Lazlo.Arcadia's page

So I run a low magic game setting, and have for years. The setting is somewhere between Game of Thrones and the Witcher video games. I'm looking for a system of ritual magic that would slow down the casting of higher level magics such as Teleportation, Resurrection, etc.

I know there have quite a bit written on Ritual Magic systems and I'm curious as to which ones others have used or would recommend.

I'm looking for something more involved than "the spell now takes several hours to preform and costs a base 1000 gp x spell level in arcane components". Granted that WOULD work, and is simple to implement, but I love seeing how others have developed these ideas.

I'm curious what are the top 3 rules (+/-) which have come about from later versions of D20 / PF / D&D that stood out to you as "Why wasn't THAT in PF 1 from the beginning??"

A couple of the ones that have stood out to me was:

Non-combat spells cast as ritual magic (5th ed?)

Rolling with Advantage / Disadvantage (roll twice and take the best / worse roll)

What about you guys? What stood out to you?

I'm looking at a way slow down healing for a low magic campaign. Magical healing will still be available but i'm trying to come up with ways to either make it less of a guarantee that it works, or slow down how quickly it takes effect.

A) Obvious answer to this is the spell works normally but takes minutes, hours, etc before the full effect can be seen.

B) Healing magic can only be used a limited number of times per day on the same person, thus emphasizing the utility of life saving magic but still requiring non-magical supplementary skills.

C) The spell requires a Heal Check which in some way effects the success of the spell. Perhaps the heal check determines if the spell gets full dice for the Cure X spell line. Or....something. I like this idea of requiring the heal check because it rewards a dedicated doctor / healer concept versus someone that has only limited healing abilities, even when casting the same spell.

D) The Heal Check as currently written under PF1 is simply too strong as it allows for full recovery in about 3 days from virtually any level of injury without the aid of magic. WITH the aid of magic I'd be fine with this as that is still a miraculous recovery, but otherwise is simply too good.

E) I'd REALLY like some rules on non-magical ways to account for non-combat healing such as surgery. Would combine well with # C. Are there any archetypes or rules variants that come to mind which do this sorta thing?

F) A cleric with the Healing Domain should get some form of bonus to their healing spells.

NOTE 1: No need to point out that this slows down recovery time between combat / adventures. That is exactly the point and the campaign setting and pacing has already been adjusted to account for that.

NOTE 2: other aspects of combat have already been reworked with variant rules so I'm focusing specifically now on how to recover from combat.

So the majority of the direct damage spells in my campaign have been retyped as Evocation. "Direct Damage" as in, if it does HP damage or is a Fort save vs some form of massive damage (exploding organs and that sorta thing) then it is "direct damage". In addition these types of Evocation DD spells have for the most part been retyped not only as evocation but as elemental.

That said, i'm looking for ways to make the various elements stand out from each other.

Specifically Earth manifests physical attacks (such as a magic missile spell that fires solid metal ball bearings). Where as the others are pretty self explanatory. Fire = fire, cold = cold, electrical = electrical. Poison, Acid, Sound and Force are not considered "elemental attacks" and thus not allows in the DD Evocation catagory (and for the most part have been dropped from the campaign setting as a whole).

So, some of the 2ndary effects i'm looking for might knock back effect from explosions (such as Fireball), or a stun effect from cold or electrical, etc.

I'd like to see each element bring a specific 2nd effect or condition to make them feel different from each other during game play.

Any suggestions are welcome.

What about this, instead of traditional potions and scrolls in the campaign setting, have Mana potions which restore spend spell slots. In other words it functions similar to a scroll or potion, but only to restore spent spells.

Alternately it could be used to power meta-magic effects by absorbing the additional levels needed for the meta-magic.

Thoughts?

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/362117626282164775/
or here
https://www.deviantart.com/valtirfaye/art/A-Cold-Autumn-716897876

It is the Scoiatael / elven double Long Bow from the Witcher video games. Has anyone seen any stats for this bow? If not, how would we stat this one? As a long bow with better range?

So I'm giving so thought to how I'm going to redesign the Crossbow vs the Bow. To this end I'm making a few assumptions. These weapons are developed along similar lines to what was seen IRL, however not necessarily within the same time periods. IE; the crossbow hasn't been around as long and its design has focused more on knock down power than it has on range and reload speed.

The bow is for longer range, faster shots and offers a higher threat.

The crossbow has comparatively shorter range, longer reload times, but offers a larger base damage dice and has a higher crit multiplier.

The biggest difference here is range of the Xbow. I'm thinking that when I compare the Heavy XBow to a longbow I only want it to have about 70% of the range.

This is my thought so far...ideas?

So I went looking for the rules on how to determine the max effective distance for bow vs crossbow and I'm having trouble finding it. Can anyone either cite it or drop me a link please?

I was thinking it was 15 "units" for bow and 10 for crossbow, but I don't recall and cant seem to find it at the moment.

So just wondering if this has ever been addressed (I assume it probably was at some point). Why was power attack changed from 3.5 to its current form in PF? Was it a balance issue?

Just curious if anything has been announced yet about possible new maps.

So yeah, looking for some archetypes (or variant rules) which offer a non-instant healing option. I seem to recall there was an Alchemist surgeon type of option for this sorta thing, or maybe a Druid herbalist?

Any suggestions would be great, thanks!

Bard: Hex Blade
At 3rd level, a Hex Blade learns one hex from the witch’s list of hexes. This is otherwise identical to the witch’s hex class feature, except that the Hex Blade uses her Charisma modifier to determine her hexes‘ save DCs and she learns a new hex at 6th level and every 3 levels thereafter.

This ability replaces performance and versatile performance.

Major Hex
Starting at 12th level, and every 3 levels thereafter, the Hex Blade may select a major hex from the witch’s list whenever she could learn a new hex.
This ability replaces soothing performance.

The Hex Blade retains the Bard spell list and spell casting mechanics.

Just curious if there are option which grant the Bard Hex abilities (as per Witch) in a similar fashion to the Magus Archetype: Hexen Blade? I'm looking but have not found it yet.

I'm looking at Healing magic for a low magic setting and would like a different option. Specifically one which is not instant cast and would more represent healing as a form of surgery, herbal witch doctoring, etc and requiring heal skill checks. If your outta spells you can still make the surgery check, but if augmented with the appropriate spell the doctor can preform miracles on the operating table!

Ideas that come up immediately are somewhat obvious and include requiring the heal check at the time of casting, only cast out of combat, takes X amount of time per X HP healed to take effect, etc.

Any suggestions?

So I'm running a Low Magic D20 setting based off Pathfinder with a level cap of E12.

In this setting either the Sorcerer or the Witch will be allowed as one of the core spell caster classes, but not both. Either option will result in the caster gaining their spell casting abilities from some form of "dark pact" with a patron spirit (vs the typical "blood line" of the sorcerer). Either option presents the class as (basically) an arcane caster version of a druid and shunned by both the established Arcane casters and the Divine casters, representing a 3rd faction of "Primal" casters in the campaign.

I like some of the mechanics of the Witch (specifically the Hexes) however there is so much work that has been done on the Sorcerer over the years it sorta feels like "throwing the baby out with the bath water" to not include the Sorcerer in the campaign.

If you could pick only one, which would you choose for such a setting and why?

http://www.ninjaencyclopedia.com/weapon/manriki-gusari.html

I've taken the liberty of attaching a link to a general description of the weapon and an over view of how it was used. I could think of several ways to stat out the weapon, all of which sound good.

Suggestions?

So I'm considering a Bard using the Bardic Weapon / Violent Performance combo, however the details for Bardic Weapon is missing. Apparently there is an issue with the site or something.

Can anyone please share with me what the specifics were for this?

Thanks in advance.

Reference: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/bard/archetypes/4-winds-fantas y-gaming---bard-archetypes/violent-performance

So I'm looking at the kingdom of Lastwall in Avistan (Golarion) and there is very little published information on it. I'm very interested in fleshing out this area but have little idea on how to detail such a large area that so far appears to be a largely flat open plain field according to the maps we have so far.

Would a easy way to start such a project just be to assume the maps are wrong and re-write the geography however I like (mountains, rivers, etc etc) in order to have more diversity to work with?

Secondly I'm considering strongly implementing a medieval feudal system in the area with one king and the territory governed by hereditary Lords, each of which would rule over large areas of land. Within such sub-kingdoms secondary keeps are handed out to lesser Lords to help administer and guard the lands and their inhabitants.

Any suggestions which would help to further flesh this out would be appreciated. If any one is particularly good at making maps I'd REALLY appreciate such assistance.

So I like the idea of a "bard" as a pseudo rogue who has opted to learn magic instead of Rogue talents, sneak attack, evasion, etc however that is about where my love for the bard ends. I hate the whole preformer stitch, the jack of all trades is a no-go, the Lore expert i'm definitely NOT feeling, etc. Is there a viable pseudo bard which is set up like the rogue but with different class abilities (still keeping the spell casting of more or less the bard spell list), or perhaps a bard archetype that might be more aligned to what i'm looking for?

NOTE: i'm not looking for multi-class options here due to campaign restrictions. Rather I'm looking for a single class, partial caster class, with similar weapons, armor and skills to the rogue.

Your on the ice. There is a 50Ft diameter of weak ice, below which is deathly cold. You have no magic or abilities strong enough to surpass the cold effects of the water. Should you fall into the water you will die of cold.

At the middle of the ice (which you have been warned REPEATEDLY not to cross) the ice breaks! "But I make a Reflex Save!!" cries the player.

Given the size of the area in question and no way that the player could reasonably avoid the effect do they get a Ref Save?

I seem to recall there was a rule which read if it were an unavoidable effect the answer is no, but I'm seeing a lot of players on the various social media forums crying out YES! they still get the save.

So I'm running a custom campaign (low-ish magic) and feel that the Druid works better with less high level magic and more special abilities. I'm sure I'm not the first who has gone down this rat hole and would like to hear from others who have tried something similar.

So i'm considering some of the issues I've seen at my own gaming table. One of which was a player who argued that as an Mage Specialist: Evoker his evocation magic should be much better than the average caster, and thus much harder to resist. This is an argument that I tend to agree with.

One idea he came up with was allowing Fireball to be cast as a Ranged Touch attack which could be used to target a specific creature, thus preventing the use of Evasion for resisting its damage. The argument is simple: if I HIT you, you should not be able to avoid it, because I had to actually roll to hit. Your ability to avoid the "targeted effect" of this ability then is based off your AC not your Saves.

Should the ranged touch attack miss, the spell is cast normally and evasion would be applied as per normal. The ranged touch attack is rolled as a part of the casting of the spell, thus the spell can not be cancelled (without loosing the spell) once the roll is made. In short, this prevents the mage from attempting the spell over several rounds until he finally hits the target and then finally releasing the spell.

This ability is only usable by the Mage Specialist: Evoker.

The Fireball spell is unchanged in all other ways, and other creatures within its blast radius must still make their saves normally to avoid it's effects.

Question: Should the actual targeted creature be allowed a save under this condition? Keep in mind, the caster has to actually hit the target.

Ok guys, I'm looking for ways to discourage the use of Teleportation spells within my campaign. Some ideas i've come up with so far include the idea of requiring expensive components, making the spell non-combat only, only allowing its use to specific already established locations or waypoints, etc etc.

How would you discourage its use without simply banning the spell?

I'm thinking about how to use a Witcher (yes, from the video games) style of teleportation. From what I recall the teleportation itself wasn't much of an issue, as it could take them pretty much anywhere they wanted to got but rather it took quite a bit to set up.

Given that, I'm thinking that such magics would require additional time such that it could not be cast in combat and would also require expensive (single use?) components that had to be gathered and assembled before hand. The spell is obviously cast via a form of Ritual Magic.

I'm definitely interested in using such a concept to limit the flexibility of teleport within my campaign. NOTE: my campaign caps out around 10th level for NPC's so there are not many casters around who can cast such spells anyway compared to other 20 level campaigns.

Just some thoughts i'm throwing around. What do you guys think?

I'm looking for ways to suppress mostly low level magic within my campaign through relatively common mundane means. Specifically there are 3 areas of interest with this: 1) how to bind a caster while held prisoner so they cant escape or fry your face off during transportation to the local jail. 2) How do you hold such a spell casting prisoner once you have gotten them to the jail? 3) How to extend this idea to making castles and strongholds safe(r) from invading casters, scrying, teleportation and spell slinging assassins.

These counter measures need to be relatively easy for someone with money and resources (such as a king) to put into place, but don't need to be excessively powerful such as requiring high level spells or the blood of a sacrificed angel, etc or other really crazy things to implement.

So far one idea that my players came up with was to simply make the prison and castle construction costs higher by 20% - 50% and state that the engineer knew some trick to screw up the "magical signature" of the area. I like this idea quite a bit actually as it would work well with allowing a lot of freedom in the description of exactly what had been done to hose up the signature of the area. Maybe it was built in a old iron mine for example, or a cave with a heavy obsidian deposit, or had the blood of some low level magical beast mixed in to the construction mortar of the fortress, etc.

I'm sorta feeling the same about iron shackles. Maybe they need to be crafted from cold iron (an expensive but reasonably common material within the campaign) and have to be of masterwork quality in order to work properly. These would likely be carried by mage-hunter type of constables as special equipment that not every guard had due to their expense. Sorta like a fantasy SWAT team of sorts.

It could be safe to assume the average NPC caster (vs the "exceptional npc caster") would simply fail to overcome such counter measures and thus they would see relatively common use within the campaign setting. At least within larger cities, etc.

A PC caster faced with such devices / environments might be faced with a significantly high spell craft check for successfully casting a spell instead of outright denying it? For example, while wearing such shackles maybe there is a DC 30 spell craft check for casting any spell (yes, this means spell casting would fail most of the time), or while held within the "witches hold" prison cell they would be faced with similar penalties. Perhaps some types of magics (like conjuration) would simply fail out right when at or near these locations, and thus why that location was chosen to start with.

Important disclaimers about the campaign: these will be used in a low magic campaign were very few npc's ever reach 10th level and any spell above 4th level most people have never even seen, etc.

I'm thinking of a Magic Missile variant. It uses the fire element (instead of Force) and requires to touch attack roll to hit. Shield still defends against it, as does elemental resistance.

The missile scales up to level 9, just like the cannon Magic Missile.

It requires a touch attack, thus a save is not allowed.

It is still a 1st level spell.

Range and other characteristics of the spell are the same as Magic Missile.

Lastly, the spell persists for one round per caster level until a successful attack is made (vs Magic Missile which automatically hits on the first round). While the spell is "held" other casting is not possible, however the spell can be cancelled as a free action at any time.

Alternative: for this might allow for different elemental types such as Freezing Missile or Static Missile, etc. if such a choice is made at the time the spell is prepared.

Alternative 2: might require "meta-magic: energy ad mixture" for this option

So I'm working on a low magic campaign in which much of the disposable spell casting (potions, scrolls, wands, etc) have been removed from the setting. That said however I don't want to put my PC casters in a position where they are literally able to do nothing once their handful of spells are exhausted.

A couple of things to note about the campaign: 1) It is level capped at 12th level, similar to Pathfinder Society. 2) We are also using a slow xp progression so 12th level will be quite an investment of time before we see that. 3) All spell casters (including divine casters) use a casting matrix similar to the Arcanist to allow for better flexibility in how they are preparing their spells.

To address the general shortage of spell casting I'm considering allowing the casters (arcane & divine) to have signature spells which are free casts (cost no spell slots to cast but are otherwise cast normally vs time, components, etc). These spells would be restricted to the arcane school or divine domain which the caster has specialized in. NOTE: This example is obviously targeted at the Mage and Cleric classes at this point to establish a base line for how this will work.

One idea that I'm considering is to limit such spells to ones are -2 to -3 levels below their top tier spells. Thus the lower level spells become more relevant again vs never being cast.

Further I think that allowing a meta-magic'd version of the spell to be taken as the signature spell would also be appropriate (such as a Silent Magic Missile, or Empowered Cure Light Wounds) as long as its appropriate spell slot was selected. Only 1 such signature spell per level (?) would be allowed. Alternately only 1 signature spell at all would be allowed.

Before anyone tells me that the low level spells (say a 1st level spell) at 10th level isn't relevant, I'd point out that out of combat healing via Cure Light Wounds over a period of even 1 minute is about 90 HP (give or take). Given a mixed party of different classes and your cleric could easily recover an entire party after only a few minutes of downtime, while their "active casting" during combat would be used to keep the party up during the fight. Channel positive energy also plays heavily into their active casting during combat.

Thoughts?

So I'm working on a campaign setting in which all magic casting has been restricted to either its arcane school or its divine domain, thus arcane casters are specialists (by default). This makes the choosing of specializations and gods / domains a very significant decision in the campaign and ensures that there are no such things as "generic casters". The servants of the Gods are specific and much more unique, the mages are distinctive from each other and an Evoker plays differently than a Conjurer, etc.

This restriction only applies to spells at 4th level and higher, so lower level utility spells are not impacted.

There is one issue I'm running into with Divine magic however, many of those spells are not typed by Domain. Given the setting I'm describing are there suggestions on how to address these spells? I'm thinking of having them cost double spell slots and just letting it go at that point. Thus there is still some flexibility and it does not shut out 90% of the divine spells due to a missing mechanic.

Thoughts?

So I'm looking at the Cleric Strength Domain and under Strength Surge and it states "For 1 round, the target gains an enhancement bonus equal to 1/2 your cleric level (minimum +1) to melee attacks". Am I correct in reading this that it is a + 1 bonus to attack rolls, or is it like an enhancement to a weapon enchantment which is + 1 to hit / + 1 to damage?

Comparing it the Strength sub-domain of Ferocity its description is a little clearer stating, "Ferocious Strike (Su): Whenever you make a melee attack, you can designate that attack as a ferocious strike. If the attack hits, it deals additional damage equal to 1/2 your cleric level."

Based on the description under Ferocity would lead me to believe that the Strength Domain ability is about HITTING, where as the Ferocity sub-domain ability is about HURTING.

Which is the right interpretation? + 1 / + 1 or Hit vs Hurt?

I'm considering stating out the Wood Elves. In my campaign they will replace much of the halfling and elven population in more wooded areas. Human cities and nearby farms will still hold halfings, and the elven cities, armies, etc will still be populated by high elves.

Wood elves would be shorter, gain woodland appropriate bonuses for survival, stealth, and Know: Nature. They have low light vision.+ 2 dexterity and either a +2 wisdom or +2 constitution, - 2 (4?) Intelligence, - 2 (4?) charisma when dealing with non-elves or halflings. The - 4 stats may be Flaw driven granting additional bonuses for being "Arcane Adverse" for example, and thus granting some benefit such as a bonus vs arcane spells (perhaps of a specific school).

Favored classes drawn from barbarian, ranger and druid. Arcane casters among the Wood Elves would be all but unheard of (hence the Int penalty). Wood Elves would only stand between 3 - 4 ft tall. The Wood Elves in this setting are heavily inspired by the elves from the ElfQuest series (without their telepathic abilities), the wild elves (grugach) of Greyhawk, and the Kagonesti, ‘Wilder Elves’ of the Dragonlance setting.

Wood Elves revere the high elves, looking upon them as a royal figures, and the royal family as nearly angelic. WE would commonly serve as the border patrols within the forests that surround Elven cities. WE that use animal mounts such as wolves, raptors, etc would be relatively common.

NOTE: as an RP note, the Wood Elves may have a special ability to detect those of royal elven blood, such as seeing them with a golden aura about them similar to a detect magic effect. This could explain their reverence for the royal family, and might pose something of a social embarrassment if dealing with a royal bastard. This could also play into why they are not welcome at the larger parties thrown by the socialites of the elven elite.

High Elves by comparison:
The High Elves see the WE as their barbaric cousins which bonded too closely with the material plane, loosing their connection to the Fey First World. In this regards the High Elves absorb much of the description of the Gnomes without the extremely chaotic nature so frequently associated with more typical gnomes in standard campaigns. High Elves could take campaign appropriate racial traits of Gnomes (requiring DM approval). Gnomes as a race are not present in the campaign.

Anyway, there is the basic concepts I'm working with for the Wood Elves (and to a lesser extend the High Elves). Yes I could simply grab the stats associated with the elves of the aforementioned other campaign settings and they would likely work just fine, however I was curious as to what our community of elf lovers would come up with.

Thoughts?

So I was thinking of introducing the idea of alternative forms of currency in my campaign, such as the use of "trade bars" or mithril coins, etc. A trade bar would be much like a bank note, typically made in platinum or other precious metals and worth more than its materials based on the bank or temple that issued it. Possibly only worth extra in a given city, or when traded with members of a specific temple, etc.

Same general sorta rules would apply to the idea of using non-standard coinage such as mithril or bronze coins.

Does anyone know of examples within the Golarion setting where such a thing has been done already? Or any suggestions on how to set up such a thing?

For a low magic setting there are lots of things we have to consider in order to avoid such a campaign quickly spinning out of control so I'll start with a few assumptions i would make for setting up such a campaign:

The Baseline
---------------------------------------
1) The d20 system will be used for this.

2) the campaign would need a level cap (level 10 - 12?)

3) casters only appear (at 1st level) in about 1 in 20 of the population, with partial casters (such as a ranger or bard) being 4 - 5 times more common than full casters.

3)Monsters with heavy magic abilities or resistances would be swapped out for ones with more balanced stats vs the players.

4) spell battery items like wands, scrolls and potions would either be removed from the setting entirely (thus only spell casters would have access to spell casting) or limited in other ways such as spell level capped, only usable by specific classes, always cast at the lowest level, limited to X uses per day, etc etc.

5) spells with save vs death / save vs suck would have to be seriously reconsidered for such a campaign due to the lack of defenses against such abilities

6) all such rules would apply to both NPC's and PC's

7) slow exp point progression

8) character classes, races, traits, feats, etc etc would all need to be chosen specifically with the idea in mind of honoring the low-magic themes of the campaign

So those are the sort of baseline assumptions I would personally start with. What would be the top 3 rules variants or house rules you would use to tweak such a setting to work with the D20 system? Would you make different starting assumptions?

Looking at the demographics suggested in the Settlement Rules and we can see that we don't encounter an NPC high enough level to cast raise dead before hitting a large town (2000 - 5000 people) and the material components are 5000 gold in "diamond".

For lower level parties this is a small fortune and you will have only 9 days to get to them to such a healer (assuming that teleport is not yet available because they are say level 7 at this point).

Would "diamond" have to be a single diamond worth the 5,000 gold, and thus potentially MUCH harder to find? Or would a pouch full of 200 gold diamonds (totaling 5,000 gold) work just as well?

Worse, Raise Dead is fairly restrictive in the way it is worded with, "While the spell closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage of most kinds, the body of the creature to be raised must be whole."

What if the body was badly damaged during death such as crit which triggered massive damage? Or death by fire, acid, lava, etc. Now i can understand death by poison, or a simple arrow through the heart, but some of these situations seem to be beyond what Raise Dead should be able to handle (higher level spells would of course make this a moot point). Do you tell the players, "No you are dead and no healer within range can change that?" What if the bad guy was able to deliberately coup de gras the PC in some graphic fashion?

Another consideration which I've been considering as well it the cost of having a cleric cast the spell in the first place. Possibly while using strong arm tactics such as stating "I brought you back, now you owe me! <insert Geas here>"

Just some thoughts as I'm looking over some of the mechanics from a recent game in which my players tried to convince me that "any town" would have a cleric who could raise a dead party member who had suffered death by massive damage. I cried foul on that, even going so far as to reference the Healers Handbook which states (something to the effect of) "healers powerful enough to raise the dead are rare".

This is one area which has always come across as grossly unbalancing at my table and I wonder how other DM's have ruled on this. My players tend to look at Ref Saves and Evasion / Improved Evasion as a 100% "get outta jail free card" for frequently doing blatantly stupid things.

Example: The roof collapses on top of the PC's for 40 damage.

Player: "Ref Save + Evasion" I take no damage!
DM: HOW?! You had no where to go, no where to "dive for safe cover" etc.
Player: Too bad, the rules say I can.

Example 2: character is wearing full plate and standing in knee deep water, but has a ring of Evasion. A trap (or whatever) is triggered and everyone in the water is struck by a Lightning Bolt (spell or natural).

Player: I make my Ref Save + Evasion taking little if any damage!!
DM: Do you have any idea what happens with electricity + a metal object in water?

Example 3: I spent the last 30 minutes arguing with the DM that Spider Climb will allow me to climb the slippery frozen water fall. About 300 ft up the side of the waterfall it is hit with a fireball and the whole thing shatters dropping tons of ice to the ground.

Player: Ref Save + Evasion!!
DM: But you just argued that you are stuck to the damn thing like glue and NOTHING can knock you loose!

Example 4: I rub myself down in in highly flammable grease before engaging the fire breathing dragon.

DM: Why?
Player: Because SCREW HIM i have a +14 Ref Save and Evasion!

Now I know how I ruled on this in my game, but how have other DM's addressed these types of shenanigans at their own tables?

Guys I'm looking for a map. I know I've seen it. It shows the various Hordelines, etc of walls which historically blocked of Belkzen Hold from Lastwall. I thought it was in the Belkzen Hold campaign setting book, but looking back over it and I can't find the map.

Can anyone throw me a bone here and tell me where to find the map I'm seeking?

I'm thinking of fleshing out Lastwall by simply taking maps of other campaign settings and dropping them into the area. The maps used will also be of other "knights and castles" style settings and I'm to suggestions of other area (campaign settings or real world settings) which might offer good ideas?

Suggestions?

NOTE: one area I'm looking at pretty strongly was Cormry from the Forgotten Realms.

NOTE II: This will not simply be reusing maps, but will borrow heavily from whatever resource to generate ideas for fleshing out the area.

When done Lastwall will be focused on a Lords / Castle / Holds type of set up all of whom answer to the Watcher-Lord of Vigil. There will be a good amount of open lands to support the heavily cavalry units of the Knights of Ozem. Velumis will need a well detailed map (suggestions on which map to use are welcome). An of course roads / trade routes set up.

If I can pull this off I'll post the image online somewhere and set up a link to it.

So I'm looking at setting up a campaign in Lastwall (on the west side of Lake Encarthan) however there is not much in the way of published material on the area. A lot has been written about the regions surrounding it and I've read over most of that however Lastwall is still really piecemeal.

Any suggestions on fleshing it out? Any one have any links to fan made materials on the area (maps, modules, artwork, etc)?

Any general ideas on how to flesh out the area? It is a relatively large area being about 125 miles tall (N/S) and nearly 200 miles wide (E/W) so there is plenty of room to work with.

As a secondary question: any suggestions on the Lastwall port city capital of Vellumis?

So I'm looking for rules on a Ghillie Suit for use in mostly non-urban / non-dungeon environment (as would be fitting for such a piece of equipment). This is a mundane item, not a magical one.

My vision is it would allow a sniper to make a ranged shot and rehide without needed to move and carry with it a significant bonus. The benefit of this would be greatly reduced when using firearms due to the sound of the shot going off, but crossbows and bow / arrows should work nicely.

The question is does such a device already exist in Pathfinder? If so where can I find the details on it. If it does not exist what would be a good bonus to add to stealth attempts while using it? I've seen everything from a + 3 to a + 10 (d20 modern) suggested. I'm leaning more towards a + 5 but that might be further influenced by other factors (dark / night, weather, how thick is the foliage around the character, etc).

Suggestions?

So I'm looking at adding Firearms, Explosives, black powder, etc to my low magic campaign, however I don't want these items to be common at all. As a part of this I've decided that such weapons are about as stable (in untrained hands) as juggling nitroglycerin. Which is to say highly likely to explode and very powerful when they do. Casual handling of such items is around 30% + to simply blow up (typically killing low level npcs in the immediate area) and thus most npc's will be too afraid to go anywhere near the stuff if they realize what it is. If a dwarf specifically trained in the use of black powder is within 30 feet to supervise the NPC's there is no risk of detonation (ie the dwarf can hire porters and keep them safe).

In trained dwarven hands the only danger of accidental explosion happens on fumbled rolls (such as when using the black powder to create a land mine style trap explosive or attempting to blow open a locked door).

Black Powder reacts negatively to magic & magic users of all types. 25% chance of failure or accidental detonation around arcane users and 15% chance around divine users each round they are within 20 feet. Alternate: allow 2 "safe rounds" before this effect begins to be tracked. This should be enough to allow safe maneuvering during most fights to not cause problems.

NOTE: in more realistic / "gritty" campaigns anytime that a spell is cast on the dwarf with black powder in his possession there is a chance the spell will accidentally detonate the black powder (5 - 10% chance per level of spell?).

Black powder sitting still (such as in a crate or barrel) is completely inert unless a magic item is placed next to it, or a mage decides to use a large bag of the stuff as a pillow. Sleep tight....

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Dwarves and Black Powder
In my home campaign Dwarves may not be any form of arcane spell caster (divine casters are fine) nor use any magic item which is a form of arcane spell trigger (wand, potion, scroll, etc). On the other hand, they are able to handle black powder safely and thus are the only race allowed the use of such items.

Dwarven Alchemists are explosives experts which can manufacture BP weapons of all types (yes I know they are technically a form of Arcane caster, just go with it). Dwarves are the only race allow to take the Gunslinger class, and are the only ones allowed to take feats and archetypes which involve the use of equipment like cannons, landmines, bombs, guns, etc.

Dwarven Divine casters don't trigger negative reactions from Black Powder until they are within 10 feet and accidental detonation chances drop to 10% chance per round. NOTE: spell casters are NEVER intended to be able to safely use this stuff and thus it is strongly recommended to never allow the risk to accidental detonation to be removed by feats, archetypes, spells, etc when being handled by caster classes.

Non-dwarven alchemist bombs (both equipment and the bomb class feature) are assumed to be alchemical in nature and not black powder explosives.

Goblins (or similar creatures) may at DM's discretion also be able to use these weapons in primitive forms (such as basic bombs).

RP side note: Elves HATE black powder weapons due to their explosions and smell.

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Ok guys there is the basic run down. Please refrain from responses like "But that isn't how it is written in D20 RAW and what about race / group / class / etc XYZ???" Yes I know this is different. That difference is intentional and not an over sight.

All that said: What do you think?

I've been trying to find a single decent picture, or even a single GOOD description of what the weapon is supposed to be like. I am assuming it is similar to the Katana (long, single edge, razor sharp with a gentle curve to the blade) although unlike the katana the few (really bad) pics I've seen of it suggest the handle also possess a reverse curve to it (like a long exaggerated "S").

The other distinction I'm assuming (again going back to the really bad pictures) suggested a straight cross hilt instead of the circular hand guard of the katana.

Can anyone confirm this? Or perhaps know a a single decent picture of the weapon?

ALTERNATE: has the curved blade been based off of the weapons seen in the lord of the rings movies? If so that is fine, as at least it would allow a solid visual reference.

Has there been any official comments made in any of the books, errata, or dev comments on the boards about what exactly this means?

Are they saying if you teleport into a volcano you die from lava? Or are they saying that due to the elemental energy of the volcano you cant teleport there at all? I'm assuming the latter to be true, but have not found anything to clarify this statement.

While I'm certain there have been some excellent house rulings on this statement (and it would be fun to compare notes on that in a separate thread) what I'm looking for here is a more or less official answer supported by PF RAW.

I'm looking at bringing down the over all level of magic in my campaign world and it has been suggested to simply drop all full caster classes from the campaign world (pc & npc).

As a part of this idea I was considering using 6th level partial casting classes as a form of wizard specialists.

Evoker -> Magus
Conjuration -> Summoner
Enchantment & Illusion -> Mesmerist
Abjuration -> Magus?
Transmutation -> Alchemist
Necromancy -> Summoner who specializes in undead??
Divination -> Got nothing for this one.

Bard could fit a couple of roles such as
Transmutation / Divination -> adventuring bards
Charm / Enchantment -> City / Intrigue bards

Any suggestions on the Abjuration, Divination and Necromancy types?
So far the only working idea for them is to wrap them into the Magus, Bard and Summoner respectively.

WarPriest and Inquisitors could replace clerics

Hunter could replace Druids...although I hate the idea of giving up shape shift for an extra animal companion. I'd rather drop both animal companions and keep shape shift.

Any thoughts on this?

NOTE: yes I know the Mesmerist isn't an "Arcane" caster, it does however fit the role nicely for this setting with only a couple of solid whacks from yea-old hammer of house ruling.

Here is a thought I've kicked around previously, it is the idea that each Wizard Specialist is handled by a partial caster class. For example

Evoker -> Magus
Conjuration -> Summoner
Enchantment & Illusion -> Mesmerist
Abjuration -> Magus?
Transmutation -> Alchemist
Necromancy -> Summoner who specializes in undead??
Divination -> Got nothing for this one.

Bard could fit a couple of roles such as
Transmutation / Divination -> adventuring bards
Charm / Enchantment -> City / Intrigue bards

This idea is partially in answer to the creation of a lower magic setting which is limiting magic to 6th spells or lower and still allowing for a full 20 level character progression.

So if I poison a weapon and hit an NPC foe once with it. The poison has been used and a save vs poison applies.

If I poison a cup of wine the poison is used and triggers a save.

What if I poison a meal? Is it still assumed that the target of the poison only gets one does of poison regardless of how many poison olives they sit there and eat for the next hour?

I'm thinking about it from the stand point of running a game in which an npc is too heavily poisoned for the 7th - 8th level PCs to be able to do much about because they cant over come the degree to which he has been screwed over. Is there such a thing?

Also if a potion of cure light wounds had some sadist put a poison in it, are there any rules which suggest the poison would be neutralized due to the magic of the potion or is this a valid (although really freakin dirty) trick?

Any help or advice are gratefully accepted.

I seen a healing salve recently which I thought was a alchemical item from Starfinder. It basically allowed a medic to administer the salve to a recently dead character and basically cast a raise dead as long as restrictions were met (more restrictive than the spell). Now however I'm looking for it, and cant find it to save my life.

Can anyone throw me a bone and point me to what this might have been?

So we have an incredible amount of alternate rules available to us these days which are more or less official, at least in the sense that they've come directly from Paizo / PF and are not 3rd party or homebrewed. And while I'm not bashing on the 3rd Party / Homebrew material I'm looking for suggestions on what combinations of alternative rules would one use to mimic a much lower over all level of magic within a Pathfinder campaign.

I am making a few assumptions with this question:

1) Iron Heros, E6, and similar excellent products are not used for this, rather "cherry picking" which alternate rules to be used are the baseline for this.

2) Suggestions to the contrary of #1 will be deemed trolling. Those are excellent works but are not the question being asked.

3) All the rules apply equally to both PC, NPC, monsters, etc etc.

4) Encounters will be scaled, and in some cases completely rewritten as necessary to avoid putting the PC's against unwinnable foes and situations due to missing specific spells or magic items which would be otherwise assumed.

4) The bonuses by level instead of the WBL magic items system will be used.

5) Classes / Races / Archetypes will have to be limited to ones which are better fitting to the campaign in order to create the lower magic feel.

6) The campaign is assumed to max out between 11 - 13th level.

7) Masterwork, Exotic, Alchemical and mundane items from official PF published material are all assumed to be available as long as they don't specifically violate one of the other assumptions.

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There are 3 House Rules which have been chosen to help bring this concept into focus:

a) HOUSE RULE #1: All spell completion / spell trigger items are removed. Scrolls, wands, potions, rods, staves and similar magic items which store spells for casting at a later date are all removed. Yes this severely limits spell casters. Already noted and addressed on the back end (beyond the scope of this document).

b) HOUSE RULE #2: 0 level spells (including all Cantrips & Orisons), are removed. All spells above 6th level are likewise removed.

c) HOUSE RULE #3: Magic item creation feats have all been removed.

Again the question is NOT what game other than Pathfinder would you use, but rather what alternate rules would you work with in order to create such an environment?

So I've never been a fan of the Sacred Weapon Damage mechanic of the WarPriest as I've always felt it favored character concepts with extremely nitch builds, such as specializing in a whip or shuriken. And while that works fine for players that were actually going for that sorta thing, what about the rest of the world which features WarPriests as part of standing armies where your typical long sword, axe, mace or bow were the most commonly seen weapons. In other words about 95% of the world would never see the benefits of such a core class feature until at least 10th level. Given that most campaigns rarely make it much past this point, and even PFS caps out at 12th level, the issue here becomes apparent.

Bare in mind this is a core class ability for the WarPriest we are talking about here. It is on par with a Wizard not getting a familiar until level 10. Ok, perhaps that is a mild exaggeration, but not much of one considering the WP get this ability from level one but it remains largely useless (for most builds at least) until mid level range when most campaigns are about to cap out anyway.

How about this instead: Exchange the Sacred Weapon Damage for the Ranger class ability Favored Enemy. This scales well because it is still limited to what will get these bonuses and thus won't be useful in every combat. Such Favored Enemies could even be restricted to campaign specific problems such as undead, evil dragons, and evil outsiders (assuming the WP is good aligned obviously).

This ability would still be restricted to only usable with the weapons the WP has already taken Weapon Focus with as per normal for their Sacred Weapon requirements.

This also scales well in comparison with the Sacred Weapon bonus because the WP would be at say a + 3 vs everything, and a + 6 vs enemies of their temple, community, kingdom, etc.

Thoughts?

Specifically I don't care for wands and staves to be spell storing / spell trigger items. Instead I was thinking something along the lines that maybe they offer bonuses such as a + 3 to the DC of a spells with a [Fire] descriptor. In this way it would remain very valuable for a mage (or other caster) with an interest in casting Fireball and similar magics, but would do nothing for someone trying to cast anything else. The item might even have a restriction to only work for an Arcane Specialist in a particular school or a divine caster with a specific domain or from a specific temple, etc etc.

So then the "Advice" part of this thread: Anyone know of an alternate rule, or 3PP which does something like this? I seem to recall there was something that came out 2 - 3 years ago like this, but cant seem to find it now.