Bacon666's page

I played with gm's like that... Here's what I do:

- Before game, I ask for a list in writing with all house rules

- Each time the GM make a call I don't agree with, I write it down.

- AFTER the session I ask the table what they feel, and expect a consensus to be reached.

- The final ruling are written down as a guideline for next time the situation arises...

I don't mind gm bad rulings / cheating as long as it's consistent... I find that some players (and yes, I'm one if theese ) more often than others think of borderline options that call on a GM ruling...

We houseruled:

Fleet & run is combined into 1 feat
Armor restrictions are removed
(you still cannot use the feat while encumbered

Bacon666 wrote:

YOU as GM gave them the loot, and allowed crafting.

DON'T PUNISH THE PLAYERS FOR IT!

With that said... You said the chars are well equipped... How well? If they only are a bit over the limit, don't go to extremes to remove their loot.

Are your players having fun? If yes, don't break it.

How to challenge them:

Use environment
Use terrain
Use mooks
Use intelligent tactics for intelligent foes
Remember that bringing Golems when teleporting ain't easy...
How do the chars arrange sleeping?
How many encounters do you use between rests?

You mentioned AC.
How are their saves? Touch AC?

Woah, take it easy bacon. No on said anything about punishing the players. I allowed crafting because I generally allow the core rules of the game. They got the loot because they fought for it and took it from really powerful NPCs mostly, or sometimes stole/confiscated stuff (100k gp letter once).

As i said I want to give them encounters that have little or no loot for awhile to get them back to more ordinary levels.

Intelligent tactics are all well and nice if the enemy can get the drop on the group, but they often don't due to high Perception skills and generous use of See Invisibility and the like. My players are also smart and extremely experienced (we're talking 20+ years of D&D each) in combat tactics and dealing with pretty much anything.

I also strive to keep my game reasonable, that is not just throw encounters and monsters at them for no good reason and because the game says x encounters between rests. If they decide to take on 1 encounter and then rest, they will as long as they take means to protect themselves during the rest.

Last game was essentially a dungeon crawl full of intelligent enemies working together, many of which had magical abilities or SR. I'd say they were fairly challenged as they wasted some good spells on mooks, and 2 of the PCs were severaly depleted on hit points in some of the fights. And the cannon golems really scared the...

No worries... I was only yelling because I found most of the advice in this thread to be advice to screw over your players.

As I read your post you need to consider a few things...

1: do you mainly want ta challenge you party in combat or out of combat?

-in combat:

allowing 1 encounter days is very beneficial to some player types. They can get used to spending their most powerfull abilities at first chance because "we can just rest afterwards..." So once in a while hitting the party with 3-5 low cr encounters can be more challenging than 1 high cr

Attack during rests. The range of darkvision/alarm spell/ see invisibility etc. Give the watch 1 or 2 round maximum to rouse the rest of the party... Also remember the penalties for sleeping in armor, or the time to don armor...

Determine APL: you said in topic they have too much loot (for now) - if that extra loot is usefull in combat the party might count as +1 or +2 level remember this when designing encounters

- out of combat

Mysteries are great, also at high levels
When designing mysteries I try to think of any way to find the solution, and then counter the solutions in the mystery design
(an example I used resently: a young man hires the party to find out why his dead father named an unknown uncle heir instead of him... The uncle wad ofc the bad guy who wasn't in family I know my party uses "speak with dead" often, so the dead father was buried somewhere in the forest and a random dude was killed, and made to look like the father with "sculpt corps" and buried in his stead...)

Perception allows identification of potions...

DC 15+casterlevel

Starting new campaigns we usually split roles into combat roles & noncombat roles:

Combat:

Melee damage
Ranged damage
Buff
Nerf
Control
Healing
Scouting
Stealth

Non combat:

Face
Knowledge
Craft
Contacts
Stealth

Some chars will be able to handle several jobs, but we agree that each char must be good at 1 role from each group...

Clerics: adventuring holy ppl...

Adepts: temple holy ppl...

Clerks: non-casters (experts or commoners)

You need to define your alignment, and I suggest you ask the other players at the table to do the same...

As a cleric you don't need a code of conduct the same way a paladin does, but a few pins of does and don'ts can help a long way...

Yours could be something like:

I'm lawful so:
- I try to follow the laws of the land to the best of my ability.
- when in doubt I try to rationalize according to dwarven tradition and Torags teaching
- I will do anything in my power to kill any goblin who crosses my path

I'm good so:
- I donate a bit to help the poor I come across
- I won't kill innocents (unless they are gobbies)
- if I can, I help those in need

Try PC Gen

It's free, and show many, if not most, of hero labs features...

Depends on starting position. Starting unbuffed right next to eachother best initiative roll wins...

81) expecting potions and wands of Cure Light Wounds for sale at any hamlet even though the magic user of the hamlet us a 1st lv. Adept...

82) expect any armor and/or weapon of masterwork quality to be for sale at any hamlet general store...

83) expect any hamlet to have a temple(good deity) and a general store...

Hello, once my players killed an orcs clans. After clawing through the barbarian chieftain his witch wife and his warrior concubines, they found three orcs toddlers. And the PC barbarian simply killed them.

Considering orcs are naturaly evil, that's not an evil act, but they were small kids, anyway.
So it was plague control or terrible crime?

As the gm, you need to answer a few questions...

1: setting? Are you looking for asclise to RAW as possible?

2: house rules? In your games, are orcs usually evil or always evil?

3: did you ask for a knowledge roll to warn the player this COULD be an evil act?

4: if hunting an awakened evil wild boar, finding the den, would it be evil to also kill 3 piglets?

The barb was fighting bad guys, and kept going through the kidds...

What did he know about orcs (seriously... What did the barb know... Not what did the player read in the bestiary)?

How did the barb see orcs as a race?

Even if you declare it an evil act, so what?

---

Barbs are generally known to be below average in education... He is fighting another race, and find young kids. He know he can't take care of the kids, and decide it'd easyer to kill the now than let them starve to death. Bringing them to some1 who CAN AND WILL take care of 3 orc babies is to much work...

What is orcs? Enemies that must be destroyed at any cost? Animals? Potential partners? A wounded animal and an enemy is good to be killed...

Don't call HIM out on it... Call EVERYBODY out on it...

Make a houserule, that ALL player rolls (if you roll openly, make it every roll) must be verified by another person before being valid. Not "just" your problem player... Everybody!

If any1 raises the houserule as a problem, look them in the eyes and ask: "why? Is there a reason you don't want someone else to see you rolls?"

If asked why thus rule, say it gives you a few extra needed seconds to play the npc correct... (if other player(s) know of the problem, talk to them first...)

You got several options:

1: say: "screw this, I'm out", and leave...

2: take it as a challenge (even if it's an unwelcome one...), and try using spells that doesn't effect SR, allow more spells to fizzle etc.

3: die, and build a new char that isn't a blaster...

4: be a baby back - first time a spell fizzles, you find your crossbow, and start shooting...

5: find out what your gm wants... If he read that a cr appropriate encounter should take 25% of the party's resources, and decide that means 25% of your spells should fizzle, ask to rebuild your char... Drop some of the abilities to pass SR, and add other stuff instead...

6: take over gm'ing...

The class "paladin" doesn't require a specific deity, so you could be a paladin of any (LG) concept or dogma... The big question is whether the deity you are a cleric of allows you to work for another deity...

As a gm, your chosen domains should be the same for both deities to allow it but: any LG follower (read NOT divine caster) can become a paladin... A LG divine caster can call himself a paladin, but no deity sharing...

For me it varies a lot... And depends on the system.

No matter what I prefers a bit of both. Even the most serious game can have elements that (especially after the game) are extremely fun, and in a very light game, even deaths can be downtoned.

As I wrote it also depends on system. Magic heavy systems like d&d/pf are easy made light. Where low magic systems like warhammer tends to be more serious

Most important though are expectations b4 game start. If the gm states it's gonna be a very light game, where the most important thing is the laughs that's ok. If it then turns out to be a deep thinking mystery less so. And vice versa. A mystery game is fun, but if it turns out to be a mystery between clowns in a circus... Expectations aren't met.

You tried facebook?

Asking your friends and asking them to ask their friendsis the modern way if putting up a post-it in the local super market...

Wanna be wild? Try putting up a note at the local library... (public and/or school, depending on your age)

Ask the friends you already play with if they might know some1 who would like to try...

At that point I would make it clear to my players that no, I won't run a "normal" campaign... They have to choose between my homebrew or find sone1 else to gm. I would let them know, that for me to have fun gm'ing I want freedom of creativity which I don't find running premade stuff...

I would offer a compromise that my weird ideas form the overall plot, but promising to put in "normal" scenarios...

You need to ask yourself some questions...

What kind of official
What kind of corruption
How will/can the party learn of the problem
Why/how did the party come to the city
Are the laws special in this city
Are the laws special for this race
Why should the party solve the problem
Will the citizens of the city support the official or the party
What level are the party
What level/CR is the avg citizen

When you figure out theese questions (and many more) the adventure should write itself ...

Is it possible to use more than 1 stone and thereby store several 1st level spells? Or is it necessary to get a non cracked version, and not use the ability to store a higher level spell?

A low point buy is only a mistake if the gm doesn't scale the encounters equally...

In other words: don't focus on low ability scores. Focus on building the char you want to play, and have faith in your gm to build the encounters to suit a 10 point party!

In 3.x you could get a cloak of resistance +10 for 1 mil...

As awakened the bear is intelligent.
As the awakener you should send the bear on a quest to find it's own name.

I would use a quick fix... Double any enemy the party meets...

7 players is close to double, so it should work...

In my games it also about how the char handled the death afterwards...

1: I need a new cohord = penalty
2: taking care according to level (high level might raise, lower level financial Cate of cohords family) = no penalty...

I'd like to see skill groups like in shadowrun... There should be a bonus to being trained in several linked abilities. This could be something like buying the "athletics" group with acrobatics, climb,jump & swim cost 3 skill points per rank (saving 1 for not buying individual skills)

I'd also like a crafts system making sense...
1: remove fabricate spell,and make effect of mending and make whole temporary...
2: synergy, or even better skill tree... Why can't the world's best weaponsmith make a plov?
An example could be 1 rank, you are a black smith. At 2 ranks, and every 2 ranks there after you add a specialty (weapons,armies etc.) Or a special material (mithral, adamantium etc) each specialityyou want to use, but don't have is -2 to each needed check. (and special materials cost shouldn't count when calculating time needed...)

A similar system could be used on knowledge checks...

The reduced amount of skills should remove the int modifyer to gained skills.

Int modifier should instead be used to get extra class skills.

Steal their loot!

Hire them to do a job, but not pay as expected...

Druids can have 5 different alignments.

A neutral good druid will be very different from a neutral evil druid.

Gm and druid player need to discuss this b4 playing!

Monsters with fighter levels sure... Humans no..

My problem with most martial BBEG is that they tend to 1 round kill pc's...

Casters can more easyly use a few round playing with conditions...

Being new to the game, make all chars together...

I resently started gm'ing for some kids and started by having them create 1 char of each class as a group.this way all chars were made by even amounts of system mastery, and each player could choose whatever class they wanted to play... (to make it easy on new players I said no archetypes, and humans only...)

I always try to fit my sessions so there's something for each player... If 1 char is a melee master, give them skillbased encounters etc...but also let the specialists shine.

Thhink about what a normal house got:

Kitchen: golem chef wanna use the group as dinner unless they convince the fire elemental to heat the soup!

Bedroom, symbol of sleep on the wall, a few bard zombies summoned upon activation singing lullaby for 1D6+1 rounds (may just be an illusion...)

Dinner room: animated chairs want ppl to sit down, so they excell at tripping guests...

Lounge: home of a few succubus guests willing to get friendly with other guests...

Restroom, unless the secret phrase is shouted (con check DC 14 to shout loud enough) or the smelling poop elemental comes... (this elemental gains 1D12 hp each time a player or character says "s+!&" in any language)

Social encounters
Chases...
A similar monk build
Moral dilemmas
Enviromental problems

First of, welcome to tabletop.

You got several options:

- build your own world/module
- give less xp and use slow progression
- drop xp and level chars when YOU want

Hope this helps...

I agree that he won't be a problem...

Your friends are undead, outsiders, constructs and swarms, but remember to let him shine.

Give him missions where he can sneak in, Sap some poor bastard, and sneak out. Let him play social scenarios trying to put the blame on someone else, a d then throw in an encounter where he will be useless...

Hey all.

I wanna prep a char in case my current dies, and I want a high str 2 handed figther...

We are all humans!
Stat array, so starting str = 20 inc. Racial bonus.
Allowed books are CRB, APG, UM, UC & UE
Level 10 build, 100.000 gp.

I was thinking:

1 alchemist (for mutagen)
2-4 barb (for rage)
5 sorc (draconic)
6-10 DD

any suggestions on gear and feats?
Other stronger class combos ?

* edit, actually forgot the sorc level

All legit... if the group successfully beats the succubus, have them meet a high Cha female vampire next... just to see if they learned anything :)

indeed flaws and/or low stats/skills can be very funny to play... In my current campain I gave the stats to the players so they could use as they saw fit... among the stats was a 6... for the first 3 sessions it's been vry fun for me to see the munchkins (doing their best to avoid using that stat) and the roleplyers that play out their flaws... very funny indeed :)