Shar Tahl's page

I run a few play by post games and was looking to change up some rules after a long break from gaming. Here are some of the ideas I have had that I would like some feedback on. These are rough ideas that have not been tested in-game, but they are ways to make some parts of the game more relevant.

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- Classes get a defense bonus to AC based on the BAB of the class. This would be the same alternate system from 3.5 and other RPGs that used class defense.

- Armor now provides a percentage damage mitigation calculated by (Armor Bonus x 5%). Enhancement bonuses would increase this by 5% per plus. This way the front line forces can better do their job of fending off the enemy and absorbing blows to protect the weaker members.

- Armor now gives a penalty to the dexterity modifier equal to half the armor check penalty, rounded up. This replaces the max dexterity bonus. Enchantments and materials would be added to the modifier prior to the calculation to get a new result. I see this as making more sense, as a guy with no dexterity modifier to begin with will be easier to hit when wearing full plate than a guy with no armor and the same dexterity. Its just not as easy to move quickly.

- Shields now have a percent chance to deflect a confirmed hit equal to the (Shield Bonus x 10%). As with armor, enhancement bonuses will increase this by 5% per plus. 10% seems like a bit much with a +5 tower shield blocking 90%. May impose a max blocks per round with possible class/BAB/Feats increasing this.

- Armor, Shields and Weapons will have a durability that will decrease as they are hit or hit other things. The way this total is calculated is still in progress. Magical items will have a percent chance to take no durability loss. These items will be able to be repaired, but reduce the maximum durability. Items will decrease in effectiveness as the durability decreases.

I would also like to have the weapon damage type effect the damage mitigation, but that is a much more daunting task, as each armor type would have a different number based on its construction.

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I also want to revamp the item creation system to utilize Craft(x) during item creation and increasing the minimum level to make items. Right now magic items, As written, get trivialized around mid-level. I would like them to seem more special and unique and not commonplace. I would also like to implement more unique materials to supplement getting magic items later. The new materials would have different interactions with durability and offensive factors based on hardness and weight. This task segment is very difficult and will take me a lot of time to think up. right now, I am just focusing on the first bullet points since those are a bit more manageable.

Example of Fluff vs Mechanics that came up in another thread.

Creature Type mechanic

Fluff: "This small humanoid has pointed ears, green eyes, and a wicked grin."

Mechanic: CN Small fey

Charm person will not work on this because it is the Fey type and not Humanoid. The fluff says humanoid, but that has no bearing in the mechanical regard

You could just use a ratio to find the equivalent human age. If human start at 20 and the elves start at 120, then a elf at age 50 would be calculated as such:

20/120=x/50
x= 8.33

So at 50, it would be sized and look like an 8 year old human.

The thing is, they are mindless. They have no past, no former life, therefor no access to what they knew in the previous life. They are distinctly different than skeletal champions, which retain aspects of the former life

+1 is a pure metagame item. They would only effect characters with an odd ability score. the +2 items are essentially +1 to related abilities, working the same for all characters.

What I do for the players that use those shaman archetypes, is to size up the natural attacks of the largest normal version they have. For that example, using the huge boar example, I would move the 1d8 Gore damage from a medium boar up two steps to 3d6 with a huge version, then they would gain the use of Scent, Low-light vision and Ferocity.

I only allow the beast shaman to do it this way, giving them something unique that others do not have access to. Other druids need to use existing bestiary entry sizes.

at some point, a line needs to be drawn between an improvised weapon used as a primary weapon and a new exotic weapon.

Fighter with Archer archetype

Trick Shot (Ex)

At 3rd level, an archer can choose one of the following combat maneuvers or actions: disarm, feint, or sunder. He can perform this action with a bow against any target within 30 feet, with a –4 penalty to his CMB. Every four levels beyond 3rd, he may choose an additional trick shot to learn. These maneuvers use up arrows as normal.

At 11th level, he may also choose from the following combat maneuvers: bull rush, grapple, trip. A target grappled by an arrow can break free by destroying the archer’s arrow (hardness 5, hit points 1, break DC 13) or with an Escape Artist or CMB check (against the archer’s CMD –4).

This ability replaces Armor Training 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Strength Bonus: When you hit with a melee or thrown weapon, including a sling, add your Strength modifier to the damage result. A Strength penalty, but not a bonus, applies on damage rolls made with a bow that is not a composite bow.

Off-Hand Weapon: When you deal damage with a weapon in your off hand, you add only 1/2 your Strength bonus. If you have a Strength penalty, the entire penalty applies.

Wielding a Weapon Two-Handed: When you deal damage with a weapon that you are wielding two-handed, you add 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus (Strength penalties are not multiplied). You don't get this higher Strength bonus, however, when using a light weapon with two hands.

YAPCG - Yet Another Pathfinder Character Generator is good too. I use both that one and sCoreForge, though I like the workings of the YAPCG one a bit better. As said above, bug fixes are responded to quickly on both.

Playing the game that realistically using a "what would the monster do" approach can make it a miserable experience for the players. I think very few players enjoy their characters dying. A playing dying from make poor choices is one thing, but arbitrarily killing them is another.

As the teller of the story, you have several option to make the adventure harrowing and suspenseful without killing the fun. Some GMs seem to almost gloat about being "killer GMs". I find myself having more empathy for the players and their experience, and I don't have fun if they don't have fun. I have had a player hit by a heavy pick critical( x4) at level 2, clearing having enough damage to kill them. I chose to put them down at -9 hp and the creature moving on to the next opponent. Killing them off does nothing to help the gaming experience. Sometimes it sounds like some GMs treat it like GM vs Players deathmatch.

Why are more options so offensive?

Purely in response to the OP(not going through all 300+ posts), Point Buy ends up leveling the field. You don't have the lucky players ending up with super-charged stats and someone having a bad day on the dice ending up with a cruddy character. While I like the idea of rolling old school, point buy end up creating an equal potential for all players involved.

You don't need to get that fancy. Cure potions are 1 oz. I have given horses de-wormer orally and they will fuss, but you can get fluid into their mouth.

I believe it was worded like that to show that once the choice is made (HP, SP, Racial), you cannot change it for that level.

Example:

Human Fighter is level 4 and he put all favored class into hit points. At level 5, he thinks he needs more skill points, so he tries to change all those previous ones to skill points. The wording prevents that. Once it is selected, it stays that way. The choice between skill, hitpoint or racial is always there for the favored class

@pluto: Pathfinder has made several advantages to sticking with one class. This is a big change from 3.5, where the optimal character had 3-4 classes and dips everywhere. I personally prefer the Pathfinder way.

I love gnomes! lol

Over the years, I have played all the core races, plus lizard man and Kobold. Very sad with the 'kobolds as Characters' stat bonuses. very weak! I think we had house-ruled them to -4 str +2 dex +2 con

If Animal companion is grated by druid level then yes. If it's a Bonded mount from Paladin then you get a Heavy horse.

CRB wrote:

The second type of bond allows a paladin to gain the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal steed to serve her in her crusade against evil. This mount is usually a heavy horse (for a Medium paladin) or a pony (for a Small paladin), although more exotic mounts, such as a boar, camel, or dog are also suitable. This mount functions as a druid's animal companion, using the paladin's level as her effective druid level.

So the rules for Druid animal companions seems to be the rules to follow. Handy thing is that Paladins get a HEAVY horse vs a horse. (get a free advanced creature template)

Still no on that. No templates on companion. period.

If my options are pay 2000gp for a +1 weapon from an NPC

or
Pay 1100gp to the party crafter for the same item.

I'll pay the 1100 gp everytime, and if the crafter is considered to be "stealing" from me, he can "steal" from me the whole campaign.

This is the way I see it. The players in the op are being just as selfish as they claim the crafted is. They are getting magic items at a discounted rate and still aren't happy. If i was playing in that game as the crafter, I would just stop making items for the group and quietly craft items for myself in the downtime between sessions. Crafters give up a lot taking those feats, why should there not be a return on it?

This may have been said already, but I really dont feel like reading 500+ posts to get caught up

When I see these, I always think back to when I first played PFS. I saw it as a consistent game setting, with adventures that were the same for everyone, regardless of the GM. That is the nature of it being organized rather then a home game. I think it would be difficult to put in ways for a GM to change it without disrupting the entire concept, having two players get a totally different experience because one GM thought it wasn't good enough and tried to make it more "fun".

As a player, I have been on the receiving end of adjusting gone aery, where a large number of expendables were exhausted and party members nearly died. A player would never know if their character died because of a modification or the normal adventure. Being a bad roll from death is not more fun than rolling over all the encounters. The level of finesse that would be required cannot be assumed to be in the capabilities of all GMS

Bob_Loblaw wrote:

Example, the GM has decided that the next adventure will be against an army of orcs and ogres with some giants thrown in the mix. The dwarves in the party will enjoy this as will the martial characters. The casters will easily find something to do as well. This is not GM fiat. It's planning and encounter for everyone.

Army of landbound melee types. The casters spend an afternoon killing them, until the army routs or the casters get bored. If the Fighters wanna play, they are going to put the party at risk and drain resources, compared to just sitting out the fight.

And if you constantly have to fudge rolls because little Timmy is a total gimp, that is a f*++ing problem, and your insistence that it isn't is somewhere between dishonest and profoundly stupid.

Personal attacks are very classy.

This goes by the presumption that those "casters" are in 100% control. They can get picked off my arrows, targeted by enemy casters (yes, orcs, ogres and giants have them too!) or run out or prepared spells.

One the Fighter, they are a solid class that does their job well. They don't do everything, and shouldn't. They are an enjoyable class to play.

I generally use this:

Monster_Lore_Compendium

It tiers what is known.

The Haunted curse says that "any item you drop lands 10 feet away from you in a random direction." So let's say I have a metamagic rod, and I put a strap on it, which I then attach to my belt. Wouldn't it simply fall to my side when I drop it, rather than land 10 feet away?

There is no way to sidestep the curse. The mechanics must be dealt with no matter how things are arranged.

there are slight differences to Golarion races from the "traditional" versions. Golarion dwarves do produce wizards rarely, specializing with runes and such

In Golarion, Gnomes are fey originally from the First World. They have a unique link to the land and must forever explore new things and keep life exciting or suffer from the "Bleaching", Halflings are a small race of human like people. Nothing really interesting about their history other than they are treated poorly by most races.

Current Guide removed all references to ACs/Mounts in anticipation of them being migrated to the FAQ.

Which is crazy to say the least. That's like removing all the old speed limit signs on a road because it is going to change soon.

Some are debatable, with nothing explicit in the description, but certain class skills imply that they are excluded form take 10. I specifically refer to knowledge checks. Many have said you can take 10 in it, but if this were so, much of the bard's Lore Master ability would be useless, other than the 1/day take 20.

Lore Master (Ex): At 5th level, the bard becomes a master of lore and can take 10 on any Knowledge skill check that he has ranks in. A bard can choose not to take 10 and can instead roll normally. In addition, once per day, the bard can take 20 on any Knowledge skill check as a standard action. He can use this ability one additional time per day for every six levels he possesses beyond 5th, to a maximum of three times per day at 17th level.

Below is the chart I made for the PBP games I am running.

correct! It's not optimal, but also not horrible as was previously stated by another. For a guide, all must be viewed from the optimal standpoint and rated as such. I do like the guide you generated quite a bit. I have a playtest magus in a campaign that I am in that was rebuilt using your guide. It's a great resource!

With the addition of 1 new base class and 3 on the way in August, are there are plans to add options for any races that would have a natural affinity towards to the new classes? It would be nice to see this in a blog post rule supplement or something similar.

Does the trip attempt add +1d6 fire damage?

Anyone know the official take on this weapon and it being on the monk list for Golarion monks?

In my games set in Golarion, I have been adding it on since it stated to be a monk weapon and very similar sounding to the chinese broadswords of Kung-Fu and very much a martial arts sword. They are unique to Golarion so it makes sense that they are not in the core rule book since it does not have campaign related items in it.

Elf Fighter 1/ Wizard 9/ Eldritch Knight 10
Trait: Magical Knack

20 buy

STR: 14 (5)
DEX: 16 (5)
CON: 10 (2)
INT: 18 (10)
WIS: 10 (0)
CHA: 8 (-2)

Stat Increases: Con(4,8,16,20), Int(12)

BAB:15 Base Saves - Fort:10 Ref:6 Will:9

Effective Wizard Level: 18
Effective Fighter level: 11
Effective Caster Level: 20

FEATS:

1F:Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse(Bonus)
2W:Arcane Bond (Elven Curved Blade), Specialization (Divination)
3W:Arcane Strike
4W:
5W:Dodge
6W:Still Spell(Bonus)
7E:Mobility, Arcane Armor Training(Bonus)
8E:
9E:Spring Attack
10E:
11E:Vital Strike, Arcane Armor Mastery(Bonus)
12E:
13E:Improved Critical
14E:
15E:Critical Focus, Improved Vital Strike (Bonus)
16E:
17W:Bleeding Critical
18W:
19W:Staggering Critical
20W:

Has this one been converted to 3.5 at all? Sounds like a fun one. I was a bit too young when it came out to be gaming, so I missed out!

In my Curse of the Crimson Throne game I am running, I made this table for their crazy drinking on the day before they got their card.( It is a PBP game. This was their "bonding" session before the game officially started)

DC 5 = Passed out
DC 10 = Trouble standing, -6 AC and reflex saves, -4 to all checks, DC 20 Dex check needed to move more than half movement
DC 15 = -4 AX and reflex saves, -2 to all other rolls
DC 20 = -2 AC and Reflex saves and any skill checks for INT and DEX.
DC 25 = +1 Will save and Charisma based checks, -1 AC and Reflex saves.

I just had them make a fort save, using this table to see how the were effected. Drinking harder drinks added a penalty to the roll.