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Quick question: Is there some neutral meeting place where the gods hang out in canon? I plan to frame my next game as something like The Odyssey, with the gods actively watching the PCs adventures and messing with them or giving them favor. Given this, I want a place where the gods of different and opposing alignments can hang out and chill and play this game with mortals, without a risk of the gods fighting themselves.
Our group is hopefully getting a new player this week. I haven't met her, but according to my friend that has she's really enthusiastic about trying out gaming. Now our group is a great bunch of blokes, and the new player will be both the youngest group member by a margin of several years (she's 16) and she'll also be the only girl in the group. I do not forsee either of these facts being at all problematic (as I said, our group is very mature and inclusive), but since this is a chance to bring a new player into the wonderful world of tabletop RPGs I figured it couldn't hurt to ask the boards for advice on how to make our new player feel welcome and included. As a side note, we will be trying out 5th edition (which seems pretty noob friendly, though I am chafing at the lack of meaningful choice during my progression already!), so it's pretty much a perfect jumping on point for her as no-one's that familiar with the system and the campaign is fresh and new. (PS: If anyone at Wizards of the Coast reads this, what the hell were you thinking with the staggered release dates for your core books?!?)
Hyperthetical: You're creating a 4 man adventuring party, with a single restriction: all for PCs must be archetypes of the same class. The party needs to be able to: Fight.
Stuff like social interaction is a lot less class dependent than these, so I'm nor making that a requirement as anyone can take some cross-class ranks in diplomacy and be the face. My first thought is Arcanist: White Mage provides healing.
The primary strength of this team is that with a bit of teamwork they can each learn from the others spell books, allowing a net 8 free spells per level, and for the most part each can aid the others with their focus. Of course, they have a significant weakness as well: Antimagic field screws this party in every way imaginable. Realistically, anything that is good against mages is extra good against this party as magic is their solution to practically every problem. Still, I'd be interested in seeing what other people come up with.
Pretty simple: infernal healing gives fast healing 1 for 1 minute. Gold reagent from the alchemy manual gives a conjugation (healing) spell +1 point of healing. How do the two interact?
A recent thread brought this up in passing, and I thought it was worth examining in more detail. Sometimes, a DM or Author will use the rape of a female character as a plot device or motivation for the story. And is this wrong? 99% of the time, it is wrong. Rape or attempted rape is almost never used well, because it's virtually always cheapened. Character gets raped, plot stuff happens, they get over it.
Let's look at what Rape is used for in games. In the best cases it's used as part of establishing the villain as a truly despicable individual that the party is quite justified in pulling all the stops while pursuing. And this is a bad use for it. Why? Well, because there are so many better ways to accomplish the same reaction. This fact increases several-fold when the victim is a PC. Yes, you'll get a strong emotional reaction from your players, but you're doing so in the most cliche and unimaginative, not to mention unpleasant, way possible. In the worst cases Rape is used to degrade a female PC. I say female because the number of male PCs I've heard of getting raped is virtually nonexistent. If this is your motivation for having rape in your story... stop DMing. Forever. This is seriously not cool. No further comment. That said, rape is not completely without a place in RPGs *Takes cover*. Seriously. Rape is a real issue, and so if the group is mature enough there is no reason why it shouldn't be part of the plot. It should be used sparingly if at all, and should only be used in situations where nothing else will do the job, but it does have its place. A woman gets raped and becomes pregnant from it is a moral issue that can't easily be gotten to another way. Hell, since this is fantasy with magic a plot with a serial rapist making Men pregnant could have some interesting repercussions, with the PCs racing to stop the rapist before they strike again and no-one knowing what will happen if the victims come to term, or what action to take, could be a strong motivation behind an adventure. However, even then this should be used sparingly and with players who're mature enough to handle it. If, for whatever reason, you feel the need to have a PC raped you should talk to the player OOC first and make sure they are willing to have their character put in that position and mature enough to play it. There, I've said my piece. TL;DR: Rape is bad, don't do it. There are better ways of upping the stakes.
Okay, hypothetical situation: A wizard is walking down a corridor and sees a swarm of centipedes ahead. Quick as his old-man greybeard reflexes will allow our wizardly friend casts a web spell into the area of the swarm. What happens?
Okay, I'm a wizard. How do I get more 0 level spell slots?
I'm planning on having my wizard take the Leadership feat on hitting level 7 in my current campaign. Since I'm angling for lordship and a domain to govern, I'm toying with the idea of a bard cohort to act as a herald and adviser (What with the high general knowledge skills, high charisma, and good people skills that go with being a bard) while my followers act as a staff and keep the domain running smoothly while I'm out doing things. The problem is I've never used the leadership feat before, nor tried my hand at running a kingdom. Does anyone have any suggestions to help me?
Now when it comes to magic items you're hard pressed to beat a wand of infernal healing for HP-GP ratio, with 500 hp costing 375 gp if you craft it yourself. Of course the catch is that until 5th level, you're not going to be able to craft wands. still, 750 gp for 500 hp isn't a bad trade... but I'm fairly sure we can do better. Firstly, scrolls of infernal healing. Any wizard can scribe scrolls as of level 1, and it comes out at a fairly budget-friendly 12 gp 5 sp for 10 hp. hmmm... A healers kit has ten uses for 50 gp, or 5 gp per use. A successful dc 25 heal check to cure deadly wounds heals level + healer's wisdom at the cost of two uses. Not AS cost effective, but not horrible. You take a -2 penalty for each use of the healer's kit you lack, and if you don't use a healer's kit you also miss out on the +2 it provides, but if you have three people aiding another to boost your skill that's healing at the opportunity cost of skill points, that only works once per day. Are there any other suggestions for cheap healing for levels 1-4? I think our best cash-based option is still scribing your own scrolls of Infernal Healing, at 1.25 gp per 1 hp.
My Enchanter just picked up the Unnatural Lust spell. Now as I see it, this spell is a great anti-spellcaster spell as if you cast it on person A and have them lusting after spellcaster B then B is going to have some difficulty concentrating on spellcasting what with the impromptu makeout session A is inflicting on them. However, the spell doesn't specifically state if B is in any way hindered by A's advances. I'm assuming so, but I figured I should ask the fine folks of the interwebs if I am correct or simply making myself look stupid. Well, stupider than usual, anyway.
Okay, here's the situation: we have a 3 man party.
Now as the more perceptive of you have probably noticed, the rogue is going to start lagging behind the two full casters pretty quickly. Due to the game's plot our Rogue has had the chance to make a fiendish pact. The GM and I (the most experienced player in the game) have discussed things and are thinking that it wouldn't be too unbalancing to have the rogue gain the fiendish template and possibly at a later level even gain the half-fiend template. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of thing and its effects on balance?
Context: My Drow wizard gets poison use as a racial trait and as an enchanter I don't really contribute much to DPS with my spells (It doesn't help that my GM has failed a grand total of 1 save against my sleep spells out of 9 that I've called upon him to make over about 4 sessions. The DC is up at a healthy 16 but he just rolls really good against sleep. On the flip side he's yet to make a save against any of my charm effects so I can't complain too much...) The problem is that due to real life getting in the way the game is temporarily down to a party consisting of myself and the cleric, and half of my prepared spells generally consists of "Keep Watch" because our GM loves night-time ambushes and "Endure Elements" because having the horse freeze to death as we're travelling in winter is just embarrassing. Therefore I want to increase my combat contribution in other ways and I'm leaning towards a crossbow/rapier combo and flanking for the cleric which is working just fine at the moment. However, with a strength of 10 I'm not exactly a powerhouse of damage and I want to add some nasty poison into the mix. The problem is that for a low level character poison is very expensive and when you make it yourself (Craft alchemy FTW) that is still a factor in that it gives a rather excessive crafting time, which sucks if you're on, say, an urgent mission and don't have a few months of crafting time to brew up poisons (Yes I am getting the Master Alchemist feat as soon as I meet the prerequisites, but that's a fair way away yet) and at this point I'm better off using that crafting time to scribe scrolls. So, when I do get my hands on a couple of doses of poison, does anyone have any suggestions on how to make them really count?
Just want to see what everyone thinks of this plan. I have a wizard with a Viper familiar. I'm a Drow, so I get poison use as a racial trait. What I want to do is 'milk' the viper's venom using my alchemy skill, which should give me a minor edge if I'm forced into close combat at low levels. My gm is ok with this, but I wanted to gather opinions before I start implementing the plan. So, thoughts?
One of prestidigitation's stated powers is the ability to warm a pound of non - living material. A blanket is a pound of non - living material. So, what kind of bonus on saves vs cold weather would a magically warmed blanket give?
Outside of getting a familiar that can talk out of the box, so to speak, is there any other way to get your familiar to communicate with party members other than its master? I suppose a monkey familiar could write, but I don't think my Viper has that option...
Okay, I have a quick question: Assume I'm, for the sake of argument, a wizard with a familiar.
What happens?
Ok, just checked my rulebook (second printing 2009) and from what I can tell knocking people out with nonlethal damage ignores the Diehard feat, Orc Ferocity racial trait, and presumably a couple of other abilities. What am I missing?
Okay, so you can cast alter self on your familiar to make them into a humanoid. Familiars also understand all the languages you speak. So, can a familiar speak those languages when in humanoid form (thus having the right equipment to do so)?
Okay, some context. our party is escorting a VIP with a bounty on her head. Due to the fact that she has been dressed as a man from the initial meeting onward and the rest of the party failed to see through her disguise everyone thinks she's a guy IC, except the cleric who put 2 and 2 together when healing a crossbow bolt through her shoulder (with mundane skills). Now the wanted posters all had pictures of her male disguise so we figured that the best way to slip under the radar with her was for her to take off said disguise. As the group wizard I then decided to mess with the rest of the group and work with our contact to pretend that 'he' was turned into a she by my magic. The catch is that I'm level 1 at this point and I need something up my sleeve in case called on to perform the same trick again! Also, convinced some shmuck that I'd cast a Geas spell on him a bit later. that was fun. Anyway, thoughts?
I've taken to keeping an in-character journal during my games (and yes, my character also keeps a journal :) ).
I was wondering: if a good character summons demons and fiendish creatures for combat purposes so that good creatures aren't getting put on the front line, is that still an evil act? What about using bound demons for combat-related roles the same reason? I'm not really interested in the RAW about this, I'm more interested in opinions. Is it really better to whisk away an angel from whatever good deed they're doing so they can fight for you than it is to call a demon from whatever evil it was up to so it can soak a few hits for the party?
Back in the day there used to be an infinite staircase that spanned the multiverse... I think. Yeah, pretty sure I'm remembering correctly. is that still around?
Okay, I'll lay it out for you. Our game currently consists of 3 players and a GM. I am one of the players, and this is the first time the other three have played pathfinder. Our GM is an old hand at Shadowrun and has some GMing experience there, but is still learning the system with Pathfinder. Our Cleric is newer to gaming in general but has more experience with a fantasy setting, starting out with 4th edition of the other game and then rounding out his experience with a real game (Shadowrun again). Finally, our rogue is the newest player, migrating in from computer games to Shadowrun before jumping in to our new Pathfinder campaign feet first. He is still learning to shake off the Computer Gamer Syndrome (EG attempting to 'go into stealth' at the start of each fight regardless of whether it's physically possible), but I think that with time he'll become a valuable member of the community. His character is a knife nut Half-Orc woman who seems to react largely on impulse, and is the main character of this story. Okay, now some basic context. We met in a tavern to be employed to escort someone from one town to another. Stuff happens, and we flee with our new employer and end up taking shelter in a cave. The PCs have just met and haven't had time to get to know each other. We go and explore the back of the cave when we come across a sleeping bear. Our Rogue panics and runs back, slamming straight into the cleric (Rogue rolled a 5 on a reflex save while the cleric rolled a natural 1) and waking the bear.
So as the bear is about to deliver the cleric a killing blow the rogue leaps up behind it, glowing with evil-looking red energy, and cuts the bears head off in one strike with her dagger. My first reaction is to quietly charm her, just in case (another natural 1 on the save by the way, so the GM has ruled a lingering affection effect), then go over and ask what happened. I didn't get a straight answer. Out of character, the Rogue was contacted while dying by an unknown but probably Demonic entity of some description, the exact nature of which is currently up in the air. Now the GM wants to introduce a subplot of the entity corrupting the rogue by offering her more and more power as she falls to the dark side (is currently neutral good). Some options we're looking at include offering and applying a fiendish template and, at some point of duress, having the rogue burst out into full half-fiend (This'll be at high level, where the template's power boost will be more in line with 'keep martial character up with two full casters' rather than 'one player getting favoritism'). Another option we're considering is having a familiar watch the rogue from the shadows for a bit and next level up appear before her and offer her power, sending her down the path of the witch (More specifically a witch/rogue/arcane trickster build). So, I'm looking for suggestions for the nature of the pact holder (I'm suggesting a powerful Succubus, but any ideas are welcome) along with good tips for corrupting the PC. We would prefer each step to be a conscious choice on the character's part, preferably using power and the promise of power to do the corrupting for us. Thoughts?
I recently got my hands on a copy of the ultimate equipment guide and have been browsing. Naturally, I ended up at the cursed item section with a trademarked evil smirk breaking out. There is some fun stuff there, from the GMs point of view. From the player's point of view, what are some awesome uses for magic items? I know how creative you guys can be, let's hear some ideas and fun stories!
Bluff is a great skill. It can be used to feint, pass secret messages, or even convince people that you are the moon (He is the moon!). I'm starting in a game soon and my character's rocking a respectable 15 bluff at first level, with options to bring that up even higher through magic if called upon. So, what are some creative ways to use it? Suggestions, both practical and goofy, are wanted!
Okay, I've seen people say that spell-like abilities can be used to qualify for the spellcasting component of a prestige class. Now I'm theory-crafting an Aasimar cleric/Empyreal sorcerer/mystic theurge character and I'm trying to see how low I can get the level in order to qualify, using one of the Aasimar SLAs to qualify for one half or the other. Now Daylight is a 3rd level sorcerer/wizard spell, which I'm fairly sure won't count as the 2nd level arcane spellcasting requirement. However, one variant feature nets Corruption Resistance, a 2nd level divine spell. That means that the current lowest level I can see qualifying is 5, 4 sorcerer and 1 cleric. I'm not seeing any other option to pull this off skipping the hard slog with the sorcerer levels, can anyone help me out here?
Our group is working together at character creation to make sure the entire team has both the stealth skill and the stealth synergy feat. The plan is that rather than split the party with one character scouting ahead, we all keep together and hopefully reliably get surprise on the enemy. It's been a long time since I last played so I'm asking what other tricks we can use to keep our sneakyness up to the task. We've already decided to use traits to ensure that stealth is a class skill for everyone, and we're looking at spells like blessing of the mole (+2 stealth and darkvision for the whole team) to buff the team. Any other suggestions?
Hey all! I've started reviewing a book under the name 'The Irate Reader', hopefully for your enjoyment. check it out here.
Just finished going through a marathon of pain trying to get my new copy of Mass Effect 3 to work, all because of Origin. 10 reboots and an OS repair later I've finally got that piece of *Censored* *Censored* *Censored* working, so I might be able to play my game. A note to any EA marketing people out there: If your DRM kills your customers computers, we can't play video games and thus will STOP BUYING YOUR STUFF! Mass Effect 3 is the first game I've ever bought that, post purchase, I've considered trying to find a pirated copy of merely to avoid dealing with Origin. Rant over, thanks for listening. It was therapeutic.
When you think about it adventurers are pretty crazy. Instead of living peacefully as farmers or the like they're regularly putting themselves in the path of swords, arrows and spells that risk their lives and even their very souls. So, why? What motivates these exceptional individuals to put themselves at risk, particularly when their skills would often allow them to be at the very top of their profession in civilian life.
to whom it may concern. dear sir/madam. i don't know you, but i've heard nothing but good about the legendary land of Paizo and its population of goodhearted, veteran adventurers. it is to you that i address this letter, seeking advice about my current predicament.
FuelDrop checks his house (other countries read: armoured bunker) to make sure that the drop-bears haven't burrowed in yet, freshens the vegimite barrier to protect against bunyips, and settles down to begin writing. hey everyone! this thread is here for you to mock and parady misconceptions, steriotypes and tropes that you find amusing or offensive, be they based on race, creed, sex or colour.
Ok, i've been invited into a high-level game and my character concept is a witch OBSESSED with curses. almost every piece of gear my character wears has either a drawback, a failure chance or in one case will act as a scarab of death if you don't meet the requirements (or have Use Magic Device to cover for you.:))
with a high will save of my own i'm planning on using tactics like opening a flask of curses and dropping it among my foes, using my grim poppet (from the gravewalker archtype) to afflict my foes with curses from afar (and using scar hex [thank you FAQ] to cause serious bad stuff on any foe i can get it on) and using my metamagically enhanced mind-affecting spells to cover the witch's traditional weakness to the undead. mind fog for a nice little -10 on will saves, and then a feeblemind on the lich at 70 foot range. in adition to using all that for combat fun i'm using my craft (embroidery) skill offencively, creating battlestandards with symbol spells woven in. i figure that the ability to mass debuff like that will make up for my hexes focus on punishing bosses and being worthless against large groups. again against the undead, symbol of healing is going to be my friend! i do have a couple of permenent symbols (one banner, one tattoo [i have craft (tattoo) as well] for a kind of 'the battle's at a vital stage, rip off bandage and raise forearm, reveal symbol of vulnerability, bad guys have a bad day) but the thing i love most about the character is that they're willing to curse themselves to get the job done. so, any ideas as to other curses/cursed items i can use on myself to give me an edge? PS: No, those cursed magic items aren't at a discount. Having a ton of cursed items fits the character so well that i decided to take the penalty without asking for a bonus in return. i trust my DM to make the right decisions and not use it to screw me over.
so we have a nation that fragrantly ignores international law whenever it feels like it, flouts human rights violations, spent most of the last century threatening anyone they didn't like with nukes, is taking increasingly opressive measures against its own people in the name of security, has a massively corrupt government, invades other nations for their natural resources... and more. does this behavior classify America a rogue state, just one too big and powerful to take down? you know what, there are plenty of americans around here to speak for themselves. Given some of the other messageboards around here, i know that several of our regular posters will have something to say on the subject. let's keep this civil people and, let's face it, i'd love to be convinced i'm wrong on this one.
As a DM/GM, would you allow a magic intelligent item to be a cohort for your player? please don't say anything about RAW here, as this is clearly not RAW, but i would like opinions from those of you who've got more experience with this feat as to whether this would be
just to repeat this isn't RAW, but as it's concept rather than execution i felt that Advice was more appropriate than Homebrew.
how does the spell effect the item. do they stack?
Ray of frost. no optimised spell caster is going to prepare this spell, right?
so here's the thing. if you go a sorcerer with the dragonic bloodline you get +1 damage per die on damage spells of your element. if you use form of the dragon to transform into a dragon of your colour, does that mean that you get the damage bonus to your breath weapon damage as well?
Ok, so here's the situation. your party is attacked in the dark, and so your wizard decides to shed some light on the battlefield. the catch is that he dumped evocation but, not to worry, he has a casting of shadow evocation ready. he casts it, replicating a daylight spell and bathing the area in illusionary light.
so, does that mean that anyone who makes the save and is unaffected is still in the dark even if the rest of the combat is bathed in bright light?
RAW, the only way an illusion spell can create light is using shadow evocation to replicate a light or daylight spell. (i'm sure you see the irony.)
Back in the day (3.5) undead were immune to sneak attacks and critical hits. however, i can't find that rule listed anywhere in pathfinder. is this one of the differences between the systems, or has my search-fu failed me once again?
ok, i'm certain this has been asked before but my search-fu has failed me. so maybe someone can help me: what plants grant regeneration when using plant shape 3? if you can link me the source or tell me the book that would be helpful. thanks.
Ok, there are tons of political threads out there already, but most of them are for american politics. this one's a little bit different. Of the two Australian political parties, Liberal and Labor, which do you think is the least ineffectual and wasteful. personally i say that the Liberals are the more effective as they've effectively killed off most of what Labor were trying to do over the last few years... just because Labor were doing it.
can anyone think of an alternative system we could adopt, btw? after the last election it's fairly clear that BOTH parties need to get their acts together if they want public confidence.
my group were doing a thought experiment at one point and i figured i'd throw it open to everyone here:
advertising is easy. cast illusionary script on some burnt-out scrolls and hang them in public places. anyone who fails a will save will have the suggestion of coming to your resteraunt that evening, and bringing the family as well. so... whatya think?
This is it. you've been given the red shirt, handed the flimsiest looking sword you've ever seen, and pushed through the doorway. at the other side of the room there's the big hero, a raging barbarian with an axe bigger than you are. what do you do?
1) how do communal spells work for alchemists? what about haste?
we are all familiar with the ring of sustanance, a cheap magic item that reduces your need for sleep and removes the need for food and water. so, do you like it and what do you use it for? personally i like it, as it gives 6 hours for the party's highest perception modifier to be on watch while everyone else sleeps. it's also good for crafting in the field, as even though that six hours is halved to three when in the field it's still extra time working on your magic item/whatever. if speed is of the essence and for some reason magical transportation is out of the equation then this thing is valueable as it gives A) more travelling time, and B) no need to stop for food and water. thoughts please.
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