I never played a bard, and I can say: They rock. Despised? Pshaw, we love our Bard and his bardic performance buffs... or debuffs.
And what the heck is wrong with singing in battle? It throws off people, buffs your party, and therefore make bad guys sad. Truth be told, I find bards more heroic in battle than fighters. I mean who else has the courage to sing in battle? Not me.
Wouldn't laughing in battle be worse? Because if so, the witch is a big offender, and they are fun to play/fun to have too :|
Alright, the voting for round 2 has closed. Here goes:
Fleshbinder (Summoner)
Spoiler:
Fleshbinder (Summoner)
A fleshbinder forges a pact with an immortal being that dwells beyond the stars, merging its strange flesh with his own to harness otherworldly powers. As he grows more powerful, he may also enhance the creatures he summons with matter drawn from the realms of insanity and nightmares.
Fleshbinding (Su): Starting at 1st level, a fleshbinder receives a pool of evolution points he may use to give himself abilities and powers as though he was an eidolon controlled by a summoner of equal level. The fleshbinder's class level determines the size of the evolution pool and the maximum number of natural attacks, but he receives no other benefits associated with eidolons, such as an armor bonus or darkvision. Spells and effects that add or change evolutions affect a fleshbinder as though he was an eidolon.
A fleshbinder may only choose evolutions available to eidolons of the biped base form. The fleshbinder may add evolutions to his appendages as though he had chosen the limbs (arms) and limbs (legs) evolutions. At the GM's discretion, other options may be available to non-humanoid races and races that have other appendages than those mentioned above.
A fleshbinder may suppress or resume his evolutions as a standard action. The evolutions are automatically suppressed if the fleshbinder is unconscious, asleep, or killed. The evolutions do not interfere with the fleshbinder’s ability to use the summon monster I spell-like ability or its later improvements.
This ability replaces eidolon and life link.
Alien Augmentation (Su): At 2nd level, a fleshbinder may divert one point from his evolution pool to add evolutions to all creatures he summons with the summon monster I spell-like ability and its later improvements. At every even level thereafter, the number or points he may divert in this way increases by one, to a maximum of 10 points at 20th level. The fleshbinder may not choose any evolution he could not possess himself, and if a summoned creature does not meet the requirements for an evolution, it is unaffected by that evolution. In other respects, this ability functions as the summoner’s aspect ability.
This ability replaces bond senses, shield ally, maker’s call, transposition, aspect, greater shield ally, life bond, merge forms and greater aspect.
True Augmentation (Su): At 20nd level, a fleshbinder loses 1 point from his evolution pool for every 2 points (or fraction thereof) diverted with the alien augmentation ability.
This ability replaces twin eidolon.
Neil's comments
Spoiler:
Neil Spicer (RPG Superstar 2009, Contributor), Sunday, 12:28 PM
A better name for this summoner archetype might be Fleshbender as opposed to Fleshbinder, considering what it does. This is a bold design choice. You're cutting out the primary underpinning of the summoner class by doing away with his eidolon. That's a much bigger step than taking away animal companions or familiars, as eidolons are far more integral in protecting a summoner.
In its place, you're granting a summoner the ability to apply eidolon evolutions to himself as if he was an eidolon. And I'm not sure that's all that well-balanced in game terms. I think eidolon evolutions go a step beyond what a PC class should normally be able to grant itself. But, there are some intriguing possibilities in what you're suggesting. Maybe if you toned this down and weakened a summoner's eidolon or stripped away the summoner's other class abilities to allow himself to benefit from a handful of eidolon-affecting spells (like a small evolution boost or eidoon curing spells) so he can apply them to himself would be okay.
Also, I think the evolution enhancements to all creatures summoned via summon monster spells is a bit far. That potentially boosts a lot of creatures to make them a lot more potent and that could be a game changer in most battles.
Bottom line for me is that I think this is pushing the envelope too far for a summoner archetype. And I DO NOT RECOMMEND this archetype design to advance to the next round.
Ryan's comments
Spoiler:
Ryan Dancey (The Most Dangerous Man in Gaming), Sunday, 03:05 PM
Total Points: 5 Points
Recommendation: Recommended for advancement
Comments In Detail
Name & Theme (1 point)
Great name - great theme matchup
Mechanics (1 point)
You're using the existing eidolon mechanics and that's a good (safe) choice.
Putting them into summoned creatures is also good - it reinforces that this is still a summoning class and not a way to just amp yourself up into a killing machine.
Awesomeness (1 point)
This is the only submission to earn a full 5 points from me in this review. Not only would I use this archetype myself, I'm actually intrigued enough to maybe make up a few PCs just to have on hand if a 1-shot breaks out.
Template (1 point)
Good use of the template.
Context (1 point)
Take away the eidolon and you're taking a massive risk. Is this still an archetype of a Summoner or have you just created a whole different class?
Frankly, (amazingly) I think you managed the former not the latter. And what's even more impressive you've created something that works as both a GM tool for a killer NPC, and as something that I can see players wanting for their own use - and you could end up with wildly divergent outcomes as a result. That's pretty darn impressive.
Mark's comments
Spoiler:
Mark Moreland (Developer), Sunday, 05:36 PM
This is a very well-designed archetype with a clear, memorable focus. It's actually very similar to something we've got coming in a future supplement of our own, though different enough that I'm not accusing you of hacking into our server to take a peek. Honestly, I can't see anything to criticize here, mechanically, but the writing could certainly be tightened up, as Neil mentions. The most egregious oversight in my book is the "20nd" that made it into the final paragraph. That's just poor editing and not something I'd expect of a Superstar.
All considered, though, I RECOMMEND this archetype for advancement. You're the second alternate that I really wish were in the Top 32 based on your archetype alone, so even if no one above you drops out to facilitate your move into the actual running, you should be proud of this. Best of luck and I hope to see you in the contest in the future.
Note: The wording of True Augmentation may differ slightly from what I submitted (though I did include the darn typo! :D ). It seems I didn't save the last version, grrrr... (not very Superstar, I know... :D )
I'm tired of it. It's called resource management. Wizards spells are the most powerful in the game and should do more damage then melee attacks because they are limited in resource.
This is terribly short-sighted thinking.
"It's okay if once per day I can kill anything because it's only once per day!"
Quote:
Letting your players get away with 15 minute adventuring days so the melee characters never shine means you're doing it wrong as a DM NOT that the system is flawed.
So you're saying that, as a DM, it is my responsibility to ensure than some force is propelling my party along at a breakneck pace, and that if I ever allow them to tackle a challenge at a pace they find comfortable, I am doing it wrong?
The system, as designed in editions prior to 4e, rewards parties for adventuring in short stints. If you adventure after your party is out of limited resources, you are acting in a less-than-optimal manner.
And don't you dare tell me that this is a role-playing game, and acting optimally is somehow metagaming. It's not. At all. If you were a professional adventurer, you would do everything in your power to give yourself the advantage in your chosen profession. You would train constantly. You would mitigate your risks. You would pack for every contingency. And you would do all of that because one misstep means you die. Adventurers are foolhardy people, to a man, and most adventurers are suicidally foolhardy for the unnecessary risks they take, because they are controlled by players who have far less concern for their characters' well-being than their own.
So yes, the system was flawed. It gave some characters once-per-day WIN buttons and the rest of the characters got swords. And everyone sat down and thought for all of thirty seconds and realized that if they handled it properly, they could use that WIN button every fight.
Stop acting like spellcasters aren't the gods-incarnate that they are. Hell, even the idea that spellcasting resources are limited is stupid. Past a certain point, you have more spells per day than you can conceivably use! Oh, and because you don't have to waste your gold on the fool's rat race that is the weapon-and-armor money sink necessary to keep up with the game's ever-advancing math for non-spellcasters, you can instead spend your gold on relatively inexpensive extra WIN buttons, so that you're definitely not going to run out.
Quote:
But no one ever looks at it this way, oh no, it's all the big bad wizard's fault. The class must be OP.
That's right. The Wizard is OP. The Druid is OP. The Cleric is OP. The sorcerer is a little less OP but is still totally OP. Welcome to D&D.
I try to remember all my Queer and Questioning brothers and sisters and somewhere-in-betweens when I type "LGBTQ," just because I recall how much I've been hurt in the past when as a gay man I've heard folks say and type things causally like I didn't count or I don't matter.
I've seen "QUILTBAG" bandied about recently as a maximally inclusive term with the advantage of actually being pronounceable (and the component terms even sound inclusive):
Q - Queer and/or Questioning
U - Undecided
I - Intersex
L - Lesbian
T - Transgender, Transexual
B - Bisexual
A - Asexual
G - Gay and/or Genderqueer
Nah...An alignment isn't a 1 time flip flop type thing. Its a way of life. Everybody makes mistakes or bad decisions, but that doesn't always make them a bad person.
This may seem like an odd question, but why can't the way most people seem to have reading it become the right interpretation? People have been using the wrong interpretation to build feats, class abilities, and a flourishing plethora of archetypes referencing a legitimate interpretation of the rules as they're written (if not intended). The rules and wording in the monk don't have to change at all, just the intent.
I make no promises, but that is a likely possibility.
Wow, the community is having kittens about the art on this one! Don't let this become a catastrophe over something so small. You can't just have imewtable opinions on what a catfolk is.
How much of a catfolk is "cat", and how much is "folk"? We could infur that any combination is valid, particularly for this boob discussion. The way I see it, there are three choices in the full purrview:
Two boobs
Eight boobs
or the mean average of five boobs. This will be a genetic nightmare when you figure out where the odd boob goes on the milk line.
The game can contain whatever tickles your Fancy Feast. So come on everybody, let's not litter the forums with something that can just be an opinion, and take a Fresh Step toward better understanding.
After the dragonboob debacle you would think fantasy artists would pay more attention to the boob count on anthropomorphic creatures. Anyone who has ever owned a cat knows that the correct boob count for felines is *eight* though sometimes they have as many as *ten*. This catfolk is clearly shy a few boobs.
@Mystic Snowfang and blahpers: Here's a luck dragon:
Imperial Dragon, Luck:
This slender, wingless dragon has white fur and canine facial features.
Luck Dragon
A luck dragon is a variant sky dragon. It uses the statistics of a sky dragon except as noted below.
---
Age Category Never advances beyond the adult age category.
Breath Weapon 2d8 fire instead of 2d8 electricity.
Special Abilities A young or older luck dragon gains the granted powers of the Luck domain, as if it had cleric levels equal to its number of Hit Dice, instead of gaining the change shape ability.
A luck dragon is an albino variant of a standard imperial sky dragon. Though luck dragons are indeed possessed of general good fortune, their physical might and magical prowess are limited; a luck dragon stops growing in size and power upon reaching the adult age category.
@Orthos: Here's the shagnastiest skinwalker your PC's will ever meet:
Skinwalker (CR 17):
This bestial humanoid has wicked claws and a wolf-like face.
Ancestral Skinwalker (Yee Naaldlooshii) (CR 17) XP 102,400
CE Large outsider (native, shapechanger)
Init +13; Senses blindsight 60 ft., darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +26
Aura frightful presence (300 feet, DC 26)
---
AC 32, touch 18, flat-footed 23 (+9 Dex, +14 natural, –1 size)
hp 279 (18d10+180); regeneration 15 (fire)
Fort +21, Ref +22, Will +11
DR 15/cold iron and magic; Immune fear; SR 28
---
Speed 40 ft.
Melee bite +26 (2d8+9/19–20), 2 claws +26 (2d6+9/19–20)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks bestial awakening, haunting gaze, rend (2 claws, 2d6+13 plus 1d6 Cha damage)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 18th; concentration +25)
Constant—tongues
1/day—control weather (as druid), nightmare (DC 22)
---
Str 29, Dex 29, Con 31, Int 26, Wis 20, Cha 24
Base Atk +18; CMB +28; CMD 47
Feats Critical Focus, Deceitful, Flyby Attack, Improved Critical (bite, claws), Improved Initiative, Persuasive, Power Attack, Staggering Critical (DC 28)
Skills Acrobatics +27, Bluff +36, Diplomacy +9, Disguise +36, Fly +28, Intimidate +32, Knowledge (arcana, nature, religion) +26, Knowledge (planes) +29, Perception +26, Sense Motive +26, Stealth +26, Spellcraft +26, Survival +23; Racial Modifiers +4 Bluff, +4 Disguise
Languages Common, Druidic; tongues SQ change shape (any animal or humanoid, shapechange), mimicry, perfect copy
---
Environment any land
Organization solitary
Treasure none
---
Bestial Awakening (Su) Curse—Nightmare targeting a creature that has seen the skinwalker's eyes; save Will DC 26; onset 1 minute; frequency 1/day; effect 1d4 Wis drain (minimum Wis 1); cure 3 consecutive saves. When a victim's Wisdom reaches 1, his alignment becomes chaotic evil and, if he is a Small, Medium, or Large humanoid without the lycanthrope template, he gains the lycanthope template (with wolf as the base animal). Miracle or wish can remove a template gained in this manner and restore the victim's alignment. The save is Charisma-based.
Haunting Gaze (Su) When a skinwalker uses its nightmare spell-like ability, the victim is also exposed to bestial awakening (see above) if the victim has ever seen the skinwalker's eyes.
Mimicry (Ex) A skinwalker is proficient in all weapons, armor, and shields. In addition, a skinwalker can use any spell trigger or spell completion item as if the spells were on its spell list. Its caster level is equal to its racial Hit Dice.
Perfect Copy (Su) When a skinwalker uses change shape, it can assume the appearance of specific individuals.
Skinwalker, or yee naaldlooshii, is a term for an evil witch able to assume the form of an animal, often as a result of lycanthropy. Ancestral skinwalkers are the primordial beings that are the source of the skinwalker tradition. Among the first beings of humanoid form to populate the Material Plane, ancestral skinwalkers aquired their powers by commiting heinous crimes against nature, the gods, and their own kinfolk. They now exist as horrid, shapechanging monsters that want nothing more than to corrupt everyone and everything around them.
Skinwalking Warlock (CR +2) The magical abilities of most ancestral skinwalkers are subsumed in their spell-like and supernatural racial abilities, but some acquire access more traditional forms of witchcraft (often by consuming the flesh of powerful spellcasters). Each of these so-called skinwalking warlocks has the spellcasting ability of a 17th-level witch and counts as its own witch's familiar; a skinwalking warlock does not gain any other witch class features.
Here (New Zealand...but really I'm from Canada), queer, get used to it XP
The story of my first coming out goes something like this. A friend and I were playing video games, Halo 2 specifically, like seven years back now. I'd been debating telling him about my gayness for some time and I'd more or less resolved myself to doing it that day. So, he comes over to my place after school and we start killing each other. Finally -- while still playing the game, mind you -- I say something like "Hey, I got something to tell you...[long pause]...I'm gay." This was immediately followed by a momentary pause on his end, leaving me looking down the barrel of a rocket launcher. Taking advantage of the hesitation, I pistoled him in the face.
For the longest time, he thought I only said I was gay because I was loosing and needed the momentary pause to help make up the scoring difference. And then, a couple years ago, we were at a gay club together and I had brought one of my partners with me. My friend says, "You know what? I've never seen to guys make out before." So my partner and I made out pretty hardcore directly in front of him. He goes "OMG! Its EXACTLY like straight people do it!"
I like my breeder friend. His naivity is very fun to exploit for comic purposes ^^
Sure in a perfect world he comes around and embraces the rainbow that little pink bunnies produce by touching themselves while unicorns frolic and it rains hot, willing guys from the sky...
That made my non-gay roommate nearly shoot cereal out his nose with laughter while eating his breakfast this morning. Good show, sir, love it.
I didn't think that masturbating bunnies and horny paratroopers would be so amusing. I shall remember this fact for future use. :)
"Not at all. You did when you said you wanted to help. I see no reason to treat you as less competent than the others," she said with what was meant to be a reassuring smile.
"Oh... well. Um. I might be even more helpful than I thought."Vai says, returning Ryleh's smile nervously,"I... I am a Champion now too."
Ryleh raised an eyebrow. "I am already aware that my grandchildren are extraordinary. You don't all have to keep taking such drastic measures to prove it," she teased.
She kissed Vai on the forehead. "I am proud of you little one."
Seriously, though. I can't stress the ridiculousness of a few choice bestow curse spells. They're permanent and very open to creative usage. Even one of the examples makes them unable to do anything in a given round 50% of the time. Drop one that lowers his Wisdom by 6 and another that specifically targets his Will save. Then start the fun.
Start with simple number stuff. Drop another that lowers his Charisma by 6. Drop more that lower his other stats by 6. Drop more that penalize each and every one of his other checks. Drop one that makes him have to roll concentration checks twice and take the worst result. Repeat for other checks.
Then get creative. Drop a curse that makes him sneeze violently whenever he tries to cast a spell or use a bloodline ability, triggering a concentration check (see above). Drop a curse that makes him seize up in pain whenever he attacks someone. Drop the mania/phobia madness on him for various actions or things you want him to avoid (remember, you can inflict any of the madnesses via bestow curse). And for interrogation, drop a curse that makes him really, really want to blurt out the truth when asked a direct question. ("This pen is rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrBLUEBLUEBLUEBLUEBLUE")
I didn't even warm up my imagination here. And it's available at level 5 for clerics.
Edit:
By the way, I got 99 problems but Still Spell ain't one:
Spoiler:
Turns out bestow curse can inflict any minor spellblight--including this one:
Ritualistic Obsession
A spellcaster afflicted with ritualistic obsession adds unnecessary gestures to her spellcasting activities. Any spell without a somatic component (even a spell cast with the Still Spell feat) now requires one, and any spell that already has a somatic component requires two free hands rather than one. Spell-like abilities now require a somatic component. The extra complexity increases swift action casting times to a standard action, standard action casting times to 1 round, and 1 round casting times to 2 rounds. Other casting times are not increased. The extra focus does serve to increase the efficacy of the caster's spells. All save DCs for spells and spell-like abilities that have their Casting Time increased with ritualistic obsession are increased by 1.
Ritualistic obsession is cured by any effect that removes insanity. Creatures that are immune to mind-affecting effects are immune to ritualistic obsession.
4 feats are Extra Evolution
4 feats are the Eldritch heritage (Stormborn) line (skill focus bonus, 3 eldritch heritage feats)
3 feats are fleet.
All evolutions are in the Flight evolution. 35 pts total (26 base, 4 from bonus feats, 5 from choosing 1/4 ev.pt. every level as a half-elf). That makes a fly speed of 715 ft (40 base, 660 from extra points, 15 for fleet)
As a full round action, he can travel 7150 feet in 6 seconds through the sky. That is ~1192 ft/s. The sound barrier is ~1116 ft/s. He can travel faster than the speed of sound for 2 minutes every day.
EDIT: hasted bumps the speed up by 30. 745 base fly speed, 1242 ft/s for 2 min. a day.
---
NPC Class Archetypes (Expert)
The following archetype is for the expert class.
Expert Artificer:
Modifies weapon and armor proficiency; Special elite expert (see below).
Expert artificers are master craftsmen. As an expert artificer, you have the following class features.
Elite Expert Your levels in expert artificer count as levels in a PC class instead of levels in an NPC class. You can have only one archetype that grants the elite expert class feature.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency In addition to any other weapon and armor proficiencies, you are proficient with all firearms, and with any weapon, armor, or shield that you crafted yourself.
Arcane Bond (Su) You gain the arcane bond wizard class feature, using your expert artificer level as your effective wizard level for the purpose of that ability. If you bond with a familiar, you gain a Tiny animated object as your familiar. If you later take the Improved Familiar feat, you may instead gain any construct that feat allows you to take as a familiar. You cannot gain any other familiar. If you bond with a weapon at character creation, you are considered to have crafted that weapon (and are proficient in its use, as per you weapon and armor proficiency, above).
Artifice (Su) You gain a competence bonus equal to 1/2 your class level (minimum +1) on all Craft checks involving items with moving parts, all Disable Device checks, and all Perception checks to find traps. You can find and disable magical traps as if you were a rogue.
Dismantle (Ex) Whenever you make a successful weapon attack against a construct or an inanimate object, you deal +1d6 damage. This additional damage counts as precision damage, and is not multiplied on a critical hit. You do not deal this additional damage if the target of your attack has total concealment against you. At 3rd level, and again every two levels thereafter, the amount of the additional weapon damage granted by this class feature increases by another +1d6.
Trapsmith (Ex) As a full-round action, you can set a simple trap with a CR no greater than 1/2 your expert artificer level. To do this, you must purchase the components, spend the required time constructing the trap in advance, and have its components at hand. Starting at 2nd level, you can use your deep pockets class feature to produce trap components which always count as being constructed in advance. The type of trap that can be constructed in this way is subject to GM discretion.
Deep Pockets (Ex) You carry and tinker with all sorts of items. Starting at 2nd level, you may carry unspecified equipment worth up to 50 gp per class level. This can be any kind of gear that can reasonably fit into a backpack, including potions and scrolls (but not any other sort of magic item). As a full-round action, you may dig through your pockets to retrieve an item you specify at that time, deducting its value from the allocated amount of cost. This item cannot weigh more than 10 pounds. When the total remaining cost reaches 0, you can retrieve no more items until you refill your deep pockets by spending a few hours and an amount of gold to bring your total up to 50 gp per class level.
Superior Sunder (Ex) At 2nd level, you gain Improved Sunder as a bonus feat, even if you don't meet its normal prerequisites. You also add one-half your expert artificer level to combat maneuver checks made while performing the sunder maneuver, and to your Combat Maneuver Defense against sunder maneuvers. In addition, any time you use a manufactured weapon to reduce an item being held to 1 hit point or less, you may immediately force the creature holding that item to drop it with no chance to resist. Forcing a creature to drop an item in this manner is a swift action.
Master Craftsman At 3rd level, you gain Master Craftsman as a bonus feat, even if you don't meet its normal prerequisites. You may choose any Craft or Profession skill with this feat, regardless of your number of ranks in that skill, and may exchange the chosen Craft or Profession skill for a new one by practicing the newly chosen skill for one continuous hour. You add Craft Construct, Craft Rod, and Forge Ring to the list of item creation feats to which the benefits of Master Craftsman apply.
Item Creation At 6th level, and again every four levels thereafter, you gain one item creation feat of your choice as a bonus feat. You must meet the prerequisites of the chosen feat.
Swift Creation (Ex) Starting at 7th level, every day you spend using a Craft or Profession skill to create an item (including a magic item created using your Master Craftsman skill) counts as two full days of work; make any required skill checks and otherwise determine your amount of progress as if you had worked for two full days. At 11th level, and every four levels thereafter, each day you spend using a Craft or Profession skill to create an item counts as another additional day of work.
Unsunder (Ex) At 20th level, you can restore any item destroyed by a sunder combat maneuver as a standard action, provided the remains of that item are in your possession and haven't been further damaged since the item was sundered. The sundered item is restored to 1 hit point and has the broken condition until restored to one-half or more of its full normal hit points, but otherwise regains full functionality (including magical properties).
(The Google Doc for this thread will be updated once all five NPC class archetypes are posted.)
For your home games, feel free to adjust the threshold temperatures to make sense for your game. Or pretend that they use a different temperature scale. F stands for Fitzwizzle, the famous gnome physicist, who went on to invent a nonmagical means of measuring a person's fire resistance, then got tragically incinerated during a field experiment in the Elemental Plane of Fire.
There have been a lot of people in my life that have helped me out and contributed to the growth of the person I am slowly becoming, but there is one man in particular that has both helped me an amazing amount and also brought to my attention how he thinks I should be spending my energies(and over time I find myself agreeing with him more and more). Though there is much about him I find frightening and inscrutable in the end I just can’t help but listen to his bizarre narratives, skeptical though I am, the conviction they are presented in impossible to completely ignore.
About that man and our initial conversations(warning, this is long):
He is an older gentleman whom I’ve heard apparently spent much of his adult life in prison. He is covered in tattoos, many quite low quality, that all seem to involve blood, blades, skulls, and spiders in some fashion. He has blacked out some on his forearms I’ve recently learned where once white power tags, Nazi death’s heads and SS thunderbolts. I met him when I joined one social group that was made up of 20 something kids that were true party animals. It was strange seeing him around, a weathered 50+ year old man moving through the tight packed crowds of attractive people and watching them flow out of his way like a school of fish avoiding a large shark that happens to be drifting by. Normally an old guy at parties like these ones would provoke any number of reactions, respect though? Not usually.
He would talk to people sometimes and though I could never hear the conversations people always seemed to hang on his every word. I asked my new friends about him and they would say he was cool but never seemed comfortable saying much more. Of course something about this situation drew me to dig deeper, ever curious as I am.
I approached him one night and struck up a conversation. Five minutes into it I realized how completely disoriented I was becoming at the way the conversation was going. It took me a minute but I finally realized what was happening. Every person I have ever talked to in person has had a strong reaction to me immediately, for good or ill, and I use that to move the conversation along. This guy though, there was nothing there emotionally. He engaged me fully and asked questions and made comments so he seemed interested in the conversation from that point of view but emotionally? Blank. His body posture was relaxed and his tone friendly and soft but there was no true clue about what he thought of me or what he felt. Feeling strange I found myself telling him all about myself, spilling my entire life story over the course of a few hours. The same response all the way through. My high points didn’t elicit a wider smile, my dark secrets didn’t get an out of place blink, my hard times didn’t furrow his brow. I finished and was left with…nothing. We had a friendly parting and I continued to see him around and I talked to him sometimes but it was always the same, just a reserved nothingness.
A confluence of events at one point in my life basically left me destitute and in a lot of debt and I talked about it pretty consistently with my friends. One night this man shows up at a party I’m at and hands me a bag. “This is for you.” He tells me.
I open it, inside of it is money, a LOT of money.
“What do I have to do for it…” I ask hesitantly.
“Nothing, it’s a gift, no strings attached.” He responds.
I look at him for a long while. “What kind of job do you have that you have this much money to just hand someone you barely know?” I inquire.
“I’m unemployed.” He replies. “And I know you better than you think.”
“You’re a drug dealer or a hitman or something, aren’t you?” I ask, only half joking.
“No.” He says, then turns and starts walking away. Over his shoulder he continues. “Like I told you, I’m unemployed.”
I saw him about two weeks later and thanked him for what he had done. I then asked him the question that had been burning inside me.
“Why help me?” I asked. “Who is it that you think I am? What do you see when you look at me?”
A genuinely amused grin crossed his face. “It’s noisy in here, let’s go talk down by the lake.”
We went outside and walked in silence for awhile until we reached the shore. He turned towards me and calmly withdrew a large blade from within the recesses of his coat. I took an unconscious step back in alarm but he didn’t seem to notice. He squatted down and began craving the wet sand into images. Four circles, two of which overlap.
“Come down.” He told me. I squatted.
“Here is how I see most people interact with the world.” He told me, pointing to the interlocked circles. “One circle represents the person, their thoughts, their feelings, their sense of self, the other the world, the events, people and situations that make up their environment. The two are tightly entwined for the normal person and much of their struggles come from outside forces invading and effecting them and the amount of effort they have to expend to push back and retain their proper sense of self. Do you understand?” He asked.
“I think so.” I replied.
“This represents you.” He said, pointing to the disconnected circles. “World and self, separated and inviolate, the only connections they share a result of the bridges you yourself build. You are, more than anyone else I’ve ever met, an island unto yourself, at least in relation to a forces ability to enter your domain.”
I gave him a funny look. “I don’t know what you are talking about, other people have a huge effect on me, I care deeply about what they think of me and about how they experience things.”
“That is true, you do, but there is something you are missing: The only folks that enter your house are the ones you invite in, the only circumstances that haunt you for any length of time are the ones you make a conscious decision to effect you. You have, never once in your entire life, no matter how bad things got, felt helpless.”
I chewed on that a bit. “I suppose that might be true.” I acknowledged, thinking. “Perhaps it’s just my size, it’s hard to oppress someone this big!” I joked after a bit.
“Mmmm, perhaps, though I suspect there is more to the story. The world of men works according to fundamentally strict laws that never change and there is one power in this world, one authority, that trumps all others.” He informed me.
“God?” I asked.
“…Violence.” He replied. “And that is the secret to who you are, your violence. It is a truth that goes deeper than simply your size and inclinations. It seems to me your raw physicality is nothing more than a suitable metaphor for the soul inside. You are not violent because you are big; you are big because you are violent. While on the one hand you are just a man like your fellows there is an element to you that seems the embodiment of a concept, a paragon if you will. Who do I think you are? I think you are Violence. I think you are Conflict. I think you are Destruction. I think you are War.”
I was startled. “You think I am…a bad person?” I inquired hesitantly.
His lip upturned in a sneer. “Who am I to judge you on being a bad or good person?” He demanded darkly. “If that ever even comes into play it will be as the balance of your life, not as the opinion of a man, but I can tell you this: You are right to turn your most brutal instincts away from your fellow man and directing them inward has its advantages but what you really should do is embrace the strength they give you and turn them against concepts.”
“Concepts?” I asked, confused.
“The average human being walking this planet is weighted down by the heavy chains of shame, self-doubt, resentment and the good, old fashion, gut wrenching terror of being judged harshly by their peers. The only chains holding you down are the ones you yourself are using to strangle yourself with, instead, release yourself and use your gift as a living battering ram to shatter what bonds you can and try to show the people around you that, while there is a sickening amount of things wrong with the world, being the person you really are is never wrong, it may in fact be the only thing that is right.”
“I…see, and how would I go about doing that?” I inquired.
“For starters? Just always be as honest as you can be. Confess to what makes you beautiful, confess to what makes you ugly. Be willing to push the envelope and make mistakes and doubly be willing to learn from them. There is something incredibly innocent about you in the end, even at your most cruel no true malice has ever existed in you. Use that innocence to feel your way along, clumsy though you are and even though you are more likely to appear the fool than the hero.”
“I…could try that, I guess. Alright, sure I will try to do it.” I agreed.
“You truly think violence is at the core of who I am?” I asked after a bit, looking down at the circles once more.
He slapped me across the face. Hard.
Snarling in startled outrage I slammed my fist into his chest and sent him tumbling back into the lake.
He sat up in the water, soaked and gasping, trying to regain the breathe I knocked out of him.
As he struggled I mastered my anger and then glared at him. Seeing what was coming I declared unapologetically: “I’m pretty sure that was just the typical persons reaction to being b!cth slapped, you ass.”
After a long minute he regained his wind. “I think you just cracked my ribs.” He said simply, then laughed loud and long, though it obviously pained him to do so.
You should ask yourself what it means to be low magic in the campaign and how this affects the world. It's not just the PCs that you need to consider. It's also the creatures with spell-like abilities or built in class spells (dragons come immediately to mind). How does low magic affect them.
I don't think you really need to get rid of any classes at all. I think that you need to limit the game though.
1) Use the slow XP progression
2) Use the Heroic NPC WBL progression
3) You'll have to fiddle with the CRs. At 1st and 2nd level, you can probably leave them alone. At 3rd and 4th level, add +2. At 5th on up, probably add +3 to +4.
4) Use 25 point buy
5) Increase skill points for each class by 50%
6) Use more mundane encounters. Creatures with magic should be rare and should feel like they are more unique.
7) Use more traps and hazards
8) Consider using Words of Power. This will give the casters a little flexibility without making them powerhouses.
9) Use NPC boons instead of treasure
10) Use the rules for Piecemeal Armor, Armor as Damage Reduction, Called Shots, and Wound/Vigor
I'm still working out details but this is what I've always thought a low magic campaign could be like.
Sex is intimidating. There are manuals published about it, and web forums that go to great lengths detailing tricks of the trade. Yet somehow even though most people do not have Dr. Ruth levels of expertise, people manage to have a good time anyway.
Just realize that for many of us here internet discussion of the rules of the game is just another game in and of itself. It has little to nothing to do with actual game play, and is simply something to pass the time looking at another facet of a hobby we already like.
As for how that last post relates to gaming... there are actually a ton of queer folk at Paizo. We've always been very forward about saying as much, but many of us have remained quiet about who *specifically* is LGBTwhatever. Part of that is just a personal privacy issue, but I know that I've sometimes second-guessed myself about such public declarations for fear of unexpected future awkwardness.
But you know what? Especially in the current political environment, the greatest thing any of us can do to advance equality is to simply live openly, and in doing so remind folks that non-straight people are all around them, all the time.
F$&+ discretion. Thank you all for flying the flag.
Wow, Dogblade. Thank you for starting this thread, and thank you everyone else for posting in it.
One of things I always find interesting is the public perception that while bi women are everywhere, bi guys are must actually be gay dudes who are only halfway out of the closet--a stereotype held even by the LGBT community.
Funny story: I was at a gay bar recently as part of a (gay) friend's bachelor party. It was pretty packed, and the swirling crowd made it so I ended up talking to a bunch of folks I didn't know (many of whom were DEEP into their cups). They immediately signaled me out as "the straight friend" in the bachelor party, and wanted to make sure I felt welcome. When I informed them that, actually, I'm *not* straight, they were all, "Oh, it's okay, no need to be embarrassed--we have plenty of straight friends!" When I insisted that, no, really, I'm bi, they all scoffed and insisted that such things didn't actually exist. We got to talking, and as I explained, they all got these amazed looks and said "Holy s#$~! There really ARE bi guys!" They then proceeded to parade me drunkenly around the bar like some sort of magical animal, introducing me to other astonished gay guys as "proof."
Just goes to prove what they say about assumptions--they make an ass out of you and mptions.
Fun story about what happened at recent gaming group:
The other day we were having a cook out at my friend’s house and one of my DM’s was there. At one point my friend’s small daughter ended up running out into the street and I yelled at her to come back and stay out of the street and my friend looked at me in startlement and said:
“Holy #$%^, I’ve never heard a shout so commanding, this gives me an idea…”
At the next game group my group encounters an old red dragon for the first time, a villain who has been one of the main causes behind much of the adventures we have been doing and I get up and my DM hands me the lines I’m supposed to read in my dragon-like outdoors voice.
I proceed to bellow my lines at the players, mimicking the arrogance and mocking hostility of an ancient dragon that has a group of small beings on the ropes.
Everyone looks stunned for a moment until the player of the parties normally sarcastic rogue turns to the others and says: “What are we going to do?” in a small voice. At which point I took a threatening step towards him and gave him my most powerful dragon roar.
The other players cringed back in their seats while he fell head over heels backwards out of his chair.
He got to his feet and said: “I think I just #$% my pants. THIS IS AWESOME!”
1. There must always be bacon in the fridge. Always.
2. There does not exist a food that does not go well with bacon.
3. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who like bacon, and those who will be used as fodder in the case of a zombie apocalypse.
4. Even pigs like bacon. Fact.
5. Crispy and chewy are both acceptable ways to cook bacon. Thou shalt not discriminate.
6. 90% of the world’s problems can be solved by bacon.
7. Bacon presents exactly zero health risks. Shut up.
8. If your computer is antiquated and slow, you can feed it bacon through the floppy drive to make it run faster.
9. Meals without bacon are rarely worth eating.
10. When given a breathalyzer, the number they give you is your BAC. This is short for “BACON”, and is equal to the number of slices of bacon you should eat divided by 100.
11. Thou shalt always consume bacon on the Sabbath. And the Mondath. And the Tuesdath. And the….
12. Bacon gets you laid.
Knowledge nature: 3(class)+5(ranks)+2(nature sense)+1(int)(assuming a 12int, most druids wont have much higher than that) = 11.
This means a success on a 4 for a DC10+5CR creature. Not that bad imo for someone specializing in nature. However, to REALLY know the creature you must acheive a higher result. For every 5 points you beat the check by you get another peice of information. It could be said that you are not familiar until you get all of the useful information.
For a basic animal I would say that is a +5 (attacks, defenses) thus a total DC of 10+5CR+5 = 20. A 45% chance at level 5.
For an animal from an environment you havent even been in I would raise the difficulty accordingly by assigning a circumstance penalty. It is far from automatic in my opinion.
However, this is interpretation. There is no RAW on what 'familiarity' actually qualifies as. It could be anything. The devs could mean for druids to be familiar with anything and everything, only what they personally experience, or anything inbetween. We simply do not know.
I'm on the knowledge-checks-will-do-it bus as far as this is concerned, and I'm so glad I'm not trying to play a Druid in any games where the DM requires me to run all over the planet to meet every animal I might want to turn into.
The problem with turning into region-specific animals is: there isn't every animal ever in the books. You're going to have to do some approximating. If I played a druid native to a winter tundra environment, I'd probably use the small wild cat (the leopard) as a substitution for a lynx. I'd probably use the wolf to be an arctic wolf. I'd probably say that every time my druid turned into a bear, it was a polar bear.
If I were a druid native to a savanna, I'd say my canine animal form is a hyena, and that when I transformed into a deer just now it was actually a gazelle.
I would under no circumstances play a Druid in a game where I was expected to meet every animal in person before I could wild shape into it, because I already know what would happen. The Druid would say "hey, can we wander out into the desert until we meet a pack of lions?" and the rest of the party would say "are you insane? We have important adventurer business to get up to, we don't have time for your stupid nature walks." Then the druid would go through the whole game unable to use Wild Shape in any meaningful fashion.
I had a young man ask me if he could GM the Pathfinder Society modules, etc. He will be 18 in 6 months & has been gaming (3.5, 4th ed, Pathfinder, & the systems that use the percentage die + d10's)for 4 to 5 yrs.
If the man is old enough to carry a side arm, then he's old enough to defend himself from players at the table.
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NPC Class Archetypes (Adept)
The following archetype is for the adept class.
Metamagic Adept:
Modifies spells; Replaces familiar; Special elite adept (see below).
Metamagic adepts alter spells to suit their whims. As a metamagic adept, you have the following class features.
Elite Adept Your levels in metamagic adept count as levels in a PC class instead of levels in an NPC class. You can have only one archetype that grants the elite adept class feature.
Spells Your spells are drawn from all spells on all spell lists. (You cannot prepare or cast any spell whose effects rely upon the caster possessing a class feature you do not possess.)
Bonus Spells You can prepare one additional spell of each spell level you are able to cast. Each of these bonus spells must be drawn from the normal adept spell list.
Magical Powers At caster level 2nd, and again at caster level 6th, you gain one hex from the witch class. At caster level 10th, and again at caster level 14th, you gain one major hex from the witch class. At caster level 18th, you gain one grand hex from the witch class. For the purpose of gaining and using these hexes, major hexes, and grand hexes, you use your metamagic adept caster level as your effective witch level and your Wisdom modifier in place of your Intelligence modifier.
Metamagical Powers Starting at 2nd level, whenever you gain a new hex, major hex, or grand hex (as a class feature or from a feat), choose a metamagic feat whose prerequisites you meet. You gain that feat as a bonus feat.
Metamagic Mastery (Su) Starting at 5th level, whenever you prepare a spell that is normally 1st-level or higher with one or more metamagic feats, the spell's effective level is reduced by one, to a minimum of the spell's normal level. At 9th level and every four levels thereafter, the spell's effective level is reduced by an additional one, to a minimum of the spell's normal level.
(The Google Doc for this thread will be updated once all five NPC class archetypes are posted.)
What I miss is alternate class features. Just good old fashioned, straight-up swaps. Trade out something for another thing that's at least hypothetically balanced at the same level. Nice, and clean.
I hate how archetypes shove all these stupid little extra things in your face and force you to take them all. I hate that two archetypes are incompatible because they both replace some stupid 15th level ability you don't even care about. I hate the archetypes have become breeding grounds for bad design and game balance. You see archetypes that take away class features and give you nothing in return until many levels later (like Psychonaut Alchemist - he loses bomb damage right from level 1 and sees no actual benefits till level 5!)). You see archetypes that give freebies immediately in return for awful changes later (like Divine Hunter Pal giving essentially a free Precise Shot but sucking ass at level 3+) You see archetypes that give you godawful trades early on only to try and balance it out by giving you better swaps later (like Empyreal Knight Pal trading divine grace to learn the Celestial language at level 2!).
It's all terrible, terrible game design.
And more frustrating than the balance disparities, is the lost opportunities. Take the Controlled Rage variant that Urban Barbarian gets. That ability itself is very well written, it is clearly balanced with normal rage, it has more options and less penalties, but the bonuses are also smaller. It would make a great...alternate class feature! But, it's chained to this horrible archetype system. So I can't just grab my balanced rage alternative, apply it to whatever kind of barb I felt like playing, and be on my jolly way. I also have to give up Fast Movement (probably messing up doing another archetype I would have wanted to flesh out my character concept) for... some stupid riot police based ability? WTF? I don't want that! Why can't I just have my nice little balanced trade? Why?
Zadlu regards those around him before proffering his answer "I look not to win... merely endure to continue taking a further step after the last. If I were to fall, then I would wish to have been perhaps six inches to the left when the hammer blow fell..."
My wife is pretty new to gaming. I'm running them through Carrion Crown. In the beginning of Broken Moon they run into a couple of large werewolves. One of them starts to talk.
My wife: "WTF? They speak? OH, hell no! I'm outta here!" The expression on her face and that she actually pushed herself away from the table, had us rolling.
My wife is good for a lot of one-liners.
Society play. They found out they were going to be facing off against a bard. They were like "We got this."
Four rounds later, I've mopped the floor with the party. She looks at me, "Bard's are gay."
Another player has a barbarian that has an ability that allows him to grow spikes. He demonstrated it by putting his hands next to his chest and pops out his forefingers and makes a popping sound. My wife: "Great. Just what we need. A barbarian with a tittie hard-on problem."
In a long ago 1e game; The party is stranded in the wilderness without a druid or a ranger and have finally run out of rations. Managing to kill a rabbit with a crossbow, one of the fighters takes the entrails and puts them on a rock.
Me (the DM): What are you doing?
Him: I'm going to use these rabbit guts as bait to attract game.
Me: *Blank stare*
Party: *Blank stares*
Him: What? Haven't you ever heard of using food to attract prey?
Other Party Member (OPM): Yes, of course. But...
Him: Well, dumba$$, that's what I'm doing.
OPM: Just exactly what sort of game are you trying to attract?
Him: I dunno, more rabbits, maybe? Some squirrels, maybe a deer?
Me: *trying not to step in and metagame as well as holding back a snicker*
OPM: *Shrugs and walks off* Ok, then.
Later I roll for an encounter check, and on my random table it comes up "Wemic hunting party". The Wemics, smelling the rabbit innards baking on a rock, come to investigate and find the party, who are interlopers in their territory, sitting around moaning about being hungry. The Wemics get the drop on them and attack immediately.
OPM: *during the fight* "Oh! Attract some game, he says! Rabbits and squirrels he says! Next time I'm using you for bait because I think you're nuts!"
Lance: They are only goblins so I attack
GM: roll for attack
Lance: rolls a 1
GM: potential critical fumble, roll to confirm
Lance: rolls a 2
GM: fumble confirmed, draws critical fumble card. You are unconscious for 1d4 rounds, rolls a 3
Goblin: Coude'gras
GM: Goblin did 6 dmage, you need a fortitude DC 10 + 6 or you die
Lance: rolls a 1 and fails fortitude save
GM: Yes they were only goblins
lol so much
Soaked in blood from goblins
Durgar: You smell like the captains old piss bottle he use to keep in his cabin.
In my current homebrew campaign, one of my guys rolled a CN Serpentfolk Necromancer named Richard. Somewhere along the line he decided that he was being "corrupted" by the goodness of our Paladin/Oracle of Erastil(DMPC).
At one point he asked me(DM) if he could take on an apprentice(for story purposes) and I said sure. At which point he goes to the local orphanage and finds a 5 year old half-drow girl.
Now Richard uses a hat of Disguise Self to mask his appearance, and the first time he reveals himself to the girl the following conversation occurs:
Richard: *takes off hat and reveals true self*
Girl: *GASP*... *backs away slowly*...Why do you look like that?
Richard: It's my true form. It's how I was born.
Girl: Why did you look different before?
Richard: Because some people think I am ugly, and are scared of me.
Girl: *thinks for a moment and then slowly walks forward and hugs his legs* I don't think you're ugly mister Richard...
The whole table says aww... and another player points and says "Roll for warm fuzzies!" Everyone cracked up.
Because of a character you created that had a variety of offensive and defensive options available, played well and using those options to their full potential, you turned what would have been a TPK into a by-the-seat-of-your-pants win, and the concern here is that psionics is overpowered?
Did your DM want you all to die and you foiled his plans?
What I see is a situation where you were able to use all the tools at your disposal - but had nothing left if anyone else showed up and would likely have killed you.
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