Ethandrul's page

I just had an idea for an arch enemy. Imagine a priest who casts an augrey spell and learns he is in a false universe. He then learns of the concept of a GM as a master God and a party of adventurers who are secretly the people that the universe unravels around. Realizing that the odds are never really in his favor the villain begins to worship the GM and form a cult around him. His prayers catch ( me) unexpectedly at work and I grant them. Teaching him the importance of stats...feats...dice and Doritos. The new high priest of the temple of ME then crafts an unholy relic...a set of dice that are enchanted. Oh...and don't have all the numbers on them. He crafts new spells that cause out of game effects like cuse a player to use dice that aren't his own or to go to the bathroom at the worst moment. Would this be fun or silly?
Or both?

seriously? 2 days and nobody has claimed this?

came in my copy of injustice gods among us. I already have it.
W8C2M-HWVYM-M7JCP-R4TXC-R73GM

Enjoy.
whoever takes it 1st, please post.

SO I have been reading and re-reading this book and I have been trying to brainstorm a col sidequest. I came up with the idea of a barghest working with the back alley boys to try and sell the idea of being able to change shape at will to the winter wolves. the average winter wolf is not too smart and uncovering the deception could lead to some strong allies and Greta's affections. Plus, a good old fashioned goblin stomp.

luckily Baba yaga featured prominently in my King Maker campaign. in fact the pcs bargained to have the black night of their time period released early in return for a specific artifact holy to Abbadon( a pc then married and bore children for him). He was replaced by an awaken mouse. His 100 years of service is just coming to an end. So, the knight they encounter will be a mouse. The flag for their nation actually bears an elk-horned owlbear and a dancing hut on it. I won't need the geas.

hmmmm. i've never actually used hero points. I would like to see the party stay away from chaotic alignments. good or evil will not be much of an issue- I expect mostly neutral with a touch of evil and good mixed in. I mostly want to avoid "chaotic evil = chaotic neutral"

yeah, i agree it is balanced. but some of them lack a good "hook". why would neutrality get a save vs. curses? granted, i think that one is cool- but part of my plan was to set thm firmly with a valid reason. I would think a ave vs disease would fit more with lawful because cleanliness is a habit of the regimental mind, though as good i suppose it could be good clean living- avoiding whores and villainy would lessen exposure to infections- so i guess that ne works for either.

good feedback, thanks! throw me some more ideas please!

So we are about to start reign of winter. I want to incent players to play within their alignment and gently nudge them toward certain alignments. So, i came up with a chart that gives certain trait style abilities to the 9 alignments.

LAWFUL: +1 to saves vs. mind control. increases every 4 levels
NEUTRAL( law/chaos axis): +1 Language
CHAOTIC: Earn 1 gold/level for each day spent free within a community
also starts with an extra 50 gp

GOOD: +1 skill point/level
TRUE NEUTRAL ONLY: reroll 1 diplomacy check/day
EVIL:+1 to save vs. poison +1/4 levels
NEUTRAL GOOD:Healing spells heal +1 hp/die. this increases by 1 evey 4 levels
NEUTRAL EVIL: Precision damage counts 1s as 2s on all dice rolled.

My thinking on these is that good characters would naturaly be sharing tricks and helping each other out, so they are learning new things every day.

Evil characters are apt to trust each other, this was +1 hp, but i want to nudge away from evil.

Chaotic characters are gaining money by any means thet can. gambling, getting other people to buy their meals, theft, applying skills ect.
While this one is a cool mechanic- its pretty weak.

Lawful characters have a rigd sense of duty, so are a bit less inclined to have their wills bent.

With Neutral good and evil, I wanted to emphasize their connection to positive and negative energy. again, I am nudging away from evil.

True Neutral is an abritrator

why tesla? simple- he's weird and all powerful. If somebody said "tesla invented an invisiblilty machine that worked by bending electical waves" most people would wonder why it was not available on the open market- we would not question if it was true or not. He invented stupidly cool stuff all the time. WHy put him in Siberia? why the heck not? he obviously went to look at the tunguska region that he destroyed years before. Maybe he wants to get rare siberian grain for his pigeon fiancee (seriously- he was in love with a pigeon.)

Tesla was friends with Mark Twain, and was acquainted with Houdini who was friends with Ted Roosavelt

magnuskn wrote:

R_Chance wrote:

Ethandrul wrote:

The 8th Dwarf wrote:

First world war & pathfinder mark me interested.

ooooh good one! and Theodore Roosavelt!

Might as well throw in H.G. Wells, or Edgar Rice Burroughs and John Carter while you're at it...

I'm shocked nobody has mentioned Nikola Tesla yet. ^^

In certain "alternate histories", Tesla is responsible for the Tunguska 'event' by way of field testing a certain device/weapon of his. Rather severely off-target, the device was shelved for 'not producing the intended result' or somesuch, whereas there was simply no one around that survived when the 'event' occured.

I mentioned him in an earlier post.

Kevin Mack wrote:

I should explain a bit better. The part I find distastefull is using A fairly recent historical figure who still has very close relatives (In this case grandchildren) and turning him into something you kill for xp

As James and others have already noted upthread, Paizo is hardly the first. Video games, RPGs, comics, and movies have been using him for years. Heck, even cartoons have taken a crack at it.

Ethandrul wrote:

I had family in Siberia during WWI. one notable relation was blind, escaped from prison and then walked to China! The story says it took him 2 years of near constant travel to make the trek.

Very interesting. I'm familiar with the group of seven that escaped a Siberian gulag in WWII and did the same (they didn't stop in China though, they had to keep going). They also had a blind companion.

really? i wonder if it's the same group! I accept that my time frame may be off.

you know- those would both be pretty good show and tell items. they must have had great stories.
I read an article about a kid who accidentally brought a big bag of crack for show and tell.

I am sure my party will kill Rasputin in a far more gruesome manner than history.
It will probably involve fish hooks and insects.

I had family in Siberia during WWI. one notable relation was blind, escaped from prison and then walked to China! The story says it took him 2 years of near constant travel to make the trek. We like to believe his prison was on the border- and he only had to walk 100 feet, but somebody gave him bad directions as a joke. He will be in my campaign FOR SURE! In fact, if they cure his blindness I'll give bonus xps.

Oh, can a paladin have a tank for a mount?
Will gunslingers be proficient with modern weapons?
Will aeroplane be a valid ranger foe type?

I think we will play this in a vodka and sausage induced haze

mounted will work really well in this game. 75% of the time- the mount will be viable- and sometimes CRITICAL. If I was building a party it would be a ranger/ rogue (scout subclass), a magus, a cleric of Gorum or a caster druid and a barbarian. 5th character I would go sorcerer.

Thinking that Baba yaga's dancing phone booth will have some hangers on that show up on occassion. A "rumplestiltzkin wanna be - who constantly sleeps in various locations- and only rouses to eat, a cat in heat- that the party can't find anywhere, and Tom Jones

now you are just being silly...John Carter isn't a real person. H P Lovecraft though...

First world war & pathfinder mark me interested.

ooooh good one! and Theodore Roosavelt!

SO I have decided on my party's cool special friend in this adventure. Nikoli Tesla!! Tunguska... pathfinder style!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

So during our king maker campaign the party had a love/hate relationship with Baba Yaga. She seemed to fit well with the fairytale feel and I thought "What better sponsor for our withc- than THE witch?"

They travelled to the fey realm by climbing through her oven.

the story ended with them exiting her hut on an airless moon as a space ship flew by. A nod to our next game (dark heresy).

Revisiting her and hitting up earth will be awesome- and i will get to break out my Russian accents again!

I just hope that they make Baba Yaga lovable and sinister at the same time. A dear sweet Gramma who happens to be an evil cannibal with a bargain fetish.

here's an idea- I could do 1 level of magus(spire guard) get 2 good feats, spells and arcane pool. I could learn vanish and enlarge- both awesome for my build. I lose 1 bab, but I wind up getting my charge ability 1 level earlier. and arcane pool makes up for lost bab

thanks for the heads up. I'll grab improved trip- retrain it later

why would I want a tiefling? this guy is a strength build. sure the oni varient could work, but other than that- I'm lost

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Titan Mauler will work better for big weapons. Rogue and the Rich Parents trait suck, and will bring you down.

Bastard Sword is a good large weapon to wield.

I was under the impression that titan mauler was pretty absolutely terrible, since they cant actually wield larger sized weapons (jotungrip allows one-handed wielding, but only with size appropriate weapons, and massive weapons is useless without the size increase availability).

Unless you're level 14 and in a world that is swimming with giants. and even then you can just have the party casty cast enlarge on you ten levels earlier and take a good archetype instead.

rich parents doesn't suck. it gets me a masterwork weapon,and potions in the long run- yeah, I'm missing a plus 1 to initiative or a saving throw. But it fits thematically with my backstory

man- i totally missed that line....I'll probably take a horsechopper then, 1d10 reach and trip. it was my original plan anyway

any pathfinder books allowed.

Inappropriately Sized Weapons: A creature can't make optimum use of a weapon that isn't properly sized for it. A cumulative –2 penalty applies on attack rolls for each size category of difference between the size of its intended wielder and the size of its actual wielder. If the creature isn't proficient with the weapon, a –4 nonproficiency penalty also applies.

I'm looking for a combo trip and charge build.

My core concept is set, I will be a half orc- i'm just looking for feats and rogue talents and advancement after 7th level.

thanks guys!

So every concept i cme up with was stepping on the toes of another character- but I fould a niche that wasn't being used yet!

playing legacy of fire

1/2 ork
main weapon = great axe sixed for large creature
toothy trait
rich parents

level 1
Lore Warden fighter

feats power attack and either cleave vicious strike

level 2
Lore Warden fighter
take the feat i didnt take last level
free expertise

level 3
skulking killer/scout rogue

feat- improved trip

level 4
rogue talent- sneaky follow through

level 5 rogue

feat combat reflexes

level 6 rogue

trick- not sure yet

level 7 rogue
feat there is a feat that lets me auto trip for free on a power attack.
can't remember what it's called

level 8 - open to suggestions.

at 7th level Im getting a 6d6+ 8 charge with 3d8 sneak attack added in.
with a flank instead of a charge I get 6d6+8 + 3d6 + 1d4+3d6 from my bite attack.
How does this look?

level 12 magus (human female NE)-
level 12 sorceress (fae blooded gnome female LE)
level 12 cleric of Gorum (human female CN )
level 12 barbarian (human CN)
12 total levels rouge/mage arcane trickster (gnome male NG)

Turin the Mad wrote:

As I recall, there were a few additional tourney events in the "director's cut" by a certain Mr. Spicer.

I recommend (a) finding Spicer's original stuff (floating around here somewhere) and (b) simply retooling the events to suit your PCs. If you don't want "auto-successes", you're the one to gauge how hard to make it.

Examples:
* Telling Tall Tales: for the sorceress, set the lowest DC so she has about a 35 or 40% chance of failing.
* Impressing the Masses: for the bubba, a "grand melee" with all nonmagical stuff, him against a mob. If he can drop some serious Intimidation down, set this up to reward him accordingly.
* Picking the King's Pocket: the arcane trickster has to succeed in filching something in particular from the King's pocketses without him getting caught. If your version of Irovetti is something you don't want your PCs getting too close to, then set the target as another noble that Irovetti doesn't like.
* Per Spicer's original draft, the Channeling Challenge suits the cleric well.

A certain Mr. Spicer wrote "Blood for Blood." A certain Mr. Nelson wrote "War of the River Kings." :)

And yes, the extended edition does have a lot more tournament events.

can you hook me up jason?

I've got a great idea for the rouge from an old KoDT. The pc must retrieve an item without stepping on a carpet. ( no magic) the item is 50 feet away. the floor is uneven

A monk will do a running leap
A bard will try to walk on his hands the whole way
A barbarian will try a running leap
A rouge will carefully roll up the carpet.
A rouge will try to climb up to the rafters and get it that way.

what is the channeling challenge?

lol! whats funny is the nation started out NG, as time has gone on the players have slowly been corrupted by onething or another. selling souls, razing Ft. Dralev, inslaving kobalds, kidnapping orphans to brainwash...now the party is NE, NE, CN, CN and NG (there is always one hold out..)

All Brevoy needs to do is send one of their NE bishops (clerics) into the offending border city in the dead of night armed with a bit of death magic and necromancy.

Kill some family of commoners, create greater undead a pair of wraiths and leave via word of recall. If you look at wraiths' spawn ability, within mere hours thousands of them will decimate the city by sunrise. Come sunset, the rest of the city dies. On the third day's sunset wraith armies will silently march across their nation eager to lay waste to all that they see...

^__^

My party already plans on doing that.

I would like a chance to everyone in my party to try an event and have a chance to win.

I have a Barbarian who has maxed intimidate, some bluff but no diplomacy, he also has ranks in perform "epic poetry"

A sorceress who has max ranks in all of these skills and perform oratory
and a HUGE charisma

The magus can do way more damage in 1 hit (thereby demolishing the strengh test)

My cleric is violent and necromantic

we have an arcane trickster who focuses on destruction magic

we have NO archers

we have NO mounted combat characters

My party has created numerous reasons to cause hostilities between their country and the nation of Brevoy. I have decided that Pitax will attack Tetzelford (Fort Drelev was razed th set an example of what happens to traitors and their sympathizers). At the same time as that attack, Brevoy will make a move to attack a city that sits on the border. The primary defense of this walled city is made up of undead, and 50 elite soldiers dedicated to the glory of Gorum. The leader of the cty wields that intelligent greatsword that comes with 16 bloody undead who serve as her private guard.

So, the city will have about 1000 defenders total and a hearty wall.
considering that Brevoy is in the middle of a civil war, what forces should be used to lay siege to the town?

The armies of the nation are-

a large army of Magus cavelry
spells but no ranged, dirty fighting

huge army of barbarians (actually warriors level 3)
spell resistance and spell breaker

small army of elementals
raiders and siege breakers

medium army of centaur light mounter archers

large army of undead infantry (includes morghs)
they have dirty fighting and FEAR

medium army the queens own guard
defense oriented spearmen

we are going to be using some more in depth rules that allow for more tactical use of the armies.

Ok, so it's done correctly, but the v touch doesn't crit. good to know.

ah you are correct about the stored spell not criting good catch.

i tend not to make calls on the situation that starts the combat.
however. if its theory we are working under.
and ideal situations i do have a standard set of events i fallow
yours maybe different... style :)
rnd 1 (swift action arcane pool) plus up weapon either with d6
energy or keen (if not present "love the 15-20x2"
spell combate melee attacks to gage ac
if i have spell storing i would use it round one and yes vt
cast defensive spell "sheild or mirror image"
rnd 2 (swift action accurate strike or acane redoubt) depending on
enemy type
spellcombat with spell strike
shocking grasp or vamp touch (depending on enemy type)
repeat as much as i can untill i need a recharge of defence or ap on weapon
all leads to about [wpn D + str + ench bonus + spell D} (x2 50%) + enchantment D all D averaging halp say 3 so in one round you do
at level 10 say given affor mentioned conditions
[d6(3)+0(no str given)+1 +10D6(30)]x1 (no crit) +2D6(6) enchant energy
about 40 no crit and about x2 (70) with a crit
thats with half die damage and thats only the spellstrike attack if it hits and if you dont discharge the stored spell otherwise add another 3D6 (9) to both those... yup looks about what a mobility fighter can put out using his tricks too... looks like there maybe balance after all

on average yes. i am looking at MAXIMUM damage. also, I'm pretty sure that all spell effects that require an attack roll crit x2. I could be wrong though.

aslo, if your needing a max d6 weapon attacks to start combate

try to use your (swift action) to charge your weapon with your arcane pool the round your casting the held spell.
i know the cost seems alot if you use accurate strike often, but use it with enduring weapon if you can to minimize loss of ap.
you can add flaming and frost to your weapon at level 11 since it's already magical. an extra 2d6 damage per weapon hit can be the straw that breaks the camel.
most gms are using monsters with elec resistance and negative energy resistance to combate magus max damage moves. watch out for those with high spell resistance as well.

I AM the DM....

there should be a feat that lets you avoid the penalties for 1 specific weapon type that is up to one size larger than normal.

yep. got magical lineage. and arcana " accurate strike" which makes weapon attacks vs touch ac. so who cares about -2 to hit?

Ok, so 11th level magus with:
+1 scimitar of spell storing (vamperic touch)
improved crit scimitar (15-20 x2)
intensified shocking grasp (allows spell to be 10d6 instead of 5d6) cast on round#1 (casts then moves)

round 2
attacks with uber sword....CRIT!
does sword damage x2
10d6 lightingx2 from crit
3d6 vampiric touch damage (spell storing) x2 from crit
second attack is a regular hit with sword for 1d6

THEN
casts a free touch spell...say....another intensified shocking grasp
for another 10d6 electricity damage (that can crit for x2 on a nat 20.

so assuming attack# hits a 15, and the touch attack hits a 20 I could do

like 240 electrical damage
36 negative energy damage (that heals me too)
and my weapon damage to boot. of course I could use my arcana pool to add frost, fire, burst or whatever to add to this even more and do over 300 points in 1 round. all it takes is 2 feats.

I could use the empower spell arcana on thatshocking grasp too. for more rediculous damage.

I realize that there are probably more optimal ways to deal damage, but this one seems pretty good.

I'm thinking the Bard is working on his own, thinking that he is doing the right thing. this guy is smart.

when they encountered the guy who was trying to start a revolution in the 1st book, he decided to pin it on Pitax, and send spies there. Then he spent years, and lots of money setting up ft. Drelev, the Barbarians and the lizardman to work as a 1st line of defense against the attack
from Pitax that he knew would eventually come.

everything this guy did, wound up being exactly correct. The party was amazed to encounter the barbarians for the 1st time and discover that they were friendly, though concerned about the tribute they are used to.

they were then sent to get the sword from the tomb. the barbarian chief IS being influenced by priestesses of Gehronna- but with them dead- i think they alligence will be sound.

My wife is playing the Priestess of Gorum, and the undead she raises are referred to as the "eternal warriors of Gorum" now she will have the undying Bloody skeletal champions to round them out. Oh, instead of the big fight with The chief- I decided that the sword had possessed the body of one of the skellys- converting it into a death...i mean a grave knight.

yeah, the problems aren't problems per se, but a war with Brevoy could be. I am excited by the idea of a civil war- and they really did bring it upon themselves.

I may wind up completely derailing the adventure path and focusing the next few adventures on a civil war and a preemptive invasion by Brevoy.

I suppose I could have Ovinbaane demand the destruction of the Pharasma loving Brevians.

they wouldn't stand a chance in a long war with Brevoy- so i'll eventually need to work they fairie threat back in to end the war- hmmm this is good stuff.

Problem 1
Ok, so when we started Kingmaker, we had a bard who began working diplomatic magic like you wouldn't believe. By the end of the 2nd book, he had sent envoys to the tiger barbarians with gifts and promises of power in exchange for allegences. He also managed to to set up a section of land for the Lizardmen and boggarts to share under a unified banner. These creatures, while autonomous- owed fealty to the newly formed kingdom of "Therran". One of the promises that he made was to help the barbarians invade Brevoy in the future...
This player has since moved out of town- and his character has "vanished". He was the hand of the king.Oh, he also founded the city that exists on the Hooktounge Slough. seriously- this dude was good at planning.

I had to rewrite much of blood for blood

Problem 2
The party cleric of Gorum is a Necromancer. she has built a city on the border of Brevoy and uses the undead that she controls to man the walls, and protect her city. This has attacted a certain undesirable element into her city- this is causing strife with the nation to the north. To make things worse, she will be keeping Ovinnsbane which she will get tonight. She sees it as her duty to wield this artifact of Gorum's wrath against her foes.
While this will be great when in combat- her real eyes are set on Brevoy...

Problem 3
The party barbarian sold his soul to save the party from a death trap. It was then purchased back. The price was...wait for it...the souls of all of the people of Varnhold (minus the children).

Now, the situation so far-

dealing in souls is BAD. and really annoys Pharasma, she is sending envoy spitits to extract justice for the people of Varnhold. They just arrived in the capitol. They are not subtle and have spread the word of the partys crime, which has of course led to a civil war beginning to brew back home. I feel this is a good time for The bard to show up and attempt a coup.

The "Eye of Abaddon" is in the hands of My version of "Baba Yaga" who lives to make deals and contracts. she is the patron spirit of the party witch and sort of a frenemy to the party.

Ideas?