HorusHanabi's page

Silvered dagger and cestus for lower levels. Generally dual wielding bastard sword and short sword, with a composite long bow for ranged. Cold iron and silvered arrows when I can get them, and a cold iron dagger follows. Weapon blanches and magic weapon oil soon after that.

Finally got to play in a couple games recently, but usually I'm the GM. First chance I got I made a multi-class fighter/rogue. Went with mobile fighter/scout archetypes. I love the ability to customize both those classes, and how well they work together.

The second game I'm playing in is an evil campaign, and I rolled up a gnome pyromaniac alchemist. He's also quite fun to play. 2d6 fire damage, ranged touch attack and explosive bombs discovery @ 2nd level is causing my GM some chagrin, that's for sure.

If I get to make another character, I'm going to go with Inquisitor. Both the in combat and out of combat abilities make the class look like a lot of well rounded fun.

I'm assuming that the OP is playing in the Serpent's Skull AP, in which case the scroll is from available treasure from a certain (fear inducing, i don't want to ever go into a situation like that where my ass has to be saved by celestial friggin dolphins) encounter. That would also explain the GM's decision not allow replacement characters and make the OP go with an NPC (not that I agree with that decision). Also, there's no one on the island to cast restoration, 1000 GP or not.

Yeah, it sucks having two negative levels, while only being level 3, but the alternative is basically playing a pre-gen. If I were you, I'd sit down with your GM and try to come up with a feasible backstory that would explain why a replacement PC was on the island. Then roll up that bad boy and keep him close at hand. You'll probably need to pull him out before you're off the island, lil' buddy.

This was a rough fight for my party as well. There were only 3 PCs, too (Fighter2/Rogue1; druid3; sorcerer3), but we also had the druid's leopard animal companion, Ishirou, Aerys and Shasha with us.

We blindly stumbled into her room and all failed horribly on perception checks. Got hit with darkness then 2 ghouls came out of nowhere. I think our GM stagger the ghouls entries into the fight... seemed like the second two came with Mother a few rounds into the fight.

Over the course of the fight every PC was dropped below zero or paralyzed at one point or another. Only Aerys, the leopard and Ishirou were standing at one point. Luckily both the druid and I (the fighter/rogue) had the paralysis wear off. I leap over the pool in the floor to get behind mother and got a flanking sneak attack with my bastard sword to drop her. Pretty sure I was around 1/4 HP at that point and that's better than anyone else in the party. It was a very close fight.

Dark_Mistress wrote:

I think you will find the answers varies a lot from group to group. My group and I use all of the above. To answer you questions in order.

1) We say if you don't use proper gear you may not get a restful nights sleep.

2) Yes and not only that but we limit how much a pack can carry. So most of our PC's carry sacks folded up to been taken out and used when needed.

3) We don't count the clothes worn for encumbrance but we do count any spare sets carried. Though if they are winter clothes or other thick clothes then we count the weight even if they are wearing them.

Thanks for the great answers. I really like getting into these types of details because I feel that it adds a certain grittiness to adventures. The idea of characters longing for a good night's sleep or emptying out gear to carry hard fought treasure.

On that note I'm curious how you and others handle food & water? A rather important element. I'm assuming you have some type of minimum (2 meals per day + 1 liter of water, etc) or else penalties apply?

I'm playing in a serpent's skull game and since the first bit is all about exploring and surviving a jungle island with limited supplies, I can tell you first hand what a pain it can be to constantly worry about food. Don't get me wrong... I love the survival feel to the AP so far, I meant from my character's point of view, it's a serious cause for worry.

How my GM is handling food/water is this (and I don't know if it's written into the rules of the AP, or if it's just his own way): No food for 3 days= fort saves or else penalties. I don't know about water, since we have a druid, but I think it's even less time for that.

On a general note, I really enjoy figuring out how to implement the effects of mundane gear. When I'm running a game, I make sure food and water are carried and consumed. Unless it's a desert or something, I don't worry about playing out finding water, but food is carefully counted. In terms of the other gear, no bedroll=chance of fatigue in the morning. No bags means they can't carry anything than what's in their hands. I do it the same as dark mistress when it comes to clothes.

Well, 3 out the five guys in the gaming group with this question are now present and accounted for.... Hello to you guys.

So, to clarify, if an eagle, for example, flies down (move action) and attacks (standard action), which one of it's attacks should it use? One claw, two claws, or it's bite? I understand pounce, and using a full attack action, it's the move and single natural attack that is vague.

I'm currently playing a similar concept in serpent's skull. I went with Mobile fighter and scout. I'm not high enough levels yet to benefit from the synergy, but I'm looking forward to charging sneak attacks later on.

Shifty wrote:

Dabbler wrote:

O_o

I would ask if you were playing Fatal, except that if you answer 'no' then I have to deal with the fact that the world spawned another such monstrosity, and then I'll know what SAN loss feels like ...

This was linked by another person, so I'm not taking credit - but the tale is so woefull that it seriously needs to be read. Get a coffee and a comfy chair, its a long and horrible epic - whats better is the GM had his rebuttal at the end...!

WORST GM.

Just finished reading this and all I can say is WOW...The part on the hot dog especially grossed me out. I wonder at times if the story was exaggerated to garner more attention, but I am sure there are people like that out there. I just don't want think about it...too late!

I just finished reading it, as well. Holy hell, that is truly frightening. In the comments some people said the DM reminded them of the comic book guy from the Simpsons. Having grown up in Eugene my self, I can say without exaggeration that the comic book guy is based on the owners of a certain comic book/gaming store there. In fact, when I read the story, all I could think of was one of the owners. Not the fictional Comic Book Guy, but the real thing. Even more frightening to have a mental image from RL to go with the horror of the story.

On topic, I'm glad to say I've been blessed with great gaming groups most of my life, so I have nothing to really add to the growing list of "worst ever"s here. Please keep them coming, though. It's nice to be reminded of my good fortune.

Kicking around an idea on reducing MAD for certain characters. One such thing I want to do is remove the requirement for a feat to allow a character to use something besides Str on attack rolls.

STR: Used with two-handed and some one-handed weapons. Can be used on thrown weapons.

DEX: Used with light and some one-handed weapons. Used with all ranged weapons.

WIS: Monk class feature allows use on all weapons character is proficient with, limited by monk level. (e.g. 3rd level monk with 18 Wis adds +3 to attack rolls until he reaches 4th level, then can use his full bonus.) May also add to damage rolls.

Special: No mixing of ability score bonuses. The character must choose to use one or the other when attacking.

This is a very rough draft, so please point out flaws.

I'm not going to get into the monk thing too much, other than to say I like the idea.

More to my point, I use a "hidden" stat I call precision to determine attack bonus. It's simply the average of a character's Str and Dex mods, rounded down. In addition to the Weapon Finesse feat, I have one called Weapon Brutality that allows using just Str bonus on attacks with 2H weapons (plus a few others.. like how Finesse works on some non-light weapons). It's similar to your idea, but keeps the feat requirement. It also doesn't mean all that much at early levels if Str and Dex are equal or close in numbers.

Aravan, may as wel grab taht GM and call in a few buddies and have your own session sans idiots.

At least the GM seemed genuinely interested :)

Seriously +1

Get him out of the game store and into a group of players you know and trust. As a huge world-building nerd myself, I would never, EVER take a campaign I spent any significant amount of time on to a FLGS. He may have only done that because he lacked players for a home game. Hell.... what city is this in? I'd play in heartbeat ;)

Ah, just in time to take my campaign into the planes. Can't wait!

In the game I'm running I had the players use 4d6 drop the lowest, assign as you please. I allowed rerolls if the total modifiers were +2 or less. This allowed for moderately powerful stats and gave players the option to pick the class they wanted to play. It's supposed to be a world saving heroic campaign, without resorting to 25+ PB or it's equivalent. I agree that most people who support rolling their stats have so many back doors for not ending up w/ crap rolls, that they might as well just pick their stats. That's why I limit rerolls.

In the game I just started playing in (Serpent's Skull AP), the GM had us roll 4d6, drop the lowest, 8 times. We could drop any two rolls we wanted, but they had to be placed in order otherwise. For example, this is what I got (besides lucky): 8, 16, 15, 14, 16, 11, 12, 15. I wanted to play a human Rogue/Fighter, so I dropped the 8 and the 11, added my +2 to dex and ended up with 16, 17, 14, 16, 12, 15. Not too shabby. In fact, I was surprised, it really didn't fit my character concept, and I didn't want to outshine the fellow players so I voluntarily dropped my Int to 15 and my Cha to 13. Still way above average, but a little more balanced ( not by much, I'll admit).

Does no one consider it valid to have a suboptimal build if it fits the direction and personality of the character? Sometimes choices are made for more than just mechanistic reasons.

I completely agree. In the campaign I'm currently running, each PC has ended up specializing in a different aspect or flavor of the campaign. Some of this is them reacting to the story, some of it is me tailoring the story to fit their concepts. Anyway, the rogue is now a 3rd level shadow dancer, in addition to Rogue/9. It fits perfectly, flavor-wise, with her character and my campaign. And you know what? It hasn't gimped her or been sub-optimal at all.

The druid has the weather domain, instead of an animal companion, because it fit the story. The Fighter/Barbarian is constantly at war with his nature as he tries to rein in his ferocity with discipline.The 4th PC is newer, so I'm sure the direction he'll take, but already he's making interesting and surprising decisions. He's a witch and the only PC to take the leadership feat.

I'd much rather play with, or GM for, players who play fun characters, with interesting concepts, rather than players who worry whether a class or combo of classes is underpowered.

Ok, keep in mind for a moment that I'm a bit rusty on my Golarion lore, some I'm going to be winging the Varisian bits as best I can (mostly going from the information I remember from my CotCT:EoA adventure path).

We'll call him "The Varisian" since a wandering vagabond look seems in for him, and I'd imagine he could make a scene around a few places and having been referred to in whispers by his ethnicity due to lack of identity.

The Varisian 15 Point Buy

14 Strength 'cause it's good for an athletic sort.

16 Dexterity 'cause he's grown up fencing Varisian style.

12 Constitution 'cause he's not into taking hits.

14 Intelligence 'cause he well rounded.

12 Wisdom 'cause he's no fool.

7 Charisma 'cause...

Very nice, Ash. Thank you. There's a lot of ideas I never thought of. I particularly like the dust-blade idea and the mysterious name. To nit pick a couple of things (not to diminish your work. I appreciate it very much.), you forgot to include the +2 to a stat for being human. I worked it out that it could be 14, 14(+2=16), 12, 14, 12, 10. But it was 3:30ish in the morning, so all's forgiven ;)

Ash, if you have the time, I have an idea. I was curious how you would optimize a multi-class character, someone who's a little MAD. In particular fighter/rogue. I have already built this guy (he's half way to 2nd level atm), but I'd like to see what you'd do with him.

Here's the concept I started with: He's a Varisian who grew up wandering Avistan with his family, living out in the wilderness as often as the city. During his youth he was taught the basics of woodcraft, as well as some of the legal-gray-area skills that are typically associated with the gypsy-like Varisians. He learned to fight with knives and short swords from his uncles, but he's considering branching out into other styles of combat. He's not a toe to toe fighter by any means, preferring to move around his foes to find their weak spots. He believes not being hit is superior to being able to take a hit. He's gruff and taciturn for the most part, but has enough street smarts not to be a sucker.

I'm cramped for time, typing this last minute, so if that's not enough info, let me know.

Thanks,
-H

Anyone view those stat rolls? Hate to be a buzzkill here but be prepared to go to war to keep those rolls when you show up and everyone else has stats much lower. Thats a 57 point buy quite the array to be sure.

Back to the question, I would go monk. If ever there was a good time to play one those stats will make an awesome monk. Also bard but I love them and make them all the time.

He makes a good point about fighting for those rolls. Last character I rolled up had a 16, 17, 14, 16, 13, 15. Not quite as good, but seriously higher that the other players. Having such high numbers for some stats didn't fit into my concept, so I voluntarily dropped a couple enough to lower the bonus by one each. I did this so the other guys weren't so far behind. Well, that and the GM thought I should tone it back a bit. I still had to take a RP based detriment. I'm now hunted as an outlaw in my homeland as well, just to balance everything out.

You want to have good stats, but you don't want the other players to resent you for them, or you may find yourself playing alone. (ok, that's an extreme, but i hope you see the point). Party balance is important, and those stats may just outshine everyone else. Just my 2 cp

edit:pretty much what stabbity just said. Oh, and play whatever the hell you want to. You can do just about anything you want. Take the time to make an interesting character, one that is fun to play, with maybe a few drawbacks, like stabbity.

Kallisti!

Hail Eris. -><-

In the game I run, at the end of the night when I'm tallying up xp (and I do include story rewards, cool idea rewards, etc. not just kills) i hand out little slips of paper to the players and have them vote for the player who they thought was the most in character, as well as who they thought was the MVP (could be through combat, diplomacy, a solid plan...). The winners get around 1000 xp (varies from level to level. it was 100 at 1st).

edit: they're 12th level now.

What have your players been through to get them to lvl 11? By now they've probably gained some notoriety/fame/infamy. I'd be inclined to spin the next part of the campaign off some of their previous adventures. Did they leave any villains alive who could come after them? Did any of their actions effect the game world in a significant way? Are they loved through out them realm, so NPCs may seek them out for help/justice/etc? Are they hated, so they may end up hunted? Like I said, delve into their past experiences for inspiration. This will give them a sense of continuity and that their world is interactive.

Absolutely. I'm running a similar character concept in the Serpent's Skull AP. Started off w/ rogue, then fighter for a couple levels, then a few rogue, then 2 fighter levels for every one in rogue. I've focused on mobility on the battlefield, TWF and TWD. Human, but that's just my preference. If you can get your hands on the APG, the mobile fighter archetype and the scout archetype for rogues mesh well.

Tarvesh wrote:

Thanks for the info so far. Another thing I've had come up is the group's archer wanting to try and disarm someone from range. I don't think it's impossible... but I don't know how it would work with the way disarming is done in PF.

Pathfinder Core Rulebook, pg. 199, Disarm: first line wrote:

You can attempt to disarm your opponent in place of a

melee attack.

Come on, man. Open the book.

That refers to melee attacks, not ranged. Come on, man.