The subject says it all but to give more clear details, I am curious to find out, without any spoilers, which god or goddess one can worship and be story relevant in the AP. I know Iomedae herself plays a big roll in this AP, but how about others?
My GM is a great guy, but the group is a bit more casual on the whole, and we will also be playing this AP over the course of a single 24 hour event (a gaming marathon for charity coming up). This means that unless it's in the book he's a lot less likely to go out of his way to make a god not represented much in the AP a bit more prominent, since he's already going to be dealing with quite a lot. So that means, to better enjoy the story, I'd be better off tailoring my character more towards it rather then hoping he'll add a few things in for me.
So, in the story, what Gods and Goddesses find themselves adequetly represented for story purposes? Does Sarenrae and her followers get any spot light? Does Erastil and his? How about everyone's favorite freedom fighter, Cayden and his motley followers?
Atlantis. One of the greatest cities beneath the waters and perhaps even above. It's so large a city as to appear, to outsider, to be several small cities grouped around one large center. One could travel for days from one end to the other. So it is no surprise that many a visitor might come here, if for nothing other then the unusual column like structures forged of stone, made in an image that does not fit with the conventional thoughts of architecture that would last beneath the depths. And yet last it does.
Many born here consider it the greatest city in the world and while Mercare is certainly a proud symbol of it's people, it does not hold a candle to even the simple vastness of this city. The fact that it is a cultural hub where any could come, find refuge and create a new life has only brightened the many paths through this massive city.
Today in particular the water is warm and comfortable for it's inhabitants. The city rings with peaceful sounds of the life that fills it. The currents flow gently, allowing many to be on their way with little trouble. The city is just awakening now. It is early in the morning and the world just seems right. But those who know the truth of the world know there's always trouble to be found... somewhere.
Azeban and Ligeia:
Azeban and Liegeia find themselves on the outskirts of one of the newer districts, formed around those like them that don't fit the particular mold that the sea elves do. For the most part it is Merfolk that live here but despite this and... other problems Azeban finds that his welcome is not too sour.
The professionals at least, the innkeeper and the merchants, seem to care little about race when gold is in play. Liegeia in particular, despite her abnormalities, actually finds that a few people are even more receptive to her then her guardian. You awake in the shelter you stayed in, as much for privacy as anything else, and find that someone is knocking on your door.
After only one try though the knocking stops, a note is slid under the door, and the person can be heard departing rather quickly. Not all want to meet the new arrival it seems. The letter has an unusual seal on it.
Ssekhith the White:
Ssekhith, having lost a home already, has found that those he fought beside are not quick to forget their friends. Over the last few weeks he has found a welcome shelter in the military barracks of Atlantis itself. He is invited on hunts, to training and even to their suppers.
The custom of standing around wooden pieces of furniture while eating ones share is strange but the sea elves seemed to hold to it, finding the camaraderie that is often shared at such 'tables'. Other then as a fixture though they don't seem to hold much in the way of usefulness in this weightless environment.
Today the light from above the waves greets Ssekhith through a 'window', another oddity in the Sea Elven structure, before the sounds of awaking can ring through the barracks. At his feet, standing a bit more warily then the elves Ssekhith has come to know, is a small little fellow, likely a child of the elven people, with a satchel around his waist.
When he notices that Ssekhith is awakening he startles back even further, dropping a letter with a strange seal holding it closed.
Valauthiel Brightsong:
Valauthiel and Laermornenion call Atlantis home. But since taking up the mantle of her passed father, she has had many a cause that would pull her away from it. So it is a rare time for her to find peace, a day to herself. Today is supposed to be such a day.
Her home is not as opulent as some of the nobles of today but it is one of the oldest homes in Atlantis, one of those close to the center and the seat of power that is the council. Her families service too the people of this city has also earned such things that other noble families might even lack. Servants move about the halls with daily tasks, seeing to the minutia of keeping such a storied home clean and intact.
As is common though the early day shows that not all will go as planned. A simple letter as been slipped beneath the door of her home, the parchment carefully bound by an official looking seal. Not of the council, but still opulent enough to draw the eye.
Religion Check DC 5:
It is the seal used by the local church of Prismire. The 'church' and it's followers are seen as little more then a cult worshiping a massive beast of silver scales.
Religion or Local Check DC 10:
It is the seal used by the local church of Prismire. The 'church' and it's followers are seen as little more then a cult worshiping a massive beast of silver scales. That is, they were, until about one hundred years ago when a Sea Elf proved through prayer to have been touched by divinity.
Religion or Local Check DC 15:
It is the seal used by the local church of Prismire. The 'church' and it's followers are seen as little more then a cult worshiping a massive beast of silver scales. That is, they were, until about one hundred years ago when a Sea Elf proved through prayer to have been touched by divinity.
Since then the church has been given certain rights and responsibilities. One of those is assisting in over seeing the protection of local affairs near Atlantis.
The world is a large place. Far larger then most know. Beneath the waves of the worlds oceans lies many a kingdom, city and town all inhabited by free and thinking people of the water. Children of Poseidon or Fey or even spirits, these folk have made homes in what others might consider the harshest depths of the world.
There is Atlantis, where the Sea Elves live, and have for nearly two thousand years. Their kind lives longer then most and their are rumors that they were once immortal. But no more... Now they have lives spanning hundreds of years and use it too seek peace with others.
There is Mercare, the kingdom of the Merfolk. They were one of the original races made by Poseidon himself in his image. Along side the Kua Toa, they have lived on the ocean floor for longer then there is a history. There used to be more kingdoms in fact! Now though there is one, divided not by kings, but by leaders and nobles who all serve the high king. In these troubled times there is a need for such unity...
Then there is the Kua Toa, whose capital remains hidden even now. By far the largest and most populated of the three kingdoms the Kua Toa seek to conquer all for their goddess of Slaughter, Bliibal. They and their secret weapon, the Monitors, seek to rule the ocean. And they have made the first move, the opening salvo of a war that will change the world.
Who are you? You are local heroes, or guards, or thieves or even simple men and women called to a great destiny. You will decide your place, be it prince or pauper. Just know that with great power comes responsibility to take up... or to let fall. The war has not begun, though those of noble lineage may be aware of it's impending doom. For now... For now you are someone with aspirations or need of an adventure.
Accepted Sourcebooks: All Paizo and Path of War (+Expanded) are allowed. Other 3PP available on request.
-Classes: Any, however clerics and paladins are very rare. Most priests are scholars who understand their deity and pray homage but receive no power for it.
-Starting Level: 3
-Optimized characters are fine. I have a great deal of skill making my own. Be aware that the stronger you make your characters, the stronger I'll be making the enemies. Also, make it appropriate to the character. If a combination is powerful but the character you made wouldn't realistically use it? Then don't.
-Starting Wealth: 3000 GP (following normal rules - also, remember ABP)
-Alignment: Any non-evil.
-Races: Merfolk and Sea Elves are the most common races. (Sea elves have a swim speed of 30 ft and can breathe water but not air. Otherwise use the Elf, Half-elf or drow races. They have two legs which are webbed rather then tails like their merfolk brethren.) Undine are rare, born either of Fey or water spirits. (Their swim speed is upped to 40 ft).
Aasimar and tieflings do exist but in this setting they are 'God Touched' and take on aspects of either Prismire or Bliball. (Either you'll have silver scales or you'll look like Davy Jones from Pirates of the carribean). Each of these races gets the swim speed of the race they were a part of originally. Finally the Kua Toa do exist but if you wand to play one I'm going to need a veeeeeeery good story from you.
Stylistically there are many different kinds of each race. If you find a merfolk with a human half it won't be strange to also find a merfolk completely covered in scales. (They all have scales but some look nearly human with their upper halves and the scales are only visible on close inspection). The Sea Elves are only slightly less varied and even the Kua Toa have their oddities.
-Hit Points: Max per Hit Die.
-Skills: See 'Campaign Rules', below.
-Traits: 2, 3 with a Drawback if story appropriate
-Abilities: 30 point buy, no Dump Stats (If you want a character with a score below 10, give me a good story reason)
-Gods- The man four worshiped in this part of the world are Aroden (LN), Prismire (NG), Poseidon (N), and Blibbal (NE). Poseidon is the 'father' of all the ocean races but he's also capricious. The merfolk pay the utmost respect to him. Aroden is worshiped as the god amongst the Atlanteans, though even he pays respects to Poseidon. He is a scholar god interested in peace and discovery. Prismire is a massive sea beast with platinum scales revered by some. She is focused on protecting the innocent and fighting against evil. Blibaal (spelled differently on purpose) is a monstrous beast that rules her empire and demands daily sacrifice. She is the goddess of slaughter and has been rumored to have even stolen a piece of Hades dominion over darkness.
-Automatic Bonus Progression (PF Unchained): In-use, with the normal table.
--Some rare items do have innate enhancement bonuses. Attunement in ABP overlaps (i.e. does not stack with) the natural enhancement bonuses on items, but you can attune to weapons and armor anyway to take a higher bonus.
-Background Skills (PF Unchained): In-use.
--In addition all classes start with an additional 2 points for their adventure skills as well. I'd like everyone to participate in and out of combat.
-Bonus Feats: Gain a feat at every level, rather than every other level. However, feats from levels cannot be spent on the same category (Combat, Metamagic, General, etc.) twice in a row. For example, you could not learn Weapon Focus at 3rd and then Weapon Specialization at 4th. (This does not apply to any bonus feats from your classes.) I want the bonus feats to help with diversifying your characters and defining them as characters.
-Combat Options: The following options are automatically available for all characters that meet their prerequisites.
->Combat Expertise (-Melee Accuracy, +Dodge | INT 13)
->Deadly Aim (-Ranged Accuracy, +Ranged Damage | DEX 13, BAB +1)
->Power Attack (-Melee Accuracy, +Melee Damage | STR 13, BAB +1)
->Improved Unarmed Strike (+3 bab)
->Weapon Finesse (Dex 14)
How many players will I be accepting? Three. And I will let everyone know ahead of time that I will be playing a character as well. It's been a long time since I've simply been able to play and by gum I'd like too. What will I be playing? No idea! I have ideas but I also don't want to be stepping on other players toes so I'll be making something to fit the parties needs.
What am I looking for? A great backstory and character. I want to believe these characters you submit exist in my setting. Take risks too. Try and add details yourself. Make a new noble family for the Merfolk or a secret for the Atlanteans. If you need to, use the 10 minute background format. Just remember that should only be a start. I'll be judging by literacy as well. While not the biggest factor I do want to be able enjoy reading what you've written.
In this case, I'm speaking specifically of a Paladin with the Power of Faith and a Skald who is using his Raging Song. Unlike the bard, which is a flat bonus, the Skald increases Str and Con by +2, and AC is decreased by -1. The power of Faith ability from the paladin is more in line with the bard, giving a flat +1 bonus to attack and damage, as well as a +1 to AC. Both can do more but this is the focus of the discussion. So too clarify...
Skald- Raging Song
+2 Str
+2 Con
-1 AC
Paladin
+1 Attack
+1 Damage
+1 AC
The question is, what happens if both are up at the same time, in regards to the AC of those affected? Since they are both morale bonuses they would not stack (And thus not cancel out? I'm not certain). So mechanically, by those rules of stacking, a player gets one of them. Does it default to the better? The worse? If so, where does it say so?
There are probably dozen's of ways to do the idea that the title alludes too, some of them not even using cleric levels. With the new Warpriest class this is especially true. Fact is, I really dislike the Warpriest, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. What I'm here to talk about is levels I have no experience in (7+).
Mechanically speaking, I know how to make a character up to level 6 and how they'll fair against poor odds and really dangerous monsters, but beyond that I have no game experience, and just running the number's isn't quite the same.
Mechanically she was built to be able to have the full cleric spell casting experience, while also being really bad ass when it comes too using a bow. Why? Honestly for several reasons. I'd like the message boards to check her out and give suggestions.
As a summary for my intentions, I intend to spend the attribute point at level 8 increasing her strength to 16, and then from there focusing on her wisdom. She's a follow of Erastil with Guided Hand, so not only does increasing her Wisdom give her a bonus to her spells, spell slots, etc. It also increases her attack bonus.
At this point, the only feats I have planned in the future are Clustered Shot at 9, Weapon Specialization and Point Blank Master at 13, and Greater Weapon Focus when I'm able. Otherwise, feat suggestions (anything but summoning abilities, as its a PbP game and we don't want to slow the game down) are welcome, as are magic item suggestions and spells.
Things I don't want to change, but still want the opinion about, are her current class choices, archetype choices and how well a character like this will play at higher levels. Will she continue to kick ass (if not quite as much as a full born fighter Archer) at higher levels? Will her spell casting later become her focus, but her archery will still give her something to fall back on? Or is the archer concept completely pointless?
This is true, especially at lower levels when your looking at the champion path. Sure, there are one or two things that work okay, but until a Gunslinger can reload as a free action any mythic ability for that gives an extra ranged attack isn't exactly useful. Think of this. A Musket master, at his prime, can reload as a move action (until he gets the lightning reload deed). Which means he can use his power, reload, and then shoot again in one turn. Pretty good. Except the next turn. What if he wants to do it again? He can't, because he has to reload first. Or what if he shot the round before? He'd have to reload first. Basically, until a gunslinger can reload as a free action he can only reload once a round.
I'm not saying they aren't useful. I'm saying they become a lot more circumstantial. Granted, a gunslinger can take a different path, but there really isn't much, is there? Champion gives the few good abilities for ranged. Maybe trickster or Marshal, but one is really about focusing on something a gunslinger is only marginally good at (sneaking and things like it) while the other is good at helping other people. So a gunslinger who wants to focus on himself isn't left with much.
Maybe a few additional powers to make gunslinger and range in general a little more interesting for mythic paths? I can see a few ways to do this. Rapid Reload (Mythic). Downgrades every reload action to a free action. A very circumstantial feat, but useful. Maybe some more powers for ranged attacks. When I saw Guardian, I was hoping there might be something that I could work out a Guntank with. Would be interesting. Or trickster with a few more stunts that are more broad. Like being able to do trick shots or call shots or something. Hell, maybe a whole knew path to make the daredevil ideas more interesting. Abilities that make it easier to do something daring and awesome, relying on luck and, dare I say, grit to accomplish.
The gunslinger is one of my favorite classes. I always thought it got the short end of the stick when it came to how it was eventually made, but even then it has a lot of potential and you can see people working on it. I'd like to see more going forward for the gunslinger as well.
The champion has a two path abilities that I'd like to ask about.
1. Precision. The penalty on additional attack rolls when making a full attack is decreased by 5 to a minimum of 0. Does include natural attacks?
2. Armor Master. No spell failure or armor penalty applied to different tiers of armor when taken a certain number of times. My question involves Mithral. A Mithral breastplate counts as light armor for penalties. Does that mean it's penalties will be reduced by taking Armor Mastery once?
Now, I realize that using the Form of a Dragon might override a pre-existing bite, claw or wing attack, but say I have a gore attack as well. Do I keep that?
The instance I'm talking about is that I have a Half orc Dragon Disciple/Sorceror Barbarian who has a bite attack and, when he rages, gains a Gore attack and two claw attacks. He'd use his form of the dragon 1 Sp to gain the form of a dragon, and then he rages. Would he gain the gore attack on top of the attacks he was getting?
Right, I've found that there are two Animal companions for Elks. Mechanically, they are almost exactly the same. Same stats, same increase in size. The only difference is in their natural armor bonuses and natural attacks. One is just clearly better then the other mechanically, even if only by a small margin.
Alright, so I'm joining in a campaign at 5th level and I'm going Beast Rider. I'm looking at the mount choices for my human and here it is..
Medium beast riders can choose a camel or horse mount at 1st level. At 4th level, a Medium beast rider can also choose an allosaurus, ankylosaurus, arsinoitherium, aurochs, bison, brachiosaurus, elephant, glyptodon, hippopotamus, lion, mastodon, megaloceros, snapping turtle (giant), tiger, triceratops, or tyrannosaurus as his mount. Additional mounts might be available with GM approval.
Now, from what I am reading a level 4 beast rider can get the Lion as a mount. To any of you who say otherwise, I'm not posting this here for you to debunk it. It says that. Right there. There is no fricking way to misread it. A level 4 Beast Rider can get a Lion as a mount. He does not need to wait until level 7. It is on the list for a MEDIUM SIZED cavalier at LEVEL 4.
What I'm looking for is an official answer for my GM who doesn't like gray area's and the stat change that is done to the creature until level 7.
Alright, so I have an Oracle who will be going in as a possessed Oracle. Given the bonus you get for it, Two Minds, I was of the opinion that it was an entire other mind within the Oracle's. The DM seems to agree, but we have no idea where to go from there.
Is the spirit able to communicate to the Oracle? We're on an adventure path so it probably wouldn't be able to help much in the way of advice, but just having that voice in his head, with the DM controlling it of course, would make for interesting RP.
The DM is of the mind that at the level I am starting out at, the Oracle cannot speak with the spirit directly. However, as he gains levels and becomes more closely linked to the being communication opens up further and further.
It's his choice of course, and I'm not looking to argue because it actually sounds really interesting. I'm just trying to see if there is anything official maybe?
Just got my False Peace Battlemaps in the mail and I have to say they're beautiful. The picture they have here really doesn't do them justice.
better/larger pics of the map at the conflictrpg.com site.
I already got a bunch of ideas on how to wrap my pathfinder sessions around these maps.
First I like to say I love this class idea and the feel of it. That being said, there are some issues. I want to be honest as well, I did find a few ways around these, or some of these, issues without changing the class features presented. That being said it was done with a change to the feat progression. The playtest I used this for was a one shot ran at lvl 3 a friend of mine ran. It was a custom and rather interesting dungeon crawl made by my friend the DM, all of which he said were balanced to our level, supposedly. He likes to heavy hand us some times. We saw orcs and ogres. A lot of the first, a few of the second. The orcs went down in one shot a few times. The ogres almost killed me. The rest of the group consisted of an oracle, a barbarian, a rogue, and a sorcerer. I did not except any buffs during the play test because I wanted to see how the gunslinger did on his own.
First and for most I found my gunslinger is feat starved at lower levels. We're talking a ranged class here that already requires point blank and precise shot to hit into melee. Rapid reload is a great feat to get, and then you have things like far shot and extra grit. And then of course, because its fun, quick draw. And the grit feats are great to have but then again there also hard to get.
So Feats. A suggestion, and what I ended up asking the DM to let me do after we went through playing with the gunslinger for the first battle of his one shot, was give it a fighter or Monk Bonus feat progression. The DM went with Monk feat progression, it meant pretty much the same at later levels but gave the earlier levels the feats it needs. Otherwise I could probably make a fighter and using all those extra feats take the proficiency and amateur grit for the same general style of fighting with a character that lacks the flavor I was looking for. You have other classes with a lot of options for a class feature, but with the gunslinger your main focus seems to be the deeds. It ends up lacking else where. Fighter offers Weapon Spec and Weapon focus as feats for the class. Maybe give one or two feats like that. Weapon focus isn't really needed with the touch attack, but weapon spec adds to the damage, which brings me to my next issue.
Damage. I hit 9/10 shots. I love that it hits with touch attacks. But I was a musket person. I thought about going pistol but darn it all I wanted a big musket. With Rapid reload, I made a human and was able to get that with the other two feats of precise and point blank shot, I could on average take a shot every other round. (As a side note With the Monk feat progression I went with lightning reload and Signature deed instead which fixed the issue.) With a weapon that can't get any extra damage except by leveling to 5 or getting magic, this meant that 1d12 isn't very good. This is solved by the grit Feet Lightning Reload, but that brings me back to the last issue of not having enough feats.
The next issue I ran into is the lack of grit. Okay, so I finally got the feat, but because everything about this class relies on dex for damage and to hit (which would allow me to take deadly aim as another source of damage if I had more feats) that's where my points for stats went. I had 2 grit a day. Solved by a few more feats I can't take. Asked my DM to let me instead have more grit, using other class features as a base. He let me have 3 + wisdom mod. This let Extra grit be more of an option then a necessity. Still, having my damage limited though when I run out, but then we get to regaining grit. I, personally, think the lack of more starting grit was due to the fact that we are supposed to be able to gain back grit. That is an awesome idea that is not nearly as useful the way it shows up. I would be happy with 2 grit if it meant at least once a day I could do something awesome to earn them back. But the options presented don't give me a once day chance, they give me a once a game chance. Which could encompass days.
Next is the cost, or rather a high cost and no way to circumvent it, of the weapons. I get that its supposed to be rare, hard to find, and valuable but some people do play campaigns where a person can lose a weapon and never see it again. Perhaps a rare occurrence, perhaps not. And built into the weapon is the chance to lose it. My musket user had a 10% chance of losing his gun every time he fired. Give the gunslinger an way to fix the gun. I had of course put points into Craft(firearm). To be fair it only got the broken condition once. It was when i tried it at level 3 and with my +3 from class skill All i need to roll was a 6, a 70% chance of success. But the cost is horrible.
This brings me to another issue. With 1/4 half my points invested in craft just so I could keep my weapon up and running, 1/3 not counting the human skill points, I am left with that much less to put in other skills. More skill points would be nice. Now granted the class does tell me this is an alternate class for fighter but wouldn't it make sense for a class that's described in the description and daring, how am I supposed to make those dramatic jumps, climbs, or swings with so little skill points. And shouldn't a class that uses ranged weaponry to have perception as a class skill so they could see their enemy? Suggestion, add perception to their class skills.
Now I'd like to say what I liked about this class. The deeds, almost all of them, I loved. I didn't get to use much of them but just reading them I couldn't wait to see them in use in a game someday. I do think the class is a little too focused on them. The deed feats are awesome, if hard to get presently. I love the feel of the class and with the fixes the DM let me have would play this class often. I hope to see an official version of this from you guys, cause only 1 of my DM's lets any kind of homebrew in, even if its fixing a playtesting class.
Can a druid shapeshift into a larger version of a creature in the bestiary?
An example would be the constrictor snake which is suggested to have larger versions.
The reason I ask is because a totem druid gets to wildshape as if they were level 8 druids when there at level 6 with animals of their totem, but for totem's like snakes there is only medium and tiny snakes in the bestiary. The constrictor entry says there are large and huge constrictors, but doesn't offer an entry.
I'm in a campaign where an incident led to the lose of a finger for my cleric. My DM rules now that I have a spell failure chance on all my spells, and he's the kind who will keep it to himself and roll the percentage dice behind the board. The session ended without me getting anymore spells off, so I can't even guess if its a high probability.
My question is, can limb loss affect a cleric like this? If so, how is that there somatic components aren't screwed up in a similar manner while wearing armor? Is there anything that covers this kind of thing in the core rules?
