Oozymandias, the Half-Celestial Slime's page

So, I know that there are at least some rules that have gone around for playing sports in tabletop games (such as rules for playing baseball in a d20 system, and the fact that Blood Bowl was a thing) but has anyone here ever actually successfully put sports into their game? I'm a big sports guy (American sports anyway, ie: football (not soccer), baseball, basketball, some hockey and whatever we won at the most recent Olympics) and I've thought about trying to put some sports into my game.

Most likely this would take the form of a baseball league that the PCs are drafted into for a game or two because of shenanigans, and I figure that it would be a nice filler session for when I need an extra week to prepare an adventure. So, does anybody have any advice on including sports (baseball especially) into a game of Pathfinder? Have you ever successfully run a session that included sports?

Any and all advice welcome from rules advice- (like outlawing magic pitches, or should there be a designated hitter [I'd say yes because my hometown is in the AL]), to suggestions for team names- (I'm partial to the Highbloods, a Yankees-esque team of mostly elves that think they're better than everyone else), to suggesting the inclusion of real-life sports stuff (was there a Black Sox like scandal in the early days of Golarian's baseball league?), to stories about running a sporting event in Pathfinder, if you have any experience doing it.

Update: All great suggestions, and since posting I have added in a stuffed animal for my sorceresses' familiar (a raven named, of all things, Rayvon) a business card for my rogue that owns a trap emporium, and in the next session our samurai is going to find a magical sword that can turn into a pen (for the purpose of hiding it in weapon free areas) and he will be receiving a nifty looking calligraphy pen to be his sword.

Also, anytime one of my PC's gets a letter, they now get a physical letter (cardstock and envelopes are pretty cheap) which I seal with wax from a melted candle, and press with a 'seal' (something I carved into the end of a wooden dowl I had lying around). So now everyone gets excited when they get a letter, because they get an actual letter.

Twice in my stint as GM for the group (all but one of us are competent GM's, but I'm the only one that writes consistently enough to run more than an adventure at a time, so I do it more often than not) I have run a GMPC.

First time, it was not great. There were enough players that his presence was largely irrelevant (ie: not filling in any missing roles), and about halfway through the session, I just sort of quietly pushed him into the background, because I realized what was going on.

Second time, it was still not great, but it was better. That GMPC was to fill a hole in the party and she actually became an important member. However, I had little to no fun running her, because I was constantly trying to make sure that she wasn't getting in the way of any other characters. Eventually, to keep her around I just handed her over to another player (who did a great job playing her).

So, long story short? I don't like them, because they make me feel like I'm getting in the way of the players.

So, in the game I'm GMing there's been some talk with one player about replacing their character with something more valuable in combat (they're a rogue, they're good at traps and not much else). I also recently introduced an atomie NPC, who's ambition in life is to be made a medium sized creature, so full sized creatures will respect her more. After talking it over with the player, we decided that she will take over the atomie once she achieves medium size.

So, the question becomes, how do I translate atomie stats into a PC that doesn't end up over or under powered?

What I've done so far, is given her a +2 in dex and cha, and a -2 in strength (following the custom for non-human or half-human standard races), and changed her fly speed from 50ft to 20ft (they're at the level where the sorcerer can cast fly on anyone whenever anyway, so I'm not too worried about it being an issue). Should she keep any atomie spell-like abilities? Does she need any other racial traits? Should I keep or take away fey DR/cold iron? What are your thoughts?

I don't think I'd call him a Mary Sue, but my first character (back in sophomore year, in 3.5) was an elf wizard named Lathron Tharsiron (or something to that effect) who fills me with so much disappointment and regret, that many years later, I retconed my favorite half-elf character to have been a decedent of his. And this half-elf was, like me, deeply ashamed that Lathron had ever even existed. Furthermore, he tried to keep this secret, because he was so disappointed in great-grandpa's legacy of stupidity. And, if I remember correctly, his death came about when he vastly underestimated the power of strong alcohol on his incredibly weak fortitude. How he ever managed to procreate, we will never know.

Edit: I take that back, my old notebook actually says that Lathron was actually "Committed to a home for old, bewildered elves. Died in an escape attempt."

So, my players and I have recently started a campaign, and to speed up the process of combat, I've mostly done away with the battlemat and we have most combat take place in the theatre of the mind. (I do still break out the mat on occasions, mostly where the specifics of the terrain are important to the fight.) And me and my players both seem to like playing this way. It's led to us role playing more throughout combat, and getting through combat (which used to take hours) much faster.

However, not having a mini for your character is something that I miss. I felt that it added more flavor to the game. So, my question is, what sort of props do/would you use if you wanted to bring some of that flavor back into the game?

So far I've had a series of gemstone that represented various elements for a puzzle (really just a bunch of cool rocks bought from an apothecary near my house), and a library card for my sorcerer (who was a librarian before becoming an adventurer). I also at one point considered bringing my guinea pig to the table for a bit to play the roll of a "dire, half-fiendish guinea pig". This ended up not happening for fear that she would either pee on the table or start eating dice.

Definitely a lack of things for them to accidentally hurt themselves with, but pretty good lists overall. I'll definitely be using at least a few items from the Moderate Treasure Table. And I'll probably use the other tables the next time I run a session at lower level.

I'm planning on running a homemade dungeon in a few months, and while it's (mostly) built, I'm still not sure what sort of loot I should be putting inside. So far I have a pair of wands, a rod of wonder, scrolls that explode when you read them and miscellaneous gems and coins (and also a jar that shoots fire, lightning, acid and the screams of tortured flumphs, depending on your roll, but that's a long story).

The primary idea is to give the party as many "useful" items as possible, and to stay away from just throwing gold at them. Hence the wands and rod of wonder. The secondary idea is to make roughly half the loot have either drawbacks, be a trap, or to make it situationally useful at best (but nothing completely useless or that's just made to kill them). Hence the scrolls that explode when you read them, but otherwise do what they're supposed to.

Long story short, I'd like them to have loot that's more unique than gold pieces or a +2 sword of whatever. And bonus points for loot that they can accidentally hurt themselves with (emphasis on accidentally).

Oh, and the party will be roughly 9th level, and I don't know what sort of classes they'll be playing as yet.

So, my GM is running a horror themed, haunted carnival type of session for Halloween. The party, as it stands now, looks like it will consist of a monk of the four winds, a druid bat shaman, and a ranger (myself). The GM has made it rather clear that this will not be an easy game and we even made suggestions to her (as far as monsters and encounters we'd like to see (we all came up with the idea together, she's just building and running it with our ideas)) that were very likely to get us killed. Now, seeing as this will probably be a very tough adventure, I want to know what I can do to my character to prepare him as much as possible for this adventure.

What kind of gear should I be bringing in?

What type of skills do you think I need?

Is it a bad idea to play a ranger in the first place (because I'm not 100% sold on playing a ranger)?

What are you suggestions?

(Also, for those who might ask, the ranger is a switch-hitter type of build. He took the archery combat style, but he's also built to drop his bow and switch to melee when enemies get too close. His companion still up in the air, but likely to be a small cat or wolf. He is Lawful Evil, and his favored enemy bonuses are undead and outsider (evil). He is level nine.)

That really depends on what level they are.

They are 5th level, which is where they'll be staying for a while. And while I don't have a level cap for the campaign, I expect they'll max out at around 12th level or so.

Hi. I've been running a homebrew Pathfinder campaign for about five sessions now, and I want to give my players (a witch, a ranger/gunslinger, a paladin, and a magus) some kind of cool abilities that aren't necessarily the kind of thing they can take on their own.

For example, I've toyed with the idea of giving the witch the ability to turn her familiar into a giant toad with a breath weapon, or giving the ranger/gunslinger's animal companion the ability to rage.

I'm looking for ideas that are cool or interesting first, and possible with the rules second. I'm more than willing to bend the rules a little (or a lot) in order to let everyone have their fun, as long as it's not hilariously, painfully overpowered.