I just recently purchased Radiance House's Pact Magic Unbound, namely because I've always loved Binders and currently need one for my home game. Before stumbling across PMUv1, I had already looked through many of the Binder Conversion threads and saw a few that had a lot of potential.
I'd like to see this thread develop not to update the Binder, but instead the Vestiges. If you want to use an updated homebrew Binder, I would highly suggest Gareshra's conversion in progress. Its coming along really nicely. OR you could look into Radiance House's PMUv1.
Since Radiance House decided to do things a little different, their Vestiges are Leveled from 1st to 9th level, unlike the random 8 levels from Tome of Magic. I'd like to use this thread as a venue to convert the Tome of Magic vestiges into the Radiance house version of the system.
Alexander Algunas had the following to say about converting ToM Vestiges:
Quote:
Its not too bad to convert ToM vestiges into spirits; here are some pointers:
1) We (PMU,v1) use a 9-level progression for our spirits. ToM uses an 8-level. You need to go through the spirits and re-allocate them to their appropriate levels. The reason we went with a 9-level system was so that we could line up spirits next to Clerics, Wizards, and the other full casters. As a general rule of thumb:
If the spirit mimics a scaling class feature (i.e. Sneak Attack), it progresses as a character of 1/2 that class's level. See Vandrae and Gulguthriana for examples.
Spirits NEVER get access to a spell before a wizard or cleric does; this is an excellent way to judge a spirit's power. As an exception to the rule, a spirit CAN gain early access to such an ability if the ability has contingencies built into it. (For example, I just recently wrote a 1st spirit that forces you to reincarnate when you die, but you have to come back as a Child gillman and you become permanently addicted to that spirit.)
Typically speaking, a spirit's abilities uses [TIME UNITE] per day, where the unit can be rounds, minutes, or hours; based on the ability. Typically we use the same unit that the spell uses; for example haste lasts for rounds/day so a haste ability on a 3rd level spirit would be usable for rounds/day. These units typically have to be spent in a full-unit (for example, if you can use an ability for minutes per day, you must spent uses of the ability in 1 minute increments) but you do not need to spend the units consecutively. There are a LOT of spirits I could point to for this.
Abilities that are personal can typically last for 24 hours.
With one exception, polymorph effects have very specific bonuses they provide. See Dagon as an example; Fey Barradu is the exception.
2) We can (and often do) power up some spells and abilities. For example, bumping up the time unit (rounds to minutes or minutes to hours) is the most common. You can typically get away by bumping up the spirit level to equal the spell's level +1.
3) When making new abilities, we tend to heavily follow the guidelines for creating new spells that you see in Ultimate Magic. Why? Because most of our granted abilities are balanced around the power of a spell.
4) We give all spirits one major granted ability and four minor granted abilities to balance them out. Unless the spirit itself is skill-focused, we typically make sure to have at least one Minor Granted ability to have a skill-bonus or similar small-time effect. For example, a constant Endure Elements effect granted by a 2nd-level spirit is not game-ending.
5) Sometimes we will take away from the utility of a spell in order to lower the level of a spirit. For example, Water Breating is a 3rd level spell, but it becomes noticeably less useful if your spirit only provides water breathing for yourself (even if its constant).
I'll be more than happy to comment on specific abilities if you have questions, but those are some things I'd keep in mind when converting the Tome of Magic spirits.
Dire Corbies, when tengu take steroids, things can go horribly wrong.
Yipes! I think I'd be worried too like Damiel looks.
And beyond the art, a final thank you to Crystal and Sara Marie for risking life, limb and possible paradox to keep those of us unable to go to GenCon from going insane. You ladies were very entertaining with your antics and I know that I certainly hope that they let you out of the box you'll likely be put in now to make more blogs in the future!
A true "behind the scenes" look at the madness of Paizo that we love so much! Crystal and Sara Marie...Keep Up The Good Work! You are doing all of us that can't attend GenCon a great and wonderful service with your antics!
Heheh...typical me. Instead of just saying, It Shall be AD&D! I will actually leave the final decision of which the folks involved would prefer to play. Pathfinder or AD&D? Drop in some votes Pygon and Fatespinner. JonShade has already mentioned he doesn't mind either way.
Male Human Fighter 13
LG Medium Humanoid
Init +2; Senses Perception +11.
Defense
AC 28, touch 15, flat-footed (+13 Armor +2 Dex +3 Defl)
hp 184 (13d10+39+13+13)
Fort +14 (8+4+2), Ref +8 (4+2+2), Will +9 (4+1+2+2) +3 vs. Fear
Defensive Abilities DR 3/-
offence
Spd 30 ft
Melee +29 melee, Greenhilt Sword (2d6+21/17-20 + 4confirm critical)
+29/+24/+19 melee, Greenhilt Sword (2d6+21/17-20 +4 confirm critical)
+25 melee, Power Attack (2d6+33/17-20 +4 confirm critical)
+25/+20/+15 melee, Full Power Attack (2d6+33/17-20 +4 confirm critical)
+2 hit, +2d6 damage vs. Undead
Special Attacks Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Disruptive, Spellbreaker, Penetrating Strike.
Statistics
Str 18/22, Dex 10/14, Con 13/17, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 13
Base Atk +13; CMB +19; CMD 31
Feats Iron Will (Human), Power Attack (1), Weapon Focus: Greatsword (Ftr1), Cleave (Ftr2), Endurance (3), Weapon Specialization: Greatsword (Ftr4), Toughness (5), Great Cleave (Ftr6), Disruptive (7), Greater Weapon Focus: Greatsword (Ftr8), Improved Critical: Greatsword (9), Spellbreaker (Ftr10), Critical Focus (11), Penetrating Strike: Greatsword (Ftr12), Greater Weapon Specialization: Greatsword (13).
Skills Climb +16 (10-3 acp), Diplomacy*+13 (12), Intimidate +9 (5), Knowledge: Dungeoneering +15 (10), Perception*+11 (10), Profession: Fighter +12 (8), Ride +6 (1), Survival +8 (4), Swim +11 (5-3 acp). *Denotes a Non-Class Skill
Languages Common, Dwarven, Goblin.
Traits Natural Born-Leader, Ancestral Weapon
SQ Favored Class: Fighter (+13hp), Bravery +3, Armor Training (+3 Max Dex, -3 ACP, Move in Heavy Armor), Weapon Training (Heavy Blades +3, Polearms +2, Hammers +1)
Combat Gear The Greenhilt Sword (+5 Undead Bane Ghost Touch Starmetal Greatsword), +4 Light Fortification Adamantine Full-Plate, Oil of Shillelagh x2, Potion of Delay Poison, Potions of Cure Serious Wounds x3 (3d8+5), Potion of Protection from Fire, Potion of Haste.
Other Gear Ring of Protection +3, Ring of Mind Shielding, Boots of the Winterlands, Belt of Physical Perfection +4, Gray Bag of Tricks, Cloak of Resistance +2, Sextant, Xykon Notes, Book (History of the Greenhilt Sword), Bedroll, Greatclub, Other Mundane Equipment as needed.
Note: Roy has slightly more gear than reflected by his Wealth by Level. Chiefly, his sword was reforged and enchanted for him as a reward for saving Azure City. Also, as he has the Ancestral Weapon trait, he inherited the Greenhilt Sword from his grandfather. What abilities it possessed before being broken are unknown.
Ancestral Weapon (Magic Trait)
by Yasha0006.
Spoiler:
Your family has an ancestral weapon that it has passed down through the ages. This weapon might bear an archiac inscription...hinting at old powers locked within the steel and wood, or it might bear your family crest. However your family came by this storied weapon, you and your entire family place their faith within it. By making offerings of prayers and by treating this weapon with absolute care, perhaps one day the storied abilities it possesses will reawaken. Should you ever lose or have your Ancestral weapon destroyed, you are honor bound to quest after it or have it reforged as quickly as possible.
You begin play with a free Masterwork weapon of your choice.
If you devote one trait:
Weapon Bonus Cost Minimum Character Level
+1 1,000 gp 3th
+2 4,000 gp 6th
+3 9,000 gp 9th
+4 16,000 gp 12th
+5 25,000 gp 15th
If you devote both traits:
Weapon Bonus Cost Minimum Character Level
+1 1,000 gp 2th
+2 4,000 gp 4th
+3 9,000 gp 6th
+4 16,000 gp 8th
+5 25,000 gp 10th
+6* 36,000 gp 12th
+7* 49,000 gp 14th
+8* 64,000 gp 16th
+9* 81,000 gp 18th
+10* 100,000 gp 19th
*A Weapon cannot actually have higher than a +5 enhancement bonus, this higher number reflects other weapon abilities. Cost amounts are total gp cost, not cumulative.
Male Caffinated Aboleth Expert 7 (Obscure/useless knowledges)/Monk 2/Psychic Warrior 2
Welcome then, those I've invited. This should get interesting...
Timeline: Modern Day (July 2009)
Setting: San Francisco, CA
Books allowed: WoD Core, Armory, Second Sight (with approval), others with approval as well.
Character Creation: Base Character Creation +30 Experience spent.
NOTE: I will give bonus Exps for character creation if there is an extensive background, personality traits and such.
Characters should have a reasons to be staying in SF at least for a time or be residents of the city or nearby.
The Group: Yasha (DM)
The Players: Daigle - Olen Marroguin (Male Human Rogue 3/Cleric 3 of Cayden Cailean)
Pygon - Allerund Lastri (Male Elven Ranger 6)
Eyebite - Obasi the Hex-tongue (Male Human Sorcerer 6)
The Adventure: J1 Entombed with the Pharaohs
The first session begins today at 11am PST via MapTool. If you want to come and bug us, come to the Paizo chat and we will heartily growl at you for interrupting. Entry number 1 shall follow later.
I've pretty much worked this out as best as possible at this point, so disregard this post.
Just capturing the picture and using Fog of War to conceal the various points works ok. The numbered sections and secret doors are a bit problematic, but oh well.
Good peoples of the Boards, Paizonians, lend me your ear....
Brandishes the Vorpal Scissors!
Okay, now that I have your attention, I would like to raise a point of discussion. One of things I find most frustrating about the OGL is that there are many products that we are all used to using that are not OGL. Dungeon and Dragon magazines, for example.
I wanted to ask the folks at Paizo if we may see a new resurgence of some old ideas. I for one liked the Savant character class a great deal. In fact I still plan on using it with the PFRPG. However, I would be curious to know if we might see a reinventing of some of the great ideas that are not available to the OGL.
Before someone asks why....I like the idea of an adventuring scholar class.
Before anyone mentions Bards....Bards are not scholars. They pick up knowledge here and there, but their other skills and abilities are too focused on music and magic.
Before someone mentions playing an Expert. An expert is not really all that viable an adventuring class.
As I said I like the Savant. It had a broad range of abilities at which they were okay. The class truly was a jack of all trades and master of none. I liked that about the class. Sure, its definitely not for everyone, but hey, I'd really like to see a class like it one day for Pathfinder RPG.
Anyone else with other ideas, feel free to post them.
Cosmo, PostMonster, or whomever (or whatever) it may concern...
For some reason, I cannot change my avatar image. The 'Edit' link that normally is there next to the image to click on in order to change it is missing.
Strangely, this only seems to apply to my main account. I can still alter the avatar of the two alias' I have.
Firstly, I hope that I am not the only one to be excited about the idea of the Pathfinder Companion series. I do have some questions for the great people working on the development teams though.
The information that will be present in this Companion, for example. Will this be different from the information presented in the Pathfinder/Golarion Campaign Setting that is coming out before long?
Will some of it be reprinted (I imagine that this is unavoidable to some degree)?
My fervent hope is that the Companion will function as an in-depth supplement that compliments and expands on the information that will be in the Campaign Setting. I hope that the people in development of this product and the others in the Companion line think like I do.
Best wishes, and to the developers, this line and others like it is why I love Paizo so much. Keep up the good work.
To start off, I'd like to mention that I've seen a few interesting Ninja classes since 3rd Edition has come out. One of them being the one most are familiar with, the Ninja base class from the Complete Adventurer.
This class has Mid-BAB and Ninja-Ki powers as its hallmark. And Sudden Strike. The monk-like AC bonus is nice too.
There is another Ninja class out there though that doesn't get as much attention. The Ninja base class from the Rokugan (OA) Campaign Setting.
This class has Fighter BAB, no armor, Sneak Attack and an improved Dodge +1-+5 over time.
Basically one is a better sneak, the other a much better fighter (excepting that one will get hit more often).
Thoughts? Other ideas, options?
Perhaps we all here on this board might even do something constructive, like let the folks at Paizo know what we think Ninja should be and perhaps even give them some ideas to work from should they decide to make an OGL Ninja class.
(and I am not forgetting you Nick, it is the Month of Logue after all)
My wife has posed an interesting question. I know how goblins are handled in Burnt Offerings, but she has asked if you are doing an...overlord of Goblins...a Goblin King if you will for goblins elsewhere in Varisia/Golarion. See link below...this is what she means.
I would definately site this movie in particular as a part of your inspiration for Golarion Goblins, with a much nastier streak and pyromanical tendencies. Thought it would be interesting just to ask.
This is essentially a shameless plug for Mortellan, who's work I greatly enjoy and should be seen and enjoyed by anyone who loves Greyhawk and the many varied deities.
RP Tools is a resource for a free online gaming table.
I actually tried to get in on Wyvern's online game, but my computer at this time will not run his GlitterComm online table.
Drop me a line if there is anyone out there who knows/has had success with RP Tools online software.
I only just DLed it myself and don't know the system for RP tools yet.
I would like to possibly get an online game going using this Online Table.
Preferably with someone who knows the toolset DMing.
I shall begin with my Druid. This was a Forgotten Realms game btw...
Telios
Male Human NE Druid 5/Stormlord 4 (when this game ended)
Oh, and he worshipped Talos.
Telios was a fun, strange and memorable character because he was utterly insane. He had an animal companion named Kozah, a Raven.
One of Telios' psychoses was that he trusted Kozah more than other people. So when this Raven would parrot out a phrase (of which I had a random chart of about 30 sayings) often times Telios would follow the command.
Even when Kozah started crowing "Bring down the Thunder!"
This character was fun partially from sheer randomness and from his reckless streak. I made him with the expectation that he was going to get himself killed. Somehow he survived. I guess the monsters must have thought him really dangerous to be standing out there throwning javelins without any cover and only light armor.
Other fun moments included casting the 4th level spell Bombarbment (basically a thrown rock is telekinetically hurled at the target, can't remember what book this was from now). And targeting the chief tower of a Red Wizard Enclave. Yes this was suicide, Telios didn't care, they were the enemy. As you can imagine, chaos ensued as soldiers came after him and the party, who had wanted to try and sneak in. Telios told them to go sneak in, THIS was their distraction. So he waited there with his shieldbearer and kept up the distraction until everyone got back. Everyone else just looked at me at the end of that game.....ahh fun times.
Let me know if anyone here has had any similar ideas. Personally I am not completely satisfied with the way how Spire of Long Shadows works out. I like it as an Arc, but the Visions granting XP just seems like some way to catch up the levels of the party.
I have already been planning to add a campaign arc between A Gathering of Winds and Spire, this just redoubles my efforts to do so.
I am going to take out the Vision XP from Spire and instead rely on xp gained in the arc I am going to Author. It seems that too much of the history of Kyuss is being neglected when it could be used to better advantage. The arc I am going to write will utilize information from WGR 3: Rary the Traitor and will go as follows, suggestions welcome.
-Players go to Magepoint (as begining of Spire)
-Meeting Manzorian/Tenser, instead of him knowing about Kaluth-Mar, he will suggest looking into the ruins of Sulm in the Bright Desert and will lament that Balakarde/Bucknard had only really confided in Rary, the only other member of the Circle of Eight who had been interested in Sulm. Of course, Rary is a traitor and evil, so he cannot be contacted (at least not by Tenser).
-Travelling to the Bright Desert
-Desert travel, dealing with the Desert Centuar and dervish tribes, probably dealing with the semi-open gate to the abyss at Shembai Oasis ti earn some trust. Meet Tolan-Kai.
-The Ruins of Utaa (former Sulmish capitol), various encounter, nothing truly learned.
-Tolan-Kai meets them and informs them of the Tower of Sleep and its mysetious inhabitant. They seek it. After the effects, meet Shemaya, she tells them a little more Kyuss backstory and tells them about his rival (by my estimation) Drokkas of Unaagh.
-The Necropolis of Unaagh (this ruin has sons of Kyuss in it, as has been brought up before, this link should be used I think). Basically the Sulmish land of the dead. Time for some nasty undead stuff, eventually culminating in meeting Drokkas' seneschal, Baron Krumik. Then an audience with the lich himself. I am going to make Drokkas a Dread Necromancer to make him a more likely rival to Kyuss from the old days.
Of course, this can be fully role-play or turn into a fight if the players are stupid and insult the 2000 year old lich.
I not sure if this will be fleshed out enough for me, I have some other stuff I might add as well. but I would appreciate your thoughts.
Here is the setup...my players some weeks before the incident created their characters..three players, and my rule they not speak of what they were making.
2 Bards
1 Cleric of Kord
Later, while fleeing from the forces of a noble they had angered, in North Kingdom, they ended up coming across the Causeway of Fiends. I suitably describe the scene ominously, the rain, strange silence, et al.
My wifes Bard proceeds to use her +3 keen dagger to try to start chipping a large (preferrably dagger sized, she loved daggers) piece off of one of the monoliths. The bad weather of course immediately got worse and lightning started crashing whenever she connected with the pillar, she didn't stop. Her messing with the monolith brought up some planar magic, and in pops a Hezrou demon. It laughed and promptly uses Chaos Hammer on them. Of course, the entire party was Chaotic, so no effect.
The Demon stared at them stupidly. They start kicking the $#!^ out of it.
After it looks like they are going to win, dagger-bard pulls out of battle and starts chipping stone again. This time a Horned Devil comes in. Bear in mind this was 3.0, spell-like abilities were different. This time they know they are in trouble, especially when the Cornugon ignored them and killed the Hezrou with a Full-attack.
Dagger-Bard casts Haste, Cornugon casts Suggestion on her, "Why don't you keep working on that, with your increased speed, it will work much faster." She turns and starts Hastily chipping at this stone (I am rolling to see if anything else turn up, so far nothing). The Cleric of Kord charges and does moderately okay.
Blink-Bard (he always is blinking) casts Blink. The next round the Cornugon casts Hold Person on the Blink-Bard, he is then an immobile Flash-Bard!
Fortunately the cleric carried the day by trying to use (inexperienced player) an area dispel magic on the Cornugon (who really didn't have any magical effect going) and it dispelled the Suggestion. Dagger-Bard returns to the fray and things go rapidly south from there. Fortunately no more evil outsiders came out. Ohhh...but they ran from that place and didn't stop.
