JakeBKK's page

You seem to have taken your current cross-blooded bloodlines to aid you in blasting, correct? If that's so I would recommend keeping your bloodlines the same and using eldritch heritage as that gives you the ability to shoot super strong electric fireballs/whatever blasting spell you want and you gain the utility of your faerie dragon.

The next best choice would be elemental/arcane. Your blasts would hit less hard but you get to keep the elemental arcana to change any blast into electricity. I think draconic (blue) by itself is the weakest due to the lack of electricity spells for you blast with.

If you're not a blaster then you'd get the most mileage out of not being cross-blooded to give you more spells to choose from.

Lots of oracles here, so I'll suggest an alternative: Dhampir Cleric with Command Undead and Undead Master, with all favoured class into +1 to the caster level of any channeling feat used to affect undead.

This wins the pure flavor contest for sure. Probably decently effective too.

Didn't they re-design the Juju Oracle recently to be more Domination-based; instead of animate dead, they're supposed to be about possessing live people with spirits.

That's possible. I just checked D20pfsrd and it stil has the animating undead stuff in there as well as the charm/dominate stuff. Is it different elsewhere?

You never specified anything about getting the spell sooner. The advantage of the Juju Oracle is that they have a higher hitdice cap for controlling undead. Also, unless I'm mistaken sorcerers have no way to heal their undead, right? So a cleric or oracle would be good for keeping your undead alive and not spending resources constantly animating new ones. Also looking at this:

Animate Dead, Lesser

Source Ultimate Magic

School necromancy [evil]; Level cleric/oracle 2, sorcerer/wizard 3

It seems the cleric can begin creating undead by level 3, the oracle by lvl 4, and the sorcer lvl 6.

Consider trying an Oracle with the Juju mystery. They do a lot with undead. A Cleric with the Undead Lord archetype gets good use out of high Charisma to use the channeling ability to heal them. They also get the ability Corpse Companion which I think allows you to animate something without needing to spend the money on black pearls.

As a GM, I've run into this problem, and I came up with a rule of thumb to address this.

I hardly ever ask for a Diplomacy roll. I let PCs with ranks in diplomacy tell me when they want to roll, and only for the purpose of improving NPC attitude. PCs without diplomacy can talk freely without ruining NPC interactions.

I really like this idea. Characters can RP all day and would only need to use diplomacy/intimidate/bluff if they don't like the way things are going and want to try to change it.

I play one of the characters. I didn't make him just purely to smash face, but frankly charisma is not high on the list of wizardly abilities or skills. I'm finding myself far less willing to speak NPCs as a result, which I've never experienced before as I normally play face characters. Now I'm totally okay with my wizard not being able to tell the most epic bluffs or convince a raging barbarian to put down his weapons, but he shouldn't auto-fail everything that requires convincing others simply because there's a skill requirement now. Also, in the game I play (not DM) other players have actually come up with really great ideas out of character, but actually chose not to speak up because of their poor social stats. It's pretty clear they want to say it, but are choosing not because of the rules.

That said if I have to work within the rules of the game I will simply just get a headband of intellect with the skill points in diplomacy and buy a circlet of persuasion. My whole point was that the rules suck. They discourage RPing. Why should all fighters and wizards be bad at diplomacy? It shouldn't be that way.

A lot of people have suggested to punish players who don't want to speak and I think that's the wrong way to do things. I'm a teacher and punishment never works as form of motivation. What I want to do instead is encourage people to feel more comfortable with speaking to NPCs, and I think a lot of the problem may be fear of failure. Another significant reason may be that it's not on their character sheet so they don't do it. I'm hoping that by giving free social skills out that will change things up a bit.

So here are some idea's I'm tossing around for the campaign I'm DMing.

1.) Give everyone 1 free skill point per level that must be spent on a social skill. If you already have a social skill then enjoy your free skill point.

The hope with this rule is no one will feel like they can't contribute to social encounters because they don't have the required skills. This doesn't completely step on the toes of the party face because they likely have higher charisma, but it does still step on their toes a bit.

2.) Try to reintroduce synergy skills, but have them scale as opposed to the flat +2 bonus for 5 ranks in 3.5. Maybe something like +2 for 4 ranks, +4 for 8 ranks, and so on.

The objective with this idea is to reward players who want to invest in being a social guy. This gives them ways to really increase their bonuses and stand out from the other characters who will also have diplomacy skills due to the free skill points. This could be done for almost no cost because they can use their free skill points to focus on these synergy bonuses.

3.) Try to be better about not requiring a diplomacy/bluff/intimidate check for every social encounter.

One resounding theme from this thread is that too many people become over dependent on these skills to handle anything social, when really they should only be used for more important encounters. I am guilty of this as well and it's something I'll look to correct.

Can you guys help out and give some feedback and/or suggestions to my 3 ideas here? Thanks again everyone. This has been a really useful thread and I'm glad to see there are others out there with similar problems who it may help.

Jake, I am currently deliberately running a "palace intrigue" campaign, where social skills are critical.

But they aren't critical for every interaction. Even in this campaign where diplomacy, intimidation and bluff are one of the key aspects of advancing the plot, I might only have four situations in an entire session where a die roll is called for.

My general rule of thumb is that I only engage the game's mechanical aspects when there are significant consequences involved. Buying dinner, asking for directions, renting a pony.... those are all just stuff that happens. Unless the player is trying to do something unusual or special, I just role play it out and react to the situation.

I perhaps have made things sound worse than they are. The examples I'm thinking of were trying to find information from a shopkeep about a customer and to get the mayor of the city to give us access to evidence for a crime we were trying to solve. Both cases, especially the second, are outside of a normal day to day tasks and probably should require rolls. That's when our group froze, and of course it's happening in other interactions as well where we have to convince anyone of anything.

edit: Also, we did find a way to deal with the second one. We found a way to buff up our guy with okay charisma and let him do the interaction solo. He still failed, sadly.

You missed my edit which addresses that.

Ah I see it now. Thanks. I did miss it.

I think there's been some really good advice here that has made me think about the situations while both DMing and playing. I'll try to come up with a final solution and I'm sure the other DM will too as he saw the problem arise as well. For me, I'm likely going to require a lot less rolls and let the PC's RP through social encounters if they choose. The only thing I need to be sure of is that the intimidator in my campaign still has opportunities to shine.

Thanks for all the advice. It's 11PM here in Thailand so I'm going to sleep. Cheers.
-Jake

JakeBKK wrote:

2. Can anyone give any suggestions/house rules to make social skills less necessary but still reward the players who want to invest in them?

1.) Don't resolve every/most/any social encounters with a roll. If a player is RPing well, go with it: If there's smoke coming from a house down the street and a PC runs up to a guard shouting "Fire!" there's no need to make a roll. If the PCs help the guard put out a fire and then explain that the burned down building was where they were staying, it's reasonable for the guard to offer them accommodations in thanks, moving the story along. Maybe give the PCs bonuses to their rolls for good RP, maybe give them several rolls throughout the conversation so they have multiple chances to succeed (this can be a fun way to steer the conversation.) Let them know that they can and likely will succeed if they put in the effort.

2.) Don't marginalize face characters, though. If they're spending resources to be persuasive, give them a chance to shine even if the player isn't the most eloquent person.

3.) Some people don't enjoy the "roleplaying" aspects as much as others, or in the same way. My fiancee constantly surprises me by the adventures she likes most, which also happen to be the adventures with the least NPC interaction. She really enjoys describing what her character does, but isn't so keen on interacting. Everyone's different, let them enjoy the game the way that they want.

1.) I agree with this

2.) Can you give some example ways you reward players?

3.) This very valid an is the case for some of the players that I play with (though not all). The reason for me posting this thread is that in the last session I played in we almost came to a complete halt when a social encounter was required. None of had the social skills if we didn't want to role play it and let a die roll decide our fates, but I think we also all expected that role playing past it wouldn't work either as our DM would likely require a Diplomacy roll, which he did, and of course the NPC was very unhelpful. I also don't blame my DM for this as he was simply following the rules listed in the Adventure Path.

They stay mute? Have the NPCs respond to that.

Only one character speaks? Have the NPCs notice that.
Character uses only Intimidate? Have the NPCs respond to that negatively.

If the characters don't interact with the NPCs, then make the NPCs interact with them.

This is valid, but doesn't solve the problem of these social skills being so necessary for social interactions. This at best has players speaking and still just failing rolls. That said, I think as a DM I'm just going to use Diplomacy/Bluff/Intimidate less often. Also, I'll try to find ways to not make them needed and instead allow them to open up new possible paths of action (which is not so easy as I'm GMing an adventure path so I'll have to add these myself).

Like try to imagine that. He walks into the Kohls.. "YOU"RE GONNA SELL ME THESE FOR HALF OFF! KOHLS BUCKS!!! AAARGH!"

Then goes to buy some mexican food, "BURRITOS OR I SMASH YOUR FACE!"

This made me LOL. Also I fully agree with how ridiculous it is, but I also don't blame the player when he has a 0 in Diplomacy and +13 in Intimidate for thinking that he should choose one over the other.

This seems like the perfect use of aide another. Let the whole group roll for the interaction. DC 10 to aide the face of the group.

Then everyone can talk and participate and not really have to worry about blown rolls. One group check per encounter.

This is not a bad idea at all.

In my campaign prep with my players, or when I add a new player, I usually have some version of the following advice that I give them:

I think it's just that the rules are stacked against the players for this. I don't have too many fond memories of AD&D rules, but I think in this case the lack mechanical rolling for social interactions made them a lot more fun. Also what I think happens in Pathfinder/3.0/3.5 is that players basically learn to shut up after failing enough times, be it in the current game or in past games.

There are a few ways. My go to answer is to give modifiers based on what someone says, or even let what they say out weight the value of a good dice roll. This works in both ways. Someone that only does something that could be taken negatively takes a penalty, someone who says just the right things gets a bonus to their total. If you explain that it'll be fine and they can always make the roll, but what they say helps, then sometimes that helps people actually try to speak.

This is basically using situational modifiers, right? I do think they're useful, but if they're not public to the players then they may still be unlikely to use these skills? I'm not sure really.

Never experienced this problem. Everyone in my groups keep yakkin it up, big time, myself included.

We roll social dice whenever the GM wants us to, or if we want a certain outcome, and don't feel like we have what it takes, to get it simply by being in-character.

I guess this is not at all useful to you. :C

Actually it is useful. Your group doesn't have this problem because you only use these skill when you need to actually influence someone to do something normal RPing can't solve. I personally think this is a great idea and probably the original intent of the skills, but I feel like too often DMs (myself included) feel inclined to require these skills for basic tasks.

Thanks everyone so far for the suggestions. Also sorry if I quoted anyone wrong. I don't often post on forums.

I found similar things in games I've played in.

Some people never want to talk/ interact if they can't "make the roll".. which can be understandable, based on the DM. You can have the "social" skills... be it diplomacy, intimidate, etc.. and try to RP that out.. but the DM doesn't grasp that at all.

He/she is basically just looking for a "mechanical" die roll with little to no roleplay involved.

This is pretty much what I believe is happening in my groups. What I'd like to find is a way to encourage RPing the interaction as opposed to making it as you've said, "a mechanical die roll," while still rewarding the players who have invested in these skills.

So here's my problem. A player picks a concept/class that doesn't have diplomacy, bluff, or intimidate and as a result never wants to talk to NPCs. I've noticed this both while playing and DMing. In the cases I'm thinking of most of the players have great ideas and want to say things, but in end it always comes down to either "Let the party face character do the all interactions because I have a bad diplomacy/bluff/intimidate score (and thus I'm scared of botching the roll)" or worse, no one wants to speak to NPCs at all.

In a game that I'm playing in no one has put ranks in any social skills and so no one ever wants to talk, including me (which is hard to cope with because I normally play the party face). In the game I'm DMing things aren't much better, as only the party face ever talks to NPCs (and always via intimidate because it's the only social skill he has).

I feel that the rules of the game are encouraging this behavior. I don't think this is an issue of poor character/group design. I feel like all characters should feel free to talk and have a fair chance at influencing others, but I do feel that characters who are invested in these skills should benefit from them in some way.

So here are my questions:

1. Does anyone else run into this problem of non-party face characters not wanting to speak to NPCs? If so, how does your table deal with them?

2. Can anyone give any suggestions/house rules to make social skills less necessary but still reward the players who want to invest in them?

Thanks,
-Jake

If you're dead set on maxing initiative then don't forget the feat Noble Scion and take Scion of War for Cha Mod instead of Dex Mod to initiative (assuming that's PFS legal).

edit: Another option is to take an actually useful bloodline and use Eldritch Heritage to get Elemental Fire bloodline to trigger Fire Affinity.

A lot of problems like this are because people assume that players/npcs take turns rather than attempt to act all at the same time (and understandably given how we actually do take turns at the table). The person who wins initiative is simply a little bit faster.

I hate using real life to justify D&D but just because I decide to start a fight doesn't mean I'll go first. I train muay Thai a bit here in Thailand. I'm awful at it. It doesn't matter how hard I try to catch my trainer off guard he always gets me first. Even if we're just standing around goofing off between rounds (not in combat) I can't sneak a kick or a jab on him. You could read that as I'm trying to start the combat (kicking him when he's not ready) but he wins initiative and kicks me first.

Just remember that 1 round of combat is everyone trying to act at the same time in a 6 second period, despite the fact that it probably takes most tables 3-5 minutes.

Thank you for doing these. It really saves my group from my horrific art. But i have a quick question. im trying to upload one of your maps into my roll20 account, specifically the Lodge, but it keeps saying that it is too large, is there a way to shrink it down in file size?

I shrunk it down using photoshop, but I'm pretty sure you could use MS Paint to do the same thing. I recommend for all maps that you shrink it down to the number of squares x 70 pixels. It will make lining it up with the grid on roll20.net much easier.

Ex. Grid is 20x10. Resize it to 1400x700

Let's see if I can min-max this, 20 point buy, and get the 32:

Aasmir Drunken Master Monk of the Sacrd Mountains +Wis/Dex
Str: 7
Int: 10
Wis: 18 (20 with magic item)
Dex: 19 (20 after level up, 22 with magic item)
Con: 14
Chr: 7

My trait lets me combat experitse for -1 less to my attack bonus.

I bought an Agile Amulet of Mighty fist, a wand of mage armor for the party's mage, a +1 ring of protection, a headband of Wisdom, and a Belt of dex +2

Feats: 1) Combat Expertise, Weapon Finessee
2) Dodge
3) Crane Style 1

I always fight defensivly with combat expertise; and when in dangerous area ask for mage armor.

So base AC: 21 (Wis + Dex bonuses), +1 (Combat Expertise), +3 (Fighting Defensively) +2 (Standing still, Sacred Mountain) +1 (Ring of Protection) +1 (Monk Level), and, 9 times (plus drunken ki) per day (Ki Pool) can be +4 extra. That's a 33.

And I'm still hitting at +7/+7 for d8+6. Soon I'll also pick up trip and knock people down well too.

Yeah, guess it is possible. Who said monks are weak? :).

Sorry if this has been said already, but how does a level 4 character have over 14,000 gold in items?

Amulet of Mighty Fist +1 4,000
Headband of Wisd +2 4,000
Belt of Dex +2 4,000
Ring of Prot +1 2,000

So yes, while your level 4 monk is great he also has the wealth of a near level 6 character. Or am I missing something here?

Has anybody tried tabletop simulator for pathfinder? What is your experience. The google heavy nature (ajax, fonts, plus) of roll20 makes it a pain to use as I live in China...I also have connection problems with Fantasy Grounds...

-Recently I've been teaching some Chinese high school students to play d&d. 5th edition. And as they are non native speakers of English, and my Chinese is very poor, I have to do this very slowly and carefully.
-One thing that I've noticed is my heavy use of cliches. This is a Dwarf.
"Like in King of the Rings." Yes. "With an axe and beard?" Yes.
-Or this is a goblin "Kill it." It looks like...'Kill it with fire!"
-In other words I've noticed the cliches are exactly what the players want and expect. They also come to the table with these ideas in their head. It's all very Jung.
-So I'd like to have your opinion or thoughts. Do cliches, such as beer drinking dwarves and tree hugging elves, help to explain the game to new players, or do you think they 'turn off' people from the hobby.
-Another example, a player wanted "sword and magic" but doesn't really care about RP details, so I made them a paladin. The player was happy to have "Magic Sword" and couldn't care less about the RP side of things. Is this a good thing or bad thing?

-So I'm trying to run a ravenloft game, except I've got a problem. One of the players is playing an atheist. Now, I don't know about you, but knowledge religion and divine casters are pretty much your definition of a light shining in darkness...a hope against madness...
-So what gives...well the character is well RP'ed that isn't the issue, the setting is the issue. You don't walk into an inn and call the local priest a superstitious rapist. At the same time, I hate DM's who punish the players. I offered a campaign switch but the two players say they like it.
-So here is what gets me....how do you run gothic horror without devout serfs, and superstitious people in Barovia...

For English teachers and military deployed!
I'm going to be running a game on roll20, which I have done before with some good success.
The link to the game is below...Times are slightly flexible.

link to game

-So the campaign is over, after several months. I will be moving to another city and was planning this all along.
-So the party will go against the temple of the Cult of Nod, and fight through the three guardians to reach the final boss.
They are the Shadow Guardian (a Derro Vampire Rogue)
The flame guardian ( A burning skeleton Red Dragon skeleton)
and the Door Keeper ( a hill giant armed with a scythe and full plate armor)
-After this they will go against an advanced Aboleth with 150 hp.
-They are three level 5 characters all armed with both +1 weapons and +1 armor, and will have potions to help them against the enemies (resist fire). In addition a NPC oracle of life with a CMW wand and channel 3d6 healing is part of the party. There is Paladin and the smite evil will be deadly on the undead.
-My question is how to end on a good note. Secondly, how can I make them feel like they have saved the day...lastly, I expect a character to die on the final boss. Aboleths are tough and clever foes, and this is his home turf.

-First, I've been drinking
-I've lived in Asia for almost 7 years now, and before that hung out in Russia for another year. I'm almost 30. I speak Russian badly, Chinese worse, and am American (A merkin as you'd funny Brits say when you're taking the piss)
-I'm convinced that the government of this country which is famous for its Pandas is not only insane but evil incarnate. I teach students whose parents have enough money to bribe their way into Harvard but who lack the English skills to understand the fine moral arguments of "Beauty and the Beast"
-The men and women over 40, who remember certain events of 19--89 in private tell me of their horror of the young people in this country. "They only care about cars houses and money."
-The country considers Japan to be a military threat to East Asia but has fought more border wars than any country in modern time.
-It bankrolls North Korea
-It doesn't allow Muslims under 18 to attend Mosque
-It has a Noble Peace PRize winner in Prison
-It doesn't recognize self-defense as a legal principle. Recently an Australian man was attacked INSIDE HIS HOME in front of his CHINESE WIFE and he broke a man's arm. He was deported after a prison sentence
-Its fishing fleets violate all rules on fishing...and poach turtles
-It consumes Ivory, shark fins, turtle shell and other endangered species
-It intentionally sleep deprives students and makes them spend 2 weeks marching around screaming slogans while wearing military uniforms, but doesn't teach them to shoot.
-It has stolen Russian and American military secrets (see Kaspersky Spear Attacks) and the recent case in the USA
-It refuses to abide by the UNCLOS saying that it doesn't apply to China, which is a member OF THE UN and a security council member.
-It has the second largest economy in the world...and people bend over backward to deal with it.
-Look what ever the US did to you (Chile, Iraq, South Korea) you can not imagine the horror of a world where China has the power to control life and death. They kill their own people. The students here think Japan has nuclear weapons, and that North Korea is a "Strong Country". Somethins is wrong here.
-I don't care where you are from, but this is Munich. The world must stop it now before somebody gets hurt. I don't know how this is done...but on the anniversary I wanted to make a point.
-Forgive but never forget...

-I'm aware of the obvious flame-bait, troll-ish, nature of my post, but give me a moment. I'm not including the obvious Bad DM who lacks experience, or who has social skills of a lama, or simply new to being the DM. I would certainly believe that almost all of us were Very Bad DM's the first few times we gamed.
-Secondly, I'm not saying I'm a good DM or a great DM, but I'm damn sure, from observations and the mouth of others (that I wasn't invested with emotionally or otherwise) that I'm not a bad DM
-So what am I talking about? I'm talking about Bad DMs. Bad DMs are people who
1)Have super DNPC save the day, and they are usually Mary Sue-Gary Stu
2)Who play favorites who party members, Holy Avenger for you, leather armor that is cursed for YOU!
3) Railroad to hell (spells with no saves, prisons with no keys, diseases with no cure)
-I'm going to go out on an extreme and suggest that these people aren't actually bad DM's, but rather they are, actually bad people. They are bullies, they are willfully ignorant, and they have no interest in being better, either as a DM or as human beings.
-Even more extreme I would argue this DM's are in fact playing the game for the sole reason to stroke their fragile ego, engage in dominating anti-social, and otherwise be "kick sand in people's faces".
-My solution is simple, to anybody who is playing with such a DM, No the problem isn't you. You are in an abusive relationship. Get out now, don't let the door hit you on the way out, just EXIT! Life is far too short to think that these excuses of human beings are the hobby. They aren't, they are disgusting human beings, and we'd be better off if they were not present at game stores at all. Unfortunately, they have money, often too much money, and so are valuable clients of any company.
-Now my question is simple, do I go to far? Are Bad DM's simply incompetent, or is there a level of malevolence as I suggest? What do you think？

I want to play a riding dog ,as per the book, and take fighter levels at second level. Do you think this concept is over powered, insane, or impossible? I was going to go with collars of natural armor, and take trip and bite feats. How can I convince the DM I'm not crazy.

-I'm looking for players in Asia (Korea, Japan, Australia, China) or Americans who wake up early, to play a pathfinder game set in Dark Age Germany, based off the old microprose game Darklands.
-Please check out this recruitment thread if interested.
LFG thread

-Well why? Remember NWN and Baldur's gate? Where you knew you were the HERO! Even from a low level?
-Well this is what I'm trying to do, call it an experiment, call it madness. The idea is that the hero, you, aided with a companion (who has side quests, and can level up too!) will save the world!
-Or get eaten by a dragon.
-This is an excellent way to get into VTT gaming, by the way.
-If you are interested, here is what you need to know...
Time 6:30-11:30 PM EST (GMT -5) not sure of day of the week.
-Character creation-
20 point buy, 3rd level MAX HP at each level!, Max starting gold.
Core races, core class and APG only. No archtypes.
One trait
A 500-700 word back story
Setting
Game play will start in Ustalav, in the fictional village of Lynchburg. A zombie plague has broken out while you were travelling through the town.
Companions
You will choose one, but can change later over the course of the game
a LE Dhampir Sorcerer-Karl Klauzwitz
a LG Female Dwarven Paladin-Bertha
a CN Female Bard from Tian Xia -Xao Ling
a N Gnome Druid, Oosip the Green Man
a NG female half-elf cleric of Pharasma-Sister Katya
-Remember one of these will help you on your quest
-Suggestions and ideas are welcome.

Except for a weapon prof. couldn't you make a pretty good aristocrat with the expert class? What do you think?

dot

dot

-Well, I've got blazing internet, and a new laptop, and a hectic but planned schedule. So it's time to try another PBP. We will be using the homebrew world of mir, which is fairly massive (I've got a 50 page campaign guide) of course, you don't need to read it all, but you can...
-So what's the details? Mir is a world heavily based on slavic and middle eastern mythology, with a low level, medium magic focus. Almost epic 6. It is in many ways a return to the medieval stylings of the game, with attention paid to languages, cultures, architecture, and crafts. Humans are divided into two large, and two small ethnic groups, with Dwarves, Orcs, and Elves being the other races. No small races, or monstrous races exist as player characters...
-If you enjoy Ravenloft, or Ustalav, think of a similar world view, darker, evil is really evil, and winter is long, and bleak.
-Important things to notice, Orcs are much closer to Orcs in the Elder Scrolls, or Warcraft. They do have a -2 to INT, but receive +2 to STR and CON, making them suitable as divine casters, or CHA based.
-Dwarves have -2 to STR as reflects their small size, and are closer to gnomes, +2 to CON and +2 to INT
-The full Mir setting can be read here setting

-So I've been hard at work on my campaign setting, since I haven't played in a while. It's not done, but it is pretty big. 17,000 words, and 33 pages long so far.
-I really think there are plenty of feats and traits out there, so I'm having touble with that part of the game. Everything seems to exist already. So, if you are interested. Take a look.

-I'm thinking of going to community college/trade school to get an AA is some kind of enginering tech. Instrumentation looks interesting. Anyhow I was wondering if you, fellow gamers, had any experience with trying to join a 'trade' career when you already got your BA in useless stuff...
-Honestly I'm interested in working in oil, maybe even off-shore, and it seems there are a lot of options if you are willing to go anywhere and do anything.
-My biggest worry is I'm already 27, not exactly young, but I'm headed down a career path to hell. I've run out of options besides teach ESL in Asia, which I don't really like that much...
-So fellow workers of the world, what should I study?

Talk about things here

Talk about things here

-The Ogre’s Nose is not unlike any other tavern in Redwall. It was no cleaner, and certainly a good deal dirtier than the others. It lacked any unusual features. All of the usual vices were available, be they women, cards, or liquor, and nobody who had any pretentions to either class or morals went near the place.
-A few people stood out in particular. First was the bouncer. He was an enormous man, nearly 7 feet tall, and all muscle. His left arm had been amputated at the elbow. Even more intimidating were his hunched back and curiously small, misshaped head, as if one had put a grape on a watermelon. He talked nervously to himself in a strange language nobody seemed to understand. With such a creature as a guard, few braggarts or wannae-be toughs went to the Ogre’s Nose twice. The miserable ogre-kin carried a plank of wood with a long spike through it. The obvious blood stains on his weapon showed it had been used, and the man’s small eyes darted around the room, keeping an eye on the patrons.
-The two barmaids were half-elf. They were also rather damaged. The one, Eliza, had a long scar running across her face, from over her left eye, across her nose, and through her lip. The poor job that had been done stitching her face back together marred what would have been a beautiful face. Eliza, it was said, had come about her injuries while working in the oldest profession.
-The other barmaid, Babette, was deaf. She simply brought drinks to the table, and did as the bar owner, proprietor, and bon vivant Luc singed to her. Babette was of average appearance, rather short, slightly plump, and had brown hair, cut at neck length.
-The Barman, Luc Bagette, was the worst of the lot. His hands shook, and he could barely see. His accent was certainly not from around here, and he kept leering at the two serving women. In fact, he seemed determined to bother any female patron to his establishment. The fact that almost every woman ever rebuffed him, sometimes even spitting on him or slapping him only added to his enthusiasm. The word to describe Luc was ‘slimy’.

-The Ogre’s Nose is not unlike any other tavern in Redwall. It was no cleaner, and certainly a good deal dirtier than the others. It lacked any unusual features. All of the usual vices were available, be they women, cards, or liquor, and nobody who had any pretentions to either class or morals went near the place.
-A few people stood out in particular. First was the bouncer. He was an enormous man, nearly 7 feet tall, and all muscle. His left arm had been amputated at the elbow. Even more intimidating were his hunched back and curiously small, misshaped head, as if one had put a grape on a watermelon. He talked nervously to himself in a strange language nobody seemed to understand. With such a creature as a guard, few braggarts or wannae-be toughs went to the Ogre’s Nose twice. The miserable ogre-kin carried a plank of wood with a long spike through it. The obvious blood stains on his weapon showed it had been used, and the man’s small eyes darted around the room, keeping an eye on the patrons.
-The two barmaids were half-elf. They were also rather damaged. The one, Eliza, had a long scar running across her face, from over her left eye, across her nose, and through her lip. The poor job that had been done stitching her face back together marred what would have been a beautiful face. Eliza, it was said, had come about her injuries while working in the oldest profession.
-The other barmaid, Babette, was deaf. She simply brought drinks to the table, and did as the bar owner, proprietor, and bon vivant Luc singed to her. Babette was of average appearance, rather short, slightly plump, and had brown hair, cut at neck length.
-The Barman, Luc Bagette, was the worst of the lot. His hands shook, and he could barely see. His accent was certainly not from around here, and he kept leering at the two serving women. In fact, he seemed determined to bother any female patron to his establishment. The fact that almost every woman ever rebuffed him, sometimes even spitting on him or slapping him only added to his enthusiasm. The word to describe Luc was ‘slimy’.

-Hi I'm recruiting the players from the Wayward Kings games, as our DM has a conflict at this time. Anyway, I'll be trying to include any players who are interested in using their old characters. You can consider the events of wayward kings to be part of their back story.
-So if you are interested in letting me DM, post your current character in the recruitment thread, and if we have enough, I should have a gameplay thread up in a day or two.
-This is all of sudden, but I already run a Pbp and so I spend too much time on the forum anyway. I'd hate to see these games and characters just die.
-Anyway good luck and hope to see you soon.

-I've been playing around with maptool, and I like to try running a real game with it. I don't promise great things, but never hurts to be cheerful right?
-First problem is I live in China, GMT+8. This means I'm on a strange schedule. I'd like to run the game starting at 8PM EST on Sunday or Monday (8AM my monday, or tuesday morning) I'd also consider an earlier start time, perhaps as early as 6:30PM. If there are two players in an asian, or european tiime zone we can discuss that as well.
-I'm only looking for two or three players, somebody who knows maptool well would be valuable, but the majority of the time we will be using skype to chat.
-Please make sure you have skype and the latest version of maptool if you are interested.
-Thanks
If people are interested, we'll most likely run a simple, 1 shot scenario with pre-gens, and see how it goes. After that, we'll discuss real campaign planning

-Hi. This is the place for OOC conversations about the game. First of all, I'm going to wait until all 4 of you have posted/checked into the gameplay thread before moving ahead.
-We've got a good party, and one that should have excellent role-play opportunities. In addition, I want to thank you all for your interest.

This is the gameplay thread for Mir
--You have all come to the small city of Rekagrad, a city on the northeast frontier of Mir. It is the last vestige of human civilization. To the north, lie the Orc holds. In the east, along the river, lie the Dwarf citadels of Zhurk and Kazum. The city of Rekgrad has become wealthy trading with the Dwarven cities, and coin is the issue on everyone's mind. Compared to the small provincial towns, Rekagrad is almost a tolerant place. The proximity to the Orc Lands has led to a thriving mercenary market. Many caravans to the dwarf holds hire on skilled guards in Rekagrad, and nobody questions how a man came by his scars, a woman her spells, or a Kett his scalps.
--It is common knowledge that Rekagrad is a lawful place, and the guards are remarkably free of corruption and professional. All merchants pay an annual tax for use of a merchants stall, and all boats which dock in Rekagrad must do the same. Thus the city is remarkably crime free. The current ruler is Boyar Mikhail, an efficient if rather amoral businessman. The ethnic make up of the city is 80% human, with a large Rajul minority, and 20% Dwarf, Elf, and a heavy contingent of Orc merchants and their guards.
--Arcane Knowledge: Rekagrad has little interest to mages. The town is obsessed with trade, and folk have little time or interest for arcane pursuits. However, the focus on trade means people are quite TOLERANT to magic.
--Underground Knowledge: Rekagrad does have a serious organized criminal presence. In fact it is so professional it seems to be run with the approval of the highest level of government. Casual thieves are delt with harshly by law enforcement, yet corruption is rampant among the merchant classes and tax collectors.
--Divine Knowledge: Rekagrad’s citizens are mostly worshippers of Dazhbog, Zhur, and Luck. The citizens seem mostly concerned with the gods ability to favor their business deals. There is a large temple to Dazhbog, and it would seem the high priest there is particularly erudite.

-I'm going to start running a PbP and so I have decided to post some world/game information. I'm looking at a party of 4. At this point things are still rather tenative and I'd appreciate your feedback as much as anything else.
-I'd like to encourage first time players to apply,as well as seasoned experts.

-Or are socially awkward people drawn to gaming? This is not a chicken egg problem. All of us have a story about the man who never bathes, the guy who lives with 6 cats, the woman who does something we won't mention, the transvestite crack smoker. Rather the question is, is the gaming world simply more 'inclusive' than others, so much so that fringe elements can exist with in it? Or rather the gamer is socially odd, and we only notice the outliers because he is SO far from us?
-I'm socially awkward, and have no problem saying so. However some gamers seem 'normal'. Finally I know few european gamers, and was wondering if the socially awkward thing is the same in Europe as here in the US? After all, many germans are proud of their model trains, where as it's a terrible joke here in the states.(I have trains)
-Finally please try to post a hypothesis, and not personal anecdote. We've all known a hot girl, or cool dude who played d&D but didn't want his secret out. Exceptions don't prove a rule.

-I have far more time than ability to game...since I'm very lonely and bored (end of real life) and feel a need to be creative!
-I want to write a campaing setting, single handedly. I'm not looking for ideas, I'm looking for advice. In other words, how to create a campaign setting in terms of writing and layout. I will be using pathfinder as my base for rules, but I will be designing EVERYTHING. Religion, races, regions, trademark monsters, you name it
-My difficulty is I'm a terrible writer of fiction. My education was in lingustics/history/area studies. So the idea of writing a novel or short story seems much harder.
-Lastly I have NO interest in publishing it, except as something for free of CCL.
-So what advice can you give me?

Trying to think too realisticly about fantasy gets really strange.
-An example is the dragon size to wing ratio is so so so wrong. The heaviest flying birds are the condor and abatros and pelican. the Andean condor has a 300cm wingspan and a weight of 11.25 kg, we get a ratio of 26 cm of wing per kg of body weight. The slightly heavier trumpeter swan has a ratio of only 17.4 cm per kg. Now..Swans fly by flapping, unlike the gliding used by condors, so for dragon wing to weight ratio we use the average...21.5cm of wing to kg.
-This means a 1,000kg dragon needs 21,500 cm of wing. or 215m! Ok let's go into flying reptiles. The Quetzalcoatlus had a wingpsan of 10m and a body weight of 200kg. That gives us a ratio of 50cm to kg, meaning a dragon of 1,000kg would need a wingspan of 500m.
-Let's make a medium dragon with the condor rules. It weighs 100kg and so has a 2600cm wingspan. This is still 26m across!
-Either dragons have undersized wings for artistic purposes, their flight is magical, or they utilize some 'third' way of flying like insects and hummingbirds. But insects and hummingbirds have very very little weight and insects are cold blooded, while hummingbirds eat a high high high energy diet. Dragons are meat eating reptiles which usually have sluggish digestion.
-Am I thinking too hard? What's the answer?

These are obviously for my pbp game so I've spoiler-ed them. I'm trying to create the feel of the video games, yet have to keep pathfinder mechanics. So here we go

Ogre

Broodmother

I'm thinking they are around CR8 for the ogre, and CR10 for the broodmother. Your advice is appreciated. I started with a hill giant and aboleth. Both are meant to be seriously tough...

This is what it says. I will have the first post up Saturday my time. Recruitment is over. We have party of 5. If you have not done so please read
game thread

Prologue:
It has been a year since the last blight. Alistair sits on the throne as King of Ferelden. The City of Orzammar has been in chaos, as always, with the elevation of Baelin Aiducan to the throne. The Daelish have returned to their woods. The conflict between mages and Chantry continues as always. Some say the mages redeemed themselves in the fight against the blight. Others say that the corruption released that night in the Tower still haunts the Circle.
The Gray Wardens of Ferelden rebuild their order slowly, seeking to make up for the loss suffered in the past. Darkspawn, though still seen, are nowhere near as numerous as in the years before the blight. In fact, after the years of war with Orlais, and then the Blight, it would appear Ferelden is to embark on a much needed time of peace and prosperity.
The Gray Warden and Hero of Ferelden has left, disappeared, and nobody knows where. Some say he is searching for the Witch, seen by his side at the last battle. Still others say he has returned to the Daelish. What happens to him is not important, for there are new tales, to be told, New Heroes to be born in the flames of conflicts, to legends to be made…

Chapter 1:
“And in those days did King Alistair decree that those cities and settlements damaged by the blight should be rebuilt…”
So, poor Ostagar, so hard hit in the blight, was now a place of activity. Templars and Chanters poured in to bring much needed succor to the community. Some, less idealistic, rogues and thieves saw the chaos as a chance to escape the law and make a new mark for themselves, far from the thieves’ guild of Denerim and Carta of Orzammar. In such a lawless place near the wilds there was need for fighting men of every skill and type. Arches, hunters, scouts, and even some Qunari offered their services for money. Even some Mages of the Circle were sent to help in the reconstruction, and take new mages under their care back to the tower.
Much of Ostagar was a tent city, a place where the refugees had returned to find nothing had survived the blight. All gone, all destroyed, the refugees would have to start from scratch. Much of the work would be done by those city elves, who were paid by the king to rebuild the town. Conflicts ran high as always when “knife ears” and Humans live side by side. The Daelish stayed in the shadows and sneered at their “lost brethren.” The city elves saw this town as far far better than the lives they had known in the Denerim.
Into this town you have assembled. You are unknown to each other, but events will soon force you to come to each other’s aid…events you could not imagine...

-Hi people
As people have mentioned there are far, far more people interested in playing in a pbp than running. Having been rejected for the last three I've applied to, I decided to try my hand at running a Pbp.
-I'm already DM'ing a game set in Irrisen and so fancy a break from the pathfinder world...
...and have decided about Ferelden from the Dragon Age Series of Games.
Obviously there will be many many changes to the core rules and character creation. I'm waiting to hear who is interested before I type too many details. The events will take place 1 year after the last blight, and Alistair is King. Obviously there will be many constraints, and so we will be using the Core rule book ONLY. That's right no APG, no UM, no UC. The focus is on role-playing, and I'm looking for a party of 4 to 5 who would be able to post often, at least once daily.
...No you can't all be Qunari. But I think one is ok...

Races:Humans, Daelish Elf, City Elf, Dwarf, Qunari,
Classes: Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerrer, Wizard
Notice no cleric or monks
Certain classes are restricted by race
Druid and Rangers must be Daelish Elves
Dwarves can not be Bards, Sorcerrers, or Wizards
Qunari must be fighters or Barbarians

-So I'll see who is interested and write up a player's guide.

-So I'm going to try to teach a group of Chinese English Majors (All sophomores, and all pretty good at english) to play RPG's this semester. Don't worry this isn't in class.
-Has anyone played or DM'ed in language other than their first? What are some problems? What are some hints or suggestions you can give me?
-Lastly with the popularity of things like World of Warcraft and other video/PC RPGs in Asia it should be easy enough to handle the terms like race and class. It's more the description of character action and the whole role-playing side of things that worry me.

-I'm going to try to run a game via skype. I see it's been done. This will be my first time running online, so I want no
more than 3 players, but would consider running for a party of two. I know 4 is more normal but I think it will be
easier to run online with fewer players. At least to start.

-Time
I live in China. This is GMT+8. I'm not sure of a time yet. Let's see who we get and what works for others.

-Setting
Irrisen
A cold land. A land ruled by witches, a land without summer, a land of mystery and magic. You will not be natives
of Irrisen however. The game starts, cliche I know, at a small tavern located near the border of Irrisen, but actually
on the side of the Lands of the Linnorm Kings. For various reasons (back story people!) each member of the party
needs to sneak over the border into the strange land of Irrisen. In addition to a private, personal goal, the party will
also have a shared goal.

-Suggestions for classes-These are just some reasons you might be going to Irrisen.
Alchemist- There are many rumors of strange chemical phenomenon associated with the endless winter of Irrisen,
and little has been written about it. A few specimens from the land could provide a life time of study, and a great deal of wealth.
Bard-There are old songs and saga, lost in the land of the Linnorm kings that still survive among the more archaic
and traditional dialect of the Irrisen Ulfen.
Barbarian-Obviously the wildlands and epic strange beasts of Irrisen attract the barbarian.
Cleric-The land of Irrisen is clearly in need of a missionary. It is ruled by an evil witch
Druid-The druidic tradtion in Irrisen is old. Very old. Most of the druids are savage races however, and have lost
contact with the druid circles outside. Perhaps now they need to be reconnected.
Cavalier-This is a poor choice. Horses need food, and the snow means they will bog down.
Fighter-Irrisen has poor relations with it's neighbors. And will occasionally tike on soldiers of fortune. The pay is
rumored to be quite good.
Inquisitor-Witches are said to flock to Irrisen. Perhaps a witch you have hunted has fled across the border.
Monk-Although there are no monk traditions in the land, monks often travel to high mountains and seek isolation.
Irrisen is isolated and mountainous
Feel free to come up with new additional reasons for what you seek in Irrisen.

-Suggestions for races
Ulfen Humans will blend in the best with the locals
Gnomes are more common than normal, reflecting the fey history of the region
Dwarves are more common than normal as benefits their hardy nature
Half Orcs are more common than normal as many Orcs do serve BabaYaga and her witches
Elves are rareer than normal. Most elves find long winters very upsetting and depressing. Half elves are also rare.
Tieflings are more common than normal, as some witches are also Diabolists
Changelings are rare, as hags are respected and allowed to mingle freely with the inhabitants of Irrisen. Some
families even appretentce their children to hags.

-Suggestions for character creation
Any class
Any race (tieflings must take the trait infernal bastard)
25 point buy (Irrisen is tough!)
2nd level (max hp both levels)
Standard starting gold
Choose 1 trait from the 7 below and 1 trait from the books
-Traits
Hag Touched
Somewhere in you past there was some hag blood. You get +2 to Will Saves versus all female casters. You have a
small defect such as a webbed finger or a strange birthmark. This does not have to be visible to passers by.

Strong Drinker
You have a massive alcohol tolerance. You can not be drunk, and alcohol actually gives you resist elements cold
1. This means you never suffer penalties for cold weather as long as you have a drink. Temperatures below -10C do effect you as normal.

On the run
You are wanted in your homeland for a crime, or getting someone knocked up, or something. You have no choice
but to flee into Irrisen. You get bluff and sense motive as class skills. If they are already class skills, you get +2 to
bluff and +2 to sense motive

Animal friend
Choose a class of animals. Birds, Mammals, Reptiles. You may use the spell "Speak with Animals" once per day
with that class of animals. Also that animal will have a "helpfull" attitude toward you.

Sixth Sense
You see dead people. Well not really but...You can cast 'detect undead' as a spell like ability once per day. You have +1 AC vs undead. This is a good trait for a paladin or undead hunter.

Merchant Apprentice
You were apprenticed to a smith at one point. Appraise and a Craft are always class skills for you.

Savage
You were raised in a barely civilized society. Perhaps you are a half-orc or raised among the jungles of the south.
You get +2 to diplomacy and +2 intimidate when dealing with savage races (Orcs, Gnolls, etc) Some human tribes also are savage.

Any role-players in Harbin? Changchun?Or Jilin? This is a serious question, I work north of Harbin, but I could travel to Changchun or Jilin for a weekend game.