SaintSinner40k's page

It is indeed not so nice when buying such an expensive HC book and miss out on the interactive maps. I really like the physical books but now it seems like they dont want to sell physical books.

I really would like to have the interactive maps, but like the OP I dont want to toss in another 40-ish dollars for a product that i have allready paid a good amount of money for.

I would love an official reply regarding this.

Regards

I would personally love to get ahold of some interactive maps to be able to not have to have those damned GM reference numbers on them. Just ruins alot of the entire point of having them printed in the first place.

So I recently picked up the RotRL anniversary edition on black frigday at my local game store & was wondering if the PDF versions maps where of a higher quality then the map folio pack they released a while back, or if it was just really the same quality.

Mostly so I know which will be nicer to have blown up to full map size.

Not really sure on this one. Snapping Turtle Clutch states that if your opponent swings with a melee attack & misses, you may as an immediate action initiate a grapple at a -2.

The question I have is does this immediate action grapple cause the opponent to get an attack of opportunity? I'm still new to the combat maneuvers but it seems like if he already swung & missed you once, he wouldnt get it.

Trying to figure this out to see if I gotta take Improved Grapple before getting the clutch or not.

So I've got a player who I have been trying to work out things with for his unarmed fighter. The variant is a bit oddly worded so its confused us both.

The question is, am I correct that the bonus style feat CAN be Elemental Fist? It states style feats that add a use of elemental fist cant be taken, but nothing seems to preclude Elemental Fist from being taken.

Is the anniversary edition going to stay in publication for a while or is this going to be a limited release only? Cant find any info on it, of course my google fu may be weak today.

I ask only because I see a bunch of copies at the LGS, but am a bit broke & may be so for a while. >_>

SaintSinner40k wrote:

So I have a rather huge urban campaign starting in 2 weeks, & have managed to gain 8 players(guess people really love the concept for my game? yay?)

Good luck! You are going to need it.

How so? I regularly field 6-8 players in games. Its all about expectations of what is going on & the people playing. This is a good group of players, & they are good about having their actions ready in my games. Just because I havnt ran pathfinder before doesnt mean I am not an experienced GM. And if I miss a few rules, I will learn from it & the get the system down over time.

Quote:

I have got the system for Creating encounters down, but am wondering if only haveing the +1 over 6 players will be enough?

PCs are stronger than their parts. +1 is not enough.

Thats why I am going to run a few simple encounters at first, get a feel for what the party is capable of & do the max HP for all antagonists to make it a bit tougher without breaking the system too hard.

If that doesnt work, I will gradually increase the CR until I find the sweet spot. No biggie really given I want the encounters to supplement the role play, not the other way around.

Quote:

We used heroic rolling to generate stats. The lowest modifier total we have is a +8 total across his stats & most others are in the region of 9-12 bonuses.

This was not a good idea. If possible, have them all point buy. I'm being perfectly serious. You've got enough problems with a double-sized party without this issue.

I dont like point buy. None of my players like point buy.

I think your reaction to my posts is a bit exaggerated.

The party consists of a rogue, a sorcerer, a wizard, a ranger, a fighter, a monk, a cleric & a bard. Thats only two dedicated combat classes, 2 dedicated magic classes & 4 hybrid magic/combat classes(considering the variants they took).

I also mentioned not all the players will always be able to show up to every game. I know my monk is gonna miss the 1st & 3rd session due to work & prior engagements.

with 8 players the APL/CR thing goes out the window

give all baddies max hp
Im running KM to 7 players, and give all baddies max hp and stuff is a balanced challenge (they are 13th now)

if you up the baddies power you are going to have party members die more often.......

on there go a 5th level cleric or sorceror may wipe the 1st level party in one fireball or negative channel, while the 4th level likely will not

will be interested to see how it goes

I do like that idea of maxing the HP on the antagonists & keeping the CR system intact as is.

Also except for a big bad I have planned for around every 5 levels, most "bosses" will be mini ones or only mildly more powerful then the rest. Being a guilds game this will be more about fighting the rank & file soldiers of other guilds early on.

As for rerolls, that wont happen unless someone decides they want to reroll. But they could get into some serious debt if the guild keeps having to res them. One time wont be so bad, but say a PC dies 3 times, then they had better have some massive importance to the guild by that time to justify the res.

Just to cover a potential trap that I've seen a few new GMs fall into: At first glance, high ability scores look like they should lend themselves to higher CR encounters - the party have more spells, hit more often, are harder to hit, have higher skill bonuses.

However, there are two areas where it falls down with combat encounters, and those are damage and hit points. When you go more than a few CR above the actual APL of the party, they will find themselves facing creatures capable of dishing out a lot of damage (especially at low levels), with a lot of hp. Those increased attack, damage and AC points certainly help, but it's not always going to be enough, if you're not careful.

The fact that you've already said that this is a roleplay-focused group will probably mean that you don't have to worry, but it's something to bear in mind.

I've given that some thought while reading this thread. One thing I am planning on doing is using the first few encounters to gently ease into it all. They have to prove themselves useful to the guild with some "go do these favors for us" quests, so I dont mind making the first 2 or 3 sessions mildly easy to Gage where the party stands.

Though frankly between the neutral evil ifrit fire sorcerer & the swirling dance of swords bard I am a bit scared XD.

That would sound to be spot on the money to be honest, a pretty cool encounter. Just be careful to infect as much of the party as you can with the rat lycanthrope disease, and then later on make sure to have a werecat of some kind.....

*evil gm grin*

Oh the plan is if any of them get infected, I will roll behind the GM screen & they will be left to decide if "finding a cure" is necessary. I've come up with several directions this plot can go, involving either trying to locate the wererats guild & dealing with them(they are going to be one of the starting antagonists in the campaign) or seeking a cure from one of the apothecary guilds.

Needless to say its gonna be awesome. Oh how I would love to see the female tiefling rogue turn into a wererat <3

Ah my apologies, I thought they were meant to be at level 8

In that case with APL at about 2 then the average encounter should be about CR5 to 7 I would think. Again, little monsters but a lot of them is probably the way to go. A single willowisp for example nearly killed my party cleric off, despite being a level appropriate encounter for the party. (High AC and High damage for the wisp is a killer)

I had planned for their first encounter to make it a member of the wererats guild with his pack of dire rats raiding a storehouse in the lower part of the city. So 1 CR2 wererat & 3-6 dire rats. The DR wouldnt be hard for them to overcome with the strength bonuses of several of the players(two of the buggers have strength 20)

Whats your thought on that encounter makeup?

One thing I would also like to throw out there is that the group I am running this for is more role play focused then combat encounters, as am I, so most likely combats will only happen if they need to & will supplement the story rather then be the focus.

First things first,

A standard encounter should be CR9
Add 2 for the size of the party = CR 11
Add at least 2 for the heroic stats = CR 13

Therefore I make it that a standard encounter should be about CR 13.

keep in mind that it would be better off to keep that as a lot of lower level things, else the party is unlikely to have the resources or defences to not die fast, but it should make for exciting combats, even if they take a while to sort out.

Perhaps grab someone in the party to track initiative, and make sure to stick to the idea that people need to get their actions ready. Try to keep unrelated chat to a minimum and keep the flow going all the time.

I have played in 8 person parties before, and found that sometimes the game can go frustratingly slowly. It might be an idea to split them into two smaller groups and then have them join together on an occasional basis, otherwise the game is likely to suffer.

I thought the way APL worked you take the number of levels(in this case 8 players at level 1), add the levels together & divide it by the number of players. Which would make the APL for these guys 2 since they are over 6 players. Or did i miss something?

Well let me cover a few basics I didnt in my initial post.

First, I have run alot of other RPGs, just not pathfinder yet, though I am a long time player. Out of my group I think only 3 of the 8 are brand new to pathfinder, & 2 of them played 3.5

The big reason I allowed 8 players is because alot of them dont have schedules that always allow them to make games, but at least for the first few sessions that wont be an issue from what I can see. I am merely preparing for when the stars & moons align(as a friend like to put it)

I'm used to combats taking a while with large groups, my games are normally 6-8 players in other systems(world of darkness, rifts, etc)

I'm mostly just trying to make sure I dont throw too much at them too soon in terms of system, since the CR system seems to handle things alot better(and takes some of the stress off me) then other games handle encounters.

Also this campaign is custom built, not pre-gen. Its a sandbox guilds game set in calimport forgotten realms, which is perfect for pulling PCs in & out as needed due to Real life.

Going to be running it every other sunday, medium progression, most likely with role play & "you got here on time yay!!" extra xp

So I have a rather huge urban campaign starting in 2 weeks, & have managed to gain 8 players(guess people really love the concept for my game? yay?)

I have got the system for Creating encounters down, but am wondering if only haveing the +1 over 6 players will be enough?

We used heroic rolling to generate stats. The lowest modifier total we have is a +8 total across his stats & most others are in the region of 9-12 bonuses.

I was thinking maybe add another +1 to the APL to account for the 2 extra players over 6? But am unsure if that would break the system or not

You are right douglasiv, there are some more generic monsters in Rise of the Runelord too that would be fine for a repaint. But as a whole set, there are many minis as a percentage that wouldn't make sense. Sure! Pull the Goblins out to create a cool Encounter Pack.

Later,

Mazra

I would personally love to see a goblins & orcs encounter pack, as those are two of the types of critters I need to get the most of.

Thanks for the replies to this question by the way guys, really helps me figure stuff out. I am planning on buying up a bunch of singles soon.

I have heard varying talk about this from alot of locals around my gaming scene & figured I would ask here.

Is Pathfinder Battles Monsters & Heros set a limited release(aka they only made a certain amount of them that are running out) or are they going to stay in print for the next few years?

We ran out of them & couldnt get them at the local game store, but now suddenly we have them back in. So I am wondering if I need to buy up a crap ton of the ones I really want before they are gone.

Thanks in advance & I apologize if this is a pretty well known question, I just cant seem to find out one way or another.

Thanks for all the replies. After looking over it all, we decided to go with the bestiary 2 variants instead of the genasi ones.

Interestingly, we also found the Suli in bestiary 3 which fits really well into the setting, so I threw that in there under the planetouched as a "high born" djinn descendant.

I am preping for a pathfinder based Forgotten Realms game set in the 2nd edition calimport setting book, & have run across the Jhasinnar Sodality in the book. I have only seen the 2 blurbs of them in Emerald & Palace wards, but other then it seeming like a shady guild with connections to the black market, I cant find any other entries for it.

Does anyone have any more details on this group? Also I am starting within the month & would love if you guys could point me to some really awesome groups/antagonists from both 2nd & 3rd ed forgotten realms. I have alot of the 3rd ed books, but only have so much time to read them.

So any suggestions are awesome.

So I have been preping for a Forgotten Realms Calimport game using pathfinder rules. Most of the FR races port pretty simply since I am not allowing any of the underdark ones or the special ones out of Races of Faerun.

The genasi on the other hand are a bit of a quandry for me. The aasamir & tiefling are pretty much exactly what they where in FR in the first bestiary,so a friend of mine suggested looking up the Ifrit, Oread, Undine & Sylph from beastiary 2 to replace the genasi.

Thing is while they have similar themes, they are completely different in so many way, & as far as I can tell alot of the level adjusted races from FR are even with the core ones in pathfinder.

Thoughts? Should I keep the genasi from the FR 3rd edition campaign setting as is, or just plug in the replacements from bestiary 2?

So me & some friends have been playing pathfinder on & off now for a while, various campaigns. One of the biggest complaints every player has always had was that they loved the Half Orc concept, but the mechanics where a bit lackluster compared to other races.

I proposed the following fix for them. I mostly used half elves as a comparison for it, & noticed they get 1 feature(skill focus) more then half orcs. So thats easy to fix, we just added the Toughness feat for free.

But even with that we thought he was a bit underpowered. So I adjusted orc ferocity a bit by making it level based. The number of rounds you can act is now half your character level, which isnt very broken, but makes it more useful at higher levels(so 2nd its 1, 6th its 3, 12th its 6). Its still a once a day only though.

I have contemplated if it might be a tad bit too powerful, & changeing it to an additional round every 3 levels. So 1 at 1st, 2 at 3rd, 3 at 6th, 4 at 9th, etc.

Opinions? I think it personally makes half orcs a bit more desireable to play as, making them really good tanks, & giving spell casters a bit of an edge in survival vs other non orc spell casters.

One way I use to ramp up the tension is NPCs. If you put an NPC with the party of equal or greater level, let them get attached to him & used to his presence, then have said big bad one shot him or take him out without breaking a sweat, that drives home to the players how screwed they really are.

I've played with many groups & that one makes them pale face very quickly.

Page 401, after you determine the total gp value for an encounter, you can replace part of it with random magic items, minor items replace 1000 gp, standard replace 10000 gp, and major replace 40000gp.

Woot!! Thanks man your a life saver!! :D

So I am getting ready to start my first pathfinder game as a GM(played a few campaigns so far). I was looking through the magic item generation tables & I am trying to figure out something.

The minor, medium & major table differences are used for community sizes, but how do you tell which one to use for just random encounters with monsters?

I must admit I havnt read through the entire GM side of the book yet, but this one is bugging me because I cant find it.

Reworking a few things. Beam of Undeath & Immunity to Death I feel are pretty solid.

I am looking to retool the Necromantic Minion class feature, as after a bit of thought it just doesnt seem to fit. So I am tossing that one out & starting from scratch.

Augmented Necromancy(Replaces Necromantic Minion)
Being a master of necromantic magics, the Sorcerous Necromancer creates far more powerful undead. At 1st, 3rd, 6th & 9th level undead created by the Sorcerous Necromancer receive a +1 to both their Strength & Charisma scores.

Necromantic General was a crap name & after reading the animate dead spell a bit more in depth realized I didnt have the scope of it right. Heres the new version.

Unfathomable Command

Normally a spell caster may only control 4 HD multiplied by their caster level of undead at one time. The power of the Sorcerous Necromancer surpasses other spellcasters immensely, their will allowing them to control far more necromantic energies then other spell casters. Starting at 1st level a Sorcerous Necromancer may control 5 HD multiplied by his caster level of undead at one time. This increases to 6 HD times their level at 5th, & 7HD times their level at 10th. He must still gain control of these undead by normal arcane means(command undead, control undead, animate dead, etc).

Spells per Day(Adjusted this)
As per the Dragon Disciple Class Feature of the same name, only he gains this at each level instead.

Will of the Dead(an addition for balance)
Spells he selects must be able to be cast normally without materials. This means that any spell that could be cast without materials via the Eschew Materials Feat can be taken.

What exactly are you giving up here ? As far as I can see you do not actually lose anything, just gain more powers.

The new powers replace all the draconic specific powers of the Dragon Disciple. We found it was a good idea to base the class off that since it was the closest thing to a build of what we wanted.

Also, I think you should change the prerequisites... I think you should require the Undead Bloodline, but also Channel Energy (Negative), rather than skill checks. Then expand the Spells per Day to include Cleric Spells, limited to Necromancy Spells only.

Ie: Necromantic Spells: The Necromancer (or Wraith) continues spell progression as a Sorcerer, as well as Cleric Spell progression, but limited to only Necromancy spells. (or some such).

I never liked the clerical route that the True Necromancer took. The whole channeling energy thing just doesnt fit the route I wanted to go with this.

This was an attempt at a purely arcane(thematically) necromancer. I figure hes found arcane ways to duplicate divine style spells.

What level is the Necromantic Minion?

That I am not sure of. Since he can release the minion & make a new one later on I think it would just be out of the beastiary unless it was one of the undead that acts as a template?

Will Of The Dead

Limit to Necromancer School, and you should actually generate a list, as some spells as spell-like abilities, is just way too powerful. Alternately, limit to a level. 3rd level, a 1st level spell. 6th level, a 2nd level spell. Etc.

Knew I missed something typing all that mass up. We had this noted on a piece of paper chicken scratch style :P

We are debating whether to make a list or not for this class feature, as dependent on when you start leveling in the prestige class could give you some really power abilities.

Forgot to add that only instantaneous spells would be able to become spell like abilities. No animating dead at will or some such stuff.

Gahhhhh the typos & things I somehow missed. How did I not type in blood of dragons? XD

Edit - Fixed a few phrases I accidentally left out

So I wanted to get some input on this homebrew prestige class me & my GM are working on.

I am playing an undead bloodline sorcerer in our Thursday night game & going for a necromancer bent(taking a crap ton of necromancy spells).

After looking throughout both 3.5 & pathfinder I was unable to find any prestige class that really seem to fit the necromancer I had in mind, which specifically was like the Diablo 2 Necro.

So heres a rough summary of what we have so far. This is based off the Dragon Disciple out of the Core Pathfinder book. I would love feedback & suggestions on this so me & my GM can fine tune it.

Sorcerous Necromancer (working title
Born with the curse of the undead in their blood, not all sorcerers become malevolent creatures like the dead things that they are descendant from. But a rare few of those sorcerers not only accept their unnatural heritage, but embrace it with their very soul.

The Sorcerous Necromancer is a true master of magics of death. He bends both undead creatures & necromantic magics to his very will, & thus is the most skilled user of necromancy that exists.

Requirements
One level of Sorcerer: Undead Bloodline
Alignment: Any Evil
Knowledge: Arcana - 5 Ranks
Knowledge: Religion - 5 Ranks
Spell Craft - 5 Ranks

Stats(work in progress)
Weak BAB
Strong Will Save
Weak Reflex/Fortitude Save

Level Guide
1 - Immunity To Death +1, Necromantic General +1
2 - Bonus Necromancy Spell, Necromantic General +1, Bloodline Feat
3 - Will Of The Dead 1st, Beam Of Undeath 1st
4 - Immunity To Death +1, Bonus Necromancy Spell
5 - Necromantic Minion, Necromantic General +1, Bloodline Feat
6 - Will Of The Dead 2nd, Bonus Necromancy Spell, Beam Of Undeath 2nd
7 - Immunity To Death +1, Necromantic General +1
8 - Bonus Necromancy Spell, Necromantic General + 1
9 - Will Of The Dead 3rd, Beam Of Undeath 3rd
10 - Immunity to Death +1

Class Features

Spells Per Day : As per the Dragon Disciple Class Feature of the same name

Necroplasm: As per the Dragon Disciple Class Feature Blood Of Dragons but with the undead bloodline replacing draconic

Bloodline Feats: As per the Dragon Disciple Class Feature but with the undead bloodline feats

Immunity to Death: The Sorcerous Necromancer has mastered his powers over the magic of death so well that his very body defies spells cast against him by rival necromancers. Spells of the necromancy school cast at the Sorcerous Necromancer find their DC increased by +1 for each rank of this class feature(1st, 4th, 7th, & 10th level)

At 7th level the sorcerous necromancer may make a Will Save against necromancy spells that normally would not need a DC check(such as attack spells like Ray Of Enfeeblement). If he makes this save the spell is negated as his body merely absorbs the unnatural energies.

Will Of The Dead: At 3rd, 6th, & 9th level the Sorcerous Necromancer may take one Necromancy[/]i spell he [i]already knows previous to gaining that level & transform it into a spell like ability. He may then use that spell like ability 3+ his charisma modifer times a day. He also removes the spell from his spell list & selects a new spell to replace it as if he had replaced it like the Sorcerer Class Feature.

Necromantic General(working title for now)
The power of the Sorcerous Necromancer surpasses other spellcasters immensely, their will allowing them to tap far more necromantic energy at once then others. At 1st, 2nd, 5th, 7th, & 8th level the Sorcerous Necromancer gains a +1 Hit Dice for determining how many Undead Creatures he may control at once.

Bonus Necromancy Spells: At 2nd, 4th, 6th, & 8th level the Sorcerous Necromancer may select a bonus Necromancy spell regardless of class restrictions to add to his spell list. He is still limited by his caster level when he chooses this spell(Example, if he is only able to cast 4th level spells at his current level, then he may only select from 4th level or lower Necromancy Spells)

Beam Of Undeath: At 3rd level the Sorcerous Necromancer gains a ray of negative energy attack that may be used 3+ his Charisma mod times a day. This ray only affects undead, causing 2D4 damage to them & healing the Sorcerous Necromancer for the amount of damage inflicted. The unholy power that animates the undead that this power hits is literally sucked out of them into the caster. Non undead creatures that are hit by this attack get a sudden case of the creepys, but otherwise are unaffected("I've got a bad feeling about this" :P)

This attack increases in power by 1D4 at 6th & 9th level.

Necromantic Minion: The most coveted ability of the Sorcerous Necromancer is the ability to create loyal intelligent undead. As long as the sorcerous necromancer creates the undead he has the option during the ritual to mix a bit of his own soul into the necromantic magic(similar to how a summoner binds with his eidolon). The result is an undead servant that is utterly loyal to his master, even if it is intelligent undead.

Only one Necromantic Minion may exist at a time, due to the taxing nature of the ritual. Since the ritual requires the caster to be the creator of the minion, things that make themselves undead of their own accord(such as liches) can never become Necromantic Minions.

At any point the Sorcerous Necromancer may release the minion from his control, pulling that lost piece of his soul back to him. The minion then becomes an uncontrolled undead creature & will follow its own accord(even attacking its former master if it wishes).

The undead do NOT share a telepathic link with the Sorcerous Necromancer, but are compelled to do as commanded verbally by the Sorcerous Necromancer. Intelligent Undead will never take actions that they know would cause or bring harm(even in the most round about way) to their master.

Horrible Treatment of your Necromantic Minion(intelligent ones only) can result in the minion forcibly breaking the bond. Treat this the same as the command undead spell in terms of no suicidal orders, etc. If the minion is ordered constantly to do things that are obviously suicidal it breaks free from the Necromancers control(most likly going for his jugular too)