Rathendar's page

While going over this PrC to PF things, i started wondering about the Tattoos and figured i would pick the community's brains on adding some new options or revamping some of the existing ones. Has anyone done any tweaks to this PrC for your own games?

Champions had a lot of adventures for 1st-3rd ed.(remember 1st-3rd was just the first three books) 4th also had adventures. As far as I know, Hero has not released in book form any adventures for 5th or 6th ed.

5th had several adventures in book form. Not tons and tons, but there were some.

memories of a few of the better modules my group liked.

The Coriolis Effect(adventure) was very well received by my group, they loved that one. Atlas Unleashed(Adventure/sourcebook) worked well for them also. Wrath of the Seven Horsemen(Adventure) had a nice superheroes/cthuhlu throwdown in it. And they loved/feared Day of the Destroyer(adventure featuring the world setting's boogeyman/BBEG)

Jon Kines wrote:

I probably should have added a ":P" at the end of my post as it was intended to be tongue in cheek. I usually prefer that everyone plays the same CLA for issues of scaling but I'd allow an Azlanti if the player was set on it, with a +1 CLA.

You may have said it jokingly, but I have seen similar things from very serious people.

I'd allow it if the player had a good background concept that appealed to me and fit the campaign/AP i was looking to run. Players will already put the +2 racials into their key stat(s) as it is, so this just raises the less relevant ones a little. I don't see it as game breaking here, just a choice to be made by the DM in question.

Watching shows like Trigun, or movies like RED or the James Bond series, the characters are already really good at what they do. There might be a slight gain in power (Vash grows more emotionally then in skill for example,) but mostly the person is already awesome and doesn't need to gain in ability.

Is there an RPG that plays with that idea? That the character is already really good at their job and they only gain in ability slightly in the course of the game? Rewards would be in the form of wealth, contacts, information, equipment, or possibly action points that would be spent on special abilities.

Is there something like this out there?

HERO can do it.

When an Animal Companion with an Int of 3 takes a level in Rogue, does it get Sneak Attack?

Animal companions don't get class levels, so no?

Deadmanwalking wrote:

KaeYoss wrote:

I couldn't disagree more!

Abadar is not only quite interesting, but also grants access to a very nice selection of domains (Protection and Travel are both very nice, and Nobility isn't to be sneezed at, either)

Irori, too, is an interesting deity.

Unlike lots of other LN deities I came across in several D&D worlds, I can see myself playing clerics and followers of these deities I'm playing a cleric of Abadar in our Crimson Throne campaign at the moment.

I was actually explicitly and only referring to favored weapon choices. I quite like both Irori and (particularly) Abadar, myself. I just admit their Favored Weapons are bad. :)

Well Abadar would be fine if his crossbow was at least repeating.

Abadar inquisitor = IRS auditor.

Hmm,

Were-bears certainly (polar were's are nasty). Smilodons are temperate creatures though. Were-seals, were-selkies. All of them would be either Drow, Yeti, or possibly Troll/Giant base creatures. Woah, ice giant were polar bear. Nasty piece of work!

Were-wolves could work, in the south eastern part, where there are some evergreen forests.

Same for the caribou and moose (I keep wanting to call multiple mooses mise). :)

smilodons = temperate sure, "technically"... but you can easily go for an ice-age style feel for the bitter northlands, and have the non dinosaur prehistorics being some of the critters found. hence, smilodons, mastodons, etc etc. just give the kittys thicker fur.

Rathendar wrote:

mdt wrote:

Pendagast wrote:

You know what would be intersting, is maybe a twist on Kua-toa or Shuaghin to make a custom Orca-type, arctic amphibean race, black and white carnivorous porpoise people?

That would be interesting. But I'm trying to avoid custom races (I already have 2, plus modifications to 3 others). However, I may put a note of 'Arctic Kua-toa', or whatever the replacement was in Bestiary I in the description of the area and stat it up later.

Walrus men.

I was thinking about selkies (were seals), so were-walruses would work as well.

lycanthropes would still need a base species (since they are atemplate adder.) so you would need to pick a base racial stock for em.

types that would be fitting would be were...bear, wolf, seal, walrus, moose, elephant(mammoth) as several off the top of my head. tiger also (smilodon)

Pendagast wrote:

You know what would be intersting, is maybe a twist on Kua-toa or Shuaghin to make a custom Orca-type, arctic amphibean race, black and white carnivorous porpoise people?

That would be interesting. But I'm trying to avoid custom races (I already have 2, plus modifications to 3 others). However, I may put a note of 'Arctic Kua-toa', or whatever the replacement was in Bestiary I in the description of the area and stat it up later.

Walrus men.

"By nature's hand, by craft, by art,
what once was one now fly apart!"

~Visionaries(all of these)

would be hmm...more like shatter than disintegrate maybe?

Overland Flight (or haste perhaps)
"Sheath these feet in the driving gale,
Make swift these limbs o'er land i sail"

Stoneskin (alternately Statue)

"The arrows turn, the swords rebel,
let nothing pierce this mortal shell"

Horrid Wilting

"by what creeps and crawls, by what does not,
let all that grows recede and rot"

Yeti. Strong and dim witted. Excellent slave race/expendable shock troop. Snow Orcs would work, though perhaps something shaggier would work better, like Bugbears or Gnolls. Aaracockra? they could inhabit the snowy peaks, just make sure to give them the arctic acclimation (cold subtype)

Thats another thing about core. Making cantrips infinite. That just infringes on how spells regardless of whether they're level 9 or level 0 spells are still expended once cast. The only class which got that was the warlock. You can say "they're only cantrips" but still feels wrong. A cleric which has prepared cure minor wounds could heal the party to full hp after an encounter. Too convenient. Part of the game is also about survival. If you take the potential threat of a new encounter chancing upon the party while they are injured away, the game becomes too safe.

You...are aware that this is impossible in PF right? There is no heal HP cantrip. So your free heal up scenario doesn't exist and the world didn't implode!

Rathendar wrote:

James Jacobs wrote:

The Guardian Beyond Beyond wrote:

If Studpuffin becomes Merisiel's pet how long before a dinosaur attacks him?

NEVER! I'd keep him safe and feed him crackers! It'd be step one of "BECOME A BADASS PIRATE!"

pssst, i'm hallucinating a trex instead of an elf lady in leather.

Stop eating those fizzy mushrooms then! Or alternatively, stop hitting refresh so often on this thread to check if I've posted every 3 seconds?

omg, i was being helpful!

i'm not OCD with the refresh page!

Edit: nothing to see here in this message. move along, move along.

If I change around a monster's (non-bonus) feats and allocation of skill ranks, would this alter the CR of the monster?

What about if I change around gear, like replacing an astral deva's +2 disruption warhammer with a +2 disruption heavy flail? What if I instead replaced it with a +4 warhammer or a +2 holy warhammer? If it becomes something other than a warhammer, is it reasonable that the Stun ability of the astral deva using it would switch to being usable with the replacement weapon?

What if the monster actually makes use of it's treasure? For example, let's say that an astral deva has a +1 chain shirt in its treasure and decides to wear it. Would this adjust its CR?

changing a monsters feats and skill ranks should not alter CR.

Using gear from its treasure 'could' warrant a CR increase if the numbers adjust enough. But its an inexact science at best.

I noticed a post about lack of quality adventures and not recalling any/many fondly.

I have fond memories of Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth, and the Superhero Battlegrounds and Fantasy Battlegrounds. Also, most of the organization sourcebooks included more then just plot seeds, but actual adventure frameworks that only need moderate fleshing out. Watchers of the Dragon i think is my all time favorite of those.

Merisiel Sillvari wrote:

The Guardian Beyond Beyond wrote:

Isn't the elf supposed to be answering not the dinosaur?

You were hallucinating.

Nice Try Merisiel. No hallucinations here or there.

Seriously though, can anyone go back and change the alias of a post or is it just because you're staff?

anyone, if its within the 1 hour time limit.

Does this mean the spell wars have started? SGG and their 110 series verses Rite Publishings 101 series? :D

Wouldn't Rite be winning then? since 101 x 10 would be 1010 vs 110...

Any Magic of Incarnum conversions for Pathfinder? How does the base classes stand up to PF classes? Do they need a major overhaul or can they be played close to as is?

Exo

On their own, Incarnum base classes are weaker then PF base classes, i will have to say. They would definitely benefit from a small overhaul.

I will say however that the Totemist was the best of the three, and pretty darn cool.

I have been using Incarnum in my PF converted Savage Tide Campaign. I made it something the Ancient Olmans used and can still be found on the Isle of Dread, so the players are completely unfamiliar with what to expect when it comes to "wierd native magic stuff" Mummys with claws that cause bleeding damage, or fatiguing roars that batter the opponents with sound like a gale? they didn't think they were mummys let me tell you ;) Gargoyle who could breath lighting like a behir? also a nice surprise.

Necrocarnum effects for the melds and undead combined with creepy visuals help me cultivate the atmosphere the players are delving into a forgotten world with secrets of its own. The totemist meldings also give me another excuse to have the native carvings have appearances of man/animal hybrid looks.

My PF use is mostly a homebrewed overhaul, but i find it workable enough. There's a lot of flavor in that book to tap if you are willing to put in a little work.

Magic items would be easy to make with the system, but how do you handle treasure vs experience when you normally buy advancement with experience points. This can be a bit of a problem in a modern setting with characters who didn't pay points for firearms (say) pick up a gun dropped by an adversary in the first scene and keep it, but equipment is very standardised outside a fantasy setting.

In a heroic (as opposed to superheroic) setting like Fantasy Hero, you don't buy non-magical gear (like armor, normal weapons, etc) with points. That's handled with cash. Modern Hero characters even have mechanics for an "equipment pool" so they can have the gun or whatever other device/gadget they want(from a DM approved list of choices of course.) on their "current list" if they really want to.

"can i keep the autopistol we just got?"

"yep, it has an allocation value of 18 points."

For myself, i have successfully run multiple genres using HERO.

Ninja Hero (Martial arts action/tournament setting)
Fantasy Hero (sword and sorcery)
Agent Hero (like james bond,twilight 2000, etc)
Champions (super heroes)
Dark/Horror Hero (like call of cthulhu)

Each one had a different feel and was viable for its genre.

Some friends of mine actually had some HERO books and PDFs. I have been able to read through the 5th ed Sidekick, and some of volume 1 for 6th ed.

The system looks pretty neat, and I would love to play it sometime. I would rather be player in my first game though. I find learning a game as a player is easier for me to do then being a GM.

I have also been given some Mutant and Mastermind PDFs, so I will be looking through those as well.

Thank you everyone, I greatly appreciate the introduction to a new system.

As much as i like the HERO system, (though i'd say this is true for ANY system really) i'd have to say that it is definitely easier to learn as a player for your 1st playtime.

Solnes wrote:

Studpuffin wrote:

Solnes wrote:

Rathendar wrote:

Solnes wrote:

My back hurts something fierce. :(

I twinged it somehow.

hot bath?

I took a hot shower.

I thought he was offering you one. :P

Hubby may object. :P

Tell him to hop in too! Rathendar'll scrub him up too!

I got your back, LPM!

anyways, hope it helped.

I'd apply the bonuses in secret on my end of things, and turn it into a "hook", a clue to drop at the PC's feet for more investigation. Give that PC a moment in the spotlight.

My back hurts something fierce. :(

I twinged it somehow.

hot bath?

Arutema wrote:

I'd rather it look like a snake, which means never taking the legs evolution.

The only reason to take the Snake form is if you plan to make the most of the serpentine special evolutions.

It loses out on both Pounce and large size Reach (quadruped and biped respectively).

Going with Flight and a single massive Bite / Constrictor / Swallow Whole attack seems to be what you need.

Power Attack is your friend as will INA, both feat and Evo, be.

You will not need to take Bite twice to get 1,5xSTR on your attacks, as long as a creature only has ONE natural attack, it automatically gets 1,5xSTR on it.

Charging feats too and use Enlarge Person via the Share Spell on it to boost it's grapple and trip efforts. And of course damage dies.

Serpentine default to 2 attacks base. They get tail slap as a freebie.

Serpentine eidolons are still allowed to take the extra legs evolution. each time you take it , it gains 10' speed. It'd look like a linnorm ;)

Honestly HERO isn't as bad as I make it out to be. and other stuff

I'll agree with pretty much most of this as well. (and thank you Abraham)

Character creation and establishing your genre guidelines are the biggest "hurdle" as gameplay itself is pretty smooth, and in my opinion, damn fun. (6th edition btw!)

I very very much prefer HERO over Tri-Stat myself, BUT Tri-Stat can be a better learning step. It's almost the equivalent of HERO-Light.

I didn't say it was bad -- I enjoy calculus... most of my friends however did not.

And explaining combat wasn't a fun task after you finally walk them through simply making the characters.

I quote, "I used to like a non-class based system where I could simply build the character I wanted, but... could we just play D&D now? I'll be the fighter."

I understand what you are meaning (i think) but i think equating it to calculus is misinforming people who have not experienced the game system and making it sound far more intimidating then it is. It uses addition, and division. There's no derivatives or anything else calculus in it.

I am writing a modern game right now and someone has mentioned the HERO system. It sounds like it would work well with my game. The problem is, my group doesn't want to learn an entirely new game right now.

Can someone tell more about the system?
How close is it to Pathfinder?
What is the combat system like?
What about leveling and character customization?
How well would psionics work with the system?

Mental powers are in the core book, so i would hazard they work 'well'.

Combat is fairly flexible and also reactive since they include an "abort" mechanic.

It is different from pathfinder.

'Leveling' is it is done in D&D is not in the game. Rather players get to 'spend' the experience points they earn as advancements/improvements/new acquisions.

Amusingly, for all the complaints that it is math heavy, i have players who struggle to get their numbers in order in PF with the varying bonuses for whichever combat thing is going on, and be at ease in a similar combat of Hero.

I can try to answer other system questions for you if you wish.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

HERO is GREAT! If you are an accountant or enjoy a lot of algebra with your gaming systems.

Otherwise I would set the hefty book down and back away slowly.

now now, it's not that bad.

Does Canary have Oracle talking in her ear?

I hate to say I'd give it to Banshee if he really let go. If he showed any kind of restraint, Canary.

i assume in these comparisons as a default that through whatever circumstances as a premise both of those involved will go "all out".

Banshee. He's basically an irish james bond. Plus his power level is a magnitude greater then Canary's.

I can't seem to find this in any of the FAQ's. What happens when a creature without an ability (i.e. many animals have no INT, AD&D Shriekers have no DEX, incorporeal creatures have no STR) take ability drain damage? Does a single point of ability drain damage knock them unconscious or are they immune to ability drain for any ability they do not have?

The rulebooks say that any creature who has an ability reduced to zero is immediately made unconscious. However some creatures naturally have a zero in an ability score. So how are these creatures even functioning?

I am unaware of a creature with a zero in a score. Usually it is a "-" which means they do not have that value. Undead and Con for example. Typically this means they are unaffected by anything that targets that ability score in the first place. You can usually find that actually stated in their creature type as well.

Calling attention to, and making disparaging remarks about, are separate things.

+1

Yikes!

Also glad you all are okay.

stuff

No, hold on there man.

You are making statements of fact that are pure speculation on your part. Regardless of what you think, some facts simply will never be known for certain. It is well within the realm of possibility that without the family problems that came up, Nick could have released RC as planned and then moved on to teach. Then again, it is well within the realm of possibility that it wouldn't have. Who Knows. It simply does not matter how or why anymore. Bringing it up yet again and mudslinging is a waste of time.

Move on.

Cheerio, Rath.

I was a RC preorder.

I didn't care for the april fool's thing and the rest(i personally felt it was in poor taste.), but life is full of bad judgements. (my own for making the preorder in hindsight, for example.)

You apologising for it was a nice thing to do.

Weather this offer is good intentioned or a way to try to gain some marketing/business doesn't matter to me, it's still a nice offer in itself.

Good luck to you.

Had an issue in game and want it cleared up. Was told one thing but can't find it stated anywhere.

Does damage reduction effect sneak attack damage separately from the weapons base damage?

Example:

Rogue hits flanked enemy.

Enemy has DR5/-.

Rogue deals 1D6+3 base damage and 2D6 sneak attack.

Does the enemy take
A: 3D6+3-5

or does it take

B: (1D6+3-5)+(2D6-5)

A

I don't like the idea of being able to hit something that has reach. It kind of negates the point of having reach if someone can hit you anyway.

For those who don't like needing the feat to be able to do it, consider allowing it by default with a -4 penalty to the attack which the feat itself would negate.

In the Core Rules Book under Cleric and in the Advanced Players Handbook it says that Clerics and Inquisitors cannot cast spells that are opposed to their alignment and the alignment of their god. So can a neutral cleric with a chaotic evil god use spells like cure wounds or would that be considered a spell opposed to their alignment? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

spell that are 'aligned' have a descriptor like Good, Evil, Lawful, Chaotic.

Examples: Holy/Unholy word, Animate Dead, etc. (look those up for examples of where you see it in the stat block)

Cure spells, while channeling positive energy in theory, are only Conjuration spells and thus can be cast by any cleric/inquisitor without restriction.

Maerimydra wrote:

nicklas Læssøe wrote:

On a related side note, you might want to remember that attacking with more than one natural or manufactured attack in a turn, requires the full attack action (or a charge with pounce). Thus you can only make all the above 3 attacks, if you take a full attack action, and if you take a standard action to attack, then u can choose which of the attacks to specificly use in that situation.

That's why I prefer the make my eidolon with a single, but very powerful, attack. Since I always give Endurance and Die Hard to my eidolon, it suffers less from the staggered condition.

Makes sense. I am going more for the chainsaw style with this one.

If I give an Eidolon the Increased Damage evolution and apply it to Claws, does it effect 1 claw or both (ie increase the damage die of only 1 of the 2 claws, or both claws?)

should be all claws.

/Yawn
Start of another work week.
Only thing new this time, is i start going to the gym. Go me.

No overtime. But I'm sure I'm building up credit for those days I want to take off for GenCon!

Cough.

my easter sunday is free in the evening myself, as an FYI.

Work has been hitting me hard this weekend. I'm even working today (Sunday). So I may not be able to run tonight. I'll keep you informed here.

Ew, okay. thanks for the heads up, we'll check back again closer to game time.

Abraham spalding wrote:

Heck it isn't even the GM -- I wouldn't worry about it unless the GM says something -- if he hasn't you are all good and don't really have to explain yourself.

+1

As a GM I say burn that *expletive deleted* down. The natural order is not spelled with "nice".

"Whatever it is, it ain't natural. Let's burn it boys!"

Stynkk wrote:

I see nothing hard in the rules about declaring anything, but I appreciate the suggestions and the -2 seems logical. Just trying to work out mechanics..

If you do not take a -2 on your attack, you are not TWF during your attack sequence. You have to be actively preparing to attack with the second weapon to be TWF, represented by the -2. If you don't prepare to use both weapons, you miss your opportunity.

That sums up my feelings on it better then i said. Thank you TOZ.

...stuff...

It's silly to think you can avoid the -2 on the initial attack for TWF even if you choose to make 1 attack and move. Either take the penalty and retain the option make attacks with the offhand even if you don't, or make the single attack without the penalty and live with the results.

Anything else is just loophole lawyering.

edit: hm, that may sound snarky on 2nd read, but its not my intent. Just how i see it.

Scott Andrews wrote:

Domains are good idea of what spell themes should look like, however not all divine casters are tied to a specific god, so I didn't want to limit it domains.

Then I'd suggest limiting it to domains, but not limit to a god. and keep that you can't duplicate ones you already have.

The choosing of any spell per level in the books, including wizard spells is just a little too open, and limiting it, but adding a themed domain ability makes it a little more..... theme based.

I like the domain idea as well. I'd even suggest if you worshipped a diety it had to be one of theirs, and if you didn't, you picked a single one.

Base masterwork cost + 8000 for enhancement.

So for example, a +1 Longsword of Demon Bane would cost 8315 gp.

The bonus to hit would be +3 as it is a +1 sword and the Bane property adds +2 to hit against the designated foe.

sigh. silly me posting crafting costs.

ty relkor.