KingsTears's page

I've pulled out TableSmith again. I used it back in the FR days extensively to generate more interesting mundane, but so valuable jewelry and art treasures. And books... and so many fun things. Did I neglect to say that I'm a treasure junkie?

I've built my Religion tables, Calendar tables, and my Language tables are just about done. However, I have this nagging feeling I might be missing something. So, if you have an interest and basic understanding of tables, please let me know what you think. The numbers are the chance of each item to be rolled; the brackets tell the program to move on to [another table].

Please keep in mind that the languages are to go into treasure tables; things that are written. Some languages, like Drow Sign, are left out on purpose.
Thank You!
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# Generates languages with leaning to Human, Dwarven, and Elven
;Language
40,[Language Common]
2,[Language Ancient]
9,dwarven
9,elven
5,orc
4,gnome
4,goblin
4,undercommon
3,draconic
3,abyssal
3,halfling
3,infernal
2,celestial
2,sylvan
1,aquan
1,auran
1,druidic
1,giant
1,gnoll
1,ignan
1,terran

# Generates modern languages from common or exotic tongues
# Osiriani is the most common language of Garund
# Hallit is almost never written, Tien and Shadowtounge are rare
;Language Common
5,[Language Exotic]
45,Taldane
7,Osiriani
5,Kelish
5,Polyglot
5,Shoanti
5,Skald
5,Varisian
5,Vudrani
3,Hallit
3,Tien
2,Shadowtongue
1,Orvian

# Languages taken from Dragon Empires Gazetteer, the Beastiaries,
# and Into the Darklands. Languages with no written component
# were dropped. Draconic and Celestial with the prefix Tien to
# denote Dragon Empires languages. The prefix Darklands was
# added to denote Darklands sources.
;!Language Exotic
4,Dtang
2,Hon-La
5,Hwan
3,Minatan
6,Minkaian
3,Senzar
7,Tien
2,Nagaji
2,Samsaran
2,Tengu
2,Wayang
2,Tien Draconic
2,Darklands Dwarven
2,Darklands Elven
2,Aboleth
1,Boggard
1,Tien Celestial
1,Cyclops
1,Dark Folk
1,D'ziriak
1,Grippli
1,Sphinx
1,Treant

# Generates lost tongues and ancient languages "Ancient"
# Dwarven, Elven, Draconic, and Serpentfolk are simply made up
# to add variety and re-add languages that have been around more
# than 10,000 years. Likewise, Abyssal, Infernal, and Celestial
# were active languages. Old Kelesh and Old Taldane are
# inventions to give flavor for things 2,000-5,000 years old.
;!Language Ancient
15,Ancient Osiriani
15,Jistka
12,Azlanti
10,Tekritanin
10,Thassilonian
8,Ancient Cyclops
5,Ancient Elven
5,Ancient Dwarven
5,Ancient Draconic
3,Abyssal
3,Infernal
3,Celestial
3,Old Kelesh
3,Old Taldane
2,Orvian
2,Ancient Serpentfolk

Use something like this "cheat sheet" for combat: Troll in the Corner's Guide to the Pathfinder Combat Round (it's a free download) http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=85969

Also, I'm fond of Perram's Spellbook for making easy cards http://thegm.org/perramsSpellbook.php

or using something like the adVance Spell Sheet if you want all your spells on just one or two pages: http://sourceforge.net/projects/scoreforge/files/sCoreForge%20Spell%20Sheet /

Having your actions and spells easy to reference makes the combat much faster. If I had an easy reference for the conditions, I'd drop you a link for that, too!

I use many sets of dice and roll all of my attacks and damage together at the same time. Matching the d20s in color with the damage dice. I do this when I'm the GM and when I'm the player. If I have many creatures (like when I summon monsters as a player) I will start rolling out the obvious attacks while the player before me in the order works out his turn. I note the AC I hit if we haven't figured it out, and total all the damage against the opponents. I save my character's action for "my" turn and resolve it with the GM's full attention, then move all the summoned monsters on the map and give the AC and totals.

We also are in the habit of announcing our "move" and "standard" actions ((I move 1, 2... 6, and I use my longsword for my standard melee attack)) or our "5'" and "full round" actions (("5 foot step here, and full round attack with the claws and bite)). Because we all say this out loud, new players catch on quickly to the pattern and there is a little less confusion overall.

Mostly, speeding up combat is a matter of listening to the player's intent and asking for a roll with a DC/AC/CMD in mind. If you can count moves quickly, you can point to the end point options on the map and that sometimes helps, too. Comes down to practice, practice, practice.

Mud. Don't underestimate the humbling power of mud. It's really easy to make, slows PCs down. So if a PC were to, say, pull open a trap door that is chained to another that has mud behind it... well, light sources would go out (mud covers the magic, snuffs torches), it might damage them (it's heavy), and, if there's enough, it might just suffocate them. It would get in and on their gear, making it heavy, increasing encumbrance or forcing them to leave gear behind. I'm sure there's so much more an evil person could think of.

I like to have preprinted cardstock Name Tents for the players. I have them set up to be tri-fold with blanks on 2 sides (if they are just to the center of the table the players next to can't reference them):

Character Name:_________________________
Character Race & Class: ________________
Player Name:____________________________

Fold to make the triangle, and then a little 1/4 inch lip on the unprinted side and you don't even need tape. Remember to pull out the markers to write so you can see the names.

This is so that I and the other players, can speak to each other in character and refer to the other characters with ease. My focus tends to be out on the table, rather than behind the screen. Names where I need them is a plus, and frankly, I can't remember them all.

You wouldn't believe the difference in play when the players talk to each other in character and cue each other to use their common class abilities.