This is actually specifically addressed on the d20 SRD.
"Ninja: Add a +1 bonus on Disguise checks to appear as a human (or their original race if the ninja has the Failed Transformation UP or Strong Blooded UP trait), and a +1/2 bonus on Stealth checks. [JBE:BoHR:AFCO]"
Looks as though if the elan possesses either one of these traits that they are able to take their parent races favored class bonus.
That's how I would rule it, anyways.
There's always the Magaambyan Arcanist to consider as well.
It kind of goes against the concept of a Mystic Theurge, and I tried to stay away from just telling you to "play something else" because I still think that (especially with the above suggestions) that a Mystic Theurge can be perfectly viable.
Throwing druid spells onto your list, as well as the various thematic abilities that it lends to a good aligned caster, has always been one of my favorites.
You have a couple options depending on which books your game is using.
Inner Sea Magic Excerpt:Due to your membership in a spellcasting guild (and Fame score of 35) you gain a +3 bonus to your caster level with one spellcasting class of your choice and a +1 bonus to your caster level with another spellcasting class (up to a maximum of your character level). These bonuses grant you additional spells known and spells per day for your modified caster level.
Ravingdork even broke down in a forum discussion once how a player was realistically able to have the necessary fame required to benefit from Esoteric Training by the time they took their first level in Mystic Theurge.
Especially once this ability has been paired with the Magical Knack trait will net you a full caster progression with one class. The other will be short one level of spells on average, and a caster level of 1 or 2 lower (but ultimately makes up for the loss with its versatility.
Another option, as some people have mentioned, is in regards to being divided between two casting stats.
You can always look into the sorcerer bloodlines Empyreal and Sage.
This would allow you to mix and match your primary stat modifiers in order to balance whatever your divine caster is. Int, Wis, Cha are all covered.
A third option is to transform your secondary caster stat into one that substitutes another stat for you.
Oracle is a great example. By dipping into Lore, Nature or Lunar you can utilize your Charisma in place of your Dexterity, allowing you to divide your stats between a primary casting modifier and your new "Dex" score which now also doubles as your secondary spell modifier.
Depending on how liberal your DM is you could also look into taking Agent of the Grave as your 7th level class, once you've taken a level in Mystic Theurge to boost those caster levels high enough to nab Animate Dead on your list. (This all hinges on using the Esoteric Training ability)
Now your Charisma can be utilized to give you bonus hit points in place of your Constitution.
Ioun Stones, Varisian Tattoos (for certain schools of magic), and a ton of other abilities can all be used to inflate your caster level as well.
Since the ability explicitly says that it functions as the paladin's smite evil ability, and it's coming from the same character... that seems to me like it wouldn't stack.
A paladin with two smite evil sources can't exactly doubly smite evil, the effectiveness of the class ability just adds the two class levels together.
Reading straight from the source, it just seems as though they can choose to smite either the evil or chaotic aspect of their foes.
Just the same as getting a Monk's wisdom bonus from two classes. Even though they're dodge bonuses and -should- stack, they don't because they function as the same ability.
Really, though... with the exception of having a high hit point total and decent Fort save... how was the 'broken' 22 casting stat any different from an Aasimar or Tiefling with alternate racial stats?
Again, the major point of this is just being able to compact a staffs spells into your weapon and be able to utilize it without having to swap weapons.
Not so much the point of a transformative double weapon... a person could just transform it into a double sword and use either end if that were the case.
That was moreso just an interesting side effect.
Your roleplay doesn't always have to interact with the party, per se.
If you have a high intelligence, you could always give him some sort of inner monologue that doesn't quite sync with his blank stare and slack features?
One of the characters that I've been playing in the Daughter's of Fury module is a paladin who recently became knighted in the church and, despite his lack of combat experience, puts on a bit of a show to try and impress the party that follows him.
He'll be fighting a monster and snarl at it, say something grim or cocky, and then I'll elaborate a little on what's going through his head. "Oh god... oh god! It's so big! Oh god, help me, please! Where's the barbarian?! It cut me! Oh my god, it cut me! I'm bleeding!" all while trying to put on a brave front for the party.
Maybe this character of yours plays out very intelligent in his thoughts, but his actual mannerisms are almost comatose?
The group seems to get a kick out of the little parts that 'they can't see' and how much of a contrast that they have to his 'heroic personality' which would have probably gotten stale if played by itself.
I think that it would be a fitting tribute that even though the eidolon could pass on in this world, he would never really be gone and would return to be by his masters side once time had passed?
I also think that the class has a lot of "give and take" abilities between the two. To share hit points, take damage for each other, to boost his masters defenses.
It's representative of the kind of loyalty that I would think you and your dog would have shared?
Something that goes both ways.
Condolences, by the way.
In some ways losing an animal can hurt more than losing a person. And while I can't claim to know exactly what it is that you're going through, I can tell you that this sort of experience can be a huge wait emotionally.
Wonderful thing that you're doing to immortalize him and give him a chance to live on beside you, if only in your thoughts.
Shows that he obviously lead a good life and was loved by somebody very much.
But the Heart of the Wilderness human trait allows them to add half of their character level to their constitution score to determine how far into the negatives until they die.
The biggest advantage is having a staff with spells inside of it. Extra good if you're playing a Magus or something who would really benefit from using both?
Even a cleric who's taking to the front lines.
And if you'd read up top, if the GP is too impactful, you can always just have someone temporarily buff the one side.
Brilliant Energy has the huge drawback of not being able to affect constructs or undead. This allows a person to flip to the side capable of harming them.
So the following enchantment can be added to any weapon at the expense of gold without adding to the weapons enhancement bonus.
Spoiler:
Transformative
Price +10,000 gp
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 10th; Weight —
DESCRIPTION
This special ability can only be placed on melee weapons. A transformative weapon alters its shape at its wielder's command, becoming any other melee weapon of the same general shape and handedness; the weapon's categorization as simple, martial, or exotic is irrelevant. For example, a Medium transformative longsword can take the shape of any other Medium one-handed melee weapon, such as a scimitar, flail, or trident, but not a Medium light or two-handed melee weapon (such as a Medium short sword or a Medium greatsword). It can even take the shape of comparable weapons of different size categories. For example, a Small greatsword is a two-handed slashing weapon for a Small character, but is a one-handed slashing weapon for a Medium character, which is very similar to a Medium longsword; a Small transformative greatsword can thus become an actual Medium longsword, usable by a Medium creature without the —2 penalty for using a weapon of the wrong size. The weapon retains all of its abilities , including enhancement bonuses and weapon special abilities , except those prohibited by its current shape. For example, a keen transformative weapon functions normally in the form of a piercing or slashing weapon, but cannot use the keen special ability when in the shape of a bludgeoning weapon. When unattended, the weapon reverts to its true shape.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, major creation; Cost +5,000 gp
I don't know if this has ever been mentioned on here before...
But while sitting around tonight talking with some of the members of my group I had come up with the idea of using transformative on a magic staff.
You could enchant the weapon on two sides, thus carrying over the weapon enchantment and having it apply to the weapons new form.
It also states that the weapon retains all of its abilities, making a point to distinguish this statement separate from it also retaining weapon enhancement bonuses and weapon special abilities.
One of the major benefits to this is now you're wielding a sword or polearm that's loaded with a couple spells that you are capable of casting, using your caster level and DC's. Not to mention the fact that it can be recharged after your adventure.
As an extra benefit, you could place two different types of enchantments on each side of the staff for the purposes of 'changing' your weapon enchantments.
Say you transform the staff into a Greatsword.
One side of your staff is a +5 weapon, the other being a +2 Brilliant Energy.
This would allow essentially allow you to transform the weapon and decide between which weapon effect is active on your sword. Fighting a golem? Take a moment to swap back to that +5 bonus since your brilliant energy effect is now useless.
Is that too much of a strain on your gp limit?
Enchant one end, have the group wizard cast a Greater Magic Weapon on the other. This works even better if you're a Magus who can cast their own enhancements.
Just a thought!
This, paired with utilizing the Familiar Spell metamagic with an item familiar has lead to a very different character concept that is being used in our games now.
i just learned from a few other threads that magical knack doesn't actually increase your caster level, but only increases level-based spell effects like duration.
now i see why a wizard 1/cleric 3 with magical knack isn't a great option for the mystic.
argh.
Depends on the spells you take.
One can always look into Esoteric Training to get a +3/+1 boost to caster level and spells known in two separate abilities though, no?
And then Magical Knack could offset the +1 class so that the character runs with two full caster levels and only lags behind by 1 spell level on one class.
You could always use the Machinist class from NeoExodus (by Louis Porter Jr. Design).
Our group doesn't use anything 3rd party with the exception of this.
Incredibly well written and has an aspect of the class that would play like a summoner with an upgradable construct that you control.
The spells (or blueprints) are very thematic too.
I guess I almost find it a little selfish that the other players are getting angry at the situation. You had mentioned that he is using the cohort appropriately, building strong RP with the father/son relationship that the two have going... so why would we take something like that away from someone who is so clearly enjoying what he is doing?
I guess it's just a bit curious too that they're playing buff-casting classes but are disgruntled at the fact that they are being spent on 'a lowly cohort' instead of rejoicing at the group effectiveness.
Maybe instead of even entertaining their complaints in a sense that someone has to have something taken away from them in order for other people to be happy... you could challenge them (in a friendly way, of course) and ask instead what you could do as a GM to make -their- playing experience more enjoyable.
It's easier to give something to the disgruntled and help maintain an environment where the table feels as though they can all do what they want to do instead of finding that balance by subtracting from one players experience to make others happier.
Just be careful to play your epic games in the privacy of your own home and don't let on that you might be having fun the wrong way.
As you can tell... the fact that you even implied that there is a world of gaming beyond 20 can throw some people's precious little universe into chaos.
But I would really consider the Tauric template for your -wink, wink- level 16 -wink,wink- monster that you are trying to stat out.
-wink....... wink-
You could always try the Tauric template from the D&D 3.5's Monster Manual II.
If it's not -exactly- what you're looking for then you could always use it as a baseline and then just advance the dragons hit dice.
So during a fit of insomnia the other night I happened to pop open the forums and stumbled across a thread that, from what I can recall, talked about a trait that allowed a character to ignore the pre-requesites of the Monk's still mind feature for classes (feats?).
I went to bed elated and never considered that I should probably bookmark said thread or the link to the ability in question... and now I can't seem to find it for the life of me.
I can't recall if it allowed you to ignore it for all pre-reqs... maybe it was just for Monastic Legacy?
Does anybody have any insight as to what I may have been looking at? Or was it perhaps all just a beautiful dream...?
In one of the games that I am currently running the roster was down to 2 people and we ended up treating cohorts kind of like Final Fantasy 6.
They could still only have one cohort each during story arcs, but they were able to swap them out for different missions.
I would roleplay the NPC's and when combat rolled around they would utilize the NPC's sheet like a second character.
Worked very well in giving the party a rounded group since it let them play the classes that they wanted without worry of group synergy, and it let them interchange the party depending on what they felt like they were going up against.
I imagine that it could be a potential option if your group struggles with keeping two characters going during RP.
The Synthesist states in the write-up that it uses the eidolon's physical scores and base attack bonus, though.
So if you were a 19th level Paladin who threw on the 'exosuit' then your attack bonus would drop 18 points.
So a dip into that archetype would actually be pretty painful.
Aaand... since I'm an idiot and can't figure out how to edit my earlier post...
You could always try Arcane Trickster with the above mentioned suggestions in order to rack up some decent skill points.
What about taking the Eldritch Scion archetype and then doing a one level dip into Lore Oracle? You could take the Lore Keeper revelation to use your Charisma modifier to knowledges instead of Intelligence, and later even consider taking Sidestep Secret through Extra Revelation?
There's tons of ways to make up the loss of skill points if that's another thing holding you back. There's a feat that let's you take hit points -and- the skill point increase from a favored class, Finding Haleen (if your DM allows... seems like everybody is looking for Haleen if there's no campaign trait restriction!)
Depending on what level your game goes up to and how much gold you're willing to spend... I had a player take Craft Wondrous Item and make a bunch of the Intelligence ioun stones (4000 gold to make) and choose a different knowledge skill to max out with each one.
The Intelligence bonuses didn't stack but she considered it a good trade given her high level gp limit and being able to make knowledge checks on every monster.
That whole part about being invited over for a game, being asked to arrive early, and then being told to sit off to the side for a dungeon crawl for four hours is definitely something that I would discuss with something... not even necessarily from a GM/Player perspective, but from a friend/respect perspective.
However... what is up with some of the other things in this thread?
What does this player being female have anything to do with it? The whole "many females get preferential treatment" speech was mindblowing...
I have played with some really awful gamers before and I never stared at them across the table, stroked my chin thoughtful and thought to myself "Hm... this must be because he's a man..."
Personally, I had always thought that a Paladin should be a paragon of the ideals that a specific deity represents and that they should always strive to uphold them. The concept of a Paladin, Antipaladin or Greyguard should follow the dogma of their faith in a way that even other divine spellcasters should admire.
Has there been anything in combat where this player has totally obliterated your enemies and you found the group muttering about how the fight 'totally would have gone differently if only she had lay on hands instead of corrupting touch' or is this more frustration relating to, as another poster commented, her getting a customized class and you feeling left out?
Just be an adult about it. Communicate, give your GM the courtesy of a conversation to let him know what is bothering you. But at the same time... present the things that bother you as facts as opposed to basing them on a preconceived notion of gender...
If you have the opportunity to give the Iron Kingdoms setting a once over, take a glance at how they handle teleportation effects and maybe implement them?
Great to have already established mechanics to deal what you were looking for.
The answer isn't necessarily "death"... but this is one of my all-time favorites!
Very clever and well written!
'Twas in heaven pronounced, and 'twas muttered in hell,
An echo caught faintly the sound as it fell;
On the confines of earth 'twas permitted to rest,
And the depths of the ocean its presence confessed;
'Twill be found in the sphere when 'tis riven asunder,
Be seen in the lightning and heard in the thunder.
'Twas allotted to man with his earliest breath,
Attends him at birth, and awaits him in death,
Presides o'er his happiness, honor, and health,
Is the prop of his house, and the end of his wealth.
In the heaps of the miser 'tis hoarded with care,
But is sure to be lost on the prodigal heir.
It begins every hope, every wish it must bound,
With the husbandman toils, and with monarchs is crowned.
Without it the soldier, the seamn may roam,
But woe to the wretch who expels it from home!
In the whispers of conscience its voice will be found,
Nor e'en in the whirlwind of passion be drowned.
'Twill not soften the heart; but though deaf be the ear,
It will make it acutely and instantly hear.
Yet in shade let it rest, like a delicate flower,
Ah... breathe on it softly, - it dies in an hour.
Is it me or has this thread just totally derailed?
We have people commenting on the likelihood of Merchant McComponentSeller having rows and rows of Great Old One materials on sale as if his distribution center accidentally overordered fragments of obscure beings of near deific alien nature that he has no choice but to "blow it all out so cheap... that he's practically GIVING it away!"
So others pipe in with their input as to how to overlook this situation and all we get is... "Nope. Won't happen. That spell might not exist. What about the implied cost of something even though it hasn't been written down somewhere?"
In a game where a person can be beaten literally within an inch of death and have literally no drawbacks to how well they function... why are we so focused on the "it's not written, but maybe...!" aspects of this concept, especially when the rules have already been written and even included content to overcome any uncertainties that a game might have?
I haven't seen a lot of threads that try to tackle the pontential penalties to the party rogue's acrobatics check due to the fact that he hasn't been drinking an appropriate amount of water and probably has muscle cramps that could impact his leap at the wrong time...
Make a Knowledge check to see if you can identify some lore about the creature and know what you're gonna change into. Not allowed by the DM? Great! Done and put to rest.
Buy material components as per rules as written. Not allowed by DM? Awesome! That settles that.
Use a spell like Blood Money or Wish to get ye olde monster's armpit hair and thus, channel the destructive power latent within the vessel of his musky apocallyptic presperation? Can't happen as per your DM and his reverence for the flagrant abuse of ones fetid sweat soakers? Perfect! This disturbing conversation need never be discussed again!
But why jump in with these obscure interpretations that don't fall under the rules and object without reason or a pathfinder-based rule to support it?
It just seems like trying to rock the boat and counter suggestions and facts with personal opinions...
I'd dive right in and grab classes that were as MAD as humanly possible. Maybe consider something like a Monk who dips into Duelist or even a Kensai Magus who grabs a dip into Paladin, Monk and Sorcerer for bloodline, AC, and saving throw madness.
Obviously, as the poster made a point of indicating at the start of the thread, this is more of a test to see what options become viable when you're not restricted to balancing multiple stats to be viable.
To all of the people griping and feeling obligated to tell everybody involved in this thread that they have "violated the spirit of pathfinder itself" and have "pretty much dashed the rules to the rocks with this stupid concept, because -I- would never entertain the concept of high stat blocks that inherently ruin the game and make you a bad player"...
Thanks for taking the time to crawl out of your basements and contribute your unhelpful views to the gaming community that are, this far, in complete opposition to the nature of this forum in particular that is intended to offer advice to people with questions.
Really though, if it weren't for your hipster opinions on how playing a game any way but your preference is a sin that torments the very soul of Gary Gygax and denies him rest in the afterlife, people might have accidentally gone off and had fun the wrong way.
Maybe we should take a glimpse at the latest sticky thread and remember that we're a community sharing it's passion for a passtime that is such a big part of our lives and not a place where we can spread resentment amongst one another and shame each other for their concepts of what is enjoyable.
Thanks for the exercise, OP! While I don't think that I'd ever play a game where I was rocking raw 18's I do understand what you were aiming for and appreciate the input of everyone who has contributed in a constructive manner so far!
I'm sure that an extra +2 to a few ability score modifiers won't somehow manage to unravel their stories and make their games unplayable and unenjoyable. ;)
If you have access to Inner Sea Gods you could always take the Deific Obedience feat and worship Nethys.
One of the boons that you get allows you to channel a spell through a staff. Sounds like it's exactly what you're looking for.
It would also give you the option of making the staff spell storing and throwing out a little extra bit of boom with your bang!
I'm kind of curious as to how we became so absolutely fixated on this 'illegal racial combination'... it's like despite people providing suggestions that may explain how this monk could have these unique abilities stacked we just immediately retort with "nope, sry, can't move while flurrying and gm is cheating with racials lol".
To be honest, until I had become invested in reading the forums, the concept of your DM 'cheating' wasn't even something that I even considered possible.
Last I checked, the DM is writing a world, story, and all of the NPC's in it. Every D&D book that I have ever read advocates creativity and gives both DM and player alike encouragement to branch out from the norm and create their own concepts and ideas.
It could be any number of possibilities that people have mentioned. Different class combos, buff spells that some of the posters may have not looked into, reskinned monsters or maybe even just the DM describing his methods of attack differently.
In the games that I play, we go big or go home! Just because a person has two attacks per round doesn't mean that they stand in one place and swing twice every 6 seconds. It doesn't affect mechanics, but when the battle plays out and is described there is swordplay, parried attacks, martials arts and the like thrown into the mix to make the story -feel- epic instead of like a Final Fantasy RPG where people take turns hitting each other.
Also, there seems to be a lot of misleading information here...
He has "undispellable" spell resistance, and the players were apparently incapable of hitting him with spells... but then he goes on in the same post to say that they have debuffed the monk at several points and the Mook wizard dispels it?
So how are we sure that his spell resistance is incapable of being dispelled? Did we fail the dispel check and just assume?
I see a lot of pointed fingers.
Lots of conspiracy theories.
And it all comes back to people ranting and raving about how the DM 'cheated', how these combinations are impossible (despite people posting potential abilities and combinations that make these theories actually possible).
I get that there are 'those' kind of DM's who may get a little heady with power and show off a well-built or overpowered NPC and make the players feel dumbed down... but I find in a lot of those cases that those situations involve the DMPC instead of the big bad.
So can we maybe take a minute to stop throwing out the millions of ways that we perceive this guy to be outlandishly breaking the rules and condemn the whole concept of this monk to hell and maybe take a bit of time to figure out -how- he is doing what he's doing so that we can break down his strengths and help the OP like he originally asked?
Saying "your DM cheated, there's nothing you can do because it's overpowered and illegal" really doesn't give him any insight to his problem unless the solution that he was looking for involved making a scene and walking out of his game...
@Loros: for barbarian pounce he needs to be 10th lvl barb and for monk Sr he would need to be 13th lvl unless I am missing something.
Didn't necessarily mean that he had all of those together.
Was just tossing out ideas as to how he may have gotten certain abilities. :)
I mean, if this GM uses mythic too then that opens up a whole new world of crazy.
I always love these conspiracy theory posts... where the comment section is filled with "your DM is out to get you, storm out of the room and teach him a lesson, blagh!"
:D So for the sake of argument we're going to pretend for a moment that your DM -didn't- choose to stack racial variants improperly (especially since, y'know, he's a monk and could have acquired spell resistance through another source or even through his class) and that he -didn't- cheat to give his character the ability to move and attack (barbarian pounce? Maybe his mook took the experimental spellcaster and accelerate wordspell to give him an extra move action per round?) just so that he could lord over his players and stroke his ego at their expense.
Spells that don't target spell resistance are a great choice for any of the casters in your party.
An invisible gunslinger so try and nail his flat-footed touch AC might help as well!
Maybe try to build something around an Accelerated Drinker, Potion of True Strike, and just whittle him away.
And maybe it may depend on your groups synergy. You would be amazed at how high a person's attack bonus will get when you start to stack buff spells with paladin smite (aura) with barbarians who are raging. One of my players is a Samsaran Magus who uses Dance of a Hundred Cuts (mystic past life) and one of the other characters buffs her with Moment of Greatness. That, coupled with spells like Monstrous Physique (for the strength bonus) and the Arcane Accuracy magus arcana send her attack bonus into the stratosphere.
And again, it could all just be part of the DM's story. Lots of great stories start with a big bad that trumps the heroes hard enough to leave them -wanting- to beat him into the floor. It could have been a plot arc to give you guys some insight as to the BBEG and allow you to brainstorm the best ways to beat him.
You'll be surprised. Some DM's are there to tell a story and not just play a game. It could be that he is trying to establish something really memorable for your group.
Or maybe he's just a power-tripping lunatic! :D I've never met the guy so I can't say for sure!
Mythic Initiative is a great way to somewhat offset the big bad's action economy.
Also, back when World of Warcraft released it's 3.5 version of their game they had a template for elite monsters.
I don't remember everything, but it was a +1 CR adjustment that gave +4 to a primary stat and constituion and gave them x4 hit points.
Might be a good idea to dig it up from the bowels of the Internet and see if it would suit your needs!
Hi there! Loro here! Gee, um... I'm your biggest fan! Love your work! Oh golly gee willikers!
I guess, that, well, you see... what I wanted to ask is...
What kind of plans does the paizo crew have on the horizon concerning new classes? Would love to see something completely unique and interesting besides the usual stereotypes of "studied caster, spontaneous caster, melee, caster/melee hybrid, etc..." and see something totally off the wall.
I was always a huge fan of concepts that went in a totally opposite direction and gave us something brand new.
The Binder from Tome of Magic, The Warblade and Swordsaint from Tome of Battle, to name a few... (Filthy non-pathfinder products... I know!)
Any chance of a hint or confirmation that we might be seeing something with a completely unique resource system or class mechanics in the near future?
Thanks!
Oh! I couldn't help but notice you order that navy blue sweater off of amazon.com the other day when I was admiring your hair in the bushes behind your office. Stunning! I took the liberty of sneaking in through the back door of the kitchen and changed your order to a V-neck in order to accentuate your chin. Hope you don't mind! Best friends forever!
I am a sore loser and I hate to be pushed over with ease by my DM overpowered "boss battles". I try really hard to calm down, take it with a grain of salt, but frankly I need advice on how to cope with my PC getting his rear-end being kicked by post epic encounter CRs (APL 4 vs. CR 8).
I am not trying to find a miracle solution here and I understand that I should be more open minded about the whole issue, I just want to see how other people deal with this kind of issues with their PCs.
The fine details (read if you want the extra info):
Playing a custom world campaign, 15 point buy, core rule book only.
The party consist of a cleric (kind of new to the game) , wizard, ranger/rogue, rogue and finally me the fighter, all of us level 5. We use a rotating cast, the campaign is very modular and it allow us to play with all kind of group configurations, that is allowing us to play if a player is unavailable. I do not know if it's my fighter build (falshion specialist) but we usually plow through most dungeons with ease (last session I took care of 3 ogres by myself).
My DM, however, as a nasty habit, he often make us face NPCs that are "important" to his story, you know the awesome character that basically has his own cut-scene when you see him for the first time. Half the party got incinerated after the second session because we "dared" barge in his room and shot everything we had at him (The DM later confirmed that we should not have harmed him and that we were only supposed to face his right hand man)
Other examples are: A ranger that sliced my throat using a crit card, a rogue that had improved faint and basically put my fighter unconscious in 2 rounds, a fight involving a blind monk and a large changeling. Every-time we almost get TPK but then to add humiliation to injury he pull his punches! I feel that at least he should suffer the consequences of his actions (unbalanced fights) by making the TPK happen.
I am tired of NPCs being always the coolest cats in the...
(Sorry in advance for the wall of text...)
I like to try to take a good look at both sides of an arguement, and in fairness, if you are unhappy or not having fun with your game then maybe it is in the best interests if both you and your DM to go your separate ways and not risk poisoning your friendship with such obviously hostility and hard feelings.
When it comes to the first situation, however...
You walked into a room, mowed down every obstacle in your way, and then picked a fight with a guy that your DM obviously (he even said so) didn't want you to fight.
If I were to play a game, bust down a door and go all "Leeeeeroooooy...!" on what is meant to be an RP situation involving the BBEG and get so aggressive that he lays me low I would be facepalming at my own recklessness. Some of us play the game for the story and not just the monster bashing and dice rolling.
Some of my favorite villains from the Baldur's Gate series were involved in the very same "shenanigans" that you're describing. (To speak to a game that at least a few of us could relate to).
Watching Jon Irenicus battle the Cowled Wizards at the start of the game when he could obviously grind me into a sticky paste left me with a sense of awe and appreciation at such an awesome villain. Fighting him in Spellhold alongside a large group of other powerful wizards when he would likely topple me let me get a taste of blood and yearn to be strong enough to beat him as I watched him teleport away... and all of that culminated into one of the most epic and satisfying boss encounters that I could think of when it finally came time to pit my strength against his at the end!
I didn't immediately cry foul and bemoan how I was the victim, that the makers of this epic story arc were just flaunting their "awesome NPC" in my face in effort to show how cool they were.
You got trounced by a feinting rogue. It sucks. But it happens. Yes, he could have maybe misunderstood the rules and accidentally given the NPC an extra move action in his first round. Maybe he was level 3 and had a flaming weapon? (A bit high for his gp limit, I know).
Would you have had more fun just facerolling everything in sight with your uber AC?
I have a character in my game who plays a Kensai Magus who stacked the ever living hell out of her AC. Most of the time it works to her advantage (so does yours if you are toppling some encounters prior to the bosses like you said you were). But every so often you and your team are going to face something that directly challenges your strong points.
She has come up against two run ins with a Darkness Domain Cleric who encased them in darkness and flatfooted her God-AC and with a sentient flesh golem who constantly utilized Shatter Defenses in order to keep her primary defense nearly invalid and would have pummeled her into a fine paste if not for the aid of the group cleric.
We had a blast. They narrowly won the encounter and those two encounters are still spoken of today as some of the group favorites for forcing them on their toes and making victory seem so razor thin. Even more-so when they won the odds and snatched triumph from the jaws of defeat!
You talk like your GM played the part of the tyrant in making you battle the blind monk and his brutish companion.
You won man! Whoo hoo! Take your victory and dance around the cave for a little bit and revel in your accomplishments!
You stormed the dungeon, laid waste to the enemies who stood in front of you as they quailed at your awesomeness and then took the fight to a duo that pushed you and your party to its limit. So what if the last fight was a challenge? Isn't that one of the reasons that we play?
He could have been wearing a Blind Man's Fold and had blindsight instead of trueseeing? Did his inability to see hamper your strategy in any way or could this character maybe have been inspired to be 'Illidan-esque' and provide you with a memorable villain?
I've found that people can be so quick to throw a DM under the bus for their style of DMing and automatically condemn them as "bad" and for someone to immediately confront them and make them conform their game to their standards... or just pick up and walk off if they don't get what they want because it seems to be a DM's job to make the game fun for the players.
But ultimately it's a game where everybody is meant to have fun. Believe it or not, the DM should be enjoying telling 'their' story and playing 'their' game too.
Maybe your DM is on a DMPC high and is throwing you guys around in order to flex his own deific muscle and relish at how awesome his characters are. I wasn't there for your game and I can't tell myself.
Or, and I may be just taking a shot in the dark here given that your your post is called "I am a sore loser"... you might be looking into the reasons behind the things that are being done and automatically thinking that they are meant to slight you and your group.
At the end of the day... your character has more triumphs than losses. You're still alive and paired up with at least one team member who has helped you overcome some challenging encounters while your party members drooled and did nothing.
And you have a a storyline with established villains that have built that sense of vengeance and rivalry with.
Thanks for the response, Bobson.
I was afraid to post this initially, because every time I've ever mentioned anything epic in a D&D forum it's usually met with criticism or distaste without actually answering the question. ;)
I get it, I know how to twink 3.5 characters, I know that abilities can be used to get results beyond the norm at level 20.
Unfortunately, though, Slow Time cannot be used to cast spells or use spell-like abilities.
It even specifically states that it can't be combined to get extra full round actions, though I figured that since ones full round actions *become* a standard action as a 20th level variant Fighter, that that was why this twink would be allowed.
I was wondering if either I had missed a note saying that a Monk was unable to multiclass, or if perhaps there was something in the wording of the abilities that made me misinterpret.
Recently after a rather extensive foray into the horribly unbalanced world of Epic 3.5 that was only kept in check through endless house rules, my group and I stumbled across Pathfinder and instantly fell in love with the system.
A lot of people immediately cringe or are quick to condemn a group that plays an epic campaign, which I can understand to a point if the old rules were used word for word... but we were able to find a balance that kept our game going for a number of years and maintained a high level of interest and enjoyment.
Currently our new group of heroes aren't very high at all, but while browsing through the Advanced Player's Guide I happened to notice what could potentially be a very deadly combination once a player hit around level 32 in the Pathfinder universe.
The combination being a level 20 Mobile Fighter / 12 Monk of the Four Winds would technically allow the character to spend 6 ki and utilize Slow Time and gain 3 standard actions in a round. And then use the Whirlwind Blitz ability of a Mobile Fighter to take three full rounds worth of attacks?
I know that ki is a limited resource, but even then, that is a ridiculous amount of burst to unload on a villain.
I figured that such a build would prove impossible based upon the old rules that (near the beginning of 3.0+ anyways) Monks and Paladins were unable to multi-class, though I might have just overlooked it this time around... I was unable to find the same ruling in Pathfinder.
Did I miss something important here?
Or is the possibility of this whirlwind dervish of time-stands-still brokeness a distinct possibility?
