Gentleman Wizard's page

I'll probably be looking to have half decent INT & CHA for the Panache and also to potentially help fill in as the party face. I'm also thinking I might pick up 'Antagonize' to try pull enemies away from the party wizard (should they go after him of course).

You'll have no trouble fitting in. Even a vanilla rogue can "cut it" in this AP. At least for the first two books, which is as far as we got when I ran it.

Your potential as a party face will be useful in town settings and other RP situations. You should be able to contribute to combat in meaningful ways. I recommend you invest a little bit in stealth if possible.

Your idea to "Antagonize" foes and support your weaker party members sounds like a fun concept and will likely prove useful on more than one occasion. It might get a little boring however, so I wouldn't invest too many resources in that particular role.

Good luck. I'm sure you'll have a blast!

Would having this very strong, irrational attachment to your item really make you disregard completely your own life, and that of your comrades? Written down it actually makes more sense that it seemed at the time, but how do you guys play it?

No, it doesn't make sense. In a more serious game you would have a right to complain, but I'm sure your GM (and the other players) got a few good laughs out of your clownish (GM required) behavior.

If it continues to irritate you, just let your GM know that it does. He probably knows (deep down) that he was just having a bit of fun with you and would probably be willing to stop.

You've got some decent plans, I think if the GM wanted you to escape (or was at least open to the possibility) they would have a fair chance of working, especially if the rest of the party pitched in with distractions and the like.

One possibility, however, is that your GM intends to keep you here for some time as part of their overarching plot. After a few more arena fights you may be approached by other inmates to attempt something like a prison riot or high-stakes breakout. Even if this is the case, some would argue that your GM "should" let you have a chance at escaping on your own. Just know that you might get a wrist slap and end up in separate cells if the security is really tight and escape is not in your GM's itinerary for that evening.

As my two cents for an escape plan: Once you have that guard switched with you (since you are evil) cut his tongue out. Then have the party call for other guards and claim that one of their comrades attempted to commit suicide. They will probably open the bars if only to let an arena cleric in to heal him.

At this point you can all attack. Ideally you'll have slipped a few small weapons (even rocks will do) to your comrades through the bars. Your character should get surprise if he is well disguised. Then you can all change into guard (or Arena cleric) gear and make your escape.

Best of luck in your breakout.

I am an avid Starcraft 2 player and I love the Zerg. I was thinking about creating a campaign revolving around the race. There are a lot of insect creatures in Pathfinder and I was thinking about finding a way to bring them all together for a Zerg centered campaign. Here are some ideas that I had to make the campaign.

Just so I have it straight: You plan on running a Pathfinder campaign (set in Golarion or another vanilla fantasy realm) with the addition of the Zerg from the Starcraft series and you're going to represent them with various insect creatures from Pathfinder? Along the lines of a classic Zerg invasion?

This could be a fun cross-genre game. Just make sure your players are Starcraft fans as well.

Those reactionary mutations are a cool idea, but the Zerg will be very difficult to defeat even without those provisions.

A single drone can make a hatchery (in some secluded underground location) and then (very quickly) you'll be up to your ears in Zerg. Although, thinking about it now, I'm not sure how you plan to deal with minerals and vespene gas. Do those resources exist on this fantasy world? Do the Zerg need them to reproduce? Finding and destroying Zerg resource gathering operations could be good adventure-fodder.

On the topic of creep I think you have it figured out mechanically. The rest should just be flavorful descriptions. To make it recede I would think (just like in the game) they would have to destroy the hatcheries, creep colonies, and creep tumors. You might let some spells have special interactions with creep, but that's really up to you and on a case by case basis.

The end-game will more than likely consist of purging every last Zerg from the planet, especially the drones. I have no idea how the PCs will manage this without a deus ex machina i.e. a psi emitter or Xel'naga artifact.

I have no suggestions for insect creatures to represent the Zerg stats-wise. Many of the Zerg are so bizarre (banelings, queens, corruptors, swarm hosts. that you'll undoubtedly have to create a slew of home-brew abilities (or possibly cherry pick from the bestiary) to represent them adequately.

Best of luck.

I hate the idea of just some handwaving and putting everything back to how it was though.

I know exactly how you feel. It cheapens the experience in some ways and I would not ordinarily recommend it...

Here is my thought process:
1.

2 of the pcs may be pissed

My guess is that more than 2 of them are a little peeved by the experience, especially the one PC who actually attempted to play the encounter "right" with diplomacy.

2.

I assume (taking the risk of making an ass of myself) that these players (and possibly this GM) are relatively new to the game. Character creation is a lengthy process and, with new groups, can take a whole session in and of itself. This could put a bad taste in players' mouths with yet more lengthy prep time. They've only played one encounter after all, two if you count the lynch-burning.

3.

Given 1 and 2 I think a ret-con could be appropriate in this particular situation. It's certainly not the only viable solution.

Perhaps you could make their deaths a collective Father Charletan haunting. They didn't die, they're unconscious in the burning house in spectral chains. The haunt pretends to be Father Grimburrow who has resurrected them; they need to see through his lies to escape before they burn to death.

I agree with the other comments that this would be a fantastic idea. You will, however, have to do a lot of planning and careful consideration to pull it off effectively. Read up on all the relevant details.

My apologies for the length, I think there are several good approaches that have been suggested by Keep Calm & Justaworm.

So I think I came up with a fun way to fix it. Father Grimborrow will resurrect them in a week after several letters have happened and disguise them and have them work to solve the haunts. Maybe working out of a secret base on the outskirts of town.

As a 7th level cleric, Grimburrow doesn't even have the Raise Dead spell, let alone the far more preferable Resurrection. You could hand-wave this and bring them back to life, but I have another suggestion that might work for you.

Start by apologizing for burning them alive (that's essentially what the Resurrection is anyways) and then talk straight with them. Tell them that their actions have consequences and they need to be careful not to alienate NPCs with needless killing and mayhem. Then (and this is the most important part) offer to let them go back in time to the moment of the fight with the full knowledge that murders have dire consequences. Then play it out from there.

With any luck they'll have learned their lesson and will either drive the thugs off, take them prisoner, or what have you.

That's how I would do it. Take it or leave it.

So the first encounter the party just slaughtered the townsfolk in the graveyard. What's the best course of action in that scenario?

After the will reading while they slept I had the town form a huge mob and come board up the house and burn the PCs alive and ended the campaign with a TPK.

2 of the pcs may be pissed I'll but I feel like this is a good lesson to learn overall. Thoughts?

Well... Given what you've said.

Possibility #1

This sounds a little bit like what used to happen in my early high-school games. Overzealous teens role playing mass murderers.
Instead of countering their behavior with a ruthless (though realistic) crackdown I would recommend that you pause the game and just talk to them about it. Explain to them that you're not interested in running a game where they run rampant over the land raping, pillaging, and murdering with abandon.

If that doesn't work I'm sure you can find more reasonable and mature people to serve as players. Forget these kids.

Possibility #2

Is it possible that you did not use enough avenues to help avoid a bloodbath? Did the thugs try to back off once the fight went against them? Did they eventually throw down their rakes and hoes, get down on their hands and knees, and beg for mercy? Did you make it clear that these were ordinary villagers with families and not merely criminal thugs? Could Father Grimburrow have arrived just a little bit sooner to stop the fight or heal the wounded?

If you answered "no" to some or all of these questions... You may have overreacted.

So what actually happened? Did these players engage in a heartless slaughter, cutting down poorly armed villagers without a shred of mercy in their hearts? Or was it something else?

Not sure about the Oracle, but its not like you're publishing this race in a supplement for players to use and abuse. It only has to fit into the dynamic of one single table.

You addressed all of my comments very well, I really like what you've got for fluff so far, but I maintain that discussing it with you GM is critical at this stage.

Bob Bob Bob wrote:

The onus of responsibility for proving something exists is on the person who says it exists, not on anyone else. In this case we would have to search through everything that paizo has ever published to definitely prove it... or they could say where they got this stuff and what the name is. Which one of those do you think is easier? I'll go a-hunting though, just in case.

Probably just me, but I got the impression his friend mentioned this stuff, Zwordsman thought it was cool and wanted to find out more for his own use. But only Zwordsman can say which of us it right.

I'm probably responsible for the confusion. I was merely asking for clarification but probably made Bob Bob Bob think that the proof burden of these items/feats/discoveries was the topic of the thread. The OP will eventually clear things up I'm sure.

One player, however, has challenged this decision, stating that it is a power play to keep the playing field uneven between the player characters and the opposition due to the fact that there are creatures converted from Tome of Horrors and Creature Collection III.

I think this player has made a critical misinterpretation. Pathfinder is not intended as any sort of "competition" between the GM and the Players. The Players are trusting the GM to show them a good time. What this "good time" might be depends on the group and the GM.

A "power play" would be if you created a death-trap (by the core rules) that could only be detected if the trap-finder rolled a natural 20. If you played that 19 intelligence vampire "accurately" and had him react with the full might of his resources to crush any hint of a threat. Or if you permitted an asteroid to strike the planet with enough force to end all life.

You have the power to DEVASTATE THEM at any moment. You control everything: The monsters, the geography, the weather, the GODS! The rules do not limit you in any meaningful way. Even if he had access to every official supplement ever published he couldn't stop you from ending him on a whim.

I apologize for the rant (not very gentlemanly), but his stance is simply... Un-examined.

Is he hoping to make use of this new material?

If he is I would be frank and tell him that unless he can provide all the authentic details its a no-go.

Never heard of those gloves, but they sound rather good.

Well, some advice that comes to mind is:

1. Run this whole idea by your GM. I know he/she is probably a good friend of yours since you routinely GM for them, but they really need to be in the loop on these things if you haven't informed them already. They will be able to help you immeasurably in regard to integrating your concept with the adventure/setting that they have in mind.

2. One could argue that Unearthly Grace would make a paladin character too strong (assuming the saving bonuses stack), but I think the Iron Vulnerability is a rather substantial drawback in its own right. I would allow this race in most campaigns of my own without too many quibbles.

3. I'm having a hard time imagining this fey creature... Many fey are smallish and have wings while this one doesn't seem to. What are they like? What are their typical mannerisms? Their appearance? Their culture? What would make one want to adventure with non-fey? Fleshing these details out will probably make the concept more enjoyable overall. You can borrow from other fey or go way out in left field with the concept.

4. I forget if the "Sylvan" language exists in PF, but you should probably have that as a bonus language rather then just standard language.

I don't know if this was the kind of "advice" you were looking for, but hopefully it was helpful in some way. Good luck with your character concept!

I'm not sure what kind of feedback you're looking for, but...

The back-story is suitably wonky for a game that includes Guardians of the Galaxy elements. Once you come up with a name for this "man" who discovered the technology on Golarian and uncovered some of its functions he could become a suitably mythic figure in a campaign of this flavor.

The race itself isn't too zany or overpowered. I think some players will genuinely enjoy the opportunity to play an intelligent scampering raccoon, rabbit, badger, or otherwise.

You might consider providing a short list of typical male and female names for this race. "Rocket" is obviously one, so maybe "Scooter", "Buzz", "Ratchet", "Clank", etc. Goofy stuff ought to be encouraged.

You'll probably need many more elements to make a true Guardians of the Galaxy flavored campaign (if that is indeed your goal), but this is a good start for sure.

It also forces you to play a very strict character while my party can do whatever the hell they please.

I don't know the first thing about your group, how they play, or what flies from the DM's perspective.

In my experience even a vanilla paladin has the potential to be overbearing with his "holier than thou" attitude. Rogues despise their babysitting ways in particular.

Now imagine how much this scales up when you're playing a saint. If you're group wanted to play a band of chaotic neutral mecenaries who make their own rules and have a gray shade of morality you'd probably have to quit the group because neither you nor they could interact with the world how they originally intended.

If the rest of your group can accommodate (even appreciate) the presence of a saint and the DM is willing to scale up the difficulty appropriately there is little issue with the template.

But those are ideal circumstances...

Not a chance.

You want flavor? We can work out flavor without increasing the character's power like that overpowered hogwash of a template.

Generally I agree with you on all counts.

But if the DM was willing to scale up his campaign appropriately (more challenging opponents, tougher traps/puzzles, and more powerful loot for the rest of the party) it could be doable.

Harrow of Hightower seems really sold on the idea for his own reasons.

So is there any good argument for the Saint template?

And Yes I do want the mechanical advantages of the template, but also the fluff and flavor of it.

Alright, I'll be straight with you. The advantages one gains from obtaining the Saint template are so good that most DMs are going to be skeptical (if not downright hostile) in regard to the whole idea of letting a player be one. They'll take one look at it, judge it to be OP, and that will be the end of it.

You might argue that you have to give up a lot in order to qualify, but I think its clear that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

That being said... You might still be able to play one if you are frank with your DM from the outset of the conversation, which might go something like this:

You: "Hey man, I'm really interested in playing a character like the one described in this book [brings out Book of Exalted Deeds] since my character is already really holy and could probably qualify. Is there any way you'd be willing to tweak the power level of your campaign so that I'll continue to fit in with what you're planning?"

DM: "Hm... Well yeah, I could tweak the campaign, but don't you think the other players will think you're getting unfair advantages? The saint gets some pretty awesome bonuses."

You: "That's true. I don't want to be overpowered. But look, A saint can only have one magic weapon, maybe you could give the other players some magical goodies to help balance them off of my character.

DM: "Alright. On two conditions. You let me take the book home tonight and consider possible modifications to the template. I don't want it to be quite as powerful as it currently is. Also, we run this idea by the other players before making a final decision.

You: "Deal! I'm mostly in it for the flavor anyways, and I think they'll come around so long as I'm not overpowered."

Just be forward about your wishes and try to be flexible.

Good luck!

I found some beautiful Peruvian instrumental music.

Those two are very distinct from each other in a lot of of ways. I think they could fit certain scenes quite well. Hard to say until I've listened to a few more of their tracks.

Some of the jungle-themed tracks from WoW might work. Way back I used a tool to extract all of the background music from the game into mp3, but you can probably find them on YouTube these days.

Those actually sound really good. I can see myself relying on these for a good deal of it.

I still will probably want to look for something even more relaxed. Something that gets them used to the idea of staying here for a while. I'd hope to get them invested in a "home base" sort of situation before casting them to the jungles. Maybe WoW has something for that too...

Some of the peace OST tracks from Serious Sam Second Encounter perhaps, though looping that for too long will definitely not be enough.

Serious Sam sounds really intense and is genuinely enjoyable to listen to in short bursts. Might use this for quite a variety of action scenes.

Now the trick will be to incorporate them relatively smoothly during play.

Some of that stuff is a little too powerful and abrasive for what I'm trying to engender. Have to choose wisely.

Hello everyone, this weekend I am going to be running a game that takes place in a South American fantasy analog. Something like Maztica (for you older folks), or the Mwangi Expanse.

Have any of you run across some really good (South American flavored) ambient music tracks or mixes that might benefit the gaming atmosphere?

I almost always try to incorporate music into my games to varying degrees, but I'm stumped on this one.

Just an update on what actually went down for those who are curious.

They overcame Ripnugget's sense motive (6) with a Bluff (14) and I ruled that they were able to anger Ripnugget enough that he would try to burn them out before alerting his allies. This led to a spectacular battle as the PC's broke through the adjoining wall of the meat room (taking fire damage) to do battle with Ripnugget and his assembled goblins in the great hall.

They had to deal with: Ripnugget on Stickfoot, 3 Commandos, 4 Goblins, 2 Goblin dogs, and a Warchanter. There were of course other dogs and goblins around, but not in the great hall at the time they broke through.

It was a very close battle in which they killed Ripnugget and all his cronies except for one Commando and one regular Goblin who both fled, but with two PC's dangerously unconscious at the end and father Zantus dead. After that they had to work hard to get back to their rope (on the back side of the island) and Bruthazmus almost caught them as they were shimmying down. It was nice to give Bruthazmus an appearence (with his elf ear necklace) as it is building up the hype of confronting him. We have an elf ranger in the group as well as Shelelu, so it should be quite the fight when they get to him.

They rode hard back to Sandpoint that very night to heal up, stock up, and to recruit guardsmen to their cause. They are very worried that all this time spent will allow Nualia to awaken Malfeshnekor, so they are quite rushed.

One big question for me to consider is: Will Gogmurt abandon the thistles now that Ripnugget is dead? Seems likely, but perhaps I'll do some rolls to see if the last Commando (the new defacto Warchief) can convince him to stay as the tribe has not been completely wiped out as of yet.

These have been some helpful suggestions so far. I think I will probably allow the bluff check against Ripnugget's sense motive. Rignugget speaks common, so the speaker need not speak goblin to get his attentions. If this goading is successful it won't cause Ripnugget to charge in unsupported, he didn't get to be Warchief by doing completely nonsense things like charging in alone on a group of armed foes, regardless of if they call him names.

If the check fails he will laugh, talk a little, and and have a goblin sent down to alert Nualia and the rest who will react in kind. Perhaps sending Orik, Bruthazmus, and Lyrie up initially and saving Nualia and the Hounds.

If the check passes Ripnugget will be enraged, but still retain his goblin psychopathy and set the meat room ablaze while he waits nearby surrounded by commandoes and other goblins bellowing his own angry taunts and challenges, a manic gleam in his eyes. It will however, not occur to him to alert his allies to the situation as he is so eager to deal with the interlopers himself. This won't stop an enterprising commando from doing it if things start to go south though.

Thanks for all the great suggestions so far!

Hi guys, I've been lurking for a while and think this site has a respectful and helpful community (most of the time), so here is the situation.

My PC's (A Sorcerer 3, a Ranger 3, and a Rogue 2) as well as Shelelu, Father Zantus, and Sheriff Hemlock are all in a pretty crappy situation. They sailed to the backside of the island, scaled the cliffs, climbed the fortress walls on to the roof (all with much tension and rolling over whether they would be spotted). Then they slew the two card playing goblins in the watchtower and went down. They ended up in the nearby meat-storage room (C12). And here is where problems set in.

They decided to stay in the room (20x20) and slay any goblin that came to get any grub. They could hear Ripnugget and the goblin performances in the other room and heard him demand a snack. When the goblin servant came to get some meat for Ripnugget they killed him. A little while after that Ripnugget sent a small group of goblins to track down the missing one. This time the PCs were unable to kill all of the goblins (4) before they raised the alarm shouting "LongShanks!"

They decided to try and hold out in the meat room as a choke point for the inevitable siege. They also set about trying to goad Ripnugget himself into attacking, yelling out names like "He who lays with dogs", "Weakling" and "Buttnugget" among others. The sorcerer is very charismatic and socially skilled.

So my question: How should Ripnugget react? Where do I go from here? The goblins (though not yet Nualia) are aware of the PC's presence. I have some ideas of my own but wanted to hear your Thoughts. Sorry for the long post.

TLDR: PC's holed up in Meat Room at Thistletop, Ripnugget knows they are there, they are trying to goad him into attacking them personally. What next?