Grey Wind's page

Hey everyone, great posts and great questions so far about SS. I'll add my own:

I'm currently in the middle of the City of Seven Spears and things are really dragging. My PCs have had fun exploring the city so far, but a sandbox type game moves very slowly in my group and I can feel my players are getting antsy. It's been about a month of in-game time and they have cleared three districts and are currently exploring two more. However, they only have around 35 discovery points, a long way from the 120 needed. Is this about right for this point in the game? How have your campaigns progressed?

I guess I'm looking for ways to speed things up. I'm really looking forward to the next books, but I don't want to skip over all of the exploration aspects of this current book. Is there anything I can cut that the PCs won't miss, without creating gaps in the story? How can I seamlessly speed up the acquisition of discovery points?

Full disclosure: Part of the reason it feels like it's taking forever is that my group only plays every other week, so it's been about 6 months of real time to get through 1 month of game time. Ugh!

It requires you to fill an item slot that could be used to get you a constant bonus (Dueling Gloves) to something that is situational and good only for 1 minute per day.

Except that it doesn't because you can just swap out the gloves when you need to. That's why some items require you to "attune" it to your person before you can use the effects.

Generally, I trust my players with the items they equip on their characters, but the Gloves of Reconnaissance from Ultimate Equipment gave me pause.

Here's the scene: The PCs (all 7th level) are poking around the outside of a building where they are pretty sure an ambush is waiting inside. There are no windows within reach so they can't easily peak inside. So the sorcerer whips out his gloves, places them on the wall, and asks me what he sees inside. This is where I went, WTF?! and read the entry:

(I'm paraphrasing here, because I just jotted down some notes for this post.)

This sounded pretty ridiculous to me. Especially for only 2,000 gp! So I compared it with the Ring of X-Ray Vision:

(Again, paraphrased.)

The ring has nearly the exact same ability, but for 25,000 gp!

Now, I'm no expert on item crafting, but I know the 10 rnds/day limitation lowers the cost a lot. Plus the ring has a CL of 6 vs. the gloves CL of 3 and the duration is longer on the ring. Still, 1 round is more than enough to look through a wall and see whatever lies on the other side. Do that 10 times a day and the PCs know exactly what lies behind every door in a standard dungeon crawl. This ruins a lot of the fun of the game IMHO. I don't really have a problem with the ring, because if a player is willing to spend that much he's probably at a pretty high level, at which point I'm fine with letting them see through walls. But at 2,000 gp, the gloves are easily available to low-level PCs, which is a problem.

Ultimately, I gave the player an option. He could either have his 2,000 gp back and the item is banned, or we severely gimp the gloves so they can still be used for recon, without perfect x-ray vision. He chose the latter, so now I need to decide what to do. Thoughts?

How does your GM feel about the Leadership feat? I'm currently running a game with no dedicated healing class. The PCs just hit 7th level, and one of my players took Leadership and created his follower to be a pure heal bot, with no other real combat capabilities. I have some reservations about Leadership (I won't go into details, you can find plenty of other posts related to the subject on these boards), but in this case, I allowed it just so the group had more healing capabilities beyond simple wands.

The player also built an elaborate backstory into his follower so it makes sense to have this heal bot following the party around, which certainly helped my decision to allow it.

Other than that, I would agree with the notion that wands can only get you so far, especially at the higher levels. I think that without a dedicated healer, the party just has to go with a multi-discipline approach to healing. When they next level up, encourage the other players to boost skills and take feats that help them heal themselves and others. It will take the whole party pitching in to make up the difference.

One of the main motivations of a Rakshasa is to be worshiped by those he feels are his inferiors. So, if your PCs have dealt with a good number of the serpentfolk in the Government District, then Akarundo is probably looking for more worshipers. You could have him request the PCs to bring him the head(s) of a leader in another district or faction so he can go in and dominate the rest of the population into submission.

Or, Akarundo could simply request that the PCs themselves drop to their knees and worship him, or the captive dies. My guess is that the PCs would refuse regardless of the circumstances, thus your problem is solved entirely. ;)

I'm doing something very similar in my game. One of the PCs is a Magus wielding a Blackblade. My idea is that Savith's sword was smuggled out of Saventh-Yhi before (or during) its collapse by some religious order who worshiped Savith. It was then handed down through the generations before finally ending up in the hands of the Magus, who now has no idea what he is wielding. As the PCs explore the city and the vaults underneath, the sword will grow in power (following the rules of Blackblades). They might discover Savith's tomb, but won't be able to enter yet. Eventually (probably towards the end of Thousand Fangs), they will learn that the Blackblade is indeed Savith's sword and is the key to defeating Ydersius once again. They'll then have to enter Savith's tomb to unlock the final powers of the sword (I like Jenner2057's regen cancelling idea) before proceeding to the final confrontation.

Anyway, that's my story. Similar enough to your own that I'll be keeping an eye on this thread! :D

- You have to retrace the steps of the Quest for Sky. An all dwarf AP in the Darklands.

This. I would buy this.

Also, for my two cents, dwarves are the way to go for a single-race AP. If only because it would give me a reason to resurrect my dwarf crafting wizard!

Give me a PDF version of this with auto-fill (à la the Modified Neceros' Character Sheet) and I would be pleased as punch.

Specific books and scrolls that are great works of the time and history. Also field guides and reference books. These items could apply bonuses to skill checks when referenced.

Damn. Ninja'd by 2 minutes! Ah well… +1 on this idea

Hmm... Divination takes a bit of time to cast, so what I might do is have a large group of spriggans attack while the Oracle is commiserating with her deity. So I'll get a nice encounter out of it where the PCs have to fight off the spriggans while the Oracle completes the spell. Then, I'll answer the divination with something like "Avoid the fey and be on your way, or explore decay and waste a day."

Thus, I can hopefully keep them moving along to Tazion where the real fun can begin.

Wow, thanks Jenner2057! I guess I should go back and ready HotJ a little closer (and now I wish I had gotten a searchable PDF!)

Originally, I was thinking that I could drop some magic items or something that might help to speed them along, but with that description, it doesn't seem likely that there would be anything of value to their expedition.

My PCs are almost out of the Screaming Jungle and in a moment of inspiration, I decided I would try one last time to distract them from the race. In the Heart of the Jungle there is a map that shows a place called the Liclac Ruins along the river in the northern part of the Screaming Jungle. I described these ruins as the PCs passed by, and just as I suspected, an argument ensued as to whether the party should stop and explore or press on to Tazion.

One of my players is an Oracle of Lore and cast a divination spell with the following question: "Will investigating the pyramid help us get to Tazion quicker?"

I ended the session there and said I would answer the divination at the start of the next session. So now I have a problem. What the heck is the Liclac Ruins? There is no information about it that I can in Heart of the Jungle. Any information anywhere of what is in there? Any ideas on how to answer this divination question?

Just so you know, I'm thinking about submitting a straight-up fighter. A brooding fellow with a grudge and a chip on his shoulder. But before I get into the build, are you okay with archetypes from the Advanced Player's Guide or Ultimate Combat?

No problem if you want to keep it to the Core Rulebook. It might be fun to try something basic again.

I am definitely interested! I've been wanting to play Rise of the Runelords for a very long time. I'm new to PBP, but really looking forward to giving it a shot.

I'll work out a concept asap and get back to you.

And do I assume correctly that she gained her witch-training at the claws of the green hags? Which seems odd when combined with their brutality towards her; is it really all that wise to mistreat someone when you're teaching them things (magic, poison making, etc.) they can eventually use to kill you? Then again, maybe they were rather stupid hags.

The witches' lust for power obviously trumped their ability to think through this possible outcome. It happens from time to time, especially with evil beings. Look at the Dark Lords of Sith, it's the natural order of things that the apprentice eventually rises up to destroy his master.

I am preparing to have my Group start RtR this weekend. They will be meeting with Nkechi and going through Into the Spirit Realms. After reading this again, I am confused as to how the combat with the dream serpent is going to take place. It specifies that they fight the dream serpent in their animal forms. Do I actually give them the statistics for their forms? If so, what would those forms be? Some of them make sense... I could use a Buffalo or something for a Hoofed Mammal, a Wolf for a Canine, a Horse for an Equine, but the carnivorous vermin and small mammal have me stumped. I guess I could use a giant wasp or giant mantis for a vermin, and a dire rat for a rodent. What have other people done?

I wrote out basic statistics of an animal for each of my players on an index card and handed them out when they went into the dream sequence. There was a rhinoceros, monkey, black panther, and a peacock. I described the dream as though they were giant spirit animals racing through the air. Then when the serpent attacked they entered combat as normal using the statistics I gave them. The combat isn't meant to be to terribly challenging and my players did really well, even with only the animal stats (except for the peacock, he got swallowed whole!). Anyway, they decapitated the serpent god and woke up from the dream. I told my players to keep the index cards, which hints that they may be used later. My players loved this whole sequence.

Consider my interest dotted. My top three would be Savage Tide, Rise of the Runelords, and Jade Reagent. Although Carrion Crown would be a close runner-up.

Hello! I'm officially throwing my hat in the ring to "dot" as you so call it. I'll put a submission together soon, but be forewarned, I'm a newb to play by post. Be that as it may, I'm willing to dive in wholeheartedly to this campaign.

Thanks!

James Jacobs's "The Siege of Windy Hollow" (a Pathfinder RPG variant set in an apocalyptic earth ravaged by the Elder Mythos)

I'm sure I speak for all us who unfortunately can't make it to PaizoCon: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE publish this!!! Who wouldn't want to plat that?!

Wow! Great suggestions all! I think getting to know the local fauna with Wild Empathy is a good idea. And I'll see if I can get the locals to work with the environment in a sustainable way.

And I've already thought of brokering a deal with a local merchant to sell my wondrous items.

This definitely got the creative juices flowing. Thanks!

I'm playing a druid in a campaign with a lot of in game downtime. The GM has asked what the PCs are doing doing with their time and I'm having trouble coming up with options.

So, what does a druid do with her free time – aside from strolling through the woods playing with her animal companion? I am planning on establishing my own grove, but the campaign hasn't quite gotten there yet.

A little about my druid: 4th (almost 5th) level human female with a wolf animal companion. Craft wonderous item feat (although I'm having trouble figuring out what to craft other than Amulets of Nat. Armor).

Ha! I'd love to see that performed in cosplay at GenCon!

Active Defense (Ex): [copy all of shielded fighter active defense text here]. The fighter loses these bonuses when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears any armor, or when he carries a medium or heavy load.

The issue with this is that it converts what should be a very active participant on the battlefield into a much more passive archetype. As the player conceives it, the fighter would be very offensive-minded and so would seldom if ever fight defensively.

I'm starting up a Serpent's Skull campaign and one of my players has a great concept for a fighter. Basically, a no-armor, savage fighter who uses a shield and spear. Think african tribal warrior. But he couldn't find an archetype or build that worked for him, so he made his own. I'm not very experienced with building custom classes, so I thought I'd post it here and see what people have to say about it. Is it balanced? How does it compare to other archetypes from the APG?

Here is his write up:

In preparing this, I was guided by several considerations. The largest, of course, is how in the world a non-armored fighter replaces the AC gained by armor. At first level, a fighter reasonably has +5 AC from armor (scale mail being easily in the reach of most starting characters); by third level this likely increases to +6 or +7. By 10th level or so, to judge by pregens in official Paizo adventures, +4 chainmail or +2 full plate isn’t terribly uncommon, for a total of +10 or +11. At level 14 or 15 you see characters with +5 full plate, for +14 with up to +5 DEX bonus allowed with Armor Training. That’s what this archetype needs to replace for a fighter to assume his proper tanking role.

Some of this can obviously come from magic items, but the problems there are obvious. Magic armor is fairly plentiful, and a warrior-type doesn’t have competition for it, especially the heavier types. Non-armor AC items are relatively rare, and a fighter would have to fight everyone else for them. In addition to that, bracers, amulets, rings, cloaks, whatever, all take up magic item slots that armored fighters have free. Obviously this is only a partial solution, and one can’t expect the GM to take the cheesy route of throwing in a lot more of these items in place of the armor that would logically be there. For my purposes I’ve assumed that this archetype would have access to magic to provide a +1 bonus beginning at level 3 and increasing by +1 for every two levels thereafter. Obviously I have no clue whether this is necessarily a realistic expectation in this game – or even in 3.X in general. I’m flying by the seat of my pants, but that was what I keyed my calculations off of. The complication – and I’m not sure how to quantify this – is that fighters with armor would also be expected to take advantage of much of this. That is to say, a fighter could well use Ring of Protection or an Amulet of Natural Armor.

Feats are another way a fighter can make up some armor class ground, but the options there are pretty limited, in my opinion. Dodge, Shield Focus, and Greater Shield Focus each give +1 AC, but this doesn’t really make up much ground – especially because many, if not most, fighters could be expected to take these anyway in the course of a normal build.

A more fruitful way to make up some AC points is with the shield. Since the shield is this archetype’s only armor, it can be assumed that they would become highly proficient in its use and employ it in innovative ways, and therefore gain a greater bonus from it – above and beyond the bonuses give by magical shields, which I haven’t included in my calculations since I assume them to be the same for fighters with and without this archetype.

The DEX bonus allowed is another consideration; obviously it’s limited by armor type worn, but the thing is that, under normal circumstances, I don’t think it’s limited that much. By 7th level, a fighter in a breastplate can have up to a +5 DEX bonus, and one wearing full plate can have +3. I would assume (and again, I’m operating from assumptions because I have no first-hand experience with fighters at that level) that most fighters don’t have a issue operating under those caps except when under the influence of something like Cat’s Grace or a Belt of You’re Really Dexterous.

So, without further ado:

Tribal Warrior

The tribal warrior is the fighting man of the savannahs and jungles who eschews encumbering armor for the fleetness of his own feet and the defensive properties of his shield.

Class Skills: Add Acrobatics, Knowledge: Nature; remove Knowledge: Engineering.

Elusive Warrior: The Tribal Warrior gains the Dodge feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites for this feat. This replaces the Light Armor Familiarity feat.

Cowhide and Wood: The Tribal Warrior gains the Shield Focus feat. This feature replaces the Medium Armor Proficiency feat.

Hard Sinew, Fleet Feet: The Tribal Warrior gains a +2 natural armor bonus to AC at 1st level when wearing no armor (shields are allowed). This bonus increases by +1 at 3rd level and at every fifth level thereafter, to a maximum of +6 at 18th level. This replaces the Heavy Armor Proficiency feat.

My Shield is My Life: At 1st level, the Tribal Warrior gains a +2 shield bonus to AC when using a shield and wearing no armor. This bonus increases by +1 at 3rd level and at every four levels thereafter, to a maximum of +6 at 19th level. This replaces Armor Training 1-5.

Shield of the Fearless: At 19th level, the Tribal Warrior gains DR 5/- when he is using a shield and not wearing armor.

The armor class bonuses break down as follows:

Level....HSFF....MSiML
....1...........2..........2
....2...........2..........2
....3...........3..........3
....4...........3..........3
....5...........3..........3
....6...........3..........3
....7...........3..........4
....8...........4..........4
....9...........4..........4
...10...........4..........4
...11...........4..........5
...12...........4..........5
...13...........5..........5
...14...........5..........5
...15...........5..........6
...16...........5..........6
...17...........5..........6
...18...........6..........6

Thanks! All good suggestions all. I think I can steer the group to the right places pretty well and hopefully complete all the main objectives. I already try to streamline my games as much as possible, this is just taking it to the next level. I'll try to post here next week and let you know how it goes.

So a bunch of my college buddies and I live too far apart to game weekly or even biweekly, so we've decided to get together for marathon weekend session of gaming every couple of months or so. I've decided to run Serpent's Skull and my goal is to run each book in one weekend.

So I'm asking those of you who have run the AP, am I crazy to do this? I figure with sleeping and a few breaks here and there, we'll have around 28 hours of actual gameplay. Which, when broken up into 4-5 hour blocks, would be between 5 to 7 normal sessions. So, can I complete Smuggler's Shiv in, say, 6 normal sessions?

And then how about the other 2 books that have come out so far? How quickly can those books be resolved?

I'm all about the Feiya the Witch. Although Damiel comes in a close second!

He may be my new favorite iconic. Simply because he's the kind of guy everyone just loves to hate!