Indo's page

25 Point Buy, Halfling Wizard +2 DEX, +2 CHA, -2 STR

Small: Halflings are Small creatures and gain a +1 size bonus to their AC a +1 size bonus on attack rolls a –1 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.

Fearless: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on all saving throw against fear. This bonus stacks with the bonus granted by halfling luck.

Halfling Luck: Halflings receive a +1 racial bonus on all saving throws.

Keen Senses: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception skill checks.

Sure-Footed: Halflings receive a +2 racial bonus on Acrobatics and Climb skill checks.

Str 9
Dex 16
Con 14
Int 16
Wis 13
Cha 13

Saves: Fort +3, Reflex +6, Will +4

Familiar: Fox

AC: 15
HP: 9

Feat: Dodge

...Death or Glory!

I guess fighting giants in melee is just not dangerous enough yet. How about we sacrifice a full attack to make only a single strike for +4 extra damage, and give the giant an immediate counterattack for free? This is wrong on so many levels!

That said, Ultimate Combat offers a few jewels as well. I love the sap feats, for instance, or Vicious Stomp, or Clustered Shots...

I was excited when I saw the highlights of this feat and then I read the description. This feat is just plain bad. It’s like singing up for your own butt kicking.

I vaguely remember a PF feat that gave you +2 attack and damage on large creatures?

TWF ranger. Spend a feat up front….EWP and get a falcata and a short sword. Both have good crit ranges. You get a ton of bonus feats for TWF for free and then get improved cirt for both weapons. Since you want to hit hard and have a high AC focus on STR and DEX. Later with TWR and the spell lead blades you will hit super hard and you can say in the fight with a high AC. If you do all that and someone buff’s you with an enlarge spell……Wow. If you have a Paladin in the party and they use their Aura of Justice at the same time......Oh my.

Gorbacz wrote:

Good grief, why nerf the only weapon worth blowing EWP on?

Because it's starting to reach the point where it is not just a good choice, but they ONLY choice worth making. The falcata, and all comparable high damage die 19-20 x3 crit weapons need a drawback to bring them back to reality.

Not if you have to burn a feat to use one.

Only the Campaign Setting is explicitly replaced.

Inner Sea Primer is a player-friendly intro to the setting, without any major spoilers or GM-specific information.

So the sites that were listed in the Campaign Setting (3.5) and not in the Inner Sea World Guide are simply gone now or just omitted?

Fleet
You are faster than most.

Benefit: While you are wearing light or no armor, your base speed increases by 5 feet. You lose the benefits of this feat if you carry a medium or heavy load.

Waste of a feat for a lot of classes. Get rid of the armor penalty and it might be worth it.

Sweet. Just pre-orderd.

What do monk players want out of the concept of a monk that forsakes wealth?

No taxes.

Let me elaborate. I understand to some degree the concept behind a druid: keepers of balance, tree-huggers, shamans, preserver of nature, of community, and so on.

I want to see the druid as more than my own narrow view. And please refrain from writing an enormous essay about how wrong I am - I am asking so that I may expand my view in the first place.

They are there to drive the party nuts every time some animal wants to eat a PC and the druid insists on trying to take to the animal first.

I would allow it if the creature/PC being flanked saw the flanker PC turn invisible in the first place. The threat of an invisible attacker in an area would cause a distraction IMO. If the invisible flanker started the encounter invisible and the enemy never saw him coming then there would not be a distraction because the enemy wouldn’t know he was there in the first place.

My wizard was getting worn out by an invisible Drow with greater invisibly. He would hit and move. Just the idea that he could hit me caused me to worry about him while casting which would be the same as an invisible flank….not RAW but the intent of the rule. (As a side note the fix was the ranger told his wolf to guard me and the Drow couldn’t sneak past the wolf’s scent ability).

I've wanted to do a guidebook to high-level play as long as I've wanted to do a post-20th level book; combining them into one book is actually a REALLY good idea.

That gets my vote.

I don't have my book yet but.....its in the mail....but the Magus looks cool.

Scribing a scroll for a third level spell takes one day, costs 325 gp, and will earn 750 gp if the scroll is sold for cash. That's 325 profit: nice. So the question becomes, how many times can this be done before the market is saturated?

It's not a hypothetical question. I have a 5th level cleric of Abadar IMC. The player has pointed out that Abadar would want him to engage in trade for profit, and I can hardly disagree. He has access to all third level clerical spells, so he can pick whatever there's a demand for.

The economics of this can be pretty alarming. He'll fail his check on a 1, and I've ruled that the temple of Abadar takes a 10% cut of all scroll sales. His average return on investment is still going to be 70%. Every month he can scribe 30 scrolls worth 750 each, for a total gross income of 22500. Deduct 11250 for his expenses, 2250 for the temple's cut, and (average) 1175 for scrolls ruined by a bad roll, and he's still taking home 7825 gp per month, net. For a 5th level character, that seems like a lot.

Okay, at some point there will be no more market for scrolls of 3rd level cleric spells. In a normal economy, the laws of supply and demand would cause the price of scrolls to fall until it's not worth producing them any more. However, the D&D economy operates under strict price controls; a 3rd level scroll always costs 325 gp to make and always sells for 750. Also, the PC is in a large city, so it's reasonable to assume that demand is not yet slaked.

Am I missing something? Has anyone else run into this issue in their campaigns?

Doug M.

Doug this game is make believe......BTW....magic isn't real either but it makes the game cool. Don't sweat the economic theory.

Comparing the attack bonuses and damage outputs of the different melee classes, I've come to the conclusion that the Fighter is king. Indeed, I find it increasingly difficult for other classes to compete as each session progresses in any game in which I take part.

Barbarians, Paladins and Rangers can do at-around-and-occasionally-more damage than the Fighter in certain circumstances, but are otherwise lesser Fighters.

And then there's the Rogue, which I feel is so utterly underwhelming it is barely worth mentioning, especially when their main source of damage is precision-based and therefor not multiplied in critical hits like the rest of the melee classes.

Further, spellcasters in my experience have never been able to do anywhere near the damage melee can. Most of the players I have known have played blaster-types, and spells of that sort aren't capable of doing the damage they intend upon. It seems unfair that a limited resource should be so weak in comparison. Hell, enemies get three lines of defense against such spells: spell resistance, saves/caster must hit with a ranged/melee touch attack (which isn't exactly an easy for a character lacking any notable bonuses in this category), and energy resistances. Unlike melee characters who can very easily bypass damage reduction with magic items, the spellcaster cannot bypass energy resistances without the use of metamagic. And once again, most spells cannot crit.

Essentially, I feel the game is very heavily biased in favor of the Strength-based melee types, foremost amongst them the Fighter. I know many people may disagree, but this has been my group's experience with 3.x and Pathfinder.

I have long enjoyed roleplaying, but the system in place restricts characters to building what is optimal, not what is fun. The numbers should be an extension of the characters, furthering their capabilities and enhancing role play, but when they begin to govern what character concepts work and which do not, this is when the game ceases to be fun.

My intention...

By strict melee damage you might be right but balance comes from a party. A fighter is just one will save away from being on his back with all fours sticking up in the air peeing on himself.

When I spend money I want content and lots of it. I don’t have to use what I don’t want nor do my players……but I still want the choice to use it or not since it’s my money.

Monsters.

Indo wrote:

A Bard is a super 5th player...not a 1-4th. The Arcane Dualist fixes that problem by giving the Bard a little more staying (combat) power. He can help balance out a 4 PC party better than before without spending a ton of feats and having to wait until 10 level to get there.

Your statement is presented as a fact, not opinion, which of course it is your opinion.

I implied no such thing.....you inferred my statement incorrectly.

I am not sure if I like the class archetypes introduced in the advanced players guide, or if I want to use them for the campaign I am contemplating. I am interested in thoughts that other people have regarding these.

I say Yea.

A Bard is a super 5th player...not a 1-4th. The Arcane Dualist fixes that problem by giving the Bard a little more staying (combat) power. He can help balance out a 4 PC party better than before without spending a ton of feats and having to wait until 10 level to get there.

Deyvantius wrote:

Can anyone explain why a Barbarian would get acrobatics but not a Ranger?

Rangers have much less need to jump.

Ever spent much time in the woods?

is Mage armour over powered?

No

Indo wrote:

taski wrote:

Ok so my problem is that one of my players is going for a hell hound as his cohort. I'm fine with it and I've gone over the leveling processes and how to level the hound. the only hitch I'm running into is its breath weapon special ability. At the level he will acquire it at the hound will only be dealing 2d6, but at 8th level when its a CR9 (hell hound Nessian) its supposed to be doing 10d6 every 1-4 rounds. I have a party of 5 already and i feel that if they get something with that much fire power they are going to tear through enemies far to quickly. Any ideas on how to deal with this problem without crippling the hell hound?

Make the hell hound a magic item:

Paul Kidd did this in his books. The hero ranger had a sentient hell hound pelt that he wore as a cape. It had the breath weapon some DR and fire resistance and you don't have to deal with that pesky level advancement.

I wanted a character with something like that ever since I read it.

I built one once with a red dragon. The dragon was still CE but needed the PC for locomotion and the dragon loved to fight as a cape. It was a small Red but still funny as the dragon had a mind of his own.

prismatic wall and illusionary wall covering it, Always a laugh when you know it's probable someone would try to climb it,

That would make a nice trap. PCs find a leaning wall leading up to the next hallway....hmmmm.

TWF, exotic weapons proficiency, bastard sword, and a rapier. Nice damage and crit range or a two bladed sword.

I understand. I sold all my 4e stuff and bought PF.

im currently playing in a game where half the party has become evil due to a artifact. So currently the table is divided, it also happens that the power gamers are on the evil side, and the dm has a man crush on one of them so he lets him get away with stupid stuff.

Anyways I need a character that has high touch ac, can see invisibility and possibly deal with someone who is flying, 9th level.
Im against 2 rogues and an alchemist. There tactic seems to be the one rogue sneaks in with his ring of invis and wings of flying with an alchemist and another rogue in a bag of holding. The come out invisible and get all their attacks against you before you can do anything. The one rogue uses a crossbow the other twin daggers, and the alchemist bombs clearly

Get a dog and train it to guard you. Its super hard for an invisible rogue to sneak past the dog that has the scent ability.

Ok so my problem is that one of my players is going for a hell hound as his cohort. I'm fine with it and I've gone over the leveling processes and how to level the hound. the only hitch I'm running into is its breath weapon special ability. At the level he will acquire it at the hound will only be dealing 2d6, but at 8th level when its a CR9 (hell hound Nessian) its supposed to be doing 10d6 every 1-4 rounds. I have a party of 5 already and i feel that if they get something with that much fire power they are going to tear through enemies far to quickly. Any ideas on how to deal with this problem without crippling the hell hound?

Make the hell hound a magic item:

Paul Kidd did this in his books. The hero ranger had a sentient hell hound pelt that he wore as a cape. It had the breath weapon some DR and fire resistance and you don't have to deal with that pesky level advancement.

It is unjust to favorize spellcasters, let's see what can be done so that a fighter, or a similar straightforward melee character can do to make spellcasters fear him. I say:

Disruptive, Spellbraker, Lunge, Step Up, Combat Patrol, Dazing Assault, Following Step, Step up and strike,

The step up, following step and step up and strike are a horrid combination...focing your opponents to withdraw.

And disruptive and spellbreaker are also excellent against adjacent spellcasters...try to cast that spell now...

Simple cast silence on the fighter and grapple the spellcaster.

I will be playing in a Serpent's Skull game this weekend, though I am not sure if the character I drew up for it is going to be able to survive. My concern is that a less combat-oriented PC is going to get eaten up in this module (which I have never played; please no spoilers, only suggestions!). Here's what his stats are looking like:

** spoiler omitted **...

I am playing that class in the Serpent's Skull right now. I would pick a human, gives you an extra feat or a class that you don't take a minus on weapons sizes and movement. I am playing a Dhampire and I took exotic weapons proficiency as my first feat to get some more combat power and live longer….using a bastard sword. A human will do just fine as well.

Ambush

Explosive ruins and Dispel magic. Cast explosive ruins and lay them in the path of the oncoming enemy. Enemy is near the ruins cast dispel magic on the ruins and fail your own saving throw. Ruins go boom.

Indo wrote:

brassbaboon wrote:

Heh, my immediate reaction is "well, play 4e then! It's a great game and does all these things!"

I sold all my 4e stuff the other day.....thank you eBay.....and bought more Pathfinder books and AP if that tells you anything about 4e mechanics.

Not really, it tells me that as a whole you did not like the collected mechanics/game (which is your right and grats that ebay helped finance your recent purchases) not whether a subset of those mechanics (some of which other games used and predate 4ed by, ohh a decade or more) could be utilized in a pathfinder OGL system.

Would you please elaborate for me so I better understand what you are getting at?

AS a GM you can make them work anyway you want.....which is the bottom line but getting your players to buy off on your system is another matter. Both systems core mechanics are so different that making them mesh will be hard to do and your homebrew rules would be extensive. If you want to create your own system as a combo of the two knock yourself out. But they are two distinctively different systems and you could only play at the margins of the mechanics to make a new system work without re-inventing the whole.

Fighter/Bard

Heh, my immediate reaction is "well, play 4e then! It's a great game and does all these things!"

I sold all my 4e stuff the other day.....thank you eBay.....and bought more Pathfinder books and AP if that tells you anything about 4e mechanics.

I was just wondering if there were any ways to become incorporeal.

Kill yourself and have your evil cleric buddy brining you back as a ghost.

2E BAD! I think the current posting of FAQs works.

+1

Indo wrote:

At what point in the AP did you introduce the history of Allevrah and House Azrinae to your players?

I've just finished running my players thru Children of the Void, and introduced a bit of information on Allevrah in the journal the players find after killing the Drow on Devil Elbow. I plan on fully covering her history with the Drow during Dencent into Darkness, and her full history in a Memory of Darkness.

I did the same thing with the journal......thanks for the tip with the rest.

At what point in the AP did you introduce the history of Allevrah and House Azrinae to your players?

Grease and an illusion.....say good by to the golem.

Really, with archtypes I was really hoping we would see less of the glut of base classes that 3.5 had. But nope, ultimate combat comes with 3 more classes. ultimate magic with 1, advance players guide with 6. I was excited about advanced players guide because I thought okay this book will have new base classes and that'll be it at least for a while, but no, in the two years you've been making rulebooks we see the release of 10 new base classes. Well, I can say I'm dissapointed. Odds are I will not be picking up ultimate combat, or ultimate magic (which bugs me because I liked words of power) because I just can't bring myself to support this kind of class bloat, which is the exact kind of thing that started wearing on me in 3.5

Well then don't buy it. When I pay money I want content....but I don't have to use it if I don't want too. If you don't like it don't get it.

I would quit being a rules nerd.....PC picks up a branch hits the skeleton move on to the next encounter.

TriOmegaZero wrote:

Evocation's linear damage cannot deal with quadratic hit points. Further hampered by creatures needing higher HD to get attack bonuses and HP totals to not be a joke.

Solution: Rework monster stats to HD = CR. Most equal level opponents still won't be taken out except by lucky rolls, but lesser enemies that appear in groups can be fireballed to death like they used to.

+1. Most Evocation spells could be removed from the book

without causing too much loss to the game other than death of a bit of cool imagery.

I guess you're not using evocation spells right. They are a huge help.

Would the familiar get an attack of opportunity from the opponent falling from a threatened square? (assuming its an improved familiar and not tiny) sounds like a good dose of double damage

Or even better.....preload your familiar with a touch attack spell for the Aoo.

snobi wrote:

We might need a definition for 'slayer' too.

I am still waiting for a definition of the word "is"

Now thats funny! But to get back to the point....I say a Ranger.

Sweet.....as a militry guy I love maps.

I've gone through various builds and can't find a single thing that rogues do better than everyone else.

SpaceChomp meet Monk.

In my experience it not the spellcasters doing the most damage, but rather the Rangers, Paladins, Fighters, Barbarians etc. So no, I don't think the OP's suggestion is a good one.

+1

What makes a caster dangerous is his ability to be unpredictable and how that will affect the battle. A dude with a sword or bow pretty much is predictable....and usually does the most damage. A spell caster can upset the balance of a fight quickly and hence has the bad rep of being an auto win PC. ….but when it comes to pure damage…..the Rangers, Paladins, Fighters, Barbarians never run out of sword swings and usually win the day.

Ok so one of my players destroyed an artifact and was cursed with having a perputual thunderstorm occuring in his vacinity, that vacinity being the size of a city.

What effects would being constantly rained upon occur to a party of adventurers? Naturally the rain only happens outside but always above where the cursed PC is.

They've bought themselves a large tent to rest at night on the road but what other devious in-game effects could we come up with when it's constantly raining non-stop.

If I'm not 100% clear feel free to ask questions.
FDM

Go stand in the rain for 3 days. You will figure it out real fast.

There is a lot of blather about casters being demi-gods and sword swingers being wimps at higher levels. How many of your play one on one games. I mean how many times do you play a sword swinger and fight a caster one on one?

Casters are not that hard to deal with if you have a balanced party and use team work. You might take some lumps but killing a high level caster is not that hard if you use your brain.

A level 3 witch, fighter, barbarian, and druid beat the stag lord encounter. The witch saved the day because eventually everybody fails a save on a hex.

Heck, I could see a CN summoner doing that then making them fight for his own amusement.

In that case I would let the monsters roll a save and allow them wail on the idiot that summoned them.

Bottom line up front: Pathfinder RPG is not 4e…..Thank God

Pathfinder products are rich with content. I hated 4e when WOTC got lazy and created books with a bunch of stats and nothing else. Pathfinder histories, monster ecology, race flavor, and classes are spot on. When I pay money for RPG products I want content, not a watered down stats listings that make me do more work. If the content is not what I am looking for then I either change it or create it but Pathfinder gives me options. 3.5 did this somewhat and 4e not at all.

Maps: I love maps. Pathfinder maps are great and I love the smaller maps found in adventure paths that contain an area with greater detail. Again I want content for my money, don’t make me do all the work.

Art: Pathfinder art is the best I have seen. The art along gives me ideas as a GM to tell a story to my players.

Flavor: I think that the GM’s main role is as a story teller and that the PC’s get to play a part in developing the story. Pathfinder helps me in the story teller role. Pathfinder doesn’t have the video game feel of 4e and it’s scalable to any age player. I GM a group with my kids and their friends and I also play in a group of adults made up of high ranking military officers…..most of us played 1e in the early 1980’s. Pathfinder fits all the things I am looking for in a RPG and it is the best system I have ever seen.