Grifter's page

Oh sure, go fighter with x2 short swords. That way when you take weapon focus and weapon spec it works for both. No need for dex with that build.

You have 2 options. You can either create your own basic "adventure pack" tell the PC's that they have to carry it any time they are traveling and endure all the under the breath comments or just forget about all that stuff like I did forever ago. The game already gets hung up from time to time on things, unless my players are going somewhere like an icy wasteland I just ignore such trivial things and everyone seems to have much more fun.

Simple question if you have improved disarm but you do not have improved unarmed strike and you attempt to grab a weapon out of someones hand do you provoke an attack of opportunity.

It states if you are unarmed you suffer a -4 penalty to your CMB, which would imply that you can do it without the AOO because if you have improved unarmed strike you are not considered unarmed.

I have a player that want to know this. Thank you.

I'm having a bit more confusion about this spell. It goes on to say, "If you are using the judgment class feature and all of your judgments are granting the maximum bonus, your weapon gains the flaming burst property instead."

My question is, what does it mean by all my judgments granting maximum bonus? They seem to be working or not working so I don't understand what it means by granting maximum bonus?

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the insight

Simple question. Does Fighting defensively and/or total defensive action also increase you CMD? I would assume so but I wanted to be clear.

3.5 was a great system but needed update. Tried 4th, aka World of Warcraft pen & paper. Pathfinder was the obvious choice. So glad that a friend mentioned it to me.

Does summoning monsters effect the CR of a battle? Do you reward XP for monsters summoned during a battle by enemy NPC's?

Example: CR2 battle lv 1 goblin sorcerer and 4 kobolds. If the goblin starts summoning dire rats every turn of the battle does this change the CR and EXP of the battle?

I ask because since its a spell would that be factored into the exp of the caster or does it change the value, and CR of the fight?

Caineach wrote:

I would let gloves do it. A lot of armors you would be wearing cloth underneath gauntlets because metal on skin is uncomfortable.

Yes, but in a lot of cases the gauntlets are lined with cloth or leather for exactly that reason.

One could reasonably assume that you would remove the lining and use the gloves in place of it.

Having Norwigen ancestory I love anything norse related but rebuilding human seems like pushing it. If you want a viking take your +2 into Str or Con thats why Paizo implemented this feature for humans in my opinion. If you start changing things around then your not really a human... If you want to make them unique, just give them a skill bonus in profession sailing.

From the looks of what you have written down you have a mix of oldschool half-orc mixed with the new rules adding cold resist 10.

The idea of modifying a halfling would work great. Also I'm not sure if you have already developed a game for them to play but if not maybe a legend of zelda themed game would work? Then they would be fairy-kin? Like mini elves?

Anyhow I love that you are getting your kids into the game, bravo for helping them develop literacy and imagination in a world that seems hellbent on destroying these things.

If I am planning on taking a prestige class at what time may I take the class?

Simply if the class requires 5 ranks in a specific skill for instance, can I take the class at lv5 as long as I make sure to get that skill up to 5 ranks or must I have all the skill ranks and prerequisites and then take the class the next level?

Evil games can be some of the best; it really can encourage your group to think outside the box. It’s also nice to run a game where you truly have no friends except you comrades.

Not sure why everyone felt that playing a tiefling was appropriate? Because teiflings are part devil they are innately "evil?" From the sounds of it the group is gearing up to just rape and pillage everything in their path.

Sounds like you are just positioning the group to tear each other to shreds. If the pally plays the way his class should play he will be dead within 2 min game one... This doesn't sound very fun too me.

I hope all goes well but your group has enough hurdles to overcome with everyone working together but with the pally situation it seems insurmountable.

That's right.

I am swearing off 4E. You heard it first here.

I'm about to start up a new RPG campaign and you want to know what I am playing? What Clark Peterson the President of Necromancer Games is playing? PATHFINDER.

Why? Because Pathfinder is D&D--its the D&D that I love.

Now don't get me wrong. There are lots of things I like about 4E. But when push comes to shove and I have to choose a rules system to use for my home game its Pathfinder. 4E may work for you, I am not criticizing. But for me, its Pathfinder.

And I am going to run the Legacy of Fire Adventure Path (updated to Pathfinder) from Paizo and with a first adventure by my pal Erik Mona.

Clark

I literally said the exact same thing about why I gave up on 4th edition less than a year after switching. Its not D&D, imo it's pen and paper WoW.

Thank goodness that Paizo kept the tradition alive.

Well grappling is powerful, look at real life MMA. It controls your opponent and leaves them helpless when performed correctly. Just remember that when you are grappling you are SOL when some of the guy's chronies come up and start whailing on you.

Who hasn't built an adventure only to get smoked without having a chance to do anything? Casters are notorious for this in my games. My advice is not to put your NPC in a situation like that if you don't want them to get smoked like that. Surround them with guards, give them magic defenses that help them, think of something. Honestly Pathfinder isn't broken look back at 3rd edition when grappling was even more powerful.

Followup to that question then. So say the monk grapples someone. When that person attempts to break free of the grapple are they at a -4 assuming they do not have unarmed strike?

Simply does combat maneuver bonus or defense become modified under certain conditions? Does armor check penalty mess with these or does a bless spell add to your chance of success?

Specifically does the check penalty from wearing Plate armor damage your ability to grapple?

Well I'd say that you would hang him up, nailing is actually uncommon generally the person would be tied up by the arms and the feet. Then they would have to make fortitude save, that increases each time, every so often... every hour or two I would say. This would be a perfect time to have the endurance feat I would like to point out. Every a failed save would indicate that their legs have given out and they begin to suffocate... either have them begin to take damage as their lungs fill with fluid or have them test again at the same save to push themselves upright again. I would go with 2 consecutive fails and the player dies.

Crucifixions often lasted for days so keep that in mind the spearing was just to see if they were dead, the separation of blood from plasma. The combination of time and the hot sun would sap all the strength from a man. Generally if things went on too long soldiers would come around and break the legs making the suffocation immediate.

I have to laugh to myself because I have been ad-libbing games for the better part of the last 15 years. I too understand how sometimes you feel that you are doing your players a diservice but in fact getting a game together is more than enough for most.

I do sit down from time to time during a campaign and create important NPC characters and certain plot ideas but I never write out every single thing about an adventure path. I like my games to be filled with freedom for the players to do what they want, interacting with the story, not getting rail-roaded by it.

As far as not having anyone else to run and feeling inadequate for a lack of a better term, same thing happened to me 18 years ago and I just ran with it.

My suggestion run some adventure paths, Paizo has some good ones; Or just look at the modules. These can be great fun for the players and also help fledgling DM's get an idea of how to set up a campaign. Also watch movies and read books... rip off ideas, just change some aspects. I've been doing that for years and it makes for great plots. 99% of the time they have no idea and if they do generally they think its awesome.

Thank you, just thinking about that at work.

I guess I have never looked that closely at the rules but what is the rule about resting. In order to complete your rest do you have to rest for the full 8 hrs uninterrupted or does an interruption during the night defeat that process. I have always just let player just go back to sleep and continue their 8hrs from that point but I wanted to be clear on the actual rules.

Choose "Language (other)". That gives you a blank to fill in with any campaign specific language you want. Even one you just made up. Or Klingon.

Im using only a demo for PF at the moment and there is no other selection... Will this make the difference?

I have been using Hero Lab for a bit now and really like the product but I have one issue that I was hoping someone had an answer too. When building my character I found that I am limited to the list of languages that are presented and there appears to be no way to add my own languages.

Am I blind or is this just a major oversight by the product? If you know how to solve this problem your wisdom would truly be appreciated.

Well the monks claim to faim really isnt the fist damage its everything that he can do combined. Awesome unarmored AC, good saves tons of abilitys etc. Just taking one aspect of the monk isn't really stealing his thunder... plus your attacks will never be magical/lawful/adamantite.

I have wanted a class like this for a long time but not just a pugalist... more of an unarmed striker and grappler. He's a mix of a martial artist, not monk, and barbarian.

Why don't you just progress the damage like a monk?

I’m looking for some suggestions for evil clerics in my games. Now using an evil cleric designed out of the book that teams with undead works well, being that he can heal the undead or harm the party. Where I am encountering difficulties is when I create evil factions of living creatures and have a priest among them. Although channeling negative energy to harm the party works well, unless coupled with undead they seem to be far less effective than a normal priest from my experience.

I have worked with using CN clerics to get around this but sometimes this can be a real stretch. I am currently working to restart a campaign that has groups of mercenary Norsemen being lead by a worshiper of one of my designed Chaos Gods. It’s not really possible to make him CN because he’s just too evil.

Should I bend the rules here to fit the campaign or just accept that this is one of the drawbacks to an evil character?

Currently my group is running a scoundrels game. We have 2 rogues, the utility rogue and the con-man. A Ranger/Assassin and a Monk. I love evil games because it gets people thinking well outside the box and the players always really enjoy cutting loose.

The best part about an evil game is that you have to watch your back with everyone. When dealing with good parties you normally have other good factions to rely on, or at least they will remain indifferent but with evil games you have no true allies. Everyone is out to get you so it creates such an interesting dynamic.

It’s also fun to just let the players cut loose and go nuts. One of the favorite games my players ever played was a d20 modern game based off of the concept of Grand Theft Auto. Who doesn't want to have high speed shootouts with the cops, rob drug dealers and run over grandma once in a while?

Well considering that skeletons have been using weapons this whole time I would say yes. Look if you are running a game anything is possible... if you want your zombies to shoot fire out of their eyes it can happen, just adjust for difficulty.

Duellist, which is now pretty boss. Hefty requirements, but deflecting rays with a one-handed piercing weapon is well worth it. Disintegrate? Sorry, we are playing Star Wars now, mister lich. You be the stormtrooper and I'll be the Jedi!

LOL, +1

I would say that in a normal game a healer is a must and the cleric is the master of that role but I have been playing in a scoundrel’s game with 2 rogues a monk and a ranger and all is well because the game is designed with that in mind.

If you are running a module and you have no dedicated healing your party is probably going to be worm-food. But in a free range game, such as the one I’m currently playing in, the DM has adjusted the game to be challenging in ways other than hard fights all the time.

Temeryn wrote:

I don't know if this is in the right section, but I have long thought that alternate classes are really cool because they provide an easy way to allow players to create their character concepts without creating an entirely new base class. I have heard that there will be some alternate classes in the APG, but I have not seen anything asking about it.

So I thought it would be a good idea to make a thread where we can gather together different ideas for alternate classes.

So here it goes:

I like the idea of a skuld alternative to bard that sacrifices spellcasting for more combat abilities.

I was also thinking of a herald alternative to bard that borrows a little from cavalier and has better armor proficiencies. (I don't know what to take away though)

I think there should be a new version of battle sorcerer too.

Maybe a rogue variant with no sneak attack to represent nobles or spies.

Elemental wizards instead of normal school based ones.

So, what alternate classes would you want in the APG?

I don't want to see a plethora of new classes added. That leads directly to rule bloat.

Many of your ideas can be done without new classes being added.
Your skald/herald can be done with a 1 level dip in Fighter or Paladin.
Your battle sorcerer/elemental wizard (by which I think you mean a sorcerer who focuses on evocation spells) can be done by adding a couple of new feats to give evocation spells the boost they need. The elemental wizard is just a sorcerer focused on elemental spells.
I'd make the noble/spy from the Bard class and just use Oratory as the perforamce skill.

I agree with you and in fact I wondered why any of these new classes were even created? In my opinion they are all classes that should have been presige classes. The problem is that where the original classes seem very generic, which lends to creativity these classes are so preset to do one thing.

I too like crafting my own classes the only problem is that what your asking for is not different enough from existing classes to necessitate a new class. Perhaps a multiclass bard/rogue would be what your looking for and you won't have to worry about breaking the system?

That is the beauty of gaming, the sky is the limit. Just enchant a wand with a magic bonus and it will work in conjunction with ray attacks. Since the ray is like a new weapon, mages are able to take weapon focus and improved critical with it I dont see why not. The wand would be a weapon at this point though so I wouldn't treat it like a normal wand so it wouldn't have the 50 spell charges in it unless you created it and adjusted the cost with that in mind.

Also since it is a weapon at this point craft arms/armor may be more appropriate, thats up to the DM.

Have a mix of gods in my games. I have always been partial to the gods of Faerun but my players seemed to like the ones from Greyhawk. Since I run games for everyones enjoyment I made them my staple and bring in Faerun gods when needed.

Also last game I decided that I was going to use the Chaos gods from Warhammer and that was a big hit between them. The fight between themselves and the sorcerer of Nurgle with his aspiring champion and plaguebearers is part of our gaming groups lore now.

Not to nitpick, but critical misses are a houserule in and of themselves, and not a good one. Neither 3.5E nor Pathfinder mention critical misses anywhere in the core book.. and given the nature of both games, they are just a bad idea. Let me elaborate.

Every time you roll an attack roll, you have a 5% chance to critical miss. Every time. Who rolls lots of attack rolls? Everyone except spell casters. Who are the most powerful characters in the game? Spell casters. So why do we perpetuate a system that punishes the already sub-par classes for doing (in many cases) the only thing they CAN do in combat?

I dropped any semblance of a critical miss mechanic when I realized how good a mid-high level wizard could be. It's just not right to further damage the other classes. Rolling a 1 means you miss with that attack regardless of modifiers, and nothing more. Which is RAW.

That is a valid point, again though with the followup roll it generally is a boon to melee combatants. I would say that for every player botch there are 3-4 monster/NPC botchs. So in turn this system actually rewards player.

Doing the math my 1st lv fighter has say a +4 to hit and an AC of 18. Typical 1st level mook, say a zombie, have +1 to hit and an AC of 12. We both have to roll a 1 so thats a 5% chance, but subsequently the zombie needs to roll a 17 on the dice to avoid the attack of opportunity and the fighters need only roll an 8. Therefore the zombie has a 85% chance of letting himself be exposed for the attack of opportunity and the fighter has only 40% chance.

Follow that up with the fact that the zombie needs to roll a 17 on the dice to hit with the subsequent attack of opportunity and the fighter only 8 to make it mean anything.

Grifter wrote:

We decided that now when someone, PC or NPC, rolls a 1 they roll again. If the 2nd roll is a miss then they have had a mishap, rather than just a miss if the 2nd roll is a hit, this immediately provokes an attack of opportunity to anyone within melee striking range. This represents a serious misstep during combat.

Tell me what you think?

This is along the same lines of what I use with my group: "On a natural 1 on your attack roll, you provoke an AoO from the creature you were attacking."

This lacks some of the flavor of the traditional "mishap" system, but it also keeps the pace of combat up since confirmation rolls (and accusations of the DM being a bastard) are avoided. As you say, it gives greater worth to the AoO-based feats, although I'm not sure that provoking an AoO from everyone who threatens you would sit well with my group.

I guess by putting in the confirmation miss roll it eliminates getting tag teamed too often. Most often it works in the parties favor allowing them additional attacks against the troll that over botches leaving himself exposed.

Been playing with my old DM?

"I rolled a 1"
"You missed the monster, roll an attack roll against your teammate."
"I rolled a 1 again."
"Your bow breaks."
"It was a +3 bow."
"It breaks."

Nothing that nasty old rules were that if you missed on a 1 you either dropped your weapon or snapped your bow-string... something to that effect. This I thought added to the chaos that would be melee combat.

Broken +3 bow thats just cold blooded :(

So after years of gaming I finally got tired of critical misses being either dropping or breaking weapons or shooting an ally so I had a discussion with my group and we added a little house flavor for critical misses.

We decided that now when someone, PC or NPC, rolls a 1 they roll again. If the 2nd roll is a miss then they have had a mishap, rather than just a miss if the 2nd roll is a hit, this immediately provokes an attack of opportunity to anyone within melee striking range. This represents a serious misstep during combat.

The players love it because they feel that attacks of opportunity were under-utilized and feats like combat reflexes were cooler in theory than in practice. It can be brutal when the fighter botches but generally it works out in the players favor since most of the time they have a much greater chance of striking and in turn a lower chance of botching than the monsters.

Tell me what you think?

I have used guns time and again in my games and the players always love them. I made a ball and cap revolver for a player that had 6 shots, did 2d6 damage and had a blade attached to it that did 1d4+Str. It took an exotic weapon proficiency and without rapid reload it took a round per shot to reload. I had it strike as a ranged touch attack which made up for the relative slowness. My player loved it but I game in a group where we don't break the system, because I'm sure if I did it would have been a problem.

Guards who are actively doing their job (guarding) should be taking 10 on their Perception checks to spot potential threats. If they are distracted (a beautiful lady is trying to get directions or some such) then they cannot take 10 so long as she remains a distraction.

A rogue trying to balance on the highwire with a hummingbird flying around his head would not be able to take 10 on his Acrobatics check.

A wizard trying to make a magical item whilst a construction crew works on the floor above him cannot take 10 on his Spellcraft check.

A fighter trying to intimidate a prisoner into giving up information will not be able to take 10 on his check while his bard companion is standing behind the prisoner making funny faces at him.

A monk trying to jump a large chasm in the middle of an earthquake as a landslide bears down on him would not be able to take a 10 on his Jump check.

These are all examples of distractions.

This is exactly what I have been looking for, thank you for giving some examples. A appreciate everyone pitching in this has definately helped me out a great deal.

Ok, I have never felt 100% confident that I am playing this rule correctly in my games because they never seem to give any examples of what is allowed and not allowed with taking 10. Now I understand that if you are in combat taking 10 is not allowed under normal circumstances but its the distracted bit that starts to throw me for a loop.

What constitutes a distraction? Obviously if you are crafting something and an earthquake happens you have to test no 10 allowed but what about other skills? I’m especially interested in stealth, bluff, diplomacy and sense motive.

Can I take 10 on a stealth check as I attempt to sneak past a guard or up to a person or is the act distracting? I’ve always played this one yes personally but never been fully sure

Is taking 10 allowed in a social interaction? Can I take 10 on my social skills or is being involved in a conversation considered a distraction? This has always been a sticking point for me so please if you can guide help me I would be grateful.

Also things like making ride checks non-combat related, disarming a trap knowing that it could blow up in your face etc.?

During my time running 3.5 games I can't think of a better, and more well used, selection of books than all the complete series. Having a treasure trove of options, most of which were well done, allowed myself and my players to create those very unique and memorable characters that will be etched into memories for a lifetime.

I was wondering if Paizo was planning to release a remake of this series in the future?

Now I understand that without having any information released obviously nobody has an actual answer for this question, but after looking at the description on the website I'm left scratching my head wondering what this book offers that will entice me to buy it?

I understand that it gives you a multitude of options and GM tools to build games but I have been running games for 18 years and ran from the beginning of 3rd till the closing of the books on 3.5 and into Pathfinder so I don't need any advice on how to run games. What I need as a GM is Classes, Prestige Classes, Magic Items, Spells, Monsters, etc... The tangible goodies that every 3.5 book offered as a hook to get people like me to buy them. From the description they didn't even hint at the idea that any of these things would be present.

Now before anyone flames me I'm not saying that a book with all types of tips isn't useful or valuable. I'm sure there will be information that even I would use but without any "goodies" there's nothing that peaks my interest about this particular book.

Any Ideas or insight?

I feel for you, I went through alot of the same this last year. Finally got a break just recently. Have you thought about just getting a BS job? You said that you are out of work so I am assuming your income is $0 or unemployemnt which is not great. I know it may be demeaning but a jobs a job and 2 poor jobs is like one good one. I currently work a clerical position and I have a BS and years worth of banking experience but after 4 months of unemployemnt and my savings dwindling I had to do something.

As for a quick fix I don't know what to tell you... like another poster suggested possibly work out a better arrangemnet with your landlord. Something is better than nothing. Possibly move out of state? Not sure how tied to VT you are but I can think of quite a few places with opportunities.

Breaking the system to give abnormal amounts of HP is not something I sould suggest, just be a hardworking DM and tailor encounters with players in mind...

I use the full HP at 1st level and then roll for every level after that but players always get at least 1/2 the dice roll... so a fighter who rolls a 2 gets 5 + con modifier. Always hated seeing people get bumed when their barbarian rolled a 1 at level.

After being lured into purchasing 4.0 books, and promptly being disappointed, I was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief when I saw Pathfinders "3.75" being released.

No offense to 4th edition all the MMO kiddies will love the game but I require role-playing and 3.5 had what I needed. By retooling a system that IMO is hands down better than 4.0 Pathfinder is saving what I consider Dungeons & Dragons. Thank you Paizo for such an exemplary looking product, I can’t wait to get my hands on the hardback!!!

DR is something that a fellow DM and I have gone rounds about for years. He is a firm advocate of damage reduction and this is a reoccurring point of contention between our DMing styles. Personally I see what the perceived value of DR is but in practice it causes more problems than I am willing to deal with.

My biggest problem with DR is that it is really redundant when you consider that AC is really dealing with this issue already. I explain it to my players like this... a fighter with a Dex score of 10 wearing chain mail and carrying a large shield has a AC of 17. Now just because an attack roll against this character resulting in 16 or less is a "miss" that doesn’t mean that the attack literally missed the character it just failed to result in any significant damage. It may be a bit more complicated for the DM but you can describe a result of less than 10 as a miss, 10-12 as striking the shield, and 13-16 as striking the armor but being absorbed...

Anyway this solves the pesky DR problem and I agree with previous posts that DR is too complicated, system wise, and compromises the backwards compatibility of Pathfinder.

This is not to say that if you like DR you should not use it... Just that by making it a core rule it has the potential to create issues with previous material.

Just my 2 cents.