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Under Special Materials: "Dragonhide armor costs twice as much as masterwork armor of that type, but it takes no longer to make than ordinary armor of that type (double all Craft results)."

Dragonhide hide barding for a Large bear would have a market price of 420 gp. Be advised: "One dragon produces enough hide for a single suit of masterwork hide armor for a creature one size category smaller than the dragon." So, making the barding would require the hide of a Huge black dragon (at least Old age category, CR 14).

I feel like that's gonna shut down the large set. But I can still have a regular set made for when I become a large bear. So for now only 360 gp.

Is it the "armoured bear" you're after or just the AC from wearing armour when in wild shape? If the later: Take a look at the "Wild" Magic Armor Ability, which lets you keep the armor bonus from armor when wild shaping (seems more efficent than re-dressing while in bear form).

Yeah but the problem with that is the price (18k). Plus I already have a white dragonhide breastplate.

Efficient transformation is not an issue though. I can change if s#@# gets heavy, but after that I'm staying like that for a full 5 hours since I took natural spell. So after that I can just put it on.

So I'm playing a Barbarian 1/Druid 5 and I'm very much the "tank". It's me, a ninja, a caster bard, a witch (with an awesome monkey), and an oracle.

What we want is to take a pair of 8'x8' "blankets" made of black dragon-hide and make them into a large (if possible) or medium set of leather or hide armor for me when I wild shape into a bear.

I see that barding on a large creature is X4 price and X2 weight, and x2 price for medium; plus 150gp for masterwork. I cant find a price on how much it would cost to have dragonhide crafting done. For a large set of hide armor that would only be 210gp. It would take 5 minutes to don or take off. Also, I'm a dwarf so the armor wouldn't reduce my speed.

We are playing an urban campaign where merchants and craftsmen are easy to find. We have a few commissioned items in the works currently, so finding somebody to do this shouldn't be too hard.

Am I missing anything here?

I've got a guy from my work who used to play OAD&D way back in the day who I've invited to play a 1-shot with me and some folks from my regular Rise of the Runelords group. I've talked about the big changes between what we play and OAD&D and he's looking forward to it.

I feel like something between lvl 8-12 would be a good range for him to get a feel for what the game has become, but I'm wondering what would be a good adventure that really evokes the tropes of Dungeons and Dragons.

I'm open to converting from 3.5 or even 4e (the story is what I need. I can remake monsters and enemies).

I sure hope they don't nerf the barbarian in some attempt to make inline with where they could/might view some of the other martial classes are/should be.

I doubt barbarian gets an intentional nerf but rather a rework to include interesting mechanics to further set it apart from other classes and possibly to discourage a 1 level dip for fighters. Rogue and Monk will almost certainly get reworks to buff them (however I personally see a combat maneuver monk as one of the best builds in the game, but I do agree that the class blows balls otherwise.)

As a GM, summoner is one of those classes that I begin to move my hand towards the "ban button" when a player says they want to play one. It can easily be broken via synthesist and can just ruin a game with master summoner, thereby throwing out the only two archtypes that are any good (or at least than anybody wants to play). Regardless, whenever somebody wants to play a summoner, I generally am only comfortable if I know them well as a player.

Barbarian is kind of in a similar boat as summoner in that regard. It can be damn powerful in the hands of a min-maxer who you don't know very well. By contrast, despite the fact that bard is the best class in my book, I have never thought "I better keep an eye on that guy" when a new player wants to play one.

So i think these other two classes, while not overpowered and certainly not underpowered, could stand to see a rework for that reason and more importantly to introduce some really revolutionary mechanics. Horizontal changes for them is what I expect.

Last week I started GMing RotRL with a group of 3 (mostly) PF newbies. Two players have played 3.5 before but only a few sessions but one of them has a pretty thorough understanding of the mechanics he was presented with (namely, how wizards/prepared casters work).

Here is my party so far and my approximation of their stats (we rolled and voted on the favorite set):
Half-Elf Bard: Str 12, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 19
Gnome Wizard (Illusionist): Str 10, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 19, Wis 12, Cha 11
Gnome Sorcerer (Sylvan): Str 7, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 19
Dwarf Magus: Str 12, Dex 12, Con 19, Int 15, Wis 14, Cha 7

The Magus is a GM-PC to get us by until a 4th player joins. I am leaving him under full PC control unless all 3 want something different. However I will metagame his spell preparations and character advancement. He also is to serve as the "main tank" with 19 Con and Toughness (supported by the Sorcerer's Rhino animal companion and any illusions).

Does any of this seem to be any obvious problem? My chief concerns are with these first few levels, namely damage output. I don't think survival will be a problem as all PCs will be stand-off-ish and the magus and rhino are beefy enough to survive, especially if I am generous with the illusionist (who I see excelling against the goblins).

Secondly, when I ran this as a player, the inclusion of Bruthasmus made perfect sense. However Lyrie and Orik just sitting back in the middle of a goblin stronghold seemed rather odd. As a GM, I understand why Tsuto/Nualia would have them around, but it seemed more like they were put in as humans just because goblins would be inferior mechanically. I'm considering making Lyrie and Orik Hobgoblins, but just in description; leave their stats alone. Maybe make Lyrie into just a goblin? Is there any reason not to do this?

Then i will calculate it all as a single encounter. I've have lots of time where I wasn't sure how to handle this, namely while assaulting a dungeon/fort, but in this particular case the PCs will be on a marshy forest road. The second wave will use a path through the marsh and come up the PCs flank, which should be quite compromising with little chance for escape if needed, except through the marsh (where they will be slowed significantly and assaulted with bows). So I will assume that if taken completely separately these are APL+1 but if the second group is alerted it will be a single APL+3.

Is there an explicit rule on how to handle multiple waves of enemies?

For example, I have an encounter where the first group who the PCs run into are not able to handle the PCs and this is quickly apparent. the NPCs can either call for aid from their allies or retreat to their allies' position. In either case, after so many rounds, reinforcements arrive.

Say we are talking about 2 groups of 6 CR 3 NPCs. Each group on their own is a CR6 encounter, but combat does not break and you must fight all 12 before having a chance to rest. However, fighting 6 CR 3 enemies and then fighting another 6 is not as hard as fighting 12 CR 3 enemies at the same time.

Would this be 2 CR 8 encounters, 1 CR 10 encounter, or maybe just average the 2 out as a CR 9.

The reason I ask is because I'd like this fight to flaunt the line of deadliness, but I don't want to knock it up to APL+4 at any chance. I want a swift and silent victory against the first group as the way to make it easier.

Oh that's a good one Caleb!

I'll be a bit MAD between Dex, Con, and Wis but this could be great (other than the witch/sorceress issue but that not a problem).

Ill have to look at that too.

Oh I like both of these ideas. I am a big fan of reach weapons. The cavalier may be the way I go but I would have to be flexible about no mount. I was planning to have the ultimate showdown in a great hall but outdoors in a large garden may work wonderfully. Using a potion of enlarge person with a halbard wielding fighter 3/honor guard cavalier 3 may be just the thing. With lvl 3 fighter I get armor training and I can get 2 AoO with combat reflexes in full plate (thus 2 Bodyguard attempts). Alternatively I could pump dex to 18 and use a +1 breastplate to get 4 attempts at a -3 to AC total.

I'd like to make an NPC who is a living wall. His sole purpose is to use stuff like the Bodyguard/In Harms Way feats to stop my PCs from hurting my two big bad evil girls (1/round). The only requirement be that he is a half-orc and LN.

He would be lvl 6 (CR 5). Does anybody have any suggestions? I don't see any reason to actually need heavy armor to accomplish this and I'm thinking I could have some fun with a combat maneuver monk.

Edit: I should note that I am not at all concerned with him being weak by himself. The intent of this is to make attacking the BBEGs before taking him out will multiply the difficulty of the encounter significantly. They will heavily utilize compulsion enchantment spells so in the opportunities that they are able to actually reach the sisters, he will shut them down.

Well s~+%... I'm a dumbass. That sucks. I felt this would work really well for a trickery cleric.

I'm going to be using a cleric with the Trickery domain and I just noticed an interesting tactic that I would like to use. However I want to check if I'm misunderstanding any of this.

The PCs are going to be attacked by a band of hobgoblins, including a cleric of Tiamat with the Trickery domain.

I plan to use the Copycat domain power while hidden (which is to function as a single Mirror Image). Then, I will cast Invisibility and charge in. I then will have the cleric running around the battle using healing spells or buffs on allies until the PC kill them all or the copycat ends or is killed at which point he will flee.

If exposed, I plan to have him run away back into hiding at their camp and use a potion of reduce person and cast disguise self once out of sight to appear like a human child who "was kidnapped by those scary trolls...". He will only have a minute but in that minute he will retrieve some sensitive documents and hopefully be able to escape. (I will time it and be very pushy about getting away; feigning fear).

My primary question, will the mirror image thing work legally? Of course as GM I can say it does but if he is exposed and somebody questions it I'd like to cite a rule.

It also seems that xp is base on damage.

This is arguably the stupidest thing I have ever heard of in all my years old tabletop gaming... trading in his proficiency for 8 feats (when that is only 7 feats anyways) is pretty up there too. I would have laughed in a players face, honestly thinking he was joking, if somebody suggested that. At most trading a single ability for a feat such as wizard's scribe scroll for spell focus (as per PFS).

You're playing with a manipulative min-maxer and a GM who just doesnt care about keeping the game fun for everybody. Nobody likes to be the lackey for another player. I recommend either finding a new group or asking for some more ridiculous s@@* yourself.

1. Designing stealthy encounters is always a challenge. However as a player and a DM I have found a good way to create a challenge is to have patrols find them. One notable situation I remember was when i was an arcane trickster (rogue/wizard) while we were attempting to sneak into a goblin stronghold (very similar situation). While I was stealthing ahead, a group of patrolling goblins found my non-stealthy party and immediately attempted to run. Taking advantage of the terrain, my party cornered the goblins and killed them before they could alert the others. I would do the same thing and set it up specifically so the players will have to stop some fleeing goblins (or just a single one). If they do escape, then they will need to deal with an attack party that is sent. As for this groups goal, the entire point should be finding the "back door" so the non-stealthies can sneak in.

2. Likewise, make this the goal for the infiltrators. Come up with some problems that the stealther will need to negotiate through. Don't make it a linear path. Big group of goblins halfway to the door and nothing to hide behind. I imagine your bard and rogue can work together on this which really should increase their ability to come up with creative ways past enemies. In my experience, when dealing with groups with lots of options, I find it best to design encounters as intended to "win". Put guards at key locations. Traps down false paths. Include hidden paths. Patrols. Make finding their way through into a real challenge. Likewise, make sure your dungeon is non-linear (another universal rule of large groups) so if they can't figure out a way by a problem they can opt for something else.

An idea I have planned for a similar situation in my campaign was stolen from Evergreen Mills in Fallout 3. If you're not familar with it, essentially its a large compound filled with lots of normal enemies and a caged up giant behemoth beast caged up in the center. Maybe the goblins have captured a particularly nasty creature after it killed so many of them. Something like a minotaur, ogre, troll, giant, chimera, hydra, etc. If it's sentient, you can even have the opportunity to communicate with it and either way they can release it. Imagine a pissed off giant thundering through a goblin camp just sending throngs of them flying while your party just walks right in.

I am planning a pair of sisters devoted to Asmodeus as enemies for my PCs but my flavor for them does not work well with the rules, or at least how I'd like to use them.

They will be a lvl 6 sorceress and a lvl 8 sorceress (this is negotiable but the PCs will be at level lvl 7 when they fight them and I plan to increase the CR by adding lvl 2 mooks to bring the CR up to APL+2 or APL+3).

Flavor-wise, I'd like to give them the Infernal Bloodline. However the infernal bloodline power is useless against PCs (or at least it's cheap to tell a PC "You failed the save against her charm person, so you like her now...").

So what I am considering is, in keeping with the theme of the Infernal bloodline power, giving them the Fey Bloodline.

This would be a good playstyle for them as who they are (abusive and manipulative businesswomen). I have considered just giving them the Fey Bloodline outright, but that doesn't feel right. Bard would work thematically but its a bunch of stuff I don't want or need. Cleric and Oracle are even worse because I don't want them to wear anything heavier than studded leather, if any armor at all (but better as they are divine). However being arcane works just as well because in this campaign there is a monotheistic religious inquisition that has outlawed magic because it is evil and up to this point I have been and will have shown the players nothing but innocent and peaceful arcanists who are oppressed and this would give some credence to the inquisition's motives.

Alternatively, would giving them the Fey bloodline and just saying they get their magic powers from their devil blood just be the best thing to do?

The most important thing to remember about playing a wizard is to keep spell slots open and unprepared. Essentially at the beginning of the day you prepare what you know or are pretty sure you will need.

As for your spellbook, I use an app on my phone called simply "Spellbook". It was about 2 bucks or something on the apple store. During the game I like to write my prepared spells for any given day on post-it notes.

For my fiance when she plays a sorceress I like to print her off these spellcards generated on this website. Its very helpful for her because it gives all the details about each spell.

If you can accept that you will be virtually useless in combat, I would go with the Arcane Trickster. Either of your other builds will be stronger and more effective, but if you are open to the idea of arcane trickster and clearly understand that in any other aspect other than the 'MacGuiver with spells' as you described.

Speaking from experience, this build also requires a commanding presence. You must be the group leader. Caution and problem solving is your forte and if the barbarian* wants to just charge in haphazardly or actively doesn't give a s@%% about letting you do your think you will be completely useless.

Sell yourself as the party rogue. Claim no combat prowess and full utility and find a way to use your skills at every opportunity you can. You need to make sure your party understands what role you fill and that it is not combat.

That being said, you can end encounters without drawing a weapon. Specialize in divination and use primarily those and illusion spells. This is where your barbar* needs to slow his roll. If he won't wait for you to sneak or come up with a good illusion or even let you cast clairvoyance you will be useless.

Choose the bonded object as your arcane bond as well (for the free spontaneous spell). You won't focus on offensive spells at all.

Outside of combat spells you should rely on scrolls. For that you should keep spell slots empty that you can use to prepare spells and then make your scrolls. This is also why your barbar* needs to chill the f&*@ out. If you need a spell you don't have a scroll for you will need to prepare the spell and the barbar* may not want to wait for you.

When you actually do have to fight, I recommend using chill touch or a wand of shocking grasp (remember it gets a +3 to hit on virtually all humanoid enemies or anything else that may have ANYTHING metal). You BAB will be terribly low but you will be targeting touch AC. Don't waste your time with weapons unless your enemy has no armor. Consider weapon finesse for your melee touch attacks but really no other combat feats (perhaps take it as your 1 rogue talent).

*By barbar I don't just mean the barbarian class, but any balls-to-the-wall player in general.

Exactly. By level 7 a fighter has 4 any-feats and 4 combat-only feats; 5 any-feats if human. By that point you should be able to find room for Iron Will if that's a concern for you.

I have a halfling bard that was a cultists when he was younger but when things became a little to intense, his conscious caved and he helped save a group of people captured to be sacrificed and helped them escape. One of these sacrifices he saved was an aasimar woman (played by my fiance) who together they began seeking out, infiltrating, and bringing down cults. Ironically the aasimar woman is only interested in stealing the valuables and tends to be more motivated by the potential payoff, but the bard is much more motivated by doing good.

He is a talker through and through. He is not combat savvy beyond the use of his whip. He is sneaky and a good infiltrator all around though and quite good at escaping tight situations.

I already have one trait (Vagabond Child) but I'd like another that is more fitting of his backstory. Does anybody know of a good one?

I have a halfling bard that was a cultists when he was younger but when things became a little to intense, his conscious caved and he helped save a group of people captured to be sacrificed and helped them escape. One of these sacrifices he saved was an aasimar woman (played by my fiance) who together they began seeking out, infiltrating, and bringing down cults. Ironically the aasimar woman is only interested in stealing the valuables and tends to be more motivated by the potential payoff, but the bard is much more motivated by doing good.

He is a talker through and through. He is not combat savvy beyond the use of his whip. He is sneaky and a good infiltrator all around though and quite good at escaping tight situations.

I already have one trait (Vagabond Child) but I'd like another that is more fitting of his backstory. Does anybody know of a good one?

Allow me to share my perspective.

When I first started playing Pathfinder having come from being the long time DM for my college group I was kind of self-conscious about being the second least rules savvy person in the group (only my fiance knew less being as she never took well to 3.5 either).

Between the loss of control of the game, being with people I really didn't know, and playing a game that felt totally new, I began reading the adventure path. We were running Rise of the Runelords as well and I was playing a sub-optimal halfling rogue/wizard shooting for arcane trickster.

I initially had began reading the adventure path to see if, and what, scrolls we would come across. When given the opportunity to buy more gear after our first couple encounters I downloaded the pdf and read ahead. I then based my scroll choices around what scrolls we would come across. For the most part, this was the only "bad player" stuff I did (in my opinion).

I of course also gleaned where the plot was moving and as a result my DM mode kicked in. I kept my mouth shut and I behaved according to how the AP said they expected players to behave. Our DM was new to DMing (but pretty good nonetheless), so whenever he'd hit a point where he should have been shuttling us along, I tried to move the plot along according to how the AP wanted us to move.

For example:

I was a combination of cautious and stupidly bold when it came to exploring dungeons. My standard practice was "I listen for anybody behind the door. If I don't hear anybody I use my hand-mirror to see if I can see anything under the door. Nothing? I charge in bravely with my pickle and wand in hand!" This bit me in the ass on my than 1 occasion.

Now as far as combat goes, my character was pretty useless. I had a strength of 6 and could only hit things with weapon-finessed touch attacks (1d3-2 dagger damage). I relied on sneak attacks with chill touch or shocking grasp to do anything effective and that was really only on boss fights. The only thing I was generally good at was not getting hit (19 AC? with high Acrobatics). The only saves I ever made the DM roll were when I used silent/minor image. So if your player is reading ahead to get a combat advantage, then you're facing a problem entirely unlike when I read ahead as I lacked the ability to even act of any potential advantage.

Alright. So assuming your player is not justifying his actions by thinking he is helping move the story along. How can you make him stop?

If my DM knew I was reading ahead and simple said something along the lines of "Hey, you aren't reading ahead are you? Okay, good... well don't." I would have probably stopped.

Alternatively, given the fact that I was reading the AP, I was highly suspicious of another player of also doing so. He always went right for the correct way to do things, always knew the answer, and even knew to inform me to check for traps at PRECISELY the moment we came up to them.

I think our DM was suspicious as well, and if so he did something that I felt was a good "f~%$ you, shut up and sit down." We were in a section of the dungeon that was relatively safe (aside from the enemies we were currently fighting). I was hiding in the way f@$+ing back blasting with acid splashes in my useless way trying to kill the weak creatures to stop them from granting flanking on the bigger people covered in metal. Our druid (the other player), however, put himself in what I would call a very compromising situation in any other circumstance if the dungeon were not cleared in our vicinity. Suddenly, BOOM! The BBEG from 3-4 rooms away comes charging onto the scene and subsequently begins to f#%~ our druid hard. I tried to do something but I was as usual, useless in combat.

If this is your type of player, I'd recommend what our DM did (even if it was unintentional and the player was innocent). Wait for him to take advantage of his knowledge and then f%#~ him with it. If he tries to avoid a trap, post-hoc the trap to exactly where he goes. If he "gets out of position", send reinforcements.

Alternatively, just change minor details constantly. Whenever our DM deviated from what I knew, it put me on edge (even though I was no less useful). It could make him reconsider metagaming.

Damnit...

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Forget the squirrel, especially in a PFS game - stick with the monkey. I don't even think awaken is allowed anyway.

Though he does make a strong case for the level 1 wizard dip.

Oh yeah, the awakened animal thing is just an off-topic "we're just gonna f#&~ around" character build; especially not for PFS. Despite the fact that he's really not broken (other than nigh unhittable AC).

As for the familiar he takes, a squirrel gives a +3 to disable device. Combined that with the Vagabond Child trait and he's gonna rock traps.

Personally I always feel a bard should be doing the trapfinding so it just feel like a required trait for me personally.

If he does the wizard dip then he should consider taking Magical Knack for either class (probably wizard since bard spells don't tend to scale on caster level.

Can a squirrel hold a weapon, though? How dexterous does the game consider a squirrel?

He can hold a diminutive sized weapon (squirrels hands/paws are able to hold things easily if that's what you're asking.)

Squirrels have a base dex of 19 which seems reasonable to me.

Honestly, the original reason I wanted a familiar is so that Julyan could have a squirrel buddy.

Rather than drop 2 feats on it I'd take a level of wizard. Yeah you lose some spellcasting progression, but you get all the benefits of being a wizard too.

*Arcane Bond - obviously

*Spell Focus (Enchantment) - a feat you're already considering

*Spells - Yes you are confined to 1st level spells but there are some GREAT wizard utilities at first level and you get 2 per day plus the 1 from your specialization.

*Spell specialization into Divination (Foresight) for Forewarned and Prescience

Seriously. You get a +1 initiative, always act on surprise round, 5 free d20 rolls per day, 3 more cantrips, access to 1st level non-bard arcane spells (obscuring mist, protection from X, MOUNT!(aka, wall of flesh)), and Spell Focus (enchantment) at the cost of 1 bard spell advancement and 1 BAB and screwy saves (0,2,4 vs 0,3,3 at level 2)(2,5,8 vs 2,6,6 at level 8).

Do it dude. 1 level dip wizard. Don't even look at Sorcerer. All you get is a +1 DC on metamagic. Maybe if you could do a different bloodline but then you don't get the familiar.

Agile Manuevers is funny. By what I understand, Weapon Finesse lets you apply your dex to your trip and disarm rolls anyway, as they're weapon-based manuevers (the same way you add any enhancement bonuses, weapon finesse etc.). And I agree. Whips are great, as is tripping.

Also the monkey has 3 strength, meaning it can only hold 10lbs. Familiars don't get feats as they advance, so what you're suggesting is impossible. At best, a monkey could hurl caltrops and alchemists fire.

I was not aware of this about Weapon Finesse... I guess I'm going to have to change my build (not going to be grappling with my halfling bard, nor will I be... dexterously... bull... rushing?")

Yes the monkey can only carry 10 lbs, but he is a tiny creature which means his gear is 1/4 weight. The scimitar would only be 1 lb and a breastplate would be 7 lbs. But that's assuming you somehow get your familiar a feat. Awakened is better, but forbids as a familiar. But you could as a cohort or PC! I did this once actually :D

However, what's even better is a squirrel.

Artemis Thunderfist wrote:

bfobar wrote:

Wands of magic missle that look like little thompson sub machineguns are also acceptable, but only if your familar agrees to wear a zoot suit, fedora, and smoke tiny cigars.

Aaaaaand there's my next character... magic missile mobster

Spellslinger Wizard works well for this.

Never really looked at it till now but sadly it wouldn't do anything for magic missile because it just increases your attack roll and crit modifier; neither of which magic missile has :(

This ability replaces cantrips, but the spellslinger gains the detect magic and read magic cantrips and places them in his spellbook. He can cast either of these as 1st-level spells.

F%$$ me that's rough!

The rigor and care required by arcane guns is so great that a spellslinger forsakes four schools of magic.

Jesus H Christ Piazo! You sure know how to turn a wizard off to a class! So you have the fewest spells of any primary caster already and now you can only cast HALF of them!? Sure I would probably do this archtype as an evoker but damn. I guess cut divination? Transmutation? Abjuration? Enchantment? Maybe keep transmutation and ditch necro? Jesus that rough as s&~!! Did anybody playtest that actually? "The rigor an care required is so great"? That's why you have to give up Arcane Bond and Scribe Scroll. I could get the same effect of this by taking 1 feat and bargain the DM into letting me use the gun as my arcane bond instead and cast my spells through it.

However, a Gunslinging wizard works pretty cool in a much less broken way than a full BAB class. Plus if makes me actually interested in taking feats for ranged combat.

A spellslinger can cast any ranged touch attack, cone, line, or ray spells through his arcane gun.

Can somebody confirm if the Arcane Gun feature means you can attach your spell to an attack like the Magus' spellstrike or that you merely "shoot" the spell out the barrel. If its the second then this archetype is 13 ways to b%*+$*%!.

You could have a wizard as an arcane caster. They use intelligence instead of charisma, so it could work.

Exactly. My primary character was a Dwarf wizard/fighter in 3.5 and a magus in PF.

In fact sorcerer is even viable with the empyreal bloodline.

I'd love to play a dwarf bard but sadly I cannot commit to putting a -2 in my primary stat :(

Wands of magic missle that look like little thompson sub machineguns are also acceptable, but only if your familar agrees to wear a zoot suit, fedora, and smoke tiny cigars.

Aaaaaand there's my next character... magic missile mobster

I'm tired of PC's killing shopkeepers for loot or just being a bunch of sociopath's in general. If you kill a NPC, things are gonna happen, whether that NPC is a enemy or just the local merchant. One step I see to accomplishing this is by avoiding generic NPC's

One of the things my old Gm did that I do now if that the shopkeeper is ALWAYS more than they seem at first glance. That smith? He's actually a former adventurer monk who has turned to metalworking to find peace.

The magic shop owner should obviously be a tough cookie as well. How else did he make these things? He has a contingency set within his shop to where any thief or ruffian is instantly affected by the Hold Person spell. Guards come, take you away (or worse, he's actually a dark sorcerer who uses these people as test subjects).

I learned very quickly to never let my players think this sort of thing is okay unless they have put some effort into being a thief, and even then it is an encounter level challenge. Maybe they do succeed... too bad the PC thieves now are covered in a magical equivalent of that blue paint bomb s+~+ they do in real life for bank robbers.

As for the rest of what you're saying, I think you're going in a good direction. I think the reason you, like myself, haven't gotten much into the setting and lore is that it isn't your own.

Frankly the folks at Paizo who spend 40 hours a week making these things probably are better writers/designers and me or most GMs, but I am able to spin intrigue and make the world feel more real whenever I have an intimate, godlike control of the entirety of the world. I have a base core of how my world works and my players understand it. Whenever they ask me a question about it I can INSTANTLY give them an answer and I am certain it is the truth or at least truth as the PC/NPC understands it.

For example: in my last campaign (an evil campaign) an anti-paladin in my group wanted to know what would be the religious or social repercussions of him eating the heart of a defeated dragon who was a spy for an enemy nation. I had no idea and if this was an adventure path I'd be kinda just stuck. Instead I instantly spun it into, "nothing wrong with it. However, among the dragons eating the heart of your father is a rite of passage in assuming the role of the patriarch/matriarch and is a sacred ritual. So if you ate this big mamma dragon's heart it could be an immense sign of disrespect at your defeated enemy and thus could be seen as exactly the sort of thing to be expected from a person of your position (as an anti-paladin). It would solidify the end of her lineage. However, it could also be seen as highly questionable action, especially among those in your faith who know the dragons do this, but do not necessarily understand why. Some may even see it as a sign that you have some respect for their faith.

In the end the PC ate the heart, a church official honored him for such a display of force and brutality, and the father of the mamma dragon sought revenge.

I guess you need to have some kind of hands. I am not sure how useful monkeys are because of their very low Str.

Anyway, you will want to take improved familair as soon as you can qualify. An azata lyrakien is both a strong and flavorful choice for a bard.

Give a monkey a scimitar and somehow give him weapon finesse and dervish dance and suddenly he's viable. I'd imagine he's also be good with a crossbow and ranged touch attack spells.

I haven't heard of this but I'd be certainly interested in seeing this as well.

This may not be helpful, but I tend to play my bard as more of a controller. For some ideas, here is his build at level 8. I built him specifically to be party focused and ineffective by himself in combat.

I cannot stress my love of Agile Maneuvers enough. It's basically Weapon Finesse for your CMB. You don't even need to take Improved Trip because of the range and if you put enough points into Acrobatics you can always tumble away (it doesn't take much). I find this tactic highly effective right at level 1 and it continues to be effective.

Milo Folgorn
Halfling Bard
Str-6*
Dex-16
Con-12
Int-14
Wis-10
Cha-20

*I almost always make my halflings super-weak because I enjoy the roll-play aspects of being very weak and a -1 for basically a 6 year old isn't appropriate.

Drop favored class bonuses into skills. Put points into or max out out perform (oratory), perform (act), acrobatics, disable device, perception, spellcraft, stealth, and knowledge skills. I usually drop only 1 point in spellcraft and let it sit and I don't even pick up UMD till level 5-6ish anyways.

Feats & Traits

T1-Vagabond Child (Disable Device)
T2-Campaign trait or Savant (Oratory)

1-Agile Maneuvers (net +5 CMB)
3-Weapon Focus (Whip)(+1 CMB for whip trips and disarms)
5-Spell Focus (Enchantment)
7-Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment)

Alternatively, if melee heavy party:
1-Agile Maneuvers (net +5 CMB)
3-Combat Expertise (burn feat)
5-Improved Trip (+2 trip)
7-Spell Focus (Enchantment)
9-Greater Trip

Sparing his backstory as a cult-infiltrator, I play Milo as a talker and influencer of people. He often negotiates with his friends and others about what is truly in their best interest in order to get them to do what is really in his interest. However, Milo's intentions are almost entirely pure and often focused on his eternal quest for penance after having willingly engaged in the dark, even murderous, rituals of a demonic cult in his youth. In combat he disables enemies using arcane magic or trips enemies all so that his allies can take care of it. Barring either of those (4-legged creatures with high will saves?), he focuses entirely on buffing or drawing his rapier and providing flanking.

Worse, because of that fragility, the NPCs won't be a credible threat. No matter what you do, you can't sink in the sense that the island-dwellers are bad-ass. It's just too fresh and there's no sense of relative competence. So when they get eaten, there's no calibration to recognize "gee, those guys were so much better than us and they're just worm-food... we should crap ourselves."

As I've said, the PCs will not be fresh and they will have had a chance at easier combat, namely aboard the slave ship I mentioned. Preceding that there will also be a full setup session leading to their capture. If a PC doesn't try to lead a revolt then another NPC slave will. However, after they take the ship (if they do) they will be spotted by a warship of the nation that they are going to be shipwrecked on and at that point they will fired upon and destroyed. Thus if they rush right into an uprising this will be the 3rd session. Likely the 4th.

I don't see why you assume that the NPCs will appear to be pushovers. This is more of a situation like in The Mummy where the Medjai arrive to muscle the archaeologists out of Hamunaptra or when Legolas, Aaragon, and Gimli encounter the Riders of Rohan. These are mounted warriors wielding longspears (just much fewer in number).

Why does everybody seem to think I am at all going to be trying to kill my players or that I am completely incapable of describing something as overwhelming with big red flashing "don't fight this" over it's head?

These are level 4 PCs who have been playing with me for awhile... they understand the power of a level 4 character and that it isn't enough to fight what is basically a wingless, burrowing dragon. Yes, I have a reputation for challenging fights among my players but I do not intentional or light-heartedly kill PCs. When I do it's because they ran past 2-3 warning signs and did something very stupid. In fact both of my only PC kills in the last campaign I ran over 5 months involved both PCs abandoning a fortified position to charge into a friendly stinking cloud and black tentacles across a narrow bridge with sorcerers on the other side who they knew had my infamous lightning bolts; the ONLY 2 deaths (that fight battle was pretty awesome though).

This is an encounter that is supposed to be interrupted but the issue is the amount of enemies that the PCs would defeat (and technically earn XP for) is not appropriate for the challenge faced to kill those enemies.

Lets put it like this:

PCs are attacked with theoretical odds of 2:1. Forced to fight, they manage to kill half/nearly half of the enemies (or less) before they are beaten, bloodied, and forced into submission. Then the worm shows up and feasts. Now is the chance for escape. If a PC is stupid enough to be nearly out of spells or almost death then decides "I'm going to attack that big fire-breathing beast because clearly the DM meant for me to kill it" then they deserve to die for being f!~&ing stupid. I know for a fact that at least 2 of my players will be intelligent enough to run and a third will have to tools to be directly told so if he needs it so forgive me for building encounters around my players.

Note: This is not the first or second session. This will be at best the 3rd session in and likely the 4th or 5th. The PC's are starting at lvl 3 and will have leveled already.

The way to win the npc and worm encounter is not to fight. Award story exp for good role playing if they avoid confrontation. If they fight, they're probably going to die, so I wouldn't award xp for that. Or I would just divide up some monsters killed xp for the group, or use a reduced story award (you sort of managed not to fight for a while?)

Frankly, I would try to make the diplomacy easier to make fighting less appealing. Give the leader a couple of different languages and maybe mancatchers and have them not be executed on the spot.

I may spin this as a more favorable way to go. These NPCs are mostly church brutes lead by an inquisitor (a title, not the class). If I raise his disposition to unfriendly and have them be extremely suspicious rather than assume they are guilty then if they succeed I can have him strong-arm the PCs into doing the jobs they weren't sent out into the desert to do. I initially was having them in the area to investigate the tomb they are supposed to take shelter in in suspicion that the friendly NPC ("Alim") is there (and thus guilty of "tomb raiding").

I could move Alim deeper into the tomb or have him not even be there and instead approach them later. Then I can have the inquisitor and maybe a few brutes survive the sand worm attack and tell the PCs to help search the tomb for Alim. Then I can also ramp up the difficulty of the tomb and kill off some brutes. The church authorities believe Alim is a warlock and thus it wouldnt be a stretch for them to think he could bypass some of the challenges (traps, fire elementals, and scorpions mostly). The problem is Alim is mundane... he's just a scholar. He wouldn't be deep able to go deep in the tomb. And if he's not there then what can I do to "reward" them or provide some climax.

Brainstorming: What if I put a "trap" that moves Alim from the entrance and traps him deeper in the more dangerous/deadly parts of the tomb? Then the inquisitor would feel he has evidence of Alim's sorcery and could order the PC's to arrest him in exchange for clemency. They then have a choice. Kill the church inquisitor, or arrest Alim. I could rewrite his role into another scholar or even a church official. However if they side with Alim then I can continue with my original plans of having the church view the fact that the men never returned from the tomb as further suspicion that he is a warlock who was at the tomb and killed the inquisitor and brutes.

Expect a TPK.

Why? Because players rarely act the way you want them to. So expect them to behave in the worst possible way during an encounter. I would expect them to end up fighting the sandworm critter.

There seems to be a logic hole with your natives as well. Extreme xenophobia would be worth far more than a -2. And why don't the natives know about the zombies if they are from this area?

I was planning to make the scene utterly terrifying. These guys will be kicking the PCs asses and this worm pops up from the sand and swallows them camel and all then breaths some napalm-like fire cutting off the escape of those that flee. We've got a huge 4-6' mat which would be great for it. I expect it more likely to have some table-flipping "wtf is this s~$~!?!?" more than the possibility of them trying to actually fight it. I know our sorceress will nope the hell out of there and the guy who tends to play the cleric is pretty good at reading where I'm leading them. We also will have a druid who can knowledge nature that this thing is going to destroy them.

What do you mean by logic hole? As for the negative, I'm only planning to apply the xenophobia negative if they try defending themselves in anything but the language used as an aid another or simultaneous diplomacy checks. Any attempt at diplomacy in a different language will automatically fail.
The players will be level 4 so a bard with an 18 cha would have a +11 or at most a +13 if they have a trait bonus. Against a DC 25 diplomacy check for being hostile that's only a 40% chance of success, 50% if I give a +2 circumstance bonus. Then that is contingent upon the bard speaking this specific language (it's one of the most prominent languages but he won't have more than 3 out of the 12 most likely, so lets say there's a 50% chance of that). I think a -2 is fair given those odds are already against him and he's the face. The wizard is most likely to speak the language but will have terrible diplomacy and wont be able to succeed. However, I wish I could remove the "extremely" adverb in my original post to reflect this.

The zombies are a new thing just beginning to happen. It happened before a long time ago but that had been pretty much covered up by the church at the time. For now it is entirely confined to the areas where people don't go because the Army of Souls/Dawn King is focusing on building their forces in preparation. They are focusing on picking off people lost in the desert and trade caravans. It will be a growing threat that they will need to prove is occurring later ("Just crazy foreigners seeing things in the desert.")

I am currently planning an adventure/campaign for my group and I have an encounter that will put the players against an overwhelming enemy force.

I plan to introduce my players in a shameless "you wash up on a strange foreign beach" scenario after the slave ship the were on is destroyed (I have a whole scenario for this already).

Upon arriving on the desert beach, the players will almost immediately come under attack by a group of native people who will be ferociously attempting to bite them. Each of them will also have a deep gash on their neck or shoulder as if a wild dog had attacked them. They are actually zombies but very fresh. After they manage to kill them, a group of camel-mounted uniformed men will show up brandishing spears, surround them, and begin screaming in an accusatory way at the players. If anybody speaks his language (likely), they will know he is accusing them of murder of the people the men had just found (the zombies).

At this point, the party face can work some magic if he speaks their language, however if anybody attempts to aid him that doesn't speak the language he will unknowingly incur a -2 each as the natives are extremely xenophobic.

Now... if they don't talk their way out, they will be at a tactical disadvantage and outnumbered. The men will attempt to execute them for their crimes at which point they can stand and fight or try and run.

I am hoping that they run, but I bet they will try and fight. Regardless, halfway through this scenario. A giant fire-spewing sand worm will erupt out of ground and begin using his fire breath to heard his prey and feast "indiscriminately" (i.e. the bad guys). At this point the players will be nudged to a nearby stone structure were hopefully they realize lies safety from the worm.

My biggest concern right now is how to award experience for this/these encounters? The zombies are easy.
But should I just assign ad hoc experience for the encounter with the brutes?

What I am trying to do here is establish several things about this campaign/setting in quick succession:

• Zombies. Somewhat odd zombies.- The ultimate focus of this campaign is the return of a long dead king who turned against his people and became a lich. In ancient times he and his 'Army of Souls' were sealed away in the valley he called home. However, the magical protections were not maintained because the church which has come to dominate the land has outlawed all magic and all other faiths. Now these protections are beginning to fail and creatures capable of devouring the soul of a person are escaping. Whenever they kill somebody the soul is transferred to the lich and they then rise as a zombie under his control.
  
• Xenophobic populace and potential language barrier - In this tomb the players will find a researcher who is very helpful, accommodating, and ultimately will be a good friend. However, he is somewhat of an outcast in the nearby city and holds very little sway. But he will acquaint the players will the general customs and things not to do.
  
• Giant fire-breathing sandworms are nothing to f+~$ with - They are a real threat that must be taken into consideration on any long distance travel. Learning about the sand worm ecology/biology will be essential in surviving
  
• Dungeon delving - This stone structure will be the first of several tombs that the players will enter. These will be the tombs of the ancient kings high council who sealed him away to protect the world. In these tombs will lie the way to re-seal the king away, but they are spread out across the region and thus will require understanding how to safely avoid/kill the sand worms. Alternatively, the players will later meet a church leader who wants to do away with the anti-magic and xenophobic policies who believes that the ancient king must be freed in order to stop the growing undead menace. This is actually completely reasonable as the king rose to power as the savior of his people for fighting back this same evil. However, when he became evil and was sealed away the church, due to a doctrinal issue and in order to save face, white washed his legacy and have continued to hold him as a prophet and savior. That being said, the key to understanding how to release the "Glorious Dawn King, our savior and prophet" will also lie in these same clues in the tombs of the ancient mages.

EDIT: THIS IS NOT THE 1ST SESSION!

I am currently planning an adventure/campaign for my group and I have an encounter that will put the players against an overwhelming enemy force.

I plan to introduce my players in a shameless "you wash up on a strange foreign beach" scenario after the slave ship the were on is destroyed.

Upon arriving on the desert beach, the players will almost immediately come under attack by a group of native people who will be ferociously attempting to bite them. Each of them will also have a deep gash on their neck or shoulder as if a wild dog had attacked them. They are actually zombies but very fresh. After they manage to kill them, a group of camel-mounted uniformed men will show up brandishing spears, surround them, and begin screaming in an accusatory way at the players. If anybody speaks his language (likely), they will know he is accusing them of murder of the people the men had just found (the zombies).

At this point, the party face can work some magic if he speaks their language, however if anybody attempts to aid him that doesn't speak the language he will unknowingly incur a -2 each as the natives are extremely xenophobic.

Now... if they don't talk their way out, they will be at a tactical disadvantage and outnumbered. The men will attempt to execute them for their crimes at which point they can stand and fight or try and run.

I am hoping that they run, but I bet they will try and fight. Regardless, halfway through this scenario. A giant fire-spewing sand worm will erupt out of ground and begin using his fire breath to heard his prey and feast "indiscriminately" (i.e. the bad guys). At this point the players will be nudged to a nearby stone structure were hopefully they realize lies safety from the worm.

What I am trying to do here is establish several things about this campaign/setting in quick succession:

• Zombies. Somewhat odd zombies.- The ultimate focus of this campaign is the return of a long dead king who turned against his people and became a lich. In ancient times he and his 'Army of Souls' were sealed away in the valley he called home. However, the magical protections were not maintained because the church which has come to dominate the land has outlawed all magic and all other faiths.
  
• Xenophobic populace and potential language barrier - In this tomb the players will find a researcher who is very helpful, accommodating, and ultimately will be a good friend. However, he is somewhat of an outcast in the nearby city and holds very little sway. But he will acquaint the players will the general customs and things not to do.
  
• Giant fire-breathing sandworms are nothing to f$++ with - They are a real threat that must be taken into consideration on any long distance travel. Learning about the sand worm ecology/biology will be essential in surviving