Decrepit DM's page

Hey all,

I am excited to find that the pathfinder novels are now available as audiobooks but I have no clue on whether there is an order to the ones released or if there is one that would be better then the others. Any suggestions are welcome.

Many Thanks

I would love to see something published that has ready to use mythic conversion of all of the AP's. Something simple like what things would be considered a mythic trial and a conversion of relevant villians into mythic. If you really wanted to elevate the product to mythic status you could include a small array of newly added mythic trials, or a set of generic ones that could fit in any AP.

Drow, it has been days since I have been able to log on to your website. Is it down for good?

Pathfinder chapbooks are mentioned frequently, but has anyone done anything with them during actual play? If you have, how much did you have them sell for? Did you attach any mechanic to owning one or a set? Did you just use them as color fluff?

I use them infrequently in my games and the price has fluctuated from dogeared copies for 2cp, current copies for up to 5gp, and rare/lost editions for 100's+.

There is a small market for them and I use them as a treasure variant.

I have also given a +1 or +2 knowledge bonus for a complete set regarding a very narrow and specific area/subject.

Anyone else fiddle with the chapbooks?

Hey all,

Here is a little offering for those of you who may be interested.

I recently started a Kingmaker PBEM and wanted a mechanic to deal with the two major problems I have had with PBEM's in the past, the random factor and general story pacing.

Here was my solution.

The D20 Matrix
Every player starts of with a matrix of numbers 1-20 (One of each number from one to twenty). During a post the player will choose one number from the matrix, cross it off, and all random elements for that encounter will be based off of that number (This includes everything from Initiative to Attack rolls, and saving throws. The damage done is roughly the percentage of the number chosen (A 5 is 25%, 10 is 50%, etc). This lets the player control the effectiveness of their character in the encounter and gives every player an equal chance to shine (I am in no means implying that some players would cheat =). The bad guys also have a matrix from which the DM can either roll randomly, or choose like the players (I prefer to roll for the standard encounters and choose for the boss fights). This also levels the playing field for the player vs villian aspect.

Pacing
Over the years this one has been a beast. Should I run a post once a day? Once a week? How do you cater to the dedicated and those who have a life in the same game?

I decided to run a post a day, absent players would default to a 'standard move' (Discussed before the game. Things like diplomacy before fighting, always use sleep spell first, stay at ranged with bow and at the last resort use the short sword etc.)

I then decided that each day "Scenario" would encompass one complete encounter (Sometimes even more depending on the severity of the encounter). I then broke the Adventure path into 20 Scenarios and began the campaign.

It has turned out quite well, and one of my players commented that we get more done in a PBEM than we do in our weekly game (I am still not sure if this was a complement or not =).

Best of luck!

I was just reading the latest book on the evil religions when I stumbled on a question I couldn't figure out. If a cleric, or anyone for that manner, worships a deity that is one step away, say LN following a LE, where do their souls go when they die? I was always under the impression that they were distributed by alignment, but the worship thing complicates the matter. To make it worse, why would a deity empower someone they couldn't own in the afterlife? So as far as I can figure, they either are separated by alignment and the deity is using them to further their influence on the material plane, or petitioners can be sent to any location in the outer planes.

I prefer the first version. Did I miss any other options or views?

Today we are wrapping up a campaign in which I tinkered with a few house rules, the major one being how to deal with character death. I know this is a kicking a dead horse topic but I'll bore you anyways =).

It started off with a huge debate on how to handle character death. There were many opinions and frustrations. Some didn't mind making new guys, and others thought that newly made characters had a distinct advantage over the ones that slugged it out from the beginning.

In the end I came up with this little gem that worked extremely well for our table and eliminated all conflicts.

The "Not Quite Dead Yet" Rule
Any character reduced to a point where they are dead is immediately raised to the minimum point of living and must subtract 1 Con (this is not drain but permanent). Characters who are "not quite dead yet" are then immune from any damage while they remain in this state (A character can thus ride out combat without being in danger of being again reduced to near death). If the "not quite dead" character is willingly revived by a fellow player they are again subject to the Con loss if they are reduced to death.

We ran a Rise of the Runelord campaign to test this and a few other minor rules out and the effect was amazing. On one hand, one player, the party paladin, never died. On the other, another player, the party sorcerer, was found "not quite dead yet" three times in one game =).

Today we are wrapping up the AP and the sorcerer has an anemic 6 Con but the cohesion of the group and the unbroken flow of the storyline has been truly impressive. While I am aware many circumvent this by fudging rolls or creative storylines, I found this had the right balance of carrot and stick to keep everyone at my table content.

We are about to launch our first gunslinger and were discussing possible prestige classes. Has anyone come up with a list of possible prestige classes that compliment the class? So far we only managed to scrape up the Arcane Archer and Order of the Bow (Complete Warrior).

So, amongst the myriad of other hellish things a spellcaster could do, what about simple magical forgery? What stops a clever spellcaster from making a career coning people? What stops the determined and skilled forger?

The mighty appraise skill!

What would you lovely folk consider the various DC’s to the types of forgery, both magical and mundane? I could see an opposing roll for the skilled forger, but what about magic? Use the DC?

Thoughts?

Shhhhh...

Okay. So for those of you DM's who still want to have a bit of fun, let's give the sore a try.

Toss ideas for next week out. If you posted an idea on the last thread could you do me a favor and bump it here for discussion.

Another topic of discussion for next week is how to conclude, if you so desire, the mysterious sore.

I will run the sore this Wednesday in my PA Pathfinder adventure. I know the perfect player to infect and guarantee it will be a hoot.

I will post the results after the game.

For next week I offer...

The Mysterious Benefactor
During the course of the adventure the PC's receive an anonymous letter, package, missive of minor assistance. The method of delivery and type depends on the adventure but has the aura of someone going out of their way to give a little bit of help.

The concept is to have the characters feel slightly indebted and weirded out by someone or something that seems to know more about them then is normally possible.

(For those of you folk who want to interject a bit of literary humor, you can have the benefactor always reference the PC as "pip" =)

I also offer, as a conclusion to the sore, that the sore develops or grows something that ends up being a minor npc. Something that looks up to the PC's as its parent and is, at the same time, odd or repulsive enough to have the PC be embarrassed by the attention (in spite of the fact that the little thing is actually helpful =).

Edit: My error for not including the original sore text =)... Here it is...

A Festering Sore
At some point in the game one of the players discovers a festering sore. While it does not have any game mechanic effects, it is quite ugly and, depending on its location, could also be a tad itchy, a bit malodorous, or so obvious that other NPC’s comment about the sore and its possible origins.

To make matters worse, over the course of the game it changes. It can fester into a boil, ooze, spread, or grow something unpleasant. Overall, it is impervious to magic and seems impossible to get rid of it by any means.

The objective is to give it a tiny mysterious life of its own, then cliffhang the mystery of sore until the next game just to keep the player guessing.

A previous thread got me thinking about rule zero.

Being married with children and working with the public I, by my nature and training, am a diplomat. The concept of "my way or the highway" works well for my wife but not for me (for you younger folk, the key to a happy marriage is two simple words... "yes ma’am" =).

So with that foundation, my variation of rule zero is "have fun". I feel everyone, including myself, should have fun at a table. Now mind you, everyone’s version of fun is different. Some folk like rules lawyering, some like being in character, and some just like the company. I feel it is the job of the DM to mediate these various versions of fun so everyone is entertained.

In the previous thread, the player version of rule zero was mentioned as the right of a player to leave the table. I was a bit bothered by this revelation. The idea to leave a table, and the few times I have been a player I have sat at some pretty weak tables, I never once even broached the thought of leaving. Something about being rude to counter a rude never settled right with me (That, and being a bit on the tenaciously stubborn side, make it very difficult for me to quit anything =).

My version of player rule zero would be... Surprise, have fun. Those times I mentioned above, I made the best out of the situation and had fun. In all instances it was still rather unpleasant but at least it was a slightly more entertaining and funny unpleasantness.

And yes... The grass is greener on the other side.

Are you a GM who is frequently bothered by their spouse, children, siblings, parents, coworkers or the homeless? Would you like to find a way to vent that frustration? How about joining the Paizo Message Board Club for Happy GM’s?

This simple thread is designed for GM’s who need a little outlet for their inner perturbedness. All you need to do is simply click the thread at least once a week and wella! It is gone.

How is this magic performed?

Once a week, on a Monday, I will post to this thread an objective for all GM’s to achieve during the week (Those who play every two weeks can just double up =). Once you have sprung this nasty little objective on the player or players return to the thread and post your glorious results. You then can toss your two cents in for the next objective and whichever gains the most steam will be the objective of the next week.

Sound simple? It is!

So come on now and sound out. Give us your worst so we may spread the disease and punish those players for what is wrong in this world!

My offer for this coming Monday is…

A Festering Sore
At some point in the game one of the players discovers a festering sore. While it does not have any game mechanic effects, it is quite ugly and, depending on its location, could also be a tad itchy, a bit malodorous, or so obvious that other NPC’s comment about the sore and its possible origins.

To make matters worse, over the course of the game it changes. It can fester into a boil, ooze, spread, or grow something unpleasant. Overall, it is impervious to magic and seems impossible to get rid of it by any means.

The objective is to give it a tiny mysterious life of its own, then cliffhang the mystery of sore until the next game just to keep the player guessing.

In my PA pathfinder game I ran into a conundrum. The PC's downed a mutated ostrich with a very high natural armor. They then wanted to process the hide (yes one had armor smithing and another had Profession - Tanner =) in the hopes of creating a tougher set of leather or hide. Are there any official Pathfinder rules for this? How would you DM's rule?

I would really love to see a Pathfinder supplement for each of these settings. I would like to see a supplement that was an addition to the standard Pathfinder rules so that they were completely interchangeable (i.e. add a few feats, add new equipment, modify a few character classes, add a few prestige classes, add a few rules for vehicles, and a few variants for subsettings like post apocalypse).

I would also like to see a complete rework of the Epic concept. I was so completely disappointed and shocked that such an obviously broken mechanic like the 3.0 Epic would get published. I would love to see a simple continuation of the standard mechanic with either a continuation of the standard or introduction of epic classes (with the above additions).

As for the creatures of the various settings, a small additional supplement of the base creatures with a few notes how to modify other creatures to fit the settings would be perfect =).

All in all, my main focus is that the rule set be _interchangeable_... That and no more of the of the accursed +20 something "insight" or "natural" or "Just because we wanted to make it harder and really had no other way to do it" modifiers.

Oh!... and now that I am really feeling the aggravation boil, have the decency and testicular fortitude to at least name a class something other than "Strong, Fast... Etc."

Sorry, I would just like to be able to scribble up or run a published adventure for a setting without constantly converting and double checking the balance of things. I hope I am not the only person out here that plays a variety of settings and likes to mash up various aspects of each.

Sigh... Off to rework a mutant to fit Pathfinder (My last attempt failed miserably =)...

My last pondering of the day, I promise =).

Last night I ran into something that can definitely be categorized as fluff. It deals with falling into the negatives.

Since the creation of the negatives concept I took a very slight offense at the concept of the "oops now your night-night" or the instacoma version of negatives. Why can't you be conscious and be dying? Why can't we fit that into the rules?

Well last night I did and it actually worked (9 out of 10 of my ideas fail =). One of the PC's got hit by acid several times, the last in the leg where it ate through his clothing, flesh and artery. It pumped his lifeblood out, he felt woozy and collapsed to the ground. Still conscious and weak he used his stabilization roll to try to tie a tourniquet around his leg. He eventually succeeded and slumped against the wall, slightly aware of his surroundings but too concerned with breathing and fighting to stay conscious.

Did it affect play? Yeah kind of, it made it a bit more dramatic and interesting. It changed the stabilization roll into something more than a roll. It also gave the player a chance to still remain ‘in play’ in a limited way (I just went straight to the ½ action phase without the waking roll).

Has anyone else handled negatives differently? Anything work or fail particularly well?

Good morning everyone.

I have always been fond of, and occasionally dabble in, the idea of progressive spells. The genesis of the idea was the monster summoning type spells. It nagged at me that a caster who took three levels in everything but summoning spells would suddenly take Summon Monster IV. I know it is an odd issue to take, but I constantly ponder things, and this one was taking the abuse at the time.

My attempt at developing a "bonus" system for casters that took spell that were related, i.e. Image and Summons was ripped from the Wu-jen (Nowadays I would give the Extend Spell feat for free for related spells). This worked nicely, and gave the casters a little ownership to the type of spell they have followed.

During that era I also introduced a few new chains to that list, notably Animate Dead, and I totally hijacked the Wu-jen elemental concept. For the Animate Dead, which was tooled for a PC’s necromancer, I started at 0lvl with Animate Dead Pet, which the progressed to, 1st-Least Undead, and 2nd-Lesser Undead. I also tossed in a few fluff 0lvl’s for flavor, Animate Dead Mouse Minion, Watchful Mouse Minion, Literate Mouse Minion, and the 1st level Mouse Minion Missile, and Mouse Minion Messenger (My hope was to catch the players imagination and have him pursue, but it failed... I'm not saying that players are inherently lazy, but they are =).

Overall, I would say the houserules were a success and addressed my irritation nicely. So nicely in fact, that after that campaign I just let them fade into the homerules ether =).

Todays pondering led me down the thought of DMing style. Everyone has their own style, most are adapted to fit the various players needs and their own views on the game. My style tends to be inclusionary, descriptive, and entertaining. I have never used a screen, everyone sees my rolls, I freely mix in and out of game dialog, I give my PC’s free reign in their method of crafting characters, have a set list of homerules, and mainly focus on entertaining the players through creative storylines, NPC’s and situations. Note that entertaining does not imply they are always happy =).

The point I was pondering was this, I always run a campaign style of adventures. The stories are individually complete but always tie into a greater story, I use reoccurring NPC’s and areas, and generally give it the novel treatment. I have run one shot games and tournament style games for public venues, but even then I find a way to link the stories to “reward” returning players. I know this style is not uncommon, mainly because there are few other choices, but on average, what is the main style of playing? Campaign Style? One shot adventures with a fine thread of linkage? Stand alone one shot adventures?

Well tomorrow I will be starting up my experiment with using the Pathfinder rules in a Post Apocalyptic campaign. My objective is to work only from the Pathfinder rulebook. I do have other references for weapons etc., but they are pretty simple to toss in without bring those books to the table.

Here are the quick conversions I will be using.
Race: Human only
Classes: Barbarian (Raider), Bard (Gypsy), Fighter (Sec Man), Ranger (Tracker), Sorcerer (Mutant), Expert (Trader/Techie/Sage).

Note: Gypsys and Trackers are both mutants from prefall (Military experiments) but their mutations are relatively stable. Mutant genes are so unstable and mutable that, while the others have to work at getting better and more experienced, the mutants just work at trying to control their ever evolving bodies.

Skills: Everything stays the same to keep it simple. References to magic become technology (Some of the more primitive believe tech is magic so it fits in a small way). Know – Arcane & Use Magical Device are the main two that will be used as converted tech skills. Know – Planes will be one that will definitely not be used.

Feats: Add Firearms Feat (Keeping it simple, either you know how to use them or you don’t. Might add energy and other weapons later).

Change coins to Barter Points (A catch all point system I have used before. Loot breaks down into ? Bp of misc goods, gun parts, fuel, food, water, just about anything. This is then adjusted to what the buyer wants, an appraise check, and wella a trade). It is a purposely vague system that reflects the nature of the setting, i.e. a backpack will not always be 2bp, it could fluctuate depending on the situation and roll.

Magic is now mutational powers. Yes this is definitely fantasy mutations. An NPC I just drew up is an Aberrant, his acid ray bloodline power will be something he vomits up (which is why he has no teeth… Yes, I always have to add the color =), his other powers, (0lvL) Detect Technology (Magic), Mage Hand, Light, and Detect Poison, (1st) Charm Person and Disguise Self, are all either mental mutations or physical (I had a hard time with light and will have him just concentrate with a hand outstretched to give the idea it is some sort of mental mutation... Yes I will be rolling the bluff on that one =). Disguise self will be more of a mental push then an actual visual change (I’m going to try this with all illusions and is definitely ify. I will explain that the push is very simple to maintain during the duration, the equivalent of a free action).

Otherwise it looks like a pretty simple conversion. They want zombies (I’ll leave their origin vague), and I will toss in a few variant muties (just standard creatures with a new skin) to keep up the variety.

Well off to work on the adventure =)

One of the problems I have had with the whole raise dead thing was the diamond issue. While their spell component might require an equally expensive material component, they are usually vague or conceivably crafted. The diamond is neither. While it is a great method of controlling the amount of raisings possible, I still find it hard to story in, especially when they never come across them in adventures.

The same complaint could be mirrored in other nonmanufactured specific components, but they tend to be cheaper and less rare.

On the same note, I have never implemented the level reduction on a raise dead. I just could not wrap my mind around the concept storywise. I have always simply knocked them two CON, storied in the whole vague memories of the worlds beyond and moved on with the adventure.

Anyone else deal with either of those two difficulties and how?

In the eighties Dnd was assailed as the gateway game that would lead us all to devil worshiping. For those of us who were unlucky, we not only played the game, but also happened to listen to the second threat to our souls, Ozzy Osbourne. The rarer few like myself, who listened to even worse bands like Slayer, were considered damned beyond all hope.

I know it sound like a joke now, but for the fervent of the time, it was a full time business. Those of us who were identified as RPG'ers and listeners of such foul music were really unfortunate because we were constantly assailed by people wanting to save us. We did our best to avoid them, but in the end we had to endure endless lectures denouncing our deeds and pressing us to help them find their savior.

So I was just pondering with a smile... Now that I play pathfinder am I redeemed? Is part of my soul cleansed now that I do not play Dnd?

Now that I'm thinking about it, do any of you feel any holier now that you play pathfinder? How many of you managed to play Dnd and not fall victim to Satan? Or, maybe, just maybe, is this some grand devils conspiracy meant to rope in another generation of youth?

Hmmm… I think I will have to go consult some goat entrails and my Ouija board to find out =)…

We are going to be starting a new campaign and I decided to ask my players what they would like. The result was a zombie themed PA setting.

I set to thinking about it and decided I wanted to continue my gaming theme of making everything we play as pathfinder compatible as possible. This is what I came up with so far...

A new Ravenloft domain. The landscape is that of modern Los Angeles and outlying cities. The setting is post apocalyptic, the city itself is partially destroyed, overgrown, and flooded. The domain lord is a former pop star who calls himself peter pan. He lives in a theme park populated with children. All adults in this domain are zombies led by a dastardly zombie lord, a police chief named Hook. A subplot will be the conflicts with the other theme parks, which are also populated with and run by children, toss in a little children of the corn for flavor, and wella! The makings of a new campaign =)

Since it will be a Ravenloft domain, I can include standard Pathfinder fantasy characters, from other domains and worlds, and add modern type characters. These will he limited to humans, fighters, warriors, experts, commoners, rogues, and I'm thinking of adding sorcerers as "mutants" (a tiny bit of tweaking magic to mutational powers should work).

Well that's the framework I'm going to be working with... Any ideas?

A rather interesting point reared its ugly head when one of the rules lawyers, who was playing a wizard, went to loot a group of gnolls he just fire balled. I ribbed him telling him all the gear and loot was slagged. He laughed and we went on a rather long tangent about the rules and how, technically speaking, most large scale energy spells would destroy everything equally.

The other point brought up was, that if you followed this train of thought, it does help check the power of area spells. While the noncasters always get the loot intact, spellcaster risk trashing nice gear with their wanton mayhem.

Now I understand encounters and party makeup are dependent on big booms, but I don't think implementing the idea would have too big of an effect on the game.

So is there any rule that does not specify why, when you get hit for 42HP fire ball, and you make your save, why everything does not take 21HP damage. Effectively burning off the clothes, searing the armor and weapons, and otherwise turning the gear into ash?

I see the inherent nightmare of tracking damaged goods and the potential of Increasing wizards powers, but it is interesting... Isn't it?

Has anyone toyed with undead senses? If so how did it effect your campaign?

I toyed with a life sense coupled with a subdued audio, tactile, and nonexistent taste and smell. Sunlight, aside from normal effects blinded undead (hinting that sunlight had a hint of positive energy and night had an equal negative influence which gave a better contrast, and thusly better sight during that time). The only major side effect was that illusion spells were worthless (I had to incorporate a feat to fix this for a player). Overall the plus and minuses evened out and gave undead mastery of the night and underground.

As for mindless undead. A small addendum to commanding undead that I used to some success was that causal or low level animators where limited to two simple sentences while higher level or more focused necromancers had more 'programing' space of extra and longer sentences (picture programing a robot). The interesting side effect was that when players ran across mindless undead, that were not 'roamers', they tried to devise tactics around their command orders.

Lastly, vampires... Underground... Need to rest? Why? Traditionally the answer is yes but what about pathfinder? How many subcoffins can a vampire have (I personally allow only one coffin, no subs =)...

I was very disappointed with the beastiary. It was the first pathfinder product that did not replace one of my 3.5 books. My disappointment was multifold, but can he summed up by simply stating that I have really high expectations for my RPG products and I am willing to pay for the quality. If you make a beastiary, make a huge book crammed with every monster you can think of and then some. Most of us have all the old books, we have see the milking of players from the TSR days to the wizards days and we really don't need these new books anymore. Please don't treat us like cattle and downsize in order to create 5 editions when one will do.

On the flip side... I absolutely love how pathfinder handled supplements, neat additions that are not critical but fit directly into other products. Brilliant!

So why can't we meet in the middle? Make some monster sized tomes crammed full of yummy crunch goodness so we can officially retire our old books, and then supplement them with extraneous fluff yumminess for those of us who are looking for that little something extra.

Praise be to the beast Gods...

One of my players became afflicted with lycanthropy (wererat) and it caused an interesting discussion within the group. Why are wererats inherently evil? The MM3.5 hints that it is due to a prejudice towards the animal type. Tossing the influence of werewolf movies aside for a moment, is it not plausible that since all animals are technically neutral, that a combination human animal would retain a bit of that neutrality? Wouldn't an afflicted lycanthrope keep a bit of the human view of things? We decided yes and opted to declare that afflicted lycanthropes retain one portion of their alignment while converting the other to neutral. So a more ethically minded LG character would become LN, while a more moral LG character would become NG.

Thoughts? Ideas from pet owners? (Come on fellow rat owners... Any of your rodents display evil tenancies?... Didn't think so... What about a good bear? Baring boo boo that is =)...

I recently experimented with the pathfinder rules. The goal was to play a game without house rules. I made it one whole encounter before I scrapped the idea. I did manage to discover that all my house rules were disposable, except for two... open ended damage and my min/max rule.

The first is simple, roll maximum on the die and you can roll again. Multiple dice all have to be maxed to reroll. This one is important to make all weapons potentially lethal. Without it, low dice weapons, like daggers, are near worthless.

The second, min/max, is simply a rule to reward good to hit rolls. The rule is the difference between the to hit roll and the targets AC is the minimum damage dealt. The max being the die used. So a hit total of 17 against an AC12 with a dagger would be 4, a short sword or larger would be 5. so if you roll a 1-4 on your die you automatically score a 5. This remedies those horrible moments where you roll a hot to hit and a very chilly one for damage.

I have used these rules for years and truly can not run a game without them.

Anyone else have house rules they can not live without?