Niilo John Van Steinburg's page

Acid Breath: Undines whose outsider heritage can be traced to a water mephit can wield acid as a weapon. Such an undine has a breath weapon that is a 5-foot cone of acidic water usable once per day. The breath deals 1d8 points of acid damage per two character levels (maximum 5d8). A Reflex saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 the undine's level + the undine's Constitution modifier) halves the damage. This racial trait replaces the spell-like ability racial trait.

Taken literally, a 1st-level undine character with this alternate trait has no breath weapon (or just sprays out a cone of non-acidic water - heh). Often effects that are based on a fraction of a level will state something like "minimum 1". I can't think of any effects that don't have that minimum so I'm wondering if this case is an oversight.

Thoughts?

- Niilo

I've been sifting through forum posts on the Holy Vindicator PrC and clerics of Gorum, since I'm making such a character right now, but I haven't seen this discussed. The first ability of the HV is the Vindicator's Shield - a bonus applied to your shield. However, the favoured weapon of Gorum is the greatsword, seeming to make flavourful clerics of Gorum and the HV slightly incompatible.

My GM has kindly said he'd allow me to apply the effect to my armour. As I tend to be a GM myself, I like to weigh the impacts of any rule change carefully. Does anyone see any problems with changing the effect in such a way?

I was wondering if such a bonus to AC was considered too much to give to a two-handed combatant (and/or a ranged combatant). Otherwise, I'm not seeing a problem. It is still dissipated upon being hit (and perhaps sooner, since the character will have a lower overall AC without the shield).

I appreciate any thoughts on the topic.

- Niilo

Hi everyone,

I've noticed that my new players are missing a lot of the things I take for granted. Perception checks, looking for traps, etc. One player in particular (the rogue/Merisiel) is brand new to gaming of any sort and I'm afraid that she may get frustrated if she thinks she's not contributing much to the party.

I'm toying with the idea of giving the players a rough check list of possible things to do in certain situations. I don't want to come across as telling them what to do, but I hope that this would actually make them more autonomous (i.e., less spoon feeding).

Please let me know what you think and/or if you have any suggested additions/changes. Thanks.

- Niilo

Starting the Adventure
- stock up on expendibles (e.g., arrows, potions, food)
- ask NPC's for more information about quest (e.g., how far? what is the area like?)

Exploring
- should you be sneaking? [stealth check]
- can you hear anything? [perception check]

New Area/Room
- look around for danger [perception check]
- found a monster? Go to "Encounter!"
- search for treasure or clues [perception check]

Encounter!
- do you know anything about these creature that could help? [knowledge check]
- do you want to try talking to them? [diplomacy check]
- can the environment/area impact a fight? (e.g., is there cover; can you retreat) [ask the GM and/or knowledge/perception checks]
- if you fight and triump, return to "New Area/Room"

Treasure
- is it safe? [perception check]
- is it trapped? Remove the trap [disable devices check]
- is it magical? [cast Detect Magic]
- is it immediately useful? Give it to someone who can use it.

After the Adventure
- split the loot
- buy new gear
- is there any knowledge that you need to gain? (e.g., asking NPCs about a clue or researching a tough monster you fought)

Hi there,

I'm preparing a MapTool dungeon-dive campaign that is starting with one or two PCs. As such, I'd like to have some fun with very low-CR encounters to start them off.

I'm looking at the skeleton and zombie templates, and the Challenge Rating tables have a row for "1/2" HD. What is 1/2 a hit die? I've never seen a hit die of 1/2 for a monster. Bats, for example, are a CR 1/8 monster and their HD is 1d8-2 (which would become just 1d8 if undead). So I don't know what the purpose is of that 1/2 HD row.

Has anyone applied these undead templates to low-CR creatures? I'm wary of the resulting XP being imbalanced. A zombie bat would be CR 1/4 - twice the XP. A skeletal toad (scary, I know), would be CR 1/3 - almost three times the XP.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

- Niilo