It came up recently in a game where we found a Chime and I thought I would have had a good chance to open up a standard locked door, but someone looked it up and said that it didn't do that.
It's interesting that it calls out that it uses Caster Level, which is 11 for the item, but it doesn't specify that it add a +10 bonus to the Caster Level check like Knock does, despite being a magical item based on Knock.
It would make sense that at CL 11th, the Knock item would guarantee an unlock of at least a simple lock, a high likelihood of an average good, a decent shot at a Good lock, and even a small chance at a Superior Lock.
But as written, the item itself is not even as effective as a minimum caster level Wizard of 3rd level casting the spell as they would get a +13.
Granted, it does dispel Hold Portal or Arcane Lock up to 14th level, but the base spell at least suspends those for 10 minutes.
Chime of Opening:
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 11th
Slot none; Price 3,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
A chime of opening is a hollow mithral tube about 1 foot long. When struck, it sends forth magical vibrations that cause locks, lids, doors, valves, and portals to open. The device functions against normal bars, shackles, chains, bolts, and so on. A chime of opening also automatically dispels a hold portal spell or even an arcane lock cast by a wizard of lower than 15th level.
The chime must be pointed at the item or gate to be loosed or opened (which must be visible and known to the user). The chime is then struck and a clear tone rings forth. The wielder can make a caster level check against the lock or binding, using the chime's caster level of 11th. The DC of this check is equal to the Disable Device DC to open the lock or binding. Each sounding only opens one form of locking, so if a chest is chained, padlocked, locked, and arcane locked, it takes four successful uses of a chime of opening to get it open. A silence spell negates the power of the device. A brand-new chime can be used a total of 10 times before it cracks and becomes useless.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, knock; Cost 1,500 gp
Knock
Knock opens stuck, barred, or locked doors, as well as those subject to hold portal or arcane lock. When you complete the casting of this spell, make a caster level check against the DC of the lock (see table at right) with a +10 bonus.
If successful, knock opens up to two means of closure. This spell opens secret doors, as well as locked or trick-opening boxes or chests. It also loosens welds, shackles, or chains (provided they serve to hold something shut). If used to open an arcane locked door, the spell does not remove the arcane lock but simply suspends its functioning for 10 minutes. In all other cases, the door does not relock itself or become stuck again on its own. Knock does not raise barred gates or similar impediments (such as a portcullis), nor does it affect ropes, vines, and the like. The effect is limited by the area. Each casting can undo as many as two means of preventing access.
So I have been wondering about how this would work.
Let's say a 7th level Fighter with the Whirlwind Attack tree of feats and Lunge, and his cleric ally are surrounded by a diminutive swarm. They take their damage, but make their saves and are unaffected, then his cleric ally with the Law Domain hits him with the Touch of Law ability and rushes out of the swarm.
Whirlwind Attack (Combat)
You can strike out at every foe within reach.
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Int 13, Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: When you use the full-attack action, you can give up your regular attacks and instead make one melee attack at your highest base attack bonus against each opponent within reach. You must make a separate attack roll against each opponent.
When you use the Whirlwind Attack feat, you also forfeit any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats, spells, or abilities.
Touch of Law (Sp): You can touch a willing creature as a standard action, infusing it with the power of divine order and allowing it to treat all attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws for 1 round as if the natural d20 roll resulted in an 11. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Supposing that this Fighter has an enhanced 20 Strength, has weapon focus & specialization with his +1 longsword, is 2 handing it, along with weapon training; we are looking at a +15 attack bonus and 1d8+11 damage. Since he can take 11 against every enemy this grants him a 26 attack.
On the Fighter's turn, he utilizes Whirlwind attack and Lunge to reach the entirety of the swarm. But instead of attacking the swarm, he targets each individual creature in the swarm. Even their minimum damage would normally be able to defeat a single creature of the swarm.
Normally a fine or diminutive swarm is immune to weapon damage. But would it be in this case?
Would you let this work, since it took such an unusual and specific set of circumstances to get here?
Would you rule it that the swarm simply loses its immunity and is damaged normally?
In the case that the swarm would lose its immunity and take damage, would this be considered a area of effect attack at that point?
Or would you simply not allow this to work at all, since it's still weapon damage?
Thank you for all of the feedback. You've given me a lot to consider and also a rule clarification I'd overlooked. I particularly like the idea of making the Druid Boggard more important to the plot than as a one-off. He is 5th level.
My players are 6th level.
I suppose I have become a bit gun shy when it comes to killing off characters since I've had some bad backlash in the past. But there's a lot of good points about death being a part of the game and one that shouldn't be avoided at the expense of tension.
But I'll also speak with my players about this before next session.
So I was running a 2nd edition game for my players online and they were a party of 3, A Rogue, a Sorcerer, and a Ranger which had an animal companion wolf, along with some NPC allies they had brought to come along into an assault into Boggard swamp village. I'd laid things out so that there was waves of enemies at each interval into the village with breaks laid in so the group could rest and recover.
I'd been running things with rolling the dice on my side without having the players see and narrating the results for them. But this last session they asked me to not hide my rolls for them to see. I said sure.
They were doing pretty good for the most part, a lot of bad rolls for the boggards, the stirges, and their crocodiles. But things got serious when an ambush from a pair of crocodiles and 3 Boggards came out of the swamp and killed one of their allies and seriously wounded the other one. One of the crocodiles tried to eat the sorcerer but missed. Also a lone stirge flew over and managed to attach itself on the Sorcerer.
The group had their remaining ally attack once then retreat, but they missed. The party stayed to defeat the boggards and the crocodiles. The Ranger and wolf tear apart 2 boggards. The rogue of the group finished off the first crocodile, misses the second one, and also decided to shoot a flaming arrow into the chieftain's hut in the center of the city. It caught fire and the party could hear cries of outrage and alarm from the hut.
The sorcerer stabs the crocodile with a dagger, hurting it but not killing it, then readied an action to throw a fireball against the chief, rather than dealing with the Stirge or crocodile on her turn. The next round the Chieftan came out with several more of his warriors. He was a Druid and was supposed to be a close match for the PCs. Readied fireball goes off, killing the Cheiftan's warriors but he survived. Then in return, he throws a 3rd level Acid Arrow at the Sorcerer and lands a Critical hit doing 47 damage.
She goes down with Dying 2 since it was a Crit and the chieftan was the first one to act before it was any of the other players turns. She now has persistent acid damage, a crocodile, and an attached stirge on her.
Oh, and she didn't have any hero points left.
TL/DR:
My online group asked me to reveal the results of the Dice Roller to them at the beginning of the session so I can't exactly fudge anything.
They pushed into an extended fight inciting another encounter with the boss who landed a spell crit with a 3rd level acid arrow which rolled 47 out of 48 damage.
And the sorcerer who had a stirge on her as well as a wounded, angry, crocodile in her face is down. Also, no hero points left.
I've never been happy with killing my player's characters when it doesn't necessarily serve the story, particularly when it's more of a side quest rather than a main or personal quest, but there's a lot working against them here and I don't think I have much of an option. Should I kill her off?
Currently we are 5th level in a Way of the Wicked Campaign. All the PC's chose to become vampires so we could effectively keep in-sync with each other.
The Greater Vampire is a Prestige Class that is connected to a PC variant of the Vampire template, also known as a "Young Vampire", that is weaker than the full vampire, also known as a "Noble Vampire" template.
Young Vampire PC Template:
Challenge Rating: +1
Senses: The base creature gains darkvision 60 ft. or increases its existing darkvision by 30 ft.
Alignment: The base creature’s alignment moves one step towards evil. Its alignment on the law-chaos axis is unchanged. Like other undead, vampires detect as evil when subjected to detect evil and similar effects, regardless of their actual alignment.
Size and Type: Change the base creature’s type to undead. Recalculate racial hit dice. Do not recalculate hit dice based on class levels. Do not alter its base attack bonus, skill points, or class skills. Its size is unchanged.
Special Attacks: The base creature gains the following special attacks:
Vampire Fangs (Ex): The vampire gains a bite natural attack that deals 1d6 damage (damage given is for medium creatures). If this attack damages a living corporeal creature (excluding constructs, elementals, oozes and undead), the vampire gains gains temporary hit points equal to 1/2 the damage dealt and also slakes his thirst (see the thirst ability, below). At the GM’s discretion, some creatures – such as a golem made of animate blood – may also permit the vampire to gain temporary hit points in this manner. These temporary hit points stack with themselves, up to a maximum equal to 1/2 the vampire’s full normal hit point total, and last for up to 1 hour.
Channel Resistance (Ex): The vampire benefits from +4 channel resistance.
Vampiric Power: Vampires display a variety of powers; the vampire chooses one of the following abilities upon acquiring this template. The vampire gains the chosen ability. Once made, this choice may not be changed:
Familiar Stranger (Sp): The vampire may cast disguise self as a spell-like ability up to three times per day, with a caster level equal to his character level. Starting at 6th level, the vampire may communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 ft. that has a language. At 10th level, the vampire benefits from a constant detect thoughts effect at a caster level equal to his character level.
Hypnotic (Sp): The vampire may cast charm person and charm animal as spell-like abilities up to twice per day, with a caster level equal to his character level. At 6th level, the vampire may also cast charm monster up to twice per day as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to his character level.
Servitor Beast (Ex): The vampire gains an animal companion. His effective druid level is equal to his character level minus three, which might mean that the vampire does not attract a companion immediately. If the vampire would gain an animal companion from another source (such as druid levels), he instead possesses a single animal companion at his highest effective druid level, plus one.
Undying Ferocity (Ex): The vampire gains 2 claw attacks that deal 1d4 damage (or increases the base creature’s existing claw damage by 1 die step; damage given is for medium creatures) and gains temporary hit points equal to 1/2 the damage dealt with these claws (but does not slake his thirst). These temporary hit points are treated as though gained through the vampire’s vampire fangs ability for the purposes of stacking, and last for up to 1 hour.
Special Qualities: The base creature gains the following special qualities:
Shadowless (Ex): A vampire casts no shadows and shows no reflection in a mirror; in a room with shadowy or better illumination, or with one or more mirrors, creatures gain a +5 circumstance bonus on their Knowledge (religion) checks to identify the vampire.
Thirst (Ex): A vampire must feed to sustain themselves. If the vampire does not gain 10 temporary hit points through his bite attack before sunrise each morning, he becomes hungry, suffering a -2 penalty to all D20 rolls, as well as a -1 penalty to the vampire’s save DCs. After three days without feeding, these penalties increase to a -4 to all D20 rolls, -2 to the vampire’s save DCs, and a -2 penalty to the vampire’s caster level, initiator level, and manifester level. These penalties vanish after the vampire has gained the required number of temporary hit points. Vampires that are cut off from the sun (such as by living underground) must meet their feeding requirements every 24 hours.
Vampiric Weakness (Ex): The vampire is vulnerable to sunlight; it becomes exhausted (ignoring immunity) when exposed to direct sunlight and suffers a -4 penalty to its level-based variables (such as those calculated based on caster level, initiator level, manifester level, or character level, among others) while so exposed. Additionally, choose one of the weaknesses listed below. The vampire gains the chosen weakness (once made, this choice may not be altered):
Accursed Being (Ex): The vampire is vulnerable to holy symbols of good-aligned religions; if confronted by such a symbol (wielded by a member of its faith as a standard action or used as part of casting a divine spell) the vampire suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws for 3 rounds. In addition, the vampire cannot cast spells with the evil descriptor that target creatures bearing such symbols, nor include those creatures in the area of spells with the evil descriptor.
Arithmomania (Ex): Some vampires develop an obsession with counting objects. The vampire suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, and concentration checks while in the presence of a group of small objects (such as a bowl of rice or a pile of coins) that he has not yet counted. This penalty does not stack with itself, and persists as long as the vampire can see the container or pile, or until he spends a fullround action doing nothing but count the objects (the vampire may count up to two groups of objects with the same full-round action, such as a pile of coins and a bowl of rice). If there is more than one grouping of small objects nearby, the penalty lasts until the vampire has counted them all (spending at least one fullround action per grouping).
Foot in the Grave (Ex): The vampire’s body has been weakened by the transition to undeath. The vampire gains a -2 penalty to its Strength and Dexterity whenever it is subjected to a critical hit or sneak attack. This penalty stacks with itself and lasts until the vampire can rest for eight hours.
Purification (Ex): The vampire’s corruption is especially susceptible to fire; it suffers an additional 25% damage (rounded down) from fire damage. A vampire that is immune to fire may not select this weakness, and a vampire that selects this weakness may not gain fire immunity or fire resistance; attempts to do so simply fail.
Spilled Blood (Ex): The vampire is not immune to bleed damage or damage to its Strength and Dexterity scores.
Unclean Being (Ex): The cleansing touch of water is enough to hinder the vampire. While standing in water at least an inch deep, the vampire is slowed. When the vampire is affected by a spell of the water descriptor, they must succeed at an additional Reflex save (DC equal to the spell’s save DC) or suffer 1d6 damage per two caster levels of the spell’s source (items typically have their own caster level).
Ability Score Modifiers: Strength +2 and increase the base creature’s Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma by +2. As an undead creature, the vampire does not have a Constitution score.
Skills: Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2
To become a "Noble Vampire" the "Young" vampire would have to follow a list of feats which grant increasingly more power and weaknesses normally associated with being a Vampire.
The full list can be found here at Obsidian Portal:
The first two feats on this list are for becoming Undead in the first place. As we are already "Young" Vampires we jump straight to qualifying for the following:
The Path to become a Noble Vampire & other Feats:
The Risen:
Prerequisites: The Bitten, The Dying, 5th level
Benefits: You gain the feats Dodge, Improved Initiative and Lightning Reflexes. Your Dex score is improved by +2. You are now an undead and have no Constitution score. You gain resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10 in addition to all the normal defensive abilities granted by being an undead. You also gain the special attack Blood Drain (as per the vampire template). However, you must sleep in a coffin every night, you gain the vampiric weaknesses to daylight (this replaces being sickened by daylight) and running water, and if you ever go more than twenty four hours without feeding on living blood you become sickened until you feed. If you are sickened from lack of food and encounter a living creature with blood in their veins, you must make a DC 12 Will save or immediately try to drain their blood. If you succeed at such a save you do not have to check again for one hour. If reduced to zero hit points, you fall dead, indistinguishable from a normal corpse. You will remain this way until either you are healed by negative energy or fed blood enough to heal you.
The Initiated:
Prerequisites: The Bitten, The Dying, The Risen, 7th level
Benefits: You gain the feat Combat Reflexes. You gain a +4 racial bonus to Bluff, Perception, Sense Motive and Stealth Checks (the Perception bonus replaces the bonus from the Dying feat). You gain the gaseous form and spider climb special qualities of a vampire (see the vampire template). If reduced to zero hit points You are still sickened if you do not feed but now you need only feed every three days. However, you now recoil from mirrors and strongly presented holy symbols.
True Vampirism:
Prerequisites: The Bitten, the Dying, the Risen, The Initiated, 9th level
Benefits: You gain the full benefit and weaknesses of the vampire template.
Positive Energy Resistance: You gain positive energy resistance equal to 5 + your Hit Dice.
Blood of the Deep (prerequisite, The Risen): You are no longer harmed by running water as other advanced vampires are. Further, you can “fly” through the water. You have a swim speed equal to your normal movement rate.
Blush of Life: You lose the shadowless racial trait. Additionally, you detect as your actual alignment when subjected to the detect evil spell or similar abilities (unless you have another ability that would alter how
you are detected), and Knowledge (religion) checks made to identify you as undead or discern your vampiric nature suffer a -4 penalty.
Creature of Darkness: Your darkvision increases to 120 feet. Additionally, you can see through magical darkness, even that created by "Deeper darkness".
Dark Flight (prerequisites: 11th level or True Vampirism): You gain a fly speed of 40 feet (good maneuverability).
Improved Channel Resistance: Your channel resistance increases by +4 (even if you didn’t have channel resistance).
Red Feast (prerequisites: 9th level or The Risen): Blood is life for all vampires, but you take particular joy in it. Draining blood via your bite attack can heal your HP instead of providing temporary HP.
This feat changes if you ever grow into a vampire noble. In this case, it would do the following: You do 1d6 Constitution damage and gain 10 hit points or 10 temporary hit points from your blood drain special attack.
Sunlight Resistance: Learn to fight off the sun's deadly rays. For young vampires, this means they can walk in the day without immediately exposing their true nature. You will be less tired during the day if forced to remain awake (more like being a living creature that missed sleep), and only fatigued rather than exhausted if forced to stand directly in the sun (all other penalties still apply).
This feat changes if your weakness to the sun should ever grow more pronounced. In this case, rather than being staggered one round then destroyed the next, it would do the following: For a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier you are only staggered in direct sunlight. After that period of grace is over, you remain staggered and on the next round take one third of your hit points in damage. No damage reduction can reduce this. The next you are utterly destroyed.
Finally, we arrive at the Prestige Class.
Greater Vampire:
Requirements:
To qualify to become a Greater Vampire, a character must fulfill all the following criteria
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 3 ranks
Feats: Positive Energy Resistance
Special: Base Attack Bonus +3, or able to cast 2nd level or higher spells, or able to initiate 2nd level or higher maneuvers, or able to manifest 2nd level or higher powers, or able to shape at least 3 veils per day.
Alignment: any.
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills:
The class skills for a greater Vampire is Knowledge (Religion) (Int)
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Table: Greater Vampire
Level BAB Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Class Features
1st +0 +1 +0 +1 Deathly Speed –
2nd +1 +1 +1 +1 Feast of Scraps; +1 level of previous class
3rd +2 +2 +1 +2 Mist Form –
4th +3 +2 +1 +2 Advanced Vampirism; +1 level of previous class
5th +3 +3 +2 +3 Master Vampire –
Class Features
The following are the class features of the Greater Vampire.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Greater Vampire gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Class Features:
At 2nd level, and again at 4th level, the Greater Vampire advances class features just as if she had gained a level in a class she belonged to previously. She does not, however, gain any other benefit that a member of that class might have gained (such as Hit Dice, base attack bonus increases, or skill points). This essentially means that she adds those levels of Greater Vampire to her levels of the previous class and determines her class features (such as power points, initiator level, and bonus feats) accordingly. If the Greater Vampire had more than one class before she became a Greater Vampire, she must choose one of them to augment with this benefit; once made, this choice cannot be changed.
Deathly Speed (Ex):
The greater vampire’s body reacts much faster than other vampires. At first level she increases her Dexterity by 2 and gains Lightning Reflexes as a bonus feat.
Feast of Scraps (Su):
Starting at 2nd level, the greater vampire learns incredible feats of parasitic regeneration. As a swift action, she may expend any number of temporary hit points and heal damage equal to ½ (rounded down) the temporary hit points expended this way. Any excess healing that would bring the greater vampire above her full maximum hit point total is lost.
Mist Form (Sp):
Starting at third level, the greater vampire may use gaseous form as a spell-like ability up to twice per day (with a caster level equal to her character level), except that its casting time is 1 swift action. At fifth level, she may use this ability at will.
Advanced Vampirism:
The greater vampire’s deathly power grows, pouring strength through her undead body. At 4th level, she may select an additional vampiric power (see the vampiric powers) and gain the benefits of that power, just as if she’d selected it when acquiring the vampire template. She may not select a vampiric power she already possesses.
Vampiric Power:
Familiar Stranger (Sp): The vampire may cast disguise self as a spell-like ability up to three times per day, with a caster level equal to his character level. Starting at 6th level, the vampire may communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 ft. that has a language. At 10th level, the vampire benefits from a constant detect thoughts effect at a caster level equal to his character level.
Hypnotic (Sp): The vampire may cast charm person and charm animal as spell-like abilities up to twice per day, with a caster level equal to his character level. At 6th level, the vampire may also cast charm monster up to twice per day as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to his character level.
Servitor Beast (Ex): The vampire gains an animal companion. His effective druid level is equal to his character level minus three, which might mean that the vampire does not attract a companion immediately. If the vampire would gain an animal companion from another source (such as druid levels), he instead possesses a single animal companion at his highest effective druid level, plus one.
Undying Ferocity (Ex): The vampire gains 2 claw attacks that deal 1d4 damage (or increases the base creature’s existing claw damage by 1 die step; damage given is for medium creatures) and gains temporary hit points equal to 1/2 the damage dealt with these claws (but does not slake his thirst). These temporary hit points are treated as though gained through the vampire’s vampire fangs ability for the purposes of stacking, and last for up to 1 hour.
Master Vampire (Sp):
At 5th level, the greater vampire reaches the pinnacle of her deathly power, enabling her to command the dead and living alike. She may use command undead as a spell-like ability at will (with a caster level equal to her character level). Additionally, the greater vampire may cast dominate person up to twice per day as a spell-like ability (with a caster level equal to her character level).
There's definitely some overlap between the two. Deathly Speed and The Risen feat both grant +2 to Dexterity and the Lightning Reflexes feat. Kind of unfortunate about Lightning Reflexes, although I think the +2 to Dexterity from both would stack since they're untyped.
Mist Form granted at 3rd level of Greater Vampire is the Gaseous Form Spell like ability twice/day as a Swift Action but otherwise overlaps with the Gaseous Form ability of The Initiated feat. Although at 5th level it becomes at-will.
Then at 5th level there is also the Dominate Person twice/day spell like ability which overlaps with the Full Vampire Dominate ability.
For my character he is a 5th level Mesmerist. Taking Greater Vampire would definitely slow spellcasting progression, not all the way since there are two levels of Previous Class abilities thrown in, but would give him handful of in-theme spell like abilities.
Is it worth taking both the class, as well as taking the feats to become a Vampire Noble or Full Vampire?
Currently we are 5th level in a Way of the Wicked Campaign. All the PC's chose to become vampires so we could effectively keep in-sync with each other.
The Greater Vampire is a Prestige Class that is connected to a PC variant of the Vampire template, also known as a "Young Vampire", that is weaker than the full vampire, also known as a "Noble Vampire" template.
Young Vampire PC Template:
Challenge Rating: +1
Senses: The base creature gains darkvision 60 ft. or increases its existing darkvision by 30 ft.
Alignment: The base creature’s alignment moves one step towards evil. Its alignment on the law-chaos axis is unchanged. Like other undead, vampires detect as evil when subjected to detect evil and similar effects, regardless of their actual alignment.
Size and Type: Change the base creature’s type to undead. Recalculate racial hit dice. Do not recalculate hit dice based on class levels. Do not alter its base attack bonus, skill points, or class skills. Its size is unchanged.
Special Attacks: The base creature gains the following special attacks:
Vampire Fangs (Ex): The vampire gains a bite natural attack that deals 1d6 damage (damage given is for medium creatures). If this attack damages a living corporeal creature (excluding constructs, elementals, oozes and undead), the vampire gains gains temporary hit points equal to 1/2 the damage dealt and also slakes his thirst (see the thirst ability, below). At the GM’s discretion, some creatures – such as a golem made of animate blood – may also permit the vampire to gain temporary hit points in this manner. These temporary hit points stack with themselves, up to a maximum equal to 1/2 the vampire’s full normal hit point total, and last for up to 1 hour.
Channel Resistance (Ex): The vampire benefits from +4 channel resistance.
Vampiric Power: Vampires display a variety of powers; the vampire chooses one of the following abilities upon acquiring this template. The vampire gains the chosen ability. Once made, this choice may not be changed:
Familiar Stranger (Sp): The vampire may cast disguise self as a spell-like ability up to three times per day, with a caster level equal to his character level. Starting at 6th level, the vampire may communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 ft. that has a language. At 10th level, the vampire benefits from a constant detect thoughts effect at a caster level equal to his character level.
Hypnotic (Sp): The vampire may cast charm person and charm animal as spell-like abilities up to twice per day, with a caster level equal to his character level. At 6th level, the vampire may also cast charm monster up to twice per day as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to his character level.
Servitor Beast (Ex): The vampire gains an animal companion. His effective druid level is equal to his character level minus three, which might mean that the vampire does not attract a companion immediately. If the vampire would gain an animal companion from another source (such as druid levels), he instead possesses a single animal companion at his highest effective druid level, plus one.
Undying Ferocity (Ex): The vampire gains 2 claw attacks that deal 1d4 damage (or increases the base creature’s existing claw damage by 1 die step; damage given is for medium creatures) and gains temporary hit points equal to 1/2 the damage dealt with these claws (but does not slake his thirst). These temporary hit points are treated as though gained through the vampire’s vampire fangs ability for the purposes of stacking, and last for up to 1 hour.
Special Qualities: The base creature gains the following special qualities:
Shadowless (Ex): A vampire casts no shadows and shows no reflection in a mirror; in a room with shadowy or better illumination, or with one or more mirrors, creatures gain a +5 circumstance bonus on their Knowledge (religion) checks to identify the vampire.
Thirst (Ex): A vampire must feed to sustain themselves. If the vampire does not gain 10 temporary hit points through his bite attack before sunrise each morning, he becomes hungry, suffering a -2 penalty to all D20 rolls, as well as a -1 penalty to the vampire’s save DCs. After three days without feeding, these penalties increase to a -4 to all D20 rolls, -2 to the vampire’s save DCs, and a -2 penalty to the vampire’s caster level, initiator level, and manifester level. These penalties vanish after the vampire has gained the required number of temporary hit points. Vampires that are cut off from the sun (such as by living underground) must meet their feeding requirements every 24 hours.
Vampiric Weakness (Ex): The vampire is vulnerable to sunlight; it becomes exhausted (ignoring immunity) when exposed to direct sunlight and suffers a -4 penalty to its level-based variables (such as those calculated based on caster level, initiator level, manifester level, or character level, among others) while so exposed. Additionally, choose one of the weaknesses listed below. The vampire gains the chosen weakness (once made, this choice may not be altered):
Accursed Being (Ex): The vampire is vulnerable to holy symbols of good-aligned religions; if confronted by such a symbol (wielded by a member of its faith as a standard action or used as part of casting a divine spell) the vampire suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls and saving throws for 3 rounds. In addition, the vampire cannot cast spells with the evil descriptor that target creatures bearing such symbols, nor include those creatures in the area of spells with the evil descriptor.
Arithmomania (Ex): Some vampires develop an obsession with counting objects. The vampire suffers a -2 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, and concentration checks while in the presence of a group of small objects (such as a bowl of rice or a pile of coins) that he has not yet counted. This penalty does not stack with itself, and persists as long as the vampire can see the container or pile, or until he spends a fullround action doing nothing but count the objects (the vampire may count up to two groups of objects with the same full-round action, such as a pile of coins and a bowl of rice). If there is more than one grouping of small objects nearby, the penalty lasts until the vampire has counted them all (spending at least one fullround action per grouping).
Foot in the Grave (Ex): The vampire’s body has been weakened by the transition to undeath. The vampire gains a -2 penalty to its Strength and Dexterity whenever it is subjected to a critical hit or sneak attack. This penalty stacks with itself and lasts until the vampire can rest for eight hours.
Purification (Ex): The vampire’s corruption is especially susceptible to fire; it suffers an additional 25% damage (rounded down) from fire damage. A vampire that is immune to fire may not select this weakness, and a vampire that selects this weakness may not gain fire immunity or fire resistance; attempts to do so simply fail.
Spilled Blood (Ex): The vampire is not immune to bleed damage or damage to its Strength and Dexterity scores.
Unclean Being (Ex): The cleansing touch of water is enough to hinder the vampire. While standing in water at least an inch deep, the vampire is slowed. When the vampire is affected by a spell of the water descriptor, they must succeed at an additional Reflex save (DC equal to the spell’s save DC) or suffer 1d6 damage per two caster levels of the spell’s source (items typically have their own caster level).
Ability Score Modifiers: Strength +2 and increase the base creature’s Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma by +2. As an undead creature, the vampire does not have a Constitution score.
Skills: Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2
To become a "Noble Vampire" the "Young" vampire would have to follow a list of feats which grant increasingly more power and weaknesses normally associated with being a Vampire.
The full list can be found here at Obsidian Portal:
The first two feats on this list are for becoming Undead in the first place. As we are already "Young" Vampires we jump straight to qualifying for the following:
The Path to become a Noble Vampire & other Feats:
The Risen:
Prerequisites: The Bitten, The Dying, 5th level
Benefits: You gain the feats Dodge, Improved Initiative and Lightning Reflexes. Your Dex score is improved by +2. You are now an undead and have no Constitution score. You gain resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10 in addition to all the normal defensive abilities granted by being an undead. You also gain the special attack Blood Drain (as per the vampire template). However, you must sleep in a coffin every night, you gain the vampiric weaknesses to daylight (this replaces being sickened by daylight) and running water, and if you ever go more than twenty four hours without feeding on living blood you become sickened until you feed. If you are sickened from lack of food and encounter a living creature with blood in their veins, you must make a DC 12 Will save or immediately try to drain their blood. If you succeed at such a save you do not have to check again for one hour. If reduced to zero hit points, you fall dead, indistinguishable from a normal corpse. You will remain this way until either you are healed by negative energy or fed blood enough to heal you.
The Initiated:
Prerequisites: The Bitten, The Dying, The Risen, 7th level
Benefits: You gain the feat Combat Reflexes. You gain a +4 racial bonus to Bluff, Perception, Sense Motive and Stealth Checks (the Perception bonus replaces the bonus from the Dying feat). You gain the gaseous form and spider climb special qualities of a vampire (see the vampire template). If reduced to zero hit points You are still sickened if you do not feed but now you need only feed every three days. However, you now recoil from mirrors and strongly presented holy symbols.
True Vampirism:
Prerequisites: The Bitten, the Dying, the Risen, The Initiated, 9th level
Benefits: You gain the full benefit and weaknesses of the vampire template.
Positive Energy Resistance: You gain positive energy resistance equal to 5 + your Hit Dice.
Blood of the Deep (prerequisite, The Risen): You are no longer harmed by running water as other advanced vampires are. Further, you can “fly” through the water. You have a swim speed equal to your normal movement rate.
Blush of Life: You lose the shadowless racial trait. Additionally, you detect as your actual alignment when subjected to the detect evil spell or similar abilities (unless you have another ability that would alter how
you are detected), and Knowledge (religion) checks made to identify you as undead or discern your vampiric nature suffer a -4 penalty.
Creature of Darkness: Your darkvision increases to 120 feet. Additionally, you can see through magical darkness, even that created by "Deeper darkness".
Dark Flight (prerequisites: 11th level or True Vampirism): You gain a fly speed of 40 feet (good maneuverability).
Improved Channel Resistance: Your channel resistance increases by +4 (even if you didn’t have channel resistance).
Red Feast (prerequisites: 9th level or The Risen): Blood is life for all vampires, but you take particular joy in it. Draining blood via your bite attack can heal your HP instead of providing temporary HP.
This feat changes if you ever grow into a vampire noble. In this case, it would do the following: You do 1d6 Constitution damage and gain 10 hit points or 10 temporary hit points from your blood drain special attack.
Sunlight Resistance: Learn to fight off the sun's deadly rays. For young vampires, this means they can walk in the day without immediately exposing their true nature. You will be less tired during the day if forced to remain awake (more like being a living creature that missed sleep), and only fatigued rather than exhausted if forced to stand directly in the sun (all other penalties still apply).
This feat changes if your weakness to the sun should ever grow more pronounced. In this case, rather than being staggered one round then destroyed the next, it would do the following: For a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier you are only staggered in direct sunlight. After that period of grace is over, you remain staggered and on the next round take one third of your hit points in damage. No damage reduction can reduce this. The next you are utterly destroyed
Finally, we arrive at the Prestige Class.
Greater Vampire:
Requirements:
To qualify to become a Greater Vampire, a character must fulfill all the following criteria
Skills: Knowledge (religion) 3 ranks
Feats: Positive Energy Resistance
Special: Base Attack Bonus +3, or able to cast 2nd level or higher spells, or able to initiate 2nd level or higher maneuvers, or able to manifest 2nd level or higher powers, or able to shape at least 3 veils per day.
Alignment: any.
Hit Die: d8.
Class Skills
The class skills for a greater Vampire is Knowledge (Religion) (Int)
Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Table: Greater Vampire
Level BAB Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Class Features
1st +0 +1 +0 +1 Deathly Speed –
2nd +1 +1 +1 +1 Feast of Scraps; +1 level of previous class
3rd +2 +2 +1 +2 Mist Form –
4th +3 +2 +1 +2 Advanced Vampirism; +1 level of previous class
5th +3 +3 +2 +3 Master Vampire –
Class Features
The following are the class features of the Greater Vampire.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Greater Vampire gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Class Feature
At 2nd level, and again at 4th level, the Greater Vampire advances class features just as if she had gained a level in a class she belonged to previously. She does not, however, gain any other benefit that a member of that class might have gained (such as Hit Dice, base attack bonus increases, or skill points). This essentially means that she adds those levels of Greater Vampire to her levels of the previous class and determines her class features (such as power points, initiator level, and bonus feats) accordingly. If the Greater Vampire had more than one class before she became a Greater Vampire, she must choose one of them to augment with this benefit; once made, this choice cannot be changed.
Deathly Speed (Ex):
The greater vampire’s body reacts much faster than other vampires. At first level she increases her Dexterity by 2 and gains Lightning Reflexes as a bonus feat.
Feast of Scraps (Su):
Starting at 2nd level, the greater vampire learns incredible feats of parasitic regeneration. As a swift action, she may expend any number of temporary hit points and heal damage equal to ½ (rounded down) the temporary hit points expended this way. Any excess healing that would bring the greater vampire above her full maximum hit point total is lost.
Mist Form (Sp):
Starting at third level, the greater vampire may use gaseous form as a spell-like ability up to twice per day (with a caster level equal to her character level), except that its casting time is 1 swift action. At fifth level, she may use this ability at will.
Advanced Vampirism:
The greater vampire’s deathly power grows, pouring strength through her undead body. At 4th level, she may select an additional vampiric power (see the vampiric powers) and gain the benefits of that power, just as if she’d selected it when acquiring the vampire template. She may not select a vampiric power she already possesses.
Vampiric Power:
Familiar Stranger (Sp): The vampire may cast disguise self as a spell-like ability up to three times per day, with a caster level equal to his character level. Starting at 6th level, the vampire may communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 ft. that has a language. At 10th level, the vampire benefits from a constant detect thoughts effect at a caster level equal to his character level.
Hypnotic (Sp): The vampire may cast charm person and charm animal as spell-like abilities up to twice per day, with a caster level equal to his character level. At 6th level, the vampire may also cast charm monster up to twice per day as a spell-like ability with a caster level equal to his character level.
Servitor Beast (Ex): The vampire gains an animal companion. His effective druid level is equal to his character level minus three, which might mean that the vampire does not attract a companion immediately. If the vampire would gain an animal companion from another source (such as druid levels), he instead possesses a single animal companion at his highest effective druid level, plus one.
Undying Ferocity (Ex): The vampire gains 2 claw attacks that deal 1d4 damage (or increases the base creature’s existing claw damage by 1 die step; damage given is for medium creatures) and gains temporary hit points equal to 1/2 the damage dealt with these claws (but does not slake his thirst). These temporary hit points are treated as though gained through the vampire’s vampire fangs ability for the purposes of stacking, and last for up to 1 hour.
Master Vampire (Sp):
At 5th level, the greater vampire reaches the pinnacle of her deathly power, enabling her to command the dead and living alike. She may use command undead as a spell-like ability at will (with a caster level equal to her character level). Additionally, the greater vampire may cast dominate person up to twice per day as a spell-like ability (with a caster level equal to her character level).
There's definitely some overlap between the two. Deathly Speed and The Risen feat both grant +2 to Dexterity and the Lightning Reflexes feat. Kind of unfortunate about Lightning Reflexes, although I think the +2 to Dexterity from both would stack since they're untyped.
Mist Form granted at 3rd level of Greater Vampire is the Gaseous Form Spell like ability twice/day as a Swift Action but otherwise overlaps with the Gaseous Form ability of The Initiated feat. Although at 5th level it becomes at-will.
Then at 5th level there is also the Dominate Person twice/day spell like ability which overlaps with the Full Vampire Dominate ability.
The question: Is it worth taking both the class, as well as taking the feats to become a Vampire Noble or Full Vampire?
For my character he is a 5th level Mesmerist. Taking Greater Vampire would definitely slow spellcasting progression, not all the way since there are two levels of Previous Class abilities thrown in, but would give him handful of in-theme spell like abilities.
Fey Touch is a great ability because it has no HD limit and no saving throw. That said, as a mesmerist you don't particularly need that.
I wouldn't do either dip, really. You can already affect animals and monstrous humes with mind-affecting stuff anyway; what you'd really need is to mind-affect undead. +2 DC is nice, but not worth the level, and you can get the same effect with feats.
Instead, I'd consider dipping monk or oracle (for cha to AC); or swashbuckler (for parry and riposte). And maybe take the Eldritch Heritage feat line for your character concept?
Ooh, hadn't considered the Oracle Idea! I haven't thought about Secret Step in a very long time, that would increase my base survivability quite a bit. Also having another source of negative energy in the party wouldn't be bad for more healing. As for Swashbuckler, my stats leave a lot to be desired in the combat department. But I suppose if I was just looking for AC then the Dodging Panache could make it worthwhile.
Current Stats including modified vampire template and a campaign bonus are: Str. 12, Dex. 13, Con -, Int. 15, Wis. 15, Cha. 23
So I am in a Way of the Wicked campaign and playing a Drow-blooded, Half-Elf Mesmerist with a heavily modified vampire template right now. Currently 5th level and throwing everything behind Charisma, Enchantment and mind affecting magic in general. Favored Class Bonus is going into increasing Duration of Enchantment spells too.
We're at a fairly crucial point where we could either TPK or effectively win the first module by slaying all of the remaining big players in one fell swoop. Supposing we win and manage to clean up the rest of Fort Balentyne, we should then level up.
Our DM is set in the idea that since psionics is it's own kind of magic, that we don't qualify for using spell completion/trigger items for other caster classes. To counter this I'm sinking a skill rank into Use Magic Device every level.
I'm toying with the idea of taking a single level dip in a Crossblooded Sorcerer which fits with the original idea concept I had for this character. I have 1 of 2 bloodlines combinations:
1.) Infernal-Feyblooded; for the raw power of +2 to Charm/Compulsion spell DCs.
Or
2.) Serpentine-Verdant (Groveborn); for being able to target a much wider variety of creatures including: animals, magical beasts, and monstrous humanoids, and even plant creatures as if they were humanoids who understood your language.
Benefits: A tiny, secondary pool of weak spell casting, plus the ability use a lot of magic items without having to rely solely on Use Magic Device. The Infernal/Feyblood also nets me either the Laughing Touch or Corrupting Touch ability. Probably take Corrupting Touch because it's Asmodeus themed.
Meanwhile, Serpentine-Verdant gets me either a fairly weak poison I can add to my bite a handful of times a day since being this kind of vampire gives me a better one. Or the Tanglevine ability which is what I would take.
Drawbacks: -2 Will saves, and being 1 level down on an already slow casting tree.
I am open to cross combination of these, or other ideas I haven't considered.
Ah greetings, I would like to throw my hat into the ring as it were. I have played in a Falcon's hollow adventure once before, so I am familiar with the setting here.
I would like to settle on set #2. As far as character concept, a Lawful Good Aasimar cleric of Sarenrae, with the Glory and Sun domains.
Ah, a bit too late then. It seems as though the best fit and certainly the most enthusiastic replacement has already made his debut for taking over as your Dwarven prince.
While I would be willing to throw my hat into the ring, so to speak, and having been one to perform, shall we say, character assimilation in the past, I dare say I'd have been a decent choice. I am not however, heavily inclined towards Paladins nor Dwarves any more than any other class or race. So, with that, good luck Javell DeLeon and have a good time everyone.
Yes, I have seen what seems to be a drop in overall open new games lately. Currently down to my last PBP game which is looking to be over within a month, so I was hunting for a new one.
A few of my more recent games seem like they got just barely past the introduction before fizzling out. Then some of the longer running ones the DM's either had RL get in the way or just seemed to have disappeared into the ether without warning.
I've been part of Pathfinder Society in the past for a few games but I didn't particularly like how the DM's handled things as the game felt forcibly rushed to a completion.
How familiar does one have to be with the Starfinder rule set for this game. I'm quite familiar with Pathfinder but I have never played a Starfinder game before.
Also, regarding proficiency with weapons/armor, is that more or less the same as described? Further, how do you feel about multi-classing? This is mostly in regards to the current NPC levels, I don't have any truly weird build ideas in mind.
1) What station is his family at? High nobles, low nobles, more 'middle-class', poor? What is the family's business and how do they prosper in Brieca?
Benjamin's family are high nobles of Brieca. They are one of A handful who run with Shipping yards out of Aquilanum Santonum. But more than that, his family has ties with near, distant, and even foreign trade partners. They serve as an welcoming host and resupply point to traders from Thane, a neutral meeting ground between other nobles of Brieca and Thane, and, although such rumors are quashed, a holdout for outlaws, pirates, and refugees. Jokingly, the inhabitants refer to Santonum as the unofficial capital of Southern Brieca. They are able to move goods easily to the Northern country of Almor and to the South Eastern section of Thane. The Abbey family themselves run an important but distant trade route to far shores for titles of steel and even silver.
2) It seems his family is not directly involved in the Church, correct? What do they think about him going off to join the church? (keep in mind that Briecans are overwhelmingly positive about the church, mostly through piety but also a tinge of fear)
Appearances are very important to the family and their business. They show the minimum expected amount of worshipful paraphernalia and trade with a passable knowledge of the religion of Azgaar. But that ideal swings both ways. As they are a primary port city of the south and especially good trading partners with Thane merchants, it's important to not be too constrictive in regards to their religious benefactors.
The notable trade to the south and distasteful rumors of the city have not gone unnoticed by the Church of Azgaar however, and Aquilanum Santonum has been taxed more heavily than many of the other Briecan cities, at least until recently.
Benjamin's parents were surprised at their son's sudden decision to join the church directly and immediately made standing declarations to the church. His older siblings, Chiara and Thomas, were suspicious that he'd been put up to it by the parents to alleviate taxes but he'd denied their involvement in earnest. Only his younger sister, Alyssa, seemed to see the supposed ruse for what it was, a chance to choose his own destiny, while avoiding unnecessary work.
The Azgaarian Church was thrilled to welcome him into their ranks, as many pious members saw it as an outlandish noble family turning a new leaf, while the more business minded saw it as a cunning exchange of services. The church gains a powerful representative in exchange for a reduction of overall taxes and some level of scrutiny to the city.
3) Benjamin seems to have experienced a rather oracle-like vision. Were you planning on an oracle, or perhaps another divine class? Although oracles do exist, due to The Separation they are exceptionally rare and so highly valued by the church that they would spend exorbitant amounts of resources on you. There would be a great deal of excitement, as well as jealousy about his powers.
I'd originally planned on having Benjamin be a Cleric at first. Probably of the Sage aspect, although I liked the Evangelist more in theory. After looking at them again, the aspects are too restrictive to my liking. My thought was to be a sort of catch all divine source, as I'd wanted his vision to be that of a Skyseer, as his heroic trait. But now that you mention the idea of an Oracle, I like that idea a great deal more. Excitement, jealousy, sounds like a grand time.
4) What is it precisely that's given him his sudden drive? Great aspirations, a desire to do great things in the world? Wanting to make his parents proud? Piety for Azgaar's will?
Having experienced something like this myself, I can only describe it best as a revelation. Benjamin loved taking life easy, traveling, daydreaming, and not really committing to anything. He did not believe life had much of anything in store for him and was content with that. After his revelation hit and he saw it had been real, it was as though the clouds had parted for him. He wasn't just a nobody with a small or even no role to play in the world. He had been given a chance by the power of the divine. He suddenly wanted to be part of the larger world and it was a chance he could not simply let slip away.
Great, thanks for the vote in a direction. After I had started writing them both I began leaning slightly more toward Benjamin over Rognvald but hadn't made any solid decisions.
Although I did have a different way I was going to be building Ro, than you might have imagined given what was written. I wanted to give backstory more than really show what his character build would be like. He was actually going to be more of a stealth/ranged combatant, which is why he survived over your traditional front-line barbarian/fighter type.
Benjamin will be more static as far as what he has learned to be over his career... probably.
Alright, after some unfortunate events, my games that were going slow and steady have come to a sudden halt and have been cancelled. This now means I have more slots and time for other games.
For this game I am currently running with 2 ideas.
The first is playing a Skive barbarian, Rognvald Thorgisl who became a veteran of the Berivian war which ended 7 years prior.
Partial Backstory, Rognvald:
He came from a small village on the north eastern province of Skive itself. When he was younger, he heard of the war of Berivia which was still ongoing. Rognvald, along with many of his friends, dreamed of sailing off to war and fighting for glory. They all got their wish and were whisked off to battle within the Archipelago. For the first year, Rognvald was enamored with battle as he and his friends were trained as a skirmishing unit. They utilized their already harsh training from home to quickly adapt to the new environment, and started to make a name for themselves. But while they may have been used to the environment, they were all still green and going up against many more battle hardened and blooded opponents. As time went on, the number of people Rognvald had once called friends dwindled. Finally, when the last year of the war came, Rognvald found himself surrounded with men whose name he could only barely recall. His mind had hardened and he cared little for those who died.
When he had returned home, Rognvald did so alone. He was outwardly whole and spoke of his time at war with great verity. He was rewarded for his time during war with great respect and admiration. But on the inside he found his soul had splintered. Occasionally he gave over to great bouts of sorrow for the friends he'd lost and disdain for those who had remained behind. Everything from his home now seemed dull by comparison with the years of fighting to stay alive and the beautiful and brutal battlegrounds that had been the archipelago. The truth was he had no more friends and everyone there seemed like hollow imitations.
He doubted he could ever return to war, but he needed something more real and vibrant than what he had come back to. So one day he simply gathered his things and left his village behind. He found work on a ship and began a life as a sailor.
Now for my second character, Benjamin Abbey. A Briecan Theologian who believes in all manner of the divine. He is primarily a believer in Azgaar but also believes has accidentally become a Sky Seer. (That is primarily only if you would allow that.)
Partial Backstory, Benjamin:
Benjamin was always lazy. He was born the younger middle son of a Briecan family with four children. His eldest sister Chiara, and older brother Thomas, always tried to get him to fall into line, but he always found a way out of doing so. His younger sister, Alyssa, imitated him and so he got along with her best. He thought of ways to make work go faster and easier and generally went with the easiest flow of things. He only ever contemplated his studies by just enough to make it look like he'd given it an honest try. Though when he was being eyed over directly he found he could often do better.
As he got older, he realized this method would only get him so far and decided to join an organization of his own volition. The Church of Azgaar. He knew it would be some level of work but since his older brother and sister had to take on the responsibility of inheriting the family name and responsibilities, he'd be left alone as long as he did something else seemingly important. Or so he thought...
He loved to travel and daydream. It was one such night when he was 17 years of age that he had a vivid dream. He awoke, not sure why he could not get it out of his mind. Then later that same day, the image in his mind played out exactly as he had foreseen.
In that moment Benjamin finally understood part of how the divine nature of things worked. He just suddenly "got it", believing he was a bridge for the divine mysteries of the world that anything was possible. His simple life was over and now he began to devote himself to training and being ready for what came next.
So yeah, these are the two partially fleshed out ideas that I have so far under fairly distracted conditions. Let me know if either of these don't particularly work for your setting. There's also still a great deal more of refinement that will go on before the final drafts are completed.
A quick update, I suddenly found myself a bit under the weather last night and couldn't focus my mind then. But I have just finished going through and internalizing the abridged version of the setting information. I must say I am fascinated with this world and it's giving me all sorts of interesting ideas to play with.
That said, I'm quite torn on several ideas of my own. I should like to look over the other characters in game and then read through the story thus far as knowing where we are and what is going on will help me to make a well informed decision.
Ah, hello there. Please forgive the lateness of my introduction. I had been messaged by Draegar last week that you were perhaps in the market for some eh, replacements.
Then I quite simply forgot. Embarrassing, really. However, I am here now. Having briefly glanced over your way of doing things I see that you value character backstory a lot. I must say I enjoy the idea of a steampunk adventure!
As for myself, I am currently in several games already. Most are going quite slowly but two are moving at a quick pace with changing scenarios. I am also reasonably skilled in the art of, shall we say, character assimilation. Having done so several times in the past already. But if you would rather a new character arrive, I can easily accommodate that as well.
This is all assuming of course, that my lateness has not passed by an expiration date, given the expected pace of the adventure.
If your invitation still stands, I would very much like to join and have several questions.
1. What does the current party lineup look like? (Don't worry this is strictly for balance and mild cosmetic background changes. I'll find a way to make the class bit work more for my character regardless.)
2. Should there be any backstory tying us to each other? (I'll look over each character's background for a suitable entry point.)
In the meantime, I shall have read over what has happened so far and your shortened player's guide.
This sounds rather promising. I'm no stranger to the idea of running away from a fight, especially when outmatched. "Live to fight another day, and all that."
Never played a Frog God game before, but I'll be keeping an eye on this.
Ah, I see. I have stumbled upon a type of game that I am only vaguely aware of. I have never been in any game of an official Pathfinder Society capacity before. Perhaps I will have to look into registering for future games.
Also, Duncan makes a fair point about 6 players being the top end of optimal capacity. Thank you for your time and enjoy your game.
I can definitely create a level 1 character and then mark him as having 2 xp. (Does xp stand for experience Points?)
Unless this is some sort of official capacity campaign where I'm supposed to have a PC like that?
Excellent, thought I should ask. I've run into a GM who was very strict about the starting time of his campaign.
Okay so what do we have here for our party? Starting at 7th level.
Melee two-weapon Fighter, Rogue, Sorceress, and Cleric. Seems like this party is just asking for the Bard to join them.
Although a melee Paladin to act as a solid assist for the fighter and off healer so the Cleric can do other things would be great.
Then there's the sniper Ranger for additional combat and the wilderness aspect of things.
I think I will go with a Paladin this time around.
Greetings, fellow adventurers. Please forgive my rather blatant intrusion upon your discussion forum.
I was browsing my way through the online campaign forums while searching for new games to potentially join, when I came upon the intriguing title shown as "The Long Campaign".
After a brief review, I see now that your campaign is still within the early stages and saw that you had recently lost one of your players due to life occurrences. As I find my roster fairly open at the moment, I humbly offer to throw my hat into the ring for joining your game.
Uh, hello there. Is this recruitment thread still open?
I noticed the projected start date was the 18th. I hope I'm not too late. I'm in several games that have started to slow way down right now and am looking to join another. I'm perfectly willing to fill in to whatever role is not yet covered yet.
One of the ideas I had for a world ending BBEG was an epic level Oracle of Time. In his earlier days he was part of a team that was recruited by an Inevitable to join its campaign to help destroy a decadent nation's royal family that broke various laws of nature in order to become some form of immortal and taken on it's belief that everything must eventually come to an end. The campaign was long and lasted nearly a decade as they fought against vampirism, lichdom, and Alchemy.
At the time he became epic level he stopped aging himself and thought he would eventually become a target by the Inevitable's too but he also kept working with them in order to destroy other individuals who were becoming immortal, which in turn meant they did not come for him. At least not yet.
Of course after he's continued to work with them for several centuries and with his knowledge and control of time (albeit limited) he's become
a stoic Nihilist himself while taking the Inevitable ideals to an extreme. He now believes the world itself needs to be destroyed.
Feel free to use some or all of it as you see fit. Hope it helps.
I have reviewed the client's character and find their work to be just fine. I am now reviewing the past posts. I should have finished either late tonight or tomorrow night.
GM Faelyn: As a note, after reading your initial recruitment thread I noted that Summoners are on the restricted list. As built Zirren's occultist abilities fall heavily within the camp of having Summon Monsters being called faster as a Standard action and lasting for minutes rather than rounds.
Was your problem with the Summoner the Eidelon or with the Summons ability? If it was with the Summons I will endeavor to change the basis of the character.
Well, it was but a short time I worked with you all, yet invigorating nonetheless. Fare well, heroes. I shall take my leave. But remember, should you ever need the services of Avery Temporanicous Agent, I shall be at your service.
Miss Sandra will, on her action, move to cast Burning Gaze on the closest of the three Grimlocks. Dc.17 Fortitude save to resist burning and then Dc.17 reflex to not catch on fire.
Greetings my fellow travelers. I, Avery Temporanicous Agent, shall be temporarily playing as miss Sandra Raz while she is absent. Please note there will be occasional updates on my profile as we progress to make me feel more at home.
Right well that about sums everything up. Now, on to Adventure!
+2 STR for weapon use with prosthetic arm
+2 Grapple
Racial Abilities:
Ability Score Racial Traits: Human characters gain a +2 racial bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
Size: Humans are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Base Speed: Humans have a base speed of 30 feet.
Languages: Humans begin play speaking Common. Humans with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Bonus Feat: Humans select one extra feat at 1st level.
Focused Study: All humans are skillful, but some, rather than being generalists, tend to specialize in a handful of skills. At 1st, 8th, and 16th level, such humans gain Skill Focus in a skill of their choice as a bonus feat. This racial trait replaces the bonus feat trait.
Favored Class:
Humans: Select one item creation feat known by the artificer. Whenever he crafts an item using that feat, the amount of progress he makes in an 8-hour period increases by 200 gp (50 gp if crafting while adventuring). This does not reduce the cost of the item; it just increases the rate at which the item is crafted. Determine this rate before applying any percentage discounts to the time needed.
[x3] Wondrous Item (+600gp/day)
Class Abilities:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Artificers are proficient with all simple weapons, all crossbows, with light and medium armor, and with shields (except tower shields). If the campaign allows for firearms or siege weapons, artificers also also proficient in these weapons as well.
Infusions: An artificer casts infusions, which are like spells but are neither arcane nor divine. Like spells, artificers have a limited number of infusions per day, based on their level. Similar to other spellcasters, artificers get additional infusions per day based on their Intelligence attribute and regain their infusions per day after a normal 8 hours of rest and 15 minutes of concentration. Like sorcerers and bards, artificers can cast any infusion he knows without preparing them ahead of time, classifying him as a spontaneous spellcaster. However, given how limited his selection is, he automatically knows all infusions on the infusion list of any level he is capable of casting. Should an artificer encounter some rare or ancient infusion that does not appear on the normal infusion list, he can learn it by studying it for 8 hours and making a Spellcraft check with a DC equal to 20 + the infusion level. However, this is specifically not intended for artificers to reverse engineer normal spells to become infusions.
Infusions, like spells, are subject to concentration checks, using the same DCs as normal spellcaster and using his Intelligence modifier to the concentration check. Likewise, infusions have components (verbal, somatic and material) which must be met when casting an infusion. However, the somatic components are simple enough that artificers do not suffer spell chance failure from light or medium armor or from any shield, except tower shields. While rare, infusions that have saving throws have their DC equal to 10 + the infusion level + the artificer's Intelligence modifier. Infusions can be modified by metamagic feats spontaneously with the same alteration to the casting time as sorcerers. Like spells, infusions are identified using Spellcraft checks with same DCs.
Where infusions differ from spells is that no infusion qualifies for spells when making magical items or activating items, even if they are functionally similar when cast. For example, even though Light appears as both a spell and an infusion, the artificer does not have Light for the purposes of making magical items or activating a wand of Light.
Cantrips: An artificer automatically knows all 0-level infusions that appear on the infusion list, but unlike normal infusions, they do not require spell slots and can all be used repeatedly. In all other aspects, they act as normal infusions.
Artificer's Knowledge: Unlike normal spellcasters, artificers count as both casters and manifesters for the purposes of creating magical and psionic items. Likewise, they can create spell trigger, spell completion, power trigger and power completion items without having the ability to cast the necessary spells or manifest the necessary powers. They still need the necessary item creation feats, but the artificer can continue the item creation process with only a working knowledge of each spell or power needed. When an artificer puts their first rank into Knowledge: Arcana, they are considered to have a working knowledge of all 0th arcane spells from any arcane spell list. The same is also true for Knowledge: Religion and 0th divine spells from any divine spell list and Knowledge: Psionics and 0th level psionic powers from any power list. For each additional two ranks placed into a given skill, the working knowledge of the associated spell or power list increases by one level, to a maximum of 9th level spells or powers at 19 ranks.
When determining the spell or power level of a spell or power that appears on multiple lists, search the spells and powers list that have the full 9 levels of spells or powers first (i.e. sorcerer / wizard, cleric / oracle, druid, witch and psion / wilder). If the desired effect is on one or more of those lists, the artificer has the choice of which list to take it from, notating the spell or power level and, in the case of spells, whether it is arcane or divine. If, and only if, the desired effect is not located on any of those lists, check the spells and powers lists that only have 6 levels of spells or powers (i.e. bard, summoner, inquisitor psychic warrior, etc). If the desired effect is on one or more of those lists, the artificer has the same choice. If, and only if, the desired effect is not located on any of those lists, check the spells and powers lists that only have 4 levels of spells or powers (i.e. paladin, ranger, etc). If the desired effect is one or more of those lists, the artificer has the same choice. If, and only if, the desired effect is not on any of the above lists examined, then the artificer is free to duplicate from whatever spell or power list remaining. The choice of exactly which list the spell or power is taken from will determine the spell or power level mimicked and, in the case of spells, whether or not the effect is arcane or divine.
If an artificer needs a spell or power that he does not have a working knowledge of, he can still duplicate it with a successful Use Magic Device check with a DC equal to 20 + twice the spell or power level. Other item creation requirements can also be substituted as well, with the exception of the caster or manifester level. The artificer makes another Use Magic Device check, with the same DC as what is needed to emulate the needed class features, ability scores, race or alignments. Only one check per requirement is allowed.
All other aspects of item creation remain following the same rules for item creation (feats required, time, cost, etc). The artificer uses his caster level as either the caster level or manifester level for comparing to the item's requirements. After all Use Magic Device checks have been made, the normal Spellcraft check to actually create the magical or psionic item still needs to be made to see if the item is successfully created. If a spell or power is required for the item creation (like that for scrolls, wands, dorjes, etc) and it is not successfully emulated, the entire item creation process (time and construction cost) is wasted.
Thus, attempting to create a Minotaur Belt (a Wondrous Item with a CL of 4, requiring Bull's Strength and Feather Step) has a normal Spellcraft or Craft DC: 19 for someone that did not met either spell prerequisites. However, an artificer that does not have a working knowledge of either spell can make two UMD checks (first for Bull's Strength at a DC of 24, second for Feather Step at a DC of 22) to lower the final Spellcraft or Craft DC to just 9.
Artisan Bonus: An artificer gains a bonus to all Use Magic Device checks equal to one half his artificer level, round down, to a minimum +1.
Bonus Feats: As an artificer progresses in level, he gains the following feats as bonus feats. He does not need to qualify for the specified feats listed, but does for any bonus feat he gets to choose. Artificers gain Brew Potion and Scribe Scroll at 1st level, Craft Wondrous Item and Craft Wand at 3rd level, Craft Magic Arms and Armor at 5th level, Forge Ring at 7th level, Craft Rod at 9th level and Craft Staff at 11th level.
In addition to these specific feats, at 2nd level and every 4 levels thereafter, artificers gain an additional bonus feat chosen from the following list: any metamagic feat, any item creation feat not already listed (like Craft Construct), Attune Magic Weapon, Extra Rings, Exceptional Artisan, Extraordinary Artisan, and Wand Mastery.
Ingenuity: An artificer has a pool of ingenuity points equal to his artificer level plus his Intelligence modifier. This pool refreshes when an artificer regains his infusions for the day. While points from an artificer's ingenuity pool can be spent on other class features, the artificer can also spend a point from his ingenuity pool as part of casting an infusion that has a range of touch and does not involve an attack roll to cast it with close range instead. This increase in range for touch based infusions does not stack with with any other source that alters the range of an infusion.
Trapfinding: An artificer gains a bonus to Perception skill checks made to locate traps and to Disable Device checks equal to one half his artificer level, round down, to a minimum +1. An artificer can use Disable Device to disarm magic traps and this feature is in all other ways identical to the rogue's trapfinding ability.
Rugged Craftsman: At 2nd level, when an artificer is crafting magical items while adventuring on in a dangerous environment, he gains the full benefit of 4 hours per day, rather than the normal 2 hours of work for 4 hours of effort. The amount of gold piece value achieved per hour is still based on the normal 8 hours per day and divided normally. The artificer can also create multiple magical items in single day, provided that the total gold piece value is still within his gold piece limit per day for enchanting.
Unravel: Starting at 2nd level, the artificer can spend a point of his ingenuity pool to disrupt the magical energies that power magical and psionic items. At 5th level and every three levels thereafter, this ability improves.
Suppression (Su): By spending one point of ingenuity and a full-round action that provokes, the artificer can attempt to suppress an unattended magical or psionic item or an unattended object that is the subject of a magical or psionic effect for a number of rounds equal to his Intelligence modifier. Doing so requires the artificer to touch the item and succeed in a caster level check against a DC equal to 11 + the caster or manifester level of the item or the effect on the item. Using this ability on magical or psionic traps causes the trap to be bypassed for as long as it is suppressed. This ability can used to suppress a cursed item, although removing a suppressed cursed item does not always remove the effects of the curse. If the artificer knows the item is cursed before he attempts to suppress it, he is not subject the effects of the cursed item.
If necessary, the artificer can spend another point of ingenuity as a free action to immediately end the suppression.
Greater Suppression (Su): At 5th level, the artificer can use his unravel (suppression) ability has a standard action and, if successful, the effect lasts for minutes equal to his Intelligence modifier. Ending the suppression still requires a free action, but does not count a point of ingenuity. He can also use this ability on attended magical items if successful with a melee touch attack that provokes.
Dispel (Sp): At 8th level, the artificer can spend one point of ingenuity to cast Dispel Magic as a spell-like ability.
Greater Dispel (Sp): At 11th level, the artificer can spend one point of ingenuity to cast Greater Dispel Magic as a spell-like ability.
Area Dispel (Sp): At 14th level, the artificer can spend one point of ingenuity to cast Greater Dispel Magic as a spell-like ability, except that the area dispel option does effect magical and psionic items in the area of effect, using a single caster level check and applying to all such items.
Disjunction (Sp): At 17th level, the artificer can spend one point of ingenuity to cast Mage's Disjunction as a spell-like ability.
Item Augmentation: Starting at 3rd level, the artificer can spend some of his ingenuity pool to temporarily enchant or augment existing enchantments. At 6th level and every three levels there after, this ability improves.
Charge Storing (Su): At 3rd level, the artificer can spend a number of ingenuity points to temporarily create a wand or dorje with a single charge. The artificer must have a mundane object to put the charge into and the artificer must have a working knowledge of the desired effect, as per his Artificer's Knowledge class ability. The artificer cannot use a Use Magic Device check to duplicate the desired effect as he would use during a normal enchantment process.
The wand or dorje can only hold a single charge and the charge only lasts for one minute. However, unlike normal wands and dorjes, the wand or dorje uses the artificer's caster level and Intelligence modifier, at the time of the enchantment, to any saving throw DCs. Likewise, the effect is not limited to 4th level or less. If the desired effect has a material component worth more than 1 gp, however, the material component must be consumed normally during the enchantment.
The number of ingenuity points necessary is equal to the spell or power level, to a minimum of 1. The desired effect cannot be placed into the temporary wand with any metamagic or metapsionic feat (although see Spell Trigger below) and, in the case of psionic powers, cannot be augmented. This ability always provokes.
Using this ability starts of as a full-round action. At 6th level, it becomes a standard action. At 9th level, it becomes a move action and at 12th level, it becomes a swift action. Only the artificer can use the charge, using the same rules as using a wand or dorje, but he does not need to make a Use Magic Device check to activate it.
Spell Trigger (Su): At 6th level, an artificer can apply any one metamagic or metapsionic feat he knows to a spell or power cast from a spell or power trigger item that could not normally be augmented in this way, such as a wand or dorje. To do this, the artificer must spend a number of ingenuity points equal to 1 plus the spell level adjustment from the metamagic feat, or 1 plus 1/2 the power point cost for a metapsionic feat (round up), to a minimum of 2 points. The maximum number of ingenuity points that can be spent using this ability is equal to one half the number of ranks the artificer has in Use Magic Device, rounded down. Using this ability is part of activating the spell or power trigger item.
Saving Throws (Su): At 9th, whenever an artificer is using a magical or psionic item that creates one or more effects that requires a saving throw, he can spend one point of ingenuity per effect (not per affected target) to replace the normal saving throw DC of the magical item with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the artificer's level + the artificer's Intelligence Modifier. This ability cannot be used on spell or power trigger items (wands, staves, dorjes, psicrowns, etc) or on spell or power completion items (scrolls, power stones, etc). Using this ability is part of activating the magical or psionic item.
Spell Completion (Su): At 12th, the artificer can apply any one metamagic or metapsionic feat he knows to a spell or power cast from a spell or power completion item, such as a scroll or power stone. To do this, the artificer spend a number of ingenuity points equal the spell level modifier of the metamagic feat or 1/2 the power point cost of the metapsionic feat (round up). The maximum number of ingenuity points that can be spent using this ability is equal to one half the number of ranks the artificer has in Use Magic Device, rounded down. Using this ability is part of the same action as using the spell or power completion item.
Redesign (Su): At 15th level, an artificer can spend one point of ingenuity to temporarily redesign a magical item. The artificer must have all of the item creation feats necessary to create the original magical item and the desired item is limited in the following ways: The new item's total gold piece value cannot exceed the current gold piece value of the original item (modified appropriately for reduced charges, etc). The new item cannot involve any item creation feats that the original item did not use. The caster level of new item cannot exceed the caster level of the original item. If the original item took a body slot, the desired item must use the same body slot or be slotless (costing appropriately more). If the new item would normally have charges or uses (either finite or per day), the new item only has a number of charges or uses equal to the artificer's Intelligence modifier. If there is any condition that would cause the new item to become non-magical, like a single use wondrous item, the original item is no longer enchanted. Using this ability requires a standard action that provokes and the artificer must be touching the item. The redesign lasts for a number of minutes equal to the artificer's Intelligence modifier, at which point, it reverts back to its original state (if able given how the temporary item was used).
Duplication (Su): At 18th level, an artificer can spend one point of ingenuity to temporarily duplicate all of the properties of one enchanted item onto another item, non-magical or otherwise. If the item that is being altered is already enchanted, all of the item's current properties are suppressed for the duration of this ability. Likewise, the item that is being altered must be same type (weapon, armor, wondrous item, etc) and use the same body slot, if applicable, as the item being duplicated. For this purpose, wands and dorjes as the same type. Staves and psicrowns are not considered the same as psicrowns take up the head slot while staves do not. Any property that would not normally function on the altered item (like duplicating the Keen quality onto a mace) does not function, but is still present in case the altered item can somehow make use of it later. If the original item has charges or uses (either finite or per day), the duplicated has a number of charges or uses equal to the original, to a maximum of the artificer's Intelligence modifier. Using this ability requires a standard action that provokes and the artificer must be touching both items. The duplication lasts for a number of minutes equal to the artificer's Intelligence modifier, at which point, it reverts back to its original state. An enchanted item can only have one duplicate at a time and a duplicated item cannot be used to duplicate another item. The original item cannot be a spell or power completion item, like a scroll or power stone.
Feats and Traits:
Skill Focus: Use Magic Device
Brew Potion
Scribe Scroll
Skill Focus: Heal
Extraordinary Artisan
Craft Wondrous Item
Craft Wand
Extra Ingenuity
8th
16th
Skills:
4 + INT (4) + 1 (Race)
Appraise +4 = +4 INT
Concentration +11
Craft Armor +12 =3+3 +4 INT +2 Cm
Craft Blacksmith +12 =3+3 +4 INT +2 Cm
Craft Sculpt +6 = +4 INT +2 Cm
Craft Weapons +12 =3+3 +4 INT +2 Cm
Disable Device +10 =2+3 +2 DEX +1 Cl; +2 Cm
Fly +2 = +2 DEX
Heal +6 =cc +1 WIS +3 F; +2 Cm
Know: Arcana +10 =3+3 +4 INT
Know: Engineering +4 = +4 INT
Know: Planes +4 = +4 INT
Know: Psionics +10 =3+3 +4 INT
Know: Religion +10 =3+3 +4 INT
Linguistics +4 = +4 INT
Perception +9 =1+3 +4 INT +1 Cl vs traps
Profession +1 = +1 WIS
Spellcraft +10 =3+3 +4 INT
Use Magic Device +12 =3+3 +0 CHA +1 Cl; +2 Cm; +3 F
-5 ACP
Infusions:
Infusions Per Day: 4
Infusions Known: All
Spontaneous
