Chris P. Bacon's page

They should have ghost touch, and the ability to see invisible creatures, just in case anyone gets cute and tries to cast Blink.

There's Deep Drinker which would help quite a bit. And Fast Drinker, but it also costs a swift, so it will interrupt your koans. Can't go wrong with Drunken Brawler, too, if you have the room, but it doesn't sound like you do.

Don't worry about what is or isn't a "monk weapon", since the sensei loses flurry anyway. Whip it good.

Consider keeping Wholeness of Body; it sucks for pretty much any other monk, but a drunken sensei can heal his whole party to full health between fights with it.

I almost played a drunken sensei once, but decided in the end to ditch the sensei part because my team wasn't big enough to warrant someone who mostly just stands around buffing. Instead I kept my flurry and mostly spent my ki on bonus attacks and belching scorching rays. It worked out, but there were certainly times when it would have been awesome to dispense some drunken advice. The roleplaying aspect alone of slurring out mind-blowing wisdom between belches is well worth losing flurry. lol

I can see the concept of there even being an "opposite" gender for every person offending people. However, the line about how "The character's abilities, mind, and spirit remain unaffected; only the character's sex changes" is actually refreshingly progressive. ^__^

At any rate, the description for cursed items specifically says:

"Cursed items are any magic items with some sort of potentially negative impact on the user. Occasionally they mix bad with good, forcing characters to make difficult choices. Cursed items are almost never made intentionally."

That's a pretty fair, and non-judgmental description of the effect, I think.

This looks pretty easy, I think.

Requirements
Just chopping -3 to a min of 1 off the skill requirements would work fine, but it would also be fine to reinterpret them a little. For example, something like Knowledge (Religion) 5, Diplomacy 5, and either Craft or Perform 3 or so would suffice.

Improved Turning doesn't exist in Pathfinder, but its equivalent is probably Improved Channel. You might want to take a peek at the list of Channeling Feats to see if there's one that's more thematically appropriate. I think either Improved Channel or Turn Undead would be fine.

Just to be safe, you should probably put in a line about requiring the Channel Energy class feature. It's sort of implied with Improved Channel, but it should be specifically positive energy.

The spellcasting requirement seems fine as it is.

Hit Dice, BAB, and Skills
All look appropriate.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
No change needed here.

Spellcasting
Or here.

Bane of the Restless
This should just improve Channel Energy progression, with levels of Morninglord stacking with levels of any other class that grants the ability.

Lathander's Light
It might be best to rephrase this as altering any spell with the "light" descriptor with the effects of Widen Spell without altering its spell level or casting time. You can check out the text of the Holy Vindicator's "Faith Healing" power for an example of wording something like this.

Creative Fire
I'd consider reducing this to +1/2 your class level instead of +1/class level, but it's probably fine the way it is. Some Bards might get upset at being out-performed by a stuffy old Cleric, though.

Daylight
Fine.

Searing Ray
Also fine.

Greater Turning
Here we have a problem. The Sun Domain in Pathfinder no longer does the whole Greater Turning thing, so this needs to either be reworded to DO what Greater Turning does, or just do something else entirely. My suggestion is to upgrade the Daylight power as per the Sun Domain's "Nimbus of Light" power, which harms undead within its radius. Simple fix, still thematic, uses an existing Pathfinder mechanic, and is close enough to the original power to work.

Blessing of Dawn
Looks fine. Also, neat. ^__^

Maximize Turning
Should be okay, I think? Needs to be reworded along the lines of maximizing a Channel Positive Energy roll against Undead (whether used to damage them, or via the Turn Undead feat).

Rejuvination of the Morn
Probably fine, but could use some rewording, and ideally it should duplicate the effects of existing spells (like Heal). Ideally it should be 1/week, too, unless your setting uses tendays in this game, too.

Aura of Radiance
Looks fine. I'd maybe slip in a line about upgrading any existing Dakrvision to 90' or 120', so as not to shaft races that already have it, but I guess the colour vision is an upgrade anyway. Up to you/your GM, but when in doubt, leave it as is.

I think that about covers it! Balance-wise, it's actually pretty good at first glance.

I don't have much to add, except concurrence. A crossbow shot can be worth it at low levels, though I'd then resort to cantrips rather than spending time reloading. Try to pick off severely weakened opponents, so that the big guns in the party can focus on meatier targets.

Also, know the initiative order. I've been in situations where it was worth it to move up into melee just to provide flanking bonuses and Aid Another when I'm confident the ally I'm flanking with is going to act long before the enemy and should be able to finish them off (with a +4 to hit thanks to me). Measure the risk and gauge whether or not you can safely take at lest one hit. Even the wizard should be ready to take one for the team every now and then. There's always fighting defensively, too.

Carrying some caltrops or an alchemical item couldn't hurt, either.

For Sorcerers, or the occasionally charismatic Wizard, consider demoralizing via Intimidation.

A game I'm running has an NPC with a capybara valet familiar along these same lines (using the donkey rat stats). His bite does garbage damage, but he has a decent Acrobatics and is used to deliver touch spells, flank, and use aid another in combat. Laying caltrops, retrieving dropped items, aiding another, etc, are all good uses. I've even tried intimidation to demoralize when desperate, though at Cha 4 and size small, you can imagine how that turned out.

If injured, he just withdraws and hides. Getting killed is always a risk, but if enemies want to waste attacks on the giant rodent, then go for it, man. Spells like Mirror Image can go a long way to keeping your buddy alive. A goat has a decent Strength and can easily wear barding, too, if you want to have some made. They won't be bothered by it as long as the armor check penalty is 0, even without proficiency. CRY "HAVOC!" AND LET SLIP THE GOATS OF WAR.

Note that there are some feats for familiars that can be swapped out for the feats they start with. In this case, Peaches (that's the capybara's name) started with Critical Conduit instead of Skill Focus.

Abusing the Valet's ability to copy your teamwork feats is fun. Allied Spellcaster, Escape Route, Lookout, etc, are all pretty great.

As for making cheese - which, let's face it, is the most important part - a cheesemaking kit should be easy to buy and carry around; basically a bottle of culture, some cloths, and a wooden press or two.

With 1 rank of Craft (Cheesemaking), which is a class skill for +3, plus let's say a +4 Int bonus, and your goat uses Aid Another to add +2 (or buy a Masterwork cheesemaking kit), you're looking at a +10 bonus on your roll out of the gate. Taking 10 that's a total result of 20.

A "superior" item has a DC of 20, which we know you can make automatically as long as you're allowed to take 10. A result of 20 x a DC of 20 means 400 sp of work per week, or about 57 sp of work per day.

According to the rule book, a 1/2 lb of cheese costs 1 sp, so that's about 28.5 lb of cheese per day of work. Obviously your goat isn't pumping out a quarter of her weight in cheese ever day, so this is ridiculous.

However, you aren't making any mere typical cheese, the sort that gets listed in common adventuring gear tables. No sirree, you're making TOP QUALITY "superior" cheese here, which is obviously worth a lot more. Essentially what this means is that you can set your own price, up to the limits of what you can achieve via your craft roll, and adjust the volume produced accordingly.

Note that goat cheese usually takes at least a couple weeks to age, preferably more for the stinky stuff, but spending a day off making a check could represent cracking open a wheel of cheese that you already had on the go, and starting the next batch.

By a fairly generous interpretation of the rules, the combination of the Quick Draw feat and the "Hidden Weapons" ninja trick allows you to draw a concealed weapon as a free action. (And adds your rogue/ninja level to conceal checks.)

The idea is that the ninja trick allows you to draw hidden weapons "as a move action", and Quick Draw lets you draw weapons "as a free action instead of a move action". It's pretty iffy, and definitely in "ask your GM" territory, but I don't think it's a terribly big deal to allow it.

Also, combine this with Deft Palm and you can practically walk around armed without anyone even noticing.

Being able to conceal your weapons so easily might seem like a pointless trick, but it can really help with bluffing your way out of trouble, as plausibility actually affects your Bluff roll.

Quick edit to say: A halfling Knife Master with Quick Draw, Hidden Weapons, Deft Palm, and the Childlike feat would make a horrifyingly effective assassin.

I'll let someone else handle the Arcane Duelist, but I can take a stab at the Dirge Bard.

Really, the tl;dr version is that you're less of a skill monkey, but good with fear effects and necromantic spells, you can easily deal with undead in an unconventional way, and starting at 10th you get a really cheap Animate Dead performance.

Wall of text version:

For starters, the Dirge Bard still has Inspire Courage, so that much of your game largely stays the same. In my experience, teammates tend to be pretty disappointed when you tell them you can't IC, so it's nice to have.

You trade away Versatile Performance, so your skill points are going to be a little tighter than they would be for most bards. (Also, consider that you probably want to put more ranks into Knowledge: Religion than most bards.) The Dirge Bard isn't a skill monkey.

At 5th level, though, you can substitute Perform (Keyboard or Percussion) for Intimidate when demoralizing, along with a bonus; this is at least a little like versatile performance. It's up to you if you care enough about demoralizing; it may not be that big a deal for you, since you will have other, often better ways of inflicting fear effects that won't stack. I'm a big fan of Blistering Invective as a reliable debuff, however. Your call. If you like, try asking your GM to let you substitute a different Perform style for this bonus, as those two choices seem a little random. There are a number of passable choices for instruments, though, such as castanets or kalimba that are quite portable. Either would be really creepy if made out of bone.

Another big change is that you can affect undead with your mind-affecting effects. This is nice if you don't have anyone in the party who can turn, or otherwise deal with undead.

You can also start to add a few necromancy spells from the sorc/wiz and witch list to your repertoire, which is fantastic. Necromancy as a school is sometimes overlooked, but there are a few really valuable spells in there.

What really changes the way you do things is the bonus to save DCs vs fear effects (technically the enemy suffers a penalty; same diff). This scales from a -2 at 5th to a -5 at 20th. The fear complications are really powerful, and the ability to hit undead with them gives you a little more reason to use them. It's also just really fun to make your enemies run screaming. I never tire of it, anyway.

Lastly, it's worth mentioning the 10th level bardic music ability, Dance of the Dead which is great. Animate Dead with no component cost? Yes please! It's disgusting, but helpful to start shoving the corpses of your victims into a bag of holding once you get close to 10th, so that you'll always have a supply of "volunteers" at the ready. The Decompose Corpse spell can be helpful for storage, though it's a shame to waste a spell slot on it. Perhaps get a wand.

Mostly, I love the flavour. You get to do the usual bard stuff: inspire courage, inspire competence, fascinate+suggestion, cast spells, etc - however, you also get to be super creepy, and brave in the face of undeath. Playing a bard isn't just about being useful, it's about being memorable. Maybe someone will fondly remember the Arcane Duelist who hit for a lot of damage; nobody will forget the cute, bright-eyed undertaker's daughter who grew up playing music at funeral services, and kept beloved dead things in a bag of holding until it was time for them to wake up for one last dance.

I think this would frustrate me, too. Equipment is a big part of D&D (though I often wish it wasn't, as I hate the feeling that it's the gear that's special, not my character). If someone is depriving you of cash, and therefore equipment, they're kind of depriving you of a part of the gaming experience. So while on one hand this is a pretty Neutral Evil thing to do in character, out of character it's kinda dickish.

I was in a similar situation once with a party that included a fairly openly evil Tiefling character. We, the players, were going out of our way to make excuses for ourselves about why we would continue to tolerate and even assist this guy because we all want to play D&D and it's no fun if we're constantly fighting amongst ourselves, or if we simply kick a character out of the group. However, the Tiefling's player took advantage of this fact, stealing from the party and putting the team at risk for his own gain, knowing full-well that we were essentially forced to put up with it. And we did put up with it, but I was not sorry when the game ended.

For that reason, I try to dissuade this sort of thing, while also encouraging my players to contact me if they ever feel out of sorts about anything that's going on. They can email me or text me or whatever in private if they're shy about it; I completely understand. I want everyone to feel comfortable and excited, and to have fun at the table.

I suggest talking to the player first, but try to stay away from accusations and instead be constructive and forward-looking. Evil characters don't have to be evil all the time; they can have friends who they treat with respect. Ask if perhaps from here on out he could go easy on the greed so that you can get that [insert magic item here] that you've been saving up for. You can always appeal to the fact that having well-equipped allies doing his dirty work for him is also a good thing.

I played a dwarven zen archer monk once, and I had an awesome time with it, though in part it was thanks to a partnership with another player.

The characters in our party were all apprentices to a seasoned NPC adventuring group who had retired with their wealth, but who eventually yearned to train young adventurers and pass on their skills.

My dwarf was the son of the veteran party's fighter, and took great pride in his race's skill at arms. However, our party also had a female elf who was the daughter of the veteran party's rogue. The two were practically raised as siblings and quarreled non-stop, usually with the more charismatic elf getting the last laugh.

At some point they got into an argument about which was the superior weapon: the axe or the bow. Large quantities of alcohol got involved and they somehow wound up swearing oaths to train exclusively in each other's weapons on a dare.

Thus, my dwarf wound up being trained by the elven rogue and wound up a zen archer; meanwhile, my friend's impish little elf maiden was trained by the dwarven fighter and wound up an axe-crazy urban barbarian/fighter who dual-wielded agile hand axes (and hurled throwing axes).

It was a lot of fun to roleplay my dwarf being rather awkward with his bow for the first few levels, often throwing temper tantrums and resorting to fisticuffs after missing a flurry of shots; often his beard would get in the way or he'd clip his big nose with the bowstring, etc. Meanwhile, the elf actually took quite naturally to her light axes and got in touch with her sadistic chaotic-neutral side. Eventually my dwarf found his center and learned to love the bow, and became notoriously deadly with the thing - but was still loath to admit his fondness for it, and would make excuses about sticking to his promise to use the bow only for the sake of his honour, etc.

I also prefer not to use preplanned text for adventures, but that's just my style - every GM has his or her own style, and it usually takes a lot of experience to figure out what you feel comfortable with, and what gets the best results.

In general, I tend to just write point-form stuff that I can read quickly in advance of a scene to refresh my memory. I'll underline or bold any details that I really don't want to miss. Sometimes I will put in a quote or a few key words that I do want an NPC to use if they're important or if wording is crucial (in order to give enough, but not too much of a hint, for example). You'll have to get into improv mode anyway, as you can't predict everything the PCs will say or ask, so I figure you may as well start improving right from the start. As Talos says, it's less awkward that way.

A suggestion, if I may:

I think you're laying things out a little too clearly for the PCs. In my experience as a GM, at least, players like to snoop around and investigate, and if you volunteer all the details right away, it takes some of the fun and mystery away. It's sort of the difference between an adventure and a to-do list of chores. I think it's easy for us GMs to focus too much on the details of the story and how we'd like it to go, when really our primary job is to allow the players to feel like heroes by giving them a lot of difficult choices and problems to solve, while managing tension. The more opportunities for choice that you can reasonably create (without giving yourself a huge headache!) the better.

For example, if you describe the town in pretty generic terms, but mention that the PCs have seen an unusual number of sick people, I can almost promise you that they'll want to know more and investigate on their own. And failing that, you can bet that they'll wind up in the local tavern anyway. ^__^

And don't play your whole hand on the table right away. Keep this illness mysterious. As the GM you know that belladonna will cure it, but the PCs should only be told that it might work, or that it's the best shot we have of curing it. That ups the risk and adds tension. Saying that it's easy to cure also deflates tension, so maybe say something like "it might be easy enough to cure - IF we had enough belladonna - which we don't!" That's the crux of the problem that the PCs have to solve here, so it helps to underline it.

And maybe don't tell the PCs that they'll probably have to do a mission for Ceralie. Having them find out only when they meet her that she has additional demands could add some tension to the story, especially since they know they have a deadline. It'll be an interruption in their plans, and suddenly they'll feel a little extra pressure. Keeping the tension going is a big part of keeping a game interesting, and making the players feel like big damn heroes if/when they manage to pull the plan off in the end. I think having Ceralie give them a mission is a really great idea, by the way.

Also a quick tip: always try to anticipate what might happen if the players don't take the adventure bait. Maybe they decide they don't want to help out, for example - sometimes players like to be callous that way. (Man have I learned that the hard way..) In this case, it may be helpful to remind them that just by being in town they may have exposed themselves to this potentially lethal disease, and that finding a cure would be in their best interests.

I usually run 3 basic types of dungeons: natural dungeons, inhabited dungeons, and planned dungeons.

Natural dungeons are simply populated by opportunistic creatures, and have a functional (though sometimes short-lived) ecosystem. There is a top predator of some kind, but it/they are not numerous, with various weaker things to be eaten. At the bottom of the food chain there are typically rats and vermin, while in the middle there may be larger animals or monsters. There are often molds, fungi, and various natural hazards and obstacles, too. Treasure is haphazard: there may be a natural deposit of gems or the gear of adventurers who came before and lost their lives.

Inhabited dungeons are currently occupied by intelligent beings, usually in a society of some sort. Goblins in a mine, kobolds in their lair, etc, or anyone doing something unsavory that would be best kept away from the prying eyes of innocent lawful good villagers. These beings tend to construct traps, they may excavate and furnish rooms with specific purposes (armory, nursery, latrine), they likely pool and guard their treasure, and they have probably dealt with any major predators that would be a threat to them - though sometimes this is as little as capturing it or locking it in a section of the dungeon they don't need. Depending on their tastes, they may have dealt with vermin, molds, etc, or they may be pests that they wish they knew how to deal with - or hell, they may even like their dungeon that way. Often these creatures are essentially squatting in a structure that someone else built - an ancient dwarven city, the ruins of a temple from a forgotten ancient civilization, etc. They likely have to turn to outside sources of food, but savage species of baddies (your orcs, goblins) can sometimes weather incredibly harsh conditions with a little good-old fashioned cannibalism.

Planned dungeons are occupied by monsters on someone's behalf. This is your typical situation where a powerful BBEG has employed or struck a deal with some creatures, or made or otherwise enslaved them, using them as guards, fodder, etc. Such a dungeon is built to suit the master's purposes and may be little more than a maze; unlike inhabited dungeons, which are primarily homes and bases of operation, these dungeons are built with intruders in mind. There probably isn't any significant ecological stability and creatures aren't able to sustain themselves without being fed or delivered supplies. As a result they may be in bad shape if their master doesn't care for them all that much - or they may be very well cared for if their master is the doting type. Constructs and undead are nice and low-maintenance. Loyalty may be an issue; sometimes intelligent occupants can be convinced to turn on their masters (though they're equally likely to doublecross the PCs if an opportunity presents itself). These dungeons are the most unpredictable, as almost anything could be in them, just around the next bend. Traps and hazards are planned, and probably tailored to be harmless to the occupants, but lethal to intruders (water and gas hazards in a dungeon populated with undead, fire traps among creatures with fire immunities).

Goat familiar = free milk.

Thread over.

I aim for a mix of the two, though I err on the side of roleplaying.

I would feel guilty being the party load just because I had this neat idea that I wanted to try out. I know my team is counting on me to pitch in in a fight, so I always try to make sure that my character is at least carrying himself.

However, I don't see the point in just creating a killing machine that can stomp on every encounter and win at everything, without caring that much about character development. Might as well just write "YOU WIN" on a piece of paper and look at it occasionally. I especially don't like it when people make choices that make no logical sense, or which are at least a huge stretch of the imagination to reconcile, just for the sake of optimization.

So, I think a happy medium between the two is what's best. And it's certainly possible.

EDIT: I somehow missed the questions about GMing. I prefer to make very open-ended games where the players can do whatever they want. In order to make this work, I sit down with the players ahead of time and we work together to come up with motivations for characters both to pursue some sort of storyline, and most importantly, to stick together as a team.

And I do warn them that they should not expect that all encounters are tailored to their level. I don't go out of my way to swamp them with insane encounters, but I like it when players have to decide when to fight and when to run. Similarly, they'll sometimes run into encounters that are super easy for them, which they usually find quite enjoyable, actually. It can be especially refreshing to curb stomp some low-level encounters as a little ego boost after you've had a string of hard fights or defeats. ^__^

It's a lot of work, but I like to make complex plots with a lot of choice, lots of recurring NPCs, moral grey areas, etc. I'm also big on personal/individual storylines, though it can be tricky to weave them into the metaplot without disrupting things too much. In general this is all a ton of work, but it's what I enjoy most about GMing.

Can't hit the fighter? Stop attacking the fighter. Even dumb opponents will eventually wise-up to the concept that bashing your head against a brick wall is counter-productive.

You could also put the team against high AC targets and see how they deal with it. Anything that drags out a fight increases the chances of rolling those nat 20s.

Silent spells are definitely great, and keep an eye out for those that simply don't have verbal components to begin with. And then there are spell-like abilities.

EDIT: Swarms? Maybe not at 8th level, though.

That's a really good idea! I have to start doing that. I'm going to print them out like business cards, get all professional about it.

"Hello, my name is Chris, I'll be your bard this evening. Here's my card. Can I interest you in a buff? Perhaps something in a nice competence bonus? What can I do to get you in a flanking position today?"

I love that you're willing to make this work - I love GMs that will go with the flow when a player gets emotionally invested in something.

From what I can see, there's no easy way to handle this except to have him just use Handle Animal, as you suggested. The trouble with that is that the snake isn't going to level with the character and will eventually become more of a liability than anything.

One suggestion is to allow him to swap his level 3 bloodline familiar for an animal companion (perhaps at an effective druid level equal to his sorcerer level -4 or some such, though Boon Companion would patch that up right away). The advantage here is that the snake will progress with levels fairly organically. However, this poses the additional problem of how to handle the snake's stats, especially since it will start out much more powerful than a normal animal companion.

One way to handle it would be to play mix-and-match with the constrictor and viper's stats (link) so that you wind up with a large venomous snake (without grab or constrict). It wouldn't actually be large until 4th level but you could choose to overlook that. The stats won't be completely the same, either, but it'll be close.

Or, in theory he could get it Awakened and/or even take Leadership and choose it as a cohort. That wouldn't come together for some time, though, and it would behave very differently as a fully intelligent being.

Improved Familiar just doesn't sit right with me. In Pathfinder they seem to have drawn a deliberate distinction between the big, meaty, damaging animal companions and the small, intelligent, capable familiars; having a large venomous familiar breaks that convention - though that may be more acceptable to you guys.

I find that in most cases, a GM who is behaving in this way probably just needs to get out from behind the screen and play a character of their own.

Lesser geas is a 4th level spell, the redeemer gets this ability at 8th level. I know the ability is limited in a lot of ways, but it's the sort of ability characters get around 7th-8th level.

Atonement requires a genuine desire to change which is rarely going to be the case with a defeated foe.

As I said to Mikaze, I'm a huge fan of free-will and a spell that forcibly changes a creature seems morally reprehensible to me. This is meant as a compromise. While you can't force a creature to be good, you can limit it's ability to do harm.

Yeah, when I say that Pact of Peace comes too late in the game, I don't mean in terms of balance - I mean that, until they get it, they really aren't any better at redeeming enemies than anyone else. Sure, they get a small bonus to Diplomacy, but that isn't a big help, and there are a lot of other archetypes that give even better boosts to Diplomacy that have nothing to do with redemption.

Also, the 7 HD limit on lesser geas means it won't be useful for that long after you get it, either.

"You're beaten, blue dragon! Do you yield?"
".. yes, fine.. I yield, mortal."
"Well good. Now we're going to let you go, but only on one condition: promise you'll stop hunting and eating the people who live around this desert oasis, okay?"
"NO."
"Well, I tried."

I suppose it is likely to still work on a lot of humanoids you meet, which is sort of the focus of the archetype (rather than, say, dragons), but it still feels pretty disappointing to me.

And I didn't explain myself very well in my comments about Atonement; I wasn't trying to say that they should get an Atonement ability (though in retrospect, maybe adding it to their spell list as a level 4 wouldn't be unreasonable), but I wish they had some actual way of helping evil creatures atone and easing the transition towards goodness. I don't really know what to suggest, though preferably something that doesn't require them to follow the party around like lost puppies or anything like that. (That's at least one great thing about the geas effect: it's a fire-and-forget ability.) And importantly, it should appear fairly early in the archetype.

One thing I'd love to do is take Leadership as a redeemer, and fill up my cohort and follower slots with a mix of like-minded idealists and converted foes. Then we can start our own little village where humans and orcs live together in harmony, and the primary currency is puppy hugs and everyone has ranks in Craft: Friendship and okay maybe I got a little carried away there but you get the idea.

Holy necromancy, Batman.

I think it's intended the Banner of the Ancient Kings also work as a flag for the purposes of the flagbearer feat; after all, it shifts it's appearance to look just like whatever flag you'd normally be carrying. So, if you have Flagbearer and are carrying around a normal flag, then you find a Banner of the Ancient Kings in some loot or something, you can get rid of the old flag and just use the BotAK instead.

And Flagbearer doesn't say that you need "a free hand", you just have to hold it in one hand. And I think holding it in two is just as good, if not better. It's ridiculous to imagine anything else:

Bard: [waving banner around in two hands and using inspire courage] "Show those orcs no mercy, brothers! For the King!"
Teammate: "Raaar, for the King! - wait, hold on! You.. you're holding that banner with two hands!
Bard: "What? So?"
Teammbate: "So I don't feel inspired at all! Waaaaaaaah!"
Bard: "..... are you #%*^ing kidding me right now?"
Teammate: "lol nope" [gets killed by an orc]
Bard: "....."
GM: "... What?"

What I think is open to more serious interpretation is whether you can actually attack with the longspear with the banner attached. A 4'x6' banner is huge, and even if it somehow didn't disrupt your ability to attack, certainly you would wind up dragging the thing through the mud, stepping on it, getting blood and gore all over it, etc, no? Not exactly great for morale, that.

I've heard of spearmen and knights using pennons attached to the ends of the spears or lances to help keep the spear from going too deep or getting stuck as easily in an opponent, but a pennon is typically much smaller than a flag and wouldn't interfere with aim as much, I figure. I'm no expert, though, and this is fantasy.

Interested to hear how other players and GMs would on this one.

If the stabbing was done specifically to injure the foot to slow the guy down, I would have treated the barbarian as though he had stepped on a caltrop.

Confession: I am not familiar with this AP, so I can't speak to it in any detail, though I think you provided enough details for me to get the gist.

However, I'm one of those players who enjoys, and tends to gravitate towards leadership positions in games, so I have a lot of experience in that regard - and it sounds to me like this player is new to being the leader.

Being a leader in a game is different from being a leader in real life. In real life you have some actual powers over your subordinates, they're typically trained to respect you, and they have reasons to follow your orders - and generally you got into that leadership position by having the right sort of qualities and experiences. In a game, people are just out to have fun, and they're often willing to screw up their characters and risk or even provoke conflict if it suits their purposes because its just a game. And in the same way that nobody expects a player to be as smart as their Int 20 wizard, nobody can really expect you to be as charismatic and wise as the captain of a ship. If you go into a role like that expecting it to work out like it should in real life, you're going to be disappointed.

Instead, I find that being a leader in a game is less about giving orders and more about playing a role. Nobody wants to be told what to do in a game that is fundamentally about making decisions for yourself. Instead, I tend to just let everyone do what they do (people like to be trusted with that sort of initiative) and only step in to create a plan when it's absolutely necessary to not get killed - and even then, I open the floor to suggestions and act more as a mediator as the plan comes together by committee.

And often, playing the leader is about just playing the role of an authority figure that anti-heroes can rebel against. There's always that one self-styled badass in the group who just has to do things his own way. Rather than be frustrated with that, I try to work with it, and see it as an opportunity for each of us to play our roles and have a little fun. As long as things don't get nasty.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

I think the important thing to take away from the conversation you posted is that he clearly had not cooled down about it yet. Maybe he just needs a little more time to get over it. His ego was bruised, and that can take a long time to heal.

In terms of a solution, I actually suggest going against your gut and asking the other players if one of them wants to be captain. Maybe one of them will surprise you - and if not, chances are this player will realize he's better off giving orders that aren't always followed than taking orders from an idiot captain.

I agree that an NPC captain would defeat the purpose of the game. Avoid that if at all possible. But there's no way to force this guy into playing the game a certain way if he doesn't want to.

I forgot to mention the relentless alternate racial trait for dwarves, which gives you a bonus on bullrush checks!

I'm glad you like the build, though I'm sorry it sounds like it will require some concept reworking. I hope it works out. ^__^ Happy face-bashing!

I've discussed this elsewhere, but can't quite recall where, but my favourite build is centered around wielding a heavy spiked shield in two hands, and using armor spikes to make "off-hand" attacks via the two-weapon fighting feat.

Be a fighter and take the Brawler archetype; this gives you a +1 to hit and +3 to damage at level 3 with weapons from the "close" group, which includes both spiked shields, and armor spikes.

Two really key feats are Shield Slam and Spiked Destroyer. Shield Slam lets you get a free bull-rush when you hit with your shield, and Spiked Destroyer gives you a free shot with your armor spikes when you successfully bull rush someone.

You'll also need Improved Shield Bash, of course, and Weapon Specialization, Power Attack, Improved/Greater Bull Rush, and the rest of the TWF feats are all a big help. With these you'll do heaps of damage without sacrificing your AC, while shoving enemies around the battlefield and granting your allies free AoOs.

Depending on interpretation, a bashing heavy spiked shield deals either 1d8 or 2d6 damage. Talk to your GM about this; RAW seems to lean towards 2d6 to me, but I've heard that it's intended to just be 1d8. Take advantage of potentially having a free hand: consider wearing a cestus on your spare hand in case you need a light weapon for some reason, and carry a thrown weapon that you can either drop or chuck before engaging in melee.

I was looking at my what to do with my lore warden, and it kind of seems like they're not that good at grappling. If you're fighting one giant, anyway.

Dwarves get the +4 dodge against them - that can't hurt.
Favored enemy is probably the best thing.

Lore Wardens can be amazing at grappling. Be human and dump your favored class points into the human fighter option that grants a +1 CMD against any two maneuvers - pick Trip and Grapple and you're in business.

My favourite build involves getting feats like Binding Throw to first trip opponents and grapple them while they're suffering from penalties for being prone (essentially a +8 on your grapple checks!), and Hamatula Strike to essentially gain Grab when using a piercing weapon, such as armor spikes or cesti. With those feats, plus Greater Trip, Greater Grapple, and Rapid Grappler, you can trip a foe, stab them with armor spikes as an AoO and start a grapple as a free action, use your move action to grapple them again and pin them, and then grapple them a third time as a swift action to hogtie them.

I know that tripping giants doesn't sound so easy, but it can be. A wand of enlarge person will let you trip huge opponents. And yes, they have big CMDs, but with Fury's Fall and a high dex, plus a good enhancement bonus on your weapon (you can trip with any weapon), your trip CMB should be high enough to deal even with giants.

Ninja with a dip into monk works pretty well. Maybe invest in feats like Sap Adept, Sap Master, and/or Knockout Artist.

Sap adept at the very least, as you can deal non-lethal with unarmed strikes (Robin doesn't kill, after all) and all you'll need to do is flank. Knockout Artist kicks in once you gain access to greater invisibility. Sap Master only works on flat-footed targets (and note that opponents aren't necessarily flat-footed against your attacks just because you're invisible - only if they haven't acted yet at the start of combat) but being invisible should allow you to get the drop on people fairly often.

Smoke bombs, shuriken, unarmed strikes, stunning fist, tons of skills, and stealth options galore.

EDIT: Oh, and the quarterstaff is a monk weapon, of course, and assuming your GM is okay with eastern weapons, so is the hanbo, (essentially escrima sticks).

If you want a bump to AC I think dodge is the better bet. It's a prerequisite for a lot of other feats that you may want to take some day, and doesn't require you to spend for Improved Unarmed Strike.

Maybe ask your GM about his or her interpretation of how Dervish Dance works with feats like Two Weapon Fighting. By RAW, it doesn't specify that you only get your Dex bonus to damage with the scimitar, and by some interpretations you could gain your Dex to damage with other attacks.

And there are ways to get extra attacks without holding a weapon or shield in your off hand (and thus disqualifying you from using Dervish Dance). For example, getting TWF and using armor spikes is one way to get in another attack; a gauntlet, cestus, or similar weapon that leaves the hand free may also work, depending on how your GM feels about it. These are all light weapons, and so they'll at least work with Weapon Finesse.

Even if you don't get your Dex to damage with all attacks, it may still be useful to take TWF for when you're smiting and making a full attack.

At first I thought this was a silly question, but when I started thinking about ways to prove a clear separation between force and energy damage, I admit that I was thrown for a bit of a loop.

However, I did find this definition in the glossary:

Energy Damage

Energy damage is typically dealt by spells (usually evocation spells such as fireball or cone of cold) and typically deals hit point (hp) damage, but unlike damage dealt by weapons or natural attacks, damage reduction usually is not effective against it. Instead, a creature typically must have energy resistance to reduce the amount of damage it takes from one of these sources.

Spells or effects with any of the descriptors [acid], [cold], [electricity], [fire], or [sonic] typically deal energy damage. Energy resistance is usually effective against these types of energy damage.

This doesn't specifically exclude force, but it only lists the typical acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic elements.

Strangely, this is as close to definitive as I've gotten so far. I've looked up Energy Resistance as a special ability, Resist Energy and similar spells, and the blurb about the Force descriptor, and nothing in any of those sections definitively spells out what constitutes energy or an element in definitive terms.

I think at this point it's only fair to err on the side of gut instinct and say that force doesn't count as "energy damage" in this case, but I don't blame you at all for asking. I can't shake the feeling that I'm either over-thinking this, or just missing something really obvious, but that's the best I've got!

This doesn't really count as a *moment*, exactly, but..

My party had just leveled up after a rough dungeon crawl when it occurred to me that the majority of their encounters had been against vermin and other creatures with little to no loot, and that they could use a little extra treasure to help even things out a bit.

So, while they were on the long journey back to their home city, I had them stumble upon an old man who had up and died in the middle of the road. He turned out to be an old follower of the god of travel who had literally wandered his whole life until he dropped of old age. I didn't flesh him out much, since he was dead, but I described him as having some robes, a walking stick, and a few minor magic items which I wanted the party to have.

Well, for some reason, it occurred to me on the spot that he should have some sort of traveling companion, so I randomly mentioned that he had a dog with him. The party was immediately worried about this dog - his master had just died, after all, and they reasoned that this must have been a traumatic experience for the poor creature. They asked all sorts of questions about it: was it a boy or a girl? What did it look like? Was it old, too? Was it injured? Did it have a collar or something with a name tag on it? Did it look hungry? Did it look sad?

I was touched by their genuine concern and wound up really fleshing out this dog as I answered all their questions. They wound up burying the old man where he fell and took the dog with them. It soon became the party's pet and mascot, and they took *absurdly* good care of it throughout their adventures. I mean, you would not believe how important this dog that I had only invented as an afterthought had become to them.

To this day, when the players reminisce about that game, the one thing they remember most was that dog - not the epic fights or dungeons or obstacles that I had put them up against, but that shaggy old hound they adopted as a group. Who knew?

I'm not really recommending this, but you can turn yourself into quite the bodyguard tank, producing a huge bonus to AC both for yourself and for adjacent allies.

Start out as a halfling and choose the Helpful racial trait (additional +2 when using Aid Another). Be a Cavalier with the Honor Guard archetype, which gives you the Bodyguard feat for free at 3rd level, along with a +1 bonus to Aid Another benefits when using it. Choose the Order of the Dragon, whose 2nd level order ability is another +1 to Aid Another.

Now when you use the Bodyguard feat, you grant a +6 bonus to AC. But we aren't done yet.

At 1st level take the Cautious Fighter feat, followed by Blundering Defense at 3rd, and invest 3 ranks into Acrobatics; you now gain a +5 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively, and can share half of this (+2) with adjacent allies.

If you like, you can now switch to Fighter, and choose the Shielded Fighter archetype; at 3rd level, instead of Armor Training, you gain an additional +1 dodge bonus to AC when fighting defensively; this bumps you up to +6 for yourself, and +3 for adjacent allies.

With your fighter bonus feats, pick up Combat Reflexes for more bodyguarding goodness, and Exotic Weapon Proficiency with the Madu shield. Your Madu reduces the penalty on attack rolls for fighting defensively to only a -2; it also reduces your Combat Expertise penalty to hit by 1, and so does the Threatening Defender trait, if you want to grab that, too, so you might as well spend a feat on Combat Expertise when you get the chance, too.

With your 7th level feat, you may as well finish off with Uncanny Defense, to turn your +6 fighting defensively bonus into a +3 to reflex saves and another +3 to your CMD (the +6 dodge bonus already benefits your CMD, so you're looking at +9 now!).

Thus, by 7th level, when fighting defensively and using Combat Expertise, you'll have a total of +8 to your AC before dexterity, armor, and your shield, a total of +9 to your CMD, and +3 to reflex saves. Adjacent allies gain a +3 bonus to AC, and with Bodyguard you can add another +6 via Aid Another for a total of +9! You're a walking suit of plate mail! This is only at the expense of a -2 penalty to hit, and the use of a lot of attacks of opportunity.

The downside is that your damage is going to suck, and you have to fuss with your positioning all the time. However, you can mitigate this somewhat by choosing the Gendarme and/or Beast Rider archetypes; Gendarme allows you to trade in your Tactician ability for a feat like Power Attack, and Beast Rider nets you a better mount that can do more damage on your behalf, help set up flanking, etc. Boon Companion will help make up for those levels of Fighter, if you took them, and if you really love your mount you can go back to leveling Cavalier.

I ran a very, very low-magic game once, and I'd like to do it again sometime. Spellcasting classes were severely restricted as follows:

a) Arcane magic was considered to be heresy and associated with great evil. Displaying arcane powers in a populated area is a great way to get lynched or burned at the stake. Some people are still born with sorcerous blood, but they almost always hide their powers and are often just as afraid of them as other people. As such, sorcerers are rare (but a sorcerer who chooses to develop his/her powers is likely to turn to adventuring, hopefully finding friends who are less judgmental and superstitious), and wizards and bards are all but unheard of.

b) Divine magic was also severely limited, though in a different way. The setting revolved around the concept of the gods having disappeared from the world, for reasons unknown to modern people. Most people in the present don't even think they existed, but are at least dimly/culturally aware of the silly beliefs of the ancient peoples. Clerics and Paladins are very rare, and are the result of sponsorship from powerful outsiders (known as "Immortals"). Even they tend not to flash their powers, in case they are confused for sorcery. Similarly, Druids pray to nature spirits and fae, which are few and far between.

c) Rangers were a special case; their spellcasting was replaced with bonus feats and a better Animal Companion progression.

Aside from that, I just made some adjustments to challenge levels and treasure, and instituted a few house rules:
- Max HP at every level.
- Heal your Level x Con bonus in HP with a full day's rest.
- added a few new special materials with varying effects (one to overcome each type of resistance, and a few others)

Still, players had to be very cautious about encounters and quickly learned to set up more ambushes and use hit-and-run tactics. They cooperated well and developed strategies as a team, rather than relying on magic to save their butts when they screwed up. Tensions were high in every fight, and that made it a lot of fun. With low money, Masterwork equipment was a big deal, the loss of a horse was devastating, and finding a few pounds of a special material that could be fashioned into a weapon was like finding a magic item.