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My DM has set up a PvP style campaign, and I'm having a lot of difficulty with keeping my characters alive (no res allowed). So, what I'm asking is for the fantastic people of Paizo is to help me build one (or more) character of 28th level, with 50th level as an end goal. I'd prefer a battlefield controller (or saboteur, as one book I've read called it) prepared caster, but I'm willing to hear your ideas!

I can use any WotC 3.5 book except XPH, ToB, and ToM. If I use campaign setting books, I have to stay with that setting until level 20. My stats are all 14, and can +/- on a 1-for-1 basis, to a max of 18 pre-racial bonuses, and a min of 8. Also, as a stipulation with my character specifically, I must be Lawful.

I certainly look forward to seeing your ideas!

Disclaimer: I am posting this to multiple sites, in case it looks familiar. My posts tend to get overlooked these days.

Now that the Basic rules are available for free, and you have had the chance to look it over once or twice, how do you feel about it? What are your thoughts?

Coming from a group that still plays 3.5 (Pathfinder when it rotates to my turn to GM), I'm very happy. There seems to be elements of each previous edition in a way that makes it simpler than 3.5. At least, that's how it look to me.

So, when I say Epic levels, I'm talking about going up to level ~50.

I typically play wizards, and even I have trouble staying relevant. All the advice for making effective wizards assume you're stopping at 20. After a while, level dipping just isn't an option, and it's discouraged by the DM anyway. Spell DC's just don't matter after a certain point, though I realize I probably should be focusing on spells that don't require saves anyway, but still, I'm going to have a few that do.

Epic Spellcasting just doesn't seem worth it to me, am I wrong for dismissing it? If so, how do I make the most out of that feat?

Are they any alternatives to HeroLab?

The concept of optimized builds not being good outside combat came up in another thread, and it has made me curious.

First, is this true?

Second, what would some great builds look like if they were "optimized" for all-around play?

Sometimes I have a hard time justifying that my Wizard "just happened to know" about the devil in the inn, or the mass of jelly blocking the dungeon entrance, or what in the nine hells that massive horned beast was. My players do too.

So, my thoughts are to house rule Knowledge as a "research" skill. Thus changing it from a passive knowledge to an active knowledge.

What concerns should I be aware of if I do this?
Has anyone else done this? How'd it work out?

Does anyone else have suggestions for me?

The current campaign I'm in is an Epic campaign, and we're currently level 22. We're not using the epic BAB/Saves rule.
The books for classes we're allowed are:
Player's Handbook
Player's Handbook 2
Complete Adventurer
Complete Arcane
Complete Divine
Complete Warrior
Heroes of Horror
Magic of Incarnum

Races, any non-draconic LA +0 to +2.

I tend to play Wizards, and would like to play something else for my next character. I would very much like to play something on the same power level, however. I'd like to stay away from divine casting classes also. Any suggestions (I realize I'm not making this easy, lol)?

I'm gearing up for the second half of a campaign based on the idea of Law vs Chaos. I opted for Law. However, instead of playing a Wizard like I normally do, I'm going to give the Sorcerer a shot. In keeping with playing outside my comfort zone, I'm opting to play a blaster.

For the purposes of this, assume I'm using the elite array of stats. This character is starting at level 21 with appropriate wealth by level.

Books not allowed: Psionics, Tome of Magic, Tome of Battle. Everything else, including setting books, BoED and BoVD, and one-off books like Lords of Madness and Libris Mortis, is allowed. The only other stipulation to that rule is that, whatever I use becomes available for the DM to use as well.

Races not allowed: any Dragon type. In this game, dragons don't exist. This is non-negotiable.

Incarnum is implemented very well, and is sort of a focus for the game.

I have the general idea that I want to take at least 3 levels of Archmage (for Mastery of Elements, Mastery of Shaping, and Arcane Fire). I'm not set in stone on this decision, and I'm willing to hear any ideas.

If Incarnum, or the fact that this character is Lawful going against the forces of Chaos, can be implemented to make him a better blaster, I'd appreciate it a lot. There's not a lot of support for Incarnum, unfortunately.

I'm currently playing in a 3.5 game in which the DM plans to take to very epic levels (65). My current character is level 30, and he's an Elan Psion (Shaper). He has the power *psychic reformation*, which allows him to reselect feats, skill point allocations, and power selections for 50 xp per level backwards he wishes to *reform*. It's an extremely powerful campaign, and our ability score generation shows that (5d6, reroll 1s and 2s, add highest 3). I'm conserned that my character is underperforming, and would like to know what I can do to optimize my character. I can essentially re-select feats, choose new skill point allocations, and new powers known. What is your recommendation?

Note: Our enemies have been chaotic in nature, (LvC campaign, we're Lawful), and generally focus around chaotic outsiders. Our enemies tend to have high AC, ridiculously high saves (compared to my DCs, which at the moment is Power Level + 27), and extremely high DCs (in the high 50s and 60s). They also usually sport a SR that has me rolling 18+ in order to defeat.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

My last character died. Now I need a new one. I've grown exhausted from this campaign, and can't think of any characters I *really* want to play, since this will by my 5th.

I'm only really interested in pooling the community's minds together to help create a new character, as this is a family game, getting a new GM isn't going to happen. I enjoy the time we spend together, I'm just weary from the length of the campaign and how many characters I've gone through.

Here's what I'd actually like:

Something easy to manage. I'd love to be able to just do something without having to spend time figuring out specific details to make it work.

Something effective. My family group is a group of power gamers, and this campaign is rough. I'm going to need something extremely efficient if I want to stay alive.

Here's our rules for character creation:
My character is level 29. We're using the Epic rules. WBL applies.
Non-setting specific books are in, with exceptions.
No Incarnum.
No Complete Scoundrel.
No Tome of Magic.
No Tome of Battle.
Psionics allowed.

I tend to play mages, with a preference toward psions, but I'm willing to try anything. I don't expect anyone to throw entire builds at me. I'm just looking for ideas, and any would be extremely helpful in mentally unblocking me.

Thank you in advance.

I love OSR.
I love Pathfinder.
Is there some sort of unholy union of the two that exist somewhere? I very much would like to find something like that..

I am developing a spell for my devil-worshiping diviner, and I'm trying to get the details just right. I'd greatly appreciate any help and suggestions.

In an upcoming campaign I'm hosting for a family game of Pathfinder, I want to use the Defense Score variant from Ultimate Combat. However, the more I think about it, the more I question myself. My issue seems to be that as characters get higher in level, their attack bonuses are going to scale upward. The enemies they face and even their own PCs will have defense scores that will not scale. Tough PCs and enemies will be easy to hit, trivial even, at higher levels.

What are some ideas some of you have used and/or can offer to remedy this?

Is there any chance that anyone in the Paizo staff could, as a blog post, free eratta pdf, FAQ answer, etc., compile an official list of Pathfinder skills and whether you can take 10 or take 20 on each of them?

Crude example:

Skill | Take 10? | Take 20?
Disable | Yes | Opening locks only
Escape Artist | Yes | Yes
Perception | Yes | Finding traps only
Knowledge (Arcana) | Yes | No

I love the SR universe, and have always wanted to run a SR game. Now, I have the opportunity to do so. We've already had one session, and I find myself having to deal with things I'd rather hold off till I get the hang of it. The city the default setting placed in Seattle. In my game, Evo Corp is involved with a cover up with the murder of a suburban citizen and his family. They have a flying security drone (about 4' in length) that flies around the city block, ensuring there's no suspicious activity in the area, particularly around the residence of the murder victims. Any person or vehicle it "sees" near close proximity to the residence is recorded, and the information is sent to Evo Corp.

One of my players is playing a hacker type character, and as such he wanted to hack the drone. That's where I need help.

Reading "The Wireless World" chapter is a bit daunting. There's just so much information. What do I need for this security drone? What will it's stats look like? And what information do I need to be aware of when dealing with a hacker?

In an attempt to relearn Java, and more of an attempt to discipline myself, I've made a settlement generator based on the Settlement rules in the GMG.

I honestly don't really plan to do much beyond what is already done, as I'm not really sure what I was doing in the first place. (Full disclosure and all..)

If anyone wants to play with the program or the source, be my guest.

My only complaint is the lack of Settlement support based on the GMG. I was sad to see nobody (that I've found) has expanded on it (yet).

The files can be found here

My players brought up a question to me today about Blasphemy.

You see, their party is facing a group of foes. Two foes have 16th caster level blasphemy spells, usable once per day each (they're half-fiends). The party is 15th level. This makes them eligible for dazed and weakened. The foes go one after another. 1st casting produces a roll of 5. 2nd casting produces a roll of 10. Does it stack?

Are they going to reduce their strength score by 10 (if it does not stack), or 15 (if it does stack)?

I'd greatly appreciate if anyone from the Pathfinder Rules line could answer this question directly, but I'm more than grateful for everyone and anyone to chime in with their answers as well!

So, over on Rolpuncture, I have a couple blog posts about an RPG I'm working on. It takes elements from D&D (Swords & Wizardry), Dragonlance 5th Age RPG (Saga system), and the Elder Scrolls series. I'm looking for some feedback, constructive criticism, and general help. Here's what I've got so far:

After discussing the RPG Mash-up with my play-testers, I’ve decided to standardize the ability scores and their modifiers. All modifiers will follow:

Score | Modifier | Proficiency

3 | -3 | None
4-5 | -2 | Very Light
6-8 | -1 | Light
9-12 | 0 | Medium
13-15 | +1 | Medum
16-17 | +2 | Heavy
18 | +3 | Very Heavy
19 | +4 | Very Heavy

Strength modifiers are applied to melee attacks and damage. It also determines proficiency with melee weapons. When determining your encumbrance, multiply the modifier by 5 and add the result to 100.

Dexterity modifiers are applied to ranged attacks and your defense score. It determines proficiency with ranged weapons.

Constitution modifiers are applied to your endurance score and physical save score. It determines proficiency with armour. When determining your revival percentage, multiply the modifier by 5 and add the result to 70.

Intelligence modifiers determine how many schools of arcane magic you know, if the modifier is positive. Add 2 to your modifier to determine how many bonus languages you start with. Your arcane mana pool is equal to your modifier plus 1, then multiplying by 10.

Wisdom modifiers are added to your mental save, and determine how many spheres of divine magic you know. Use the same formula as arcana mana when determining your divine mana pool.

Charisma modifiers determine how many special hirelings you can have at one time. Add 4 to your modifier to determine the maximum number of special hirelings your character is allotted.

This is the core of the RPG Mashup. Everything else will be built on top this system. Endurance replaces hit points. There are no classes, only traits. Many other things are going to be tacked on this system, which will be discussed in future posts.

Keep in mind that this isn't set in stone, and I'm willing to change things (some things I already have). So, what do you think?

And, I'd like to load it up with new applications. I got Dice Bag, Summoner, and Pathfinder Spellbook.
I'm disappointed with summoned, but really want to like it.
Spellbook is great, but wish I could save individual spell lists. It's just a spell reference app with a favorite function.
I love Dice Bag.

What else would you recommend for gaming applications?

Well?

Didn't really know where to post this, and my Google-fu is weak right now (distracted by several things at the moment), so I figured I'd enlist the aid of the wonderful Paizo community to aid me.

How does one determine the average of dice rolls if some of those dice are being ignored?

Example: 3d6 averages to 10.5, or 10 or 11. What would the average of the highest 3 of 4d6 be? Or the highest 3 of 5d6?

Has anyone had any experience with the Nook Colour and Paizo PDF's? Does it display correctly? Any issues?

Idea (as I posted in another thread):
Say you want to make a wizard character. Instead of requiring a spellbook, why not put Spellcraft to use? At first level, you have "memorized" a number of spells equal to your INT modifier. You gain 3 bonus spells per rank of Spellcraft. One of these spells must be a specialist spell, or any spell in the case of a Univeralist.

I know this doesn't address learning more spells on your own time. I'll get to that later. I just want to see how this idea pans out first.

Thoughts?

I had a lot of insightful and helpful posts in the previous thread. I'd like to take some advice from one of those posters and start this thread.

What would make HLP easier to run (GMs perspective)?

What would make HLP easier to play (Player's perspective)?

Please share some hints, tips, and tricks you use, or think would benefit making HLP not as difficult as it is, at least, perceived to be.

I'm curious about this. I'd like to use this thread to address specific concerns regarding High Level Play (12+). What specifically makes it unplayable?

I just noticed, when I click "Focus", brand new threads (with one post) show up in my list. When I click to remove them, they wont go away. Didn't know if this was something you were aware of, but I figured I'd mention it.

Edit: It seems several more threads aren't being removed, ones that i've viewed, and have several posts in them.

So, I love PRPG. Thank you, Paizo, for that. And I love fantasy gaming. But, for me, it seems that it's just getting old. Or maybe I'm getting older and my tastes are changing. Or maybe I'm just tired of the same "humans, elves, and dwarves" frolicking together slaying the evil lich, the sinister dragon overlord, or some such thing.

I'd like to ask you, the Pathfinder/Paizo community: What have you done, and what can I do, to make the game human-centric? What I mean is, how can I make the game where the only playable race is humans, and everything else is a lot closer to its fictional roots? Or further away from Tolkien-esque roots from which the original game "borrowed" ideas from?

Something from another thread caught my eye, about where some of the ideas of the game came from (elves and dwarves as playable races, to name one), and it got me thinking. "What would the game look like if that never happened? What would the game look like if you played a human (or group of humans) in a fantastic land of myth and legend? And explored the realms of other beings for the first time, after only being taught what those realms and beings were like?" Or something like that..

Not trying to rant, but it seems I started to anyway.

So.. What do you do with your games to try to convey my sentiments (if you do so)? What would you do (if you dont)? And what is your advice to someone who wants to?

Simply put: Does does the effects of vitriolic mist and fire shield stack?

Since I'm GM currently, I'm going to rule that it does for now. However, I'd like a little more insight to what others (including Staff) think.

I'm used to playing at least once a week IRL, and i've dropped out of one of the two bi-weekly games. I'm kinda 'fiending' for more Pathfinder. Is anyone recruiting for a play-by-post PRPG game?

My GM is looking to return to his campaign soon, and as such, he's got lots of ideas, and one of them is a low magic game.

One thing he wants to do, I'd like to help out with (we collaborate with each other often), but can't seem to think of any ideas.

The idea, and where your help comes into play, is creating an archetype for a non-spellcasting Druid.

What would you do to make this archetype?

Can anyone recommend any sandbox style rpg's for the PC (that are not elder scrolls games)?

If someone created a new RPG, that was not d20 based, or related to 3.5 or any variant thereof, is there anything that prevents them from publishing it under the OGL?

Tonight's PRPG session was something I looked forward to. I had a Tiefling Alchemist 5 that I wanted to retire, to bring in a Human Witch 5 (thank you to all who helped in that thread).

When it came time to play, instead of allowing me to play my new character, I was told to choose an NPC of appropriate level from the GMG and play that.

Then, a long pointless railroad of a journey forced us down a (mostly) empty mausoleum, which lead us to locked puzzle rooms, with no treasure, until we solved 5 of them (which took most of the entire session), only to come out at the end in the city.

And, when we confronted the baron, and essentially told him he sent us on a pointless mission (which it was), requesting some sort of reward (at all), all he could say was that it was for "the glory".

At which point, the entire party got pissed off and essentially assassinated him.

The GM was clearly frustrated that we wouldn't accept what was going on, ended the entire campaign, told us all our characters were caught by guards and summarily hung.

Now, clearly there were bad decisions all around. But the GM could have prevented the whole thing by just allowing the characters to at least "try" things instead of blatantly saying "nothing you try will work" before getting a chance to. Also, instead of forcing the characters down paths they wouldn't otherwise normally choose.

Anyway. I just needed to vent. Thanks to those who read, I appreciate it.

I've decided to retire my Tiefling Alchemist. He reached 5th level last session, and I came to a realization that I'm not really having much fun with him anymore, and he'd be better setting up his own shop and becoming an NPC.

So, I'm looking to make a new character. I typically play Wizard type characters, and I'm looking to try something new. What I do know that I would like to play is a buffer/debuffer.

What do you suggest?

Next Saturday is typically game day for me. Though, for this particular campaign, I'm not participating. So, instead of sitting around doing nothing, I figured I'd run a couple encounters. But, in thinking about this, I wondered:

Does the CR system assume the players made characters with the 15 point-buy method, or 20? Also, do I, or can I, count 20 (or 25, whatever the case may be) as APL+1?

Is there any 3pp's out there that publish a "campaign arc" or "adventure path" that takes the players from first level all the way to 20?

I'd like to, in-game, have an item commissioned for my character. This item would be an Endless Bag of Bombs. Pull one Alchemist Flask, Acid Flask, or Liquid Ice out at a time, endlessly. What spells would be involved, and how much would it cost?

Looking to get back into the minis wargaming hobby. The Cygnar Battlebox (Warmachine) will be my re-introduction. It's been years since I've even touched anything to do with this hobby. Can someone point out which colours and brushes I'll need for this box, and to generally start out?

When a discovery says: "An alchemist must be at least X level before selecting this discovery."

Is that referring to alchemist class level, or character level of said alchemist?

For example, if I were an Alchemist 7/Fighter 2, and for my 9th level feat I took Extra Discovery, could I select the Force Bomb discovery?

Pun intended =)

I just started my new character, a Tiefling Alchemist, last night for our new game. I'm having so much fun with it. At first, I was thinking "eh, this'll be neat". But, then, when actually playing, I'm thinking "woah! this is awesome!"

Just wanted to say thank you to Paizo, as well as the Paizo community, and everyone who designed and playtested the Alchemist! You rock!

I'm looking for a couple different creatures to accompany a "dungeon", who's "final boss" is a Medusa (probably w/class levels or advanced template, ~CR 8 or 9). I was looking for grimlocks, but apparently they're not in PRPG. I've decided on various Wights, but want a little more variety. Any help is appreciated..

Is the errata cumulative? I mean, does the third take into account the first two? Basically, can I print only the most recent update? Or do I have to print them all?

One idea I had was a Sorcerer (air elemental) focusing on spells such as lightning bolt and haste. Seems one of the most obvious routs.

Perhaps another idea being a Monk w/amulet of mighty fists (+1 shock).. I'd love this to be a Barbarian/Monk, alas the alignment..

Any other ideas?

If a single Barbazu strikes a character more than once with its glaive, does the amount of bleed increase?

What about if two of the devils strike one character?

Tried looking for the answer myself, and it seems I've failed my Perception check..

And why?

Disclaimer: I ask that you keep it clean.

Okay. Now that I've looked, and can't find it, can someone help me locate what I'm looking for?

Any idea when/if they'll be making this with hexes?

I don't know why I only noticed now, but there's no polymorph spells that allow you to turn into a vermin. I'm interested in making an npc that has levels in a PrC from a non-golarion 3.5 source involving a druid gaining abilities to wildshape into a vermin.
Are there any PRPG sources, including 3pp, that have a set of Vermin Shape, polymorph based, spells?