Grifter's page

To preface this post I am a long time DM and due to life changes have handed off DM duties to a good friend a little more than a year ago, so he is relatively new as a DM but has been running consistently.

Anyhow He bought the Pathfinder Rappan Athuk book on kickstarter and we were all excited. He wanted to see more of the newer classes in action so I decided to make a gunslinger/inquisitor. He agreed to advanced weapons and within 5 levels we agreed that gunslinger with advanced firearms was too powerful. We agreed to nerf the revolver and removed the touch attack quality and the misfire making it an exotic longbow with x4 critical. We also agreed to scale the character back so I dumped gunslinger and currently I am Inquisitor/Fighter 6/4 respectively. Here is a breakdown of my character:

Level Class BAB Feats/Abilities

1 Inq (1) 0 Inquisition: B. powder, judgement 1/day, monster lore, orisons, stern gaze,
*exotic weapon prof: firearms, *gunsmith, point blank shot, precise shot
2 Fight (1) +1 Rapid shot
3 Fight (2) +2 Deadly aim, weapon focus (firearms), bravery
4 Fight (3) +3 Armor training 1
5 Fight (4) +4 Weapon specilization (firearms), quick draw
6 Inq (2) +5 Cunning iniative, detect alignment, track
7 Inq (3) +6/+1 Solo tactics, *target of opportunity, rapid reload (revolver)
8 Inq (4) +7+2 Judgement 2/day
9 Inq (5) +7/+2 Bane, discern lies, improved critical
10 Inq (6) +8/+3 *Enfilading fire

Because the dungeon provides us with unusual amounts of wealth I currently have a +4 revolver of speed, +4 belt of dex, +4 headband of wisdom, bane bauldric, ring of evasion, endless bandoleer +5 mithril breastplate, +5 buckler and some odds and ends. Most of this was possible because we have an item creation specialist wizard in the group to tailor our gear.

This is the issue; the DM is getting very frustrated because I am doing very high damage output. Any time we have an opportunity to prepare for a fight and get the jump on them I put up my spells (divine favor, wrath, weapon of awe, flames of the faithful, my judgement and bane and I am getting something like +22/+22/+22/+17 while using rapid shot and deadly aim doing 1d8 +21 +3d6 and crits are x4. Assuming everthing works.

Last night we tracked down the adult red dragon CR 14 with our lv 9 group and smoked him round 3 when I critted for over 1/2 his HP in a single shot. He got visibly upset and as a DM I understand his frustration. He seems upset that I built a heavy DPS character and that every BIG boss just gets obliterated because I do alot of damage and crit quite a bit. I don't want to have the game end because of this... Do I dump the character or what? Help please.

To preface these questions my players are going to be heading into a volcano in the next leg of adventure. I want the place to be crawling with Salamanders, Fire Elementals, Fire Giant(s), etc.

1. How do I translate having an environment that is 500 degrees or hotter into game mechanics? The rules only outline 1d6 damage at 140+ but this will be far hotter than that.

2. What spells/items are available to allow them to actually complete the adventure? Endure elements just ain't going to cut it.

Appreciate the insight.

Being that it is a huge creature how does it only have a 17 str? Based on size bonus alone it should be getting a +16 strength? Realistically shouldn't it be looking at a 26 strength or higher?

I'm not sure if this is the right section of the forum but here goes.

When 4th edition was introduced my group picked it up hoping for the best. Unfortunately after about 4 game sessions we decided to abandon the system because it did not provide what we were looking for. A member suggested PF and the rest is history. One mechanic from 4th edition that we did like was the saves. Rather than rolling a saving throw vs a spell the caster rolled vs your save which was presented as a static number much like armor class. (Ie. Rather than roll a reflex save d20 + 5 vs breath weapon DC:16 the breath weapon rolls vs you d20 + 6 vs Reflex 15)

My players enjoyed it more because as a caster they liked to feel as though success was up to them rather than the monster rolling to defeat the spell. I have mulled over just switching saves around because it is a simple conversion. Either way is effective but as a player it feels great to hit that success, and the opposite side of the coin it stinks when a low level monster hits that 19-20 and resists your powerful spell. If they roll a one there's much less grumbling than if I hit a few 20's vs spells in an encounter.

Just wanted to know what everyone's feelings the static saves system are.

I have a level 7 party and decided I would like to run them against a Mountain Giant that I created by increasing the size of a hill giant by 1 step but keeping him the same beyond that. The giant is part of a tribe of orcs & ogres that are being supplied by a fire giant in a volcano deep in the heart of the hills they infest.

Anyhow I took the Hill Giant and stepped him up one size category from large to huge. The template rebuild rules state add +4 str and con but the table under that says a step from large to huge is +8 str and +4 con so I'm a bit confused on that, please help.

Beyond that I added a +1 Breastplate and +1 Maul and he will likely come out with stoneskin on from an 7th level orc caster. I also rebuilt his feats as follows; Martial Weapon Proficiency, Power Attack, Furious Focus, Imp. Bulls Rush and Awesome Blow.

The party has a paladin, who will hopefully still have a smite available, and the ranger has a stash of adamantine arrows so stoneskin should not be too powerful. Please let me know if you would consider this a CR 8 or 9?

Very simply what are your thoughts on a feat to allow characters other than the Cavalier, Samurai or Paladin to get a mount that progresses with the character? Here is my concept:

Improved Mount:
Prerequisite: Ride 4 ranks
Benefit: The character gains the service of a loyal and trustworthy steed to carry him into battle. This mount functions as a druid's animal companion, using the characters ride rank as his effective druid level. The creature must be one that is capable of riding as a suitable as a mount.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1513061270/reaper-miniatures-bones-an-e volution-of-gaming-min?ref=live

My jaw dropped for everything you get if you sign up for the $100 vampire pledge. With all the minis you get you can kickstart any PF group for what looks like $.60 a model. Take a look for yourself!

Please help me with this. I have seen a number of posts on this subject but there seems to be no solid consensus on this question.

Does a monks weapon damage scale with the monk unarmed damage? From the rules it appears that they do not but please help me understand how that makes a bit of sense. How is Bruce Lee any less deadly with nunchucks than with his fists/feet? It is fairly easy to make the argument that he is more deadly but he's at least equally as dangerous.

If they do not scale then it seems likely that most monks would abandon there weapons at a relatively low level and always go unarmed but this is lame because the monk weapons add flavor to a character. I understand the argument about enchantment and damage type, slashing/piercing vs bludgeoning, but this is a fruitless argument when a level 20 monk's base damage is 2d10 vs 1d6 for most weapons. Not to mention a monk can't use stun and his fists are magical/lawful/adamantite.

Additionally it appears that a monk can just enchant his unarmed strikes, "A monk's unarmed strike is treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons."

Please let me know if this has been settled of if this is the most poorly thought out set of rules in D20.

Simple question if you have improved disarm but you do not have improved unarmed strike and you attempt to grab a weapon out of someones hand do you provoke an attack of opportunity.

It states if you are unarmed you suffer a -4 penalty to your CMB, which would imply that you can do it without the AOO because if you have improved unarmed strike you are not considered unarmed.

I have a player that want to know this. Thank you.

Simple question. Does Fighting defensively and/or total defensive action also increase you CMD? I would assume so but I wanted to be clear.

Does summoning monsters effect the CR of a battle? Do you reward XP for monsters summoned during a battle by enemy NPC's?

Example: CR2 battle lv 1 goblin sorcerer and 4 kobolds. If the goblin starts summoning dire rats every turn of the battle does this change the CR and EXP of the battle?

I ask because since its a spell would that be factored into the exp of the caster or does it change the value, and CR of the fight?

If I am planning on taking a prestige class at what time may I take the class?

Simply if the class requires 5 ranks in a specific skill for instance, can I take the class at lv5 as long as I make sure to get that skill up to 5 ranks or must I have all the skill ranks and prerequisites and then take the class the next level?

Simply does combat maneuver bonus or defense become modified under certain conditions? Does armor check penalty mess with these or does a bless spell add to your chance of success?

Specifically does the check penalty from wearing Plate armor damage your ability to grapple?

I guess I have never looked that closely at the rules but what is the rule about resting. In order to complete your rest do you have to rest for the full 8 hrs uninterrupted or does an interruption during the night defeat that process. I have always just let player just go back to sleep and continue their 8hrs from that point but I wanted to be clear on the actual rules.

I’m looking for some suggestions for evil clerics in my games. Now using an evil cleric designed out of the book that teams with undead works well, being that he can heal the undead or harm the party. Where I am encountering difficulties is when I create evil factions of living creatures and have a priest among them. Although channeling negative energy to harm the party works well, unless coupled with undead they seem to be far less effective than a normal priest from my experience.

I have worked with using CN clerics to get around this but sometimes this can be a real stretch. I am currently working to restart a campaign that has groups of mercenary Norsemen being lead by a worshiper of one of my designed Chaos Gods. It’s not really possible to make him CN because he’s just too evil.

Should I bend the rules here to fit the campaign or just accept that this is one of the drawbacks to an evil character?

So after years of gaming I finally got tired of critical misses being either dropping or breaking weapons or shooting an ally so I had a discussion with my group and we added a little house flavor for critical misses.

We decided that now when someone, PC or NPC, rolls a 1 they roll again. If the 2nd roll is a miss then they have had a mishap, rather than just a miss if the 2nd roll is a hit, this immediately provokes an attack of opportunity to anyone within melee striking range. This represents a serious misstep during combat.

The players love it because they feel that attacks of opportunity were under-utilized and feats like combat reflexes were cooler in theory than in practice. It can be brutal when the fighter botches but generally it works out in the players favor since most of the time they have a much greater chance of striking and in turn a lower chance of botching than the monsters.

Tell me what you think?

Ok, I have never felt 100% confident that I am playing this rule correctly in my games because they never seem to give any examples of what is allowed and not allowed with taking 10. Now I understand that if you are in combat taking 10 is not allowed under normal circumstances but its the distracted bit that starts to throw me for a loop.

What constitutes a distraction? Obviously if you are crafting something and an earthquake happens you have to test no 10 allowed but what about other skills? I’m especially interested in stealth, bluff, diplomacy and sense motive.

Can I take 10 on a stealth check as I attempt to sneak past a guard or up to a person or is the act distracting? I’ve always played this one yes personally but never been fully sure

Is taking 10 allowed in a social interaction? Can I take 10 on my social skills or is being involved in a conversation considered a distraction? This has always been a sticking point for me so please if you can guide help me I would be grateful.

Also things like making ride checks non-combat related, disarming a trap knowing that it could blow up in your face etc.?

During my time running 3.5 games I can't think of a better, and more well used, selection of books than all the complete series. Having a treasure trove of options, most of which were well done, allowed myself and my players to create those very unique and memorable characters that will be etched into memories for a lifetime.

I was wondering if Paizo was planning to release a remake of this series in the future?

Now I understand that without having any information released obviously nobody has an actual answer for this question, but after looking at the description on the website I'm left scratching my head wondering what this book offers that will entice me to buy it?

I understand that it gives you a multitude of options and GM tools to build games but I have been running games for 18 years and ran from the beginning of 3rd till the closing of the books on 3.5 and into Pathfinder so I don't need any advice on how to run games. What I need as a GM is Classes, Prestige Classes, Magic Items, Spells, Monsters, etc... The tangible goodies that every 3.5 book offered as a hook to get people like me to buy them. From the description they didn't even hint at the idea that any of these things would be present.

Now before anyone flames me I'm not saying that a book with all types of tips isn't useful or valuable. I'm sure there will be information that even I would use but without any "goodies" there's nothing that peaks my interest about this particular book.

Any Ideas or insight?