Grindor's page

One thing I really like about the 4E DMG is Page 42.

For those who haven't seen it, the page is basically all you need to help you improvise and adjudicate rules on the fly, including a chart showing Low, Medium, High amounts of damage for each level (or small range of levels) and shows this for once off attacks and for ongoing attacks. It also has brief info about other helpful things such as the "DM's Best Friend" (+2 bonus for advantageous situations, -2 for disadvantageous situations) has DCs (including for skill checks) appropriate for each level (or level range) and so on.

It's meant to help you work out how much damage a campfire or a boulder would do, and you could use it for anything really. For example, if you come up with a monster on the fly and want it to be a heavy hitter, use a damage amount similar to the High value listed for ongoing attacks (because it can attack several times).

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone had seen or made something similar for 3.5 (and/or Pathfinder RPG), particularly the damage reference chart part of it. I think it's a really useful tool.

Thanks :)

After writing this, I see that it is long and rambling, so I'll do a quick summary here:

* LN Duskblade with a code of conduct

* The code is so loose that he rarely breaks it but it provides almost no restrictions
* The PCs are in an alternate universe, so I have an NPC who is the alternate version of the PC and have an NPC who is the alternate version of his father (in the PC's world, his father is dead); the alternate PC has power over the PC, because the PC needs his alternate self to willing give him a piece of hair, blood, etc. (out of desire to help)
* I want to test him to get him to stick to his code, and/or show that the spirit of the code is harder to stick to than the letter, and/or show that he really shouldn't even bother having a code, and/or show (using the alternate version of the PC) how the code should be followed

Okay, now onto the rambling...

I'm running a game with the following characters:

NG Seakin Spirit Shaman
NG Human Sorcerer
CN Human Rogue
LN Wild-elf Duskblade

The duskblade is giving me problems. He's part of a semi-civilised tribe, living in the slums of a small town. His father was killed in raid (arranged by the captain of the guard). We started and he chose his alignment and decided to have a code of conduct. I only noticed the problem a fair way into the game: his code barely restricts him at all.

Here it is:

1.Will always help those in need, who are not enemies

2.Will not immediately trust anybody, trust has to be earned
3.Will always strive forward in my training, however can see helping people as improving self
4.Will always strive to keep a promise if possible, no matter risk to self
5.Will hold to a strict and exhaustive training regimen wherever possible
6.Will only kill those who attack myself or an innocent party
7.Will sacrifice self to save a friend; a friend is only someone who has earned my trust

He's acting Chaotic Neutral and has turned from a somewhat lawful person into a very callous person. But he still sticks to his code, because it's so loose. My problem here is that he hasn't broken his code - so there's no consequences there - but the code was far too loose to start with. Much later on he told me that he purposely wrote loopholes into it. I didn't think he'd do that, and on a glance it seemed fine, but now I see that it isn't.

Take point number 6 for example, he can beat people to the edge of death and still be within the letter of his code. Number 3 says that he'll keep promises, but he never makes any. Number 2 is more of a personality trait. Number 1 is covered because they're on a quest to save the world, but he doesn't go out of his way to help people he sees (beggars and so on).

They were fighting a giant animated statue of a dwarf and they had heard rumour that a great dwarven hero had come this way long ago and never returned. He "killed" the statue and it cracked open, revealing a dwarf, and the whole thing began to fall towards him. He immediately said he wanted to stab the dwarf. All the other players/characters told him he shouldn't because it's probably the hero they heard about. He did it anyway, and killed the dwarf.

The statue the crushed him, doing lots of damage, and the earth spirit they were visiting told him that dwarves would now see him as an enemy. The duskblade started asking questions after he had killed the dwarf, such as "Was he in control when the statue attacked me?" and the answer was "No". He then felt somewhat sorry and gave a bit of his reward to help resurrect the dwarf.

Now the PCs are in an alternate universe where they didn't get together, and there have been many huge natural disasters (floods, eruptions, etc) and burning undead roam the land. The PCs need to find their alternate selves in this world to get a piece of them as a material component to power the portal to get back to their world. The alternate PCs must willingly (out of desire to help, rather than fear) give a piece of hair, skin, blood, etc. to the PCs. So, the PCs can't just hunt them down, draw blood and leave.

I want to show the duskblade that his code is so loose that he almost might as well not even have one. Or show that he's abiding by the letter of the code, not the spirit of it. I am in the unique position of having the ability to NPC the alternate version of the PC. Also, I'm thinking that his father is alive in this world, so I can NPC him too. He also has a half-brother.

Basically, I want to have the alternate PC (APC) show how the code should be followed. For example, having him help beggars, and get something of a high shelf for a halfling, make promises to people and then keep them, and so on. But I also want to present the PC with situations that would require him to stick to his code (like an NPC making him promise to do something, then I'd see if he actually does it). I haven't been very good with this so far, because I felt the code was so loose that it rarely mattered. I have had a few situations where he needed to follow it, though.

I guess the trouble is that if it was a knight's or paladin's code, it would be strict and therefore easy to see if he's following it or not, but because this one is so loose, it rarely even matters, and he basically acts like the characters without codes (sometimes worse).

I'm not quite sure what I want from the Paizo community here. Some situations that I could put the PC in to test his adherence to his code would be good. And ways that I can show the APC sticking to the code (or it's spirit), where the PC wouldn't stick to it (or would stick to the letter). I've got the alternate version of the PC, his father and his half-brother to use.

Some time ago, I toyed with the idea of giving some aspects of the beguiler to the bard. I'm not really sure about balance, though. Beware that some of the following things may be overpowered, because I haven't really thought about it much, and I'd like to hear from you whether they are balanced enough and ideas for how to make them better.

For this model of the bard, I'm pretty set on completely removing bardic music altogether, making the class more like a sneak or adventurer (or beguiler). Now, one of the main issues here is "what is bardic music worth?" It is my hope that by removing it, we can boost the power of the bard in other areas, particularly spellcasting.

My first basic idea was that the bard gets all the spells the beguiler can cast. Of course, the bard can only cast up to 6th level spells. I'm wondering if the bard could receive a spellcasting boost in other ways, in addition to more spells added to the list. I like how the beguiler works, having a set list of spells to cast from and being able to spontaneously cast any of them up to his limit.

Is it too much to leave the bard as is, but remove bardic music and instead add all the beguilers spells (up to 6th level) and the ability to cast like a beguiler?

I'd also very much like to increase the spells per day a bit, if possible. Maybe something a little like the duskblade? Basically I want this so that the bard can be a competent (but limited) spellcaster from the get go (which includes casting 1st level spells).

Summary: Is it too much to replace bardic music by adding the beguiler's spells to the bard's spell list, allowing bards to know all their spells and spontaneously cast them, increasing their spells per day a little (at least enough to cast one or two 1st-level spells at level 1)? If this is too powerful, what are some other suggestions?

Typing that summary, it does sound like too much, but I'm still not sure, so I'll wait for your responses (maybe it'll bump the bard into a category where more people want to play it in a party of four, instead of the fifth/support character).

For reference, here's all the PHB spells that the beguiler has, which the bard does not. When I wrote this list (a while ago) I was only writing SRD/OGL spells, so the PHB2 spells aren't in the list. The list also shows the differences in levels for spells that the beguiler and bard get at different times. However, remember that while a bard gets spells like shadow walk as a 5th level spell instead of 6th level, a beguiler gets 6th level spells at 12th level, while a bard only gets 5th level spells at 13th level (and only if he has high enough Charisma, otherwise he has to wait till 14th level).

1st: colour spray, mage armour, obscuring mist
2nd: fog cloud, knock, see invisibility**, spider climb, touch of idiocy
3rd: arcane sight, hold person*, nondetection, suggestion*, zone of silence**
4th: charm monster*, confusion*, crushing despair*, solid fog
5th: break enchantment*, dominate person*, feeblemind, hold monster*, sending, telepathic bond
6th: greater dispel magic*, mass suggestion*, mislead*, repulsion, shadow walk*, true seeing

*Bards do get this spell, but one level earlier
**Bards do get this spell, but one level later

I've been thinking a lot about homebrew worlds recently. I'm currently running a game in a homebrew world which has gone through one or two iterations already (and many more minor changes), and (after making the world bigger) the area in which we are playing is about 1/6th of the continent.

I'm also currently working on another homebrew, in my spare time. It's pretty much completely different. Different gods, races, themes, cultures, major geographical features, and so on. The first world was kinda classic(ish) D&D, while I'm trying some new things with the second one. Some themes from the first homebrew are still present in the new one, with some that I didn't fully explore gaining more of a focus.

I've seen on some threads here that some other people also have more than one homebrew world, so I thought I'd start a discussion about it.

Do you have more than one homebrew world?
Why did you make the second one?
How similar or different are the worlds?
Do you run different games in both worlds at the same time or has one world effectively replaced the other?

I look forward to hearing the responses. I think this could be interesting :)

Hi everyone,

I've been trying to think of a name for the sky goddess in my world, but with no success. I'm pretty picky about the names of my deities, because they're important to the world and and the setting. I'm hoping to get some names that I might be able to use for her, or even just some inspiration. I'm looking for something easy to pronounce, maybe not too long, and possibly windy/airy sounding.

I've looked at several names that mean sky, heavens, bird, etc. and found a few good ones, but those have been used fairly heavily in popular culture, and I'd like something a bit more original/obscure. I won't mention any of the names I've considered, so as not to taint your minds and ideas about it.

To get you thinking, I'll tell you a bit about the goddess. She's the creator deity and chief of the pantheon. She made the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the birds. Haven't decided yet, but it's likely that she's also the mother of the god who created everything else. There's a gliding (not flying) bird race in my world, and she's their patron goddess too. She's the goddess of weather and basically anything to do with the sky. Finally, she is also the goddess of prophecies, divinations and so on. In this world, any future telling is related to the sky or weather and needs her blessing.

In my world, the sun, moon, stars, and ocean are great ancient "things". They aren't gods, are not alive, and are not prayed to. There is no sun god or ocean god. They are more like natural forces (like fire) or features (like mountains). When on a stormy sea, you would pray to the weather goddess to calm it, instead of the sea god or the sea itself.

Therefore, as the goddess who created the heavens (and more), is the patron of the bird people, controls the weather and can tell the future, she's extremely influential and popular (even more reason to have a good name). I'll paste in the description I've got so far. It's the first draft and I haven't thought heaps about the details yet, and the domains may change slightly. Oh, as a side note, if you've got any ideas about possible titles for here, I'd be interested in those too. I've got a few below, but they're all a bit samey. WHere the goddess' name would normally appear, I've used She and Her as place holders.

??? (N)
Titles: Goddess of the Stars and Sky, Divine Augur, Goddess of Weather and Warning, Goddess of Forecasts
Portfolio: Astrology, prophecy, divination, weather, navigation, birds
Domains: Air, Animal, Knowledge, Water, Weather

She is the goddess of the sky and everything in it: the sun, the moon, the stars, the birds and the weather. She teaches that the events of the world are mirrored in the sky above, and that by watching the movement and relative positions of the celestial bodies you can predict and foresee worldly events. In addition to astrology, She teaches other forms of divination, always related to the sky or weather, such as interpreting lightning strikes or driftwood washed up after a storm, reading the flight of birds and reading the entrails of birds sacrificed to Her. Astrologers, sages, diviners, prophets, augurs and haruspices, all worship Her, devoting themselves to gleaning wisdom and insight from the sky.

As a weather goddess, She has many worshippers outside of diviners, such as fishers, sailors, farmers, druids and most common people. On the seas and small islands, people rely heavily on the weather, where a monsoon can capsize a ship or flood a village, and a drought can deplete an island’s water supply and destroy a good harvest. Because of this, She is one of the most widely worshipped gods in the Archipelago. Common people routinely look to Her priests for advice about when to plant and harvest their crops, when to plan a sea voyage, and all sorts of other matters relating to life on the islands.

Her priests are often prominent figures or even leaders of communities, where they are deeply involved with the people, searching the skies for signs telling the potential of newborns, warning of trouble or war brewing in neighbouring villages, and early notice of harsh weather conditions. Most towns have at least one priest of Her, who they consult on major decisions affecting the town. Indeed, even when everything seems perfect, such as finding a good place to build a village or finding a faster shipping route, Her priests are consulted and if their readings don’t bode well, the action is not taken.

Thanks in advance. I look forward to what people come up with :)

Over in this thread some people were considering the idea of starting a thread about non-standard clerics. So, here it is.

I like the idea of non-standard clerics, and believe that in an ideal campaign, all clerics should be different, from level 1, without having to be built around the "heavy armour/mace/heal/turn" pattern from the PHB, until several levels later, when they take a prestige class, to differentiate themselves from other faiths. The standard cleric, I believe, covers too many bases, far too well, and I would suggest, needs trimming.

The "Jozan" concept (to use the PHB iconic) is fine for clerics of martial deities who hate undead, but falls completely flat when you try to apply it to priests of healing/love/literature/music/magic/thievery, etc.

Agreed, wholeheartedly. Maybe we ought to start a new thread for "non-genericizing the cleric," and come up with lists of alternative class features.

I agree with this too. I use the Spontaneous Domain Casting variant from PHB2 and the Improved Domain Powers from Dragon #342. But even with these variants, the clerics of different gods are still pretty similar.

In a solo campaign, I worked with the player to make a variant cleric who worshipped the god of fun, trickery and luck. She traded in some armour proficiencies and spellcasting ability, downgraded the hit dice, and lost a few other things. In return, she got access to some rogue skills and sneak attack. Not quite sure how balanced that was (didn't need to balance it against other players, seeing as it was a solo campaign) but it was definitely more interesting than a standard cleric trying to be a rogue. I don't think clerics should have to multiclass to be a representative of their god. This "Reveler" class wasn't as good as a rogue, and lost several cleric abilities, but you could look at the class abilities and know what kind of god this cleric worshipped.

So, what do you do to make clerics more representative of their gods? What should a cleric of the god of love or knowledge be like? I think the idea of making a list of alternate class features is a good one. Let's see what we can come up with.

Ha... looking over this post again, I've written "OGL" in several places where I meant to write "OGC". I knew something didn't look right at the time, but I couldn't work out what. Bah, ignore my abbreviation errors. You know what I mean :)