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 Recent Posts
Just saw a twitter feed with this link to the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/arts/video-games/dungeons-dragons-remake- uses-players-input.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3 Looks to me like WotC is trying to catch the same lightning in a bottle Paizo pulled off with an open playtest of early versions of the 5e ruleset. At this point I wonder if it will work - seems like a lot of the folks who would have been interested in rolling up their sleeves and helping with a new edition did just that with Pathfinder. It also strikes me as a desperation move that Wizards is already talking about a full edition revamp this soon after the release of 4e.
Hokey Smokes MillerHero! I had forgotten about this thread for a while and just came back to it. Those stat blocks are killer! I'm snagging those for later. We're about half-way through Hook Mountain Massacre. They just cleared the fort and I think it's sinking in that they might have a new obligation/base of operations - either way, it will make it easier for the Order of the Nail to track the PC down to bring him to "justice." I could easily see these three (with maybe a few low level Armigers for good measure) showing up at the front gates of Fort Rannik demanding the paladin turn himself in for trial. Good stuff - thanks!
This was an ebook I bought some time ago - I think having heard about it on these boards - but I have never had the opportunity to use it in a game. I just flipped through it again, and I really like some of the material in it. I think the basic concept is pretty sound, and it seems like it would be pretty easy to adapt/convert to PFRPG. I was just wondering if anyone else was using it. Does the standard 20 flaw point system suggested work or does it throw off the power level of a campaign? Did you keep the flaw point costs for skills the same, or did you adapt them with the new PFRPG skill system in mind? Inquiring minds want to know. Thanks.
Thanks Ravenot - really good advice if they go completely off the rails. Ir really like the idea of scouts seeing them bring in weapon shipments - that might be enough to get them off their duffs right there. My guess is if my group lets it get to the point where an ogre raid hits Turtleback, they'll be heading to the fort as soon as they've licked their wounds. Scheduling conflicts have us quite a ways from our next session - good for planning, bad for momentum. It'll be pretty easy to throw together a raiding party using ogre stat blocks from the module. Good times....
They are essentially good (a couple of neutrals). Jakardros has gotten them to agree to at least scout the place, so I'm hoping I can convey the disorganized nature of the ogres and get them to think "Hey, we can take 'em." Failing that, I probably will have Jakardros threaten to go it alone. Between that and the onset of winter cutting them off it might be enough. I also like telling them that once fully entrenched the repercussions for Turtleback Ferry will be grim at best.
This weekend we had a fantastic session - my players cleared out the Graul farmstead and their hatred for the clan was so palpable they ended the day burning the place to the ground. Looking ahead, Jakardros has already mentioned retaking the fort. However, the party sees their mission here as essentially complete. They came from Magnimar to discover the fate of the Black Arrows - this they have completed and they're thinking any attempt to clear out the ogres is potential suicide. Jakardros has already told them ogres are notoriously lazy and complacent, but I fear the PCs are going to completely balk at the idea of attacking a fortified position filled with ogres. There are a few ideas in the module like the fact it will take weeks or even months to reinforce the Black Arrows from Magnimar. If they insist on falling back to Turtle Back Ferry and waiting for more help, I thought I might throw in an ogre raid on the town - perhaps an ogre raid sweeping in at night would nudge them in the right direction. Does anyone else have ideas of how to encourage the players to attack Rannik without being too heavy handed?
Last session my group got thoroughly spanked by Xanesha resulting in a TPK. Seeing this as the likely outcome given how they approached I was ready for the eventuality and had the Lord Mayor pay for raise dead castings based on some advice I read in another thread on this board. Anyway, they are pushing into the Kreegwood now - they're about to assault the Graul's farmstead - and I am thinking we might make it as far as Fort Rannick next session. I definitely want Xanesha to show up again, and having her hanging out with her sister seemed quite logical. At this point I'm trying to figure out where I want to place here. I was thinking I might incorporate her into the force at Ft. Rannick, but I don't want to overwhelm the PCs again. The other option I was thinking was to have her toward the end of the adventure - already back with Barl. Of course, if I place her well in the Fort, there is a good chance she may escape using dimension door and fly. Xanesha is a great villan and my players HATE her - so I'm looking forward to teasing them with here a bit more. Any thoughts? Thanks!
I'm a big fan of everything Paizo is doing, and so far I love what I've seen of PFRPG. Basically I was ready for a new edition, but 4e was not to my taste - PFRPG was exactly what I have been looking for. Unfortunately my group is mired in the middle of two 3.5 campaigns. We started a Runelords campaign just before the finalized rules hit - I tried to "rip off the band-aid" and convert everyone over to PFRPG on that campaign, but I met some pretty heavy resistance (particularly from one player). Basically my group is comfortable with 3.5 and is unwilling to take the plunge to PFRPG. I don't want to stop playing with the group or make too many waves, but there is so much more I like about Pathfinder - I really feel it is a better rules set. If history is any indication there was a similar resistance to 3.5 when it released. The group allowed moderate changes over time, and after a while the group was playing (more or less) pure 3.5. Even though I'm much more of a short-and-sweet, let's-convert-and-be-done-with-it kind of guy, I'm thinking if I start incorporating some of the subsystems I might be able to get the group to come around. I'm trying to decide the "easiest" parts of PFRPG to drop into 3.5 - I really like the new Skill system, so that's sort of a no brainer. I was thinking maybe CMB and CMD. Part of me wants to give them the additional feats - Players do so love their Feats. Anyway - I'm wondering if there are any thoughts. Any unseen perils with this sort of thing? Does anyone have similar experiences transitioning a group? Thanks all!
Since paralysis specifically says the character can only take purely mental actions, if I were the GM I'd rule they automatically fail any Reflex save. Seems kind of hard to dodge out of the way when you can't move. However, I'm a bit of a hard nose sometimes. As far as RAW, I don't think it actually calls this out specifically.
In the game I am running I have run into a question, and I'm not sure the best way to rule. I have a character who uses Scorching Ray a lot, and now we're getting to the point where the PCs are encountering critters with Spell Resistance. The question is what happens when multiple rays are aimed at a single creature with spell resistance. Does the caster have to overcome SR for each ray, or just once? My player (who is also a DM from time to time) thinks it should be a one shot thing per creature. I don't fully agree, but given the argument that started brewing over it, I caved and let it go figuring sometimes he'd loose all of his rays in a single go. Rereading the description of SR and how it is likened unto Armor Class, I'm starting to think this is the wrong ruling and every attack should overcome the resistance, but I'd like to get other opinions on this.
We're currently in the middle of Skinsaw Murders. I have one player who is a Half-orc Paladin Hellknight (interesting pedigree, I know). The long and short of his history is he was an orphaned babe left after a contingent of the Order of the Nail dispatched an Orc horde outside of Korvosa. He was adopted and raised by the commander of the hellknights that carried out the raid. His father was a good man who believed in the propriety of civilization and took it upon himself to show that an accident of birth does not determine the course of a life. His father was also a member of a secret faction within the hellknight order - a Lawful Good group of adherents to Iomedae who felt the diabolic influences within the order were pulling the knights too far into the seductive evil of Hell. My player's character is also part of the faction. Shortly before the path started, my character's father sent his son out into the world to spread the influence of civilization. After the PC left, his father was arrested, charged with treason against the order, and executed by higher ups within the Hellknights. At this point, I haven't done much with this, but I think the order would be hunting down the PC as well. I'm thinking Magnimar would be a good place for them to catch up with the PC and I'd like to stage a confrontation. I'm planning to have a small force of Hellknights formally charge the PC and demand he submit to the law of the order. However, as well as the player has been role playing his character, he might just do it. I think this could be an interesting source of conflict and a real character defining moment for the player, but I don't want to derail the AP with a trip to Korvosa and a trial in a kangaroo court. Any thoughts out there?
Perhaps it could tell a tale about a rift in the Olman civilization, with a group of evil Olman (or even kopru) trying to take over and the Olman fleeing into golismorga, in which they were again defeated and locked up. Perhaps he tells that they mutated into aquatic Olman (to explain the Cerulean curtain. The story will be very believable when the group later meets the skinwalkers or when they meet the Olman cannibals, which might then be an offshoot of the degenerate evil Olman race. Of course the barbarian is a descendant of the "good" Olman. (Perhaps the aboleth can pick up a family name from the conversation with the barbarian.) I really like where this is going - I think I'm going to start with the idea of a rift between the Olman tribes. Now I just need to consider how to make destroying the curtain the only way to stop the pearl production. Maybe the story is by pushing out the water, the source of the magic to create the pearls was uncovered. By returning the balance of things the pearl production will be "drowned out" or some such.
My group is straight random generation all the way. We've never tried a point buy system - it just doesn't hold any real appeal for any of us. For years now we've worked with the "Organic" method from the 3.5 DMG. 4d6 drop the lowest, in order, you can switch 2 scores and re-roll one. We always used the "high powered" option where you could re-roll the array if it either didn't have a total modifier of +2 or there were no scores 14 or higher. In our last couple of campaigns we have added the option of rolling up three full arrays this way and choosing the one that best works for your concept. We've found this works pretty well - the characters are generally playable, but you sometimes get interesting ability spreads. We also roll our hit points, but our standard house rule is you roll and re-roll until you get at least better than half your potential HP (so at least a 5 for a d8) That said, I totally get the appeal of a point buy. I'm probably the most likely to try something like that in our group, but we all really enjoy the randomness of the rolling. Whatever works for the group, you know... And, just because I don't want to be left out of the fun:
Hmm, I guess fighter or possibly barbarian.
My players are tearing through The Lightless Depths. Due to the party’s laser focus and the belief there are slaves to save, they opted to bypass the village of Baras and push on deeper into the caverns. They are on the verge of entering the temple, and they have no real knowledge of the history of the Cerulean Curtain or the war with the aboleths. This presents me with a spectacular opportunity to have the trapped aboleth present the story and completely control the message. I’m trying to decide the best strategy for the aboleth to take. They still have Irgzid the troglodyte showing them the way, but my feeling is the aboleth taking the form of a troglodyte priest won’t be the most convincing option. I’ve played up Irgzid being a bit insane, so any inconsistency between the aboleth’s story and what the Trog says can be explained away. I’m sort of thinking the Aboleth should take the form of an Olman and tell them the “true” history of the curtain – I’m just not sure what that should be exactly. I’m thinking that the story should revolve around hubris in some way. The ancient Olmans reached too far into mysteries better left alone and unleashed a horror on the world. The Tear was an attempt to seal the Evil that was unleashed, but somehow the backlash started the Pearl creation process. It’s a little weak, I know, but that’s why I’m here. What do you think – can we put enough heads together to come up with a suitable lie concocted by a nigh immortal genius telepathic fish. My game session is next Tuesday. Thanks for the help everyone!
<minor tangent> This thread got me thinking about some of my own questions regarding the incorporation of a VTT into a face to face game and instead of a full on threadjack I started a new post in the Gamer Life/Technology forum here. I'd appreciate any input. Thanks! </minor tangent>
A post in another forum about Fantasy Grounds and MapTools in Pathfinder got me thinking again about incorporating a Virtual Table Top into my Real Life Table Top game. My group meets face to face regularly, but I can see a lot of potential in using a VTT to have an infinitely expandable map, deal with Fog of War, etc. Unfortunately I don’t have the space to set up a top-down projector or to set up a dedicated under-lit projector table as I have seen on some other DIY gamers set up. So, my question is what’s the best way to go about this? I’m already using a Mac Laptop (running Windows XP in a virtual machine) at the table. I’m assuming it would be best to have a second computer as the Player machine, but I’m trying to figure out the best way to work the logistics from there. One thought I had was setting up a large-ish monitor (21” or so) facing the players as an electronic DM screen of sorts, and have a wireless mouse connected to the computer driving the monitor that they could pass around the table on their turns. Seems a little inelegant, but it would keep the space used to a minimum, and could also be considered (semi)portable. I also thought about bringing the game into the living room and connecting to the big HDTV through an HDMI video card, but my wife doesn’t play, so she would be more than a bit irritated if we completely dominated the house on our 12+ hour game days. I also don’t like the idea of not having the table to sit around – I feel it helps focus. The other thought I had was a projector on the wall, but with that we run into the same problems of space and distance to throw the projection. Regardless of these ideas, there still the problem of controlling individual characters. I feel the wireless mouse might be our best option. Anyway, I’m mostly curious to see if anyone else has set up something similar and if there are any pitfalls I should be aware of. Thanks in advance for the input.
...a number of us played 3.5 and in 3.5 it was quite clear that multiple ranged attacks within a threatened area would provoke multiple AoO's. My group is still running 3.5 and I was DM for a session this week and this very issue arose. I thought the above interpretation was correct, but my player disagreed vehemently. I ended up bowing to the pressure to both speed game play and not cause a real argument, but the whole thing really stuck in my craw. I've looked through the PHB, but I cannot find a clear cut ruling on this. Can anyone help me out with backing this up with the RAW? I'd really appreciate it. [/minor threadjack]
You could also possibly put a permanent desecration spell effect in that room if you want, although I don't have the book in front of me to check if it's already there. Might I suggest lumping a desecrate effect into the general haunting of the Manor, at least as they get closer to the point of Vorel's demise. This is a great idea. I think that would make just the difference I'm looking for. you can advance them all 1 HD or so, but I would do something to give them a will save boost. I'm thinking that I'll do this as well. We are playing 3.5, so the turning damage is based on Hit Dice. Adding 1 HD to each of the mook ghouls means that it effectively doubles the number of Hit Dice to turn without substantially altering the EL. That coupled with the _desecrate_ effect should make the adventure feel a bit more epic. As for the potential extra XP that might come from adding some more mooks, I'm not too worried about it. There are five PCs in the party, so they're already a little wonky, and frankly I definitely want them to get to at least 6th before facing off with Xanesha. I'm not planning to pull any punches with that encounter, and it's going to be tough. Thanks for the feedback and ideas!
In our last game session, my group got well into The Skinsaw Murders. We picked up after Habe’s Sanatorium; I took them through the Hambly Farm and on to Foxglove Manor. The manor has to be some of the most fun I’ve ever had as a DM. The Haunts were great, and turned out to be a fantastic, involving way to tell the tragic story of the Foxgloves. Just from the clues gleaned in the house my group has quite the respectable comprehension of three generations of history associated with the place. Anyway, I have a quandary. One of my players has built a real undead killer – cleric of Sarenrae with the Disciple of the Sun feat from Complete Divine. The long and short of the feat is she burns two turning attempts and any undead normally turned by the attempt are destroyed instead. I don’t have a fundamental problem with the feat, but it makes fighting undead less than scary at times. The party is about to enter the subbasement section of the house. I was hoping they’d push on after running through the rest of the building, but spells were low, so they decided to sleep for the night. I doubled the carrionstorm in front of the house, but the cleric managed to dust them all in one go due to some pretty strong rolls on the turn check. Anyway, they’re camping outside the house and will be heading back in to face the caverns below in the next session. I’m afraid that without some bolstering of the undead hordes the whole fight with Aldern will be a real anticlimax. I am thinking off adding or advancing the ghouls, and possibly throwing some ghasts in as well. I want to eat up a few of the turning attempts, but I don’t want this to become a TPK (especially since they have Xanesha coming up). Does anyone have any thoughts about what I can do to make this challenging and memorable, but at the same time keeping it from spiraling into a TPK?
A couple of sessions ago my group arrived at Farshore at the start of Tides of Dread. With the pirate assault in full swing I switched away from our usual tactical map and instead worked toward a more cinematic "tell me your intention" sort of play. I thought it worked marvelously and the resulting battle inspired me to write it out as a piece of short fiction. It's mostly for my group, but I thought some of you in the community at large might also enjoy it. I have adapted the path to Eberron, so there are a few references to Eberron gods and whatnot in the text. Dramatis Personae
Spoiler:
Daneth - Aventi duskblade and moral compass of the party
Lylia - Half-elf cleric of The Whirling Fury {taking Keith Baker's suggestion making the church a cult worshiping an amalgamated form of Dol Arrah and The Fury} He - Male personality Warforged fighter/ranger moving toward the Leviathan Hunter prestige class Alasdair... the Amazing - Swashbuckler/rogue. Ex "preemptive oceanic salvage technician" and nattily dressed man about town Hej - Feral Aquatic lizardman fighter/barbarian; recent replacement character for the Drow rogue, Xyrx. Lorenda - DMPC halfling healer. An Arrival at Farshore
Spoiler:
Lorenda sat quietly in the center of the dugout canoe, the ocean breeze on her face a welcome change from the oppressive heat of the island’s interior. The terror and loss of the last several weeks were fading to memory, and the hope of finally reaching Farshore buoyed her spirits. “But just then her husband burst in.” Alasdair continued regaling Daneth with a story from his past. “I barely had time to grab my small clothes before jumping out the window. Thankfully there was a carriage passing underneath – the fact it’s occupant was a lovely lady only sweetened the deal.” Lylia smirked a bit in spite of her disapproving glare. Lorenda suspected the story was a bit embellished, but at this point she did not care. The jungle was behind them, and the promise of a real bed and regular hot meals lay before them. In the other canoe, He rowed methodically in time with their native guides. Looking more than a little out of place with his granite crown and silvery body, the only sound he made was the clattering of his various grisly trophies. Behind him, the Maelstrom’s newest companion sat stock still, eyes half closed behind scaly lids. With his snout pointed into the air and his neck outstretched the giant lizardman looked for all the world like a common garden reptile sunning itself on a rock. Lorenda had only known Hej for a little more than a week, and he had so far shown a strong noble streak despite his apparent ferocity. Still, the lizardman made Lorenda feel uneasy. There was something unnerving and unsettlingly ancient in his cold gaze. Lorenda shivered in spite of the tropical heat. Turning her head from the other canoe, Lorenda watched the shoreline of Temute roll by. “There is no way she was the Mayor’s daughter,” said Daneth “Hand to the Host,” Alasdair replied. “Fortunately for me she had a rebellious streak and apparently liked the cut of my jib.” Lylia shook her head, rolling her eyes as Lorenda looked back at her. “If you were half as charming as you think you are, Alasdair, I’d be afraid for the virtue of all the women of Khorvaire,” said Lylia. “And some of the men too,” added Daneth. “Can I help it if I’m irresistible as well as amazing?” “You seem pretty resistible to me, fleshbag.” Everyone’s head turned sharply toward He. It had been so long since He had spoken, it was easy to forget he was listening to the conversation from a few yards away. Daneth and Lylia burst into laughter. Stopping mid-row, He turned his head slowly gazing at the giggling pair with what Lorenda imagined to be puzzlement. Alasdair looked over his sholder toward Lylia. “It wasn’t that funny.” Lylia began laughing even harder. A smirk crept across Alasdir’s face. “Well, All right. Maybe it was that funny.” With a derisive grunt, He shook his head and went back to rowing. Lorenda eyes rolled heavenward. Host help her – if she ever saw the cardinal again, she must remember to have words with him about sadling her with this misfit group. Suddenly, Hej turned his head toward the island. His nostrils flared twice. Hej’s gravelly voice cut through the mirth. “Smoke.” The laughter stopped abruptly. Looking to the south and east, Lorenda saw a dark smear rising above the island. Daneth turned his head, looking back at Alasdair. “I think maybe you should tell them to row faster.” * * * Rounding the promontory, a sheltered harbor came into view. Immediately Daneth could see the value of the harbor as a port. Well protected to the north and south by cliffs and a relatively deep approach into the harbor itself made this a perfect location to dock large trading ships. Unfortunately the Vanderborens had more of an eye for commerce and less of an eye for defense. The small town before them - not much more than a village really - was overrun. Even from this distance Daneth could see several figures running amok amidst the burning buildings. A large vessel bearing a red flag with a black silhouette of a shark’s jawbone sat anchored in the harbor at the end of the longest dock. One of the Olman guides spoke rapidly over his shoulder to Alasdair. “What did he say?” asked Daneth. “They are willing to take us to the northernmost dock – no further,” Alasdair replied. “Fair enough.” With the commotion on shore, no one seemed to notice the native built canoes gliding silently up to the dock near the shoreline. As the Maelstrom hit the beach, Daneth swept his gaze over the chaos. Choking, thick smoke filled the air. Colonists screamed as large, scimitar wielding men ran through town setting fires and looting at will. Near the docks, high pitched screams poured from a burning storage building. A bit to the south, an older man lay sprawled on the beach, broken glassware strewn about him. Deeper into town, a larger concentration of pirates worked with a makeshift ram to break down the doors to what appeared to be a chapel. Past the church a handful of young colonists with swords were doing their best to fight back a group of pirates, but even at this distance Daneth could clearly see they were outmatched. “I’ll help whomever is trapped in the building over there. Lorenda, do you think you can get the man on the beach on his feet?” “I think so.” “Good – get him out of there. The rest of you, help them in the plaza.” Before the canoe came to a halt, Daneth was on his feet and running toward the burning shed. From the corner of his eye he could see the rest of his companions running full tilt into the chaos. Daneth’s focus narrowed – someone was trapped and needed his help. More than enough innocents had died recently – he wasn’t going to let there be another one. Running at full speed, Daneth studied the building as he approached. The main door was shut and even at this distance he could see smoke curling around the edges. Looking to the side of the building he noticed a broken window some six feet off the ground. Without another thought Daneth lowered his head and pushed as much power into his stride as he could. Committing everything to his forward motion, Daneth leaped extending his arms over his head and willing his body as thin as he could make it. He felt a momentary flash of heat as he passed through the window, but as gravity completed his task, Daneth tucked into a graceful shoulder roll and felt a moment of elation realizing he had come through unscathed. Daneth’s momentum brought him to his feet. He stood, quickly surveying the scene. The dry, hot air baked his skin, and his gills opened and closed reflexively. A thick haze of smoke swirled about his head and assaulted his lungs. The acrid heat pressing past his throat started Daneth coughing. Blinking away a thick curtain of tears, Daneth saw only one occupant. A young woman overcome with a fit of coughing knelt near the back wall of the storage shed as far from the flames as she could move. Daneth looked to the woman and reached out a hand. “I’m here to rescue you. Trust me.” She looked at him, then to his outstretched hand. She nodded, and reached out, taking Daneth’s hand in hers. Saying a short string of precise arcane syllables, Daneth focused his will to moving this woman out the window he had come through. In the blink of an eye, she was no longer in front of him, and instead was outside the window, falling unceremoniously the six feet to the ground. His throat burning, Daneth took only a moment to scan the room for anyone or anything else to save. Fighting back another urge to cough, he once again recited the same precise syllables, this time focusing his attention inward and willing himself through the window. A momentary tingle sped through his body as the world around him wrenched in an odd swirl. As soon as it began, the sensation was over and Daneth was falling. Landing lightly on his feet and absorbing the shock with his knees, Daneth gazed across the burning town. A dastardly half-orc chased a pretty redhead between two buildings. Daneth narrowed his gaze and began to run. * * * Before Lylia could stand both Alasdair and Hej were already far onto shore – Alasdair with his casual, fluid grace and Hej exploding into motion like a taut spring. Gripping her Zulaat, ready for anything, Lylia muttered a quick prayer under her breath. “Mother of Righteous Wrath, grant me the strength to see this through.” The largest concentration of attackers seemed to be in the plaza before them. As she and her warforged companion hustled through the chaos, Lylia caught sight of Lorenda as she knelt beside an injured man bleeding on the beach. Even at this distance Lylia could see a pale nimbus grow around Lorenda’s hand as she touched the downed colonist. With a sputtering cough, he sat up. “Can you walk.” Lylia could just barely hear Lorenda’s words over the din. The man nodded. “Then move!” Lylia returned her attention to the fight before her. Alasdair and Hej had split. Alasdair was almost to the largest group of toughs while Hej was bearing down on the group assaulting the church. As she watched, Hej lowered his head, his clawed feet pumping hard against the packed earth of the plaza. Putting his entire body behind one fluid motion, Hej thrust with his greatspear catching one of the pirates just as the raider turned to face the threat. The broad point of the spear caught the invader just below the sternum, the point sinking deep and the force of the blow lifting him bodily off the ground. Hej dropped his spear and the now quite dead thug to the ground. Turning toward the next nearest foe, Hej let forth a mighty roar. Gauging distance quickly, Lylia adjusted towards the chapel just a bit more. Focusing a small sliver of her Mistress’s divine power, Lylia intoned a ritual recitation she had been taught from a young age. As she completed the invocation, she gestured subtly. Next to one of the pirates assaulting the church a translucent, double-bladed glaive coalesced – the very image of her own zulaat. The divinely conjured weapon swung at the nearest buccaneer, the ghostly blade harder than steel at it bit into flesh. Turning back toward the cluster of raiders at the north end of the plaza, Lylia took account of the situation. Eight ragged sailors with curved blades were slicing into the ranks of the Farshore defense. At the center of it stood a taller man thrusting with an elegant rapier as his primary weapon and a lashing out with a triangular punching dagger in his off hand. Thick twists of hemp rope wrapped up his arms; around his neck hung a raggedly cut noose accentuating a livid scar around his neck. With a cruel grin flashing yellowed teeth, the leader dropped another of the town’s defenders with a well placed thrust of his punching dagger. Alasdair was almost upon the rabble, yelling insults and challenges as he ran. Lylia knew Alasdair could handle himself in a fight, but he was woefully outnumbered. “I’m on it,” said He, as if reading her mind. His silvery body reflecting the morning sun as he charged across the intervening distance. Lylia turned her attention back to the church. Now weaponless, Hej made a quick adjustment to be closer to two of the remaining pirates. With one vicious swipe of his clawed hand, he ripped through the neck of the nearest pirate. A spray of arterial blood arced over the plaza as the gurgling assailant dropped his sword and clutched the crimson bloom at his throat. With one continued motion, Hej swung is second claw at another nearby pirate leaving a ragged gash across the blackguard’s chest. Shifting his weight slightly, Hej extended his head toward his opponent’s face, snapping down with powerful jaws, his bite missing by mere inches The remaining pirates blanched – the two not currently engaged with the towering lizardman dropped the ram, turned from the fight and fled. Lylia continued moving toward Alasdair and the pirate captain. As she watched, Alasdair gracefully slid between two pirates with ease, moving with such speed and confidence he left the pair looking the wrong way as he ran up to their leader. With a flourish, Alasdair thrust his rapier at the pirate scum. The blow was true, and the pirate grimaced with pain. “Not quite as tough in a fair fight, are you – you motherless son of a sea urchin.” The pirate captain snarled “I’ll show you fair, you ponce! Slice ‘im up boys!” Lylia redoubled her effort to reach her friend. As Lylia moved, a red haired woman ran screaming past, pursued by a slavering half-orc. Lylia stopped short, turning to help the woman, but from the corner of her eye she saw Daneth running full tilt toward the woman’s assailant. As Lylia watched, Daneth gracefully drew his sword, then swung the slightly curved blade in a perfectly timed upward arc. Electricity danced from his hands and crackled up the blade. As he completed his sweeping motion, Daneth’s blade bit deep into the flesh above the half-orc’s hip. As the powerful sword blow struck true, the magic charged blade released the coruscating energy into the body of his opponent. A powerful burst of electricity ran through the pirate, charring the wound and leaving a smoking ruin as the corpse fell free from Daneth’s blade. Lylia turned back toward Alasdair, realizing his situation was most dire. Surrounded on all sides, he parried and dodged as furiously as he could, but it was only a matter of time before a misstep or lucky blow would leave him a corpse. In a few more steps she would be in range to cast. Just a few more steps. * * * Alasdair was beginning to think that this was perhaps not the best idea he’d ever conceived. He parried another blow with his sword, and moved his free arm up just in time to catch a slashing scimitar swinging in toward his face. The blow deflected harmlessly off the blackened steel destana he now wore. With a half-formed thought, he sent a bit of thanks to his comrade Xyrx, wherever he might be. Alasdair felt a sharp welling pain bloom in his lower back. The moment of distraction had proven just enough for the lead pirate to take the advantage. He snarled as he twisted the rapier in Alasdair’s back. Alasdair pulled away, freeing himself from the blade. The half step placed him dangerously close to another opponent – Alasdair bobbed his head to the right as a saber narrowly slashed by his ear. Looking past his nearest assailant, Alasdair could see two more pirates moving toward him. He set his jaw grimly – if today was his day, then he’d go out swinging. Just then a glint of sunlight caught Alasdair’s eye. From beyond the approaching brigands Alasdair saw He running toward the fray, his long strides eating up the distance as he crossed the plaza. Alasdair’s determined jaw softened as a grin spread across his face. The rearmost pirate turned just in time to see He bring his sword down in a gracefully powerful two-handed arc. The unprepared pirate dropped in a heap at the warforged’s feet. The new combatant entering the fray drew some of the unwanted attention away from Alasdair. Redoubling his efforts, Alasdair continued his deadly dance of flashing blades, subtly parrying and avoiding thrust and slash alike. A narrow miss by noose-neck’s punching dagger brought Alasdair up short. As he turned to once again face his primary assailant, a ghostly two-bladed glaive appeared next to the buccaneer slashing as soon as it materialized. Alasdair seized his moment, shifting his weight he committed to a low lunge. As the rope bedecked pirate brought his blade wide to parry, Alasdair deftly disengaged around the pirate’s blade, leaving his opponent off balance and open to attack. Shifting his momentum, Alasdair thrust his blade deep into the pirate’s chest. Dropping his blade, the incredulous pirate clutched futilely at the rapier embedded in his chest, a trickle of blood appearing at the corner of his mouth. With a ghastly rattling cough, the bearded cur spat blood flecked foam into Alasdair’s face. His weight dropping, Alasdair let his blade pull free from the bandit. “The Keeper take you, you bastard.” Pivoting around, Alasdair watched as Lylia made short work of her opponent, the twin blades of her zulaat flashing in the morning light. Beside her, He dropped another invader, adjusting his swing to catch the final pirate as he fled back toward the sea. Alasdair looked south – one of the largest buildings in town was ablaze. Locals ran into and out of the inferno ferrying books and sheaves of paper to safety. Looking about, Alasdair could see the invading force had been turned aside; without another moments consideration Alasdair ran into the blaze to help. * * * Lorenda moved quickly through the plaza, stopping occasionally to check a colonist’s injuries - fortunately none were terribly severe. By this point, most of the fires were extinguished. The largest fire had been the Hall of Records, however the town’s bucket brigade had been able to quell the flames after Daneth and Lylia had cast a few well placed cold spells to halt the spread. Lorenda was no expert, but she was fairly certain without the assistance, the building would have been lost. She stopped beside a young man holding a limp arm at his side. “Let me see.” The young man silently moved his good hand as Lorenda examined the injured arm. He winced a bit as she probed, but otherwise he showed no emotion. Lorenda had seen the look before on the faces of the soldiers brought into Flamekeep from the front lines. She recited a familiar incantation and a blue glow emanated from the hand she had placed on the boy’s arm. His eyes widened a bit in wonder as he lifted his arm. “It might be a little weak for a day or two, but that will pass.” “Thank you.” She smiled wanly. It would appear their new home was to be no less exciting than anywhere else they had been over the past several months. “You’re welcome.”
I did get the book from Amazon. It was shipped in one of their fold-over, self adhesive corrugated cardboard envelope/box thingys. Long story short, I bought some acid free craft glue and applied liberally between the cover and the back of the pages. After spreading the glue out with some disposable chopsticks, I placed it spine down on a shelf between some other heavy books to hold it up. I let the glue cure for 24 hours and it seems to have done the trick. We'll see how it lasts long term, but so far it seems to be fine.
Hello. First, I'd like to note I didn't purchase my copy of the book from Paizo directly, so I am not expecting recompense - more looking for advice. I've had my copy for all of three days. Last night I noticed that the fold where the front cover meets the first page was pulling a bit resulting in some tearing of the cover page. This morning I noticed similar damage along the back cover. Just now, as I set the book down, the entire bound page section pulled free at one end and it seems completely loose from top to bottom. Just for the record, the most stress I have put this copy under is carrying it back and forth to work. Obviously I should be able to return this copy for a replacement, but this is the one physical copy my group has. Considering the shortage of books out there, I'd hate to send it back and not have a replacement as I'm the GM and I'm sort of forcing the switch on my group :) So, to the point of this rambling message. 1) have you heard of similar issues from other customers? 2) do you have any advice for repairing this copy rather than returning it. Not ideal, but maybe better than waiting for the reprints to show up.
I’m converting over the group I’m currently running to Pathfinder – for the most part I don’t think the transition will be too difficult. However, this feat is a bit problematic. I have a player who has a character that he’s somewhat max-min’d around killing undead. As such, this feat is a no-brainer for him (as it is on the hairy edge of broken). Basically the feat allows a cleric to burn two turn attempts at once. By so doing, any undead turned by the attempt are destroyed instead. I don’t really want to take his concept away from him, and I feel like something cool can be done with the Channel rules. I’m thinking something like burning two uses of channel energy to harm undead results in a Maximized burst. Another option might be to Empower the burst increasing the damage dice by 1.5. Another possibility I was considering was increasing the radius of the burst (say to 40'), though that would probably be in conjunction with one of the other options. Any thoughts? I want the feat to be cool, but I’ve always thought it could be toned down a bit.
There is an article in an older Kobold Quarterly with a somewhat radical suggestion - giving the players a free level of Aristocrat. I've never personally used it, but is seems like it could be fun - especially as a capstone to a very politically motivated story. After spending all this time in courtly intrigue it makes sense that the PCs will have broadened their skill base - possibly picking up some skill ranks in various courtly skills like Diplomacy or Knowledge (nobility). It amps their BAB and Saves a bit, but really shouldn't be all that unbalancing in the grand scheme of things. I'm thinking about throwing this to my current Savage Tide group if they successfully navigate Tides of Dread - especially if it turns out well.
Thanks for all the help guys - there is some really good stuff here. In the end, we decided to skip the level of Ranger. After weighing the options it just didn't help enough over the long haul. We had to spend a couple of feats on some slightly non-druidy things, but she is the party tracker and is wielding a great bow (to quite an effect, actually). We've focused her on summoning/battlefield control magic, and next level she will be picking up Augment Summoning. At 6th we're looking at Natural Spell, and at 9th probably Augment Elemental. I am thinking that after another level or two, she will be quite badass.
I am DMing for a group in which my wife is playing for the first time. She decided on a Druid, and I'm trying to help her play the best character she can. The big problem is, I'm not terribly familiar with Druids and how to optimize them. The group just broke 2nd level and they have a little cash to spend. Right now I have her in wood armor (A&EG), but with about 200 gold to spend I'm wondering if there is something better out there. We're working to keep her in the Light encumbrance catagory which is a bit difficult as she only has a 12 str. This seemed like a good balance of protection vs. weight for the time being, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't something clearly better out there. We're running Rise of the Runelords and I looked long and hard at the Hide Shirt from the Player's Guide. I think that is probably the best choice, but it's a bit too heavy right now. Maybe once we can afford some extra-dimensional storage and such we can make it work. Thoughts?
Funny story that. If you are interested in the gory interpersonal details they are spoilered below. Spoiler:
As I mentioned above, this is the very first time my wife has ever played. She came to me unbidden wanting to play in a new campaign we were starting. Needless to say, I was thrilled!
One of my wife’s defining personality traits is a desire to be unique – she never likes to do the “popular” thing. She really wants to forge her own way. I told everyone else we are playing with that she had first dibs on character choice, and that they'd need to work around her. I let here look through the PHB and she decided she wanted to be an Elf Druid and from our discussion I knew she wanted to be a bit Rangery. We did just what Celestial Healer suggested and burned a feat on track. I knew a Druid wouldn't be the easiest thing for a first timer, but she's very sharp and I thought it better to have her play something she was genuinely interested in playing rather than selecting something “easy” to play. Anyway, I let everyone know that she was playing an Elf Druid and asked that everyone else come up with something different. No problem – everyone came up with unique and interesting characters except for one of my friends. He’s the most min/maxy powergamer of our group. We all like him personally, and he isn’t a pure number cruncher – he does roleplay, it is just that he tweaks his character to an annoying degree. He’s also a veteran player who ALWAYS seems to play some variation of an Elf Ranger. I swear he could start out with a Dwarf Sorcerer and somehow he’d make it an Elf Ranger. First off, he argued hard for psionics. It’s a Pathfinder campaign and even though I personally like psionics, I felt it didn’t quite fit the world. However my friend said that psionics was the only way he’d play a caster, and since an arcanist was the big hole in the party, I thought “what the heck.” He comes back with a Half-Giant Druid with no intention of taking a psionic class. After some debate, I put the DM smack down on him and told him no psionics, and he had to make something else. He ended up making an Elf Cleric with an animistic/nature-y bent (raised as part of a Shoanti tribe). After the first game session my wife was really irritated because he kept stealing her thunder – not intentionally, but he’s a 30 year veteran of the game and it was her first session ever. After some discussion with my wife, I realized just how upset she was by the whole thing. I had several talks with the long term player as did other friends in the group. He could not see the problem. Finally I asked him to rebuild his character as not-an-elf. To sweeten the deal I offered him a freebie bonus feat to smooth things over. It was a huge sticking point – he gave me an “I’ll have to think about it” response. When I told my wife about it, she looked at me and said “I’ll rebuild my character – give me the bonus feat.” So that’s what we did. The 30 year veteran who has played elves for decades gets to keep his elf, and the first time player has to run her second choice. But whatever, she seems happy with the bonus feat. So yeah, the long and the short of it is the Elf Druid option is out.
Thanks for all the advice, guys. I was planning on making some mini character sheets for her Summon lists anyway, and I had the thought that doing something similar for her once she gets wildshape wouldn't be a bad thing. The main reasons we were dipping into Ranger were for the Track feat and for bow proficiency. I was a little concerned it might put her a bit behind the power curve, so perhaps I'll reconsider the build. We'll have to put off Augment Summoning until level three, but more spells, moving up her animal companion, and getting her one step closer to wild shape might be worth it. I'll have to see what I can do with that.
Sorry - the character is 2nd level (Ranger 1 / Druid 1) and we're building it at level 2. The plan will be to stick with Druid from here on. I'm not sure about prestige classes, but she will already be a level behind the curve with her animal companion, spell casting, and (eventually) wild shape, so I don't think she'll multiclass any more than that. Druid related prestige classes are a possibility, but they'd have to not give up much of the Druid coolies to be worth it in my mind. As for books - mostly the core and completes. However, as I said, we have access to most of the books and I have a "run it past me" policy as DM with a fairly liberal allowance on most things. Psionics are out, for what that's worth.
My wife is a first time player in a game that I am DMing. She decided on playing a Druid (with a single level of Ranger), and I have been helping her make choices on her character. So far I feel like we’re doing fairly well with her build, but the biggest problem we have is I am not terribly familiar with Druids. I know they can be pretty darned powerful with the right build, but I’m not sure which are the best feat choices, etc. She’s a human and we’re using flaws from UA, so we’ve got some feats to burn. The Ranger level opened up her weapon choices, and she’s wielding a bow – the idea is she will be ranged support and casting along with the Ranger tracking stuff. Right now we have picked Point Blank and Precise Shot. I’m not sure how much further she will go down that path, but I felt like she needed at least those two if she were going to be any help at all as an archer. I also have her with Spell Focus: Conjuration and Augment Summoning. These seemed like no-brainers with her spontaneous summon nature’s ally ability. What I am looking for now are other “must-have” feats for a Druid. Natural Spell seems a given as soon as she qualifies for it, but outside of that I’m not sure. We’ve got access to pretty much everything 3.5, so the feat choices are a bit overwhelming :-) What I am looking for specifically are feats that boost her summoning ability. I figure some of the metamagic feats might be useful, but can you apply those on the fly to spontaneous casting, or would she have to memorize summon nature’s ally with the metamagic applied to make it work? Any suggestions are most welcome. She is a bit on the fence about the game, but she loves me so she’s giving it the ol’ college try. I figure the least I can do is help her build as effective and cool a character as possible.
Good stuff! I wish I'd had this earlier in my campaign. My players are in the Shrine at the end of HTBM now - I don't think it's too late to alter some of the flavor to head down this path. I really wasn't sure where I was going to take the path after they dealt with the shadow pearl production. I had some ideas, but they would have required some major re-writes. This seems a very satisfactory way of wrapping it all up without having to reinvent the wheel.
I'm considering buying the Book of Fiends from Green Ronin and was thinking about the whole Print on Demand idea they are offering through Lulu.com. Has anyone else bought any of Green Ronin's products this way? How's the print quality coming from Lulu? The other big question I have - do you get a corresponding electronic version of the book when you buy the Print on Demand version, or are you just sent the hardcopy? I poked around a bit on Lulu's site, but I didn't see anything one way or the other.
Hello all. I have a player in my current campaign playing a rogue. We're a bit short on casters, so he's thinking about multiclassing into bard. I thought it might be nice to give him the option of a feat akin to Daring Outlaw, Daring Warrior, and Swift Hunter from Complete Scoundrel to allow him to synergize his classes a bit more. I'm not thrilled with the current name, but let me know what you think of the mechanics:
Your music continues to inspire though you focus your attentions to other shady pursuits. Prerequisite: Bardic Music, Sneak Attack +1d6 Benefit: Your bard and rogue levels stack for the purpose of determining extra damage from sneak attack. For example, a 4th level rogue/2nd level bard would deal +3d6 extra damage when making a sneak attack as if he were a 6th level rogue. Your bard and rogue levels also stack for the purpose of determining your bardic music abilities. This includes both the number of times per day you may use bardic music and for which bardic music abilities you qualify. You must still meet all minimum Perform ranks requirements. For example the 4th level rogue/2nd level bard noted above would be able to use bardic music 6 times per day and would have access to the countersong, fascinate, inspire courage (+1), inspire competence, and suggestion bardic music abilities as if he were a 6th level bard.
I just started running a RotRL campaign with 2 women and 4 men playing. One of the women is my wife - it is her first time gaming, and she's pretty much playing entirely out of love. I'm not sure if she will stick with it, but it is very sweet for her to try. The other woman is the fiance of another of our players, and she's way into playing D&D. The most interesting thing in my mind is both of the women are playing male characters, and the aforementioned fiance of the second woman in the group is playing a female character. Gender specific pronouns are a bit confusing as one can imagine. All in all, it is a good group of friends, and I'm hoping my wife sticks with it. Time will tell.
I have a few gripes with PrCs and multiclassing in general, but I have found a couple of house rules help. First, I instituted a rule much akin to Dragonsage's. I allow my players two prestige classes only one of which can be a "full progression" 10 level PrC. I have one player who would constantly dip into Prestige Classes to get the one or two abilities from the first or second level, and it really became game breaking by the higher levels. While I don't really limit which PrCs are available, I do request DM approval before characters take them. So far these rules have kept the group happy and make prestige classes something a bit more special. My other major beef with multiclassing is the rise of Uber-Saves - let me explain. First thing to note, my group uses the Fractional Bonuses sidebar from Unearthed Arcana (I highly recommend it - overall it works great). Since every class has at least one Good save progression, my problem child exploited that fact by judiciously jumping from class to class strategically picking classes that increased a different Saves by 2-1/2 each time. By the upper levels of the campaign I don't think he had a single save modifier below 17 and it may have been more like 20. His reflex was through the roof (like a +27 at 18th level). This was a fairly easy fix - basically I ruled that you get the full 2-1/2 only the first time you take a class with that particular Good save. After that, you only get the additional 1/2 that the Good progression gives you. My problem child pouted, but he got over it. Now I feel much better about the way that particular mechanic works.
That's an interesting idea. What sort of prompted this question was seeing all the Haunts in an upcoming AP installment involving a haunted house that shall remain nameless. I just felt that with all those haunts the characters are bound to encounter they'd just be mopping up XP for things that 1) often affect only a single character and 2) that they have little to no chance to actually "defeat" in the traditional sense. With a few exceptions, it seems most of the haunts are flavorful encounters, but only so lethal. Of course, I do have 6 PCs in the party, so maybe a little easy XP is not a bad thing - help to keep them in line with the expected power level of the campaign. I'll have to give this a little more thought.
My understanding of the rule is it works like you have been playing it. I've always ruled that the successful hit promotes the Free Action grapple attempt, and on success of that the constrict damage. From there, each successful grapple check deals the constrict damage as long as the grapple is maintained. I couldn't find it in the SRD, but I'd swear there is a clause that states if you attempt to do other things while maintaining a grapple (like, say attacking with a second natural attack) your grapple checks to maintain the grapple you are currently in suffer a penalty (I want to say -20). However, like I said, I can't actually back that up - I'm not even sure where I saw it. I just looked at the SRD and it's not under grappling, so maybe I got it from a monster description or something. If that's the case, it does help mitigate some of the brutality of improved grab and critters with multiple attacks.
I am a little bit confused on how to award XP for traps. I know the CR assigned to the trap determines the XP just like a monster combat encounter, but what constitutes "overcoming" the challenge of the trap? Obviously successfully disabling it would overcome the challenge, but what about setting it off, but successfully making the save to avoid the effect? How about merely surviving it? I am leaning toward mere survival being enough to award the XP figuring that the "I'll never do THAT again" factor would be pretty strong after setting off a particularly nasty trap. How do you handle awarding XP for traps in your campaign?
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