FarmerGiles's page

I've been getting tired of the standard big bad sorcerer standard villain and have been working on a new more subversive antagonistic foe for my campaigns. It's still got a lot of workshopping to do (especially on balancing the racial abilities) but I think it could make for some more interesting games involving cloak and dagger subterfuge instead of just rush in, clear the dungeon, grab the junk. I'd really appreciate some input on my concept.

Ratkin

Listen my children and remember what I tell you. The other races think we are humans but your eyes and noses can tell your own kin. You must never allow a non-kin to know of us because they have innate hatred for the rat. Whenever we’ve been discovered we’ve been persecuted, banished, killed. One day we will teach them to tolerate our ways but much work is yet to be done. When they talk about the importance of tradition know they intend to kill your brothers. When they tolerate the orc, when they tolerate the decadence among themselves, only then will they tolerate the rat.
-a Ratkin mother to her brood of children

A mischief of rats

Hidden within human societies lurks a tribe who have carved a niche profiting from the vice and decadence of the surrounding culture. Proprietors of brothels and gambling dens, moneylenders, publishers of tabloids, actors, merchants, even criminal attorneys and guild leaders, Ratkin do not fare well in healthy societies with strong traditional moral values. Ratkin prefer to live in cities where corruption is endemic and there is plenty of opportunity to profit from criminal or decadent activity. That is not to say Ratkin are eager to actually go out and commit crimes themselves, the risk is usually too high and rewards are too low, but immorality creates countless opportunities for Ratkin to profit.

Rather than be satisfied with the level of vice around them, Ratkin are constantly scheming to undermine the stability and moral values of the area they infest. To do this they make efforts to replace the society’s traditional morals with moral systems designed by Ratkin which will make other races more likely to fall into decadent activity. By subversively undermining institutions surrounding sex and marriage they increase patronage of institutions of vice and create children who will grow up without fathers and will be ripe for manipulation into even greater vice. By undermining communal support structures they make people more desperate and willing to sacrifice long-term goals in exchange for short time survival by engaging in activities such as borrowing money at interest, prostitution, gambling, and crime.

Ratkin believe that repression of impulses toward vice, high-investment parenting, and relying on collective strategies to benefit a group are pathological. Ironically (hypocritically?) Ratkin seldom waste resources on engaging in vices themselves, spend substantial resources making sure their children are educated and prepared for the hostile world that awaits, and possess a tightly knit highly nepotistic kin group. If a local human captain of the guard secures a promotion for a competent and hardworking nephew the nepotism will infuriate Ratkin, but if a Ratkin secures a promotion for another Ratkin then it seems only sensible to a Ratkin that they would help out their own people. Ratkin are generally happy to pool their resources to buy one of their members into a prestigious school or guarantee a powerful position because the kin they send there will be a resource for their community later. They will attempt to stop other races from doing similar things (or encourage them to borrow large sums at interest for these opportunities) because much of the Ratkin’s power comes from maintaining a closely knit community while other races become atomized and lacking in larger social support structures.

Ratkin believe that by subverting norms they are actually helping the society by changing it into something more enjoyable for its members and (in the eyes of Ratkin) more moral. Ratkin cannot understand why other races would want to fight against this moral subversion and always interpret such efforts as pathological hostility, hatred, or ignorance. If a member of another race calls out Ratkin for what they are Ratkin will respond by convincing others that the individual suffers from madness.
Ratkin Stats:

Description:
Ratkin look nearly identical to humans except for a slightly longer nose, slightly more sunken eyes, and a slightly less muscular physique. They usually have either dark or red hair. The females tend to be buxom and are often willing to engage in seduction if they believe it can get them something they want such as the resources of a wealthy or powerful man.

Ratkin tend to have long lifespans (90-120 years) though they reach adulthood at 13 are typically infertile by age 40. The long period of healthy life after the direct children are grown allows an older Ratkin a lot of time to scheme to improve the lot of the tribe as a whole. As a Ratkin ages beyond 80 he starts to take on a sickly appearance with many liver spots and skin hanging loosely off of the face but he retains his cunning up until death. Many centuries ago Ratkin were kicked out of their own territory and they have spent that entire time learning to thrive as a diaspora among other races (mostly humans).

Pathfinder:
Male/female names: Ratkin tend to take names from their surrounding society in order to blend in and not attract notice.

Ability Score Racial Traits: Ratkin are cunning and manipulative, but physically weak. They gain +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma, and -2 Strength

Size: Ratkin are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Type: Ratkin are Humanoids with the Ratkin subtype
Base Speed: Ratkin have a base speed of 30 feet
Languages: Ratkin begin speaking Common and Ratspeak. Ratkin with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon

Hide in society: Ratkin receive a +10 racial bonus to disguise themselves as humans. This bonus does not apply to attempts to spot them done by other Ratkin.
Disease resistance: Ratkin receive a +4 racial bonus on fortitude saves vs diseases
Greed: Ratkin receive a +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks made to determine the price of non-magical goods that contain precious metals or gemstones
Low-light vision: Ratkin can see twice as far as humans in doncitions of dim light
Keen Senses: Ratkin receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Hypergraphia: Ratkin receive a +4 racial bonus on any Bluff, Craft, Profession, or Deceive check involving creating a written document
The Big Book of Ratkin Tricks (plot hooks):

-Create a shortage of a vital commodity either by hoarding it or sabotaging the supply of it and then lend money at substantial interest to people desperate for the commodity.

-Sell construction project to locals that will require the importation of large numbers of foreign men. When there are more men than women in an area the single men will patron brothels and gambling dens and Ratfolk can profit on both ends.

-Arrange orc workers to come into a city to undercut wages of human workers then stir up resentment between the rival workforces and profit from hiring workers at cheaper wages, being advocates for the workers arrested for violence, and from any criminal activity the orcs could be manipulated into.

-Post as a doctor and during a sickness (either caused by the Rakin or not) suggest that the sickness is caused by the cultural repression of desires and that the remedy is to engage freely in those desires. When people wantonly engage in vice and are justified by medical advice Ratfolk are bound to profit.

-Start war between two rival groups and lend money at interest to finance both sides

-Encourage the youth to engage in some kind of self-destructive behavior (drugs, blood magic, orc culture, etc) and then charge noble families exorbitant amounts of money to rehabilitate their children.

Institute for Cultural Review

Ratkin like to form organizations that are outwardly philanthropic or scientific but inwardly are concerned with manipulating the behavior of other races to better serve Ratkin.

Yes, but remember you only gain the bonus for wielding it one handed.

If it's doing double damage on a charge plus a touch attack I don't think anyone is going to be too bothered that it only gets 1x str bonus instead of 1.5x.

Is there a way to do that though? I dug up this thread but I don't really see a conclusion.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2n9ru?Spellstrike-Mounted-Charge-Shocking-Grasp

Spell Combat: At 1st level, a magus learns to cast spells and wield his weapons at the same time. This functions much like two-weapon fighting, but the off-hand weapon is a spell that is being cast. To use this ability, the magus must have one hand free)even if the spell being cast does not have somatic components), while wielding a light or one-handed melee weapon in the other hand.

A lance is a two-handed weapon but is wielded in one hand while mounted so presumably the off hand would be free. Does this mean a magus can use spell combat and his lance as a reach weapon to fight from a mount even though a lance is ordinarily a two-handed weapon?

I suppose you would still need to make a ride check to control your mount with both hands occupied, and this would also require some kind of concentration check to cast while making ride checks?

Of the examples listed in the skill description, I think Barrister may be the best for a noble, for familiarity with your country's legal system.

Actually, most of a soldier's job isn't on the battle field. It is drill, uniform maintenance, digging latrines, setting up camp, standing watch, etc.

The BAB and proficiencies the Warrior class gets are sufficient to represent "expected to kill people and prevent from getting killed."

Profession- Soldier, to me, is about all the other things you do 90% of the time.

So can I use ranks in Profession: Soldiers to make bed-making checks?

Also isn't Lawful Evil alignment a prerequisite for Barrister or is that only for professional solicitors?

For the same reason a vorpal sword goes "snicker-snack".

Sen Bloodtalon wrote:

Great, now I'm gonna have to do a pants campaign. The only magical items will be belts, pants, and maybe belt buckles.

Don't forget the Handy Fannypack.

-10 to all Charisma based checks to be taken seriously.

Underpants of Protection +1
Usable only by Mormons

Should have been a cleric, they always attack diagonally.

Not until the next morning.

LazarX wrote:

Katydid wrote:

Say goodbye to Weapon Cords and hello to Gun Twirl! :p

Although it does require three feats above the previous weapon-cord shenanigans, you can do the same thing with Dazzling Display, Weapon Focus, Quick Draw and Gun Twirl.

Although drawing, twirling, and holstering several different pistols as you reload and fire sounds so frickin' badass I'd forgive the extra feats.

I don't see where Gun Twirl helps you in the reloading department.

The problem with dual wielding firearms is that you need a free hand to reload a gun.

The easiest solution here is to have 4 arms.

I've always thought it made more sense for "anti-paladins" to be Lawful Evil. IMO they should be the reliable servants of evil gods, not the bizarro version of paladins.

Being 'lawful' in the alignment sense has nothing to do with following the often arbitrary and chaotic secular laws of the land. A lawful-neutral modron does not start believing that pi is equal to 3.0 just because the local magistrate passed a law to make it so.

Have you considered taking it to a taxidermist and then making it a long term tourist attraction for the city?

A dragon makes sense here, last night my party attempted to drag a bugbear back to town and sell the carcass.

Monks are not Paladins.

I've always been under the impression the "lawful"ness of monks comes from the extreme dedication and mental focus that developing those skills requires and has nothing to do with whether or not he follows any particular laws.

So a monk that doesn't have the internal motivation and focus to wake up before dawn without hitting his snooze button 15 times is no longer "lawful" as in focused enough to improve his monk training.

If you play a monk that wants to go around breaking laws then that's fine. As long as he can maintain his own mental focus then he's still lawful in a meaningful sense. Should he ever start sleeping in and lose mental focus the drunken master is a perfectly acceptable prestige class.

Of course he can't come back either, that would take magic.

Is he going to sign some kind of magical "do not resurrectitate" card?

FarmerGiles wrote:

Cheese of regeneration:

Each bite of this cheese causes the eater to regenerate 1hp/rnd for 3 minutes. The cheese itself also regenerates unless exposed to fire or acid.
Drawbacks - This is troll cheese made from troll milk. Taking a bite requires a nontrivial will save. Eating more than one bite per day provokes a fortitude save against dex and con loss in addition to nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea.

And of course there's always the risk of having a troll regenerate inside you. That always sucks.

Trolls don't reproduce by cheese. Worst that happens is your stomach acid is too weak to disable the cheese's regenerative properties and it regenerates and obstructs your bowels. But it's either that or healing magic so...

Cheese of regeneration:
Each bite of this cheese causes the eater to regenerate 1hp/rnd for 3 minutes. The cheese itself also regenerates unless exposed to fire or acid.
Drawbacks - This is troll cheese made from troll milk. Taking a bite requires a nontrivial will save. Eating more than one bite per day provokes a fortitude save against dex and con loss in addition to nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea.

Isn't being "anti magic" in Pathfinder the equivalent of being anti-science IRL? Your character is basically the Pathfinder version of an anti-vaccine nut. I see 3 options:

1) Have your character very nearly die of something very easily treatable with basic healing magic then agree to treatment at the last minute and have a change of heart about magic being ok sometimes.

2) Let your idiot character die and roll one that is less insane

3) In Pathfinder arcane and divine magic are fairly well separated. What if your character hated arcane magic but was comfortable with divine magic? IIRC that was the norm in the setting for Iron Kingdoms.

Ring of Cure Light Wounds? Eh.

Ring of Cause Light Wounds? Absolutely, great for handshakes.

If I'm the DM no fire and frost at the same time.

But the party may encounter a weapon of random elements.

Roll a d6 to determine if extra damage is: fire, cold, acid, electricity, negative energy, positive energy.

Advantage: better chance the enemy won't have resistance to the attack
Disadvantage: 1 in 6 chance of healing enemy

Hypothetically what would be the difficulty rating to identify an otyugh by smell alone?

Though, honestly, my favorites are... celestials. I just don't consider them "monsters".

Planescape: Torment

Ooze familiar, wear it like a brain slug.

No one will ever forget that.

+1

Shut up and take my money!

Hey, they're also flammable! For shame!

** spoiler omitted **

That's a feature and also why I have to run my red dragon hunt campaign in a firepit outside.

I don't think "falling" is considered a "free action".

Dropping held objects when panicked happens on your turn, I believe.

Agreed, if one of my party members is pushed off a cliff they hang around in mid-air until their turn like Wile-e-coyote.

Argoyle the Bargoyle
Drunken old crone who enjoys making the younger patrons of the tavern uncomfortable with inappropriate advances.

The children Goblins run out from school (learning to write) and were smashed to bits, and the village Elder was put inside a flaming sphere while he begged for his town with tears in his eyes.

1 Day and 1 Night spent in the service of the community, a farmer or a builder. He must labour until exhausted, praying the whole time to Erastil for forgiveness. Plus 100GP donation to the local church.

"I slaughtered a bunch of children and tortured an old man to death with fire ... so 24 hours community service and $100 fine and I can get my record expunged right?"

Yeah that sounds about right, you're good.

I doubt there is a specific rule for this but it seems as though if the weapon is within your reach (eg he attacked you with it this round) then you should be able to attempt to disarm. If the weapon isn't swinging at you and out of your reach then you can't.

aegrisomnia wrote:

A paladin that kicks one puppy can kiss smite goodbye.

Unless its a demon puppy,

No such thing, all dogs to go the upper planes.

The lower str damage bonus for a finesse fighter is balanced out with the finesse fighter's higher dex bonus to AC and reflex save. A single feat giving the damage and AC bonus to the same ability is a balance issue.

A burrow of kobolds. No class levels or special abilities, just a burrow of a couple dozen kobolds properly entrenched and prepared to repel invasion should be a nearly epic level encounter.

Assuming the party somehow manages to climb the narrow greased tunnels while flaming barrels full of explosives and acid and ballista bolts rain down on them they'll reach a sealed wall of iron and stone several meters thick in front while the collapsing tunnel quickly fills up with boiling water and poisonous gas from behind.

Sure, maybe they'll prepare some kind of extended ethereal jaunt or teleport straight into the central burrow but against CR1/8 creatures will they or will they underestimate the little guys and walk in expecting an easy fight?