You need to write a background about how you became a free vampire, and hop no one in the party makes positive energy cleric/paladin types...
Old Gnome Vampire Oracle of Lore:
sry 'bout format
change spells to see fit::
BROKEN ORA
CR 12
XP 19.200
Male vampire old gnome (vampire) oracle 11
LE Small undead
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +34
DEFENSE
AC 33, touch 25, flat-footed 21 (+2 deflection, +11 Dex, +1 dodge, +8 natur al, +1 size)
hp 186 (11d8+132)fast healing 5
Fort +19, Ref +19, Will +16, +2 vs. illusion spells or effects
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 10/magic and silver; Immune ability drain, death effects, death from massive damage, disease, energy drain, exhaustion, fatigue, mind-affecting effects, nonlethal damage, paralysis, poison, sleep, stunning; Resist cold 10 , electricity 10
Weaknesses Vampire Weaknesses,
OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft., Spider Climb
Melee slam +13 (1d3+4)
Special Attacks blood drain, children of the night, create spawn, dominate, energy drain
Innate Spell-Like Abilities: dancing lights ( 1/day) ghost sound ( DC 21, 1/day) prestidigitation ( DC 21, 1/day) speak with animals ( DC , 1/day)
Known Oracle Spells (CL 11th, concentration +22): 5th (6/day)—curse, major (DC 26), true seeing, contact other plane, inflict light wounds (mass) (DC 26)
4th (8/day)—fleshworm infestation (DC 25), freedom of movement, poison (DC 25), legend lore, inflict critical wounds (DC 25)
3rd (9/day)—magic circle against good, protection from energy, sands of time, vision of hell (DC 25), inflict serious wounds (DC 24), locate object
2nd (9/day)—arrow of law (DC 23), darkness, death knell (DC 23), desecrate, dread bolt (DC 23), tongues, inflict moderate wounds (DC 23)
1st (9/day)—ant haul, command (DC 22), deadeye's lore, deathwatch, detect chaos, identify, inflict light wounds (DC 22)
0 (at will)—bleed (DC 21), create water, detect magic, light, mending, purify food and drink (DC 21), read magic, spark (DC 21), stabilize
STATISTICS
Str 18, Dex 16, Con —, Int 16, Wis 22, Cha 33
Base Atk +8; CMB +11; CMD 27
Feats Alertness, Clustered Shots, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Fleet (2x), Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Toughness,
Skills Bluff +19 , Diplomacy +25 , Fly +16 , Knowledge (Planes) +17 , Knowledge (Religion) +17 , Linguistics(Abyssal, Celestial, Cyclops, Daemon, Dwarven, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Infernal, Orc, Undercommon) +14 , Perception +34 , Sense Motive +32 , Spellcraft +17 , Stealth +15
Traits calistrian prostitute (calistria) (sense motive), reactionary
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Cyclops, Daemon, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Ignan, Infernal, Orc, Sylvan, Undercommon, Tongues (Ignan),
SQ brain drain, change shape (dire bat or wolf, beast shape II), channel resistance, darkvision 5, defensive training, fast healing, gaseous form, gnome magic, hatred, illusion resistance, immunity to ability drain, immunity to death effects, immunity to death from massive damage, immunity to disease 10, immunity to energy drain 10, immunity to exhaustion, immunity to fatigue, immunity to mind-affecting effects, immunity to nonlethal damage, immunity to paralysis
Gear slam, amulet of natural armor +2, headband of alluring charisma +6, bracers of falcon's aim, ring of protection +2, ring of sustenance, belt of physical might (str/dex) +2, cloak of resistance +3, boots of striding and springing, outfit (traveler's/small)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Blood Drain (Su) A vampire can suck blood from a grappled opponent; if the vampire establishes or maintains a pin, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage. The vampire heals 5 hit points or gains 5 temporary hit points for 1 hour (up to a maximum number of temporary hit points equal to its full normal hit points) each round it drains blood.
Brain Drain (Su) You can take a standard action to violently probe the mind of a single intelligent enemy within 100 feet. The target receives a Will save (DC 0) to negate the effect and immediately knows the source of this harmful mental prying. Those who fail this save are wracked with pain, taking 11d4 points of damage. After successfully attacking with this ability, you may use a full-round action to sort through the jumble of stolen thoughts and memories to make a single Knowledge check using the victimUs skill bonus. The randomly stolen thoughts remain in your mind for a 11 rounds. Treat the knowledge gained as if you used detect thoughts. This is a mind-affecting effect. You can use this ability 3 time(s) per day.
Calistrian Prostitute (Calistria) (Sense Motive) You worked in one of Calistria's temples as a sacred prostitute, and you know how to flatter, please, and (most of all) listen. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sense Motive checks and Diplomacy checks to gather information, and one of these skills (your choice) is always a class skill for you.
Change Shape (Su) A vampire can use change shape to assume the form of a dire bat or wolf, as beast shape II.
Channel Resistance (Ex) You are less easily affected by clerics or paladins. You add +4 to saves made to resist the effects of channel energy, including effects that rely on the use of channel energy.
Children of the Night (Su) Once per day, a vampire can call forth 1d6+1 rat swarms, 1d4+1 bat swarms, or 2d6 wolves as a standard action. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might summon other creatures of similar power.) These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the vampire for up to 1 hour.
Create Spawn (Su) A vampire can create spawn out of those it slays with blood drain or energy drain, provided that the slain creature is of the same creature type as the vampire's base creature type. The victim rises from death as a vampire in 1d4 days. This vampire is under the command of the vampire that created it, and remains enslaved until its master's destruction. A vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice; any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit become free-willed undead. A vampire may free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, a vampire or vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.
Darkvision (Ex) Range 60 ft.; Darkvision is the extraordinary ability to see with no light source at all, out to a range specified for the creature. Darkvision is black and white only (colors cannot be discerned). It does not allow characters to see anything that they could not see otherwise-invisible objects are still invisible, and illusions are still visible as what they seem to be. Likewise, darkvision subjects a creature to gaze attacks normally. The presence of light does not spoil darkvision.
Defensive Training (Ex) Gnomes get a +4 dodge bonus to AC against monsters of the giant type.
Dominate (Su) A vampire can crush a humanoid opponent's will as a standard action. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save DC 26 or fall instantly under the vampire's influence, as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 12th). The ability has a range of 30 feet. At the GM's discretion, some vampires might be able to affect different creature types with this power.
Energy Drain (Su) A creature hit by a vampire's slam (or other natural weapon) gains two negative levels. This ability only triggers once per round, regardless of the number of attacks a vampire makes.
Fast Healing (Ex) You regain hit points at 5 hit points per round. You regain hit points at 5 per round. Fast healing does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation, nor does it allow a creature to regrow lost body parts. Unless otherwise stated, it does not allow lost body parts to be reattached. Fast healing continues to function (even at negative hit points) until a creature dies, at which point the effects of fast healing end immediately.
Gaseous Form (Su) As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will (caster level 5th), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability.
Gnome Magic (Sp) Gnomes add +1 to the DC of any saving throws against illusion spells that they cast. Gnomes with a Charisma of 11 or higher also gain spell-like abilities.
Hatred (Ex) Gnomes receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against humanoid creatures of the reptilian and goblinoid subtypes due to special training against these hated foes.
Illusion Resistance (Ex) Gnomes get a +2 racial saving throw bonus against illusion spells or effects.
Immunity to Ability Drain (Ex) You are immune to ability drain attacks.
Immunity to Death Effects (Ex) You are never subject to death effects.
Immunity to Death from Massive Damage (Ex) You are not at risk of death from massive damage.
Immunity to Disease (Ex) You are never subject to disease effects.
Immunity to Energy Drain (Ex) You are immune to energy drain attacks.
Immunity to Exhaustion (Ex) You can never be exhausted.
Immunity to Fatigue (Ex) You can never be fatigued.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting Effects (Ex) You are never affected by mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
Immunity to Nonlethal Damage (Ex) You are never subject to nonlethal damage.
Immunity to Paralysis (Ex) You can never be paralyzed.
Immunity to Poison (Ex) You never take poison damage.
Immunity to Sleep (Ex) You are never subject to sleep effects.
Immunity to Stunning (Ex) You are never subject to stunning.
Keen Senses (Ex) Gnomes receive a +2 bonus on Perception skill checks.
Lore Keeper (Ex) Instead of encyclopedic knowledge, you learn most of your information through tales, songs, and poems. You may use your Charisma modifier instead of your Intelligence modifier on all Knowledge checks.
Lore Mysteries You draw upon the divine mystery of Lore to grant your spells and powers.
Low-Light Vision (Ex) You can see x2 as far as humans in low illumination. Characters with low-light vision have eyes that are so sensitive to light that they can see twice as far as normal in dim light. Low-Light Vision is color vision. A spellcaster with low-light vision can read a scroll as long as even the tiniest candle flame is next to her as a source of light. Characters with low-light vision can see outdoors on a moonlit night as well as they can during the day.
Obsessive (Ex) Gnomes receive a +2 racial bonus on a Craft or Profession skill of their choice.
Orisons You can prepare a number of orisons, or 0-level spells. These spells are cast like any other spells, but they are not expended when used and may be used again.
Reactionary You were bullied often as a child, but never quite developed an offensive response. Instead, you became adept at anticipating sudden attacks and reacting to danger quickly. You gain a +2 trait bonus on Initiative checks.
Resistance to Cold (Ex) You may ignore 10 points of Cold damage each time you take cold damage.
Resistance to Electricity (Ex) You may ignore 10 points of Electricity damage each time you take electricity damage.
Shadowless (Ex) A vampire casts no shadows and shows no ref lection in a mirror.
Sidestep Secret (Su) Your innate understanding of the universe has granted you preternatural reflexes and the uncanny ability to step out of danger at the very last second. Add your Charisma modifier (instead of your Dexterity modifier) to your Armor Class and all Reflex saving throws. Your armor's maximum Dexterity bonus applies to your Charisma instead of your Dexterity.
Spider Climb (Ex) A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though under the effects of a spider climb spell.
Think On It (Ex) Once per day, the oracle of lore can reattempt any previously failed Knowledge check. On this attempt, add a +10 competence bonus on the check.
Tongues (Ignan) In times of stress or unease, you speak in tongues.
Vampire Weaknesses Vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from mirrors or strongly presented holy symbols. These things don't harm the vampire--they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampire must stay at least 5 feet away from the mirror or holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attacks against that creature. Holding a vampire at bay takes a standard action. After 1 round, a vampire can overcome its revulsion of the object and function normally each round it makes a DC 25 Will save. Vampires cannot enter a private home or dwelling unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. Reducing a vampire's hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn't always destroy it (see fast healing). However, certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight staggers it on the first round of exposure and destroys it utterly on the second consecutive round of exposure if it does not escape. Each round of immersion in running water inflicts damage on a vampire equal to onethird of its maximum hit points--a vampire reduced to 0 hit points in this manner is destroyed. Driving a wooden stake through a helpless vampire's heart instantly slays it (this is a full-round action). However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the head is also severed and anointed with holy water.
Weapon Familiarity (Ex) Gnomes treat any weapon with the word "gnome" in its name as a martial weapon.
I spent a sleepless night adding class levels to high HD monsters... and wondered... many high level/CR monsters have normal, double or even tripple treassure...
I.E.
The Draconal
CR 20 - Treassure: Double
now add some class levels, and end up with CR 25-30ish... so he can buy loot for how much? yes, he gets double something, but the base that needs doubling, I can't find...
Unfair? Depends on the party knowledge... If they KNOW they left a pissed off sorc bad guy behind, not unfair, cause they SHOULD know he will retaliate...
I would have the sorc harras the party for a while b4 trying to kill them.... Just like a cat plays with the mouse. Tom & Jerry told us a well prepared mouse can beat the cat...
I would allow it... A successfull check could indicate he found an ,a few days old, ambushsite, so iron arrowheads is definately possible, even without a furnace...
- 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...
Decide what level you want them to be and then update their statistics.
Also have a rough idea what kind of encounters gave them the experience to level up...
If Farmer Frank needs to level up perhaps his farm was attacked by wolves, and Frank saved all his piglets, and killed the Aloha wolf. After this he went to the mayor to get a small reward (social encounter) etc... No need to be too specific, but be prepared if your players ask questions...
If your players are roughly at the same place in life, and find the idea good, go for it!
Emphasize they are building caricatures of them selves, not statting out the real them (impossible to do within the rules)
Be prepared for a flame war... Paladin alignment threads comes 14 on a dozen on the forum...
My take:
The lawful part of the paladins LG means he follows his code of conduct to the letter. His code of conduct is heavily influenced by his deitys tenements...
On the advanced old planet a "normal" family would probably get 1-3 kids with high survival rate.
Among primitives expect 10-15 kids per family with a high death rate.
The "cure" is what we see in many poor countries today... Implementing hygiene and Medicare to help many kids survive, but taking a couple of generations to reduce the number of kids per family.
So:
At first population increase will be close to 0%
Once hygiene is made normal among the primitives expect exponential growth of 200-400% per generation
Questions:
How many years do you expect the campaign to use.?.. If only a few years, nothing will happen... Severel centuries, much can happen
Will it be player goal to increase population or is it more sandbox?
Point 2: ask your players what they expect from you as GM
- reward roleplaying.
- don't expect player behavior to change from 1 sessionto the next.
- as others have mentioned, use the backgrounds. (i know that I hate using time on a background that means nothing when game starts...)
If they all play cha dumping moody dudes, ask them (the players) what kind of jobs they expect with no "face" to handle contacts
Did you ask of any specific parts from the background? I usually ask for:
-family (names, jobs, siblings etc.)
-childhood friends
-reason for starting class
-at least 3 open plot hooks...
-character dream goal
-connection to at least 1 of the other chars
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...)
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?
Challenging encounters are great fun, but not the only/most fun... I find fun in:
-Some challenging encounters
-A few encounters created for each char to shine (the challenge is for me to create theese encounters)
-Creating a good storyline
-Creating good mysteries
-Being challenged to think on my feet when (not if... When) my players do something unexpected )
- guessing how my players will react to scenarios I've created
- much much more...
If his perception isn't too high, ambushes removes his "at range superiority"
Look hard throug the bestiary... There's probably monsters with damage reduction vs. Piercing...
Enemy archers to take his focus while the rest of the group handles other threat...
Many lv.1 minions... They should die of 1 attack, but that's 1 less attack on the main baddies make them sorcs, and they can each use magic missile once or twice b4 death...
At lv 10 magic is the way to go...
How does he deal with invisibility?
Windwall?
Illusions?
Command?
Half dragon trolls make fearsome enemies...
As others said, spell casters.
A new point.. mooks.
Have 1 cr appropriate giant for each char, backed up by 5-10 mooks.
When the party uses archers, make sure to have ranged enemies too... Thrown boulders can wreck havoc, but what if the ogre barb had a level of alchemist too?
I would say that a "standard" off the shelf master work frying pan would give the bonus to cooking. However: I see no problem in going to a blacksmith/weaponsmith and special order a frying pan made for combat.
Any1 willing to pay 300+ gp for a cooking utensil would be welcome in any smith in my campaigns B-)
Look at furious focus feat... No penalty on first power attack to hit roll...
For potential dipping I will suggest vivisectionist alchemist... Mutagen for + 4 str, 1d6 sneak attack, a bunch of skills, throw anything feat & a few extracts...
