I have recently found myself somewhat light on PBP games. I've been wanting to try out DnD 5th edition, Pathfinder 2nd Edition, or Starfinder for a while.
If anyone is looking for a reliable poster for a new game using one of the above systems I'd be interested in taking a look. I have a long history of PBP on these boards (30k+ personal posts, player in the second most posted game ever, DM of now completed game with 33rd most posts ever from 11k+ games).
I tried looking through some recruitment threads, but there are so many to wade through that I thought I'd just do this and see if anyone bites. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to respond!
??/??/4715 AR; No-time; Golden Palace of the Five Destined Eggs (Undisclosed location demiplane), Classroom
Much of the following text is cribbed from Pathfinderwiki
Professor Titanicus pushes his spectacles up his snout with one talon as he turns and examines the group. He straightens his sweater vest over his broad scaly chest. His mellifluous voice rumbles forth as he writes sparkling illusory dates in the air with the tip of his tail. To the dismay of those looking on, he goes over the history of their family for what must be the ten thousandth time. ”To review, in 100 AR, Shizuru took on her golden draconic form and granted the five imperial families of Minkai the divine right to rule over the Empire of Dawn. This authority and blessing was made manifest in five Imperial Seals, one for each family, and with them a young imperial dragon advisor to guide the families and help maintain balance in the land. They were clans Amatatsu (Sea Dragon), Higashiyama (Sky Dragon), Shojinawa (Forest Dragon), Sugimatu (Sovereign Dragon), and Teikoku (Underworld Dragon).”
”At the prophetic advice of Pharasma, Shizuru hid away five dragon eggs for ‘The day when they would be needed to protect the Hidden Heir of her mandate.’ Shizuru formed a secret society of her archons and mortal followers called the Sakura Shiroi (White Cherry Blossom in Minkaian). She charged this group with remaining forever hidden, and with protecting the Imperial Seals and the Five Destined Eggs against whatever might endanger them. Sakura Shiroi had branches in all parts of Minkai, and in the city-state of Goka, where Pharasma advised Shizuru to hide the eggs.”
”Twelve years later, in 112 AR, the Teikoku Shogunate was created; it is sometimes called the First Kingdom of Minkai. Shortly thereafter, Shizuru placed her imprimatur on the promotion of the Teikoku family by granting them the right to rule all Minkai over and above the other four imperial families. This arrangement lasted over 3,500 years, during which time the draconic advisors she had placed with the clans outgrew their roles, and left the clans to pursue draconic goals. In the absence of their immortal advisors, corruption grew to unacceptable levels within the Shogunate. In response to this decline, the Perfect Swordswoman Setsuna Kuga raised the armies of the four other ruling families against the Teikoku Shogunate and was victorious at the Battle of Eight Bridges in 3616 AR. Thereafter, the modern empire of Minkai was formed with all five imperial families returning to peer status with one another, sharing the rule of the empire in a fashion which Shizuru had originally designed.”
The gold dragon pauses to make sure his students are still paying attention. He snaps his tail at any that appear to be dozing off. ”After more than 1,000 years of relative internal peace, Minkai is close to exploding into all-out civil war. Many of the smaller islands once controlled by the empire have recently declared their independence. The successor to the Jade Throne, Emperor Shigure Higashiyama, was imprisoned in 4705 AR by a subordinate branch of his own clan at the Higashiyama compound near the edge of the capital, supposedly to protect him. It is due to the clan's strength that war has not broken out already, but there is a growing movement to release the hold on the emperor, either by freeing or by killing him. The clan has replaced Shigure Higashiyama with a temporary ruler to quell the instability arising in the country, called the Jade Regent. He is, however, proving quite unpopular. His short reign has ushered in an age of unrivalled excess, debauchery, and unrest.”
”To further complicate things, over the last 65 years, the scions of the Imperial Families and the few remaining agents of the Sakura Shiroi have been slowly killed off or otherwise neutralized, the Imperial Seals lost, and the Five Destined Eggs forgotten in the East. Only Emperor Shigure Higashiyama remains - the last publicly known heir of any of the Imperial lines. If he is lost, so will be the Mandate of Heaven, and the Empire will drown in blood and war. Now is the time Pharasma warned of, when the Eggs will be needed to protect the heir of the Mandate.”
”Unbeknownst to him, you father Thrassk was a descendant of the Goka branch of the Sakura Shiroi. He never knew his heritage because he was orphaned by the enemy at a young age. As you know, the Pathfinder Society eventually became his family instead. He gained much fame and power in Absalom and Varisia. Then he retired, not knowing that he had failed in his hereditary duty to protect Minkai as a member of the Sakura Shiroi. That is, until the Dusk Ronin appeared to him in his Venture Captain’s office at the Lantern Lodge in Goka in 4713 AR. In her quest for redemption, the Ronin sought to intervene in the fate of her parents’ chosen empire. She told Thrassk of his heritage, and of the ancient duty of the Sakura Shiroi. She told him of a mysterious group of oni called the Five Storms who had been slowly working for decades to bring down the Empire from within, who were now apparently at the cusp of success. She begged him to join her, and use his resources to search for the Five Destined Eggs, which she believed were still somewhere in Goka. Then together with the eggs in tow, they would seek out an heir to the throne, long hidden in the West.”
”Thrassk was blown away by the archon’s revelations, but he was never one to fail in his duty. Over the next year, the two of them turned over every metaphorical rock in Goka looking for the hiding place of the Five Destined Eggs. In so doing, they eventually tipped off the agents of the Five Storms to their activities. Without their knowledge, the oni allowed your father to complete the search. After a year of looking, Thrassk and the Dusk Ronin found the hidden sanctum of the Sakura Shiroi under the city. The oni were ready, and had enlisted the help of the local Oni Daimyo, The Dancer in Flesh. The fiends followed your father and the Ronin into the sanctum. Even the might of Thrassk and the Dusk Ronin combined with their team of Pathfinders was no match for that of the Five Storms oni and the fiendish-demigodess. The Dusk Ronin held the fiends off while Thrassk took the warding box containing the Five Destined Eggs - your eggs - and fled. To his great shame, he was forced to leave the Dusk Ronin behind in order to protect you. As he flew away from the battle, The Dancer in Flesh placed a great curse upon your eggs, one that even the warding box could not protect them from. That's why you are stuck in those humanoid forms, and not aging properly.”
The great weight of their father’s sacrifice, which has been impressed on the young dragons more times than they can remember, is given a moment to settle. ”For more than a year, he fled, constantly on the run from the agents of the Five Storms, trying to reach his allies in the West. Eventually, he managed to reach me in Sandpoint, and I helped him get to Absalom. There we met with Argor Constantine, who constructed this plane for us with his magic. Uncle Argor created this special timeless place for us to hatch you. To watch over you as you grew. To prepare you for what it was you must do. We owe the Primarch much. Blessed be his reign! It was then, and is now, 4715 AR on Golarion. We have done what we could to prepare you for your destiny these past seventeen years. Now there is little else that we can teach you. That’s why your father left, and why he has now returned. Thrassk went to seek out the help of another old friend - Jeevika Kailani. I will let him take it from here...”
Hi guys, I am creating this thread to start discussing my next PBP campaign because Absalom is coming to an end soon. If I PMed you a link to this thread, I am hoping that you can join me. The basic skeleton of the campaign is going to be taken from the Serpent's Skull adventure path, but set in a homebrew campaign world and with modifications along the way as I see fit. Once I hear from everyone about interest (or lack thereof) I will post more info. I have a enough information about the world and character creation put together for you guys to get started on making characters.
I'm in a game where we just started book 5 of Rise of the Runelords. We're 13th level. My PC died, and I've been given an opportunity for a character crunch rebuild along with a reincarnation. I don't normally play arcane casters, but our party needs one.
Can anyone tell me how to build the most effective blaster sorcerer using currently available rules? Anything in the Paizo PRD is acceptable content.
We're 20 point buy, and I'll be using a custom race. I don't need help with ability scores and race so much as traits, archetypes, bloodline(s), feats, spell selections, and equipment. I want to be able to put out damage in any element and also cover the basic arcane stuff (haste, teleport, etc.)
Thanks in advance for any help offered! Please ask if I need to offer more information or wasn't clear on something.
I have been working on writing an RPG ruleset+campaign setting and I think it's ready for a public PBP playtest. My game is called Athakhis, after the planet it's set on.
Athakhis is a rules light, tactical, sword and sorcery RPG. It's set on a post-apocalyptic desert planet. You play a human with genie blood who has access to a few elemental magic powers. The setting strives for a non-European flavor, instead drawing influence from North African, Middle Eastern and South/Central Asian history and mythology.
Intellectual properties that have influenced me in creating Athakhis are Al-Qadim, Mad Max, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, Avatar: the Last Airbender, One Thousand and One Nights, Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad movies, and Robert E. Howard's Hyborean Age.
What I'm looking for right now is people who might be interested in checking out the setting and rules by playing through a short adventure set in and around Ahgradin.
The rules are so simple that I will teach the specifics after I select players. The core mechanic focuses around resource management in the form of pools of six sided dice. Outside of combat it plays very similarly to Pathfinder or D&D. Combat in Athakhis is like combat in RISK in many ways, it's about energy management and not extending oneself too far. It also utilizes the RPG standard five foot grid and tokens/miniatures to simulate battle, going for a skirmish wargame kind of feel.
I'm looking for 4-6 people ideally. If reading through the setting document gives you a character concept, go ahead and post it. I'll monitor this thread for any questions people might have. If I see enough interest, I'll go ahead and make it an official recruitment with more specific submission guidelines. Thanks for checking out my game!
I have a player who successfully pinpointed a creature under greater invisibilty during one round (due to the invisible creature casting a spell with a point of origin), and shot it twice with his longbow, successfully overcoming the miss chance. Now the player is insisting that his arrows should be visible, and that he should be able to visually track them in order to automatically pinpoint which square the invisible creature is in. Furthermore, he is asking that it negate/mitigate the miss chance from total concealment. I know that this is wrong, but I don't know how to articulate the reason it's wrong using the rules. Can anyone spell out exactly why, per RAW, the arrows shouldn't be visible?
I know I can just say, "I'm the DM, too bad bub." But I don't like doing that unless I have to. Thanks in advance for any advice.
For the last four millenia The Isle of Jalmeray, a former outpost of the faraway kingdoms of Vudra, has long been an isolated pocket of Vudrani culture in the Inner Sea. Its location in the Obari Ocean between Nex and Qadira makes the "impossible kingdom" more accessible than the far flung eastern reaches of Casmaron. The inhabitants of Jalmeray include an unusually high number of monks, and other mystics. The island is home to dozens of monastic orders. The prowess of their martial artists is renowned across continents, and the three Houses of Perfection (the Monastery of Untwisting Iron, the Monastery of Unfolding Wind and the Monastery of Unblinking Flame) are the most sought-after monasteries of the Inner Sea region. To qualify for training at one of the Houses of Perfection, the potential applicant must complete daunting entrance trials, such as racing a djinni that is as swift as the wind, wrestling a stony shaitan, and outwitting a cunning efreeti. The many who fail to pass these rigorous tests but still show potential can find training at one of the "lesser" centers of martial learning on the island. One such place is the secretive House of Five Elements. Few have heard of the monastery, and even fewer are allowed to study there. The House of Five Elements is the foremost place in the Western hemisphere to train students in the art of elemental magic called kinesis. Master kineticists of all elements reside there, where they strenuously test potential students for the most capable of elemental channelers. Rather than learning to use their bodies as weapons, the monks in the House of Five Elements channel raw elemental power in combat. You are one such monk. You have spent decades in training, learning to channel and control your chosen element. In the long tradition of the East, mastery was passed down to you through strict monastic discipline and rigorous training. For most of you, the monastery dominates your memories of the past, having spent most of your lives there. But even the strictest of masters must eventually allow their students out into the world.
All four of you have been called together by Master Roshi, the aged Minkaian abbot of the House of Five Elements. It is whispered among the students that Master Roshi has mastered all five elements. He is rarely seen, and even more rarely heard. A summons to his chambers was enough to set your stomach churning, and your heart fluttering. Had you done something deserving of punishment? The master sits cross-legged on a simple woven bamboo mat in his plain chamber, a small brass bowl of burning incense on the floor before him. His skin is withered with age, his body thin and wiry. Despite this he sits as straight as if his back were made of iron, eyes closed. He is bald, and has a magnificent, long white beard. He does not move until all four of you are in the chamber, then his eyes snap open. "Sit!" he commands. Once all four of you are seated cross-legged in front of him, he continues. "As you all know, we dwellers in the house hold ourselves apart from the outside world. It is not the way of the elements to interfere in the balance of things. However, sometimes imbalance must be corrected. As you may have heard, a cult of Dhalavei is active in Jalmeray."
Knowledge (Religion) DC 15:
Dhalavei is the evil Vudrani goddess of silent internal rot. For centuries her death cults have wormed their way deep into all kinds of organizations and institutions across Vudra, only to wreak havoc and chaos upon them. The cultists are well known for pouring acid into the mouths and eyes of the corpses of their victims, to simulate the internal rot that they venerate.
Knowledge (Local) DC 15:
Two weeks ago, a favorite cousin of Thakur Kharswan, Jalmeray's ruler, disappeared suddenly. With the help of divination magic, his corpse was found bearing the cult’s ritual sacrificial markings. Incensed at the attack on his family, Kharswan called on the Maurya-Rahm (his legion of advisors and administrators), and demanded that they outlaw the cult and prohibit the worship of Dhalavei. The ban came down.
Knowledge (Loacl) DC 20:
The advisors warned that the killing was a calculated measure to observe the thakur’s response, and that such a drastic reaction might be unwise. Kharswan would not relent,
however. That very night the thakur received a death threat from the forbidden cult.
"I have been approached by a member of the Maurya-Rahm. He is convinced that the House of Five Elements can be trusted because we separate ourselves from the outside world as much as possible, and seek to play no role in politics. Lord Raheem Pandisar has requested that I send a team of my best acolytes to aid him in rooting out and destroying the cult, before their corruption ruins the balance on Jalmeray forever. He feels no one else can be trusted, for the rot might be anywhere." Master Roshi looks at each of you in turn. "You are the four I have chosen for this task. You have been with us for many years, and each of you has learned to master your own element. Will you agree to go forth and represent our monastery in the outer world, to redress the imbalance which is rotting Jalmeray from the inside?"
You may post now. Please include a description of your character's appearance in your initial post. A linked image is fine if you have one in mind. Otherwise, the game is on!
Hello. I am about to start running a game at 8th level where the entire party is kineticists. I am wondering how the interaction of kinetic blade, metakinesis empower, and infusion specialization 2 would work.
First, the burn cost would be 1 (kblade)+ 1 (empower) = 2 normally. Does the infusion specialization reduce this to 0, or 1? I am unclear whether the metakinesis burn falls under the infusion spec reduction or not.
Secondly, is it still no action to use kinetic blade combined with metakinesis? Metakinesis says it functions like a metamagic feat, which for spontaneous casters would increase a standard action spell to a full round one. How does metakinesis work with action type?
For the last four millenia The Isle of Jalmeray, a former outpost of the faraway kingdoms of Vudra, has long been an isolated pocket of Vudrani culture in the Inner Sea. Its location in the Obari Ocean between Nex and Qadira makes the "impossible kingdom" more accessible than the far flung eastern reaches of Casmaron. The inhabitants of Jalmeray include an unusually high number of monks, and other mystics. The island is home to dozens of monastic orders. The prowess of their martial artists is renowned across continents, and the three Houses of Perfection (the Monastery of Untwisting Iron, the Monastery of Unfolding Wind and the Monastery of Unblinking Flame) are the most sought-after monasteries of the Inner Sea region. To qualify for training at one of the Houses of Perfection, the potential applicant must complete daunting entrance trials, such as racing a djinni that is as swift as the wind, wrestling a stony shaitan, and outwitting a cunning efreeti. The many who fail to pass these rigorous tests but still show potential can find training at one of the "lesser" centers of martial learning on the island. One such place is the secretive House of Five Elements. Few have heard of the monastery, and even fewer are allowed to study there. The House of Five Elements is the foremost place in the Western hemisphere to train students in the art of elemental magic called kinesis. Master kineticists of all elements reside there, where they strenuously test potential students for the most capable of elemental channelers. Rather than learning to use their bodies as weapons, the monks in the House of Five Elements channel raw elemental power in combat. You are one such monk. You have spent decades in training, learning to channel and control your chosen element. In the long tradition of the East, mastery was passed down to you through strict monastic discipline and rigorous training. For most of you, the monastery dominates your memories of the past, having spent most of your lives there. But even the strictest of masters must eventually allow their students out into the world.
All five of you have been called together by Master Roshi, the aged Minkaian abbot of the House of Five Elements. It is whispered among the students that Master Roshi has mastered all five elements. He is rarely seen, and even more rarely heard. A summons to his chambers was enough to set your stomach churning, and your heart fluttering. Had you done something deserving of punishment? The master sits cross-legged on a simple woven bamboo mat in his plain chamber, a small brass bowl of burning incense on the floor before him. His skin is withered with age, his body thin and wiry. Despite this he sits as straight as if his back were made of iron, eyes closed. He is bald, and has a magnificent, long white beard. He does not move until all five of you are in the chamber, then his eyes snap open. "Sit!" he commands. Once all five of you are seated cross-legged in front of him, he continues. "As you all know, we dwellers in the house hold ourselves apart from the outside world. It is not the way of the elements to interfere in the balance of things. However, sometimes imbalance must be corrected. As you may have heard, a cult of Dhalavei is active in Jalmeray."
Knolwedge (religion) DC 15:
Dhalavei is the evil Vudrani goddess of silent internal rot. For centuries her death cults have wormed their way deep into all kinds of organizations and institutions across Vudra, only to wreak havoc and chaos upon them. The cultists are well known for pouring acid into the mouths and eyes of the corpses of their victims, to simulate the internal rot that they venerate.
Knowledge (local) DC 15:
Two weeks ago....
'I have been approached by a member of the Maurya-Rahm. He is convinced that the House of Five Elements can be trusted because we separate ourselves from the outside world as much as possible, and seek to play no role in politics. Lord Raheem Pandisar has requested that I send a team of my best acolytes to aid him in rooting out and destroying the cult, before their corruption ruins the balance on Jalmeray forever. He feels no one else can be trusted, for the rot might be anywhere." Master Roshi looks at each of you in turn. "You are the five I have chosen for this task. You have been with us for many years, and each of you has learned to master your own element. Will you agree to go forth and represent our monastery in the outer world, to redress the imbalance which is rotting Jalmeray from the inside?"
I am going to run Cult of the Ebon Destroyers, a 32 page Pathfinder Module for 8th level characters set on the island of Jalmeray. The twist is that the party will be all kineticists, one of each element. I am looking to recruit five characters for this game. I am an experienced PBP GM and will be using Roll20 for maps. Check my profile for examples of my games.
You are an experienced PBPer, who can commit to posting at least once a day every weekday until this module is completed. People who cannot post at least once each weekday need not apply. I will be enforcing posting frequency. If the game drops more than one player, I will end it.
Character Creation
Races - core (except gnomes and half-elves), geniekin (sylph, oread, ifrit, undine, suli), vanara, samsaran, ratfolk, kitsune, nagaji, hobgoblin. Why this random spattering you ask? Because I'm a PFRPG racist. These are just the races I like and think are thematically appropriate for this module. Nothing else will be allowed, don't ask.
Class - Kineticist only!!!!! Archetypes need approval by me, ask first.
Level - 8
Ability Scores - 17 point buy. Nothing lower than 8 or higher than 18 after racials (ABP and level advancement bonuses can raise stats above 18 after level 1)
Wealth - 16,500 GP (Keep in mind item restrictions from ABP)
Traits - None, unless you take a drawback, then one trait.
HP - Max at first, half hit dice+1+con modifier at every level afterwards (like PFS)
Note: The defualt language on Jalmeray is Vudrani, not Common. Many NPCs in this module will only speak Vudrani.
To submit a character please create an alias for them with a completed stack block in Paizo (or HeroLab) format. I also want a description of their appearance, and a brief backstory. Your backstory should tell me several things:
-Who is your characters family? Where are they now?
-Where are you from?
-When/why/how you got to Jalmeray
-How you found out about and entered the House of Five Elements
-Who your master in the House is/was
The backstory is how I will judge your writing ability, please do your best. I will be looking for strong writers, your stats will have little influence on getting picked (as long as you follow the rules, and make sure there aren't a bunch of mistakes).
Recruitment will stay open for two weeks from today. I reserve the right to close recruitment early if I see five characters that I really like. If I don't like a proposed character concept, I will tell you via PM to avoid you wasting time on completing a submission. Thanks for looking, and please let me know if you have any questions!
PS:Please do not post any RP in this thread. If you want to provide an RP sample for your character, write it and post it in a spoiler, but DO NOT RP WITH OTHER APPLICANTS. Thanks :)
What the f~%!? Something is wrong. You feel a tugging sensation in your gut. At first it’s unpleasant, but it quickly grows painful. What could make it feel like there was a black hole in your ass eating your own guts like that? Thoughts that you’re certainly going to die flood your panicking brain as the sensation spreads throughout the rest of your body. The world around you begins to blur, and twist. Your vision narrows to a fuzzy tunnel. Was it something you ate? Did someone poison you? Are you having a heart attack? Rapid fire speculations keep coming as your brain tries to make sense of the impossible. Soon everything goes black, and you lose all sensation of your body...Disembodied consciousness...how strange. Time suddenly loses all meaning. All the niggling aches, pains and sensations you didn’t even notice are gone. There is nothing left but the capacity for observation of the unfolding of reality. Suddenly stars appear, and not just the measly few strong enough to break through Earth’s atmosphere. ALL the stars appear, all around you, whirring and spinning by at incomprehensible speeds.
Nebulae and galaxy clusters never seen this way by human eyes before flash past in a seemingly endless parade. Suddenly, finally, it stops. One star grows in focus as you burst through the edge of its white corona to zoom through the space lovingly embraced by its heat and gravity. There is a planet now, surrounded by three moons of different sizes. One blue, one grey and the third a soft shade of pink. Hanging below them is a blue green sphere that could at first be mistaken for Earth. But, upon closer observation it’s clear to see that the planet is somewhere else entirely. The land masses are all the wrong shape, and there are too many of them. Your journey continues towards the planet’s surface, zooming in on a temperate area north of the equator. A beam of red, green and gold energy embraces your wayward consciousness, pulling it downward. Sensations begin to return as a new body forms around you. It feels like your old body, only clean and in good repair. There is something else there too, like an itching at the back of your mind, but you cannot place the sensation. Suddenly there are two others there with you, you feel their presence descending with you.
Full reality slams back into you as the lights become overwhelmingly bright. A hard unyielding surface of stone makes itself felt beneath your hands and knees. Your normal clothes are gone. It feels as if you are wearing a shirt of some kind, and loose trousers tucked into knee high boots. The lights fade, and the space comes into view. You are kneeling in a spacious, dome ceilinged room of some sort. A man wearing a strange suit of armor and wielding a sword stands before you. Looming above all of you is a statue of a creature that resembles a humanoid baboon with a long tail and large avian wings. Its tail ends in a bony club-like appearance. Three others kneel with you, forming a square around the man.
This is our discussion thread, we can banter and have out of character discussion here. We can also address any in game questions that might be disruptive to the flow of the gameplay thread.
This vaguely canine creature skitters forward on eight segmented, rootlike legs, accompanied by a gurgling growl issuing from its fanged, mandibled maw. Bulbous fungal pustules covering the mongrel’s deformed body leak clouds of musty-smelling spores as it attacks.
Phase Mongrel (Jumm-Vubburath) CR 7 XP 3,200
NE Medium plant
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., scent; Perception +11
----- Defense ----- AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +4 natural)
hp 85 (9d8+45)
Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +5
Defensive Abilities reactive escape; Immune plant traits
----- Offense ----- Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee bite +13 (1d8+10 plus grab)
Special Attacks colonize victim, paralytic spores
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th; concentration +15)
At will—ethereal jaunt (self only)
----- Statistics ----- Str 24, Dex 16, Con 20, Int 7, Wis 15, Cha 9
Base Atk +6; CMB +13 (+15 grapple); CMD 26 (28 vs. grapple, trip)
Feats Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Stealth), Step Up
Skills Climb +16, Perception +11, Stealth +15, Survival +10; Racial Modifiers +8 Climb, +7 Stealth, +8 Survival
Languages Aklo, Mi-Go, telepathy 100 ft.
----- Ecology ----- Environment any non-cold land
Organization solitary, pair, or pack (2–12)
Treasure none
----- Special Abilities ----- Colonize Victim (Ex)
A phase mongrel can inject a mycelium-egg into the body of a living, corporeal, non-plant creature of at least small size that is pinned or helpless through its fanged mandibles as a standard action. The creature may become infected with an embryonic phase mongrel:
Disease (Ex) (parasite) Embryonic Phase Mongrel: Injury; save Fort DC 19; onset immediate; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Con damage. An infected creature who dies from the disease bursts open 1d3 days later, producing a phase mongrel; cure 2 saves. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Reactive Escape (Su)
Whenever a phase mongrel is hit by a melee or ranged weapon it may choose to teleport up to 30 feet in any direction as an immediate action. Phase mongrels typically attempt to take grappled opponents with them. This ability otherwise functions as the spell dimension door (DC 15).
Paralytic Spores (Ex)
When a phase mongrel is hit by a melee or ranged weapon it can release a cloud of paralytic spores in a 5-foot-radius around itself as a free action. Any creature within range when the cloud is released must succeed at a DC 19 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d3 rounds. This is a poison effect.
A phase mongrel looks like a cross between a large dog, a humanoid spider and a bloom of puff-ball fungus. Mi-Go scientists created these intelligent predators during a visit to Golarion. The aliens combined some features of two natural enemies—blink dogs and phase spiders, with some of their own bio-magical engineering. Phase mongrels are designed to kill and reproduce as quickly as possible, in an act of homage to the fecund goddess Shub-Niggurath. Phase mongrels have an instinctive fondness for Mi-Go and often willingly live with them as pets or guardians.
Without Mi-Go guidance, a lone phase mongrel feels driven to stalk and colonize an immature, elderly, or ill target. Once its offspring emerges from the first victim, the pair of mongrels work together to infect more creatures with their young. The group then forms a pack and coordinates their hunts, stalking, surrounding, and ambushing prey. When a pack grows to around a dozen mongrels, the members typically splinter off and go their own way to start new packs. Once introduced to an area, phase mongrels can easily eradicate a region’s animal and sentient life if not quickly exterminated.
This skull-shaped edifice stinks of human misery. Corpselight Feedlot 477 serves as a human cattle farm for the undead of Geb.
Chattel Squares: Creatures automatically take 1d6 nonlethal damage each round. Each round the chattel grapple with a +5 CMB. They attempt to pin successfully grappled opponents in subsequent rounds.
Description
This black stone ingot is formed from lumpy, solidified lava and sharp obsidian. It is rough and warm to the touch, but it is not hot enough to damage its wielder. When held, the shaft begins to glow cherry-red from the inside. The fiery glow leaks out through the obsidian spurs in the lumpy stone. On command, a fifteen foot long braid of fire and molten stone erupts from one end of the handle. The lava lash functions as a whip.
Attacks made with the lash are melee touch attacks. The lash deals 1d8 points of fire damage on a hit, but does not add the wielder’s strength modifier. If a creature is subject to a successful combat maneuver made using the lash, they must make a DC 15 reflex save or catch on fire as per the burn universal monster rule, taking 1d8 fire damage each round for 1d4 rounds.
The lash has four daily charges. As a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, the wielder can expend one charge to strike an object or creature within 50 feet with a long, thin tendril of lava from the lash. This use functions as the touch of combustion spell, with a save DC of 15. The lava lash can also shed normal light on command in a 40-foot radius as long as it has at least one charge remaining.
Construction Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armor, elemental touch or flame blade, touch of combustion; Cost 8,400 gp
The muggy damp of a northern summer pressed down on Victrix as she lay on her furs in her father’s hall. Staring up at the thatched roof above her, she felt sweat trickling down the contours of her body. The occasional buzz of a persistent mosquito in her ear warded off sleep, as did the rustling of the other women in her extended family, all sleeping in their aisle of the hall. Their village was home to 10 families, each with their own house. All ten halls were contained within the earthen palisade of a modest hill fort.
Swatting at the mosquito, Victrix chased the release of sleep, but it would not come. She lay there baking on her furs thinking of hunts to come and work she would need to complete at dawn. Then it happened. Her first clue that something was wrong was the hounds going going mad, barking hysterically. Probably a herd of wild hogs foraging past the village she thought. The hounds occasionally lost control when they scented such prey.
But the hounds didn’t stop. After a couple of minutes, she got up to creep out into the pre-dawn grey. She looked along the dark silhouette of the palisade, searching for the outlines of the sentries against the sky. They should have shut the hounds up by now. Except, she didn’t see them. Instead, she saw hulking shadows clambering quietly over the wall. Inhuman, ape-like shapes, some as small as children, others large as adult gorillas. Three shapes were inhumanly large. The village is under attack! The sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks.
”ALARM, ALARM!” she screamed, ”RAIDERS ON THE WALLS!” The next few minutes were a blur. Victrix raced back into her family’s hall, rousing her relatives and grabbing her weapons. By the time she emerged back into the village with a handful of bleary eyed cousins and uncles stumbling at her back, everything had been consumed by chaos. Fire and smoke were everywhere, halls were burning. Raiders roared battle cries - grey-green skin rippled over corded muscle, and savage tusked maws spewed hate in guttural tongues. Steel flashed in the light of fires and the rising sun, blades met with clarion rings. The enemy giants were terror itself; their massive weapons tore men apart like they were paper dolls, flinging body parts and gore in wide arcs through the sky.
Victrix’s observations were cut off as she found herself face to face with one of the orcs. The brute was hideous. Half of his face was a scar, from some horrible burn by the looks of it. The rest of face was twisted in animal rage, white and blue warpaint mixed with filthy black hair. He swung a long axe at Victrix. She dodged with a backward passing step. Her greatsword snapped into a plow guard as instinct and muscle memory took over. The shining tip of blade aligned with the orc’s throat as she stepped back forward in an underhand thrust. The orc stumbled back, but not before her blade sliced through its shoulder at the right side of its neck.
Now the two combatants were both too close to use their long weapons effectively, and they knew it. The orc raider hopped back, slashing upward with his bearded blade in a reverse grip. The underhanded blow was anticipated by Victrix who cut down and across her body from her left shoulder, blasting the axe aside in mid-swing. She stepped back as part of her parry, and found herself at distance with the orc.
The orc flowed into the opening she’d created, this time leading with a horizontal slash of his battle axe. The blade whistled through the air, propelled by the savage’s muscles, and it was all Victrix could do to suck in her gut and hope for the best. The axe cut across her abdomen just above the belly button, opening her a centimeter deep. Her stomach burned with pain, and she felt the hot red blood instantly soak her shirt. Not wanting to miss her chance, she channeled the pain of the wound into false edge uppercut. Her greatsword caught the orc at an upward angle across his sternum and lower ribs as Victrix ripped her blade to the sky. The brief resistance of muscle and bone shattered under the force of her pain and fear. The orc raider was hacked clean in two, and fell in two pieces to the dirt.
Victrix looked around again. Half the village was in flames, and the other half was smoking. The raiders were retreating, clutching villagers in their grimy hands. The giants carried great leather sacks stitched from the hides of half a dozen aurochs over their shoulders. The sacks were squirming with captives inside. Here and there her people still struggled, but it appears most who had fought were cut down. Before Victrix could do anything more, the raiders were disappearing into the smoke. All except one that is. A lumbering, filthy, two-headed giant wearing chainmail and clutching a large flail in each fist stood near the destroyed village gate. Facing it was her father, proud in his lion-hide armor dyed red and enchanted by druidic magic. He raised his greatsword to the beast and roared a wordless challenge.
The giant laughed, allowing Victrix’s father to charge him. One lightning fast blow of a flail sent her father flying into the dirt. The thirteen foot tall monster slammed its booted foot down onto her father’s chest. It leaned down, and still standing on him, grabbed one of her father’s arms. One of the heads muttered something in an unintelligible pidgin language to the other. The second head laughed, and then leaned down and bit her father’s hand off, chewed it up, and swallowed it. Her father passed out from the pain.
The giant turned and lumbered out of the village, where a wooly rhinoceros armored in gleaming mail barding waited for it. The giant mounted the beast and kicked it into a gallop, riding off into the hills with its band of slavers.
Hear ye, hear ye! I am seeking an individual of extraordinary talent, grit and intellect. I seek a being capable of great feats of bravery and valor. Step out of the realms of the multiverse, and become a hero!
This is a recruitment for a solo game. I have an overpowering urge to run another game, despite not having much time for it. So I’ve decided to try this. I want to run a Pulp hero of one kind or another through a personal sandbox using PFRPG rules.
I have created the skeleton of a PC, with certain details set. Your job is to flesh it out, by making the rest of the character choices, and breathing life into them with a background. Additionally some house rules will be in place to give the game a low/no magic, Pulpy feel:
*Automatic Bonus Progression (No Magic Items)
*No Alignment
*Stamina and combat tricks (Combat Stamina free)
*All damage taken until 0 HP does not actually hurt the PC. It represents minor cuts, bruises, and loss of stamina. When not in combat, and at a positive HP value, the PC gains fast healing 2. HP damage that brings a PC below 0 represents a serious wound. While in negative HP, the PC remains conscious and staggered, bleeding each round until they stabilize or reach an amount of negative HP equal to their constitution. Reaching negative HP equal to the PC’s constitution results in death. Stabilization is a free action taken every round at the end of the PC’s turn, which otherwise functions as normal. Strenuous action has no effect on the bleeding or staggered condition. Negative HP regenerates as per normal PFRPG rules for rest and recovery. Once the PC is in positive HP again, their fast healing turns back on.
This game can take place on Golarion, or in any other suitably pulpy setting. I will improvise the details of the setting and campaign based off what the PC’s goals are.
The pacing of this game will be relatively slow, I will only promise one post a week. I prefer to, and will try to, run it much faster than that, but already have other PBP commitments. They will take precedence, so in busy times this will go on the back burner, but I will eventually get around to it.
What you need to submit
(Please read carefully and follow instructions. Those who don’t won’t be considered.)
First, come up with a concept for your character, and the game you want to play. Be as detailed as possible. That way I can better assess whether it’s something I’d gel well with and be able to run. You can make an initial post with a basic concept if you so desire.
Next, copy this template into a blank Paizo alias, or some word processor. Then fill in all the details in red as if you were building the character normally. Do not change anything in black. Once completed, you will have the crunch for your PC. Please make an alias for it, and paste the information there. Bonus points for having a cool reference image/drawing.
Finally, write a detailed background telling me about your character’s past and their world. Who were their parents? Where did they grow up? How did they learn to fight and (hunt/swim/steal/whatever)? What are their goals? (Long and short term) How do they provide a living for themselves? How did they get to level 3 in a level 1 world? This will help me determine whether or not we can game together well. This will be the primary determining factor on who gets into this game. Take your time, make it good.
I will leave the initial recruitment open for two weeks. I will provide feedback and answer questions throughout the period. If a concept doesn’t appeal to me, I will tell you right away to avoid wasting your time. I reserve the right to end recruitment early if there is a single exemplary submission that steals my heart. Please let me know if anything is unclear or I've forgotten something.
I've been itching to get into some more PBP lately, and my job recently informed me that a bunch of my work is cancelled for the summer so I might actually have time for another game.
I recently ran a playtest of the Unchained classes, and thought the monk was really badass. I also live in China and have for several years now. These two things have combined into a hankering for some Wu Xia style role playing.
I am considering running the Paizo adventure module The Ruby Phoenix Tournament with some house rules. Here is what I'm thinking:
Players: 4
Point Buy: 17 (no lower than 8, or higher than 18 after racials at level 1)
Level: 10
Races: Core Races, Catfolk, Kitsune, Nagaji, Ratfolk, Samsaran, Tengu, Vanara, Vishkanya, Wayang
Classes:Brawler, Cleric*, Fighter, Kineticist (must switch to full version once on d20pfsrd.com), Ninja, Samurai, Shaman, Slayer, Sorcerer, Unchained Monk, Warpriest* (*only of deities below)
Deities:Abadar · Daikitsu · Desna · Fumeiyoshi · General Susumu · Hei Feng · Irori · Kofusachi · Lady Nanbyo · Lamashtu · Lao Shu Po · Nalinivati · Pharasma · Qi Zhong · Shelyn · Shizuru · Sun Wukong · Tsukiyo · Yaezhing · Yamatsumi
You have all been chained together in the same communal cell dressed in nothing but filthy, tattered rags. Manhandled and mistreated, any finery you once possessed is either ruined or long lost. No special treatment has been given any prisoner – male or female, commoner or noble – all of the condemned are bound and imprisoned together. Your feet are secured by iron cuffs tethered by one long chain. Your arms are secured to the wall above by manacles. A guard is posted right outside the cell day and night. Little thought is given to long term accommodations. In Rome, justice comes swift and sure.
Escape seems hopeless. You have all been well searched and every attempt to conceal anything on your person has failed. And if you could somehow slip your bonds and fly out of this prison, where would you go? You former Jarl is dead, his crews scattered. You have no ship, you have no crew, and you are a long way from the shores of your northern homelands. Despised, alone and shackled – all that you can do now is await your doom, hoping that the Norns have woven a different fate for you than an ignominious death with no sword in your hand.
Your cell is dark (can barely see each other), you can only move a foot or so in either direction. Please describe and introduce yourselves. When describing your height remember that the average man of this era was probably 5'7ish as opposed to 5'10" for the average American of today. Once everyone has checked in and made any escape attempts they want to make, I will move us on.
+---------------------------------------------------+
|WARLORDS: BLOOD, BLADE AND BOUNTY|
+---------------------------------------------------+
The year is 890 AD. The Second Roman Empire is dwindling under its own massive weight and corruption, repeating the slow disintegration of four and half centuries earlier. Assaults from the Caliphate against Hispania, Africa and the eastern provinces drive the Empire back towards its heartland in Asia Minor, as Germanic and Scandinavian peoples raid south in ever greater numbers to put pressure on the Empire’s northern and western borders. Nowhere is the situation more tenuous than in the British Isles, where Danes, Norse, Jutes and other northmen have conquered large parts of northern Scotland, Ireland and north eastern Brittania.
The northmen are determined to take all of the British Isles for themselves, and to drive the Romans and their Celtic Christian allies back to the mainland. The savage Scotsmen fight only to defend their homeland from all outsiders. You count yourselves amongst the northmen, and were recently part of a ten ship raid, 500 warriors strong, striking into Cantium from its northern coast towards the cathedral at Durovernum Cantiacorum where vast stores of silver and gold relics were rumored to be kept.
Unfortunately an unknown Christian Dane betrayed the plan to the Romans, and a full Tagma of 1,000 battle hardened, fully armored Roman veterans were ready and waiting to intercept your raid. Their heavy cavalry charges shattered your side's hastily assembled shield wall from the flanks, while the legionnaires expertly rolled forward behind their own shield wall. Your raiding force was scattered or killed, and you all were taken prisoner.
In the empire of Rome, many crimes may send you to the dungeons, but the sentence has but one meaning. You are wicked and irredeemable. Each of you received the same greeting when you arrived in the fort called Regulbium. You were held down by rough hands and painfully branded upon the arm with an X. The mark signifies ‘criminal’ and the painful scar is indelible proof that each of you has betrayed the great and eternal love of Christ and his chosen mortal vassals.
Condemned, you face at best a short life of shackles and slavery in the nearby iron mine in Cantium. Others might await the “gentle” ministrations of the inquisitors so that other “pagan devilry” may be revealed and confessions extracted. Perhaps, some of you will be spared this ordeal. Perhaps instead you have come to Regulbium to face the final judgment. In three days, the executioner arrives and for the lucky ones the axe will fall or the pyre will be lit.
You are guilty of unlawful bearing of arms, theft, murder and perhaps worse, or the simple act of ‘going viking’ in your native tongue. You have violated the sanctity of the Roman Empire and its nailed God. Through fire or steel, your crimes will be answered. All you can do now is pray, and hope the true gods are listening.
You have all been chained together in the same communal cell dressed in nothing but filthy, tattered rags. Manhandled and mistreated, any finery you once possessed is either ruined or long lost. No special treatment has been given any prisoner – male or female, commoner or noble – all of the condemned are bound and imprisoned together. Your feet are secured by iron cuffs tethered by one long chain. Your arms are secured to the wall above by manacles. A guard is posted right outside the cell day and night. Little thought is given to long term accommodations. In Rome, justice comes swift and sure.
Escape seems hopeless. You have all been well searched and every attempt to conceal anything on your person has failed. And if you could somehow slip your bonds and fly out of this prison, where would you go? You former Jarl is dead, his crews scattered. You have no ship, you have no crew, and you are a long way from the shores of your northern homelands. Despised, alone and shackled – all that you can do now is await your doom, hoping that the Norns have woven a different fate for you than an ignominious death with no sword in your hand.
Level: 1
Races: Human only
Classes: Unchained Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger (Skirmisher and Trapper archetypes only), Unchained Rogue, Witch, Brawler, Shaman, Skald, Slayer, Swashbuckler
Ability Scores: 20 point buy, max starting score 18, min 8 (including racial bonus)
Starting Gear: Nada
Traits:Normal rules, 2, can take a drawback for RP fun, but no third trait
Moving out of a threatened area does not provoke AOOs
Doing a combat maneuver without the ‘Improved X’ feat does not provoke an AOO.
The slumber hex does not exist
Spells from the Evocation and Conjuration schools of magic do not exist, and neither do spells that deal with alignment. The exception is conjuration spells with the healing subschool.
Alignment is completely removed from the game.
I’m looking for four experienced and reliable PBPers to go on an alternate history, fantasy journey with me. This game will center around the party and their quest to become rich and powerful jarls sung about by the skalds around every hall’s hearth for generations to come. The players will escape from prison, and become vikings, gaining their own ship and crew then choosing where to lead them to seek plunder. Parts of the campaign, including the beginning, are/will be adapted from the Way of the Wicked adventure path. I prefer players who haven’t played or run Way of the Wicked.
To make a submission I need a character set up in a standard (or very close to standard - Hero Lab is fine) stat block, in an alias, on the Paizo forums. Along with your stats, I need a character background (Birth, family, early life, events leading them to raid), and a physical description of the character. You should be from a late 9th century Scandinavian culture. If you have questions about the setting, please ask.
I plan to keep recruitment open for a week or so at least, potentially longer depending on interest or lack thereof. I reserve the right to close recruitment at any time with a 24 hour notice, if I get overwhelmed by applicants or have found several players who I feel will be a good fit. I’d prefer not to waste anyone’s time if possible.
If you have any other questions, please ask. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, or that something is unclear.
(PS:I hate spoilers, keep that shiz to a minimum on your character sheet please.)
(Disclaimer:No offense is intended by reference to real world places, peoples or religions. This is a fantasy alternate history, and should in no way reflect upon the real world past or present. All faiths and people are equal in my opinion, and should be treated justly.)
You are all enrolled in the planar games. It is a competition for only the bravest souls, those willing to face death in exchange for great reward. This is your first round together as a team. After having met in the preparation room, you were all teleported a moment ago. Now, the smell of sulfuric smoke assaults your nostrils. The air is thick, hot and dark.
Everyone please post here so I can create roll20 avatars for you, and get them set up. Then I'll roll initiative and get this thing going.
I am interested in trying out the unchained versions of the monk, rogue, barbarian and summoner in actual play (and by play I mean combat). I am pretty busy at the moment, but I could set up a series of basic encounters...say for levels 4, 6, and 10 and then run a group of four through them. Naturally I want to make a character myself, but I'd be willing to take on three more participants.
Proposed Character Creation Rules:
Level 4, 6 and 10 version
20 point buy
Core and Featured races
Standard wealth by level, no more than 30% in one item, no crafting
Two traits, no drawbacks
Only unchained classes
The first encounter would be CR 7, the second one CR 9 and the third one CR 14.
Would anyone be interested in joining me? People I've played with in the past take priority, otherwise I will go with who seems the most reliable. Any questions are welcome.
I have worked up a set of house rules designed to alter Pathfinder RPG to make it even more customizable and flexible, and to remove some aspects that I don't like. I'm getting too busy these days to be able to ever put it to use, but I figured I'd share it and open it up for other people to critique and use in their own games if they want.
Here is a google doc of the rules, I've enabled commenting. Please let me know if you see a mistake or something that doesn't make sense, etc. Thanks!
Hello, I am curious if there is anyone on the Paizo boards who has more posts than me? I am asking here because I assume PBPers are going to have the most posts.
Hey y'all. I've invited you all here because I am considering running a game starting in the somewhat near future (whenever some of my other games finish up) to test out a set of houserules I'm calling PFRPG Heroes Mod. I respect all of you as PBPers and hope you'd like to take part.
Right now I'm leaning towards Razor Coast as the adventure path. I want to do something swashbucklery/piratey/Age of Sailish, but Crusty has already done S&S and Dien mentioned not digging it.
Here are the houserules, not quite finished yet, but definitely enough to give you the idea: PFRPG Heroes Mod
If you're not familiar with Razor Coast, it's an AP by Frog God Games. It's somewhat sandboxy, set in a tropical volcanic island colony where foreigners are trying to extract riches from the dangerous locale. The town of Port Shaw is like a very Mos Eisley/Freeport/Tortuga kind of place.
Hello, I was wondering if anyone else has any interest in working on something like this with me? I've done some modding in a non-organized way when running my own games, but I'd like to develop a robust set of houserules that I can just start using in all my games.
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Some things that cause problems off the top of my head:
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1) waiting for the DM to tell you whether you hit/you beat SR/you beat DR/what the monster got on its save/etc.
2) the DM saying "Okay, everyone roll perception." or "Everyone roll initiative."
3) abilities that have to be declared after a roll, or in reaction to something
I'm a steady fixture of the PBP community on this site (I like to think so anyway). I run multiple games simultaneously and have for a couple of years now. I also play in many PBP games. Most of them fail for one reason or another, which should be well known to anyone who has given PBP a serious try. This leads to many, many games at 1st, 2nd and 3rd level that never get past that point. Or many games where you never level at all. I personally like games where I can feel a constant sense of advancement.
I am running one game currently where I just realized that it's taken us ~2,500 posts to get from level 1 to level 4. That's probably my fastest game too. Is that representative? What's the farthest and fastest you've leveled up a PBP character? How many posts from starting level to current/ending level? Was normal XP used?
I'm just curious about other people's experiences. Thanks!
Note:I'm not talking about games that start at high levels, unless you leveled multiple times during them.
I've recently come across the fact that there are people out there (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Colombo, Reg Park, Layne Norton, etc) who could/can deadlift 700+ lbs. That means that according to the carrying capacity chart, they have 24 or better strength with no magical items. Why then, is 20 the highest starting racial score for humans? Seems the only way to get above 20 in PF is magic of one sort or another (or being really high level, which no one on Earth is). Maybe there should be some mechanic for training ability scores. Or is there one and I don't know about it?
You have been deputized as a Nova Roman Marshal by General Paddock Conroy. You were chosen after showing some relevant skill, and a willingness to risk your hide in the wild. You have been promised rewards for good performance. You and the rest of your posse have been charged with exploring, mapping in detail, and clearing for settlement a section of the Stolen Lands called the Greenbelt. You are to assemble at the defunct Fort Laramie (now a trading post), in the Dakota Territory. You were given the following official writ as proof of your duties:
“Be it so known that the bearer of this charter is charged by the Federal Government of Nova Roma, acting upon the greater good and authority vested within them by the office of the Consul Executor of Nova Roma, they have been granted the right of exploration and travel within the wilderness region known colloquially as the Greenbelt, in the Dakota Territory. Exploration should be limited to an area no further than thirty-six miles east and west and sixty miles south of Fort Laramie. The carrier of this charter is a deputized N.R. Marshal and should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry remains, as always, execution by shooting or the rope. Native peoples unwilling to integrate into Nova Roma are likewise to be treated as invaders, and killed or driven off. So witnessed on this day, the 24th day of February, 1868, under the watchful eye of Nova Roma and authority granted by General Paddock Conroy of the Department of the Northwest.”
-General Paddock Conroy
The writ is penned on sturdy, expensive paper with an official seal and bound in a durable leather envelope for travel.
The ride (or walk) across Nebraska territory from the rail head in Omaha has taken nearly three weeks. They haven’t been pleasant weeks either. It’s bitter cold and few things wandering on the winter plains are friendly. The sparse shelter afforded by the hospitality of the hardy Nebraskan homesteaders has been the only comfort on your journey. Otherwise it ain't been naught but steaming breath, frozen mud and cold northern wind howling across the prairie, blowing snow into depressingly large drifts. But your journey’s end is near.
Fort Laramie is located at the western edge of Nebraska (and thus settled Nova Roma). To the west, the grey-green line of the Narlmarches looms only a few miles away. The fort was intended as a trading post, and refuge for settlers heading west. The built during the Great War and then later abandoned. The fort is now privately owned and operated by a man named Oleg Leveton and his wife Svetlana. The fort’s remote location and inconvenient distance from a major river have prevented it from realizing significant financial success. You can see it looming on the horizon, a decrepit wooden affair with no one manning the walls. As you approach you see the front gate of the fort is wide open.
Feel free to make your introductory post, and entrance into Fort Laramie. Though I am using the second person in this post, I would prefer you write your posts in the third person. I will also switch to third person after the group gets together. Thanks!
Gaze into the Heavens in wonder. What secrets do the stars hold? What of Aballon the Horse and Castrovel the Green? What strange creatures dance in the dark upon such worlds, and what chariot could reach them? Many have visited the planes, have hunted Elysium and dreamed in tens, yet how many have trodden the skin of other worlds?
There, hanging above us, floats Somal - thus the Azlanti called the moon smiling down upon we who wander the surface of the Case of Golarion. What strange creatures are watching us as we so about our business, and what blight blemishes her surface with the Moonscar?
-From the journal of Cladrann Thashkrell
The world is your oyster. Years as a Pathfinder Society agent have taken you across all of Golarion and beyond, and you’ve had more adventures than you can properly remember. Retired now, your power, wealth and skill have grown to the point that you count the rulers of Avistan and the leaders of the most powerful organizations in the Inner Sea as your peers and advisees. You have the kind of success and legend that most mortals can only dream of. You make your home in Absalom, the City at Center of the World, and you are at the center of the City. Children read of your past deeds in the Pathfinder Chronicles and dream of growing up to be like you.
Despite this, the Inner Sea is but a tiny pond on a speck of rock floating in the infinite vastness of the Great Beyond. Even at the heights of mortal power, there are still forces at work in the world which make you tremble at night and lie awake when you want only sleep. Recently you have been troubled by the disappearance of a man you know. The powerful sorcerer Brythen Blood has disappeared without explanation. Blood is High Curator of the College of Mysteries and a Grand Councilman, as well as being a retired Second Spell Lord. He is a powerful figure in Absalom, and his sudden absence has caused whispered rumors to fly among the elite of the city. Whatever your connection with Blood is, you won’t be able to sleep until you can figure out what happened to him and put your worries to rest.
After doing some digging the only clue you’ve been able to find so far is that Blood was last seen in the company of an attractive woman. As you are pondering your next move, your thoughts are interrupted. A distorted voice speaks from the air, "I believe we share a common goal. I have information about the individual you seek. Meet me at midnight in the Dancing Lancer tavern." The spell lets you know intuitively that the message is directed at you, and that any short reply you speak will be heard by its sender.
Knowledge (Local)/Diplomacy (Gather Information) DC 15:
The Dancing Lancer is a Taldan style bar/restaurant located in the Foreign Quarter.
Knowledge (Local)/Diplomacy (Gather Information) DC 20:
The Dancing Lancer has been open for nearly fifty years, and caters to an upper class customer base of mainly Taldan merchants and expatriates. The restaurant is well regarded by the city’s foodies. It’s the kind of place you need a reservation for.
Welcome to With Great Power. React as you will! Do note that gathering info requires 1d4 hours.
"We are rough men and used to rough ways." – Bob Younger to a newspaper reporter following the 1876 Northfield, Minnesota raid.
The Stolen Lands have long resisted attempts at settlement. Situated west and south of Nebraska, in the Dakota territory, the approximately 35,000-square-mile swath of wilderness has a long history of being regarded as “stolen” — from and by whom depending on the point of view. In Nova Roma, the lands are considered stolen from that nation’s northwestern expanse by bandits and savage humanoids. During the Civil War the partially settled lands fell into the hands of monsters and worse as more important matters took center stage for Nova Roman soldiers. From the point of view of the native humanoids, it’s the Nova Romans who are stealing the land from them. Even within the wildlands themselves, lands are stolen and conquered in constant struggles between bickering tribes of monsters, giants, goblinoids, and more, all constantly skirmishing to expand their holdings while not ceding their own lands to the enemy.
You have been deputized as a Nova Roman Marshal by General Paddock Conroy. You were chosen after showing some relevant skill, and a willingness to risk your hide in the wild. You have been promised rewards for good performance. You and the rest of your posse have been charged with exploring, mapping in detail, and clearing for settlement a section of the Stolen Lands called the Greenbelt. You are to assemble at the defunct Fort Laramie (now a trading post), in the Dakota Territory. You were given the following official writ as proof of your duties:
“Be it so known that the bearer of this charter is charged by the Federal Government of Nova Roma, acting upon the greater good and authority vested within them by the office of the Consul Executor of Nova Roma, they have been granted the right of exploration and travel within the wilderness region known colloquially as the Greenbelt, in the Dakota Territory. Exploration should be limited to an area no further than thirty-six miles east and west and sixty miles south of Fort Laramie. The carrier of this charter is a deputized N.R. Marshal and should also strive against banditry and other unlawful behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry remains, as always, execution by shooting or the rope. Native peoples unwilling to integrate into Nova Roma are likewise to be treated as invaders, and killed or driven off. So witnessed on this day, the 24th day of February, 1868, under the watchful eye of Nova Roma and authority granted by General Paddock Conroy of the Department of the Northwest.”
-General Paddock Conroy
The writ is penned on sturdy, expensive paper with an official seal and bound in a durable leather envelope for travel.
The ride (or walk) across Nebraska territory from the rail head in Omaha has taken nearly three weeks. They haven’t been pleasant weeks either. It’s bitter cold and few things wandering on the winter plains are friendly. The sparse shelter afforded by the hospitality of the hardy Nebraskan homesteaders has been the only comfort on your journey. Otherwise it ain't been naught but steaming breath, frozen mud and cold northern wind howling across the prairie, blowing snow into depressingly large drifts. But your journey’s end is near - tomorrow you will reach the trading post, and soon thereafter meet your fellow Marshals.
If you are still reading, then I assume I’ve caught your interest. Here are some more details on this game:
Who: I will be accepting open applications for a period of a couple weeks and then choosing the best 4 or 5 submissions for this PBP experience. I am an experienced PBP game master. If you’d like to check out my other games, I have a list of them in my profile. I am not perfect, but I try my best. I expect adult players who do the same.
What: A combo PBP/Roll20 campaign that adapts the Kingmaker adventure path to my own fantasy Earth setting. Details on the setting can be found in the setting section of the campaign document. I will be adapting the AP as needed to make it fit the setting, but it will be pretty similar to Kingmaker as written. Characters should be built according to the character creation section of the campaign document, at level 1.
I have enacted various house rules to try to give this campaign a certain Western action feel. The maps on Roll20 will feature dynamic lighting, and individual character views for increased realism.
"There is no law, no restraint in this seething cauldron of vice and depravity.” – The New York Tribune describing Abilene, Kansas.
When: Recruitment will last from the time of this posting, until Sunday, November 30th around noon GMT+8. The game will begin shortly after that.
Where: Most of the game will be handled via normal PBP procedures on these boards, but I have created a Roll20 campaign to host the maps, and where we can chat when online at the same time. If we ever get a majority of people on the chat at once, we might play there for a while and then transcribe it to the forum later.
"I have at all times tried to use my influence toward protecting the property holders and substantial men of the country from thieves, outlaws and murderers, among whom I do not care to be classed." -- Clay Allison, in response to a Missouri newspaper which reported him with fifteen killings under his belt.
To make a submission create a character using the rules above and put their stat block in a message board alias. You should format your stats with something very similar to a standard Paizo statblock. Output from something like Herolab is also fine. I have a format for my characters that you can copy and use. Whatever you do, don't break up your stat block into a bunch of spoilers, please! You should also include a description of your character's appearance, and their backstory. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I will monitor the thread closely. Thank you for your consideration.
I've been getting an itch to run a Western genre game. I've been working on some house rules and an alternate Earth setting that has some fantasy worked in. I'm thinking Kingmaker would be a perfect transplant for this setting. It will take some shoehorning, but I'm willing to do the work. Here is what I've got so far:
So, would anyone be interested in this? It'd still be some time until I'm ready to run it. I need to finish off two other games I'm doing that are nearing their endings. So for now, this is simply a check of interest, not a recruitment. Feel free to ask any questions you might have. Thanks for your consideration.
Thisstle will be going on some adventures soon. Thisstle likes to wrestle and cut off longshanks' stupid little faces. She is hoping to get some tips from the "crowd sourcing" she hear about in Magnimar cafe, so writing this for bulletin board. Which longshanks can tell Thisstle how to wrestle like a boss? Thank you and your ugly tiny heads!
-Thisstle
PS:Yes, Thisstle not scared of writing words. She is learning from foster parents that reading is cool and stayed in school.
I'm going to play this character soon, she's based around grappling. I'm looking for any tips or tricks to get my CMB for grappling up that I might have overlooked. She'll be going slayer from level 4 onward. Her stats are in the profile. Thanks!
The world is your oyster. Years as a Pathfinder Society agent have taken you across all of Golarion and beyond, and you’ve had more adventures than you can properly remember. Retired now, your power, wealth and skill have grown to the point that you count the rulers of Avistan and the leaders of the most powerful organizations in the Inner Sea as your peers and advisees. You have the kind of success and legend that most mortals can only dream of. You make your home in Absalom, the City at Center of the World, and you are at the center of the City. Children read of your past deeds in the Pathfinder Chronicles and dream of growing up to be like you.
Despite this, the Inner Sea is but a tiny pond on a speck of rock floating in the infinite vastness of the Great Beyond. Even at the heights of mortal power, there are still forces at work in the world which make you tremble at night and lie awake when you want only sleep. Recently you have been troubled by the disappearance of a man you know. The powerful sorcerer Brythen Blood has disappeared without explanation. Blood is High Curator of the College of Mysteries and a Grand Councilman, as well as being a retired Second Spell Lord. He is a powerful figure in Absalom, and his sudden absence has caused whispered rumors to fly among the elite of the city. Whatever your connection with Blood is, you won’t be able to sleep until you can figure out what happened to him and put your worries to rest.
Hello, welcome to the recruitment thread for With Great Power, a short campaign I’ve devised for execution on Roll20 and the Paizo messageboards. This campaign will consist of the Paizo published modules The Moonscar, followed by The Witchwar Legacy. It will be run in PBP format, with Roll20 used for maps and occasional chatting. For me, this is an attempt to get high level Pathfinder play to work. I’ve attempted it in the past, but without much success. I’ve recently had several other games come to an end, and I have others that will be ending soon. So I’ve decided to give high level play another try.
I’m looking for 4 players with PBP experience and solid posting records (a few hundred posts in at least one game). Also, just for full disclosure, I’m likely to favor applications from players I’ve played with in the past successfully. That’s not to say I won’t take anyone I’ve never played with before, it’s just previously reliable/good players get bonus points.
I’ve been playing and DMing PBPs on these boards for a little more than two years now. If you want to check out my other stuff, just look at my profile. Yes, I’ve had a lot of failed games, but I’ve also had some good ones that are still going or have ended successfully. It’s up to you whether you like what you see enough to invest the time in an application. I usually end games when the players are posting too slowly, or on a few occasions when my RL obligations have increased unexpectedly. Even in those cases, I usually cut the least active games. My current RL situation is stable, and I don’t anticipate it changing soon.
So if you’re still interested after reading all of that, continue on....
Character Creation:
Level: 16
Ability Scores: 17 point buy
Races: Only core and featured are allowed. Don’t bother asking about anything else (including templates).
Alignment: Any, but people willing to help the common good are required. Whether their motivation is the goodness of their heart, a bag of gold, or sadistic pleasure in murdering monsters I don’t really care. PCs must work well with others. CE/CN are the least likely to be selected.
Classes: All Paizo published including archetypes. No master summoners, or synthesists. The wisdom bonus to AC from monk and sacred fist don’t stack in this game. Same goes for anything else the adds the same ability score bonus to the same attribute twice.
Traits: One of your choice + one campaign trait. See campaign trait spoiler below. You may take a drawback for a third trait.
Wealth:You start with 315,000 GP. If you want to craft, sure, but you only get 170,000 GP (if you take any Item Creation feat you start with 170,000 GP). You can purchase downtime businesses/teams/organizations for fluff purposes, but they will not be playing a major role in the campaign.
Campaign Traits:
These traits are meant to represent your involvement with Brythen Blood. They specify some aspect of your character background.
Proud Parent
You are the proud parent of a student at the College of Mysteries. Your child has the great honor of being taught by Brythen Blood himself, due to your own august standing. Without Blood around your child’s prospects for education are decidedly worse.
Benefit: Your motivation for the good of your child lends you a grim resolve the see the quest through. You get a +1 trait bonus on all will saves and the Endurance feat.
Alumni
You graduated from the College of Mysteries in your youth before joining the Pathfinder Society. Brythen Blood was something of a mentor to you, and you have kept in contact over the years.
Benefit: Your training at the College of Mysteries gives you a +1 trait bonus on caster level checks to overcome spell resistance OR a +1 to your caster level on spells from one school or magic. You must choose one benefit when picking this trait, it cannot be changed later.
Bastard
You are a bastard child of Brythen Blood. You didn’t know he was your father while growing up, but he made sure your mother had enough money to provide for you. When you retired from the Pathfinder Society he revealed his identity as your father to you.
Benefit: You received a good education or vocational training. Pick any two wisdom or intelligence based skills, you get a +1 trait bonus on those skills and they are always considered class skills.
Bodyguard
You work as Brythen Blood’s bodyguard. How this came about is up to you, but he pays you well, and it’s usually soft work - good for your retirement. Now that he’s gone missing you’ve been fired. If you can find Blood you get your cushy job back.
Benefit:When an ally is within your reach, you gain an extra attack of opportunity per round for each ally. You also get a +2 bonus to perception checks to avoid being surprised.
Private Muscle
You work as a private investigator, mercenary or some other form of hirable agent. The College of Mysteries hired you to locate and retrieve their missing High Curator.
Benefit:Once per day you may add 1d6 to the result of any 1d20 roll you make, you must declare you are using this ability before you roll the d20.
Your Character: My only requirements for your character's background is that they spent years as a Pathfinder Society agent before retiring, and that they have one of the relationships with Brythen Blood specified by a campaign trait. Other than that, they should have an amount of history appropriate for a 16th level character.
To make a submission please work out their stats and use the following statblock format. You can copy+paste it into your profile and fill it out (though I would recommend a word processor to avoid losing your work). Characters won’t be considered until their stats, description and character background are finished and in an alias on the Paizo site.
Deadline: In order to give me some more prep time and to give people time to notice this and make quality characters, I will be allowing a full month for recruitment. Recruitment will close Wednesday November 19th, 2014. If you have any questions, please ask. I will be monitoring the thread closely. Thank you for your consideration.
I am working on an orc character for an upcoming campaign, and I want to make something a little different. I prefer to play optimized/powerful characters. Obviously the orc lends itself to a sky high strength, a full BAB class, and a two handed weapon. That's been done a million trillion times. I am hoping to go orc, and make an optimized character, who isn't that big dumb brute. I'm willing to try any class. Here are the character creation guidelines:
Level: 1
Ability Scores: 25 Point Buy
Wealth: Average for class
Hit Points: Maximum at 1st Level.
Traits: 1 campaign trait + 1 normal trait (1 drawback can be taken for an additional trait).
Classes: No guns, no gunslingers, no third party. Anything Paizo can be refluffed as necessary. Also, see Alignments section.
Alignments: Any non-evil. All alignment restrictions for classes and PrCs are dropped.
I've been looking at witch (scarred witch doctor), possibly a slumber based build. Does anyone have any other good ideas? Are there ways to optimize around strength that aren't the traditional melee route? Thanks for the consideration.
I don't think it's an issue with difficulty. Plenty of other games (pf1 included if you know what you're doing) can have very tough encounters that aren't also frustrating.
PF2 is rough because it's designed to make you fail individual rolls extremely often. This creates the perception that your characters are incompetent and sucks the fun out of the game.
A better way to add difficulty is by adding resistances and health, rather than AC and saves. That way you get the sense of hitting your enemy, of making them fail their saves, but in the background the effects are reduced. You can keep encounters the exact same length and difficulty but make them far more fun just by increasing the rate while reducing the impact of success.
I had this happen in the Starfinder game I ran. About halfway through, the players were getting really discouraged by how often they just missed (even with SFs reduced AC, the lack of ways to boost attack means you fail pretty often, and enemy saves way outstrip spell DCs). I started paring back saves and ac a couple points, boosted hp and tossed in a couple resistances. Result was that enemies died in the same time, provided the same challenge, and everyone was a lot happier.
Basically, having the "difficulty" be implemented primarily by using RNG (since it depends solely on whether you have good rolls) makes for a frustrating game. Other methods are less painful to play.
Will this discussion fall to trolling? Is there really a need to answer someone who says that "the same stories cannot be told and the same characters cannot exist" because the magus doesn't have "half a dozen intensified empowered maximized dazing shocking grasps a day"?
I'd prefer to go back to the original discussion, even if most of it has already been answered.
Yeah, a super specific mechanical construct within a prior edition of the class is SO FAR from being a "story" that the argument isn't worth considering.
Even I, who is a bit bummed by wave casting, recognize that the vast majority of the *actual* Magus "stories" can be told simply with a Wizard dip.
I mean it's a detour from this topic but magic is certainly less reality defining than in 1st edition. Thematically from an action movie standpoint magus had moved from having a lot of fire and particle effect glittering over their swords to being more like a regular fighter with an outlaw star Castergun that they pull out for the occasional dramatic moment considerably less magical.
Exactly this.
And mechanics are the basis of any good story. The number and effects of abilities a character can throw around is integral to their story.
And here's me thinking that narrative and character were the basis of any good story.
I'd rate them second. For example, if healing potions are a thing and a character dies to suit the narrative while their best friend is sitting right next to them with a potion that could heal them, that's a problem, and it ruins the entire story even if it's otherwise very well told.
Getting back to the original topic though, wave casting feels far, far too limiting. Summoners are martial with less tricks, and magi are either archery turrets or get ruined by action economy.
Will this discussion fall to trolling? Is there really a need to answer someone who says that "the same stories cannot be told and the same characters cannot exist" because the magus doesn't have "half a dozen intensified empowered maximized dazing shocking grasps a day"?
I'd prefer to go back to the original discussion, even if most of it has already been answered.
Yeah, a super specific mechanical construct within a prior edition of the class is SO FAR from being a "story" that the argument isn't worth considering.
Even I, who is a bit bummed by wave casting, recognize that the vast majority of the *actual* Magus "stories" can be told simply with a Wizard dip.
I mean it's a detour from this topic but magic is certainly less reality defining than in 1st edition. Thematically from an action movie standpoint magus had moved from having a lot of fire and particle effect glittering over their swords to being more like a regular fighter with an outlaw star Castergun that they pull out for the occasional dramatic moment considerably less magical.
Exactly this.
And mechanics are the basis of any good story. The number and effects of abilities a character can throw around is integral to their story.
Ehhhh, you can Spellstrike with cantrips all day long and literally never run out.
I'm talking about leveled spells, not cantrips. If a caster is down to cantrips only they're stopping for the day.
A magus who had half a dozen intensified empowered maximized dazing shocking grasps a day, in addition to a bunch of weaker versions and utility spells is not recognizable in the new paradigm. This is an example of how the same stories cannot be told and the same characters cannot exist.
It brings back the 5 minute adventuring day in the biggest way possible. 2 fights, even at high levels, and your spells are done, time to go to sleep.
Also wildly incompatible with the lore. All of a sudden, these magi/summoners who could cast a three dozen spells a day can cast exactly four. It's even more egregious than the break for full casters and martial was. PF2 Golarion is at this point an entirely different universe from PF1, and the same stories fundamentally cannot happen in the two due to the mechanical differences. This was promised by the devs and broken in many ways, but most egregiously here.
In some older versions of D&D, poison use was mostly restricted to evil characters, and was on the list of things that a paladin would leave a party over. I could see some players still having that sort of holdover if they started in those games, even though they no longer apply.
Additionally, nothing in the stealth skill suggests that it works differently with different imprecise senses. In fact, going by RAW, I would have to rule that a stealth check to Hide makes you nondetected by imprecise scent: "it might be undetected by you if it's using Stealth". There's nothing in the feat, the description of imprecise sense, or the description of the Stealth skill or it's actions that would let you autodetect a hiding/stealthing creature with imprecise scent.
A GM could be very nice and say that stealth doesn't apply to scent, but that would be up to table variation.
Which means, imprecise scent (at least from this feat) is specifically only useful in an area of Silence, loud noise (but not strong smells), or if the character has been deafened.
-less spells per day
-short durations
-no automatic effect scaling with level
-DCs are overall worse for properly built mages
-magnitude of effects has been drastically reduced
-utility and skill spells do very little compared to prior version
-many spells were increased in level
-many spells were made uncommon
-metamagic is much more limited, and you can only apply one effect
-shorter ranges
How you feel about these changes is another thing. Some like them. Some hate them (speaking as someone who mainly plays martials or partial casters in PF1, I think they went way overboard on the nerfs). But you can't deny they took a massive hit across the board.
Yeaaaaah, I definitely couldn't stand idea of tracking both cubic volume and weight of objects :P
It would be vastly preferable to this odd system of arbitrary values where nothing means anything and random stuff is way bulkier or less bulky than it should be.
Bulk alone is enough for a hard pass on this game as far as I'm concerned.
I think a better option than Bulk would have been to list out weights and volumes for each item, and impose limits on both instead of only weight. They sort of did this previously with e.g. bags of holding.
That way, everything would still be in logical, easy to use units, and the need to have something other than weight represented could have been met.
Bulk as a system is unusable for me and the games I run since it's excessively abstract for very large objects and the values for big creatures are nonsensical.
If you're open to a little houseruling, the Dark Heresy system has an interesting take on AoEs. Basically, you make an Agility test (reflex equivalent). If you succeed, you move to the edge of the effect as a free action, up to your single action movement range. If you don't have enough movement to make it to the nearest edge of the effect, then you take full damage regardless of your roll.
Of course, the baseline move speed in Dark Heresy is 3 squares as an action, while it's 5 for PF2. Maybe go with half speed as the distance for PF2.
This might get you where you want to be. Just make sure your players are clear on it.
Gonna have to agree with Rysky on this one. If one part of the player base wants to be the "special children" that get everything they want and the designers design specifically for them instead of the wider player base...
Yeah, the game is better off without entitled people like that.
Not liking the game's direction is fine. Saying you wish the devs had gone a different direction is fine. Saying you wish the devs would listen to you and ignore everyone else is toxic.
Seems like an easy distinction to me.
It's toxic to want a game that's tailored to my specific tastes? Isn't that what everyone wants?
If two players spend two actions each to remove one boss action, and the other two focus on just damage, that fight probably becomes trivial.
So players are trading 2 of their actions for one of a foes and that's a bad thing when it costs resources? I thought that's spells/feats were meant to have meaningful effects is the foe fail their normal saves... I don't see it.
It's bad against multiple/weaker foes. It's good against a boss, because their actions are generally worth more than a party member's actions.
Which is exactly why bosses shouldn't be immune to the effects. They're best used against them.
If a boss is as easy to defeat as its minions then what makes it a boss fight?
The fact that it's a/the leader of the opposing faction, aka their boss. If a party went to fight Apple I doubt that Tim Cook would be the toughest one there. But the fight with him would still be the final boss battle. If you're unseating a corrupt king, his best guards are probably stronger than him, but he's the boss.
Even if you're going for a boss who's stronger, his stats are already better than those of his minions. A balor is more likely to make his save than a marilith is, because he has higher stats. He doesn't also need a side rule to protect him.
Excuse me for liking games that I enjoy and being disappointed that paizo decided to make something that's basically unplayable as far as I'm concerned as a followup for my favorite ttrpg. Consider Mass Effect Andromeda or Fallout 76, PF2 is in the same league as far as I'm concerned.
The point is not that you love PF1, but that you love the aspects of it that have traditonally and widely been considered its biggest flaws, and you double down on them.
Yes, because those things are 80% of what makes the game fun to play for me. I wish more people shared that interest.
It's a little bit like a Souls game. Hard to understand and learn all the moving parts when you first pick one up, but rewarding and cool if you stick with it. Paizo could have really leaned into that niche, and made something that was even better than PF1.
If two players spend two actions each to remove one boss action, and the other two focus on just damage, that fight probably becomes trivial.
So players are trading 2 of their actions for one of a foes and that's a bad thing when it costs resources? I thought that's spells/feats were meant to have meaningful effects is the foe fail their normal saves... I don't see it.
It's bad against multiple/weaker foes. It's good against a boss, because their actions are generally worth more than a party member's actions.
Which is exactly why bosses shouldn't be immune to the effects. They're best used against them.
I feel like Sherlock's problems with 2E aren't design problems, they're design goal problems. 2E was designed with some particular goals in mind which run counter to Sherlock's ideal experience. (examples of these goals are: reduce the difference between optimized and unoptimized characters; Move a lot of optimization/strategy away from character creation and into combat; Reduce caster/martial disparity).
For me, a lot of these design goal are perfect and I believe 2E pulls off a lot of what it sets out to do quite brilliantly. For me, 2E has kept all the good stuff from first edition and removed the stuff I hated.
For players like Sherlock however, playing 2E might be like trying to use a lemon juicer to peel a potato. No matter how good the juicer is at juicing lemons, it will still be lousy when faced with that task.
I'm actually on board with reducing caster/martial disparity, but it should have been done by elevating martials Tome of Battle style, instead of nerfing magic into the ground.
Or are you expecting they should have the most versatility and equal effectiveness to a specialist - the Jack of All Trades and Master of All Trades rolled into one character?
I'm pretty sure that's exactly what they're expecting, yes.
sherlock is a strategist. They've talked in the past about how building and constructing characters is the most important and intriguing aspect of the game for them. The act of playing out the character is less the point in this method of play and more a way to test the concept, with the goal of absolutely annihilating any challenges put before it.
You ever seen those competitions where people build and program little robots then have them run courses or smash into each other? The act of building and programming is the main challenge and the actual course is just a way to test the efficacy of the design.
I will note that I always put a great deal of effort into writing up a backstory and then having my character act accordingly. I just do it after I've designed them. The RP aspect is enjoyable, even if it is secondary to the build and strategizing.
That said, I usually get tired of the character eventually and then let them die off so I can try out a new one. And I'm never upset when they die naturally in the course of things.
I swear gray you look for the worst possible side to of something to be on then fully commit.
I've posted with someone before that used classy = elegant [pleasingly ingenious and simple] before so maybe my perspective is different.
Vidmaster7 wrote:
I'm personally completely fine with the incapacitation rule.
I'm fine with them in the same way I was fine with spells HD capped in PF1*: I didn't take them and skip right past them when I see the tag. So here too I can see sherlock's perspective. There are less slots to go around in PF2 with top ones at a premium, then you add that most heightened spells tend to be inferior to spells actually of that level... It's a tough sell for me.
Secondly, the affect that warrants such a tag seem scattershot: Cloak of Colors [1 rd blind/stun] is hardly the encounter ending spell like Phantasmal Killer [dead].
* now I did take them in PF1 if I had a way to replace them later: my 5th+ level sorcerer isn't going to keep Daze as a cantrip...
Eh I don't know I felt like the tone was pretty clear to me anyways.
Are you looking at it from a player perspective then? Because Since I primarily DM I feel like it will be super helpful but I guess if you look at it from a player perspective maybe I can see wanting the option to just end combats. Also on a critical failure it's still pretty bad even with incapacitate isn't it?
No, I spend about twice as much time in the GM seat as I do playing. Critical failures are unreliable at best; that's why I would avoid both incap effects and any of the cantrips with crit fail effects.
Did everyone, including sherlock, forget that this was a thing in pf1? There wasn't a trait for it but numerous spells and abilities only worked against certain HD numbers, which is basically the stand in for level.
Same reason I never took those spells unless there was an ok effect above the HD number.
Seems like an odd decision to go whole hog on the least interesting spell mechanic and sacrifice the actually cool ones, like usable durations.
1) it was an insult, telegraphed by the “useless” beforehand.
2) the abilities aren’t useless in the slightest, you can still use them as you go by you using higher level spell slots.
They are useless if you have to burn the higher slot. You literally cannot cast them at the level they're made for and get any value out of them. You have to usurp a higher level spell slot. I thought we wanted to make low level slots more useful, not less so.
And even then, the cap being double the slot level means that against anything with any real power the spell is wasted. As in, against the things you would most want to affect with said spell, there is no point to casting it.
PF1 spell due to caster level scaling had better damage, duration and range. So even if you only knew a few you could do a lot with the right spells. A great example is Fly.
** spoiler omitted **
Movement and utility spells were deliberately restricted for the sake of story telling purposes, not some mechanical balance issue. That was a change for the sake of adventure designers and being able to have skills be a more meaningful choice for players for a longer period of time. Having spells just cover everything that skills can do, only better was a design flaw of D&D.
No, it's good design. There should always be multiple solutions, and there's no reason you shouldn't be able to use magic to accomplish mundane tasks. What do you think real wizards would use magic for? Making their lives easier. Doing things magically so they don't need the physical skill or ability. Getting around with a minimum of effort and time. That's what needs to be supported by magic, before we even think about chucking fireballs and summoning walls of ice.
Unless your universe is like warhammer and magic is likely to just screw you over completely, your storytelling has to take that into account. PF1 spells were well designed, PF2 spells are lackluster at best.
And their solution was to make the abilities useless by level capping them.
An ability you can readily use on a high percentage of the foes you fight isn't 'useless'. They made them less useful, certainly, but hardly useless.
sherlock1701 wrote:
Classy.
Could you maybe not be a giant dick to people just because you disagree with their game design philosophy? That'd be great.
sherlock1701 wrote:
Incapacitate was a bad idea and never should have been added. "But they might stun the boss". They sure might, and that's never a bad thing. One shotting is ok.
Part of the design goals was pretty clearly to make single foes of higher level a legitimate and scary threat (which they often weren't in PF1). Rebalancing around that involves reducing the odds of this. It just does.
The two steps back in design this edition wasn't my fault. It happened despite my objections. I reserve the right to critique commercial products.
It's because otherwise, individual bosses get pretty screwed by SoD effects, since a whole party can theoretically hit them with four or five of them. Odds are they'd fail at least one Save in that situation. And that's pretty anticlimactic and not a tactic they want to encourage.
The same applies to PCs, quite frankly. Let's take the example of 8 Basilisks (a Severe but not Extreme encounter) vs. an 8th level party. Most 8th level characters will have between a +11 and a +16 on Saves. At DC 22 to Save, lot of PCs would probably get petrified there if incapacitate didn't apply.
Now, Ghouls in particular should maybe not have the trait given their standard role in encounters and the general weakness of their paralysis, but that's a specific issue with ghouls rather than one with the Incapacitate trait.
And their solution was to make the abilities useless by level capping them. Classy.
Incapacitate was a bad idea and never should have been added. "But they might stun the boss". They sure might, and that's never a bad thing. One shotting is ok.
I think a lot depends on how you run games and perceive the world as players.
For example, in games that I run, class abilities and spell names are known things in character. People know that a spell is 'cure light wounds' or 'bladed dash'. People know a gunslinger has grit. Spells are codified in books by their level of power.
In my current setting, spell incantations are subroutine calls to a set of goddesses that interface with the world through complex thaumaturgic computers. I've written up a little bit of language for the computers and incantations.
Class abilities changing or disappearing if you run a world like this is of significant note if you have an ongoing campaign. People would understand that teleportation, once freely available to all mages who trained enough, was suddenly restricted. Weapons that used to work one way suddenly function completely differently. Magic items and spells that used to work together in harmony suddenly no longer function the same way, and now the strongest one overrides the others.
I like characters in game having that level of "meta" knowledge. It makes sense to me that they would understand how their world works. It also means that an edition change is virtually impossible unless I write a whole new setting, or majorly time shift the one I have.
I'm not sure how "want to autosucceed" isn't wanting an easier game.
In fairness to sherlock1701, he appears to want a game where making a character who can auto-succeed is a game in and of itself. One like PF1 where character creation is full of bad choices as well as good ones and you need a certain degree of system knowledge to achieve such a character.
I think that sounds hideous, personally, and suspect the majority agree with me, but I wouldn't call it an easy game.
Well apart from the bad choices part the ability to design characters to auto succeed at tasks is possible, if you make the game easier by uniformly adjusting dcs down by about 4.
Problem is that maxing out your roll in PF2 is too easy, there's no challenge to be had then.
One of my favorite characters was a fighter built around armor spikes with bull rush and overrun - it took something like six or eight hours of digging through feat interactions and whatnot to come up with something really effective and powerful, that could succeed most of the time and deal heavy damage.
The fun was in spending all that time rooting around the rules to cone up with a character who was as good at something as they could be. I don't really see things like this ever being possible with the way PF2 is designed. It's too easy to max your roll and pick your options. There's little joy to be found in a game that gives you the best possible character without any major effort.
I feel sherlock's game play style should be supported (guidelines in the gmg for making the game easier for example) but that doesn't mean I support the intent behind his posts.
I don't want an easy game, I want the challenge in a different place.
I dunno John, this is a person whose stated goal on the forums us to spend his time trying to make pf2 seem as bad as possible so it fails and they make a pf3 he personally is happy with. I think most people would agree that such an approach can only be detrimental to the community (and company) as a whole.
Thats...not at all what I said. I don't "hope PF2 fails". I want a PF3 that's better. Paizo has to stick around for that to happen. What I did say is that I'm being vocal about my complaints in the hopes that future versions (or this version, though I realize that's unlikely) will improve.
I honestly don't know how you could have gotten that I hope PF2 fails, or that I'm somehow 'out to destroy the community' from what I have said. Yes, it's not the game I hoped for and it is disappointing, but my aim is to make the next one better, not make this one fail.
Only disarming on a critical success is definitely in line with how other major debilitating actions in 2E work, and I would say it's a good decision. I certainly wouldn't want to see a return to combat maneuver specialized characters who always use their one preferred maneuver, under all applicable circumstances, which might well happen if you could get a disarm or restrain result on a normal success.
The Success effect only impacting further disarm attempts, instead of applying a minor penalty to the target is a less sound decision, I think, and not in line with other options.
Why do you have a problem with people specializing and being good at what they do, and then using their best skills at every opportunity? That's how it's meant to be played.
What I wanted from PF2 was an evolution on PF1 with even more options and depth. What I got instead was a completely different game with little depth by comparison. So yes, I am disappointed in PF2, which is why I am particularly active on the boards here as opposed to other systems I dislike, which I largely ignore.
What in the world do you hope to achieve by posting regularly and extensively about a game you clearly dislike?
I mean, seriously, you're constantly running down a game other people are (kinda definitionally) here to enjoy. That's just unpleasant for everyone else, and I can't imagine it's super fun for you either, so why in the world are you doing it?
At least one of the following:
1) PF3, if and when it is released, winds up being more in line with my tastes
2) They release an 'unchained' book with more palatable rules
3) They significantly overhaul the system in the next printing
The first two at least have a decent chance of happening. It isn't fun, but it's necessary to be constantly heard to be taken into account for future plans. I'm doing everything I can to push towards a shift back at some point.
Now it seems like you have a general disregard for the design philosophy of PF2 and probably are better off playing another game, but do you spend as much time on other product message boards disparaging them for not catering to you as an audience? or do you feel particularly betrayed by Paizo because you found PF1 to be the exact game you loved and no one wants to play it with you anymore because it is not the new shiny thing?
If that is the case, and you can't find PF1 tables to play at near you, I suggest you look online because, last I checked, there were still lots of people playing PF1 on Roll 20 with open spots for new players.
More or less this, PF1 is the perfect game in my opinion. I had very high hopes for PF2 when I first heard it was announced, which were subsequently wiped during the playtest, and I'm even more disappointed by the final. I put in a fair bit of feedback during the playtest, and my thoughts were clearly ignored (the only big change I see that I wanted from the playtest is items having HP instead of dents).
What I wanted from PF2 was an evolution on PF1 with even more options and depth. What I got instead was a completely different game with little depth by comparison. So yes, I am disappointed in PF2, which is why I am particularly active on the boards here as opposed to other systems I dislike, which I largely ignore.
Online play just doesn't do it for me unless I already know the people I'm gaming with. I much prefer to sit at the same table.
It's not at the expense of anything. I know of 0 fighters who would want the buffs on them to last for less time.
I know of 0 fighters who given the choice between being awesome because he is inherently good or being awesome because the wizard decided to offload some low level spells onto him will choose to need the wizard.
Ah, so we should just delete all the buff spells then, I see. Nobody would ever want a buff, given the choice between having one and not having one.
I think a great houserule is adding "per level" to the duration of most spells with an hour or less duration. Shoulda been that way RAW, but here we are.
It's a great houserule if the intent is to make it so that spells that are written to last a single encounter instead last many encounters as you get further up in levels.
By which I mean it's a terrible houserule.
I mean it's bad if you hate magic. If you like spells with durations being actually relevant it's good.
I think a great houserule is adding "per level" to the duration of most spells with an hour or less duration. Shoulda been that way RAW, but here we are.
BTW what happened to all the Evil-detecting low-level Paladins in the setting ?
Lorewise Detect Evil was a pretty advanced ability that not every paladin even had, so its new placement matches up with that.
Detect Evil was literally a lv 1 ability for default Paladins. Any Paladin that did not get it at lv 1 (or some other point) was most likely using a Paladin Archetype, of which only a little less than half replaced it.
So can you PM me where that lore is from?
But other wise that was not the question, it was not about all Paladins regardless of getting Detect Evil; It was just about the ones that did get it.
I said lorewise, all the novels that have Paladins have Detecting evil be something they get late as an advanced technique, it's not the first thing they pick up as a Paladin, that's usually smite.
That's goofy. Why would you write a novel if you don't know the basics of the class you're writing about? If a paladin has detect evil at level one, then that's what they get in the book. I detest authors (like Salvatore) who use a system to sell their work but don't even follow the most basic of mechanics in their narrative.
I feel like they should have used the rune system for shields like they did with weapons and armor. It would be similar to how they worked in the past and avoid this issue entirely.
I would personally have liked a much more granular skill list than PF1 (maybe 50ish skills plus knowledges) and a lot more skill ups. But instead we went the more nonsensical route.
I also hate Perception not being a skill anymore. You should need to invest in it, and should be able to invest in it (the general feat that levels it for you doesn't count since it stops at Master).
Yeah page 264 does spell out that you have to take a back pack off before retrieving an item but it also says that it takes 2 hands to change your grip by removing one hand from an item, which would require at least 3 hands total. I appreciate the intention of having clearly spelled out rules about aspects of the game that cause confusion in certain situations, but some of the attempts to do so seem to add as much confusion as they clear up.
@Shroub - I have been talking about wands because wands are the primary subject of the OP and the focus of the thread. There has been a separate side discussion about the price of consumables, which does bear some relevancy to the cost and availability of wands, although it is also true that the cost of scrolls is cheap enough that it fits your 1/15th model of consumables to permanent items, and I can see casters being fine with taking the time to craft the occasional scroll for a spell they don't believe that they will cast 10 times over the course of their career.
The world value of potions should be raised over scrolls by quite a bit, because the point of potions is explicitly how they make magical effects available to those without magic. It is absolutely a convenience cost and will inherently make potions less valuable to a Party that has ready access to magic. However, the resale/scrap value of increased level potions will get pretty high, leading them to make exceptional theft bate, but it won't set in at lower levels so most tables will probably never notice it.
It seems incredibly clear to me that the intention of being able to dissemble magic items for essentially the same cost as selling them is so that a character the dedicates resources to crafting does not have to spend going to the big city for 5 days selling their "raw materials" items and rebuying "raw materials" items but can instead just get started making what they want. Rarity was definitely the intended mechanical filter of PC purchasing/crafting power, not random charts of availability,...
You don't need a backpack at all really. "I carry all my stuff in my pockets" works fine, since there's no listed limit for pocket capacity of clothing. Heck, you could affix hooks to your clothes and hang your stuff off of them without impeding your movement in any way.
I sense a hard derail barreling towards us and would like to preemptively ask everyone to focus on the topic at hand (real world economics should definitely be taken to a different topic thread.)
On the subject at hand, it's important to note that PF2 intentionally divorces character and NPC progression. It is (theoretically at the moment) entirely possible that you could have a 2nd level character who is e.g. Legendary in baking with an unexpectedly high skill modifier. They didn't go out and live an adventuring life and progress in that manner, but they did practice, master, and ultimately reach the highest degrees of functionality in that skill. Similarly, you could have that same character be a level 2 combat challenge, because it's fairly easy for an armored adventurer to take out a baker in a duel, but a level 18 challenge in a baking contest, because their skill in that very narrow field is equivalent to what a level 18 adventurer would be capable of (though said adventurer would also be highly proficient in a great many other tasks as well.)
I might also put forth the idea that the new dynamic works much better from a "realism" perspective in that it doesn't require NPCs who are supposed to present very specific higher level challenges within a given field to also be capable of grappling dragons into submission just because they're supposed to be super good at making cake.
So if I'm creating a level 1 starting character, a 700-year-old elf who's been a baker since he was a youth of 70, why can't I start as a legendary baker? For 630 years, all he did was bake, bake and bake some more. Yet he can't make anything better than a 15-year-old human adventurer who was a baker for a few months. Both are trained, with a +1 from level, plus whatever their ability mod is.
You say this is better from a realism perspective, but there's still an obvious problem.
Agreed, though the one good use for them I've seen is to be a True Strike battery. Low-end staff of divination, spend a slot to double the charges, and go ham with attack roll spells. Not much other value in them for a prepared caster, but I guess one spell slot per day is nice.
Houseruling away the one staff limit seems like a viable solution, at least partially.
That sounds awful. Who fantasizes about being the Wizard who carries around a barrel full of staves? That's what you'd expect from a parody, not an actual game.
I suppose I'd prefer to be the wizard who has enough spell slots and a wide variety of prepared options. Running out seems pretty lame. If that means a barrel of staves, so be it.
Staves now are kind of like what pearls of power used to be. An extra spell slot or two. Not my fault it's a big stick instead of a tiny gem now.
there's simply no reason why a crafter, would choose to craft a potion over a permanent item unless he wants to lose money for no apparent reason.
What if the crafter only happens to have the formula for a potion and not a permanent item? That's the point, the techniques to make magic items aren't commonly known.
The entire rarity system would beg to differ.
The crafter simply goes to the local blueprint shop and buys the wand formula. It's common, so anyone can find it easily enough.
Agreed, though the one good use for them I've seen is to be a True Strike battery. Low-end staff of divination, spend a slot to double the charges, and go ham with attack roll spells. Not much other value in them for a prepared caster, but I guess one spell slot per day is nice.
Houseruling away the one staff limit seems like a viable solution, at least partially.
Lore is useless because there are no strict guidelines for how much easier it will make things. Invest in the real skill instead.
Look at DC charts and go from there.
If there were a rule such as "an appropriate lore makes the check two steps easier" or "reduces the DC by 5", then it would be useful to invest in lores that might come up often, like engineering or architecture (taking Lore(bakery) would still be pointless in all but the most contrived scenarios).
As it stands, the table variance (and individual check variance) will be so broad as to make the value of the lore skill completely arbitrary and unknown, meaning that you should invest in the general skill instead since it does more and you will have a better idea how useful it is.
