Calivan Mol's page

Quick question, in relation to the Oracle Nature Life Leach ability, it states:

As a standard action, you can drain the life essence from one living target within 30 feet. The target takes 1d6 points of damage per two levels you possess (maximum 10d6).

Reading this, it does not define class or character level. Which would it be? I'm looking at RAW.

There are no rules outside of multiclassing such as Nefreet called out. I would just ask your DM to house rule it for you, otherwise you are out of luck based on what I know/read.

Ok guys, big bombshell here but I want to know how people feel about player experience points and whether or not they are actually "necessary" for a successful campaign. After recently starting a Pathfinder campaign with some friends (that I'm a player in) we decided as a group to completely eschew player exp for purposes of leveling up during this campaign.

To give a little background, my group of friends and I have played several GURPS campaigns (which give points after successful sessions with which you can buy stats/abilities for your character) and a Dresden RPG (based on FATE based on FUDGE) campaign (which allows players to modify/improve their characters after story "milestones"). We all really liked the FATE model and decided to let the GM arbitrarily choose when we level up (updating us after sessions with phrases like "1/2 way to level 3"). We decided on this for several reasons:

• Big numbers scare us (except for gold count)
  
• We have a new GM who doesn't have a physical beastiary book with monster EXP
  
• We are all planning on attending all sessions
  
• It gives the GM a tighter hold on party progression
  
• Easier for GM to balance encounters when everyone is always on the same level
  
• We have a mix of combat and non-combat oriented PCs who don't want to play straight up "KILL all the things for EXP!"
  
• We're planning on a super fast leveling campaign (1 session got us to lvl 2, 2-3 sessions will get us to 3, etc).
  
• It's not like this is early D&D where EXP is directly used for making potions / crafting things.
  

What are all y'alls thoughts on this? Has anyone else done it this way? Should we be tarred and feathered for thinking such nonsense? Comments are welcome!
-KaptainKrowbar

As most people above have stated, exp tracking is completely optional. Most campaigns I've played in have house rules around a party exp pool. All characters playing in that campaign have the same amount of exp no matter what.

Personally I see the exp pool as a reward system for active and successful (avoiding death) players. If you don't like it, don't use it, simple as that... but I'm echoing what everyone else is saying. :)

Because paladins aren't broke enough... I
haven't seen anything that can do this. But will be watching this post for ideas because it would be pretty slick/broken.

I think one of the best things you can do (especially if it a sandbox style game) is NOT design a campaign arc, outside of a very rough sketch.

There is truth to this, maybe the term arc is a little to strong. Though from my perspective you should set a path and a vision on where you want your campaign to go. But be ready for the PC's to break everything around it and go a different direction. Then quickly adapt and modify as necessary... in a sandbox type campaign that is. Nothing like directing your PC's to go north for a big plot event and then have them go south, it makes for interesting game (and often fun) game sessions.

I do a few things. Of course I like running free style/sandbox campaigns.

1. Create/document a storyline arc, much like you learn to do when writing stories.
2. Create bubble diagrams detailing NPC relationships and roles.
3. Bullet lists can be helpful in planning a storyline for a game session.
4. Keep a journal of adventures focusing on player and NPC actions in addition to unexpectedly introduced NPC.

Basically if you set up an arc, you can foreshadow since you should have ideas of where your campaign is going. It also allows you to build out NPC's who are key to your campaign. The journal allows you to create NPC's on the fly and incorporate them back into the storyline long term if needed, which gives you the flexibility to keep the main arc on track.

As for magic items and encounters that go into the campaign. Once again I look towards the arc and general storyline. I for one despise random rewards. To me magic items should be part of the storyline and not randomly handed out. This helps drive intrigue, plot, and feeling of reward.

Encounters should be driven by one of two things, the DM or player action. Battles take up a lot of time, but should be used to liven things up when needed. Same with role-playing, give to much slack in it and your players may go directions you would never expect... this is a good or bad thing. ;) So balancing it all is important, thus random encounters often don't fit, unless it is just the nature of the environment the players are in.

Those are my two cents, take'm and spend'm as you wish. Other DM's just use wiki's. ;)

Personally I have no issue with the alignment system. It isn't meant to be a hard fast rule, rather a guideline to set expectations on how your character will act. In this way, spells and other effects can be used to add depth to story-lines.

If you are lawful good, you may not always do lawful or good things. But in general you as a player will Role Play your character as lawful good.

Beyond that, I rarely look at player alignment when DM'ing. I may ask, "What is your alignment?" when I feel a player is going outside of his character nature. But that is rare. I might even change a players alignment based on their continued actions, but I do not punish them for it... unless they have a class restriction. In that case I would call it a RP opportunity. ;)

So while your system, is interesting. It adds additional complexities and may even remove flexibility of the current system. But that is my humble opinion.

It is all about context...

Besides charm person is weak, it while the person you charmed sees you as a best friend. You can't compel the subject of the spell to disclose anything that he won't to a trusted friend.

That alone makes the charm spell out of the evil category imo. Also you have to remember that chaotic good and alignments would use most any tactic to for the greater good.

So it comes down to what you are trying to achieve through the spell. Is it to learn the location of the children an evil wizard is planning to slay? Or is it to help discover the children so the wizard can slay them?

This a neutral spell at worst.

To the OP.

When traveling I think people will do what they need to do. I see wizards or other types using pack animals such as horses or mules to carry their gear.

I think what is most disturbing to me is not the picture of someone carrying this gear. But rather that the weight they are carrying can impact their movement speed, check penalties, and even their dexterity bonus.

Consider this, a wizard with 8 strength can carry a load of 26lbs before being considered under the effects of medium load (54lbs for heavy load). This means if they are carrying 30lbs of gear, they suffer a max dex restriction of +3, a -3 penalty to skill checks, have their speed reduced to 25ft.

So realistically, most of these characters are going to have a large backpack on their back. Most likely the guy with 18 strength will be carrying their "bulky" gear. ;)

Wouldn't your bloodline technically be the crossblooded bloodline now?

Seen this discussed at length in the past. It comes down to you having two bloodlines, including their abilities. You technically have two bloodlines, one of which qualifies you for Dragon Disciple.

Though I will note, that this will severely hurt your casting abilities and you still don't get all your bloodline powers. It is almost better to go with the eldritch heritage feat line... of course you can stake that with your other bloodlines.

Varies per DM, but there are a number of options and methods. For me, I do the following.

1. Large complex maps, I ask the players to map it on graph paper.
2. Simple map, I just describe it and draw it out on the battle mat.
3. Super simple map, I just describe it.

Also if you have a tech savvy group with mobile devices, there are a number of virtual battle maps out there. These let you display maps to your players real time to iPads and such. Some people are using these as well, but main for online role playing.