So in an upcoming king maker campaign (no spoilers please!) i'll be playing an eagle shaman. Got a character concept that I really like for it :)
(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TEXDUnOm9dbXpVpEj1d5M-RPfO-GEm21JvmuCj Lbp1I/edit?usp=sharing Scroll down to second page for build)
Basically what I envisage is at Level 1 I can sword/board with a scimitar. Level 3 I can pick up a crossbow for ranged options and use my totem transformation (wings) to help me get to the enemy's glass cannons (wizards and whatnot).
Levels 4-8 i'll have to suck it up a little. Druid levels should allow me to cast a few spells and I can fight unarmed/with weapons.
Level 9, can you say totemic summons?
Level 10, here is the payoff. I get to fly around as a huge bird with grab on my talons. Monk unarmed damage + feral combat training + my size should give me pretty good damage output. Grappling and fast movement speed let me shut down casters. Plus I get the epicness of grabbing people, flying up, and up, and more up, then dropping them!
Level 11 onward... I can now cast spells from the air in addition to the above. I'd say that my character concept is now "fully actualised".
In addition to general pointers and people's thoughts on whether or not this is a workable character plan, I have a few questions and things i'd like advice with before I take this character to my GM.
1. STATS. We're 15pt buy. Excluding the ranger I am the only divine caster. we have a sorcerer and bard for arcane casting. I'm not sure how to build my stat array for this. I'll need dex 13 for grapple feats. Ultimately i'll need 18 wis to cast all my spells, should I count on magical items for this and just take wis 14? Cha is the obvious dumpstat and 'id be happy going as low as 8 on it. Con is always good to have. Obviously i need STR to beef up my grapples!
2. Initially I thought all eagle shamans take the eagle domain. I now see that is not the case. I'm unsure whether I should take a domain or an animal companion. If i took the companion then I assume roc is a better choice than eagle?
3. Retraining... GM has said we will be using retraining. I intend to put in a polite request for a suitable NPC to learn feral combat from. I'd like to be able to suggest what kinds of NPCs might know feral combat... If i have an animal companion is it too much of a bend to suggest that I learn the feat from it?
4. Wild shaping... I understand that there is alot of confusion around how wild shaping works for the shaman archetypes. I've also read that this is because of cut text for word limits on the archetype. Now, i'm not playing PFS, this is a home gome and our GM is generally pretty reasonable. However he has also said that due to the amount of bookeeping involved in running kingmaker that we've to keep things enteriely within the rules with no third party or no hombrewing... So, what is the simplest and balanced way of handling shaping into a huge Roc (which is 100% what I want to do).
I know you can get it as a level 2 bard... But i'd just like to pick up one versatile performance (VP) without sacraficing too much. Basically my character loves himself some flute action for RP reasons, and it'd be cool to actually invest some skill points in it... but i'd be even better if i could have diplo and handle animal thrown in too.
Would work doubly well from an RP perspective since he has an obsession with the fey so playing the flute to animals/fey creatures to lul them? pure win!
Also he's best buds with the party bard so a few points in it would allow me to aid another and beef up the gold earning potential a little (not to mention even better role play since their friendship is founded on music).
So are their any archetypes or feats or PRCs that'd let me pick up VP without going 2 levels into somthing? If there's other stuff gained in a dip i'd consider dipping a level to get this.
Alright, i'm trying to flesh out a good backstory for my character for an upcoming Kingmaker campaign.
He's a human male. Age undecided. He's a Cleric of Shyka (true neutral, one of the "eldest" from the first world). He may or may not actually be Shyka. His campaign trait is "Noble born - Medvyed".
Name wise i'm not sure at the moment... I'm torn between something that reflects the hive mind aspect of Shyka, maybe "Several", Or something that reflects the fey's love of nature.
Backstory:
What i've got right now for a backstory is that he was found as a newborn in the forest by Medvyed banner-men on the same day as the Medvyed heir apparent. Due to the auspiciousness of this, and the Medvyed family's reverence for the Old Way, he was adopted into the Medvyed family (though he is not part of the succession).
The Medvyeds soon began to regret that however, because the child was odd. He didn't play with the other kids, would flit between moods and conversational topics in an erratic way, and the mannor gardener swore he caught him talking to trees once. People around the estate began to blame him for every minor mishap and misfortune. The Medvyeds would have liked to get rid of him but feared loosing face, and feared the possibility of angering the fey.
What he kept to himself was that he had discovered that the old Oak in the mannor gardens was home to a dryad, who became his only friend. A small hollow in the trunk quickly became his special private place. In time she became his friend, confident and mentor (she helped him manifest his devine powers).
As he his puberty his interest in her took on new dimension. She became his muse, his lover, his obsession.
A few months before the start of the campaign the a betrothal between the heir apparent and some important noble lady was announced. A grand fete was arranged at the Medvyed Mannor to celebrate this.
In some way the plans threatened the old oak tree, they were going to cut it down for something. The Dryad appealed to him for help, and being young and in love he swore he would do anything to protect her. She hatched a plan to kill the bride, and put an end to the wedding plans. He became her accomplice in this.
This did indeed stop the wedding... However without knowing the truth of it people began to mutter that he must have been responsible somehow. He therefore left his home and joined the expedition before anyone could concretely connect him to the killing.
Based on the above there are a few specific things i'd like help with, as well as being open to ideas.
1. Names, names and more names! For my character, for the heir, his dead betrothed, for the dryad... NAMES!
2. What exactly were they going to do to the old oak for the fete? I feel for appropriateness it should be at the centre of the celebration... like a grand gazebo that's going to be used for the wedding later or something?
3. I'm undecided about how culpable he is for the murder. It could be that he thought it would just make her sick, or determined not to marry the heir. It could be that this was the actual intent of the plan and he somehow messed up (wrong dose, or he didn't wait till the moon was full).
4. Given that he has an all consuming love for the dryad... it seems odd that he'd just up and leave even if he was in danger. I feel this aspect REALLY needs fleshed out.
yeah the thread is pretty much drawing to the conclusion i'm reaching, pop MT back in the cupboard for a rainy day when i'm playing 25pt buy, or rolled some nice stats!
We're playing from level 1 but generally our campaigns go up to level 17-20 depending. Usually things draw to a close because we're all "basically gods".
Still i have got some use out of this thread, I've developed my build for MT to the point that i'd be ready to use it once a campaign comes up that might be more forgiving (25pt buy, starting above level 1, etc)
I'm looking at the ancient lorekeeper now and it is *quite* the find. I'll be checking with my GM if he's happy with this, which i think he will be.
So if i get it right, then it'd be Lore keeper Oracle 4Lvls, selecting a 1st level arcane spell that is treated like a 2nd level spell for "all purposes". 4th level also gives me second level arcane spells.
Then 1 level in an arcane class.
I now qualify for MT, but might opt to take a few more levels of oracle first depending on where the best break off point is.
Sound about right?
As for unchained... i'm not familiar with it. I can't find it on the PRD either. Might have a look in my friendly local game shop. Basically I don't understand what its suggesting though... are you saying that with unchained you can take the sorcerer class via feats?
Oh, and regarding party composition. 1 sorcerer, 1 bard, 1ranger, 1 rogue, and some iteration of fighter (can't recall what). So i'll be focousing on my devine side with the arcane there to give me versatility.
Looking at the mystic theurge Combined spells... it seems to me like i could grab an extra sliver of versatility out of Cleric/Empyreal sorcerer in adition to reducing my MADnes. And since versatility is the thing the MT is gaining by sacrificing raw castor levels it seems a point worth considering?
Glancing over at the cleric side of things, the Ecclesitheurge archetype looks worth considering... Domain mastery allows for a little more versatility (again the watchword of the MT!). That notwithstanding the thing that really seems of interest is swapping out the lvl3 increase to channel for "bonded holy symbol" :
Bonded Holy Symbol:
At 3rd level, an ecclesitheurge forms a powerful bond with a holy symbol of his deity, akin to a wizard's bonded object. Once per day, a bonded holy symbol can be used to cast any one spell that the ecclesitheurge has on his cleric or domain spell list that day. This spell is treated like any other spell cast by the ecclesitheurge, including with respect to casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the ecclesitheurge's level. This spell cannot be modified by metamagic feats or other abilities. An ecclesitheurge can add additional magic abilities to his bonded holy symbol as if he had the required item creation feat (typically Craft Wondrous Item), provided he meets the feat's level prerequisites. For example, an ecclesitheurge with a bonded holy symbol necklace must be at least 3rd level to add magic abilities to the item. The magic properties of a bonded holy symbol, including any magic abilities added to the object, function for only the ecclesitheurge. If a bonded holy symbol's owner dies or the item is replaced, the object reverts to being an ordinary holy symbol.
If a bonded holy symbol is damaged, it is restored to full hit points the next time the ecclesitheurge gains his spells for the day. If the holy symbol is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced after 1 week in a special ritual that costs 200 gp per cleric level plus the cost of the holy symbol itself. This ritual takes 8 hours to complete. Items replaced in this way do not possess any of the additional enchantments of the previous bonded holy symbol. An ecclesitheurge can instead designate an existing holy symbol as his bonded holy symbol. This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item, except that the new holy symbol retains its abilities while gaining the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a bonded holy symbol.
This ability replaces the increase to channel energy gained at 3rd level.
Normally wouldn't consider that with a cleric but since i'll be ducking out at 3rd level anyway it seems much more palatable as i wont be developing my channelling much anyways?
I couple of years ago when I first opened the pathfinder core rulebook the mystic theurge (MT) caught my attention. I nearly played it but then my GM explained to me the ways in which pathfinder often dosn't advantage multiclassing. So i picked up a bard instead and had a blast.
Every time i see the page on the MT; I find myself gazing wistfully at it thinking - that would be a good laugh if i could make it work!
So i've decided that this character i'm going to go for it! So i'm looking for advice on how to build it with the following presumptions :
1. I know that in general pathfinder rewards single classed characters more, so its unlikly that my MT will be the most numerically tight badass at the table. Thats fine so long as he's not totally useless.
2. I'd read a while back that race abilities could be used to gain early access to the MT, but then more recently that this was changed for balance issues. So i'll be looking at building an MT without early entry.
With that in mind how should i spec out my character (25pt buy)? What arcane/divine class combos work and what combos are good at which things? Within classes are their particular archetypes or bloodlines of note? What dieties would be good mechanically and in terms of game lore? Any races to avoid or be advised?
Basically i've decided in the vaguest sense "what" i want to do. I'd like thoughts on "how" best to do it, especially to mitigate the many negatives of multiclassing.
So im playing a slayer for the first time and i am thoroughly enjoying it. However as i look over the class i see that the capstone ability is a bit lackluster. Got me to thinking that i might dip a level, maybe 2 levels. Hell maybe a few levels or a prestige class if its workable.
We are playing a devil heavy campaign in the world wound. The gm has hinted that the game will go all the way up to the epic levels. My slayer is affectively the party rougue since im doing the scouting, traps and locks.
Stats wise corbie is lvl 6. High str&con, moderate dex and int, wis 12 and cha 9. Hes gone down the twf style, he's going thunder and fang for s++*s and giggles.
Fluff is also important to me as a player. Corbie was kidnaped by devils as a child (guardian mythic path). He then ran away and wanted never to return. He found a home at a temple of Iomedae, he despiratly wanted to be a paladin but couldnt (not lawful good lol). One of the other pc's (an iomedae cleric) took him under his wing and corbie serves the goddess by protecting him. The cleric has gone on a mission to the worldwpund and so he has followed.
So id be interested in dips that round him out mechanically (better will save?). Spell list might be good for wands. Or somthing that actualises some of my fluff/backstory.
We're playing pathfinder again in my group. GM has told us it will be a Demon heavy campaign revolving around the world wound. Heroic paths are in play and I'm the Guardian.
Don't feel you need to read this but my noted plan for character advancement is here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y5PANFuR_bw--ZPD2ml8UUXfje7KVlL8YCsoUDY 9NnY/edit?usp=sharing
My party consists of
a witch-hunter (some third party "not quite a paladin" thing),
a cleric (healer and melee support),
a DPSer (melee) (who is some kind of weird class that will give him +25 BAB at level 20),
a wizard,
+1 unknown quantity (players lady friend is joining our group, i heard some talk that she might play a ranged/gunslinger type of something).
I'm going to be a Slayer, with the deliverer archetype since i think i'm likely to meet alot of evil shizzle in the campaign. In terms of group dynamics i'm looking to be a melee combatant who does the rogue services too.
I've never played a slayer before but there's alot I like. I know i'll be taking trapfinding, and I think probably assassinate if we get that far (we're starting at level 1).
I was having a gander at fighting options and the Thunder and Fang feat caught my eye. Seems like a good way to up my AC while also doing some fun TWF. I'm not sure what fighting style to go for in my talents though, TWF or Sword + Shield?
Also any thoughts on stat distribution, how much INT do i need for assassinate and whatnot to be effective?
Nah we dont have access to ACG stuff. You're right it is a heavy multi class. I definitely want trap-finding though, so the only straight classes i can think of offhand are trapper(ranger) and Rogue/ninja.
Straight trapper for 5 levels would would grant a combat style feat, 2 favoured enemies, 1 favoured terrain, endurance, hunters bond, and basic traps that i wasn't intending using. I'd also mature the bonus from trapfinding by a couple of points.
Rogue/ninja i've not really looked at so much tbh. I do intend 2 handing a weapon (possibly a glaive-guisarme) and medium armour so i'm pretty sure i'd need to burn a feat on weapon proficiency and another on armour. Which considering i'm already on a feat treatmil to qualify for shadowdancer is a heavy tax, not insurmountable though. I'd also loose an aditional point of BAB.
Both of the above dont do much for my will bonus, and i'm without the satisfaction of using dance for anything other than... well dancing lol. But i can live with that last one.
I get that multiclassing is generally a bad call in pathfinder but without a nice "slam dunk" class for moving into shadow dancer i'm kind of left looking at the shadow dancer class stuff and pondering what would be fun to add to it/do till i get there.
Now before the 20d6 flaming comes in - i know bard could be regarded as a sub-optimal choice here! However its working as a way to up my will save, I want to keep investing in perform(dance) for fluff reasons so having it do some work for me via versatile performance appeals, and a couple of utility spells for random out of combat shenanigans can always be fun.
SO i'm keen to hear suggestions on bard alternatives, but i might not actually go with it even if the suggestion is a mechanically superior one.
With that said anything you'd recommend I do differently?
(i've read the guide on the shadow dancer on the guide to class guides)
Good question Helikon, i like to try and find a happy place in the middle between "optimum mechanical character building" and "general badassery" as i like to reffer to them as ;).
A 2 handed Falcata would be good fluff wise as i am from Taldor... But seriously i doubt you could actually 2hand one of those!
For one the guard is not designed for it, 2 the thing is about the length of a short sword... what gives?
I think i'll ask my GM if she wants to make some kind of variant, or apply some penalties to a 2 handed Falcata user then see how it looks after that.
I'm building a new character for an upcomming game. He will probably be from Zimar as i'm joining the campaign in the second session and that will make it easy to turn up in the right area to get in game.
He is an urban ranger and will be moving to shadowdancer, which i decided i wanted to do after listening to some of the old "the shadow" radio dramas on a long commute. As such i'm trying to pepper his details with references :P.
Here's the backstory i have so far:
"Kent Allard grew up in Zimar as the bastard son of Benjamin Allard. Benjamin was a guard captain of local renown for his sharp eye, cutting wit, and kindly disposition. In particular he was popular with the Qadiran residents of the town due to his fair dealings with them. It therefore came as a surprise to the town when their paragon of virtue fathered a bastard son with a local prostitute.
He took ownership of the deed however and took the boy into his house, much to the chagrin of his wife Helen - they had no other children.
Despite Benjamin's best efforts as a parent rumours began to circulate that his son had nothing of his father's kindly disposition. That the whore's blood pulsing in his veins made him corrupt beyond redemption. It seemed like the boy couldn't go more than three days without committing some new atrocity, from minor infractions such as releasing the horses from the guard's stable, to more major events like outright theft and assault.
Finally when the boy was 12 Benjamin decided that decisive action was in order. He divorced his wife and enrolled in the local temple of Abadar to train the clerics, paladins and justicars in the use of arms. He brought his son with him as an acolyte.
Kent hated the order of Abadar. He hated the early mornings, the cleaning, the constant praying and dedication. Over the years his instructors worked on him constantly however, and though they never made a paladin of him, when he left at 18 they had at least made a man of him.
He joined the guard as a recruit and divided his time between work, sparring with his father at the temple, and continual attempts to reconcile with his adoptive mother. She resented his existence, as did half the guard, he had stolen Benjamin from all of them."
At this point he will redeem himself for a few years, and become a Sargent himself. Then group/individual X will intervene and present him with temptation Y. This will lead Kent into a downward spiral and end up in atrocity Z (i need something truly awful!). Group/individual X will have done all this as part of some obscure incantation, the goal of which i will leave open for my GM.
As a result of atrocity Z Allard flees the town but is pursued, and finally fakes his own death in an act of desperation. He returns to Zimar in the persona of Isaac Twambley, a 40 year old veteran of the goblin blood wars from Cassomir. Once back in town he tries to set himself up as a private detective who works for no reward and always hides his face - The Shadow!
This will continue for a while until the shadow discovers a case that he cannot solve. Someone seems to be killing off people he knows. And some detail of the killings lets him know that they know his true identity. Thinking it to be revenge for atrocity Z he skips town and travels south, where he will meet the party.
What Kent doesn't know is that the killer is an aspect of his own soul torn out of him by the psychological trauma of committing the atrocity Z, a key part of the incantation. This fragment of himself lives primarily in the plane of shadows, and it is through this fragment that he will (in a manner decided by my GM) unlock the abilities of a shadowdancer.
I'm building a character for an upcomming game i'll be in, kick off is next week. I'm going for a shadow dancer along the lines of this guide https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ECKpD15DbcDuEyPKiR1BsY2JLSGRjLwEp8Fncq3 Smjw/edit
I dont ususally play characters with 2handed main weapons and would like some recomendations on what to pick. Greatsword is ever iconic and good on stats but what about a reach weapon, or somthing with better critting?
Hey guys; so a few of my players can't make this weeks game. I know i could just pull a "mark the red" and have them quiet and inactive in the proverbial background but i've managed to get my players invested in the characters and the story so in lue of that i'm thinking of having those who can turn up do what is an acknowledged side quest that will be related to but not an essential part of the story.
For context the party is in Olfden, Andoran. They have just escorted some refugees from one of the PC's hometown to there. The refugees were fleeing from a second goblin uprising that looks like it could be on the scale of the goblin blood wars. There is of course a little more to it (a cabal of necromancers are staging the war and getting in the way of the government's response to it as part of a power play to get the MacGuffin from Almas' University of the Arcane). I have of course dropped hints so the players are suspicious that more is going on - the current "face of evil" is a young female sorcerer that they encounter but haven't managed to capture/kill yet.
The party was probably going to head off south to the capital as they are on a quest for an Eagle Knight Captain to take word of the scope of the goblin uprising to the (suspiciously) inactive andorian government. My plan is to agree (metagame) with those who are there on saturday that they will not head off on that quest but that i have a side adventure for them.
The seed i have for the adventure is this :
1. The PCs are confronted by a mother who claims her daughter has been abducted.
2. When they go to the girls room there is a message in blood on the wall (shamelessly nabbed from the lone wolf books) :
"When the full moon shines o'er the temple deep,
A sacrifice will stir from sleep
the legions of a long forgotten lord.
When a fair royal maid on the altar dies,
The dead of traitor's gorge shall rise,
To claim their long-awaited reward."
3. Introduce some background about traitor's gorge being the site of a battle where an old noble family that had origionally aided in the andorian war of independance turnned on the common people. They were slaughtered to a man in brutal fashion. The region is now known to be full of ghosts of the traitors, bound there by their betrayal. There is indeed a temple to pharisma there; where a lone monk attends to the souls of those unable to pass on to the next world. The blood message is curious because Andoran now has no nobles, and certainly the missing girl is as common as they come.
4. the pcs travel to traitor's gorge (I NEED IDEAS FOR THINGS THAT HAPPEN ALONG THE WAY!).
5. When they arrive the sorceress is performing a necromancy ritual to bring back the traitors as an undead army. The girl is "andorian nobility" in the sense that in andoran the common man governs in place of royalty.
6. The ensueing battle plays out, either they kill the sorceress and save the day (making the undead army a potential resource aragorn style), or she manages to summon the army in which case they would have to escape and the campaign situation becomes more dire for all concerned.
Does this sound good? Ideas for different challenges that could fit in here?
In an interesting conclusion ; i gave her one of the pregens in thr beginner box and said she could have a go for a session and then decide what she wants to do. She loved it; and although it is more challenging cause i like to give all my players thier moment to shine, i managed well and ended up running one of the best games of my (thus far limited carrier).
I did use some of the other advice here though, because now my housemate's friend, who i genuinely can't stand, wants to play too. I (legitimately) explained that im not sure i coukd handle mkre players just yet but id keep here in mind if i was lookimg for anyone.
hmmmm... well i *really* like how he is going for it for flavour... so how about a returning grey-flame star knife that doubles up as a holy symbol. He could hold it in his off hand (but not twf with it) and have a mace in his right hand.
That way if he is at range *throw*, if he's close up, smash with the mace (or twf if thats his thing), if he's chanelling stick'em with an extra 1d6 of damage?
It dosn't look like i can make it the "best" mechanical option but i want to make it viable and up the coolness factor that he wants to have of being a cleric of desna with the diety's signature weapon.
So one of my players is a cleric of desna and he was asking me about using a starknife cause it fits with his character and stuff. I've honestly never looked over it as a weapon and at first glance its mechanics look underwhelming... am i missing somthing?
Are thier any low level enchantments that make a starknife particularly useful?
I've sent her a facebook message saying that if she has between 1 and 2 hours tomorrow then il'l sit down and make a character with her, and that she'll need to have a think about what kind of person her character is, and why they are a travelling adventurer
I figure that will either make her go "hang on... this isn't like monopoly?" or she'll take the bull by the horns, in which case i'll try to make sure she dosn't get thrown off.
hehe you say the rarity of female gamers but mate she'll be our groups second lady, and i've played with more girls than guys :P
In general that is probibly difficult and interesting, but i have a particular situation right now.
I'm running a game with 3 players and have recently found my fourth player (a player more experienced than me, which is great since i'm a novice at table top RPGs in general). So now i have a nice 4 player party, with one experienced player to keep me right. I've spent time with them all, know thier backstories and know how i will give them all thier moment to shine in a given session or over a campaign.
Just now my housemate was like "oh yeah can i play with you guys on sunday?"
I dont think she really gets how much you have to put into making a character and roleplaying and stuff... i think she thinks its like joining a game of manopoly... On top of that i think i'm gonna struggle to juggle a party of 5 potench.
true enough making it 5ft step was silly of me, lest say it was 15ft - then he'd get his (one) redied attack and his AoA. Right?
Only when you move out of a threatened square... so if i run straight up to a goblin to wack him in the face he dosn't get an AoA on me?... opse... thats now how i've been playing!
simple question but i have my mind in a naught over this...
Say bob is 5 feet away from me, i know he is gonna step up and thump me when his turn comes around but i have first action. I ready an action "I'll attack him as soon as he comes into range".
Bob's turn comes up, do i get my redied action attack and my attack of oppertunity? Also with my redied action do i get all my available attcks or is it just a standard action single attack?
Thanks mysterious stranger, i've had a similar experience with a character i played who was basically a failed terrorist trying to lay low lol... so i'm sympathetic to what i like to think of as flying casual but still roleplaying. I know this isn't what claymore is doing though, from discussions we've had. I think in a sense he is still making the transition from cRPGs to P&P rpgs. I say this cause he has made comparisions (good and bad) between the two and i know he is a big cRPG player. Also when we were doing character creation when i chatted about backstory he asked me "Yeah thats interesting and all but it dosn't really effect the game does it?" *gesture at the character sheet with numbers on it*.
Like i say i'm not trying to argue roll vs role playing. I think you need both although my style as a GM and player leans towards the latter. I'm just worried that failure to try and engage him at all in the role play elements (which are around 60-70% of my game) will make him feel left out, but on the other hand going to far will make him feel "singled out" as you so artfully put it.
I'm really glad you brought up "bringing in an NPC from the players past". Its an issue i struggle with in a way. What if I bring in his house's battlemaster who taught him the art of war from a young age and he says "hang on thats not cool, you're making up things about my character?".
The line i am treading with the other two is kind of agreeing on the areas where they are handing me "copyright" of thier backstory. In other areas we do things by agreement and collaboration, but when i want them to find somthing de novo i basically say "Your backstory says you didn't know your elven mother, so i take it i'm free to fill that in as i like?"
LOL more good advice. I do sing at an amature performance level so i'm reasonably comfortable with the idea of warming up my voice and not overdoing it (and i need to be since my day job involves talking to people constantly - i'm almost a doctor).
Actually as i've been thinking about this for the last week i've been paying careful attention to patient's voices (since on an average day i will talk to between 5 and 25ish people who i've never met before and spend between 2mins and an hour with each).
If you come up with any other ideas i'd *love* to hear them :). I have that old man voice down and actually need on for sunday comming so cheers for that!
Thanks for the input guys, its all good stuff and its now all sloshing around in my noggin :).
I was having some simlar thoughts, with collectables i was thinking Iron Knight themed paraphinalia with enchantments and whatnot. And in general he's alwys pleased with a bigger, shinier, more claymorey sword.
And i had been thinking about stretching him out of that non RP comfort zone slightly, while still remembering that its *tottaly fine* if thats not his thing. Like i say the way our group is rounded out works well for the most part but I just worry that he might start feeling left out since i can see the characters connections becomeing more important.
Ways i'm thinking of doing this include : the peasant boy david. He will be traveling with the refuggees that the party is escorting at least for the next session. I'm gonna make RP investment in him by Claymore result in greater combat efficy of david, and i'm gonna say that at the time when he RPs. Like i'll describe how david starts holding his sword better as claymore teaches him and his eyes glow with happyness and you feel a bond between you two then i'll OC say "so yeah, his base attack bonus is now +1 cause of that!"
Also i'm thinking as he kills more iron knights highlander style, he'll be going up the ranks and eventually might be able to actually get a small group to follow his orders in the war thats on the horizon. But to do that he'll have to convince them, if he goes with that.
Regards the advice on XP, its good to hear that. Origionally I wasn't planning on counting XP at all, but just following encounters and keeping an eye on how often i wanted the party to level up. But my players were *very* keen to know about XP "Man! that was an epic fight with those goblins!! Dude did you see when you shot that warchanter in the head? you f&~@ed her up man!!... so how much exp do we get?"
SO... i agreed with them that i'll devide encounter EXP equally between the three of them. Other than that i do ocassionally throw 10-100xp for anything particularly awsome or in character (like a really cool and timely critical hit, or when our ranger basically dived infront of a hobgobiin and got KO'd to protect a baby). I keep track about twice a session of how much xp everyone has and make a note to have a low threshold for awarding these bonuses if somone is more than 75xp behind. Am i likely to run into trouble, or do you think i'll be ok?
Cheers those are some solid points from a pro! Especially liked the growel/head position thing... just did it again... and again... well, i think all my trolls will have double chins now!
Do you have any other specific little points about how posturing or phycial technique can change tone like that?
thanks for that, good points all and i'll beer it in mind. Also i do a good Shir Shawwwn, shankyoo furr remindin me :P
Also if anyone has any videos that are funny and give good tips that'd be prime facebook group material :P
almost impossible minigoals... could you elaborate on that? What i had been thinking of was having an Iron Knight (his PC is a Gorumn follower). Then i'm gonna make the Iron Knights a bit like highlander (there can only be one!!!). That'd be a good source of duels with a little bit of roll play thrown in, and he can enjoy collecting the badass loot they have. I've also had a 14year old peasant boy decide that that PC is "his hero" and start emulating him to see what he does.
Lol, he and I are the only two out the four who drink at all so we bond over a couple of brews at each session, food is a communal thing though :P.
Another related angle to this is that i do like rewarding my PCs backstories too... not as in "you did your homework so take this exp/gold". What i mean is that for example the half-elf ranger has a birthmark in the shape of a cresent moon and eagle that glows slightly with the full moon. I'm going to have it keep glowing after the full moon this time around and give him smite evil as per the paladin ability once a month. How do i balance that?
Question is really in the title. As a GM and Player I enjoy doing voices for my NPCs/PC. I never do anything too extreme or silly but i have go. I'm good enough that (good natured ribbing aside) i normally don't cause general histeria or hilarity with my voices.
I've also inspired one of the players in my current campeign to have ago at "doing a voice for [his] character". He inveriably ends up sounding like batman, but its kinda cool and i encourage him!
However neither of us has any specific training or skill in voice acting or impersonation and i was wondering if anyone could post specific advice, or links to youtube videos/blog posts etc that i could share on our campaign facebook page that relate to actually doing voices, and deciding how a character should sound.
I am newbie GM currently running a game with 3 PCs, none of my players have played before, its going quite well and we are a few sessions in.
The group mix is two players who when i was walking through character creation very quickly volunteered complex character concepts, so the class/race/backstory was all about actualizing that and also fitting it into the game world/my campaign. The third player is more of a "rollplayer" than a roleplayer, and very quickly volunteered that he wanted to be "A big guy with a claymore". We settled on fighter.
Please no roleplayer vs rollplayer arguments, as a player and GM i feel both are legitmate and neccessery. Actually our mix works well since my players are friends and feed off each others energy at the table, so be it a big battle, skill challanges or complex RP scenarios there's always someone keeping the group energy up.
My question is this : Since i'm a GM who actively explores my players backstories and personalities for adventure hooks/ways to make loot meaningful to them and ways to make them *care* about the campaign I am starting to worry that my rollplayer might start feeling left out etc... What can i do other than ensuring there's a good complex battle or two every session to engage him? Is my concern a legitimate one or am i projecting feelings that I (as a roleplayer) might have if i were a player at my table in his shoes?
Had a look at those rules and there's some good stuff here. Am i missreading them or do they seem... a little dry? Seems to me that we just count up the tottal numbers then roll the dice till one side or another is depleated without a few tactics thrown in along the way?
anyone got any experience running these rulls able to explain how i make it entertaining?
Hey, gonna give one of my players a dagger made from the talon of a great beast at the start of game night next week. Its an enchanted +1 dagger with the huntsman enchantment :
"A huntsman weapon helps its wielder locate and capture quarry.
When the weapon is held in hand, the wielder gains an enhancement bonus on Survival checks made to track any creature the weapon has damaged in the past day. It also deals +1d6 points of damage to creatures the wielder has tracked with Survival in the past day."
A few things i wanna know and here thoughts on before i hand it over. Firstly the survival bonus is equal to the enchantment bonus of the weapon, in this case +1 right?
"any creature the weapon has damaged in the past day". Say he damages one of a group of 6 bandits who flee the field and he has to track them, does he get +1 to track the whole group assuming they stick together?
"+1d6 points of damage to creatures the wielder has tracked with survival in the past day." In the above scenario, is that 1d6 against all 6 bandits? Or did he only track the one he had +1 to track?
Finnaly, what about this : 'I follow the bandits tracks for 3 feet before stabbing him with my dagger'. This is clearly against the spirit of the rules and the player isn't the type to exploit... but still i'd rather have given it thought first. Thoughts?
Hey all, two questions that would be helpful in my prepping for game night next week. First off a little background. I'm a relitively green player/gm; wet my teeth growing up on baldur's gate etc... Graduated to table top gaming this year. I've played one long term campaign for 6 months as a player. GMed a couple of short campaigns that never got to far off the ground due to people's time constraints, and done a couple of one shots with ALL FLESH MUST BE EATEN!!
I'm currently running a game with some tottal newbie players, we're all loving it. Its currently basically "the goblinblood wards 2.0" + a conspiricy that they are unearthing. At the end of our last night a week ago the party saved the hometown and father of one of the PCs. From the party chit chat its a fair assumption that they will be escorting the remaining peasents (and the father who has wound sepsis) a couple of hundred miles to the nearest city.
My open question is a general call for ideas relating to combat, skill and roleplaying challeneges to throw at them during thier travels.
My closed question is about managing the large scale. Last week the PCs helped plan the stratagy the peasants used to fight off the goblins using a map etc. It was fun roleplaying and skill rolls thrown in! When the time for the battle came i kinda had to admit that i wasn't sure how to run a large scale battle. My players were understanding, and we metagamed the idea that while the peasants followed the stratagy they would take part in a small but tactically vital skirmish. All fun and games!
However... for next week i would really like them to be making decisions that cost or save lives and maybe even have a few larger scale (like 50-200 participant) battles. Thoughts?
i was going over my core rules in preperation for being a GM and got intrigued by the idea of a cleric who dosn't worship a god, but rather has a devine concept (like justice or whatnot).
I get how that would work in gameplay terms (mechanically the clerics god is just "fluff"). I also get how this would work in terms of role play. I wonder how one might posit that it works in terms of metaphysics though.
the way i understand it a clerics power is granted to the cleric by thier diety as a reward for their piety... I dont see how "justice" itself can grant boons...
Thats a pretty good point set. I was already thinking of phasing the powers on the template over time, with the full monty being somthing the character would end up with somewhere around level 10.
The increased power would help off balance the fact that she would be the only party member, which handily disposes of worries about her dictating how the rest of the party acts.
Got a follow up question. Her character concept involves hunting down other vampires to drink thier blood in order to become more powerful (i'm happy to accomodate that rules wise). I'm trying to think what class would be well suited to it.
In terms of backstory she's toying with being a vampire hunter acolyte who got bitten.
Ofcourse... the god that she was an inquisitor of isn't gonna be too chuffed with that. So any idea what gods would support her on her quest for power?
Also i notice the silversmithing ability of vampire hunters and i wonder how that would work given that silver is an anathema to vampires?.. i mean is she risking hurting herself when she does it?
Been talking to a friend about pathfinder and she became really interested in the idea of playing a vampire character. I said sure that could be fun but now looking on prd i see there's no rules for vampire characters (at least that i can find). I could use the race building rules but i'm guessing that somebody has done a better job of it than i could achieve already.
Anyone got anything they can suggest?
I'm guessing as a race its quite high powered but that should be alright since it would be a 1 on 1 game. I'm thinking of taking a sandbox approach with her turning into a vampire in her home town and trying to hide it etc... then que the pitchforks!
anyways i look forward to some input from the kindly folks on here :)
