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Try creative writing for a while. I find it helps.
2. Slowly reveal that most of the PCs are actually figments of one PC's imagination, or fragmented personalities within his/her mind. I had an idea for a one-shot in the middle of a campaign. You give the players a set of new characters for the one-shot, where everyone wakes up on the beach with amnesia. They explore the beach together, and find an asylum nearby, where they're taken in. PCs being PCs, they start exploring the asylum not trusting things, looking for evidence of bad experiments. That's when they find a chest containing the prized belongings of the regular campaign PCs. That's when they realize that the one-shot characters have been each other's PCs all along, and that they received amnesia somehow. Now, they have to get themselves back out, and get themselves back.
How about something like this? 1: Picaroon Swashbuckler. Weapon finesse and Two-Weapon Fighting for free, proficiency in one-handed firearms. Quick Draw.
I'm still thinking about the best way to get the feats to work.
I'm looking over the various ways to do get an unchained rogue access to firearms, and want to know your opinions. I'm less interested in a spellcasting method to do so. 1. The Firearms Training and Grit talents. Pretty intensive, gotta wait for level 4. Can reduce by taking the Amateur Gunslinger feat myself and avoiding 2. Dip into Gunslinger. Most gunplay available, least rogue synergy. 3. Dip into Swashbuckler (Picaroon). Deeds work better for the rogue, and free rapier-and-pistol fighting. 4. Dip into Investigator (Steel Hound). Doubles up on Trapfinding. Could trade out the alchemy for Sleuth, but that doesn't sound like a particularly good trade. I'm just not sure what direction to take...
So I'm considering making a Steel Hound Sleuth Investigator, and I'm curious how the various abilities interact. A Steel Hound gets the Amateur Gunslinger feat for free at 2nd level, which gives him 1 grit point. A Sleuth gets a luck pool at level 1, and any feat, magic item, or spell that grants grit or panache can also grant the Sleuth an equal number of luck points. So, at level 2, the Investigator gains +1 luck point when that grit point is gained, right? Does this raise the maximum number of luck points to Wis+Cha? Extra Grit pretty clearly grants +2 grit and +2 luck (and +2 max grit and luck). Then there's this bit under Swashbuckler:
However, this isn't present in the Sleuth description, so grit and luck are not considered the same larger pool, correct?
I'll have to watch Requiem for a Dream, then. I just saw Ink last night. Wonderful film, but the adventuring party? A bunch of folk who can't affect the world around them? They really expect to be successful? Only the wise-cracking blind loner seems to know how to play. It did have the best villain design I've seen for a long time, though. Simple, gorgeous, and creepy.
Goofus pours everything into his combat skill, then makes sure that combat is the solution for every problem. Impress the princess? Kill her guards! Didn't work? Kill the princess! Gallant helps new players through character design, offering solid choices and listening to what the players want to do with their characters.
The old Dragonlance Roleplaying book? Dude. Ask about playing an Irda. Yes, white robes are Good and tied to Solinari, red robes are Neutral and tied to Lunitari, black robes are Evil and tied to Nuitari. Yeah, at this time there was no divine magic. Otherwise, just make sure that you've got plenty of things you can do that aren't spells, and you'll do all right. Ask about magic item creation. Wands and scrolls sound like a great way to get around the requirement.
It's funny. Back before I even knew D&D was a thing, back in the early 80s, back when a wizard was a man with a long white beard, and a robe and conical hat covered in stars, I knew wizards threw fireballs. Heck, I started with the D&D Basic book, which only covered character levels 1-3, and as a matter of course didn't have fireballs, and I ran around busy to make them. Of course, mine weren't big explosions, but they were balls of flame held in my hand and tossed at enemies, as those pointy-hat wizards did.
It may look like there's a bajillion feats worth choosing but, once they become more familiar with the game, your group will likely find that there are really a rather small handful. Most people end up using a lot of the same feats over and over because some of them are just more useful or at least less situational than the rest of the dross. I agree, this is precisely the problem. In fact, for all the well-versed expert players who wonder why anyone complains about bloat in Pathfinder, this is why. When more books are added, it just adds to the backlog that needs to be sifted through for the new player. Yes, this is not a problem for players that have learned how to glean through a list of feats quickly. This is not a problem for people who know how to plan out a character from 1-20. Not everyone is like that. These people need to be able to play the game, too. I like the solution of GM-vetted feat (and spell and equipment) lists. Another solution that I've used successfully with new players is start by asking them, "How do you want your character to improve over time? What do you want to do?" Then, as they give you their qualitative answers, share a build or two with them that gets them there. As the players gain more system mastery, you can start taking them off that system and let them build themselves up further.
I have found one correct way to view this movie. Gather your friends and favorite drinks of choice. Then, open the special features (do note the little puzzle you must complete first), and turn on the director commentary. Then watch the thing and laugh. Warning: after watching it with the commentary on, you might be tempted to see it again with it off. Don't. It's a trap. You'll be paying for it in seconds.
on the other hand this is kind of a thread for people who want to incorperate that kind of stuff. Can't really blame us for talking about it and wanting to share No blame at all! I just saw a bunch of people saying, "People who say, 'I don't want anime in my game' are saying 'I don't want martial supernatural power in my game'" and wanted to present a different viewpoint. I'd be happy to allow martial supernatural power in my game and still not want anime, so I just wanted to mention what "no anime please" means to me, instead. But yeah, otherwise, please, carry on.
InVinoVeritas: I feel sorry that you get anime pushed on you so much. I know I have subject matter I don't want to touch like Horror and I'd hate it if people pushed it on me. My friends (the RPG crowd in my dorm) were all fanatic members of the Anime Club, and yes, this was 20 years ago, over a span of years including most/all of my convention-going years. So yes, my personal experiences are skewed differently from the general population. Outside of that, people have had to explain to me, after feeding me a bunch of AMVs and me asking why all the anime was that AMV was Anime Music Video, and not Amateur Music Video like I had originally heard. It just... it keeps coming up. Anyway. I just want a respite from it in my games, is all. I really don't mind it, otherwise.
I'm not ridiculous at all. So I'm not allowed to express my viewpoint on a thread about why there exist people who don't want more anime in their game? I'm really that offensive?
I swear, I've had anime pushed on me harder than Christianity.Now you're just being ridiculous. What do people here tell me I should do more of: read the Bible or watch anime? What do people in any "geek/nerd entertainment" venue say I should do more of: read the Bible or watch anime? My family doesn't tell me to do either. My friends don't wonder how I can go through life without Jesus. They do wonder why I'm not watching more anime. Anime is no threat. I'm glad I get more anime shoved in my face than religion. That's a wonderful problem to have. That doesn't change the fact it's proselytized more, to me, personally. I'm not ridiculous at all.
You can do it as a cleric. The trick is, you have to accept you can't do everything, and so you pick and choose what you want to focus on. Regarding skills: which skills are you looking for? A cleric still won't be a jack of all trades, but if you focus on just a few main skills, then you can patch class skills with traits. Regarding MAD: The way around MAD for a cleric is to focus on buffs. No save needed means you're just as effective with a 15 WIS as a 19 WIS. You lose a couple bonus spells but you can make those back up later with the right headband. You can then be an archer and make do with lower STR and CON, or get Heavy Armor and Lightning Reflexes and dump DEX. In either case, you worry less about channeling.
I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of anime tropes in my RPGs, but all the combat/non-caster going over the top stuff doesn't bother me that much. What bothers me are things like female hypersexualization and casual sexism, mood swings (with or without face faults), stock main characters that are easily identified on TVTropes (especially the enigmatic bishi, or the noblewoman villain), or all the screaming in combat. My least favorite, however? Here's the world. Here's how the world works, with this new power thingy tacked on. Here's the limitation on that power. Now here's the main protagonist, who doesn't have to follow those rules. Bonus points if the reason he doesn't have to follow the rules is because he's so highly trained and disciplined. That's just shorthand for "You must love the rulebreaker, because he has a greater moral purity than you." He's the best, so he's the hero? No. Hell no. These aren't strictly anime, though. However, they're what I notice when people try to add more "anime feel" in their games. Otherwise, enjoy, add more anime to your and my game, that's cool.
They don't apply if the game is low-level only.And you expressed surprise at that fact, which was befuddling to me. Eh? Ah! No, that was sarcasm. What's truly astounding is how people have trouble adjusting to the honest likelihood that the campaign won't last after a few levels, and planning accordingly, instead of always assuming a 1-20.
And that's the point. You'll hear "don't dip" and "plan to use metamagic rods" and all sorts of advice that won't help. They don't apply if the game is low-level only. And many times, if you describe the game as low-level only, the advice columns fill with useless snark instead of some advice that applies to the situation. That's a pity.
But you still better plan out your character progression to Level 20, because anything less is just poor optimization. (I went nearly ten years with never having a character above Level 5. It's astounding how many strategies simply fall flat on their face when that's the only space you're playing in.)
I'd play! Honestly, I've done something similar to start, and over time start making the world more coherent as the narrative emerges from the random noise.
I'm toying around with the idea of creating a PFS character that eventually goes into the Riftwarden prestige class. Right now, the idea is starting with a Dwarf Empyreal Sorcerer... but there are a few things that make me wonder. Feats: I need SF(Abjuration) and Spell Penetration for the prestige class. Given the strength in counterspells, I'm planning to add Improved Counterspell and Heighten Spell to the list of feats. However, none of these feats are any good at first level. Any ideas? Traits: No clue what to choose. I could go with Magical Knack for the long game, perhaps Glory of Old for save bonuses or Strength of the Land. Any other thoughts?
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