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My pathfinder AP subscription never shipped for September for issue #134. It is listed on my subscriptions as 'transaction declined' probably because I moved in September and didn't update my address until October. Can I get this issue through my subscription still? Sorry it took so long to notice, but I was busy with the move and fixing up the house and all.
So what exactly would be the goals of an Inquisitor of Gorum? "Grim and determined, the inquisitor roots out enemies of
Some things I pulled from Gods & Magic about Gorum:
So an Inquisitor of Gorum would:
What else would an Inquisitor of Gorum do? I'm thinking maybe hunt down those who attack non-combatant sentient beings. Although this can be construed as 'good' by protecting the weak, it's actually punishment to the cowardly beings who prey on others who pose no threat to the attackers. Gorum sees glory in steel hacking through your enemies, not in cutting up near-defenseless sentient beings for dinner. Any other ideas? Am I on the right track?
Starting at 2pm on Sunday (through somewhere around 10pm with a dinner break) I'll be running a conversion of I3: Pharoah in PFRPG. I'd like to keep it to 5 players if possible. So far kikai13 and Kosovoabunchonumbers are signed up. I will be making PCs to pick from, but instead if you'd like to make your own character then the rules are: 5th level, 20 point buy, core rulebook plus paizo supplements, and 10,000gp for purchasing equipment (with a maximum of 6,000gp spent on any 1 item). Or you can list race, class, and some characteristics (such as skills wanted or weapon used) and I'll create a character to fit the bill.
I've listed 10 possible PCs to give players a choice in what type of character they want to play. Only five will be chosen since that's the number of players slotted for the game. Here are the descriptions: Olbrec, 9th level fighter (NG human)
Spoiler:
An Eagle Knight in the service of Andoran’s cause, Olbrec captained a ship for many years. His main purpose was hunting down pirates and slave ships and putting an end to their evil ways. With a friendly smile and charming wits, Olbrec easily wins over new friends and usually keeps them with his loyalty and good heart. However, his seagoing captaincy ended badly when his ship sank, killing many good crewmen and innocent people. Olbrec has remained land bound since that day and, despite bouts of depression, has acquitted himself well by continuing to serve the cause of the Eagle Knights. Olbrec is the moral compass for most groups he finds himself in. ------------------------------------- Tactics: Olbrec wades into battle with his flail, placing himself between the most dangerous enemy and any vulnerable friends. He tends to take leadership in combat situations by directing the actions of the group. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Intimidate, Knowledge(engineering), Swim, Profession(sailor) Errigal Al’Din, 4th level rogue/5th level fighter (NG half-elf)
Spoiler:
Born the bastard son of an Osirian slave lord, Errigal was raised with the sole purpose of helping the family business – buying, training, and selling slaves. Years after beginning his apprenticeship, one of the house slaves, a halfling by the name of Riss, befriended Errigal and once that bond was formed something changed in Errigal and he began to despise slavery. Soon after, Errigal fled the family business with Riss in tow and, at the first opportunity, set Riss free. The two of them have stayed together ever since, dedicating their lives to learning about ancient civilizations in order to better raid the tombs of their dead lords. ------------------------------------- Tactics: Errigal immediately moves to the front line of any battle, attempting to draw the attention of enemies with his tall stature and flashy scorpion whip (this usually leaves Riss free to rain death with his crossbow). Once enemies engage him, he begins a slow retreat to give himself room to lash his opponents with his whip. Errigal also uses scrolls and wands extensively to aid in healing or protective magics for when Riss and him are adventuring alone. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Disable Device , Knowledge(local), Linguistics, Perception, Stealth, Swim, Use Magic Device. Ivoria, 1st level barbarian/4th level sorcerer/4th level dragon disciple (NG female human (ulfen))
Spoiler:
A barbarian from the northern Lands of the Linnorm Kings, Ivoria signed on the crew of Captain Olbrec’s ship for a full year before leaving to find adventure on land instead of sea. Ivoria quickly discovered she had innate magical talents and left her barbarian roots behind to become a sorceress and dragon disciple. She respects Olbrec greatly, but prefers the free spirited company of Kieran and Rhayne. ------------------------------------- Tactics: When battle begins, Ivoria usually spends a round assessing the situation and perhaps casting a spell to boost her allies or damage her enemies. She then rushes into melee with her greataxe with no regrets and rarely a change of heart. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Knowledge(arcana), Spellcraft Barkyl, 7th level rogue/2nd level ranger (NG male dwarf)
Spoiler:
The red beard of Barkyl the dwarf reaches nearly to his knees, and his massively wide shoulders support muscle not normally found on rogues of most of other races. Barkyl is quiet and reserved, but has an intense interest in both wilderness exploration and in the technical gadgets of civilization. During his travels he has made good friends in Errigal, Ithrin, and Moddak. ------------------------------------- Tactics: With his burly frame and heavy equipment, Barkyl usually wades into battle as one of the front line fighter-types, only to catch his opponents by surprise by setting up flanks and dealing devastating damage with his sneak attacks. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Appraise, Disable Device, Knowledge(dungeoneering), Knowledge(local), Knowledge(geography), Perception, Stealth, and Survival. Ithrin, 9th level ranger (CG elf)
Spoiler:
Initially quiet, Ithrin quickly warns up to those with a friendly attitude. While not minding small towns and spending time at an Inn telling stories, he prefers living off the land and spending his time defending the animals and small outposts of civilization from the depredations of cruel beings (especially undead). Ithrin is good friends with both Barkyl and Olbrec. ------------------------------------- Tactics: Ithrin is an extremely good archer and will use his bow whenever possible. If engaged in melee combat, Ithrin will use his elven curved blade. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Knowledge(dungeoneering), Knowledge(nature), Perception, Stealth, Survival, Swim. Riss Quickfinger, 2nd level ranger/7th level fighter (CG halfling)
Spoiler:
Riss was born and raised a slave in Osirion. After befriending one of his masters, Errigal Al’Din, he was whisked away to freedom. Errigal and Riss are close friends, always spending time together either studying ancient lore in the libraries of Absalom or raiding tombs of ancient lords across the Inner Sea. Riss has a zeal for life and a determined stubborn streak against authority. ------------------------------------- Tactics: Riss maneuvers himself into a good safe place (preferably on a wall or ceiling using his spider climbing slippers) before unleashing his crossbow on his enemies. His priority targets are enemies who attempt to flank his friends or those casting spells. Riss also makes extensive use of potions when the opportunity arises. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Knowledge(dungeoneering), Knowledge(history), Perception, Ride, Stealth, Survival. Aleanna Avanso, 9th level wizard (LG female human (andoran))
Spoiler:
A short red headed Andoran, Aleanna Avanso is an extremely smart and competent wizard. Aleanna has a very narrow minded view on life that doesn’t leave any room for evil’s existance. In her free time, she studies texts in libraries or researches new magical applications. She is extremely loyal to Olbrec and enjoys adventuring with him. ------------------------------------- Tactics: Aleanna first attempts to nullify enemy spellcasters and then support her friends with magical aid and monster summoning. If it seems appropriate, she will use her empowering rod to send a lightning bolt or scorching ray at her foes. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Appraise, Fly, Knowledge(arcana), Knowledge(geography), Knowledge(history), Knowledge(local), Knowledge(planes), Knowledge(religion), Spellcraft, Use Magic Device Rhayne, 9th level cleric (NG female human(varisian))
Spoiler:
Originally from Varisia, Rhayne’s family moved to Absalom when she was young. Upon coming of age, she became a dedicated follower of Shelyn’s and signed on with Captain Olbrec in his quest to rid the seas of pirates and slavers. Since the sinking of Olbrec’s ship, Rhayne has spent time in Absalom and other areas of the Inner Sea journeying with friends and spreading the teachings of Shelyn. Aleanna, Olbrec, and Kieran are good friends of hers. ------------------------------------- Tactics: Rhayne stays back in combat, casting spells to aid her friends. When spellcasting doesn’t seem needed or she is forced in melee combat she will use her glaive to some effect. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Craft(painting), Diplomacy, Knowledge(religion), Sense Motive, Spellcraft Kieran, 9th level bard (CG male elf)
Spoiler:
Most of Kieran’s life has been spent in the great cities across the Inner Sea performing for nobles or telling stories in taverns and inns. Kieran is a free spirit who enjoys the company of others and wooing the hearts of women throughout the lands. Occasionally he can be convinced to dedicate himself to a cause and when he does, he does it with his full effort and is usually a very effective companion. ------------------------------------- Tactics: Kieran stays back in combat assisting his allies with his bardic music abilities and his spells. He is also good with a bow and will attack with it once he feels the combat is under control. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Knowledge(arcana), Knowledge(local), Perception, Perform(sing), Perform(dance), Perform (wind instruments), Spellcraft, Stealth, Use Magic Device, Bluff(using sing), Diplomacy(using wind instruments), Sense Motive(using sing), Handle Animal(using wind instruments) Moddak of the White Fang, 9th level druid (NG male human (kellid))
Spoiler: When Captain Olbrec and his band of friends raided an ogre encampment and freed 20 Kellid people of the White Fang tribe, Moddak, one of their druids, was given to Olbrec to serve him as payment for their lives. Olbrec wanted nothing to do with accepting a slave in return for freeing innocent people, but couldn’t stop Moddak from following him. After a time, Moddak came to enjoy the company of the strange group of friends Olbrec kept around him and Moddak’s skills as a druid fit in nicely with the others. Now, Moddak has left his old life behind and has dedicated himself to helping Olbrec and others like him battle evil where it can be found. ------------------------------------- Tactics: Anytime there is an obvious situation where combat is likely, Moddak will change into one of his preferred wild shapes and dive headlong into battle. Moddak will almost never enter battle in his human form, much preferring a wild shape or elemental form to his human one. Moddak holds back his spellcasting for healing after the battle is over or when ranged attacks are needed. ------------------------------------- Key Skills: Knowledge(geography), Knowledge(nature), Perception, Spellcraft, Survival
In the last couple of months we learned through the Fantasy Grounds message boards that Paizo had refused to allow Fantasy Grounds II to official suppport Pathfinder RPG due to FG II not being able to run in a native mac environment. While many of us were disappointed, Doug from FG 2 had stated that Paizo was looking to their laywers to come up with something that would allow FG 2 to move forward in some sort of 'limited capacity'. Any word on this? I'm frustrated with Paizo's decision and don't really understand why Fantasy Grounds can't have official support of the Pathfinder RPG. To take care of mac customers, Paizo could support a second VTT which does run in a native mac environment. Hero Lab is a windows only application, yet it is fully supported while Fantasy Grounds is not - why is that?
The new rules for staffs and animal companions are terrific! The improvment to feats for melee types (fighter especially) are very nice. Things like Lunge, Step Up, the Vital Strike chain, and the Critical feats will make fights much more effective. There's many other changes I like, but those are my favorite.
From the magic item web enhancement (pg. 3): The ability for an intelligent magic item to have senses out to 120' and then be able to see with darkvision or blindsense on top of that is way too cheap. The total additional cost for an intelligent item with 120' darkvision is 1,500gp. For 120' Blindsense it's 3,000gp. Those prices are ridiculously low. On the very same page an intelligent item that can cast a 3rd level spell once a day has a 6,000gp price add on, yet permanent 120' Blindsense is 3,000gp???
I'd like some clarification on the magic item creation costs. I think the original 3.5 wording was also confusing (though it may just be me being dense), but hopefully we can fix it. Here's the blurb on page 20 of the magic item web enhancement: Multiple Similar Abilities: For items with multiple
Ok, what if I'm making an item with multiple similar abilities on an item that does take up space on the body (such as a belt)? Under the heading of Multiple Similiar Abilities there is no mention of price for a slotted item with multiple similiar abilities. I suppose I would assume the 50% increase in price for each additional ability as listed under the 'Multiple Different Abilities' section, but this really should be spelled out more clearly. Next, the Table 15-27 states that the price of an item with Multiple Different Abilities should 'Multiply higher item cost by 2', but in the text under 'Multiple Different Abilities' you should simply add the values of the abilities together to determine cost. Which is correct? Or am I reading the table vs. the text wrong and just not understanding? Whether there is are errors here or not I think it could be written more clearly (maybe with examples provided).
The feature of discounting prices on magic items if the item has a skill requirment or some other restriction such as class or alignment is one that I feel is a problem. Here is the wording for the discount on page 20 of the magic item web enhancement: Other Considerations: Once you have a cost figure,
I don't feel this discount should exist - or perhaps if it does exist it should only reduce the resale price of the item, not the initial costs to create. Otherwise every time a player wants to create an item, he can make it have a class or alignment restriction and benefit from the 30% cost discount.
Animated shields are broken. They make the 1 handed weapon as an option at high levels irrelevant and allow two handed fighters the best of both worlds - good defense and good offense. I also hate the flavor - the idea of a shield floating around and blocking things for a warrior type like Conan just doesn't float my boat. My worse nightmare is a character weilding a spiked chain and utlizing an animated shield. Oh the pain! Make it stop!
The Whip While I railed against the spiked chain, there's yet another impractical weapon in D&D that I really like, but it stinks mechanically. The whip is great thematically - just watch Indiana Jones and his great feats with the whip! However, in D&D the fact that it only does non-lethal damage against most foes stinks. Let the whip do lethal damage please! The magic item compendium has a couple of magic whips which do lethal damage, but I'd like to see the normal whip weapon also be allowed to do it. One last point, I once read a great story about an eskimo weilding a whip who could flick cigarette's out of people's mouths, hunt caribou, and once fought off a wolf with it too! (Nevermind that the story about the eskimo was all made up and I didn't realize it for months. Until I found that out it was like believing in Santa Claus and whips were just downright cool)
There's only 2 pieces of equipment I really don't like in the 3.5 rules. First, is the animated property for shields (which is for the magic item discuessions). Second, is the spiked chain. The flavor for this weapon is horrible and it's game mechanics are far too good, even at the price of a feat. This weapon has reach, threatens in the entire area it has reach too, can be used against adjacent targets, can be used as a two-handed weapon, can be used as a double-weapon for two-weapon fighting, can be used to trip, gains +2 to disarm attempts, and is finessable. To top it off, a character at higher levels with a moderate strength (14 to 18 range) who finesses this weapon will likely make better use of power attack than real strong fighter types due to the way power attack now works. This is crazy. Either improve other exotic weapons or cut the spiked chain down a bit. I'd like to see it removed completely as I really don't care for the idea of someone trying to swing a chain in combat effectively, but that's not likely. Instead, at least consider not allowing the spike chain to threaten beyond the base range of the creature weilding it.
James Jacobs wrote: While it's great to see all these different alternate rules and suggestions and stuff, and some of it IS really innovative and cool... that's not the goal of the beta... I've really enjoyed reading and participating in the design discussions during the Alpha and Beta phases so far, but at times it is frustrating many of those innovative ideas won't be implemented. I'd like to see a RPG Superstar type talent search to find a game designer who could come up with the best ideas for alternative rules to the Pathfinder RPG once it comes out. I know great talent already surfaced during the first RPG Superstar, but I feel writing a great adventure and writting good game rules can be different skills - so targeting good game rule design would be the purpose. Pathfinder Unleashed sounds like a good name for the final product.
During the Alpha discussions, many people expressed views about the effectiveness of the rogue sneak attack and whether it was overpowered or needed in order to make the rogue a viable combatant. Many suggested making a sneak attack should be standard action, and while I think this would be going too far in weakening sneak attack I do feel the ability could use a slight toning down in damage while increase the attack bonus for sneak attacks. Something like this: 1st level: +1d6 sneak attack damage
This way, rogues can still do nice damage with sneak attacks and actually hit things with decent AC's assuming they qualify for a sneak attack. Also, I'd triple the sneak attack damage (so 15d6 damage at 17th level) for the first attack whenever the rogues opponent is unaware of the rogue (such as not being seen or heard from invisibility or stealth right up until the first attack....being invisible alone isn't enough, the opponent also must not know the rogue is even in the vicinity). Am I off base? What does everything think about the power level of the current sneak attack ability, is it ok or too much?
I'm of the opinion that Channel Energy provides just a little too much incentive for a group to use a cleric for the party's healer and makes the druid and bard even less desirable in the role of healer for a group. Here's the abilities I'd like to see for the Druid and Bard: Nature’s LifeBlood: A druid has the power to call upon the life giving powers of nature to heal living creatures in the area around the druid. Nature’s Lifeblood is a supernatural ability you can perform as a standard action which does not provode attacks of opportunity. When you call upon this power, all living creatures in a 30-foot burst gain Fast Healing 1 for 3 rounds plus 1 round per druid level. A druid may call upon nature’s lifeblood a number of times per day equal to 1 + her wisdom modifier. Song of Healing: A bard has ability to provide healing to all those in an area around the bard by performing a song of healing. This ability requires a full minute of performance, at the end of which time all living creatures who remained within 30’ of the bard during the entire performance is healed 1d8 hit points plus an addition 1 hit point per level of the bard. This ability may be used a number of times per day equal to 1 + her charisma modifier.
This is a suggestion that came up during the Alpha 2 discussions, but it seemed to get some good responses, so I thought I'd bring it up again. The goal was to try and provide melee types with some more flexibility in moving around the battlefield and not completely hamstringing damage while doing so. ============================================================= I would like to see the option for any character to give up an iterative attack for an extra move of 1/2 their normal movement and peform a full attack minus the one iterative attack given up. So an 11th level paladin with +11/+6/+1 attacks could give up his +1 attack to move 1/2 of his normal movement (so 10' in the case of a paladin with a 20' movement) and still make his +11 and +6 attacks. If you allowed a character to give up more than 1 attack and gain 1/2 movement each time it would add some nice options. For example, a 16th level paladin (+16/+11/+6/+1) with a 30' move could: 1) Do a 5' step and attack 4 times (+16/+11/+6/+1)
Some notes:
Why the boost to firestorm, which is a cleric and druid spell, when spells like polar ray, horrid wilting, and meteor storm remain the same? Firestorm is only a 7th level spell for druids and 8th level for clerics and does 20d6 damage to everyone in a huge area + 6d6 burning per round. Polar ray targets 1 person and does 20d6 damage as an 8th level wizard spell (there's no save, but still a single target spell). Horrid Wilting is an area, but is also an 8th level wizard spell and does 20d6 damage. With the changes to Save-or-Die I'm starting to come around to those arguing for more effective evocation spells, but making the cleric and druid better at nuking things than a wizard is just plain sad.
The feature of discounting prices on magic items if the item has a skill requirment or some other restriction such as class or alignment is one that I feel is a problem. Here is the wording for the discount on page 112: Other Considerations: Once you have a cost figure,
I don't feel this discount should exist - or perhaps if it does exist it should only reduce the resale price of the item, not the initial costs to create. Otherwise every time a player wants to create an item, he can make it have a class or alignment restriction and benefit from the 30% cost discount.
Classes: Pretty good. Some of the barbarian rage abilities don't seem balanced very well against each other and I don't like the flavor of elemental rage, but otherwise the barbarian is good. The paladin is excellent, I really like Divine Bond and the higher level auras and having channel energy will help the paladin support a group. The druid I'm unsure of due to the wild shape change, but we'll see what happens during playtesting. The sorcerer bloodlines I really don't like, but the default arcane bloodline works for me so I can live with ignoring the others. Skill system: I prefered alpha 1, but if we're going with a ranked system to stay backwards compatible then this is excellent! Polymorph changes: At first reading I really didn't like the changes, but after sleeping on it and re-reading this morning I'm warming up to the changes. However, I would like to see the ability boosts be changed to untyped. At higher levels (when people will actually use these spells) characters are already wearing items that give enhancement bonuses to abilities so the polymorph spells are worthless outside of utility if the boosts don't stack. Silence spell: I don't think changing this to a 1 round casting time balances the spell since most of the abuse comes from precasting it on a crossbow bolt or other item, then bringing it into the proximity of a spellcaster. This spell is an illusion, every person who comes within the silenced area after it is cast should receive a will save or not be affected by the spell. This spell is too powerful in shutting down casters as written (and as written in 3.5) and should be fixed. Poison and Disease changes: I love the changes at first glance and am looking forward to playtesting. Staves: I love the change to staves! Feat comments: Overall I like the large feat selection. A big selection of useful feats helps the fighter and that's a good thing in my mind. However, some of the new feats (and changed feats) are a little off and still probably need some tweaking. One example is Manyshot. The point of this ability was to allow an archer to move and still shoot multiple arrows (albeit at penalties), but as written now there is very little difference betweeen manyshot and rapid shot so that one of the feats could be completely dropped. Summary
I've compiled a skeleton set of rules to help run a game in a setting where magic items aren't as readily available as assumed by standard D&D. I'm looking for feeback and comments about balance and playablility of these rules. In my game I'm going to combine these rules with a boost to skills and a wound/vitality point system, but those rules aren't listed here since I wanted the feedback on just the low magic portion of the rules: Ability Score Increases/Enhancement bonuses:
Magical items that give enhancement bonuses to stats are limited to +2.
Example of Stat Increasing Item:
Note: The total stat values for 20th level characters should look similar to the actual 3.5 rules, except not involving as many stat increasing items. For a character using option 1), the prime stat will be +12 higher than the starting stat, while other stats are at +5 (or +7 with a magic item) above starting. A typical D&D character will have +5 from level increases for their prime stat and +6 from a magic item, leaving them at +11. Other stats are likely to have +4 or +6 bonuses due to magic items, depending on importance. Armor bonuses due to Natural Armor and Deflection:
Note: This one is pretty simple, the +5 Natural Armor and +5 Deflection bonuses get replaced by a dodge bonus of +10 by 20th level for every character. Armor
Example Armor: Masterwork Breastplate would provide +6 AC and DR of 3/-. If Enchanted it would provide +7AC and DR of 4/- and cost 5,000gp more. Finally, if Heavy Fortification was added (a +5 ‘bonus’) it would cost 35,000gp additional gp. Finally, a character with a +11 BAB (granting 2 extra attacks in a full round attack) would gain an additional +2 competence bonus to AC while using the armor bringing the AC bonus to +9, but leaving the DR at 4/-. Note: The rules on armor are more complicated, but allow a character wearing mundane normal or masterwork armor to still gain a comparable AC. For a character that can attain a +16 or better BAB, the armor bonus winds up the same as the 3.5 rules assuming the armor is Masterwork and Enchanted. Weapons:
Note: These weapon alternate rules provide characters with about the same bonus to hit as the 3.5 rules, but wind up adding some damage. A character with a +20 BAB with an Enchanted Adamantine weapon will have a +4 to hit and do +10 damage (compared to the +5/+5 that a +5 weapon provides with the 3.5 rules). This extra damage is mitigated somewhat by the inherent DR armor and natural armor provides. Saves
Note: By 20th level a characters good saves will be +17, while bad saves will be +13. Multi-classing will give bonuses somewhere between +13 and +17. A standard 3.5 rules character will have +12 good saves (enchanced to +17 with a cloak of resistance +5) and +11 bad saves. Using these alternate rules the bad saves are slightly enhanced compared to the base rules, but overall are close to standard 3.5 rules. Summary for bonuses tied to BAB:
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