Bastress's page

So I figure, witches are coming in the advanced player's guide playtest in a few months, so they're probably at least a little bit on your minds right now. Also, pf2 just landed and there's a whole lot of new systems that seem a heck of a lot more streamlined. So right now is probably the best time to just group-craft this into a working concept that is playable without being too powerful.

Simple concept is this: You have a group of witches with some spellcasting whose primary spellcasting source appears to be a weapon that they are wielding, oftentimes a longspear. These witches have less spells per day than a wizard, and their spells are less flashy, but they have an aura about themselves that inhibits the abilities of everyone around them.

For some of these witches, the aura affects them too, and is more powerful. Others aren't affected by their own aura but its effects are diminished.

The weapons they wield are in tune somewhat with some sort of powerful entity off "somewhere else", and it's not clear whether the weapon they wield is holding back that entity, or if it's an actual shard of that entity. Importantly, the witches themselves don't know if destroying their own weapons would be a good or bad thing for anyone.

Since PF2 allows for retraining, in the case of these witches might take the form of swapping out their weapon for another one, and that would coincide with altering the aura, their spell lists, and any other class features.

And while the concept of the character was originally a group of all women casters that formed the initial covens, cults, and charters, enough time has passed that no implied gender or sex restriction need apply.

Each of the witch's weapons would look like some sort of shard of magical crystal, but would have the same stats as a regular weapon. If destroyed, the energy would not be released immediately, there would be plenty of time to attempt to repair it before something disastrous occurred. Think days, not minutes or hours.

the aura would be in tune with an ability score (yay for no longer losing access to class abilities if those go too low now ...right?) and would take one of a few forms:
1) the aura affects others only, not the witch, and gives -4 to a stat.
2) the aura affects the witch for -2 to said stat, -6 to others.
3) the aura is more powerful near the witch but doesn't affect her, -6 close range, -2 long range.
4) the aura is more powerful the farther away it gets to a maximum, inverted as option 3, but it affects the witch with -2 to that ability score.

all subject to change, since these are very powerful debilitating effects.

although the weapon could be seen as the source of the aura, it is always centered on the witch because it's in tune with her, and the weapon acts as a sort of anchor.

I'm torn on a lot of things in this concept as is, especially the aura and how powerful it is, it's way too powerful for previous versions of d&d/pf, obviously, and some ability scores are always going to be more powerful than others, but this new version seems a lot more balanced and looks like it would work well with it.

If you just can't wait to show them off or if you're proud of some combination you found or you just love some new feature, it doesn't matter. I don't suppose I should limit you to one per post but I'm at least going to start off the thread with just one.

Najamamba, the Jungle Detective.
NG Human (Mwangi, Zenj) Barbarian.
Solves mysteries - and turns into a snake!

stat block:

I'm testing out all sorts of stuff in the character creator via herolab and having a blast.

I made an elf barbarian who was a gladiator in an underground arena hundreds of years ago who went into hiding after a bunch of other adventurers burned the thing to the ground.

I made a charlatan diviner whose whole shtick is to whip up towns into a frenzy of intrigue just to see what happens.

I made a ranger of Gozreh who protects the wilderness from gentrification.

Also a former bounty hunter turned liberator, who's fighting to free the people she unjustly handed over to corrupt lawmen.

A lawful necromancer, follower of Nethys, who in her spare time consults as a private investigator, mainly because of her expertise at keeping her own privacy.

And the best part is each of them is so easy to start up because it's little more than picking a background and a class and just going hog wild.

I'm trying to figure out a way to make a detective barbarian. But I can't stop giggling at the idea of Conan looking around him and cursing at the black and white and shades of grey.

I have a character that I've bounced around in various systems.

When I first played around in 3rd edition D&D, I was very impressed with the flexibility of multiclassing and I loved the idea that a character could show real growth and even a career change in the game, something that most roleplaying games could use as a kick in the pants. (The idea that you're locked into a class system really disgusts me on multiple levels)

This character of mine reached what I would consider her ideal nature when I simplified her as this:

Level 1 she's a fighter, spends a great deal of time as a soldier and mercenary and is competent at fighting, but it's not her real calling.
Then she multiclasses into rogue - having turned her back on the soldier career, she joins into various criminal sororities and ends up as a career criminal, but then ends up on the run, and ends up in a very interesting situation.
She kills and replaces a student at a secret wizarding school, and begins training as a wizard, using her "use magic device" and "Knowledge arcane" to pass herself off as the student she's impersonating. The other students at this school are completely aware of the deception and are not fooled, but never really liked the other girl and are totally okay with the situation. After a few wizard levels, she ends up becoming one of the star pupils of her class and ends up going on adventures mostly to obtain things for the school.

Yes, it's true that this character started out as an excuse to sneak attack with a greatsword using invisibility, and that kind of thing has long since been nerfed to hell by newer game systems, for various reasons, mostly because DM's don't want to deal with that kind of nonsense. It's honestly just silly that you can accept all of the ridiculous nonsense in the game already but catching someone off guard with an invisible greatsword won't deal extra damage "BECAUSE OF REASONS OK".

In any case, as far as I can tell this PF2 system actually lets this character shave an entire level off of the character progression. I'm looking at the rules as is and just by declaring the character background of warrior and making the level 1 rogue a brute, that pretty much settles that part of the background. Looking at the damage her weapon would deal, it honestly seems fine, I don't think she loses out on any practical gameplay utility or power from being more interesting. But I'm not sure how the spell progression works out. Do I only get the spells from feats every other level? or do I get some spell progression while gaining levels in rogue (since apparently she's full rogue till 20 in this new system)?

Anyways if you guys have any ideas on how to improve this concept or make it work more closely with the original design, I'm all ears.

So about a month or so ago, friends said they were going to start up a new pathfinder game at another friend's house, mainly because we hadn't been gaming in a while on account of the DM being very pregnant, among other things. It was a great time to start up a new game, and I volunteered to be the DM so that I could give ye olde DMe an opportunity to play and to not have to worry about the GM'ing side of things.

I came up with a series of hooks for various group alignments, sorta like the computer game Temple of Elemental Evil (you choose the alignment of your group and that determines how the game starts off for your party).

Each starting point was supposed to be wildly different but for whatever reason I got hooked into making them all about a war.

-------------
The War of the Posts

Not long ago enough, a war started between two countries, Nation A and Nation B, over an incident that remains shrouded in confusion. According to most rumors, a nobleman from Nation A was in Nation B on vacation when he was attacked by brigands claiming only to be "citizens of our nation." His wife and son were nailed to wooden posts and burned alive, and his arms and legs were hacked apart and he was sent back to his own nation in the flaming remains of his stagecoach. His dying words condemned Nation B and demanded retribution.
Since then the war has claimed the lives of over a thousand children on both sides. Commoners everywhere have taken to a very pessimistic attitude, knowing that anyone who loses a child in the war is only reimbursed the cost of the wooden posts that are burned. Hence, the war has taken on the very bitter and depressing title "The war of the posts."
-----------

The party ended up choosing the Neutral Evil option:

Your party is a group of war profiteers. You work for a mysterious entity known as the Patron, and he has tasked you with a sinister purpose: Maintain the war for as long as possible. Drag new countries into the war, and ensure that both sides remain relatively equal in power and threat so that the money keeps flowing.

-------------

Over the course of the first few adventures, the party has made several contacts and business relations and has managed to discover that there exists a group dedicated to precisely the opposite of their current goal. A group of druids and like-minded folk are trying to maintain the neutrality of the various countries in order to prevent them from suffering the ravages of war, among other things.

It didn't take long for them to intimidate a goblin into pointing the way to the elf-wolf (?) who stalks the streets of one of the local villages at night. They cornered the druid, tricked her into believing that they were friendly, (courtesy of some mind reading tricks and some awesome bluff skills) and managed to get the location of one of the druidic secret bases before killing her to make sure there were no witnesses.

----------

In another session, they were approached by their bard contact who gave them a map to a dungeon that she had also shared with a few other adventuring groups. When they arrived, there were other adventuring groups already raiding the dungeon (!) which made the experience all the more interesting from a typical dungeon crawl. (I've seriously been waiting to do that for a long while) They ended up getting to a powerful secret weapon before it could be carried out, and delivered it to their patron (who took the risky opportunity to teleport in to claim it, and sent payment to their hideout). Then they cleared the place out and extorted future payment from some soldiers of another nation.

--------

That's all of their escapades for now, but I have some surprises for them in the form of a randomized deck of cards:
I created -
5 cards detailing armies
4 cards detailing super units, one of which counts double
5 cards detailing power groups
5 cards detailing special units
5 cards detailing irregulars, one of whom is a liability

Each card represents an asset that one of the two warring nations can, or has, obtained.

An army is something like "Bob Fizzywhiskers, gnome techmaturgist and his army of robot skeletons", which represents a massive boost to a country's war efforts and is easily the "best" of the categories. it opens up some opportunities for roleplay in that whichever army ends up getting that is going to be looking for all sorts of new resources, and the opposing army is going to be looking for ways to disrupt them.

A super unit is something like "Hobbes the lich", who is helping an army immensely, but at significant cost.

A power group is something like "Foot-of-Grask and his orc war riders", a specialist team of mercenaries that can hit enemy supplies, disrupt troop movements, and win several small battles regularly, without really costing an army as much as a super unit would.

an irregular is something like "Dwarven Siegebreakers from Loststone Mountain", they can serve in one of two roles: they can act as a power group in specific roles (in this case, with their siege weaponry) or they can act as a special unit, granting bonuses during specific circumstances (sieging or being sieged) by spreading their resources throughout the nation.

Then there are the special units, like "Askar, the Low Templar", who grant specific bonuses (in this case, he enables a nation to ignore most of the morality or ethicality penalties from conflicts of alignment amongst their armies, units, and other things, both from the cards and from the campaign itself)

==

Whew, that's a lot of typing.

So my current plan is to have the group draw two cards at random for each of the two nations, and then draw 5 cards to represent 5 free agents, whom they will need to convince to join one side or the other, in the hopes of keeping the war as balanced as possible. I hope that the unpredictability of the stuff will help to keep things refreshing, especially if one army ends up with a massive advantage and they have to do a lot of work to keep the "balance" under control.

What do you guys think? Do you like my ideas? Does this not sound awesome? I'm kinda proud of what I've made so far, and we're having a blast, so I figure I'm doing something right.

Also: Yes, Nation A and Nation B are not very creative names, so I kinda need to work on that. If anyone has ideas for nation names (or if you know two nations that would work really well for this based on the setting), feel free to share.

Also, this goes without saying, but if you like the idea so much that you want to run a similar campaign, by all means do so. I can even share the entire list of cards if you're up for that, I just figured it'd take up a lot of room.

Okay so we all know that the mechanics are going to be harshly different in PFO, because a lot of things just don't translate over, but...

Let's do some mental exercises and ask ourselves, "What would be the most awesome level one pen and paper character we could possibly take into Pathfinder Online, as is?"

(no mythics)

Half-elves get immunity to sleep, can make perception a class skill regardless of their class to go along with their racial bonus, they get to choose the ability score they get a bonus to, they get skill focus, and they get an awesome favored class bonus for being a summoner.

If I were to attempt to break a character concept, I'd start looking at ways to cheat around things the designers wouldn't have anticipated.

I'd be a summoner and I'd make my eidolon try to be a rogue.
With just scent and climb, my eidolon would be able to sneak up walls that nobody was guarding, while I remained stealthed in an area that guards weren't expecting an attack from. I could give it a climb of 35 with my other trait, and share my expeditious retreat and shield spells if the target of theft was under a minute away.

When the eidolon makes it into the treasure room, it grabs some scrolls and wands and weapons, and then... I desummon it. it keeps that gear in its hands until I stroll into town, buy a room, and resummon my eidolon in safety, to count the riches.

With a 9 in bluff and disguise (my eidolon would have 4 in each), I can probably get away with most necessary interactions, and my 12 in use magic device gets me the ability to fool any magic item into working for me.

So basically, I'd be an untraceable unkillable super-ninja stealing powerful magical items from wizards and guilds and using them to fuel my next heist.

Let's see what you can come up with, shall we?

I was off doing random chores when I was thinking about the deities that are going into the MVP, and I figure they probably had Lamashtu as the CE god so that the gods wouldn't be "good=female, evil = male" because she's the one that breaks that trope, lol.

And I was like, "Lamashtu's the evil god that's all about sex(especially the noncon type), and pregnancy, and well, literally bumping uglies.
(note to self: another hilarious guild name, I just came up with that while typing this lol)

And I was thinking it's kinda hilarious that pregnancy is evil in Pathfinder, but I was trying to visualize it in terms of how the cult of Lamashtu would advertise themselves, and I just had this hilarious image of a cultist holding up a sign that said: "Sex is EVIL Let's get to F***ING" and just herding people into the Lamashtu Convention Center.

So it's pretty much a given that I won't be playing any chaotic evil characters at release, but the idea of a guild named SIELGF made me chuckle. I figured I'd share.

And I'd definitely go with Bumping Uglies over even that. I figured there had to be other names people would consider using (but ultimately wouldn't use), and the forums seem like a good place to get it out of your system.

Note: If you did decide to make that your guild name, it'd most likely be a big candidate for "bad name" and it'd get renamed or struck down by the gods.

In character creation, I'd randomly generate a character based on the average character breakdown for the region, then allow the player to customize whichever parts they didn't like, to finish out the character. Why? Because I'm undoubtedly going to hit option overload and paralysis. So many things to choose from, I'll be in the character creator for hours.

I would also be tempted to make certain race, class, background trait, or starting feat options randomly locked (as in, you have an 85% chance of having paladin be inaccessible to you if you choose tiefling, or something like that) - not to remove the option, because you'd be able to create one eventually, but to highlight the alternatives, and to make the character feel extra unique when you see that the button is available. From experience though, as soon as a player sees that something is restricted, it becomes something they have to have, so that would have the opposite effect. And also, I have to remind myself that there will only be the handful of stuff available at release...

And that's probably a good thing too, because as soon as the Advanced Player's Guide classes make it into Pathfinder Online, those are going to be all of my characters. Witches, Summoners, and Oracles galore!

In time, the mortals shall surpass the gods.

We are a Neutral guild dedicated to amassing powers, treasures, and political favors to empower ourselves.

Permitted alignments: Neutral Good (sparingly), Lawful Neutral and Chaotic Neutral, Neutral (Preferred), and Neutral Evil (Preferred). (The only reason for a slight preference for evil as opposed to good is because I am a jaded person and I fully expect hundreds of thousands of so-called good characters to be nothing of the sort. At least the evil players are honest)

There will be no tolerance for those who openly or secretly plot against our guild, from within or without. You will treat one another with utmost respect, and if you are mistreated by a fellow guildmate, bring those concerns to light. We will always listen.

Cartoonish stereotypes of evil will not be tolerated, nor will stereotypes of anything else.

It is in our best interests, in every way, to ensure a wonderful, pleasant gaming experience for one another. See that you contribute to that.

Click here to see our Guild's Land Rush page
Click here for the guild's webpage

If you have any questions, ask away.

Lemme throw out the basic design first, then I'll explain it.

Characters start out with straight tens in all stats, plus racial and size modifiers, and can purchase competence, enhancement, insight, and sacred/profane bonuses to their ability scores by spending 15 points worth of character customization points.

A competence bonus of +2 can be purchased for two ability scores from the following combinations:
Strength/Dexterity
Dexterity/Constitution
Constitution/Charisma
Charisma/Wisdom
Wisdom/Intelligence
Intelligence/Strength

competence bonuses do not stack. This option costs 3 customization points (but is cost efficient).

An enhancement bonus of +2 can be purchased for any ability score. enhancement bonuses do not stack, nor do they stack with equipment. This option costs 2 customization points (and represents a magical trinket on your character's possession that can never be stolen nor disenchanted, nor used against your character in any way).

An insight bonus of +2 can be purchased for any ability score. insight bonuses do not stack, nor do they stack with equipment. This option costs 2 customization points (and represents innate talent and a gift that cannot be taken away, even by ability score drain).

A Sacred/Profane bonus can be purchased for any ability score, but at a cost.
+2 Strength/-2 Constitution (you are gifted with strength at the cost of health)
+2 Dexterity/-2 Charisma (Your physical grace and speed afford you less social grace and patience)
+2 Constitution/-2 Wisdom (Your health in the face of danger leads you to unwise decisions)
+2 Wisdom/-2 Strength (You are granted the sight of the sages, and some of their sloth)
+2 Intelligence/-2 Dexterity (You are granted gifts of memory, but your head remains in the clouds)

Sacred/Profane bonuses can be purchased at the cost of 1 customization point, and do not stack, and Sacred bonuses do not stack with Profane bonuses. These are gifts granted by the gods through clerics, and represent blessings obtained at childbirth by a child's parents (or by the watchful eyes of oracles and gods).

-----------

This system is intended to flesh out the ability score generation process and to help players start fleshing out more interesting character concepts from the beginning of character design (without pushing the limits too far) while giving characters the ability to create fleshed out scores for their characters.

here are some sample "rolls":

I'm hoping this is close enough to the standard 15-point buy that it doesn't create dangerous builds or push too far into the overpowered or underpowered.

The choice of buff names was because they were the best from HERE that would work okay at explaining not only why a character would have a high stat, but a little more about the stat boost's source.

Racial and size modifiers stay as is, and I chose not to use circumstance, luck, or morale boosts because those seem tied better to spells or GM decisions.

Anyone have any feedback or suggestions? I'd appreciate your advice on this.

I came up with a daily obedience for Charon, which fits his theme (somewhat) and seems flavorful.

Obedience: Each day, at mid-day, the character must lie down on a flat surface, place two coins over her eyes, and take a nap. The character must exercise as much patience as possible given any distractions.
Benefit: The character gains a +1 bonus to all skill checks made against persons seeking immortality, including liches and vampires (Just because they're not dead yet doesn't mean they won't die eventually).

Gonna make an Evangelist Summoner (no, no, it's okay, don't panic, I think I still get a lot of evolution points) who's an evangelist of Charon, and I have this really awesome complex character all set up, but I have no idea what divine boons would be appropriate. I thought about pharasma's list as a guideline, but it seemed odd.

One of my character's mannerisms was going to be a compulsion to honor the dead. Every body encountered by the group has to be placed at rest facing up with two coins covering the eyes. Typical service to honor the dead, of course, but specifically to pay the boatman's fee.

Pharasma's ability to turn bodies to ash seemed too deviant from that goal to use that. So I'd like help coming up with a list of Evangelist boons for this character. If you have any ideas, or if there's a list someone else made somewhere, can you point me in their direction?

Greetings, fellow morsels.

As you may or may not be aware I am rather fond of multiclassing, and the multitude of options that it allows for character advancement.

However, every multiclass character suffers from a rather significant stigma: They can never reach the potential that a "pure" class can reach, because they are always behind. And woe betide those that desire more than two classes, for when they have reached the power level of a tenth-level pc, the rest of their party are gods amongst men, spinning the planet with their own hands.

I am here to correct this issue, and to introduce a new type of multiclassing, one in which each level you take is twice as significant as it was before, and the path your character takes as you level up is defined not by someone's idea of what the proper path should be, but by the needs and history of your character.

This, is the Half-Gestalt Alternate Character Advancement.

And I shall explain with a simple example.

we start with a lowly peasant girl (with what is surely a DELICIOUS BRAIN). Her name is Elhadia. she is lawful neutral.
She decides that her first level shall be taken as a wizard. she becomes a necromancer, and gains the powers associated with the class, including the power to command undead.

very early in her adventure she becomes associated with several noteworthy knights who disapprove of her power over the undead and the stigmas associated with it. rather than continue her studies as she SHOULD, she decides to become a PALADIN. (bah!)
At second level, Elhadia gains Aura of Good because this is a feature of the paladin class itself, but instead of getting detect evil and smite evil 1/day, she gains divine grace, and lay on hands, powers that a paladin receives at second level. should she choose to take her 4th level in paladin, she'll eventually gain the smite evil power. she'll have it at twice per day like a paladin that level would have, but until then she won't have it.
At level 2, she has access to some necromancer powers and some paladin powers, but she will cast as though she were caster level 1.
Should she resume her studies AS A GOOD STUDENT SHOULD, at level 3 she will have the spells that a wizard receives at level 3 including the first access to second level spells. at this point she'll have 3 cantrips, 1 1st level spell, 1 second level spell, plus bonuses from high intelligence, and any level she doesn't take from the paladin class contains bonuses she can NEVER RECEIVE.

This means that each level, every single player in your playgroup will be looking at gaining the same relative power based on their class or class combination. Noone will ever be forced to take a 1st level power when the rest of the group is gawking over their godlike abilities.

It also makes the path of your character's progression so much more dramatic.

There are a few rules to follow when playing with the option.

1. each class has innate abilities that are attached to the class and not to just the first level in that class. here are a few examples:
barbarians get fast movement as a class feature, not as a level 1 only power. any player that gets a level in barbarian has fast movement. the number of rounds worth of rage you get is based off level, each level gives you 2 rounds worth so that is not a level 1 only ability.
paladins have an aura of good. this is attached to the class, not to level 1.
Rangers get track as their "class bonus." a character that wasn't raised to be a ranger doesn't get wild empathy, and they have to wait to get favored enemy when it pops up in class progression.
rogues get 1d6 worth of sneak attack damage as part of the class, meaning every rogue is a bit sneaky and getting caught off guard by any rogue is dangerous. but only rogues trained young can spot magical traps.
for all spellcasters that get level 1 spells at first level, one of those spell slots is a part of the class. this is because grabbing a level of sorcerer at level 2 would be embarrassing if you got a bunch of spell slots for level 1 spells but couldn't cast anything through them but cantrips. that means that if you get your first level of wizard at level 7, you get a level 4 spell slot and two level 1 spell slots, and no level 2 or 3 slots. (one level 1 slot is granted at level 7, one comes from the class itself)
Clerics are a serious problem. each odd level gained bestows immense power to the cleric in the form of new spell levels, domain powers, and channeling energy. (yes, seriously). On top of that their domains and aura are class features not level 1 only abilities. I recommend banning them from your game. Oracles are cooler anyways.
Druids gain nature bond as a class feature not a level 1 only power so taking any level in druid gives you access to this.
fighters gain proficiency in all martial weapons or less and all armor and shields as a class feature. their level 1 bonus feat is level 1 only.
Monks absolutely HATE this system. A lawful character that displays monkish tendencies that takes a few levels in monk on the path to sorcererhood or rogueland becomes immensely powerful. I recommend going down the list and setting restrictions on certain powers like this: diamond body should require a certain number of monk levels. Fast movement is given at each 3rd monk level but should be considered seperate powers (meaning if you get your first level of monk at level 9 you only gain +10 speed, not +30)

and the new classes:
alchemist: alchemy, brew potion, and mutagen are class features but bomb 1d6 and throw anything are level 1 only. alchemists that want the throw anything feat have to purchase it if they didn't start alchemist at level 1.
cavalier gets mount and order as class features, but challenge is a level 1 feature and tactician is at levels 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20. (see below for more on these kinds of powers)
inquisitor: stern gaze and domains are class features.
oracle: mystery and curse are class features, they can't be skipped.
summoner: eidolon and life link are attached to the class not to level 1. eidolon abilities however are skipped over completely except for link. starting the path of a summoner past level one denies your eidolon darkvision and the ability to share spells.
witch: the familiar and the patron are class features that can't be skipped.

SPECIAL NOTES:
each time a player takes a level in a casting class, his caster level is set to his class level. meaning that a level 8 barbarian that takes a level in sorcerer gains one new second level, third level, and 4th level spell from the level in the class, one 1st level spell from the class itself, bloodline power and spell from the level gained, save bonuses, and his or her caster level is caster level 9. the number of spells castable per day is equal to what a sorcerer would have at level 9, but with only 1 spell of each spell level, this character's casting options are definitely not equal to those of a pure caster.

for class abilities such as the eidolon, the character gains evolution pool points equal to those that a summoner would have at that level but cannot re-spend them until gaining a level in summoner again. Also the eidolon will not increase in level, evolutions, or relative power until the player gains another level in summoner. meaning that a character might take a level in sumoner at level 3, then 7, then 10, then thirteen, then nineteen, and his eidolon would be a level 3 eidolon, then stay that way until it became a level 7, then 10, then thirteen, then nineteen eidolon, and if the summoner didn't take level 20 as a summoner they will never have a level 20 version of an eidolon.

Now before you start testing this system out you're definitely going to haev to talk to your dm about your character, your class, and the crazy options you are going to try out.

The characters created in this system are going to be crazy and unique, and run the risk of being far more broken than anything else out there (especially that damn cleric!) but even if you chose to take cleric and sorcerer and alternate between the two classes you'd be missing out on spells, and your character certainly wouldn't be comparable to a pure cleric (not to mention you'd be skimping nearly every bloodline ability)

You also might run into scenarios where you have to choose between a spell you want or a class ability you think you need. That's the kind of scenario I'd like to create. One where you have reasons to try out different builds of the same character.

I'm going to put together some character builds using this system that should really test the limits of the pathfinder campaign setting, including taking that necromancer paladin and creating a guild of similar minded folk, as well as the sorcerous monks idea and some unholy witch/summoner and ranger/rogue hybrids to really test the waters.

I encourage you all to post your suggestions to the system and to try as hard as you can to break it wide open.

I showed up for free rpg day and the pathfinder adventure MASTER OF THE FALLEN FORTRESS *thunder*
and I had the choice between 2 elves, a gnome, and a human, so I picked the human, and she was the oracle.

I wasn't really impressed with the character until I noticed that she had darkvision and could only see out to 30 feet - she was a blind seer! that's just too cool.

so anyways the adventure was kinda mediocre but I got to see some of the abilities the class gets and that was nice.

Later, I joined a group for their weekly pathfinder game and told one guy to just fix me up with a character the group could use - he said that would be better since there are a few characters in the group who are literally just there for fun and have characters for pure roleplaying purposes. I was like sweet, just gimme something.

well he wasn't able to fix up a character until after we were all at the table so I got the opportunity to check out his little program he used. hero lab or something like that. he had access to the 6 new classes for betatesting and said "hey, you wanna be a witch?" and I was like whoa whoa whoa, you got access to the new stuff? let's see what this oracle can do at level 11.

And holy crap.

flame breath, molten skin (this bish is HAWT lol) 60 foot darkvision, 30 foot blindsense, wall of flame, fireball, every weapon I pick up becomes FLAMING, and I have a TON of spells that are amazing, and by the way I love the sorcerer and its spell options and this is just too cool.

last session wasn't too long so I'll have to give her a better test drive tomorrow night.

funniest moment was right at the beginning when we were introducing our characters.

What I MEANT to say was "I can only see you guys if you're within 30 feet of me."

What I ACTUALLY said was "I can only see you guys if you're 30 feet within me."

Yyyyeah. earned the nickname "thirty feet deep" for the rest of the module, and a great time was had by all.

Shortly after the beginning of the year:
"Ooh, RPG Superstar, sounds like a nifty contest. wonder when that starts."

"2010, eh. Nice, wonder what the first event is."

"Create a wondrous item? bah. I'll wait for round two. What did they have last year?"

"Ooh, monsters, I love monsters. In fact I could just save the one I've made and turn that in."

"When does that part begin?"

"Hmm, Tuesday the 19th? Can't wait!"

---
(time passes)
---

"The finalists from round one may..."

"WHAT?!?"

(re-reads the rules)

Rules: "The top 32 entries, as selected by our judges, may proceed to further contest rounds with additional requirements. The requirements of subsequent rounds must be met by the contestants in order to maintain eligibility for any prizes. "

James's Brain: "YOU IDIOT! GAAAAAHHH!"

---------------
This humorous moment was brought to you by Illithid Entertainment, Inc.

To those of you who made it this far, I congratulate you! Not only on your RPG skillz, but also your organizational skills! And your ability to read!

Lord knows SOMEONE could have used a periapt of wisdom +2. I will never underestimate wondrous items again.

I just got this crazy idea of how to start a new campaign - and it hit me that doing it this way might even allow a group to play without a DM.

Picture this:

You pull a Harrow card out of the deck for each player - that card represents the character they are going to build. They can interpret the card however they want, but it's supposed to serve as inspiration for their character, somewhat like the destinies available in star wars d20 do. You might give them a "mulligan" in case they pull a card they really have no idea what to do with, or hate... but keep it reasonable.

After each person pulls the card that represents their character, they build it.

After everyone has a character ready, you keep the cards representing their characters out (you might even let them keep it with their character sheet for kicks), and you have someone pull a card out of the deck that will represent the CAMPAIGN - Limitless possibilities exist here.

For example, if you pull the brass dwarf, the campaign might be working for the Hellknights of Cheliax - especially if everyone likes the idea of playing in Cheliax, or you might be tasked with retrieving items for someone to build a great weapon - the premise is broad and general enough that you might even reverse it - you could be stopping a tyrant from building the ultimate weapon, or even working against an organization like the hellknights, or a group of azers - by denying them their weapons supplies and attacking their economic centers and resources.

With these kinds of restrictions, I see that much of what the DM does is already fixed up - there's a story, each player gets to take a part in it, and you might even have a lot of fun taking turns playing as the monsters at the same time that the party is trying to take them down - whenever they show up.

In fact this might be the beginning of a new way of playing the entire game.

Anyone interested in taking it for a test spin? I'd love to try it out and get feedback from other DM's and players who like the idea.

In one of the earliest 3rd edition articles I read, one of the developers advised against creating feats that required low stats - he wanted to avoid "jar-jar" type situations where it would seem that you were rewarding a character for being stupid/clumsy/Jamaican.

I interpreted that to mean at the time that all the rules of the game should be based on encouraging high ability scores, which would allow balanced point-buy systems to keep the game from going haywire.

I didn't like the 25-point buy system, because that single 18 would cripple your character if it was a certain class, and had no drawbacks if you were another class. So I went with the 72-point system (balanced around the idea of 12 in every stat, total 72 points, minimum 6 in any stat, max 18) which I later took a step further, and said that your racial modifiers couldn't put a stat below 6. (so a dwarf would have to spend 8 points in cha, to get a 6, etc.)

Now I'm looking at the stat system, and thinking, Really, a player should just be able to play a character with low stats and not feel crippled - especially not if someone else in the group can't help but powergame, but they really want to roleplay.

Thus I am beginning Operation Jar-Jar.

The goal is to find some way to give something to players with low stats so that their character is not crippled, and they can play new versions of all the classes they love.

some concepts:
A wizard with a 7 in intelligence is hopelessly forgetful and relies on their spellbook more than other wizards would. They have no choice but to prepare their "normal" allotment of daily spells in the form of scrolls in their spellbook, but for all intents and purposes, they get a save dc appropriate to someone that might have a 14-16 in intel, and can rummage through their packs once a day to find a scroll that might be helpful, where other wizards would just have an extra spell prepared.

A fighter with low strength was once strong, but after pissing off a local witch doctor, he was cursed with low strength. Many trials and tribulations later, having miraculously survived fights he should not have, he's got the hit points to last longer than even the strongest warriors, and can 'spend' some of them for short burst of strength that leave him not only tired, but wounded.

A monk with low wis seeks to learn the many wisdoms of the world through experience, and has memorized many combat moves through study, using int instead of wisdom for a couple monk abilities, and hoping to unlock the powers within through a series of challenges that would kill other lesser beings.

Hopefully You guys can offer suggestions on the idea, maybe even offer help as I round out the stats and balancing for some of this stuff.

Allow me to explain my predicament:

Inspired by the computer game "Temple of Elemental Evil, The", I decided that I would present the party with a choice prior to character creation: They would choose the alignment of the party, and this would have an effect on the game. It would change their introduction, it would limit the classes and alignments available for character creation, and it would help to form a more cohesive group.

I have the following:
Should the party choose lawful good, they'd have access to the alignments LG, NG, and LN. They'll be working for an Axiomite who has discovered that many of Aroden's high-profile clerics disappeared prior to his death and their disappearances were never explained, and their bodies were never found. He'd be sending the party on missions to discover what happened to them and to rescue them if possible.

Should the party choose Lawful Neutral, they'll be able to choose the alignments LN, LE, LG, True Neutral, or Unaligned (I like the 4th edition treatment of it, but it deserves its own thing, just in case players have their own idea of how it should work), and they would work with the Hellknights to stamp out the propaganda of Galt, and possibly crush a rebellion as it begins, to save the empire from anarchy and ruin.

Should the party choose Lawful Evil, they'd be working for powerful figures in the aristocracy, up until a rather interesting event - One of the Nobles, a man by the name of Lamar, declares genocidal war on the druidic barbaric nomads of a nearby region, and sparks a nasty war. The players would become significant figures in the war to protect the empire from its enemies. Alignments: LN, LE, NE.

Should the party choose Neutral Evil, it's all about the treasure. A lich has gathered the party convinced that they are trustworthy employees, and presents them with his plan: to use stolen information from the Pathfinder Society to pillage ancient teasures, and accumulate vast amounts of wealth and power. Alignments: LE, NE, CE, TN, Un.

Should the party choose Chaotic Evil, They will have been employed (clever word there) by a Shadow Judge of Galt, a "Gray Gardener", to hunt down anyone who attempted to flee Judgment by the final blades, and the party would be given explicit instructions to let blood run in the streets, to set examples of the cowards, and to show that even in the heart of the Empire, justice can't be held back. The party would be returning their quarry dead or alive to Galt to face trial for their crimes. Alignments: NE, CE, CN.

Should the party choose Chaotic Neutral, They would be living in the wild with the druids and barbarians of a peaceful area up until an attack by Lamar (mentioned under 'Lawful Evil', above) at which point the party would be struggling to end the bitter, long, bloody war that erupts between the two groups. Alignments: CE, CN, CG, TN, Un.

Should the party choose Chaotic Good, they would be working for a member of the Pathfinder Society, hunting priceless treasures, gathering knowledge, and finding out what's been going on with several Pathfinder groups that seem to have just up and vanished... Alignments: CN, CG, NG.

Sadly, I just can't come up with something for Neutral Good that would be as interesting as the choices I have up here. And it would suck to just up and tell them they can't choose that. So I offer my notes to the peanut gallery here. Perhaps someone can offer some inspiration. What would you be interested in playing, if you had a choice, and do you have any suggestions for what I've got here so far?

So... Our DM in our regular 4e game was doing savage tides, because he'd played through it but wanted to dm, and it was fun, so he was taking us through his heavily modified version and we ran into a spot where he realized he was about to have to heavily modify the entire thing from where we ended up to just about the end of the whole thing, and we had some definite intermission time - he was going to suggest him running a side game while he got other stuff done, and I butted in and said "OOH I wanna run pathfinder!"

Everybody kinda took a step back because they hadn't tried it and it sounded interesting. So we agreed. I got to run a short little adventure, then he'd do one, and we'd go back and forth until we were back at the normal, ready to adventure with our other dudes again.

So here's how their adventure began...
*Wicked grin*
*hands rubbing together*

The setting was Cheliax, and before the players could even get their stuff together and purchase gear, they were set upon by guards at every turn, beaten unconscious, and dragged off to prison.

The elf in the party, having offended another elf who invoked ilduliel (elves of golarion, it's an ancient elven feud tradition) was also set upon by the guards, after that elf pointed him out, not knowing what they were accused of.

They learned in prison very quickly that they had been framed for the murder of a very high profile, well known and respected lady. (they did/do not know who she was - a relative of the queen!) sentenced to be chucked into hell and eaten by bad things that dawn, someone else arrived and congratulated them on their performance, and set them free to cause havok in, well, wherever it was they were. he let them out the back side of their cell, they found some improvised weapons, fought a group of rats that started out as minions and worked their way up to a clutch (a new monster type I created) and then a swarm, then they faced off against a phantom fungus (a rather entertaining fight) and with a few more entertaining fights along the way, ended the day with the cleric (of all things) charging into battle against 2 small earth elementals and a medium.

The party barely scraped by, only to see a complete group of themselves walk into the room, sliding the door shut behind them. They turned to look at their rear and saw 2 worgs blocking the exit, clearly interested in seeing what kind of crazy mayhem would be unleashed.

Then, at the beginning of our second night, (this past saturday) The two groups charged at each other and much blood was shed! Both of the party's fighters had the diehard feat - and they needed it! At the end of the fight, as the double of the tiefling fighter slew the player, his corpse sunk to the ground, and with a shrinking, popping noise, it revealed that the party themselves had been the dopplegangers all along. Since technically there was still a complete group left standing, the party was allowed to continue (after a much needed rest) and they bashed their way through the door to find a makeshift group of soldiers armed with crossbows who quickly realized they were not going to be able to hold back what was coming through the door.

The cleric of asmodeus ran screaming thanks to the power of his expeditious retreat - who could blame him, and the party's next encounter was against a fully prepared group holding up at a shrine to asmodeus himself. minion soldiers formed a wall of meat at the entry while the lieutenants and commander Chux fired and missed repeatedly trying to hit the tanks. The NPCs' strategy nearly pulled itself off as the halfling sorcerer pyromaniac, now mounted atop his worg pet, charged Chux and attempted to trip him, not realizing that Chux was a political figurehead, it was his two lieutenants who were the real threat. As the battle dragged on into round 5, Asmodeus looked down and bestowed the last lieutenant with some attack and damage buffs. A few whiffs later, and the party witnessed the wrath of the Devil Prince firsthand as he yelled out "You... are a failure!" and blew up the inaccurate lieutenant with his fiery finger of doom.

The pitched battle attracted the attention of a hellknight, which forced the party into diplomatic mode - the halfling managed to think quick enough to fool the knight into believing that it was the priest, not Chux (the halfling's disguise, courtesy of disguise self) who had offended him, and the priest's body at his feet was an attempt to make amends. the ploy worked - barely, and the party was able to rest.

Searching the room for treasure landed the party what appeared to be at first, a shiny new sword! walking into the room with a weapon drawn, however, triggered the Caryatid Column (don't have a heart attack yet) which was built for one purpose: destroy weapons! The tiefling fighter saw his weapon shattered and picked the +2 longsword off the rack, and took a swing, only to see the column retaliate against the weapon itself - two swings and the new shiny sword was vapor. The tiefling then served as comedic relief as he picked up sword after sword from the weapon racks, striking at the column, hoping to get damage in before the weapon shattered. The halfling attempted to join in only to see himself disarmed - literally! The one time that the column broke his weapon on the attack, it failed to hit with its followup, so the fight was rather one sided - or so you'd think! He began the fight at 0 hp, and each swing of his own sword dealt him a single hit point. With the fighter at -17 hp and ready to bite the dust, the rest of the party joined into finish off the beasty.

End of the night tallies:
2 versions of the party cleric brought to below 0 hp. one survives.
one human fighter at -16 hp, retreats to safety, his 'double' is killed.
one tiefling fighter brought to below 0 hp, then the other one as well, then the first is killed. later, he is brought to -17 hp once and then again before finally pulling a +1 shatterspike from the wreckage of a mighty foe as his trophy.
1 halfling sorcerer brought to -8 hp (shhh, don't tell the party it survived!), and the other killed.
1 elf wizard thinks he's lucky staying back in the back of the group not taking any damage. He's in for a rude awakening.

The party:
One tiefling fighter with the features of a glabrezu, obviously demonic, hated and feared, but gets along well with the worgs!
One human fighter, intelligent and wise enough to run away when he needs to!
One Halfling sorcerer, pyromaniac extraordinaire, clever enough to think on his feet when the need arises.
One Goliath Cleric, who tends to hit just as hard as the tanks, but really needs to learn to let them do all the dying.
One elven wizard, in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and liked the plot twist of "surprise, you were the dopplegangers all along!"

I just felt like sharing but this is hardly a place for just one story. Share your own adventures from recent note, I'd love to... pick your brain. NOM NOM NOM