SterlingEdge's page

So you had 5 friends stop by and say "DM for us!" and they brought cookies. Post your easy 1 page adventure. Dont worry about the details too much, just the plot and fun stuff.

The “Where the hells are we?”:
A newly established farming community a day and a half south of a mountain range. Most farms and central town are along a river that runs north to south. Town and outlying farms population is under 125.
Central town has:
Inn/tavern ran by a couple and a friend. (Describe the man and wife as you would describe your parents or some other couple your players don’t know, and the friend who helps describe as you would describe your 9th grade English teacher. This method often results in very memorable NPCs)
General Goods Store: Has the basics a farming community would need. A sword or 2, but mostly tools. (Describe the owner like you would describe that happy fat friend you had in college)

The “Oh Noes!”
A local boy, Pip Mc Pippins, age 14, goes missing. (Describe the family as a semi obscure TV family, the Keatons for instance, wherein the 14 year old would be Michel J Fox. Family Ties for those that didn’t get it.)

The clews:
Didn’t come home this evening, his horse did, with a claw mark on its hide. Pip wanders the outlying areas, one area in particular is a bamboo patch a couple hours walk north of town.

The Antagonist/s:
Lizard folk in the bamboo patches, CR to your party.
The Lizard folk use the terrain, shaman behind a 4 foot tall rock, others jump from concealment, one with a net and 2 with weapons. If they net a PC they will run off with the PC while the ones with weapons hinder the PCs while the other escapes with the captured victim.
In the area where the PCs are jumped, some of Pips personal effects can be found. Toys, food, whatnot.

The PCs eventually find “Base camp” The lizard folk are out and about hunting/gathering with a few holding down the fort. The PCs can fight their way in/out, bargain for Pips release, or stealth him out. Barganing may result in some sort of trade or co existance with the town, fighting will increase the violence, sneaking will probably confuse the lizard folk.

The lewts:
Whatever the lizard folk have and a reward from the town, a month free stay at the inn, and fame.

Adding a couple of potions or magical items to the baddys can raise there CR just enough for ya. Potion of heroism, invisibility, bulls str, cats grace, speed. Scroll of grease, maybe some caltrops on the field. Lots of fun stuff.

What is it?

The contents of my sack.

Off a badly mangled human corpse, the local scavengers seem to have torn most of the body to threads. You find a pouch.

5 silver pieces, 12 copper pieces.

1 wooden ring with leaves carved into it. (1GP)

a strand of wooden beads that seems to be a necklace of sorts. Each intricately carved. (3GP for all beads)

3 small wood carving tools.

Dear Paizo Web Monkeys,
Please make the “My Downloads” page more organized. I’m sitting around 100 items in my downloads and it’s making my OCD dizzy not being able to sort by Pathfinder>Second Darkness>Children of the Void. I would like to be able to click Pathfinder> and see APs, Modules, and Scenarios. Click APs and see RotRL, CotCT, SD, LoF, and the like.
I understand that my OCD does not constitute a front burner situation, but I can sweeten the deal with cookies. But the only cookies I can offer are virtual cookies, not a lot of flavor but they do have 0 calories.
Go go web monkeys!

Flagged fer later findin.

I will have to dig through my books for Unearthed Arcana and check it out. I still need to come up for a backstory and add in how she got NikNak.

So I just started a new campaign with a few folks (If you are my few folks leave! I’m going to talk bad about you.). I created a magic item kinda spur of the moment for a quiet player to give me more DM/Player interaction with said player to bring her more into the game.

Her circumstances: Teifling rogue, chaotic neutral, literally fell out of the sky into a lake. Doesn’t remember anything prior.

The magic Item: NikNak (name derived from the names of the 2 skulls) - A pair of small skulls. An imp skull and a owl arcon skull. Sentient. Think of them as a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. They can speak out loud, but usually speak in the owners head. This telepathy seems to only work one way. The owner has to speak to the skulls, often making the owner seem crazy. The skulls may just be messing with her though.

Nikari - Imp skull abilities: Knows language abyssal/common. Grants owner +1 to listen checks.

Tanak - Owl arcon skull: Knows language celestial/common. Grants owner +1 to spot checks.

As a pair, grants +2 knowledge planes, and you can reroll a knowledge planes check if you succeed in a diplomacy check (dc 15 for easy questions, 20 for moderate, 25 for obscure, and 30 for secret) with one of the skulls. If you ask one skull the other won’t help you because it’s offended. When attempting diplomacy checks the player suffers a -2 penalty if they don’t refer to them using the skulls full name.

I want to have the items get more powerful as she does, and need to give them personalities. One kicker is Nik and Nak know where she is from, and won’t tell her.

I started the group at 3rd lvl. 3.5 Forgotten Realms by the way. I have a Monk with mad tumbles, a Ranger with a bow (duh), and a teifling rogue. No one picked a healer.

So, I would like help with:
1. Personalities for both skulls and arguments they could have with each other, funny stuff a plus.
2. Why won’t they tell the girl where she is from and about her past. What is her past?
3. What kind of bonuses should the skulls get as she gets higher in level.

In the VtM DM screen it had something kinda similar to this, please expound if you think it will add insight.

Andoran –
Top classes: Ranger, Paladin
Demeanor/goals: Spread freedom and democracy throughout the world.
Weakness/Strength:
Quote of the day:
Comparable to other game groups:

Cheliax –
Top classes: Wizard, Fighter
Demeanor/goals: Bring order to the masses, under your boot-heel if necessary.
Weakness/Strength:
Quote of the day:
Comparable to other game groups:

Osirion –
Top classes: Wizard, Monk
Demeanor/goals: Be a "sleeping giant" no one suspects, sitting on the power of the past while your enemies tear themselves apart.
Weakness/Strength:
Quote of the day:
Comparable to other game groups:

Qadira –
Top classes: Fighter, Rogue
Demeanor/goals: Gain power through trade, taxation, and control of resources.
Weakness/Strength:
Quote of the day:
Comparable to other game groups:

Taldor –
Top classes: Bard, Rogue
Demeanor/goals: Use political machinations, subterfuge and underhanded dealings to ensure your fallen empire regains its former glory.
Weakness/Strength:
Quote of the day:
Comparable to other game groups: Ventrue from VtM

What would be the top 2 classes played by each faction?

Excellent, I chose the crown symbol because it seemed the closest visually, and it worked out.

Andoran
Cheliax
Osirion
Qadira
Taldor

I am looking for a quick explanation of the factions motives and goals and general demeanor. If someone has a background in Vampire the masquerade Id kinda like to see how the factions equate to clans. Particularly which faction is most like the Ventrue.

Off the long dead corpse of a human.

A large decayed brown pouch, through some of the holes you can see glints of gold. In the pouch is a gold timepeice (Pocket watch), a couple gold bracelets and a pearl necklace.

I just went through all the online samples of this book I could find and wow. Wow on 2 fronts. Wow, I will be picking this gem up for its creativity and ease of use. Wow, you guys need a proof reader, maybe a fact checker. Below are a few of the ones I found.

Table 7–25: Villains - knowledge on an
6 Cryntona: Corrupt priest who seeks to destroy all knowledge eon a ancient trapped god of good

Table 7–75: Quests – Sargasso Sea is a place, I think you meant sea
1 Charter a ship to a dread sargasso to discover the fate of a legendary pirate’s lair

Table 1–66: Criminal Path – Sociopathic, but I think you mean sadist.
5 Enjoys causing others harm (sociopathy)

Table 7–40: Hidden Agenda - Deconstruction or social experiment. I think.
Deconstructtion or societial experiment

Table 3–89: Medicinal Herbs – So many things in that table are wrong. Not misspelled or anything, just wrong. IE “2 Anise, for insomnia”. Nothing to do with insomnia, more like digestive problems.

Not a big deal, but I figured this is a book by nerds for nerds, this nerd noticed :p I will be pickin this up though.

So this is being touted as the successor to the original Toolbox. Is there any reason to buy this and the old toolbox? The old toolbox had:

Over 400 charts
Name charts
Hit location charts
Traps!
10 Pickpocket charts with 200 entries
City and Dungeon generators
Encounter charts galore
Contents of a wizard's lab
Taverns!
Enough information to choke a yak

Does this new one have all that?

Or....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC4NyO1gUqU

There is a multi part seiries on youtube from WOTC

Ok, I’ve been playin since alpha and have got hundreds of ppl over there first hurdle and got them addicted to magic. FNM (Friday Night Magic) is a sponsored WOTC (Wizards of the coast) event held by some FLGS (Friendly local gaming stores). These events are good to meet folks who can teach you the game. There are assclowns out there who don’t have the knack for teaching. Avoid assclowns. Start simple. MTG (Magic the gathering) products have "Level of Play" indicators on them. "Starter" is where you want to start.

The core editions (Numbered editions, not named. 7th ed, 8th ed... Not Planeshift, or Shadowmoor) are the easiest to learn with. They have "Staple" cards (Cards that are integral to the game) and usually don’t have too many set specific mechanics.

The basics:
60 cards in a standard deck.
20 critters, 20 spells, 20 land (Land, AKA mana, AKA power to cast spells) is a good mix. Some go more or even none on critters/spells but 20 (1/3rd of your deck) land is a staple. No more than 4 of any card other than basic lands.

You both start at 20 life/health

Phases:
Untap: Set all your cards that are in play un tapped (normal readable up)

Upkeep: Pay for any card that says "Do this at upkeep" there aren’t many.

Draw: Draw a card from your library (Deck)

Spell phase: Summon critters/play "Sorcery" spells ("Instant" spells can be cast any time, even during other players turns) Creatures are unable to attack the round they come into play (Summoning sickness)

Combat: Declare attacking creatures ("Tap" the card by turning it 20-45 degrees to the right is a standard showing of tapped. Opponent declare blockers, damage resolves. Some critters die, some live, some may get to your opponent. Those that do take his life total down.

Spell phase: Same as first spell phase

End of turn: If you have 8 or more cards in hand discard down to 7.

--------------------------------------

The 6 dollar deck: A fun way to test a set is to go to the common singles (A dime at some stores) and pick 2 colors, get 10 of 1 land 10 of another, 10 of 1 creature color, 10 of the other. 10 spells of a color, 10 of another. Instant 60 card deck. It wont win tournaments but it is fun against other 6 dollar decks. And I have won tournament with a 6 dollar deck, but its not normal.

Joe mamas house: Get some starter/constructed, or 6 dollar decks and go play at Joe mamas house with a few friends.

Draft: If you dont have 4 of very card in the game ever printed like that guy next to you, that guy next to you will almost always stomp you and your 300 card collection. Wherein comes the Draft. You get 3 packs of cards. Wait till they say go, open 1 pack, pick 1 card from it, give the rest to the guy at your right. The guy at your left passes the 14 he didn’t pick to you. You pick one of those, pass the rest. Repeat till all are gone. Open pack 2, pick 1, pass the rest to your left this time. Rinse repeat.

Rare drafting: Choosing what is rare over what’s good. Usually doesn’t win, bit you can walk away with 15 rare cards for 9 bucks in packs.

There you have it, the raw basics.

Check out http://www.wizards.com/magic/rules/MagicRulebook_10E_EN.pdf for more solid basics but that guide is still a bit tricky for a nub. Get a starter deck and a 6 dollar deck and chill with some friendly gamers at your FLGS and the basic guide will be easy reading. After ya win a hand or 2 you can attempt a draft game. Have fun. BTW, the cards are coated in crack cocaine making them incredibly addictive.

There are tons of gamers in AIT, and if your good you can even get other ppl to fold your BDUs and shine your boots if you DM for them.

And FYI, if you absolutly cant take Basic, don't say you are gay or do drugs or are suicidal. Those cause issues. Just invoke article 125 (I think, maybe 137) which basically says that if you have been in the military for under 180 days you can quit. Flat out quit, no marks on your record, like you never joined. They brief this omited (Omited from your basic training manual, but its in the regs) article at your 181 day mark.

It makes me a sad cabbage. :(

The land of Xanth, a realm brought to us from Peirs Anthony. There were plants that put you in an eternal sleep, plants that cast illusions, and plants that ate you. I'm sure there are some Xanth readers who can expound. I have to go to work.

Off an orc.

In a moderate size pouch you find a small red bag containing a small gold lockbox (DC 15 open locks to open, filled with 2 doses of a illicit substance) . Also in the big bag you find 8 silver and a spare loincloth in need of washing.

I Preordered the core 3 gift set.

Hrmm, for that matter I'd like to know how this would work. I got my Pathfinder and GM Module hard copies subscriptions and all the Pathfinder hardcopies and a few GM Module copies back in the day. If I want the GM Modules I skipped can I cancel my subscription, order the Modules I missed and resubscribe in the same cart to get the free PDFs or can I skip the unsubscribe/subscribe routine and just get the PDFs for any future old hardcopys I buy?

How does the Free PDF thing work?

Do you only get free PDF's of the Product chains you subscribe too? Do you not get them for other products you buy despite the fact you have paid full price for them?

clarification is required please.

Heh. There's a chart like this in GM Gems. :P

BTB, Start copying for GM Gems 2.

Off a goblin.

You find 3 silver. Boring.

You find a few silver coins, a scrap of cloth holding a molding peice of cheese, and what appears to be a polished mouse skull.

Hover over mini for card

The bottom of DnD minis have the mini name, point value for army play, set symbol, and on all but the first sets the rarity symbol. Circle=common, diamond=uncommon, star=rare.

The company is concerned about the hobby and its fans. Nearly three years ago, my home was destroyed by a hurricane and I lost close to half of my gaming supplies. Unsolicited, Paizo sent a care package of gaming stuff to me. Did it help to fix my house? No, but it was a small ray of sunshine and it showed me the degree of compassion they have for D&D and gamers. Do not count them out because of the thoughts of others.

The very first time I found/posted here I saw the 4th ed rederick and thought it was silly. I posted a message about how edition doesn't matter and got overwhelmed by the pro/con debate. Since then I have avoided the back and forth leaning on an ancient online phrase. "Arguing on the internet is like being in the Special Olympics, even if you win, you’re still retarded."

I picked up the huge book, the CD, adventure, Players guide, few odds and ends for 160 off ebay last week. Bit steep, but I'm glad to have it now.

4.0 - "The Human Fighter has an advantage against Bloodied opponents -- the Death Blow ability can be used only against Bloodied targets. When it works, it deals 30 points of damage."

WoW - AKA Excecute.
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The Ranger has a Warcraft warriors "Whirlwind ability and a rogues Reposte ability.
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The Cleric has a Warcraft paladins damage shield aura and the druids Leader of the Pack ability....
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In Warcraft 2.0 they released Teiflings (Drenai)
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In 4.0 they are getting rid of the need to play in person and going online.
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My grandmother raised big cats for an animal park in Arkansas. I've bottle-fed baby lions, tigers and jaguars, and been bitten by a lion, a mountain lion and a black leopard (two of three of them being my own stupid fault).

But, I'm noticing a trend here. People are dropping there "Odd thing to happen to me as a kid" stories here, so I'm going against the grain and saying Turth.

When I was 15, my sister accidentally (I think) slammed the car door closed on my fingers – broke two of my fingers and had to have them in a splint. It was near the end of the year with year 10 exams coming up, and it was my right hand; they had to assign a year 9 kid to sit in the exams with me and write my answers down, an extremely frustrating experience.

Truth or lie?

Actually Id say Turth. Unless it was your brother who broke your fingers.

No one has commented on my Gypsie story so Ill drag it out a bit. When I was 12 I was kidnapped by gypsies and stayed with them for a week at there camp in a trailer. I was returned after I went to a gypsie wedding where they served a pig head as one of the dishes.

Arctic Elves

Arctic Elves
The arctic landscape is dotted here and there with permanent fog banks caused by subterranean heat interacting with snow and ice or warm springs steaming in the freezing air. Hidden in these oases of warmth are the ancient settlements of the elves.

Racial Traits
Arctic elves have the general arctic racial trait described above and all elf racial traits, with additions and exceptions as noted below.

-2 Strength, +2 Dexterity: Arctic elves look down on physical exertion, preferring quick action when necessary.
+2 racial bonus on any one Craft skill (chosen by the character at the time of creation).
+2 racial bonus on Survival checks made in arctic environments: Arctic elves are naturally adept at staying alive in the harsh conditions of their homeland.
No racial bonus on Search checks.
No special ability to notice a secret or concealed door within 5 feet without actively looking for it.

If you metagame and use player knowledge i. e. (failing a knowledge check and still using your player knowledge to exploit a monsters weakness) I dock experience depending on the severity.

Here we go, I'll be interested in how other DM's handle these. I'm not sure if they qualify as metagaming, maybe table etiquette.

1) The party are stood in front of a huge spider with a drow priestess on board. One player looks at another and says across the table, "Shall we rush her?"
The drow attacks.
The player says I wasn't talking out loud.
DM tells him that what is said at the table is said in game. He explains that otherwise it's not good roleplaying.

2) Later in the same dungeon, the players are in mid-fight and getting beaten badly. Player One falls (with a potion of healing in his belt). He starts bleeding out. The last man standing runs over and says, "But I can't heal him. I'm out of potions. (Oh and he fails his heal check).

The party look at each other and keep quiet. Player dies.

I'm getting ready to run RotRL and it looks like we will only have 3 PCs in our party.

I was hoping someone could provide some advice regarding:

1. How should I adjust the encounters for a party of 3 as opposed to the recommended 4?

2. What are the best classes for the players to play?

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated!

www.meetup.com took my group from 1 DM to 2DMs and too many players. Its all good.

When I was about 8 years old my Mom would always make cold cereal for me for breakfast. One morning while making my raison bran she accidently put salt on it instead of sugar. I told her it didn't taste good but she made me eat it anyway. Later that day she realized what she had done and apologized/ Truth or Lie?

2. Leave it turth for character.

My Turth or Lie. I was abducted by gypsies when I was 12.

most of you advice me to talk with this player about his actitude. may be a solution (none of us has done it, and i'm the second GM who has to deal with him in an adventure path), but i've been playing with him about 15 years, and i'm almost sure than he will deny any foul playing. i cannot present any proof, save the suspicious actitude. when he buye the infamous antitoxin i asked him what he want to do with it, he said "may be poisoned traps, or something". wich is relatively fair answer.
I'm considering simply get his character killed again and again until it makes sense to him, and stops pre-reading. i really don't want to rework all AP. it likes me very much as it is, and i fear to make mistakes that ruin the spirit of AP.

I'd call Shenanigans!

After attempting to be polite, be blunt. Tell the player if he keeps using out of character info he will be removed. Call him out. Preferably not in front of the other players. If he persists, remove the player, finish the campaign. After the campaign, you can give the player a 2nd chance in your new campaign.

I've called players on dice cheating, giving there toons too many skill points, writing in gear on there sheet after finding out the party could use something out in the wild.

You have to break an egg to make an omelet. Egg=Cheating player. Omelet=fun. Fun being the goal here.

Great info - thanks everyone! I'm looking at Reaper's and Rackham's web site now. Very nice!

Slight threadjack below (although, I get a little leeway since I started the tread, right :)...

How, if at all, do you guys mark your plastic minis? I'm thinking I might want to mark them on the underside of the bases because:
A - I don't want my minis to get mixed up with other people's on the table, and
B - when you have a number of identical figures on the table (5 Orc spear men or whatever) you need to be able to differentiate them, so numbers or letters would be helpful.

I'm thinking some kind of permanent marker would work well, although black marker on a black base may not show up well.

Any thoughts?

or

You can do "Repaints" on the WotC ones, just use a clear coat on them afterwords. Heck, just paint there bases different colors. If you get the few orcs from each set you can have 50+ orcs that look different anyway. Same thing with kobolds, goblins, gnolls...

Once you build a big enough collection ppl wont need to bring minis with them.

I don't allow personal minis for the sake of mixing theres and mine. I also don't allow players to use outside minis because I own all the DnD miniatures created to date (The plastic WotC ones) and I don't allow metal minis because of my irreplaceable gaming surface (R.I.P. Tact-Tiles).

SterlingEdge wrote:

havening

What the hell? Funny, but what is it?

As per the fall, the PC lost more than 80% of his health. I imposed no penalties because the cleric was standing close by and fixed him right up. Now in some situations this could prove amusing role playing. A 20 foot drop and a impatient dwarf.

Where to now?
do I take monk or ninja or............

IM SO LOST!!!

On the other foot, I like the Rogue for Rogues sake. I usually end up staying a rogue while other ppl end up prestige classing. After lvl 20 the game tends to get stale unfortunately, seemingly even more so if you just play meat and potatoes. 4th ed is suppose to change this, heres hoping.

I'll try to be Dr Frankenstien and revive this monster.

Evalute these scenarios and comment:

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The players are 3rd level and encounter a troll (for the first time). No player has made a knowledge nature check to know anything about trolls. This is assuming that fire is not their standard attack.

Salvatore had one of his adventurers spontaneously figure out to burn them.

If a player just simply states "Oh, its a troll, burn it" call for a knowledge roll, if they fail it, they don't know this fun fact.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The players encounter a magical item. From the description one of the players says "Oh thats a (insert item name)! OOC of course".

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh and a common one: "I'll just jump. The fall can't kill me. It is only going to be Xd6 damage." Says smug player.

I think Ill have to let this thread die and start it again tomorrow. There has been tons of responses, most argumentative and not helpful.

-----------------------------------------

"I really don't want to shoot down cool ideas. I as a player and a DM pull off some silly stuff, but I have read 3 or 4 posts in the last few days concerning "My players are trying xxx to yyy to zzz." I have personally broken campaigns doin this stuff and I've had a couple players try the "Light grease on fire" thing. It gets out of control when a low level spell starts doing way more than its suppose to or you start getting too much gold in the party. A lot of the ones I posted are common sense to even partially seasoned GMs, but not all. I am looking for some harder situations to find answers for issues other GMs are havening"

"C'mon, Im looking to help ppl to keep from overloading there groups with gold, and keeping the game challenging and in line with the heart of the game. Not abusing loopholes and exploits."

"I want to help other GMs learn to curb the metagamer/exploit happy ppl and get to adventuring."

"IE:

The Diplomacy Skill

My Players Just Dont Care

Dealing With A Too Smart Player

Conversion Rate For Souls To GP

What If They Just Fly There"

-------------------------------

People want the help. Lets Help the GMs. Mine is not the only opinion, I'd like to see what other GMs do in these type of situations. Make my DMing better/less restrictive, but keep the game on course at the same time without getting exploited.

SterlingEdge wrote:

I had a GM allow it from another player. Killed the Big Bad End Guy in 2 rounds. Very anti climactic.

What the hell level was this? Caltrops only do 1d4 a bag, last I heard.

SterlingEdge wrote:

Thats another way to deal with the situation. Same outcome. Your letting the player know its boring to be a merchant.

Boring to you that is. Maybe the player wants to deal with the difficulties of knowing the markets, surviving the hardships of the roads, and beating the cutthroat competition. Caravans have guards for a reason.