angelroble's page

I am using a mixed system for ability scores:
First, the point buy. I use 15 points, but as always this is just a parameter. I put a limit of 8 (lower) and 16 (higher).
Second, the player chooses race, class, feats, skills, etc. It is, takes any decision to complete the character.
Third, every ability score is rolled again (3d6 in order). The higher score is taken, except if the point-buy score was lower than 10. In this case, if the rolled score is lower than the point-buy, you take the average score of both (round down). If int has been modified, choose the extra skill points (or delete ranks if int is lower).

Ex. you want a melee class so the point buy is allocated: 15 13 15 8 12 8. You choose a fighter, calculates hp, allocates skill ranks, etc.
Then you roll 6 times 3d6 in order: 12 8 18 12 6 6. You final scores are: 15 (max[15,12]) 13 (max[13,8] 18 (max[15,18] 12 (max [8,12] 12 (max[12,6] 7 (avg[8,6]). As int is now higher, choose extra skills.

Rationale:
- People chooses professions for a variety of reasons: personal tastes, social pressures, family, etc.
- People don't maximize, they even don't know their ability scores except for a stimation. I mean, they don't always take the profession they are best fitted to.
- In fantasy tales and in real world, there are charismatic warriors and strong wizards (well maybe there are no RL wizards).
- People change, especially at puberty/youth, when many have already choosen their profession.

Game mechanics:
- The final point buy value (I use score of 5 is -6 points and a score of 6 is -5 points) is 22 as average when using the standar array. BUT it is not allocated as you want. About 6% will have point-buy total value value lower than 15. About 12% wil have point-buy total value higher than 30. About 46% wil have point-buy tota value of 19-23.
- The 15 point buy means that you char is viable. You may have some really low scores (as low as 5), but they are not in the scores your class really needs. You also may have 18 in all your abilities, but this is as probable as if you roll 3d6 6 times. Even a single 18 is only attained is you roll that with 3d6 (1/216).
- Optimization and min-maxing. Some players may want to use a point-buy distribution of 16 14 14 9 8 8, hopìng that they will roll at least average scores for those lower scores. The average point value would be 23.5. That's little gain, and they may find they are playing a 5 wis fighter or wizard. The 16 cap in scores for the point buy means they are not able to buy the 18 score: they have to roll for it.

Ive just made this character sheet for my games. Maybe someone is interested...

By the way, I'm open to make modifications or aditions if there is feedback about the sheet (and it makes sense to me).

The maps from RoR AP depicts two rivers (Foxglove and Soggy), which lead from the sea through the SE. Though, there is surely any hill or mountain range where they could be "born"?? (btw dont know if thats the English word).
Are they a split from Yondabakari river?

I am running CotCT right now. I think that a most useful thing is having the players writing down (prior to beginning the campaign) their stories, so you can have a nice first scene.

In my case, I asked the players to choose a "mundane" profession. I wanted them to feel they were not heroes at all, kind of Frodo or Bilbo. One of them choosed to run a tavern, so I had the first scene there. It was a nice first session. It was the city anniversary, and a lot of people were there having a drink. The (secretly) beloved of one of the pcs was there, acomppanied by a handsome and rich man (or halfling, in this case). I told the tavern owner that in the city anniversary the owner of the house had to tell a tale about the founding of the city (I made him improvise, but I also had given the players a pdf with the city history).
I also presented "a varisian gipsy woman", in such a way they thought she surely was trying to steal something. At the end of the night, Zellara finally convinced them to talk about their business with Lamm. Everyone told his story then, and we made the harrow reading.

So... every campaign is different, but I wanted this to feel very low profile. I wanted them to have some nice feelings about the city, so there were a lot of neighbours there, all of them kind in some way, a lot of good food and drink (described the korvosan delicacies), music and tales, children with their parents, some patriotic hails... kind of 4th july for those from USA, i think.

@angelroble: it is Curse of the Crimson Throne :)

Check this thread. Tell me if that's what you are looking for.

If the AP is Curse of the Crimson Throne, I already made my own map versions.

Glitterdust is a Conjuration (Creation) spell, so it creates something "real"; in this case, it is a "cloud of golden particles". it doesn't say anything about being a light effect, it just seems that the particles "sparkle", which I think it just means that they reflect light.
So, as a creature that casts invisibility also makes invisible anything that carries, I would say that those particles become invisble too, as they are something material and not a pure spell effect. This is, you are creating a thing that causes (indirectly) the loss of invisibility (in the same fashion that flour does), and not a magical effect that causes (directly) that invisible creatures become visible (and which would require a saving throw).
Talking about balance, I think Glitterdust is enough powerful to be cautious when assigning effects.

Also see this thread
The Dungeonscape manual from 3.5 was great for designing traps as encounters.

Rogue: "I check for traps in the wole corridor, for 20 rounds every square"
DM: "OK, you notice some kind of blur in the air. It's like a faint red light that forms a moving repetitive pattern, once you look at it for some seconds".
Rogue: "What the . is that? Can the wizard see it?"
Wizard: "And I want to detect magic on it. And can I check for spellcraft? "
DM: "You almost couldn't see it, but with the detect magic spell you can see the patterns clearly. The spellcraft check tells you that it's not properly a spell, but a subtle method of detection that is created by a magic device. Please roll for Knowledge Arcana." ... "You remember to have seen this pattern before. It was used by the wizard xyz to sign in some of their writings. He had a
great knowledge of the human mind. Rogue, you are sure this is the trigger of some kind of magical trap".
Rogue: "Well, then i try to disable it"
DM: "Have you got any idea of how to do that?"
Rogue: "No, just want to use Disable device, my character should know".
DM: "Sad, it could have granted you a bonus to the check. As you begin to use some little pieces of mirrors from your thieves tools to do some kind of interruption in the light, you begin to notice a strange fear and to exhude a cold sweat. The patterns are whirling around you. If someone attracted enough time the attention of those patterns (passing a will check against fear), you could disable them easier (this is it would lower the trap DC, but if you fail that person would be subject to the trap effect too). "
Fighter: "I will help him, I've got a good will bonus to fear".
Cleric: "I'll bless the fighter".

Ilja:
Persistent Spell is a great feat, too, but it's in the advanced book and we don't use it except for a few things. Anyway, using persistent is more efficient than using heighten, as the increase in chances of affecting the target goes roughly from 5% to 25%: for the "cost" of two spell levels, you get an increase of 1 to 5 in the DC, while heighten increases the DC by 1 for every spell level. Persistent gets the best results in efficiency when the initial probability of affecting the target is about 50%, and the worst when that probability is very low or very high.

Let's take a 16th level sorcerer (I use 16th because that's where most APs end), with CHA 24 (+7 bonus). A CR 16 creature's average saves go from 14 (bad saves) to 19 (good saves). If the sorcerer is lucky or wise and targets the bad save, his chances of affecting it go from 15% (spell level 1) to 50% (level 8). Using persistent spell, it increases the chances by 13% (spell level 1) to 24% (level 6), for a total of 28% to 64%. But if he uses heighten, he can increase the chances to 50%, and the the original spell level doesn't matter.

From these numbers we see that persistent is more efficient and even more effective in some cases.

Now let's see what happens when a sorcerer targets the good save or the creature is of a greater CR (save bonus 19). The initial chances of affecting the target go from 5% to 25%. Using Persistent increases the chances only by 5% if the spell is level 1st to 4th (to 10%), and by 13% (to 28%) if the spell is 6th level. Heighten can increase the chances of any spell to 25%.

From these other numbers we see that persistant may be less efficient and less effective than heighten.

So final thoughts:
Persistant is better if you are fighting enemies of relative low CR, or/and you target the bad save often, or you have really high modifiers to spell DCs. It's not really good for low level spells, so forget ray of enfeeblement. That is, your range of "right" spells is limited. It usually is quite efficient, and if you manage to apply to spells 2 levels lower than your highest spell level, it is more effective. So while you are leveling up, you have to choose new spells that are adequate (and sometimes there will not be the spells you want a those levels).

Heighten is better when you are fighting enemies of relative high CR or/and you don't know which the bad saves are. It is good for the whole range of spells you have, so it is more versatile as you can choose a 1st level spell if it's the right one for that situation. As you level up, you don't really have to change many of the spells you rely on.

PD: Persistant should be better as a whole for the bard, who's got less spells than the sorcerer (so he shouldn't be wasting them), can't heighten to a so higher level, and has good chances via knowledges and abilities to target the bad save.

The purpose of this thread is discussing about the goodness of the Heighten Spell feat when it is taken by a Sorcerer (or an Oracle by the way). Hey maybe this has been taken into these boards before, but I didn't read it.
It's been said that a heightened spell is not as good as a higher level spell. While this is mostly true, I want to take the focus to the whole spell selection for a sorcerer, instead of the individual spells.

My point may be broken into:
1. A sorcerer has got a limited number of spells.
2. So he must take spells useful in a wide range of situations (objective: versatility)
3. He also wants to be able to be effective when dealing with those situations (objective: effectivity).
4. The Heighten Spell feat allows the sorcerer to be more effective by using low level spells at a higher DC, and to be more versatile as he can choose higher level spells of a different kind.
5. I assume that the sorcerer desires rather to take a not-so-versatile spell of the highest level (he's got very few spells known) than of a lower level (he's got more spells known).

To show it by example, let's take a sorcerer that is quite focused in hindering (debuffing) his enemies, but also wants to do some damage. He just reached 16th level, and is considering which spell should he choose. Let's say he chooses Irresistible Dance (Maybe there are better spells, but Ive chosen this one for this example as it is very similar to Irresistible Dance). For dealing damage, he usually casts Scorching Ray (among others, this is only for comparison).
Now let's take another sorcerer. This one's got the Heighten spell feat, and instead of Scorching Ray he's taken Hideous Laughter as one of his 2nd level spells known. At 17th level he chooses Horrid Wilting as his new spell.

If we compare Irresistible Dance vs [Heightened] Hideous Laughter
Components: V vs VSM
Range: touch vs Close
Target: living creature vs creature (and dont affect Int 2 or lower)
Duration: 1d4+1 rounds vs 1round/lvl
Saving Throw: Will partial (at least 1 round) vs Wll negates (every round, +4 for different type)
ID effects: Target takes No Actions, -4 to AC plus negates shield, -10 reflex, Provokes AoO.
HL effects: Target takes No Actions, -4 to AC [Prone]

The DC for both spells is the same, and while ID has got some advantages (esp. for the effective duration and the AoO), the HL spell has a greater range, which makes it more probable to be cast.
If we compare HW to SR, it seems clear that HW is more powerful.

What happens if we extend this principles to the whole spell selection? That the sorcerer can choose lower level spells that target will, reflex and fortitude, one specific for undead, another one for creatures with SR.... etc... and then, maybe, Irresistible Dance for that nasty grappling creatures (no somatic, will partial). And all of these, may be cast, if needed, at the highest DC the sorcerer is capable of (or at lower one if he chooses so).

I hope I made my point clear, and please those rather probable English errors.

In room L20 (Grand Ballroom) : "four statues of a beautiful woman
guard a large stage". In the map, there are two golden symbols in that stage. Are them pillars? Does the stage serves any purpose? The text also read "below the stage sits none other than Runelord Sorshen ". Below means "on" here? Maybe I am translating "stage" wrong, I see it just as a higher floor, but surely Im wrong?

Shards of Sin mentions the characters should be level 4 by the end yet Curse states they're 5 at the start. While minor, where was(were) the intended level up(s)?

My PDF of Shards of Sin reads (in advancement track)

If you have a +1 to hit added to your die roll after all calculations are done, it's a 5% increase. It doesn't matter how you look at it or try to add other known or unknown variables (like your lottery example.)

Everyone has to roll a d20 to hit. A d20 has 20 sides. That means every time you roll a d20 you have an equal chance of getting one of those sides, regardless of the amount of times you roll it. Adding a +1 to that roll increases the number of sides that is counting as a successful hit by 1. That's an increase of 5%. 100% (total value of whole)/20 sides = 5% per side.

Let's see if this example is better:

So... if you have a 20-sided die, and you only hit with a natural 20, and then I buff you for a +1 to hit, you have 5% more chances of hitting than before, but you ALSO have doubled the die sides that mean a success hit.

If you are hitting 10% of the time, a +2 to your attack will double your frequency, which will roughly double your damage. If you are hitting 85% of your time a +2 will increase your frequency of hitting by about 11% and increase your damage by roughly the same percentage.

NOTE: This is why, if you have the choice to buff one of two melee combatants, it is frequently better to buff the one who is hitting LESS, not the one who is hitting MORE.

If what you want is maximizing the group DPR (ie the sum of the individual DPRs), you don't buff the one that is hitting less or the one that is hitting more, but the one that is hitting harder.

Let's say you have a fighter (hits 80% of the time for 10 hp, DPR 8) and a cleric (hits 50% of the time for 8 hp, DPR 4). If we follow the "buff the one hitting less" principle, we'll buff the cleric. Let's say it is a +2 bonus, the cleric dpr increases to: 60% * 8 = 4.8, which is a 20% increase. That buff, applied to the fighter, would have been an increase of 12.5% (DPR goes from 8 to 9). Hey look like the cleric option is better.

But for the group, the total DPR has gone from 12 (fighter 8 + cleric 4) to 12.8 (Fighter 8 + Cleric 4.8)
If we'd buffed the fighter, total DPR had gone from 12 to 13 (Figher 9 Cleric 4).

This is because the greater increase (in %) is countered by the lower base which we are increasing.

Remember that a +1 to hit means adding 5% of your average damage per hit (ie how hard you hit) to your DPR.

If the cleric hits 50% of the time for 12 hp (DPR 6), a +2 bunus is still a 20% increase (to 7.2), BUT this time the plain DPR increase is 1.2 (while the fighter is 1).

There are some reasons though (like tactical ones), to buff the cleric.

A +1 to hit is not +5% damage: as many people has stated before, if your chances were 5% before applying that +1, a +1 to hit means +100% on average or expected damage per attack roll.

A +1 to hit is +5% damage: add 5% of your average damage ___per hit___ to your expected damage ____per attack roll_____

"+1 = +5% Damage is a perfectly accurate statement. It refers to average damage done, not damage in any particular scenario."
The truth is that +5% is below the _lowest_ DPR increase for ACs that you can hit without a natural 20. It has been proved that if you have 5% chances of hitting, the DPR increases by 100% adding a +1 bonus (unless you still need a natural 20 to hit).
If you have 90% chances before adding the +1 bonus, your DPR will increase by .95/.9 = 5.5. That's not taking into account criticals, which add some more.

Tabulated increase in DPR for a +1 bonus (without criticals):
% to hit before bonus / % to hit after bonus / % increase in DPR

90% 95% 5,56%
85% 90% 5,88%
80% 85% 6,25%
75% 80% 6,67%
70% 75% 7,14%
65% 70% 7,69%
60% 65% 8,33%
55% 60% 9,09%
50% 55% 10,00%
45% 50% 11,11%
40% 45% 12,50%
35% 40% 14,29%
30% 35% 16,67%
25% 30% 20,00%
20% 25% 25,00%
15% 20% 33,33%
10% 15% 50,00%
5% 10% 100,00%

Lowest DPR increase: 5,56%
Average DPR increase: 19,42%
Median DPR increase: 10,56%
Highers DPR increase: 100%

So, for any random scenario we can say that DPR increase should be roughly 20%.
But let's take an example. I have a fighter in my campaign with a +6 bonus to attack. If if fights enemies with AC 17, he is expected to have hit 10 times after 20 rounds. Adding a +1 bonus he would hit 11 times. That's 10% increase (11/10 -1)
The oracle's got a +3 bonus. He's hitting that same foe 7 times after 20 rounds. With a +1 bonus he would hit 8 times. Thats 14,3% increase.

I stated it before:
Average damage per attack roll = DPH * PH * (1 + CR * CM)
DPH = Average damage per hit
PH = Probability to hit
CR = Critical range in %
CM = Critical multiplier - 1

For a weapon that crits on 20 x3, CR=5%, CM=2 -->CR*CM = 10%
If it crits on 19-20 x2: CR = 10%, CM = 1--> CR*CM = 10%

CR*CM is the average damage that the critical adds.
Adding the keen property to both weapons:
17-20 x2 --> CR*CM = 20% * 1 = 20%
29-20 x3 --> CR*CM = 10% * 2 = 20%

mplindustries wrote:

The correct way to put it is that +1 to hit adds 5% of your average damage on a hit to your DPR.

For example, if you deal 100 damage with an average swing, getting +1 to hit will add +5 to your DPR.

The entire point of this thread is to point out that that statement is incorrect.

I will prove by showing you the lowest increase a +1 to hit can give.

Lets say you can hit some one with a natural 3. That's 90% of your swings.
A +1 to hit means that you hit on a natural 2 now, 95%.
.95/.9 = 1.0555...
which is a 5.555...% increase in to hit, or average damage since average damage = chance to hit * average damage per swing.

You're saying the same thing:

Let's take your example: 90% chance of hitting. Let's take a damage roll of 2d6+3. That's an average damage of 10 hp when he hits. Per round the expected damage is
90% * 10 = 9 hp
A +1 increase means that the expected damage is
95% * 10 = 9.5 hp
Increase in % = (9.5 / 9) -1 = 5.55 %
That's what you're saying

What he says is:
"adds 5% of your average damage on a hit" (not per round)
Your average damage on a hit is 10
5% of 10 is 0.5
"to the DPR"
The DPR is 9 so:

9 + 0.5 = 9.5

Average damage per hit (DPH): sum your max and min damage and divide by 2.
Probability of Hitting (PH) for an attack roll: (21-AC+Attack Bonus)*5%
Note: Never less than 5%.
CR = Critical Range (CR), in % (ie 19-20 is 10%)
CM = Critical Multiplier (CM), subtracting 1 (ie x2 means CM equals 1)
Probability of Critting for an attack roll (PC): CR * PH
Note: Assuming you always hit if you roll within your critical range.
Average damage per attack roll: (PH * DPH) + (PC * CM * DPH) =
= (PH * DPH) + (CR * PH * CM * DPH) =
= DPH * PH * (1 + CR * CM)
So if you increase your PH by 5%, your average damage increase by:
DPH * (PH + 5%) * (1 + CR * CM) - DPH * PH * (1 + CR * CM) =
= DPH * (1+CR*CM) * (PH + 5% -PH) =
= DPH * (1+CR*CM) * 5%
Assuming CR = 10% (19-20) and CM = 1 (x2):
Damage increase = 5% * DPH * (1 + 10% * 1) = 5% * DPH * 1,1 =
5,5% * DPH
Damage increase (%) = ((DPH * (PH+5%) * (1+CR*CM)) / (DPH * PH * (1+CR*CM))) -1 =
((PH + 5%) / PH) -1 = 5% / PH

So... a 7% or a 10% more damage does not make sense unless you define what is "damage", because:
The average damage per attack roll increases by 5,5% of your average damage per hit if you increase your probability to hit by 5%.
The average damage per attack roll increases by a percentage equal to 5% divided by your original probability to hit if you increase your probability to hit by 5%.
I think that maths are ok, but will be glad to read corrections on them

EDIT: Some wrong maths :P

Its better to think about it the other way. Start with a table that shows a relationship of skill bonus and monsters, with the time you think it's right for that monster to break the ward. For ex. a Demon (Babau) [CR 6, attack +12 dmg 1d8+7] could break a ward of +10 skill bonus in 48 hours, a ward of +3 skill bonus in 3 hours, and a ward of +20 skill bonus in 72 hours. He couldn't break a wall of +30 or more.
Do this for 5-7 monsters, then you have an idea of the parameters you can play with.

Then choose a measure of the monster "power", it colud be attack bonus or damage, but I would choose CR to account for possible uses of spells or other abilities. It also allows to add any number of monsters if they are working together to break the ward (2 CR 1 monsters equal 1 CR 3 monster, etc.)

Then you may have to add some randomness to the time needed to break, using the table you made before. For ex. roll 3d6, and substract 10. That is the % of time to increase or reduce from the average. For a Babau vs a +10 skill bonus ward, with an average of 48 hours, if you roll a 13 it comes for a +30% time or about 15 hours more.
Hope that helps

Im also trying to lead my players to Eel's End. But I have done it other way. First of all, they have friends in the city, which Ive been introducing to them. An old couple, neighbourgs of one Pc, have their house burned. They rescue them from fire, and they find out that an imp is the starter of the fire. Some other houses of the district are burned, too. Now, a lawyer (hired by the cheliax ambassador, who also hired the imps that are burning the houses) has been trying to buy houses for the last weeks in that district. The group is now investigating about the lawyer, and hopefully they'll know who pays him, and will try to stop the ambassador.
Sorry if it's not well explained, it's a bit late and I'm very tired...

You'd have to arrange some clues of what the sword really is... when appropiate.

Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye
Trial of the Beast
r-Kelleg, what did you do about this topic (who are the pc bosses?)

I'd begin showing examples of actual fantasy characters that could only be translated to PF as multiclassing characters. For ex. Elric, Conan, Gilthanas... If they haven't read about them, pick some from the materials they read or watch on tv (animation series, films, ...)

I would also limit them to those options that you think are fine; for ex. giving each of them two options to choose from.

Maybe you could tweak some rules here. Let's say the fighter is very interested in being a wizard, but he's got just 12 in INT. You could say him that as he train as a wizard (level 1 and 2) he'll be less strong (drop his STR) and more intelligent (rise INT).

Same problem here. We stopped the campaign some time ago, but I remember that the Magnimar Mayor was a really disgusting and selfish man (I don't know if he was supposed to be so, because our GM usually plays characters like that), who told us to go to Turtleback to learn what happened there, offering a 300 gp reward. I was so tired of this man that I told my GM outright "I am gonna go because I know it's supposed to go there, but it's not a hook for my character in any possible way". There was no hint of the shiedron which could attract us, if I remember it right.

I dont know if this is the same font it is distributed by other posters, but I did found one here:
Thassilonian Font

Thassilonian Laboratories

Have you thought in writing down the deeds of the campaign? In this forums there are multiple examples of this. Your kids could and should help, of course. Then, after they end an adventure, you can print the whole thing adding drawings, maps, images of the npcs and locations, all with a nice "fantasy" font. They just wrote a book!

I'm doing this and you can see it here:
Campaign Log
Sorry it's in spansih, but you can get the idea.

As a general rule, I allow the players to do whatever they want if that would be possible in the "real" world ... with the "real" world consecuences. If you spend all your gold you can't buy food or shelter, but for this you don't need much gold. You can "teach" them how to save introducing a new cool magic item that a local wizard made. Then you can say "If you had saved your money you could buy now this item, but you just only have a lot of weapons".
HP: I don't own the BB, but in PF:
"Natural Healing: With a full night’s rest (8 hours of
sleep or more), you recover 1 hit point per character level.
Any signif icant interruption during your rest prevents
you from healing that night.
If you undergo complete bed rest for an entire day and
night, you recover twice your character level in hit points. "

Keeping time: I use a word document to keep the passing of time or some other information about the campaign. I recommend just buy a (paper) notebook so you write everyting you need to remember or track.

Character sheets: you use them as you want; usually, you learn to keep a blank sheet along your character sheet to write down information as pnc names, gold and hp, so you don't have to rewrite the whole information in a new sheet (and/or buy a new one)

Spell name Wiz Cleric Bard
Analyze Dweomer 6 NULL 6
Animate Objects NULL 6 6
Cat's Grace, Mass 6 NULL 6
Charm MonsterMass 8 NULL 6
Cure ModeWds Mass NULL 6 6
Eagle's Spl, Mass 6 6 6
Eyebite 6 NULL 6
Find the Path NULL 6 6
Fox's Cunn Mass 6 NULL 6
Geas/Quest 6 6 6
Heroes' Feast NULL 6 6
Irresistib Dance 8 NULL 6
Permanent Image 6 NULL 6
Programmed Image 6 NULL 6
Project Image 7 NULL 6
Scrying, Greater 7 7 6
Shout, Greater 8 NULL 6
Summon Monster VI 6 6 6
Sympathetic Vibr NULL NULL 6
Veil 6 NULL 6

From my spells DB. All Bard 6th level spells, which are the same level for other classes, except 5:
Charm MonsterMass 8
Irresistib Dance 8
Project Image 7
Scrying, Greater 7
Shout, Greater 8
None of them are level 9th, 15% level 8th, 10% level 7th, 75% level 6th

Question: What are you going to do if the bonus starts to exceed +20?

You have to roll over/equal the DC-20 or below/equal your bonus-20

Example my bonus is +23 and AC is 38. I hit if I roll 18+ or 3-.
A roll of 13 would be a total result of 33.
A roll of 19 would be a total result of 39.
A roll of 2 would be a total result of 42.

Very clever.

A couple of my players are... er... mathematically challenged, so I'll be certain to float your idea at the table.

Great! Tell me about what they think of it, and how it works if you finally use it.

What Lord Snow said. For a group of six players, you should have eoncounters 50% more hard. That means 50% more monsters or add 1 to the level of each NPC or the advanced template for monsters. If you don't scale now, they will have less xp and will advance slower. This could be for worse when facing enemies with area attacks and high DCs.

My best advice for new DMs is the next one:

Insist your players to develope their characters background and personality.

This has a lot of beneficial influences on a game:
- It should be fun to do. I really love making new characters background.
- It provides hints to the DM so how he can modify or create adventures to match the characters' goals and personalities. For example, you can modify a NPC in a published adventure so he is one of the PCs brother or friend. Or the sword that they have to recover is a heirloom of one of the PCs.
- It's easier to create story hooks.
- It helps the players to focus in the story and details of the adventure, providing you have personalized it.
- It is far more rewarding for the players to achieve their personalized individual goals
- It is fun to play a PC with defined personality

How to achieve it. Creating a whole new life can be overwhelming, so it is fine to do it slowly. I usually ask my players to begin with a broad description of the Pc story, and then I ask them to bring each session a bit (a paragraph or so) of new information. I state which information should it be and also stablish a reward (1-2% of the pc level xp). So for example this is what I asked:
- A common phrase the PC uses, and a War Cry. One of them says as he enters battle "This is not really going to be nice, girls"... well not a cry really but it works. Another says "It's the nature of men" or orc etc. when he sees something expected.
- A description of the Pcs parents and relationship with them, if they are alive...
- The most important personality trait of the pc, and a brief explanation including why is he so. For example: Greedy, having been poor all his life; Paranoid, as he was grown in a horphange.
- How did the pc learned the skills of his profession: how he become a ranger or wizard, etc.
- The god the pc worships and why.
- How is the pc according to his mental abilities: ex is he very intelligent maybe because a prodigious memory, or has a low charisma because of his foul odor?
- Something funny about the character. Maybe he speaks in a high tone of voice when frightened, or has an habit of picking his ear with a knife, or has a missing tooth and it makes him speak weird?

I try to mix the questions, one week personality, one week story.
Forgive my bad English, by the way
EDIT: Forgot to include physical description, including how the pc moves, his gestures, dress, etc.

Hi Jon

I am the father of a 2 year boy and i'm very glad to read how you are introducing them to the game! The other two fellows I play with just have bring children so in a few years we can play all together!

Now, I came up with a method for not having to do sums when checking skills and attacks. Maybe it could be useful for you, as it is easier for kids:
Method

I came up with this method after reading one thread in which one of the players (new to the game) complained about having to sum the attack modifier all the time. I don't now if it has been developed before (maybe it's very old because it's really simple), but as I haven't seen it I will take credit for it.

In this method, when you roll 1d20, you don't add the modifier to the roll. You are succesful if you roll equal or higher the DC (the AC for an attack) or if you roll lower or equal your bonus in that skill or attack. What we are doing here is transforming the roll directly into the modified roll.
Example: if your bonus is +5, you could roll for 6-25. So we transform the unmodified 1 into 21, 2 into 22, etc. up to 5. If we roll an unmodified 6, it's like if we were normally rolling a 1 and adding the +5 bonus.

For DCs higher than 20, you should roll lower/equal than your bonus and higher/equal than the DC-20. Example: If the DC is 22 and your bonus is +5, you should roll 2-5.

Critical hits: you rolled your bonus number (which would be a 20).

I think this method could be useful for some people:
- Introducing kids to the game.
- Speeding up play. Especially the DM time, when he has to roll that save for 8 orcs.
- Reducing arithmetic errors
- Rolemaster players! 74+58???? No!!! If you roll below your bonus, just add 100. I wish I would have this method when I played it...

please share thoughts comments and possible developments

I tried to have this question answered by FAQ in 2009. Staff response: no reply required. Perhaps now that there's a 800+ posts thread we'll be more lucky.

angelroble Oct 7, 2009, 11:02 AM Flag | List
Post #199 in "List of Errata in Pathfinder Core Rulebook" Add to:
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– You and 2 others marked this as FAQ candidate. Staff response: no reply required. You marked this as a favorite. Full-Attack
PRD: "Deciding between an Attack or a Full Attack: After your first attack, you can decide to take a move action instead of making your remaining attacks."
The text does not explain which action is the first attack if you chose to take the move action.
If it is still part of a full-attack, you could use Manyshot, as the feat does not require to take all your attacks.
If it is an Attack Action, you could apply Vital Strike. Notice that you could decide, if you fail your first attack, to continue with the rest of your attacks; and if you hit, to apply Vital Strike.

A 13th level ranger with favored enemy humans (not so weird if you are usually fighting shoantis) and a human bane bolt (something obvious if he were going to kill the queen) could do the following damage in a critical:

Crossbow: +1d10
Improved Vital Strike: +2d10
Favored Enemy: +6
+1 Shocking burst crossbolt : +1+1d6+2d10
Bane Bolt: +2d6
Deadly Aim: +4x2 = +8
Point Blank Shot: +1

Critical: 1d10x2+2d10+1d6+2d10+2d6+(6+1+8+1)x2 = 6d10+3d6+32

Average: 76 hp
Max: 110 hp

I'm sure there are other modifiers that could be applied by drinking potions or having a wizard or cleric casting Greater Magic Weapon, etc.

Added:
Arkona Palace Ground Floor
Arkona Palace First Floor

Maybe some people want to post their created stuff here. Myself I will run hopefully this AP after my CotCT campaign (so maybe a year or two from now). Anyways, I will share the maps I will make for my VTT application, as I have done with the CotCT maps. I suppose they could be good for printing too (100 pixels = 5').

For now I have finished Natalya's Hideout:
Natalya's Hideout - Ground Floor (With Tunnels)
Natalya's Hideout - Ground Floor (Without Tunnels)
Natalya's Hideout - Attic
I thoguht I was a good idea to have two maps for the ground floor: the extra one could be useul when the pcs are outside the building (and perhaps they walk around it) and you don't want them to see the tunnels nor the fog of war covering them.
Please share any thoughts or issues you have with the maps, especially errors I have made.

Temple of Urgathoa
Vencarlo's Home
Three Rings Tavern (First Floor)

The "if any" part is to explain that negative modifiers don't apply.

The second option (max AC bonus) is the correct one.

In the CotCT AP i'm using an excel sheet to generate random numbers. I take some of them and look in the Korvosa guide which pages those numbers correspond. For ex. if the number is 17 I look at the page 17, which has information about two taverns and the temple of Asmodeus. Another column in the excel sheet generate the row number, for the case I am not quite sure of the subject of the rumor. For ex. the row reads "Most of the prof its made by the semi-independent Gilded Orrery funnel directly into the Acadamae’s coffers." Third to sixth column have random Diplomacy rolls for each of my players. Seventh have a formula that tells me if the rumor is false, depending on the rolls, but this is not definitive if I don't think it should.
I come up then with a rumor, like "Gasta Weagra, the owner of the Guilded Orrery and niece of the Acadamae's Headmaster Toff Ornelos, is making awful deals, and the shop is near to bankruptcy. Ornelos is really upset". I sometimes mix true and false information, if the diplomacy rolls have been both low and high.
Sometimes I use not the city guide, but one of the books of the AP, the Inner Sea guide, etc.

Uploaded my own version of the Abadar Temple, and Artist's Lair
Edge of Anarchy
Fishery 1
Fishery 2
All the World's Meat
Eel's End 1
Eel's End 2
Eel's End 3
Dead Warrens

Seven Days to the Grave
Goitorris Toys
Lavender and Vendra Apartment
Guardpost
Carowyn Manor 1
Carowyn Manor 2
Wererat Sewer
Grey District Graveyard
Hospice of the Blessed Maiden 1
Hospice of the Blessed Maiden 2
Urgathoa Temple (Inner Sanctum)
Abadar Temple - Key Map
Abadar Temple - Second Floor
Abadar Temple - Ground Floor
Abadar Temple - Dungeon

Escape from Old Korvosa
Artist's Lair
Pilts's Palace
Arkona Dungeon 1 - Upper Caverns
Arkona Dungeon 2 - Lower Caverns
Vivified Labyrinth 1st Floor Map Key
Vivified Labyrinth 1st Floor Original
Vivified Labyrinth 1st Floor First Rotation
Vivified Labyrinth 1st Floor Second Rotation
Vivified Labyrinth 1st Floor Third Rotation
Vivified Labyrinth 2nd Floor

A History of Ashes
Cinderlands Generic Encounter (Road)
Cinderlands Generic Encounter (Dry River)
Cinderlands Generic Encounter (Cliff)
Cinderlands Generic Encounter (Cinder Cone)
Cinderlands Generic Encounter (Thassilonian Ruins)
Cinderlands Generic Encounter (Plains and Great Tree)
Acropolis of the Thrallkeepers 1
Acropolis of the Thrallkeepers 2
Moon Ruins 1
Moon Ruins 2
Shoanti Camp

Skeletons of Scarwall
Barbican Gate 1
Barbican Gate 2
Barbican Gate 3
Scarwall First Floor (Key Map)
Scarwall First Floor - Main Gate ("A" key)

Thought you were to use my maps? If you do for some encounter, I'd love to see a picture of it!!

I have uploaded HERE
a PC sheet (pdf) I've designed for my CotCT campaign. As we mostly play by VTT, the sheet is not complete in details. It is also in Spanish. If someone really wants it, I can translate it and upload the MS Publisher document I use to create the sheet.

In the link above, there is also the pdf I share with my players with all the information about the campaign, including npcs, maps and session logs (updated by lazy players, so it's half filled). It's also in spanish, but I thought someone would like to have a look.

I'm going to start on monday with CotCT and just found these maps of yours.

Wow! Just wow!

I'm going to the printers tomorrow to get the Fishery printed full size.

I do have a question though, the maps for All the World's Meat and Eels End don't use 1 inch = 1 square on the map. Is this on purpose?
Do I have to print at 200% or something like that?

Thanks so much for sharing.

Thanks!

I'm sorry I have self learned photoshop just a few months ago and don't really master the resolution and size optimization. And neither I thought about printing the maps as I play with a virtual tabletop - Fantasy Grounds. So you will surely find lot of different printing sizes.
I have tried to keep the image size so 100 pixels equal a 5' square, but some maps were too large so there could be another problem here!
The printing size for those maps which you refer to is with a resolution of 100 dots per cm, so you should print them 2.54 times bigger. I would recommend you resize the image with photoshop (or gimp), so you don't get the pixels too big... sorry for not being more helpful

Side question - does anyone know where to find the info on a Thaumaturge? I've been upgrading my NPCs to Pathfinder, and I can't find that class anywhere. I'm thinking of just making him a Cleric/Summoner instead.

Same question here. After a bit of research, I found that the real PrC name was "thaumturgist", mainly a "permanent ally summoner":

Uploaded:
Arkona Dungeon Upper Cavern
Artist's Lair
Hospice of the Blessed Maiden 1
Hospice of the Blessed Maiden 2

Yes!!! <european champions again!!!!

My last post was lost as Im a bit drunk and pushed cancel button :( but I just want to say here in Spain there are lot of peolple in the streets drinking and celebrating at 2 am

Yo soy español ¿a qué quieres que te gane? ;)