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That's all for now, but this is one of those big, big topics that can fuel never-ending discussions.
The most fun class.... hmmm.... I think that I have had the most fun with my Bard. As I mentioned in the 'Why should I play a Bard' thread, Bards not only pass out goodies to the rest of the party, they get to write the ballads telling of the party's adventures (if you want to, of course)! That's pretty d*mn cool. Plus the fact that you can have believable over-the-top backstories. Evard (the bard I'm currently playing) started his first game being chased out of town by a noble who had caught Evard in his bedchamber with his wife - and part of his backstory was that this was not the first time it had happened. Which is why his initial first-level spells included featherfall, grease, and expeditious retreat. :-)
♫ On the eighth day of Critmas John Compton gave to me: Eight Monks A-Flurrying, Seven Shifters Slaying, Six Quirky Boons, Fi-i-i-ive Quite Damp Fiends, Four Bards Performing, Three Factions, Two Raging Orcs, An Arhcetype and Carnivorous Tree! ♫
Well Todd has been mentioned before, is not an outsider, or from the evil planes. It makes sense, mystery solved:) But he's not from mythology. He may be mythological, but he's not mythical.
Dotting for humor value....
How does that even work? Do they get no bonuses from the feat until they get Draconic Strike, and even then, none directly from the feat? The ability states that it gives a +1 to damage, and that increases in the bonus are tied to caster level. So they would still get the base +1, even if Mathmuse is incorrect, and they are not supposed to count their fighter levels as caster levels for the feat (though, personally, I agree with Mathmuse).
Purify Food & Drink, Create Water, and (most especially) Repel Vermin would make disease much less of an issue for those able to utilize/afford them. Remember that the farming-demiplanes also require another, expensive spell -- Permanancy. Food would not suddenly become a right for all - those able to afford to set up these areas would charge as much as the market would bear.
Dotting... I've enjoyed this, and my wife has been making noises about an AP not being the right vehicle for her as GM, so Elspeth may not get to become Amieko's Marshall.
The spell description states 'You imbue a slashing melee weapon with ...'. This no more permits spell resistance than a weapon with the enchantment Wounding. If you were using spellstrike, for instance, to deliver a Shocking Grasp to the monster, then yes, it would get spell resistance, because the spell is affecting it directly. In your case, the spell is affecting your axe, not the creature directly.
Tacticslion - it seems like what you're trying to say is like Clarke's Third Law (Arthur C. Clarke): Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. And a lot of our current technology is 'sufficiently advanced' from a Golarian adventurer's point-of-view.
I also got to play a ranger/warlock that wielded a stolen Silver Sword and his favored enemy was githyanki. He had the warlock invocation that let him add his eldritch blast damage to his greatsword damage, which was fun. Oooh, boy. Artixerxa (the Githyanki Psychic Warrior I mentioned above) would have loved the chance to reclaim that little trinket from you.... :-) When we played Kingmaker, I played a dragon-scourged dwarf barbarian 1/magus 6 or 7. He could rage, buff, or blast, so each fight was very different. He also figured out how to do Aggro in PF: 6 Charisma + untrained Diplomacy checks! I need to steal this! Another player in the homebrew game I'm in has been trying to figure out how to do an aggro-draw barbarian, and this sounds right up his alley!
114: I did this one decades ago for Ars Magica - an astrological dungeon, where the area is arranged in a circle, made up of twelve rooms, each one having a theme of the astrological sign that would correspond to the placement of the room. It could be a simple 'get to the twelfth room to find the door out', or some variant of linking pathways based on the elemental correspondences of the signs to find the secret room that has the way out, etc.
I would have to say my 3.5 Githyanki Psychic Warrior who had an amazing backstory - she was the current next body for Gith, and had also been kidnapped by Ravel Puzzlewell and subjected to several years that she could not remember in a fast-time demiplane (both the GM and I were huge fans of Planescape: Torment). Unfortunately, the campaign imploded to InterPersonalBullshit before I could launch my civil war for leadership of the Githyanki.
Unless it's a cleric, or better a full bab class to start with, a dip in fighter won't make the greatsword/curveblade a worthwhile option, liches are not natively built for melee, and if it mainly rose in half bab classes like wizard or soercerer, its attack bonus won't be that great, so might be insufficient against well armored melee fighters...a lich whipping out a greatsword? should that not be a grave knight? how do you build a lich (11 caster levels to start with) so a greatsword is a worthwhile tactic for it? Well, a lich would probably have better options, but a Quickened True Strike would make up for a lot of full-BAB levels....
102. You find a ruins underground, reminiscent of Numeria. One of the chambers is collapsed, and you see these pipes/ cables leading out of it. Upon clearing out the entrance, you find a glass like pod and a red android laying inside, cloaked in a bed of what looks like blonde hair. The purple gem on its forehead pulsates... almost like a heartbeat, and you can faintly see the number 0 etched into the top of the pod.Gorrammit this is tickling my brain for some reason... why ... oh why ... grr You and me both! I know I should know this, but I cannot bring it to mind....
In addition to wonderful, stacking buffs; save enhancers/replacers; skill multipliers (Versatile Performance); and unique spells, you can also get:
IMHO, Blistering Invective deserves special mention. Running a STR-build, half-orc bard, I have an Intimidate score of about 29 at 11th level (don't have the character sheet with me), which allows me to reliably deliver the Shaken condition for 4-5 rounds to mooks, and even to lieutenants/sub-bosses for 2-3 rounds, as well as delivering some softening-up with minor fire damage! AND, I get to write the ballads of our adventures after the fact - including, in at least one case, allowing me to promise a Cloud Giant Oracle (not the character class, a Delphi-type Oracle) that her Gryphon guard that died helping us defend her from a raiding party of Fire Giants would be immortalized for his bravery and heroism in the human lands when we get back. No mechanical benefit (that I know of), but the Oracle was touched by the gesture, and gave us her blessing as we left to follow the directions she gave us to the artifact Frost Brand that will be needed against the Fire Giant horde.... (homebrew game) I am having more fun playing Evard Thrush than I have had in a very long time.
Wow, that's a pretty powerful backstory, and it seems to me that it points plainly to Avenger Vigilante as his class.
Dotting.
Well, Morte pronounces it teef-ling in _Planescape:_Torment_, and Annah's a main NPC (so she gets referred to a lot), so that's always been canonical for me.
I don't see a way to do it short of Craft Wand, although you could fluff that (as said above) as 50 charges of herbal concoctions you have made up. Note that in LoTR, dwarves do not have an extensive knowledge of herbalism! So I'm not sure how you're justifying this for a dwarven character. Your original idea called for extreme rules abuse, in allowing for free usage of spells far beyond what the system permits for potions or wands. I'm glad you're looking for ways to constrain it. Restricting it to "spells you can cast" rather than "spells on your list" is one crucial detail.
Let me start out by saying that my belief is that twisting wishes into pretzels (or, as seems to be the case with some of these suggestions, Klein bottles) is one of the most effective ways known to end a campaign. Now, having said that, the players are certainly being greedy. They are trying to jam at least three wishes worth of effect into one Wish. My breakdown is: 1) Removal of the Insanity effect from all three players. This can be done with one Wish, assuming that the event that gave them the condition was a singular thing (unspecified by the OP, and I'm not familiar with the scenario). 2) Recovery of the lost companion. As stated in the Wish spell description, revival of a companion whose body is inaccessible requires two Wishes. In this case, it sounds like Reincarnate would only take one. 3) Recovery of the lost companion's gear. This would take a separate Wish from recovering the body, but only one, as nothing the OP said seemed to indicate that any gear was lost from the other two companions. Now, I would not have a problem with a being such as the one described accepting the request, and then detailing the number of Wishes it will take, and demanding payment for them. And not allowing them to modify what they asked for after the fact. @Reksew_Trebla: Your wish number 2 is so far beyond the stated limitations of the Wish spell that it should either expend the Wish with no effect, or cause the creation of a small demiplane where the effect would take place, but nowhere outside of it. Or, of course, call down the direct, undivided attention of the chief God(ess) of Fate, Magic, or whatever would be appropriate for the campaign. And do you know what the worst thing about having the undivided attention of a Deity is? You have the undivided attention of a Deity!
I was originally going to suggest the Dungeon Rings as a possible alternate source, but upon review, that's not quite correct either. Further thoughts below....
I don't think so. The flexibility provided by the rod, I think, makes a use limitation more appropriate for it.
I don't know why you're assuming a CL7 to create the rings, when the metamagic rods you're basing the items on are CL17. But having said that, I would say that they can only be used for touch -> close (i.e., not permitting larger range increases), but using the caster's CL to determine close.
I think that an attunement period would be appropriate to the function of the rings. And the typical attunement period is 24 hours.
Yes; the rings simply add to the possible targeting options for the spell. And yes, of course it will take two actions, no matter whether the rings are used or not! (F) The rod occupying a hand vs. the rings occupying a ring slot. Well, that's another way in which the rod is more flexible than the ring. Ring slots are highly valuable, and all-too-frequently overfilled.... So we're looking at (for the rings):
Cons:
Using a slot is a quick halving of the cost right off the top. With the unlimited spell level removed, the rings are actually considerably more limited than the rod, though the unlimited use helps make up for that. I would say perhaps one third of the rod price for each of the spell level ranges.
Well, I think you're going to be dismayed by my vote. I agree with getting rid of Low-light for the base traits. However, Skill Training in Perception and Sense Motive seems very canine, and worthy. So I would substitute Skill Training for Low-Light, and just have the base traits be one less than is allowed -- there is nothing that says that the upper limit must be the lower limit also....
While I am, admittedly, biased, I don't have a real problem with splitting breeds out like this. And as for the Guarder/Herder overlap, well, there's nothing to say that two breeds can't have the same stat adjustments, but different racial traits.
Sheepish Eidolon, I hate when GMs set up encounters that you cannot win and when you make a clever plan to be able to win the GM just won't let it happen. Dalindra and I are experts in making those kind of GMs sweat, because we always come up with the most bizarre plans. I accept those kind of plots, as long as the GM doesn't overuse them. But I'm a longtime superhero gamer as well, and that's an accepted trope in that genre. After all, how can you escape from the villain's deathtrap if he never captures you in the first place? :-) He later married a NPC and had a daughter (named after his dead dragon mount). I wonder how his armor obsession affects his marital life xD It can be done, especially in a fantasy game! For evidence, see Arthur Pendragon's conception in the movie Excalibur (as I reveal my age....).
I agree. And my mom was a medical lab technician also. I come by it naturally! :-) I've never done PbP, but if you ever start one up, I'd be interested in joining. You and Dalindra sound like very fun players/GMs!
I tell people I used to be an EMT (one step below paramedic). If they can gross me out, the rest of the table has usually already left....
Thanks for the vote of confidence on the empiricist. After looking through the guides, I'm actually looking at half-orc for that, to get the weapon proficiencies - falchion is one of my favorite weapons for a non-shield user. Unfortunately, our GM doesn't use splatbooks, so no aasimar/tiefling heritages, and a highly limited selection of curses for bitter lily's oracle. I'm actually waiting for the other players to finalize what they want to play -- I'm unusual in my group for being open to just about anything (of course, that's probably a side effect of having been playing since pre-AD&D 1st ed.), and will tend to pick my character to fill perceived holes in the party. But I'm looking forward to new variants, whichever I go with!
(This should actually have been 13...) I've been using this as a long-term employee at work for new co-workers, and it works just as well here: 13a. The only stupid question is the one that you don't ask, and that comes back to bite you in the a**.
There's just no helping some people. You can lead a player to Truth, but you can't make him think.
Hi, it's the someone who's fed his dice and petted them and coaxed them like above-referenced husband here. And I do not feed my dice! At least not deliberately.... Although I am more than a bit of an animist, and I make sure to praise them after a particularly good showing (like recently, when my 3rd-level magus took a cyclops that was threatening her girlfriend from 3/4 to disemboweled with one SG-enhanced crit from her katana!). I freely admit that I have dice-fu. I've never tried quantifying it, on the theory that trying to would kill it off. So I understand your pain, and wish I had a solution for you. I was, OTOH, amused at having to explain the idea behind slamming the Demogorgon figure down on the table to bitter lily - she started with D&D in 3.5, and had never heard of him. She asked me "Is a demogorgon as nasty as a balor?" "Oh, no," I said. "THE Demogorgon has balors for lackeys! That's not his type, that's his Name!"
Well, OK, four: Greater Dispel Magic.
Dearest, you seem to be operating under a misapprehension. Contingency is not a fifth-level spell, it's a sixth level. And I would suggest it as one of your top three, with Disintegrate and Chain Lightning.
Of what power level are you hoping to achieve with these races? Shapechange for the bear is essentially an at-will 4th level spell that a 1st level character can use. She's planning on making the races of 'Advanced' level, but not 'Monstrous'. I'm not certain that the shapechange is quite as powerful as a 4th level spell, because it's limited to only one shape. You can't cherry-pick for the qualities (or even size) that you want.
Perhaps a better theme for your example staff would have been the Staff of Relocation. Let me suggest a different example: The Staff of Defense, which would encompass any spell that allows for a defensive advantage, such as Blur, Blink, Fog Cloud, Invisibility, Mage Armor, Protection from <any>, and Resist Energy -- but not Blindness, D-Door, or Resilient Sphere. There should not be a damage component to breaking a personal staff. Such an effect is, however you choose to call it, a retributive strike, and that effect has been reserved for a very specific list of items. The caster is still paying a price, in that they lose whatever resources they put into crafting that staff. If an additional price is deemed necessary or desirable, perhaps it could be a set time period before the caster can begin crafting a new personal staff -- similar to when one dismisses a familiar.
The only problem I can foresee is stuff like extra spells for the sorcerer based on a high stat. To use that class as an example, I think we'd have to pre-select spells for a CHA of 18, and then let a player who somehow ended up with a lower stat pick the ones to cross off their list. Dear, you're being confused again. Sorcerers don't modify their spells known by stat, they modify their spells per day. And of the classes that benefit from their Dex bonus, rangers & rogues need Wis too. Yes, rangers need Wisdom. But rogues? OK, they want Perception, but they have their trap-finding bonus. They probably want Sense Motive as well. And Will saves are always useful. But a -1 stat modifier on a non-primary stat is not much of a penalty. It's an impediment to be gotten around, in order to play a character that will be enjoyed. (Admittedly, now that I'm doing pre-gens, we'll have a fighter with two choices for feat options -- archery and 2WF/Weapon Finesse.) I do believe that you are having pronoun trouble in this sentence. It has been made clear that I will be doing the pregens. So no, those options will be for the ranger -- the combat style class abilities make them better than fighters at that. The fighter options will likely be shield-basher and/or multi-striker. The barbarian options will likely be 2-H weapon swinger or grappler. Though I can see that I'm going to be spending a lot of time poring over class guides over the next few days.... Just... wrong. How very helpful. So I invite you to elaborate. What is wrong? The setting? The limiting of choices for a new player? Maybe the concept of introducing a new player to the game at all? From your brevity, we're free to assume any or all of those! As well as whatever you actually meant, which I'm sure I've missed. But you gave us no clues to go by.
I really like your suggestion! It's utterly thematic for the fey to invoke such a curse, and the method of removing the curse was particularly inventive. Certainly the OP can modify the removal condition as needed to fit the story. (50 foes seems a bit harsh.) It would be a supernatural ability to inflict such a curse, so presumably nothing as banal as Remove Curse would help? Perhaps Break Enchantment would, but it may need at least a Limited Wish (which is presumably beyond this party's reach). All to the good. Alternatively, it being the fey, it would be easy to have five or six relatively low-level ones w/ spell-likes vs. Fort or Will overwhelm him in one turn. To set it up, the OP could have a high-ranking fey challenge the swashbuckler, and then switch it to have this mob of low-ranks be his "champion." (And that way the GM gets to show the other players as well that action economy trumps damage-dealing.)
Any oracle can do spontaneous Cures. If you're giving out a special ability extra, you could give a non-Life Oracle a limited number of healing Channels per day, as a swift action. Very limited -- 1 to 3. (Depending on how powerful the goodies are that the other players are getting.) Many Oracle mysteries are fairly compatible with a combat focus. And a spontaneous caster is generally less complicated than a prepared one (like druid or alchemist). My darling wife is fond of making proposals that are way overpowered. The Life Oracle has to spend a revelation to get Channels that are only as good as a standard Cleric's - and those are a standard action! Now, making a Cleric's or Life Oracle's Channels swift actions might (depending on the relative power of the other bennies you're giving out) be a very useful benefit -- but might also be overpowered. You don't say what setting you're using, or what supplemental sources are permitted, but the player may be interested in the Infernal or Celestial Healing spells, from the Inner Sea Gods book. Both give fast healing 1 (or fast healing 4 for the Greater (level 4) version). I do agree that spontaneous casters are less complicated during play (at the cost of being more complicated or angst-driven at level-up, when picking spells known). You should certainly limit any such ability to divine classes -- there are very few ways that non-divine casters can heal, and none are quick abilities (with the exception of things like quickened spells). I'm not familiar with the Witch's Healing Hex, so I'm not certain how well that would work. And none of the GM's that I play with allow 3rd-party books. But from past play experience, the Life Oracle is the ultimate Healing Monkey. Just give them Channel, Spirit Boost, Enhanced Cures (depending on level), and the feat Selective Channel, and any party they're with becomes nigh-unstoppable from CR-appropriate damage effects. Admittedly, they're not all that good at combat, but gee, a player has to make some choices. You really can't be a front-line fighter and the dedicated group healer....
I'm going to be harsh, here. But please realize that this is a harshness born of trying to help you save your game -- because I see it on a death spiral as it is right now. Why are you coddling your players? a) You admit that the warpriest needs to use self-buffs to be as effective in combat as the other characters, and that the player chooses not to use them in the interest of being more generally useful. That's fine, and a perfectly valid role-playing decision. But it has consequences! When you make foes easy for that character to hit (and 12+ really is easy), it makes it trivial for the other characters to hit. b) When you avoid using effects that make the swashbuckler 'helpless', you are negating a major strength of two or three of the other characters (two for Will, all three for Fort). c) You feel bad when you utilize foes that certain characters cannot use their preferred tactics against. The paladin can't punch past DR? He needs to be more flexible in his tactics, or get a set of enchanted spiked knuckles. The swashbuckler can't use precision damage against certain enemies? Nowhere in the rules does it state that precision is universally applicable. You sound like you want the characters to be able to succeed without leaving their comfort zone. That's a valid GM style, but you need to realize what you're doing if that's what you want, and come to terms with it yourself. Otherwise, your players need to step up their game and realize that the world is not going to be handed to them on a mithral platter. One possible way to do this, and realize that you can only do it once, is the dream scenario. Get them into what you would consider a challenging combat, and if the fight goes badly, show them a TPK. Then let them know that their characters wake up in a cold, cold sweat as they see what could happen to them. Good luck to you, and I truly wish you and your group the best!
If you really think casters need a bonus (most opponents don't even have an 'AC' against spells), and your argument is that physical combat characters get a stat bonus, then it would seem to make sense that the bonus to give would be for the casting stat. Of course, if you did that, you should also scale base SR like AC does, as well. And as for going up against Pazazu, well, if you're going up against a freaking Demon Prince, you darn well better have some extra tricks up your sleeve. Or, just make sure that you have an adequate variety of spells that don't take spell resistance. And wizards don't get 'tons' of bonus feats. They get four, of which one comes at 20th level.
Well, our GM is not, as far as I am aware, using the Ultimate Race Guide, (homebrew world) so Strix may not be an option. But I wanted to point out that Ranger could be a possibility - they are usually DEX-based, and get medium armor. Just a quick post before going to work, so not thought out at all.
Depending on when (with regard to rulebooks released) this happened, your response possibly should have been: 'You need to take the Dimensional Agility feat.' (I would rule that any ability that 'works like D-Door' would qualify for the feat.) Or the Ogre (and the character) could take falling damage.
More thoughts on Draconic associations (long post) -- Earth:
Stone Dragons, I think, should be the ones to breathe slashing damage -- they breathe shards of rock. And the Anti-Magic Field still fits well with the association with Abjuration. FYI - the kitten comment was not to say that even young dragons would be un-self-aware. Rather, it was a comment on the fact that the spell as written is a 10' radius, which a lot of dragons would have parts sticking out of, no matter where it originated.Lake Dragons should have the bludgeoning water jet. It makes some sense that the dragons that can't fly have physical damage breath weapons, rather than energy. And you had mentioned the possibility of them getting Conjure Nature's Ally -- perhaps having their spell palette be the Druidic conjurations would make sense. Water:
You are correct in saying that Enchantment should be Fire. Transmutation, OTOH, is usually about giving yourself or someone else an ability, rather than a condition. I think it should still be Water. I like the spell base of Necromancy for Sea Dragons, but think that they should also add Conjuration [healing] -- many mythologies acknowledge the Sea as the wellspring and final destination of life. And, as such, they should breath either positive or negative energy, their choice. Rain Dragons having Transmutation as their base makes sense too, I think. Rain is often shown as a transformative effect (e.g. a storm in the desert). And a driving rain can certainly feel like piercing needles on your skin, so a piercing damage breath weapon fits the model well. Fire:
Well, as I stated above, I think Water is more appropriate for Transmutation. The Lava Dragons, being an import, would not have a specific school as their spell base. Rather, they would get all acid-descriptor spells, as well as spells related to maintaining and recovering a hoard - Alarm, Locate Object, Magic Mouth, See Invisible, etc. The Lava/acid breath is fine. The Rainbow Dragons, I think, would breathe light, changing in hue with the dragon's age. The damage would be treated as fire. And I agree with them having light and enchantment spells as their base -- specifically including the Prismatic series of spells. The Meld Into Stone seems to be more thematic for the Stone Dragon than the Lava Dragon. Perhaps Transmute Rock to Mud instead? And beware of giving opponents easy escape abilities - that can lead to some very frustrated players after the second or third time that the antagonist makes a clean getaway. Or, at least, prepare for having your players research teleportation/portal tracking spells.... ;-) And, since you've smacked me over the head with it several times while I've been writing this, my response to your dismay about not finding Fire dragons in your research into Japanese mythology is very simple: Minkai is not Japan! If you want Fire dragons in Minkai, you can have them. You're the GM. It's not completely accurate to the source material, but every game runs into the issue of 'realism' vs. playability. You have the absolute right to tell the stories you want to tell. To be continued (two elements to go)....
The PC would not necessarily be stuck. If they find that they don't like the consequences of one of their feat choices, well, that's what the Retraining rules in Ultimate Campaign are for! The GM should not simply allow the PC to sub out the feat; rather, they retrain to another feat, costing time and money. Only if they want to have it both ways should they be required to take a trait as well. That seems to me to be an appropriate price to pay.
Well, that's why I used the acronym for As Far As I Remember. But See Alignment requires that you specify an alignment you want to check for, so again, the arcane casters are using the matrices and filters provided to them by the divine casters. Which is not to invalidate any points you're making; I'm just saying that it doesn't have to be the final answer. The iconoclast part is that I do not believe that there is One True and Right Way (TM).
And, for an iconoclast's take on the question.... Deadmanwalking correctly points out that the Detect <philosophy> spells can be used to suss out the alignment system. However, all of those spells are available (AFAIR) only to divine casters, which means that the information, in the end, comes from the Gods. Now, you can point out that the Protection from <philosophy> spells are not just divine, but arcane casters still need some sort of matrix and filter to feed energy into, and the matrices and filters come from the Detect spells. So, since the alignment system is intimately based on the deities populating it, there seems to be nothing preventing a different pantheon of deities from providing different information to their adherents, giving them a completely separate system of alignment/philosophy. Now, admittedly, from a GM's POV, at that point, that part of the world will have/need a new set of spells/abilities, like bitter lily pointed out, and many GM's will be unwilling to put forth that effort. And that's fine! But my darling wife is obsessive about such things. :-)
Well, this is an Imperial Dragon we're talking about. S/He should not need magic to defeat a mere group of adventurers who are denied their magic as well! I wouldn't have a problem with the dragon being enveloped in the field. In fact, I was taking that into account when I suggested that the field expand with the dragon's age, else you end up with the problem of the kitten who thinks he's hidden because his head is, unaware that his little rump is sticking up... :-)
OK, a few more comments. The wording on the Rainbow Dragon's Dimensional Bounce is unclear, or maybe I just have too much blood in my caffeine stream. :-) BitterLily says that it means that the range increases with age. For the Stone Dragon, rather than breathing Dispel Magic (or, rather, Greater Dispel, depending on age), they should get Anti-Magic Field as an SLA, defined to cover a radius sufficient to encompass their body (and, therefore, naturally increasing in size as they age). |