stories about players, or hell, even GM's who throw the module or adventure path through a loop and have a good time doing it. I'm going to focus this one on Rise of the Runelords, Paizo's initial foray into the realm of AP making outside of Dungeon magazine. So everyone, tell us your stories.
I know I'm on day 12 of the 8-17 business days but I have to ask. Why does it take so long to ship? I mean 8-17 business days just to ship? I was wondering if there was even a point to higher shipping rates as you could get next day delivery but if you have to wait 8-17 days it doesn't really matter. I've pretty much chalked this up as an item that will arrive by the 17th of October. Over a month after making the order. I can accept that, but I'm curious as to the why, I wanna watch my Gamers 2! :-P
In my Rise of the Runelords game one of my players is a Cleric of Desna. His domains are Luck and Travel and while he makes prodigious use of his travel domain ability his bit of luck ability has been considered next to useless due to it's pre-meditated nature. Once a day on one person and you have to choose when before the roll is, well, lame, especially considering it requires a standard action. The 3.5 version, listed below, proves much more worthwhile.
With this one gets the chance to gauge whether the roll succeeded or noth then they can choose to reroll based on that. Should they see the roll having likely succeeded they don't waste their luck because it's already with them. However should their roll be on the lower end of the spectrum they can effectively increase the chances of countering that ill luck by rerolling when they more or less assume it's a failure (a safe bet on most rolls of 5 or below for example). It makes having the luck domain far more... lucky. With the way it's written in the PRPG you can slightly increase your chances but really it'll be hit or miss. Sure that emulates luck fairly nicely but, in my opinion, not nearly so nice as the 3.5 ability. First, you have to do it either before combat or within the first round of combat, anything else would likely be more of an exception to that rule. Because it requires a standard action you're using it because you think it would be better than a buff the cleric could otherwise cast instead. Then you have three rounds to choose to use it. First you have to use it when you know you want it to count and once you do that is that. You can't get it for the rest of the day. Meaning this requires guess work and playing it right to make sure you don't waste it. My solution would be a combination of the two instead. For three rounds the person touched with bit of luck can choose to re-roll one roll before the gm informs them as to whether it was successful or not. So lets say the cleric of the party uses bit of luck on a Paladin. The Paladin rushes in and makes a basic attack on the BBEG, he hits an AC of 24 and deals damage. The second round he decides to Smite Evil, he rolls poorly so he chooses to activate his bit of luck and re-roll and rolls a little better. He still hits and the Smiting goodness is dealt. He's happy because he had a little more control over when luck blessed him by choosing after recognizing a likely failure rather than guessing at the need for one. Now I can see the ability as being useful, but I think it would be better, yes, better and likely more balanced with abilities like that of the travel domain if the player in question had more choice and control in the matter. Yes, luck is about chance, but bit of luck is about getting lucky. That, and it's nicer to choose rather than guess and choose any day, even if the choice turns out a poor result you still had that much more control. Anyway, I'd like to see other peoples thoughts. I know it's not a major discussion issue like skill points and the Power Attack Feat (I'd still like to hear Jasons input on why the PA feat was neutered so unnecessarily :-( but that's for another thread) but it's been a concern in my game and while it's easy enough to house rule I'd like to at least try to push to make it what I and the player in question see as 'better'. I'd also like to see what the community thinks on the issue as well.
Do Human Bane Weapons affect half breed creatures like half-orcs or half-elves? I am running Hook Mountain Massacre and the PC's will be fighting Jagrath Kreeg and his human bane weapons. Now, this party doesn't have a single human, what it has is two half-elves a half-orc a halfling and an elf. Would the human bane weapon actually affect any of the half breeds?
Do Human Bane Weapons affect half breed creatures like half-orcs or half-elves? I am running Hook Mountain Massacre and the PC's will be fighting Jagrath Kreeg and his human bane weapons. Now, this party doesn't have a single human, what it has is two half-elves a half-orc a halfling and an elf. Would the human bane weapon actually affect any of the half breeds?
Greetings, Some time ago I started a playtesting thread for the alpha, it kind of got swept away as alpha two and alpha three sections to the message boards opened up so I sort of let it slide. Now I've decided to try again. Whether or not Bulmahn himself reads this amidst the slew of other threads is hard to say but at least it provides a place for me to organize my thoughts on all things PRPG. I have to say certain aspects playtesting conflict with me. One might argue that in order to properly playtest a D&D variant game you must use a specific set of stats or a specific point buy system and then a set of other controls to limit the variables in the overall equation that is playing with the system. I say fie on that. Why? Well, the fact is when the PRPG is released in it's final form I won't be running my games in 'elite array' and I won't be running my games in 15 point stat point buy system. No, my PC's like to roll their stats and hell if they're going to have a 15 as their highest. If anything 25 point purchase is closer to their 'average' and that's just one aspect. One might also argue for playing nothing but PRPG made characters, again I say fie, what good is a backwards compatible system if you don't use those 3.5 books that are otherwise collecting dust on your shelf and reminding you about how you spent 30$ to 40$ on them? That's why one of my characters is a 4th level Cloistered Cleric with intuitive strike taking a level in warlock and the Eldritch Desciple prestige class. Suffice to say he is quite impressive. So I will say I take into factor the uncontrolled variable. The games not bogged down by point buy or limited supplements... well, that's not true, anything third party isn't permitted though I do permit some things. Above cleric has wanted to bring in some old spells from as far back as 2nd edition that fit the goddess Desna. For those of you who disagree with this approach to playtesting, I apologize, but this might be considered the most solid sort of playtesting out there. The kind that takes into account the fact that not ever group(indeed I would say the vast majority) plays 100% by the written rule and I think it would be valuable to take that into account. Even aside I would say views made by myself and my players are just as valid as others in regards to whether rules are balanced; we're all experienced players and have all played by different rules and I like to think we're all reasonably intelligent. Moving on to the actual playtesting reports. One thing I am getting is that Wizards seem to get quite a bit of love leaving the rest of the classes in the dust. They got an expectional upgrade with the combination of the arcane focus and the various abilities granted by their schools (particularly the generalist). I would not say this is bad but with an evoker and a generalist in my party I'm noticing things can get quite painful. In "The Skinsaw Murders" my players went up against the whole of the Skinsaw cult at once and cleaned them out in a matter of a couple rounds. The PC's were 5th level at the time and a well placed fireball took out the vast majority of 13 3rd level cultists with the rest of the enemies being taken out a mere two rounds later. I added a level of fighter to improve the enemies chances and help the PC's level as their characters were lagging behind with the medium xp progression, I'm not thinking that they're just fine being a level or two behind the modules given the power creep, even with the PRPG conversion of their foes and slight increases to enemies stats. The party is now 6th level going into "Hook Mountain Massacre"
Bengiant Boldfellow: A halfling Cloistered Cleric 4, Warlock 1, Eldritch Desciple 1 with the Intuitive Strike feat to add to the mix. Needless to say quite a competent character occasionally outdoing the party fighter (occasionally) on successful attacks though not quite on damage. Looking at his planned final build I can add a 'yet' to the last sentence. He actually has a strong philosophical argument as to why Desna is the most powerful and influential goddess of the pantheon ranging from "What is battle but a series of lucky shots." to "She placed the stars in the sky and thus made the universe, did your god make the universe?" to "What is the sun but another star?" many other arguments, it's quite scary, he went far more indepth than that. I suppose that's what happens when a former philosophy major plays such a character. Tek: His name is much longer but I'm lazy. He would be a 6th level generalist elven wizard. Now the player himself doesn't do much, he roleplays occasionally but he's mostly one of those players who participates for the social aspect and rolls dice. That being said it wasn't until the end of "Burnt Offerings" that he actually cast a spell and even then that was because he was being NPC'd. How'd this happen you ask? Well, it has to do with him being proficient with longswords and having the +1 longsword found in that very module and getting to add his considerable intelligence bonus to the damage. Suffice to say, the fact that he, a first level wizard, didn't cast a single spell beyond a cantrip through his entire first level says quite a lot in my opinion. He's working a lot more now and has taken his share of hits (our half orc dropped him to 1hp when he was Charmed, with one strike no less). Ancrym: Half-Orc Fighter and wielder of the Earth Breaker. He often uses overhand chop to devastating effect and his Earth Breaker has splattered many a foe (PC and NPC alike no less). He's a grunt, pure and simple, though he's a skilled and educated grunt. You wouldn't know it from the fact that his character has a weapon lacking any elegance whatsoever but this half orc was educated. We used the educated fighter option from the Gazetteer granting him more skill points and skills to choose from. I honestly think there should be more 'feats' and substitutions like this aimed particularly at those 2 skill point a level classes. I'll be posting as much whenever the designers begin focusing on skills again. He suffers from standard fighter weaknesses such as having charm monster used on him by a certain Lamia and then dropping the party generalist to 1hp because he was the nearest poor soul to him, needless to say I think he's probably one of the most balanced party members. Alister: 1/2 elf rogue. Also 6th level. Not a combat buff but his stealth and perception checks are off the charts. His character is solid and balanced well with the modules but suffers from crappy luck with the dice. We firmly believe it's because the dice gods are insulted that he carries them around in a plastic baggy. Aaron: Our other spellcaster. The 1/2 elven Evoker. He has lain much waste to his enemies and I have to say that despite the fact that he dishes out the damage in combat (that is, after all, what evokers do) he is also about as balanced as a Wizard can be, which is to say he's more powerful than the majority of the party. With five PC's I find myself increasing the number of their foes on occasion while. We advance using the medium advancement table and they've wiped the walls with many creatures. The rogue has proven considerably more effective now that his sneak attacks can apply to creatures normally immune. Sometimes this is too effective in my mind but compared to the damage everyone dishes out I'd say it's still fine in the combat area. Beyond that you have our cleric/warlock who is surprisingly capable in combat and spell caster. His player is a deadly breed, a former power gamer who is damn good at roleplaying and damn does he come up with good builds and good reasons for them. We are about to begin Hook Mountain Massacre. I'm also about to start a second campaign with these players as well to be played every other week or so. I may place that in another thread along with playtest reports from my pbp players. Anyway, I'm nodding off, I'll post again tomorrow. Thanks,
My PC's have been going through the Rise of the Runelords AP with the PRPG rules and they've been loving it. They love the stories, the love the RP, they love the plot but one thing that has irked them to no end is that most of the magic items they have are things they've made. They haven't found any solid good Wondrous Items, they now hate war razors with a passion and if there is one thing they've hated with any adventure in general is that it seems if ever there's a low level module the PC's are almost guaranteed to get enough cloaks of resistance +1 to provide blankets to everyone in a town of Sandpoints size. Now of course nothing can be done right now but I've always considered magic items to be a good crunchy part of the fun and my players do as well. Seems the bad guys get plenty of nifty toys but they're either horribly evil items or something considered useless by and large (i.e. war razors, pole arms, etc). I basically got tired of it and decided that the PC's could get one of the masks redeemed per the Book of Exalted Deeds and us it that way sans the icky evilness. Now granted, it's not nearly as bad as Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave where a PC was screwed if they weren't a wielder of a Spiked Chain but it is annoying for a GM to list off what they get as they wait with bated breath and then have them groan and roll their eyes and talk about how they might sell such and such item to provide gold for making such and such item instead. So I guess our request would be if it would be at all possible to take magic item dispersement into more consideration with future AP's? As a GM I am more than capable of slipping things into the game on my own but it would be nice to have a little help. I'd never consider my group a montey haul group under any circumstance but the magic item dispersement has been a touch bland. I'm presently sifting through Hook Mountain Massacre to see if I can't slip a few handy wondrous items into the mix or if I'll even need to. Please don't think this a major complaint. I and my players love your products so at this point we're just being nit picky. I'm not sure what formulae you're using as far as how many magic items you're placing in the game, of what power and whether you're taking just monetary value into effect (i.e. including things like the Skinsaw Masks) or taking into account how useful certain items are (i.e. few players ever wield pole arms therefor this would likely be sold 7 times out of 10 and fewer still are likely to use the skin saw masks let alone find a buyer for them and thus... etc etc) but it's still a request my players and I would like to make. Whether you listen to us or not :-P is another matter. Thanks.
Greetings, I know there probably aren't too many Alaskans on these boards, never are, but I figure it's a good place for me to begin before I put up posts at my FLGS and the like. I'm thinking of running, or if there's a group already forming, playing in (I'd prefer the former) a Pathfinder Society game in the largest city (*snicker*) of America's westernmost, northernmost, and easternmost state. So, if there are any Alaskans on these boards interested let me know and perhaps we can works on something.
Greetings, I'm presently running four games using the Pathfinder Alpha rules and set in the Pathfinder world, two are using the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path and two others are presently running through some various modules. Three of these games are Play By Post. I, however, want to try something a little different... I've been wanting to run a 4e game, my tabletop group isn't keen on the system but I kind of like it, so I figured I'd run a Play By Post game on RPOL. Problem is I didn't want to run it in the default campaign setting because I find it and the gods within a bit boring, and I didn't want to run it in Golarion as it stands, Golarion just holds too much of a 3.5 feel for me personally. So I came up with a compromise: "Over a millenia has passed. Cheliax rose in power but fell when the Last Azlanti, Aroden, returned very much alive but now a force of darkness and having stolen the portfolios of some of the other darker gods came after Azmodeus' portfolio of Tyranny. The resulting war between the two gods combined with a last ditch effort by an alliance of 'goodly' nations caused the empire to crumble. While civilization isn't gone it's no where near as established as it used to be. The efforts of many of the nations go towards keeping the growing threat of the World Wound at bay while other threats aren't held in check. Varisia is back to a more frontier status as Korvosa crumbled during the wars and the Shoanti returned to their original homeland. Humanoids have increased in number in this region and have taken up the mantle of Aroden, one that once stood for civilization now twisted to a darker end. One nation holds these forces at bay and you, the PC's, are mercenaries in their struggle." I'm curious as to what people think of this. Please no 4e bashing, I myself am sticking with PRPG more than likely but I paid for the 4e rules and dammit, I want to run the 4e rules! So if you're a hater, shove off, besides the setting isn't mechanics specific anyhow. Thank you.
I hate to be a pest, seems I've posted on these boards more times than either myself or the good folks at the Paizo customer service department would like. I'm just wondering what the status of this order is. It tells me it was shipped on the 10th but I've yet to see hide nor hair of it. Now I live in Alaska and receive mail in a mail box rather than a post office box so I'm willing to bet that it is simply late in arriving. Still, is there any way to check and see where it might be?
Greetings, I recently ordered a fairly large package, well at least for me, and I received almost everything in the package. I recall seeing two separate charges to my bank account and was wondering if the Curse of the Crimson Throne Item Cards were being shipped separately seeing as, after doing the math, the first charge equaled everything else and the second charge amounted to that plus shipping. Is this the case? If not then I'd like to say I'm missing the CotCT Item Cards. Thank you.
Greetings, I was just curious, I had a simple thing come up in a game I'm about to run. The character background is a classic, an orc raid resulted in a raped mother and thus a half orc (the player) was born. Then I got to wondering... are orcs plentiful in the region they are considering being from? It's a question along the lines of "Oh I'll just buy a new [ insert magic item here ] in the city" can they actually find the item in the city or are not no magical wal-marts around? Are orcs so plentiful in the world that they might raid anywhere from the obvious Hold of Belkzen to Andoran to Osirion to... well you get my point. Where do these classic beasts roam Golarion? I suppose I could consult my classic monsters revisited and see if it mentions anything there... This same question could be posed for any creature. Or should I simply leave it up to my discretion. I just wanted to know if there was an answer out there already.
All I want is my Pathfinder Gazetteer. Ever since I heard about it that was the supplement (aside from the campaign guide) that I've been itching to get my hands on. I love PDF's for their convenience but nothing beats holding the object you purchased in ones grubby little hands and actually being able to flip through the pages, that and the light from a computer screen kind of bothers my eyes. When I was originally supposed to get the Gazetteer I was saddened because all I got was that months Pathfinder, not that Pathfinder isn't great but I wanted my players to be able to read about the world they were from not some little corner. I left a message here and they said they would send me one with my next order. 'Alright' I though, 'That'll probably only be in a couple weeks or so so I'll just wait.' I didn't have my next order shipped out until almost two months later. Being in Alaska I usually wait for the longer of the 3-8 business days thing. Anyway, I wake up about an hour ago and see that my roommate had placed a box out by my door, needless to say I was eager to get my Pathfinder stuff, particularly the Gazetteer. Sure I love the two modules and the Curse of the Crimson Throne is top notch but I'm still running Rise of the Rune Lords so those items do not concern me as much. Nope, what I'm interested in is that copy of the Gazetteer I've been so eager and excited to get my hands on. That I've wanted to share with my players so that they could read about the Earthfall and see that there's a world outside of Varisia and a pretty damn cool one too. Well, now I have an extra copy of 'Classic Monsters Revisited'... Not exactly what I was hoping for. Anyway, if you guys would be so kind as to help me fix this, that would be awesome. I loved Classic Monsters Revisited but its no Gazetteer. Thanks,
P.S. How is your monthly order system configured, I chose it because it seemed a little more stable and yet I have an order shipped May 6th, then another on June 27th, and then another shipped yesterday. Just curious so I know what to expect as far as charges to my account go.
Figured I'd advertise here for my PbP game. I'm a regular at RPOL (RoleplayOnline) and have decided to run a game using the Pathfinder RPG rules. If anyone is interested feel free to check this link: http://rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=31807&date=1215062916 If posting an ad for a PbP game that takes place somewhere other than these boards is against the rules then I apologize. Mods, feel free to delete in such a case. :-)
Alright, so I had skimmed through the guide and thought it was kind of cool that there was a local population of Imps as well as a naturally occurring population of Pseudodragons. It added a nice bit of flavor to the city as a whole but when I pointed it out to my roommate and his response was one of shock. How could pseudodragons and imps be natural foes when statistics wise the pseudodragons should be anihilated. The imps are superior combatants and actually do more than one point of damage. They have better aerial maneuverability, immunity to the only thing really going for the PD's: poison, and damage reduction so should a pseudodragon actually hit an imp it would do nothing. Technically you could have ten of them after a single imp and they'd be incapable of doing anything. Was this something that was overlooked or does Paizo plan on beefing up the poor pseudodragon so they can actually survive the imp menace?
I'm running Rise of the Rune Lords as our playtest campaign for the Pathfinder RPG. One topic that came up was the new turning rules. I've seen the fact that the burst effect hits enemies as well as allies discussed to death around here and personally, I like that particular portion of the rule. I am, personally, a bit concerned about how easily intelligent and more powerful undead resist such things. With Charisma typically being a secondary stat for a cleric, sometimes not even that as some clerics tend to put more focus into combat stats than their charisma (Dwarven warpriest anyone?) the DC of 10 + 1/2 level + Cha bonus strikes me as being a touch low. Add to that the fact that for every +2 of turn resistance gives a 5 DR against positive energy you have the ability becoming virtually useless in many cases. It seems these days every intelligent undead and it's skeletal dog has turn resistance which makes them hard enough to turn, but now this DR thing? I've heard of a couple feats that can boos you into a more competent DC but it's my understanding that feats should make you excel, not bring you from miserable to passable. Suffice to say I'm a bit skeptical. Is all this too complex? Just right? In need of fixing? I'd like to hear what others have to say. We've only run a couple of rough scenarios which amount to little more than number crunching rather than any solid in-game playtesting (i.e. clerics might as well just lay into Nosferatu with Mace and shield in the second module of Curse of the Crimson Throne rather than waste any turning attempts) so despite my skepticism over the new rules I have only loose ground to stand on. So, what say ye?
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