Chakfor's page

But curses Chakfor, don't say I'll lose another reader when our story reaches the end of book 4 (in case you don't want to spoil yourself that is) ?

Nah, we'll never finish the AP. I see no reason to not keep reading. Even if we do pick it up I'm playing a very withdrawn cleric of Pharasma in the campaign so I wouldn't foresee any issues with player knowledge being abused.

That was truly an epic fumble.

Love the deadpan snark toward Ven Vinder too. He struck me as a bit of a hothead when my group ran the AP. Sadly, our DM got deployed and we never got past book 4 and will never finish the AP.

I just found this campaign journal and I have REALLY enjoyed reading it. I was an avid follower of Nobodyshome ROTRL journal as well, and being able to compare and contrast the two is fantastic. His was an overall perspective from the DM's point of view, here we get to see a very well written account from an admittedly unreliable narrator.

Please, keep it up. You're providing a fantastic reading experience.

The Agile enchant is the one he's using I believe. I'm not sure what book it's in since I don't play PFS (not even sure if there's a PFS game near me!).

Step 1: Have the wizard cast "make whole"
Step 2: Hop in the boat.

Of course he may not have the spell...In which case mending COULD be stretched to do the trick.

By the time you're able to cast some of the really nice evocation spells (not blasts) you'll be in a position to negate it as an opposition school anyway. Opposition school research is pimp. Not sure if you can take it twice though. I totally would if I could.

You'll use spellcraft instead of UMD for scrolls if they're on a list you can cast (opposition schools are on lists you can cast) and you won't be able to fail those checks if you keep spellcraft sitting at max and have a decent int mod.

If a lot of undead are present you may consider enchantment as an opposition school. You won't be able to hit them with any of the standard enchantment spells anyway.

Your stats are fine. I'd actually drop con by 1 point and put it someplace else then use my 4th level stat to bump it back up. I hate taking a penalty on will saves as a caster.

Take a raven as a familiar. They can speak to you at low levels and make great aerial scouts before you can cast overland flight.

I'm not 100% sure you can take Universal as a banned school. That's just freaking cheesy. Take illusion (if your DM is a stickler for using them) and necromacy instead if he won't let you take Universal. At level 9 you can take opposition school research from UM and get rid of the ban on necromacy.

Currently I'm playing a wizard that's a conjuration spec as well. I took evocation/necromacy as banned schools and haven't missed either a single bit. Soul Jar is a FANTASTIC spell but again, depending on the DM, you may or may not be able to use it. If your party makeup is heavy on the damage dealers you won't need fireball either :) Just haste the melee, slow the enemies, and go have a sandwich.

Abuse the crap out of color spray and grease. Remember to grease an area if there's a mob of enemies and a weapon if it's the BBEG.

Unless you have a great reason don't waste a slot on extend spell at 5th. The metamagic rods are stupid cheap. Go with a different metamagic or create wonderous item.

EDIT: Just my take on things!

With my current PF group I'll take on APL+1 or APL+2 encounters any day of the week. It's a group of fairly optimized PC's and we all have experience in the game.

We've had 3 encounters in the past 2 sessions. One was a flight of 5 wyverns against our party of 5 9th levels. According to the tables it was a APL+1 (CR10)encounter and it felt really easy.

Our next was a fight against 5 giants (a slightly more powerful hill giant and armed with a greatsword). I'd ballpark them at about CR9, on par with Frost Giants. Now, according to the charts, it was a APL+4/5 (CR13/14) and I'm amazed it wasn't a TPK.

Having every encounter at APL+3/4 really makes a combat feel more frantic and you're forced to really weigh out what you want to do. It certainly isn't fun all the time though. The PC's shouldn't blow all their resources on a single fight with mooks. Thankfully it's not a combat heavy group so when we do have one of those epic fights it's only 1 (maybe 2) per session.

I ran into my first instance of this during my game session this past Saturday.

I have discovered it's really difficult to RP my familiar as well as my wizard. It's my fault, I haven't put much thought about what his personality would be and I haven't placed myself in a situation where I was required to play my familiar either. Therefore he swung between Samuel L. Jackson and the housekeeper from The Birdcage in the course of a single session.

Not my best RP, not by a longshot.

Hopefully my DM will run my cohort in non-combat situations for me though. I plan to give up my familiar when I get a cohort and I'd REALLY prefer to not run it as well as myself, especially when it's a highly intelligent magical creature (which I guess applies to a familiar as well).

My personal choice would be to have the DM control them in non-combat situations and the player when initiative is rolled.

WOW, that is horrible.

But I like how 2 of you screwed over the favoured power players and gave the DM a message. LOL.

The DM was doubly screwed a year or so later. His wife refused to get a job. Flat out refused. He didn't have his degree since he had to put her through school first so he was reduced to a generally lower paying wage. To combat this he re-enlisted into the military, going from National Guard to full on Army. Of course he got posted elsewhere.

Eventually his wife decided that she wanted to move back so she left him and got married to his best friend. The DM got the kids (thank goodness, she was a horrible housekeeper) and she got pregnant again.

The DM found another woman that is thankfully a better person and last I heard he's a happy guy. And, in his defense he really is a good guy and deserved a lot better than what happened to him.

G, B, and myself have all kept touch over the years (B moved to Seattle and actually works for Paizo now) and we sometimes reminisce about the great storytelling and absolute hell he put our characters through.

Ingenwulf wrote:

Cheapy wrote:

Yes, for +5 to the spellcraft DC per missing prerequisite.

Would that be +5 for lacking the spell, +5 for not being the right class,and another +5 for being too low a level? Or just a blanket +5 for the lot?

Edited to say thanks for the quick answer btw.

There are very few items that require the correct class, but for every requirement listed in the requirement field of an item that you don't meet, you raise the spellcraft DC by 5.

There's some confusion over whether you need to be the right caster level. This confusion stems from some items that have a required CL explicitly listed in the requirements.

Personally, I believe you don't need to meet the CL unless it's listed in the requirements section, in which case you can just raise the DC by 5.

Also note that the CL for some items (I.E. 1st level pearl of power) aren't really configured correctly. The above example can be found in the FAQ.

Remember that a spellcaster can take 10 on the spellcraft checks as well.

EX: A 5th level wizard with a 23 int (18 base, +2 racial, +1 level bump, +2 headband) will have a 14 spellcraft (5base+6attribute bonus+3class skill).

He's attempting to make a belt of dwarvenkind for his fighter buddy.

The DC for the belt is a 17 (CL+5). However, he's a human wizard so he'll add +5 for not being a dwarf. That brings it to a 22. He also doesn't have tongues as a spell, that adds another +5 for a total of 27.

If he takes 10 he'll fail the check and he has to beat a 13 on the dice to make the item. His fighter buddy thinks this is a little high so he spends the cash to have another spellcaster supply the tongues spell. That eliminates the previous +5 penalty, gives the item a 22DC. This is barely enough for our wizard to take 10.

Once upon a time, long ago in the days of 2e and college I feel in with a group that played a mixture of 2e and Rolemaster.

THe DM was married to a woman named L (who played). He had a best friend named K. There were two other players in the group, G and B.

I showed up for my first session with a set of dice in my hand and dreams of gaming in my head. The first thing to hit me when I walked in was the smell. The house was FILTHY. The cat's litterbox was overflowing with excrement. There was a half-dressed two year old screaming. The sink was full of dishes that hadn't been washed since Kennedy was president and the refrigerator (where I put the soda I had brought for the session) had fungal samples in it unknown to science.

I started as a dwarven cleric of Moradin. Little did I know (because I wasn't told) that Moradin was a deity that the dwarves of this home brew world detested.

I rolled exceptionally hot for my wisdom and with the age bonuses ended up with a 21 wis at level 1. Not bad right? Wrong. The DM forced me to cast a 9th level spell off of a scroll to resurrect his wife's thief. He then house ruled that I lost 3 points of wisdom for casting such a powerful spell. That dropped me to an 18 (which is what I rolled to start) and left me with all the penalties of old age. Fine, I can roleplay it out. No worries.

Fast forward to about 6th level. The party had been in the wilderness for the past several levels. We had amassed a HUGE amount of coin and my cleric needed to make a tithe of 10% to the church (my idea actually). Since he couldn't find a church of Moradin (I didn't know about the persecution yet) I decided to attend a fundraiser for the local orphanage and donate the money publicly in the name of my deity. That led to me being challenged to a duel, in public, by the local constabulary. I was gleefully informed that even if I won the first one the 2nd in command would immediately challenge me and so on until I was dead.

It was at that point that the "high level" party (consisting of a half-demon ranger/fighter (best friend K), a half-drow thief princess (his wife), and a lawful neutral necromancer that used a screwy points system) showed up to save the day. Sweet, my cleric got to run with the high levels!

It all went well until I realized (at about level 9) that my cleric had in his possession exactly 2 magical items. One was a +1 shield that granted me 2 to all saves and the other was a bead of force. At level 9. Every single magical item the DM gave us went straight to the half-demon or his wife. Every.Damned.One.

I finally pestered him out of game enough that I got a single night (after a few years real time) where the arc focused on me. I ended up with a cursed two handed hammer +5. I could swing this hammer once every other round and it dealt weapon damage and dealt critical hits off of the disruption, unbalancing, and crushing tables at equal levels. For those of you who aren't conversant with the Rolemaster system this was a NASTY weapon. The only caveat was that every time I used it I absorbed the taint of the weapon into me and it would eventually turn me evil. Great, so now I have a magical weapon I can't use.

The culmination of this campaign, which had been running for around 7 years real time (of which I was present for the last 4 years) was the destruction of Lloth in her Abyssal sanctum. One party would go in the front door, the other (of which my cleric was a part) would go in the back. As the back door party neared their goal they had to traverse a demiplane that was crisscrossed by bridges surrounding an infinite abyss. At the end of one of these bridges was the door that lead to her sanctum.

Little did the DM know but three of us players had conspired outside of the game. We were fed up with him feeding incredibly powerful magic to his wife and his best friend, basing the story around only them, and treating them like Mary Sue characters. G and I had managed to put ourselves directly behind the half-demon in party march order.

When we reached the door the necro called a party halt and summoned up his minions in preparation for the battle. I drew my cursed hammer, put on a set of gauntlets of ogre power (borrowed from the necro) and asked K was his armor type and defensive bonus was. I then proceeded to max out the charts on my first swing. I got three full rounds on him before he died while the necro held off the rest of the party with his minions.

I threw my pearl of power to cut off retreat and smacked the half-drow thief/princess off of the bridge to fall forever into the abyss. Then the necro and I shook hands and parted ways.

The gaming group never played again. While it may have been a bad move on my part the DM and I spoke later and he did recognize that we all felt left out and he assured me that the next campaign (after that night) would have new characters as the focus. I didn't believe him and refused to reconcile.

Worst DM and PC's ever.

I normally play wizards or rogues.

Once back in 2e I played a cleric. That didn't go so well. The party necromancer and I killed the entire party and ended up breaking up the group (granted, we did it on purpose and it fit the story 100%).

So one of my players has a ring of fire resistance 10, and the other just learned the spell heat metal.

Because of the ring, player #1 would take no damage from the spell. However, he's also asking if he can attack with his sword while it's red hot, doing +1d4 or +2d4 fire damage to anything he hits (depending on the number of rounds since casting, obvs).

Although the spell description does not explicitly say this is possible, I'm inclined to allow it. I'm curious how others would handle it. Thoughts?

I'd give him an A for effort and let it deal an additional +1d4 damage per hit for all but the first and last rounds. It's not RAW but rule of cool applies. The spell is fairly short and will take a standard action for the other party member to cast. I don't see where it's OP.

Black_Lantern wrote:

Extra LOH
Greater Mercy-1d6 extra healing on LOH when not using mercy.
Weapon focus
power attack
furious focus
Fey foundling-+2 healing per die of healing on yourself. Includes LOH and other heals. vulnerability 1 cold iron.
cornugan smash-after successful power attack hit, intimidate to demoralize
elephant stomp(with improved overrun)-overrun to knock prone and 1 attack. Remember prone gives +4 to hit and getting up from prone provokes AoO's.

Fey Foundling looks awesome. 57% more healing when using a swift action to heal myself! In a party with two others who can heal, I will probably almost never heal others during combat.

Cornugan Smash looks like it would be a lot of fun to use, since I'll be power attacking all the time, but skill ranks to put into Intimidate would be tough to come by.

-------
Thanks to many of you for the more adventure and roleplaying tips.

In which books are Cornugan Smash and Fey Foundling located? I've blinded myself I guess, I can't seem to find them.

What's the best way to bring a flying creature down to earth using non-blast spells or attacks? Just something that makes the flier unable to fly, but still able to defend itself.

In our last combat I used telekinesis to grapple a flyer and cause it to fall but that isn't going to be a tactic that I can rely heavily on since it's a concentration dependent spell.

For a little background, the wizard is level 9 and is a pure controller with no blasts at all. I let my party and summoned monsters do the killing. I just need a way to get flying creatures down to earth so my warrior and ranger minions can cut them into tiny ribbons.

Any other ideas?

Chakfor wrote:

It screws up explosive runes traps.

Please explain? Nothing in the description of Explosive Runes specifies the range at which they may be read.

Ok, I will give you my interpretation.

Apply the result against the DC for any hidden features, such as secret doors, traps, or hidden treasure. You must be able to see the area you are attempting to search, and you only find details that can be perceived with sight or touch.Sift detects only objects and features, not actual creatures.

Traps that are triggered by sight (explosive runes) can be set off at range.

The explosive runes detonate when read, dealing 6d6 points of force damage. Anyone next to the explosive runes (close enough to read them) takes the full damage with no saving throw; any other creature within 10 feet of the explosive runes is entitled to a Reflex save for half damage.

Use sift to detect them. 30 foot range is beyond the blast radius of the runes. Any normal writing is going to be VERY difficult to make out at 30 feet normally. Using sift to augment your eyesight is something that I've used to good effect in the past.

It screws up explosive runes traps.

Chakfor wrote:

What is the party makeup and level?

Although I don't believe either is particularly relevant to the discussion, we're 11th level with a ranger, rogue, paladin, monk and mystic theurge.

Chakfor wrote:

Also, what is the makeup of the enemy army?

200 Giants with some big animal companions. We've already eliminated most enemy spellcasters of note or oddball monsters.

I asked for makeup because I was curious if you had an arcane spellcaster or a bard that could charm/dominate one of the subcommanders and use them to send out understrength scouting parties, thus allowing you to pick off the army a few at a time. Or, if a wizard is present and high level, summoning and binding a greater demon in order to assume control of the army and lead them to abandon the attack.

With your particular situation I'd continue on with eliminating squads and subcommanders until you're discovered. Weaken the enemy as much as you can, then bring in the cavalry to mop up. It wouldn't go against the paladin's code and you have doubts that diplomacy would work.

If it comes down to a tactic that will save 2,000 lives (wiping out as much of the army as you can before they attack) vs. a tactic that could save 4,000 (diplomacy works and the giants go home) but may cost 4,000 (diplomacy doesn't work and now you lose the advantage of surprise) then I'm going to take the first option every time. Especially when there's a good chance the latter tactic will fail.

The title pretty much sums up my query, can an elemental wield a weapon?

I had a player who wanted to use Elemental Body IV to change into an air elemental, but instead of having his weapon merge he would drop the weapon and then pick it up and use it.

Thanks for your time and consideration.

PS - Can a caster in Elemental body form cast spells?

Subject to DM ruling.

I'd rule that earth elementals couldn't cast spells requiring somatic components but that air, water, and fire elementals could.

None of this is RAW to my knowledge, just my interpretation of the rules. Remember, he has to drop his spell component pouch prior to casting elemental body, otherwise it transforms with him.

Also, if he's transforming into a fire elemental he'd better be sure it's not flammable.

What is the party makeup and level? That may determine what your next steps would be.

If I were a paladin faced with such overwhelming odds I'd be more in favor of tactical strikes on the enemy rather than a pitched battle. Just because sneaking around in the dark taking out small groups of foes isn't archetypical paladin behavior doesn't mean it isn't a good idea.

Also, what is the makeup of the enemy army? Are you looking at mainly low level mooks? Spellcasters? Mindless undead or ghoul/ghast/ghost level undead (yeah, that's a big range)?

Let me guess Explosive Runes?

Close but not quite. The changed dispel mechanics made me curious if I could skip certain buffs while attempting to dispel others. Doesn't appear to work that way from what I've been able to read (and it's the sort of cheese I don't normally stoop to anyway).

We have always played Summon Monster as being an attack spell thus breaking invis. Anyone know the "official" ruling or play it differently?

No, it does not break invisibility. You're summoning a creature, that is not an inherently hostile action. Your invisibility is likewise not broken if the summoned creature attacks a foe (assuming you have taken no hostile actions).

While under the effect of the spell Invisibility, I understand hitting a char with any attack/spell stops the effect. However what if you make an attack roll and miss? since you missed and never hit your target does invisibility still end since technically no one was the target of your attack/spell?

Perhaps maybe only a perception check to locate the 5ft square the invisible creature is in?

Attacking is a hostile action and would break the spell.

Is it possible? I know you can choose to not hit a foe in melee or to fail a savings throw but is it possible to tank a dispel check on purpose?

Thanks for your time!

Some responses:

As for Fireball etc, I disagree with whomever thinks it's not that good at level 3, and would humbly ask which wizard spells are, in your opinion significantly better? I will say that I think its better for sorcerers due to the great utility...

Haste.

Also, the duration on summons is 1 round per level for a wizard or sorceror. Not 1 minute per level. A conjuration spec wizard can add 1/2 his wizard level to the duration. That means that a level 10 Conjuration spec wizard has 15 rounds with a summoned creature. A level 2 conjuration spec wizard has 3.

It's arguable that a level 5 wizard (conjuration spec) can deal more damage to a group of foes over time with a leopard than a fireball. Pounce for the bite +8 (1d6+5 plus grab), 2 claws +8 (1d3+5) and you'd have him out for seven rounds. I factored in augment summoning there so if the foes are evil add another 3 damage to each attack.

Thanks all. That is good enough for me. Although I would like to point out that a rogue knife master could not take levels of ninja because ninja is an alternate rogue class so you can only take either rogue or ninja.

Hehe, I was thinking of classes with Sneak Attack and they came to mind. I wasn't trying to seriously suggest a build.

Either way, you got an answer!

The dice would stack for each class. A rogue with that archetype that multiclasses into a ninja or vivisectionist would roll d8's for his/her combined sneak attack dice assuming the weapon selection for knife master was followed.

But, just to be contrary, I've never seen fire, water, air, or earth with a charisma score, let alone a charisma score above 8.

The elementals would like to have a word with you.

Another possibility (especially for BBEG End-Boss fights) is that the boss has somehow spied on the PCs as they wrecked his life long work to finally get to him and is prepared to greet them with a few nasty surprises.

An example:
After battling their way through an evil temple the PCs finally arrive in the great cathedralesque room where the "evil ritual" is just about to take place. This works especially well if you imprint a sense of urgency on the Players (captured cultists speak of "soon all will be over and your world is lost, he, he").

As the PCs enter the hall they see a ritual in full swing. A robed cultist stands over an evil altar on which a lovely maiden is chained. About 30 cultists attend the meeting, oviously in a frenzy. Roll initiative.

What this could be:
Now this could be the usual 25 mooks of CR-3 with 4 melee sergeants of CR-1 and a boss-priest of CR+2 encounter that your party will wreck. The mooks are too weak to really challenge the PCs even with flanking. The sergeants can pose a threat but will probably not get past the tanks to the squishy targets. The boss will buff his sergeants a bit, maybe throw a dispel around and go down in 2 rounds max to full atacks.

What this should be:
A trap! Several key elements are not what they seem. The robed cultist is only a sergeant, the real boss is hiding improved invisible. The sergeants are pre buffed (Prot from Arrows). Two of the mooks in the last row are devils (replaces two sergeants from the above example) with a good bluff skill, pretending to get cut down with all the other suckers in the first combat round.

As the party moves forward, mowing down mooks left and right, the sergeants resort to ranged attacks, either by archery or, more stylish, by spells/wands. A Hold Person on the Rogue (allowing the mooks coup-de-grace attacks), followed by a Stinking cloud to maybe trap the Priest and to divide the two tanks from the Sorc/Archer can be devastating.

Meanwhile the BBEG resorts to dispel magic...

Use 2 Babau demons (CR6) to drop darkness and dispel magic on the party to assist in splitting them up. An additional Nabasau demon (CR8) hiding in the rafters (+23 stealth in shadowy conditions) can provide support with deeper darkness, enervation, and telekinesis.

The BBEG is a conjuration spec wizard that can dimension door as a standard action so he can flit from platform to platform and blast the PC's as they try to counter his minions.

Man, that would be an awesome encounter.

What's stopping a wizard from magical experimentation while taking a break for lunch or when the party has stopped for the night? If he can craft (granted, it's slow progress) while on the road I see no reason he can't create new magical formula while on the road as well.

Ex: In our last adventure arc I was one of two players that took a ring of sustenance as loot. We had a spare 6 hours every night to study, talk, teach each other languages, etc. What would be stopping my wizard from using those six hours to learn how to throw a fireball or how to cover the earth with black tentacles?

We use the immediate level up path, FYI. I've been with DM's that required training and at high levels it wasn't feasible. Once a wizard hits 11th level there aren't many people left that can train them (in the previous game world which was fairly low magic) and you end up with a caster that's either forced to multiclass or is stuck at a specific level.

Make them your rules lawyer. Tell them that if they know the exact location of the text off-hand than you'll use it, but otherwise you'll make a "for the moment" ruling while they search. This legitimizes their concern for rules while also ensuring that the game doesn't get slowed down.

In the meantime, it couldn't hurt to learn rules better. There's only so far you can go, but a look-up shouldn't happen more than once or twice a session.

Also, tell them that you reserve the right to make stuff up. This means that sometimes the enemies will have a special ability that you give them for the express purpose of bypassing a normal rule. (For example, give them a special ability that makes their magic not show under detect magic.) This includes the possibility of new spells and/or feats.

This.

1000x this.

Use this guy to expand your knowledge of the rules. Make him feel valued for knowing how something works but be firm and put your foot down when it's bogging down the story. If your gaming group is like mine the rest of the players will support you wholeheartedly.

I *LOVE* it when my GM runs us up against things that aren't straight out of the beastiary. He's big on giving class levels to lower tier monsters which helps us recycle them and has the side benefit of us never knowing the stats on a particular creature. Most of us try very hard to not use player knowledge but it slips from time to time. Having class levels added keeps us honest and I appreciate the effort.

A half-orc (or better, a GOBLIN) paladin that's devoted to the Goddess of Beauty. That has some killer RP potential.

A gnome illusionist with a pseudodragon or faerie dragon familiar. Actually, don't do this one...Your party will conspire to murder you for the pranks.

A minotaur fighter with a 3 int. (I've seen this one done. The player was outstanding and had us all in stitches most game sessions)

A halfling cavalier with the archetype that allows exotic mounts. Dinosaur brigade...CHARGE!

I'd venture to say that you could use succubi for lust but that may be a bit overdone.

I keep seeing the Maiden of Virtue wing in Karazhan for lust though. A series of chambers that are decked out with lush furnishings slowly fallen into disrepair populated with beings beautiful beyond imagination. Whispering that slowly pervades the thoughts and works on the most primal desires of even the most stalwart party members.

If you're doing a single encounter per wing you could use a half-fiendish succubus/human cleric for the final encounter there.

Envy is easy. Make an incredibly powerful magic item (on par with a minor artifact) that's tailored specifically to two members of the party. Leave it out in the open. Key it ONLY to the temple (so that it can't be used as loot). Watch the party bicker and fight over who is allowed to use it. If the party is smart they'll catch on to the theme and realize that the item itself is causing envy. If they discard the item it crumbles into dust (along with their envy) and they defeat the encounter. If they do not then I'd start making the two characters it is tailored for start rolling will saves after a few hours.

A similar concept could be used for greed. A pile of coins (really worthless lead disks glamored to look like coins) and precious stones (river rocks disguised to look like diamonds, rubies, emeralds) in such quantities as to weigh down the party if they choose to take them all. These coins are enchanted in such a way that their weight transfers to the characters even if they are placed within a bag of holding, a haversack, or a quiver of efficiency. Slow the characters base movement speed by 10ft and give them all the penalties for a heavy encumbrance.

Gluttony would be tough to do without will saves but I'm sure some of the great minds on these boards can help.

thenovalord wrote:

well he did say base book so i went gnome

re-read: ahh, he can have APG classes I think

oracles rool in that case

I already thought about the Oracle, too.

But the IMHO is very subpar to the cleric because a) wisdom is a better stat (saves), he has no channel energy (seriously Paizo?), gets spells a level later (well... sorcerer at least) and the WORST he gets only 1 domain. What :(

I will answer the above later because I am kinda busy right now :)

While it is a one trick pony the Life Oracle can be a really potent healer with the extra channel and selective channel features. He would also be able to serve as the party face fairly well since he'll be focused on charisma and may not suffer as much as a MAD character from the limited point buy.

I've always started with a continent map (normally one that I've created using a real map, but altered) and then I've fleshed out the kingdoms found on that continent.

Then I'll concentrate specifically on the kingdom the PC's hail from and build the world as the campaign progresses.

I also tend to use the concept of a free city or city-state quite a lot. It would interest me to know if any other players/GM's use those.

im using a monk

and my buddy wizard casts enlarge person giving me a increase size category (+8 str +4 con -1 to ac due to size +1 cmb/cmd due to size)

but with this I gain 10ft reach. I know that reach on weapons works so that you only provoke AoO from a 10ft. radius but doesn't it work differently for natural attacks.

would this mean that i can provoke at 10 feet, but still be able to attack at normal 5 ft.

Quoting from the text: This spell causes instant growth of a humanoid creature, doubling its height and multiplying its weight by 8. This increase changes the creature's size category to the next larger one. The target gains a +2 size bonus to Strength, a –2 size penalty to Dexterity (to a minimum of 1), and a –1 penalty on attack rolls and AC due to its increased size.

Looks like your size mod may be a bit off as well.

Let me get this straight,

A Young Brass Dragon is a CR7 or an effective cohort level of 15 according to the monstrous cohorts table.

So I believe that means you have to be level 17 to get this cohort, assuming you have a high enough leadership score. (Still must follow the level restrictions for cohorts, that being PC level -2).

An Avoral is listed as an effective level of 15, lets compare.

HP: 94 (avoral) vs 76 (dragon)

AC: 25 (avoral) vs 21 (dragon)

Actually, it isn't even close when you compare them, the brass dragon is rocking a few non-combat 1st-level spells and only 4/day at that compared to the avoral's unlimited dimension door, hold person, blur, and lightning bolt 3/day.

Then we get into the avoral's lay on hands, many many different types of vision, better saves, better everything compared to the dragon.

It seems to me that they aren't even close to equal, so why is the effective level so high? CR + 8 seems a little extreme.

Now check out the Wyvern at an effective cohort level of 10. They have nearly identical stats. I admit, it has slightly more utility, and is technically 1 CR higher.

In the end, it seems perfectly balanced at an effective cohort level of 11, requiring the PC to be level 13. It is definitely not the RAW level 15 cohort.

If the DM has issues, sacrificing your familiar permanently and doing some RP to gain the service of this dragon sounds balanced at a cohort level 11 rating. Anything higher would be foolish, as you could simply just get a wyvern and be way better off.

A Bralani Azata is also available as a EL11 Cohort and I'm positive it would wipe the floor with a young brass in a stand up fight as well.

The Dragon wins on HP (76 vs 66) and AC (21 vs 20) but doesn't have the offensive capability of the Azata and the bite and breath weapon are the only things the dragon has that can overcome the DR of the Bralani.

A quick breakdown:

Cure Serious Wounds 2/day
Fire/Cold Resist 10
DR 10/cold iron or Evil
Spell Resistance 17
Blur, Mirror Image, Wind Wall as at will abilities.

vs.

A few low level spells
a 6d4 breath weapon (or sleep breath)
immune to fire/sleep

Not sure why the dragons are overvalued so much or why the Bralani is so undervalued. In looking at it, that may be a better cohort overall with a few ranger levels tacked on. I could even RP out making the planar shift to Elysium to find one willing to help me.

Anybody else have suggestions or advice?

Words of power got auto-banned in our campaign (as did the Gunslinger) so I'm curious how they well they work in play also.

Also keep in mind that you can take 10 on the spellcraft check. All of a sudden a 9th level wizard with a 24 int (18 base+2race+2levels+2headband) and the appropriate traits can take 10 on anything that's 30 or less without fear of failure and you don't even need a skill focus feat.

My current character has almost max ranks in Profession: Scribe and Profession: Librarian. I've also put points into EVERY knowledge skill. Yes, even knowledge: nobility. And he has almost max ranks in Linguistics as well (to the point that I have the ability to learn 4 new languages and haven't had the chance to RP it yet), just to pick up additional languages in case he finds a book that he wants to read.

The scary part is that I've used the Librarian profession to handle old documents and reduce the chance that they crumble into powder. It's been a pretty handy skill to be honest.

The easiest way to get a Dragon companion is to use the Leadership feat and have a dragon cohort which is 2 levels lower than you, although I can't recall if that translates to having 2 less CR than you level or 2 less Hit Dice than your level. In either case, there are no dragons large enough for a Drow to ride at that level. (Since your ranger is lvl 10, and you need something which is CR 8 or 8 Hit Dice maximum)

If you choose a small race, like Halfling, you can get a Medium Sized White Dragon at that level which you should be able to ride.

A young white dragon (weakest true dragon) is CR6. Using the cohort rules of CR+8 to determine EL it would be bumped to a 14. As a ranger your animal companion has to be 4 levels lower...You could get a Young White Dragon at level 18 or a Wyrmling at level 14 (CR2+8 is 10).

Those are the cohort rules but I fail to see why they wouldn't apply in this situation. I will freely admit that the +8 they assign to dragons is ridiculous. A +3 or +4 seems to be a MUCH better solution but depends on the table you're playing at. If I were the DM I'm not sure that I'd have an issue in giving you a Young dragon (white or black if chromatic, brass or copper if metallic) at level 11 or 12 but I wouldn't allow it to advance in age category, just in class HD.

I would say if it gets over powered then the GM should back it down or up the cr of the encounters to compensate.

I'd prefer to avoid increasing encounter CR much. I have no desire to punish or endanger the party (by increasing the likelihood that we'd have a death or two) because I chose to take a feat.

I need to speak to my DM about it I think. Thankfully I've got a few weeks before the next session and we will have a few sessions between levels. That should give me a bit of time to prepare.

OK, what exactly is a spell completion item? Is an item that requires you 'cast' a spell to create it? Or an item that has the use of said spell?

OK, what exactly is a spell completion item? Is an item that requires you 'cast' a spell to create it? Or an item that has the use of said spell?

To quote from the PRD, "Spell Completion: This is the activation method for scrolls. A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. The preparation is done for the caster, so no preparation time is needed beforehand as with normal spellcasting. All that's left to do is perform the finishing parts of the spellcasting (the final gestures, words, and so on). To use a spell completion item safely, a character must be of high enough level in the right class to cast the spell already. If he can't already cast the spell, there's a chance he'll make a mistake. Activating a spell completion item is a standard action (or the spell's casting time, whichever is longer) and provokes attacks of opportunity exactly as casting a spell does." I.E. A scroll

A spell trigger item would be, "Spell Trigger: Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it's even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken. Spell trigger items can be used by anyone whose class can cast the corresponding spell. This is the case even for a character who can't actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin. The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can activate it. Activating a spell trigger item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity." I.E. a Wand

So a wand or a staff would be a spell trigger item. They have a specific function that is activated with a command word and they are charged. A scroll would be a spell completion item. A potion I would classify as a spell trigger for creation purposes. I added the emphasis because it seems that those are the only types of items that are listed as spell completion or trigger items within the rules (that I could find). The fact that they are all charged (potions have a single charge) is one thing they all have in common.

As for your original question:

By RAW any requirement listed for the creation of a specific item (other than the item creation feat) can be ignored by adding 5 to the creation DC.

"Note that all items have prerequisites in their descriptions. These prerequisites must be met for the item to be created. Most of the time, they take the form of spells that must be known by the item's creator (although access through another magic item or spellcaster is allowed). The DC to create a magic item increases by +5 for each prerequisite the caster does not meet. The only exception to this is the requisite item creation feat, which is mandatory. In addition, you cannot create spell-trigger and spell-completion magic items without meeting their spell prerequisites."

One interesting thing I did note while reading the rules was: "The DC to create a magic item is 5 + the caster level for the item."

I hadn't noticed this previously. This adds a great way to ensure that wizards with an insane spellcraft for their level do actually have a chance of failure when creating magical items.

To use your example, a wizard wants to create an item with a CL10 that requires a specific spell on the cleric list and also requires the creator to be a 10th level cleric.

His check would be:

+10 for the base item
+5 creation DC per RAW
+5 for not being a cleric
+5 for not possessing the correct spell

The total DC would be 25. If he were able to secure the services of an outside cleric to cast the spell for him he would be able to reduce that check to 20.

Of course, all of this assumes that the crafter is attempting to create a Wonderous Item and not an enchantment on weapons or armor. Those are a whole new can of worms.

Of course Rule Zero applies here. Rule it however you feel it needs to be done.

EDIT: My spelling stinks today

Well Silver has the ability to turn into a human form.

Gold can make an interesting story...

The Last remaining (and most powerful) Gold dragon sacrificed himself in an effort to save the world. That is what caused all the dragons slumber (perhaps an alchemical effect that he took and he had opened a lesser link to all dragons so while it killed him it put all the others to sleep).

Now his spirit has been reborn into a baby gold dragon, the only one in the world, and your party must hide its identity until it has grown enough to protect himself, and the world.

I'm not 100% sure that a silver or gold wouldn't be a bit overpowered. I feel I'm pushing it with the brass (and they're the weakest metallic).

Your suggestion about it being the last of its kind is one that another player brought up and while it is of course subject to DM overview I actually like the idea. It would give my character a reason to devote more resources to protecting the critter than he might otherwise do.

None of us really know the back story of the world. It's unfolding a piece at a time. We get a nifty email every time we complete an adventure arc that gives us a vague outline of what we're going to face on the next leg of the adventure (as players, the characters don't have any of the information in the email). So even as a player I have no clue why the dragons are finally waking up.

I considered offering to remove the SLA's the cohort has and dropping the Spell Focus (enchant) that the Young Brass has.

Also, I failed to mention in my previous post that our group, by large, has pretty high stats. The DM uses a generous system for rolling stats and several of us ended up with some very very nice scores.

Thanks for the replies! I certainly appreciate it. Keep 'em coming, any ideas are welcome.

Laurefindel wrote:

Yet I prefer that to the metagaming resulting from seeing the dice...

It's still metagaming either way.

I actually like the idea of the DM giving you hints as to how the enemy reacts or the power of their spells. I had one that did that back when I was in college and I enjoyed the flavor.

If your players can refrain from using player knowledge on certain encounters (I.E. how would a group of adventuring stalwarts know that a succubus has charming abilities if they've never encountered one before?) and actually use knowledge checks to obtain that information the DM shouldn't be required to use a screen.

Party makeup (all level 9):

Conjuration Wizard - (me)Focusing on summoning and CC.

Oracle (Life) - Crazy healer and a great player, trying to tank a little.

Ranger (switch hitter) - Excellent ranged dps, trying to bump AC to tank a bit as well

Rogue/Fighter/Shadow Dancer - not very optimized but a crazy scout. Specializes in ranged combat options.

The campaign is at a point where we are able to branch off into multiple paths. The DM is allowing us to pick adventure "hotspots" one at a time to combat the forces of evil all over the world. Eventually this will build up into a climactic ending.

Dragons all over the world are awakening, once revered as gods they were forced into slumber by the last battle between good and evil. Now the cycle is beginning anew. We know of two dragons active in the world. Both are ancient wyrms, one is a bronze that's on our side and the other is a red that we know the lair location of (but haven't confronted because of obvious level disparity, also dragons aren't really meant to be fought in this campaign).

It's a great campaign really, and he's made it clear that we're being treated as powerful heroes instead of yet another set of adventurers that are out for fortune and glory.

I took Leadership at level 9 with the understanding that I'd get a small dragon as a cohort.I took leadership at 9 to get it out of the way, it was a dead feat level for me. I'm looking at obtaining the familiar at around level 11 or 12. Due to story I will be dropping my familiar in favor of the dragon. I'm also willing to give up a substantial boon from the king of the most powerful civilization in the land in order to obtain a reduction in the EL+8 formula.

The DM has proven himself more than willing to work with us in order to advance the story (which is one thing that makes the campaign so much fun) and is willing to give me the dragon cohort.

Please keep in mind that I don't want to have the cohort turn into a powerhouse, I'd simply like it to be beefy enough that it doesn't need to be coddled every combat. For story purposes a Young Brass would fit my character perfectly (as much as I'd love to have a large sized cohort for riding I'm willing to walk).

One of the other players in the group has indicated that the boon should be worth a -2 on the CR penalty and dropping my familiar would be worth another -2 to him if he were the DM. These numbers seem somewhat reasonable to me but I wanted to run them by everybody on the boards for opinions. Any other opinions would be welcome as well.

What do all of you think? Is my preferred cohort going to dominate the combat our party sees? How can I tone down the abilities to justify a medium sized (and admittedly fairly powerful) creature at level 11?