I'll apologize in advance, this post might become a be a bit long-winded and technical. This is essentially just a "Wish List" of game mechanic's I'd like to see involving the combat system.
I have played most of the d20 systems that feature Firearms and other High Tech weapons at one point or another, so I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some of the Pro's and Con's of various design choices I have noticed over the years.
Damage
Thoughts on Base Weapon Damage:
I have touched on this a few times. We haven't gotten word on what the damage values will look like, but I am really hoping that weapon Base damage is significantly higher than we are used too seeing. In d20 Modern, a Pistol would deal between 2d4 and 2d8 damage, depending on caliber (with most dealing 2d6). In Spycraft d20, a Pistol would usually deal 1d10+1 or 1d12 damage. Rifles in d20 Modern dealt between 2d8 and 2d12, while Spycraft went with 4d4 and 3d6 (if memory serves).
d20 Future went even higher (unfortunately, d20 Future wasn't incredibly well balanced, but did have some really nice ideas on weapon modification, more on that later).
These damage values felt right to me then, and they still do now. A Laser/Plasma/Rail weapon dealing less damage than a Longbow is just very wrong.
Recoil
Thoughts on Recoil as a Game Mechanic:
This is something that isn't reflected in rules very often, but I think it should be. Dexterity is a key stat, and it becomes even more impressive when the entire game is based around the idea of using ranged weapons almost entirely. With a point buy system, it would be tempting to "Dump" Strength in such a situation. But what if weapons had a recoil Stat? For those who are unaware of what recoil is, it is (in short) the force applied to the shooter of a weapon by discharging it (generally making follow-up shots more difficult).
Some weapons should have greater recoil, while others should have little or none. This can be used as an additional balancing factor when designing weapons of various power.
An example method of representing Recoil: Let's say, that weapons with a recoil rating suffer a penalty equal too that rating on any subsequent attacks beyond the first in a round. A user can negate this penalty by an amount equal too there Strength Modifier. Additionally, allowing a wielder to increase their STR modifier by +1 for using 2 hands would make logical sense.
Continuing this example, lets say we have two weapons. The first is a Laser Pistol with a base damage of 1d10+1 and a Recoil score of 0. The Laser Pistol can be used by anyone without taking any penalties on subsequent attacks after the first. Alternatively, a Plasma Pistol is more powerful, Dealing 2d8 damage, but with a Recoil score of 2. User's without a 14 Strength will find it difficult to control in one hand (although by using 2 hands someone with a 12 Strength can manage it).
This makes logical sense, and also allows for a wider variation in weapons. Instead of every hero choosing a weapon based on only it's damage value, other factors are taken into consideration.
A character who want's to wield a pair of pistols might be better off choosing lighter models with less recoil (instead of simply picking whatever has the highest damage die), while a character that intends too carry only a single pistol might prefer the extra damage.
Shotguns
Thoughts and Ideas for Shotgun style weapons:
This is an area that really bug's me. I would love for us to get some future-tech shotguns, like Autoflechette guns, but please no cone effects! A MUCH better way too represent Shotgun's would be too assign them a High Base Damage, lets say 5d4, and a low range increment, lets say 20ft. Instead of suffering a -2 penalty to attack rolls for each range increment beyond the first, shotguns suffer a -2 damage penalty. So attacking a Target 60 feet away suffers no penalty to the attack roll, but deals 5d4-4 damage.
Weapon Modification, Accessories and Aiming
Thoughts on Weapon Modifications and Accessories:
d20 Future had a nice assortment of weapon modification's that could be applied too various guns, and I found this to be a great idea. Do you want a Laser Pistol that can be charged up for a more powerful shot? How about one that can be used as an Automatic Weapon? Clear rules for things like that are super valuable, and a great way too save page count in the long run. We don't need 5 different entries for various laser rifles and pistols if we can just modify the base weapon with a flexible "plug in" system.
I would also Like to see some rules for spending a Move Action to Aim (granting a bonus on the attack roll, but limiting you're rate of fire). This is NOT something that should be locked behind a feat, but should instead be written into the new rules (A Feat that makes you better at it would be fine).
Weapon Accessories are something else we could use. A few suggestions would be.
Recoil Compensator's: Going with my recoil Idea above, this would reduce a weapons Recoil rating by 1.
Scope's: These can reduce penalties for range, as well as increase the bonus from Aiming (see above)
Holo-Sighs: These can reduce the time needed to Aim too a Swift action, or perhaps simply provide a static bonus to hit.
I would be interested in hearing what people think?
Something has always bugged me about the way armor is portrayed in most d20 modern/future/sci-fi systems that I really hope paizo takes the opportunity to correct.
So, your a space marine decked out in the latest combat armor, protecting a diplomat wearing nothing but a fancy suit. A thermal grenade goes off, dealing 8d6 fire damage... perhaps allowing a reflex save... and for some reason your armor provides no protection. You might as well have gone to work in your PJ''s for all the good your armor did too protect you from the blast!
It's the future. People are running about with laser/plasma/arc/gravity guns... give our armored hero's a built in defense against these types of attack. In addition to providing a Defence/Ac bonus, I hope that we see elemental resistance built into the suits ("So, my space rated armor provides no protection from Ray of Frost? You're joking right?")
This also opens up a lot more options to make different armors viable. One medium armor might provide better protection against physical attacks (perhaps it's made to protect against the natural attacks of hostile lifeforms found while exploring), while another armor is optimized against Fire and Electricity attacks, making it ideal against energy weapon using foes.
So, I could have sworn that one of the Spirits from the playtest doc granted the spells from the War Domain as spell like abilities, but I can't for the life of me remember what one it was (or even what level spirit it was).
So, needing to get back into shape, I decided to try something new (because somehow between backpacking and archery I still gained weight, thanks "Getting Old")...
So, considering I already compete in USPSA Pistol match's and Archery matches I figured "How Hard could sword fighting be?"
Answer: My everything hurts. (In a good way)
So, I'm learning Rapier and Longsword (Which is actually mostly two handed, who knew?) at the local club (Btw: I lived in this city 7 years, and had a club that teach's the use of German Longsword 4 blocks from me this whole time? What?).
For those that don't know, HEMA is Historical European Martial Arts.
So, anyone else ever tried HEMA? So far it's a great workout and a lot of fun!
Just wanted to touch on this. I hope we get some options for Occult themed equipment. I don't just mean things like cursed dolls and other magic type items. I mean mundane equipment that helps "sell" an occult setting as separate from a traditional fantasy setting
One example would be A Light Armored Coat. Maybe called a Dueling Jacket? It seems much more setting appropriate than "Chain Shirt" or "Studded Leather". Little things like that could make all the difference in a setting.
I ran a short Play-Test adventure, using three characters from Occult Adventures, a Human Pyro-Kinetic (Set up for ranged combat), Gnome Terra-Kinetic (AKA Geo-Kinetic, set up for switch hitting) and a Human Occultist (Generalist), all played by experienced players. We had a newer player join us as well, who played a Rogue. All Level 8, 20 point buy, 23,000 gp gear. Here are the Results, player feedback (Copied from player notes, I may or may not agree, but the player feedback is what they gave me), and DM feed back (From me). Combat Logs in spoiler tags for each battle.
Gnomes Kinetic Blast Attack bonus was +13 (Vs Standard AC)
Human's Kinetic Blast Attack bonus was +11 (Vs Touch AC)
Human Occultist (Evocation-Rod, Transmutation-Sword, Conjuration-Figurine, Abjuration-Amulet)
Part 1: The Missing Caravan
As a one-shot play test, it was a fairly simple mission. A Caravan failed to arrive, and its last known location was the dark woods to the north... The players investigated the caravan's last known location and found the sight of a battle. The players investigated the sight of the battle, or more accurately, the Rogue and Occultist did. The two Kineticist stood guard.
With only 2 and 3 skill's, they couldn't contribute much to the investigation. I'm not going to concentrate much on this issue, as it has been covered in great length in other places.
Discovering evidence of trolls leading a bunch of humans away from the sight of the battle, the players followed, eventually finding...
Part 2: The Ravine
1 Rock Troll (Cr 6) and 3 Trolls (Cr 5), guarding a Ravine. This was meant to be an easy encounter to give everyone a chance to get used to their classes. Combat kicked off about as fast as one would expect, with the players getting the drop on the trolls.
Troll AC's went from 16-20 Depending on cover (Touch 11-15), while the Rock Troll was 19-23 (Touch 10-14)
Combat Log, Battle 1:
Surprise Round:
Player's moved into positions, and the Occultist ID's the Rock Troll. Thick canopy prevents sunlight from effecting the Rock Troll.
Round One:
Pyro-Kinetic gathers power (Move action), and fires off a Snaking Burning blast at one of the Trolls. Using a forest battle map, Snaking allowed the Pyro to curve his shot, avoiding cover, and setting the Troll on fire. 17 fire damage.
Issue: Upon reading Burning Infusion, it is listed as “Reflex Negates”. I think this should read “Reflex Partial”. Wouldn't Reflex Negates also negate the damage?
Geo-Kinetic double moves, being a gnome, his slower movement speed and lack of the “Extended Range” infusion meant he was out of range.
Occultist double moves to avoid bush's and tree's in his firing lines (The troll he had meant to attack moved before he acted).
Rogue, Moves and Stealth.
Troll puts himself out. Trolls move.
Highlights: Lots of positioning, Snaking Blast is really useful in a forest.
Round Two:
Pyro-Kinetic gathers power (Move action), Fires an Empowered Extended Range fire blast, Hits for 29 fire damage. Troll is having a bad day.
Geo-Kinetic move's and “Throws a Rock at it”. Targets the Rock Troll, Hits for 17 damage.
Occultist moves and uses one point of Focus in his Evocation Implement to hit a fresh troll with a fire ray. Hits for 22 damage.
Rogue snipes from hiding with a crossbow. Crits, dealing 31 damage to Rock troll. Rogue's 39 stealth check makes it a 19 perception for the trolls to see where the shot came from, and the two with lines of sight fail. (First time I have seen someone pull this off).
One troll moves in on Geo-Kinetic (Attacks, hits but only 2 damage after DR), Rock troll moves forward, moving within 5 feet of the hiding rogue and stops (sniff, sniff). Bad day troll moves up to the Occultist (unable to reach the Pyro-Kinetic, he try's to take his anger out on his friend) and try's to bite him (Miss) 4th troll moves toward Occultist as well.
Highlights: Everyone hits. Rogue Snipes, Crits, Sneak Attack's for 29. Pyro lands another blast for 29. Geo “throws a rock at it” for 17 and Occultist hits for 22.
Round 3:
Pyro-Kinetic moves and fires a fire blast. Hits for 20, Drops Bad day troll.
Geo-Kinetic 5 foot steps back and hits the troll that attacked him with a Pushing Blast, hits for 19 and push's the Troll back 5 feet.
Issue: The CMB uses you're CON, but makes no mention if you suffer the special size penalty for being a small character.
Occultist casts Burning Hands hitting two Trolls. 16 Damage to one, 8 Damage to the other (bad day troll, before he dropped).
Rogue attacks Rock Troll. Hits for 6 (no sneak attack).
Trolls attack, Occultist takes a lot of damage, rogue takes some damage too. Geo-Kinetic gets attacked but DR prevents almost all of it.
Highlights: Everyone hits, Pyro drops Bad Day Troll (His day didn't get any better), Occultist catch's two trolls in a burning hands but takes a beating in return, Geo hits knocking the troll back 5 feet preventing a full attack.
Round 4:
Pyro-Kinetic fires a Blue-Fire Blast in an attempt to knock out the Rock Troll. Misses (Rolled a 1) and takes 1 Burn.
Geo-Kinetic fires a Metal Blast at Rock Troll, hits for 31 damage. 1 Burn (3 total)
Occultist fires a fire bolt at Troll, hits, 20 damage, dropping it.
Rogue Crits Rock troll for 20 damage, KOing it.
End Combat (Final troll finished off in a volley of stone and fire from three sides, trolls are prevented from regenerating by Pyro-Kinetic and dispatched).
Highlights: Blue-Fire used but Misses. Metal Blast hits but does an unimpressive amount of damage. Rogue and Occultist each drop a target.
Battle One Review: Fairly easy fight for these characters. Environment made Snaking Infusion very useful (Paizo Flip Mat "Deep Forest", non-river side). Geo-Kinetic character lost an entire turn moving because of short range and slow movement. Occultist player used 2 evocation focus and one 1st level spell. Both Kinetics suffered 1 Burn (Geo at 3 total).
Player Feed-Back, Gnome Geo: Pushing Infusion could use some modification, clarifying if small characters suffer the special size modifier to CMB. Also, restricting distance pushed to 5 feet seems unnecessary.
Player Feed-Back, Human Pyro: Not much to add; Snaking Infusion was great.
Player feedback, Human Occultist: Good selection of options, still "feeling out" the character at this point. This build wasn't made for melee, so it took a beating.
GM Feed-Back: Burning Infusion lists "Reflex Negates", which would generally mean a passed save means no damage. Could lead to confusion, "Reflex Partial" Suggested.
Part 3: Excavated Temple
The Hero's move into the Ravine, and find caves that lead into a dungeon. I actually used a high quality printout of the Catacombs of Wrath I still have from running RoTRL. The Hero's move in, explore and find the Northern Jail. Inside, they find some of the captives being guarded by 3 Kyton. Battle 2
Kytons, AC 21, Touch AC 13 (AC 25 and Touch 17 with Soft Cover for some attacks), SR 17
Combat Log, Battle 2:
Battle 2, Round 1:
Pyro-Kinetic: Fires a Burning Infusion from upper platform, hits but fails to overcome SR.
Geo-Kinetic: Fires a Pushing Infusion from upper platform, Miss.
Kyton's animate chains to attack Geo and Pyro. DR prevents Geo from taking damage, Pyro takes small damage. Rogue gets hit twice, Occultist unhit (out of LoS)
Round 2:
Pyro-Kinetic: Moves, jumps off platform, Melee attacks Kyton with Cestus (While Jumping), hits, fails to overcome DR, fails Acrobatics check to jump down, takes 6 falling damage, lands prone adjacent to Kyton. DM Throws Pretzel at Pyro Player, Pyro Player is given another beer. Every has a laugh.
Occultist: Moves (to flank with Rogue), Attacks, Miss.
Rogue: Attacks, Hits, 6 damage (-5 DR) (No longer flanking)
Kyton's Attacks varies targets with chains. Geo-Kinetic is effectively immune to Kyton damage.
Round 3:
Pyro-Kinetic: Uses Flame Jet to get clear of Kyton, provokes AoO (Miss), lands on Platform.
Geo-Kinetic: Pushing Blast, Hits for 19 (-5 DR), fails to push.
Occultist: Spends 1 Evocation Focus, Hits with Ray for 18 Electric. Moves to flank.
Rogue: Attacks, Crits, 20 Damage (-5 DR)
Kyton's: 12 more attacks, some miss, some hit, but Geo-Kinetic is really liking DR making him untouchable.
Round 4:
Pyro-Kinetic: Fire Blast, Hits, Beats SR, 17 Damage. (Player forgot to Gather Power and Empower)
Geo-Kinetic: Pushing Blast, Hits, 20 damage (-5 DR), Bull Rush successful, Knocking Kyton into open cell (This didn't have any real game benefit, but was very cinematic). Moves
Occultist: Melee Attack (Flanking), Miss
Rogue: Attack, Hit (Flanking), 21 Damage (-5 DR), Drops Kyton
Kyton's: More Attacks, everyone but the Gnome Geo takes some damage. 2D4+2 vs DR 6 usually results in 1 damage per hit.
Round 5:
Pyro-Kinetic: Blue Fire Blast, Hits, Beats SR, 25 Damage. 1 Burn Taken (2 total) Drops Kyton
Battle Highlights: Flesh of Stone made the Geo-Kinetic a real tank against the low damage Kytons. Everyone else suffered (On average) about 25 damage during the battle (Fairly low over-all), But the Geo-Kinetic took a total of 7 after DR. Pyro failed to bypass the Kytons Low SR 17 twice. Occultist used one 3rd level spell (Haste) and one point Evocation Focus, conserved resources and acted as a flanking buddy for the rogue otherwise. Pyro took 1 Burn (2 Total), Geo still at 3 Burn.
Player Feedback, Gnome Geo: Casting Defensive to use Kinetic Blade seem's unnecessary. Would like some AoE abilities. DR, while inconvenient, was not crippling. Kinetic Cover, cool ability, but doesn't scale well. Suggestion: Improve action economy with as you level (Standard>Move>Swift, Immediate for 1 Burn).
Player Feedback, Human Pyro: Suggest giving Feel The Burn +1 to Overcome SR bonus as well as To Hit / Damage. Blue-Fire Blast damage isn't worth the extra Burn. Empowered Basic Blast for 0 Burn seems superior (might be worthwhile at higher levels?). More Utility abilities would be very welcome.
Player Feedback, Human Occultist: No Notes for this battle.
GM Feedback: Flesh of Stone is really good. Searing flesh? Not so Much. While I can see some corner cases where it would be nice, it's no contest between the two.
Battle 3: The hero's head down a hallway and then descend a set of stairs. While Descending, the Geo-Kinetic uses Tremorsense, getting a warning of 3 creatures ahead (2 Kyton, 1 Soucouyant).
Soucouyant AC 23, Touch 17, Immune to Fire, SR 19
Combat Log, Battle 3:
Battle 3, Round 1:
Pyro-Kinetic fires at Kyton, Hits, Fails to overcome SR.
Geo-Kinetic Moves into room, Fires at other Kyton, Crits, 40 Damage (-5 DR)
Occultist: Hits Soucouyant with Cold Ray (1 Focus) for 16 Cold.
Rogue, Full attack on Kyton, Miss, Hit, Miss, 11 Damage (-5 DR)
Soucouyant Detonates rolling near max damage (39)
- Occultist uses immediate action to activate Energy Shield gaining 40 points of energy resistance.
Rogue passes, Geo-kinetic passes, Pyro fails, Occultist fails.
Lone Kyton attacks (No Data)
Round 4:
Pyro-Kinetic: Fails to overcome SR vs Kyton
Soucouyant Attacked Geo-Kinetic before going down, DR for the win again, minor damage.
Kyton attacks, minor damage.
Round 5:
Rogue finish's off Kyton.
Battle Highlights: Spell resistance and Fire Immunity locks down the Pyro-Kinetic, while this was dew to below average rolls, it was still surprising to see. Pyro also got nearly taken out.. by fire. Geo-Kinetic finally gets some Melee action on something without DR and deals decent damage. Occultist gets to use another of his toys, using an Immediate action for 2 focus.
Player Feedback, Gnome Geo: Kinetic Blade carried the battle. Would have been nice to use Utility abilities more, but very limited selection. Having the option of Immediate Action Kinetic Cover, even with Burn, would have seen it used.
Player Feedback, Human Pyro: Shut down completely this battle. Poor rolls. Having some type of Area Of Effect would have been great. Only Utility used in all 3 fights was Flame Jet. Searing Flesh really needs to grant Fire resistance, nonsensical for it not to. The Human Torch shouldn't get taken down by a guy with a flame thrower.
Player feedback, Occultist: Recalculating the various bonuses from resonant powers gets cumbersome (also a lot of wear and tear on character sheets, even after one game). Would be better if they didn't change as points are used. Immediate Action Defenses for 2 Focus are actually really nice to have when needed.
Okay, so Move Earth states that you can move a 5 foot cube of earth or stone within 30 feet, 5 feet in any direction... Does this include up? Like into the air? Can you maintain this round to round without dropping it? Because if so... Wow.
A 5 foot cube of dense stone is 125 cubic feet... That would weight around 20,000 - 22,000 lbs (I'm not converting that to kilo's, sorry). Even 125 cubic feet of dirt would be like 10,000 lbs.
If a 20,000 lb rock is dropped on an Orc, does it make a sound?
Just wondering if the 3rd Pact Magic book will still include a section on Anima Spirits? I really enjoyed the sample document and am hoping to see some more information in the next book.
Also, I haven't seen it posted here, is the plan still to release a "Complete/Big Pact Magic" style book? Kickstarter maybe?
Related: Updated constellation powers have been hinted at, any chance of a few examples?
So, I'm a bit tired and reading over the ACG, when I came across Jabbing Style. Am I reading this right? It's both.
1> Available at 1st level to a Monk/Brawler
2> A Scaling damage bonus (based on how many hits you score in a round) applied to you're last attack, with no annoying attack penalties?
If I'm reading it right... wow. I know monks will never be the kings of combat, but that's a step in the right direction.
I Hope this is the right place for a question, not 100% sure.
Looking at my (PDF) copy of the Midgard Campaign setting book, It almost looks like the entry for the Gearforged race is lacking some important information.
I noticed that there are no Ability Adjustments listed for Gearforged? Do they really get no ability adjustments, or should they get a floating +2 like a Human? Seems odd that they get none.
I would have expected some amount of natural armor (They are, after all, made of metal), but nothing is listed for that. Even a Kobold gets +1? This is compounded by the next thing I noticed.
With no CON score, a Gearforged is going to be rather low on HP, unless they get the 20 bonus HP of a medium sized construct (which seems like a lot) or use another stat to determine bonus HP? I don't see that listed anywhere.
I Love the flavor of the race, and have a player interested in playing one, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
So, I have a request for an Arch-type for the Battle Scion from New Path's Compendium (Kobold Press). I think it's a fairly straight forward request, but I wanted to bounce the idea off the board.
Basic Idea: An Arcane School Specialist Arch-type (No Name as Yet), in much the same way a Wizard Specializes.
Here is what I'm leaning towards currently. I haven't "prettied it up" to follow that standard Arch-type format yet, as I'm still hammering out the details.
Mechanical Details, Benefits: Choose one School of Magic. Starting at 4th level, you receive an additional spell slot of each spell level you can cast, from 1st on up. Each day, a Battle Scion can prepare a spell from his specialty school in that slot. This spell must be in the Battle Scion's spellbook. A Battle Scion can select a spell modified by a metamagic feat to prepare in his school slot, but it uses up a higher-level spell slot. This Modifies the Battle Scion's Spell's class ability.
Mechanical Details, Drawbacks: A Battle Scion that chooses to specialize in one school of magic must select two other schools as his Prohibited Schools, representing knowledge sacrificed in one area of arcane lore to gain mastery in another. A Battle Scion treats all spells of his prohibited schools as if they do not appear on the Wizard/Sorcerer spell list. If using a spell trigger or spell completion item to cast a spell from one of his prohibited schools, he must use the Use Magic Device skill to do so.
I toyed with the idea of granting school abilities to replace existing Battle Scion abilities, but that looked like a balancing nightmare and decided that focusing on one thing (Spell Casting) would be easier/simpler/more elegant.
One additional Spell / Level seems like it will give the class a larger pool of magic to draw from (which is the idea), but the prohibited school's will make them much more focused (which prevents them from even using scrolls/wands, something traditional wizards can use to get around the restrictions). In effect, the pool got bigger, but it also got shallower.
I'm trying to find some Melee Touch Spells that last multiple rounds, and allow "touch's". I'm coming up empty, with the notable exceptions of Chill Touch, Produce Flame and Flame Blade. Anyone know of any I'm missing?
So, While browsing Traits, I came Across Dedicated Healer. Kinda a neat trait, and useful for those "Self Sufficient" types like Rangers... Heal an extra 1d4 when using Treat Deadly Wounds? Cool, I like that. Until I noticed something, you have to take 20.
Treat Deadly Wounds takes an hour. Take 20 takes 20 times as long. Using this trait requires you to spend 20 HOURS treating someones wound's... Yikes!
So, an interesting thing happened to me twice in the last few weeks, so I thought I would put up a post about it and see what other peoples opinions are. I haven't needed to look at the Simple Weapon list in a long time, and I guess I just figured that it had gotten some love in Ultimate equipment... or Ultimate Combat... or somewhere...
She wants throwing knives.. not daggers (You Idiot):
Recently, when making a character with a friend (new player), she says to me "Can I have some throwing knives?" to which I reply "Oh yea, you can throw daggers." This is met with the look. You know the look. The look that says "Are you an idiot?".
Anyway, After giving me The Look she pulls up Google, and brings up a picture of a throwing knife.
"Ok" I say, "I Know what a throwing knife is. The thing is, they are not listed in any of the books... the closest thing would be a Dart."
Her: "A Dart?",
Me:" Yea, but a big dart... kinda like a lawn dart"
Her: "Wait... the book has stats for a giant DART but not for throwing knives?"
So yea... She was mostly just messing with me, but really, we have an entire book called "Ultimate Equipment" and we STILL don't have throwing knives (And yes, I know the concept of throwing knives in combat is basically TV-La-La-Land made up, that's not what this is about).
So the next Instance involved me trying to equip an Occultist for Skulls and Shackles.
Where did I leave my machete:
So, I decide to make a Mwangi Occultist for the new AP my friend is running, so I look at the weapon table to try and decide what he's going to use. I grab a Spear, a few javelins, and even a blow gun... sweet, this is working great... but you know, I really want a machete... I mean, I am from the jungle. {A quick Google search latter) "Are you freaken kidding me?" the only Machete ever made for pathfinder is a magic item... that is based off of a short sword? A weapon that does PIERCING damage?... (Head-Desk)
Ok, so the first thing I want to point out, I'm not saying I want Better Simple weapons. Just more of them, to fit more varied character builds. To put it into perspective, there are 26 Total Simple Weapons (Light, One Handed, Two Handed and Ranged), two of which are effectively the same (Boar-Spear and Long spear), One is a Stick (Club) and one is Sharpened Stick (Wooden Stake). There are 28 Two Handed Martial weapons.
If you look at the simple weapon table, you will see that we have some fairly big holes in it. What do I mean? We don't have a single One Handed Slashing weapon. None. What would a One Handed Slashing simple weapon look like? Well, something like this:
I'm sure someone just said Now wait a minute, that seems a bit good for a simple weapon! But, lets look at the other One Handed Simple Weapons... The Heavy Mace does more damage (1d8) and is much more durable. The Short Spear has a 20ft range increment, and the Morning Star does more damage (d8) and does both B and P damage.
I'm also sure someone will say Those stats are close to a Hand Axe! and they would be right, except that the hand axe is a light weapon, and as such can be used with Weapon Finesse and Two-Weapon Fighting.
Another thing we seem to be missing.. a Two Handed Slashing simple weapon... So, its OK for our Simple Weapon Hero's to Bonk and Stab, but Slashing is right out?
Kaiser blade example (Google it for an image, also called a Brush Hook):
Kaiser Blade, 8gp, (S) 1d6, (M) 2d4, Crit: x3, 8 lbs, Slashing
But wait a minute! 2d4, x3 crit! 2 Handed! I call foul, too good I say! You're right... I mean, its not like a Spear does nearly the same damage, and can be thrown, and has brace...
Seriously... Throwing Knives and a Machete Paizo, we need them. And a Kaiser Blade/Brush Hook... because farming tools are terrifying.
Im trying to plan out a non combat encounter that envolves the pc's attempting to rescue some folks from a burning building. What I need help with, is thinking up some challenges that they need to overcome on the way... The pc's are level 3, and do not have access to Resist Elements, so it should be a good challenge.
So far I came up with an acrobatics challenge to navigate a burning staircase (failing the acrobatics check results in a section of stair giving way, reflex to avoid falling into flaming debris. If three sections of stair collapse, they become impassable), and a Str check challenge to move some flaming debris (taking fire damage om each attempt), can also be hacked apart, which may take longer, but wont result in dmg.
I'm wondering if I have missed any feats for a minor NPC...
Obviously If your in my game don't click this:
Long story short, its a level 4 Human Commoner (Stop laughing and keep reading), who is a convicted pyro/murderer (See, told you it would get more interesting)... The players (Lvl 3) are trying to track him (and 11 others) down. He's going to have some Molitov's to use as weapons, and I can't for the life of me think of any useful feats other then Throw Anything, for +1 to hit with splash weapons. I do NOT want to change him to an Alchemist or other PC class (This is an E6 Low Magic Setting). The idea is for this guy to just be a very dangerous, but otherwise normal person. Any Feats (Or other ideas), that help with Splash Weapons I may have missed?
Hello all! I come to you with a request. I have a low-magic game that I run for friends; we have had one long and one short campaign in this world (inspired partly by the Dies the Fire series) already. I'm getting ready to run the setting again, so I could use some new material.
The first campaign was run using d20 modern, with very limited magic introduced about half way into the campaign. The second (shorter) campaign was based 30 years later, and run using Pathfinder, with alternate rules (Wounds+Vigor, Words of Power) to give the game a gritty feel. This worked great.
I had been hoping we would see more Word's of Power introduced, but that doesn't seem to be the case. That's where you come in! Has anyone made up any new Effect Words? I'm looking for spell levels 1-3, so if anyone has taken the time to craft some new ones, Id love to see them!
Hello all! Well, looks like I'm going to get to play in an AP instead of running one (yea for me). This is the build I have come up with for the AP, and I was wondering if the board could look it over and give me some pointers. Please, no spoilers for the game, just general advice on if you think it will be a sucessful build.
The group is the basicly the classic party: Human Fighter (TWF), Half Elf Rogue (Scout Archtype), Changeling Cleric (Desna), and a 5th player who is as yet undesided (likely an Oracle or multiclass).
My (possibly overly optimistic) goal for the character is to be effective at both blasting and control/utility.
I went with Evoker (Necromancy and Enchantment opposition schools). Im thinking that the character has moral reservations against both of these schools (He's from Lastwall).
I also went with Arcane Bond (Ring). I have played druids for years, I have no interest in a familier with this character.
For Traits, I went with: Magical Heritage (Magic Missile), and Inspired By Greatness (AP Trait, Magic Missile). I'm going to pair this with Toppling Spell.
I know that is not the optimum choice, but it feels right for the character.
For skills Im looking at the standard Knowledges (Arcana and Planes, as well as Local and Nobility), Linguistics, Spell Craft and Diplomancy. Yes, thats right, I took Diplomancy (Fits the character). I likely wont put a point in Linguistics every level (Currently know Common, Celestial, Draconic, Aklo, Infernal, and Anciant Thassilonian)
For feats, Im looking at:
Human: Spell Focus (Evocation)
1st: Toppling Spell
-3rd: Varisian Tatoo
-5th: Spell Specialization (likely fireball, but not set in stone)
-Wiz 5: Ectoplasmic Spell
I havent planned the build out much past this point. This would give me 2 toppling magic missiles at 2nd level, and 3 at 3rd. I also plan to use Grease, and Hydrolic Push (this lets me cover trips and bull rush as well as a reflex save based disarm).
I plan to make use of Scribe Scroll at every chance I get, as early as possible. My eventual goal is to have a copy of every spell I know in scroll form.
I could have sworn that I had read some feats that closely mimiced the cypher-mages abilities with scrolls, such as using you're caster level instead of the scrolls (Kinda like staff like wand, but for scrolls)... Am I mistaken? Now that I'm looking for it, I cant find it anywhere?!?! Any Help?
