Um, I just got this set printed at a printer for about $50, including the cost of the PDF file. You can buy the PDF and have it printed on card stock for way less than what anyone's charging on ebay.
Just sayin'.
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This is a thread about useless rogues, not pouncing barbarians.
Cleric. Stoneshape your way into someone's house, cast silence, let your Ranger buddy slit some throats.
That's what you want? The personal attention of the devs? I'd prefer they continue working on developing new products than answer questions other board members have already covered quite nicely.
I've always loved the monk since 1e. The ridiculous, 1d4 hp/lvl monk. At sixth level when a wizard is learning to cast fireball a second time per day, the monk is learning to... play dead. They've always been ridiculous. They've always been impractical. (Relatively speaking, of course. I played them all the time, and only a few of them died horrible, gruesome deaths that I had no way to avoid owing to the fact that their AC and hit points sucked. It is much easier to produce an effective monk in Pathfinder, IMO.) And I've always loved them, because of and in spite of their flaws. I grew up reading fantasy novels at the same time I was watching Shaw Brothers movies on Sundays on USA network. I was a wimp who was bullied on the schoolyard on a daily basis, and I loved stories about heroes who could take on a roomful of villains and triumph. The more unrealistic the abilities of the protagonists in those stories, the more I loved them. I also liked monks because they were so different from every other class. Not that there has to be any reason to like a class, or dislike a class. More power to everyone who hates monks. That just means there's a better chance that I'll run into a DM who's never encountered one before... and then promptly bans them once I've played one.
I have heard good things in this respect from D&D Next play tests. Combat is faster and class progression is flattened. I also heard a party of 2nd level characters got killed by a white dragon in a single breath attack (granted they were all clustered together in tight formation.) There are still a lot of situational modifiers and rules, but reports I've heard are that they don't slow down combat (relatively speaking). Also, it is possible to play old school type games on Google +. There are a lot of OSR blogs with links on how to get a session together, and then you have the whole intarwebs to play with, rather than just your local gang. It's real time, not play by email.
Hey, where has the OP gone to? Probably dropping chum in some other shark tank, or dropping Mentos in a Diet Pepsi factory.
I've played all the Paizo core races, + tiefling, drow, maybe a few others. I have a friend who exclusively plays gnomes. I'm a fan of gnome wizards because of the limitless potential of prestidigition and mage hand. Use mage hand to hit someone in the face with a cream pie, then create the illusion of a second cream pie in the hands of someone nearby. Since none of this is an attack, per se, do all this while invisible. Instant bar fight.
I'm sorry, but everyone who would argue with each other and get incensed with other people's positions are busy in the slavery/thievery thread. No 2000 post thread for you.
I find it hilarious that communism is being demonized in this thread. Sorry, it's not the 1950's anymore, Ayn Rand was as poor a philosopher as she was a novelist, and a communist nation currently owns 10 trillion or our nation's 13 trillion dollar debt. I know, I'm a dirty, dirty communist (or a terrorist, or whatever sensationalist word you want to choose to belittle my position without actually addressing it) for disagreeing with the practice of charging teammates for providing services for them. Within reason. If everyone agrees with that. Good God, there are a lot of people in this thread I'm glad I've never played D&D with. I know, the feeling is mutual. And I'm a communist.
I have no problem with the party caster charging a fee for magic item creation if he has no problem with the party fighter charging for guarding the caster while he sleeps, or the cleric charging for healing, bard for inspiring confidence, party diplomancer for using the diplomacy skill, etc. And treasure should be divided by whomever kills the most monsters. You know, the ones who strike the killing blows should get the most, not anyone who paralyzed the monsters or buffed up the front-liners, because we're all charging for services now, right? Because just because the players are friends doesn't mean the party members have to be. It's not like your characters' lives may depend on each other or that helping out a party member may help out you someday. Besides, it would be selfish for anyone to suggest otherwise. Dang freeloading non-casters.
Uh, buddy, currently the score is monk 1, cleric 0. Scoreboard.
Okay, didn't know about the lawful evil bit, or that the party contained a paladin. That seals it, it was a bad move on the players part.
I am a longtime DM, and I applaud your creativity, as others have. In my own opinion, take it for what you will, the players need to know you will let their actions have consequences. Retconning the children probably breaks the players' illusion that their choices are meaningful, and will make a lasting difference in the gameworld you created. Generally as a player I will resort to doing despicable things if I feel I'm left no choice but to do what the DM expects. I have a particularly devious group of PC's who delight in little else than doing the opposite of what they think I want them to do. I try to go with the flow. If they want to ignore the quest and go rob a village instead, I let them. You are probably right in being surprised that they were willing to sacrifice the children, but I would bet that surprising you is exactly what they're after. Don't have a villain threaten to do something despicable unless you're prepared to dole out the consequences for the 'or else'. Again, from my own perspective, being willing to sacrifice the children in that scenario is certainly not a heroic thing, and is not a 'good' thing, but it could be seen as neutral thing. If the characters really can see no way to save the babies, then they truly are dead. Are they supposed to accept the word of the blood thirsty hyena men and expect the children will be released if they comply? Truly I don't know what resources your PC's had, but I sympathize with their perspective and yours. Let them accept the consequences and bad blood that comes from the child massacre. Let the cleric of their powerful patron augury whether or not there truly was no other way. Perhaps even work themes into the adventure somehow that make the players remorseful for what they did (Peter Parker after he lets the robber who kills his uncle go). There are a lot of possibilities that open up when you take players at face value. The game and the story are the richer for it. I'm sure you don't need advice, and obviously your players are getting a lot out of the sessions or they wouldn't keep coming back.
Um, edit to the above, make that 'character' death. I never caused the death of my players. Please don't send the police after me.
Hello, my name is Gilman, and I rolled stats in the 80's. Hi Gilman I once DM'd a game with a character who rolled a 3 wisdom. The player roll-played him well, having to be saved by his fellow players from trading his long spear for some pocket lint. Things went okay until the party came to an illusory wall. The poor bastard couldn't make his save. Kept knocking his head against the wall even after he saw people walk right through it. He shook hands with the other players and said, "Have a great time moving on to the end of the adventure." I'll never make my players roll stats again. Unless I'm in a really bad mood. Okay, actually I would like to try a game with rolled stats again sometime if I could find players mature enough to accept the dice as they fall. In old school days I let people roll a set of stats and they could pick from the list in any order but they had to take the list as is - no rearranging stats. Player death was inevitable and expected at low levels, but the group I played with always had fun. Sometimes I'd let them run two characters each at first level, with the expectation that at least one of them would die. The players would voluntarily drop the character they liked less if they both made it to 5th level or so.
So we're going to compare the fighter class to the level 17 casters? Seems like a very unreasonable comparison. Isn't that always the point of all these threads? That it IS an unreasonable comparison to compare a fighter to a full caster a high levels? D&D was founded and created by the nerds, for the nerds. Tell me, which class best represents the nerd, the fighter who can run a 4.4 40, or the wizard who wheezes from all the dust mites in his study? We play on the backs of great men who couldn't climb a rope or complete a pullup in gym class, and their legacy is the triumph of the nerd over the jock. D&D was a prefiguring of Bill Gates, a prophecy of the dorks who created facebook so that girls would notice them in college. The wizard is the guy who eats his lunch alone in high school and grows up to rule the airwaves as Elvis Costello in adulthood. Can you create an edition of D&D where fighters aren't marginalized by casters? Sure, it's been done. There are people who even like that sort of thing. That's because there are people playing the game now who have never had to use an inhaler. The word 'nerd' itself no longer carries the stigma it once did. But we still exist. Where ever someone with asperger's creates an awkward post that is ridiculed by the public at large, we are there. Where ever there are guys who bought a ticket they're never going to be able to use at Prom, we are there. And we will rise again and again to claim our birthright. You can take the legal rights to the name 'Dungeons and Dragons', but you can never take our inability to socialize through any other medium but RPG's and social networks. No, please, that's not necessary. No, I don't want to take my medication now. I'm fine, I just need to lie down. A cool towel would be very nice, thank you.
I like the Shadow Dancer and the Assassin for flavor and for the abilities, but they're not that powerful mechanically in my experience. Hiding at will in many circumstances is useful defensively, potentially useful offensively to the assassin, but it's not a game breaker, and the means to counter it have already been posted. I've played with an assassin in my group for months now (assassin/ranger actually) and she gets more mileage from the ranger favored enemy than she does from the death attack. She doesn't need Shadow Dancer when a party sorc casts invis on her, but hey, our party actually works together, not in competetion. Just seems easier (and more fun) when there's party synergy instead of an ego contest. Asking to start at a higher level than the group should be right out, and is probably a bigger sign of a problem character than the claim that he will 'break the game'. Four's a fine number to game with - all roles can be covered, plenty of opportunities to break the game as a group, depending on the experience level of the players. Talk to the potential and extoll the virtues of being a team player rather than a sniper who makes life miserable for his compatriots (i.e. - you might actually let him play if he plays with instead of against the group). All this was already covered in posts above. I just like the sound of my own voice. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to set about breaking the game I'm playing in and seeing how long it takes them to kick me out. :)
Could we all, perhaps, discuss something less controversial? Like politics, maybe?
Dude, that ridiculous film is one of my all-time favorites! What if the death attack only occurs on a crit? Make it the price of a higher level magic item. It can still be deadly in the right hands (maybe give it a crit range of 19-20 and if the player wants to they can take a feat to expand it) but not overpowered in the hands of the untrained. I like the idea, but you'd have to have a party who was okay with the distinct possibility of character death. There should also be some defense against it, like the one-armed guy using bamboo poles to rip out the blades. If you were to use it, you would need to foreshadow it heavily before the players fought this foe (maybe have the dude decapitate someone the party was observing, then their mark becomes guillotine fodder). Then if the party dares to engage him after seeing him in action, they are choosing to take their lives in their hands.
Read the whole thread, looks like a lot of semantics, and not really an argument. Here's how I see the problem: Someone says, "Rogues are weak relative to other classes" and someone else who likes rogues hears "Rogues are not worth playing." The rest of the posts then continue with "I can build a rogue that's fun to play," followed by posts of "Sure, but can't we at least agree he's weak?" Here's my take: I like the word 'rogue'. I like a character based on stealth and thievery, a little sneak with different combat mechanics than other classes. I like the idea behind the rogue classes of past RPG's. Stealth and thievery used to be his purview alone. You simply couldn't pickpockets (with few exceptions) without rogue levels in 1e. That's just not true anymore. Any class can take any skill. If it's a class skill, you get a whopping +3. If you're a modern rogue, you get trapsense. This is negated by an uber-cheap wand. No one in any of my groups has played a rogue since Pathfinder came out ('cept me). I play them knowing their limitations, again, because I like the concept. I build the same concept with other classes, already named several times in this thread, but I still like the name 'Rogue'. But anyone who reads the number crunching on these boards knows they're outshined. I like that about them. I have found a place where they excel. I have a sadistic DM who plunked us in a world where spellcasters (divine and arcane) are illegal, and the authorities have means of ferreting them out. Oh, and he doesn't allow Ninjas in this world, either. In comes the rogue, who hides in shadows without the use of spells, talks guards out of arresting his spellcasting friends without the benefit of glibness, and who registers a blank when the powers that be scan him for spell ability. Big block of text, sorry. I love the rogue, the weak, underappreciated rogue. He will rise again, in some as-yet unwritten edition.
If there is a 5e on the horizon, I would like to be the first to say that... it's just not for me. It focuses too much on combat and plays like a video game. I don't like the way they revamped the skill system. It's roll playing, not role playing. I don't what 5e is... er... will be, but it's not D&D. They can't make me buy it, and how dare they make me throw out all my 4e books. Sorry, I probably missed a few chestnuts.
When my inspiration is lacking and I'm losing my players, I tend to throw in quirky stuff, improvise things not in the rules at all but sound like fun. I threw in a store that sold magic carpets once (with the deluxe model having the option - for more gold of course - to be flameproof with a heavy crossbow mounted on the back). None of this had anything to do with the adventure, and the PC's at that point already had a few (short term) means of flying. But it got them very involved, talking to each other about how large a carpet to buy and whether or not to get it fireproofed. One of the more practical, min-maxing characters thought it was a waste and refused to contribute (a point not forgotten by the players to this day). It was fun, it got them off their Blackberries, and it got things moving again. Are fireproofed magic carpets that somehow unfold with a crossbow mounted on them in the rules? No. But this is fantasy. Anything possible, spark the imagination, that kinda s*%4. It works for me, anyway. I get stifled sometimes by the rules. Don't get me wrong, the game needs a framework, but sometimes it needs a departure, too. This may not seem feasible in a planned adventure path, but maybe you're feeling too straightjacketed by the way the adventure is supposed to go. Players aren't the only ones allowed to go off the rails for a while.
My apologies if it's already been suggested, but have you tried looking for a game on Obsidian Portal? There's a map where you can see every game that's been entered on the site, and you can narrow the search by game. There could be a game you weren't aware of in your area, and they might be looking for players. Otherwise, how many players are in your group? Would any of them be willing/able to DM? PDF's of adventures are fairly cheap on this website. Heck, start the new DM out with the 'Goblins' adventure here on the Pathfinder site, it's free to download. Nearly everyone in my group also DM's at some point. If your current DM can't adapt and isn't fun, show him the door. If none of that is an option, introduce a board game night. Yes, it's not Pathfinder, but you won't need a DM, you'll still get together and you might even have fun. If even that is not a possibility, I would suggest you all go bowling. That way no one has fun, including the DM.
Anybody else think that '5e' just looks wrong? 3 is a magical number, 4 is a symmetrical number, 5 is just... odd.
I like stories as a player and a DM! But I like freedom even more as a player. Sometimes the overarching story can feel like a straightjacket. For example, my current character and party are trapped in a city besieged by tens of thousands of sauhaugin. We've been running from a sauhaugin siege for, oh, about three months real time now. Now I like a lot of the story lines our DM has going on, but if you start giving me 3 months of sauhaugin and scrags, my character is going to start wishing for a bomb large enough to blow this whole besieged continent up. I want a choice, and by choice I do not mean a choice of ways to break the sauhaugin siege. Maybe I don't give two $&%'s about the sauhaugin siege any more. As a DM, I create lots of my own stories, but I try not to write endings, and I try to adapt them after choices the players make that I wasn't even anticipating. One of my players in the last campaign actually volunteered to sacrifice his character in order to save the realm. It was an eventuality I had made allowances for, but I thought they'd go for the direct confrontation for the big bad instead. I try to think about what choices my players would like to make and plan the plot around that. When I give them 3 choices and they leave the rails entirely, I improvise. Maybe the realm doesn't have to get saved at all. Maybe they just want to escape and live with whatever consequences come with that. Maybe they want to watch while the dragon eats the princess instead of saving her. Fair and good, but be prepared when her dad the king finds out and does everything in his power to hold you responsible. I used to get frustrated when my story didn't go the way I wanted, or the players weren't as impressed with it as I was when I wrote it. Now I let them react however they want to what I've written. I believe the unexpected is a crucial element to the exitement and fun in this game, and player choices are a major engine of it. To a large extent, your players are rolling with whatever world and rules you came up with. Try to roll with them as well. See what happens.
Let us not forget the Greataxe, the Stalwart Defender PrC, hit dice for some dragons, and possibly others I'm too lazy to look up. All of these use the d12. That, plus I've decided that any monster I homebrew from now on will roll d12 damage dice, cuz I can.
I'm getting the same message when I try to edit my avatar image.
The adventures of the 4 Nations Mercenary Company, a unit small of repute but widely troubled, as told by Captain Gilman of Argosia We went to the mercenary compound in Starkhaven and decided to accept a contract delivering adamantium ore to the kingdom of Astaria. Though it is technically the place of my birth, I have no associations with the place as my parents moved when I was very young. I could hate the Astarians for forcing my parents to leave their homeland and for the backwards hatred of all magic the Astarians espouse, but in truth I find Astarians no more or less reprehensible than the people of any other place. We are all complicit in that we do nothing to prevent the injustice perpetrated by the Overwatch kingdom and their templars. I am no exception. We left Starkhaven city with our merchant contractors, who had hired another company in addition to ours. On the seventh night of the trip we were assailed by the undead, 5 ghouls and a wight. I awoke to their icy claws and could do nothing but watch in horror. Charlotte sprang to my defense, and prevented the fiends nearest to me from dining on my entrails. Though I could not see them at the time, Zellan the rogue was also paralyzed, and Alchemist was partially drained by the wight. That left only Rock, Elluette and the weakened alchemist to fend off 5 ghouls and a wight. By rights we should have perished then and there, but a strange thing happened. Fire beetles descended upon the ghouls, one by one, fighting as if on our behalf. We were far from the forests, and it was highly unlikely that the creatures would have migrated to our camp, let alone have the will to do battle with the undead (which all natural creatures abhor). The beetles kept the ghouls occupied long enough for Zellan and I to recover, and when we did the company managed to dispatch our foes. I allowed then and there to the company that our deliverance was miraculous, and likely attributed to magic. I avowed that should whomever in the group was responsible for saving us confide in me that they were in fact an illegal magic user (for none may do so without taking the heart seal of the Templars, which is to say they accept slavery) I would never betray their confidence in me. The alchemist scoffed, but I allowed that there were very likely still other ghouls about and she could seek her death at their hands if she felt she had been cheated of her proper death by illegal magic use. Elluette found the trail of the ghouls and divined the direction they had approached from. While she did this, Zellan approached me and confirmed my suspicions. He told me he was a summoner, a mage specializing in the conjuration of a special creature he called... something that begins with E. Again my memory fails me. I could not follow the particulars of his profession and my mind wandered during much of his description (as the reader's mind may wander during my long and poorly written dialogue, if reader there be). He summoned his special friend, which looked rather like a snake with wings, and sent it in the direction Elluette had said the ghouls had come from. We did this out of sight of the alchemist, who still showed no signs that she accepted illegal magic use even when it was to her own benefit. Zellan reported that his 'special snake' had found another camp, seemingly abandoned except for the corpses of 4 horses. Something had attacked the camp and left the bodies, which had turned to ghouls in a few hours time. (Reader: all the dead of all four nations spontaneously return to unlife if not burned and beheaded, and such it has been since ancient times, since before the fall of the gods and the coming of the Overwatch nation, and their templars.) Rock, Zellan and I decided to investigate the camp, owing to our curiosity and the presence of two wagons of goods. His 'Dimelon' (I beleive that is the name) saw a small chest made of adamantium in the second wagon. When we arrived, the horses rose and sloughed off their flesh as one. The skeletal horses then attacked. It was a close thing after our fight with the ghouls, but we prevailed. Zellan, despite careful and thorough examination of the chest, still lost his eyebrows and facial hair when he attempted to open it. Rock healed him of his burns, and we discovered the chest contained many potions (which Zellan identified as potions of healing and strength), many gold coins and a minor magical ring. Rock located another ring among the debris around the campsite, which Zellan told us was cursed. It attracted undead from miles around to the wearer. Likely one of the members of the caravan had put it on unware that he had sealed his company's fate. This did not explain why the ghouls had made directly for our caravan, but we could find no other tracks here. We contented ourselves to leave that mystery unsolved and hoped the immediate threat was ended. In all, our evening had been our most profitable to date, although nearly deadly. We could only hope the alchemist would recover on her own from the touch of the wight, for none of us had the means to assist her. 
So plainly the thing to do is call attention to it with a thread. No, you simpleton, the clear answer is to start a thread in addition to this one asking for a function to report Paizo for illegal use of Smurfs. We need a button for this!
Ah, so the free action is, in fact, not actually free, since you should only get so many of them in a round. Kind of a misnomer, really. Perhaps it should be named the "usally not very expensive" action or the "your DM may not allow this" action?
Me like to weigh in on discussion at hand. Me gilman, cavalier. Me not shout like stupid barbarian because me have positive charisma score modifier. Me not level 20 yet, so not know about flying dire bat mount, but me know that not all of stupid wizard make it to level 20. Wizard in Gilman's party is only level 5. No have fly spell. No have prismatic sphere, no gate, no sneaky tricks him get from blood and sweat of Gilman protecting him scrawny ass while stupid wizard keep nose in book. How stupid Raistlin live to level 20 if Caramon not there to keep him from wetting pants when village bully ask him for lunch money? Hmmm? Me tell you what, we martial classes all form union, no more protect scrawny wizards at low levels. Next time you get menaced by house cat at level one, you on you own stupid wizard. Me laugh while you get killed by flanking goblins. NO MORE WIZARD LIVE TO LEVEL 20 IF GILMAN AND UNION FRIENDS NO PROTECT HIM! Me have new name for low level wizard. Him now called "10' pole" we throw in room to see if there trap.
Edit, quoted wrong poster. CLEARLY ME BARBARIAN WHO WANDER INTO WRONG PART OF THREAD. ME APOLOGIZE FOR INCONVENIENCE. But the way it played out fit the backstory completely. The drow had been beaten before and wanted revenge in a very personal way. The drow, like Khan, wanted her opponent to know who had beaten her. And her build was set up entirely for beating Varsuvius in a one-on-one spell duel. What's personal about flesh-to-stoning your arch-nemesis? Then there's no taunting, no monologuing, no demonstrating your superiority before you grind the upstart into the ground slowly.
Divination wizard laughs at your assumption of winning initiative. SHOWS YOU HIS AUTO 43 INITIATIVE (at lvl 20, but probably still wins at any lvl). Smites you where you hover....laughs maniacally again. The 'respectfully' from the shouting barbararian made me laugh (well, wheeze and chortle, seeing as I'm asthmatic and over 40). Thanks, my coworkers now probably think I'm crazy (and in need of an inhaler).
I think what you can take from this thread is that the idea is controversial. You may get a PFS judge who agrees with you and allows it, but you'd better have a back up character to be on the safe side.
Cav-who? Wha?! How dare you sir! If this were not the internet I would pimp-slap you with a metal gauntlet and demand satisfaction on behalf of cavaliers everywhere. Well, if this were not the internet, I had a metal gauntlet actually handy, and the cavaliers being discussed were not imaginary... THEN you could consider yourself properly gauntlet pimp-slapped.
I must amend my entry above: The alchemist, having looked over my shoulder while I scribed this journal, informed me that she was a halfling, not a gnome. I confess that persons under 4' in height look very similar to me (she is not, praise the fallen ones, looking over my shoulder at this moment). She also told me her name and said she did not appreciate being referred to by her profession. I confess I forgot her name again before I could write it down. I will never disclaim that I am a horrible lackwit. My memory is atrocious and I have no doubt misrepresented many of the details listed above. I care not. This journal is likely destined for the same flames that shall consume my mortal remains once the templars become apprised of my disdain for them (an inevitability, i am told, for they see into the very souls of men with their glowing blue eyes). To end on a positive note, I've been promoted. Eluette excercised her right as the ranking surviving officer to make me Captain owing to my pleasant demeanor and pleasing countenance. I held my tongue at the thought that she may as well have promoted Rock for his pointy tusks. Now I am our leader. Gods help us all.
Our captain fell dead from his saddle after the first salvo. He had neglected to tell us our mission and would not be relaying our orders now. We had come across a half orc and two ogres in what appeared to be a parley with three elves. I hailed them, the elves ran, and the half orc plucked a bead from his necklace and threw it at us. It blossumed into flame, killing our captain and charring the rest of our company. I have met few foes who could withstand a direct hit from my lance when Charlotte and I charge. This half orc mage (or whatever he may have been) proved no exception. The ogres were powerful but clumsy, and landed few hits before they were dispatched by my comrades. Elluette proved skilled as any of her fair folk with a bow, while the gnomish rogue made good use of his spiked chain. The alchemist was reluctant to throw bombs into the fray, and I was grateful for her prudence. Our cleric, Rock the Rager (himself an orc), healed us up once the ogres were slain and we set about the ghoulish business of searching the body of our former captain. We found our company badge (without which movement between the islands of the four nations is impossible) but could see no sign of our company charter, or our present orders. We searched the captain thoroughly, but could find no scrap of parchment on his person, not even burnt remnants. In a poor jest, I suggested we search his posterior cavity, and Rock being ever literal-minded took up my jest in earnest. Low and behold, there the orders were. What little faith I had in the powers that ordered the goings on in our beknighted planet was lost to me in that moment. It was as though the captain were but a pawn in a storybook and his death a mere device to move forward whatever plot was afoot. I cursed the fallen gods who may or may not order our daily lives and unrolled the tube that Rock profferred. The orders were, of course, blank. At least we found our charter. (It was illegal for us to leave the borders of Argosia without it.) So there we were, in the middle of the Vemish wilderness with no idea why we were there and no leads whatsoever. I proposed we follow the elves that had fled the scene. Rock and Eluette accompanied me while the rogue and the alchemist searched the bodies of the ogres for anything of value. Eluette caught their trail immediately and we were upon them within the hour. I hailed them again, proposing that we meant them no harm if they meant no harm to us. When they did not attack, I asked them why they had been conferring with the ogre party (normally the deadliest of enemies to elves). They informed us that the Elven Kingdom had rebelled against the Empire and the Sovereign host, and that by conferring with them we risked being branded as rebels ourselves. I deemed it no large risk to tell them I had no love for the Empire myself, and I would help them if I may. They gave to us a letter, telling us to seek a person named Garion at a certain inn in Starkhaven. With that they took leave of us. I would like to say we found new direction and purpose with this missive. We did not. Eluette and the alchemist allowed as how they wanted no part in rebellion, and professed a dislike for the magic-loving elves. But Rock and the rogue were for the expedition, so off we went. We fared no better on our second 'mission' than on our first. We found Garion dead upon our arrival, slain by inept imperial bouty hunters who tried to trap us into admitting we were revolutionaries ourselves. A fight ensued, even briefer than our encounter with the orcs, but we did not slay the imperial agents. Rather we convinced them that we thought it was they who were revolutionaries (for they had presented themselves to us as such). My glibness of tongue served us well, and they believed our ridiculous lie. The evening ended and my disgust for mercenary life knew no bounds. Between quarelling amongst ourselves, clumsy ogres, inept bounty hunters and captains who die at the first sign of danger, I wondered if I might better try my hand at coopering. Of course, there was no call for barrel-making in Argosia (where the orcs preferred to steal goods rather than manufacture them) and Charlotte would be killed if I took up residence in any other nation (where they frowned upon giant spiders being kept as pets). I called a curse down upon the Overwatch, upon the Sovereign Host, and upon whatever power had made the world I found myself in. I doubt if any being paused to listen.
I think that means you have to locate the vampire's coffin to truly kill it, and you'd better do it quick or it'll fast heal back up to full hp. If you had a means to trap the gaseous form (Resilient Sphere?) from reaching the coffin, you could kill it that way too. You might also grapple a vampire if you could trick it into going near a stream and immerse it in water for three rounds (=dead vampire). Say, what would happen if you baleful polymorph a vampire into a bunny? Does the bunny still have to be staked and have it's head cut off?
The cavalier is such a limited class to begin with that it would be, IMNSHO, sadism on the part of the DM to further limit the class by turning the full plate cavalier into a keystone cop everytime he tried to get on his mount in battle. He's an expert in mounted combat... provided you give him a 10 minute warning and a stepstool everytime he needs to mount up.
I'm tired of people being tired of katana threads. Can't we just say that there have been so many katana threads that they've gone all the way out of hackneyed and come back around to fresh and exiting again? Can't you remember the excitement you felt the first time you saw a thread about katanas? "Finally!" you said with naive enthusiasm, "At last this instrument of mass destruction will get the treatment it deserves!!!" And then your hopes were dashed in a sea of thread-crapping blood-spurting Manga-invoking nonsense. There needs to be a website for katanas like there is for Chuck Norris. Then the next time this thread shows up we could just post a link to the katana site. The Katana Website, All Katanas all the time The site made by Katanas, for Katanas. Katanas, when you absolutely positively have to slash something in half in the messiest fashion possible. |