Darbius Maximus's page

So I'm looking to build a very horrible country to live in; the pinnacle of this concept is that all souls who are born in said country have their soul consigned to hell on their death.

The initial idea I had was somehow, a person's birth certificate, if born in said country, doubles as an infernal contract.

The big question however, is how does one put someone in a contract against their will?

I had an idea that by pricking the foot of the newborn and just using their blood they could make a weak but valid contract since babies are babies and their fledgling emotions could in some regards be contractually regarded.

Thoughts?

Doing a homebrew mini-adventure to fill the void since we're going to be missing two players for a month. Gonna be an aberration/fire dungeon and I'm stuck choosing between a few areas that interest me alot. Where would a sudden arson/apocalypse/fire cult most likely pop up between these nations (since this has plot stuff related to a later campaign I want to do, I've included some plot ideas I've had where applicable)?

Andoran, Kyonin (burn the corruption of their forests but don't realize it'll take out a much larger area than that), Land of the Linnorm Kings (create a fire that is antithetical to Linnorms), Molthune (literally burning records), Rahaduom (trying to make "anti-divine" fire), Razmiran (don't know).

Since the Shifter manifests the traits of animals via Druidic tradition and a connection to nature, and the Fiendflesh Shifter uses devotion to otherworldly power to emulate fiends, why not through a connection to the negative energy plane either via ritual or heritage one can emulate the aspects of certain forms of undead? Thus I made the Graven Shifter to make this concept a reality, inspired by the fact the spell Undead Anatomy exists and is the undead themed version of the Beast Shape spell line.

Critique extremely appreciated: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6488oowh1jw60yy/Shifter%20Archetype%20-%20Graven% 20Shifter.rtf?dl=0&m=

Having some World of Warcraft nostalgia and potential plans for a future campaign; Since the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been statted, how difficult would a fight against all 4 be? Should all party members be level 20? Could it be done with 4 members or would 5 or even more be needed? Would they need Mythic abilities? What is the best class/build setup to fight all 4 Horsemen with 4 party members; same question but 5 party members? What are the worst party compositions that have less than average chance of success in this fight? Anything else I should know?

So is there a way to calculate the amount of viable dead necromancers could use? Since there's many statistics for towns that interact with certain social and organization rules I wanted to apply it to something like a necromancer cult, a group that would need to know the number of viable graves at any given time to raise skeletons or similar from.

So with so many ways characters can get access to weapon damage dice advancement (by emulating Monk or Warpriest class features), is there any point to taking more mundane exotic weapon choices such as minor statistical damage boosting choices such as Bastard Sword or Estoc as opposed to weapons that are identical to many other martial weapons but just have added effects?

Taking into account the fact classes that can't gain previously stated damage advancement, is there any other benefits beyond just a slight damage increase.

This is mostly statistical but before people shoot this down with "flavor justifies these choices" I'd like to know what angles one can play off of in terms of flavor that have substantial "oomph" beyond just "it's bigger, meaner, my dad had one, ect".

Not trying to be mean if you really like your flavor over mechanics but I'd like to know if there's enough mechanical advantages and flairs to make taking these weapons, maybe in tandem with the damage advancement, extra fulfilling.

A bit vague but what would inverted version of the Hellknights as an organization be like? What would an Anti-Hellknight be in terms of ideals and personality? What would be the focus of their class features if fathomable? Finally, what would make their organization alluring to join?

Aside from the trait "Heavy Hitter" and the Hulking Changeling racial trait, is there any other miscellaneous bonuses to damage like these that can be acquired or built around? I'm looking to build a Finesse Monk.

Aside from instances of gaining Tactician, is there any way to get the Cavalier's Banner class feature or gain a Cavalier Order? I'm trying to build a more Fighter-y Cavalier and trying tog et as many options I can.

Also, I don't know if I'm having a mental Freudian Slip but do any of the Cavalier's features depend on Charisma?

Both Read as Written and Read as Intended, creatures immune to flanking are completely exempt from any advantages or effects regarding or incurred by flanking correct?

I have someone saying all the immunity confers is that you don't get a +2 to being in a flanking position against such a creature but you can still do any flanking-reliant abilities such as sneak attack if you and an ally are still correctly in what would be otherwise considered flanking positions.

The Mono Whip description states that "A monowhip’s damage cannot be enhanced by strength...". Thematically speaking it makes sense that Slashing Finesse would allow one who could make the whip strike more accurately deal more damage, but in a RAW/RAI (rule as written/ruled as intended) format would you still be able to apply Dexterity to damage with the Mono Whip even if you you couldn't apply your strength to its damage in the first place?

So since it adds caster levels a caster would seem best to take this prestige class, but what I am asking for is which one? I'm planning on making a DMPC for an upcoming tech-centric game I'm running as prep for Starfinder's release and she will be taking the Technomancer PRC from the technology guide. I'd like to know which full-casting class would synergize the best or if it would be better to do a more hybrid-role class like an Inquisitor/Magus.

I would prefer a spontaneous caster choice if possible for the sake of ease of play (including archetypes).

Specifically however I would like something that could also have healing spells and synergize with being a crafter.

Thank you.

What are your thoughts on the tech weapons?

Do you have any of your own you have homebrewed?

I have been working on set of tech-weapon-strength physical projectile firearms to represent the wider array of sci-fi firearms, both to personalize the tech weapon list a bit and so with the coming of Starfinder I have something to work from.

However, one of the mythoses I enjoy the most out of all sci fi is Warhammer 40,000. I'm not here to talk genre politics, I'm here for one simple conundrum: Importing the Bolter or a "bolter-like" weapon.

For the uninitiated, THIS is what a Bolter/Boltgun is, however I am not going for 100% authenticity.

When I first found something I was comfortable with, I decided to go in a less than immediately friendly place to get answers, the /tg/ Discord. My case was met with a rather constant and default answer of "you can't make it authentic, don't put it in or you'll look super dumb"... to put it lightly. This is OK, opinions are opinions and we have to look at them all for the sake of consideration.

Another argument against me even continuing to work on the darn thing was that "Armor penetration the way it's done in the 40k RPGs is in no way recreateable in d20 systems". With this in mind I decided to skip that part and work on what can be recreated: the raw insane killing power of each individual bolt round. This can be accomplished, even glancing hits from a bolt shell leave nasty wounds and shells that over-penetrate leave big holes still.

However, in 40k RPGs the boltgun, while deadly, can really only "one-shot" most NPC enemy fodder, anything tougher, or heaven forbid, outright bigger, meaner, dare even greener (you get where I'm going *hint hint*), can take full salvos and not die; tough space pirates, basic Eldar/Dark Eldar need a full salvo to kill in Rogue Trader, Orks need good damage rolls when you're salvo-ing them to even seriously harm them. Thus I compared it to most d20 system weapons to find a fair damage dice for it. After this I studied lore, gameplay from videogames, ect, then modified for balance, such as making crits not as great as other firearms because such high damage can means crits can be inconsequential. I gave them the misfire chance range I did not only for balance but because instead of a normal bullet you have a kick-charge-fired miniature missile, so many things can go wrong with that.

As of such these are my stats for Bolt Weaponry:

Bolt Firearms follow the rules for Advanced Firearms regarding misfires, range increments and touch attacks however each weapon listed with “Internal Magazine” or “Magazine Fed” under Special follows the rules of internal magazine and magazine fed Modern Firearms respectively; however each type of weapon may have additional rules (see below). Bolt weapons use only half the amount of energy normally expended when crafting Technological Weapons.

Use the same rules for crafting and repairing Bolt Weapons and ammunition as Advanced Firearms as well as Energy expendature for crafting a technological firearm (see above for consumption modifier), however the price for standard Bolts is 50 GP, a Military Lab is required, and you must have the Craft Technological Items feat.

One-Handed Ranged Weapons (Firearms):

Bolt Pistol (20,000GP): 2d6 piercing and bludgeoning damage; x3 crit; 30 foot range; 6 capacity; Misfire 1-3; Special: Magazine Fed.

Two-Handed Ranged Weapons (Firearms):

Bolter (40,000GP): 2d8 piercing and bludgeoning damage; x3 crit; 90 foot range; 18 capacity; Misfire 1-3; Special: Magazine Fed, Semi-Auto.

Two-Handed Ranged Weapons (Heavy Weapons):

Heavy Bolter (60,000GP): 3d6 piercing and bludgeoning damage; x3 crit; 120 foot range; 40 capacity; Misfire 1-3; Special: Automatic, Magazine Fed.

These stats are a work in progress, I eventually intend to stat other bolt rounds (including even a Vengeance Round expy). Accepting the limitations of physical projectile firearms would you say these stats are balanced? If they're overbalanced, by dropping the crit to x2 and bumping up the dice one more step could they be more thematically authentic but still balanced? Last, if better to choose a different name to give an equivalent to the Boltgun thematically, can Ig et some dieas? All I can think of is "Automatic Nano/Mini Howitzer".

SO I stumbled upon a fan-made map of all of Galorian (Potential geography spoilers: http://darthsunshine42.deviantart.com/art/Fan-made-Golarion-map-337812221 ) and there's so many places that I asked my DM about and he outright didn't know. While I know about Tian'Xia, the Inner Sea Regions, and other places covered by books such as Distant Shores, I haven't much info at all about New Azlant or Sarusan.

I know Sarusan is an Australia expy with literally no current information on it, but there's a specificly marked location, the Nightmare Sepulchure. Furthermore New Azlant has some specific locations.

Moving all the way North, what about the Alginak Tribes, Frosthead Islands, The High Ice, Alabastrine Peaks, and Dead Man's Dome?

My questions are as follows:

1. Are these locations visited in modules?

2. If not, is there significant information about them? If so, what modules visit them and is the visitation significant?

3. If there is no significant information, what have you done with them in your games as DMs?

Playing a Dhampir Havocker Witch, if I were to acquire Void Healer later as a Utility Wild Talent, would it be covered by the Spell Burn ability or no?

So I want to know if anyone has any experiences playing a Humam with the Racial Heritage feat but the race selected for the feat was a more monstrous one such as Lizard-Folk, Gnolls, ect.

Looking at the monstrous feat options taking Cloud/Storm or Hill Giant are both viable and grant access to some nice defensive, offensive, and utility options.

Any other monstrous races (other than Orcs since that's obvious) with a good amount of options to them?

Having issues deciding on what to play. Group need a skill monkey but not a complete skill monkey (skills can just be covered with traits). One dude says he wants to be my flanking partner before I'm even working on a character O.o

So I'm wondering if doing an Ascetic Style Brawler using Cestus or Fighter dual-weilding cestus and using Advanced Armor and Weapon Training options for a good Will save to be similar to the Brawler but will have more AC, damage, and the previously mentioned better Will save, however I'd have to wait 6+ levels for those merits to even activate.

On the other hand I am considering a Rogue of some sort, Sanctified Slayer plus Infiltrator Archetype Inquisitor, or straight forward Slayer, any of the previous being beefed up to handle heavy armor.

My only other idea was an Urban Barbarian for just giggles.

I want to know if anyone here has experience with these options/combos, how did games using them go, which of these options would you choose and why?

So we don't have a rogue... we've been able to circumvent traps but now it's becoming trickier. Is there any monster that the summon monster line of spells produces that has trapfinding?

Is there any way to count one class as another for the purposes of Favored Class bonus choice? Specifically if I were to play a halfling Tempered Champion Paladin, since I would gain Warpriest Sacred Weapon Damage Advancement, could I select the Halfling Warpriest Favored Class bonus since it augments Sacred Weapon Damage due to having an Effective Warpriest level or no?

The main goal I had in mind as it seems no matter what people can't escape the bad juju associated with the paladin's code, so I ahd an idea; since alot of people seem to be OK with oracle's Curses, enboguh to where alot of supplemental curses exist throguhout adventure paths and supplement books, I was thinking maybe it could be possible to circumvent the taboo associated with the Paladin's Code without heavy alteration to many class abilities by letting them take an oracle's Curse. Hwoever, Oracle's Curses usually have benefits; what class feature would be fair to drop for Oracle Curse benefits?

I'm researching the Paladin class for a potential game and have a somewhat good story in mind revolving the paladin being a bit disillusioned from being a part of a rather bloody and terrible war as opposed to some grandiose adventure/crusade.

As far as Archetypes I'm liking Holy Gun or Tortured Crusader for potential use but then I saw the oaths. So I must ask, what are your thoughts on the above-mentioned archetypes, are there other archetypes you'd suggest in place of these to be a more direct application of ability corresponding to that specific snippet of backstory, what Oaths mesh well with the above mentioned archetypes, and what is your favorite oath and why?

The Android "Anomaly" alternate trait says it changes the Constructed trait, applying a -2 bonus on Mind-effecting, Emotion, and Fear effects, however does this mean the bonus normally granted is reduced by 2 or replaced by a -2 penalty?

Potential natural attack damage build using ranger Combat Style feats via Slayer Talents but I don't want the mentality that Slaeyr is my only Route to pick up Improved Natural Attack outside of picking it up via character advancement feats. Are there any archetypes that grant Improved Natural Attack as a bonus feat/class talent, grant Slayer Talents, or grants you a Ranger Combat Style?

Gonna GM a game and the guy wants to play an anti-paladin basically and keeps pushing that as his only option despite me as the GM saying "no evil classes". His core concept for the character is some sort of alternate code of "Oppression is fine as long as the guy in charge isn't a horrible person" and he has a massive "preference" for the Anti-Paladin spell list.

Explicitly in his words "[he's] meant to be a character who's meant to be a force of change. As a force of change My character believes that any form of leadership deemed inadequate should be replaced by any means, which would include helping the leader to become better, Deposing the leader by inciting revolution, helping in coups, etc. He himself does not seem to care for the idea of freedom but instead prefers stability either through force or peace based on how the country runs itself."

I want to try and find a way to compromise but I wanted to consult with you guys before going further.

More so his history as a player is the sort where based on the game if there's no alignment, given the "dead or alive" option when dealing with an encounter he'll just kill the person.

While most Oracles have an unclear purpose gifted with their powers these oracles are very clearly gifted with immense destructive powers as an agent of divine wrath on the mortal plane. Whether carelessly created or given a specific mission, these oracles throw fractions of their Deity's apocalyptic strength at their adversaries.

I had inspiration for this Archetype for awhile and only after alot of drafting and lore-work do I have the current draft of the project.

Dropbox and Paizo.com don't really work together so I'll just post the whole thing here.

Unlike other Oracles the Gods have made you as an expression of their destructive side, a tool to exert their might in a physical but still Mortal form and destroy those that threaten what they stand for; however this power is taxing to control and is a burden in and of itself when exercised.

Angry Eyes: You are barred from choosing the Clouded Vision Oracle's Curse; as an Agent of Wrath on this mortal plane the inability to anticipate or pursue those who would undo your Deity's work is counterproductive to your Deity's wishes. This restrict's your Oracle's Curse choice.

Hostile Soul: You give off an unnatural aura which causes certain detection spells to detect you as the following: Any creature that can see Auras or Alignments sees you as both Good and Evil aligned in a swirling aura of both moralities. If you are Good aligned you are still detected by Detect Evil despite your alignment due to the innate wrath your power channels. Spells that detect Outsiders automatically detect you. You give off an aura of strong Abjuration if looked at with Detect Magic.

Wrathful Force: You gain several Class Features from the Kineticist class, however any instance of its class abilities that use Constitution instead use Charisma to determine their effects; you also treat your Oracle level as your Kineticist level for determining any ability choices available including their effects unless otherwise noted.

Elemental Wrath: You gain an Elemental Focus and a Kinetic Blast Wild talent corresponding to your chosen element like a 1st level Kineticist, however your choices are meant to coincide with the concepts of divine wrath and as of such you are barred from choosing any physical choice of any element except the Telekinesis option with Aether. Unlike a Kineticist, Void is an available 1st level Elemental Focus. This replaces your Mystery and Revelation gained at first level. You do not gain your Element's Defence Wild Talent and your effective Kineticist level for your Kinetic Blast is equal to half your Oracle level.

Wrath Casting: You choose a Witch Patron corresponding to the element of your Elemental Blast, you gain the spells listed as bonus spells at the appropriate levels. Your choices are as follows:

Cold: Space, Vengeance (all spells that deal damage lose their normal elemental descriptor and gain Cold descriptor and deal Cold damage), Winter.
Electricty: Storms, Light (all spells that deal damage lose their normal elemental descriptor and gain Electricity descriptor and deal Electricity damage), Agility.
Fire: Light, Summer, Veangeance.
Negative: Death, Entropy, Shadow.
Telekinesis: Boundaries, Ethereal, Mind.

Regardless of Kinetic Blast choice you may choose the Elements Patron instead of any of the above choices.

At 11th level when you cast a spell from your patron spell list you may spend an extra spell per day of the same level as the spell being cast to have the spell deal half of its normal elemental damage and the other half as the damage type of your Element chosen with Expanded Element. You also may expend a spell per day as a standard action to remove a number of points of Burn from yourself equal to half the spell's spell level..

This replaces Mystery Spells and your 11th level Revelation.

Escalate Wrath: at 3rd level you gain a Kinetic Blast Infusion of your choice following the same rules for what Infusions you may choose as a Kineticist and gain the Kineticist's Gather Power class feature. At 7th level you gain the Kineticist's Expanded Element class feature. At every level beyond 3rd you would normally gain a Revelation except 11th level you choose an Infusion for your Kinetic Blast as a Kineticist instead. This replaces all but your 11th level Revelation.

To make a long story short, I found a race Paizo created stats for when they originally published Dragon Magazine for Wizards of the Coast (and the stats, fluff, ect exist in the Paizo published book Dragon Compendium http://paizo.com/products/btpy8xa2?Dungeons-Dragons-The-Dragon-Compendium-V olume-1-Hardcover ); this race was the Lupin, a wolf-like species somewhat akin to Cat-Folk. Coming into Pathfinder as a serious player who could explore my options I was sad to have found that even in the Advanced Race Guide there was no inclusion of anything based on things Paizo had made long ago. As of such I have taken to the race maker in the Advanced Race Guide, albeit with a few tweaks, and have made a comprehensive Pathfinder version of the race, and hopefully if enough people come to enjoy this, people will not shy away at the idea of playing this race because of it (at least at the moment) being homebrew.

Since I don't know if Paizo has the rights to the name Lupin still or any of the content in the book they come from, I am not supplying their original stats or originally printed lore, and I am changing the race's name from "Lupin" to "Lupine".

Note I have not supplied very much of my own fluff for this race at all besides that there were isolated from most of the standard races for quite a long time and only recently have they begun to integrate into civilized society, however the effects of civilization on their kind are apparent.

This Draft of the race is a WIP despite it's comprehensive state. It does not contain original approximations or similar "work notes". If you'd like to see that draft with my work notes, please PM me.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w4rm124rnq0jv6l/Pathfinder%20Lupine%20-%20Alpha%2 0Draft.rtf?dl=0

To make a long story short, I found a race Paizo created stats for when they originally published Dragon Magazine for Wizards of the Coast (and the stats, fluff, ect exist in the Paizo published book Dragon Compendium http://paizo.com/products/btpy8xa2?Dungeons-Dragons-The-Dragon-Compendium-V olume-1-Hardcover ); this race was the Lupin, a wolf-like species somewhat akin to Cat-Folk. Coming into Pathfinder as a serious player who could explore my options I was sad to have found that even in the Advanced Race Guide there was no inclusion of anything based on things Paizo had made long ago. As of such I have taken to the race maker in the Advanced Race Guide, albeit with a few tweaks, and have made a comprehensive Pathfinder version of the race, and hopefully if enough people come to enjoy this, people will not shy away at the idea of playing this race because of it (at least at the moment) being homebrew.

Note I have not supplied very much fluff For this race at all besides that there were isolated from most of the standard races for quite a long time and only recently have they begun to integrate into civilized society, however the effects of civilization on their kind are apparent.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w4rm124rnq0jv6l/Pathfinder%20Lupine%20-%20Alpha%2 0Draft.rtf?dl=0

Please note this is a work in progress as comprehensive as it is already.

For: Unique weapon; built as the largest weapon meant for a medium character, despite its size and needing a feat. It's meant to supersede a greatsword in base damage at the cost of a feat.

Against: You can just substitute a large greatsword if the damage output is the same and it would still require a single feat.

Overall, depending on DM interpretation, the fullblade can be the most devastating base two-handed weapon in all D20, or the biggest let down if made an over-glorified large greatsword.

My personal argument for use of a base size fullblade is really just how much harm could it bring? A 1st lvl fighter would find this the best 1st lvl weapon ever. it's balanced because, unless you can bargain with the DM, you can;t dual-wield it so eventually a dual-wield greatsword barbarian will just come along to boast how he can hold two slightly smaller weapons in each hand.

I don't want to start a ruckus but after seeing the Nodachi's stats and merits, I think if you build the character right, a fighter specializing in the Nodachi (either as wielding an oversized version or dual wielding normal sized versions> may end up being better than a fighter using a similar build but for bastard swords.

Utilizing Wield Oversized weapon (if this is a Pathfinder feat; I don't know because I'm admittedly a noob), a Larrge Nodachi could be wielded instead of a large bastard sword in two hands and the fighter would benefit more thanks to the Nodachi's additional properties such as the ability to strike with slashing or piercing for the same amount of damage (theoretically), brace ability, and a larger crit threat range of 18-20, instead of 19-20. Other than that they do about the same base damage, the advantage comes from the Nodachi's bonuses.

Prove me wrong and I shall accept your statement wholeheartedly.