Vendle's page

I'd like to add to the last poster's comment and turn the table around. The DM has a responsibility to give some of the spotlight to each player at one time or another, making them the star of the story for a little while, or at least the temporary MVP. A lot of DMs just don't know how to do this for a cleric. A rogue gets traps and locked doors, a fighter gets monsters to beat, an arcane caster overcomes enemy magics or other obstacles. What does that leave for the cleric? Usually, healing. It's important to know your player's cleric so you can give them the right challenges to overcome. Diplomacy is often the key skill to work into an event, and of course battling the undead. Based on Domains and specialties, a cleric can have a variety of other talents. If the DM isn't giving each class 15 minutes of fame, these abilities can go to waste and it can get a little dull for the player.

I'm only saying this is part of the problem, and certainly not at every gaming table.

I originally wrote a much longer post, but decided against straying too far from the issue at hand.

The mechanics of this question should be considered by each DM. By allowing attacks with both a two-handed weapon and armor spikes, you are allowing a player a higher damage potential. I'm not saying this is bad, just explaining. A PC with this combination probably has exceptional strength and the Power Attack feat. The rules on THW and TWF are contradictory in the next point, but the PC gets one of these benefits:

1. x1.5 Str modifier and the benefits of Power Attack with a two-handed weapon for his main attack, and x.5 Str modifier for the armor spikes. That can be a significant damage boost compared to normal THW or TWF.

2. x1 Str modifier and the benefits of Power Attack with a two-handed weapon for his main attack, and x.5 Str modifier for the armor spikes. This isn't as significant a boost, but should still be considered.

The reason I say the rules are contradictory is this: (paraphrasing) Wielding a weapon in both hands lets the player add 1.5x his Str modifier to damage dealt with the weapon. Two-Weapon Fighting: (paraphrasing) The PC adds their full Strength modifier to weapon damage with their main hand, but only half the Strength modifier to damage rolls with their off-hand weapon.

Personally, I would allow a player to use a greatsword and armor spikes while TWF, but with this clarification: While fighting in this style, a PC cannot focus the force of his attacks the way he would be able to with a greatsword alone. Therefore, he gets 1x his Str modifier to damage rolls with his held weapon, and does not gain the benefit of weilding a two-handed weapon for the purpose of Power Attack and related feats. This makes the option no better or worse than any other TWF options. (Edit: I forgot about using reach weapons, which does make this combination more useful than most.) I'm very much in favor of boosting the fighter's abilities, but I don't think this Two-Weapon/Power Attack loophole is the answer.

Alright, I'll allow myself to stray from topic for just one question: Would having the Improved Unarmed Fighting feat for off-hand attacks be the same mechanically as attacking with armor spikes? If so, my monk/fighter could have some more maneuvers available to him. (Edit: Such as threatening more area with reach weapons.)

I can't really comment on Lion's Roar, I must have overlooked it. As for Fortunate Fate, you're entirely right. An assassin's death attack is not truly a death effect, but doesn't trigger the spell, either. My reasoning is that the victim is going below -9 in one shot, missing Fortunate Fate's triggering requirements of (0 to -9 hp), if I'm not mistaken. It would be the same as if the PC took enough damage to put him at -10 or below in a single action. Looking at this another way...

According to the rules, you don't subtract damage from hit points one at a time. (If this were the case, damage reduction would be a bit more complicated and valuable.) Rather, you take the full amount at once. It sounds as though your player is assuming the death attack vs. his character ticked down through his hit points to the negative range towards -10, and that Fortunate Fate would trigger as the result of moving through 0 to -9 (or perhaps at 0). The spell won't save the cleric because he's fully healthy one moment, dead the next; Fortunate Fate's triggering conditions just don't come into play.

As a side note, I do sympathize with your player. I have a long-term character who is a cleric with the Death (or Repose) domain. It's nice to be the one handing out life and death, and a little disconcerting when someone comes along and does it to you despite your defenses. But hey, that's what assassins are known for.

I also noticed the amount of mountains. I might have to roll up a gray elf soon. Or a dwarf. But seriously, beautiful work. Even people who don't play that see this on my screen are asking about it.

I've been an RPG fan since I could play make-believe with my older sister. I suppose the first printed adventure that really captured my attention was the Against the Giants module, but I know there were many more.

Mothman, you got it.

I really admire the work your people have put into this site to make it easy to use. What I'm really pleased with, however, may just be a fluke. You see, I'm deployed and my computer access is often limited and of course restricted. There are many entertainment sites (TV sites, movie sites, D&D homepage) that are blocked from being viewed. I'm very glad that Paizo's pages aren't blocked by the "games and entertainment" filter that I have to work under. So thanks!

Members of my group regularly "power-game" to get above-average combat-oriented adventurers. I usually allow any book brought to the table to be used, and I commonly see new classes and races from the Completes and Races books. I'm fine with that, as I believe it is the above-average or exotic character that becomes an adventurer anyway. I've allowed Celestial PCs, skulk PCs, gestalt PCs, intelligent items, dragon PCs, the Leadership feat, and lots more.

On the flip side, on a fairly regular basis I also deny certain material from those books. I've made it clear to my players that there are limits to be observed. Some things I've disallowed are: new magic systems, the Feral template, and the Irresistable Spell metamagic feat from an OGL campaign book. (I can give you the name if you just have to see it.)

I don't see the snowball effect as a problem, because I don't believe PCs can reach a level of power that doesn't get significantly challenged. I've run many high-level games, even an epic campaign or two, and there are always good opportunities for the PCs to screw up and/or die. As a DM, I am fond of using monsters whose tactics permanently destroy magic items (Sunder, Disjunction, etc.). Lucky for my players, I also tend toward the high end of rewards, and I try to tailor the treasure to the party when appropriate.

When a friend of mine runs high-level games, he likes to use surprise rounds with exceptionally high DC save effects. This has included a great wyrm dragon with no less than seven breath metamagic feats from the Draconomicon. The ability to resurrect at high levels is not a gaurantee (or perhaps, "should not be", depending on what you let your players get away with). Soul Jar, Imprison, and a TPK can still keep a PC down for good. Even Flesh to Stone and a random Plane Shift for those darn healers who keep reviving everybody.

As for printed high-level adventures: I've occasionally had a problem with my players treating them like a cake-walk. This sometimes happens with my low-level adventures too, so I don't think it's endemic to high levels. There's usually something nasty in the adventure that give the PCs a good scare, though.

Edit: I realized that most of my answer calls for using magic to overcome the PCs, but there are ways to bring up the threat of physical attackers. Situational modifiers are great for this. Improved Natural Attack raises the die size of natural attack damage. Hordes of small creatures can still strike 10 feet away with longspears, and the Aid Another action can boost at least one of their chances.

Some spells that might fit your theme are:

Infestation of Maggots (druid)

Incendiary Cloud (Sor/Wiz)

Slime Wave (cleric)

Slime Wave holds a special place in my heart for doing 1d6 Con damage each round, being an area spell and allowing a single save to avoid it. Sure, it can be scraped off as a full-round action, but by then it's already done 1d6-2d6 Con and cost them a round, perhaps provoking AoO's while they frantically try to clean up.

You might also consider the line of pain spells (from the Magic of Faerun I think), each level of them getting more severe. Only the high level ones are lethal, giving your dark spellcaster some bargaining options.

Deep halflings (monster manual 3.5) are dwarflings. All the evidence is there, but I still doubt they'd admit it.

Kuthax,
if your DM is encouraging power-gaming to the extreme you describe, I might suggest the Dragonborn 'race' from Races of the Dragon. Your character begins as a normal base race, and then you build an egg shell, sleep in it awhile and come out with draconic features instead of your old racial bonuses. The new abilities grow as you increase in level, making it one of the most powerful alternate races for 0 or +1 level adjustment. I believe the alignments are restricted but it would still allow for monk levels.

I'd like to think I have an eye for catching munchkinism in the act, but a friend had to demonstrate to me why feral war-hulks should be NPCs only.

I've been going without my library of Completes, Races, etc. for a few months now, so I was doing some tinkering on my own to come up with new balanced races and classes. This has really opened up my mind with regard to the way I run my gaming table. A huge library of books isn't needed to come up with a unique adventurer. Here's what I decided:

Rule 0 is awesome, and I have only been applying it to a few limited parts of the game until now. The next time I play, I'm going to allow much more customization for my players. If a character concept doesn't quite fit with a printed class, the class can be changed. Not the character concept. For example, want a thug-like rogue with full attack progression? Can-do. Just a few tweaks to the barbarian to replace his abilities with a slow sneak attack track. Or, a divine evoker specializing in fire? Sounds good to me. Mix a sorcerer/warmage with some hand-picked divine spells.

The same with races. (I've mentioned before that I find kobold PCs with a couple freebie points more balanced than kobold PCs without 'em).

I guess my parting comment is don't overlook the value of rule 0. The points of the game are to have fun and contribute to the group. Some people can get hung up and frustrated when the RAW doesn't jive with the picture in their head, so remember that the rules, even class/racial abilities, are just suggestions.

Hey guys, sorry to keep you all waiting so long. I had no idea that internet access would be so difficult this past week.

In short, I've moved from one camp in the mountains of Afghanistan to a camp in the lowlands of Afghanistan, where creature comforts are far fewer. I've no personal phone, and just now have internet access at my work computer.

I appreciate you working Troy out of the action smoothly. Having him excuse himself from the mission is what I prefer, both because it fits the rather flighty nature of his CG alignment and permits my return, should circumstances improve. I still don't have a lot of personal time, and I may be out of contact for days at a time, so I won't be involved in the story in the near future. I hope you're all still having fun though, and I look forward to playing again!

As I was afraid would happen, I am going to have much less time online at my next assignment, coming up in about 5 days. I probably won't be able to continue in game. I hope you find a decent replacement for Troy, and I'll read what you've accomplished when I can. Thanks for the fun!

I'm thinking of starting a journal for Troy, covering the adventure from his perspective. I just need to see if I'm going to have the time for it, which I'll find out next week.

I would house-rule to limit the spell lists to a certain selection of books. It's much easier to keep notes on the player's spells that way.

The Beguiler is definitely a cool class.
*edit* The Marshal's auras are a nice substitute to compare by power level, too. But they require speaking aloud; still not a silent bard.

I'm trying to imagine a special set of bards devoted to magical dances, perhaps ones that replicate some of the things 'Bardic Music' can do. I'm quite sure there are a few prestige classes that get into this area; perhaps that's good enough.

This seems like a neat idea, but the math is a bit long. What if you changed the spontaneous spells to 1 spell-level per caster level /day? Would that still be balanced?

The next question is, since wizards don't have a 'spells known' column, would the spontaneous spells be limited to what they have memorized? Or spells they have scribed? I would expect the former, but if that's the case then some of the versatility of the option is lost. The latter option is far too flexible, even for a few spells a day (imo).

I just finished "Villains By Necessity" by Eve Forward. (I assume her middle name begins with an 'R')

Fun fantasy novel, good length without being long-winded. I recommend it for those looking for a twist on the classic heroic adventuring party.

Basically, the novel follows the adventure of a group of villains who are trying to undo the "Triumph" of good and light in their world, and not kill each other doing it.

Wow, a dinosaur right off the bat? How generous of you.

A druid's animal companion should be limited to the creatures native to the character's homeland, at least at level 1.
As for summoning creatures, they get, what, one attack and then poof, spell duration expires. Well, I suppose they get to protect you until the start of your next turn, too.

I once played an evil bard who used "Bardic Music" exactly twice over perhaps 10 adventures. He simply didn't want the other party members to know what he was capable of, although his summoned creatures tended to look a little fiendish. At around level 12, you can take the feat Subharmonics, which doesn't help under a Silence effect, but can still be pretty nifty. Or, a bard can take Perform (dance, weapon drills, pantomime, etc.), and give up most bardic abilities and all spells to be entirely silent.

Any other suggestions on how to make this last option more viable?

I don't see your logic Ron. If the hobby stores sell their products at discount, that doesn't harm Paizo. And Paizo has done a fantastic job so far marketing Pathfinder and providing insights into the content of the books. As a charter subscriber, I chose to pay up front because I read what was available and determined that yes, this will be a quality product and well worth my hobby-dollars.

As for 4th edition, I hope it's still a decade away. I want to get a little more play out of the books I do have. But then, that doesn't help game producers earn a buck, so I don't expect the delay to be quite that long. More 3.5 books please!

I would not expect any high physical scores from a psionic druid; wildshape covers that pretty well after only a few levels. I would be wary of Powers that add abilities to physical attacks, which for the druid would be strong natural attacks already. Other than that, his combination doesn't seem to be particularly worrisome.

That would be great! Don't forget to post any results for those of us who don't catch much TV.

I'll actually admit I never thought of using Maximized Awaken. Kudos!

My favorite henchman so far was TongueEater the were-baboon; my players especially enjoyed finding him gloating over a severed head. Drakthar the vampire bugbear was pretty cool, too. He was one of the few battles where the PC's were pretty sure someone was going to die, and the survivors probably Dominated on top of that.

I understand that in order to make money, Wizards has to persue new customers, and they believe that this is done best through online content.

I also hope they read the trends on these boards and see how many people out of a community that supports this hobby industry do not like the new model and indeed most will not put their money into it.

I don't want to buy files that I may not be able to access when my 'subscription' runs out. I don't want to play an online game with buyable dungeons so that the computer can be the DM, as has been suggested farther in the future. That's still just a MMORPG, and doesn't touch the same level of social interaction that tabletop gaming does.

I like (or perhaps should say 'liked') WotC when they put out Magic:TG, and especially when they bought and remarketed D&D, and the format of 3.5 suits me and my fellow players very well. But I'm simply not going to pay for the ability to view new content on their website.

*doomsday rant below, you should probably skip reading it*

I just had a terrible vision of the future, where a few years down the road WotC makes a few mechanics changes to 3.5 (such as the "sense" skill). To 'reach a broader audience', they will market most of the changes through online text, which is substantially cheaper to make than printed products. In order to satisfy their loyal customers who demand print, WotC will benevolently provide that, too. At a much higher markup of course, because selling a small print run is more costly than selling print to all their customers.

The result will probably be that prices for core gaming supplements will become unreasonable except in an online format. If that is the case, Paizo, Green Ronin and other OGL companies can expect a slightly larger part of my gaming budget, because they can provide quality printed products at a good price. Will WotC then look into ways to curb that competition?
The industry may suffer as a whole because of the slightly lower priced material available online which you don't actually own, you just pay for viewing.

I'm currently in Afghanistan, so my time zone is a bit unusual too. (+4.5 hours)

I kind of liked the Formians, although I admit to hardly ever using them or seeing them used. Hmmm, a new lawful planar race... probably keep the mental enslavement thing. Maybe the more powerful ones could do a forced attitude adjustment (alignment change) to slaves. And since lawful creatures like conformity, they might be able to 'conform' bodies, too.

A hierarchy of creatures works well for advancing opponents, but what if they were more like the Borg? All of them pretty much alike in form, expansionist, and producing new ones without the weaknesses of the old. Sort of the reverse trend of dragons: in this case, the oldest would be the weakest. Just my random thoughts.

I like my adventures in the flavor of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (spelling notwithstanding). Mystery, magic, suspense, humor, lots of action, and an occasional moment of shuddering horror.

Truestrike, very appreciated by our archer,

I was under the impression this had a personal range. Unless you're implying the archer liked having another party member around with accurate ranged attacks of their own.

I had a player choose an unusual avian race for a dungeon crawl. No problem, I thought. They hacked and slashed their way through a couple of rooms, making plenty of noise, and they discovered the bandits liked to throw things at the party, particularly alchemist's fire. At the next door, the avian stops and prepares a Gust of Wind. The rogue opens the door, flasks fly at them, flasks fly back at surprised bandits, and the rogue shuts the door again for a minute to allow the fire to burn down.

Gust of Wind works against medium to fine creatures with some effectiveness. It's also easy to keep swarms at bay, if you don't count them as a single large creature. And as mentioned, it makes incoming ranged attacks pretty ineffectual.

Something a little different;
there are some powerful celestials with a sort of 'dying curse', Raziel being one of these archangels. My party was forced to slay one, and the mage failed his save. He earned a mark on his forehead visible to all celestial creatures that basically branded him an eternal enemy of good.

I may have missed it, but is there a simple source to find a listing of OGL monsters? Someone brought this up before me, and I'd like to make a submission without reinventing the wheel.

Another thing to consider is this: back in human/elven/dwarven/gnomish/halfling lands, there are thousands and thousands of commoners that your character is never really going to interact with, because there's no reason to. The PCs deal with the people in charge, and those tend to be the stronger ones, in magic and might.

You might assume the same holds true for the monsters. Sure, your party has to clear a castle full of level 5-10 fighter hobgoblins, but that's because the 5-10 thousand hobgoblin warriors are off somewhere else, doing nothing of consequence.

This doesn't entirely erase the discrepancy, I'll admit, but that's why the world needs heroes, eh?

Krypter, that's pretty much the most sensible arguement I've read over this entire discussion. Kudos!

So... that guy Tex is a robot, and you're his boyfriend. That makes you... a gay robot. -Caboose, Red vs. Blue

Hmm, I'm going to have to speed up between starting my responses and actual posting. If you notice, Troy's reaction fits a little better -before- the procession comes out of the building. But at least it works.

It could be that WotC intends to make larger profits from the Dragonlance movie by holding all the cards, and then directly releasing more material for the setting.

It could be they plan to cut Dragonlance as a supported campaign world and focus on the new pet Eberron.

So far, we don't have much more than speculation. I find this news to be sad, because I liked the Dragonlance stories. As for playing there, well, my gaming group usually describes it as the most magic-starved backwater of the multiverse, and dread going there as much as they dread Ravenloft.

From the blog about Pathfinder, it seems the intent is to have everything within its pages usable for the adventure path. I don't think there will be many comics; unfortunate, because I am a big fan of Zogonia.

Since we're throwing in our two cents here, I'll be a little vain and suggest a god or demi-god.

Valtera: Guardian of the gates of the dead. Lawful neutral. Occasionally fooled, bypassed, or defeated and hence the return of the undead.

Adjust as needed.

I also love the world of Toril, and in the future will probably use a lot of Pathfinder information to use in a FR campaign. However, I'm also interested to see how the new world turns out; the cosmology, the deities, the way magic is drawn upon, etc. If these important details come to my tastes (or perhaps inspire an entirely new and intriguing alternative to my traditional perspectives), I'll look forward to populating Paizo's creation with my PC's.

Saern's right on this one. It's no problem for a character (or NPC) to use a mix of ranged and melee attacks in a full attack action. Of course, using a ranged weapon within reach of your opponent usually nets you an AoO, so be sure to catch your quarry flat-footed or some other trick for best results.

If I were a smart wizard,then I'd bring along a staff charged with nasty blast-type spells. Since a staff uses the wielder's caster level and ability scores for amount of damage and DC, that's a good 25-50 top-end attacks that you don't need to memorize in your few slots.

I'd suspect the sorcerer has the advantage in this fight, whether core books alone or any source. Perhaps that is a misplaced bias, since the wizard can start as a specialist, one caster-level advantage in the school of his choice.

Question: Where did you hire so many transmuters for your staff?

You start with blank paper, and it turns to gold.

To extrapolate, this sort of product is exactly what I would use over and over again. A cheap, quick guide to a campaign world, with tips on character creation and new useful feats. Keep 'em coming!

I think this sort of thing would pay off for Greyhawk, large areas of Forgotten Realms, and Ravenloft. Hopefully it's an idea you'll kick around.

I had a hard time finding a suitable forum for my next comment, as so many strong opinions about the changes are being posted. Anyway,

I would not pay for an online magazine. I'd rather have the printed material, even if it cost more. The magazines were professionally done and contained wonderful artwork, most that my home printer would choke over trying to replicate.

They say the trend is to move to online content and that the market there is growing. Well, I do buy many of my gaming supplies through Paizo online, but that is something else entirely. I'm buying a product, a physical object that comes into my ownership. I'm not in the habit of buying data, and I'm not likely to change that anytime soon. I don't have a laptop to bring to the table each week, I have a desktop computer and an overtaxed printer.

Dungeons and Dragons is a pen-and-paper game. Trying to go paperless to keep up with the times is not a wise choice, and although I love the content, I won't be buying files.

Fits you nicely, I think.

As for the Handbook, I have a copy myself. I'm not overly impressed with it and frequently leave it on the shelf when I heft most of my books out in a rolling suitcase on gaming night. As a DM, I hardly ever need it for reference, and as a player, there aren't many stimulating races, feats, and classes in it. I'd rate this product two stars out of five.

Thank you Paizo, for all the incredible content you've provided my gaming table for years. The loss of printed "D." and "D." magazines is a hard one.

I don't blame or curse WotC for this choice; I don't believe greedy magistrates or bumbling orcs are enforcing this path. I choose to believe it's simply a difficult cutback that a large company had to come to terms with in order to continue operations, and perhaps expand in other areas.

I'll be buying into Pathfinder immediately; I have no doubt that the content will be of the same richness and originality I've come to enjoy for scant dollars a month.