Lathiira wrote: One downside I do note is that you have to spend 15 minutes getting ready. It won't do much for you if you can't prepare ahead. A typical ranger might fight a group with more than one creature type and do well because they creatures match his favored enemies well (for example a vampire charming or dominating or just lording it over some human lackeys). This methods means you're ready for the vampire OR its human servants, not both. You are right, and it's actually intended. It makes a ranger more tactical, consulting his notes and knowledge in advance to find out all the weak spots, but really hit them when they do. Also, a very knowledgeable ranger could prepare for almost any enemy if he knows what he's up to. Any abilities that relate to Favored Enemy should be reworked for this, of course. That means an Instant Prey spell (formerly Instant Enemy) would jam the knowledge in your head instantly,for a duration.
Lathiira wrote: The uses per day leave me scratching my head though: 1st, 8th, 14th, 20th? Why not keep it to the favored enemy progression? That's actually because of a "carry over" effect. You choose 'animals' as your favorite enemy on one day and get your bonus until you change it to, say, 'magical beasts' on another day. And because you can have full skill-ranks in several knowledge skills, and one can be used for several creature types, I thought it to be better to slow down the uses per day a bit. You can change it to your desired pace, though.
I've just seen this here lying around and while I moved away from pathfinder some time ago, maybe some of you could make use of it. So I present: Study Prey (Replaces Favored Enemy)
Example: A 5th level ranger with 3 ranks in Knowledge (Religion) uses Study Prey to focus on undead. He gets a +2 bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, perception checks and survival checks against undead until he uses Study Prey to focus on another type of enemy.
An elephant for example (huge) has a stomach capacity of about 70 liters (about 18.5 gallons). That's not even remotely enough to fit a human. Now, the elephant has no swallow whole ability, and there are animals (but not mammals) that can swallow creatures their size or larger. But I think the swallow whole rules are generally grossly exaggerated and should usually be corrected downwards at least one size category.
Artemis Moonstar wrote: I don't get this NV hate either, between Old World Blues' hilarity, and Lonesome Road's tying of everything together, it easily skyrocketed up my like list. This coming from the guy who preferred FO3's system, and only came to enjoy FO:NV due to his fiance playing it while he watched. Granted, Old World Blues was by far the best DLC for F:NV, but it didn't come close to Point Lookout, imo. Lonesome Road, on the other hand, was...painful. All you do is follow linear designes areas and listen to the self-righteous blabber of a huffy idiot. Worse, he tries to impose a background on you that doesn't even make any sense and completely takes away the image of your character. In the end, you can nuke one or both fractions, ridiculing the whole nuclear war in the process. For when you travel to the destroyed area, there are only super-strong ghouls, not death and suffering. The main game wasn't even Fallout anymore. It was 'sometimes after the whole thing', not the harsh survival of the previous games. Take Goodsprings for example, a nice, quiet town, close to a freshwater source (hence the name), with little farms and livestock. Surrounded by the most deadly predators the game has to offer. More or less unguarded. The other settlements are hardly any better, and the whole war between the NCR and the Legion is ridiculous at best. I mean, don't get me started on the Legion, I've yet to see a group in another game that was so poorly written, so awkward, yet so cocky it simply hurt. I tried to follow their questline, I intentionally made a character with an intelligence of 2 (don't remind me of the absolutely dreadful implemented 'stupid dialogue' lines), but even that didn't help to see it through till the end. I couldn't take any of this guys remotely serious. Even worse, you never get to be part of them (ok, maybe it's not that bad in that case), or any group at all. You have absolutely no connection to the world, and the game doesn't even try to change this. The whole main quest just isn't your problem, and absolutely nothing will change the outcome. Yeah, take the bloody dam if you want, I'm outta here. Still, there were things I liked. Veronica as a follower was a pleasant company, and while her personal quest sounded interesting, it was poorly executed and felt hollow in the end. The same goes for Cass, sadly. Honestly, I think this is one of the main problems of the game. It has likeable or interesting NPCs (some, like the King), but in the end, they feel shallow, like there was something you still had to do, to say, but can't. Rant end, it's a little off topic anyway.
Gambit wrote: Obviously you didn't play Mask of the Betrayer. I did, as long as I could endure it (maybe 3-4 hours). But it was awful. I know that it is supposed to be one of the best games/addons, storywise, but they couldn't even get the basics right. Fake Healer wrote: Bah, haters are gonna hate. He listed games he thought were crap, but meanwhile their predecessors (KOTOR, NWN, Fallout, etc) are some of the best games in their genre and have sold a butt-ton of copies. I played the sequels because I loved the original. I played the hell out of Fallout 1 and 2 when they came out (still have them installed) and Fallout 3 may have had a lame main-story, but the rest of the game was great, even the DLCs. And I can't count the hours I spent in NWN1 and I think Hordes of the Underdark is one of the greatest RPG gems ever. KotOR had this one gaming moment I will always remember, when you're faced with your past and all the pieces fall into place (and it was funny because my first character was named Raven. Raven<->Revan o.O). All of them were fantastic games, while their successors simple aren't. Though I have to admit, I played F:NV for quite a long time, mostly because it had the same engine and mechanics as F3, and had a whole bunch of awesome mods. But the main story was...eww.
Aha...ahahahaha...AHHAHAHHAAAAHHAHAHA! Seriously? They're going to hire the most overrated developer in the entire gaming industry? If this is true--and I'll just assume it is not--my remaining hopes for any viable digital adaption of the pathfinder IP lies dead and buried. And I'm not trying to troll here, I've played lots of Obsidian games (KotOR II, Fallout:NV, NWN2, Alpha Protocol,...) and I really wanted to like them, but Obsidian could game-design their way out of a wet cardboard box. All their sequels are horrible compared to the original, and their own games are even worse. Shallow characters, boring and aimless story, unfinished plot-lines and as topping, a cr*pload of bugs. I don't even know how they manage to survive in the industry, if not for their brain-dead (sorry for stepping on toes) fanbase. And worse, they always blame others for their incompetence. "Not enough time..." and "The publisher made us..." is all you ever get to hear from them. They ruined several of my favorite games, and if they'll get their grubby hands on pathfinder...it's good night.
TanithT wrote:
Wait a minute, are you actually comparing boobs to penis? Because that's really creepy. As if men had nothing sexy to show than their genitalia, that - speaking of which - aren't visible in ANY female paizo artwork I've ever seen (and for a good reason, that). This would be a more fitting example, though it still has any delicate parts covered. Sexy (kind of), pointless, but not creepy.
That's...an interesting question, actually. I've never read that part of the entry so far.
London Duke wrote: That's sad. I know this next question is in the HB department but would an equipment trait allowing a quarterstaff to be finessed imbalanced? If there's a feat that lets you finesse a scimitar and use your Dex to damage, one that makes a quarterstaff finessable is hardly unbalanced, imo.
Wow, thanks for all the input so far!
I'll definitely go for the "magic paintings" route, my GM is all for that. And later, he may as well create his Magnum Opus :D.
pauljathome wrote:
No Shelyn, as we play in a homebrew (obviously non-PFS) setting, but I'm sure we can just transfer that to our artsy deity, so thanks for that. If I read Pageants Peacock correctly, it just substitutes Bluuf for Int-based skills, and he's way better at painting than bluffing.
So I built myself a bard who is really good at painting.
So with masterwork tools, he can paint with a bonus of +21 1/day. What can I do to raise this even further?
Second, is there anything he can actually do with a high painting skill, except for amaze people with it? Like a feat or anything to use it for benefit? 3PP are welcome, too!
Actually, you can't if the spell in question requires a somatic component. Core Rulebook wrote: To cast a spell with a somatic (S) component, you must gesture freely with at least one hand. You can't cast a spell of this type while bound, grappling, or with both your hands full or occupied. (CRB p.184)
Me and my wife are currently building a campaign world to play in. We try to keep it as far away from real-world and classical fantasy stuff as possible, meaning no elves, dwarves, halflings etc., but all custom races, gods and whatnot.
Offer your GM some of your points so that he can buy himself some Int! Nah, seriously, maybe you should ask him what he's trying to achieve with 10 point buy.
There are probably better ways of raising difficulty than to make the PCs indistinguishable to commoners.
thejeff wrote: Maybe you're missing out on good stories and good authors because they get driven out of the business by discrimination. You'd never even know. Maybe you'd be missing out on good stories and good authors that had replaced those who got driven out of the business by discrimination. You'd never even know. Your argument works in both ways, don't attack him because he doesn't care for every author's backstory.
Jeven wrote: There are dark-skinned Halfings in the jungles of Mwangi. They are common in the Kaava Lands. Mwangi elves are also dark-skinned. Hmm, Halflings of Golarion didn't mention that. Skin color there ranged "from ivory to mid-brown". I do not know if I find it stranger that black versions of the non-human races exist at all or the fact that they are always some more or less primitive jungle-folk.
In our setting there are seven distinct custom races, of which is one more or less the human equivalent. They are not black in skin color, because there is no reason for them to be, just as there are no black halflings in Golarion (at least I've never seen or heard of one). The other races have their own skin colors, from very light to rather dark.
Diego Rossi wrote: Common mistake. You are overlooking 2 things. I know that these are guidelines, but there's one thing I hate about the pricing of magic items: inconsistency. Apparently, you can put a 1st-level spell like Disguise Self in a hat (and ignore the x1,5 price factor for duration), but I can't do it with another spell cause there's already an item with a similar effect that is way more expensive.
Tailoring encounters around party configuration is exactly what a DM should do.
If it helps, I present you this houserule I created for our one or two times we actually had a gunslinger at the table: Instead of targeting touch AC in the first range increment, a gunslinger can ignore up to 1 point of armor bonus or natural armor (in any combination) per point of wisdom modifier, but only within the first range increment.
You could use something like a reversed half-blood extraction, no curse effect and instantaneous.
Tequila Sunrise wrote: After thinking about this a bit more, I'd say: Love is hard to find, so if you happen to love a family member, so be it. But if you can describe your familial relationship without consulting a written family tree...strongly consider adoption and a vasectomy! And from there, we can go directly to the question why people with known genetic disorders are allowed to breed at all.
Some people just don't like to write pages of background and it wouldn't be fair to award a single player because he does. You can talk about it with your group if they think a character should have a special feat or item because of his background, but don't penalize the others for not handing you a print-out. Personally, I do much of it in my head and additionally write down 101 Character Questions to get a good impression on what my character's character is.
Honestly, I've become more and more disappointed in Pathfinder (specifically Golarion) lately, so I've picked up my old 4E books and thought about changing back. Then I remembered why we haven't played 4E more than a few times. It feels lifeless and superficial.
I hope that was objective enough, as this thread will probably be flaming soon.
|