I am a new DM, I am just finishing up running the Crypt of Everflame and sequel adventure modules and my group is thinking about starting a proper AP.
I was hoping for some advice on which AP to run, and some general tips. The table wants to play something that leans into combat but has opportunity for roleplay. They've expressed a concern that they don't want exclusive dungeon crawling. They're somewhat ambivalent what level the AP ends. Knowing the table, they also have a dislike for strict railroading.
Additionally, our group has already played RotRL, and Kingmaker. (Also we started CotCT but had to pause that due to our previous DM not being able to DM).
At the moment the APs I'm considering running for them are:
Shattered Star (I've heard this is very dungeon crawly)
Mummy's Mask (I'm not sure how different from Shattered Star this is)
Giantslayer (Slightly concerned they might get bored with it)
Ironfang Invasion (I'm not sure how well the party will react to being underdogs, I'm also not sure how easy this is on a newbie GM)
Return of the Runelords (Seems like a good follow up to RotRL but apparently you need to know SS for this?)
Tyrant's Grasp (I'm leaning against this one because the ending is probably too divisive for our table and I'm concerned again about how difficult this is to run)
From the tenor of your comments, you know what you want to do. I would advise you to excuse yourself politely, explaining that you just haven't been into the game as much lately and would prefer to do some other activities for a while.
Yeah I guess I just felt super bummed that I had a bunch of fun last campaign and this one is bombing so hard for me. I was considering trying to ride out the rest of the campaign, but last session was just particularly bad.
Thanks for the advice. It's a lot better idea than just letting myself vent on him and get angry about everything.
Fergie wrote:
This is normally where I tell you to talk to the GM and other players, and figure out a solution. However, in this case, the issues boil down to personality differences. There isn't really much you can say that is going to make someone change their personality.
Yeah you're pretty much right. The two new players are just really grating on me and I can't really just ask the DM to boot two players on my account.
So I guess I'm writing this partially to vent, partially to see what other people have done in this situation.
About half a year ago, I joined a table, for awhile it was actually really fun, our first campaign went off really great. However, our second campaign has been feeling very difficult for me, for a number of reasons, and now I'm basically just showing up because I feel obligated to. I can't even really pin down a distinct cause because, now that I think about it, there's a lot of issues.
I'll try to keep it down to a tl;dr version.
1. We got two new players who are off putting. One isn't so bad but has no concept of self control, he'll literally threaten to murder an NPC in the middle of a conversion without considering the social context. The other is much worse, is constantly making sex jokes and toilet humor (which was funny at first but is now extremely excessive) and his character is poorly built while usually doing nothing helpful in battle. Worse, the GM seems to reward his bad behavior (my character is dying, his character is literally waving his dick at the bad guy). When I complain about this guy not pulling his weight, I'm the bad guy.
2. The campaign hasn't been very engaging, I can't really connect with my character because we're leveling so fast (2 sessions per level) and we're splitting the party a lot too so we all have to wait for some people to do their thing while others wait. I find myself spending a lot of time on laptop just because I'm bored and I get tons of passive aggressive s~~+ from a third player for missing stuff, which just makes me care about the campaign even less.
(Part of the problem with that last bit is that the GM is really 3.5 and we're playing Pathfinder, so I am constantly confused when he does something that breaks Pathfinder rules. When I ask for clarity, the third player gives me s!@* for "not listening" despite the fact I've explained constantly that no, I WAS listening, but the DM did something confusing).
3. The GM is splicing 3.5 and Pathfinder a ton and the rules are really confusing. Plus, he handwaves stuff all the time. His way of doing loot is also really frustrating because he only ever gives out custom things that have no price value and not a lot of gold, so building a character is hard. I think the worst thing is that the party introduced Fumble rules despite the fact I said I really hated fumble mechanics and they just decided to anyways.
I mean, at this point, I think quitting might just be for the best but I don't even know what to say. I guess I could just not show up but that feels like a dick move.
I would advise you to look towards a lower skills, divine caster
Just came out of the last campaign playing a cleric. So that's a no from me. Also a firm believer in the "damage prevented is x2 more effective than damage healed" school of thought. I think between the wizard and hunter we can manage, especially considering how much extra health pots we had last campaign.
Turelus wrote:
I do feel you'll get more out of the RP and overall campaign feel as a bard though. The campaign whilst containing a lot of combat does have a number of chances for non-combat based skills and abilities, be that though social or physical interactions. If you play a character which is purely built around combat you might find these sections a little dull or excluding.
Well you certainly made me a lot more indecisive about it. At this point I'm feeling like I'll regret either choice though.
I wouldn't say the Brawler is only combat capable as I'll invest in stealth, perception, and acrobatics to be a sneak/scouty guy. But the lack of diplomacy will kind of suck.
Currently I am considering a decision between a (Trip focus) Brawler and a Bard. I've been told CotCT is great for Bards, which I'd normally pick but next campaign we're switching to 5th so I wouldn't be able to try out my Brawler build after this. I'm also a little concerned that I might not be nearly as relevant out of combat with a Brawler as I've heard the campaign is very RP heavy. Additionally the Brawler build I have is somewhat dependent on getting specific magic items and the DM has said CotCT is a campaign that will interfere with specific item builds (though he added he would work with us to get any items that we considered essential to our class).
So for me it looks so far like
Brawler:
Pros:
-Can teamwork feat with allies on the fly due to our comp
-Best battlefield control of the team with my trip build
-Team is lacking anyone who can pump their AC as high as mine
-Brawler is unique to PF
Cons:
-Limited out of combat options?
-Terrible charisma (reduced social options?)
-More magic item build dependent
Bard:
Pros:
-Better ally buffs
-Spells
-Much more roleplay opportunities
-Good campaign for Bards (can people elaborate why without too much spoilers?)
-Less item dependent
Cons:
-Weaker combat performance & battlefield control
-Party might be too squishy
-Early levels will be an especially weak dex build
-Won't be able to play Brawler next campaign
Verdis Vhiski joins the running! She's the younger sister of Jade Regent NPC Sandru Vhiski.
I would note that this concept doesn't represent an end state in this character, but rather that if picked I would like to continue investing in her (I don't really want to put any further effort into the character just to be told I didn't make the cut...)
Yup. As I said, sorry but you missed the first deadline by a week. If I had kept it open, I'd have been flooded with applicants. I have had several drop and I still have over 40!
1 in 8ish chance of getting picked? Not the worst odds ever I guess.
My character is coming along well, still looking to improve before submitting so I can keep the odds ever in my favor.
I realize I've totally dropped off of the radar for awhile. I was kind of in a creative rut for awhile and waffling over my character.
I think I've sorted that out. I'm going for a Brawler. I've worked out the stats mostly and am working on backstory. My character is also taking the older sibling trait, so I need to figure how that is going to mesh.
I should have something monday afternoon at the latest.
I realize this might be a little late, but my future character build somewhat requires access to being able to purchase specific magic items. Would that be a problem?
My party started RotRl in November of 2013, now we finally finished. Good god did this campaign drag, not just because the combats were slow as balls, but we had to cancel a good deal of game nights. Our previous campaign was 2x faster.
That said, did I enjoy RotRl? Yes...although I suffered significant arc fatigue at the end and barely remembered any of the campaign lore at the end due to frequent game night delays. I don't think that's the AP's fault I failed to really get into the world, as the first few books were certainly engaging.
It was less satisfying than my last campaign, but decently adequate. I would rate the first 4 books very highly and the last 2 poorly. As first of all the last 2 get into level 14+ where high level gameplay bogs things down, and everything was very mega-dungeoncrawly and our party does not do well with that.
Additionally, I felt that the general lack of...basically ANY NPC presence aside from highly forgettable enemy minions and the BBEG very disheartening. It would have been nice to see some reoccuring NPCs or at least interesting new ones. Paizo never seems to reuse NPCs for some reason. Why? In fact, if this shows me anything is that 2/2 paizo has delivered sloppy campaign finishers that felt empty. The tiny town of sandpoint felt far more alive and engaging than the spires of Xin Xhalast. Plus, Paizo seems to have a bad knack for making very passive BBEGs who don't ever try to thwart parties. I think that's a problem. If my character and allies have been consistently destroying your minions, you'd think we'd be labeled a threat and some kind of attempt to stop us be made.
I'll also say that RotRl's treasure rewards are stupid and need to be paced out way more. And again, don't freaking give players EVIL artifacts! "Oh look, we got a cool artifact we can use!...oh it's evil and mind controls you, just lake the last 3." Stop jerking players around with that crap.
Stop it.
No.
Bad Paizo.
But, it was still pretty fun nonetheless, there were many memorable moments. Good god, the inbred hill giants. Or the time our party nearly got wiped by an optional boss, ran from him, locked him away, then spent the rest of the campaign taunting him after he became too easy to be bothered fighting again. The verity of enemies was cool, and I certainly loved having my constant dwarf bonus vs giants.
So, Karzoug. His defeat was rather hilarious and quite poetic. For reasons that become slightly more obvious when you see our party comp.
Rook: Dwarf Cleric of Sarenrae (battle focused)
Bishop: Aasimar Inquisitor/Cleric of Ragathiel
Pawn: Goblin Monk/Rogue
Dorian: Human Fighter/Ranger
Ephya: Elf Witch/Rogue
So, the fight. I'll preface this by saying we had no clue how to get to Karzoug, so we ended up arriving in staggered initiative (and thank god buffs from the fight right before were still all up thanks to us going in half cocked). I got in first, followed by Pawn, Bishop, Ephya, then Dorian.
Round 1: Rook enters the fight. I have Elemental Body IV, Holy Aura, Heroism Greater, Blessing of Fervor, Aura of Doom, Archon's Aura, Resist Energy Fire Communal, Ironskin, Weapon of Awe, Bless Weapon, Shield of Faith, and Divine Favor cast on myself.
Immediately Karzoug tells me I'm going to die, oh look no party nearby. Luckily I win initiative and cast Gate to call too Ghaele Azata's to aid me. They cast shield of faith on themselves. Karzoug and cohort immediately begin peppering us with spells and ranged attacks. Meteor storm almost drops the Azatas but does no damage to me.
Round 2: Azatas go incorporeal and cast Heal on themselves. I teleport directly at Kazoug with Dimensional Hop (travel domain). I fail to save vs his repulsion spell, and elect to cast Firestorm on all the enemies. Pawn arrives, he uses abundant step to sneak behind Karzoug with a teleport.
Karzoug attempts to Greater Dispel Rook. This autofails as Rook's Compassionate weapon negates one dispel per day. Minions attempt to attack Rook and Azatas, either do no or minimal damage. (I should add Rook is a reach Cleric with a reach of 30ft thanks to being huge with a reach weapon and has been AoOing lots of stuff).
Round 3: Now that all the baddies are focused on Rook, Bishop arrives and begins setting up his archer buffs. Rook attempts to dispel Karzoug and his stupid mirror images, it fails after being reflected by Spell Turning. (Luckily I rolled bad and only stripped Holy Aura and Heroism greater off myself). Deciding Karzoug needs to be isolated, I cast Dimension Anchor (quickened) on Karzoug and instruct the Azatas to construct 2 walls of force pinning Karzoug in his alcove.
Karzoug elects to use 1 disintegrate spell to destroy the first wall. Right after, Pawn surprises Karzoug with a flurry of blows, and ALMOST manages to insta him with a quivering palm (Karzoug saves with a nat. 1) but is still stunned by stunning fist. Karzoug's flunkies by now are rather ineffectually trying to wail on Rook who's AC is 58 or the azatas who take half damage.
Round 4: Ephya arrives. (I don't actually remember what spell she casts) but whatever she does, giants start trying to attack her. Azatas use light rays to strip the dragon of his images so Rook and Bishop can go to town killing the dragon. Pawn continues kicking Karzoug's ass. Karzoug still stunned.
Round 5: Dorian arrives. Bishop kills the dragon with his bow. Rook and azatas kill one giant after a whopping huge crit from Rook. Other giants are now trying to kill the party mage who is healing herself. Pawn continues wailing on Karzoug. Karzoug himself, trapped, attempts to Finger of Death Pawn...and fails his SR check.
At this point, Karzoug is stunned that this lowly GOBLIN is kicking his ass. And this by the way, after Pawn had previously trapped his apprentice in an alcove and done the exact same thing to that guy, blinding him and beating him up till he teleported away in terror. Karzoug attempts to sway Pawn with promises of riches.
Round 6: Nothing else matters as Pawn delivers the death knell to Karzoug, totally goring him as blood splashes across the wall of force. The last giants surrender.
So I just saw this after a fairly long absence from the messageboards and was interested. This seems like it would be a cool campaign, and the character creation guidelines fit my admittedly picky desires.
I'm going to think on what I want to try out for this. I have concepts for a Bard or Brawler.
Good god though the number and quality of these submissions is quite high.
This is really, really interesting. Do I want to play a campaign that is essentially Skyrim? Hell yeah. I was considering submitting a Unchained Monk/Cleric but I'm not sure how easy it would be to get picked with that. Monk/Somethingelse might be cool. I'm actually really into the Monk idea for this.
What about a Gunslinger with the Bolt Ace arcetype? (Never done an archer before and this seems like a good opportunity as well).
Also, you mentioned Elves and Humans are good picks. What about half elves?
The changes are more dramatic when you consider that you have lowered good saves and raised bad saves to such a degree that all saves are virtually the same.
Look at it this way, if two players - a rogue and a fighter, are fighting some kind of fungus monster, with special attacks, look at how differently the fight might unfold.
The fungus sprays both of them with spores that require a fort save and lash vines at them requiring a reflex save. The fighter will likely (but not automatically) make his fort save and fail his reflex save, while the rogue will be the opposite. Even with his high fort save, the fighter could always roll below a 5 on his first and above a 15 on his second. So it isn't a certain thing. But that said, both of them can feel they have different strengths, and be more confident fighting say - one monster that only attacks fort, or one monster that attacks reflex. Both players will feel like there is teamwork occuring, and that they shore up their weaknesses with strengths.
In your reworked system, neither will feel the need to rely on each other, because both will essentially be rolling for both saves with nearly identical bonuses. A difference of 3 or less is essentially not different at all. It also means that if something that has a high DC effect comes by, nobody will be able to deal with it because nobody has a particularly high save in one regard that might be able to deflect that effect. Likewise, if something with not a high enough effect DC comes by, nobody will care about it because it can't touch them - whereas previously such an effect might have been a legit threat against at least 1 or 2 party members.
Basically, when you say you don't want people to "auto succeed/fail throws" well, first of all I think you're exaggerating, but more importantly - you're just trading one form of auto succeed/fail for another (except your version gives up diversity as well), since it means unless you VERY finely tune your enemies your characters will be doing the same against them anyways. Whereas in the previous system, everyone had a strength or weakness.
Jesus christ, first he makes everyone roll stats, then he disallows a bunch of class and racial options - especially the best class you could pick for those stats?
I change my advice. Dump the dm. Clearly he is a badwrongfun kind of guy.
Going to advise human magus as well, but put the +2 into Int as well as your 4th level stat bump. An 18/18 str/int for a rolled stat character by level 4 is pretty decent.
Look at a Magus guide and focus on using Shocking Grasp (the magical lineage trait is golden for a magus focusing on shocking grasp). You should be able to put some serious damage on anything that isn't immune to electrical.
One of the major problems with your system is that characters (and villains using class levels) will essentially have nearly identical saves across the board. That means that players and npcs will be unable to target weak saves with spell effects (so you are essentially nerfing spell combat by making it difficult to exploit weaknesses/avoid strengths). Everyone knows not to cast spells with will saves on clerics because they have high will, but bad reflex. You are removing that element of the game almost entirely. Other things like traps or monster abilities will also feel less special because no class will have an advantage against that thing or a weakness to it.
Honestly, base saves are there for a reason. That said, I think some variety and re-balancing along say, 2e-like lines could be cool.
Going back to your main reasons...
1. What could be an auto success against one effect could be a very difficult roll against a different effect targeting your bad save in the current system. It's not nearly as clear cut as you present it.
2. Multiclassing is already lackluster, discouraging dips is discouraging even remote ideas of maybe multiclassing
3. Classes are balanced around base saves (albeit sometimes not well, but still). This kind of system is essentially unfair to say, the monk, which one of its selling points is all good saves
4. You could do this by rewarding weaker classes directly, not changing game fundamentals in ways that could produce large unforseen consequences.
5. Is that not the case already? The fighter is likely to have great fortitude because his class is already naturally inclined to invest in CON. The Cleric will have even better will saves because the class encourages WIS. Many if not most classes are like that - they reward synergy.
6. Again with point 4, you could just give a blanket +1 or +2 instead of complicated changes. Also part of the reward of low magic is higher risk.
If an FCB improves a class feature, then you can't start using to improve a feature you don't have yet.
FCB which only give fractional bonus do not improve a class feature because they are rounded down to zero.
I could easily say a Monk should be allowed to take FCB for extra ki since the Monk does not gain the benefit FCB while he lacks a ki pool.
And frankly, FCB sucks already. Why do stuff like make it even more restrictive and hard to use? I already see most people not even bother with anything other than the SP or HP.
I think you will need to define your character with more moral facets. "Conquer the world" is a very vague goal. What are you willing to sacrifice to gain the world? Will you commit mass murder when it would be easier than subjugation? Will you execute political opponents or restrain yourself? Will you compromise your values or remain true to your ideals? Will you break promises if it advances your agenda? All good questions which will determine how you want to govern.
There is also no right or wrong answer, Machiavelli would've said a lawful evil ruler who is strong and can protect the country is better than a chaotic good ruler who is weak and can't keep the peace. Note that saying "for the greater good" is not in of itself a good act, in fact it is mostly an excuse to justify what is actually evil. Asmodeus is someone who wants to rule the world, subjugate all mortal kind, and remove free will, because he believes his tyranny is for "the greater good."
My LN Cavalier of Abadar for instance was a Conquerer. He wanted to settle wilderness, generally encroached on the land belonging to native inhabitants, attempted to expand his territory into other states, and quashed political dissidents. But he established peace, never broke his own laws or his promises, and afforded equal protection to everyone he absorbed into his land - including those who were evil. He committed many good and evil acts, because he was driven by his faith in Abadar that civilization and law was better for the world.
Yeah it's kind of boring to constantly see this trait on most characters, but that just speaks to how good going first usually is.
As mentioned, Fate's Favored: +1 to any luck bonus.
Luck bonuses are rare, but usually not all that powerful, there are a number of good items and class abilities that seriously synergize with this though.
Eyes and Ears of the City: +1 perception and class skill get.
For any class that doesn't get Perception as a class skill, this is an instant +4 to perception at a STEAL. Need only worship Abadar. Clerics unfortunately miss out (Abadar is not a particularly great god for domains).
Rather than making EWP something you have to spend a feat on, I think it might be balanced to allow players to change out 1 of their proficiency at 1st level for EWP. Doesn't cost a feat, but it wouldn't be free either.
Bonuses to Attack Rolls potentially apply to your CMB should you use a maneuver using a weapon (trip, disarm, sunder). Bonuses to attack rolls don't apply to other maneuver (grapple, reposition, dirty trick).
Additionally, CMB is used to calculate CMD. Attack bonuses have no effect on CMD.
Point is, they are calculated separately so insight bonus to CMB and Attack Rolls don't stack, but are relevant in different situations.
Do not take skill focus or iron will. Those are a waste of a feat. With some gold investment you can supplant those easily. Fly checks are also not that important, taking a 10 on a fly check even with only 1 rank will meet most typical DCs and you don't need to make any fly checks most of the time. I will also second Narrow Frame that is a life saver.
Name of NPC: Yolanda
Class/Level: Witch 13/Rogue 1
Adventure: Spires of Xin Xalast
Catalyst: Really bad timing...just, the worst
Story: After the party had just trekked up the mountain to retrieve the bones of the dead dwarf's dead brother, the party found the body in the snow and approached cautiously. A sudden roar caught everyone off guard and Yolanda panics, using her ability to fly at will to flee - taking a blast of cold from some nearby mist as she leaves. After being ambushed by and killing off a ghost, a huge Ice Wurm stalks out of the mist and engages the party. Rook (party cleric) casts buffs and gets in position to attack while the party engages. Yolanda finally recovers from her fear and teleports back.
Yolanda manages to identify the beast with a knowledge check, and learns that it explodes when defeated. But she can't act until her next turn. No problem right? The party has barely scratched this thing. Rook winds up with his Dwarven Longaxe and crits the Wurm Twice and lands another solid blow just for good measure (dealing over 250 damage). The dragon explodes, catching Yolanda who fails her save and dies immediately (and is then saved by the Cleric who has Breath of Life written in ink on his spellsheet because this keeps happening).
My group went from KM to RotRL. It was a very good transition, although RotRL was a lot more dungeon crawly than we expected, also it goes a few more levels further than KM so we're kind of bogged down in high level play with the 6th book.
There is absolutely no way a melee fighter is out DPMing a ranged fighter unless there is only 1 big slow enemy. Most melee lose out on a huge deal of their DPM because of the need to spend an entire turn moving and then full attacking - whereas a ranged just sits still and unloads. Not to mention ranged fighters can get TWF without the need of buying a second weapon, and they can mostly ignore DR with Cluster Shots.
Bless, Prayer, Blessing of Fervor...the main group buffs that you also depend on to be competent in combat target multiple creatures and are not You/Personal spells. Bless, prayer and Blessing of Fervor are AoE and not targeting spells.
Blessing of Fervor includes you. It's not an AOE spell, it's a targeted spell.
Any spell you cast on yourself is a spell that targets yourself. The exception is if there is no target period, such as Fireball. (So if you had fireball on your spell list you could cast it on yourself and resist it).
Dropping 500 for a +4 strength Composite Longbow isn't an issue. It's less than 2% of your WBL. You already admitted you could get to 2d6. So you can get to 2d6+4 for next to nothing.
You can't get devs, or other players, on your side with gross exaggerations. Potions of fly, magical items, etc all let you handle the problem.
Except they're giving up a significant chunk of their DPM, considering how much less their to hit and damage will be. Without rigorous investment (feats, enhancement bonuses, proper stat array) attacking with ranged weapons puts you at a significant disadvantage. This by the way already coming from classes with less power to begin with. Whereas wizards have no penalty fighting aerial enemies and can fly with a single low level spell slot.
If you frequently have party members casting spells on each other during combat then the SR can be a serious action economy problem.
However, plenty of groups do fine with buffs and healing before/after combat... finding that an extra character on offense (rather than casting healing spells) during combat reduces the total amount of healing needed. Taking a standard action to lower SR while NOT in combat is no big deal, and thus the benefits are very much worthwhile.
In this case.
No. Not even a little worth it.
Play a Dwarf Cleric. Nobody ever casts spells on me in combat except me. SR would never be a problem. In cases where I have gone down, a potion, not heal spell, is used.
The idea that SR is going to "get you killed" is so utterly niche as to be irrelevant.
That said, there have been occasions where a +2 racial bonus to saves has made a difference between making the DC on a nasty effect when I rolled low.
Gestalt can also make Prestige Classes viable, you can dip into a different class for the first few levels and go full into a Prestige class when you qualify, all while maintaining your full levels in your primary class.
So, you could go Cavalier10/Bard5/Battle Herald5 for instance.
Everyone says that, but they can never back it up. Unless you are putting Mythic characters up against nothing but non-mythic stuff. Then you are doing it wrong.
Mythic Champion/Ninja using TWF, Invisible Blade (greater invisibility for 1 ki), and an Undetectable Legendary Blade.
My GM literally had to ban that combo because there were too few monsters in the bestiary capable of challenging that - mythic or otherwise. My character would've been invisible, immune to most forms of detection that defeat invisibility, and would've been doing hundreds of points of damage to anything per round not immune to precision damage. Hell, even without Undetectable, a constantly invisible sneak attacking Ninja with mythic levels can put out major damage.
Quote:
Arkalion, Ruler of the Grand Cycle
That guy seems to have templates and looks to be so over WBL he could've out purchased a full 20th level party combined. So, disqualified on grounds of not actually being PC buildable.
As was mentioned, Schrodinger's Wizard tends to avoid stat blocks and gameplay because the theoretical prowess of the Wizard can't stack up to the practical prowess of the wizard.
You can't beat that which saves against everything you can throw at it.
Control Weather. Severe Winds.
-Who is going to seriously have Control Weather constantly memorized. Situational spell at best.
-10 minute casting time? Not a combat spell.
When a diviner can ask reality "Hey, should I prepare this spell in case some uppity martial decides to try and use 'mortal' tactics on me?*", it's not situational.
*That's not the exact question they'd ask, but divination spells mean wizards know the future, and they also know a martial isn't going to be a part of that future if they go around acting like they can play with people who turn reality inside out as a hobby.
Divination spells are only as accurate as 1) How willing the GM is to divulge information 2) How able the GM is willing to divulge information. The latter is significantly more pertinent than the former, and highly limits the usefulness of that school. Even then, lore wise divination spells are vague, and prone to failure - there are also sometimes specific countermeasures to divination spells.
A wizard who relies on divination to save them is likely quickly a dead wizard. Not that they aren't already the PC class which most frequently ends up needing to be Raised.
At low level flight And lance break the game totally. At high levels , its fine
Uh "break the game"?Haha no. Seriously. At level 5 the wizard can cast fly. You need to be around level 7 to get a mount able to fly (unless you got a small character).
My GM allowed me to use a Roc off the druid companion list (because I found it in the campaign). Realistically it didn't increase the power of my character in any great manner other than that I had better mobility and could kite grounded enemies. It felt much more thematic than empowering.
You might be able to get around it by going for Beast Rider Cavalier and hoping the GM doesn't read the fine print about flying AC restrictions ;)
Quote:
You can gain a rules-legal flying mount which uses the animal companion rules by utilizing the monstrous mount and monstrous mount mastery feats.
The fact you need to spend TWO feats on it is ridiculous. Especially considering Leadership can do even better for one feat.
Few Wizards are Diviners huh? You know Arkalion is a Diviner right? And that some of the best spells are hours per level like say Aroden's Spellbane. So a Wizard will have at least one on at all times out of yesterday's spell slots. (12 hours ago thanks to the Fast Time Demiplane)
Considering few parties ever even reach the level necessary to cast 9th level spells, I don't consider them. Hell I wouldn't consider them even if you did get to level 17 considering that's going to be 5% of your character's career - discarding late level from the get go games. The link I provided gave an example of a build broken by level 12 (far earlier if you consider the shenanigans you can accomplish very early into the build before wizards are even capable of casting teleport), that's 5+ levels earlier.
I'd also note that Aroden's Spellbane is very expensive to cast day to day, and frankly is not going to stop a wizard from getting instagibbed.
Aroden's spellbane has no cost, so it's not really very costly to cast especially since it protects you from something actually dangerous like say spells.
I misinterpreted the component. I thought it was a material instead of a focus. So, much better spell, but still, it'll only protect against a very few amount of spells. And most martials aren't using spells anyways. And again, it's a very, very late level spell.
Few Wizards are Diviners huh? You know Arkalion is a Diviner right? And that some of the best spells are hours per level like say Aroden's Spellbane. So a Wizard will have at least one on at all times out of yesterday's spell slots. (12 hours ago thanks to the Fast Time Demiplane)
Considering few parties ever even reach the level necessary to cast 9th level spells, I don't consider them. Hell I wouldn't consider them even if you did get to level 17 considering that's going to be 5% of your character's career - discarding late level from the get go games. The link I provided gave an example of a build broken by level 12 (far earlier if you consider the shenanigans you can accomplish very early into the build before wizards are even capable of casting teleport), that's 5+ levels earlier.
I'd also note that Aroden's Spellbane is very expensive to cast day to day, and frankly is not going to stop a wizard from getting instagibbed.
Given that constitutes a major nerf in the power of martials (in a game system where magic users are already much more powerful than them), you are going to need to give martials something to make them competitive - or take something from the casters (or outright ban them).
You can't beat that which saves against everything you can throw at it.
Saves? You have seriously misunderstood how Wizards fight.
I know how to kill them really good.
Sneak up on one and instagib him before he even casts a spell.
The odds of that happening to a properly played Wizard are so low they can be discarded as being not statistically significant. And god help you if it's a Diviner.
"Properly played" as in, several rounds to apply buffing spells that would not ordinarily be allowed unless the wizard could know ahead of time he was being attacked. (And, in any case, would be trivially easy to disengage and wait out for them to expire).
The best a wizard could expect to have up at any given time are hour per level spells. Maybe 10 minute per level if they're somewhere they perceive as threatening but not immediately in danger.
A diviner wizard is regarded as one of the weakest subclasses of wizard (again due to limiting their spell selection to a poor school). The Foresight gimmick, while powerful, is not gunna win most fights (at best, it's an assured escape for the unprepared). But given the lack of power in the Divination school, few wizards are diviners.
Frankly, I think this board has a bit of an obsession with making wizards out to be the be all end all. Yeah, they're really strong, but they're not THAT strong, and only then if they're given time to make preparations.
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Prologue: This Dim, Forgotten City
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Epigraph:
”Song of my soul, my voice is dead,
Die though, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa”
- Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow
Prologue Introduction:
This dim city had a strange, disturbing serenity to it. Peach-orange clouds hung stagnant in the enduring twilight. Black stars twinkled in an otherwise motionless sky. This forgotten city had a merciless silence, marred only by the sounds of footsteps.
Five men and women marched mutely over the cracked cobblestone streets that carved through buildings abandoned by all but time. None lead the march, all knew the way. They’d all been here before, they all swore it, yet walked aimless, allowing vague memories to return with each passing step.
First was a handsome man. He nervously spun a dagger in his fingers, a practiced motion. He looked at the others, though his gaze fell elsewhere when they tried to meet his eyes.
The second was a scrawny, ragged man with unpolished charm. He was Varisian, with tan skin and brown locks. He kept looking over his shoulders, avoiding eye contact, monitoring those that walked with him.
A strong woman walked rather triumphantly. She had dark skin, black hair, and gripped a Lucerne Hammer. The weapon seems well used, blade somewhat bent, hammer worn and dented. She wielded it with an unsettling comfort.
The second woman had pale skin and short, blonde hair. She seemed almost starved, yet maintained a frail beauty. Her left eye had a black tattoo over it, and she knew the others were staring at it.
Lastly, a brunette woman. The only among them who wasn't human. The Changeling had striking eyes, green and blue. She wrapped both arms around a starknife, as if it was all that held her together.
The two men attempted to speak, breaking the group’s silence. Despite their best efforts, Rivas and Ember couldn’t communicate. They’d forget what they were saying a word into their speech, and would trail off before attempting once more to say something they couldn’t remember. The three women were quiet, either mystified by this strange place, or seeing no value in a conversation they could not maintain.
The five of them walked together, and though paused at the same moment. Their hearts beat, quick and thunderous, tugged at by forces unknown. Their blood pounded, their hands trembled with each raging beat. Their minds ached with each deafening throb.
But the throbs were not just within their minds, as louder and louder, footsteps echoed the forgotten city. A fear, a choking fear, crawled up their throats, palpable and thick as the sickly yellow fog that curled into the alley.
The cloud tumbled through the street, swelling towards them, quickened as it was funneled by the towering, gray brick buildings. The footsteps grew louder, keeping pace with the careening, hungry wave.
Thinking about using Horror Adventure's Sanity Rules, tell me what you think of them.
Won't be starting for a little bit, my In Search of Sanity book isn't arriving until the 16th. Feel free to use this space to discuss what kind of characters you might want to play, the vague recollections of past memories you might have, what you'd like to see in this adventure.
Congratulations to everyone. As soon as we are ready, this will host the game. Make a post to add yourself to everything, and lets move the conversation to the Discussion Thread to talk about things. I am a first time PbP DM, so tell me any conventions, info to bring me + others up to speed! Lets get this noble-ball Roland (Rolling, I am sorry) !!!
Greetings travelers, and allow me to take you to the nation of Durendal, a place once home to proud warriors who conquered and claimed all they could. Four hundred and eighty three years ago (and soon to be 484!), heroes of the nation fell a great dragon, freeing the people of Durendal, allowing it to spread its borders over the next few hundred years. Unable to claim Tizona, a northern island nation, for its harsh environment and fickle magical dead zones, and unable to conquer The western Kingdom of Greater Galatine, for its wealth of sorcerers, Durendal has entered an age of peace and prosperity. For the last one hundred and fifty years, the denizens of the nations have focuses on creating grand cities, making its lands safe for travellers, and trying to maintain its relations with Galatine and Tizona.
But an entire nation is too big of a scale for this story. No, this story takes place in the city of Roland, where the only thing grander than the city itself are the dreams and ambitions of its denizens. A city whose main trade is politics, and oh boy does it trade. But who does this story star? Four, maybe five cutthroats, on their way to the top? Perhaps those with a promise to make the city a better place? Do they strive to keep peace, or do they see returning to war as the way to advancing their nation? Maybe of these sorts, or maybe something entirely different. What is certain is that this is a story about the rise, and perhaps the fall, of several aristocrats. A tale of men and women without heroics but dreams and a drive to see them to reality.
An adventurer’s battlefield is a place of honor and legend. Among combatants you risk your life with, among those that you trust. A sword in one hand, a spell in another. But for the civilized Aristocracy of Roland, the battlefield is something entirely different. Wars take place at the extravagant parties of “friends” and acquaintances, their silver tongues clash like steel. Holy altars are defiled with marriages built for wealth, lust and power. Favors are asked, but what you may have to do to repay the favor could topple everything you have worked for. Everyone has a secret that everyone else wants to know, and wants to exploit. A man with a sword can change a battle, but a noble of Roland can change the world.
Tales from Roland One:
“The carriage comes to a stop outside the city gates. Reyes looks worried, though partially in wonder. Augustine shoots him a glance and smiles. 'Everything is grand in Roland, you will love it, I promise.' Reyes sticks his head out of the carriage, looking at the wall that ascends hundreds of feet into the air, a scale unlike anything he has seen before. 'It is its own little world, your troubles won’t follow you. Though it is a bit more…,' Augustine thinks for a moment, giving a twist to his hair, 'civilized than what you are used to.' Reyes withdraws back into the carriage, puzzled.
'There are just more rules I suppose.' The carriage begins to roll once more, gently wobbling through the laid bricks, passing through the city gate. 'Don’t get me wrong, there is no shortage of savagery, it is just different. Conflict is fought with words here, no swords or sorcery.' Reyes remains silent. 'It’ll come off as a bit of a shock, how you’ll be living I mean. But its just like I said, everything is just grander in Roland, there is no other way to put it.' Light flickers through the veil of the carriage, dancing across Augustine. 'Just take a look out the window, you’ll know what I mean when you see it' Reyes opens the veil, and take a peek out. His eyes go wide, and a smile cracks. Before Reyes was silent, but now he is speechless.”
'Tales from Roland Two:
“'Everyone has a secret' Ariel starts, 'do you want to know mine?' Lambert seems annoyed. He lights a cigarette, coughs, and blows smoke into the air, off the pier, carried on the winter wind.
'You said this was important, damn it Ariel. I am tiring of your games, it is cold and late.' Lambert takes another drag, turning back towards Ariel. 'And can you stop your damn grinning?'
'One more time, just humor me,' Ariel tells him, trying to hold back a smile,and a chuckle.
Lambert sighs. 'Alright Ariel, what is your f~&~ing secret.'
'I,' he starts, whimsically tapping his chest with one of his fingers, 'collect other people’s secrets...' Ariel lets out the laugh he has been holding, '...and then,' another laugh, 'I blackmail them.' The laughter is cut, but the smile remains wide. Lambert doesn’t find it as funny, letting out a small curse. Ariel extends his hand, gesturing to the cigarette, and Lambert passes it to him, taking out a second one for himself. 'So Lamby, I think we both know where this is going next.' Ariel breathes in the cigarette, letting the smoke trickle out of his mouth as he returns to laughter.”
Themes of the Campaign:
As in the title, the main themes to the game are intrigue, aspirations and betrayal. Other themes include racism, classism, and social injustice. A previous incarnation of the game dealt with the dangers of magic to society, ideals of self vs. the world, and terrorism. The game may get into dark territory, but never overly so. PG-13, maybe rated R for language at times.
”Character Creation”:
Below are the basics for character creation, with more elaborate rules in the Design Document. The campaign is not battle focused.
A good background, hopefully grounded in the lore with stances on issues (Magic regulation, trades with Galatine, family history, supporting lower classes, war, et cetera).
15 point buy. Player’s power is more about wealth, contacts, and manipulation than their abilities.
Human race strongly encouraged. Half-elf, dwarf, or halfling allowed without DM consultation. Other core races or exotic races must have good background or reason and must be run with the DM. All players are Durendale, unless negotiated otherwise.
Any Alignment. I don’t really like the alignment system, and won’t enforce it, preferring your character act by what motivates them rather than a two-axis graph.
Almost any class, including Psionics, so long as it is justifiable. Arcane spellcaster should (by law) be registered with the Arcane Society. Necromancy, contact with Outsiders (Witch patrons are a temporary exception to the law), and compulsion spells on unwilling targets are illegal. Psionics is a strange case, in that they are not really known to the world, but events may change that in the future.
A single item, worth less than 15,000GP at GM’s approval. This should be an heirloom, or reflected in the character’s backstory.
Level 3 start.
About Me:
I am a DM of around 2-3 years now, having experience with managing parties anywhere from three to six people, however exclusively with in-person meetups.
This is my first voyage into Play-by-Post, and while I am excited, I am also a bit nervous as I am not 100% sure what to expect.
I want to try to make the promise to check daily, and update at least once per day at a minimum. I would like the players to have this much dedication to the game as well. I’ll give leeway to special days, weekends (though I would still like to update then), and time if prior notice is given.
Eastern Standard Timezone (NY Represent!)
Campaign Running Info:
Combat, while infrequent, will play out most likely on a google drawing, perhaps moving up to Roll20 or a better suited interface as I gain some experience or with the help of players.
I will track public loot by a google excel sheet. I will track NPC’s met with a google excel sheet. I will make a point to keep track of a lot of things using google, such as the player’s empires, and active side quests with GDocs.
I envision this ideally running for a while, but I also want it to be known it is a bit of an experiment with a PbP method. I intend to follow this too the end, which may take a while. Play
I have ran a campaign like this before, and to me, the hardest part is making sure the party has a reason to stay together. Help me out and lets see if we can start with a pact, or develop alliances and save the active cutthroating of each other for later in the game.
Have fun. This is the most important part, I am a roleplayer, though not too big on roll play. Respect other players and their comfort zones. If it comes to the rules disagreement, I am willing to work them out, though lets try to minimize the min/maxing.
I am willing to talk on gmail (chat or email), facebook or paizo forums about the campaign, pretty open to discussing concepts and ideas, especially ones that you don’t want others to know.
Please read the Design Document if you want to take this seriously. There is a bit to read, but it will help with easing into the world.
“The campaign is separated into two distinct sections, Sessions and Inter-sessions. Sessions play like a regular campaign, often a party, social gathering, mission or event that the team takes part in. During this time, players are encouraged to work together to achieve a goal and meet potential allies. Intersessions use homebrew downtime rules, designed to allow players to quickly amass wealth, power and allies and reflect the player’s time not spent with the party. During intersession, players act independently, often pursuing goals of their own choosing and serving their own interest. Players can make arrangements and alliances with each other or can remain secretive of their own actions. The DM will not formally reveal actions any one player, though other players may spend their time researching their colleagues for their own purposes.”
I am hoping to have the campaign start sometime in Early January, with preparation for it going on until then. Looking for 4 to 5 players, leave comments, message me with any questions or if you want in.
Does the Visionary Researcher Alchemist archetype's Experimental Mutagen give your buddies the bonuses of Feral Mutagens or Elemental mutagens, or just the ability score increase of the mutagen/greater if the alchemist has the discoveries?
Only reason I ask is that discoveries such as the Feral mutagen state when the alchemist imbibes the mutagen, and I am not sure if this is to exclude others, or just didn't include the visionary researcher's experimental mutagen ability as it is kind of a unique circumstance.
If so, does the damage of the extra attacks get halved? Not quite sure how to rule this one. Anyway, thank you kindly.
