Command words seem to be one of the more ambiguous topics in the rules and I am looking to get a perspective on what other people like to use and how they rule command words.
When a character creates an item they can set the command word to anything they like. But what about found/purchased items? How do you like to come up with command words for Items? Do you have a favorite (real-world) language that you like to mine? Do you just like to use common words or phrases? Do you use some sort of online generator for fantasy words? Do you just hand wave it, assuming the character knows the command once taught?
What about verbal components for spells? It would be needlessly tedious to come up with words for each spell, but sometimes you might want some arcane words for dramatic effect rather than saying "the BBEG recites some words, make a spellcraft/arcana check, you do/don't recognize them." Does anyone ever do this?
Hello and thanks for taking the time to read this. I am starting a game in the new year with only 2 PCs, I will be GM. The three of us are all fairly new to the game, only a few sessions actual play experience, though I have read a whole lot.
I was wondering if anyone has any tips or things to look out for when running a 2 PC party. Should i really be looking hard to add another player or will it work out ok? Can I use modules with 2 people or will it require alot of adjustments? (I currently own the 3rd level Feast of Ravenmoor and 5th level City of Golden Death) Are there any APs suitable for a party of 2? I am really leaning against running a GMPC, but I might let them hire help from time to time.
Background info that I have so far:
20pt buy High Fantasy, standard advancement.
PCs will be a Rogue (CG or NG) and a Paladin.
I was planning on starting them at level 3 to avoid the super squishy first levels and account for there only being 2 of them.
This is a Golarion game, and they will be starting in Sandpoint since that is the city i am most familiar with.
The rogue player wants to start some sort of business in game with the paladin as his business partner (a la Acquisitions Incorporated).
I haven't had a chance to sit down with the pally to discuss his deity or code yet. I'm going to nudge him towards the oaths I think as i feel like that kind of provides a framework to build your code around and it gives me a starting point for adventure hooks.
Is the lack of a magic user a real problem or can it be sufficiently mitigated by the rogue having a really good UMD?
Any ideas for how and why i can bring a paladin and a rogue together? I don't want the rogue to constantly sneak around doing his unlawful (but not evil) things so that the paladin dosen't have to imprison him. Greater good argument as long as the rogue is not hurting anyone?
I'm thinking that some urban adventuring would work nicely for 2 players, any suggestions? Magnimar is a likely destination, it provides lots of "evil" for the paladin to oppose and a underground market for the rogue to play in.
Any other suggestions you guys might have are also appreciated. Thanks!
I have a character in mind that will be using lots of rods, scrolls and wands and I am trying to figure out the most efficient way of storing all of these items while having the easiest access to them all.
Handy Haversack: More storage space than needed. Retrieve any item is a move action, does not provoke AoO. Is there any way to quicken this time?
Efficient Quiver: Could the argument be made that wands/rods are about the same size and shape as an arrow? If so there is space for 60. Scrolls perhaps fit in the javelin pocket for 18 scrolls? Drawing one is as drawing from a quiver or scabbard, does this mean the Quick Draw feat could apply?
Glove of Storing: Could be nice for that wand that you are going to need over and over. A little confused on the wording "Takes up the whole hands slot." Does you can only wear ONE glove of storing (not allowed one on other hand) and you can't wear other gloves or gauntlets. OR does this actually mean you cant hold anything else in that hand while something it stored.
Is there anything else I am overlooking as a must-have storage item?
Ok here's something fun that i threw into my last session completely off the top of my head, and now I'm not sure where i want to go with it. Looking for ideas, and more so rule-wise explanations (doesn't have to be completely RAW). Maybe this should be in homebrew? feel free to move if you think its more appropriate there.
The setup:
So my party was in a dusty old room that had not been occupied for a a couple thousand years. This was just kinda of an entrance way that i didnt have much planned for. I said there were some old dilapidated shelves with nothing of value to be seen, (illegible papers turned to dust, some broken jars and beakers etc.. but they were adamant about searching it and rolled a 20. So POP into my head comes a shiny object, its a ring. But the ring is on a hand, and the hand is in a jar filled with some liquid. (it should be noted that this tower was build by a very powerful wizard)
The bard mage hands the hand out of the jar and lets it hover and it starts to twitch. The strongest grabs the hand and tries to pull the ring off, which is stuck. Magic is detected, but no one takes the time to examine the ring, hand, or jar of liquid closely. So I still have a lot of options with this. They decide they will deal with it later and put the hand in the jar and the jar in a backpack.
So now i need to decided what that hand is going to be. My first thought was a Ring of Sustenance keeping the hand alive, with a Permanence spell to keep the ring attached. Perhaps the hand of a noble identifiable by a signet on the ring. (DC ridiculously high so they need to research/find someone who knows)
Now you guys have me thinking though, Ring of Restoration, Permanence as before, but an additional property to the fluid in the jar which suppresses the regrowth. When the hand has been removed from the jar long enough, the hand starts the grow a body. What could a possible property of the fluid be, is there a spell that makes sense here?
What I don't want is them just forcing the ring off for the sake of the ring. They get enough treasure, i want this to be something interesting.
Gather round all those with interest to hear my tale of BB success.
A little bit of background for you, I am fairly new to roleplaying myself. I played 3.5 once or twice back when I was in elementary school but didn't follow through with it as other interests took up my time. I'm in university now and have had a huge desire to pick it up again. This year I started a playing in a Pathfinder game with a group I found through a local MeetUp group. We play every second week but this just wasn't enough, so I picked up the beginner box, (I already have the Core as I purchased it in preparation for the game I am playing in.)
After reading though the books (all of the BB and lots of the Core), and a bit of canvasing my friends for players I finally put together a group and just last night we had our first session! I didn't want to run with just the pre-builts and wanted them to have some more options so i helped them all generate characters. One of the players has played 3.0 before so adapting to PF wasn't too hard for him, he got his character created with a few questions. I worked ahead of time with another player to get her character built, her only experience being a 3.5 campaign almost 8 years ago. The other two players had never played any form of table top RPG, though were comfortable with the setting from countless video RPGs. It took us about an hour and half to get their characters built from the core rules. We also had one of the players girlfriend's come over a little bit before we were about to begin, She had never played before either and was fine with using a prebuilt.
When as was done we had a party that consisted of:
Half-Elf Paladin - (newbie player 1)
Half-Elf Sorcerer - (newbie player 2)
Gnome Druid w Tiger companion - (played 8 yrs ago)
Dwarf Bard - (3.0 experienced)
Human Fighter (prebuilt) - (newbie player 3)
I ran the BB dungeon for them, and i will spoiler out the rest as it may reveal plot details.
BB Dungeon:
I had them start out in Sandpoint, The Rusty Dragon, in classic "you are in a tavern..." form.
Eventually meeting the mayor, and the sheriff, and getting some spotty details of attacks in the region, rumors of a great beast, and a large black fang found by a farmer after his cattle were attacked.
On the way to the dungeon i had them ambushed by a few rabid dogs, I wanted to show them the flow of combat before getting right into the dungeon. I am ignoring AoO for now, I will eventually add them in though. We are using the complete set of skills from the core book however, I wanted to start with full character sheets.
The party blew through the first few chambers pretty easily, mostly due to the paladin... He took the greataxe as his weapon, rolled excellent stats and is hitting at +5(STR:4 + BAB:1) for 1d12+6 dmg. One shotting any goblin in his path. (rules lawyers... is there anything i am missing here?)
The goblins in the ambush were destroyed, however none though to inspect the beds for the key to the chest, instead opting to smash it open losing the potion in the process(no one had Disable Device).
The party successfully deciphered the fountain and gained some bonuses, after the fighter charged ahead and drank before thinking about it and took some minuses.
When we got to the trapped chamber the sorcerer thought to mage hand the gem away from the altar before anyone could get close enough to activate the trap. The pally scooped it into his backpack before anyone could examine it. (getting the fire resist bonus though he does not know it)
The sorcerer also likes to cast dancing lights into every room, which eliminated the spider's element of surprise in it's chamber. I am going to have to do something about this in the future.. cantrips, jeeze.
No one could figure out the stone pillar. The druid and fighter got distracted by shinys and the ambush by the reefclaw worked out very nicely.
We then moved on to the goblin throne room and i thought i might be able to get a little bit of roleplay out of them, however they were very much in the "kill it and take its stuff mode." Combat dragged a little bit here when the PC's couldn't roll to hit a thing. Eventually the goblins were vanquished, the wand of CLW used up to heal the party, and the loot successfully looted.
We were pushing 1am by this point so we called it for the night, i liked this point to call it as we still have the "boss" fight to go and i think it will keep the players interested and looking forward to playing again.
My GM abilities are still very much in development, but my players all said they had a fun time, especially the ones who had never played before. They are all looking forward to playing again.
Throughout the game I ended up fudging a little bit here and there, not so much with dice rolls as with rules allowing them to do things they maybe shouldn't have been quite able to. For example: we had noone with Disable device to unlock a chest, and after smashing open the first one and destroying the potions the paladin had the idea to use acid to erode the lock. I couldn't find anything in the rules for this but i figured why not? So i had him roll, he got a 5 so i let him get the treasure out but said the gold got destroyed by the acid. What do you think? Did i stretch too far here?
I am now coming up with ideas for further adventures, the BB GM book has some good plot hooks for adventures around Sandpoint that i may use.
I might also pick up a module, though i haven't decided whether to wait for a lvl 3 module or go with a lvl 1 module. Any recommendations or experiences for further adventuring after the BB?
Well there you have it, part 1 of my Beginner Box Success story. Thank you Paizo for making such an accessible introduction to the world of fantasy roleplaying!
