Kelvar Silvermace's page

So, I was in the bookstore flipping through the new Inner Sea World Guide and checking out the info on my favorite deities, when I noticed one glaring omission: Ketephys, the Elven god of hunting, archery, etc. I understand that he's not a major deity, like Desna or Sarenrae, but I thought he at least should have been mentioned, perhaps in the section entitled, "Other Gods."

Was this an oversight? Was it in there and I just missed it? Can we count on a full-blown, 64 page sourcebook dedicated to Ketephys now, lest we incur his wrath? ;-)

(I am particularly interested, because I'm currently playing an Elven Scout in a Pathfinder campaign, and my character is a follower of Ketephys--so I'm looking for any info on him that I can find).

Let me start by saying that I searched and didn't find anything on point, though I'm sure this has come up before. Here's the question:

Suppose I want to take Feat X. Feat X has a prerequisite of Class Ability Y. My Character gains class ability Y at 5th level. At 5th level, every character gains a new Feat. Can my character acquire Feat X at the same time he acquires the prerequisite class ability? In other words, how strictly are we supposed to construe the "pre" in "PRErequisite"? Do I have to gain the class ability first, and then pick up the feat at a subsequent level? Or can I take the feat as soon as I pick up the crucial prerequisite?

What say you? (Hoping it is the latter).

Kelvar

First of all, let me say that I *love* the GameMastery Flip-Mats. I recently received the Flip-Mat Keep and Cathedral that I ordered, bringing my total up to six. I hope to get them all, because when I DM they are one the few accessories I use *every* game. I do find that I use the generic fields (like the reverse of the Tavern or the reverse of the Dungeon and City Market) more than the specific maps, but when you do need that map--WOW!!!.

Anyway, I was thinking earlier of some other Flip-Mats I'd like to see made. Here are some I thought might be useful:

“Dwarven Mine” with tracks for carts; flip side has a large area with…piles of ore or refuse, maybe indicating different elevations?

“Warehouse”: a large room with boxes, barrels and crates, an office and a room for valuables; maybe a room where a guard sleeps. The flip side either depicts catwalks over the warehouse (with the area below kind of blurry or dim) *or* it could feature a large section of just wooden flooring so the DM can depict the inside of virtually any urban building. (I definitely think a Flip-Mat with wooden floors to represent a generic urban indoor map would be useful).

“Dwellings”: one side has an affluent house with the upstairs and downstairs. Flip side has two or three common houses, with two to three rooms each; this side might have a dirt or cobblestone path between the houses, maybe a well, a haystack, etc.

“Farmstead”: one side has a farmhouse and a barn/stable. The flip side is one half cornfield and one half is a field with haystacks.

“Orc Fort”: a fort with wooden palisades and crude tents inside, with a fire pit and a stockade; the flip side has a scraggy “badlands” area.

“Arctic Caves”: a network of icy caves and tunnels. The flip side has a large, icy cavern.

“Volcanic Caves”: a network of caves and tunnels with bridges over streams of molten lava. The flip side has a large cavern with a stone bridge over a river of molten lava.

“Thieves Guild": Foyer, training room, armory, bedrooms, treasure room, guildmaster’s suite. The flip side could feature…?

“Wizard School”: Inspired by the Academae in Korvosa, though smaller by necessity. It could feature a library, a laboratory (complete with summoning circle), student rooms, dining hall & kitchen. The flip side could be maybe a large library room or a walled, grassy courtyard (where else should they practice the new "fly" skill?).

Does anyone like any of these? Anyone have any other ideas for Flip-Mats? Anyone think these ideas are terrible? Anyone think of better ways these ideas could be executed?

Last time, my group cleared out all of the goblins on the first level of Thistletop, including Ripnugget and his commandos.

They were out of spells and badly, badly wounded...so they returned to Sandpoint to heal up and sell their loot. By the time they return, I'm thinking at least one day will have passed. Now, I want to be as "realistic" as possible, but I also don't want a TPK. Here is how I think the bad guys might prepare:

I start with the assumption that the bad guys will notice that something is amiss and will learn of the massive slaughter that occurred above.
They cut the rope bridge, making access much more difficult.
Bruthazmus (the Bugbear Ranger) and the four goblin wives (from D2), Orik Vancaskerkin (human fighter) (from D4b), and Lyrie Akenja (human wizard) (from D15) will all move to the top floor.
Orik and Lyrie will take up watch in one of the towers, Bruthazmus will take up watch in another tower and the remaining four goblins will stand guard just inside the gate. The gate will be barred and nailed shut. Bruthazmus and Orik will fire upon any enemies with their bows and Lyrie will cast magic missiles from her wand. Once the PCs break through, the bugbear and the Orik will rush to the entrance to engage in melee with Lyrie as backup. This is the part that worries me. Bruthazmus and Orik are not what I'd call overpowered, but they're no slouches either. I'm afraid that all of this combined might be too much. On the other hand, I want the NPCs to react with some semblance of logic. And seeing how the PCs completely destroyed a more sizeable force, it seems like an appropriate response.

The PCs consist of:
A human fighter who favors the longspear (but also carries a shield and the sword he took from Koruvus, the mutated goblin)
A Dwarven Cleric of Sarenrae
An Elven Wizard
A Half-Elven Scout (with a masterwork composite longbow)

We're using the Pathfinder RPG rules, and I started them with double maximum hitpoints (which has really helped on more than one occasion).
They are currently only second level (which is probably my fault for not leveling them fast enough). My friend who plays the fighter has remarked several times that he has never had so many hitpoints...but he has also been brought down to exactly 1 hitpoint on two occasions now.

So...any advice on whether my plan is too deadly? I want it to be a challenging fight, but I don't want to kill any PCs if I can help it. I have considered having Father Zantus donate a few potions to help them--like Shield of Faith and Bull's Strength.

If it is too deadly, any alternate suggestions for a realistic, though less deadly, reaction by the remaining denizens of Thistletop?

Any advice is appreciated!

This quote by James in another thread, and my group's recent experience raised a question for me:

The game expects the PCs to be 3rd level by the time they start in on Thistletop, and it also expects 4 PCs, so a lower level & lower number of PCs can certainly end in a grisly TPK here, alas.

That said... even if the goblin druid "wins" the battle... you have a pretty cool option...

** spoiler omitted **

I'm not clear on how the PCs could be 3rd level by this point. Admittedly, I haven't done the math, and I've been using a "you level when it seems right" method, and my players are cool with that. But in our last session, my group assaulted Thistletop...but they were only second level.

Before now, they've faced:

It might have seemed a bit long to level up, but does anyone know where they should have leveled?

At any rate, my group didn't have so much trouble with

It was actually a great session. We're using the Pathfinder rules. Our group consists of:
A Human Fighter who favors a longspear,
A Dwarven Cleric of Sarenrae,
An Elven Wizard,
and a Half-Elf Scout (my wife).

The Dwarf was nearly dead, he was out of spells, the Fighter was down to ONE hitpoint. He was facing down Ripnugget and he kept crapping out on his rolls and not hitting (though Ripnugget has a pretty good AC anyway). The Wizard had cast Grease on Ripnugget's Dogslicer and he lost it, so he picked up the horsechopper from a fallen commando. Several rounds passed where the fighter and Ripnugget kept trying to hit each other but they kept missing. The Dwarf and the Wizard had their hands full with two commandos and the Scout whittled away at Stickfoot, the giant gecko. We kept expecting the fighter to buy it at any moment--I roll the dice in the open...no DM screen. Finally the Scout tags Ripnugget (who was down to about 27 hitpoints) with a natural twenty. She rolled to confirm and rolled...a natural twenty...again.. Ripnugget dropped like a sack of potatoes, his spine shattered by an arrow lodged in the base of his skull. It was a cinematic moment.

Sorry, I had to share that. But anyway, now I'm wondering when to level them. The last session was their first session as second level characters so...now would seem a bit soon, wouldn't it?

Also, I wonder if there would be any way for future APs to include a brief note here and there that basically says, "If you have 4 characters and have played everything through in sequence up to here, this is about when your group should level." Or maybe even just a symbol stuck in at the appropriate point? I realize that these things aren't on rails and it is hard to predict when an individual group might level, but something like that might help GMs like me who don't want to count up xp for every slain goblin or dire rat...

Any thoughts?

I just got my first Flip-Mats a couple of days ago: Flip-Mat Dungeon and City Market. These are beautiful maps and they really get the creative juices flowing. However, I have one big problem with them: I can't seem to get them to lay flat. I have trouble keeping minis from falling over, etc. I really want to use these in lieu of a generic mat, but I need to find some way to flatten them out and keep them fairly flat during game play.

Again, great product, I just need to figure out how to make them practical for use during the game.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I could have sworn that there was official information in one of the sourcebooks on different mounts that Paladins can get as they gain higher levels and I went to look it up the other day and for the life of me I cannot find it. Specifically, there is a source that lists a Griffon as a suitable mount for an 8th level Paladin. Does anyone know where I might have read this?

Thanks!

Okay, the thread on how to build an Arcane Rogue Base Class got me thinking again about the humble Spellthief (from the "Complete Adventurer"). I like the idea of a base (i.e. 20 level) class that is basically a Rogue with some arcane spellcasting ability. My preference would be to take an existing class and tinker with it to get what I want.

Specifically, I want the class to be lightly armored, skilled, capable of sneak attack (to some extent) and with enough spellcasting that it is a noticeable class feature, but not the primary focus. I like the Beguiler (from the PHB2), but Beguilers don't get sneak attack. And I like the Beguiler well enough as it is.

But my perception is that most people believe that the Spellthief, as written, is a pretty weak class. I would like to tweak it to bring it in line with the PHB classes in terms of power.

So here is what I am considering are the following changes:
d8 hit die (possibly)
Same weapon proficiencies as Rogue
Keep the same casting progression/spells known/spells per day, with one modification--able to select spells from all of the Wizard/Sorcerer schools. (They currently don't have access to a couple of schools, like evocation). I think the limiting factor here is their slow casting progression (same progression as Rangers/Paladins) and their very limited spells known/spells per day.

I think that would make the Spellthief more attractive. But my question is, does it make it too good?

Second question--if the above proposal is too good, how would it balance if he gave up his signature ability--Steal Spell, Steal Spell-like ability, etc., in exchange? (I know he's no longer a spellthief, but he's a Spellcasting thief, which what I really want).

Third, does anyone think the class is fine as is? Or are we in agreement that it could use a little help?

Fourth, any other suggestions about how to accomplish this goal?

Thanks,
Kelvar

Look at the close up of this one. Anyone else think this guy looks a lot like Conan O'Brien?

What?

Did anyone else see the first two episodes of Codemonkeys on G4 this past Wednesday? As someone who first started playing videogames in the 80s, this show really took me back. And the humor is irreverent and (admittedly) sophomoric, but I really enjoyed it.

And I really like the theme song. If you google "codemonkey lyrics" you can hear the song for free.

It really seems like a show for gamers of all types. Anyone else see this?