Eric Ackerman's page

So I'm running a homebrew campaign in Brevoy, and I plan on doing a lot with the Grozni woods. I created a group of people that are dedicated to protecting the interests of the woods, composed of treants, pixies, and centaurs.

They function to keep outsiders from doing too much harm to the forest, and insiders that have passed over from the first world from running rampant.

The leader of this group of nature wardens is a higher level (probably 15) centaur druid, and I'm just not sure how I want to build him.

So, paizo community, with your vast knowledge of optimization please help me make this leader not a pushover in the event that my pcs ever come to blows with this organization. I'd like to keep most of the features and feats to APG and Core, but if that's too constricting then I'll take anything.

So I wanted to draft up a character. The concept is pretty much a gnome that wants a life worth writing a novel about. So he is all about experiencing life, and being generally adventurous (page taken from desnan faith).

As for the build, I'm not looking for purly optimised DPR, I'm just looking for a good build to keep this gnome viable.

As for restrictions, its just 20 point buy, and level five (any combination of fighter and bard, but must have both).

Thanks for the potential help.

I'm asking this because we are playing a homebrew in Brevoy and my players just recently hit a milestone in the campaign and have gained some minor minor nobility and a small wealth of gold. My player is interested in buying some land outside of the capital of new stetven for his pc and said the cost for an acre of land in Michigan (where we live) is about $2100, so I figured gold is worth more than dollars so I said 500gp, but I feel as though even that number might be a little high.

Have you had any experiences with this/how much should I be charging? (He only has 1000 gold to work with)

So I was just wondering, if someone befriended a cloaker could they wear it like an armor, so that the cloaker and him shared damage and have the player not be considered grappled? Essentially a living cloak of half damage with a stinger tail. Is this feasable?

So I've been planning this campaign set in Brevoy for my players and everyone seems interested. I've promised, political intrigue (something I've never dealt with) , dynamic player involvement in the plot (meaning I want it to be more sandboxy rather than a railroaded story (something we've never really done)), and a relatively low fantasy version of Brevoy (not that brevoy isn't already low fantasy esqe).

That being said, I would like some input on how to deal with the political stuff and how the players can get involved. I've stated the rule that only one player should be a noble from one the established houses of Brevoy, as to limit an inner party struggle a bit.

But the real issue lies in playing the political parts out. Should there be diplomacy checks? Should it rely purely on roleplaying skills? If I do have checks, how much weight does a natural 20 have? These are things that I believe are a little more complicated than simple dialouge, and diplomacy.

Do you guys think I am wrong? Would making it play out differently just bog the game down and make it less fun?

Any and all thoughts and questions are appreciated, thank you

I tend to have trouble thinking of ways to make dungeons challenging and enjoyable at the same time. I know puzzles are okay, monsters are a part of it, and traps are integral as well. However I find whenever I try to design a dungeon it becomes too linear, and ends up feeling relatively dull.

That being said I would like to see what you guys would recommend for making dungeons feel more exciting/interesting to explore.

So my friends and I are starting up the rise of the runelords adventure path and I already see problems brewing. We all met up last night in order to flesh out everyone's back story and character sheets. After we got all of that settled we decided that it would be beneficial to run a little practice session with the team.

I used the little premade adventure that I got from the beginner box and we ran it, and it was fun. Problem: my friend is playing a wizard and he feels absolutely useless (and was very vocal about it) next to the two handed ranger. I told him that this was gonna happen for the first few levels that he will feel weak but eventually come into his character, which I thought he grasped the concept of because he played a sorc in my last campaign.

Is there any advice that I can get for this situation. I know that's just how the game works that martials overshadow casters for a good while, but I seriously don't want to listen to him whine for the next X sessions about how weak he is.

I understand if there's nothing really substantial that you guys could tell me but I'd appreciate any help in the matter. Thank you

So I am running a campaign that has a big bad necromancer as the bbeg. His goals are to essentially become the second Tar Baphon by rallying the orcs of belkzen, and also commanding an army of undead. Now something of this scale is obviously a challenge to run so he needs some subordinates to help run the show.

I've been thinking up some NPCs to aid him in his quest. First a half orc fighter (torn from the pages of the NPC codex under the name of Livia coldheart) to be the person the orcs rally under (her back story is established already and I feel pretty solid in that choice)

The next couple minions are undetermined but I was thinking along the lines of a vampire who recruits hordes of other creatures that he promises power to (such as mites who would revel at the chance to gain more power)

The other idea I had was an inquisitor of urgathoa who essentially goes around making more bodies for the master to animate and could be a link to the cultists of the whispering way.

Those are pretty much my ideas for his subordinates but I wanted the community's input on the matter. Should I have more notable minions? Should I tweak an idea I've presented. What class do you think the vampire should be? (I was thinking maybe shadowdancer?) Also I'd like to note that this is my first campaign and any and all input is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Could a druid cast an awaken spell on an animal, have that animal take levels in druid, and then have the animal repeat the process until an army of intelligent animals is at his disposal?

So in my campaign I'm planning on including a lich that assists the main necromancer bad guy, and I'm having trouble coming up with names. If you guys/girls could help me that'd be much appreciated.

Feel free to request addional information if needed.

Fellows I have something of an issue. My friends and I have only been playing tabletop RPGs for almost a year and thus we lack experience. I am the GM for the group and Ive been having a ball writing adventures and the like for my friends.that being said, I've had one problem for the entire time we have been playing.

My friend has been playing a half orc barbarian named Grognack, and literally any combat encounter I put forth is completely dominated by this madman.For the most part I try to keep the CR for my encounters at 1 or 2 above what the book recommends just to provide a constant challenge.

When grognack doesn't show up, the group has to think a little bit (which is obviously the intention) and the combat stays fun. So my question to the community is this. How do I challenge this grognack without simply putting something impossible in his way. (By the way the group is about levels 4-6 at the moment)

I have considered throwing incorporeal creatures at him but the group isn't really prepared for that (not strong enough yet) what do you guys recommend? I'll gladly answer any questions if you guys ask them.

There are many reasons that a person might turn to the necrotic arts.

1: Power trip

2: control freak

Hey all, next session i'm going to be revealing a strong necromancer to my group. They have never met him before, but his influence has been felt. They have no idea that they are going to run into him, but when they do, he is going to unleash an undead uprising on varisia. His main goal is to free Tar baphon from the gallowspire, and he plans on having an army of undead ready for him when he's free.

With that being said i do not know how to make this character relatively devious, and evil (besides his intentions). Also im still deciding on if i want him to be the main necromancer in charge or just a scion who starts it all off. I would like anyones input on how to make this necromancer interesting, and hopefully even memorable. (Btw my players are level 4-5 so this is really just starting to kick off the main story arc)

So I have been considering purchasing the carrion crown AP, and have been browsing the internet as a means to compare prices. I have found the AP on different sites, but the image is different. The description is similar, but it looks different. I am just curious about whether or not it is the same thing.

Here is a link for reference
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pathfinder-adventure-path-43-michael-kortes /1112098609?ean=9781601253088

My title pretty much asks my question for me. I have searched far and wide but to no avail. All I want to know is why haven't stats been made for Tar Baphon, one of the most iconic enemies in Pathfinder. And if they have been made, where are they and how can I acquire them?

Thank you in advance.

So i'm making a group of three npc's that are going to act as a rival adventuering group, and i'm having trouble coming up with names that don't sound stupid. The group consists of a level 5 wizard who is an ex-noble who lost his status due to the false accusation of treason, a level 5 human fighter who specializes in polearms (haven't settled on any specific one yet) and acts a loyal guardian and personal friend to the wizard, and a level 5 halfling bard that is pretty sterotypical in nature and used be employed to the wizard.

So thats pretty much it, i just want some ideas on names for each of them, or any suggestions for the group themselves. Thanks in advance.

Hello intimidating community,

I am currently DMing for my friends, and i have a question... when is it okay to kill my players?

Obviously I shouldn't actively try to kill, but if i don't make it challenging it gets rather dull. Should their lives become forfiet if the dice gives them the middle finger, or if they were ill prepared?

I know it's probably a simple question, but i'd like to hear anyone's thoughts on when/how a PC should die. Thank you in advance.

I have a dilemma. All of my friends are interested in playing pathfonder with me as GM, and id love to have them all. Problem is, i have 8 friends that want to play, and i only want to have a group of about 3-5. Its fun to have everyone involved but the game gets broke. No one gets enough exp or gold, and it takes wayy to long to get things done. The way i see it i have two options. I could tell some people that they are not allowed to play,leading to hurt friends and negative feelings abound. The second option: i could make a roster, saying that only so and so can play this session and then the others would get dibs on the next session. That would avoid the hurt feelings but, lead to unbalanced exp totals, and confusion on whats going on campaign wise. I dont want to let all 8 people play, and i dont want to lose friends.

Does the paizo community have any advice on this matter?

Hello all,
I've been reading the description of the rogue's sneak attack and i had some questions. Initially i thought it could only be used once, but upon addional reading i noticed that it only called for you to be flanking your opponent. Therefore i have come to the conclusion that making a sneak attack takes no extra effort and applies to off hand attacks, as well as full round attacks. So at level 20, a rogue with two weapons can flank an opponent, do a fullround attack that attacks 6 times, and apply the 10d6 damage to each strike. Equaling a total of 60d6 extra damage.

I just want to know if im reading/ interpreting the sneak attack correctly, and if im not, please correct me.

I'm new to the whole tabletop scene, and so are all of my friends. We've been playing for only a little while, and in our adventures we decided to travel to another town. The town wasn't too far away and when we mapped out the distance (im using the inner sea world guide for reference) it was about 100ish miles, so we figured it would take about 5 days of full travel. When we played it out, we of course had some random encounters, and those took minimal time, but the entire travel sequence took almost all of our session time.

So my question is, does traveling have to take this long/is there a better way to handle it. If it does take that long, then how can i make it entertaining.