Jaçinto's page

So aside from my problems with crafting, I just looked at the feats and had to pause.

Barricade. So from what I am reading, I need a feat to flip a table over and duck behind it? I know people are going to say that it says as a move action which could be interpreted as being able to flip a table as a standard or full round, but it doesn't say that. Just going with what is actually written in front of me. If they meant something else, they should have put it there.

No interpretation, no saying the GM can tweak it, just RAW. Granted I am just looking over this fir the first time but I am noticing some issues.

I also have an issue with Deadly Aim, mainly the name. Think about it. a penalty to attack from something called Deadly Aim. So, what, aiming makes things harder to hit? I would have called it burst fire or an overcharge shot for energy weapons or something.

Diversion feat to call attention to yourself. Seriously? The normal action lets you use bluff to let YOU hide, so a "look over there!" thing. So I need a feat to jump and say "Look at me! Look at me!" otherwise they wont look at me. So I guess if I do that without the feat, they have to ignore me then since I don't have the feat?

In Harm's Way as a feat instead of a combat option. Okay, so you are not allowed to jump in front of someone without buying a feat, let alone a feat with a prerequisite. Little odd.

Kip Up. Really, that should just be in acrobatics. Stop taking what skills can do and making them into feats. Feats should be something special. Heck, Yoski have that as a racial ability, I believe, simply because they are quick and nimble.

Medical Expert. I am bashing my head in the desk here. Let Skills Mean Something, Paizo. Not everything needs to be a feat. How about a high medicine skill means you are highly skilled and able to do stuff better than others? Not just in numbers, but things you can do. How about letting feats be a special ability? A great feat. Heck, 5th edition makes feats be special abilities rather than just a buffed version of a skill. What were paizo and the beta testers doing?

Pull the pin really should be based in slight of hand. I mean, come on.

Sky Jockey. Again, no. Stop it. Let this just be a higher DC in the piloting skill. There is no reason for this to be a feat.

Sniper weapon proficiency. Ok this really hurts my head here. Do people at paizo know how rifles work at all? It's a rifle. If you can use an assault rifle, you can use a "sniper" rifle. I know my opinion on this one is gonna bother some people so go ahead.

Suppressive fire as a feat. Again, this hurts my head. Less silly feats, more combat options. So I need a feat to hold the trigger down and just shoot over an area rather than at someone directly? So it is a feat to full auto fire and miss?

Unfriendly Fire. So it is a feat for me, from hiding, to throw a can and have it bang at something across the room so the enemy jumps and shoots there? This feels like it should be in the same area as causing a diversion, and under SKILLS not feats.

There are others I have issues with but I want people to discuss. Personally, I see myself tearing apart the feat and skill system cause this is just silly. Lets hear your opinions and anything in the game you have a problem with, and why this should have been an open beta instead of a closed one, cause now it is too late for them to actually listen to people since it has already been printed.

Okay, granted I skimmed a few times but this is odd to me. I am trying to find the reason to craft, at all, aside from arbitrary availability in store. If the price is the same, rather than craft at half price since you are not paying market value, and you sell for only 10% of the value then why do it at all? If it is the same as you would get in stores, what is the point in ever crafting stuff yourself?

So my necromancer wizard used the command undead ability and gained control of one zombie. So, something came up. By rule, is giving commands to a zombie a move action or free action? I can not find the rule for it.

Ok I was talking to a friend and I remembered a class or archetype that I SWEAR I have seen before from official stuff, but I can't remember what it was. What I remember, is that at a certain level, it essentially makes a miasma that causes everyone around to get stoned.

I remember finding it when I was looking up blight druid and how it is a problem playing in a group and being in cities, then this other thing came up.

I can not, for the life of me, remember what it was but I am sure it was a thing in here.

Tinkering with a thing here. Character Sheet

So I am not trying to go overpowered. Useful but not OP here and no it is not done. So while yes, I want him able to fight and do some damage if he needs to do it, the main thing is his force of personality, plus his special mesmerist abilities. I went with dreamstalker because I like the idea of messing with their dreams, nightmares, etc.. and it looked fun. The character is a barrister so I tried to make things fitting. I can't decide between tricks and extra spells really at the moment.

Any input would be nice. I think best when bouncing stuff off of someone. So he's a talker, obviously. I took Sow Thoughts because I like putting ideas in someone's mind, plus in a court room, that is amazing. And yeah, I don't want to deal with the argument of seeing the spell vs psychic components. Just set that aside for now. But still needs to be useful "adventuring" and self defense. Just throw your two cents out there. I am sticking to Dreamstalker and Reptoid, though.

Oh also, I would love help finding a nice character portraits. I have been hunting for days. Think more snake man than lizard man. Kinda like the old conan cartoon where they disguise as people, or the lovecraftian stuff. Whatever have you.

Ok, I am sure this has been asked before and I am probably dumb here, but this is something that got me. Why do spells like Mage's Magnificent mansion, a spell that makes a mansion, use cubic feet instead of square feet? Square feet is used to measure the area of a building. Cubic feet is for measuring volume. It baffles me why they are trying to measure the volume of a house.

I know there are other spells that use cubic feet and I don't have the mathematical knowledge to convert cubic feet to square feet, or even if that is doable. I know I could learn but putting that much work into something like that doesn't seem worth it.

I remember the group sitting around the table for almost half an hour, for one round of combat, trying to figure out how stone shape works in entombing a person with stone during a fight.

So I felt like throwing some characters together for whatever might come up in the future, or who knows. I want to really cut loose and be something evil, or bordering on it. Something monstrous. I had a skim through Horror Adventures for ideas and I am having a few issues. While some things look neat, from lovecraft horror, to demonic/diabolic stuff, to Friday the 13th slasher stuff, I always have to stop and think about the issues pathfinder has had. By which I mean, stuff that may look neat but is ultimately trash. I lack the system knowledge to just know what is out there and what is "better" while still being fun. So, using the horror adventure archetypes, can anyone help brainstorm some ideas and help me avoid the junk? I was looking at Hangman and Bloody Jake, but at the same time they seem like they might be trash overall for a player even though they feel neat. So any ideas would be nice. Lets discuss and figure this out for someone that wants to play something other than the good guy, and rather someone villainous. Of course, I need to still be able to play in a party with others.

Not asking for full builds. Just to discuss and figure this out. Oh and if corruptions are not just throw away trash, I would love to figure them in as well. Though I do hate that for SOME reason you can't play your character anymore when corrupt enough, because that totally makes sense...

Ki Volley (Su): When a targeted spell or spell-like ability fails to overcome the monk's spell resistance from diamond soul, he can spend 2 ki points as an immediate action to send that spell back at its caster as spell turning. A monk must be 16th level or higher and possess the diamond soul ki power before selecting this ki power.

Alright, so this looks neat to me. An immediate action to send a targeted spell back at the caster. I assumed this just meant spend 2 ki if the caster fails your spell resistance and then the spell targets them now. Great, however it says it acts like spell turning. Now lets have a look at spell turning.

I would post the spell here but I don't want just a text wall. Spell Turning

I assume we ignore the duration, as this is an immediate effect. Fine. It only works on 1d4+6 levels worth of a spell. Sure, okay. The spell is stopped overall by the spell resistance from diamond soul anyway. Subtract the amount stopped from the total. For damaging spells, this means both take damage except I don't because Ki Volley only works when my spell resistance kicks in, right?

For a non damaging spell, each of you have a proportional chance of being affected. What is that proportion and shouldn't it be 0-100% since this only works if my spell resistance beat the spell initially?

If both have spell turning, roll on the table. Now that is interesting but again, why would effect me at all if, again, the spell has already failed due to spell resistance?

Sorry if I seem dumb for not clearly understanding spell turning through Ki Volley. Just looking for some clarification. Possibly because I have too much crown royal in me right now. By the way, don't experiment with making whiskey sours. No recipe really works well and you just end up a bit drunk and feeling gross trying to make one that works.

So I just got invited to join two different games now. A NWOD game and a BESM game and I know next to nothing about either. For NWOD, the group has a geist, a vampire, and a beast. I was thinking of playing a mage since werewolf is not permitted. I like the idea of still being a human within all the weird, but touched by the supernatural. They have, as I am to understand, almost purely social and subtle characters and that's fine. So I need advice on what to do here as I am brand spanking new and know nothing about this.

I know literally nothing about BESM at all. Not one thing other than it is an anime style game and this thing will be based in the infinite stratos world but with all the harem and ecchi removed, and somewhat more serious. I don't even know where to begin with this.

I didn't know the right way to title that but yeah. I started off in AD&D and my favourite class was the Paladin. Now when I got into 3.5 and pathfinder, they just don't feel the same anymore. It just doesn't feel very good or satisfying being one. Another way to put it is back in AD&D, being a Paladin felt like Paladin - Freedom Call But now, it feels like just another guy with a beat stick. I don't think it is just nostalgia because I could crack open my PHB and The Complete Paladin's Handbook and they just feel good when I read them. It's just that it feels like all the stuff that made them feel right was sucked out to be more "just another class." Anyone else have this sort of issue with Paladins between editions or any other old class into a current edition?

As the title says, how do these work?

We encountered a troop and it didn't make much sense at all. I get the point of it but they are just people. Why is it that attack nearest, from confusion, not cause any in fighting and just attack the party instead? This does not make sense. Does this mean any group of people can be called a troop and thus only count as one creature? You also can't target individuals in the group or separate them at all. Is there any clarification on this? Also, how would grease work if they count as a single creature? Do the people not in it also fall down since the troop counts as one creature? Again with create pit. This thing is kind of stupid.

This is something that came up in our game and was argued to not work, at the moment. The water in an Aqueous orb is churning. Does this count as running water for the weakness vampires have where it reduces their maximum HP by 1/3 every round?

Ok this has been bothering me for a long time and I figured I should ask it here. For ages, I have seen people carrying multiple rods with stat bonuses and granting meta magics, without actually holding it in their hands, and saying it works just fine. Is this how rods actually work and you can just tie them to your belt or do you have to wield them like a wand or sword for them to have any effect?

So I was trying to decide on my next third level spell, since my spell choice is important as a sorcerer. I decided on something offensive rather than all the compulsions I have been taking and started to compare Fireball with Aqueous Orb.

Reading Aqueous Orb, I have some concerns.

If the orb enters the area of another creature, thus submerging them, what actually happens if they pass their saving throw? What is listed in the spell assumes they fail but, what if they pass? They do not become engulfed by the churning orb, yet they are still inside the orb because that is where it is. Can they just walk out, or do they have to follow swimming rules? Do they have to hold their breath, even though they did not get the chance to get a full breath of air before hand and thus inhaling would fill their lungs with water? Is it difficult terrain for them to walk out, if that is how it is? Are there difficult terrain rules for swimming, since the water is churning? What happens if I use it as a readied action on a spell caster as they are now submerged in water while they were trying to cast a spell? It says they may attempt a reflex throw to escape, but shouldn't escape rely on a swim check as well and the reflex just means you can actually attempt it? What if someone is in a ten foot by ten foot space and the orb takes up that space, but they pass their save?

These have probably been asked before, but I can not find the answers.

While of course, we have to wait and see how it goes, I am hesitant to be excited for this.

I am glad that there will be another setting, finally. I found Pathfinder (Golarian) was getting oversaturated on the lore end of things and was always hoping for another world, like how D&D has forgotten realms, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, etc...

I am worried though that this may be like the WotC attempt at star wars, which I found just dreadful. They just ported the third edition rulebook into star wars and hoped it worked, and really felt like a complete mess. I expected things to fee star warsy but I was met again with combat expertise, power attack, and so on. Hopefully this game, while using the Pathfinder setting, will be different enough to not have the same issues of just being the same game but science fantasy (Not Sci Fi, there is a difference) flavored. Hopefully, Paizo will be willing to get out of the safety net of copy-paste with the rule books and really go make things just work differently. It's a thousand years in the future, so if everything feels the same, then what is the point? I do put trust in them to make this a good game after all they learned so far, which leads me to my next point.

There wont be an open playtest/beta it seems and instead they will just pick key community members. This right here seems like a dreadful idea. You need to stress test this thing. Open it to as many people as possible and see if it breaks. You WANT people to try to break the game as hard as they can and then let people know about it, so it can be fixed. Plus, picking and choosing testers can make it feel like they could just be getting "yes-men" or people may end up being so excited they got picked, they wont be willing to give harsh criticism out of fear they will be replaced by someone else. Saying the game is too big to playtest just seems like an excuse to me, because since it is compatible with the pathfinder books, let people playtest the core book (like they did with pathfinder) and see how it does with the other books at all. Picking out testers like this makes it feel they are hiding stuff, even if they are not. It's not a good move really. Again, the more testers they have, the better, because you are more likely to find issues when you have more people looking for them.

TL;DR I really hope this goes well, isn't just a total clone of pathfinder and paizo is willing to change things and take a chance with stuff based on years of feedback from the forums, and they realize that an open beta is just a flat out better idea for testing then only allowing a few people to test.

I just had my first character death in about a decade or more. My sixth level sorcerer got hit with 44 damage and was dropped to -14 with a con of 12.

Honestly, this feels kinda freeing. Now I don't need to worry about keeping my high score going and can open up to do more wild junk.

This is not a complaint, just a thing I find neat.

So, what are people's high score for going without a character dying? Oh and I mean legit character death, not "GM says you die."

The last guy I had that died was a barbarian in 3.5 back in, I think, 2005 or 2006, where I did a stupid and went PVP cause a player had a sorta "edgy" character. Damn I was stupid. Okay the player had a neat backstory and kept walking saying he was death. My dumb barbarian said "Death killed my father!" and attacked. I missed, hold person, coup de grace. I totally deserved it and it was so funny.

Okay, I used to love playing the face character. The guy that is the best talker and can essentially "open doors" or otherwise manipulate. I have come to the conclusion that I am no longer allowed to do so as long as we keep playing in Golarian.

For a while now, every time I try to engage with an NPC in an adventure path, I either get talked over by the player that studies all the books, such as Gazetteers and anything with any history or lore, so I end up sitting quietly at the table doing nothing until they get called for a diplomacy check, at which point I sigh and say "aid another" and roll the dice, or for some reason I get to use my full diplomacy check. I feel like I am not actually playing my role and I am just a second stat block for another player to use.

Or, the NPC I am roleplaying with, and enjoying the scene, turns out not to be relevant to the story and thus I am just holding up the game and the others want me to hurry up and move on. Again, I end up just sitting there quietly and just roll the d20 when asked to do aid another or whatever, or it is a fight and it is my turn to beatstick, then go back to sitting quietly.

I have tried studying the extra books, like Cheliax the Infernal Empire for Hell's Rebels, but I can't. It is just too dull. Believe me, I love to read but if a book is boring and doesn't grab my attention, I can't retain the information. If it is not interesting to me, my brain freaks out. It is the reason I can't do grinding in MMO games without talking to people or multitasking with a TV show.

So really, what do I do? Yes I have talked to people about this issue but there is no real solution. I can't tell someone NOT to read something they are interested in reading, but I can't feel good about sitting there and not doing anything until beatstick time or called to just roll the dice for someone else. I also can't play just another thug again, even though it can be fun sometimes to play the big destroyer lug, but that role is taken by others and I don't want to step on toes.

I'm just tired of feeling like the sidekick. I need to stand out sometimes but when I do, I am told I am either sidetracking the game or not giving enough time for others to be in the spotlight.

I miss the days of "Make a character, get a basic backstory in order, and jump in the game. Have fun." Now there is so much studying required to play if you just want to interact with NPCs, because it seems you need to know the entire history of the nation, know every notable figure, know their relationships with the common folk and noble houses and notable figures of OTHER nations, etc... I just can't take it anymore. I love roleplaying, but this is feeling like it is just study and parrot rather than react, think, and have fun on the fly. I have a quick wit in conversation, but I don't spend days studying everything about an entire country just to talk to a couple random people because it seems they know all about everything as well.

Again, I need real advice on what to do here. I'm at a breaking point as my brain can't take it anymore. Yes I have talked to the group. No, finding a new group is not an option as it is a small town. Please, I need help.

I am currently playing a Kitsune Fey Blooded Sorcerer. I found it very interesting and was going to have a lot of manipulative fun, but the fun got sucked right out of it pretty quickly. There is a history of whenever trying to say anything using bluff to lie my way through stuff, I hear "No damn it, don't do that. You're going to ruin everything" so I just sit there and shut up. I don't even try anymore.

Not sure if this is the right place to say this, especially since I have had a few drinks today already, but I skimmed the Ultimate Intrigue book's feats and I have to say, I am disgusted by what I saw.

Who the heck thought Call Truce would be a good idea? Paizo, thanks for making a feat that actually takes away the ability to attempt social skills in a fight as an alternative to beatsticking.

See, talking in a fight was something I would have my characters do. Call for a truce, demand surrender, raise a point to make the fight stop and discuss, etc.. Now, they make this feat that says unless I spend a very limited resource, I am not allowed to do that. Can't you guys just leave some things alone and let the skills actually have something? Why take away the things people like and lock them behind feats? Paizo, you are not adding features to a game. Rather, you are taking options away and locking them behind restrictions of level and feats.

Did anyone else notice this feat when they read it? Is anyone actually going to use this? Because again, this doesn't add anything. Rather, it restricts. What's next? Is Paizo going to take away planning ahead rather than rushing head long into stuff by making that a feat? Stop punishing ingenuity.

Okay, so I wanted to make a character based in social aspects, mind control, compulsion, etc... You know, a force of personality. I was going with a Mesmerist because it really speaks to me. Not just for the numbers but it is something I enjoy. GM said no psychic magic, no occult adventures. Fine, that's fine. So now I am working on a bard and I am trying to find a way to make that work without the problem of "Mid to late game, charming and mind affecting spells are worthless." Hopefully I can get some help with that. I'm thinking some type of bard that worked in opera or a con man or something, but I just need to make this work. Also there are so many archetypes that I can't figure out which are the the good ones and which are the poopy ones.

So please help. I will listen to all suggestions. I love the idea of talking my way out of stuff and manipulating people, but mid and late game, it never works cause that is when you get stuff that is immune or just has a stupid high save.

Hi folks. There is generally no PFS up here in the middle of nowhere and I have been in a home group for many years now. I am curious about a couple things about PFS.

First off, can PFS be run online and am I screwed if I can't go to conventions? My town is way out of the way, up in north west Canada and about a 16-20 hour drive north of Vancouver.

Will I have problems like I did in RPGA? I tried playing 4th edition RPGA online a few years back and I ended up quitting after three sessions. We encountered an enemy that was using an enchanted helmet that gave him a frightful image, like a death knight or something. I managed to knock him out and I told the GM I wanted to take the helmet. He said I couldn't because it was not listed as loot. I kept asking him what was physically stopping my character from keeping it? It wasn't stuck on his head, as it was removable so we could see who he really was. I actually grew mad at this, and the magic item limit where if you are level 2, you can only have two +1 items or one +2. More than that and you had to junk it.

I have a habit of going for shortcuts in games and going somewhat off the rail, but still keeping the story going. For instance, in what was I think Second Darkness, I became a major crime lord in the city due to careful negotiations, drug running, and cutting other crime lords in on my action and helping them launder money and whatnot. Will that sort of thing be stopped due to the book not taking it into account? Same goes for killing/negotiating with NPC that we are not supposed to interact with in that way.

I am not trying to bash PFS, as I really am curious about it. I just need the information before I actually try to get into it. Also, if funds are limited due to the no crafting rule, is spell casting somewhat a pain from the expensive material components? By which I mean, I can't sell my services in magic or rob people for funds or whatever to make sure I have the funds and materials needed? Back in AD&D, I would burgle rich people's homes to get money so our mage could cast their spells.

Alright, so I was going to play in a Reign of Winter game, but that's been cancelled. Gm needs a break from running games and another player wants to run, so we will be playing Mummy's Mask. I decided to make a Mesmerist even though I know it is not suited for this adventure path at all. I decided to play what I want, as long as I don't hinder the group. If the GM says no to this character, that's fine and I will do something else but until then, here he is.

Mesmerist Sheet

I really hope that link works. Anyways, that is my Mesmerist. I know it is a MAD build, but hey, play what feels good, right?

I think my spell loadout is decent, but I may be wrong. I didn't dump wisdom to 8 because I didn't want a -1 to will saves, even though I gain the bonus from charisma. I suppose my skills and stats could be tweaked a bit, even though I don't really see a problem. The stats are 25 point buy.

Yes, I am playing an Angelkin Aasimar, and you may notice that I didn't take the heritage feat to get it. Our group has thrown out the fiendish and celestial heritage feats for Tiefling and Aasimar as we find a feat to play a race as stupid. They don't add anything to the races, rather than just alter them as if you were taking alternate racial traits.

All input is welcome, but I am set on playing a Mesmerist and not an archetype like the vexing daredevil. I chose the Aasimar for thematic reasons and, while I feel a bit meh about it, the Angelkin for stats though thematically speaking, I should have picked the Div based one for what I had in mind.

I was looking at the Tieflings, working on a character, and I noticed something odd. Not sure it has been brought up before here but did they mix up the Hellspawn and Pitborn Tieflings?

The Hellspawn Tielings (Devils), thematically fit in with being manipulative and diabolical. As an alternate skill modifier, they get bonuses to diplomacy and sense motive. They have +2 con, +2 wis, and -2 cha. Seems strange that they have a charisma penalty since they seem to be the persuasive, manipulative lawful based talkers. You know, like devils are themed to be.

The Pitborn Tielflings (Demons) are listed as destructive and savage beasts, like how demons tend to be. Yes I know there are exceptions, like Succubi but I am talking thematically on average. They get +2 cha, +2 str, and -2 int. They also get bonuses in disable device and perception. A bit odd given these are generally not the subtle talkers and more of the "Smash the enemy" chaotic beings.

It just really looks like that the hellspawn ones should get the charisma bonus and the pitborn should have the con bonus. Change the penalties too I suppose. I dunno, but they don't seem to fit what they are described as and look like they need a rebuild on their attributes.

Anyone else notice this, or am I wrong on this?

Hey folks.

I was tinkering around with a Skald setup since I may be joining a Reign of Winter group soon. They're level 10 and I need to build appropriate to that. The main reason I went Skald is because I wanted to play a heavy metal bard years ago in 3.5, plus recently I was listening to Led Zepplin's Immigrant Song. So yeah, here's what I've been doing and I have to say that maybe I should stop building characters after midnight while drinking.

Name: Working on it but something like Hrodulf Wartongue but that sounds too familiar so people can help brainstorm that if they like.

Race: Human

25 Point buy
Str 14 (+2 human, +1 level 4, +1 level 8)
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 11
Cha 15

Feats:
Improved Initiative
Skald's Vigour
Arcane Strike
Lingering Song
Extra rage power Superstition
Extra rage power Spell Sunder

Class rage powers:

Lesser beast totem
beast totem
witch hunter

Versatile performance:
Oratory
Percussion

Skills:

1 in each knowledge
Perform oratory 10
Perform Percussion 10 (Banging on a shield to intimidate)
Perception 10
Spellcraft 10
Use Magic Device 10

Spells:
Haven't decided but I plan on using the human favored class option each level.

I realized that extra rage power feats don't apply to inspire rage, so those have to be changed. Anything else that needs to be changed, I want to read your two cents on it. I want to make this guy work and not just be a back of the line buffer. I am having trouble with my spells because I always end up seeing them as "Target's enemy. Saving throw. They're totally gonna beat that late game. I hate wasted slots. Next."

I want a guy that can hit and put out damage pretty reliably, keep the party strong with the inspired rage, and wont drop dead if he gets hit but I am willing to listen to whatever. I generally want to avoid level dipping and prefer to go full Skald though.

Also, I am considering Leadership and wondering if that means I can actually bring followers with me as a barbarian raiding party or something, or is it just the cohort? Not sure, it's late and I am kinda drunk on the Kraken.

So I was looking at this because one thing I do, when everything is stacked against me, is be clever and use spells to do massive game changing things. So with Rebuke Technology http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/r/rebuke-technology What happens if you use it on an unattended object? Size is not listed, and it is not a magical object, so what would the fort save be, if it even gets one? Say, if I cast it on a space ship or a ship's power core/reactor or something, what would happen?

RAW, I can't find a reason why it would not shut down a technological object without a save since it is unattended and non-magical. Just to make a point in case it comes up, a house is not an attended object really just because someone is doing some roofing or just in it at the time, right?

This is gonna sound bad but I have a hard time paying attention during adventure paths, if not almost falling asleep.

We have played all the APs so far and are on Iron Gods right now. About 2 or 3 APs ago is when I started conking out at the table to just flipping through a book or something. Yes, I know this is bad player behaviour and I don't want to do it, but I need help.

See, the problem is that the APs have so much padding and long dungeon crawls, and entire six hour sessions where all we do is fight two enemies before going home, that I am bored out of my skull. I can only mentally handle "Oh, a fork in the road in this hallway. If I open the door it is another hallway or another random enemy" so many times before my brain shuts down. I do try to interact and role-play with the others, but that just ends up delaying doing other things in the adventure when dungeon crawling. It is like a somewhat old term in video games which was something like "Spend an hour designing your character's face, then put on a helmet and go in a hole in the ground for a few hours."

I want to be able to deal with the bland constant fights that take up entire sessions, and the long dungeon crawls of just (Go in room. is there an enemy? if yes, fight, kill, and then search. If no, search.) Seriously, how do I do this without passing out from boredom? I am not trying to sound rude but I have no other way to put it.

I don't know why, but when we are in a city and interacting with NPCs, solving mysteries, making contacts, etc... I am wide awake. When I am essentially in "Get in the hole and kill things." I can't stand it. Especially in Iron Gods where you can't do anything than fight because almost every enemy is a mindless robot, so my options on dealing with the encounter is limited. I can fight it, or run away and therefore choose not to play.

I love role-playing games like D&D (including pathfinder but I started with AD&D), Shadowrun, Dark Heresy, Paranoia, and so on, but when it becomes monotonous, I hit my fight or flight instinct. On that I mean keep playing and hope it gets better or quit.

See, generally in the first three books of the adventures, especially the first book, I never get bored. Not just because it is new but because it seems that is where the best writing is. Once it hits book 4 or 5, it tends to become "Get in the hole and don't come out until you defeat the bad or find the maguffin." I also notice that if I get creative and use spells to make short cuts to avoid or end encounters early, we end up under level and under geared, so I have to slog through or get punished with low exp for being clever. The stories are great in the APs and all, but the mechanical execution is just...bleh.

TLDR: Getting bored and falling asleep at the table from long boring slogs through dungeons and fights that feel like padding. Want to keep my attention focused and stay interested. Please advise on how to do this.

Hey folks. Hope I am posting in the right place. My pathfinder mastery kinda sucks and I am getting rocked in our game. I want to play my caster blight druid better and I was hoping to get some info on the best wild shape forms. Pathfinder books only please.

my blight druid is level 10 with only 900 gold, a cloak of res +3, (or 2 I forget), boots of teleportation, and a pearl of power 1. That's literally it.

I have been trying to follow the treantmonk guide, including the caster attributes, but it is a bit outdated now in the way of spells and such. I have just been turning into an eagle, flying, and casting control spells. I am trying to figure out if I should just keep using eagle form, start using large air elemental form, or what.

I prefer working things out on my own but I hit a wall here, and am pretty much stuck. I need help not getting totally destroyed when a fight comes up. We keep winding up indoors where I have no room to maneuver so I need survive and actually be useful in a fight.

Oh, and I dropped to NE from N cause without thinking, I cast control winds twice into a building full of enemies and the tornado took out a good chunk of the city we were in. So, no more mass destruction on that level maybe.

We were playing and this came up. I couldn't find a rule for it. if I cast create water and make a smooth floor all wet, are there any rules for slipping on it? I attempted this because I slipped on a smooth floor earlier in the week and messed up my knee.

I picked up the book at the store as I have been wanting to get into 40K rpgs for a while now and this was recommended to me. I gave it a skim and it looks pretty good but I would like someone, or a group of someones, to help me learn how to play this and possibly get a game going. I've played two 40K video games and red a webcomic based on dark heresy. I have never touched the tabletop war game though as it is a bit out of my price range and I like RPGs more than combat heavy war games.

I have skype but I will try to pay attention to any replies here, though if you want to talk or somehow get a game going, skype is a better choice for me.

So yeah, hope some folks can help out someone starting from total scratch here.

Ok I found this video and I really think people should check it out. Are Video Games About Their Mechanics? It talks about video games but really can easily apply to tabletop RPGs. I think this guy put it quite well as he talks about game mechanics and the harm they can sometimes do to their game. Lets discuss and keep it civil.

I was thinking back to an old game and had a thought about drinking a potion underwater and whether or not it makes sense. I'm talking about drinking without any water breathing effect already in place. Also, as a second point trying to drink while already drowning.

Now, I am pretty sure there is no rule about it so I am not interested in any "If RAW doesn't say no, then yes." Style arguments because, due to word count limit in their books, they can't make a rule for everything and expect the GM and group to figure it out themselves. I'm pretty sure there is no rule for the effects of eating glass but I am pretty sure people would agree on the effects without needed an actual rule.

Please PLEASE lets avoid angry arguing and being rude to eachother. If you plan on posting rude or attack post in any way, just don't post as it is not welcome. Keep things civil and no passive aggressive attempts to skirt that.

I just want to see people discuss this and talk about whether or not it makes sense and possibly how to do it. Just to put it up there, feel free to add in dilution and if it will have any sort of impact.

Remember RAW people, just because there is no written rule does not mean it is allowed so avoid that argument please. I don't know why I felt the need to say that twice.

After playing multiple editions of D&D and then Pathfinder for years, I have to say I am getting fed up with the 3.x series (3.0/3.5/PF). Gonna say now that I am gonna suck at breaking up points with paragraphs and will probably be all over the place. Odds are this will be a wall of text.

I know I will get flak for this but I hate playing optimized and uber powerful characters. Ok so, when I make character I hate looking at builds online. I say if you can't do it yourself, or maybe help from people in the room, then don't. You gotta figure out what you want to do yourself and you have to go through the mistakes sometimes to do that. Then I get the players that always look up builds online so I am expected to as well. I signed up for an RPG, not a video game. I hate the MMO mentality in table top games where you have to have the right build or you suck. Yeah I know blasty wizards suck but I don't care. Maybe I WANT to play one or play a rogue or monk or whatever. Not interested in people saying stuff like "They are so inefficient and suck compared to other classes." I try to shut those people up immediately at the table. That's not the game I play. I want to immerse in the world, not just play a formula. Now then, sometimes I end up making an overpowered character like my witch that was shutting down fights in one round, even against bosses. I retired the character cause not having a challenge is not fun. I find if you can just stomp your way through anything, then what's the point of even having fights in the game? They stop being a challenge and all they do is eat up game time you could be using for roleplaying. If a fight is pointless, take it out. Other things I notice is something I initially said I don't want to hear which is class imbalance. I am one of the people that say the sorcerer is far more powerful, for players, than a wizard. Ok so a wizard can know all the spells, fine. But you have to prep each one. To get a good variety to be ready for "any situation" you maybe pick two or three spells on a level and prep each twice. Say you pop those two of a spell and the target passes the save each time. Then you get the sorcerer than can just spam his spells cause he didn't need to prep. Sure he gets less known, but you're not gonna really be using all the spells in the book as a player. I find Sorcerer is better for players and wizards are better for villains. Mainly because the players or "heroes" are always reacting. The villain gets to set things up and prepare while the players have to react. My biggest problem, however, is constant massive dungeon crawls where the town is just a hub to sell things and prepare for the next crawl. I am here to play D&D/Pathfinder, NOT Diablo. I make a dynamic character with odd characteristics and appearance. Game starts, get in the hole and do fights that take up entire sessions for three months, then start the next chapter. That is extremely boring. Next problem, skills. I hate the skill system. Go in a hole, kill monsters, level up, put a point in linguistics and you learn a new language because....why? You spent a couple days or less in a cave. How are you suddenly totally fluent in reading,writing, and speaking a language from another plane spoken by creatures that have totally different structures in their vocal chords and mouths? This was seriously a conversation. "Hey guys I speak Thasalonian now." "How? When did you learn that?" "It was written on that vase and I took the language when I leveled, so now I am fluent in it." "Ok, I'm done today. I'm driving home to contemplate the BS. Anyone need a ride?" Seriously, that was one of the stupidest things I had ever seen in a roleplaying game. Spontaneous language without magic. What happened to having to actually spend time training and learning? What happened to having to actually think about puzzles and riddles instead of just rolling a dice and have the DM tell you the answer? I have read and run pathfinder adventure paths and while the stories were nice, the rules and mechanics in them had logic that made me feel braindead. I was supposed to prompt the players when to roll perception and things like that. If the game is designed for me to hold their hand, it isn't worth it cause they are not learning independent thought. See giving hints is one thing. I HATE telling the players flat out what they need to do. Come on people, think. I have to say that if people constantly need me to tell them what to do and when, how did they get out of high school? This one is more personal but I hate players that read all the lore of the world and have their characters know it too. If you can't separate information you gained while playing and what you gained from reading books, you're not that good at this game. I don't know but I have never had a problem separating that kind of information. Oh I do also hate "magic shops" as they should be robbed constantly or horribly corrupt and when players just try to go shopping for anything and buy any spell without any research. What is the point of educated casters like wizards if you don't have to actually research your spells? Why should they know of every spell they are allowed to cast now if they have not spent a second of research in the adventure or shown any interest at all in education?

There are other things but that is enough for now. Got a headache plus I am falling asleep.

So I have been a fan of mechwarrior since I was a kid and only within the past couple years have I discovered an RPG existed. I bought the core books for second and third edition and got A Time of War recently. Is it just me or is this RPG totally unplayable?

What I mean is, the game has you design a mech pilot character, then tell you that you can't play without buying the actual table top mini war game. So the core book becomes a total lie since you can't actually be a mechwarrior in Mechwarrior/Battletech.

If I am wrong and it is possible to play with JUST the core book, please let me know. I hate games that have a core book and then reveal, inside, that you actually need supplements to play cause the core book is just a sample like how New World of Darkness seems to be.

Alright I know a lot of people complain about how overpowered targetting is, but lets take a closer look at it.

First of all, it costs 1 grit point per use and you have to declare using it before your role. Ok, normal there but lets not forget that Gunslingers only have a maximum grit equal to their wisdom modifier. My gunslinger has a wis of 19 so that is 4 grit points per day. Recoverable through confirming crits and getting the kill shot on an enemy that is not helpless or much weaker than you. Also, an extra two grit if you take a feat. Since Dex is pretty much the most important score for a gunslinger, lets assume the wisdom is capped at 18 with 4 grit per day. That is 4 uses of targetting in one day.

Targetting is a full round action. So if the gunslinger uses targetting, they can not do anything else at all. In one session my Gunslinger got into a fight with a Great Cyclops. I used targetting to knock him prone. Next round he got up and beat the hell out of me. When asked why I did not move away after shooting him, I had to remind the others that targetting is a full round action.

So using Targetting while soloing pretty well dooms the gunslinger. Targetting is more for helping the rest of your party get easier hits as long as you are not planning on moving at all.

Yes, targetting does not have any Combat Maneuver checks, but this is offset with how much a bullet costs, chance for breaking the weapon on a 2 or less, grit cost, and being a full round action.

The excuse that I have heard the most is "Why can the gunslinger do it while my archer can not?" This is a terrible argument because each class has something the others can't do. Heck, an archer can't do that but they have cheaper weapons that are more common to find and are spending 10 gold for a pack of arrows rather than one bullet. Gunslingers need to conserve their ammo more and take better care of their weapons due to rarity, cost, and so forth. Also there are feats for bows that do not work with firearms. Plus bows and crossbows have the advantage of greater range than the firearms and they don't explode in your face if you fumble.

I am sure there are more reason I can give as to why this ability is not really broken but I can not think of them right at this moment.

Just had an argument with a player and my DM about unnatended objects. Does an arrow count as being unnattened since while it is in the air, you are not able to physically do anything to it and therefore you are not ATTENDING to it. Basically, fire and forget. The reason this came up is because I wanted to do a ready attack with my gunslinger's scoot unattended object ability to shoot at and deflect an arrow. They said it is not unattended because it is moving too fast. I argued about movies where they shoot a dagger being thrown and also skeet shooting. They further argued that an arrow moves faster than that, so I said a bullet is even faster since it is propelled with an explosion. Then they said it would take remarkable skill to do that so I can't, and I argued "what the hell is the scoot class ability other than a remarkable skill? it is not something common people can do since it is a third level class ability.

I have been wondering if, with summon monster, you can only summon what is on the list already. I mean, what with their being a bestiary 2 now and everything I was hoping there would be rules for summoning something not on the list. Perhaps stuff like the Hounds of Tindalos and whatnot. Mainly wondering due to being a huge Lovecraft fan. I have always thought characters of some faiths or making really obscure knowledge checks should be allowed some special summons.

Alright, after playing the current version of the gunslinger in our Kingmaker game, I noticed a few things. I can accept that it is an alternate for the fighter, so it would share some things in common with it. So what does it get? The fighter's base attack bonus, weapon proficiencies, and skills per level. Sure the BAB is nice, but they don't really need the same weapon proficiencies when they are designed for guns, so it can get a specialized set or something similar. Also, the fighter gets access to all the armor types, but the gunslinger does not. Maybe to balance out this bit, let the gunslinger have a weapon proficiency that the fighter does not get. Since this is clearly based on old westerns, why not the lasso? It's an exotic weapon so nobody gets it as a base anyways, and it fits the class. After all, rogue gets hand crossbows as an example. Since the gunslinger does not get all the armor proficiencies, let them get the lasso as something the fighter doesn't get. Now, before someone says that they do get the gun for free and the fighter doesn't, remember this. The Exotic Weapon Proficiency lets you use one specific exotic weapon, and the alpha book hasn't stated guns were exotic yet, plus there is that amateur gunslinger feat and it does not require you to have "exotic weapon: (A firearm)". So they don't seem to be exotic right now, but I am fine with them becoming them later. Also, the fighter does have a massive bonus that the gunslinger does not get, which is the massive feat progression. I would be fine with this, if maybe the gunslinger got more than two skills plus int per level. The fighter is fine with that because all the feats they get more than makes up for it, since there are feats that let you get bonuses to skills anyways. I am fully aware that the alternate class is currently an alpha, but it is seriously underpowered compared to the class it is being switched out for right now so I expect they will be powering it up soon to be on par. But yeah, that is one simple thing I would like to see would be a lasso for the gunslinger. I used the Lasso last night on the Stag Lord in kingmaker and dragged him around with my horse until he bled to death. I love that simple piece of rope with a knot in it. As a side note and a bit off topic, in some book can we see rope based weapons? Like, the monkey's fist knot. Simple to make, hurts like all hell. Eventually in kingmaker, I fully intend to make one of my ropes into a noose, get it over an enemy's neck and make him swing from a tree. Can be done in combat, just need to be quick and have a good CMD. Sorry for not breaking this into paragraphs as it is 2:48 am and I am really sleepy.