FuriousManwich's page

I'm going to echo a few of the other's suggestions here.
#1 pay attention to your players real life actions. Perked up leaning forward is good. Leaning back on the phone, not so much.
#2 have a 'living world plot' that moves along wether the players go with your hook or not.
Ex: They decide not to really care about Bernie's plight of missing daughter. Have her come back possessed and make a ruckus in the tavern that they have to respond too.
#3 Be ready to Improvise.
Anecdotal story: I've been running a 5th Ed game with 6 player only one has any TRPG experience. I've come up with 80% of the sessions on the fly. I have a theme, the background hooks along with their decisions to tie everything together.

#4 Don't get to caught up on your story, it is the tables story. You aren't their to monologue to them or make them play our your fanfic fantasy novel.

EX:
I put a minor demon in front of them with a demon hunter coming to their aid at the last moment. He was part of clandestine order that I had given backstory and fleshed out a hierarchy hoping to get them into a demon hunting campaign similar to Supernatural. He informed them of a city where he operates nearby and they turned joining him down. They went to the city and instantly wanted an 'adventurers guild' and asked for certain jobs. Been a blast since then tying their decisions into a story.

You have a great start but let them help you do some lifting with their backgrounds and motives.

Demons and Devils have a chance of being able to cast wish/have loot.
Betsy has a broom.

Early on as a GM I let a group out of a TPK by changing some enemy tactics and fudging roles, giving the 3 last players enough time to get the 2 downed players out of the encounter area and didn't have the enemies pursue. It felt cheap to me and I came to learn it felt cheap to the players as well. I play the enemies with smart tactics and in they don't let up in less the BBEG had plans for capture. One thing I do is the classic "Are you sure?"

As a player I was recently involved in a home game where du to poor tacticts (bunched up real close in a hallway) an animal companion and ranger died, the Gunslinger died, my Paladin was unconscious for 2 rounds before our oracle got me up and I had a lucky crit on the BBEG to kill himbefore dying. After BBEG was dead the mooks ran, and the GM inserted that a 8th level Oracle could raise one character and the grateful spirit of the elf lord who's tomb we were cleansing raised the other three. Felt so dirty after.

Magic in LotR is much more subtle than Pathfinder magic.

For Gandalf: I would go with Enchantment and "Buffing" type spells like Charm Person/Monster, Dominate, Suggestion and Bless, Bane.
Remember that Gandalf and the other Istari were sent to "rally" the goodly races to fight against Sauron and not oppose him directly.

For Sauron: A lot of the same above and also some Alter Self, depending if it was before his physical body died or not.

I am throwing my voice in with DM_Blake and the others, focus on the mechanics you will need before going from cover to cover in a certain book order.
When I started here's what I did:
#1 Combat Rules in and out. This is a pretty dense set of rules that everyone has to interact with. Getting things wrong here can have pretty big impacts at the table.
#2 Classes of your players: read through them yourself also take a look at the Guide to the Guides so you are familiar with the optimized options in those classes.
#3 Building an Encounter rules: I read these then looked at an Adventure Path so I could see how it added in. (Not Perfect but it helps)

Last I went to YouTube to look at some DM's in action. The best I've seen so far is Matt Mercer from Critical Role. They play 5e now but started in PF.

The rule of cool and fun won out over if an undead would be eaten. I really like the idea of something else finding and inhabiting the armor and becoming part of the GraveKnight.

Thanks everyone for the input.

Thanks for the input everyone.

@Adagna
There is a 5% cumulative chance what is in the bag can be spit out on another plane.

@DM_Blake
The GK had dropped 2 party members who were bait for the Ranger's set up, and the bag failed to swallow in the first attempt. The players also failed to declare anyone picked the bag back up before they left so I am going to be holding them to that.
I also talked with them about the cheese factor and now that the enemies know this capability there will be new tactics like incorporeal/ranged/casters.

The GK night was a champion of the enemy, so u feel like spending the resources for a wish/miracle to get him back is feesible

Hello all,
First, this is a home game and I very much stand by the 'Rule of Cool' and like players to think outside of the box. Also what has happened has happened and if I missed a rule and it wasn't supposed, such is life but there is no retconning.

I have an (what I believe anyway) interesting situation involving players using a Bag of Devouring to defeat a GraveKnight [GK].

A Ranger in the party got on to a ledge above the GK, and readied an action to Jump down and put the bag on the GK head.
The Ranger succeeded and the GK is sucked in.

Here is where I need advice, the bag destroys the body of what it eats and AFAIK spits out the inorganic matter so all the armor. No the armor is what the regenerative abilities are based on.

Is is unfair of me to keep this GK as a recurring villain or should I rule him out?

As always thank you for your input.

Just call me the Necromancer (Sauron reference) cause I'm resurrecting this thread.

This challenge may be to much to fit into the mechanics of any system that isnt specifically designed to house it (I feel something more skills based like L5R, Savage Worlds or World of Darkness would fit best.)
The setting has to be looked at as a whole just like we look at Golarion as a whole. It is an epic setting with mythic heroes and villains abound that surpass Golarion.

Though, I can appreciate the arguments that make claims of it being lower level, and if that is how you would run a conversion more power to you.

I don't see it though. And here is a wall of text as too why

Tl;dr.
Tolkien put a great amount of time and effort creating Middle Earth and it's story. It borrows from the myth and legends of man and lends itself to our modern fantasy, arguably setting the table for it to evolve the way it has and probably could be counted in the pieces of inpiration for Gargy Gygax and David Arnesson. Like any setting there are "low" level beings and "high" level beings. The heroes of the books are all epic though. Just seeing their deeds on film or in your minds eye has to be evidence enough of that. When I have as much system mastery as I have middle earth lore mastery I will be back to link a doc or something.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

Thank you again guys (?).
I've been DM'ING for a bit and I just may have always inadvertently had groups like yours Stranger, where everyone agreed on good. We have talked before I posted the original question and since and she understands that actions have consequences and while only a couple acts have been "evil" she may be in danger of really jeopardizing her and the groups experience (as they were unaware and characters that she stole the ancestral knife.)

Again, super appreciative of the feedback.

@DM_Blake: I haven't been proof reading my posts, so yeah at second glance I can see how that is confusing and unclear. You got it right, though about the fleeing. Again, thanks for the input.

@Mysterious Stranger: I appreciate the input on real behaviors and will consider them for use in the future. We'll just say my fantasy wolves are different from real world wolves. In my head (and on his sheet) the Ranger had a wolf as its companion and had trained the others to patrol an area and investigate then signal if they found something (Imagine Chis Pratts characer from Jurassic World). Mechanically to back this up he had an item he could use to cast "speak with animals" so in my head it works out.
You are correct and I agree defending yourself isn't evil and in this case the theft was more petty than evil. If this behavior continues though, what would you do Stranger, in game and out?

Also, while I have your attention here is a wall of text:
The group was heading through a forest from point A on one side to Town B on the other. During a rainy night they heard wold howls and prepared for a possible encounter.
(This may be dirty on my part but I set this as a way to see what the party would do)
Wolves showed up and the character's started shooting as soon as they could make them out. The wolves moved away, but bows can shoot a decent distance. The wolves attempted to defend themselves but we're killed. Hearing the sounds of hurt animals a Ranger shows up and fires a s&@# and yells at the players (everyone failed perceptions) they attacked and "captured the ranger.
When he awoke he was upset as the wolves were actually domesticated. Everyone but the rogue decided to help bury the wolves in an attempt to reconcile. She left to go rob his camp. The ranger will notice this.

Should he come after her and demand recompense?

#1 Thanks for the input everyone. This is my DM sounding board because the other DM's I know are players in this game.
I haven't made any changes to her character, nor would I. I also feel like this is neutral with evil overtones, but the trend is there.

A couple of clarifying points that I should have included in my original post.

-This is a new player to our group and I gather that in her past groups they murder hobo'd about in all there campaigns, so it may be due to adjustment.
-There was a "Session 0" where alignment was discussed and there is an understanding that it is a liquid thing with benefits and consequences.

Players Actions:
In the span of 2 sessions CN Neutral Rogue has so far stabbed an unarmed halfling in an attempt to get informationew (no hesitation or remorse), wanted to kill an unarmed and tied up half orc ranger, when that wasn't successful she robbed him of an ancestral dagger/armor and half his money(no hestation or remorse.)

The Question:
This to me is on it's way to evil, how many more acts until I change her alignment?

Bonus Questions:
How would you tell her she has had her alignment changed?
Would it be to much for the Ranger to seek retribution and if he captures her, chop of her hands Code of Hammurabi status?

Thanks for the input. You pretty much nailed those contingencies. This is the first time I've DM'd a group outside my normal experienced group that has high mastery. It's been a while since I had to scale back.

Edit: Everyone is faster at giving input than I am at responding. All great stuff. I do like the dynamic traps and will actually do something like that in this game.

Thanks so much everyone.

Thanks guys. Agreed, the DM before has allowed them to retreat or rest after each encounter with no repercussions and didn't really have pro active NPC enemies.

If they employ good tactics this should be a pretty manageable day. I have contingencies planned to ramp up or down.

Also the goal isn't to kill or maim them directly but let them see those possibilities as well as look at resource management.

I took over a group and Im breaking them into longer than "15 minute" adventuring day and I would like input on what I have set up.
There are 6-7 lvl 3 players, so APL 4. I have set up so far an encounter with 4 wolves and 1 Worg at the entrance of a cave. If they go into the cave there will be 2 pit traps and still further in is a lvl 3 cleric of Urgathoa a Worg and a bandit with a shortbow from the NPC codex.

All in all its about 3600 to 4000 xp for the whole day.

The group:
Warforged fighter (used 3.5 race)
Xeph Mind blade. (Again 3.5 race/class)
Half elf Bard
Elf Gunslinger
Grippli swashbuckler
Samsaran Rogue
Sometimes a Half Elf Investigator

System mastery is low to medium and none are optimizers except the Warforged, but his mastery is low so it's not overly powerful.

Tl;Dr
Inherited a large hodgepodge group of fairly new players. Want to do more than one encounter in a day. Is my string of encounters above to much?

I'm sorry for your loss. I know that animal companions are sometimes even better than regular companions, I mean I'm sure he only took that critical in an effort to protect you not because you were placing the animal in danger.

Take the proper time to mourn, then take a solid day to pray and nature will provide with a new companion.

I either make my own lists or get lists from online for names and possible cool titles. If the players get inquisitive I assign a name to the NPC in question. Players seem to really like it.

I was suggesting halfling for the medium mount. Rangers turn into mobile turrets when mounted and it is easier to get around on a medium mount.

I have a friend that played barbarian/sorcerer into dragon disciple prc that did really well. Using regular mukticlass rules btw.

Vanilla Paladin can wreck this AP (I DM'd it.)

I vote halfling switch hitting Paladin/Ranger Paladin/Cavalier with a wolf/war dog mount.

I would do a build but I don't like the idea of gestalt (just too much... everything) so I've never done one.

Also I don't see a way to do it unless you have some epic point buy. His only low Stat wold be Wisdom, because he's impulsive.

I finished all of the "Blood of Aenarion" Trilogy and the "End of Times" series.
He has a very interesting path. So it kind of depends when in his life you are playing him.
Fighter early.
Paladin Mid to Late.

And other options and explanations in spoiler.
Also Sunfang is a one hander in the novels

1st instinct is to go with PCs.

It is hard to answer though because there are a lot of variables to consider like party make up, builds, is WBL being followed, does the NPC get PC WBL etc. etc.

What do you need advice about? I see no question marks in your post, so it's hard to know where to start/what to say.

A few questions, what AP? Do you have a general idea of his build? What are some of his successfull tactics right now?

I went through something similar in Wrath of the Righteous with a Paladin that crushed moat everything. Since it was a home game I was bumping HP, adding a mix of range and caster mooks, using terrain rules to make things more tactical.

I love Mass Effect and wanted to run a game in the Mass Effect universe. I tried to create some stuff but it was sod tough to balance then a flash hit me. I just re skinned 4e for my Mass Effect game, and in all honesty reskinning is the easiest most balaced way.

Maybe start with one of the above mentioned classes and make small modifications to it. Your GM seems not be cool to let you even broach the subject of home brewing a whole class so this may be an easier way to sell it.

I spoke too early, you aren't in the minirity. You aren't in the majority either as it is still debatable how the text of the spell works. As each person considers what constitutes as one command or service, and if within performing a command would other commands override the first command.

Also did you ever answer my hypothetical about what a 5th level Wizard (played by you) given the choice of fighting a 5th lvl Ranger, Barbarian, Rogue, Wizard 《all parties using optimized builds from the guides》 or backing down?

Anzyr, Code Geass has nothing to do with Pathfinder or my question so it's irrelevant as a backing for your argumentation.

Anzyr how you are arguing gives me the impression that you just don't understand (or don't like) the concept of "spirit of the game." Yes you can find combos in the rules or use gray areas and argue the English language (which is a joke,) but should you?
Your argument about English is poor because of this:
###1)
With no exposition I've asked 12 people (not a huge sample size I know) "Is obey me for x days, one command or multiple commands?" 10 out of 12 said multiple commands. Mainly citing any further instructions is a new command. The other 2 were gaming buddies and with a twinkle in their eye they said "yep, just one." (They've had this argument before.)

So as you can see you are on the minority side of "this is how English makes this sentence have to be interpreted."

Would you compromise at a table... I let you have your multiple days, but I control the Geased NPC and interpreting the Geas and any commands given within is up to me?.

5th level wizard Anzyr is condesxending in the local bar. There is a group of adventurers there consisting of 4 5th level members (use most optimized builds from the guides cause Anzyr will be optimized), Ranger, Monk, Barbarian and Wizard. They take offense and want words out side or he apologise.

Are you shut down then Anzyr or do you let it go to blows?

I clicked on the thread because I've read a few of Neal's guides and thought they were fun reads. Then I see the thread take a detour in a very entertaininging fashion. Now after reading everything I am glad I left Pathfinder for other systems as players like Anzyr ruin fun by being just creative enough get a broken combo but not creative enough to do anything else. If I ever play PF at any public events and this explosive rune trick starts to surface I'm just going to leave out of disgust because I may be playing with Anzyr.

This is a cool combo. It reminds me of Harry Potter-esque magic in that it's an application of critical thinking to magic.

As a GM I'd have to treat it on a case by case basis in determining how many actions you need to accomplish this, and as a Jerk move try to trick you into not saying you apply the spell to yourself, but of course it's all a ruse to watch the blood drain from your face as you come to grips with the death of your character by Feather fall.

Also as a GM on the second insinstance of this massive Earth shattering damage you may just unleash the Terrasque from prison.

Edit: I wouldn't actually kill the PC

If you read the hushing arrow entry it specifically mentions hushing bolts and greater hushing bolts having the same stats except the weigh 1/10th of a pound not 1/20th.

Back to the OP:
I've never attempted what you are trying in PFS and I am by no means a final word on the rules. So say you get this, what is the next step in your build? Anymore "hidden gems"?

Ah, got caught thinking to hard and missed the tree for the forest.

Maybe I don't understand your goal and endgame because I don't see your build. I see a flaw in your understanding of Paragon Surge giving you the ability to choose a feat that has a prerequisite of Human. Maybe I am missing a ruling from somewhere but I don't see the spell saying you counted as human or elf the feat selection piece.

"You surge with ancestral power, temporarily embodying all the strengths of both elvenkind and humankind simultaneously, and transforming into a paragon of both races, something greater than elf or human alone. Unlike with most polymorph effects, your basic form does not change, so you keep all extraordinary and supernatural abilities of your half-elven form as well as all of your gear.

For the duration of the spell, you receive a +2 enhancement bonus to Dexterity and Intelligence and are treated as if you possessed any one feat for which you meet the prerequisites, chosen when you cast this spell."

Can you shed light on how you see this working?

Are you starting as Human-> Racial heritage(Half-Elf) Paragon surge:racial hertage(something else)?

[/quote=Kudaku]While there are several design decisions in the Warpriest that I disagree with, the Sacred Weapon die mechanics isn't one of them. It's not intended to be a DPS boost across the board, but rather an option that lets players who want to use thematically appropriate but mechanically inferior favored weapons do so without shooting themselves in the foot.

More elegant way of putting what I was trying to say.

I feel it's a pretty decent class feature still and you can build some good characters and, stepping away from optimization it can be a great rp catalyst.

You actually missed a pretty important line. From page 61 of the ACG.

The warpriest can decide to use the weapon’s base damage of the sacred weapon damage—this must be declared before the attack roll is made. (If the weapon’s base damage exceeds the sacred weapon damage, its damage is unchanged.) This increase in damage does not affect any other aspect of the weapon, and doesn’t apply to alchemical items, bombs, or other weapons that only deal energy damage.

Edit: so while your question is still valid it is important to see that thus ability adds versatility like many others are saying. Carry around a Kukri that has the big crit range and 1d6, eventually more.

Background: Talking tactics to use against players/as players. Some options that came up were very powerful (in my opinion)

I now know you aren't required to "carpet" the whole area. As a GM a wouldn't I want to 90% of the time.

Example: Evil forces want to take out some innocents, party of 6 (3 casters able to shoot some fireballs and cast silence, and 3 rangers FE humans using bows) Said party goes to a busy city market (1 person per square) and cast some silence on, say rocks, then tosses them in the crowd then cast fireballs right after, whoever saves and isn't dead is mopped up by the Rangers. You've essentially killed/injured 132 people without a big ruckus. That seems powerful to me.

One could say I'm using a strawman/hyperbole/exaggeration to makes this seem bad but that doesn't seem to drastic to me.

So very simple question, but it seems like an oversight,

I'm not sure how this slipped by me so long, but does it really mean radius in spells? Take silence for example, 20 ft radius would mean 40 ft diameter or something like ~1256sq ft. That just seems like an overly large area.

This may get this moved to House Rules, does anyone else substitute diameter?

Sorry if I hit on something already covered...

First read through of RAW and RAI, there is no way to do it and keep abilities so I agree with the statement "yes, but you lose your paladin abilities."
I'm not a fan of the twisting of words and hard core break down of legalese that is going on to justify the worship of an evil deity. Clearly it was meant to be a class that worships lawful good deities. I would argue that a paladin would realize he's in the wrong when he detects evil in the first major temple he visits and is blinded by all other holy servitors radiating evil.

As an aside to the original post, but in response to the original poster that he isn't into the role play but mechanics of the game:
In my opinion, you are breezing by an amazing rp experience here that is far outside the normal "Dudley Doright" role.
I, as a GM, would allow you this if you justified it in background and role played the internal conflict of being LG but worshiping an Evil god. I play the role of deity, thus the one granting you powers. I see it as entirely feasible for an "Asmodeus" style/type of god to give the abilities of a paladin to further their goals.

I do it when playing my favorites were/are
Warpriest of Pharasma had a dagger named 'Whisper'
Swashbuckler had a wounding rapier named 'Thirst'
Cleric with earthbreaker named 'Crusher'

As a DM in my WotR campaign, I ran a "give your weapon a story/name" contest and after becoming mythic all but the paladin who had 'Radiance' & the wizard (4 of 6) took the legendary item path ability. Also saw an increase of role playing combat.

To sum up, I am a fan and will look for ways to work things like this in any future games.

DM Says: I'm going to audit you character's.
DM Means: How can I get some balance back.

DM Says: Be leveled by next session.
DM Means: Bother me with your questions now so we can play on time.

DM Says: Core races only.
DM Means: I don't want to role play how no one knows what race you are for an entire campaign.

Clerics are my class of choice. There isn't a lot more than making sure get your wisdom up enough to cast the higher level spells. I like making my clerics more support based because dead enemies do no damage while an enemy with 1 he left can still crit.

Any way, biggest thing I missed as a new player was the utility of scrolls and wands of the cure spells. It allows you to heal more than just your spells per day.

I am running it for a max party of 6 & 5 is what shows up most of the time. I've found maxing out HP on existing enemies and adding a few extra is helpful. Especially once you reach the surface give the mini bosses some thugs to hang around with. They get overwhelmed and dominated in the action economy. Also I track their XP because of the semi rotating door of players and level them that way.

Right before the Defender's Heart, which the players can't ever remember so they call it Heartbreak Ridge.

Sword Maiden Elideen - Human/F Paladin of Iomadae (Guardian)
Justicar Braeson - Human/M Inquisitor of Iomadae (Hierophant)
Sister Syrehn GoodHealing - Human/F Cleric of the DM (Hierophant)
Darius Titus - Aasimar/M Wizard (Archmage)
The Green Bomber - Half-Orc/M Alchemist (Trickster)
The New Guy - Human/M Fighter (Champion)

They almost had half the party killed taking on the evil mongrel men. The two clerics came out and commanded two members to flee and next round critted the NPC's...I allowed some metagaming so the pally could comeback and save the party.

Joanna Swiftblade: Dragonlance reference?

I'll look those up and take it into consideration. Thanks