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Organized Play Member. 112 posts. 1 review. No lists. 2 wishlists. 6 Organized Play characters.


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Silver Crusade

SO in our home game we could not keep a fourth player for the life of us. As the GM I said, "Fine, we will give Majenko character classes and give him a 20-point buy for stats." I run him as an NPC and if anyone shows up and wants to join us at our gaming store they get to run Majenko.

He just leveled up. Majenko is now a third level sorcerer with the Warped bloodline. Also, because our fourth player was the bard, Majenko is now the party face. When he gets 2nd level spells he will take Alter Self to at least look human.

Silver Crusade

Thanks again everyone. Lots of insight I hadn't really thought of.

Silver Crusade

That provides great insight into another form of play that I would probably use if I writing my own campaign. But the changes proposed in Unchained go a little to far into rewriting the NPC's that I wish to go and not everyone would want on board with that.

I'm looking for more ideas revolving around what I can do as a GM to guide players that way. I don't want to rid the game of those items, just downplay their importance.

...hopefully that makes sense.

Silver Crusade

Hi Everyone,

I'm getting ready to run Curse of the Crimson Throne using Pathfinder rules for all NPCs and monsters. I'm really excited about it (it will be my second time running it) and I'm looking forward at doing a much better job really engaging players in this world.

I have ideas for how to bring the focus off of the character sheet and into the game, which is where I want it. As many PFS scenarios and modules have shown lately, some of the most memorable parts of an adventure are ones where characters interact or use their skills in neat ways to win over parts of an adventure (such as the investigation at the beginning of Cult of the Ebon Destroyers or the tests of Irori in Tests of Tar Kuata). However, one thing I can't seem to figure out is a method of taking such extreme focus off of magic items.

Now, Pathfinder is built around magic. It is everywhere. I get that. You can't progress without magic weapons as those are factored into CR's. However, as I am doing with other parts of execution of this game, I want to avoid the habit that many fall into, including myself, of looking forward to the next big item that a character needs. Discussions revolve much more around magic items than roleplaying and I want the opposite.

Is there a way, without creating crazy homerules, that I can take this focus off of magic items? Or do you think that just by getting to keep the magic items they find (as opposed to PFS rules) that it will make their discovery and attainment more special?

Thanks in advance!

Silver Crusade 2/5

Michael Eshleman wrote:
Depending on your budget I might suggest purchasing some 1st level pearls of power.

Yep, already set aside enough for two right now with one or two more to come.

Rory wrote:
Getting a Wand of Mage Armor will save you 2 first level spells per day per your current allocation.

Such a simple idea I feel silly I didn't think of it!

Rory wrote:
Another strategy is for you to cast spells that last rounds per level.

There aren't a great deal of those low-level spells that really speak to me. I specialize in divination so my saves aren't very good on them. I'll have to think.

Jessex wrote:
You're awfully dependent on a first level spell. That is going to have effects as you get to higher levels. Even if you consistently face things that can be tripped, which won't be as true as you go up in level, the damage from MM is at best weak at higher levels. You really should be doing something more effective with your actions.

You're right. Even at level 6 my 1st-level magic missiles aren't my main attacks. I used pits and haste a great deal in the module I mentioned. Magic Missiles that I prepped usually were used only in rounds where one of my allies could get there to get the melee bonus or when NPC's were already in battle. But even though their damage is piddily at best I didn't take it for the damage. Five trip attempts at level 9 is pretty good and each of them will be at around +18.

Now, this isn't a magic missile build. The entire idea was to have a great initiative, go first, and either throw off buffs (like haste) or battlefield control, like pits. Magic missile was only supposed to get me through the first few levels but has paid off so well I'm going to keep going with it.

So to sum up from what I've got so far a wand of mage armor should help with spell slots as well as a couple of pearls of power. I'm going to supplement in some 2nd-level damage spells. Also, at level 6, I can cast more haste every day.

Thanks everyone!

Silver Crusade 2/5

Hey everyone,

I'm digging up kind of a dead post but this seems to be the best place.

Just played a con over the weekend and my wizard foresight wizard with tripping magic missiles got to level 6. Hooray, I get haste and more low-level spells! Most of my 1st level spells are predetermined:

Level 1:

•2 x Mage Armor (Myself and familiar)
•2 x Toppling Magic Missile (magical lineage trait)
•1 x Vanish...because when I need it I NEED it

The nice thing about those Magic Missiles is they hit and trip but I don't get many of them. My workaround used to be a wand of magic missile. This worked well until my module yesterday where when we were in trouble and I was out of spells, 1d4+1 was more of a joke than helpful. Now that wand is about gone and I need to replace it with something. Is there a level 1 or 2 (on either a wand or scroll) that isn't going to break the bank but give me benefits for levels to come as something to do to conserve spells/backup when I run out?

Silver Crusade

Whew last message was almost 4 years ago but let's see what I can come up with.

I am running this at a Con in a couple of weekends. Should I expect a full 12-hour run time? Is this closer in execution to The Harrowing or closer to City of Golden Death?

If it is closer to 12 hours what can I expect to spend most of my time on?

Silver Crusade

The Player's Guide says add Sailor Skill to a ship's base AC. Do you add that sailing skill to the steering mechanism, too? Or is it just 12 for a steering wheel?

Silver Crusade

Hi all,

I'm waiting for Part 5 of "Rise of the Runelords" to come in, so while I'm waiting I started another 1-character solo game. I'm currently using Lini as a Wild Warden and she is most excellent. I chose to do her because a friend thought she was worthless so I was out to prove him wrong. Mission accomplished.

To decide my second solo character I rolled randomly and came up with LEM! My first thought was Crap, this guy's main power is to help other characters! How will I solo him?. Well, I went for it anyways and with smart playing, and a lot of luck (found the Deathbane Light Crossbow +1 on the second adventure), I am having a ball with him. Obviously will go Virtuoso later on for the bonus to self, but I need help with the interim. I know that for Skills I will mainly pump up my charisma first then go Dexterity second and for powers until I get to my role card I will go Weapons=>1d4+1=>1d4+2. But it is my Card Feats that I have no clue about. My first instinct would be to go all Spells, but there are some really good Allies and Items that can be had as well.

Input would be greatly appreciated as I am approaching my first card feat.

Silver Crusade

Great response on Aberrant and Djinni. For Aberrant the idea is delivering touch attacks (like Touch of Idiocy) with reach.

See where I can go from here.

Silver Crusade

Hi everyone,

I'm making a new character for Pathfinder Society. So far I have

1) Mindchemist Elf
2) Natural Attack Infiltrator/Skirmisher Half-Orc Ranger
3) Shining Knight Gnome Paladin
4) Maneuver Master (Trip, Grapple, Dirty Trick) Human Monk
5) Foresight Tiefling Wizard (Makes knowledge rolls to be prepared for any situation)
6) Saving GM credit to start a Paladin/Rogue/Cleric archetype halfling at level 4.

Now I'm to the point where I need to start a new character to play low tier and I thought a sorcerer would be fun as it plays very differently from every other character. However, there are so many bloodlines I don't know what to do. I'm not looking at optimizing or anything, just making a fun character that I could enjoy from level 1-12. Here are my ideas so far, I just need help narrowing them down. My ultimate goal is going either rebuff with buffing backup, or buffing with debuff backup.

1) Dwarven Empyreal Bloodline - I like the idea of a Dwarven Sorcerer, and dwarf is a race I really want to play but haven't yet, but a minor healing ability and losing summoning prowess doesn't seem worth it.
2) Sylph Sage Bloodline - Got the race boon and this would be a fun one to use it on.
3) Aberrant Touch attack Sorcerer
4) Djinni Bloodline
5) Dreamspun Bloodline
6) Fey Bloodline
7) Maestro bloodline
8) Voidtouched
9) Shadow or Umbral

Silver Crusade

Thanks, I had sifted through that and never saw it.

Silver Crusade

Hi Everyone,

I posted a question in the "Skull & Shackles" messageboards but no one has responded. The original post can be found here. Thanks for any help.

Silver Crusade

Hi Everyone,

I'm really confused on the ship statistics that are presented. Let's take for example the Dowager Queen in Raiders of the Fever Sea. It has 2 standard catapults that need a 3-person crew. Who is shooting these weapons? If it is the marines they do not have a high enough dex, BAB, or weapon proficiency to get a +7 to hit. Am I missing something? I'm trying to come up with ship stats in part 5 and am not sure where this information is coming from...

Silver Crusade

Thanks! Treasure as advantage had not occurred to me. I've always seen treasure as reward.

Thanks also for the other tips.

Silver Crusade

Hi All,

Here soon I will be running Skull and Shackles. It will be my second GM'ing of this campaign and I'm really looking forward to it! The members of the group are fun and the story and piracy theme is just too good. This group will also be great because I'm offering some good boons for those that take sea/piracy related archetypes or build characters totally around piracy. Some things are just worth running for more people.

Now, the difference this time is that there will be 6 PC's. I figured with 5 to scale the encounters to match party size that I would give each enemy the advanced template. What should I do with 6 PC's, though? With 6 you don't want battles to be over too fast nor be overpowering. I have heard 50% more minions and add class levels to bosses...well, I'm not adding class levels. Should I just give the bosses the very advanced template?

Also, what should I do about treasure? If the challenge scales so should the treasure output. Should I just look at how much their gear was worth every time they sell it and increase it by 25% for 5 players and 50% for 6?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Silver Crusade

Hi Everyone,

My current group is getting ready to wrap up the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path. I'm looking for something to start right after it that doesn't need to be a huge story arc. I've really enjoyed the trilogy of modules that starts with Crypt of the Everflame but since I have already run the whole trilogy I was wondering if there is anything else out there like this. Thanks!

Tom

Silver Crusade

Forgot to mention at the top that this is my PFS Wizard.

Silver Crusade

Thanks everyone. Because of this post and resources elsewhere, I've developed a decent scroll library and other tactics to use.

Any other good scrolls to consider that don't have a save or good utility spells? Here is what I currently have for my 3rd level Wizard.

My Current Scroll Library:


  • Scroll of Acid Arrow
  • Scroll of Admonishing Ray
  • Scroll of Comprehend Languages
  • Scroll of Endure Elements
  • Scroll of Expeditious Retreat
  • Scroll of Faerie Fire
  • Scroll of Glitterdust
  • Scroll of Grease
  • Scroll of Touch of Idiocy
  • Scroll of Obscuring Mist
  • Scroll of Touch of the Sea

What about other useful wands? I currently have the following wands.

My Current Wand Collection:


  • Wand of Magic Missile
  • Wand of Infernal Healing
  • Wand of Detect Secret Doors
  • Wand of Burning Hands (CL 3)

Also, based on this post, I will probably eventually get a wand of vanish.

Silver Crusade

Hi All,

I just played my level 3 Foresight Wizard yesterday. In addition to being a Foreseight wizard he specializes in trip attempts with his magic missiles (Toppling Spell and Magical Lineage). I had fun playing him and I feel like I helped the party. However, I'm hitting the point where I'm not sure what to do for the rest of the time since I still only have 6 spells a day (not counting Cantrips and my bonus school spells, which are divination). I do have a wand of Magic Missile that I use quite often but 1d4+1 is already not scaling at level 3. I had one wand of Burning Hands CL3 from a Chronicle sheet but it is almost gone. What else should I do in battle to feel like I'm contributing more as a wizard? It sounds like at level 5 the wizard is a little more helpful with 10 spells a day and access to more buffing spells like Haste. What can I do until then and past them? What scrolls should I have and be using in battle?

Thanks!

Silver Crusade

Hi all,

I love this game and the simplicity of design, rules, and the cooperative nature. My wife even loves it and enjoys playing it and making her character better (now if I could just get her into Pathfinder RPG).

What I would like to know is if there are other games like this for the iPhone or computer format. A deck-building game that has a storyline, exploration, and a way to make your character better outside of finding new cards.

Willing to pay or can be free.

Thanks!

Silver Crusade

Thanks, Mojorat.

And actually, at the rate my build is going, that Rune Giant would still have some problems against my Maneuver master and not all CR 17 creatures have a 44 CMD.

Could it be that I'm thinking about that Flurry of Maneuvers too much? I mean, because of his 5th level ability to add Wisdom mods it actually reduces any penalty gained from adding two maneuvers in a flurry (if built well) and the whirlwind master sounds like a much better use than the 15th level Flurry of Maneuvers Ability.

Deadmanwalking said wrote:
Maneuver Master is a pretty awful Archetype for anything but a dip.

If your goal is pure damage output, you are right, there are better ways than the maneuver master build. If your goal is debuffing and battlefield control then this build is pretty helpful. I am currently playing this character at Level 6 in PFS and he is a hoot! That Flurry of Maneuvers just had me wondering a bit.

Mojorat said wrote:
Assuming a Trip/reposition Monk were looking at Trip +36/+36/+31/+26 then reposion +34/+31/24.

Is this all in one round at level 20? If so how did you get 7 maneuvers?

Silver Crusade

Hi Everyone,

There is so much confusion in the rules discussion about what the Maneuver Master archetype's ability "Flurry of Maneuvers" means that I thought I would ask this question and see if anyone knows. What was the goal behind flurry of maneuvers?

Early on, it is really good! A -2 penalty to all maneuver attempts to add one extra maneuver. At level 15, because of Maneuver training, that means you could make four trip attempts at +13/+13/+8/+3! That seems pretty good but doesn't provide much aside from backup plans if the first three trip attempts fail or pretty good trips against four enemies. Or instead going Trip +13/Attack +6/Attack +1/Grapple +13? Trip +13/Attack +11/Attack +6/Attack +1? With Vicious Stomp and Greater Trip and combat reflexes this actually turns into more attacks for Trip +13/Attack +11/Attack +11/ Attack +11/ Attack +6/ Attack +1! Even that seems pretty good to awesome as when prone your melee attacks would hit just as well as a fighter's BAB, though not as good as a Flurry of Blows Monk with the same feats, minus Combat Reflexes. But at level 15 if you use the full flurry adding 3 extra maneuvers instead it turns into six trip attempts at +3/+3/+3/+3/-2/-7!

What would be the point of adding all of these maneuvers if they are worthless at level 15? Is this in case you find yourself surrounded by goblins at level 15 or was it the tradeoff for offering combat maneuver feats without needing any pre-reqs? Ultimately, what was the goal behind flurry of maneuvers?

Silver Crusade

Hi Everyone,

I'll brush on some in-game information in my question so please see the SPOILER below.

Question:
I get the opportunity to run this on Friday and I am looking for some input from those that have either played or developed this module. I've established how the party will obtain the harrow deck, but I'm not sure how they should discover that the deck has powers in the demiplane.

Should they be told that they can play cards at certain events or should they just figure it out like going "Hey, this card looks like a blue dragon and that is a blue dragon...I wonder what happens if I lay it on the table."?

What I'm currently thinking of doing is when they land on the demi-plane in game I'll throw the harrow deck on the table in a haphazard fashion so they have to pick it up, much as they would on the demiplane, and see the pictures and inscriptions on it, hopefully piecing together the events unfolding and the faces of the cards. Using this method may take them a while to get it but I think would be more rewarding.

Again, looking for any input. Thanks!

Silver Crusade

It has been a year and a half since this post was last used, but I don't understand where Chung Po gets his massive Grappling Bonus.

Base CMB: +17
Greater Grapple: +2
Improved Grapple: +2
Amulet of Mighty Fists: +1

Total: +22

I'm missing a +6 bonus somewhere and I can't find it...

Silver Crusade

...dammit...

Silver Crusade

I don't think there is a rule against it, but can I roll a check for no reason?

Let's say it is the end of my turn and I want to get rid of my Standard Bearer card. Instead of discarding can I choose to roll a worthless Strength Check and use the Standard Bearer on it to recharge the card?

Thanks!

Silver Crusade

In April I will be chaperoning a high school trip on an 11 hour bus ride. Usually on these trips I bring the Paizo pre-gens and run a game introducing people to this. I snagged 4 new Pathfinder players the last time I did this. What I am looking for are 2 fun 1st-level adventures to bring with me that are not map intensive.

Thanks!

Silver Crusade

Here are some ideas I came up for builds for my randomly selected party.

Kitsune Fighter:

This is my primary damage dealer...I know, with a -2 to Strength. I tried to get it to the point where it could cause damage while keeping the Kitsune flare for Dexterity. Obviously I completely ignored this in my One Big Weapon build.

Vanilla Fighter - Scimitar
Str - 15, Dex - 16, Con - 14, Int - 10, Wis - 10, Cha - 8

  • 1 - Weapon Finesse
  • 1B - Weapon Focus (Scimitar)
  • 2 - Dervish Dance
  • 3 - Power Attack
  • 4 - Weapon Specialization
  • 5 - Toughness/Dodge
  • 6 - Greater Weapon Focus
  • 7 - Toughness/Dodge
  • 8 - Improved Critical
  • 9 - Critical Focus
  • 10 - Combat Reflexes
  • 11 - Greater Weapon Focus
  • 12 - Greater Weapon Specialization
  • 13 - Staggering Critical

Two-Weapon Fighting - Two Light Weapons

  • 1 - Weapon Finesse
  • 1B - Two Weapon Fighting
  • 2 - Pirahna Strike
  • 3 -
  • 4 - Weapon Specialization
  • 5 -
  • 6 - Improved Two Weapon Fighting
  • 7 -
  • 8 - Improved Critical
  • 9 -
  • 10
  • 11 - Improved Two Weapon Fighting
  • 12 - Greater Weapon Specialization
  • 13

One Big Weapon (Two-Handed Fighter, Intimidate Build)
Stats (pre mods)Str - 17, Dex - 12, Con - 14, Int - 10, Wis - 12, Cha - 8

  • 1 - Weapon Focus
  • 1B - Power Attack
  • 2 - Dazzling Display
  • 3 - Skill Focus (Intimidate)
  • 4 - Weapon Specialization
  • 5 - Intimidating Prowess
  • 6 - Shatter Defenses
  • 7 - Iron Will
  • 8 - Greater Weapon Focus
  • 9 - Improved Iron Will
  • 10 - Step Up
  • 11 - Deadly Stroke
  • 12 - Greater Weapon Specialization

Human Summoner:
My two choices here are Master Summoner or Vanilla Summoner.

Vanilla Summoner - Most helpful for having another brute on the field with the eidolon.
Master Summoner - Flexibility and multiple flank buddies, plus flooding field with allies. Could present a problem for my bombing Alchemist and ranged Ranger

Halfling Ranger:
Straight Archery or Switch Hitter. No archetypes.

Archery - I feel what the Halfling loses on damage in this build it will make up with accuracy and being able to stay out of melee.
Switch Hitter - With how weak my main fighter is, this seems like a viable option to add some heft to my damage output.

Half-Orc Alchemist:
Three options I am exploring are Vanilla, Beastmorph, and Trap Breaker. All three will be Bombing/Throwing types overall. The rest is the backup abilities. I'm trying to avoid a melee Alchemist as I'll already have a lot of that.

Vanilla - Capitalize on Poison use by applying them to lots of arrows and melee weapons.
Beastmorph - Playing a Half-Orc this is mostly flavor, but adds abilities that may be situationally useful.
Trap Breaker - Above all, I have no way to disable traps. This would help solve that problem. However, none of the other abilities are useful.

Silver Crusade

Hi Everyone,

I rolled randomly for a party to play in my friend's campaign. It is me only so I run all four characters. Here is what I rolled (both class and race) so obviously this is not optimized. It is more to challenge myself.

Fighter - Kitsune
Summoner - Human
Ranger - Halfling
Alchemist - Half-Orc

The Summoner is really going to lean towards summoning, so I'll probably take an archetype that weakens my Eidolon. The alchemist will focus on bombing and throwing stuff, so I already know what I'm doing there.

However, I really could use some help on the other two. Both martial characters take strength penalties. I have no clue for the fighter, but the Ranger I was thinking about the Guide archetype.

I appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

Silver Crusade 2/5

Thanks JohnF.

To everyone else, sorry I didn't post it in the right spot. I'm rarely on here, did a word search on the Forums main page, saw a bunch of questions in the "Advice" section and posted there.

Silver Crusade 2/5

Hi Everyone,

Is it PFS legal to get Greater Magic Fang cast on my character permanently?

Silver Crusade

Thanks Claxon. Improved Stalwart maxes at DR 10/-. That helps.

I guess there really is no feasible way to get a DR 19/- and still be able to attack in the same round until Combat Expertise turns into +5/-5, which will never happen in PFS.

What about the other two questions?

Silver Crusade

I posted this question on another Thread but I don't think anyone read to the bottom to see my question so I'm asking it again here. For the original post and discussion that sparked this, please head here.

Some background. A guy was looking for input on his Barbarian Gnome. One guy offered maxing out Damage Reduction. I loved that idea. However, I need to ask some questions pertaining to the following passage from Ranroel:

Ranroel wrote:

you have 10HP. with Greater Stalwart and Improved DR rage powerx3 you have DR 36/nonlethal, DR 18/-. You get hit for 49 damage. Guarded Life activates and turns 22 of that damage into nonlethal damage, leaving you with 27 damage. DR negates the nonlethal damage an 18 lethal, meaning you take 9 points of damage.

this is at the price of -4 to hit.

1) Using the Invulnerable Rager with 3 x Increased DR Rage Power and Improved Stalwart I only arrive at DR 17/- at level 12 using Combat Expertise. He arrived at DR 18/- at level 11. Also, at level 11 Combat expertise is only a -3/+3 trade-off and he would only have access to Improved DR twice so the total DR would only be 13. Is my math wrong or is the original post? Or am I way off and he is actually going Total Defense with at least 3 ranks in Acrobatics making it impossible to attack in the end? And if taking Total Defense how would you even attack, or would you just be holding the line?

2) Guarded life makes it sound like once you hit 0 it kicks in, not before. Using that math, with the original stats displayed, I see the following: Original Damage is 49. You subtract your DR 18/- and are left with 31 points of damage and the original 10 HP. Then you take 10 points of damage which drops you to 0 HP at which point Guarded Life kicks in converting the last 21 points of damage into Nonlethal damage which is negated by the DR 36/lethal. In the end you should be left at 0 HP and Disabled, or am I reading that wrong?

3) It seems odd that you can take damage from one hit and, after you hit 0, convert it to Nonlethal and then negate that. Do those stack?

Thanks for any help. If I end up using this character I want to make sure I'm clear on the rules when a GM keeps wailing on my little gnome and he just won't die.

Silver Crusade

I found this thread while searching for ideas for my own barbarian gnome. I need to ask some questions pertaining to the following passage from Ranroel:

Ranorel wrote:

you have 10HP. with Greater Stalwart and Improved DR rage powerx3 you have DR 36/nonlethal, DR 18/-. You get hit for 49 damage. Guarded Life activates and turns 22 of that damage into nonlethal damage, leaving you with 27 damage. DR negates the nonlethal damage an 18 lethal, meaning you take 9 points of damage.

this is at the price of -4 to hit.

1) Using the Invulnerable Rager with 3 x Increased DR Rage Power and Improved Stalwart I only arrive at DR 17/- at level 12 using Combat Expertise. He arrived at DR 18/- at level 11. Also, at level 11 Combat expertise is only a -3/+3 trade-off and he would only have access to Improved DR twice so the total DR would only be 13. Is my math wrong or is the original post? Or am I way off and he is actually going Total Defense with at least 3 ranks in Acrobatics making it impossible to attack in the end? And if taking Total Defense how would you even attack, or would you just be holding the line?

2) Guarded life makes it sound like once you hit 0 it kicks in, not before. Using that math, with the original stats displayed, I see the following: Original Damage is 49. You subtract your DR 18/- and are left with 31 points of damage and the original 10 HP. Then you take 10 points of damage which drops you to 0 HP at which point Guarded Life kicks in converting the last 21 points of damage into Nonlethal damage which is negated by the DR 36/lethal. In the end you should be left at 0 HP and Disabled, or am I reading that wrong?

3) It seems odd that you can take damage from one hit and, after you hit 0, convert it to Nonlethal and then negate that. Do those stack?

Thanks for any help. If I end up using this character I want to make sure I'm clear on the rules when a GM keeps wailing on my little gnome and he just won't die.

Silver Crusade

I've got a PC who has made a very flavorful and well-built Necromancer. He plays it well by being creepy but still being cooperative. However, I'm having trouble fighting against him because he is an overall evil character playing in the Skull & Shackles Adventure Path where the only thing to fight evil with is more evil. I can't seem to take out these minions he has. Any thoughts? Are there any mass destroy undead spells?

Silver Crusade

That sums it up pretty well. I'm going to guess since Water Elementals have a language and movements that they can still cast without any additional feats.

Silver Crusade

I mainly run PFS and Adventure Paths. My day/night job doesn't allow much time to create my own adventures. I run into the problem while running these that the game does not present a challenge for a group of optimized individuals (a problem I especially find at PFS with a table of 7 PC's). In a game I ran this last weekend the group did the final encounter for book 2 of Skull & Shackles. They encountered everything. The big-baddies all pulled off their attacks and most landed. However, they didn't ever feel afraid for their characters (I had one player make it near 0, but never really feel threatened). Now, I'm not talking maniacal GM everyone must die playing, but feeling enough anxiety to make a battle exciting and not knowing which way it could go.

Any tips, especially on these pre-written scenarios, on how to make them more threatening? I've tried using the Advanced templates, and I try to fudge rolls as rarely as possible. I just want to ensure that there is excitement in the game.

Silver Crusade

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Dabbler, how would you approach an over-optimized build at your table? It is like one of those third-rail conversations that could end friendships. Pointing out that someone is so powerful that no one else gets to do anything is like saying their idea isn't a good one.

Silver Crusade

I have just built a Waves Oracle that took the Water Form Revelation. I can now turn into a Water Elemental as per Elemental Body. This is not the Wild Shape ability. It also does not state in the description of the spell Elemental Body that I lose the ability to cast spells as Wild Shape states. There is no mention of losing spell-casting abilities in the description of the revelation. Can I still cast spells in this form or is there a rule out there I am not aware of?

Silver Crusade

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I do enjoy my optimization. It really got me into the game.

I used to just make characters for the heck of it all the time (making a party for fun now). I really started to notice a problem when every time I sat down to build a rogue they all turned out with two-weapon fighting and all their skill sets were the same. I then noticed all of my melee folks (fighters, barbarians, and paladins) all ended up with a falchion in their hands.

I finally broke the battle-optimization (a bard optimized for damage? really?) when I made a Bard-Archivist for the first time. 8 strength, 10 Dex and Con, 18 Int, 12 Wis, 14 Cha (or something close to that). It was a bard that had horrible social skills. I knew everything and won many a fight by just being there to know stuff. No versatile performance. No bonus damage. Just existing. Even the GM was happy I was there and thought the build was incredibly interesting.

I played with a summoner once that had Death from Above and pounce all go off in the first round of battle and he had five attacks, each with acid and electricity damage. A big day-ending fight was over before anyone else got to do anything.

Silver Crusade

This has to happen a lot. You have a bunch of mooks in the room and the party just slaughters 1/4 of them without taking damage. A PC takes their free action and yells "Drop your weapons and you will be spared!" How you do this? Many enemies in PFS and Adventure Paths say fight until xxx or until dead, or run, or something. But what about everyone else? Is it a skill check? Is it an automatic point. It feel stupid when the AP provides a room of 35 NPC's that are "hostile" but no way to talk them down. Even with an outrageous bard you can only get a group down to Indifferent.

Silver Crusade

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Does anyone else get bothered by the push for optimization of characters? More and more I get tired of sitting down to a table of outrageous damage output where battles end ridiculously fast. Using feats to make a monster characters that immediately win the battle in the first round just is boring. It turns into the one optimized character getting all the fun each and every fight.

I've also run into the problem lately of bringing my characters to games that are not optimized for damage but are fun to play and everyone looking down on them.

-Mounted paladin gnome of erastil (why not be medium sized with a big weapon?)
-Combat Maneuver monk specializing in trip and grapple (Wait...you don't do damage?)
-Sea Reaver barbarian that, when raging, has a swim and climb speed (aquatic campaign) (why didn't you take all these ridiculous rage powers to cause a bunch of ridiculous damage?)

Society games are the worst. I witnessed one guy a few months ago convince someone not to use archetypes of the bard class until the person played a bunch of games with a base bard and learned how the class worked. Getting to level 5 in PFS is a 60 hour investment. The guy knew what he wanted his character to do and an archetype would have served that better and he didn't want to play every week. This awful advice came from a 5-star GM.

I'm not out to change the world with this, but man...powergaming can be pretty obnoxious. Who cares if that wizard didn't prepare "Create Pit"? If everyone built the same character all the time the game would die.

Silver Crusade

Thanks! Great input!

Silver Crusade

I know my PC's would just go with it, but why would my team want to be Free Captains? What reason is there for this? If I can get what I want at another grocery store without a membership fee then why would I become a member of Costco?

Silver Crusade

Thanks, BzAli! That helps a great deal.

Tom

Silver Crusade

Hi everyone,

Does the canopy creeper stay up in the canopy or does it descend to the boat? It's got the reach to hit with vines, but that is beastly hard to kill then.

Silver Crusade

Can someone give me some help with this? Lini seems like a difficult character to slot. Everyone else has clear-defined rolls, I just can't figure out Lini. How should she be played? Caster? Melee?\

Thanks,
Tom

Silver Crusade

Ha! That will be something good for them!

Silver Crusade

Hi Everyone,

I'm currently running Skull & Shackles and having a blast! My PC's have stepped into the role of anti-hero very well and have taken to mutiny and piracy like rogues to a pile of gold.

Now, I'm far from completing this AP, but I'm looking ahead thinking about the next one. I am currently watching LotR while doing housework and I read the Silmarillion over Christmas in 2012. What I'm looking for is a defenders of the world type of AP. One that gets the players invested in being heroes.

I ran Curse of the Crimson Throne and that was great! Now I'm looking for one that is written with the Pathfinder ruleset. Wrath of the Righteous looks like it may be the path I'm looking for. Any input from those that have run/played them?

Thanks!
Tom

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