Alex B.'s page

You really have to stat him speocifically for the party, what do you have in the party? Buta good place to start is to give ridiculous saves. Exspecially if you have a lot of casters in the party. But if you tell me about your party memebers I'll help. Build him.

Sow how about this

Prerequisites: Dexterity 13, Climb 1 rank, Swim 1 rank Acrobatics 1 rank

Benefit: You use Dexterity as the key ability when making Climb checks and Swim checks. In addition you do not suffer an AC Penalty on Climb checks when wearing light armor and you may make full-round or standard actions while holding your breath without the -1 duration penalty to holding your breath.

I vaguely remember the rules from the Cityscape book, Sgm Kobold, thanks for the reminder :D

*goes off to hurriedly stat out a goblin swarm*

pls share those stats here!

I really like the direction that Paizo took with goblins -- turning them into murderous little doll-like butchers with a gleam of arson in their eyes.

One thought that really has intrigued me over the past couple of days is the possibility of statting up a swarm of goblins as a single monster. Just imagine -- goblins piled so deep that they're literally crawling over each other to get a chance to stab you and light your clothes on fire. This means that mechanically, the swarm overall might be a a Large creature and would be quite potent up until all the bloody little hoodlums meet their maker. This especially meshes nicely with the idea of a goblin horde -- they wouldn't be nice a lined up like an army, they'd descend like locusts and devour everything in their wake!

Thoughts? Specifically, would a goblin swarm be an interesting enemy?

Yeah it could work but it would have to be alot bigger than large, im thinking huge at least. But if one follows the techinacly defintion of swarm in pathfinder then it would have to be way larger cause it would have to be at least a few hundred gobbos.

Its pretty good. But Im not sure it needs to be restricted to first level. Still wordy though.

DEXTEROUS ATHLETE

[fluff filler]
Prerequisite: Dexterity 13, Climb 1 rank, Swim 1 rank
Benefit: You use Dexterity as the key ability when making Climb checks and Swim checks. In addition you do not suffer an AC Penalty on Climb checks when wearing light armor and you may make full-round or standard actions while holding your breath without the -1 duration penalty to holding your breath.
Special: This feat must be taken at 1st level.

Really Good idea, i will definatly include one of these in my group soon, as an npc the players get given by there contract giver. The only thinh im going to change is the will save. I think flavour wise its better that hes weekminded. Also the badguys mindcontrolling the minion is awesome. thanks alot.

3.5 had this template. Its called pseudonatural creature, from the Lords of Madness:Book of Aberations.
Hope that helps.

1. I both steal names from real languages and make them uo depending on what sort of society im creating. As to the concern about names that are made up sounding made up: if your geek level is throught the roof and you have the time it helps to create the basics of a a spoken langiage (pnonemes and alphabet) before creating names that way they sound consistent and less made up.

2. It is my understanding the Pathfinder changed nothing about the 3.5 multiverse except adding golarion to the prime material. Plus its your game so do what you want.

3. Definietly I do it all the time, its more work but alot of fun and it keeps players guessing and its potentially really rewarding. for me the biggest drawback is that when i make a world and story from skratch i get even more atached to my NPCs and it sucks worse if players randomly kill them off.

The neko are hard to judge the power level of. The -4 str is harsh but tiny size is amazing. And Scent would make them WAY to good. They would become the best rangers ever. I really like the idea but how about we simplifiy them to this:

Neko:

+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength: Neko are graceful and aware, but small and weak.

Tiny: Neko are small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense.

Quick: Neko have a base speed of 30 ft. However so long as they are not carrying anything in their paw-hands they may drop to all fours to move at a base speed of 40 ft.

Low-Light Vision: Neko can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.

Keen Senses: Neko receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks.

Sure-Footed: Neko receive a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics and Climb skill checks.

Natural Weapons: Neko gain to claw atacks at 1d4+str

Languages: Neko begin play speaking Common. Neko with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic).

In our current campaign, our ranger is the trapfinder. A rogue could do the job better but the ranger is superior in combat and is an excellent archer.

Since the changes to class/non-class skills pretty much any class can fill the role.

True and if you play a half elf you even get a free skill focus,or human of course and if you want to play a non rogue trapfinder that feat may indeed be worth it.

Dont know if your still interested but I liked the kiloren alot so ill look at em again and your ideas and see if i can add anything to it.

I can't remember where I came across it, or what system, but I also liked the notion of languages being at different levels of difficulty to learn. Therefore, some are really just dialects and can be picked up relatively easy; some share the same (probably ancient) base language and script and so aren't as difficult to learn than another class that have a completely different root and script and are thus complex. If you have a house rule like the above, I'd adopt a system similar to this.

Yeah thats good stuff we do if informally though we just through roleplaying

I already have something similar to this as well but there are ways around it, with restoration and such like. Ultimately, the XP penalty is such an edge case that it's likely to never see play. I just like covering the bases though with a significant threat if the players start to try to push things too far.

Personally i have no problem with my players using restoration to "get around it" because in a 4-6 person party thats alot of spell slots or magic item charges. As to the exp penalty well i can see where your coming from using it as a weapon of last resort but id prolly have to use it alot with my players.

Why? What's the in-game reasoning behind this? I think this, and the final few points, are probably getting too complex and arbitrary. If it's really done just to avoid an XP penalty that is a remote threat, I think it's probably too much effort to apply. I think stebehil's ref to the "buy the numbers" is probably worth a look as a substitute for this.

Ok so the in game reasoning is simple: learning something totaly new and unrelated to anything you know without aid of a teacher is harder than refineng skill you already have, train skill related to ones you have, or learning from a teacher. If you think its too complicated i understand, but im going to try it out and see if it cant be refined. Also i dont see how it is any more arbitrary then the fixed xp costs to level up is.

But anyway thanks for getting me started thinking on this topic.

Campaign cartographer 3... it takes a while to get used to, but it's really useful.

Yeah i can really recomend it, although 2 is easier to learn in my opinion even though it can do less.

i really like this idea. And yeah it can do without the damage increase i think, just the enchantment slot, and at low levels the masterwork slot make it worthwile.

Man i really like this idea for a campaign, Im european my self but i spent a year working in Guatemala and I fell in love with central america and with maya culture. But back to productive stuff, are you going to adjust the weapons and armour available to player? what about a new sorceror blood line pertaining blood magic?
If you want to work out a new weapon table with atlatl's, Macuahuitl's and Tepoztopilli's and with the still usable base weapons renamed (sling to Tematlatl axe to Cuncha Chucuna eg)then i would so be willing to help. And in return i would steal all your other mods for a possible future campaign of my own.

I hadn't considered the horizon walker, or the monk to be honest. I tend to shy away from lawfully inclined characters because I play more chaotic than not, but now that I think on it...

Also, yes, the elemental template is applied to a base race (pathfinder only), so it could be as high a +4/+4 with two stat bonuses.

I need to look into the horizon walker.

That's an even stronger arguement for monk then, but if your not lawfully inclined then the horizon walker presents itself because you will probly never have as fitting a campiagn for it as the one you described, but also with all those stats a skill rogue presents it self as well. Or if you want monk awesomeness plus a little chaos plus some bonus awesome how about the drunken master prestige class from 3.5 complete warrior? I dont know how your GM converts skill rank requirements to pathfinder, we go -3 since 3.5 character could acheive the same rank 3 levels earlier. If your gm has a similiar interpretaion then you could take a rank or 3. And with you huge stats you could afford it and the tremorsense bonuse whould make your drunk monk beyon awesome.

Actually im jealous i want those stats, and that campaign.

Well i know you said you didnt want a prestige class, but the setting you described seems like the perfect place to play a horizon walker(3.5dmg) or the new pathfinder chronicler. The horizin walker would probly be a ranger and the pathfinder a bard. Also sounds like your party could really use a skiller, doesnt sound like you have any so a bard/pathfinder would really rock that slot. But also you rolled some totaly rocking stats, to me that always screams monk. And at 7th level a monk starts to catch up, also if you have acess to book of exalted deeds and alow magic item enviroment you could always see if your GM will let you take the vow of poverty feat. If so then monk sounds even better. Also the earth elemental bonus is stupendously awesome, tremorsense is great and really hard to get, for a pc. Also are those half elemental boni on top of racial mods?

Speaking of logic. Ok so your logic is no spare hand=no other atack posible based on real world logic? Ok well armour spikes require no hand, they only require the game mechanic of an open slot. So it's not a matter of logic. Its matter of game mechanics. There is no logical reason why one couldnt atack with a two handed sword and an armourspike. Also bring real world logic into DnD rules debates is seldom a good idea, the game is a game an not a computer simulation of real combat so the only issues are do the rules alow it, does it break the games, and is the flavour something you want in your campaign.

Too bad you are already using your off-hand there isn't it? So, 2 weapon fighting with a 2-handed weapon is out. Iterative attacks I can understand, EXTRA attacks from 2-weapon fighting, I cannot.

Well I'd say theres an element of GM interpretion in it. Since it depends on you read the relevant bit of rule text:

You can’t also make an attack with armor spikes if you have already made an attack with another off-hand weapon, and vice versa.

The thing is a great sword is not an off hand weapon. So its a matter of interpretaion whether that means a 2 hand weapon which also ocupies the off hand disqualifies one from using that atack.

So i guess unless we get some ofical ruling from the Paizo Rules Gods, we going to have to agree to disagree and let every GM do as we pleases.(techinacly thats true regardless of the rules but you know what i mean)

You raise a couple good points. First off language, we long ago houseruled that you need intime study to learn a new language, this has made language aquistion more realistic and has lead to comprehend languages and tongues becoming viable spells even for a sorceror.

As to the getting proper rest maybe that could be achieved by houseruling that if a players get under a certain threshold for rest they get the fatigued condition and eventualy exhausted. Like if the go on 3-6 hours of sleep a night for a week and constand marching and fighting for the rest of the day. Of course this requires a lot of gm record keeping but if ones into realism then that is the price one pays i guess.

Also another house rule weve played for a while is that you can add languages and feats bewteen levels if you save up the points.

So taking my house rules and your new system combined if we take your structure of:

A character levels by taking the following steps in order:

1. Select your new class level. You must be able to qualify for this level before any of the following adjustments are made.

2. Apply any ability score increases due to gaining a level.

3. Integrate all of the level's class features and roll for additional hit points.

4. Add new skills and feats.

And make it so that once you reach the nessecary exp you go to step 1.

1. Select your new class level. You must be able to qualify for this level before any of the following adjustments are made.

Then there are two possibilites for step 2

if your taking a level of a class you already have ranks in or have a trainer for in your party or in the past few game sessions then go straight to step 4. Other wise go to step 3.

3. If a player wishes to take a level in a class in which he has no previous levels and no trainer he must first gain 10%(just a provisional number) more xp.

4.A player can after the next period or rest of at least 24hours gain skill ranks in skill where he already has ranks and has used at least once since the last level up and skill in which he has no ranks but has made at least two untrained skill checks since his last level up. as well as any points in linguisitcs in languages he has been learning intime since his last level up. As well as any feats for which he has an intime trainer

5. A player can then upon the secon period of rest of at least 24h, gain a skill rank in any other skill. and in skills for witch he has an intime trainer but no ranks. As well as any new feats.

&. After a third period of at least 24h rest a player gains any class features other than bonus feats as well as BaP and Saves. an now counts as his new level.

I think that organic enough and slow enough that one can do without an exp penalty. Theres plents of incentive for rest.
What do you think?

Ok with my group weve had a long discusion about how to better integrate leveling in gameplay without totaly rewriting the rules or totaly ruining suspension of disbelief. And proposals similiar to what you are sugesting were brought forward. One of the things we considerd was how looks from an ingame/intime perspective, with people just magically gaining new abilities,skills and atributes in a block with no learning proscess. That this isnt the way learning works outime/in real life is clear. Its actually part of the reason I had earlier abandoned DnD 2e to go play other RPG's back in the day, i prefer organic leveling systems were indiviual skills and abilities are bought with exp rather than levels. But with pathfinder ahving convinced me to give DnD another try I have brought alot of my DMing and playing style from other games, most prominently the old World of Darkness. And one thing we did there that Ive been trying to port to pathfinder is having leveling happen off screen. Ie may players have 2 monthes intime/game time between adventures hanging out somewhere and in this time they level so the choppy discreet block leveling doesnt happen visibly in my game as often. Of course sometimes there is no way to build in such a pause and my players have to level on the fly in that case, a tiered on ability at a time system like you propose would be useful, so I'm going to try a variant of what you propose next time my group levels, although I'm not going to penalize them XP for taking there time and making the process feel organic, I find that rather counter productive.

PRD wrote:

Two-Weapon Fighting

If you wield a second weapon in your off hand...

That's pretty clear.

And it's ridiculous anyone would want to do something like that, and even worse that any GM would allow it.

Well I got two seperate points. first go and have a reread of the text on armour spike:

Armor Spikes: You can have spikes added to your armor,
which allow you to deal extra piercing damage (see “spiked
armor” on Table 6–4) on a successful grapple attack. The
spikes count as a martial weapon. If you are not proficient
with them, you take a –4 penalty on grapple checks when
you try to use them. You can also make a regular melee
attack (or off-hand attack) with the spikes, and they count
as a light weapon in this case. (You can’t also make an
attack with armor spikes if you have already made an
attack with another off-hand weapon, and vice versa.) An
enhancement bonus to a suit of armor does not improve
the spikes’ effectiveness, but the spikes can be made into
magic weapons in their own right.

So yeah actualy youcould acording to the rules dual wield a great sword and armour spikes.

But as i have already stated earlier in this thread as a D.M. i would probably not allow it since i thinks its silly and sort abuses the rules. But then again if you think of it thats really the only way one could make any direct combat use of armour spikes cause your not gonna spike and board an lead a hand empty are you?

You can not do TWF when your two hands are occupied with a single weapon, unless you grow a third arm. You need a complete limb set for each weapon.

where exactly does it say that?

oops didnt read spiked quantlet, yeah james your right, spiked gauntlest and greatsword doesnt work, only armour spikes and great sword.

Yup it seems to me like you can.

I know that this combo was legal in 3.5, has anything changed in PFRPG to avoid it? I've looked around and have not found anything yet...

Seems like armor spikes can still be used as an off-hand weapon while leaving both hands free for any two-handed weapon...

Huh, just reread the relevant rules, and yeah it looks like you can still do this within the RAW, but if i was your dm I'd probly say no way, all though it is rather cool.

I havent build one yet(but i will) but my initial impression is that this is a divine paladin right? well it looks to me like hes just straight up better than a pladin. Im going to withhold final judgement till i build one and send him against my players but im worried hes just to good.

Ive thought about the whole half elf half dwarf thing too. And I agree that Half orc wizards with +2 int is bad for flavour. But my solution in our campaign was to say half orcs get +2 to any physical stat and half elves get +2 to any mental stat.

I was creating an Alchemist for fun. (A gnome BTW)

and while read the Alchemy ability I found this:

Quote:

An alchemist’s selection of extract formulae is extremely

limited. An alchemist begins play knowing four 0-level
formulae and two 1st-level formulae of his choice, chosen
from the alchemist formulae list.

This is the first 2 sentences on page 3, right hand column, first full paragraph.

Now the Alchemist does not have a 0 level list or show any 0 level per day on Table 5-1.

Thought you should know.

This thread has already happened http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/pathfinderR PG/advancedPlayersGuidePlaytest/round3/alchemistFormulae0Lvl9zg0a .

And the Answer:

Alchemists do not currently receive any. The bit in the text is an oversight. The should start play knowing 2 first level formulae and that is all.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Yeah ok i guess its not that bad, Im just not happy witht he flavout of a ranger inquistor multiclass i guess.

Does the Inquisitor's Track ability stack with the Ranger ability of the same name?

I dont think so and i really hope not.

Sphinxes, nagas, your elemental weirds, night hags all come to mind. A dragon could be fun and different too. Or an undead monster like a lich. The troll idea was neat. Maybe there's a fey that will work....

Yeah Naga works really well mayber a half-fiendish or half dragon dark naga. Or a ghost dark naga if the villain is suposed to be able to come and go as he please but doesnt need to be a dirict combat threat.

Conviction is an interesting idea... and I shall mull it over.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Yeah!

OK, if the name has to stick then how about migrating the class to really be more of an inquisitor? It's clearly more than half pure Slayer right now. I think it's easy to see how the class is overloaded with two different concepts. I'd eliminate some of that focus and go for some more stuff one might reasonably associate with an inquisition.

Actually it seems to me that the multiple possible focus's are intentional,inline with paizo increased customisation meme, and awesome for us players. Yup, the Inquistor as is can be built into a self buffing slayer type melee fighter, or a bearded detective of the supernatural like the original van helsing from bram stokers novel, or medieval witch hunter, or any of a variety of other concepts, and thats awesome. That said i really hope they bring out a non-casting class variant in some other book.

Ok thats a lot to chew on i think I'll have to post more than one reply. First on the topic of Judgements I'm not sure i mind the name, but i do see the point about the, afecting the caster and not the target. So maybe rename them Convictions,(Divine) Sanctions, Dogmas, or Doctrines.

The party is huge, 8 players on average and they do an excellent job of blocking. I have to adjust all of the fights by quite a bit.

Party consists of: 1 Dwarf Cleric (Full Plate), 1 Dwarf Paladin (Full Plate), 1 Sorcerer, 1 Mage, 1 Ranger, 1 Rogue, 1 Barbarian, 1 Beast Master (back-fitted from 3.5) with 2 pets.
p.s.
Just a side note, our group does follow the first rule of having fun.

Huh interesting, and theyve done the math and the double buff on the ranger is really the most efficient damage option? Well if it works i guess, have you tried throwing them enemies that force the party to emphasise other members? for example a anouther group with a caster buffing fast flying party members with protection from arrows and then strinking behind the lines to get at the ranger, forcing the melee fighter to reform and save the rangers bacon?

The value of this one is limited, but I like having it as an option... it stops bleed damage, wakes you up if you are dropped into unconsciousness, and generally gives you a small hp boost. Once you hit 10th, you can get back 22 hp in a 5 round combat... which is not too shabby. Jump that up to 10 rounds and it becomes 52 hp.

I am open to thoughts...

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

I dont find this underpowerd at all.But i guess it depends on what type of combat your group sees. The part about canceling bleed is huge, and if your group has drawn out slugfests against hordes of mobs like we do sometimes its amazing, its similiar to the dragon shaman 3.5 healing aura which was way overpowered so having it be self only and slow for the first 2 rounds is great and more balanced.

what sort of CR is aceptable? i may have 2 possibilities in my homebrew file.

No Problem, let me know what build you go with in the end.

Good call Jason.

I know better than to drink anything a dwarf gives me. Since it's an equal chance that it's beer, laundry water, or toilet water. Actually, who am I kidding? Dwarves don't know about laundry water.

Thank you james, that just made my day. Also Am really looking forward to dwarves of golarion, the golarion fluff is great, i normally dont use D&d fluff at all but pathfinder is changing my preconceptions.

If

1) one character is optimized and the others are not

and

2) two support characters both use significant resources buffing that person

Then, they're going to dominate play! I don't think that what you have presented shows a problem with archery. If the character was a high damage barbarian who was getting hasted by the wizard and buffed by the cleric, you'd get the same outcome (or worse!)

I agree and Id go further and say that if the cleric and the sorceror were built decently they would have WAY better things todo with there time, also how big is the party? cause if you have to caster buffing a ranger who is keeping the baddies at bay? this combo actualy seems really weak unless their are also 3 fighter keeping mobs off the support teams nuts.

Those are some good points. The only thing i disagree with is the last bit(though the needle idea is great!) the infusion discovery takes care of that even if it is a bit restrictive still. As to the elixers becoming inert i agree, how about making it so that they are tuned to a specific metabolism and setting up a table, if you drink somebody elses elixer roll a d20 and check to elixer table, and some random thing happens to you 1:really bad 2-18: 19:good 20: gain orignal effect.

not really. He has to say nothing, but nether does a paladin, yet from what I know about seeing them played more often then not do indeed say something

Exactly, wether or not the Inquisitor has to say something i know any inquisitor i play certainly will. I think its much more stylish to have my bad*** Inquisitor pronounce judgement loudly, but i dont think it needs to be a rules thing, its flavour and upto every player him/herself.

And here is an elf build taking the whole ray ranged touch thing to the next level. Less diverse than the human build, less skill less well balanced stats, but really good at what he does. the bigesset downsides are the 7 str and 17 cha but next level up he gets a stat boost and then you have 18 cha.

Str: 7 fort +1
Dex: 14+2 elf ref +4
con:13-2 elf will +2
int:10+2 elf
wis:8
cha:17

Feats: wep focus ray, dodge,spell focus: enchantment

spells: Charm person, ray of enfeeblement, mage armour , for example

specieal abilities: save dc +2 on charm spells, corupting touch 6 times per day, and resist fire 5 and dont forget the elven magic bonus and the +2 persception, also this guy has an armour class of 14/18 in mage armour and still 14 vs touch spells. And as soon as you can buy one get a mithril buckler or light shielf, you dont need a shield proficiency since if its mithril the penalties are zero.

mage armour and shield are always awesome spells, never take summon monster spells till you are level 5-6 at least an then take the best one you can , before that they are just a waste of breath.

Hope all this helps you along.

Ok Here is my first Idea

Human Infernal Bloodline and hes a bit of a skiller for a sorceror 2+1+1 so the whole social role thing is possible with your huge charsima and diplomacy as a class skill.

str:8 Fort: +2
dex:14 Ref: +3
con:12 Will: +2
int:12
wis:8
cha:16+2

Feats:, Dodge, Combat casting imp ini, (spell penetration from bloodline feat later) also if your going to take lots of rays, take weapon focus ray.

1st level spells: i would definetly take: charm person, i also highly recoment ray of enfeeble ment. (in the group i GM one of my players is an elemental bloodline sorcero and he took it at first level and still uses it now at 6th all the time its just an awesome debuff against boss style big oponents) also consider: color spray, ray of clumsines,targeting ray, and if you must have direct damage at this level, magic missile, or ray of flames.

specieal abilities: save dc +2 on charm spells, corupting touch 7times per day, and resist fire 5

Your welcome.

I don't have access to the 3.5 DMG, but I wanted to know the city type, by population size:

Thorp, Hamlet, small city, large city, etc.
In the PFcore rulebook it lists the amount of magic items available by community size, but not the populations therein.

Any comments/links will be appreciated...Thanks!

pg 137 dmg

hope thats what you wanted and that im allowed to post that.

And did my arguement for elf or human not half and half convince you? if so ill post a full elf infernal lv 3 sorceror build option in a couple minutes. Actually ill post a human one first then well see.

I have no intention of making a straight Hellenic setting for Pathfinder but one day I would like to do a true mythical Greece campaign. As well as Mythical Norse, for that matter.

If your intrested in setting info for a norse campaign lemme know i made a straight norse conversion for 3,5

ok level three, so is infernal good with you as your blood line? If so should we build you sorceror based on charm spells, a bit of blast and social problem solving? if so we can start with feats and spells, otherwise tell me what you want changed and well build that.