AXP_Dave's page

IMO, if a heroic character's chance to drown in calm water is low, that's fine. Preferable, even, to a high chance of drowning in calm water.

I think the above quote sets the right tone. Do you really want water to always kill a fighter? PC's always hate swimming because it is hard to do in armor, but it is not a guaranteed death. I would be reluctant to play with a rule that would drown the fighter in plate most of the time. In the current rules the PC has a hard time swimming, and could drown, but most likely just not swim too well unless they have a lot of ranks in swim.

Dave

I'm looking at using a monster that is incorporeal. It has DR/10 good and cold iron. The rules for incorporeal state:

Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, it takes only half damage from a corporeal source (except for channel energy).

Do the two stack? DR 10 AND taking only half damage seems to be a pretty tough defense if the PC is using a +1 weapon.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Dave

It's worth noting, however, that the more wards and defenses you lump onto a place, the more powerfully it'll radiate magic.

Awesome point!

Dave

Is Morden... - I mean, is private sanctum still on the spell lists?

Mage's Private Sanctum is in PF and is a good idea

What level are the PCs and how much money are you looking to spend on it?

PC level is around 5, but the house would be from their noble benefactors. I would think any spell level up to 5th would be acceptable.

Thanks

What spells would you use to secure a safe house or a liar for the PC's? Arcane lock is nice, but not too hard to beat. Any suggestions for securing a safe house by a faction that has some money and magic?

Thanks,
Dave

Thanks for everyones feedback and thoughts. I don't think I want to "game" the encounters to heavily to give the NPC's a chance. Maybe one encounter with the guards to keep it real and then the rest will be monster guards.

Thanks again for the help.

David

I'm DM'ing my first Pathfinder module and the first time I have DM'ed overall in many years. The mod calls for a number of encounters of a high number of 1st level warriors versus the 5th level party. On paper, the encounter level would be EL 7 for 8 x 1st level warrior guards (I think I'm doing the EL correct). I'm worried that the guards will not be able to hit the party's AC and would die quickly and not be much of a challenge to the party. So although the EL would be appropriate on paper, if the PC's are nealy invinsible it might be boring.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? Do you agree the 1st level NPC's might not be able to hit the party? I'm thinking of eliminating a number of the guard encounters for something with a few CR3 or 4 monsters. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
David

Overall, it seems the suggestions are little tweaks versus big changes. I think that is a testament to the relative balance and good mechanics in the game. reading a number of the posts there doesn't seem to be to much consensus on what should be improved upon besides maybe the monk and possibly more skill points for fighters. I think the lack of a resounding "no brainers" might spell no 1.5 for Pathfinder.

David

I wouldn't change the the BBEG or minions based on the character, that doesn't seem fair. I would simply make the next adventure an endurance challenge. The player you mentioned may have some high damage spells, but he is limited to x/times per day. Simply make the next adventure with a lot of encounters without an opportunity to rest. That will force the players to ration their spells/powers.

David

We haven't had too much experience, it seems we can't live past 11th and 12th level. I believe the issue is you are having fun on offense, but rolling saving throws to literally save or die in the big battles.

One of the few things I liked in our short 4E experience was it looked like in 4E it wasn't save or die and each round you got a new save. I would like to see that same theme in PF.

Dave

Late to the game, but wanted to say it anyway. Walter this is a great guide!! i think this may be the best I have seen.

David

tell them again that not every fight was meant to be, that they have to know when to run away or not start a fight at all, and that it will be near impossible for a lvl 2 to get ressurected.

Perhaps they don't like their characters or your campaign and want a TPK without really telling you? I once grappled a soon-to-be evil god with my lvl 6 sorcerer for that reason.

I strongly agree. Sometimes the DM saying the party is all going to die can save a lot of game time and time building a new character. Let them do what they want, but maybe you need to just call it as it is.

Dave

I'll be playing my first illusionist that the party has ever had had soon. I know this is pretty situational, but you please give some of the best uses for illusions? My goal is to use illusions to take enemy combatants out of the battle (walls or domes of illusion).

Any ideas along with what spell it would go with would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave

I understand that a lot of buffs takes the fun away from the game. Taking time out to do all the little math and changes the dynamics of the game. I don't think this is an issue as there only two scenairos for this: buffing prior and buffing during combat.

Buffing prior is easy as it is not too often players know when they will encounter the BBEG. If they buff before every small battle simply don't let them rest and make the adventure an endurance match. They will miss all of those 2nd and 3rd level spells when they are sucked dry of spells.

Buffing during battle makes no sense. As a player, if a player in my 10th level party took a round in combat to give me a +2 buff versus going for 10d6 points of damage I would be upset as a player. That +2 is nice, but doesn't change the encounter. Having the monster have a full round to hit me is bad. Monsters should take advantage of the first round and do serious damage.

Dave

ProfPots, you have some great points, but I would argue against allowing a character ever carrying a tower shield and then equipping it. A tower shield is so large there is no slinging it on the back. It has great banifits and the balance is not being able to stick it on the back or in a pack.

Dave

I'm playing an 11th level half orc fighter now and am playing with bastard sword and shield. He does a lot of damage based criticals or power attack. Maybe changing weapon to something with a higher crit range or using power attack whenever possible will make a difference.

I try to use power attack as much as possible. Fighter's TAB is pretty high so unless your fighting something with a very high AC you can usually get away with it for the increased damage output.

Dave

I'm of the opinion that the testing should either take up the bulk of the session or be ignored. If the guy has researched the group, the testing is superfluous. If the guy still wants to test the group, it should be a meaningful challenge.

I'm with sieylianna, make it interesting or else it turns into a wandering monster encounter that drains resources, game time, and fun.

Since it is an evil sorceror, it might be tough for PC's alignments, but how about X amount of bodies or souls. It could be handled many different ways and would certainly be different and memorable.

Dave

As a DM I would make the players continually make animal training checks to make it do anything unnatural such as going into a dungeon, being near combat and not retreating, etc. Also remember a party member must stay with it to keep it put in combat unless it is tied down (standard action). It might also not allow party members to enter its squares in combat. Don't forget about feed. I wouldn't allow it to forage, but require food to be brought.

I see great benefits to bringing a donkey along, but it has to be balanced with the negatives.

Dave

I can't think of anything that seems broken. My biggest request would be having redoing the cleric a little. In 4E I loved the premise that a cleric would heal the party after doing damage. It made it more fun to play a class that in my groups always has a had time to find someone who wants to fill the role.

Other thoughts would be fewer save vs. die spells at higher levels to make it easier to play at those levels.

Dave

I'm about to start running a campaign with six players and before I jump into a campaign I want to run through a module so they can all get the hang of things. Would it work out to run a module that's supposed to be for players a level higher than them so that things balance out? Or should I just use a module designed for their level and just add to each encounter in it?

The balance might be less rest between battles so it is a game of managing resources over time. It also depends on party classes, if you have a bunch of heavy hitters it might be a problem, but through in a few classes that are less combat oriented and it could work well.

One of our most memorable nemesis was a non-evil rich noble. He was insulting and got in the party's way, but not evil, just greedy. The DM really got under our skin with the NPC and people got really mad at the table because it was so frustrating. Its not possible to just kill someone because they aggrevate/insult you. As others said, law enforcement can assist in keeping the NPC alive. He was a very fun NPC and made a very memorable impression.

David

I loved each D&D edition as they came out until 4E. That is when we found and fell in love with pathfinder. In the event a 5E comes out, as much as we didn't enjoy 4e, I'm sure we would take a look. If 5e is not for us, I believe we would be happy playing PF forever.

I don't see it as a loyalty question, just if someone can improve upon a game that I love I would like to play the improved version (of course improved is relative to people's tastes).

David