Sethvir's page

I'm running Crypt of the Everflame next month to start what I'm hoping to be an ongoing (if long-distance) campaign. I decided to create some character traits for the players; with one exception, they're all new players, and I thought this might give them some ideas on creating their PCs. I also wanted to encourage their characters to be heroic members of the Kassen community to justify them being selected as the heroes for the quest.

Please let me know if anyone has any feedback (or, better yet, any additions)!

----------

Select one campaign trait during character creation. Include the associated details as appropriate as part of your character’s background

Close Call: A local child went swimming in the river nearby, but was pulled under by the current. You were able to swim to her aid and bring her back to the shore, and you and your friends revived her. Pick one of the following skills: Heal or Swim. You gain a +1 trait bonus in that skill, and that skill is a class skill for you.

Defense of Honor: Grimscar, a half-orc local known for picking fights, was harassing Asina at the Seven Silvers Tavern. You stood up to him, and ended up taking a serious punch from the hulking brute. Your stoic response to the best he could give caused Grimscar to back down; you have a +1 trait bonus on Fortitude saving throws.

Discerning Eye: You noticed that a traveling merchant was trying to buy what appeared to be a mundane item from Braggar Ironhame for a fraction of its value. You pointed out the item’s true value and unique qualities, preventing the stranger from taking advantage of the surly dwarf- and possibly making an enemy in the process. Pick one of the following skills: Appraise, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (religion) or Spellcraft. You gain a +1 trait bonus in that skill, and that skill is a class skill for you.

Healing Touch: A local child ate an herb from the nearby Fang Wood and became very ill, collapsing in the town square. You used your knowledge to quickly purge the child of toxins and save her life. Pick one of the following skills: Heal, Knowledge (local), or Knowledge (nature). You gain a +1 trait bonus in that skill, and that skill is a class skill for you.

Horse Whisperer: You have always had a way with animals- and it sometimes comes in handy. Recently, a saw horse nearly throw its rider. You were able to calm the animal and help the rider dismount safely. You gain a +1 trait bonus in Handle Animal, and the skill is a class skill for you.

Nick of Time: You pushed Len Becker, the town drunk, out of the way of a cart just outside of town, saving his life. Your swift reactions have always had a tendency to serve you well, and grant you a +1 trait bonus on Reflex saving throws.

Perseverence: A local child recently went missing in the nearby Fang Wood. While others stopped their search when night fell due to bad weather, and tried to convince you to stop, you persevered. You found the child several hours later and brought him home safely. Pick [u]one[/u]: you gain a +1 trait bonus on Will saves, [u]or[/u] you gain a +1 trait bonus in Survival, and the skill is a class skill for you.

Showdown: You encountered a group of ruffians from out of town threatening a townsperson, and, through your strength of personality, got them to back down. Pick one of the following skills: Bluff or Intimidate. You gain a +1 trait bonus in that skill, and that skill is a class skill for you.

Hey Folks, Fat Goblin has put together this charity bundle to help artist Rick Hershey. Rick is a full-time freelance artist working in the gaming industry. His work is seen in Kobold Quarterly and Open Design projects (illustration and layout), in Dreamscarred Press' variety of Psionic Books, and he's the Art Director for Adamant Entertainment and Fat Goblin Games, and illustrates www.creaturedaily.com

Due to financial strain from clients unable to pay (3k owed), dealing with various hardships this last year (including the loss of his son and his wife's continued battle with Crohn's Desease) Rick works around the clock to bring stability to his family.

Right now Rick is behind from clients not paying. This bundle is an effort to help Rick and his family out and allow him to breath, catch up on work, and get ahead. He is a fantastic artist dedicated to this industry and love of the game. Please help them out.

This bundle includes all of the Fat Goblin Games products bundled at over 50% off. Buy this bundle, tell your friends, spread the word. Let's take care of someone who gives so much to the industry he loves.

Go to Charity Bundle.

General Sey'lok as a graveknight of death made a big impression on the Ulfen paladin in the Carrion Crown campaign. He had already encountered one creature calling itself by that name, but that guy went down like a punk so he was somewhat dismissive of this version (we'll call him "True Sey'lok"). However, when True Sey'lok cancelled out his smite evil (corruption resistance), he re-evaluated his opinion real quick. And as the general escaped the fight, he'll be back to face down the paladin in the future...

So, as promised, I present my version of General Sey'lok, as the graveknight of death.

I made him a half-orc because the name Sey'lok has a distinctively orcish sound to it. Bar-Taphon used the orcs of Belkzen as part of his war-machine to take Ustalav. And as the orcs are known to breed half-orcs for the purpose of command roles, I figured that this guy displayed a ruthlessness that went beyond anything normally exhibited by his kin to attract the Whispering Tyrant's notice to become one of his generals. And that quality was rewarded not only with being made one of his elite (death knight) but with undergoing the ritual that made him a powerful undead. Add to that the fact he has learned the secrets of using hellfire (learned from the Tyrant himself) and you've got the ingredients for a powerful recurring foe.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy seeing this as much as I enjoyed using him (and I did give my players a big cheesy grin for you, btw.) The look on my players faces when I said "he swings his large curved sword that flickers with ash-gray flame once in a deft stroke" (grave strike+vital strike+his previous channeled energy) went from 'Whaaa...?' as I picked up 6d4 and 7d6 to roll (for 80 total damage) to 'Holy Crap!' when the victim (the dhampir sorceror) blew their Fort save and died without benefit of stabilization thanks to Deadly Finish. And to think I almost went with conductive instead of grayflame for his sword Zar'thos (hope you like the name).

EDIT: I know nightmarish transport is supposed to be only used on the bonded mount, but I used it on his phantom mount instead to great effect.

First, what this thread isn't. It isn't about whether or not the current magic item system works. It isn't about whether or not the crafting feats should be nerfed or buffed. It basically has nothing to do with the existing system. So no need to post that the current system is or isn't working. Obviously, if you hate magic item crafting, then you shouldn't bother with this thread.

Now, my question is, assuming everything else was left alone (the classes, races, CR system, enemies, magic, WBL, etc.) but they completely redesigned the magic item system (potentially including the distribution of the crafting feats), including rebuilding all the items in the book (no cut and paste issues), what would you want out of such a system?

Personally, the biggest thing I'd want to see would be that the system was designed from the beginning with the idea that the players could make use of it (though of course the GM retains veto rights).

The second thing I'd like to see would be that the system has some flexibility to handle different campaign assumptions regarding the availability of spellcasting. Really, I suppose it'd be better to say that the system should include a guide for what assumptions need to be made for a high-magic world vs a low-magic world, or a high-level world vs a low-level world, and some info on how to adjust things.

A less important aspect I'd like to see would be for the system itself to be built to encourage more colorful items.

Ok, have at it. I doubt this will actually last more than 5 posts before it goes up in flames. :D

Be warned: the Shadowcaster, while extremely cool and very much a bad-boy (or girl, as the case may be) of 3.5, was an extremely complex and complicated class. This conversion retains much of that complexity. I would like any suggestions that you might have to fully convert this class over to Pathfinder. Don't worry about hurting my feelings; I had those surgically removed years ago. LOL

Anyways, thanks in advance, ladies and gentlemen. And I do hope that you manage to enjoy what I have put together for you tonight.

Master Arminas

Shadowcaster

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d6.

BAB: Low

Good Saves: Fort and Will

Class Skills: Craft (Int); Fly (Dex); Intimidate (Cha); Knowledge (Any) (Int); Linguistics (Int); Perception (Wis); Profession (Wis); Spellcraft (Int); and Stealth (Dex).

Skill Points per Level: 2 plus Intelligence modifier

Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Shadowcasters are proficient with simple weapons and with light armor. They are not proficient with medium armor, heavy armor, or shields of any type. Armor does interfere with the somatic gestures required to cast mysteries as spells, so there is a chance of arcane spell failure when the shadowcaster wears armor. Mysteries invoked as spell-like or supernatural abilities are not subject to arcane spell failure when cast by a shadowcaster.

Fundamentals of Shadow (Su) : A shadowcaster masters certain basic powers before proceeding to deeper secrets of shadow. These powers—known as fundamentals of shadow (see below for a list of the different fundamentals)—function as supernatural abilities and can be used at will. Initially, a shadowcaster begins play with knowledge of three fundamentals of her choice. At 2nd level, and every even shadowcaster level gained thereafter she may learn an additional fundamental until all nine have been learned at 12th level. The save DC for a fundamental—if any—is equal to 11 + the shadowcaster’s Intelligence modifier.

Mysteries and Paths: A shadowcaster does not cast spells as other classes do, but instead invokes mystical secrets called mysteries. Rather than learning a single mystery at a time, a shadowcaster learns them in a triad of powers known as a path. Whenever a shadowcaster learns a new path, she learns all three mysteries on that path, even those whose level is greater than she is able to invoke. As a shadowcaster gains experience, she becomes able to access these higher level mysteries.
At 1st level, a shadowcaster can only invoke 1st level mysteries. At every odd level gained thereafter, a shadowcaster gains access to the next highest level of mysteries along the paths that she knows, to a maximum of 9th-level mysteries at 17th level.
Paths are divided into three categories, each one representing a new tier of shadow-magic. Apprentice level paths contain mysteries of 1st through 3rd level, and are available to a starting shadowcaster. Initiate level paths contain mysteries of 4th through 6th level and become available when a shadowcaster reaches 7th level. Master level paths contain mysteries of 7th through 9th level, and are only available to shadowcasters who have achieved at least 13th level in this class.
At 1st level, a shadowcaster may select two Apprentice level paths to add to her repertoire. At 3rd level, and every two shadowcaster levels gained thereafter, she may select one additional path of her choice. She may freely choose between any path for her selection, so long as she possesses high enough a class level as a shadowcaster to qualify for the chosen path.
At no time may a shadowcaster ever know more Initiate level paths than she knows Apprentice level paths. Nor may she ever know more Master level paths than she knows Initiate level paths.
Mysteries represent thought patterns and formulae so alien that other spells seem to pale in comparison. As a shadowcaster progresses, however, your connection to the Plane of Shadow grows stronger, and her mysteries become more ingrained in her essence. When she is capable of casting only apprentice level mysteries, she invokes them as though they were arcane spells. They all have somatic components, armor-based spell failure chance, and are subject to interruption (but they do not require material components, foci, or verbal components). Whenever she casts a mystery as an arcane spell, observers can make a DC 15 Spot check to note that her shadow is making different gestures from the ones she makes when casting the mystery.
At 7th level, when a shadowcaster becomes capable of casting initiate level mysteries, her apprentice level mysteries have become so much a part of her that they now function as spell-like abilities, and they no longer require somatic components. Her new initiate level mysteries are now invoked as arcane spells as described above.
When a shadowcaster reaches 13th level and become capable of invoking master level mysteries, another change occurs. A shadowcasters master level mysteries now functions as arcane spells, and her initiate level mysteries function as spell-like abilities. Her apprentice level mysteries become supernatural abilities at this level, and as such are no longer subject to spell resistance or hostile dispelling. Nor do they provoke attacks of opportunity when a shadowcaster invokes them.
Mysteries and spells do not easily interact. Spell attempts to dispel mysteries (or vice versa) take a -4 penalty on all dispel checks. Mysteries can be identified with a Spellcraft check, but requires a different understanding of that skill (and likewise in reverse). A shadowcaster with no knowledge of standard magical workings (i.e. caster levels) and arcane or divine casters with no knowledge of shadowcasting take a -4 penalty on all Spellcraft checks to identify mysteries or spells, respectively.
A shadowcaster can use each mystery that she knows a certain number of times per day, depending on whether the mystery is invoked as a spell (once per day), a spell-like ability (twice per day), or a supernatural ability (three times per day).
A shadowcaster does not prepare mysteries in advance of invoking them, but must still rest for 8 hours and meditate for 15 minutes each morning to refresh her invoked mysteries.
In order to invoke a mystery, a shadowcaster must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the level of the mystery. The save DC for a mystery cast by a shadowcaster is 11 + the level of the mystery + the shadowcaster’s Intelligence modifier.
A shadowcaster’s caster level is equal to her shadowcaster level.
A complete list of all paths and mysteries follows the class description (see below).

Bonus Feats: At 1st level, a shadowcaster gains a bonus feat from the following list: Favored Mystery, Greater Path Focus, Path Focus, Shadow Cast, Shadow Familiar, and Still Mystery. She must meet all prerequisites listed in order to choose the feat. At 5th level, and every four levels gained as a shadowcaster thereafter, she may choose one additional bonus feat from this list.

Deep Shadows (Ex) : At 2nd level, a shadowcaster’s power beckons to the shadows around her, causing them to warp and extend to cover her with their darkness. She gains a +2 competence bonus on all Stealth skill checks at any time she is not in direct sunlight or the radius of a daylight spell. At 8th level, and every six shadowcaster levels gained thereafter, this bonus increases by +2 to a maximum bonus of +8 at 20th level.

Umbral Sight (Su) : Starting at 3rd level, a shadowcaster’s vision extends slightly into the Plane of Shadow. She gains darkvision out to 30 feet. If she already possessed darkvision, then her existing darkvision range increases by 30 feet. At both 11th and 19th level, the range of her darkvision increases by an additional 30 feet.

Sustaining Shadow (Ex) : Upon reaching 5th-level, a shadowcaster’s bond to the Plane of Shadow allows her to absorb the dark energies found there, mitigating certain biological needs. She need eat only a single meal each week to maintain her health. At 10th level, she needs to sleep only 2 hours each night (although she can still only regain her spent mysteries once every twenty-four hours). At 15th level, she becomes immune to both poison and disease. Finally, at 20th level, she no longer needs to breathe, eat, drink, or sleep (but must still have 2 hours of rest to refresh her expended mysteries).

Shadows of Cold (Ex) : Beginning at 6th level, a shadowcaster becomes accustomed to the soul-numbing cold of the Plane of Shadow. She gains cold resistance 10. This cold resistance increases by 10 at both 10th and 14th level. At 18th level, she becomes immune to all cold damage.

Master of Shadows (Ex) : At 20th level, as a standard action, a shadowcaster may transform herself and her equipment into an incorporeal being of shadow. She may remain in shadowform for up to one minute for every shadowcaster level she has gained. This duration need not be used consecutively, but each use counts as one minute duration, regardless of the actual time spent in shadowform.
While in shadowform, the shadowcaster gains a fly speed of 60 feet with perfect maneuverability. She gains a deflection bonus to her Armor Class equal to her Intelligence modifier. She may freely cast spells at corporeal creatures with no miss chance due to her own shadowform. For all other aspects of her incorporeal state, see the incorporeal listing on page 295 of the PRD Monster Reference.

Exclusive Shadowcaster Feats

Fundamentals of Shadow

Apprentice Paths and Mysteries

Initiate Paths and Mysteries

Master Paths and Mysteries

The Expanded Spell-Less Ranger is finally out!!!

This stand alone PDF includes new material beyond the original magazine version, two new archetypes for the companion-bound ranger and the dual-style ranger, new animal companion options and Ranger Talents, expanded tracking, hunting, additional favored enemies plus new feats specific to this Ranger that make them masters of their terrain.

Includes a full 20-level character progression plus tracking sheets for favored terrain, enemies, and companions.

Hopefully everyone will Check it out HERE!

So, maybe we're Paizo-fanboys, or maybe we were just *that* anxious to get our pirate-on, but tonight we decided to play a oneshot focused around the new naval-combat rules in the S&S Player's Guide.

We can into a lot of rules questions. If anyone knows clear answers to these questions, please chime in! Maybe we can turn this thread into a clearing-house for figuring out the rules.

Without further ado:

Our ship was on fire, then we grappled and began shipboard combat; how do we now put the fire out? Can we take the "uncontrolled action"? Or is the crew too busy fighting, and we're doomed to burn?

We had lots of momentum (4 squares/rd), and start only 1 square away from another ship, so we attempt to ram. We fail the CMB check; do we end adjacent? Do we "slip on by" the ship and end elsewhere? The text says our "movement rate is reduced to 0", which implies that kicks in next turn - but what about this one?

We are now perpendicularly adjacent to the enemy ship (from the failed ram). We then initiate a grapple (and succeed!), do the ships move to parallel position? The text seems to say so. If this is the case, on which initiative tick? The exact tick matters, as now shipboard combat is about to begin, and the spellcasters are itching to try out their short-range spells.

When you do a mass attack from the broadsides, what attack bonus do you use? We eventually picked +3, because we figured they'd all be warrior 1, with a dex mod of 1, and they all took weaponfocus(seigeengine). But what should we have really done? Are there rules for getting a better crew?

The text says the sails become broken if "half the squares of sails are destroyed" (sidebar, pg 11). The enemy ship had 90 squares of sails, but we didn't have any ideas as how to correlate the damage we were doing to the squares that the ship had. So we just went with "half HP" instead to make it consistant with how other things get broken.

We attacked the enemy sails, they got the broken condition: what exactly does this do? We ruled -2 to Prof(sailor) checks to accelerate/deccelerate. Is this right?

How does "changing the heading of your ship" work? When we did it, there were three squares between our two ships. Then we successfully did a "hard to starboard" action. Because our ship was three squares long, this made us instantly adjacent. Is this correct?

Thanks!!

Thanks Rob!

If you don't mind, you spawned a couple follow-up questions.

Rob wrote:

you're going to collide with the other ship whether you make a ramming check or not (assuming you have initiative so the other ship can't move out of the way first). If you make the ramming check, you have the chance for greater success (dealing more damage to the target and reducing its speed), but if you fail the check, you still ram, and both your ship and the target take damage from the collision.

Could you elaborate on the part that I bolded? The PG doesn't actually say what happens on a failed check, only that "Regardless of the result of the combat maneuver check, the ramming ship’s speed is reduced to 0." Are you applying the below text?:

Normally on a failed ramming check, you either miss or don't do any damage (but your speed is reduced to 0 regardless - much like a failed overrun attempt). In the situation you posted, your ship was moving at a high speed, meaning that it would collide with the other ship no matter what (unless the other ship can move out of the way beforehand). In this case, it becomes a collision instead of a ram, and uses the rules below.

pg 15 wrote:

If a ship collides with another ship or a solid object (an immobile structure with a hardness of 5 or more), it also makes a ramming maneuver, regardless of the pilot’s intent. There is no combat maneuver check for this ramming maneuver; its effects happen automatically. When a ship makes a ramming maneuver against a solid object, to determine how much damage both the solid object and the ship take, allow the ship to enter the solid object’s space. The ship will only travel through that space if the damage is enough to destroy the solid object; in all other cases, the ship takes the damage and its speed is immediately reduced to 0 as it comes to a sudden stop directly in front of the solid object.

Is an enemy ship an "immobile structure"? How much damage is dealt? The bolded part is extremely unclear, and I assumed it meant that "rocks" have listed damage-scores in the AP scenarios.

A ship is not an immobile structure. "Solid objects" or "immobile structures" are things like rocks, reefs, walls, the ground, etc. The damage dealt is the same for a normal ramming maneuver, i.e., a ship's ramming damage. Both the ship and the object it collided with (such as another ship) take the same amount of damage. Rocks do not have hit points listed in the AP - they follow the rules for object AC, hardness, and hp from the Core Rulebook. The part about damage and passing through the space are only if the ramming/colliding ship does enough damage to destroy the object it collided with - such as a rowboat, a wooden wall, or the like. If it does not do enough damage to destroy the object, the ship stops directly in front of it.

As a tangent follow-up: if we attempt a ramming check, and succeed the check by 5 or more, do WE take double damage TOO? Or just the enemy ship? (A strict reading of the text suggests we DO take double.)

No. The "target takes twice the ship's ramming damage." The ramming ship takes half its normal ramming damage, as normal (unless it has a ram, in which case it takes no damage).

Rob wrote:

That would be correct (though you would be perpendicular, not adjacent to the other ship).

If I'm reading you right, you are saying that if we are perpendicular and only one square away (or zero squares away) then we are NOT "adjacent", per the keyword?

Sorry, I meant "not parallel," not "not adjacent". You are adjacent, but you are perpendicular, not parallel (which doesn't really have any effect on boarding).

The text says the sails become broken if "half the squares of sails are destroyed" (sidebar, pg 11). The enemy ship had 90 squares of sails, but we didn't have any ideas as how to correlate the damage we were doing to the squares that the ship had. So we just went with "half HP" instead to make it consistant with how other things get broken.

The squares of a ship (and its sails) determine the hp of the ship (and its sails). The sails of a ship with 90 squares of sails have 360 hp (90 x 4 = 360). When you deal 180 points of damage to the ship's sails (thus destroying half the squares of sails: 180/4=45 squares), the sails gain the broken condition.

Really, squares are just to figure out how many hit points a ship or its sails have. A ship's stat block should list the number of hit points it and its sails have, and just as with any object, taking damage in excess of half its hit points means its gains the broken condition.

We attacked the enemy sails, they got the broken condition: what exactly does this do? We ruled -2 to Prof(sailor) checks to accelerate/deccelerate. Is this right?

The rules for broken propulsion are at the top of the sidebar on page 11: "When a means of propulsion gains the broken condition, the ship's maximum speed is halved, and the ship can no longer gain the upper hand." If the new speed is lower than the ship's new maximum speed, it automatically decelerates to its new maximum speed.

How does "changing the heading of your ship" work? When we did it, there were three squares between our two ships. Then we successfully did a "hard to starboard" action. Because our ship was three squares long, this made us instantly adjacent. Is this correct?

That would be correct (though you would be perpendicular, not adjacent to the other ship). However, you can choose to change heading at any point during the movement. If you turn at the beginning of your movement, it sounds like you'd ram the ship next to you as your ship continues to move forward.

So, maybe we're Paizo-fanboys, or maybe we were just *that* anxious to get our pirate-on, but tonight we decided to play a oneshot focused around the new naval-combat rules in the S&S Player's Guide.

We can into a lot of rules questions. If anyone knows clear answers to these questions, please chime in! Maybe we can turn this thread into a clearing-house for figuring out the rules.

Without further ado:

Our ship was on fire, then we grappled and began shipboard combat; how do we now put the fire out? Can we take the "uncontrolled action"? Or is the crew too busy fighting, and we're doomed to burn?

Since the ship's speed is now reduced to 0 from grappling, there are no longer any ship movement actions to take (uncontrolled or otherwise). Since shipboard combat focuses on the actions of the PCs (with the crew acting in the background), I think it's fair to say that the crew can both fight and try to put out the fire, using the normal saving throw each round to put out the fire.

We had lots of momentum (4 squares/rd), and start only 1 square away from another ship, so we attempt to ram. We fail the CMB check; do we end adjacent? Do we "slip on by" the ship and end elsewhere? The text says our "movement rate is reduced to 0", which implies that kicks in next turn - but what about this one?

If you're 30 feet (one square) away and moving at a speed of 120 feet (4 squares), you're going to collide with the other ship whether you make a ramming check or not (assuming you have initiative so the other ship can't move out of the way first). If you make the ramming check, you have the chance for greater success (dealing more damage to the target and reducing its speed), but if you fail the check, you still ram, and both your ship and the target take damage from the collision. In either case, your ship's speed is reduced to 0 immediately (not next turn).

We are now perpendicularly adjacent to the enemy ship (from the failed ram). We then initiate a grapple (and succeed!), do the ships move to parallel position? The text seems to say so. If this is the case, on which initiative tick? The exact tick matters, as now shipboard combat is about to begin, and the spellcasters are itching to try out their short-range spells.

Grappling normally takes place in parallel, but it can happen perpendicularly too. The ships are moved adjacent to one another, not parallel, on the next round. This happens on the grappling ship's initiative count, unless both pilots wish to grapple, in which case it can happen on the grappled ship's initiative count.

Once shipboard combat begins, I would re-roll initiative, since you're moving to a different type of combat in a different setting, and initiative should no longer be tied to the pilots of the tow ships.

When you do a mass attack from the broadsides, what attack bonus do you use? We eventually picked +3, because we figured they'd all be warrior 1, with a dex mod of 1, and they all took weaponfocus(seigeengine). But what should we have really done? Are there rules for getting a better crew?

You use the attack bonus of the crew firing the weapons. Usually the crew will be made up of identical crewmembers, so their attack bonuses will be the same. Stats for crews (and the attack bonuses for a ship's siege engine) are given in specific encounters in the AP. Likewise, there are guidelines in the AP for determining the makeup of the PCs' crew.

Alright, well for now I've gotten things looking a bit more pleasing to my low-light accustomed eyes. If any of you want to mess around with this a bit more, here's what I've got so far...

Darker Paizo Theme

To Configure:

• In Chrome install the extension "Stylish"
  
• From your Extensions screen, click to edit the Options for Stylish
  
• Create a new style
  
• Fill out the configuration info like so
  
• Copy and paste the contents of this file into the code section
  
• Save

Now the reason I didn't apply it to just http://paizo.com is because that will reskin the PRD site. It is possible to rollback the changes specifically for that URL, but that's more work than simply clicking the Paizo link at the top of the site so that the URL changes to http://paizo.com/paizo. ;)

Anyway, if anyone wants to put a bit more effort into this then cool. For now this should get me by at least.

Hi all, i need some advice on building my magus for a STR build. I have read walters magus guide and its very helpful but there are a lot of options to pick. So what would be the most optimal. Also i know dervish dance and the DEX build is a little more power at lower games, but the GM only allowed the CRB, UM, UC, APG, and so forth. That is why i am a STR build. Also we just hit level 2 and here are my stats.

Human Magus lvl 2

Str: 18
Dex: 14
Con: 18
Int: 16
Wis: 11
Cha: 10

Weapon: scimitar
Feats: toughness, improved initiative

I know my stats are high, we rolled 1d12+6 and i got 2 18s :). Also when i made the character at that moment i chose human for the extra feat. However, i know i messed up big time optimization wise and should have gone with an Elf. I dont think i can change races :(, so i ask for any wisdom on making the character as best as he can be for a frontliner. Thanks! And Happy gaming! :)

I read that as "Thong-Cleaver" when I saw the heading.

Had to do a double take.

Bikinifang The Thong Cleaver.

+1 Elvin fine blade that grants +4 when sundering undergarments.

Here are some conversions I made for Pathfinder from the Tome of Magic.

Just moving the thread over here as promised, as these products-in-the-works, are now separate and distinct from their Sinister roots.

Repeating this part of my previous post as it got lost in the shuffle. If there's someplace else I can go to read about it myself, just point me there --

I wasn't previously aware of it but this KUG thing, specifically a Pathfinder edition thereof, sounds like it could be very cool. Is it "near future/near space" (say within 50 LY) or does it cover a significant portion of the galaxy? Does it reference actual nearby stars appropriately or jump straight out to unknown reaches, in the manner of Star Trek, Babylon 5 and indeed most SF TV series? I confess I would prefer a "near space" grounding though not have the setting limited to that.

Oops - sorry to miss this in the shuffle. The KUG is sandbox space opera/space horror with a drizzle of both cyberpunk and the truly alien. It's set in its own corner of the universe. Sorry, but its not near future/near space. It is, however, grounded in hard science and set in a barred spiral galaxy. Technology has been set so that as you tool between the inhabited zone (an area centered on a barbell shaped zone at the galactic core) and the frontier (a cubic region enclosing the barbell) travel times are roughly equivalent to Age of Sail travel times.

Venturing beyond the frontier to the tip of one of the two unexplored galactic arms and back might take a decade, round trip -- and no one lives who has ever done so. No one credible. After all who believes that crazy old ancient mariner with the funny black alien tentacle leaking from the back of his head?

The farther one ventures from the civilized bar at galactic core, the stranger and less predictable the cold void grows.

atheral wrote:

I actually pretty much did this. What I found was key to the rewrite (which were surprisingly fewer than I was expecting and simple) was instead of rolling for the randoms as the game progressed I did up a spread sheet and preplanned all of the encounters for the duration of what the trip should be (thanks to several others on this board for the original suggestion and the person who did the time v. distance calcs). After I had the scripted list it was pretty simple to alter the encounters (aurora gives a +2 bonus to will saves instead of its caravan bonus for example).

Could you post your modifications. I have a 6 person party that is finding caravan combat dull (aside from one player, who loves the caravan minutia), and I'm dreading running/modifying The Hungry Storm given nearly 20 possible caravan encounters. I'd love to see what you did, or at least a few examples so I can get started.

For reference, the caravan encounters were created based on the benchmarks in Table 1-1: Monster Statistics by CR on p. 291 in the Bestiary. However, as has been pointed out, those CRs were based on the operating principle of a PC party, with 4 PCs vs. one opponent. However, the mistake that we made, apparent in retrospect, is that the caravan isn't 4 PCs; it's *ONE* PC. As a result, those target CR benchmarks ended up 4 CR's too high.

This means you basically have two choices:

1. Give the PCs in your party the ability to create their own "caravan combat" roles. In essence, your caravan would get up to 4 attacks per round of caravan combat (assuming each PC used their "caravan action" to fight). You'd also need to increase the overall hp of the caravan. I haven't done the math on that, but I'd guess a rough eyeball would be to simply double the caravan's hit points.

OR

2. Use the caravan combat rules as-is. Make no changes there. Instead, re-benchmark the encounter stats based on a CR 4 lower. Reduce the DCs for Security, etc. checks by 2. Look at the caravan CR that you see in the module, then use the following conversions instead of the base combat stats you see there:

CR 5 - AC 12; hp 15; Atk +2; Damage 2d6
CR 6 - AC 14; hp 20; Atk +4; Damage 4d4
CR 7 - AC 15; hp 30; Atk +6; Damage 3d8
CR 8 - AC 17; hp 40; Atk +8; Damage 4d6+2
CR 9 - AC 18; hp 55; Atk +10; Damage 8d4
CR 10 - AC 19; hp 70; Atk +12; Damage 7d6
CR 11 - AC 20; hp 85; Attack +13; Damage 6d8+3
CR 12 - AC 21; hp 100; Attack +15; Damage 10d6

This should give you properly calibrated challenges for the caravan acting alone against the challenges placed in the adventure.

None of this is official or RAW, of course, but if you're looking for an authorial suggestion that should better fit the numbers, feel free to use this if you'd like. :)

Greetings everyone!!

I have not posted much in the past (I make a better lurker than a poster). But I have been following this tread was a good deal of interest. I'm running Jade Regent right now and my group will finish Brinewall this Friday.

I have been mulling about some ideas for caravan improvements. I will be running the math simulations this weekend to try and find some solutions that do make the system fun and exciting. One of the issues I want to fix is to make the caravan encounters more interactive for the group. The one player show concept does not sit will in larger groups.

First Option -

Combat Roles
I'm thinking of allowing each of the PC's (and possibly the key NPCs) to fill one of a few takes during the encounters. These tasks will require a skill or attack roll of some kind. The simple combat tasks are as follows.

Attack – The character would make some type of attack check vs the enemies AC to increase the caravan damage.

Defend – The character would do some action to boost the caravan's AC. I'm thinking something using aid another roll to boost an allies defense.

Repair – Using magic or skill checks to apply repairs to the physical caravan or the Travelers. I liked the idea of granting temporary HP and requiring the actual repairs to be made after the fight.

Rally – The character will uses skills, ability or magic to boost the caravans to hit roll making. I'm imagining this as a leader using diplomacy or intimidate better motivate or coordinate the caravan. Abilities like Bardic songs or a lot of the cleric buff I see falling into the category.

Weaken – The section if for abilities that will weaken the enemy. Intimidate checks to demoralize the enemy or bluff checks to distract and confuse the attackers. CMB check is a good option as well to weaken a foe. The character could be disarming, tripping or other such attack to prevent or weaken the foes ability to effect the caravan.

Second Option -

Advanced caravan jobs

I like the jobs system set-up but I think all of the jobs are kind basic. I thinking of add a second tier of jobs based on a higher skill requirements. Here are some of the samples advanced caravan jobs I was thinking of.

Hunter – Grants bonus like the favored terrain or favor enemy from Ranger class
Merchant – Greater income from trade
Warrior – Increases the caravan's damage output
Healer – Grants combat only fast healing to the caravan
Engineer – Can repair the caravan during combat and make custom upgrades the caravan
Thief – Increase income at settlement but has a risk of getting the caravan run out of town
Battle Mage – Increases caravan's damage based on caster level
Master Chief – Cooking providers morale bonus to the caravan
Defender – Increases the caravan's AC
Caravan Master – Increase the general effectiveness of the caravan.

All the advanced job will have around a +7 skill ranks or BAB requirement. This will limit the number of people that can fill one of these rolls. Also the players will not be able to easily hire someone to do one of these advanced jobs.

I'm still working on this concept and I know I have to post a lot of the math I'm thinking of using. I want to see everyone opinion on the concepts. I suspect I will be using some mixture of both of the option I listed above. This weekend I will be running a lot of trials and mathematical reviews. I hope to post some specific results next week.

Hey Christina, I'd like to recommend a book for reference purposes:

Donald S. Johnson's Phantom Islands of the Atlantic. The book (oop but easily available) has been inspirational to me in the past, when writing up piratical and exploration campaigns. It details such islands as Antillia, Hy Brasil, Buss, and the Island of Demons.

Hay, wow! I have that book!

And you're right - it's very interesting!

So, I'm looking over the rules for running the Caravan and what was initially a lot of excitement over an interesting idea is turning into concern that it won't be that much fun. I was wondering what others thought and if folks have begun to run this part of the AP for their players yet.

Basically my concern is that for encounters, the caravan is it's own character and it is the only character for the encounter. The PCs don't do anything. So, only one person is rolling for what the caravan does, while the other players just sit around the table and watch. Add to that the somewhat unheroic task of managing calculating resources to get from point a to b, and encounters that don't tie into the story, and... well, I think I'm looking for ideas here to help me brainstorm ways to make it a little more interesting and involved for all of the players. Or am I completely wrong and misunderstand how this is supposed to work?

Could this be used in Kingmaker?

Quite a while ago I started converting pretty much all the content that I liked from Dragon to 3.5. I was almost done when two things happened: Pathfinder came out, and I started freelancing for Pathfinder, and my little pet project got set aside. I am thinking of restarting it once again, tweaking them to Pathfinder. It will be done inbetween life in general, and paying monster design..but anyone that wants them, can happily have them, as I get them done. The only thing I can't supply is artwork.
So whos in? ;-)

Journeys to the West: Fantastic Voyages in the Western Ocean

Designer: Christina Stiles (Unhallowed Halls, The Village of Briarton, Faery's Tale)
System: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
Adventure Levels: 1 to 12
Length: approximately 96 pages, more if the project reaches the higher funding tier

A new six-adventure anthology is underway from Open Design! Set sail from Barsella, the City at the Edge of the world, home of adventurers and pirates, and explore the vast, uncharted waters of the Midgard campaign setting’s Western Ocean.

Discover the lush paradise known as the Isle of Morphoi, where the goddess of Memory seeks lost secrets through her network of cunning lamias and the shapeshifting morphoi. Encounter lost civilizations and their hidden colonies; explore mysterious fog-shrouded islands populated by sharp-toothed, scarred natives; battle epic leviathans of the deep that are rumored to crush villages or swallow whole ships; and gain priceless and unusual treasures!

Backers of Journeys to the West will join lead designer Christina Stiles to:

* Populate and describe the city of Barsella, gateway to the Wine Dark Sea: its high towers and exotic markets flush with strange salvage pulled from sunken ruins and looted from cryptic derelicts.

* Delve into the mysteries of the Isle of Morphoi and the cults of Mnemosyne, whose sorcerer-priestesses wield water and ley-line magic against adventurers, and swiftly leap from port to port as they engineer far-ranging conspiracies in smoky taverns and opulent throne rooms.

* Take to the waves with new ship plans, and master the dangers of the unknown with new traits, feats, spells, incantations, and gear.
Design unexplored islands where terrifying new monsters are worshiped as sacrifice-loving gods.

* Create haunted, treasure-laden ruins to test the mettle and sanity of fortune-seeking adventurers

Journeys to the West is designed for maximum use in any nautical or edge-of-civilization Pathfinder Roleplaying Game campaign. Backers will participate in brainstorming sessions, and some may add feats, spells, traits, and gear to the book as patron designers.

Backers at the Captain level and above may pitch seven islands, six adventures, eight monsters, and eight pirate lords. Their successful pitches will turn into fully credited design in the Open Design style.

Rally your crew, and hoist the sails! Fantastic voyages await!

You can sign up for it on Kickstarter-- here! And check out the addition options, depending on how we hit our funding marks!

--
Small But Fierce.
Kobold Quarterly's News Minion.

Here is a very good free online dungeon painter (superbly easy to use):
Online Dungeon Painter

If any of you make some maps, please link them up!

jh

I still have to detail some of the spells, but here are 4 new classes in Beginner Box style:

Hunter
At home in the frontier wilderness, the Hunter is adept at following his quarry wherever it may run. An expert at ranged weaponry, the Hunter harries her foe, savoring the victory skill and patience can provide.

Dervish
A whirling, deadly force on any battlefield, the Dervish relies on speed and grace to finish her foes with a thousand small wounds. Styling themselves after nature’s deadliest predators, the Dervish uses both body and blade to wear an opponent down and finish them off.

Shaman
A Shaman serves as both a servant and master of the forces of nature. Shamans are more at home in the wild than in the bustling cities. They summon powerful natural allies in their struggle to preserve the balance of nature.

Warlock
A Warlock is a powerful spellcaster whose magical powers come from inherited bloodlines from powerful, often otherworldly beings. A Warlock doesn’t pray, study, or commune to gain his spells- he just knows them; they are a part of him. A Warlock only knows a few spells, based on his birthright, but he can cast more spells per day than any other spellcaster, and can select from any of the spells he knows.

Just in time for the pirate focused adventure path from Paizo in January, LPJ Design is working on the release of Armada: Expanded Sea Combat and Rule Sourcebook. To always keep the Paizo fanbase involved in interesting upcoming projects, we at LPJ Design want to know, What would you like to see in this upcoming sourcebook. Thanks for your help!

Here is the best blog on this topic, the 34 steps to creating a fantasy sandbox: http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-make-fantasy-sandbox.html

I couldn't help myself! The thought of Goblin Ronin was too great so I created this extra encounter for part 1 of the AP.

I'm very rusty on 3.x/Pathfinder encounter design so any feedback on the CR of the encounter would be much appreciated.

Also, how are people handling the long journeys between adventure sites? I have always tried to not trivialize overland travel so the players gain a sense of the danger and physical hardship required to walk/ride 600 miles. I'm interested to know whether GMs are spending whole gaming sessions for travel or movie-style moving the plot onto the next location (give or take a few encounters)?

Hey All,

I have a campaign I'm GMing that has an Alchemist in it. He absolutely loves to craft, but the crafting rules are not very adventurer friendly. I'm trying to draft some quick rules for easier crafting that are also potentially more fun.

Any thoughts or ideas or critiques?

Thanks in advance!

********************************************************

Homebrew Crafting In Pathfinder

Crafting is accomplished in a two step procedure by:

#1 calculating the days of skill usage (skill-days) to create an item
#2 spending time and money to create the item

Base Skill-Day Calculation:

Weapon Skill-Days = 1 skill-day per 1 lb of weight
Armor Skill-Days = 1 skill-day per 3 lb of weight (round down)
Poison Skill-Days = save DC
Alchemical Items = 1 skill-day per 10 gp value

NOTES

- Every item with a cost of 1 gp or more takes a minimum of 1 skill-day
- Ammo is made in the bundle quanitity listed in Core Rules.

Skill-Day Modifiers:

Master Work items have a +100% skill-day modifier.

Special Material armor and weapons have a +100% skill-day modifier.

Creation Time:

Each 8 hours spent towards an items creation accrues 1 skill-day per rank in the appropriate craft or profession skill.

Creation Cost:

The material costs to create an item are 50% of the list purchase price.

Examples:

Min has 3 ranks of Craft: Armor. He wants to make a masterwork breastplate. A breastplate weighs 30 lbs yielding a base skill-day score of 10 (= 30 lbs / 3). Making it master work will add +100% to the skill-days, yielding a total skill-days of 20 for a masterwork breast plate. Max accrues 3 skill-days (1 for each rank) per day spent making the armor. Max can complete the armor in 7 days, not all of which must be consecutive. It will cost him 175 gold in materials (= half of the cost of a master work breastplate).

Max the Alchemist (level 10) has 10 ranks of Craft: Poison. He wants to make a dose of Black Lotus Extract (save DC 20). That will require 20 skill-days (= save DC 20) to make. Max accrues 10 skill-days (1 for each rank) per day. He can make the poison in two days. It will cost him 2250 gold in materials (= half the cost of the poison).

Max the Alchemist is still waiting on Min to finish the armor. He decides to create some vials of Antitoxin (50gp value). They each take 5 skill-days each, but Max as an Alchemist can make them twice as fast (Swift Alchemy ability), yielding 2.5 skill-days each. Max has a Craft: Alchemy skill of 10, which yields 10 skill-days per day. Max can make 4 Antitoxin per day at a material cost of 25gp each.

OK, each of the new vehicles in UC list a max speed and an acceleration rate but no baseline speeds are listed. How do I factor the daily movement of these things?

In the past most groups I've gamed with have somewhat glossed over the overland travel portion of an adventure/campaign, pausing typically only if a "random encounter" occured.

Now I suppose that this could be done with Jade Regent, but I really feel that doing so would result in a loss of the 'epic journey' feel of the AP.

I'm fairly green when it comes to GMing (I've done it a couple times in the past, and our regular GM is really excited to play a character in this AP) so any thoughts or ideas on what more experienced GMs have done in the past or are doing for Jade Regent to flesh out the caravan travel portion would be a huge help!

Thanks!

Seconding the awesomeness of the NPC specific stuff. I especially like "Where the Wild Things Are" and "It's a Guy Thing." An idea I had...

Shalelu - What Goes Bump in the Night

One night, while on watch, have a PC (or PCs) roll perception checks. A success causes them to notice some rustling in the woods, a very high success lets them hear what sound like several, high pitched voices. You can even give them a surprise round, as if preparing for an ambush. However, instead of starting a fight, they hear several "woosh" sounds, followed by silence. A few seconds later Shalelu nonchalantly emerges from the woods. If questioned, she simply says she was out on a stroll.

An investigation of the woods reveals a half dozen dead goblins, each killed by a single arrow. Should the PCs choose to talk to Shalelu about this, they can discuss why she wouldn't mention such a feat. Does she not need praise, or is she uncomfortable with it?

Also, a few altered version of Frozen Shadow events. Spoilered, just in case.

I’ve been unimpressed with the official support provided in the books, both for NPC/PC interactions as well as non-combat events to liven up the caravan’s trip. As such, I’ve written some incidents that I may use in my game and am willing to share in the hopes it sparks others’ imaginations as well.

I am not using the caravan rules as RAW, so my mechanical suggestions are just that: suggestions. If you can think up better results, use them.
No DCs have been included, as these events could happen at any level, and thus it is up to the GM to change them to meet the PCs abilities.
If you can come up with your own ideas, please add them.

On the Road Again – Events while the caravan is on the trail

Shelyn Has Left the Building
A small shrine is found beside the road to any deity of the GM’s choice. If the caravan stops to pray, subtract 5 miles from the day’s travels, and give a +2 bonus to the next trading roll.

Fight Club
A pair of guards in the caravan gets into a fight over a gambling game. One accuses the other of cheating, the other denies this allegation. If not dealt with, the caravan suffers -2 penalty to AC due to people taking sides and not standing as a unified whole.

Lucky Charms
Koya or another fortuneteller finds a good omen. If the caravan spends 1 unit of supplies for a festival in celebration, the caravan can reroll any one of the next three rolls it makes.

Cat Fight
A small group of women in the caravan start to have personality conflicts with each other. This can be due to jealousy, in-fighting, or misheard gossip. Unless the party smoothes out the issue with Diplomacy, Sense Motive and Perception checks, the friction will cause a -1d4 to all economy checks and a +2 to unrest.

Pranks, But No Pranks
A number of pranks happen to the caravan (ropes unwound, mud placed in boots, knives dulled, sewing unwound). Tempers flare and people get angry as the blame runs wild. Using Stealth, Sense Motive, Perception, and knowledge (arcane), the party can find out fey tricksters are having fun with the caravan. If the party doesn’t find out about the fey, the caravan takes a -1d4 to resolve as trust deteriorates.

If the party finds the fey, a fortuneteller can engage the fey in a contest of wits, make a Profession (fortuneteller) check, if successful, the fey are made friendly and give 2 trade goods worth of fey-worked items. On a failure the fey leave, looking for people who are more fun to be around.

Reverse Harem
A woman in the caravan is playing one of the drivers and one of the guards against each other, enjoying the little power trip it gives her. If allowed to continue, the driver will eventually snap and murder the guard in his sleep. The party is left to deal with the fallout.

Minimum Sentences
Along the road, the caravan passes a crow cage beside the road. The prisoner inside pleads to be set free, saying he’s innocent. A Sense Motive check can tell he’s lying. If the caravan does not free him, he shouts insults and pronounces a curse upon them all! Unless cowed into silence with Intimidate (Diplomacy will not work) enough people hear the curse to cause +2 to unrest.

Baby On Board
A pregnant woman in the caravan goes into labour. The birth is very difficult and without help, disaster may occur. Make three skill checks: 1 Diplomacy (to calm the mother), and 2 Heals. Divine magic can be used to generate 1 successful Heal check. What happens depends on how many successful checks the party makes:

3 successes: mother and baby are fine. The caravan is elated! +2 to all checks for a week.

2 successes: hard birth, the mother is weakened, but the baby is fine. +1 to all checks for 3 days.

1 success: mother dies in childbirth, baby is fine. Joy mixed with sadness, no modifiers.

0 successes: mother dies, taking her child with her. Gloom descends on the caravan, -2 to all checks.

Are We Really Like That?
The caravan comes across a 5 member adventurer party (level 1). The fighter, mage, cleric, and rogue all have the charisma of unwashed rot grubs, but the male bard is smoking hot, and tries to hit on female PCs. Whenever anyone tries to talk to the bard, another of his party members moves to flank the speaker. The mage keeps moving into places where he would have a clear shot with a colour spray. The rogue eyes the party’s coin purses, and the fighter tries to speak but can only shout aggressively. The cleric always works something about his god into any sentence he says.

All are orphans and have no living family members.

In Need of a Cattle Prod
A druid is allowing his T Rex animal companion a chance to rest. Unfortunately, the lazy best is lying across the road. The caravan’s horses will not go anywhere near the predator, so the party must convince the druid to get “Lord Carvington” up and moving. Both have been walking all day and are tired, but the druid is fairly reasonable, so any good use of Diplomacy or bribe should work. Threats or use of force and the druid responds with Anti-Life Shell, Wall of Thorns, Repel Wood, Wall of Stone, or other, really high level spells to force the caravan back, but does not fight to kill. Left to himself, Lord Carvington will not move for a whole day.

I’m No Good Without My Daily Map
The caravan comes across a fork in the road. According to the map, the group should head east: too bad the fork in the road is between northwest and west. There was an eastern path at one point, but it looks like a fight between mages turned that route into a field of jagged obsidian rocks.

The caravan can either stop and wait for a traveler to come along (2 days) to tell them which route to take (west), or can send out scouts. A successful Survival check will tell the caravan that the west path is the longer, but safer. The northwestern one is shorter, but over rougher, swampier terrain.

Taking west route: no problems.

Taking northwest route: Make 2 morale, and 1 mobility checks against the caravan to see how well the caravan deals with the harder terrain and flaring tempers due to the extra work:

3 successes: the caravan is a well oiled machine! The surge of confidence gives the group a +2 to all economy rolls in the next town.

2 successes: the road is hard, but we’re harder. The toil toughens the caravan up. +1 AC to the next fight.

1 success: I should have stayed at home. The distance takes twice the time to cover. Demoralized, the caravan takes a -1 to all checks for a week.

0 successes: are we there yet? The rough path claims a victim! Randomly choose one of the caravan’s wagons. Remove that from play, as well as whatever cargo it was carrying. +2 to unrest until some kind of uplifting event occurs.

Gods On High
One night the sky suddenly lights up with a furious glow, like the northern lights. It is terrifying and people and horses cry out with fear. Those who make a Knowledge (arcane) check can tell it is some kind of battle taking place in the celestial realms.

A character with Knowledge (religion) can, on a successful check, read the signs above and calm the caravan down. By linking the lights above to religious sagas, the character can weave a story that gives hints to upcoming events.

Someone with Perform (storytelling) can do something similar, but at a harder DC. Someone with Bluff can as well, but at a still higher DC.
Failure: caravan is panicked and fearful. -2 to all checks but AC. Because of fear, AC goes up by +1.

Success: the caravan seems blessed. +20% on all gold gained in the next trading session.

Metamagic feats are cool in concept, but bitter-sweet in their implementation. Their increased cost make metamagicked spells resources-hungry, and their use is circumstantial at best (with the notable exception of Quicken spell which is always useful regardless of the situation). That's without considering the fact that the feat has to be purchased in the first place, and even if PF offers more than its predecessors, feats remain a limited and carefully spent resource.

This prompted the concept of metamagic packages where metamagic feats are downgraded in 'options' of a broader, conceptual feat:

ABRIDGE SPELL [METAMAGIC]
Benefit: You can cast a spell without some of its components. All effects (and costs) of an Abridged Spell stack to gain the separate benefits of each option.
Still: A stilled spell can be cast with no somatic components. A stilled spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s actual level.
Silent: A silent spell can be cast with no verbal components. A silent spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s actual level.
Eschew: An eschewed spell can be cast with no material components costing less than 1 gp. An eschewed spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s actual level.
Normal: Without this feat, a spell automatically fails if the spellcaster cannot provide all verbal, somatic and material components.
Special: This feat has no effect if the recipient spell has no corresponding component part.

AMPLIFY SPELL [METAMAGIC]
Benefit: You can increase the variable, numeric effects of a spell. All effects (and costs) of an Amplified Spell stack to gain the separate benefits of each option.
Energize: All variable, numeric effects of an empowered spell are increased by 1 per dice or increment. An energized spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s actual level.
Empower: All variable, numeric effects of an empowered spell are increased by 50%. An empowered spell uses up a spell slot two levels higher than the spell’s actual level.
Maximize: All variable, numeric effects of a maximized spell use the maximum result of each variables (no roll required). A maximized spell uses up a spell slot three levels higher than the spell’s actual level.
Special: Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected by this feat, nor are spells without random variables.

AUGMENT SPELL [METAMAGIC]
Benefit: You can increase the range, duration and area of effect of a spell. All effects (and costs) of an Augmented Spell stack to gain the separate benefits of each option.
Enlarge: You can double the range of a spell. An enlarged spell uses up a spell slot one level higher than the spell’s actual level.
Extend: The duration of an extended spell is increased by one category. Spells with a duration 1 round/level last 1 min/level, spells with a duration of 1 min/level last 10 min/level and spells with a duration of 10 min/level last 1 hour/level. An extended spell uses up a spell slot two levels higher than the spell’s actual level.
Widen: You can double all numeric measurements of a spell with an area defined as burst, emanation, line or spread. A widened spell uses up a spell slot three levels higher than the spell’s actual level.
Special: Spells whose ranges are not defined by distance are unaffected by the enlarge option of this feat. Spells with a duration of ‘instantaneous’ or ‘permanent’ are unaffected by the extended option of this feat. Spells that do not have an area defined as a burst, emanation, line or spread are not affected by the widen option of this feat.

Quicken Spell stay as is (because it is more useful than any of the others), while Heightened Spell is given to all spellcsaters for free (because it is less useful than any of the others).

With this, I hope to spread the use of metamagic a little bit without overthrowing the balance of things. I've been having this houserule for quite a bit now but my players rarely use metamagic in the first place (even with this houserule), so perhaps its a flawed perceived problem.

[edit] Oh yeah, Extended Spell is houseruled. To stay closer to RaW, revert to the doubled duration and adjust modifier to +1 level.

opinions?

'findel

Honestly, use an idea from one of my GMs. The campaign started sandbox, but due to "poor returns" (us not realizing some of the "junk" we'd collected was worth more to specialists than on the general market), we decided to start our own trade caravan.

The "goods" system seems to be for generic trade goods. Thread, colored ribbons, foodstuffs and live chickens, pots and pans - the sort of stuff that every villager will need, but there isn't a DEMAND for.

Your profit comes from specific planned stops. Wood to the lumber mill, lumber to the carpenters, furniture to the growing settlement, et cetera. In our case, we were taking pearls from our costal city all the way through six months of wilderness adventures to a remote desert kingdom, and bringing back silks and spices. This is how you make profit from the trip across Linorm and the Crown of the World, by bringing RARE Varisian goods to the markets of Minkai.

Along the way, we discovered several "local treasures" (jars of aloe lotion and bolts of spider silk come to mind). And there were some products we got just knowing they were dead weight until we got to a capitol. We were running out of space, and I think we at one point declined to pick up bandit weapons and armor because they "weren't worth their weight". Was it adventuring? Not at all? Did we have fun doing it? Absolutely. But if you NEED adventure, consider letting the PCs find trade items during their adventuring.

But on the subject of traders: I have an EVIL idea, and one that should appeal to your players. LET TRADERS GAIN XP from being with the caravan, awarded as goods are traded. Make it clear to players from the outset that traders INITIALLY aren't worth a lot, and show them a SAMPLE progression of feats that make them more profitable. You'd be amazed at the ideas players will come up with to customize "their" trader's profits. At the end of the AP, having a series of master merchants, each able to lead their own caravan, players will have a sense of accomplishment, rather than fury at having to "tolerate" a bunch of useless mouths and slowed travel.

And if you want to run one-shots, let the PCs hear rumors of a place just a day off their planned route. Do they swerve the caravan a day off course to explore some ruins? How do they secure the caravan while they're away? Guards and guard animals aren't cheap, and they increase consumption. (OTOH, the joy our group had when our first guard cleared second level was worth the extra pay. It was cheaper under that GM to hire low levels and raise them than to just hire experienced people out of the gate, another idea.)

But generally speaking, make the caravan something the PCs GROW rather than something they just have, and it may spark your player's interest. Make clear to them that by default, the caravan barely pays for itself, BUT with effort, it can produce profits. If only some of your players are interested in this, either blue book it or have separate sessions just for the "caravan players".

The caravan rules, like the kingdom and mass combat rules, are good starting points for a system that with just a little more effort makes a pleasant game in its own right. Think of it like the "dramatic contests" from SpyCraft - it's not required, but if your players show interest, it's a good framework for the action to take place in, and most players appreciate that there are rules for what they want to attempt.

Just be careful - if your group is considering selling Ameiko and Shelelu into slavery for the additional profits, then you've taken the AP off the rails. Not a problem for most groups, but thought I'd mention it before ending the post.

Harek Ivarson wrote:

Well, I put together a new one that I like a good bit more. It still has some problems (I couldn't get the consumption formula to calculate the effect of cooks and guides), but will do in a pinch. Happy to share it and open it up for editing and refinement if folks would like.

I'd be down with that.

Well, hopefully this will work. I uploaded an editable copy to Google Docs. As I said, there are a couple issues I have with it. First, the Consumption total on the first sheet does not take into account Travelers' jobs. There may also be a better way to organize some things. Hopefully if anyone makes improvements/refinements to it, they'll post a link to the new version here.

Link

That's a great start, much better than mine where I attempted to cram it all onto one sheet.

One thing I added was a Consumption column on the Traveler's tab. Each traveler (not counting a certain NPC) counts as 1 consumption, further, it allows you to put in negative numbers of consumption for the cooks.

Here is a rough one I've been working out for my group. Don't have all the equations in it, but it's formatted like the official sheet. Have at it!

There's some grumbling over in the conundrum thread that you can't actually make any money with traders. Quite rightly, too. The trader entry is worded so that you can sell 5 units of trade goods on arriving in a settlement, and then have to move on to the next one. You need a lot of modifiers just to break even, and that means diverting resources from other options, like combat prowess--but why give up combat prowess, knowing that you can get money by killing bandits, so that you can make less money and increase the odds of being killed by bandits in turn?

Trading is a trap as written, but there's an obvious fix. Trading is a perfectly viable option if you allow traders to sell cargo from another settlement every day the caravan remains in a settlement, with a limit of five traders working each day. So if you have 10 cargo units of trade goods, you could stay for two days, giving your five traders time to sell all of them.

I've been playing with the numbers for a while, and this actually works so well that I strongly suspect this is how it was intended to work in the first place. Take a look at some of these example caravans:

The towns on the way to Brinewall are Galduria, Wolf's Ear, Roderic's Cove, and (potentially) Riddleport. If a caravan can only sell on arriving in a new settlement, they'll earn 71.5 gp per town. After spending 20 gp for the drivers and 60 gp in eaten/wasted stores on the road, they've earned 206 gp--less than a single battle with bandits. If it's not an bad investment, it's only because the party didn't invest anything.

But if they can sell 15 units of trade goods to sell over the course of three days, they'll earn 214.5 gp per town, and it won't affect their expenses very much. That's 798 gp in trade. They'll probably end up spending more in repairs due to the sacrifice in combat ability, but still, they're making coin for their effort.

With some actual investment, the PCs could try to sell in volume instead.

Obviously you it's dumb to try to make money selling cheap goods when there's a cap on how much you can sell. If this caravan can only sell on arriving in a new settlement, they'll earn 46 gp per town. Just the cost of eating on the road is 260 gp, so they're losing money. They'd be better off without the supply wagons; cargo capacity is irrelevant beyond what you need for food and treasure.

But dumping 45 units of trade goods into a town over nine days will earn 414 gp a town. It'd take two months to reach and sell in all four towns, so paying the six drivers and five traders will cost 220 gp, and eating on the road is still 260 gp, since eating in town is included above.

That means the volume approach will produce 1176 gp. That sounds like a lot, but split five ways, it's really not. The PCs have invested a fair bit into a caravan that's still relatively vulnerable. They'll have to flee from everything (they can't even pick up treasure anyways), which is especially bad because this caravan has very little tolerance for unrest. A run of bad luck could forcing them to give away a lot of trade goods and eat into their margins significantly. In all, the reward matches the risk.

Besides, this caravan is driving down a road of diminishing returns.

You get 156.5 gp for arrival. Monthly wages are 150 gp, and daily consumption costs 12 gp, so they need to hit about three towns a month to break even. At level 10, this is a TOTAL waste of effort. They'll probably never even pay off the extra wagons!

But if they can sell every last unit? After 11 days in town, they'll earn 1721.5 gp, minus some very nebulous expenses. If the towns are reasonably close to each other in Tian Xia you could make okayish amounts of money for their level, especially if we add allied NPCs and bags of holding. However, while your caravan could have guards and points in defense and such, it's still going to be underpowered against random encounters, which are no doubt both far scarier, and far more profitable. Also, you're wasting lots of time in or near the Jade Regent's territory, which might be bad in itself. And there's still no spare room for treasure. I doubt that the high level merchant caravan is still worth it, overall. We've nearly tapped all options to increase profits and there's still a few adventures left to go!

In Summary...

Does this interpretation of caravan trading feel right? Some will sputter "butbutbut market saturation!", but I'm convinced the system is better this way. It rewards the PCs for careful caravan design. It allows the PCs to run a very long supply caravan viably. It lets the PCs make money in a way other than killing monsters and taking their stuff. It prevents the PCs from resenting the caravan as as a drain on resources. It encourages the PCs to stick around in the towns they visit, creating roleplaying opportunities.

And even if you think the strategy starts off a bit too strong, it still gets weaker over time, encouraging the party to eventually even out their stats and balance short-term gains with long-term effectiveness. Really, the biggest problem I see with running it this way is that it's potentially a ton of rolls--in practice I'd just let the party take the average for every trader, as I've assumed in all my math.

Hopefully my math is correct. Or at least not monstrously wrong. I did a ridiculous amount after all. Let me know if you find any mistakes--or ways to significantly improve profits.

Some other ideas that could help out, if you're really concerned about profit:
1.More expensive trade goods:
Instead of trade good costing always 10gp, you could buy trade goods for 10 gp(x1), 50 gp(x5), 100 gp(x10), and 500 gp(x50) and would multiply the sale role with the value in the brackets to get the actual sales price.
Note: You can only sell trade goods in a community's up to it's base value, no matter how many traders you have or how much the trade goods are worth.

2. Special trade goods:
These could be things starting with expensive jewelry to things like black powder, masterwork items, and similar. You'd have to haggle somehow - I'd probably use opposed Diplomacy checks - and try to buy cheap and sell high. You'd have to develop a much more detailed economic system for this to work on a large scale, but it should easily work for cross-continental trade. What's common in Sandpoint would be very exotic on the other side of the world, so a considerable profit margin should be possible.

3. Passengers:
Provide some people that are interested in traveling in the same directing as the caravan but are unwilling to risk traveling alone. Paying passengers would not only be a source of income, but could also provide role playing opportunities but also plant seeds for some side adventures you might want to run or allow the BBEG some time to interact with the party before they attack from the inside.
A variation might be other merchant who want to join the caravan for a while to enjoy increased security and would pay a share of the costs or a fixed price, as you see fit.

4. Transport Service:
If they make no secret of where they are going, they may well be approached by people who need something transported in that direction - be it iron ore from the mines or heirloom furniture - and are willing to pay.

Whatever happens, the players should not forget that the caravan doesn't belong to them - neither do the profits! So don't allow them to take the money for themselves. This money should be exclusively for the travel costs and other common needs.

So, I'm looking over the rules for running the Caravan and what was initially a lot of excitement over an interesting idea is turning into concern that it won't be that much fun. I was wondering what others thought and if folks have begun to run this part of the AP for their players yet.

Basically my concern is that for encounters, the caravan is it's own character and it is the only character for the encounter. The PCs don't do anything. So, only one person is rolling for what the caravan does, while the other players just sit around the table and watch. Add to that the somewhat unheroic task of managing calculating resources to get from point a to b, and encounters that don't tie into the story, and... well, I think I'm looking for ideas here to help me brainstorm ways to make it a little more interesting and involved for all of the players. Or am I completely wrong and misunderstand how this is supposed to work?

Don't worry, Jason Nelson and I are already working on some caravan expansion stuff for Legendary Games to fill that exact need.

Sample caravans, some caravan NPCs, rival caravans, set piece caravan encounters where the PCs are featured doing their PC thing while the caravan encounter goes on in the background.