Gip Folgorn's page

I am trying to find a table that I've seen that lists the relative number of encounters by a given game type/difficulty and my google-fu has proven weak.

I am trying to write/plan an adventure "by the book" and I've got my monsters for this first dungeon and the general adventure already picked out/made. I just need to put them into place according to Paizo/WotC standards.

I don't know if the table is a PF table, 3.5, or both, but definitely one or the other.

It was something like this:
Epic - 3 Easy encounters, 4 Average encounters, 1 Challenging encounters, 1 Hard encounters, 0 Epic encounters
Standard - 2 Easy encounters, 3 Average encounters, 2 Challenging encounters, 1 Hard encounters, 1 Epic encounters
Challenging - 1 Easy encounters, 2 Average encounters, 3 Challenging encounters, 2 Hard Encounters, 1 Epic encounters
Horror - 0 Easy encounters, 1 Average encounters, 4 Challenging encounters, 3 Hard Encounters, 2 Epic encounters

Does this NPC even need to do this legally?

As a DM I generally prefer an NPC to be completely legally defined, but that does become limiting. For example, the emperor who my PC are working with is a lvl 20 "f*&+ you, because he can".

However if I'm making an NPC who is intending to die I tend to keep them more legal. If this is the case then you could use a lvl 9+ wizard, lvl 10+ witch or sorceress, or lvl 13+ bard or alchemist so they could use the spell Dream.

Thematically I would think a diviner wizard (foresight) would be great, as could an illusionist (the spell is Illusion). If this alone was what I were to build an encounter around, I would make the enemy very cerebral. Lots and lots of will saves. Illusions, confusion,

Consider maybe the court bard archtype who uses essentially a reverse/debuff version of inspire courage (no save). It must be lvl 13 to use dream, but if thats okay then at 14th level they get Scandal which functions like the spell Song of Discord (causing all the PCs to attack each other). Give him oratory as his preferred bardic performance and toss him in as a solo encounter. Ability focus on Satire for a +2 DC on that performance or Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment) for a +2 DC on spells instead.

I wish I could suggest some idea for the witch but I'm not to familiar with it.

The main downsides for a character using a skill untrained are the following:
- no skill bonus for ranks.
- no +3 bonus for the skill being a class skill, as that requires at least 1 rank.

Isn't that the same thing?

As for original question OP, it is completely reasonable to give a free rank or so. However, as a DM I wouldn't because if something is easy to see then it should use a low DC. Advanced perception is useful in spotting difficult to see things. A ranger, barbarian, and druid must be very keen in order to live in traditionally uncivilized society. You need to be a good hunter/tracker. Without that skill you wouldn't cut it. Same goes for rogues and bards. They must be very sharp in order to spot things out of place.

Wizards, sorcerers, clerics, fighters, paladins, and any other class that doesn't have perception as a class skill simply are too focused on other aspects of their daily life to be innately concerned with their surroundings.

Finally, there are about 4 traits that are all good traits that grant perception as a class skill. If your players don't get that +3 class bonus then they had the opportunity to take it but chose not to. If they don't put ranks into it at all then their character doesn't have an innate reaction to look over things a second time. Players always have an opportunity to improve their perception at each level up and if they choose not to then it shouldn't fall on you as the DM to fix them.

"Whoops... guess they wont get that treasure..."
"F#$! it, they'll either have to look for that secret door again or assume that this is the wrong cave."
"And everybody make a reflex save because nobody put points into perception."

If something is absolutely essential, I will call for a perception roll and give the result to the highest roller or everybody who rolled well.

The main thing that should resolve any problems you may have is to make DCs low for obvious things and reserve important/useful info for mid DCs and give benefits or avoid problems with high DCs. You wizard should be almost always be a terrible trapfinder (save summon monster I) unless he's specifically chose to be.

Also, one of the things a lot of people like to do is throw random perception check out, particularly in urban settings (currently running a game that has morphed into a fully urban game). It is useful to throw in bits of detail, possible roleplay scenarios, and even potential encounters.

I have a player that I am working on making a race for. She did something I wasn't expecting during out game and as a result I turned her into an undead creature of darkness (evil campaign).

Sitting down with her, we are making her very susceptible to light, including light blindness (-2 RP), sunlight sensitivity (-2 RP), and sunlight powerlessness (-2 RP), Undead subtype (16 RP), Flight (4 RP), and Natural Attack - Wings (1 RP).

The wings are wings of shadow and as such it seems appropriate that they should function as touch attacks (also, she intends to use them to deliver touch spells like Shocking Grasp and Vampiric Touch). What do you think would be an appropriate RP cost to make her natural attacks target touch AC?

I have been dealing with something similar with my fiance. I have been playing a rogue/wizard "arcane trickster" using shocking grasp to sneak attack while my fiance is a draconic bloodline sorceress focusing on spamming burning hands for the most damage in the party, even against a single target (5d4+5). AoE + rogue always sucks because I absolutely have to have flanking to get sneak attack. Best it ever works for me is I get in, grab my 1st round of shocking grasp for 4d6 (3rd character level, 1st level wiz with Magic Knack and 2 lvls rogue). Luckily I only get 1d6 SA and use a CL 1 wand 9/10ths of the time anyways. Since I'm just the skill-monkey, re-positioning to avoid the fire doesn't hurt the party as much as her doing a 1d3 acid splash would.

My players are going to be asked to investigate a particular senator and ultimately kill him. He runs a mining company and I'd like to make him a bard, but I have no idea how to make a BBEG out of a bard. I imagine I should focus on some of his workers/brutes instead and use him to enhance them or should I focus on enchantment spells?

Lvl 8 party and their strengths
- Sorceress focused on summoning who floods the battlefield with summons.
- Antipaladin who is completely unstoppable.
- Alchemist who uses rapid shot to flood the battlefield with bombs.
- Barbarian who has a cohort in addition to simply being a barbarian.
*lvl 6 switch hitter Ranger cohort (leadership)
- Cleric necromancer who currently has 6, 8HD skeletons
- Melee bard who probably wont be there. However, if he is, he mostly adapts to what is needed. Pretty classic example of "jack of all trades". He heals, buffs, debuffs, pokes, and anything else needed.

Since the vorpal works only on vampires, you could reasonably houserule that it's a lesser enchantment (maybe +3 instead of +5), and add a bit more. If it only works on one creature, it seems closer to a bane enchantment than the actual vorpal.

I think I'm going to just go with that as an official bit. It justifies adding the Unholy quality and gives me a plot to expand on. Why does the emperor, a vampire, carry a weapon that is specifically designed to kill vampires?

I'm imagining that he uses it as a form of execution of dishonorable, traitorous, or inept leaders in the church and senate (all of which are vampires).

One of the church leaders is a actually a traitor and has assisted the emperor's daughter. So once the party discovers that this archbishop (a lvl 14 Cleric) is the source of the problem the emperor (a lvl 20 cleric) can "bring him to court" by combat. The ultimate end of which will be the traitor's death (and thus the end of this chapter).

This makes me wonder, what happens when a cleric changes their religion (officially)? This particular cleric is a vampire who was taken captive by rebels around 175 years ago along with 3 other archbishops. Over time, the other 3 were eventually executed, but the 4th converted in order to save his life (so weak...). Now he serves the rebels who worship the same god but in a vastly different form (I use a duotheistic pantheon with multiple religions worshiping various aspects of those gods in different ways an interpretations).

I recently had my party meet with the Emperor of the nation that they are in (who they have unknowingly been working for until now). Previously, the Emperor's daughter, a political dissident and rebel, attacked the PCs and attempted to steal a holy relic. She failed and now they have been tasked with finding out how his daughter knew were the relic was. Both he and his daughter are vampires, and the sun has been blacked out in my work. This leaves only one way to truly kill a vampire: decapitation. After making an impressive diplomacy roll along with a rather convincing argument, the (anti)paladin asked the emperor for a weapon capable of killing his daughter if need be. I decided that given that is was the paladin who is in the service of emperor who had just saved his faith's most (un)holy relic, the emperor granted his request and gave him his own ceremonial sword (a +1 Vorpal Scimitar).

Now, here is my problem. Why isn't the sword Unholy? I've kind of created a plot hole that I'm trying to fill but I'm at a conflict of rules and story. A vorpal weapon is a +5 enhancement, already making it a +6 weapon total worth 72,000 gold. The character/party is level 8 with about ~15,000gp worth of gear already, in addition to the 60k gp I already game the 5 member party. I have specified that the weapon is sacred (as the emperor is both the political and religious leader, so Pope and President), so shouldn't it also be Unholy? But that causes the weapon to break the rules (max of +5 property bonus) and makes it worth almost double that and 4 times what he should have for this level.

Have I gone too far? I have stated that only a faithful member of the Paladin and Cleric's order can wield the weapon and any attempt to do so by a non-member will kill them and immediately raise them as an undead in the emperor's service (baring our barbarian or anybody else from wielding it). Should I add the Unholy quality?

It should also be said that I have blatantly broken the rules on a different weapon. The sword wielded by the emperor's daughter is a +1 Holy Undead-Bane Vorpal Scimitar (+9 total). However, the vorpal quality exists exclusively for vampires (officially or unofficially, either way. I'm not going to use it on a PC) and the weapon is a "corrupted" (un)holy relic that is/will be a plot point.

Don't forget the arcana that lets use ranged touch spells for spellstrike as well. That boosts the list a big way too ^_^

Not as much as you'd think. The Magus is kind of limited on your ranged touch spells. Ray of Enfeeblement, Scorching Ray, Acid Arrow, Ray of Exhaustion. With the exception of Ray of Exhaustion I couldn't see myself ever wanting to use those.

@Caderyn: I see your point. However, by level 11 many combats will start off with a spellstruck vampiric touch which at level 10+ gives me on average 18 temporary hp and 36 if it's intensified. Maybe I'll find somewhere to sneak toughness into the elf magus build. Maybe I'll get a Dex and Con belt. I'll figure out a way not to be squishy.

Vampiric touch does a max of 10d6 with 1d6/2 CLs. You should never have a need to intensify it, which only increases the maximum CL by 5; meaning you can go from 10d6 at CL 20 to 12d6 at CL 25.

However Vampiric Touch is a great spell and I highly recommend it. I use it on my Magus BBGG in my evil campaign I run and it makes her tanky as s%$@ (combined with DR 10 and Fast Healing 5).

However, in regards to staying alive, you need to position and think with your (elf) magus like you would a rogue. Get flanking as you can, avoid getting flanked, wear a mithril breastplate (for move speed and low armor check), and put some points into acrobatics.

I know you are against archtypes, but if you are concerned about survivability of and elf magus, consider the elf magus archtype Spell Dancer. You get a +2 and +4 insight bonus to AC (making your AC and Touch AC very high). Acrobatics as a class skill. On the downside you lose your 5th level bonus feat for a bonus to Stealth, Acrobatics, Climb, and Escape Artist checks when you cast a spell (meh...). You also lose your standard weapon enhancements in exchange for +10/20 move speed buff and +2/4 vs AoO or blur, fly, or haste on yourself as a swift action. It sucks if you are thinking about what you are losing too much but you have to remember that it is intended to change how the magus is played and personally I prefer that style. It's not a "good" or "bad" deal, but just a change.

Basically the Magus is the Bladesinger from 3.5 made into an awesome base class, but changed to work for any race. The Spell Dancer is a return to the true feel of the Bladesinger (including the "elf only" requirement).

Gip Folgorn wrote:

Then when you hit with a spellstrike the shocking grasp does triple damage as well.

Spells always have a x2 crit mod.

Spellstrike wrote:

This attack uses the weapon's critical range (20, 19–20, or 18–20 and modified by the keen weapon property or similar effects), but the spell effect only deals ×2 damage on a successful critical hit, while the weapon damage uses its own critical modifier.

Emphasis mine.

It's not a crit. It is flat multiplied damage due to a feat. If you crit with a lance on spirited charge then your spell does x4 (from x3, as per the multiplying damage rules) but your lance (which has a x3 crit range) does x5 damage.

The increased damage is not a crit, but from spirited charge.

As for that human build, Elf is better but human is not bad. Combat casting does lose luster (it just carries you through your suck period).

I would call spending an arcana on close range and getting a wizar spell or 2 sub optimal, but not bad. However, I would be sure to grab a utility spell (clairvoyance?)

However Magi have no business with familiars. All a familiar does is give you a flanking partner at best or a conduit for a "ranged" shocking grasp. I suppose that could justify it if that's your thing but I would give is 1-2 stars out of 5. However, even on my wizards I drop the familiar for the bonded object so you may want to take my opinion with a grain of salt. I hate familiars. They are the stuff of wimpy wizards.

@TheSideKick: @Gip Folgorn: How much would being a human change that build? As a human, I could get Combat Casting and Weapon Finesse both at level 1, and move Dervish Dance up to level 3. I also have no problem dumping Cha and/or Wis if needed to get the ability scores I need, although I see no reason why I couldn't go with 10/16/14/15/10/8 as a human, with the stat boosts at 4 to Int to give me my bonus spells, and the ones at 8 and 12 going to Dex or Int, whichever I need more at that point. The +2 from being human would obviously go into Dex. Heck, this pre-racial ability spread also looks like it would work better for an elf, as well.

I personally don't like humans. Elves get a bonus to your casting stat as well as dex. Not to mention the Elf favored class bonus is pretty awesome (not to say the human one isn't good). Sadly changing to human does alter that particular build a lot.

Any given magus build lies somewhere on gradient of a wizard with a sword to a fighter with spells. Elves tend to do best on the wizarding side, while humans do better as a spellslinging fighter (its really just about mindset when you play/choose feats). Honestly, if I were to play a spellcasting fighter, I would prefer a mounted halfling magus to a human magus.

I am ready to pull this build out as soon as my character dies in my current game, except as a goblin.

Lvl 12
20 Point Buy
Str: 16 (17, -2, lvl 4)
Dex: 14 (12, +2)
Con: 12
Int: 16 (14, lvl 8, lvl 12)
Wis: 10
Cha: 10 (8, +2)

Feats
Lvl 1: Mounted Combat
Lvl 3: Ride-by-Attack
Lvl 5: Wheeling Charge
Magus 5: Spirited Charge
Lvl 7: Power Attack
Lvl 9: Intensify Spell
Lvl 11: Weapon Focus (lance)
Magus 11: Weapon specialization (lance)

Basically, mounted fighter on all your feats, and squeeze in intensify spell and charge on a riding dog with a lance (one handed weapon while mounted!). Not counting your occassional spell, at lvl 12 your halfling can produce some respectable damage. YOu have a +14 to hit on a charge dealing 3d6+33 damage before any magic items, spells, and magus abilities. Then when you hit with a spellstrike the shocking grasp does triple damage as well. Think about a paladin's smite. Except you can spell 2 AP to make your charge into a touch attack instead of having full BAB. After your weapon enhancement, rhino hide armor, and spell, at lvl you can do 38d6+36 and 1/day do 8d6+216 damage (1d6 weapon, 1d6 flaming, 3 str, 6 Power Attack, 2 Weapon Specialization, +1 weapon enhancement and 10d6 shocking grasp (maximized)).

Why Halfling? Small creature, Medium mount. You can charge anywhere anybody else can. Plus it's funny.

It is not even in question (if you read the rules) whether it works for ranged weapons. Of course you can use Arcane Pool at 100% effectiveness on ranged and thrown weapons. It never says, implies, or suggests anywhere that the bonus stops working once the magus lets it go.

Which is another reason why Magus is one of the best, if not the THE best, ways of getting into Arcane Archer. You become an arcane version of Treantmonk's Switch Hitter ranger. It's totally awesome.

Here's my build at lvl 9 (AA entry):

Race: Elf

15-point buy
Str: 8
Dex: 19 (15+2+lvl 4+lvl 8)
Con: 12
Int: 16
Wis: 10
Cha: 10

Feats:
Lvl 1-Weapon Finesse
Lvl 3-Dervish Dance
Lvl 5-Point Blank Shot
Magus 5-Precise Shot
Lvl 7-Weapon Focus (Longbow)
Lvl 9-Extra Arcane Pool

Traits:
Magical Knack (to keep CL up)
Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp)

Stand back and launch flaming Fireball arrows at them and then go magus on them when they get into melee. It's not the best build but thats pretty much just because Arcane Archer is s~~+ty. However, it is pretty fun/cool.

Here is the standard Magus build I use, leveled through lvl 15.

Race: Elf

20 point buy
Str: 10
Dex: 21 (16+2+lvl 4+lvl 8+lvl 12)
Con: 12
Int: 16
Wis: 10
Cha: 10

15 point buy
Str: 10
Dex: 20 (15+2+lvl 4+lvl 8+lvl 12)
Con: 12
Int: 16
Wis: 10
Cha: 8

Feats:
Lvl 1: Combat Casting (skip if starting at higher level and replace with Extra Arcana at lvl 7)
Lvl 3: Weapon Finesse
Lvl 5: Intensify Spell
Magus 5: Dervish Dance
Lvl 7: Extra Arcane Pool
Lvl 9: Empower Spell
Lvl 11: Extra Arcane Pool
lvl 13: Quicken Spell (can't use yet)
Magus 11: Improved Critical (fireworks)
lvl 13: Critical Focus (more fireworks)
lvl 15: Spell Perfection (Shocking Grasp) (Quicken your Shocking Grasp for free from now on, and keep it as a 1st level spell. Empower it for 15d6 too for a 3rd level slot.)

Traits:
Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp)
Reactionary

Magus Arcana:
3-Arcane Accuracy
6-Wand Wielder, Arcane Edge
9-Arcane Strike
12-2 extra arcana (I would take Maximized Magic and Still Magic)

By lvl 15 you can cast shocking grasp twice per turn (3 on a 15+ crit, functionally 4 times after the crit) and get 3 attack (or 4 with haste).

Your options for your swift actions (which you can trade a move action for):
Enhance your weapon
Give yourself a +3 to hit for the round (Arcane Accuracy, 1 AP)
Make all your attacks touch attacks (Arcane Strike, 2 AP)
Spell Recall
Cast a Quickened Empowered Intensified Shocking Grasp

Also, with this particular build 1/day you can cast a Quickened, Empowered, Maximized, Intensified, Still Shocking Grasp as a 3rd level spell. That's 5d6+60 damage even while you're grappled. If you take a 1 level dip into Sorcerer you can gain +1 per die for 5d6+75. It slows your already slow spellcasting but really... you're spamming a 1st level spell and you get 2 other spontaneous 1st level spells.

I wouldn't take Arcane Strike as the magus has plenty of ways to use his swift action.

If you're never sure what feat to take, consider Extra Magus Arcana. Most of them are better than feats.

I cringe seeing Arcane Strike in a Magus build. The Magus Arcana Arcane Edge does +Int bleed damage as an Immediate action. The only reason Arcane Strike is ever better is if your opponent can avoid bleed damage somehow or you're dumping Int for some reason.

My players are currently playing in a LE Elf nation run by vampires and the primary police/military force is called the Night Guard.

While not all of the Night Guard are elves, most are (as most of the nation is). All of the night guard however are one of 3 classes, each of which fills a different role. There is the Arcane Guard, who fill the role of the military command and are all magi. Obvious elf build. However, the other two branches of the Night Guard are the Void Guard (paladins; police/secret service), and the Night Guard (the clergy; mostly clerics and a few paladins).

All 3 branches of the Night Guard wield +1 Mithral Scimitars and obviously I have the build for the magi down (lvl 8 Dervish Dance Spell Dancer Magi with +1 Mithril Chain Shirts). However, I don't know if Dervish Dance is the way to go on the paladins as well. The clerics are the Undead Master cleric archtype, so even though I don't have them worked out for sure, I would also appreciate a build for them. The Paladins wear +1 Mithral Full Plate but Breastplate is okay as well (for light armor). The Clerics wear +1 Mithral Breastplate.

Come on Windspirit, you can do it!

So I was right...

Absolutely. Otherwise you'd have to make a concentration check or take an AoO with every touch spell. If your DM told you this is the way it is then he either hasn't read the rules or is just being a dick and you need to reroll (assuming you're character is based on touch spells as several of mine are).

I am a bit confused by he sttory btw when did she become a Vampire?

In Shar all members of high political or church office and their families undergo a ritual to become vampires. It was a tradition that started with the founding of the 4th empire by Anu who is credited as the first vampire.

Her father was first elected to the senate roughly 80 years ago and at that time both she and her father were turned. She then spent 6 years training with the Night Guard followed immediately with her posting to the Nox Ferox. She was then captured and held captive for 54 years and has been a political dissident / pirate herself since then (20 years).

The Spellblade archtype looks perfect with just a few description changes! I didn't think about the vampire modifiers when I mentioned dervish dance so that saves me two feats :D

I am running a campaign in my own world and I am going to have my players fight/encounter an iconic NPC of mine. However, I initially made her in 3.5 D&D and I don't know how to make her with the same flavor. I prefer to make my NPCs all legal according to the same standards I hold my players with just adjusting their level to affect difficulty. However, I am willing to outright break rules if I cant accomplish what I need. I will try and keep her backstory short, but this is one of my most developed characters so forgive me for being wordy. I italicized the background for TLDR purposes.

Vicera Vandera is elven chaotic good captain of a small fleet of pirate ships that are political enemies of the Shar Empire. Her father is actually the High Consol (Emperor) of the Shar Empire. The Shar Empire openly embraces necromancy as a vital part of their religion. In her youth she was loyal to the empire and was brought up to run for public office and/or join the church. To prepare herself, she joined the Night Guard, the military and police organization who is directly responsible for command of the undead raised by the church. Upon completion of her training, her father (a senator at the time), arranged her a place as the first officer aboard the battleship Nox Ferox.

However, soon after being released by the Vigilance, Vicera broke Vigilance members into the Dark Cathedral and where they smashed several holy relics and stole the Sword of Anu, the prophet-king founder of the 4th Shar Empire (the current regime). Empower by the sword, Vicera lead the pirate rebels into a military research facility, slaughtered the scientists and guards, and escaped with a prototype flying ship. Roughly 20 years since her release, Vicera’s mentor has recently died and she has become their new leader.

In terms of game mechanics, Vicera fights the Sword of Anu (a scimitar or saber) while wielding a summoned sword of light/fire in her other hand. The dual wielding with an immaterial/holy sword is iconic in my mind and must be maintained. She casts spells the enhance her combat and focus on melee range and she is highly dexterous. Magus with weapon finesse, two weapon fighting, and dervish dance seems right, but I’d have to do away with the dual wielding. In addition, I look at her spellcasting as divine, not arcane, as she is a religious zealot. Ranger could work but I can’t imagine a way of getting the summoned sword. As for level, I could work her at around level 10-ish. I wouldn't want to start her above 12.

I know she’s kind of got that Drizzt thing going on but I really don’t mind that because personality-wise she is quite different. However, there will be no panther (or any animal companion at that).