Christopher Utley's page

So I'm running a game using the Kingdom Building rules. Each player is in charge of their own kingdom, with a couple NPC kingdoms to keep things interesting.

The thing is, the kingdom's alignment just doesn't seem to have any effect beyond a couple of minor static bonuses. Historically, it seems that evil kingdoms suffered the equivalent of Unrest and Loyalty penalties, but that isn't represented in the framework of the rules.

Does this seem like something that should be there, or am I just looking for a reason to penalize Evil?

Last night we had a PC death in our SCAP campaign, and the player was in tears about it. Apparently she had misunderstood when I told her if the adventure continued, she would not get any XP for it, since her character was dead. She thought I meant she could no longer gain XP, period. And while she does have some other things on her mind (her husband is leaving for Army Basic Training in a couple weeks), it concerns me that she would cry about this. Has anyone else had a similar situation? Any thoughts on how, or if, I need to deal with this?

Can a character use the UMD skill to emulate a lower ability score than they actually have? There are spell weaver doors in Demonskar Legacy that require INT 6 to open automatically, but if a player wants to emulate a score of 5 so they can check the door for traps without it opening automatically, how would she try it?

Last night my FLGS held an event with midnight sales and a couple of games right afterwards. Quick and dirty, of course, but just about what I expected. It's a fun game, to be certain. But it's not something I plan on expanding my gaming budget to include.

I'm running Kill Bargle and want to make things a little more challenging for my players, so I'm giving all encounters maximum hp. However, I can't find the HD of the Living Crystal Statues. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

So this may have been addressed before, but are there any books out there that are couterparts to the Fiendish Codexes (Codices?)? A book about Angels and other LG/CG outsiders to counter the CE/LE Demons and Devils?

I am currently playing in a STAP campaign as a Knight with one level of sorcerer. I have an idea for a new feat , but I’m afraid it may be over-powered (or even worse, munchkined).

Quicken Wand

Prerequisites:
Craft Wand, Quicken Spell

Benefit:
You can cast a spell from a wand as a swift action. Doing so takes a number of extra charges from the wand to equal or exceed the quickened spell level. Thus a wand with a first level spell would take five charges, a second or third level spell would take 3 charges, and a fourth level spell would take two charges.

Normal:
Casting a spell from a wand takes a standard action.

Now for the munchkin part. Combine this with a Deathwand weapon (Arms & Equipment Guide 103-104), and you could get a +20 to hit and no miss chance every round for 10 rounds. That limits it a bit, but with a day and 325gp, you could craft a new one. Is this way too powerful?

I realize that the three previous AP's are not OGL, and thus cannot be included as part of the setting. But as work continues on the Campaign Setting, will there be any attention given to locations that could be converted to that purpose? An unnamed city in a volcano, an island far off the known and explored part of the map, etc. As popular as this setting is getting, I'm sure there are others who would like to play the previous AP's in it.

The enhancement bonus on a bane weapon is treated as two higher than it actually is when facing it's particular foe. Would a +4 or +5 weapon be considered epic for the purposes of overcoming DR/epic since it would have an effective enhancement of +6 or +7?

So I noticed that the Boots of Striding and Springing give a +5 competence bonus to jump checks, which per the SRD is a 2500gp value. With the boots costing 5500gp, the 10’ increase in base land speed is worth 3000gp. This is using the spell longstrider, 1st level spell, CL 1, times 2000gp for having duration of 1 hour per level (which is not listed in the creating magic items table as needing a multiplier), then multiplied by 1.5 for taking up a body item slot (per the Adding New Abilities section). What if expeditious retreat were used instead? It seems the price would only be 6000gp for a 30’ enhancement bonus to speed. Does this seem too low?

I had an idea for a new feat, adding to the glut that are already out there. Since 1xp=5gp, I was thinking of a feat that allows a spellcaster to spend additional xp to reduce the amount of gp he must spend to create magic items, to a minimum of 10%-20% of the base price. Any thoughts?

Most of the time I can figure these out, but what is YMMV? The only thing I can come up with involves getting sick, and I don't think that's what people have been saying.

I have created two new spells and would like some input. Please tell me what you think of them. Also, what do you think of allowing magic items that grant skill points (such as 5 skill points in Ride from a wizard who has ranks in that skill).

Competence
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes
The subject gets a competence bonus on any one skill check, with the bonus equal to 3/2 caster level, to a maximum of +30 at Caster Level 20.

Gate, lesser
Conjuration (Creation)
Level: Clr 7, Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect: See text
Duration: Concentration (up to 1 round/level)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Casting a lesser gate spell creates an interdimensional connection between your plane of existence and a plane you specify, limited to one of the elemental planes.
The gate itself is a square, up to 5' per 2 caster levels(caster’s choice), oriented in the direction you desire when it comes into existence. This spell does not allow creatures to pass through the gate, but it does allow the element itself to pass through. Thus, you could create a stream of air underwater (or a stream of water in midair), but you could not get an elemental creature to produce these effects.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.