Asterial's page

I think it's because it sticks to the basics... The classics...

Goblins, Ogres, Giants; Villages, Dungeons, Forts; EPIC battles at the end. It's what we were used to and thus easier to assimilate (as a DM).

I truly had fun DMing it.

Ultradan

That's kinda what I figured.

Ok so every time I see a "what AP is best AP" thread the general consensus tends to lean toward RotRL being the all around best. But the reasoning I always get is "because it's just awesome" unfortunately for me I haven't had the time or the energy to run it myself and have even gone as far as to offer to BUY all the materials needed for any DM willing to run it for me but to no avail.

So I figure I'll go right to the source. What about in rise of the run lords that makes it so good ?

So a group of friends has convinced me to run carrion crown for them. Not a huge deal I've run the first 4 books before and liked it but this time around id like to make a few changes. The first is that the group would be limited to low magic to emphasize a more Dresden files "those who are in the know" feel and the other is I want to set it in a noticbly more modern era ( early 1900's)

The only major difference I see as far as the time period goes is the prevalence of guns. Namely fully automatic rifles. I know that the reign of winter AP introduced rules for full auto guns but I recall being skeptical about them at a glance. Anyone know how balanced they are?

Anybody whose run the full AP remember anything that may cause issues when it comes time to run this beast?

Rogues are the lowest DPR melee class.

At least they get skill points.

that depends on if were talking about actual damage or possible damage. and the level actual damage then probably though i think some melee builds of caster classes are lower. possible damage then i highly doubt it. hell a lvl 1 ninja can push somkthing like 4d4+4d6+8 in a single round.

hmmm but that would mean taking more off of other abilities which I need more as a rogue

contrary to popular belief rogues dont actually need Int or charisma they are completely RP stats for a rogue where as Dex Con and Wis are tied to the rogues actual survival. that being said if you have your int and cha like that because you want to play a more social and intellegent rogue then go for it. rules wise your completely legal. your will be a tiny bit low on hit points but thats nothing some smart playing and maybe the toughness feat cant fix.

well ive decided to play an oracle barbarian first just to get a hold on society and to get used to the local players. once i fully understnad the magnitude of say sitting out part of a scenario and whatnot ill probably give paladin a shot.

so i was playing in my first PFS campaign the other day and mentioned that i may consider playing a paladin. immediately the entire table began urging me to avoid that. which confused me. I know the usual reason people are advised to avoid paladin (alignment restrictions and whatnot) but ive played paladin with most of the people at this particular table and proven that im more than capable of staying within my paladins code of choice (from the faiths of purity book) without being a hinderence to the group. so when i asked them they told me that quite a few PFS scenerarios paladins a forced to be a hiunderence because of the inherent nature of the scenario. (they quoted a few but i remember specifically remember one about going to a city where its illegal be a divine caster and stealing somthing from someone) i know not all paladins would have a problem with this especially if the situation demands it but it still seems odd that paizo would punish a player for being foolish enough to play a certain class.

does anyone with more experience than me have any suggestions or input. if it really is going to be a huge hassle for the entire group just because i want to play a paladin id rather pick somthing else. its one thing to make me have to work around it but another if now the entire group has to.

so I have a characters personality in mind but i just cant quite nail down the build to match it. the character would be like a "magician of combat" relying on guile tricks and items to get by instead of combat strength or magical aptitude (think a mix between Jack Sparrow and Danny Ocean. Very smart and resourceful but very unwise)i know the description is pretty vague but my mind is drawing a blank at the moment on how better to describe it. the build i have in mind at the moment is...
Ninja X
Pathfinder Chronicler 1 - 2
Master Spy 10
Ninja the rest

what do you guys think? suggestions are appreciated.

Look on Youtube for briefings and walkthroughs of the various "Thief" games by Looking-glass studios. For example -- the link below soon opens into the "Wieldstrom Museum" Level -- where important artifacts have to be stolen from under impressive security measures. Sound familiar? The maps, layouts and even art style may give you inspiration for your heist. Consider it "Research" -- there were 3 thief games, and MANY of the levels in each of them were ALL ABOUT stealing a precious artifact from a noble's house. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHTf1ZnYmFw

wow thats actually perfect (beside from after seeign them i now have to go and buy the thief games) thanks a ton

Crosswind wrote:

bookrat wrote:

2) Wind Wall: Missile weapons that pass through it auto miss (with the exception of large missiles, such as giant-thrown rocks and siege weapons).

You're right in general, but wind wall also does not deflect bullets, sling or otherwise.

"Arrows and bolts are deflected upward and miss, while any other normal ranged weapon passing through the wall has a 30% miss chance."

You still get a 30% miss chance, which is pretty nice, but not going to keep you from getting shredded if they get a full attack.

The basic idea of "Summon stuff that can pounce, using a standard action", is appropriate though. Saurian or Cat Shaman (allosaurs + tigers) archetype with the druid would give you similar abilities to the master summoner posited above, but with more HP/defensive spells than the summoner usually has.

-Cross

Huh. I guess we'll have to go with the Word of Power version from Ultimate Magic:

UM wrote:

This effect word creates a vertical wall of swirling wind. This wind does not obscure sight, but missile weapons that pass through the wall automatically miss (with the exception of large missiles, such as giant-thrown rocks and siege weapons). Creatures that pass through the wall treat it as difficult terrain and must make a DC 10 Strength check. Failure indicates that the creature cannot pass through the wall this round, but may try again in future rounds. Gases, gaseous breath weapons, and creatures in gaseous form cannot pass through the wall.

OP: Are you allowed to use Words of Power?

Ya if we want to. like i said the campaign is very very lax.

This really doesn't sound like a healthy game to enter, or a healthy way to enter a game.

But...

Archers outstrip gunslingers on the matter of range. Gunslingers only get to target touch AC within a certain range. Archers don't even worry about that element and can focus on building themselves up in other areas.

Also, a bag of pugwampis, as much as I loathe saying it.

Still, if this conflict is the big thing going into this campaign, I don't see it heading anywhere fun for all involved. Different strokes and all that though.

I can see how it seems that way. even i was a bit afraid of it at first. but the more we talk about it with the DM the more he actually likes the idea. Hes altered the campaign even so that now its about a civil war between races that rely on Technology (specifically guns) and races that rely on magic.

I'm getting the impression that this is going to be like Jim Butcher's Dresden Files kinda story/adventure.

80% investigation, information gather and social interaction and 20% combat.

You will have to make it clear its a urban adventure and may have to include plot hooks for players that are new or unfamiliar with investigation type games.

Have fun making a great adventure.

I hadent thought of it that way but now that you mention it I think i should really look into desdan files and other investigation type games for ideas. thanks

Master Summoner with the +2 Initiative trait and Improve Initiative.

With Superior Summoning and Augment Summoning and a rod of reach spell, you can summon A LOT of tough melee monster right next to those Gunslingers.

Go with a Gnome and up your Dex, Cha and Con.

Start combat by spamming monsters NEXT to the gunslingers.
Or better yet have them appear 15 feet away and charge the gunslingers.

The gunslingers would soon find themselves facing monsters every which way.
And remember Summoned monsters DO NOT disappear if the summoner goes down... and they last for Mins as a Master Summoner.

For extra effect have a fellow Druid/Ranger get Entangle up under those Gunslingers so they are really limited in movement.
Obscuring Mist is also great. Check if there are items that can give you similar effects.

Actually i was thinking somthing along the lines of the monk idea but after hearing that idea...well it sounds like an amazing amount of fun and it sounds effective in case the DM descides to innovate.

It is always a bad idea to try and show a GM that he is wrong with in game measures rather than speaking with the GM, especially if all the other players agree with you.

Second it isn't actually that easy to neutralize a character class - which is just fine because then it would be badly designed.

However Gunslingers aren't actually good in close combat and have no innate methods to escape easily so you could build a fast moving close combateer (druid would likely work best) or try yourself at a specialist monk with insane touch AC through crane style.

Alternatively a trusty Wizard with Fog Cloud/Blindness and the usual goodness in the form of mind affecting spells works well.

ya I did speak with the DM. hes the one who challenged me to make this char in the first place. the campaign is ver casual and comedic so the build really wouldent disrupt anything too much.

I agree that it would be really stupid to be able to completely neutralize a class but all classes seem to have a disadvantage somewhere. at first i was wondering what would stop a gunslinger from taking a 5ft step back but i could pick up the step up feat.

So a friend of mine is DMing a homebrew campaign that im in. we were told that guns would be relatively common in the campaign but that all classes were available.

This DM LOVES guns. we spend most of our time arguing over weather or not gunslingers are the best class in the game. he of course believes that they are and that no class in the game can beat them in combat. ALL of the enemies in this campaign have guns and are gunslingers.

so what i want to do is join the campaign with the most antigun character possible and use it to stomb his gunslingers into the ground. ive spoken with the rest of his group and they love the idea because theyre as sick of gunslingers as i am. and i spoke with him and he said i am welcome to try.

so what do you guys think is the best way to completely neutralize gunslingers?

let me start by saying i apologize if this is the wrong place for this post.

Instead of telling you a long and boring story les just go on the assumption that i want to write my own adventure path so that a friend across the country (as well as anyone else who wants to i guess) can run it. theres me an a few other people working on it so its not just me by myself.

The idea behind the adventure path is to be based more on skill checks and social interaction than combat. combat will still be a part of it but not the main focus.
the first part is going to be a heist.

the PC's are contacted by a mysterious benefactor each for their seperate skillsets to steal an very well guarded item from a very wealthy nobel. then they spend the whole part gathering information/gaining supplies/getting help from NPC's/ Casing the place/whatever else they can think of that they might need to do to get this item without being cought. and of course executing the heist.

obviously "storm the manor" is gonna be out of the question as well as pretending to be a servent and swiping it while noone is looking.

so my questions are

1. does this sound like somthing that anyone would find interesting or am i just wasting my time?

2. how should i go about protectng the item itself? I was thinking scrying orb in the room with it. force wall around the item itself. guards. some type of sound detection. no expense is too much for it . i need it to feel impossible.

3.if anybody knows anything that might help i would love to check it out. atm i havent been able really to find somthing even similar so its all just me hoping for the best.

The Trickster is a corner case as it has a means to dealing Sneak Attack damage without actually needing an attack roll (via Surprise Spells), but generally speaking, Sneak Attack requires an attack roll and is only applied once per attack roll.

For weapon-like spells (spells that require an attack roll, like scorching ray), the sneak attack is treated exactly like a weapon. An archer firing two arrows with Manyshot only applies sneak attack once. Same with a Trickster and Scorching Ray.

Manyshot is one attack roll for 2 arrows if you miss your attack roll you miss both shots. both shots are treated as one shot in ALL cases (thats why deflect arrows deflects BOTH shots from manyshot.)

Scorching Ray is one attack roll for each ray. if you fire four rays then you roll four attack rolls. each ray is seperate. unlike manyshot removing one ray from the mix does not remove them all they are completely different entities.

I apologize if i misunderstood you. but seeing as they are treated differently in every other case i cant really see the rules on manyshot having any effect on the rules for scorching ray.

also out of curiosity do you get SA with scorching ray normally or do you need suprise spells. BTW there is a set of feats now that let you threaten and gain flanking at 15ft

I recently made an aasimar paladinfor my friend's Serpent's Skull game, and was curious as to which, if any multiclass or prestige class options would be good. Classic sword and board right now, and his deity is Iomedae. I was thinking maybe sprinkling bard in there, using the hymns of the Inheritor to inspire my comerades, and maybe the Inheritor's Crusader Prc. Thoughts? Also, mount or bonded sword?

my suggestion without revealing too much about what is to come in the AP hopefully. heavy armor classes are going to have a bit of a rough time in that AP so anything that may help you get your AC up and drop armor check penalty will deffinately be pretty helpful. as far as multiclassing Oracle is fantastic for paladins although your bard idea probably isnt too bad either thinking about it

as far as warrior of holy light i wouldent say take it. your only going to get to aroud level 15 - 16 (unless your friend descided to continue after the AP is over) so some of the better benefits you gain just wont become available to you and giving up all of your palladin spells for 2 lay on hands per day just seems like its crippling.

if a party survives a trap/haunt at all, weather they avoid it completely or take the "swinging axes of flaming doom" to the face and survive, they get experience. dont worry too much about the traps and haunts having no physical or in game effects on the player. Give them a good description of whats going and it effect them mentally and really thats what matters.

Some of the best dungeons ive ever been through i walked out completey unscathed but utterly terrified of the dangers that I "narrowly avoided".

I havent read all of the comments (frankly theres just a really lot of reading in the thread lol) so i dont know if this is covered but...

PCs hiding things from the rest of the group is REALLY dangerous. especialy if the group suspects somthings amiss. Ive had it happen quite a few times and it more often than not it will blow up similar to that. but just put yourself in their shoes. this guy is doing somthing s~@@y and when we confronted him about it he threatened us and then made a run for it. whatever hes up too MUST be aweful why else would he be willing to fight us over it and not just trust us.

I usually dont let players do stuff like that untill the group is comfortable enough with that player that theyll trust him/her enough to not pry if they catch wind of it. (if that makes sense)

if thats part of the AP then as the DM id tell the group outright that i know what hes upto and that they will have to trust me on it and then throw them an "out" (some way of explaining why they diddnt persue this any further.

well it seems like your PCs are just as aware of this problem as you are. talk to them. if they dont mind rerolling to keep thins simpler for you and more fun for everyone then give them a dice pool or a point buy. just remember that you have a relatively strong buffing party so they are going to feel relatively stronger while buffed (also look into that 27 AC because i cant imagine that being possible at level 1)

as far as 5 characters for a 4 man AP dont worry too much about it. it will be a bit easier at first but the experience gains being spread thin like that will eventually lead to lower level characters and the challenges will toughen up a bit.

If they dont want to reroll and want to keep these crazy high stats. (apparently the ease of combats isnt too much of a problem to them if theyre unwilling to change the cause of the problem) then you will have to up the challenge rating on everything (dont up the xp though) its tough on you but well its really all you can do.

ya they seem to really get it. it would be nice to see some more APs in unusual settings. (mind you im not up to date on all of the aps) one set underwater would be nice. I know theres a 3rd party evil AP but it would be cool to get one from paizo. those are things players dont often get to do.

Asterial wrote:

But the DM said that the spell can only be channeled through an attack that I already have.

This is true, despite the odd wording.

Any time you could deliver a touch spell, you have the option of using Spellstrike to deliver that touch spell with a melee weapon attack. That's what Spellstrike does.

So when you cast a touch spell, you get to make a touch attack as a free action any time until the end of your turn.

Since you have the option there to deliver a touch spell, you have the option of using Spellstrike to do so through your weapon.

Lets say you miss. You hold the charge of your touch spell. Next turn, you full-attack with your weapon, on any of those attacks you make that hit, you have the option of delivering the touch spell as well.

You (or your GM) may find this useful: A Guide to Touch Spells, Spellstrike, and Spell Combat. It covers how normal touch spells work, which is essential to understanding how Spellstrike works. (And it explains Spell Combat just in case)

Sweet thanks ill show it too him

So I was recently playing a magus in a friends game and I went to make a full attack with spell combat using spellstrike for my shocking grasp. the way I had learned it works is that you get a free melee attack to channel the touch spell through at the cost of the touch attack being made against normal AC. But the DM said that the spell can only be channeled through an attack that I already have.

I supported my claim by pointing out in the SRD and in my Ultimate magic it states " a magus can make one free melee attack with his weapon (at his highest base attack bonus) as part of casting this spell."

His claim was that doing it that way was completely unfair and overpowered. but I disagree.

for example a rogue with +1 str mod using 2 weapon fighting with flanking at level 3 will deal 2d6 + 4d6 + 1 average about 19 damage

a magus with +1 strength using the same weapon at the same level using spellstrike will do 2d6 + 3d6 + 2 average 17

mind you the rogue needs flanking but the magus needs to get the spell off. theyre both getting about the same amount of damage except the rogues will continue to grow as he levels and the maguses will cap at 5 (10 with the right metamagic feat) so i dont see how its overpowered. perhaps im missing somthing. can someone please clarify weather im right or if theres somthing that ive missed.

So now it came down to a descision of either Paladin/Oracle or a druid. well I think the paladin oracle thing really kinda matches my style of play a bit more (I usually play a Magus) I think im gonna step out of my comfort zone a bit and give druid a try. thank you everyone. any advice on how to build a combat oriented druid would be appreciated

Muticlass Paladin/Oracle of battle is a nice combo.. 2 levels of paladin for smite/loh/divine grace and some decent saves then then rest oracle of battle.. You could stagger the levels to give u healing at either 1st or 2nd level(i would do pallly first), u can wear plate and a shield for an additional meat shield and u wont be out damaging the fighter, stealing her thunder.. Later u can become a cmb guy picking up the manuever mystery.. Your not mad because all u need is str/con/cha..

I would play assaimar, with +2 str/+2 cha bonuses

15points

str-14+2
dex-10
con-14
int-10
wis-10
cha-14+2

pick up angel blooded to set u up for wings at 10th level.
take the oracle fav class bonus for oracle to increase 1 mystery faster.. Seems well rounded to me and in line with what your looking for..

that sounds pretty awesome I may not go that specific direction. (only because im already playing an oracle in another campaign and i was hoping to try somthing new.) but taking the class dip in battle oracle then hospitalizer paladin seems like it may give me what im looking for.

What books are you allowed to use?

Anything in pathfinder

For the group a Hospitaler Paladin with an Oath of Charity would actually work out well. Bards are not good healers other than using wands. You are also light on full BAB classes.. Most of what you have are 3/4 BAB classes and spell casters. Put more into CHA and focus on other things besides combat with your feats and you should not have to worry about overshadowing the Fighter.

While I like the idea of being a paladin there are two things that really push me away from it. the first is it seems paladins really dont get any REAL healing doing untill level 4-5 and by then we would be pretty much through book one leaving the bard to be the only healing source for the whole book.

it is not bad thing to have some overlap in skill sets. You could have the healing so the bard didn't have to use a bunch of spells known on cures. Not saying take cleric over druid, both I think will be good choices.
What did your friend say to talk you out of druid?

ya thats true i think really its the points available thats driving me away from cleric. I think i might be liking the druid idea cause i want to be able to be in the frey of combat but still be able to cast spells to relieve the bard.

when i said i was considering a druid my friend went on a long rant about how pathfinder druids are so much worse than 3.5 druids and how they "ruined" druids...after looking at 3.5 druids I think they were in dire need of some balancing because they seemed to be just broken.

Considered Druid?

Will make your front line team even stronger with both your companion and the eidalon to provide flanking assistance and giving you the ability to relieve the bard a bit and at the same time granting you a bit more varied list of other spells than the paladin option.
If the companion would feel like to many extra creatures with the eidalon already in the group you'd just get some nice domain instead.

Actually i had at first but was quickly talked out of it by a friend. but if a druid can do that it sounds exactly like what im looking to play. I had also considered cleric but it seems like the spells i can cast would overlap quite a lot with the bard and the melee part would overlap with the fighter.

cleric. simple as that.

I considered cleric but at 15 points i couldnt think of a way that it would really hold its own in frontline combat. (ive been spoiled by 20+ point campaigns)

So a friend of mine just bought the serpents skull ap. and were just getting a group together. atm the group has a spellslinger, a bard, a summoner, and a two handed weapon fighter. ive never been in a group with a summoner or a spellslinger so i dont know what role there going to play which is making class choice a bit tough for me.

It seems like we need a bit more meat in melee (the bards going to be ranged) so i was thinking Paladin (to remove some of the healing stress from the bard) but its the fighters first time playing a melee character and we had to beg and plead for here to step out of her comfort zone so i dont want to have a character "steal her thunder" and make her run back to witches and oracles.

What do you guys think. does it seem like this group is missing anything that immediately needs to be fixed or should i just go with whatever.

1. Bard
2. spellslinger
3. summoner
4. fighter
5. ?????? - me

oh and also the point buy is 15 points. just somthing to keep in mind
any help is greatly appreciated

So ive started a campaign based in a victorian steampunk universe. the PCs play a group of children attending a school for "gifted individuals" (kind of a Fable 1 meets X-men thing) Ive been running it for a little bit and the group seems to be really enjoying it but my problem is.

A) i need it to feel a bit more steampunkish.

B) I need it to feel more like they are in a boarding school.

Ive pushed both points as best i could but i could really use some new ideas. so please all ideas are welcome.