The Elusive Jackalope's page

On Saturday I'll be running a session for a party consisting of a 3rd-level cleric, a 3rd-level fighter, and a 3rd-level rogue. A dozen bandits (a 1st-level fighter, a 1st-level rogue, and 10 1st-level warriors) are going to raid the small village that the PCs are in (which only has a watch of 6 1st-level warriors and a 1st-level fighter as a guard captain). I already have a variety of combat encounters worked out, but I do not want the entire session to be hack'n'slash.

I need a few ideas (3 to 5) for skill-based non-combat encounters that can happen during the raid (such as saving a child from a burning building) along with some rough mechanics for them.

For a while now I've been working on rules to run an E6 Fallout campaign using 3.5/PF as a base. I'd like to share what I've got so far and would appreciate some feedback. I have yet to finish the Bestiary as well chapters on Action Points, NPC Classes, Random Scavenging, and Vehicles & Maneuvers.

Character Creation and Advancment
Character Origins
Character Traits
Class, Medic
Class, Mercenary
Class, Prospector
Class, Technician
Developing and Curing Chem Addiction
Equipment, Armor
Equipment, Chems and Gear
Equipment, Weapons
Perks
Radiation Poisoning
Skills

Are there enough players interested in Mouse Guard RPG on the Paizo boards to warrant putting an adventure together?

Part One: An Early Frost

The sleepy village of Heldren has rarely seen so much excitement or concern. Hunters from the nearby Border Wood speak of unnaturally cold weather at the height of summer that descended on the forest just days ago. Heavy snow followed, and those who returned spoke of an uneasy presence in the woods, as well as new, dangerous predators. No one knows what this event means, but the town's soothsayer, Old Mother Theodora, claims dark times like ahead.

As if in proof of that dire prophecy, a badly wounded mercenary arrived in town yesterday, claiming to be a bodyguard of Lady Argentea Malassene. He told the village council that the noblewoman's escort came under attack by bandits and strange, wintry creatures near the edge of the Border Wood. He alone escaped, and Lady Argentea was dragged away into the forest. Now the townsfolk cast fearful eyes toward the snowy forest, worried what else might emerge to threaten their peaceful village.

Local Lore
PCs interested in learning more about the recent events in and around Heldren can attempt Diplomacy checks to gather information or Knowledge (local) checks.

Heldren is barely large enough to marshal a decent militia to protect the town, so they need the assistance of highly skilled individuals willing to become local heroes to investigate these events, rescue Lady Argentea and determine the source of the threat hiding in the icy heart of the forest. Councilor Teppen asks you if you are such a person.

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TEJ's Reign of Winter Campaign: The Snows of Summer

I'm looking for 4 players who are able to post at least once per day. We will be using the medium XP track for character advancement and we will not be using the optional rules for hero points. I'll keep this thread open to submissions until 10 AM (central time) on Friday 2/22/13, and I'll make my final decision regarding the composition of the party around noon. We will begin by Monday 2/25/13 at the latest, but potentially as early as Friday evening. If you are not chosen for the initial party I may still contact you in the future to see if you are interested in joining if, for whatever reason, a position becomes available.

Please familiarize yourself with the content in the Reign of Winter Player's Guide. If we finish The Snows of Summer before The Shackled Hut is released on March 20th, then we will take a brief hiatus until then before continuing.

Character submissions should:

Glenn Beck read a copy of Atlas Shrugged and now facies trying his hand at becoming a cult leader.

We have a GM and 2 players for the group currently, and are looking for 2 more players. Most likely we will be playing through either the Second Darkness adventure path using D&D v3.5 or a homebrew campaign using PF. We are looking at meeting 2 to 4 times a month; short sessions every week on most Monday evenings or longer sessions twice a month on Saturdays.

If you are interested please e-mail me at: mhawkins1116@yahoo.com

Do you need line of effect to dismiss a spell?

On Wednesday I'll be kicking off a new campaign. I want the game to start on an exciting note. I've built the following encounter to jump right in and begin the session. I'd like a bit of help fine-tuning it. The party will be starting at level 1 and for non-combat encounters I plan on giving out XP for a CR equal to APL. Any suggestions on enhancing/improving/tweaking the encounter as well as comments on its relative difficulty/unforseen issues would be welcome.

According to table 6-8 Tiny or smaller creatures divide their armor bonus by 2.

Does this apply to:
1. Shields?
2. The mage armor spells (and other spells that provide armor bonuses)?
3. Bracers of armor?
4. Enhancement bonuses on armor (including those provided by magic vestment)?

Thank you.

Creatures that are size Tiny or smaller use their Dexterity modifier in place of their Strength modifier to determine their CMB.

Does the above only apply to naturally Tiny creatures, or creatures that change size as well? For example, if I'm a 1st level halfling wizard with a 5 Str and a 20 Dex, I have a -4 CMB (-1 size, -3 Str). If I become Tiny via a reduce person (+2 Dex, -2 Str), does my CMB become -6 (-2 size, -4 Str) or +4 (+6 Dex, -2 size)?

I'm about to start a new campaign that will be based around settlement for about 6 levels. After building the settlement via the rules in the GMG I noticed that it would add some significant modifiers for skills (Sense Motive and Sleight of Hand, most notably). Should player's be allowed to have access to a settlement's stat block?

For example, the village that the game will be based around will have some skills modified by -8 and others by +5, with most of the other modifiers falling between -2 and +1. Should the players know about this ahead of time? After all, increasing the DC to pick a pocket from 20 to 28 while in town is a big difference, especially when starting at level 1. I've typed up a 6-page campaign guide and wasn't sure if I should include the stat block for when I print off a copy for each player.

The stat block also contains the town's limit on what is available for purchase, so it would give the players the knowledge of what level of gear they should expect to be on hand in relatively short order, but I'm unsure if the PCs should be allowed access to all that a stat block contains ahead of time, even though the information won't be as detailed or as immediately important as an enemy stat block would be. For those who use settlement stat blocks, do you allow your players access to them.

When making a full-attack action with a bow, your first attack fires two arrows. If the attack hits, both arrows hit. Apply precision-based damage (such as sneak attack) and critical hit damage only once for this attack. Damage bonuses from using a composite bow with a high Strength bonus apply to each arrow, as do other damage bonuses, such as a ranger's favored enemy bonus. Damage reduction and resistances apply separately to each arrow.

After your first attack, you can decide to take a move action instead of making your remaining attacks, depending on how the first attack turns out and assuming you have not already taken a move action this round. If you've already taken a 5-foot step, you can't use your move action to move any distance, but you could still use a different kind of move action.

You don't have to decide whether you are full attacking or just standard attacking until after you see if your first attack hit. You only get an extra arrow for your first attack if you full attack.

If I am an archer with Manyshot do I:
1. Standard attack, firing two arrow, then decide to move or continue with a full attack after seeing if I hit?
2. Standard attack, firing one arrow, then decide to move or continue with a full attack after I see if I hit; if I continue to full attack I add extra arrow's worth of damage to my previously attacked foe since I am now full attacking.
3. Need to declare that I will be full attacking to get an extra arrow on my first attack and give up the chance to move after my first attack roll.
4. Somethine else?

Thank you.

Are you flat-footed while in the area of a grease spell?

Grease specifically calls out that if a creature doesn’t move during their turn while in the area of effect then they are not flat-footed, but the Acrobatics rules only state that a creature is flat-footed while balancing on a narrow surfaces or uneven ground, neither of which the spell creates, so there is no reason for a creature to be flat-footed anyway. The way the spell is worded leads me to believe that the intent of the spell is to make moving targets flat-footed, because while the Acrobatics skill doesn’t specifically call out balancing on slippery surfaces past increasing the DC of narrow surfaces or uneven ground, it covers a somewhat similar situation. If you supposed to be flat-footed due to the grease spell; when and for how long? Is it only while moving within the area of effect (basically only against attacks of opportunity)? Until the start of your next turn (or as long as you remain in the area until the start of your next turn)? Finally, due to a similar interaction with the Acrobatics skill I’m unsure as to whether a character who takes damage while within the area of effect of a grease spell is supposed to make a new skill check every time they are damaged or not, and whether or not if they moved during their round factors into that.

Thank you.

Is the caster level increase from Magical Knack supposed to count toward meeting the prerequisites of feats? For example, if I'm playing a wizard 3/cleric 2 with Magical Knack (wizard), is my caster level high enough to take Craft Magic Arms and Armor.

Really, Alabama? Really!?

Christian Identity Ministries is holding a three-day conference for so-called "white Christians" who contend they have been treated unfairly, the Rev. Mel Lewis told local TV station WSFA.

Because when I think of oppressed groups in the states, oh yeah...I think of of white Christians.

After being a bit incredulous several months back about the racism that still passes in the US I wasn't surprised to read this.

I think it is about time to cut a few states free of the union.

As the title asks; out of curiosity.

I tend to add in more modern elements like trains, printing presses, pocket watches, basic firearms and so forth, but I'm also a fan of steampunk.

I’ve built my campaign setting from the inside out, focusing on areas I wanted run games in and building outward from there. As it stands, for the last few years most of my adventures have taken place in region that is more or less an analogue of feudal Russia and Mongolia. Over the last several months I’ve developed many ideas for campaigns run in a completely different locale, however; one resembling historical Mexico, a desire that has only deepened as I learn more about the Mexican history and culture (primarily through my fiance who is studying Spanish language and Mexican culture at the university). For a long time I’ve wanted a decent Mexican analogue to game in, but while most established campaign settings have areas which mirror various European or Asian regions (or even African ones), Mexico seems to be consistently neglected, which seems odd to me since Mexico has such a rich and exciting culture (Día de los Muertos comes to mind).

I’ve also been searching for a good place to introduce basic firearms into my campaign setting as well (several of the adventure ideas I briefly mentioned above would exercise firearm use nicely, actually).

Finally, dwarves have been unfortunately neglected in my recent games. No one has opted to play one for a while and I can’t recall the last dwarven NPC I’ve included in games that take place in the setting (though I have only focused on a narrow bit of it). Dwarves just haven’t yet found their societal niche yet.

It struck me that I could combine the above and introduce a country a bit away from where the PCs normally explore inhabited primarily by dwarves with a culture reminiscent of historical Mexican society with enough technological advancement to have primitive firearms. It seemed to fit well enough: Both dwarves in established campaign settings and real-world Mexico have cultures that are strongly steeped in tradition and religion, and dwarves are typically seen as fine craftsmen so they seem like they would be a fine race to have invented guns.

But then I worried that gun-toting, Mexican dwarves might come off as a bit silly to my players. Mexican artwork is typically very colorful, and not what one might expect of dwarves when used to more standard campaign settings, for example, so it might be a bit jarring.

Any advice on how to mesh Mexico, firearms, and dwarves in a serious, believable (for lack of a better word) way would be greatly appreciated. I guest I don’t have anything more specific than that, as for what I’m looking for. Also feel free to voice if you’d like the Mexican analogue including dwarves (or would at least find it interesting) or if the whole thing would be off-putting to you as a player (either because you would have no interest or because it would seem silly or an awkward fit for you).

Does a barbarian under the effects of a rage spell gain the benefits of her rage powers? I'm pretty sure she can, just wanting to double check to see if it has been noted otherwise anywhere.

Relavent text:

Barbarian - "...A barbarian gains the benefits of rage powers only while raging..."

Rage - "...The effect is otherwise identical with a barbarian's rage except that..."

If a PC is affected by a dismissal spell when they are on a plane other than their native one, where in their native plane to they appear? Solely GMs discretion, or is there a precedent for this situation?

Phantom steed lists its hit points, armor class, and carrying capacity, but left out some vital information:

1. What creature type is the steed? Phantom steed is a (creation) spell, not a (summoning) spell, but its effects clearly list "creature." It states that it is "horselike." Does that make it an animal? It isn't extraplanar since it isn't being summoned.

2. What are its ability scores? We know its Dexterity modifier is +5, but that doesn't tell us much.

3. What are its saving throws? It has limited hit points, so resolving area of effects spells could be pretty important.

4. What are its senses; its Perception score and whether it has low-light vision and scent like a normal horse?

5. What are its defensive abilities; is it immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities since it is a spell effect as well as a creature?

6. CMD? At some point someone is going to want to attempt a maneuver on one of these.

7. HD? What happens if it gets hit with an enervation spell. Is it subject to spells with HD limitations, like sleep?

8. What skill ranks does it possess, if any; what are its skill modifiers?

9. Does it breath? Is it affected by inhaled poisons?

10. Do you need handle animal or ride checks to control it?

11. It only disappears if it is dismissed, the duration wears up, or its hit points are reduced to 0. What happens if it is subject to a death effect that doesn't do hit point damage? What if it is subject to forced reincarnation?

A few questions about the magic stone spell:

1a. The spell states that the user of the spell makes a normal ranged attack, either by hurling or slinging the effected pebbles (against AC). Normally you apply your Strength modifier to thrown weapons and sling bullets, however the spell concludes by saying that the damage of each stone is 1d6+1 (or, double that, 2d6+2, against undead). Is that damage listed as set damage, reglardless of your Strength modifier, or intended to be like weapon damage dice, where you apply your Strength modifier since "...The user of the stones makes a normal ranged attack..." and you are attacking with a thrown weapon?

1b. If you do, in fact, apply your Strength modifier to damage with magic stone, do you also double your Strength modifier against undead? For example; is it 2 * (1d6 + 1 + Strength modifier) or 2d6 + 2 + Strength modifier?

2. "...If slung, treat them as sling bullets (range increment 50 feet). The spell gives them a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls..." If you attack with magic stone via a sling to get the increased range increment is that statement only in regards to range and the spell does the listed damage, or, since you treat them as sling bullets, do they do 1d4 + 1 (+ Strength modifier, perhaps, see above) and you trade power for range?

Please cancel my subscription of Pathfinder Tales. While I love the books, I simply cannot justify the cost at this time.

I'm working on a villian that I'd like to be able to have throw a net (or lasso, whatever) from horseback at a foe (possibly after overrunning prone) and drag foes behind him to damage them. Unfortunately, the rules don't really effectively cover such an act so I'd appreciate a little advice on figuring up some rules on a fair way to resolve such an act in combat.

You can succeed at an opposed Strength check to keep foes from moving beyond the length of the rope connected to the net, but there is nothing about pulling them. The drag manuever specifically mentions that its intended use is to pull someone without damaging them as well, so that avenue seems closed.

A CMB check by the rider holding the net? A CMB check by the mount that would be moving? Opposed Strength checks? A Reflex saving throw? How far would be a fair distance to pull someone in a round this way? What should the damage be (right now I'm leaning toward treating the distance pulled as falling damage, perhaps with the first 10' being nonlethal, though figuring out a acceptable distance to be able to pull someone that isn't weighted to being overpowered or useless is the trickier part)?

One of the other GMs that I play with has gotten it into his head that the players at our table (9 including those of us who rotate GMing) metagame too much, as in trying to figure out enemy armor classes and saving throw bonuses during combat. As one of the other GMs, whose turn it is to currently run a campaign, I only see that behavior from one person (the one claiming to have a problem with it). He's informed me, that when his turn comes around, he is going to combat this by hiding almost all of that information from the players.

He said that he would roll all of the dice behind a GM screen; and by all, I do mean all, including player rolls. He wants to have player's say what action they are attempting and then he will roll behind the screen to resolve it to prevent players from trying to figure out DCs and how likely they are to succeed or fail based on what comes up on a die. He would rolls skills, saves, attack rolls, and so forth. I felt that it was needless and would consume extra time and expressed this too him (I honestly feel that the group for the most part is very good at seperating out of-game and in-game knowledge and not prone to abuse metagame information; in fact I often run without a screen and roll in the open because of this and have on occassion, when my dice have been forgotten at home, had player's roll monster's saving throws and attacks for me).

As the conversation rolled on he said that he also wanted to try hiding pretty much everything from the players, including their character sheets and statistics. He would want us to rank our 6 ability scores from highest to lowest and then he would randomly roll 4d6 dropping the low and place them in that order. We would also rank the skills we thought were the most important to least important and he would assign skill points to the most important skills as we leveled (we would not even know how many skill points we were getting since we wouldn't know our Intelligence modifiers) and to the skills he felt we used the most and what best fit the backstories that we wrote for them. We wouldn't be aware of our normal maximum hit points or our current hit points beyond "fresh," "above half," "below half," and "nearly down."

Pretty much the only things the players would be keeping track of would be their money and property, and their spellcasting (which they wouldn't even know the DCs of, theoretically).

When I continued to express to him that I don't think I'd be a very big fan of that style of game and neither would most of the rest of the group, I was told: "Of course you wouldn't, you're the prime offender." Appearently I have a tendency to rarely put max ranks into skills and just put enough into several different skills to reliably hit the DCs of actions I most care about and he had a problem with that because I wasn't "really roleplaying."

I was rather irked by the who'll ordeal and it just came out of no where. Discussing the matter with several of the others they also thought the idea was rather rediculous, but the GM is adament to give it a try, and between us we are debating which of us care to show up to the session at all. So far it seems like the primary issues for most are 4 things:

1. This style of game requires a lot of trust in the GM. The GM has lost the trust of most of us before when it was found that he has on several occasions cheated to kill characters either because he was annoyed with their players or was bored of GMing and didn't want to end the game like an adult. And he has been known to be a bit of a controll freak both in gaming and outside of it.

2. Rolling dice is a lot of fun. When I play casters half of the time I pick up fireball or chain lightning simply because it is fun to roll a few fistfulls of d6s, even if it isn't the most helpful option.

3. It will make leveling (specifically feat selection) a chore.

4. Its unneccessary and insulting.

I'm trying to decide if I feel like going or not. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt that it could be enjoyable, but I'm skeptical.

Has anyone else played in this style of game before?

Does anyone actually see any merit to this method?

Would never even seeing your character sheet somehow make you better at roleplaying for some reason I can't comprehend?

Would you give it a shot?

If a character is under the effects of both shield and spell turning and gets targeted with magic missile, what occurs?

Is the magic missile turned or negated?

In an upcoming Legacy of Fire game I'll be playing a witch with the misfortune hex. As luck would have it, my friend is planning on playing a cleric with the chaos domain. If a save is forced on a target under the effects of of both misfortune and touch of chaos abilities, how many rolls must the target make? Can they endlessly trigger off one another? I've copied and pasted the rules text for both abilities from the PRD below. I'm sure that this has been brought up before, but I can't find a resolution to it anywhere (just how people would allocate it in their own games). Thank you in advance.

Misfortune (Su): The witch can cause a creature within 30 feet to suffer grave misfortune for 1 round. Anytime the creature makes an ability check, attack roll, saving throw, or skill check, it must roll twice and take the worse result. A Will save negates this hex. At 8th level and 16th level, the duration of this hex is extended by 1 round. This hex affects all rolls the target must make while it lasts. Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day.

Touch of Chaos (Sp): You can imbue a target with chaos as a melee touch attack. For the next round, anytime the target rolls a d20, he must roll twice and take the less favorable result. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.

To a lesser extent the fate sub-domain's tugging strands ability, the ill omen spell, and the Persistant Spell feat may play into this within a few levels as well.

I don't recall if this has been brought up here before (it probably has), but a quick search didn't find what I was looking for.

What is the Spellcraft DC to create a magic item supposed to be?

Successfully creating a magic item requires a Spellcraft check with a DC equal to 10 + the item's caster level. Alternatively, you can use an associated Craft or Profession skill to attempt this check instead, depending upon the item being crafted. See Magic Item Creation for more details on which Craft and Profession checks may be substituted in this manner. The DC of this check can increase if the crafter is rushed or does not meet all of the prerequisites. A failed check ruins the materials used, while a check that fails by 5 or more results in a cursed item. See Magic Items for more details

LINK Right under "Item Creation Feats."

The DC to create a magic item is 5 + the caster level for the item. Failing this check means that the item does not function and the materials and time are wasted. Failing this check by 5 or more results in a cursed item (see Cursed Items for more information).

LINK First paragraph.

Emphasis mine.

Thank you in advance.

If Ron Paul is elected President of the United States he would be given the title of Mr. President. Because he already has the title of Doctor, would it be a more appropriate sign of respect to call him Dr. President or Mr. President? Or does the title of Doctor override the title of Mr. President?

To go with my psychic sorcerer bloodline.

Psychic Warrior

A psychic warrior battles combats not only external foes, but also against the tide of mental energy that resides within himself and threatens to overtake him. A master of both body and mind a psychic warrior is able to release and direct these powerful forces, blending them with martial technique, to become a terrifying presence on the battlefield.

Shielded Mind (Su): At 2nd level, a psychic warrior gains a +1 bonus on Will saves against charm and compulsion effects. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels beyond 2nd. This ability replaces bravery.

Fluid Motion (Ex): At 3rd level, while wearing light armor or no armor, a psychic warrior may add his Wisdom bonus (minimum +0) as an insight bonus to armor class and combat maneuver defense. This ability replaces armor training 1.

Psychic Hammer (Sp): At 5th level a psychic warrior can batter a target within line of sight with a concussive blast of force. His target takes 1d6 force damage and is knocked prone. A Fortitude save halves the damage and negates the prone effect. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + ½ the psychic warrior’s level + the psychic warrior’s Wisdom modifier. This damage increases to 2d6 at level 8, and by another +1d6 for every three levels thereafter (to a maximum of 5d6 at level 20). This ability may be used a number of times per day equal to 3 + the psychic warriors Wisdom modifier. This ability replaces weapon training 1.

Empathic Feedback (Su): At 7th level, whenever a psychic warrior takes damage from a melee attack his attacker takes 1 point of damage per 2 damage dealt to the psychic warrior, to a maximum of the psychic warrior’s level. Mindless foes are immune to this damage. This ability replaces armor training 2

Psychokinetic Weapons (Su): At 9th level, any melee weapon a psychic warrior wields deals an extra 1d6 damage on a successful hit. This damage is not multiplied on a critical hit. At 13th level, any melee weapon a psychic warrior wields is considered to have the ghost touch property. This ability replaces weapon training 2 and 3.

Walk the Walls (Ex): At 11th level, while wearing light armor or no armor, a psychic warrior may walk on vertical surfaces as though under the effects of a spider climb spell. If he doesn’t end his movement on a horizontal surface he could normally stand on, the psychic warrior falls. This ability replaces armor training 3.

Force Field (Su): At 15th level, a psychic warrior and all adjacent allies gain a +4 shield bonus to armor class and a +2 bonus on Reflex saving throws against spells and effects that allow a saving throw to reduce or negate damage. This ability replaces armor training 4.

Offensive Precognition (Su): At 17th level, a psychic warrior gains an insight bonus on attack rolls equal to his wisdom modifier (minimum +0). This ability replaces weapon training 4.

Body Adjustment (Ex): At 19th level, as a standard action, a psychic warrior can meditate to heal a number of hit points equal to his level plus his Wisdom modifier (minimum +0). This ability can be used once per day. This ability replaces armor mastery.

Mind Crush (Sp): At 20th level, a psychic warrior may strike target a within line of sight with a crippling wave of psychic energy. That target must make a Will save or become permanently confused, as with the insanity spell. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + ½ the psychic warrior’s level + the psychic warrior’s Wisdom modifier. Once a creature has been the target of a mind crush, regardless of whether or not the save is made, that creature is immune to that psychic warrior's mind crush for 24 hours. Remove curse does not remove this effect. Greater restoration, heal, limited wish, miracle, or wish can restore the target. This ability replaces weapon mastery.

Psychic

One of your ancestors was exposed to a great deal of raw psychic energy and its residual effects have long since lingered dormant in your family’s blood, culminating in you, allowing you to see and understand things with an ease others cannot hope to over the course of their entire lives. Your knack for foresight and fastidiousness may often lead you to become aloof and overconfident, alienating you from your peers.

Class Skill: Sense Motive

Bonus Spells: hypnotism (3rd), detect thoughts (5th), suggestion (7th), arcane eye(9th), telekinesis (11th), eyebite (13th), vision (15th), moment of prescience (17th), dominate monster (19th)

Bonus Feats: Blind Fight, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Leadership, Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Sense Motive), Spell Penetration

Bloodline Arcana: Unlike most sorcerers, whose innate magic is powered by force of personality, you use your intellect to understand and master your mystic powers. You use your Intelligence, rather than your Charisma, to determine all class features and effects relating to your sorcerer class, such as bonus spells per day, the maximum spell level you can cast, the save DCs of your spells, and the number of daily uses of your bloodline powers. Add half your sorcerer level to the Spellcraft DC for others to identify the spells you cast.

Bloodline Powers: Your psychic abilities manifest in a variety of ever evolving ways.

Concussive Force (Sp): At 1st level, you can create a blast of mental energy directed at a target within 30 feet. This energy cannot cause damage, but can be used to make a single bull rush, disarm, or trip combat maneuver, using your sorcerer level plus your Intelligence modifier in place of your normal CMB. You can use this power a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.

Precognition (Su): At 3rd level, you gain a +1 bonus on Reflex saving throws and a +1 insight bonus to armor class. At 9th, level your insight bonus to armor class increases to +2. At 15th level, your bonus on Reflex saving throws increases to +2 and your insight bonus to armor class increases to +4.

Mindlink (Sp): At 9th level, you can forge a mental link with a willing creature within line of sight for a number of minutes per day equal to your sorcerer level. This functions as a telepathic bond spell. These minutes do not need to be consecutive, but must be used in 1 minute increments. At 13th level, you may include a 2nd willing creature within line of sight into the link. At 17th level, you may include a 3rd willing creature within line of sight into the link.

Mind Over Body (Sp): At 15th level, you can become ethereal for 1 round per sorcerer level. This functions as the ethereal jaunt spell. You can use this ability once per day.

Perfect Awareness (Su): At 20th level, you can never be caught flat-footed, you treat all of your initiative rolls as though they were natural 20s, and you gain blindsight with a range of 60 feet.

I was just doing a bit of thinking- Pathfinder already has a great RPG system and is soon going to have its own comic book. Isn’t it time to branch out into fields other than entertainment? Think of the profits, man. Profits! So much money could be made by extending into other areas:

Take food for example; who wouldn’t buy Desna Os (with marshmallow butterflies)?

Or birth control; you could market, successfully market, Calistra brand condoms (with cute black and yellow stripes), I gaurentee it. Maybe throw in a few Llamashtu tainted ones into every pack that are sabotaged to fail. It could be like Russian roulette, but with birth control. Strike that last idea, it may not go over well with consumers.

Other health supplies; in a few years Valeros vitamins could replace those Flintstones’ supplements for kids.

Light bulbs? Warm your apartment/house/place of work with Sarenrae’s light. Extend the same idea to tanning supplies.

Cutlery- I see every kitchen in America chopping onions with “Merisiel approved” knives inside this decade.

These are just some ideas off the top of my head. There are vast markets yet untapped by Paizo/Pathfinder.

Just sayin’.

Please download and read through the Council of Thieves Players Guide prior to finishing and posting your character.

Character creation information:
All characters must be halflings (obviously). Characters will be made using the point buy generation method (20 alloted points) and will have the maximum potential starting gold for their class. Characters will also have 2 traits. Hero points will not be used. Everything from te CRB and APG is allowed (but we will probably avoid the trouble that Leadership brings unless someone has their heart truly set on it). Things from other sources will be allowed on a case-by-case basis. Most things will likely be allowed, but I'm not familiar will all of the material under the sun to promise that it can all be in. Include a biography for your character. Every character gains the Weapon Finesse feat at 1st level. Everyone gains the feats in the Vital Strike feat chain upon meeting their prerequisites. Characters do not need to list an alignment. Disenchanting magic items, as previously explained, is also allowed.

Gameplay information:
I've stated this in the other thread, but I want to reiterate it here just so everyone is perfectly aware: Unlike most games where everyone is expected to post at least once a day if possible, the pace of this game is going to be much more casual. 2 or 3 posts a week should be more than enough. My GM posts will be longer, more descriptive narratives to compensate for the reduced number of them. You are more than welcome to post more often if you would like (and I will certainly make an effort to do likewise).

I'm currently running a D&D 3.5/Pathfinder campaign in the setting of the Fallout video game series and thought I'd share my houserules for adjucating radiation poisoning with anyone who is interested.

Radiation poisoning rules via Google.docs

Last session my RotRL party made to the end of Hook Mountain Massacre. Although they were successful in defeating Barl, he along with 2 other villains over the course of the adventure managed to escape (the others being 1 of the hags at the Hook Mountain lair and Lucrecia, who has plagued the PCs with minor problems for several sessions since she was first encountered in Fort Rannick). Tomorrow I'll start the PCs on Curse of the Riven Sky, which fits well between HMM and FotSG, but afterward would like to have Barl and company recur. While I could have the trio either go their seperate ways or join with their more powerful brethern later in the adventure, I'd like to have theme scheme revenge together, perhaps in their masters' names (it would have been great if Erylium didn't take a critical heavy crossbow shot to the face and either Foxglove or Ironbriar made it out alive to round round out the foul menagerie), but I'm at a loss for what side adventure to concoct for these foes. Between them they have quite the arsenal of tricky magic. Any suggestions?

A small Kentucky church has chosen to ban marriages and even some worship services for interracial couples...

"That the Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church does not condone interracial marriage. Parties of such marriages will not be received as members, nor will they be used in worship services and other church functions, with the exception being funerals. All are welcome to our public worship services. This recommendation is not intended to judge the salvation of anyone, but is intended to promote greater unity among the church body and the community we serve."

Homebrew forum...I guess.

After browsing through the NPC gallery in the GMG I was a bit unsatisfied. I am happy that there was a list of fully built list of NPCs published to be on hand at all times, but the NPCs therein seemed a bit too fantastic (for lack of a better word) for my tastes as well as feeling somewhat inconsistent. I was interested in having a stack of NPC statistic blocks on hand to make GMing easier on myself but as fine of a product as the GMG was it wouldn’t suffice for my needs. Many of the NPCs in the GMG are built with primarily PC class levels as opposed to NPC class levels and are of a lot higher level than I would expect common folk to be. I wanted somewhat more toned down NPCs that followed consistent guidelines to emphasize just how exceptional the PCs are in relation to the world they’re in and just how much of an impact they can have.

So I set out to type up my own NPC gallery for personal use with the following guidelines:

• NPCs will have one level per age category (1 for youths, 2 for adults, 3 for the middle-aged, and so on) representing them gradually becoming more adept at their chosen professions with age. This means the majority of NPCs will be level 2 (CR 1/3s).
  
• Any NPC that can be accurately represented with NPC class levels as opposed to PC class levels should be. Pickpockets can be experts, for example, as opposed to rogues, unless one is particularly good at attacking from hiding or needs specific talents.

• All NPCs are built off the standard array, or the elite array if they possess PC levels, just as stated in the CRB, and stick as close to their allotted wealth as possible, minimizing reliance on magic items.
  
• The ultimate goals of each NPC should be decided before its creation; all NPCs should be proficient in their fields and be able to succeed on their everyday tasks by taking 10 to hit skill DCs. For example, the town guard that I’ll list below will be able to hit a 13 by taking 10 on Intimidate. As most criminals will be level 1 or 2 according to the guidelines I set for myself, even if wisdom is one of their better attributes (a +1 modifier), they should succumb to the guard’s influence.
  
• All NPCs should have max skill ranks in their craft, perform, or profession of choice as it will generally be their livelihood and focus.

I feel like I’m missing a guideline I set for myself in the list above, but I’m sure it will come to me eventually. Since I’m going through all of the math to achieve the necessary allocation of ability and skill points and effort to build and type my own gallery of NPCs for personal use anyway, I thought I’d share them with anyone who is interested. I’ll gradually add NPCs throughout the coming days/weeks, until I feel I have a nice list for myself. Up first is a guard captain, or sheriff if you prefer, and his watchmen.

As one of the zoos on the boards (there's a big community here, I'm sure I'm not the only one around) I'm aware of my thoughts on the matter. But the statutory rape thread about that famous kid got me thinking about matters of consent and out of curiosity I was wondering what other Paizo posters think. Interspecies love: romantic or animal abuse?

Question is as the title.

I was reading the Shadow Demon's statistic block in the PRD and noticed that its Shadow Blend ability is not negated by artifical illumination. Looking over the Vision and Light section of the CRB, I must be missing where artificial illumination is defined.

Light spells must not be (since Shadow Blend states that it is not negated by articial illumination or light spells, implying that they are seperate), so that leaves alchemical items (sunrods), creature/terrain abilities (phosphorescent fungus), and mundane fire (candles, torches, and so on). The term artificial illumination is throwing me off, because I can't find it defined anywhere and fires provide very real light.

Hmm...if you made a silent image of light in a pitch black area, would only creatures with darkvision be able to see it since figments can't create real effects (like light)?

After running my latest group through Fort Rannick last week I noticed something that I never noticed before; one of the maps seemed rather familiar (and not just because I've ran the AP before). Then it hit me: Broken Spire Keep from the 2E AD&D Night Below box set. Pulling both modules out side by side- the second level of Fort Rannick and the main floor of Broken Spire Keep have only a few minor differences, but are otherwise very similar. It could just be that it is a rather basic floor plan for a fortress, I suppose (there are only so many few room layouts one can have), but has anyone else noticed this (does anyone still have Night Below to compare?).

Unfortunately we recently lost a great player due to a busy schedule, and we need a new 6th man to round out the team. Character submitted for consideration should be 3rd level (the PCs will be this level soon, by the the time you'll be able to hop in), point built with 15 points, 2 traits, and standard wealth for a 3rd level character (3000 GP). There is currently a two-handed fighter, a cleric, a sorceress, a witch, and a ranger in the group.

The ranger has been having computer problems and we haven't seen him in over a month. We aren't replacing him yet, since we want to give him a while longer to pop back up, but it would be nice to have a replacement ready and waiting in case we should need it.

Recruitment will remain open until a replacement is selected. Feel free to post here with questions. Game thread is found here in case you would like to poke around.

Obviously there are a lot of optimized builds and theorycrafting on messageboards and arguments over which class is better than which, but I'm just curious as to what awesome characters people are actually playing and enjoying in their games without having to compare and discuss the best way to minmax it out.

I'll go first. In addition to the PBP characters in my profile- after just hitting 3rd level (still need to pick spells, but he is otherwised leveled up for this weekend), here is Alphonse Zindelo; a naive, young (17 years old) Varisian enchanter with an acute fear of all things demonic. I'm having a blast portraying a 7 WIS, so Al finds himself duking it out in melee, TWFing without the feats, with his quartstaff (killed enemies with lucky criticals 3 times already this way). Pretending to be a monk on a small island off of Absolom, thus far he's back-flipped across chasms 20' wide and 60' deep, charged into battle on the back of a centaur through 500' of plains toward a tower full of archers, won drinking contests with gnome saliors, and bull rushed foes off cliffs, along with many other things he shouldn't be able to acomplish (but my d20 loves that 18+ on physical skill and ability checks), and has given himself delusions of granduer on account of his accomplishments (not bad considering he's the product of a 15 point point-buy). He's far from optimized, but I love him anyway, and am surprised as can be he's survived this long. He can even out bluff and diplomacy the party's bard (who joined when the druid bit the dust). I've decided to let him develop organically and haven't put much thought into him for than a level or so ahead at a time. *Shrugs*

Every year I host a 4 part game in my area- I, along with a lucky group, play on Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, April 1st, and conclude on Cinco de Mayo. This game is always anachronistic and breaks the 4th wall with humor on a regular basis. For example, this year the antaganist of the adventure was Al Gore, a mad mage insisting that Golarion would heat up to the point it would combust if he didn't do something about it was attempting to perform a ritual that would plunge the world into an endless Winter, assisted by his flesh golem, Man-Bear-Pig. Upon his defeat the party learned that he was being manipulated by an evil succubus, Hilary Clinton, and needed to put an end to her vile schemes. Every player strives to come up with the most mechanically sound, but rediculous character imaginable, be it through pop culture references or other inanity. Obviously the jokes are bad, and that is the point, see this year's plot above. Then every character is given quirk which they must follow, assigned via being drawn from a hat with recomendations from all included. This year our group's fighter could only speak if he included a bad pun, for example. Then we turn the adventure into a drinking game, which the rules change for year to year but have the same premise, of certain actions or saying certain words or certain die rolls force drinks. By the end of each night of "Drunk D&D" the players are so intoxicated that their in-character actions and impersonations are frankly as halarious as they are absurd, and we get to see some crazy choices and risks that would never happen in a normal game.

Normally alcohol isn't welcome at the game table (at least not drunk players) nor is stupid humor that would otherwise break immersion, but for this 1 4-part game a year everyone can go nuts and act like jack asses. And it is a ton of fun. Several years back when I ran the first I didn't expect it to catch on into being an annual tradition, but now it is looked forward to by all. Of course there are some limiations; the minors aren't allowed in these sessions at all, I do live in an apartment so being excessively loud or beligerant is out, and some other common sense rules for safety and consideration.

So does anyone else have an odd gaming tradition?

After a recent game session I was told by one of my players that I NEED to start rolling initiative for each enemy involved in combat separately because I was running encounters unfairly, and that enemies shouldn't all be allowed to go on the same initiative count because it makes fights more difficult by allowing multiple foes to easily surround a PC, use tandem tactics, or do damage to a PC without them having time to react between attacks. He went on to say that he felt it to be unrealistic that large groups of enemies act simultaneously. Not that I should consider it, or that it might be a good idea. But that I NEED to start running games that way.

I usually roll initiative for each group of like enemies separately. If a BBEG has a eight warrior minions and six expert minions, the BBEG will go on his own initiative, the warriors will all go on another count, and the experts will likewise have their own. I was under the impression that this was the common and accepted way to tackle initiative.

When responding to the player's audacious demand, I told him that there was no way I was going to be able roll and keep track of a dozen or more initiative counts and which constantly moving miniature each of them belong to on the map on a regular basis while still paying attention to damage, status anomalies, and so on. I also commented that the PCs aren't entirely without ways to interrupt their foes; AoOs (including those made with combat reflexes and/or reach weapons), readied actions, immediate actions, or even burning hero points to act out of turn. Finishing my argument for why I wouldn't be changing my methods I asserted that while not perfect, group initiative for enemies speeds up lengthy combat by not having to keep track of many enemies independently and is a concession for the sake of simplicity. Apparently my explanation, which I thought I delivered politely enough, all things considered, wasn't satisfactory and the player got quiet and stormed off.

So my question is this: Does anybody actually roll initiative for each enemy separately every single combat? How many enemies do you regularly get up to in one battle? How well does it work for you?

I haven't played 4e in quite a while- the last time I played was right after the release of the PBH2 (if that was the book with the deva race in it, if not, whatever that book was). I only got to play and DM the system a handful of sessions before my regular group decided that they didn't like it and went back to 3.X. I was alone in preferring 4e, so for a while now I've been stuck playing/DMing 3.X and PF (not a bad thing, but I get bored of playing the same system over and over again). While gearing up to move recently I found my 4e books (PHB, MM, and DMG) and decided that I was going to finally see if I could track down a 4e gaming group somewhere in my area so I can enjoy it as well. However, my 4e books are all from when they were first released. I was rereading the rules and surfing around on the internet, figuring I should probably reeducate myself with the system before I try to jump right in somewhere and realized that I was a bit lost.

Since I've been away from the system many things have been released. Aside from niche supplement books Essentials has been released, and I seem to be finding a lot of mixed information on it. I'd appreciate it if anyone could tell me just how essential is Essentials? Does it dramatically change the rules of the game? Do most people use it? Will my existing core rules work fine with or without it if I join a group? What exactly is Essentials? Do I need to read it?

I'm also having trouble tracking down a complete errata for my core rulebooks (it is possible I'm not as computer proficient as I like to think I am) since I've heard a lot of powers have been changed (the example I was given was magic missile auto-hitting again, I think). If someone could point me to a link, it would help me a lot.

I'm pretty sure I've seen advertisements at the local gamestore for Encounters? I've never been involved in any sort of organized play for any edition of any game, so I don't have much experience in the matter. Would Encounters be a decent way to get back into the system or would I be expected to have strong working knowledge of the current rules? Are these full adventures or just combat scenarios?

Basically, what do I need (past what I already own- 1st printing core) to get into 4e and be able to play with working mechanical knowledge of the rules? If anyone could help me get a sense of direction to help sort through everything and get into the system faster, I'd be grateful.

This probably could have gone in Gamer Talk as readily as here, but I made my choice. If it needs moving, no problem.

I like to spend a lot of my free time building campaigns and adventures. While for nearly a decade now I’ve played with the same core group, gaining a player here or there and every once in a while losing one for various reasons (people and their getting married and their having children- Pffftttt...LAME!), I’ve been recently expanding into PbP and even meeting other groups in my area. For the last several years I’ve gotten very used to the style of game my regular players prefer most, but since I’m now constantly gaming with new people I’d like to be able to build adventures that a greater majority of people I’ll play with will enjoy, so I’m trying to find what the greater majority of gamers prefer with a brief survey and promoting discussion. This is partly curiosity since I know people will probably vastly differ in their responses, but I’m just wondering if I can find a trend or average for game building that will be the most pleasing to the largest amount of players. Thank you for your time and questions/comments are more than welcome.

Obviously a lot of factors will alter how great a game is, including the people you play with, so I’m looking at purely an adventure as written scenario.

5 Rova, 4711 AR, in Varisia...

Wartle’s only tavern and trading post, the Lean-To, has been surprisingly active tonight. Normally half-filled this time of year with trappers and furriers from the Mushfens to the South downing tankards of a cheap, foul, watered down, locally brewed ale that tastes of stale piss known as Bog Grog, travellers from all walks of life seem to be swelling it to bursting (which honestly isn’t saying very much, given its modest size). Traffic through Varisia’s countryside has been unseasonably high. Amid the rabble is a well dressed merchant obviously scanning the crowd, his nose wrinkled in distaste as he sits alone at an old round table in the far corner, its many seats remaining vacant. He impatiently checks a timepiece from his breast pocket, an expensive curio to show in these parts, especially given the wenches and rat faced sneak thieves obviously eying the trinket, and if possible his demeanor grows even darker as he takes a deep swig from his hip flask. Leaning back, he fumbles for a small travellers’ chest with a thick lock on it beneath his chair without looking, and for a moment his eyes widen in alarm until his flailing fingers find the parcel and he visibly relaxes. With his close cropped, dark hair, portly frame, and obvious Chelish ancestry, he’d stand out in a backwater Varisian township even without his garish garb.

The waitress slides around you with a forced smile carrying a hefty tray of drinks and sets six foaming mugs before the empty seats around the merchant’s table. He sighs impatiently and fishes a couple of gold coins of Korvosan mint out of the leather purse and flips them to here with a grace belied by his appearance, shooing her away with a glare shortly afterward as he rhythmically raps his fingers on the tabletop, waiting.

What do you do?