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Quick question: Is there some neutral meeting place where the gods hang out in canon? I plan to frame my next game as something like The Odyssey, with the gods actively watching the PCs adventures and messing with them or giving them favor. Given this, I want a place where the gods of different and opposing alignments can hang out and chill and play this game with mortals, without a risk of the gods fighting themselves.
Some quick math: a 10th level fighter with 16 strength and a masterworked weapon, which lets face it is absolutely minimalist. Attack +14/+9, so hitting 18 on rolls of 4+ and 9+. That's pretty much as poorly built and equipped I can see a fighter being by 10th level and having survived that long. 85% chance to hit with the first attack and 60% with the second. So lets add in dual wielding. once again a mw weapon for the off hand, and assuming twf and itwf. +12/+12/+7/+7, or 75%/75%/50%/50%. Odds are pretty decent of 2-3 hits per turn with that, and it requires you to build and equip your character fairly poorly. Any halfway decent optimizer on this board can get that much higher without even making an effort. So yeah, I'm not seeing any reason to complain about an 18 ac at 10th level for a dedicated fighter. So how about a rogue? +7/+2, let's say weapon finesse and 16 dex, plus a masterworked shortsword. +11/+6, or 7+(70%)/12+(45%). 70% is not bad odds, and once again this is hardly an optimized build here. Right, time for muscle wizard to cast fist.
I can't speak for the OP, but I suspect the complaining when enemies have AC 18 is less incredibly inefficient builds, and more they hate it when they miss at all. Even if they roll a 2, it's possible they still b$@!+ at the 'GM's OP characters with insane AC!' Some players just don't like dealing with any sort of adversity. If the players don't like adversity at all to the point of complaining about having ANY chance of missing their foes, I think that Pathfinder is a bad choice of system for them to game with. Possibly something diceless would be more their style.
(as Joker) "Wanna see a magic trick?"
Of course, the easiest way to do this would be to have a sorcerer/bloodrager/arcanist with the Destined bloodline. Perfect fit.
I love doing that. If you're dumb and keep making the same mistakes, intelligent enemies are going to flee, regroup, then make a plan based on that tactic. I once saw a game where the PCs kept facing the same core enemies with some new flunkies per encounter. the main enemy was a wizard who DD'd the core enemies out of there when the fight started to go against them. The encounters got progressively harder and harder because the enemy started defending against the party's common attacks and hitting their weak points.
If I were in a game with a "Chosen one" I'd be half inclined to kill them on principle. Sort of a "Screw Destiny" thing. That said, if you wanted you could have a PC be the chosen one for the bad guys and prophesied to bring the end of the world or whatever, then have them go "Screw that!"
Mounted halflings with slings in a big open field. Depending on how badly the party is built, you might even be able to get away with making them something like 3-5th level warriors and still hit reasonably often. Shoot, then ride away, rinse and repeat. If the party has any ranged attacks or method of increasing their speed to match the enemy riding dogs then this tactic will be fairly harmless. If not, they're screwed. Given the range of a sling, any first level character with a crossbow or bow could probably out-range them. Have some enemies attack, then run away. Make it suspicious. If the party runs in headlong then BOOM! ambush. If they do ANYTHING else then have them spot the ambush. Shadows, b!@~&es! Caltrops and archers. Possibly add an oil slick and tripwire if you're feeling mean. Add trip trenches (AKA difficult terrain) to prevent charges. Archers are on an elevated position for higher ground bonus. All of this can be pulled with enemies far lower level and worse equipped than they are. They'll probably win, but the force multiplier of tactics will be a bit scary for them.
Somehow I don't think it will wait the millennia of years you'd need to pull it of. I'd tell it to "Hang around". Hey, if I'm going to die horribly at least I can deserve it!
I've had a lot of success with murder. Korne cares not from where the blood flows, as long as it flows. In all seriousness, I have had an online game destroyed by a problem player before now. I suspect I could have avoided the problem entirely by looking through some previous games the player had been involved in and seeing how they ended...
Step the first: Build a massive crane. Step the second: Harpoon Behemoth. A lot. With big harpoons. Step the third: Hoist Behemoth into the air, facing away from the crane so it cannot spit rocks at it and destroy it. Step the fourth: Pray it doesn't get free. Step the fifth: Invest in rocketry research. Step the sixth: Fire Behemoth into the sun.
If I were capable of ripping reality a new one with powerful magic gained through decades/centuries of study, I'm probably not going to feel inclined to use that power to make life easier for some merchants. I have unraveled the mysteries of the cosmos, why should I listen to some petty king and his self-serving commands? On top of this, remember that a lot of the really powerful spellcasters are going to be former adventurers. Former adventurers who might be sorcerers, and thus not have a vast array of civilian utility spells at their disposals.
I figure that mass siege weapon fire and some wildfire would be their best bet. Sheer numbers wouldn't work, SR makes blood magic unreliable... Alternatively, excavate a VERY large pit trap out of solid stone (so it can't burrow out), lure it in, then fill the pit with oil. Watch it suffocate. (use oil instead of water because oil is less dense, so there's no chance of it floating.)
The first thing to realize is that you have a LOT less hitpoints. a first level character with 6 hp is entirely possible. At low levels, a 1-hit KO is a real risk. The second thing to realize is that spellcasters are an exercise in resource management and planning. Resource management because you have a finite number of spells per day, and planning because when you pick your spells (either learning them as a spontaneous caster or prepping your list for a prep caster) you need to work out what spells will give you the most use, and how to cover as many bases as possible with those spells. Overlapping spells tend to be redundant. The third thing to realize is that not everything deals damage, and sometimes not doing damage is the better option. Battlefield control mages can go through their entire career without inflicting damage, and still be very useful to the group. One other important thing: It's entirely valid to play a character with an emphasis on something other than combat, or even plays against type. A charisma monkey who talks to everyone and intimidates people in combat is workable. A utility mage who specializes in finding ways to bypass problems? Totally valid concept. A wizard who specializes in self buffing and wading into melee? Tough to pull off, but I've seen it done. Don't limit your imagination on this one. Pathfinder characters don't have niches to fill.
And now for something completely different - attack someone with the banana. Hang on, are you supposed to have the banana or are they? @Icyshadow: I smell a story...
"I'm Batman.": Become Batman. (Not sure how, but I am fairly sure someone's done it at some point.)
1) have the rogue sneak into the enemy compound.
Alternatively, organize a political marriage between the princess and a powerful nation that can give you their army to help reclaim the kingdom, which they can then claim because, well, the last blood heir is now part of their royal family, thus giving them the strongest claim to the throne.
Paizo rocks! Also, with the advent of 5th edition of that other game I took the liberty of checking their site out to see if I could buy the PDF and check the system out without having to buy a hard copy. It's a month later and I still have no idea how to buy a PDF from their site if it's possible at all so I've given up. So, thank you Paizo for having an easy to use online store as well. Also, upon talking to my local game store owner about the other game it turns out that they haven't released any GMing material beyond a small PDF hidden somewhere on that mess of a site yet, making the other rule books they've released somewhat redundant as there's no tools for actually making the adventure.
So another thank-you for Paizo: Your product is actually playable after release, rather than having to wait for months for additional material to be brought out. With luck, this advanced business model of having your product be usable after purchase will catch on! One final thing: Thanks for all the detailed options available to players. They're a real help.
You know, that's not exactly helping make Clerics more likable...
My main issue with clerics is this: A Wizard spends decades learning the secrets of the multiverse and uses that knowledge to make reality his b~&~&. A Fighter masters battle, learning to hone his body and skills until his blade is an extension of himself. A Rogue skulks in the shadows with incredible skill, taking advantage of the slightest lapse of their enemies. A Cleric begs someone more powerful to come in and solve their problems for them. See the difference? Made worse at high levels, when while the Wizard can literally create his own world through skill, power, and understanding the universe just that much the Cleric can... ask god to help, pretty please?
You know your DM is out to get you when he starts looking through his books for the disease rules.
There's a conjurer variant that lets you summon mundane equipment out of nothing 3+int times per day.
I forgot.:
Some evil is afoot. We must remain ever vigilant.
I don't have a 'Habit' per say. For some characters I write a short story about a defining point in their lives. For others I have a bunch of dot points. My current character got the bare minimum backstory initially and I'm planning on growing it as I get a feel for their worldview and personality.
"I'm A Changed Man" (don a girdle of gender) Alternative: Not the man I used to be.
It's just a method of weeding out the lazy and inept. Of course it doesn't work, as most presidential candidates have subordinates to be competent for them, but it does stop EVERYONE from signing up.
It's the drop bears, isn't it? That's right. Drop Bears are more common on the east coast, particularly NSW and Victoria.
33. Who dressed you? You're obviously not smart enough to do it yourself. 34. Last time I met someone as ugly as you, they were a zombie.
Look at it this way: what is the worst way that Yellowdingo could possibly screw up with this as his acceptance speech?
Are there any rules for channeling lightning spells through the jet of water?
Yellodingo, you go chase that dream.
All In The Beard: Seduce a dwarf maiden.
Bestow curse: Theme music plays whenever he sneaks.
That's quite a claim...The ten year old me who wanted to marry princess leia just screamed 'Noooo!' it needed to be her in the carbonite. She could have been young forever. That ten year old you is a little bit creepy...
Rogues with the Thug archetype is pretty good for an intimidate build.
Again for intimidate. Excellent debuff, and if you've got friends with more fear effects you can cause some serious chaos. Your caster will love you for imposing a -2 on most enemy saves, too. Try and leverage this into getting them to craft you a + intimidate item or two.
Re: The actual topic - start collecting cursed items and throw them in your pile without telling him. If he does it he'l;l learn the hard way. Girdle of Opposite Gender: Cursed item that will not leave your party crippled if he comes in and steals it, and will be funny as heck to watch besides. Surely buying one "In case of emergency" and leaving it behind the most heavy wall of locks and traps you can reasonably afford is both responsible and prepared. I mean, what if you have to infiltrate an all-girl slumber party to save the world, huh? better to be prepared. Hang a "Do not touch" sign on the safe you store it in, just to be on the safe side. Admission: I played a Drizzt ripoff once. I was maybe 15, halfway through the crystal shard, and significantly less mature than I am now. *hangs head in shame*
But they established earlier in *insert fantasy film of your choice* that magic doesn't work that way on... oh yeah, magic. I'll shut up now.
...my own crippling incompetence!
You know, thinking about it... the cast of characters was perfect. I was overjoyed when each and every one of them died due to their own stupidity and hubris. Needed some Oompa-loompas to sing them out though. That would have improved the movie tremendously.
Wasn't The Phantom Menace supposed to be the best thing ever? Just saying.
He's curious, plus working for Wayland."curious" is not anywhere near an acceptable justification for something like that. Yes, but is it logical to put the crew at risk before you've found out what you can without doing so? I mean, assume that everything had been fine until the poisoning. You've just put the expedition at risk by introducing an unknown chemical/biological whatever to the crew in an uncontrolled environment. Even if as a robot you're confident you're immune to whatever it is in the event it's a communicable disease or the like, it's going to be a pretty boring existence stranded on an uninhabited planet until your power source runs out. Heck, ask for volunteers. I doubt this bunch of screwups have the average brainpower for them all to realize it's a dumb idea to take this stuff. At least a controlled experiment might yield scientifically useful results.
Our last session introduced a cthulhu cultist who joined the group, then ended up turned in by the other players for the bounty. All good since it was a mucking around game, but the character was not a good team member. the player then re-flavored the character, exact same stats, to be a companionable and helpful team member. Only change was personality and alignment, nothing else. The fact that the player was able to pull it off was a testament to how good they are.
Cool, all good advice so far. Of course, overdoing it might scare her off and lets face it there's a world shortage of gamers so that would be bad.
We had one last night. The character was a cthulhu worshiping nutjob. The player nailed it and was a very good sport when we handed him in for the bounty and asked him to tinker with his concept a bit to make the PC play better with others. Still, the session was fantastic and everyone had a bunch of laughs.
These are all valid points... except that Prometheus is part of a much-loved science fiction franchise and as a result it's held to high standard. On top of that it billed itself as a , and once again this raises the bar to the point where C+ just isn't cutting it. Call it hype backlash if you want. |
