I've been hosting online Pathfinder games in Maptool for quite a while now, at least a year, two tops. Pretty experienced in it's use, I pretty much know all the tricks with map-building and using macros to their fullest, playing it mostly custom with house-rules like Spell-points for magic, Gestalting characters and just making maps and NPCs on the fly. But I'm now hoping to join another group with the character archetype I enjoy playing the most. 'The Big guy'. There is however a little bit of a problem in that by 'Big guy', I literally mean a proper large-sized giant by no short or diluted measure, the full 2x2 space on a grid. It's not for any kind of power trip or to be a special snowflake, it just feels more adventurous and in a way, challenging for me than being a regular ol' human proportioned to the world around him.
I've talked to a friend who helped me create a giant race using the Advanced Race Guide and make a creature that obeys the same limitations as the core races (10 RP, standard-only) whilst maintain some useful features! But in the end, it all boils down to if a potential GM would allow it based on it's size. This being my first post, I don't know how 'Core rules, core races only, final destination!' or 'Be whoever you want!' people are like in the Pathfinder community, so I'm going in blind.
The 'Giant' Race-Point Breakdown
• Large size (7 RP, 5ft reach),
• Slow Speed (-1 RP, 20ft),
• Specialised scores (1 RP, +2 STR & CON, -2 WIS),
• Natural Armour (2 RP, +1 AC),
• Stability (1 RP, as Dwarf trait)
Total: 10 RP, all standard racial traits.
Large-sized PCs have been argued a lot in the place I usually hang out, although I never knew until the Advanced-Race guide that size and reach component were two different things, having 10ft reach was never something really important to me, and it's not like the rules aren't twisted enough with the fact the length of your arm is the same as your arm holding a sword, but I knew reach was a big issue in regards to combat balance so it was no big 'loss' to me at all. I'm really just in it for the roleplaying theme, aaand maybe to crack some skulls, but that's only natural for combat-enabled RPGs.
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All I can really say now is that I'm looking to play a campaign with this kind of character in mind and willing to talk things out if there's a compromise to be reached. My timezone is GMT +0, I'm free practically every day (MON-SUN) although I have loose ends to tie with my seemingly failing game on Saturdays and I work most of the morning and afternoon on Sundays. I've already dabbled in making a Barbarian or Unarmed Fighter with Mythweaver character sheets, but left them mostly bare to adapt to a campaign proper.
I'm not going to get bummed out if I don't see any offers or interest due to this concept. Curbing my enthusiasm and not getting my hopes up is just more sensible than having unrealistic expectations, it's no simple thing to have a giant in your campaign with other players and the story to think about, sometime's it's just not feasible within the realm of suspension of disbelief, it'll just be a pleasant surprise to find out if there really is a place for me in anybody's group.
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So yeah, hello everybody! My alias is Oneirohero and this is my introduction post.
I run a game that allows almost any race including giants, and you don't have to power him down to 10 race points.
Take a good look at the ogre for example. All bolded traits are the ones you get automatically. Anything not in bold is considered an alt racial trait in my campaign. We are currently level 7 with 28 buy points.
The first set however cannot be replaced, like these below.
Ability Score Racial Traits: Paragon (+4 Str, –2 Int, –2 Cha, –2 Wis) (1 RP)
Type: Humanoid (giant) (0 RP)
Size: Large (7 RP)
Base Speed: Normal (0 RP)
Languages: Xenophobic (0 RP)
And alt racial traits work like this, sacrifice race points to get race points. If you want improved natural armor, 1 race point, for example, you have to get rid of other racial traits equaling or exceeding 1 race point.
I have an Orc campaign currently in interest check phase you could join. I will certainly allow this race, though you could rename it to 'ogre' and be more comfortable.
Hey Oneirohero.
I'm currently in the planning phases for a new campaign and sounds like you have a good attitude and reasonable request here. I can give you some more details if you haven't found much or accepted an offer yet, but essentially we're looking at meeting once every two weeks on a varying schedule (I'm on shiftwork and a couple of the other players have similar things). *edit* Didn't mention, but we use Roll20 and Skype generally for meeting.
A giant or larger sized character fits fine into what I'm planning. It's very heavily houseruled and homebrewed, but you seem to have a strong understanding of the rules from what you put here and value story and the roleplay above the brute power. The campaign is focusing heavily on story, but the fights that do occur are going to be big and devasting when they do.
If I was going to summarize it in a sentence, it's a homebrew world where the party is taking the role of semi-divine entities that are the realms closest thing to deities (though can and do die), battling other similar creatures and trying to establish their own domain and followers within it. Most Divinities will be medium to large size and can get larger as their power grows. I'm custom creating the races based on the description and character themes that people give me.
I could go on a lot more, but if you are interested please drop me a line here or through a PM. Thanks!
Oh wow! I come back a couple days later to find three replies after previously seeing none! I'm grateful for the responses. I can always play the concept as being an Ogre in name only, or fiddle a bit more with the race points in DoubleGold's case. (Funnily enough, since writing this, I exchanged the +1 nat-armour for Static Feat: Toughness to match, well, the tough burliness of the concept race)
I'd say that for each poster;
• GM Gadget's offer is short and sweet, even if 'Orc' is merely a race and could mean any theme, I do like Orcs and considering I'm going to be playing something of a Barbarian with off-class Fighter levels, it's good.
tl;dr: Don't know what the theme is about, but sounds cool!
• Aleron's request is pretty informative, tells me it's about a higher-tiered group of demi-deities with higher fantasy outcomes (Basically, Epic story vs. standard adventure). I'm used to a weekly routine so a bi-monthly shifting-schedule would be different to what I'm used to, no biggy. I possess Skype and while I greatly favour Maptool over Roll20, I can adapt regardless.
tl;dr: Not exactly sure about gaining followers, but I always enjoy high-fantasy campaigns.
• DoubleGold's offer would require me to do the most changes to my character sheet if only to adapt my 'Golian' to meet the template of a 23 RP Ogre, but since I love doing all that number-crunch/build-tweaking stuff it's not a problem. managed to make a 23 RP version (advanced race) here;
1 RP
Paragon template (+4 STR, -2 INT, WIS, CHA)
7 RP
Large Size
4 RP
Advanced CON (+2)
4 RP
Advanced INT (+2)
2 RP
Static Feat Bonus: Toughness
3 RP
Hardy
1 RP
Natural Attack: Slam
1 RP
Low-Light Vision
tl;dr: An ongoing game that let's giants play so long as I can adapt an Ogre race template, Sure!
I won't lead you guys any longer, if you can, contact me via Skype, here, in PMs or whichever other messengers (AIM, Steam) you want, obviously for those messengers, I'll send you guys a PM with my deets so search robots won't find me. Given my free time, it's possible I could play a couple of these games concurrently if they're not set on the same days and times of course.
I had the same misunderstanding about reach when I started playing PF. Thats how I always played it in 3.5 so either I played it wrong for 10 years or I just missed the switch when I started playing PF
I had the same misunderstanding about reach when I started playing PF. Thats how I always played it in 3.5 so either I played it wrong for 10 years or I just missed the switch when I started playing PF
I believe the confusion was mainly because in every enlarge spell and effect, and every naturally large non-playable giant refers to the extra reach. When in actual fact when creating a race with the Advanced Race Guide, Large size is 7 RP and comes with every detail except reach. Whilst elsewhere there is a trait specifically labelled Reach (1 RP), an advanced trait. So all giants with reach are really Large-Size plus Reach. Fast speed (1 RP) is also another seperate component, it's what makes the usually non-playable giants have 40ft+ speed instead of 30ft.
I don't think you were playing it wrong or anything, it's just nothing up until now showed that there was a difference to being big and having long enough reach to hit someone 10ft away.
Typical non-enlarged Giant:
• Large-size (7 RP)
• Reach (1 RP)
• Fast (1 RP)
Total: 9 RP, Advanced race
• Aleron's request is pretty informative, tells me it's about a higher-tiered group of demi-deities with higher fantasy outcomes (Basically, Epic story vs. standard adventure). I'm used to a weekly routine so a bi-monthly shifting-schedule would be different to what I'm used to, no biggy. I possess Skype and while I greatly favour Maptool over Roll20, I can adapt regardless.
tl;dr: Not exactly sure about gaining followers, but I always enjoy high-fantasy campaigns.
I won't lead you guys any longer, if you can, contact me via Skype, here, in PMs or whichever other messengers (AIM, Steam) you want, obviously for those messengers, I'll send you guys a PM with my deets so search...
I actually used to use Maptools exclusively about a year and a half ago. It is definitely better in some respects, though I've found Roll20 to be a simpler and overall less frustrating experience. Last year I also was introducing a brand new group to Pathfinder so I needed something they could pick up fairly easily and Roll20 fit the bill. After using it so much, I've come to prefer it over the other. I'm sure you'll have no trouble picking it up. I honestly just use it for maps and for rolling the dice mostly, though I wanted to discuss with the the group more on how they would prefer it run.
High fantasy is definitely the aim and idea with a higher power ceiling. Each character starts with modified gestalt rules around level 8. I'm aiming for it to go to about level 12 initially and potentially further if interest remains. There will be one mythic tier earned fairly early on as well (again, slightly modified from the usual rules, basically removing the bonus stat ups and hit points).
While the level might be low, this is compensated by a couple factors. First, the custom races will have a lot of power themselves including spell-like abilities and a fairly high point buy. Second, a mythic tier earned is earned fairly early on and only possessed by these semi-divine entities. Third, in the homebrewed world (with a small handful of very notable exceptions) all mortals generally cap out around level 8 or so. Meaning by starting at level 8 you're already well above 99.9% of all mortals at that point.
As for the followers, that was an example from one of the other characters and one of their goals (more specifically, he's going to try establish a renowned Library on the Prime staffed with followers that share his love for knowledge). I try to generally focus the game around the characters in it and what they want to achieve, so personality and creating a colorful character with goals/dreams/fears and so on goes a long way with me.
Anyway, I did shoot you a private message and will be adding you to skype tomorrow so we can discuss it in a bit more depth and see if this fits what you are after.
Oneirohero, you might want to check out woldiangames.com. We have a player character minotaur race that is a large size humanoid. We're play by post not maptools or skype, but do not worry about us flaking out -- we've been going since the last millennium, and we guarantee the chance to play from level 1 to level 20.
Here's the entry for the Woldian minotaur player race on our wiki.
Here's a cut-and-paste with more info on the Wold:
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What do you need to know about the Wold?
• We are here to stay! The campaign dates back to 1985, and we have online archives back to 1996. You can expect to start a character and play through 20 levels over the course of a 10 year career.
• We are free! There’s no cost to join and no test to pass. Check out some of the links below, and if you like us, you are in. As our founder, Jerry says, “There is no tryout or application. My experience is that those players who stay are the ones who would have passed any application or tryout anyway. So I let the players weed themselves out or remain to become a permanent player.”
• We offer a very rich gaming experience! We have our own homegrown gods, nations, races, and peoples; we have custom classes, spells, feats, items, and more — all detailed in our own wiki. We play by the Pathfinder flavor of the Dungeons and Dragons rules these days, but we are eager and glad to teach players who need help.
• We focus on heroic themes! All our player characters are Good. Feel free to create a troubled and conflicted character, so long as you are interested in redemption, nobility, and overcoming obstacles to become a true hero.
• We are a friendly community of people from all over the world, from all walks of life, and of all ages! The gaming groups that stick together over time are the ones in which players become friends, and we encourage that.
Check out the following links to get started:
Woldian Games
http://www.woldiangames.com
The Woldipedia
http://www.woldiangames.com/Woldipedia/index.php/Main_Page
For more information, please e-mail me at cayzle@cayzle.com or email site owner Jerry, the Campaign DM, at gericko@gmail.com.