DogBoy1966's page

David Heard 149 wrote:

The sling is more than a Halfling weapon, it was a common weapon for all and should really be better respected than it is.

That's the whole point. It was a commoner's weapon. As opposed to one that took training to even use decently, let alone master.

Why are so many people insisting that a simple weapon should equal or trounce a martial one?

While it is an easy weapon to make or procure e.g. anyone can get one - a good slinger is almost always trained from youth. When I wrote "common weapon" I meant as in the context of availability. If you can braid you can make one.

If you look at the evolution of ranged weapons, there is a trend towards increasingly simple operation. The sling requires enormous skill, one that can really only be obtained with training from childhood where as on the other hand, the bow could be taught at any point in life, and be fairly deadly with minimal experience. Another thing the sling was an important siege weapon in ancient times. It has a high rate of fire, accuracy, arching trajectory, and versatile payload making it extremely effective. As an example, during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire in the 15th century, an observer recorded that an Andean slinger could shatter Spanish swords or kill a horse in a single hit.

So ... simple in design and concept, difficult to master. It is an should be considered an equivalent weapon to the bow.

The sling is more than a Halfling weapon, it was a common weapon for all and should really be better respected than it is.

There are several things wrong with the sling in pretty much any fantasy game system. While I understand this *is* a fantasy game the range listed is deplorable, in real life the sling had similar ranges as the bow, in fact the English longbow record is roughly 306 Meters, with the composite being 566 meters. Both of these records where with lightweight flight arrows. The sling with proper ammunition can get to 505 meters with a combat projectile (bipointed lead weight). Another is the types of ammunition, the sling used round, ovoid (tear shaped) and bipointed munitions. These ranged the gamut from fire hardened clay, stones, lead and weighted metal) Additionally their is historical accounts of slings being used to deliver grenade like weapons. Finally damage, again historically their are accounts of slings breaking weapons, killing through kinetic impact. The average arrow hits about 60 m/sec a slinger can hit 90+ with projectiles being equal in weight for the sake of argument the sling will have a greater kinetic impact.

One of the first things I did as a GM was adjust the sling, to try and balance it out a little better without reworking the entire ranged section I moved to shortbow equivalency, and adjusted the munitions. Of course this is all *house ruled* but its worked out and I've actually had folks play slingers rather than archers. I have a slinger archetype originally I mod'd off the archer for gnolls but others wanted to try it.

Lastly here is a good source of info for slings and what they can do

Slinging.org its eye opening.

I have always had a fascination with Gnolls, I used the ARG to throw this together and tried to keep to a similar format. I added unique customs and a lexicon of language etc., for flavor. There is only one archetype here but I didn't feel they needed more.

Would love to hear what others think. This is a link to the pdf on google docs.

Gnolls

I can tell you I play a Ratfolk gunslinger musketeer, complete with bayonet and tailblade.

Things I learned.

1. Guns are loud, and gunshots echo ... especially in close confines like dungeon corridors - guarantee once I fire everything in a very large radius is on high alert.
2. Because guns are loud if I'm not wearing earplugs or some sort of protection I can deafen myself and/or become dazed from the noise.
3. Those high levels of noise can affect other party members as well and they will not thank you for it.
4. Ammo is an expensive proposition even when/if you can make your own.
5. You have to gauge how much ammo you need vs. weight you can carry in gear and loot.
6. You never have enough ammo to shoot willy nilly, pick your targets and fields of fire with care.
7. Misfires suck and can ruin your day.

Best bet, get off one maybe two shots and prepare for melee. I'm actually going to split class with rogue the knife master archetype so I can be of more use once I get my couple of shots off.

I find the class fun, but challenging to play.

It's there, the traits are in whatever you load. They are found under the Feats & Abilities tab within PCGen, any feats loaded will be displayed here.

After reading all this I went and looked at the rules from Paizo. Briefly here is what I used;

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/monsterCreation.html

Core Rules p. 82 & 83 quote - " A familiar is an animal chosen by a spellcaster to aid him in his study of magic. It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but is now a magical beast for the purpose of effects that depend on its type. Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar."

Familiar Basics: Use the basic statistics for a creature of the familiar’s kind as described in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary, but with the following changes.

Hit Dice: For HD use the char level or the familiar’s normal HD whichever is higher.
Hit Points: Familiar has half the char's regardless of actual HD

Attacks: Char's BAB as calculated from all his classes. Use the familiar’s Dex or
Str mod whichever is greater, to calculate the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons.

Damage equals that of a normal creature of the familiar’s kind.
Saving Throws: For each saving throw, use either the
familiar’s base save bonus (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will
+0) or the master’s (as calculated from all his classes),
whichever is better.

Skills: each skill in which either the char or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the char’s skill ranks, whichever is better. regardless, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Familiars treat Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, and Swim as class skills.

Minimum at 1st level the familar will get the following;

1st- 2nd +1 Natural Armor , Intelligence 6 - awarding 2 Skill points
FEATS: Alertness, improved evasion, share spells, empathic link
+2 Initiative Bonus
+2 Fort, +2 Reflex +0 Will Saves

Assumptions:
1. Large is equivalent to Giant
2. the difference between Large and giant scorpion template is +1 Str, +6 Dex, +2 Con

Applying all this I get using the monster creation template in conjunction with the giant scorpion template and extrapolating;

Greensting Scorpion CR 1/4
XP 100
N Tiny vermin {Augmented}
Init +5; Senses darkvision 30 ft., tremorsense 30 ft.; Perception +4

DEFENSE
AC [18] = 10 + 5 (dex) +1 (Natural) +2 (Size)
Touch: [17] Flat-Footed [13]
hp 4.5 (5) (1d8+0 ) <--- Use 1/2 Characters HP round down
Fort +4, Ref +2, Will +0 <--- May use Character Saves
Immune mind-affecting effects

OFFENSE
Speed 40 ft.
Melee 2 claws 1d2 +1 (plus grab) , sting 1 +2 (1 plus poison)
Space variable (1/2 to 2 1/2 ft.); Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks constrict (1d2)

STATISTICS
Str 3, Dex 20, Con 10, Int [6], Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +1; <--- Use Characters BAB
CMB [-5] = 1 (BAB) + -4 (str) -2 (Size) <-- Adj. By Char BAB
[-1] Grappling (+4 Grapple)
CMD [9] = 1 (BAB) + -4 (str) +2 (size) + 10 <--- Adj. By Char BAB
[13] vs. Trip
Skills Climb +2,
Perception +4,
Stealth +4;
Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Poison (Ex): Sting-injury; save Fort DC 12; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1 Strength damage; cure 1 save. The save DC is Constitutuion-based and includes a +2 racial bonus.

FEAT:
Improved Natural AC (1)

Environment: warm or temperate deserts, forests, plains, or underground
Organization: solitary
Treasure: none

Okay, having done all that, the familiar will level as the character does which will progress the abilities by HD increase. Off-hand not a bad scale down attempt I think. Thoughts?

Regards,
-DogBoy