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245. You have been hired to investigate the ruins that were recently unearthed during a rock slide. Entering the ruins you find a series of rooms each with guardian, traps, puzzles and monsters. At the end of the tunnel you come upon a large room, far to large to make sense of but from out of the darkness you are attacked by Allips. When defeated you realize that they emerged from a well in the midst of the giant room. Looking down the well you see a giant eye flicker open and the room/complex/earth begins to shake. It appears that you and your party may have just unleashed a very powerful evil on the earth. And those Allips where the only thing keeping it down.

In the thread this monster was the tarrasque. The allips continually feeding on it would it was theorized keep it unconscious but it could be any monster you want. I just like the idea of the characters having to clean up a mess they caused.

I'm running a low level, low magic game and was wondering if allowing my players to buy combat feats (ie pay to train with masters for combat feats) would be a good idea. It's a small 3 person party that is less than optimized so I thought giving them a combat feat might be a viable option.

any suggestions?

Suddenly the twin brother of Gon the barbarian Fon the the barbarian arrives with an urgent message for his brother. Then he decides to stay and hang out with the guys.

224. You and your adventurer companions have been hired to kidnap the princess bride of Florin by her soon to be husband in order to start a war with Gilda. But no one said anything about the Man in Black who is now mysteriously on your tail.

At the beginning of each game I used to remind my players that this was a no holds barred, life or death game, and that they should try not to bite off more than they can chew and above all else don't do anything stupid.
Now it's kind of a joke. Every time I sit down as DM I get asked to give the speech.

I like to think of it like a course syllabus. I pull no punches. If you want in you have to accept that. You have a problem with that please refer to the speech.

It is a cheap move. I mean- why would the BBEG sunder the BBN’s weapon, since the BBEG expects to win, and thus he’s breaking his own loot?

Pc’s rarely sunder the Bad guys stuff for that very reason.

Now sure, if it’s a Ogre-bane weapon, the equivalent of “Biter” or “beater”, known and hated by all Ogre-kind, then that’s just good RPing.

Stuff is both a reward for the PC and a reward for the player for having done well. This is why we no longer rain experience points/levels by undead touch.

I have been playing with a magic fearing barbarian that has sundered almost every magical weapon that every BBEG has wielded. It's something of a joke in the group now. We'd get rid of him but he's really good at killing stuff.

I say sunder away. It's a legal tactic and one that is very smart when standing toe-to-toe with a barbarian. I feel like I've read a lot of these threads lately and I just don't get it.

In the last 2 games that I've played:

1. The ranger lost both of his magical weapons.
2. The barbarian lost the arm that was holding his adamantium club.
3. The wizard was hit with a finger of death and rolled a one on the save.
4. The inquisitor was struck blind.
5. The druid lost his pet tiger to a harm spell.
6. The bard back talked to a demi-god and was severely punished.
7. The ranger lost 3 points of dex.

We all walked away saying: "Wow. That was awesome! I can't believe that happened." Because those are the risks you take when you fight Big Bad Evil Guys.

While I love playing them. I think the monk could go bye-bye.

"If we only had a monk we wouldn't be in this situation" Said no gamer ever.

Sweet! Very excited.

@Mage Everything: I'd be curious to have your inquisitor build, could make a though enemy. And the rage domain, he already spoke of it... the fact that you can't cast while raging is a very, very big downside to a high level cleric.

Thanks for all your inputs guys, I'll look forward a few things!

Here you go:

Every day I would cast magic weapon (+3) and magical vestments (+3 ac).
In battle I tended to buff with judgements(swift) and perhaps on the first round before I close the distance cast a spell (standard) or make a demoralization check, then next round I bane my weapon (swift) rage and power attack. This gets the damage silly high levels and if he is intimidated (and everything is intimidated when you have a +41 modifier) you only have to hit flat footed AC.
Alternatively, you could take the Enforcer Feat, and after the first hit only have to hit touch AC. While the enemy is shaken.

First off... Never take over a city. It's not worth it. Just too much work. You want to be the one behind the scenes pulling the strings not the one who everyone is trying to kill.

A number of fun ideas.
1.Rob from the rich and give to the poor.
2.Become the shadowy leader of the resistance, then volunteer to find and kill yourself... For a price.
3.Yojimbo.
4.Open up a bar.
5.Begin focusing on magic item creation.
6.Begin working out what exactly you would need for a thieves guild. Man power, alliances, items, wealth. Then set at getting it.
7.Use the new found power of the thieves guild to build a school of magic.

88. You have been sentenced to life imprisonment on the isle of Zartacla, the realms harshest prison. On your way there however the ship is caught in a fierce storm and blown off course. With the ship grounded you find yourself on a small uncharted island with unfriendly natives, horrible monsters, and surrounded by thieves, murderers, and worse.

A Dwarven monk/socerer. I had such high hopes for him but only played him in 2 games...

Trying to ride flying zombie bears...

3 pt buy?

That's when you decide against becoming an adventurer and follow in your father's footsteps and take up cheese making. Although with straight 11's your cheese isn't going to be that good.

Name it Ol' Yeller. Have it save you in a fight by getting in the way of a bite attack. Give it rabies. Then put it down.

This is only an issue if you accept the ruling... which I do not.

Count me among those that choose to stick their head in the sand and blissfully ignore the gimping of an already underpowered class.

if you want to play a pc then step down as Dm. If you need another Pc then get a new player. Being a DMPC is almost never a good idea.

Go to Pandora and type in Basil Poledouris. You get an incredible mix of fantasy, horror and sci-fi music. The best part of course is that it is free.

I would focus on the important things like drinking tea with their pinkies out, smoking cigars, wearing monocles, riding unicycles and sporting top hats... Oh wait that's monkeys.

For me:

3 is fast and fun.
4 is fun but often you can get slowed down a bit.
5 is good but a lot of paper work.
6 I am on the verge of collapse. too much to keep track and often too many conflicting interests.

I like to think of the races as ring species. Some of the closer ones can and do mate but the further you go the more difficult it becomes.

This is an item I often introduce into my games. Nothing pisses me off more as a player than when the cleric who is holding the stone to flesh elixir gets turned to stone and no one can do anything about it.

Bags of Many Hands
Aura conjuration; CL 10th
Slot -; Price 12,000 gp; Weight 25 lb.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This appears to be a common cloth sack about 2 feet by 4 feet in size. The bags of many hands opens into a nondimensional space: its inside is larger than its outside dimensions. Regardless of what is put into the bag, it weighs a fixed Amount. Unlike normal bags of holdings the contents of the bag can be accessed via no more than 4 separate bags. The separate bags all operate as normal bags of holdings but the contents of any bag can be accessed by any other bag of many hands.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

All characters are followers of the same deity.[/list]
I haven't tried this one in Pathfinder yet, but I think it would be really fun to try a party of Cleric, Paladin, Inquisitor, and perhaps an Oracle or appropriately-themed Sorcerer or Witch.

Not sure how but we are basically running this now. It just seems to make sense. We all have our god and her tenets at the fore-front of our actions and we are just a great big ball of holy-whoop @$$.

I am constantly tempted to scream out "I kick @$$ for the lord..."

47. In (insert date), a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the (insert city) underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can hire...The (insert name of group).

Cue A-team Music...

A light source (not necessarily the creatures in the light) can be seen from much farther away than 60 ft.

+1.

I've always thought that casting light on an object or using a torch in the underdark is akin to broadcasting your location to the enemy. There is just no way to utilize stealth while bathed in light.

I think what the OP is looking for is a cheap option that will not paint him as a target while dungeon crawling.

Does anyone else listen to music during their games?

Do you have any album or suggestions on where to get music?
I would prefer streaming music but all suggestions are welcome.

On a whim I went to Pandora and typed in Basil Poledouris (Conan composer). So far nothing but pure role-playing gold has come up:
1. Conan the Barbarian: wheel of pain
2. Batman Dark knight
3. Braveheart
4. Aliens Film
5. Lord of the rings

A recap:

-A back story- I would suggest you keep people away from the orphan line...

-Contacts or friends your players can all upon. Have them give you a brief blurb about this contact or friend. How they know each other perhaps a quirk you can use when you get in character.

-How do these players know each other- You can manufacture that yourself but it doesn't hurt to ask the players themselves. I've often asked why my Lawful Evil monk would care if the ranger I just met was being eat by a gorgon. I mean if you ask me that is the perfect moment to grab the gold he was guarding a leave.

-Keep track of names and places- keep them simple. No need for you to reinvent the wheel. while yulf'chativent is a great Orc name yurri is much easier to remember.

-Make sure everyone can feel useful. If you have a thief who is geared towards stealth or a Bard who has all his points in diplomacy then allow him to use it.

I would add that beyond a back story you need to have each of the players give you a goal. What in his history lead him to have these goals? In other words what motivates them? What is it they want or hope to achieve as this character. Then as a Dm it's your job to dangle that goal in front of them giving them just enough of a taste that they keep coming back for more.

If my Dm tells me that the six fingered man who killed my father is somewhere in town you better bet I'm going to start asking questions and plotting my revenge.

I used to wonder this myself.

Then I played a monk... It was awesome.

My build focused on using sacred mountain techniques and ki points to turtle up while using flurry of blows on anything that gets too close to the wizard. If I couldn't hit it I could grapple it just long enough for the rest of the party to finish up what ever else they were doing.

Honestly if it is a matter of making the Rogues at the table feel relevant design the campaign (or tweak it) so that things like stealth, traps, disguise, slight of hand, pick pocketing, scouting, and bluffing are all important. This will make the rogues feel like they are truly contributing. Allow hiding in the shadows and create dark places for your rogues to jump out of and deal horrendous amounts of damage. Let them roll of stealth so that they can sneak up behind their victims ( I mean enemies) and stab them in the kidney.

Create traps that maim, blind, deafen, etc. and see how fast the rest of your party comes to appreciate your rogues. Recently I started making my traps both Dc based and role playable. If the player comes close to disarming it but fails (by less than 3) I will describe the trap and allow him 10 seconds real time to MacGuyver his way out of it so that it only deals minimal damage.

Maybe you want to create a small side quest for your rogues that require their unique set of abilities. Something like steal an artifact from a low level wizard.

If your looking for rules I would allow weapon Finesse as a free feat (does not effect damage only to hit) with light weapons. I might also (and this could get crazy) allow SA damage to be multiplied on a critical of Natural 20.

Otherwise I think that Rogues are fine the way they are.

If I had to choose:

Quick draw- The higher your level the faster you pull out your weapon.

Weapon finesse- Why is my str10/dex19 rogue is trying to use his rapier like a meat cleaver rather than a scalpel.

Rapid reload- see quick draw.

Power attack- This seems like something anyone with a str of 12 should be able to do with out any real training.

Eschew material- Most people just ignore this rule anyway.

Wow this is a fairly interesting thread. I've never considered the Rogue to be lacking. As a matter of fact at our table it is the rogue that is often dealing out the most pain.

I find that 75% of the time he is either going first, using stealth, flanking and/or feinting all of which allow him to use his sneak attack and when he is isn't doing any of those he is charging (via the scout option).

In addition without him I think the party would have died 9x over due to traps not to mention good recon.

After a long a brutal campaign our DM who is especially devious introduces us to a new character a Bard who presents us with a quest. One in which we must take him into a cave kill him bring his body through a portal then revive him.

Up until this point every NPC that our party has meet has tried to kill us. The Mayor was a ghoul, the dwarven warrior was probably a drow conspirator, the friendly woodsmen were dopplegangers, and the farmer was an evil cultist. There may have been an evil wain wright... Literally every person we ran into had some sort of ulterior motive that required us dead. Anyway, my wizard and his brother were now super suspicious of everyone so we agree to take the quest but upon killing the character in the cave we loot his body, rummage through his stuff, and do all sorts of not nice things. All to the DM's protests.

whoops.

When we bring his corpse through the portal (which no good being can pass through) and revive him we notice that the parties cleric/monk is missing. At that moment the DM stands up walks around the table and the cleric/monk becomes the DM. They switched DM's on us. Turns out the body we defiled and looted was going to be the newest party member. There was some tension for a bit but after we gave him back his stuff he seemed mostly placated.

If a wizard were to cast Shrink Item and attempt to touch a hill giants club would the hill giant get an AoO?

Just to be clear the Wizard cast the spell using combat casting sucessfully, but is the act of trying to touch the club AoO worthy?