My GM Is Trying To Kill Us (But Not In A Bad Way)


Advice


So, my GM is running a horror themed, haunted carnival type of session for Halloween. The party, as it stands now, looks like it will consist of a monk of the four winds, a druid bat shaman, and a ranger (myself). The GM has made it rather clear that this will not be an easy game and we even made suggestions to her (as far as monsters and encounters we'd like to see (we all came up with the idea together, she's just building and running it with our ideas)) that were very likely to get us killed. Now, seeing as this will probably be a very tough adventure, I want to know what I can do to my character to prepare him as much as possible for this adventure.

What kind of gear should I be bringing in?

What type of skills do you think I need?

Is it a bad idea to play a ranger in the first place (because I'm not 100% sold on playing a ranger)?

What are you suggestions?

(Also, for those who might ask, the ranger is a switch-hitter type of build. He took the archery combat style, but he's also built to drop his bow and switch to melee when enemies get too close. His companion still up in the air, but likely to be a small cat or wolf. He is Lawful Evil, and his favored enemy bonuses are undead and outsider (evil). He is level nine.)


Rangers are extremely solid and versatile characters. The only time it's a "bad idea" to play one is when you don't make use of that versatility.


I agree with Drahliana on the class choice. Rangers are a very solid class, whatever the situation. As far as skills go, I'm not all to familiar with rangers, though I would suggest shying away from the woodsy stuff if the setting's a haunted carnival.


The Skeptical Gnome wrote:
I agree with Drahliana on the class choice. Rangers are a very solid class, whatever the situation. As far as skills go, I'm not all to familiar with rangers, though I would suggest shying away from the woodsy stuff if the setting's a haunted carnival.

Urban Ranger is a thing.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Oozymandias, the Half-Celestial Slime wrote:

So, my GM is running a horror themed, haunted carnival type of session for Halloween. The party, as it stands now, looks like it will consist of a monk of the four winds, a druid bat shaman, and a ranger (myself). The GM has made it rather clear that this will not be an easy game and we even made suggestions to her (as far as monsters and encounters we'd like to see (we all came up with the idea together, she's just building and running it with our ideas)) that were very likely to get us killed. Now, seeing as this will probably be a very tough adventure, I want to know what I can do to my character to prepare him as much as possible for this adventure.

What kind of gear should I be bringing in?

What type of skills do you think I need?

Is it a bad idea to play a ranger in the first place (because I'm not 100% sold on playing a ranger)?

What are you suggestions?

(Also, for those who might ask, the ranger is a switch-hitter type of build. He took the archery combat style, but he's also built to drop his bow and switch to melee when enemies get too close. His companion still up in the air, but likely to be a small cat or wolf. He is Lawful Evil, and his favored enemy bonuses are undead and outsider (evil). He is level nine.)

As Drahliana and The Skeptical Gnome have said, the ranger is a solid class choice.

If you're #1 goal is to play a martial that will make a horror-themed campaign as survivable as possible for you and your party, you might consider a paladin. They have the best saves in the game, they're immune to fear, charms and compulsions, they give big bonus to those effects to the rest of the party, they can heal and remove effects on themselves as a swift action, and on others as a standard action, and they have some great swift-action spells available to them. Last but not least, they can pull out smite evil against the scariest horror-themed opponents (liches, vampires, demons, ...), bypassing the oodles of DR such opponents usually have, which can really save the party's bacon.

But that's a very different kind of character. And there's a sense in which the invulnerability of paladins can make horror-themed campaigns less fun to play. (Lich's fear aura! Immune. Vampire's domination! Immune. Succubus's charming! Immune...) So if a ranger goes with your character concept-best, I'd stick with that.

Dark Archive

As to gear? Condition removal items (bleeding, ability damage, fatigue, etc), anything that specifically boosts fear saves (or Will in general), maybe something to see invisible if possible all spring to mind.

More specifically the best cloak of resistance you can afford is probably a great investment overall, after that the usual items and spend the remainder on potions or scrolls which cover helping with removing conditions and ability damage.


A variation of the Carouser's Retort saved my bacon recently.

Quote:
Once per day, the wielder can use remove fear; if the wielder ever becomes frightened or panicked and this ability has not already been expended for the day, the weapon automatically activates this ability on the wielder’s next turn.

/cevah

The Exchange

Favored Enemy Undead,
Spirit bane spike

Maybe several. Bring lots of alchemist fire, flaming arrows. In case the scarecrows start walking. Also an Adamantine weapon in case you get some dagger wielding nutty construct showing to the party.

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