DerangedArchivist's page

For a change of pace, my group decided to try out Starfinder, after years of playing 3.0, then 3.5, then Pathfinder. We are still acclimating to the differences between Starfinder and Pathfinder, but are generally getting by.

For years I have been devising totally home brew settings, but have borrowed liberally from other sources for ideas, cut scenes, etc. But I am finding adult life, teenagers, etc, are pulling more and more time away from preparation, so for the first time, I am going to try running an adventure path, and I'm honestly kind of excited. Instead of putting all my creative energy into making a setting and story myself, I can riff off someone else's ideas, and focus on making that experience memorable. I usually run a very intuitive playstyle where I adapt my plans constantly in reaction to the players, giving them a lot of freedom, so I am a little worried I might feel I have to railroad them a little- I'm open for advice on that.

Others in my group have run adventure paths, so it is not new to the group, only to me as DM, and they told me it was invaluable to visit the forums and see what experiences, pitfalls, etc others faced when running the adventure, so they could do a better job themselves. However, since the path they chose "Fly Free or Die" is very new, there's not much discussion yet. So perhaps others can benefit from hearing how it went down for us.

We are currently about half way through the first volume. We are playing over Roll20, thanks pandemic, and I expect to adapt or depart from the material based on the needs of the group. (The drift worm encounter, for example, was handled completely narratively, in order to end at a good stopping point in the time available). I've been cautiously open to third party material on request from the players.

I may also need advice on adjusting encounters, as the adventure path assumes a 4 player party, and we have 5-6 depending on adult availability. I'm sure it will often be as simple as 'add another guy' but I want to try not to keep it challenging by just adding more stuff so it takes longer. Long combats are not necessarily exciting combats, after all. On Akiton I did add an extra shobhad henchman, for instance, but was delighted and surprised when, once shots were fired, one of the party leapt into the truck and next round rammed one of the shobhad into paste. I had to look up the vehicular rules real quick, and while it was clear how to handle speeding up and ramming from afar, it was less clear how to handle maneuvering when he wanted to back up and ram the next guy too. I made some common sense calls, but will be sure to have the vehicular rules better in my head next time.

For context, the characters are an elven witchwarper (slightly homebrewed), a trox solarian, a ysoki operative, a human operative, a human soldier, and a lashunta envoy. It was interesting to me that the AP is very much about economics, cutting deals, etc, because it may result on my party responding very differently to this AP than other groups. My players, in real life, are in corporate sales, a geneticist, two corporate programmers, and two PhD holding economists. This has had some unexpected results- I really thought they'd feel empathy for Runo's desire to cash out and retire, and they did, but when they realized he'd put all his eggs in one basket and left himself vulnerable to losing everything if something went wrong, when it all blew up they had no empathy at all. "He needs to learn about diversification. He took a serious gamble and lost." For certain their willingness to thumb their noses at EJ Corp is driven by a reach for catharsis.

So far the biggest issue I've had is basically a growing pain from getting used to running an AP for the first time, in that they departed from the script and I was not quite ready. The party was so enthralled by the idea of Firefly in space, they were eager to get to the part where they are no longer under EJ Corp's thumb. So when they realized they could not pay both EJ Corp and Runo Prat their share, their first impression was to turn on both and go rogue immediately. I initially discouraged that, as I was not thinking fast on my feet, but am now wondering if I could adjust things so that Tarika gives them the last job as a final favor to get them rolling before they are totally independent. I want to roll with the players' initiative and avoid railroading, but I needed a moment on that one.

So flavor is "you can turn your weapon into various materials," and crunch is the following text explicating exactly what that means. That's sensible, if disappointing, but being fair, if they really did intent for all materials to be possible, I suspect they would have said so explicitly.

So I have a question about Philosopher's Touch. Specifically, what materials can I change my weapon to using this power? The power is to cause a weapon to 'gain the properties of a special material.' Limitations are given for materials that bypass DR- cold iron or silver are available immediately, and at 11th level you can give the properties of adamantine.

But the power is to gain the properties of a special material. So could I turn the weapon to, say, crystal, or Viridium, or some other special material? It does not say that silver, cold iron and adamantium are the only possibilities, just that, for DR purposes, adamantium is saved for later.

As written it looks like I could use any special material a weapon could be made from, but I want a sanity check before getting my DM's opinion on whether he'd allow it.

Philosopher's Touch (Su)
As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus and touch a weapon, causing it to gain the properties of a special material. You can cause the weapon to be treated as cold iron or silver for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction for 1 minute per occultist level you possess. At 4th level and every 4 levels thereafter, You can touch an additional weapon as part of using this ability to grant that weapon the same benefit (still expending only 1 point of mental focus). At 11th level, you can cause any weapon affected by this ability to act as if it were adamantine instead (but only for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, not for overcoming hardness).

Cheapy- regarding praise vs constructive criticism- very much agreed. I'm associated with a writer's group with diverse members, and it is very clear who comes seeking ego stroking and who comes because they want to improve.

After consideration of the input I've received thus far, I feel like I overvalued the constrained teleport, and tried to compensate by imposing too many costs- charges, action type, et cetera. The use of class based powers rather than all the charges is a good idea, wish I'd thought of it.

Thanks for the attention and advice. :)

@GM_Solspiral:

I appreciate the comments. (amazed to have made somebody's top 32 as well!)

The problem with hex boards genuinely never occurred to me. Regarding the 10% burnout- I was worried that allowing a tactical teleport as a free action might be overly powerful, and hoped to make it a choice with a tradeoff. Sounds like in your judgment that was unnecessary, though- and in retrospect, it would only be once a day.

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

I'd appreciate being one of those three or so, Cheapy- just posted my item above.

If possible, I'd like input on this item.

Chess Knight Pendant
Aura moderate conjuration; CL 7th
Slot neck; Price 14,000 gp; Weight -
Description
This pendant resembles a chess knight of ivory or obsidian, hanging from a silver chain. It grants tactical mobility on the battlefield to those who understand that battles are won by those who know best where to strike.
Three times a day, as a standard action, the wearer can vanish and reappear nearby. The wearer's destination must be a 5' by 10' diagonal from their starting point, reproducing the 'L' shaped leap of a chess knight. The wearer must have line of effect to the destination, but not line of sight, as the pendant allows one to cross spaces occupied by opponents. If the target square is occupied by a solid body the effect fails.
The pendant focuses the wearer's mind on tactics. If crafted of ivory, it grants a +2 competence bonus to the wearer's initiative. If crafted of obsidian, the pendant grants a +1 competence bonus to attacks against flanked opponents. Both materials grant a +5 competence bonus on all intelligence checks made to play tactical games like chess.
The wearer may consume all three daily uses in a single burst in order to teleport as a move action.
A cavalier or paladin may expend all three daily uses to teleport as a swift action. However, the pendant is not made to contain such a surge, and each use in this manner incurs a 10% chance of burning the pendant out permanently.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, dimension door or king's castle; Cost 7000 gp

The commentary on my item, (the Bath of Dawn Infusion, or "magic bathtub") was informative, if brief. I certainly get that a bath is a little odd- my hope was to stand out from the other entries, and redeem the strangeness through the excellence of the rest of the entry. (Also. My hope was that the rest of the entry was excellent. :) )

But I was not able to achieve that, because fundamentally, my item was more of a location/plot device than a wondrous item. This is a criticism I can understand and agree with, and because it was already rejected on that basis, it did not matter if the rest of the entry was good or not. I was going for a sort of 'decadent witch queen' kind of item, and Cleopatra was famous for bathing in milk. Ass milk, specifically, but I thought the entry would be better received if it did not include the term 'ass milk.'

A lesson learned for next year.

I realize the official judges have no time to give a review beyond that they've already given, but if any other local experts have any advice on how the item might have been improved, or where else the submission went wrong, beyond the qualities that disqualified it, I'd be appreciative.

Neil, I think most of us realize that an actual review is not possible in most cases, and that as judges your intent was not detailed critique but to select the 32 entries that implied the strongest design talent. I'm interested to hear the reasons for the elimination of our entries, but even to cut and paste is a noteworthy amount of effort, so I have no expectation of more than that.

We do appreciate all of your collective effort. It's unfortunate that those who don't speak so loudly.

edit- I'm trying to learn from the comments given to other items, but some of the terminology is new to me. What exactly is a SAK, or a SIAC, for instance?

I'd really appreciate feedback on this entry. So, you know, I can do better next year. :)

Bath of Dawn Infusion
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 12th
Slot -; Price 40,000 gp; Weight -
Description

This bath fills the bather with the waking power of the day’s first
light, infusing them with grace and power. Rulers ancient and modern
have used them to enhance their powers and to make fleeting
protections endure.

Each bath is constructed of interlocking jeweled tiles lining a deep
pool set into the ground or floor in a location touched by dawn's
first light. The tiles are etched with potent sigils, then glazed with
an enchantment that amplifies and focuses the potency of potions.

Once a day, when the first light of day shines into the water, a
single bather may pour one potion with a duration greater than
instantaneous into the bath water. The bather will gain the effects of
the potion as normal, except that the duration will extend until the
next dawn, no more than 24 hours. The bath must last a minimum of 15
minutes or the effects and the potion are wasted. Magic oils that
target equipment will not benefit the bather, though they may improve
the bather's complexion.

The bath may be filled with milk instead of water. This will grant the
bather a +2 alchemical bonus to charisma for the duration of the
infusion. This large quantity of milk can be difficult to obtain, and
costs 1000 gp per bath.

The bath will accommodate a single medium creature. Multiple bathers
will cause the magic to fail harmlessly. While larger baths can be
constructed, the cost doubles for each size increase beyond medium, as
does the cost to fill it with milk.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Items, Brew Potion, Extend Spell,
eagle's splendor; Cost 20,000 gp

edit: It just sank in how much effort you guys are putting in to give us feedback. I'm truly grateful.

Bus? Haiku?

The bus is sliding
Slush churns, but death comes not yet
Soon it will be Spring

I grew up in Alberta, Canada, so I can't help but feel that I'm wronging my kids as they grow up in North Carolina, where I have yet to see snow more than one day a year, and some years not at all. And that snow shuts everything down- which at first seemed comical to me, because I've been in far worse snow and the city kept chugging. But really, my home city kept chugging because they had no choice but to maintain the infrastructure and equipment to make roads passable immediately. Here, that would be a ridiculous use of resources.

Still miss the snow, though. And I roll my eyes when my kids complain that it's cold. :) Apparently there was an epic level ice storm shortly before we moved here, though, so I've not given up hope.