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Staff of the Auraboros
Aura moderate abjuration and divination; CL 8th
Slot none; Price 16,400 gp; Weight 5 lbs.
Description
Wrapped in robust twists of maple wood and topped with the fearsome image of a leviathan, this staff looks like a crystal storm of pitch-black hue contained within an ancient haggard tree. The staff allows use of the following spells:

• Imbue with aura (1 charge)
• Arcane sight (2 charges)
• Aura sight (2 charges)

When the wielder is within the radius of an aura ability (such as fire aura) , the staff throbs violently. Petting the staff while it pulsates (a swift action), causes the fearsome leviathan to momentarily animate and swallow a single aura ability affecting the user, at which point the aura is suppressed for 8 rounds. The staff loses 1 charge and releases any previously suppressed aura when animated in in this manner.

Casting imbue with aura from the staff, grants the target any aura ability currently suppressed, for the duration of the spell.

Construction
Requirements Craft Staff, arcane sight, aura sight (Advanced Class Guide), dispel magic, imbue with aura (Ultimate Magic); Cost 8,200 gp

Wow, awesome, really awesome item, Groot anyone?

ah, there you are again guilty pleasure of mine

Interesting, Naruto Item vs League of Legends Item

Obviously a wondrous item made into a weapon

Really loving them nets this year

Staff that isn't a Staff vs Staff that isn't a Staff, what to do

My item came up quite early this time around, also, there are quite a lot of nets around, I've been quite impressed with one of them, AND I just added an awesome -REALLY awesome- axe to my keep folder :p

I've also been annoyed by quite a few items, but those were probably joke items, I mean, THAT thing had to be made on purpose.

Sadly, I haven't been very lucky so far

I am, kinda, I think I did something that hasn't been quite done before, but, I think my item will have a tough time gaining votes ~

Not that I don't like the twist, or the challenge, but this timing... I can't just really make it with my current schedule, of all the years this could've happened .... I must've pissed off someone up there. Anyway, this *most likely* means I'm out of RPG Superstart 2015 quite early.

Good luck to everyone else.

PS: And I say "most likely", 'cause I might just give up sleep and come up with an item instead

I like the character concept, but it is indeed a tricky one ... out of the top of my head, I would suggest focusing on making the most out of the Bard's supporting ability; How about...

Aasimar Bard 4 / Druid (Pack Lord) 3 [Favored Class : Bard]
7str 14dex 14con 12int 18wis 16cha
Lv1 Lingering Performance
Lv3 Boon Companion (Roc)
Lv5 Boon Companion (Stegosaurus)
Lv7 Boon Companion (Giant Chameleon / Giant Scorpion)

You get (Without taking any gear/magic items in consideration);
- 3 Animal Companions Treated as if you were a Lv5 Druid
- Inspire Courage +2 (Fav Class Bonus), Countersong, Distraction, Fascinate, Inspire Competence +2
- Versatile Performance, Well-versed
- Lv2 Bard and Lv2 Druid Spells
- Good Saves (Fort + 6 / Ref + 7 / Will + 11)
- Druid Goodies
- Aasimar Goodies and resistances

This is just a starting point, but the character seems kinda viable, he can support the party, cast spells well enough, and he is good with skills as well, and the companions can be quite effective in combat as well, specially when flanking and/or with the help of inspire courage/support spells.

You could probably find a Bard Archetype that fits better if you search, and maybe fix the fact that this character does nothing in combat when he is not starting a performance or casting a spell.

Bothered? On the contrary, reading that exact paragraph commits me to loving haste more than ever.

Perhaps it is too good, but in all honesty I would rather it be a spell that makes teaming up with a bunch of martials into an effective tactic.

Haste enforces teamwork, and lets the martials become over-the-top-action stars. The caster gets to know they're getting a better return on their spell investment, everyone wins.

This is one of the few intersections between magic and combat that actually doesn't completely trample on martial character types. It creates a situation where casters and martials need each other to function at peak performance, and that's good for the game.

If anything, I would say that the whole of spellcasting should be more like haste vs. fireball.

Imagine if all of the most effective spells were best used on other characters, and allowed them such time in the spotlight.

This, couldn't agree more.

Sorry for taking so long to answer, really tough week ~

Thanks a lot for the review Brigg! I really appreciate it!

I am glad you like the item!

I was afraid it was too easy to sucessfully bullrush the spell as well, but I wanted to avoid adding 10 twice (DC is 10+SpellLv+CastingStat), so I will probably change it to the CMD formula used for Spell Sunder instead.

Thanks for catching the repetitive text in my description! :), I really hadn't notice, it was really careless of me :p

Once I get back home, I'll write "Revision 2" based on your feedback :)

Long time no seen Curaigh, hope you are fine ;)
Thanks for the warm welcome guys ~ I will abuse it without the slightest hint of shame, hope you don’t mind ~
I will start with my previous year's entry,

aaaaand here I go.

Original Item and Feedback Analysis

Boots of Spellwalking (Revision 1)
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 7th
Slot feet; Price 22,400 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
These garnet-colored boots are made of fine silk elegantly embroidered with ornate symbols, glyphs, and sigils of thin silver thread.

Twice per day, as a full-round action, the wearer of these boots can move both before and after casting a spell, but he must move at least 10 feet before casting the spell and the total distance that he moves cannot be greater than his speed.

Once per day, the wearer of these boots can attempt to bull rush an ongoing spell or spell-like ability that affects an area. If the wearer of these boots succeeds at a combat maneuver check against a CMD equal to the spell’s DC (using the wearer’s CMB), the spell is pushed back as a creature would, but it can be bull rushed into a square occupied by a solid object or obstacle. A spell that was successfully bull rushed by this effect, moves 30 feet per round towards its original caster for the remainder of its duration.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, freedom of movement, mage hand; Cost 11,200 gp

Is it too late to join the party and do rewrites of my previous submissions here? (I started working on this year's submission today and got all pumped up)

Thanks for the feedback, really helpful! :)

@Gulian
You are right physical perfection is badly written for a Level 1 Ability, makes the Monk too much of a Dip Magnet, this was a badly excecuted attempt to aliviate the MAD issue without resorting to Wis to Atk Roll or Damage, a really bad attempt.

I know the Monk isn't low on damage or defenses, the Iron Fist bonus to damage is probably out of place, just a tack on.

What I was trying to fix the most here is the mobility issue by improving Abundant Step and adding a solid Standard Attack Option to go with it.

@Secret Wizard
The Doublelayer Fist ability and the changes made to the Abundant Step ability were made as an attempt to help with the "Standing very Still to Furry" problem.

The Ability Scores boosting abilities - though badly written - were an attempt to help with MADness in a way that does not involve adding Wis to Damage, clearly the attempt failed - badly.

This is a draft for an attempt at rewriting/fixing the Monk without changin too much to the class or the system itself, I put this together while at work, so the writing should probably be improved quite a bit, and the abilities haven't been properly balanced yet, I apologise for that, I would still like any feedback though.

You will notice the table goes up to level 8 (I ran out of free time, that is why) and that I am only writing the abilities that were changed or added (abilities that were changed ara marked with a "*"). You will also notice a slight influence from Rurouni Kenshin (Namely, Yūkyūzan Anji).

Monk
Lv ---- Special
1 ------ AC Bonus, Bonus Feat, Flurry of Blows, Physical Perfection, Stunning Fist, Unarmed Strike
2 ------ Bonus Feat, Evasion, Enlightenment
3 ------ Fast Movement, Iron Fist, Maneuver Training, Still Mind
4 ------ Iron Body, Ki Pool (Magic), Slow Fall 20ft.
5 ------ Abundant Step* 60ft., High Jump*, Inner Peace
6 ------ Bonus Feat, Slow Fall 30 ft., Double Layer Fist
7 ------ Ki Pool(Iron Cold/Silver), Wholeness of Body*, Abundant Step 120ft.
8 ------ Slow Fall 40ft., Diamond Body*

Physical Perfection (Ex): At 1st level, the monk gains Endurance as a bonus feat and a +1 bonus on all three physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution). This bonus increases by 1 at 7th and 14th level.

Enlightenment (Ex): At 2nd level, a monk may use his bonus in Sense Motive in place of his bonus in Diplomacy and Intimidate. When substituting in this way, the monk uses his total Sense Motive skill bonus, including class skill bonus, in place of its associated skill's bonus, whether or not he has ranks in that skill or if it is a class skill.

Iron Fist (Ex): At 3rd level, the monk gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with unarmed strikes. Additionally, the monk adds 2 to the Difficulty Class of his Stunning Fist.

At 7th level and every 4 levels thereafter, the attack and damage bonuses increase by +1 (To a maximum of +5 at 18th level).

Iron Body (Ex): At 4th, a monk gains immunity to poisons of all kinds and to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases. Additionally, the monk gains a natural armor bonus equal to ¼ his monk level.

Abundant Step (Ex): At 5th level, the monk may move at an impossible for the eye to follow speed by using 1 point from his Ki Pool. When using this ability, a monk can, as a move action, transfer himself and any items he carries anywhere within the range of the ability.

High Jump (Ex): At 5th level, a monk adds his level and his Strength modifier to all acrobatic checks made to jump, both for vertical and horizontal jumps. In addition, he always counts as …

At 7th and 14th level, the monk doubles the distance crossed or height reached by any Acrobatic Checks made to jump. For example, a 14th level monk who rolls a 40 on his Acrobatic Check crosses a 160ft. distance with a long jump, or reaches a 40ft height with a vertical jump.

Inner Peace (Ex): At 5th level, the monk gains a +1 bonus on all three mental ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). Additionally, he gains Improved Iron Will as a bonus feat even if he does not meet the normal prerequisites.

At 9th and 15th level, the bonus to the mental ability scores increase by +1.

Double Layer Fist (Ex): At 6th level, when using the attack or charge action with an unarmed strike, a monk can make a single attack roll using his monk level in place of his Base Attack Bonus. If the attack hits, the monk strikes his enemy twice with the same unarmed strike. The first attack deals damage normally, the second strike ignores any type and amount of Damage Reduction and the monk may roll the damage dice twice and add the results together before adding bonuses from Strength, weapon abilities (such as flaming), precision-based damage, and other damage bonuses.

At 12th level, the monk may roll the damage dice for the second attack three times instead.

At 18th level, the monk may roll the damage dice for the second attack four times instead.
Double Layer Fist may be used in conjunction with feats like Vital Strike, but they stack additively. For example, an 18th level monk with Greater Vital Strike may roll the damage dice for the second attack 8 times.

Wholeness of Body (Su): At 7th level or higher, the monk can gain fast healing 3 for 1 minute as a standard action by using 1 point from his Ki pool.

At 14th level, wholeness of body grants fast healing 5 instead.

Diamond Body (Su): At 8th level, the monk gains Cold and Fire Resistance 5 as long as he has at least 1 point in his Ki pool.

At 14th level, the resistance to Cold and Fire increases to 10.

At 20th level, the monk becomes immune to Cold and Fire.

I do like your thinking process and the way you deconstructed the fighter, I can't really say how much I agree or not with you until I see the finished product (I do like what I read though), however, it barely even matters, because, I can say -without a doubt- that a brainstorming session with you (regardless of what system, class, or game is it about) must be really productive, enjoyable and quite awesome.

I will surely check out your Fighter rewrite, keep the good work

Hi ~

It has been a while since I last posted anything, but bored as I was at work today, I remembered how much it annoys me that the Rogue - the "Iconic Critical Hit (according to me, at least)" class - does not care about critical hits at all, so I decided to change that.

This tweak is too small to fix the Rogue class (though, I would probably include it in my Rogue re-write once I decide/have time to do one :p), still, I am interested in what you guys think about it.

Sneak Attack(Ex): If a rogue can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage.

The rogue's attack deals extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), when the rogue scores a critical hit, or when the rogue flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit, this extra damage is not multiplied but she may maximize her sneak attack damage ...

About a year ago, on a cold and uneventful Friday night, I had a "brilliant" idea; I thought I would make some small tweaks to every class and the system itself as part of a Game Design Exercise. I decided to start with the Fighter, and make a progression table up to level 10 that very same night, and... I never found the time or motivation to keep going.

That said, here is a rough draft without any serious editing or deep balance considerations - mostly a brainstorming pile of ideas. Anyhow, without further ado,

FIGHTER

Lv - Special
1 -- Bonus Feat, Combat Expert
2 -- Bonus Feat, Bravery(1/day), War Scars
3 -- Armor Training, Tuition Focus
4 -- Bonus Feat, Mental Fortitude
5 -- Weapon Training
6 -- Bonus Feat, Bravery(2/day), Tuition Focus
7 -- Armor Training, Veteran
8 -- Bonus Feat, Combat Master
9 -- Weapon Training, Tuition Focus, Martial Prowess (1/day)
10 - Bonus Feat, Versatile Training, Bravery(3/day)

Combat Expert(Ex): A fighter adds 1/2 his fighter level (minimum 1) to his Ability Scores and Base Attack Bonus for the purposes of qualifying for Combat Feats. A fighter never provokes an attack of opportunity when performing a combat maneuver.

Bravery(Ex): At second level, once per day, a fighter can call upon his bravery to overcome difficult challenges. As an immediate action, after the result of any d20 roll the fighter just made is revealed, he may add 1d6 to the result. At 6th level, and every 4 levels thereafter the fighter may use his Bravery one additional time per day.

Upon reaching 6th level, the fighter can expend one use of his bravery to immediately receive another saving throw against any spells or effects already affecting the fighter.

War Scars(Ex): At 2nd level and higher, a fighter adds 1/2 his fighter level to Intimidate Checks. A fighter may use his Strength modifier instead of his Charisma modifier on Intimidate Checks.

Tuition Focus(Ex): At 3rd level and every 3 levels thereafter, a fighter gains Skill Focus as bonus feat. If the chosen Skill is not a class Skill, it becomes a class Skill.

Mental Fortitude(Ex): At 4th level, a fighter gains a bonus equal to his Constitution Modifier (if any) on all Will Saving Throws.

Weapon Training(Ex): Starting at 5th level, a fighter can select one group of weapons, as noted below. The fighter becomes proficient will all weapons that belong to this group, any feat that affects a single weapon type (such as Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, or Greater Weapon Focus), affect all weapons from this group, and whenever he attacks with a weapon from this group, he gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls ...

Veteran(Ex): At 7th level, a fighter adds 1/2 his fighter level to a Knowledge Skill of his choice. If the chosen Knowledge Skill is not a class Skill it becomes a class Skill.

Combat Master(Ex): Starting at 8th level, a fighter's footwork allow him to move through 5 feet of difficult terrain each round as if it were normal terrain. This ability allows the fighter to take a 5-foot step into difficult terrain. A fighter can use his Combat Maneuver Bonus in place of his Acrobatic Skill bonus on Acrobatic Skill Checks.

Martial Prowess(Ex): Starting at 9th level, once per day, a fighter can perform an overwhelming show of martial prowess as a Standard action. All foes within 30 feet who can see or hear the fighter's display become fascinated, stunned, frightened or dazed for 2d4 rounds. Any incorporeal creature affected by this ability can be dealt damage normally.

A will saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 fighter's level + fighter's Strength modifier) negates the affect. Abilities such as weapon Training, and feats such as Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Focus increase the DC of Martial Prowess. This ability has no effect on creatures with an intelligence score of 2 or lower.

At 14th level, a fighter can use Martial Prowess as a move action instead of a standard action. At 19th level, a fighter can use Martial Prowess as a swift action.

At 14th and 19th level, the fighter may use Martial Prowess one additional time day.

Versatile Training(Ex): Starting at 10th level, once per day, a fighter can choose a time at which he must spend 1 hour warming up, training, and/or sparring to change any and/or all of his selected Weapon Training weapon groups.

Far from optimal, but one of the Characters I have had the most fun with was old little Nilvin, a Gnome Wizard with a massive cleanness Obsession (Sometimes he would even waste a turn or two in battle to cast prestidigitation and clean himself or make himself smell like flowers/fruits). He was sometimes grumpy, always complained about his bone aches (he was kinda old), smoked the pipe and liked chocolate flavored tea, and needless he was loved and treated by the party as if he was a little kid (except the party's Cleric who did not like his pranks or weird spells at all :p)

Boots of Spellwalking
Aura moderate abjuration and transmutation; CL 7th
Slot feet; Price 21,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
These garnet-colored boots are made of fine silk elegantly embroidered with ornate symbols, glyphs, and sigils of thin silver thread.
Three times per day, as a full-round action, the wearer of these boots can move both before and after casting a spell, but he must move at least 10 feet before casting the spell and the total distance that he moves cannot be greater than his speed. When using the boots in this manner, the wearer ignores the adverse effects of difficult terrain and the square he starts out is not considered threatened by any enemies (therefore he never provokes an attack of opportunity when moving out of that square).

A spellcaster who stomps the ground with these boots to fulfill any somatic components for casting a spell with a duration greater than instantaneous that affects an area, must make a concentration check (DC 15 + double the level of the spell) or lose the spell. Success means the point where the spell originates moves up to 30 feet per round as long as the caster actively directs it (a move action for the caster). A spell that moves in this manner winks out if it exceeds the spell’s range. Failure by 5 or more causes the spell to automatically move up to 30 feet per round towards the boots and renders them useless for 24 hours. The concentration DC increases by +5 for each time this ability has been successfully activated.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, freedom of movement, mage hand; Cost 10,500 gp

Congrats Guys!, Keep the good work! Don't forget to order the wine and shrimps, those are awesome here - and do not sit on that chair near the curtains, Eric didn't clean it last year ~

I really like this item!, I remember voting for it many times, Congrats on top 32!

This item is really awesome!, Congrats and good luck!

This item was one of my favorites during the voting period, Glad to see it in the Top 32, Congrats!

I Think I need to make an appointment with a cardiologist

By combining my vague memory and the post-cull database I managed to make something - I think I answered to everyone. If not, please do tell~

I was voting from many different places while on vacation, like Glasgow, Stirling, Edinburgh, and then Bolton (England) when I came back. So I really couldn't keep a list this time around, however I am interested in seeing the lists folk have kept. I will try to assemble a list from memory by looking through the post-cull list of items and trade that back as fast as possible, but remembering things is not really my cup of tea, so in the meanwhile if anyone with a list is kind enough to pm it to me, I'd be really grateful!

PS: My Paizo's PM inbox is empty, it makes me sad :(, so... please?~

Great advice Adam!, This cleared up a some stuff that had me confused!

Thanks!

Would stuff like "any environment" or "any land" be okay for the purposes of this round or would they be instantly DQed?

I just finished my first "in-case" monster draft, now I wonder if the round's twist will have any effects on it!

Revealing the twist this early will dramatically reduce the amount of different monsters I'll prepare this time around, I appreciate that!

Advice on monster creation?!, really?!, That is going to be so awesome and helpful!!

Awesome item was awesome. Instant Favorite!

The first time I submitted an Item was in 2011 since I wasn't aware of RPGSS' existence before that. I have entered RPGSS every year since then which makes this my fourth attempt.

Here is my first item, an ugly thing, if you like your eyes read with care.

Laurel of Magnificence
Aura Faint Enchantment(Copper) or Moderate Enchantment(Silver, Gold); CL 5th
Slot Head; Price 5700gp(Copper), 10400gp(Silver), 17100gp (Gold); Weight —
Description
This crown of delicate, shining leaves emits a warm and lucid light, granting a triumphant aura to its wearer. The most common laurels are made from thin copper, or pure silver, although laurels of gold leaves are not unheard of. Tales of champions wearing the golden laurel with pride are exchanged in admiration by warriors and knights alike. Once(Copper), Twice(Silver), or Thrice(Gold) per day as a free action, after a successfully performed combat maneuver you may choose to take one of three fighting stances to perform a champion's maneuvers.

Tactical Champion: While you are in this stance, you may ignore a target's cover, full defense and size bonuses to AC and CMD (if any).

Countering Champion: While you are in this stance, any opponent you threaten who takes any sort of movement, including a 5-foot step, provokes an attack of opportunity from you. Furthermore, any opponent you strike cannot make attacks of opportunity for a round.

Overwhelming Champion: While you are in this stance, you don't provoke attacks of opportunity when performing a combat maneuver, once per round you may attempt a disarm instantly after a successful melee attack, you may use any weapons while grappled and you can make a full attack at the end of a charge instead of a single attack.

You can't select the same stance more than once per day, and taking a stance while you are in another stance will automatically cancel the previous one. Each stance has a duration of 3 rounds
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Heroism; Cost 2850gp (Copper), 5700gp (Silver), 8550gp (Gold);

Horrible!, I know. I remember I asked for Harsh feedback from the judges that year, and they were kind enough to provide me with it, the community also did a great job at providing feedback and advice, all that helped me a lot for the subsequent years.

As of 2013, pretty much like Jeff, I was one of the alternates to the top32 as well.

I came across a lot of interesting ideas and mechanics in the last hour!:)

I've only seen really bad items so far; way too many spells in a can, feat in a can, class ability in a can, feat in a can, or some really weird templates!, I even saw a "hello, ...." message before the item description, and a "use x spell y times per day" item.

On the bright side, I haven't chanced upon any item I've already seen, but, What is going on with the items this year ?. Am I just this unlucky? or is it like that for everybody?

I was in Venezuela First, then Greece, now UK ^^

Isn't it exam period right now?, I know I have one tomorrow. That might be keeping people out of the boards

Curaigh is right, winning is not the only prize. You get to design an item that is judged by people who know their stuff, you can also get input from the community, and by doing so you have the chance to meet interesting people who like the stuff you like.

In my case, I got to improve my use of English by a tremendous amount as well, all thanks to the advice given from the judges and the community.

But, the key thing here is Rule #0, Have fun!

PS: Sad to see the archetype round go, it was my favorite round

I almost made a bet with myself worth a million hours in the gym that you would be a judge this time Clark, sorry to hear the news, inspired by your post though. Thanks for being a pillar of support and advice for so many of us every year, and I bet you'll find a way to do so this year as well (we know you can't fight the urge~).

Ah, I can feel it in the air, like magic taking shape in the winter wind...

But, there is so much stuff going on in my life this year that even though I know what item I wanna do, I haven't had the time to actually write it down... Yeah, I'm drowning with university work this time around. That said, when the announcement comes my heart will probably skip a beat and I'll try my best to write something in time for this year too.

I'm glad to see some familiar faces around here as well, how have you guys been doing for the last 9 months?, have you been good kids for Santa?

Hello guys,

I'll be running my last session of the year this Sunday, and as it turns out I'll have to come against one of my two greatest weaknesses as a GM, Overland Travel, in order to get the campaign to the point where I want it to get before our big break.

Now, let me explain, I LOVE overland travel, there is just a special place in my heart for moments where the party gets together around the fire, or has a hard time traveling across hazardous terrains and stuff. I guess that is what reading too many books does to you. In any case, I have tried many times with different techniques to achieve a good overland travel experience for the Parties I have GMed over the years, but I succeed only once, and not only was that a lucky shot, it did not succeed to the degree I wished it would. Being the type of GM who prepare any detail he can think of ahead of time, I have read what I have found, but to no avail, clearly this is not my forte.

I searched the forums for a couple of hours as well, and found a few threads addressing this very same topic, but I did not find what I was looking for. My current issue is a travel from Korvosa to Kaer Maga, and I would not like to just say "4 days gone, you arrive", specially since I have two players that are relatively new to the game, but, since I have this problem with any kind of Overland Travel experience I try to prepare, I'd really appreciate it if we could use this thread for all types of advice concerning this topic, it would really help me a lot.

Currently, I plan on something slightly weird - I'll split the day of travel in Riding Hours, and Total Traveling Hours. I'm using Riding Hours to describe changes on the landscape and what they come across as they move every hour; Inns, Caravans, Merchants, Road Wardens collecting taxes, Thugs, fork roads, packs of wild animals, difficult parts of the road, and other traveling hazards like a horse throwing a shoe, or becoming afraid. While, I plan to use the Total Traveling Hours for weather mostly, so that perhaps a downpour catches them at sleep time. However, it feels like It'll be just general descriptions about what they see once an hour, and if some kind of obstacle happen, they encounter it, so we zoom there, and then go back to a description per hour.

I also plan on asking them how do their usual schedule, like, how much they plan to ride a day, and how often will they take breaks, how will they handle cooking, camping, their night watches and hunting (if required).

Does anyone knows any useful techniques or tips to improve Overland Travel Experience?, to make the players truly experience traveling and have fun during these moments?.

I didn't have time to look at traits or archetypes, but here is a sample build I came up with (up to Lv9).

Halfling Fighter Lv9 (PTB 20)
Str 14 (10 points = 16 - 2 Racial)
Dex 18 (10 points = 16 + 2 Racial)
Con 12 (2 Points)
Int 10 (0 Points)
Wis 12 (2 Points)
Cha 09 (-4 Points = 7 + 2 Racial).

Feats Ammo Drop, Juggle Load, Two-weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus(Double Sling), Weapon Specialization (Double Sling), Point-Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Precise Shot, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Deadly Aim

Assuming a +2 Str and Dex Belt, and a +2 Weapon, a full attack at this level would look like

Ranged: +2 Double Sling +14/+14/+14/+9/+9 (1d3+15/x2)

The big problem lies at low levels, since at lv1 all you are looking at is a +6 To Hit, 1d3+2 Damage. +6/+6 with a Masterwork Weapon at Lv2, and from there damage and to-hit bonuses start to increase slowly, until you hit lv6 where numbers start looking noticeably better.

An obvious issue is DR, which can pretty much cripple the damage output of this character... You need a good variety of ammunition and perhaps help from your party's casters if DR starts being an issue.

Thanks for the fast responses!

I guess I should've had told you guys that we are already playing 8-hours each Sunday - we get together at 12-12'30, we start paying at 1pm, and we take a small lunch break around 5pm, then we resume play until 10'00pm. So, adding more hours to each session to cove 3 in 2 is almost impossible to do.

The party is composed of 6 players, but 1 of them misses about half of our sessions. This Sunday, all of them can make it except the paladin (5/6), which is indeed higher than 3/4, and I normally use a similar rule as you do rando1000 as well, I am simply concerned this time, because he seems really sad about missing it...

As for playing on a week night, I asked him, and I got a "You've got to be kidding" kind of response, and he is right, 5 of them work. Then I asked him if we could play two smaller sessions on two different Saturdays (4hours each), on top on playing again the 8-hour ones on these two final weeks, I got a "Seems to heavy to do" kind of response, then I asked about just one Saturday but again same response.

And so, I am feeling really bad about the whole thing, you see I don't really want him to miss it either, but, I don't want the end of this adventure go to waste either. Even if I am currently leaning towards playing, and sometimes kind of tell myself, "Just play", I still go back and analyze this over, in search of a solution I haven't come up with yet. >_<

So, I have been running a campaign the last few months, and we have had a great time up to now. The PCs finished the first adventure of the campaign more than a month ago, and they are about 3 sessions away from finishing the second one as well. Suddenly, we found ourselves trapped in a dilemma. Thing is, one of the players, the Paladin is going for a three-day vacation trip with a few friends and won't be able to play this Sunday. This would not be a problem under different circumstance, but the Sunday after this one, he will also be unable to play and the ranger will be gone too. Now, none of this would be a problem at all, I mean i wouldn't have a problem to just skip two weeks of play, might even come as nice break.

The problem is, after we lose both weeks, I will only have two weeks left before I leave the country for studies. As I already mentioned, they are just 3 sessions away from finishing this adventure, and as you might guess I definitely wish to finish it before I leave. I just can't picture it leaving the adventure on hold for 4 months and just finish it when I come back (interest will be lost, I know, and many important details forgotten, even by me), I can easily picture them all starting the third adventure after a 4 months break however, which is why i want to finish this part of the campaign before I leave (plus I really put a lot of work and a part of my soul into it).

Since none of my players can play any other day of the week, the choice is, we either play this Sunday or we don't finish the adventure at all. And I of course had decided to have the Paladin become NPC during this session, then, the player playing this character told me

"I really don't want to miss this session"

You see, the story has kind of built up to a really exciting point right now, last week we cut as they were about to barge into a pretty important and dangerous place, run by the evil npc disguised as good guy who was probably behind the death of an allied npc they were so attached to that they spent 5000gp to resurrect (which of course I am still rewarding every time we play), and of course, they were doing the Epic walk thing.

I thought about asking the other players, and I will do so.Probably today. But since the community has helped me a lot in the past, I also thought about asking your opinion on the matter, before I do the talk with them.

What would you do?, play or not?, risk a whole campaign or not?

I really wanted to thank everyone for the great advice that was given ^^.

Their saves had a fair chance of succeeding, the Vampire Spawns' Dominate Person DC is 14, both affected characters have a will of +3 on their own, so these saves should've been made at +5, if my math is correct, that means 60% success chance. So, I will definitely talk with my players about the issue and decide what to do together, I will also take into consideration some of the advice given here as additional options for them to choose, since I liked both the torture idea and the continue from the point he falls to -1 idea, I guess that will give them 6 options to decide from.

I do place their concern quite high on my priorities, most GMs around here don't really read the rules, and more than once I have been wronged in the past, so I really want to make sure stuff like that don't happen at my table, plus, I believe that if we are to have fun I need to at least respect their concerns and make sure they don't feel cheated or deceived (which is why I almost never fudge rolls or anything behind screen to help them either).

Thanks for everything guys ^^.

So, I have been the default GM for about 5-6 groups of 6 players each(I never run more than two campaigns at a time though). Luckily I have made a really small amount of mistakes over the last 4 years, and most of these were small things that wouldn't really change the outcome of anything - until now.

I am currently running a campaign for a party of 6, and on our last session, we had one combat after 7hours of pure role-play. The party was split split in half before the fight started so only three of them were in the encounter. They fought a group of 4 Vampire Spawn, and while their rolls were really really bad, but they would've most likely defeated them, the paladin doing most of the work this time around, of course, and HERE comes my mistake.

I had one of the Vampire Spawns, walk up to the ceiling by Spider Climbing and keep attempting Dominate person on the Dwarf Ranger, then the Human Fighter until they both failed their saves. Since we were in kind of a rush, as one of the players had to make it to the last bus, so as a result of playing faster than normal, I forgot that dominate person allows a save at +2 if the command is against their nature. With both of them dominated, the paladin having been beaten mostly by his companion, defeated 3 of the four vampire spawn, and took a last hit from the fighter, falling down to -1. The vampire spawn then changed the his command to "bring the rest of your allies in an hour and a half" and we stopped before they left the place.

Now, If I hadn't done this mistake, this would probably mean that the now helpless vampire spawns would awaken after an hour and feast upon the paladin, gaining temporary hp on the process and await for the rest of the party. However, since I feel terrible for the mistake I made (It did cost a PC's life), I will handle things differently. I think I should tell all of my players that I did a mistake, and that this mistake cost them the fight, and as a result, I'll give them all a hero point, and allow one of the following options,

1) a save against this last order ("after seeing your companion fall down, your inner self attempts to break the power that is controlling your actions") at +8 (compensating for all the saves they didn't get).
2) re-do the fight - ("you just saw a glimpse of your possible future"), granting them a +1 insight bonus on saves and ac. Since we are heavily using the Harrow Deck this could be a plausible.
3) have the cleric who sent them appear and help. (I don't really like this one, but always an option).
4) Have Torag congratulate the paladin on his dying dreams, which heals some of his wounds instantly. Epic description of how he gets on his feet, which he would deserve after the heroic encounter he just went through.

I need advice on which would be the best of the four, or suggestions for another way to "atone" for my mistake, as well as general input on whether should a GM or not admit he made this kind of a mistake or would this could him the trust of his players.

Hi MrVergee, thanks again!.

I prepared the prelude, and we are just waiting to start in about 7 days from now. I started reading Moonbeam's Curse of the Crimson Throne, and its quite inspiring as well, I especially liked how he shifted the sequence of some events of the riot.

I wanted to make a big deal of the Harrowing, unfortunately I don't have the deck, and If I order it now, I don't think I'll get it before we play. So I'm trying to find a way to print cards or something.

I like your idea of making the Arkonas Tieflings, especially since the Party's Magus is a Tiefling, and I can tie him easily to them, but I don't know, this whole part seems like it needs to be redone or something. I might search through my modules (for both 3.5 and Pathfinder) and find something that could fit there.