Ok, so I'm making a dwarf druid with the Earth domain. This is almost purely a flavor build, vice a power build, so please keep that in mind. I WANT to turn him into a Giant Frog when he gets wildshape. The primary reason is the long tongue and swallow whole. Lets face it, it's just a funny visual to get 'et by a dwarf. I know I won't get that as a beast shape 1 equivalent, but what level beastshape/wildshape do you feel would be most appropriate to get that kind of ability? Help me fellow Paizonians, you're my only hope....
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.
"The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
The sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.
Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon -"…
"And now the storm-blast came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong:
He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.
With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And foward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye we fled.
And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.
And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken -
The ice was all between.
The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!”
-Excerpted from Rime of the Ancient Mariner BY ST Coleridge.
The day dawns in a wash of crimson and grey, sullen, as though the sun resented it’s appointed task. The news spread like wildfire through the town. “Raiders on the northern coasts!!!” Recruiting agents of the mercenary Companies spread through the hovels, and back alleys of the wharf district, promising good pay and booty to any that would take the prince’s chit and sail north. You all answered the call, and now sit in a small curtained off area of the large troop ship. The Captain of your Company decided that your individual talents were best suited to being part of the scout team. You have a few days trip to get acquainted, you may want to introduce yourselves…..
(Please describe your characters appearance and clothing as well, just to get the imagery going)
The Company
Spoiler:
. Aldur’s Company, named after it’s leader, is known for giving good service, paying on time, and having the best cooks. Aldur is a well respected tactician, good with a sword, a spell, or an inspiring word (Common Rak). It’s generally broken down into multiple smaller units, of which the scout team is one.
The Ship
Spoiler:
The Dark Star is a 100 foot long, 3 masted sailing vessel, with 3 decks (top, troop, and holds). In addition to it’s sails, oars are stowed on the troop deck, for use in getting the ship in and out of harbor and maneuvering during close combat, if needed. It is not a warship, however, and would generally flee an armed attacker. It’s Captain is Joosk, A Common Rak, and the first mate is Delis, a human.
The North
Spoiler:
Given the prevailing monsoon patterns, which blow from the open sea to the south west, and the rain shadow produced by the Borodir Mountains, the north end of the island is fairly dry, though quite warm. It’s people are known to be private, tribal folk, mostly Naga, who resent the Rakshasa domination of their lands, but who need the protection from raiders such suzerainty provides. They mostly make their living as fishers and weavers, living in small coastal towns. Some report rumors of secretive groups living high in the mountains, plotting revolt, but that may also just be bazaar chatter.
The Raiders
Spoiler:
Various bands of sea going brigands often raid lightly defended settlements along the coasts, especially so far from the protection of Bel Akhana. Occasionally, an intelligent monster will try to annex a portion of coastline, but the most dire threat is that of renewed war with Bel Garaang.
Hey ya'll,
Gonna take a swing at DMing a PbP. Long time DM and player, Red Box to present, definitely try to make cool stories happen, but am big into swashbuckling adventure stories. No (or at least) very little smoke and mirrors here :) Setting will be home brew, exploring lost empires sort of thing, semi-heavily S/SE Asian influenced (Mainly Indian, but also thai and others). Lots of travel by ship. Think somewhere between 1001 Nights, Earthsea, and Erol Flynn movies. Region is a continent shattered by the gods, and now ruled by a loose conglomeration of Rakshasa princes, some trying to regain the lost glories of empire, some content to live in the decadent ruin of their former glory. Semi-sandbox, but if you stumble across plot hooks, I'll reel you in.
Rule set will be PFRPG (Core +APG), not giving any more char gen rules than that just yet. I want CHARACTERS, not BUILDS. I would like to see a short (1-3 paragraph) back story for your character, appropriate for about level 3-4. More setting info can be found in my profile page.
I am looking for daily posts to keep it moving along. I am in the EST (-4 GMT) timezone, will probably post early afternoon. I will decide on players by this Sunday (22 AUG). Looking forward to your submissions.
Doesn't look like the APG supports this (and realistically, why should it :)) but I want to run one in an upcoming game. What would be a fair trade for the Wildshape power? I was thinking 2 Domains, but that may be a bit much. It's a RP heavy character, not a combat monster, so "under powered" ideas work, if they fit with the archetype (Huck Finn-esque). I want full spells, and full critter progressions, want to stick with 3/4 BAB and D8 HD. Thoughts?
Someone would run a game in "your" world, that you could play in? I just seem to end up fleshing out portions of the world, and really wishing I could play in them, but I DM most of the time, and the rest of my group seems to prefer either APs or the "default" PHB setting. And this after my group has our own private Wiki with most of my world published for use. Oi.
Was just putting together a high level NPC (Rakshasa prince) for my campaign, and I was wondering how having multiple heads would effect your vulnerability to flanking? Ettins and Hydras don;t have any special considerations in this regard, but for a more intelligent creature, would allowing to to have essentially Imp Uncanny Dodge be too much?
Apparently, it was considered a great honor for the triumphant warrior to strip the dead of his gear, especially for a high ranking commander to strip his enemy if felled in single combat. Maybe players grubbing those orcs for every copper isn't as far off the heroic scale as I'd like to think :(
We will have an opening in our Tuesday night game in a couple weeks. Running a homebrew Pathfinder, currently level 6. Meet from 7-11 ish at my house (cats and kids), all adults (late 20s-mid 30s), some what old school if you will :) New to pathfinder is ok, but I run kinda loose with the rules if it makes the story better. Or makes everyone have fun. more action/ adventure over in depth character/role playing, but more story than just a hack and slash. Let me know,
Dire Bat (wild shaped druid) is 10' off the ground. Wizard casts Black Tentacles and grapples him. Challenge is thrown that BT only effects creatures on the ground. Challenge is countered by RAW in which it states that a spread is like a burst, and that the default shape for a burst is a sphere. Which would be inline with other spread spells like Fireball (always assumed to be spherical in my mind) but in conflict with Entangle, which has not. Thoughts?
Ok, so I have to move away form my current group for job reasons, so we had our final session with the characters we have developed over the past year. Last week, they assaulted and captured a castle that sits on a pretty important river, in the service of one PCs quest to get his ancestral sword back. I left them with the hook that beneath the castle lay vast treasure, but also danger. So yeah, it was our first "real" dungeon delve in months, and at the end in a huge room, all snug like he owned the place? A mature adult white dragon. 14 rounds the fight took us, and I dropped the "main" hero along the way, which is actually kind of good because that player is taking over DMing for a while, and DMPCs are sub optimal at best.
So yeah, we fought a dragon in a dungeon. What've ya'll done for final sessions? Not storyline capstones, but when the group was breaking up due to summer breaks, deployments, job moves, etc.
Will be moving to Winchester early in Nov, and am looking to start or join a DnD group. Very experienced player and DM, I'll play whatever class or whatever your game needs. Played red box, 1st, took a break for 2nd ed, then have played or DMed pretty much every week since Sept 2001 and 3rd ed. Read way too much, have a vast library of movie quotes and quips, and will happily bring food.
Oh, I'm 32, married, 2 cats, no kids. In addition to DnD, I play bass and guitar, and enjoy political and religious debate over beer.
Dang i'm posting a lot this week :) Ok, so we all know when a Drood, or any shape shifter really, changes form, their gear melds into the new form and becomes non-functional. But what if they had gear specifically for thier animal forms? Like, they turn into a bear, and have someone dress them up in all thier finery, then they shift back to humanoid and run around in a loin cloth (or more likely Beastskin armor from MIC). It would be expensive, as you'd prolly have 1-2 items specific to each form you take, but is there any reason this wouldn't work? Kind of like saddlebags on a paladins mount, the gear appears when you need it, but is safe from pilferage other wise, AND undetectable through Detect Magic, etc. hmmm....
Ok, so I've come to terms with being an H&S DM, sort of. But I want to try and run a more social intrigue type of game. ANy advice? Party size? Story set up? NPC advice? ratio of combats: sessions?
Telekinesis, and baleful transposition. Telekinesis is an old favorite, of course, but what i discovered last night is that a kobold wizard being threatened by ghosts casting telekinesis can grapple said ghosts (since it is a force effect) quite effectively :) And Baleful Transposition (Spell Comp) lets you swap any 2 critters on the boards position, very useful for getting to places you prolly aren't supposed to be, and making sure the MBEG gets flanked good and early. Also good for getting back out of said places when the BBEG comes through the doorway you were inspecting :) So what are your favs and why?
Or is it more the sum of your gaming experience and media intake (books, movies, etc)? What made you decide to take up the DMing role? Is the DMG a huge part of how you "roll", or just a handy reference?
So yeah, I'm an assistant organizer for the Tampa Bay area DnD Meetup. Turns out we have the largest meetup in the TB area, so the St. Pete Times decided an article on us would be a good idea. Silly, silly persons. So they sent a reporter to our tues night game, and well, here's what came out :) Its a little harsh, I think, on the dork calling, but otherwise a fairly accurate transcription of our usual banter. Here's a link : Article
Who you calling a dork, you orc!
Fist bumps all around for Dungeons and Dragons - and the grown men who love the fantasy game.
By CRISTINA SILVA
Published May 21, 2007
TAMPA -- The battle is nearly over. A magic pit of black tentacles is about to drag three men deep inside and smother them.
A brave, good-hearted orc named Talir picks up a nearby hyena with one hand. He uses it as a club to clobber his way through the crowd of attacking monsters.
Whoa.
"You are going to pick up a hyena with one hand?" asks Patrick McCann, the Dungeon Master, as he shoves lo mein in his mouth with chopsticks.
"Well," says Talir, otherwise known as Robert Hodgson, "I am enlarged."
Hodgson is a 25-year-old customer service representative. McCann is a 31-year-old U.S. Army sergeant. This is their weekly Dungeons and Dragons game night.
It's okay if you laugh at them. Even their wives do.
* * *
Dungeons and Dragons, the classic '80s fantasy role-playing game, is like G.I. Joes for overgrown boys, only way more elaborate.
Players create characters who embark upon imaginary journeys in which they battle monsters, gather treasure and earn points to become increasingly powerful.
The characters do all the things kids dream about, and apparently, those dreams don't die after high school.
Major blockbusters like Spider-Man, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have only encouraged Dungeons and Dragons fans to celebrate their alternative universes. The game is one of the most popular activities in Tampa Bay on the networking site meetup.com. Last year, DnD creators released an updated rule book.
Fans reason if Tobey Maguire can play a geeky spider boy, they can pretend to be orcs and gnolls.
McCann has been playing since he was 9. "There is always going to be this stigma of, 'Oh my god, you guys are such dorks,'" he said. "To which I say, 'How is your fantasy football game?' You are telling me that isn't equally dorky? I mean, I have a fantasy football game. It just happens to involve elves or swords."
* * *
The players spread out among a pair of joined card tables. Food is everywhere. An iTunes list loaded with Bjork, the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix provides a soundtrack to the smack talk.
"So, you just got shot at," McCann tells Phillip Spencer as he returns from the bathroom. McCann, playing the role of the monsters, had taken aim at Spencer's elf.
"Oh, wait, they didn't hit him," Hodgson points out. "You gave him a protective amulet."
"Yeah, I got that amulet on," Spencer says. "Booyah."
McCann: "You're a hooker."
Between moves, they ramble on, quoting classic flicks from the past two decades. Wayne's World is a favorite.
Henry W. Brennan commands a zombie to attack a raging barbarian ogre with a crossbow.
In DnD, he takes on the persona of a 2-foot lizard man with the ability to summon zombies. The kills excite him.
"That's right, b------."
He has never summoned a zombie before. He's giddy.
Boxes of plastic figurines of monsters, goblins and warriors crowd the living room floor. These are the game pieces.
Food containers are laid out on the table to symbolize ancient monasteries and other village buildings. An upside-down appetizer bowl stands in for a 40-foot dome.
Patrick's 22-year-old wife, Jessica, dressed in black slacks and a blouse, walks in the door after a long day at work and takes in the scene.
"Why are you using my Tupperware?"
"You know it's our temple," Phillip Morgan answers.
She rolls her eyes.
As they play, she usually hides upstairs in the family room and watches American Idol. Occasionally she taunts them as they argue over which player can use a spell to bring a monster back to life.
"You guys are dorks," she shouts.
* * *
On the weekends they go barhopping. Sometimes someone has too many Red Stripes.
Inevitably someone will mention something about an orc or a gnoll and blow their cover. Their Dungeons and Dragons personas are revealed. These are the characters they can slip into only when they are together.
Spencer, 21, plays an elf named Sebastian. Sebastian likes to transform into a bird and fly high above the battle so he can shoot arrows at the enemy.
Sebastian the elf shares little in common with Spencer, a Air Force computer technician who speaks so low that others around him may begin to wonder if they are in fact going deaf.
Morgan, 26, plays with a character that is a noble scout. In the real world he teaches high school math and prefers not to tell his students how he spends his Tuesday nights.
Brennan, 23, is a scrawny restaurant host from New Port Richey. He said he was so weird in high school "not even the goths would hang out with me."
He started playing three years ago with some friends. "I see it as a hobby, like collecting stamps," he said. "Wait a minute, what's more nerdy, stamp collecting or DnD?"
* * *
DnD's appeal to a high schooler is clear. Who wouldn't rather be a powerful sorcerer than a pimply 14-year-old?
But people don't let go of their fantasies when they grow up.
Yes, fans know orcs and elves and gnolls and evil sorcerers do not exist.
That isn't the point.
"We aren't going to get together and go play basketball," McCann said. "But whatever, we are going to explore a forgotten kingdom."
Cristina Silva can be reached at (727) 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.
GEEK SPEAK:
Dungeons and Dragons glossary
A guide to embracing your inner geek:
DM: Dungeon Master, the player who controls the setting of the game and enforces the rules according to the official Dungeons and Dragons playbook.
Orc: a primitive race of barbaric humanoid, largely based upon the orcs appearing in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Gnoll: a race of anthropomorphic hyenas.
Con: Slang for convention, as in, "Dude, I'm so going to the gamers' con in Indiana this summer."
RTFM: "Read the (bleepin') Manual," a command usually shouted to a fellow player who doesn't remember the rules of the game.
Dunno if this has been brought up before, but Fireball is in pretty much every way plain better than Lightning Bolt, despite the fact they are the same level. Better range, more flexibility (spread v line), and same damage. Was 2nd Ed lightning Bolt way overpowered or something, and so they nerfed it in 3.0? I think it would be cool if you could "snake" the lightning bolt around stuff, as long as it was in LOS, like a big blue pretzel of dhoom. Thoughts?
Hope ya'll don't mind me posting this here. Just read about it, and thought it was a great idea. I am in teh Army myself, and have DM'ed in a warzone on a number of occaisions. Dnd is very popular is fairly popular in the services, especially overseas. So check this out, and send stuff if you can. I think it mentions Paizo is a sponsor already, so order stuff from them and get it sent to the address in the link (Its not me:). Thanks!!
"Which Con are you going to this year? GenCon? Origins? Dundracon? How about Ziggurat Con? The latter is brand new this year, and is being held at Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase on June 9. In Iraq. "
So I'm in the middle of creating new critters for fun and profit, and I suggested a fox like critter, small sized, -2 STR, +2 DEX, -2WIS, and +2 CHA. Sort of Kitsune-esque. One of my co-DMs and players starts huffing and puffin that WIS mods are a no-no, according to WOTC. Anyone have a good reference for this idea? Any idea why this is so?
So yeah, a good friend of mine and I are having the age old "fighters suck" conversation, when I (generally pro fighter)asked him if he had ever actually played out the scenario. He said "Well, no, but..." So here we go: 18th level, Elite Array (15,13,12,11,10,8), PHB, DMG, MM only. Phb races, average HP. No spell effects in effect at begining of game, and no buff rounds. prolly foot ball field sized playing area, not sure of cover. Full wealth, no more than 33% on any one item (440K gold wealth/ <148 K on one item). My first impulse is to ignore my own AC, make a high dex dwarf archer, and concnetrate wealth into 1. Awesome bow, 2. Ring (or 2) of spell reflection) 3. Dex boosting items (touch AC, ref saves, ranged to hit, and initiative), 4. Slaying arrows (though I have no idea what race he is playing, so I may have to have some redundancies). I figure if I can get the first initiative, with shot on the run and many shot, I should be able to put 4 greater slaying arrows into him (Fort save dc23) in the first round and then hide like a mo-fo. If he gets one good round off on me, I know I am toast. Thoughts?
So last night, the Gnoll Sorceror my players were facing down pulled this trick. So the cleric (gnome, who has a paladin mount (med eagle) in place of domains) says "I'm going to swoop through the cloud, trying to hit the guy." Ok, I understand the concept. So we got into a discussion over:
A. If the bird hits the gnoll, does it stop?
B. Do either of them take damage?
C. Does the cleric need to make a ride check or be thrown from the saddle if in fact teh bird comes to a dead stop?
I ended up saying "Its just an overrun attempt." And the gnoll chose to avoid it (while taking a DC15+ spell level Con check to keep casting his spells). Does that sound appropriate? Whaddya think?
So here's what I was thinking. Current game, 7th level, been playing for about 4-5 months. Everyone is comfortable with thier characters, understands the world, etc. They are currently trekking to an ancient city, the apparent destination of the gnoll invasion that has been ravaging thier lands all winter. I was thinking to reveal the history of said city, and then TPK them when the lich-king rises. The end of the session is that the whole game has been a story told around a campfire by descendents of the humanoid populace, now slaves for several generations to the gnolls. And starta whole new game that way. Too contrived? I think it has an Amazing Stories/ Twilight Zone feel to it, and it'll draw them into the new story that much more. Thoughts?
To preface: I LOVE LOTR and evrything that goes along with it. JRR Tolkien is probbaly my favorite authhor of all time, and I can practically quote the Hobbit verbatim. However...
I want to De-Tolkein-ize DnD. I think Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved is a good place to start, but I hate his story line and world. What do I mean? I am over Elves, Dwarves, Halflings and Orcs of all flavours. I'm just done with them in thier current, iconic form. Warhammer, WOW, etc all use the same basic templates. Ugh. So what subtle Tolkien-esque influence would you make over? Cat like dragons? Roguey halflings? The Half Elf (Elrond?)? Lay on MacDuff!!!
I may be starting a new game in the next couple weeks, as a player for once:) However, the DM has said he would like to use FR, which I know next to nothing about. I looked and found the campaign setting, which appears to be 3.0, and the Players guide (3.5). Which is a better intro to the setting? Can you use the Campaign setting book and not run into too many 3.0/3.5 issues? any help is appreciated. Thanks!!
