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I'm going to jump in here and side with The Burninator on his second option for how the tiers work. And I quote:

"MYTHIC PATHS
Every mythic character belongs to one mythic path. Each path represents a character’s journey into legend, and each tier in that path grants abilities and features related to that pursuit. Upon achieving the 1st mythic tier (called the moment of ascension), a character must choose one mythic path to follow. Characters can choose from the
following mythic paths."

So it seems to me, and how my games will run,that if you are an Archmage, and you take Absorb Blow from your Duel Path feat, you have wasted it, since while you may be a 5th Tier Archmage, but are a 0 Tier anything else.

Add to this:

"To become mythic, a character must first undergo a moment of ascension (see the sidebar on page 3). This is the point at which he gains his first tier and must select a mythic path, which determines the majority of his mythic abilities. A character’s mythic path is much like an additional class."

If its like a class, we know how multi-classing works, and Duel Path Feat is pretty clear that it doesn't give you multi-tier, only an expanded list to pick from later on.


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Over at Brennor's RPG Corner I have a Dragon Age game using the Pathfinder RPG.

Brennor's Dargon Age Game

The resource theread for my conversion is located here:
My Dragon Age Conversion

What I did, as you'll see if you look, is make healthy use of Traits to give the various races and organiztions the right feel for things. Basically left Quanri as "human" but if you take the Qunari Trait to be a typical Qunari that we've seen in the games so far then you get what you'd expect from Sten.

Various organizations and background work well for this as well, such as Apostate or Circle Mage.

As someone else used, I also went withe Spellpoints/Mana out of the 3.5 Unearthed Arcana/SRD. And turned all mages into a cross between Sorcerer and Wizard. Made up a new Bloodline for Spirit Healer, and more could easily be formulated this way for other specialties.

Templar became an order of Chevilers, as did the Orlesian Cheveilers of course!

I've set my game during the very end of the last age, just before the Dragon Age started. The PCs are heroes in the Rebellion with Maric and Logain, and will eventually be intsurmental in helping refound the Grey Wardens in Ferelden (and will be the first new wardens once the order is officially returned). Much of the timeline is taken from the two novels that are out about it.

Classes:

Core Classes
Fighter – As Is
Barbarian – As Is
Rogue – Remove Minor and Major Magic Talent Options
Ranger – No Spells, Replace with Skirmisher Options from Advanced Player Guide.
Bard – Remove Spells, add Rogue Talents at 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th.
Templar - New (See Above Post)

Sorcerer – Special See Own Magic Entry.

Cleric – Banned
Druid – Banned
Wizard – Banned
Paladin - Banned

Advanced Classes
Cavelier - Orlesian Chevaliers (Order of Lion, Shield, Star, Sword)
Cavalier – Ferelden Knight (Order of the Cockatrice, Lion, Shield, Sword)
Cavalier – Grey Warden (Order of the Dragon)

Many of the variant options from the Advanced Player's Guide fit perfectly into the setting and can be handled on a case by case basis, the same goes for some of the Prestige Classes and Advanced Classes.

Mage:

Mage (Based on Sorcerer)

Most mages in Thedas belong to the Circle of Magi. As such, they are taken from their families while still children, and highborn children who are able to use magic will lose all claims to their family's estates and titles when they are taken to the Circle. This helps to create a bond stronger than social class or race, since everybody in the Circle is raised and taught the same way.

All mages undergo a process of having their blood taken while apprentices and placed in a Phylactery. This ensures the mages' compliance as well as the ability to track down any mage who decides to run away, since a Templar can track anyone through their blood.

Some mages manage to escape the notice of the Chantry and the Circle, and grow up without the training that those who are taken from their families will have. Any mage not a part of the Circle is considered to be an apostate, and will be hunted by templars if discovered.

Some groups, such as the Dalish, are, for all intents and purposes, outside of the jurisdiction of the Chantry and the Circle, and will carry on their own magical traditions. A Dalish Keeper has considerably different training than a Circle Mage, as their tradition is supposedly based on the old elven magics. A Keeper typically has a First, the Dalish term for an apprentice.

Another example of an extra-traditional mage organization are the Witches of the Wilds, to which Flemeth and Morrigan belong.

In Thedas, magic is a natural phenomenon like air pressure, gravity, inertia, or anything else. Some people are born with the ability to interact, control, and shape it.

Magic originates from the Fade, the realm where Spirits dwell and humans and elves visit when they dream. As such, using it can draw the attention of the beings on the other side of the Veil, leading to an increased risk of demonic possession. A possessed mage becomes a distortion of their former self, a twisted monster known as an Abomination.

What a mage is able to do with magic in Thedas is somewhat limited when compared to other fantasy worlds, namely those used by Dungeons and Dragons. Interdimensional travel (discounting interaction with the Fade) and teleportation are non-existent although occasionally attempted, and the average person will rarely ever see any true example of magical power.

Mages are, however, capable of manipulating the basic elements, such as conjuring gouts of flame and small localized ice and electrical storms. There are also spells that allow for the temporary reanimation of corpses and the draining of an opponent's life-force.

Hit Die: d6

Starting Wealth: 2d6 × 10 gp (average 70 gp)

Class Skills: The mage's class skills are Appraise (Int), Bluff (Cha), Craft (Int), Fly (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

BAB: Poor
Fort Save: Poor
Ref Save: Poor
Will Save: Good

Spell Casting: See below

Mana/Spellpoints are used in place of traditional daily spell slots. As SRD ruling, you can find the full variant here:
www.d20srd.org/srd/var...Points.htm

Level 1
Mage's Staff:
Arcane Bond (Ex or Sp)

At 1st level, a mage forms a powerful bond with a staff and begins play with one at no cost. The staff acquired at 1st level is not made of any special material but is masterwork. The staff must be wieldied to grant any of its bonuses.

A staff can be used to cast any cantrip spells the mage can cast without costing mana. Without the staff cantrips cost mana as if they were 1st level spells.

The magic properties of a staff only functions for the mage who bonds with it.

If a staff is damaged, it is restored to full hit points the next time the mage prepares his mana. Bonding with a new staff takes a 1 hour ritual.

Eschew Materials Bonus Feat

Cantrips (Also see Mage's Staff)

Spells:
Spells Known: As Sorcerer, with Bonus Spells for High INT
Mana/Spellpoints: As Sorcerer, with Bonus for High CHA

Bloodlines:
These are more representative of study, than power in the blood, but in some cases (such as Dragons) this may be more the case. They function as normal with the exception of Arcane Bloodline and Spirit Healer (noted in above post) as noted.

From PHB:
Arcane
Destined
Dragonic
Elemental
Frost
Infernal (Is Forbidden, and many are termed Blood Mages that use this style.)
Undead

From APG:
Boreal
Deep Earth
Dreamspun
Protean
Stormborn
Verdant (Dalish Keeper)

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

Arcane Bloodline - Mage Specilization

Arcane Bond (Su): At 1st level, you gain a greater bonus with your staff, and when you have your staff in hand it can channel mana for the casting of spells. Mana used from the staff can not be combined with a Mage's normal mana reserve, and must be used alone. The mana in a staff recharges once a day when the mage rests and refreshes his bond with the staff and regain his own mana normally.

The staff contains the following bonus mana:
Mage Lvl (Mana Bonus)
1-2 (1)
3-4 (2)
5-6 (2)
7-8 (3)
9-10 (3)
11-12 (4)
13-14 (4)
15-16 (5)
17-18 (5)
19-20 (6)

After this I tackled Darkspawn, and am working on Deepstalkers (my group is traveling with the rebels through the Deep Roads under the Brecilian Forest as the Orlesians have them cut off after the battle of West Hill.

Darkspawn
My Darkspawn

Has anyone actually been playing in a game using their conversions?


I'm not sure the official ruling on this, but we have been playing it as once you use that first attack, you aren't holding it anymore. And in fact, really we have just treated it almost like having 1 use per level sort of spell. At say 4th level, you get 4 attacks with it, hit or miss.

Here is a question that came up, can you Spellstrike and Spellcombat in the same round?

This line has us wondering "If used with spell combat, this does not grant an additional attack."


We also allowed Arcane Bonded Item inplace of the Familiar, and I love that aspect of the character. Makes much more sense to us then having a familar also. Improved Arcane Bond becomes a great feat to have (with all the great bonuses and +2 concentration, helps a ton for Casting on the Defensive).


Something else we noticed, Combat Casting Feat. Do you need it?

It turns out in this build, I don't.

Looking at him at 5th level now...

INT 20 (+5)
Focused Mind Trait (+2)
Level 5 (+5)
Improved Bonded Item (+2)
Concentration Total 14

He can only cast 1st and 2nd level spells anyhow.
Level 1 DC 17 (Fail 1-2)
Level 2 DC 19 (Fail 1-4)

Sure Combat Casting would make these never fail, but the chance seems not worth spending a feat. And if you really need to, you can just take a hit to attack rolls for a boost in Concentration for that critical spell that HAS to work.

Then come 8th level you get Improved Spell Combat for +2 more Concentration so you look like this:

INT 20 (+5)
Focused Mind Trait (+2)
Level 8 (+8)
Improved Bonded Item (+2)
Improved Spell Combat (+2)
Concentration Total 19

You can actually cast 3rd level spells at this point and have been able to.

Level 1 DC 17 (Auto Success)
Level 2 DC 19 (Auto Success)
Level 3 DC 21 Fail on a 1!

It stays pretty nice from here on out.

So for my Magus, no Combat Casting!


So over at Brennor's RPG Corner we converted a Fighter 1/Wizard 3 heading to Eldritch Knight into a Magus at 4th level playing the Savage Tide AP. He just reached 5th Level, but haven't had a chance to do any fighting with him yet.

A few things we tweaked, the main one being an Arcana.

The Play Test as writen allows a Familar

Quote:
Familiar (Ex): A magus with this magus arcana gains a familiar, using his magus level as his effective wizard level. This familiar follows the rules for familiars presented in the arcane bond wizard class feature.

We took this one step further and allowed a Bonded Item -- in this case an sword! We figured a bond to a magical creature or an item is basically the same thing, and since this is a play test, let's test it. I must say the Bonded Item has worked out wonderfully for the entire concept, feel, and mechanics of the character. (Espcially when some Bullywugs showed up with a Rust Monster! Yikes!)

Maxing out the focus of the weapon, took Hierloom Weapon Trait, made it a Aldori "Sasserine" Dueling sword, and have Weapon Finesse, and just picked up Improved Arcane Bond for it. This has been a great RP tool and mechanical boost for the character.

Also as a tweak we added Burning Disarm to the spell list because the character had it prior to the switch, and it just made sense to us to keep it.


I just had this come up in a game we are playing. I have a 4th level Magus in it.

We ended up doing this.

Round 1: Spellstrike - Cast Chill Touch and deliever it through my sword. 1 "charge" of Chill Touch used up.

Round 2: Sword is still charged with Chill Touch, so Full Attack/Spellcombat, Attack with Chill Touch Sword (uses up 2nd charge of Chill Touch), cast Shocking Grasp with unchilly hand.

Basically since I delievered the Chill Touch with my sword thanks to Spellstrike the chilling remained on my sword until all 4 uses up it were up.


For years I've always wanted to do a Fallen Empires RPG game. I stopped playing Magic back just before Stronghold, like in the Mirage time frame I think it was. I started around Revised, and while the FE card set wasn't the best, the theme of it was what hooked me.

So I'm currently on a Play By Post Site http://brennor.dyndns.org/rpg and am thinking of another setting to run, this time using Pathfinder RPG (without the Pathfinder Setting).

I can't help but think how fun FE could be. Anyone out there have any sources for history/timelime, etc for Fallen Empires?


Dryder wrote:

Ok, I played FR for years and switched over to Eberron when that setting appeared.

So, ONE for Eberron!
But, as I am halfway through Ptolus, I have to say, this will be the setting I am going to use after my present campaign.

And I have no idea how to start a poll here!

Not sure how to start a poll either, however, settings that come to mind for me that have d20 material are:

Forgotten Realms, so large it cloud be broken into differnt areas such as Shining South, Sword Coast, Etc...
Greyhawk
Dragonlance
Eberron
Oriental Adventures, including Kara-Tur, Mahasarpa and Legend of the Five Rings (d20)
Al-Qadim (no real offical 3.5E new info except for a small bit in Dragon Magazine)

I'm sure there are several other smaller, or off shoot settings, but as far as offical 3.5E settings produced by WotC I'm not sure. Settings like, Ptolus, Ravenloft, etc are d20 settings, but are they WotC property, and can Paizo produce material for these settings?