Commoner. I can do anything I want, without being confined to what people think I should be just because of the name of my class. That must be why there are so many commoners in Golarion! /Brain 'ESPLODED
One of the more successful games I've GM'd is a Star Wars RPG. We've jumped systems twice - we started in Saga edition, which just didn't work for what we were doing, jumped to a prototype system I'm building (which worked much better than I actually expected it to), and for the last relaunch, shifted to a modified Pathfinder. This last shift has actually been wildly successful at giving us the feel we were looking for, which is admittedly more EU than the core films - our games are not very action-heavy. Still: it's a cool world with some very interesting themes to play with, and the PF rules have worked pretty well for us. @LazarX - Star Wars: Legacy is what made me want to run a Star Wars game. No doubt.
Playing with someone who is inebriated will lead you to this place. (caveat - unless everybody's doing the same thing i.e. "Hey, we're all drunk - let's play Risus! Who's had the most to drink? Ok, you're GM'ing!") It sounds like you have a case of vastly different social expectations - you guys expected to play Pathfinder, your friend expected to get drunk and troll you. Make sure to align expectations next time, would be my suggestion.
To that note, Penetrating Strike when you can get it. Punch that DR in the face.
UMD wands should work this way too. Cure Light Wounds gun - it's a trust-building exercise!
Yeah, your Bard is really going to shine in this group - I'd suggest everybody pooling resources to get scrolls & wands for your Bard. This way, you've got options when you need them. The above-mentioned wands will be literal life-savers. Scrolls of situationally useful things like Detect Secret Doors, Comprehend Languages, Ghostbane Dirge, Delay Poison, Versatile Weapon, Remove Curse and so on. Scrolls are everybody's friend. Battlefield control will rely much more on quick thinking and creative use of the environment than traditional approaches like the Wall spells. Having said that, this can be quite a lot of fun: In a tavern? Flip tables - hey look! Cover, difficult terrain - make archers sad at you, and melee classes unable to charge. Fight a war of attrition. In town? Well, the fruit vendors aren't going to be happy. But you will! In a dungeon? Dungeons have corners! Make them come to you - use the stone walls etc. to your advantage - set up ambushes. With ambushes, it really is better to give than receive! Basically, your play style might shift more toward a "Jagged Alliance" or "X-Com" type of turn-based combat - this can take a little longer, but is quite fun. Conversely, that many combatants + Bard = Happy Fun Violence Time.
Hi, my name is Killstring, and I have a problem. In the Council of Thieves game that I play in, the party Monk is by far and away the most optimized character. ... Did we do something to make god angry?
Bewildering Koan could be fun if you waive the prerequisite of being a gnome. "You can pose unanswerable questions that leave creatures momentarily dumbfounded as they dwell on their significance." That sounds like a super-bureaucrat power to me :)
Might not be a bad idea to go farming for ideas in systems that play with this. White Wolf's World of Darkness did a lot with the concept, as lists like this one illustrate. Some of those elements are designed to apply to Vampires and the like, so your mileage is likely to vary. Idea mining aside, one of my favorite takes on this concept is the misleading madness - think Hamlet, who may or may not be mad, but either way, he's not the kind of mad that he presents to the court. Example:: The Countess Braebant is a soft-spoken, sentimental thing, somewhat touched as many of her line are. The memories of her noble lineage run strong in her, to the point where she will see a glint of something in a young squire's eyes that awakens in her the memory of a love long gone, having perished centuries ago. This one has the eyes of a young heiress' favorite lady-in-waiting, this other fidgets with his hair just so, just the way his great-grandfather did, and so on. A sentimental thing, but sweet in her way, and likely harmless.
This, of course, is utter BS. The Countess Braebant knows full well of her lineage's reputation for eccentricity - and so she makes good use of it to indulge in her actual madness - the need to utterly ruin the lives of others. She takes slow steps over time, hiding behind the ruse of the harmlessly mad seeress, while advancing her own cruel games, one chess piece at a time.
In general, unless you have a specific thing you're doing, I've found that multiclassing is often suboptimal in PF. You can get some good saves out of the deal, but with Bards, Magi and Cavaliers, they're all going to miss those class levels. Honestly, if there's something you had in mind, I've found Archetypes will generally accomplish what we tend to think Multiclassing should do. CAVEAT: if the game is going to stay relatively low-level (capping at 6-8 or so) then ignore the above advice - Multiclassing is awesome and will make you a versatile, high-save beast.
Your Paladin guide was spectacular and polished. You've set a high bar for yourself - i'll go over the guide and lend my feedback.
I completely understand that one might occasionally need to drop off the face of the world every now and again. My suggestion, is pre-empt that shame with proactive communication. If running the game starts to become more of a burden than a joy, talk about it. Maybe reduce the amount of time spent on it before it becomes an insurmountable problem. Additionally, talking about these things upfront makes it easier when they come up. I'll use myself as an example:
Now, if I join a PbP, and everybody's aware that stuff might come up, if/when it does, we can have a conversation. Since everybody was aware of this beforehand, we're hopefully not surprised, and can come to a workable solution together. While not a perfect solution, it's a good step towards making everybody - including you - happier and better able to deal with things. I hope that helps. :)
Spiked Chains are not reach weapons. Glaives & Sheyln are both pretty awesome for support. Calistra & Whips are both pretty awesome if you're looking to mess with folks. Edit: also, Sheyln picked up the glaive in interesting fashion, so the company actually makes a bit of sense. @Set - that's quite a gallery there :)
If you've got a decent Charisma, there's a whole suite of Intimidation-based feats that work very well with your "Devastating Damage" concept. Cornugon Smash (Chelix-based feat, ask your GM) - get a free chance to demoralize when you deal Power Attack damage. You will be dealing power attack damage all the time - make the most of it. Dazzling Display - full action, 30 foot demoralize bubble. Dreadful Carnage - As Dazzling Display, but get that 30 ft. demoralize bubble every time you drop an opponent. Shatter Defenses - You know how we're demoralizing everybody? Treat people who're afraid of you as flat-footed. Never miss again. Deadly Stroke - You know how everybody's afraid of you? And how that makes them flat footed? As a standard action, take one attack at them and double all the damage. This should remind everyone why they're scared of you. Rinse and repeat :) |
