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Nephelim's page

Organized Play Member. 232 posts (239 including aliases). No reviews. No lists. 1 wishlist. 1 Organized Play character. 2 aliases.


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Azothath wrote:
Nephelim wrote:
... is still a forum somewhere that is active for players\devs\GMs regarding GoLS?

--> search of 3rd party product advice

thanks!


There is a passage on pg90 of GoLS defining the different way in which Companion and Familiar-type Vestigial Bond "pets" do skill levels, and it desperately needs an example or explanation:

Quote:
In addition, vestigial companions that function as animal companions, eidolons, or cohorts doesn’t gain skill ranks like standard creatures do; instead, they possess a number of skill ranks equal to their character level in a number of skills equal to its number of skill ranks per level (based upon its creature type or class level) plus its Intelligence modifier

Animal companions have a -4 Intelligence Modifier, so does that mean that a Spirit that provides an Animal companion (as a Druid) has no skills until 5th level, when the Druid's Companion would have 5 skill points, at which point, the Pactmaker's Companion would have 1 skill with 5 ranks in it?

As an example, a second level Pactmaker with Sevnoir can have a Dog animal companion, as though they were a L2 Druid. Would this companion have:

  • 2 (druid level) ranks in 3 (the number of Skill Ranks in the animal companion table at L2) skills with a -4 (int mod) on each of their final values
  • 2 (druid level) ranks of skill in 0 (the 3 skills in the table -4 from the Int mod) skills
  • 2 (druid level) ranks in (2+IntMod, min 1 -- the per HD skills for the Animal type) skills (with an Int Mod penalty on it?)

As a (semi-) related question, the Binder Secret "Spirit Imp Familiar" says that you gain a Spirit Imp as though they were a wizard, which would grant it the Share Spells ability (which is useless because Pactmakers don't cast spells), but if a Bound Spirit grants a familiar as a Vestigial Bond, THAT familiar also would have Share Granted Abilities. Does a Spirit Imp Familiar (via the Binder Secret) get that or not, since it is not being provided by a pact?


So, I know I am REALLY late to this and all, but I am FINALLY getting a chance to actually play a Pactmaker, and I was wondering if there is still a forum somewhere that is active for players\devs\GMs regarding GoLS?


I did receive a shipment notification, thank you!

Once again, Paizo shows what Customer Service is all about.

M


Katina -

That delivery address is correct. I went through the card list, and he is missing all of the monsters, all of the barriers, all of the weapons, and all of the spells except Sacred Weapon x2, Sactuary, Skitter x2 and Viper strike.

Thanks so much for your quick response!

Additionally, do you know if there is a way to purchase singles? The instances of the Summoner's cards met a grizzly demise at the hands of a cup of coffee.


Hey, last night I gave my son his WotR Base Set and it seemed to missing the pack of cards that included Monsters. Hard to say if other cards are missing, but monsters are most definately almost completely absent.

What are my options?

M


(Thanks, Guy. I'll see about moving this there, even though it isn't PRECISELY a play-by-post... its only me.)


Yonks ago, I remember coming across an application that let you create random generation tables (meant for things like treasure trove contents, random names, "who is sitting at the end of the bar" questions, and s forth), then roll against them in a batch-based automated fashion. I recall that some industrious someone had used them to automate the bewilderingly complex yet awesome lifepath generation system found in the long lamented Central Castings "Heroes Of ...." books.

Anyone remember that application or anything like it? I dig lifepath systems, but they can be SO time consuming to use...


2 people marked this as a favorite.

So I had an idea for a project that I wanted to write, and wanted to see if this was an appropriate place to do it... I have subscribed to the Iron Gods path, but because of reasons, I am unlikely to be able to actually play it, though that is not to say that I can not enjoy it.

So, what I propose is the post a series of correspondences between Surrah Silvermane and her Mentor\Godfather, Malichi Ashenharp, as she makes her way through the Adventure Path.

So, assuming that this is an acceptable place for such a project, I am hoping to begin -- I didn't see a forum dedicated to Play-by-post here, and part of me is hoping that those who are on-the-fence about the Path might like to read these correspondences and get a feel for the series in a more voyeuristic way than simply a novelization.

If there is a better place for this sort of thing, please let me know, and I will ask for a move of the thread.


Cool, thanks!


Fair enough... I'll rephrase! :)

There is a PC race version of the Pseudodragon that I think is in the Book of Drakes. Is that included in the Campaign setting?


Does the Midgard Bestiary package, the Campaign Setting package, or neither contain the Pseudodragon PC race?


1 person marked this as FAQ candidate.

So the Save on Control Winds says Fort Negates, which is fine, but when you look up the effects of various wind speeds, they have their OWN save numbers - specifically for the "blown away" effect. Those saves are ludicrously low compared to the Fort Save that a caster of sufficient level to even use the spell is going to have.

So, the question is, what is the Fort Save from the SPELL encompassing? I think a strict interpretation would be that if you make the Fort save, you are entirely unaffected by the effect of the spell - wind. If that were the case, you could shoot an arrow through a tornado without issues, which seems silly. If you were to fail the safe, and thus be buffeted by winds conceivably in the hundreds of MPH that tear up trees, its only a DC10 Strength check to walk against the wind (if you're large) and only a DC 15 check for Medium creatures to not get blown away, when the Fort save could easily be MUCH higher.

I hasten to add that I am not advocating a more "simulationist" set of rules regarding the effects of high winds, but simply clarification on if a spell's save DC should have some effect on the underlying effect DCs?

I would argue (and to my DM's chagrin, probably will) that the DCs listed under the Wind Speeds Environment entry are detailing naturally occurring weather (thus unmanipulated by magic), and that they should be amped up based on the power of the magic effecting them - IE, modified by the caster's Wisdom modifier...


So my team - generally all around 15th level - and I are trying to sneak into a formerly drow citadel in order to snap off the big climactic battle and save the world. A frontal assault is not an option, and it occurred to me that this is a perfect opportunity to use my Druid's Animal Shapes spell. turning into a group of Bats might be a good, inconspicuous option, but I was wondering if there were any small or medium magical beasts that are able to burrow in stone? I've never really had much call for magical beasts in my experience playing this druid, so my normal roster of forms is lacking.

A pitty I can't use Vermin shapes. Spiders would be ideal.


So they can generate items from nothing, potentially magic items, but they are non-permanent. An interesting trade-off. Outside of the material cost of the prototypes needed for enchanting things, is there any limit to the number of constructs that can exist simultaneously?

A thought that comes to mind is if the Constructor might have the ability to semi-permanently reduce their number of uses per day by one to maintain a constructed item for as long as that mobius energy is so allocated...


Thankfully the spell is low enough level that the Save shouldn't be too hard to make, or at least reasonably fake.


Do you have that chart posted somewhere? It sounds fantastic.


TarkXT wrote:

Two of tht things you listed already exist for the machinesmith in some form.

The invisibility cloak is a base gadget the amchinesmith can take.

And the battlefield control grenades is the purview of the Bombardier archetype. Which replaces the Greatwork with Alchemist bombs.

Apologies, in those cases. I'm away from my texts, and I clearly forgot those! ;)


Something else that I think might be worth looking at at upper levels - a gadget that can temporarily apply templates to yourself or others. Perhaps a matched set of boots and gauntlets, and they take up those slots (the downside), but they can be used to simulate a template that you have an appropriate (tissue) sample from.


If we want to get Meta, what about a Theme-music generator. The music's "feel" changes to warn them that something is about to happen, providing an initiative bonus, and possibly some Sense motive bonuses as well.

I'm only half kidding...

Think about it, if you could hear the sound track to your own movie, that would totally be an advantage. Unless you're like a French nihilist or something.

[EDIT]
Some other gadget ideas, off the top of my head -

* One other thing that is shockingly missing from D&D generally, and I can't understand why, a cloak of freakin' invisibility!

* a book that you write questions in and some otherworldly arcane intelligence provides cryptic answers to... like an arcane Oracle, but in book. Not really "gadget"-y without going a little too tech, but it is a niche that could be worth filling...

* some kind of device that provides Cure spells, perhaps akin to a tricorder or Medkit, its downside might be requiring time that is not really viable in mid-combat, and\or expensive herbal materials.

* Single-use battlefield control "grenades" - things like Solid Fog, Entangle, or even Charm Monster, though this might be getting a tad too close to an Alchemist. On the other hand, making them into "trick arrows" sorts of things might be an interesting spin


As a follow-up, if you use a Boon with a Magic trait to enhance a combat roll against, for instance, a Shadow, does that combat roll now have the Magic trait? That is, do Boons "attach" their traits to the rolls they are enhancing?


Will there be\has there been some information released on how to create your own character? He card-shaped format is really only for consistency in a physical sense. I don't suppose it would be too hard to isolate what is a racial feature and what is a class feature and create new race\class combos... say I wanted to play a Halfling rogue instead of Mirisiel, for instance. I could isolate out the "elf-ness" in what is on Mirisiel's cards, and combine what is left with the "halfling-ness" of Lem...

Clearly, Paizo wants to stick with the Iconics, and that's awesome, but there's always going to be someone who is going to want to try something different.


Would the winds created by Control Winds effect things within the confines of an AMF? I'm of two minds. On the one hand, the magic effect is the increase or decrease of wind speed and direction, not the wind itself, plus the AMF would do nothing to stop all the debris and projectiles carried by the wind. On the other hand, it suppresses all magic in its area, so the "energy" that is directing\enhancing the wind would be suppressed.

thoughts?


I keep thinking of Metron's Mobeus Chair... not really a vehicle per-se, but definitely more than your normal chair.

How about something that can create force-constructs? Akin to walls and Bigby's spells? There's not much that focuses on Force energy, if memory serves (which it often does not) but some kind of Emitter device might be fun. Tie it to something akin to a Shadow Conjuration or Evocation, but Force-based instead of Shadow based, and you could have a pretty potent universalist.


I have a player in my game that is starting with a Machinesmith, and when I did a little bit of comparison between the Mechanus and other pets (most noteably the Eidolon) it seemed to be not up to snuff, so I added a few things to it...

First, I gave the MachineSmith a pool of points that they could use to tweak their Mechanus, akin to an Eidolon's Evolutions. In fact, I used points equal to that of a Summoner of 2 levels lower (to counteract the benefit of construct immunity). Obviously, some Evolutions would have to be trimmed, and I admit that the execution is a bit sloppy, but it might be a starting block of value. The way I saw it, if a Machinesmith was constantly tinkering and adjusting their Mechanus, then waiting 5 levels to have a benefit was a bit much.

Secondly, I gave the Mechanus hardness, that scaled with level, so that it lined up with the DR that it was already getting, and replaced it, but by being a gradual scaling it gave the Mechanus a little something that helped in the intervening levels, and, I think, also exemplified their constant tinkering.

Neither of those things, I think, are terribly disruptive, though the Evolutions stuff I am not sure how you could safely adjust that into a trick.... perhaps some kind of modular upgrade system?

As far as new stuff, I love the idea of a cruise missile or predator drone... perhaps some kind of disposable recon probe. Also, Squishy's ideas of Demolish and Mad Bomber I think open up new vistas of usability for the Repair feature.

I seem to recall a Gnome Tinkerer Prestige class from the Pre-Pathfinder epoch that had "virtual" item creation feats, and could make wonderous items, wands, and the like, but they took two adjacent slots... like Gauntlets of Ogre Power that took both the forearm and ring slots for instance, and appeared to be big pneumatic gauntlet things. The "up" was that they could build them for less, and the material components used could be re-purposed for other items, and that they would only work for them... That could be a good fit, and with some tweaks, might be significant enough for qualifying as a new masterwork... some sort of universalist?


Whereas Strain is more like dents and dings caused by the archetypal "glancing blow." On reflection, that makes sense... and construct immunity prevents them from failing saves - and thus taking injury - from poisons and other biological concerns.

I love this variant more and more.


So my Runelords group is restarting with new PCs, and one of them is a Machinesmith... so, suddenly the implications of SI on constructs is relevant.

I can't recall if this has come up before, but because constructs don't "heal" and they get bonus HPs based on size to replicate their inherent durability, should all damage be treated as Injury?


Cool. thanks for all the great advice. I'm not honestly sure which playstyle he digs... I don't think he's developed a preference yet, but his friends might. So, we'll see which way to go. Serpent's Skull or Kingmaker look like the best options.

Cheers!


So, I'm finally getting around to using the Playtest rules as a way of "boosting" a three-player party to hit inside their weight class. I know I am coming WAY late to this party, but what was the final run-down of things as they have been adjusted over the playtest? I remember that Trials were scrapped, as were Mythic Weaknesses, and now the Tiers = 1/2 CR thing, which is cool.

Were there other aspects to the original playtest doc that were "adjusted" by the Consensus? I don't want to get too far from he mark and have to do a lot of re-jiggering once GenCon rolls around.


First, I have to say I only skimmed the thread, so forgive if this is irrelevant, but two things that are kind of "out of the box" that might make a difference to the better:

1: Implement the "Strain-Injury" healing variant developed on these board by Evil Lincoln et al. It is a great boon to survivability and less Healbot-grind.

2: What about adding Mythic Tiers to your PCs? It certainly fits the storyline, and could be integrated with minimal tooling. Personally, I would go with the "Highlander" version, and the PCs gain Mythic energy and Tiers as they progress by absorbing them when they take out Mythic foes. There are certainly enough of those in that AP.


Captain - I LOVE that idea about using the Making Of sequences to disarm the emotional impact BEFORE watching the movie. Might have to use that.

I keep hearing good stuff about Kingmaker. How advanced is the math in the Kingdom Building mechanics? I might be able to spin that as an advantage.


I was most concerned about the Skinsaw Murders... I haven't read too in-depth in that chapter yet, but I am unsure how you can tone down an undead serial killer to PG-13 levels! Certainly that would work with Thistletop and the first book, and recasting the Ogres as thuggish bullies would work well.


I'll take a look at those, thanks!


So my son is a very bright 10 year old, and loves Pathfinder... we've been playing stuff from the Beginner Box, and that's been great, but he's ready for something a bit more weighty and with more options. the only Adventure Path I have is RotRL (Anniversary edition) with is a great series, but is quite grim and gruesome.

I was wondering if there was an adventure path which would be, content-wise, slightly less challenging for a group of young players?


Perhaps have the Rogue who fled, hearing that there was people looking into things, approach them and try and warn them off. Nothing whets a group's appetite for trouble more than someone saying "if you know what's good for you, you'll leave this alone..."


Evil Lincoln wrote:
Mark Hoover wrote:

EL: alongside "superficial" you can also use "flesh wound". As in:

"It's only a FLESH WOUND."

"No it's not; your LEG'S off!"

Neep.

I was avoiding that one, specifically. Silhouette (the system used in Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles) used it... but even a hint of a python reference holds the potential to derail a game.

Indeed... even if it is only Waffer Theen?


I had a problem where the Monk grappled something and started pounding it into oblivion. The target was an Imp, I think, grappled by a Dragonborn monk with a lot higher strength. I had a hard time thinking of how to describe this in terms of blocks, dodges, and the final lucky shot... on the other hand, the damage was being done to a Monster\NPC, so the differentiation between Injury and Strain is irrelevant, but if the tables were turned, the question would remain. How do you model being pummeled by someone grappling you (or pouncers for that matter) where you are clearly not on even footing, physically?

Personally, to answer Lincoln's question, I like the "just a scratch" methodology for poison, and it follows that something like a flaming sword's heat would singe you without having to cut you... same principle, and totally dramatically appropriate, I think.


That's a rough situation... Its nice to see that this variant does not create a cake-walk. My group has a CHA-optimized Paladin but no Cleric, so Lay on Hands and Channel Positive are their only source of healing. So far, they have not yet been stressed enough to have it be a problem, but I might change that if their retreat path is cut off by Wrathspawn who are curious about the sounds echoing through the corridors...


I think I might already understand this, but wanted to ask the Meta-Mind anyhow. Take a Leonal, and add a couple levels of Ranger to him. Does this increase the "caster Level" of his Roar ability (which functions as Holy Word) or is that tied specifically to racial Hit Dice?

Spell-Like abilities as well, when you add class-levels to a creature, but not CASTER classes (though a ranger is a semi-caster, but I'm not sure if that's really relevant), is the caster level of Spell-like abilities bumped up? Again, in this example, the Leonal's Spell-like abilities are defined in their stat-block as CL14, and they (coincidentally) have 14 HD. Because the CL of those abilities is stated, it is a fixed value, even if that fixed value happens to be the same as its HD, so adding Class-level HD should not effect it... correct?


Because of previous adventures, my group of three players started Runelords with 6th level characters. As a response, I'm having to bump up encounters to CR 5 and6 to keep it from being a complete blitz, and hopefully the adventure will catch up with the PC's levels by the Skinsaw Murders... but after that, I was planning on introducing Mythic levels to help with survivability, but it seems to be thematically appropriate to the Path.

What I was thinking of doing was granting 3 mythic tiers to Malfeshankor, and having the PC's absorb them, Highlander-style, but that they sort of remain dormant until they encounter something that "triggers" their ascension - read: when the as-written encounters surpass their APL...

Has anyone else tried this sort of thing yet, to "fill out" a small group, and do they have any feedback\advice on its use?


Gandal wrote:

Combat Manager App

This has everything, included what the OP asked,hope you won't be upset.

I love me that app, but it is missing something, by no fault of the Dev's -- a version that run on something besides Windows or iPad. Assuming that's not an impediment, you're right: that app is the bomb-diggity.


there's an excel-based character Sheet called "the One Sheet" that is quite customization-friendly and two of my group SWEAR by for their Wizard and Cleric. Considering that we're at 15th level now, being able to track buffs and debuffs is key to its success.

Of course, they are also both geeks, so the tech side might be daunting, I'm not sure. I use a Mac\Android and the Vbasic stuff does not translate reliably, so I got used to pen-n-paper.


I'm fond of the Combat Tracker app. Its Windows and iOS right now, but it does a good job of managing buffs, its tied nicely into Herolab and the SRD, and there is an android version in the works.


how much change did you have to undertake to convert Runelords to a suitably mythic "feel?"


Kyle Olson wrote:

Cross-posting this here for those who don't follow on Facebook:

The Beginning

This is a long distance away from being a real app, but I've started. I don't know if this will be easier or harder than iPad.

Oooooohhhhh.... Pretty!


dotted


Evil Lincoln wrote:

People have an instinct to make the game more "realistic" by making it more deadly. This variant rule works by explaining why things like swords and fire are as survivable as they seem in the rules, rather than changing their deadliness. We do that by explaining what action occurs to mitigate the threat. Parry a sword, leap past a trap.

The only part of the RAW that needs to change to make this work is the rate of healing.

Well put.


I tend to agree with you... but the counter argument (RAI vs. RAW) could be made. It says "as a Paladin" and a Paladin gets Mercies when they LoH.


According to the Bestiary 2, all Agathions can lay on hands as a Paladin of a level equal to their Hit Dice... Having said that, Paladins of over third level add Mercies to their Lay On hands.

Pardon the pun, but on the one hand, Mercy is a separate class feature than Lay on Hands, but on the other, it an automatic additive to Lay on Hands, based on the Paladin's Level.

In fact, at the end of the write-up for Mercy, it says specifically that mercies are a direct and cumulative feature based on the level of the Paladin's Lay on Hands ability...

Opinions?


I've been using this for my Rise of the Runelords game for a while now, and its been very helpful, seeing as how the party has been without a Cleric from the start (replying on the Paladin's healing). I still have been having the hardest time modeling it correctly, but it has made the players more willing to take risks. I think the players see it as "safer" to go running into the thick of things, considering that most damage is going to be shrug-able... This should not be seen as a fault of the system, quite the contrary.

I still love the idea, and will continue to use it. Adding the Armor as DR thing is tempting, but I think it would possibly make things too safe, unless we assume all damage is injury otherwise, which defeats the purpose, I think.

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