Kerbouchard's page

Is Ustalav the best location to relocate the 3.5 mega adventure Expedition to Castle Ravenloft on Golarion?

That seems the logical place to me. I intend to run it at some point and that's where I've planned to base it.

Overall it works okay at lower levels but as you get into mid-range it quickly collapses. Essentially you might as well not even have it. When you're fighting larger enemies they bypass DR due to size, so that's very much an issue. Magic bypasses it.

Spiking damage becomes far more important than any other. When I played with it (because I really like the idea) I had a player that used two-weapon fighting that did almost no damage at all every round against the tougher enemies.

The weaker enemies could only do any damage to those with the heavier armor by getting a crit.

I houseruled that magic armor kept its DR against magic and gave dodge bonuses the lighter armor you used. That helped some but honestly Pathfinder just isn't set up for the system. It might work in a low-magic, low-level setting but other than that...not really. And my players almost universally hated it.

I've GMed a game for several months in which we've used the DR system. Most of the players are okay with it, or don't care either way, and one downright hates it.

There are things I like and dislike about it. I've always liked the idea of DR while wearing armor as it just makes more sense to me. I know, I know, its supposed to be abstract but I've always liked it.

A single boss creature can survive more than a round or two using the DR system, so that's fun.

You hit far more often in this system as your defense is very low. On the one hand it lets players hit more often and feel like they're actually accomplishing something but there's the drawback that they're not doing a great deal of damage either. Some people like hitting more often just because they get to hit, while others don't mind missing more often and doing lots of damage when they do hit.

Two-handed fighters are even more powerful in this system as they spike a single jolt of damage that allows them to do more actual damage once the DR is subtracted. This system basically hoses a normal two-weapon fighter as they might hit three times but are doing only one or two points of damage each time.

As you get into higher levels you end up encountering creatures that are large enough to bypass your DR. So the enemy never misses and does horrendous damage to you but while the whole party is whacking at them the actual damage output if quite low.

Energy damage is almost a must in this system as it allows you to bypass DR. Two-weapon fighters find this basically a requirement to do any damage.

The Crit system is just...wonky. We end up having to pause at each crit to try and remember exactly how that works. So that's a pain.

Overall its an interesting idea but I think it just doesn't quite work. We've given it a shot but I think the cons outweigh the pros for it and I'm going to have a chat with my players. I think we'll end up reverting to the normal system.

Happy to hear an update on this. No one is playing a Monk in any of my games but if I run a NPC Monk I'll use your changes to see how they work out.

Kerbouchard

We don't have access to Stoneskin at this level. Its possible I can get my hands on a scroll but I have a failure chance in casting it.

Magic Missile I considered but I'm pretty sure he had a Brooch of Shielding.

Buffed we should have a decent chance to hit (I'll be up around +16 or so). I'm not sure if he's got Crane Wing or not. Dispel Magic is a good idea and I'm sure we'll throw some of that in there to help bring his abilities down.

EldonG, the problem with the Monk is he has trouble hitting and doing damage. If a target has any sort of DR that kills Monk damage output. Their maneuverability and high AC makes them harder to kill, though. When they're three or four levels above you that helps them and makes their Stunning Fist actually a danger. Any of us would probably have a 50/50 chance of making the save against it. And of course in the hands of a DM dice rolls can easily be fudged in the favor of the Monk! Heh.

We should be able to pick our time to attack so I'm hoping we'll be able to pick terrain in our favor. I'm sure he'll have minions to deal with as well, though. Pinning him down will be the hardest part.

Standard Monks the SR hits at 13th level which is why I'm pretty sure he's not 13th because he's had magical things affect him. Possible the attacker got over his SR but I'm thinking no.

We don't have access to Greater Dispel or Antimagic Zone. The Antimagic would kill our defense and damage output as well. I've considered True Strike (which can be handy for a Magus) and we can Haste. Slow would be a good idea as well.

Kerbouchard

I'm assuming in the end it will come down to us beating on him, but, I'm just looking for anything (spells, magic items, etc) to give us an edge. He will definitely be hard to hit but I'm sure we'll have time to buff to help with that.

As for Aram Zey's Focus, its really only a stopgap measure. When we run into traps they're usually spaced out and as limited as the Bard is with spells having him able to cast other things would be more useful (and he has a 7 wisdom so spotting the traps in the first place can be a problem). Honestly our group doesn't play super optimized characters for the most part so even losing a level of spellcasting I do quite well. And the extra class skills from Ranger don't hurt.

Stone Call is an interesting option. I'm thinking of using Frigid Touch on him. I'm assuming he has no SR as he's shown no indication of it so I don't have to worry about that side of things. With a special blade my DM gave me in loot when I keen my scimitar I crit on a 13 so I have a very good chance of Staggering him for a full minute.

Terrible Remorse could definitely be helpful as well as it gives us a round to get into position even if he does make the save. I'll mention it to the Cleric.

Thanks for the ideas, keep 'em comin'!

Kerbouchard

So our party had been hired to take care of an undead threat that had been plaguing this town. A NPC was sent along with us to make certain we did the job.

Long story short we took care of the threat and then the NPC collapsed the tomb in on us to trap us inside.

Obviously the party is none too pleased by this. So, we know the NPC is a Monk (or at least primarily Monk) but we don't know his exact level. Given what he's done so far he's probably in the 10-12 range. He seems to have a high AC in the upper 20s and is rather tough overall.

Our group had now leveled to 8 and will have a month of downtime to create magical items and weaponry and the like.

I play a Magus 7/Ranger 1 (we have no rogue so I took the Ranger archetype for trap finding), we also have a Cleric 8, a Bard 8, an Inquisitor 8, and a Paladin 8 (although we have yet to play a game with all of us there at once, usually we manage 3 or 4 of the 5).

This is a NPC who had been a thorn in our sides in a previous campaign with different characters so now that he's once again proven to be an evil SOB to this set of characters we're all rather eager to kill him.

With a month of in game time to plan I fully intend to spread some gold around to gather as much information in character about him as possible but at the moment I don't know a great deal.

I'd love to hear any suggestions or ideas for giving us an edge against the guy!

Kerbouchard

Thanks. Interesting. Ah, well, just one more thing I have to houserule.

I got to use the app in an actual gaming session Saturday. Really, really like it. The fact that I can pop on spell effects and conditions is absolutely wonderful. I picked up an iPad Mini for this app alone. I'm not an Apple fan and until now have only used Android tablets. I prefer smaller tablets but have even considered getting a full sized iPad now that I've seen how useful the app actually is!

The only problems I've had are some custom files not working. Had two custom loads from the community files that crashed out the program. Said something about file had already been replaced or something. Not a big problem as all of my custom content works perfectly (or at least it has now that I figured out how to get my .user files on there.)

There is a FAQ on the haste issue. They say you don't get the bonus attack from Haste when doing Spell Combat. No mention of it being unintentional nor any planned change. Imagine that, when concentrating on both swinging a weapon and bending reality to suit your whims, you can't spare much thought to added defense. Verisimilitude-shattering, I'm sure.

Link? I didn't see it on the FAQ I found.

<totally different rant>

WHY NOT THE Surface RT AS WELL?? <SOB SOB>
</end totally different rant>

That's even less likely than Android. Windows RT is way behind the curve on just about everything and a relatively small minority use the OS.

I had looked at the Sohei, but the ability to Flurry with other weapons kicks in later than I'd wanted. It also throws extras in for a mount which I'd not wanted.

Other ideas?

So I'm running a homebrew game in the next couple of month in which the flavor of the kung fu style monk doesn't really fit. Rather than just drop the class outright I was thinking of an archetype that would make the class more of a skirmisher type. I have a few ideas on the matter but wondered if anyone on the boards had come across anything similar or had interesting ideas about something of that sort.

I'd say drop Stunning Fist, extra unarmed damage, Wis to AC, slow fall. Game will top out at level 10 so I don't have to consider beyond that.

Proficient with light armor (medium as well?) and able to use Monk abilities in said armor (fast movement, flurry, Ki abilities). Stagger things out so it isn't just a dip to get Flurry? Add in some (or all) Fighter combat feats as bonus feat selections. Drop his speed bonus by half? To keep him still viable as a mobile fighter add in an option to spend a Ki point to flurry as a standard action?

We'll be playing with a 15 point buy which is rather low for a monk. The armor would allow him to drop his Dex down to lower levels than usual. I'd thought about altering things to tie Ki points to Con rather than Wis as well.

Worth doing? Could be fun to play? Forget the whole idea and stick with standard classes with no Monk at all? Input would be greatly appreciated.

The only things that grant Bane that I can think of off the top of my head aren't spells. There's the Inquisitor ability and then there's the Bane Baldric.

ngc7293 wrote:

I find it odd that most of this group finds it okay for a Paladin to go through a city and Detect evil on every person in it. There have been articles on this subject and the consensus is that it is poor role playing to go around and Detect Evil everywhere you go.

Why? Why is this poor roleplaying? I'm not detecting evil on every person in the city door to door, I'm detecting evil on any person i actually interact with.

I personally see nothing wrong with this. I wouldn't consider it any poorer RPing than a Wizard using Prestidigition to clean his clothes.

As for being able to detect if the Paladin is using Detect Evil the above discussion that was linked to does make me wonder... Nothing as obvious as hand waving, but maybe some kind of sign?

Honestly I could go either way with that. The point that perhaps a spellcraft check could identify what you were doing is an interesting one.

Kerbouchard wrote:

"A paladin can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds."

No need to continue concentrating on a subject as it gains you nothing extra.

As a general rule, if you're only interested in one person, yes, he's done after a full round.

But still a full six-seconds (Standard action to activate, Move action to concentrate on person in question) where you suddenly "drop out" in an obvious enough manner that someone who wanted to would get a free attack against you.

Actually stare at someone for a slow count to six sometime. See if they don't get nervous.

Ah, you read it as a standard action to activate and a move action to concentrate. I read it as a move action only and the Detect Evil of the Paladin is slightly different from the normal version of the spell. Interesting. Has there been any clarification of which is correct?

Malachi Silverclaw wrote:

Universal Monster Rules wrote:

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp) Spell-like abilities are magical and work just like spells (though they are not spells and so have no verbal, somatic, focus, or material components). They go away in an antimagic field and are subject to spell resistance if the spell the ability is based on would be subject to spell resistance.

AoO are provoked because you let your guard down, not because they know what you're doing! The only thing they know is that you let your guard down, not why you let it down!

You let your guard down, and did so in a manner which your opponent knows he can take advantage of (or do they not understand why they decided to attack you just then?). No, he doesn't know why you suddenly aren't defending yourself properly, but (and I know, RAW doesn't explicitly say this) there must be some observable feature to which the attacker reacts. If you can spot it in combat, when you've got to focus on so many other things (like keeping your own guard up), then you can spot it in the middle of town.

He doesn't know you're using Detect Evil, but he does know you've done something out of the ordinary, even if it's just drifting off.

Not to mention that you still have to spend a standard action each round actively concentrating on maintaining it, which should also generally be a perception check away from being obvious. Again, not that you're using a specific spell like ability, but that you're distracted, not really paying attention to the person who's talking to you, or staring. You know, being generally rude.

"A paladin can, as a move action, concentrate on a single item or individual within 60 feet and determine if it is evil, learning the strength of its aura as if having studied it for 3 rounds."

No need to continue concentrating on a subject as it gains you nothing extra.

There's no reason you can't Detect Evil on anyone you come across if you like. Its not obvious. Its a spell-like ability. "A spell-like ability has no verbal, somatic, or material component, nor does it require a focus. The user activates it mentally."

However just because the NPC registers as evil doesn't mean you can just haul off and attack it. There are laws against that after all. Just because you know someone is evil you can do nothing about it unless they break the law. Doing so will get you arrested or in trouble with the local guard/police force.

Also a character "acting with evil intent" pings as evil at the time but doesn't necessarily mean they ARE evil. So if you randomly attack them you could end up losing your Paladin powers as your god gets ticked off at you.

And of course there are lots of ways to avoid pinging as evil even if you are.

So...all in all its not a magic "I can kill you" spell.

If you ready an action you can attack when they first attack you but you can only ready a standard action so no full attack.

If you delay your turn you can't act until AFTER they have finished their turn so they would again be stealthed before you could attack.

I too would like to see the E6 ruleset you've got. I'm considering running a low-magic E6 game soon.

Since the rules are so murky on the subject I'll simply submit how I've houseruled things in my game.

Fighting defensively using Crane Wing and a two-handed weapon is obviously fine. At the end of the turn as a free action you take one hand off the weapon to be able to deflect an attack with Crane Wing.

You are then attacked and the attack is deflected since you have a hand free. I allow two-handed weapons to be used in one hand with a -4 penalty to attack and obviously you don't get the extra damage for holding the weapon in two hands. In my games you could do that or punch instead. Since I classify shifting hands on a weapon as a free action that must be done on your turn so you cannot switch to a two-handed grip on the great sword to make an AoO with it.

I only allow grip shifting on your turn. It seems very reasonable and takes a huge slice out of the cheese of wanting to have your cake and eat it too.

My group keeps pretty close tabs on weight and encumbrance. Muleback cords are our friends. Most of the time a character has a set of those. I've put lesser versions in there for that extra little boost you need but don't want to pay for the full power set. Of course if the weights of weapons and armor and many items weren't unrealistically heavy then we wouldn't need the cords as much!

We have an assortment around our gaming table. Personally I primarily use my Galaxy Tab 8.9 but also use my Evo 4G LTE for the times I don't want to haul my tablet along. Additionally various players use an ASUS Transformer, an iPad1, an iPad2, and then two players have Kindle Fires.

Please, please publish any apps you do to the Amazon App Store as well because unless rooted the Amazon tablets only have access to that app store!

I doubt you're going to find a different answer on these forums. As a DM I would certainly NOT allow you to use these feats the way you want to. They're obviously meant to be used with a melee weapon. No group I currently play with would let you get away with using them as you suggest either.

Our group uses them and we really like them. Some of the more harsh ones we tone down a little when they happen to player characters.

We also confirm critical failures the same way we confirm critical hits.

Played a game where another player wanted to play a Pixie. This was in the old 3.5 days and the DM used the Savage Species book rules to let her play. Had a few changes but overall worked alright. Was a fun character.

I wouldn't mind allowing this. I think I'd go with the attack roll plus size mod that's been mentioned. I think using your standard action to try and defeat a single ranged attack coming at you is a more than fair trade off. Plus its just darn cool if it works.

And suddenly I have the urge to make a Christopher Walken pirate...

Yeah Armor Kilt isn't that great... till you realize that it can hold an armor bonus all it's own.

Had a fighter run around in plate mail +3, an armor Kilt, +2, and a Heavy steel Shield +2.

Gm wanted me dead so badly.

Actually the devs have already said this wouldn't work. Add a kilt to an armor and it becomes that armor with kilt so you can only enhance the armor overall and not an individual piece. As he said it would be like trying to add an enhancement to the studs on studded leather armor. Doesn't work. Plus you can never add a kilt to plate anyway. So...your GM was right to be upset on this one.

Alright so I'm having some problems with the armored kilt in one of my games. A player was looking to add a kilt to a breastplate which is fine by the rules. I hadn't thought much about the kilt before and looked it over...and a breastplate with an armored kilt is superior in almost every way to half of the heavy armors.

Splint mail is 20gp cheaper but the max dex is worse, the ac penalty is worse, the spell failure is worse and its heavier!

Banded mail is 5 pounds lighter but costs more, the max dex is worse, the ac penalty is worse, and the spell failure is worse!

The field plate doesn't even beat a breastplate and armored kilt combination in any category!

So why would anyone ever wear any of these three armors when you have the breastplate and armored kilt combination?

The Developer Notes bookmarks led to nothing in the last version of the PDF but they seemed to have disappeared completely in this version. No bookmarks, no notes. I'm rather disappointed, I was looking forward to reading those.