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I know asking for information/advice about the mining techniques of a fantasy setting is like... PEAK nerd... But how do people mine the more fantastical materials? I feel something like adamantine, with it's DR and ability to ignore harshness being hell on the tools, would require a lot more than Dwarven gumption to extract.
While I did notice that there are references to Goblin's love of fire, tendency to sing and the use of the Dogslicer, with the change to Goblins becoming more civilized, have Goblins given up on some of their old beliefs? Namely, that writing steals words from your head or that a horse's hooves will steal your soul? One of my favorite details from the We Be Goblins series is that the Goblin Alchemist's formula book uses pictographs rather than words.
Quick Background: We are currently playing the Dead Suns campaign and to say things have been difficult would be an understatement. The campaign already wiped the first party and recently, we escaped by the skin of our teeth against a difficult encounter and only after getting a full rest and heal were we able to overcome the encounter, against by the skin of our teeth. We completed book 4 of Dead Suns last night and we are now level 9. I need recommendations on what we can do to our party to help so that every fight isn't a near wipe. Party: Minotaur Solarion, Vesk Soldier, Vesk Technomancer and a Kalo Mystic. The Solarion and Soldier are both primarily melee fighters, the Technomancer and Mystic are primarily skill monkeys (between the two of them, all skill checks are generally covered), the Technomancer does ranged damage while the Mystic has become somewhat of a heal bot. And as you can probably tell, we aren't exactly optimized. We have some time before we reach the location of the next book, so we can craft items to help. Thoughts or suggestions on things to help prevent the inevitable wipe that will surely come?
First off, just want to say I love almost everything in the play test. Good stuff. The one thing I don't like is a pretty minor change. Silver is supposed to be the standard coin unit. Players start with silver, the down time work tables award silver and the equipment tables are in silver. But then, the later tables in the book (alchemical items, magical items, etc) are in gold. I wasn't entirely certain if they were typos at first, since some items were surprisingly expensive when they cost gold. (Alarm trap is 20 silver, when it's basically a string with a cowbell on it, the same price of a Great sword). I would like if the tables used silver all throughout. It would make it just a tiny bit easier to read.
I had an idea that I wanted to discuss about a class with a different type of resource management. The idea is for a class similar to a Barbarian, but instead of a rage mechanic that last x number of rounds, the idea is a Fury mechanic similar to WoW or Diablo that increases and decreases throughout combat. Class would have good bab, good fort/ref, poor will, D12 hit die and light armor prof. Their main mechanic is: Fury: Starting at level 1, a Berserker gains a Fury Pool equal to their Con. Mod. (Minimum one) + their level. A Berserker gains a point of Fury every time they hit an enemy with a melee or thrown weapon or whenever they are hit by an enemy. So long as a Berserker has a single point of Fury in their Fury Pool, they receive a +1 Morale bonus to Attack and Damage rolls. This bonus increases to +2 at level X (and so on and so forth). In addition, many of the Berserkers abilities are fueled by Fury. At the end of every round, the Berserker loses 1 point of Fury. Ironhide: Starting at level 1, So long as the Berserker has a point of Fury in their Fury Pool, the Berserker gains Damage Reduction 1/-. This damage reduction increases by 1 at level 5 and every five levels after (to a max of DR 5/- at level 20). Fury Powers: starting at level 2 and every even Berserker level afterwards, the Berserker selects a Fury Power. Fury Powers require Fury to use and many require you to spend points out of your Fury Pool. (I only have a few ideas for Fury powers. Names obviously subject to change)
Just a thought. I thought it would be interesting for a class that had a more interactive resource pool feeling their abilities and the idea came to me. The Berserker is obviously similar to the Barbarian, but I think different enough that they could share the same battlefield without being redundant. And I think that while that Barbarian is stronger (the Berserkers bonus would always be half of the barbarians at the same level) I would think a Berserker could potentially last longer because their power keeps going so long as the Berserker keeps fighting. So yeah, that is my idea.
Because I cannot wait until August to find out the answers, I wanted to speculate and question the details of the Gap. An undisclosed period of time where the entire universe has amnesia and something went down. While I won't debate what happened (yet), I wonder what the initial events following the Gap were. For instance, was the Gap a total and complete amnesiac event? Did people forget their spouses, their jobs, even their names? Did entire political landscape have to be rewritten right then and there because no one could remember what it was like before? Is it possible that some person awoke to find themselves Kings because their clothes were the best in the group? Did wizards (technomagi) have to learn spells from scratch, scientist rediscover the laws of the universe and more? Were languages suddenly forgotten? Or did people still have a vague idea? Maybe they knew how to fly a ship but no knowledge of when they learned. A dozen alien languages rattling in their heads. A connection to the person in the room with them. Or is it just a loss of history. Full knowledge of their skills, capabilities and relations but a total lack of knowledge how they arrived in their current situation?
I know a lot of people dislike prestige classes for different reasons. Either they weren't worth it mechanically or their bonuses didn't compare with going 20 levels in a single class or that archetypes for the most part get rid of needing to wait 7+ levels for the benefits a prestige class might offer. But I still think they are really cool and I'm sad that they haven't had any support in what seems like forever. Especially if it had some really great flavor behind it, like the Hellknights, Riftwardens or any of the Pathfinder prestige classes, or if they had a really awesome theme, like Dragon Disciple (I do still see a Dragon Disciple on occassion in PFS, although they have mostly been replaced with Bloodragers). It was just kind of fun to me to work towards some kind of goal or to see a player get really invested in an organization and get access to special training. I understand why they are no longer popular (Archetypes are much better in nearly every way) but still. There is nothing stopping a player from taking a prestige class, but very, very rarely do you see it happen.
Tomorrow, my core group of players and I are gathering to discuss a new campaign and I was going to propose a setting that I have been working on for a while that I can only describe as Victorian Fantasy. Not to be confused with Steampunk, which gets a lot of its themes and motifs from the Victorian era, but a setting that I imagine as 'if Lord of the Rings continued for a few hundred more years'. I have been working on it for a bit and several of the players I have mentioned it to seem to like the idea. This would almost certainly be a 'Firearms Everywhere' setting and while Paizo did an awesome job, I just generally dislike the rules for Firearms. I even posted a few weeks back asking for alternative rules and while I got a few suggestions, I wasn't that pleased and decided to go about making something else. I wanted to post them here and get some opinions on them and tweak them, should this campaign come to pass. Penetration
I could have sworn there was an armor enchantment that protected against bullets, but I can not locate it. If there really isn't, then I would add an armor enchantment that either either gives the armor a minimum armor bonus (As in, even if a character is using an elephant gun with armor piercing rounds, this armor can not be reduced below X) and/or an armor that can not be reduced at all. (Note: I am still researching generally era appropriate firearms, so the examples used are just generic 'Old west' weapons. Also, the numbers are going to change as I do more research and find out how powerful these weapons were. For instance, the Penetration of the Colt .45 is based entirely on that one scene in a Fistful of Dollars where the badguy can't shoot through Clint Eastwood's breastplate. Although, in retrospect, I can't remember what gun the badguy used.)
If Character 1 is wearing a Breastplate and Character 2 shoots him with a Colt .45, Character 1 only gets a +2 to his AC rather than the normal +6. If a moment later, Character 3 shows up wearing only studded leather (a duster, of course), he loses the +3 bonus to his AC, but no more since the Penetration can not reduce armor below 0. Reload
Gunslinger
Deadeye (Ex): At 1st level, the gunslinger can resolve an attack against touch AC instead of normal AC. Performing this deed costs 1 grit point per range increment beyond the first. The gunslinger still takes the –2 penalty on attack rolls for each range increment beyond the first when she performs this deed. (Because firearms no longer completely negate armor, the Gunslinger can spend a grit to complete ignore an enemies armor for one attack.) Lightning Reload (Ex): At 11th level, as long as the gunslinger has at least 1 grit point, she can reload a single firearm as a move action once per round. If she is using a cartridge, she can reload a single firearm of the weapon as a swift action each round instead. Furthermore, using this deed does not provoke attacks of opportunity. (Because I wanted to keep reloading as a Full Action, the Gunslinger would be the only class that could reload faster than a full round.)
If that title doesn't grab your attention, I don't know what will. Yeah, but no, this thread will be discussing very sensitive topics such as race and racism in gaming. I hope that we can all be mature adults and have a discussion about this topic without without it devolving into a cesspool. I am happy to say that in terms of pathfinder, I believe there is little in the ways of racism. Elves and Dwarves share pints at taverns, Tieflings join crusaders alongside Aasimar and no one bats an eye when a Linnorn Kingdom Viking ends up in Tian Xia. This might be my own view, having run a large number of pathfinder society adventures and adventure paths, but the circumstances of your birth are rarely, if ever, a factor. And on the rare occasion when it is, the character being openly racist is always the villain. I haven't read every PFS adventure or adventure path, but this has been my general experience. But this has not always been the case. In classical fantasy, the races usually dislike each other at best, openly hate each other at worst. The Elves and Dwarves always have an ancient feud, halflings are distrustful of the big folk and humans and orcs both seem to think "they aren't us, so they are bad." In some fantasies, the races might get together for the greater good (Lord of the Rings is a great example, where working together led to the defeat of Sauron and a new golden age) while in others, even in the face of almost assured destruction, they will fight each other (Warhammer seems like this, although, I know they sometimes team up). So, my question is this: which is better? Of course, a significant part of that relies on your table and their own maturity about such things. But assuming all is equal, which table would you prefer to play at? The table where racial equality is a thing might seem like they obvious choice, but it might seem silly and contrived. After all, people in the real world often find minor reasons to hate others, such as supporting the wrong local team or being born on the wrong side of what is basically an imaginary line that we have invented. If those people are also longer lived, were magically inclined or one of the other many fantastical reasons to be jealous of, then it might seem strange that everyone gets along. As compared to the alternative, it certainly seems better. But at the same time, it is a conflict that players can not overcome with weapons and spells. Conflict is what can create interesting stories and players and even educate people about prejudice. I have even seen this in one game, where a white player created an African American character during a world war 2 campaign. Both the GM and another player helped emphasize the mistreatment of African Americans during this period and while the player later admitted that he learned a lot, he stopped playing that character because the situation made him uncomfortable and frequently upset. Another situation, I had three of my regular players (all female) turn down joining a campaign set in the 1920s because they felt bring female characters in this time period would be terrible. A situation that I never thought about while designing a game with zoot suits and magical mobsters. In fact, the entirety of this thread could replace race with gender, but "fun with gender slurs" didn't have the same catchy title.
About a few weeks ago, I saw a rather beautiful picture on deviantart and upon seeing it, knew I must create this character for PFS. ( This is the image, in case you too want to be inspired. ) I have been working on a few ideas and the one that I have decided to take a shot at is a Mesmerist who is focused almost exclusively on debuffs. Basically, the first round of combat would be Dazzling Display (followed up with the swift action Hypnotic Stare on whatever looks scariest). Assuming I pass (Intimidate checks aren't really that hard to make, I have discovered), then generally most things have a -2 to most rolls for at least a round, with something scary suffering -4 to a Will save (which hopefully a fellow Pathfinder will use to their advantage, assuming I myself won't be able to take advantage of next round). Following round could be used targeting that scary guy with some Save or Suck, another Dazzling Display or making use of a whip to either disarm or trip. I am a bit uncertain as to which I would want to focus in and I have seen plenty of people claim that both maneuvers are kind of worthless. You can't disarm a lot of threats and after a certain level, a lot of enemies have flight, so tripping becomes a lot less useful. I am also a bit concerned about the 3/4's BAB limiting the usefulness of said maneuvers, (even if a whip grants +2 to disarm checks). So basically, tl;dr version:
Thematic stuff that most people won't care about but I do
Spoiler: I haven't sat down to flesh this out a whole ton, but the basic background is the character was born to the owner of a traveling circus and she has trained with many of the people, including the Ring Master (her father) and the Dire Lion Tamer (the show's main event). She would have a few thematic skills to emphasize her background (Perform: Oratory to get the crowd excited, Handle Animal for making animals do tricks, etc.) and maybe a trait, although I haven't seen one that fits the background yet. Unknown to her or the other performers, her father had obtained some relic that caught the attention of the Aspis Consortium and during a show, the Aspis tampered with the Dire Lion (illusion spell or dominate animal or whatever) and it attacked and injured several people. In the confusion, the Aspis took the artifact. The circus was dismantled and without a home, she wanted revenge on the Aspis. She approached the Pathfinders, known opponents of the Aspis, explained her situation and offered them the artifact if they helped her retrieve it and get justice for her friends.
I find it interesting that in our hobby, we often craft these vast magical worlds full of fantastical locations, brilliant histories and powerful magics, yet these worlds are always populated by humans. Humans with pointy ears, short humans with beards, humans with horns or a halo, human humans. Of course, many settings have unique historical and cultural differences between Dwarves, Orcs, Tieflings or Halflings, etc., but when you boil it all down, the world is run by humanoids and everything else is just a monster. For a long while now, I have wanted to run a campaign that, while still having humans as one of the selectable races, would replace the other standard fantasy races with totally unique choices. For example, take Middle Earth. It isn't just populated by Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs. In addition to Ents (which still follows the "Humans with Blank" formula, this being Humans with trees for limbs), Middle Earth is also populated by the Eagles and Spiders. Because of the movies, most people either don't know or have forgotten that the Eagles were a sentient race with their own ruler (Gwaihir the Windlord) and lands where they dwell. They weren't just Summoned Monster VII. They didn't just fly the Fellowship into Mordor because they feared the Mordor archers and siege weapons, just like they feared Gondor's. They weren't mindless beasts, but people. Now imagine the dynamic shift for a game if one of the players was a sentient eagle as tall as a man. Imagine how that world might have evolved differently if Humans, Eagles and Spiders commingled in such a way as standard fantasy settings might have Humans, Elves and Orcs mingle. The change in mechanics and setting seem very exciting to me. There are already creatures in the various bestiaries that are sentient races, capable of taking class levels if a GM customizes them. What I would like to see is a book, similar to the Advanced Race Guide, that introduces a series of very non-standard and unique races to the game. While it might have common monster types in it (such as a more balanced Centaur PC race), add other races and options. It would need a section dedicated things like magic item slots or how certain race might interact with certain items (To use the Eagles as an example again, they lack hands and can only grasp with their talons. Many items designed for humans might be totally useless to them and even simple things like a quill and paper might be outside their abilities.) "But Koujow, why not just use the race creator in the Advanced Race Guide or just post something in the Homebrew section to make them?" Well, mostly because not only am I terrible at building balanced homebrew material but I also don't feel myself terrible original. (See how I used only Eagles as an example for proof of that) Paizo has created a lot of interesting and fun stuff that is more balanced than something I might come up with. I am also uncertain how to approach some of the grander mechanics (see magic item slots or interaction between items not designed for your race). I also hope that others might see an interest in this as well and give their own opinion or views. If enough people think it is interesting, you never know, in a few years, there might be a new book. (I await your call, Paizo. ;D ) TL;DR -Less humanoid races, please
A player asked me about changing the rules for Bleed effects for a future campaign so that he could make a character that focuses on Bleeds. A lot of people dislike Bleed and don't think it is very good. I can understand their argument (after all, many player builds can often nuke enemies many times their CL in a single round, who cares about 1d6 per round) but my group usually plays more thematically and less optimized than a normal group. Is it a terrible idea to change the rule to all bleed effects stack? Or even create a simple feat along the lines of "You may choose a number of bleed effects you cause on an enemy equal to your Int. mod. Those effects stack." (worded better, of course) be a better idea? I kind of like the idea of a character who kills people with a thousand paper cuts.
I did a bit of searching through the suggestion forums and the search function, but I was hoping someone might be able to direct me either to a thread or even a 3PP product that present alternative rules for firearms. I have an idea in my head and I want to research if someone already did the mechanical work for me or if I would need to start from scratch.
I have been playing my Aasimar paladin on and off for a long while and she is level six at this point. Tonight during pfs, I discovered that the Bloodrager does not have the alignment restriction that barbarian does and a while back, I thought about multiclassing to help with the Crusader filled with righteous fury concept that I play her as. But I decided that it wasn't worth it. But with Bloodrager, I could better fulfill that concept by taking the celestial bloodline. I would get the ability to rage, boosting my decent damage and a couple decent powers, but I would lose out on future paladin powers and would be stuck with pretty much zero spells my entire career. Thoughts? (Because I'm sure it will come up, I've been playing this character since long before they removed Aasimar as a racial option)
I was uncertain who to contact about this and I figured this would be the best place to start. Up until recently, I worked for a nationwide book retailer and it always seemed strange to me that the local game store seemed to have Paizo products on their shelves a week or two prior to us. I knew that all new books had dates placed upon them that prevented us from selling them prior to that date. According to my boss, anyone who sold the product prior to was subject to fines and even loss of their contract with the publisher and the rules were there to make sure all retailers had an equal advantage once the books came out. Even though I changed jobs recently, I still shop at the book retailer because it is 20 minutes closer to my home than the game retailer and I preordered Occult Adventures from them. It was estimated to come in later in August, once the store received all copies. (I believe August 15th?) Later that day, I happen to be in the area and stopped by the game store and they had copies for sale. This was on August 2nd. After speaking to ex-coworkers, they suggested I at least mention it to Paizo. I know that Paizo was selling copies at GenCon and perhaps gaming retailers receive their inventory earlier, but if not, then I think this is kind of unfair practice by the company and possibly a breach of contract with Paizo (If they follow similar contracts to the larger chain stores). I am being generally vague about this because if I am totally off base and this is all legitimate, then I don't want to create any kind of negative backlash with either company. If I am correct, however, I will provide the additional information.
A friend of mine recruited me to a new game and I rolled up a Barbarian while another player rolled up a Skald. I got excited, but the GM isn't certain about the interactions between the Skald's Inspire Rage and my own Rage. The exact scenario we discussed and debated is as follows. Combat starts. The Skald Inspires Rage and my Barbarian goes off to smash. Two rounds later, my Barbarian needs to use one of his activated rage powers, so he must use a round of his own rage to activate it. The Skald continues to Inspire Rage because others in the party still benefit from it. Following that round, does the Barbarian need to continue use his own rounds of Rage to avoid fatigue or can he go back to using the Skald's Inspire Rage, at which point he will become fatigued once the Skald stops. I argued that the Barbarian is still raging, just from different sources and that it all counts as a single rage (also preventing rage cycling) while he believes that they are separate powers and that if I don't maintain my own rage, I will become fatigued. The campaign hasn't started yet, we were just discuss the mechanics.
A bunch of friends recently joined PFS and want me to play with them, so I have to make a new character. I want to make something a bit different and I feel like I have never seen anyone in Societies play a priest of Pharasma, so I figured I would give it a try. But I am having some trouble figuring out how to build them. Having several other characters, I know the undead are a pretty common enemy, so a character with a passionate hate for the Undead would be useful. I am just uncertain if I should build him as a Cleric, an Inquisitor or a Warpriest. All three can let me play a very front line fighter with support abilities. Also, the divine casters are in low demand in my area, so I know a lot of tables with benefit from the spells. Any thoughts on what I could build or which would be more fun to play? I'm not looking for full builds, just ideas or suggestions. Bonus points to anyone who can help me figure out how to wield a scythe. I had originally planned on using it until I realized Pharasma's favored weapon is actually a dagger. And mostly because it would be kind of awesome, not because it is any good. (Although that x4 crit looks nice...)
I picked up the Skull and Shackles pawns yesterday and much to my sadness, I realized they didn't come with stands. Because I am silly, I didn't read the back that pointed this out in big, bold letters. So I decided to also pick up a Bestiary Pawn box (because those do come with stands) and I was wondering if there were any suggestions? I am debating between the different the Bestiary Pawn boxes and the NPC Codex Pawn boxes. Either way, the new pawns can be used to diversify or add encounters, so I am kind of wondering which one might be best.
I have been debating the pros and cons of running a campaign using the 'Guns common' option. This means guns are common enough that they are considered marital, not exotic, but they are still not advanced guns yet (although such weapons are in design and might become gear at higher levels). Armies are transitioning from traditional soldiers to musketeers, but some nations are still using bulk classic troops. Etc. What my question is, has anyone run a campaign with either guns common or guns everywhere rules? If so, how did it change your game? Did everyone go the gun route? Or did some martial characters choose other paths? I am obviously not a member of the 'guns don't belong in fantasy' club. I think a fantasy setting similar to the American Civil War, Victorian England or the Wild West could be fun. But if pathfinder falls apart when these rules are introduced, then I will probably not.
This thread may contain minor spoilers. I am going to be generally vague about my spoilers and not mention any specific scenarios, but others might. When I first started playing PFS, the guy who introduced me to the game described the Pathfinders as "A Guild of Indiana Joneses". That sounds pretty cool! I like Indiana Jones! Punching Nazis in the face, finding ancient treasures and rescuing villages from evil cults? Sign me up! But after a year and a half of Pathfinering, I feel like if Indiana Jones was in Golarion, we would be the nameless henchmen that he fights. I think the Pathfinder Society are the bad guys of this story. This isn't "well, it is a matter of perspective" or "The Pathfinders are morally ambiguous". This isn't even me being/playing a Lawful Stupid person. I have a variety of characters that have seen, partaken in or been told about straight up villainous activities. In my PFS career, I have been an accomplice to or at least been told about: -Kidnapping nobility (on several occasions)
I feel like if I go through my chronicle sheets, I could find a dozen more horrible, terrible things that we have done that I am opposed to. "But Koujow, you could have chosen to not do those things or stopped the players who did!" You would think, if I wasn't being blocked by the players, if not the GM. Take the 'Protecting the Necromancer' scenario above. According to the GM, this Necromancer bought slaves, murdered them, then reanimates them for the purpose of selling undead slaves. I was playing my Paladin at the time, but I find that horrifying as anyone not a sociopath should. So even though the Necromancer had something the Pathfinder Society wanted, I suggested to the party that we terminate his business. At the very least turn the guy in. The players were generally up for it, until the GM said "Oh, well he has to survive the scenario to fulfill the secondary condition. You need to make sure these other guys don't kill him." Afterwards, I told the GM that I needed to spend my prestige on an atonement spell because I had obviously done something that opposes both my characters and my beliefs and the GM brushed it off and told me not to worry about it. I wanted to play PFS because I wanted to be a hero. I don't necessarily mean I wanted to be Superman and the bad guy is a mustache twirling psychopath. But for every village I saved from bandits in Tian Xia, I have committed a dozen other crimes. Funnily enough, when I wrote that last sentence, I had to stop and think for several minutes about good things that I actually have done. And the only reason we helped the peasants in Tian Xia was, surprise! They had a magic artifact that we needed. Not because it was right or because it is something a group of heroic people should do. Because it benefited the Pathfinders. (And one player in the group still suggested we just force the peasants to do it and leave). I joked with some friends that when I go to Ohayocon and play Shadowrun Missions, a game about being shady criminals who do questionable things for money, I feel like more a hero than I do when I play Pathfinder. In Shadowrun, I have rescued people from murderous gangs, gave children medicine and took a bullet for a man who was legitimately trying to help people. And the worst thing I have done in my (admittedly limited) Shadowrun career? I took down the internet. In an empty waste land. For 10 minutes. But in six Shadowrun scenarios, I have done more good than I have in 50+ Pathfinder scenarios.
I recently brought my Paladin out of my 'retirement' (It has been about six months since I played her last) and I would really like to find a way to give her angelic wings. She is a level 6 Aasimar (Yes, this was pre-restriction of Aasimars) and so far, as far as I am aware, the only two things I have seen are Wings of Flight (which I will not have the fame to purchase until far after the normal limits of PFS) or to take Angelic Blood/Angel Wings (which will give me wings at level 11 for the final level of normal societies. Is there anything I may have missed that can help complete that angelic image?
I rolled up a Ninja for PFS tonight and if I enjoy him, I might play him for a while and I was contemplating building him towards Shadowdancer. I played a pregen Ninja a handful of times in other PFS scenarios, so I have a general grasp on the class and its abilities. I kind of like the Shadowdancer prestige class and it's abilities, but I am also concerned with the feat/skill tax required to get there, although I actually kind of like Mobility. (I have used it in other games to intentionally provoke AoO's so that other characters and casters would be free to do their thing) Do you think it is worth it?
This is one of those logic vs rules kinds of question. Owning a pet iguana, I know that temperatures merely uncomfortable to us can be deadly to a lizard, but a friend and I were debating if this translates into the game in anyway. I could not think of any kind of special rules related to cold blooded animals, nor if they begin to freeze to death more quickly than warm blooded animals. But then again, we know they do. The conversation began when I mentioned to them that I would like to play a character with a dinosaur companion one day and he mentioned that would suck since so many adventure's take place in mountains or tundra covered lands. Of course, one could cast Endure Elements, but it is besides the point.
Note: This is not a conversion thread. Obviously, that would go in a different forum. This is about a concept and build that shares similarities with the Juggernaut. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I have had the same thought time and time again when playing games like Pathfinder. "Man, if only that wall between that bad guy and I wasn't there." Since battles never seem to take place in big open fields with nothing to stop my axe/arrows/animal companion, it seems to happen a lot. Maybe the villain ran into a building for cover or there was rubble to hide behind or the enemies God Wizard got to act before your God Wizard and now there is just nothing you can do but run through the mousetrap that the GM has set up for you. And I am sure that a lot of you have had this problem before, as well. So, I had an idea; lets just go THROUGH the wall. The general idea behind this concept is this character would be an Anti-God Wizard. Not that he hunts down the God Wizard, but that he is Battlefield Destroyer. Anti-Control. Enemy had time to set up Phalanx? He overruns through it. Your guys can't get shots off? He pushes enemies into the open. Enemy is in cover? He destroys that cover. He is the Juggernaut. Alternative names include the Kool-Aid Guy and Miley Cyrus. (Get it? Wrecking Ball?) I've been doing some research, but generally I am terrible at finding those things that break concepts and I wanted to toss it on the forums to get some advice. My initial ideas have revolved around Dwarven Monks/Brawlers (because they can ignore Hardness) or Barbarians with the Smasher rage power (which also ignores Hardness) plus investing feats into things such as Overrun (to allow you to bypass Fighter-y type walls) and Bull Rush (to push enemies into better positioning). One major problems I see with the concept is that you would have to invest heavily into things that do not increase your damage. If you chose to play a more traditional warrior, you would probably be able to take feats or magic items that let you deal more damage and probably end an enemy sooner rather than the things you will have to invest in to counter your enemies tactics and control the battlefield on your side. Another problem I see is that certain materials are very difficult to break through. Some materials have a very high hardness and THEN a ton of HP, so opening up certain paths would be next to impossible. (I have some concepts below) At the very least, I think it will be an interesting concept to discuss. At a recent convention, I played with a number of players who had strange and different characters and it has inspired me to try and think outside the box a little. Or in this case, try to charge out of that box. Spoiler: The following are a few examples that I have run into during my games that I wanted to highlight to further explain my idea.
-PFS- A villain has barred himself into the house of the man we are suppose to meet. Since the front door is barred closed, we must move into the house, one at a time, through a (trapped) window. The villain and his henchmen block the window so only two PCs can enter the house. Rather than being forced into the chokepoint, I think it would have been a better idea to break down the door or even one of the homes wooden walls. (Door would have a Hardness 5 and 10 HP. Wall would also have a hardness 5 and 60 HP) -PFS- A group of cultist are in a stone fort with only two entrances. Cultist have both doors heavy guarded and required a long fight to get into the building. While bursting through the 6ft thick stone walls would be amazing, the Hardness 8, HP 1080 would have made this nearly impossible. Instead, Overrun through the Cultist's line (possibly knocking one prone) and then at worst, provide flank for other warrior types. Preferably, keep bull rushing and pushing around the cultist to destroy their lines and let other warrior types move into the building. -Home Game- After killing a villains henchmen, the villain is running away through a castle and escapes by closing a portcullis. We are unable to life the gate and he escapes. It would wreck the GM's plans if we could have broken through the portcullis (Hardness 10, HP 60) or at least had the strength to lift it.
The following thread may contain spoilers for The Mummy's Mask. I started up the Mummy's Mask with my players a couple months back and things have been... rocky, to say the least. Despite my players claims that they are having fun, they seem generally bored and uninterested. A few of the more vocal players have even complained that they do not feel epic at all. I tried to remedy this by adding a new encounter to the first book. I felt that the first book didn't give players much of a chance to interact with the Big Bad (who my players have affectionately named Carmen Sandiego and forgotten her real name...) and her team. I added a scene where the players were heading to their second dungeon through the necropolis and run into them. As I predicted, one of the players picked a fight with the other group (as she tends to do) and after a few minutes of RP arguing, the players and the NPCs attracted a bunch of ghouls. The PCs and NPCs had to fight together against a huge number of ghouls and to my surprise, the PCs did better than the higher level NPCs and killed 2/3s of the enemies. I felt the fight had been exciting and would instill them with some kind of Baddassery. Instead, after the fight, the same vocal players chimed in and said "See! That sucked! I don't feel epic at all!" I was shocked and asked why. The response:
The non-vocal, 'totally having fun' players agreed. I told them I would think about it and they continued on. While in the next dungeon, the players added two more things to the list:
So, I am at a total loss. The players continue to claim they are having fun, but seem to hate EVERYTHING about the campaign, including the parts of the campaign that I made them fully aware of. "This campaign has a lot of dungeon crawling and traps in it, some of which are actually kind of ingenious. Is that something you guys would be up for?" Somehow, that was unclear. So, what should I do?
To be perfectly clear from the get go, I of course mean the Treantmonk style of controlling, buffing and debuffing caster he referred to as 'God' in his famous class guide for the wizard. Back in the day, when Treantmonk wrote his guide, there weren't the same number of options available to us. (*cue the 'I had to fight monsters in the snow without shoes' old man*) And the variety of options has skyrocketed since then and made the role available to multiple classes. Players have access to a huge number of feats, spells and class abilities that have expanded on the role and I wanted to open up a discussion on what everyone felt like was the 'best' (by which I mean, their favorite, because there is no quantifiable way to determine best). Quick explanation of the 'God' Playstyle, for newbies. (Just in case)
Spoiler:
The 'god' character provides buffs for his allies, debuffs for his enemies and controls the battlefield with summons and other spells. He manipulates things for the benefit of his party, rather than try to blast away opponents. He does not seek glory for himself by dealing huge amounts of damage, but instead changes a scenario for his allies so that they can do so and do so more safely. While I do not know which is the best, I have played both a god wizard and a god cleric. God clerics are a bit trickier to pull off, since a lot of people expect you to be a healbot rather than control the battlefield, but with the right group they can be pretty rewarding and a natural fit. Witches also seem like a good candidate, since they kind of like the other side of the coin of clerics. Clerics have access to a lot of buffing spells and some debuffs, but Witches have a ton of debuffs and some buffs.
When you sit down at a table for an exciting game of Pathfinder, what do you feel like is a perfect level of magic for your setting? Do you prefer the old school style, where magic is rare and mysterious and peasants fear Wizards when they enter into town? Or do you prefer a world so ingrained with magic that it can almost pass for a modern world? Something inbetween? Example: Some friends and I were joking around tonight about a hotel inspired by Japanese Coffin Hotels, but instead of tiny coffin sized rooms, each tenant would get a tiny, portable hole attached to a wall to slide into. A single room could have dozens of portable holes on the wall! If a PC brought that idea up, would it fly in your game? Or would you knock it down for being too ridiculous? How much or little magic exists in your perfect fantasy world?
I have been debating a bunch of different characters lately and I think I have finally settled on this fellow below. It is probably terrible, but lets go for it! Feel free to tear it apart and let me know how awful it is. Edit: I should point out this is for PFS. Side note: If anyone writes a class guide for Swasbucklers, "Stick it with the pointy end" should be the title. XD Swashbuckly McSwashbuckler
Defense AC 18 (10 + Dex 3 + Shield 1 + Armor 3 + Dodge 1); Touch 14; Flat-Footed 14;
Offense
Statistics
Feat Progression:
My initial thoughts:
Title says it all. Is taking the feats needed to be able to use a katana as a swashbuckler worth it? Or in other words, is creating that Jin/Kenshin/Kakita style of duelist worth the feat/level investment? Taking Exotic Weapon Prof (katana) lets you one hand it and taking Slashing Grace allows you to use it for all the Swashbuckler's abilities (as well as add dex to damage). Problem is, there isn't a way to do that at level 1. Slashing Grace requires Weapon Focus. So option A: Human Swashbuckler, take EWP Katana and Weapon Focus. Rely on your non-existent BAB (since you aren't using Dex yet) until level 3 (to be fair, you have a +1 BAB and Weapon Focus would add +1, but still...). Take slashing grace. Option B: Human Samurai 2, Take Weapon Focus and ?????. (Not Weapon Finesse, only Swashbuckler makes it more useful beyond light) At level 3, switch over to Swashbuckler and grab Slashing Grace. Option C: ??????? You could ease the first two levels by putting a decent strength score to bump up attack scores til then, but it becomes next to useless after level 3 (at least your climb and swim checks won't be awful! :D ) So what do you get for your three levels of trouble? Well, Katana deals a d8, instead of a d6 like a rapier or scimitar (the other option for Slashing Grace... which could be done at level 1...). Crit range on all of them is the same. But the Katana has the deadly quality. Also, you will look cool and can pretend you are Kyuzo from Seven Samurai!
I have to make a new character for PFS since mine died recently. I have been working on some ideas, but as of right now, I don't know what I want to play. I have a Paladin who is level 4, but I was finding it kind of dull. The character was good at what it did (that being an intimidating, tanky holy spearman) but it felt kind of repetitive. I just looking for some advice on something that might be interesting to play. Maybe an interesting build or something that you think is really useful in PFS or anything. I am leaning towards playing a caster, but honestly, I am open to anything if you think it cold be fun. I'm not asking for a full build. Mostly just concepts or ideas to help me out.
It is the sounds of birds that you first notice as your senses begin to return to you. Slowly, you begin to realize what has happened as you drowsily begin to move. Your soaked clothes weigh heavily upon you and your muscles roar as you try to rise. You feel the grainy sand beneath you squish as you stir. Slowly, you bring yourself to a stand and begin to look around. All around you, remnants of the ship you traveled on lie nearby and you see a few other bodies as well, fellow passengers. Some of them too are beginning to stir, while others will obviously never do so again. You slowly turn to take in your surroundings and you finally piece together where you are. Looking in the distance, you see the imposing, dark jungle ahead. A complete lack of anything even vaguely resembling civilization makes you aware that you are totally and completely lost. This may just be added to the list of campaigns that maybe, one day I will run, but the idea of a campaign revolving around the PCs surviving on a jungle island has been floating around in my thinking cap for a few days now. I just started the Mummy's Mask AP, so I won't actually be running anything like this anytime soon so at this moment, this is more of just a thought experiment and I would like to hear some additional ideas or views on the concept. Unlike the Serpent's Skull AP, the main focus would be surviving on the island with little to nothing. (From looking at the Serpent's Skull description, it seems like the shipwrecked PCs don't stay on the island very long?) PCs would start with almost nothing, possibly nothing more than the clothes on their backs and they would have to forage, craft and make a real effort to survive. Wizards would have to create spellbooks from stripped bark and Clerics would make holy symbols out of vines. Fighters would tie rocks and sticks together to make spears. There would be a very small city building element, with the PCs possibly building a village alongside the small number of other survivors, but the village would never grow higher than a few dozen people. And of course, in true Swiss Family Robison or Tarzan fashion, it is built in the trees. Otherwise ignored aspects of the game suddenly become hugely important. The Survival skill becomes hugely important, instead of the skill you sometimes make to track something. Normally ignoreable CR creatures become hugely terrifying when you can not wear optomized gear (Something I learned during a PFS scenario where the group didn't take their weapons to an Opera... :O ). There would have to be a few homebrew rules. Crafting would need a work over, since you are foraging everything you need rather than buying materials from shops. Eventually, some kind of BBEG would have to show up. Maybe the Island is cursed via LOST, which prevents the players from trying to sail away or at higher levels, teleport away. (I only watched 2 seasons of LOST, so if it wasn't cursed or they were in Hell or there were aliens... I don't know. XD ) Or there are cannibals on the island that want to eat/sacrifice the PCs. Or something else dire that keeps the PCs doing more than just surviving, Castaway style. Something that keeps them pressing deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous jungle.
Glancing over the Shaman and I noticed that Shaman's with the Battle Spirit ability grants a morale bonus to all of their allies and themselves. However, it does not say what kind of action is required to use it. Battle Spirit (Su): A shaman surrounds herself with the spirit of battle. Allies within 30 feet of the shaman (including the shaman) receive a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and weapon damage rolls. At 8th level and 16th level, these bonuses increase by 1. The shaman can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. These rounds do not need to be consecutive. Every other Shaman Spirit Ability requires a standard action to use. Should Battle Spirit be a Standard Action as well? Or does it just kind of... happen whenever the Shaman chooses to?
I have a friend who wants to play a Kitsune Sorcerer who specializes in Enchantment spells for my upcoming campaign and they asked me for any advice on how to build the character. I told them I would toss it at you folks and see if there was anything you might come up with in addition to what we have. Basically, the biggest flaw with the build is dealing with things that are immune to mind affecting spells. I suggested taking a side path in summoning spells, picking up things like Augment Summons, but there might be something else. Maybe just straight up blasting? Not terribly exciting. As for the main schtick, it is pretty straight forward. Kitsune Sorcerer with the Fey Bloodline, Charisma 18 and Spell Focus (Enchantment) should mean that the DC to resist the enchantment spells should be 18 + Spell level (10 + Cha 4 + Fey 2 + SF 1 + Kitsune 1). DC 19 is pretty intense at level 1. Non-Compulsion Enchantments (not boosted by Fey Bloodline) are at 17 and regular spells are at 15 (that includes the level 1 spell level). By level 12, boost the Cha up to 22 or 24, Greater Spell Focus and the Kitsune racial favored class bonus would bring the DC up to 24 + spell level. Any other suggestions? Neither one of us has looked over traits or extra feats. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I recently started up the Mummy's Mask AP and my group was putting final touches on their characters when one of my players said that he wanted his girlfriend to join our game. Problem is, she only comes home from college once a month. Meaning I would have a player who is only in 1 out of 4 sessions. Should I tell him no? NPC her character the rest of the time?
The concept of the Arcane Trickster is pretty awesome. Be as sneaky as a rogue, but with awesome magical abilities to make you even better. And while the concept has done well in a few video games (Dishonored is probably the best example in my mind), on the tabletop I have always felt that it was kind of a let down. It suffered from ugly duckling syndrome. Early in its life, it was laughably weak and you spent a lot of the game weaker than other party members, but once it finally matured, the prestige class was a beast and could pull off some really amazing things. But for me, it left me waiting far too long to be awesome. I think ACG may have fixed that. The Sanctified Slayer archetype for the Inquisitor looks like everything I have been waiting for. Basically, you trade your X/day Judgement abilities for the Slayers Studied Target ability and Sneak Attack. As compared to a normal Trickster, you have a higher BAB, more hit points, normal spell progression, the ability to wear armor (!) without spell chance failure (!!) AND all the other Inquisitor abilities (solo teamwork feats, Detect Alignments, etc.) How awesome is all of that? Of course, you can't really Sneak Blast with a divine spell list, but that was never what the class was really about. It was just a fun bonus. (Paraphasing from A Highly Regarded Expert's guide to Arcane Tricksters).
I recently played a Ninja pregen at PFS and found the experience to be enjoyable. While my current PFS character is nice and all, I am thinking about rolling up a new ninja character. I have been tossing around some ideas and wanted to post them for evaluation. I was hoping you folks could give me suggestions and maybe help me narrow down my build. Before I start, I want to toss out some generalizations that will probably apply to all of these.
Standard Ninja
Shadow Warrior
Foxfire
Werefox
So, I ask that you forgive me for this... but I'm dumb. And I have been debating even posting this for a long while because I feel this breaks the rule of "there are no stupid questions"... because this is pretty stupid. Especially since I think I know the answer, but... How does the kusarigama work?! I have a fairly decent understand how the weapon is SUPPOSE to work. After all, the weapon can be seen on display in any movie, show or video game with a ninja in it and you can look up real life practitioners on youtube. I understand how it is suppose to work. But is that how it works in PFS? And how do certain tags work? Do both ends have reach? Or trip? Or grapple? Or does one end have certain tags that the other does not? Kusarigama
Spoiler:
This weapon has a single sickle held in the off-hand attached by 10 feet of fine chain to a weighted metal ball.
Benefit: The sickle is used to make trips, jabs, and blocks while the ball is whipped around at high speeds and then smashed into the opponent. I guess I am either confused by what I would expect the weapon to do (damn you, anime!), what the rules kind of say and flavor text part says. I looked at some past posts on the subject and generally they have been "...uh... idunno..." Debating making a new PFS character and just enjoy the concept, so I thought I would try to get some kind of answer.
I have seen posts similar to this one before, often talking about how such and such a class (usually the rogue, but sometimes the Ninja) aren't worth it or the like, but I wanted to make a thread that kind of redirects the question. How do players who enjoy playing the Sneak types get that stealth experience? I have been debating for a long while how to obtain the 'stealth experience' in a game of Pathfinder (or RPGs in general, really). When I first started playing PFS, I rolled up a rogue and tried to go to town. Sneaking everywhere, spotting traps, skill monkeying. Etc. And while it went... ok, I wasn't experiencing what I wanted. It felt fairly underwhelming and while I know I was partially useful, I never felt like I was contributing as much. I ended up abandoning the character in favor of my current PFS character, a smashy smashy Paladin. And while I do enjoy the character (there is something kind of fun about being a holy avenger type), it just isn't me. One could probably spend an entire thread trying to figure out what 'Stealth Experience' really means. There was a fantastic article a while back that tried to do the same thing, taking a few shots at what makes people like myself enjoy this type of character. Ultimately, the writer makes mention of two games that are the perfect stealth games; the Batman Arkham series and Mark of the Ninja (I could not find it and if anyone happens to know it and could link it, I would be grateful). And for the sake of our argument, lets use that as the final goal. Yes, just like when I was 10, I want to be Batman. Actually, because this is Pathfinder, be Batman in the Justice League. There are a ton of characters who are better than Batman. Just like in JL, there are characters who are stronger, faster, smarter or just straight up have cooler powers. The Barbarian will probably deal more damage, the Bard will probably have better skill rolls and the Wizard will probably cast more useful spells. So what are we to do? That is generally the purpose of the entire thread, but I would like to start by tossing out my first idea. The Utility Belt
Spoiler:
Something PFS has taught me is that people seem to underestimate those cheap and disposable alchemical items, such as Smokesticks and Tanglefoot Bags. I am mildly surprised that so many of our games have been derailed by an NPC who threw a Tanglefoot bag at the right time or dropped a thunderstone right in the middle of our group, even as I start getting into mid/higher tiers. I am starting to wonder if maybe these items have something to them and that with proper use and planning (and a handy haversack), they could be especially useful. But I haven't had a chance to try them out, so I do not yet know if it was just bad luck on our part or if they are really that useful. While any class could actually use these, maybe a rogue type would have a better opportunity than others, such as from a stealthed location or during rounds in which movement would prevent them from getting that much desired sneak attack damage (although, with the launch of the new classes, sneak attack won't be the only way for sneaking characters to dish out damage). What do you think? What do you think the largest hurdles are for sneaking characters and what would you suggest on how to overcome them?
I seek your wisdom. Tomorrow, I will begin running Mummy's Mask (excited, woo) and I am trying to figure out the best way to handle the rules for extreme heat. Extreme temperatures are not something that often come up at my games (IDK, I guess all of our games take place in midspring or something), so I don't actually have a lot of experience with them. The rules for heat are a character has to make a fort save (DC 15, +1 per previous check) every hour (every 10 minutes for extreme, extreme heat). While a character won't need to make checks while exploring ruins or the like, what about when the PCs are out and about? OR (GM only spoiler)
Spoiler:
When the PCs begin Hex exploration in the desert? Do I/Should I have them make Fort saves every hour? What if a PC is outside all day? Should I have them make a 12 Fort. saves a day until they finally roll low and start to suffer from heat exhaustion? Of course, this is assuming the players don't have access to Endure Elements or the like (we will actually be building PCs tomorrow and playing if time remains afterwards, so I won't know until then) but for the sake of argument, lets pretend my group builds 5 fighters (all in heavy, plate mail, just so they can suffer that -4 to their Fort save against heat exhaustion). What should I do?
Can a character with the Omen trait use the Dazzling Display feat as a swift action once per day to demoralize a group? Omen
Spoiler:
You are the harbinger of some future event. Whether this event bodes good or ill, you exude an ominous presence.
Benefits: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate checks, and Intimidate is always a class skill for you. Once per day, you may attempt to demoralize an opponent as a swift action. Dazzling Display
Spoiler: Benefit: While wielding the weapon in which you have Weapon Focus, you can perform a bewildering show of prowess as a full-round action. Make an Intimidate check to demoralize all foes within 30 feet who can see your display.
I was discussing with some fellow PFS players, including 2 PFS GMs, about picking up a Holy Avenger for my Paladin. However, my paladin uses polearms and we were talking about what I could do and someone mentioned that they thought I could have a Holy Avenger as a polearm, just swap out the price of a longsword with the price of the chosen polearm in the cost equation. The two GMs thought about it for a second and said they didn't see anything wrong with it, but they weren't certain and didn't want to give me a yes or no. So hey! I am fairly certain this is a no go, but what the hey, I would find out. Once I get to a high enough prestige, can I purchase a polearm version of the Holy Avenger?
I have been tossing this idea around for a bit and wanted to see what you guys might think. I doubt it would be too terribly crazy, but then again, I might be missing the long term implications. Basically, this idea came about while reading the Mummy's Mask AP (don't worry, no spoilers). A lot of the NPCs are forced to sacrifice a feat to pick up Exotic Weapon Prof for various weapons, especially the Khopesh, which is an Osirian weapon. It also came up in my group's Jade Regent campaign, when a character had attached herself to Ameiko's family and felt she should know how to use a Katana because of it. Several races get traits or alternative traits that allow them to treat certain weapons as simple or martial. As opposed to Dwarves and Gnomes, who are always proficient in their racial weapons, being a half-orc could make you proficient in chain weapons, but only if you have Martial Weapon prof. So the new rule would be this: Move a bunch of the simple and martial weapons into the Exotic Weapon tier. Then, during character creation, players choose, in addition to a race and class, a culture. Different cultures focus on different weapons and a weapon in that culture may be considered martial or even simple, while others consider it exotic. For instance, the Osirion's use the Khopesh a lot. (A lot of the NPCs in Mummy's Mask do, at least). Therefore, if a player is Osirion, they would treat the Khopesh as a Martial Weapon, but to them, the longsword is an exotic weapon. While I haven't sat down to make an extensive list, some ideas off the top of my head include Varisians treat Star Knives as simple and Minkai treat the Katana as martial. Your chosen culture would grant you access to a handful of weapons. I would have to sit down with the equipment lists and try to figure out which fits where, as well as what is kind of culturally universal (Short swords? Probably daggers? Crossbows are seem to be the same design all over the world, from what I have seen). Basically, the idea is so that if you want to play something that isn't "European", you aren't penalized for it.
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