Lunaramblings's page

Just my opinion but I see it this way:

There are qualifications to triggering the effect of this feat.

1: Did the opponent attack you?
If YES, move to 2.
2: An AoO is provoked for all allies who have this feat.
Are you by the rules your own ally? Yes. Do you have the feat? Yes. Then you get the attack.

When I read this feat, honestly I think of the Golden Compass(Book or Movie) when the character Iorek uses a very similar tactic to take out what looked to be a superior foe. He goad the foe into being over confident and took a couple good hits to set up a counter. That is essentially what this does.

Alternately Muhammad Ali was famous for using the "Rope-a-Dope" where he would take a bit of punishment to lure his opponent into a position where he would get to make a good counter attack, usually catching the opponent off guard and putting them down.

Other than dinos being around how does that relate to the societies of the other races? To the Utahraptors? Do the Raptoids treat the dinos as Kin, or as beasts? Are the Dinos top of the food chain replacing the mammals and such we know? Or are they just another part of the food chain, and hence treated just like any other animal?

Once these have been answered I think you might be able to find more hooks.

slade867 wrote:

Why would that be confusing unless the whole house vibrates?

'Confusing' is used in the sense that you're trying to describe how a sense works to people that generally don't perceive things in that sense. It's like trying to describe color to a blind person. Or a dolphin trying to describe a room it saw with echolocation to another dolphin by using words. Normally, it would just send a copy of the echo-pattern and the other dolphin would just 'see' exactly what it was. A human would have a hard time even comprehending that level of specificity.

A GM saying that you have trouble getting a clear picture because of 'confusion' was meant to mean that your perceptions are garbled, interfered with, or not as effective. Saying that the whole building has to be shaking to hide someone in a room from tremorsense is like saying that someone in a dark room is easy to see unless the entire house is dark, or trying to hear someone in a soundproofed room is no challenge unless the entire house is silenced.

But more importantly, it was meant to help a GM keep the game moving while giving a quick, reasonable answer for why you might not be able to accurately determine the details of something otherwise within your 'sight' range... without having to spend 4 paragraphs explaining why it isn't working, like now. If your GM tell you, 'The waves of heat coming off the sand make it confusing to accurately determine the distance you are from the mountains.' He shouldn't have to explain how convention currents and differing medias affect the speed of light, even though the amount of difference on that scale of speed is so infinitesimal and even at miles of distance it's practically absolutely no distance to light at all... I think most of us would understand that demanding the GM declare that the entire world or even the desert be giving off heat waves is unreasonable, just the spaces between or including where the target you're looking at is (and then, maybe even only one tiny,...

The issue with this is that there are real creatures that have the ability to sense tremors in the ground. There are spiders that can sense the slightest sensation on any part of their web which I would compare to the analogy of winding around pipes and pits etc. There are also tarantulas that can sense vibration in the ground outside their lair.

Catfish can sense vibrations in the water through their barbels. And that is in brackish water, often surrounded by debris and branches etc.

That is how I would treat it. If there is a point of physical contact that can be traced between the user and the target I would more or less just draw a 30'radius bubble around the User. If the Target falls within the bubble they are sensed.

As far as Perception rolls, I often ask for Perception rolls when they are not combat or plot related just to keep players guessing. As far as things like Disguise, I allow players to roll and know what they got, because as someone that actually is a hobbyist with special effects makeup, I think they should be able to tell if their attempt looks decent or not.

Wide open plains and deserts. Sounds a little like the African Savannah. I would play on that. Lots of animals, Dire Animals, African themed monsters, such as say a Mkole-Mnembe lurking in the river where they try to get water/cross/whatever. Other than that it really depends on the level of the party.

But, some ideas:
Mummies(Egyptian feel)
Aurumvorax (Feline like and pretty exotic)
Biloko (Pygmy Fey)
There are many others. But I only went through A and B listings.

If homebrew is ok, then I would think 3rd party might be as well, so I would recommend the Soulknife. Has a lot of the flavor you seem to be looking for.

To me, this is all up to the DM and the Player to work out. While the character was only Dead for a round, time may or may not work the same in Death as it does in Life. As others have said, if playing in Golarion than you remember nothing, if in a homebrew, I would work it out with the DM dependent upon your character, their beliefs, and how interactive the Gods in your game are.

I have only taken a cursory glance, but I would recommend looking at the Soulknife. They even have an archetype to trade out some of their powers for the ability to manifest Psionic Powers instead. As for the Empath, I would look at the Medium. Overall it looks like these classes are WAY out of balance with anything standard. There is no way either of these would ever see play at a table I run as is. The power level is just too far off.

I am a fan of Constructs in abandoned places.

But for puzzles you could have something like a decrepit bridge that the PCs have a reason to cross. I might set it up like this:

As you come to the bridge you can see that it is significantly worse for wear. Years of abuse and lack of upkeep have caused the bridge to become fragile and potentially dangerous. There are visible holes in the bridge and the whole thing sags to one side.

(Knowledge Engineering to determine safe squares. Depending on the length of the bridge I would randomly assign the damaged squares. Then if they step on one, allow an appropriate Reflex Save to avoid.)

Or perhaps the whole thing is Illusory and there are a pack of Kobolds/Goblins/what have you camping under the bridge waiting for people to fall through to take their stuff/eat them/what have you.

There are a variety of ways to play it off as others have said. The ability is named after one of the more "respected" Devils in the game, so maybe take that as inspiration.

Also the old "if he's willing to do that to himself, I don't wanna know what he's gonna do to me" joke comes to mind. Psyching your self up ala Ken Shamrock for example.

Lunaramblings wrote:

The ability refers to a SINGULAR BLAST to be effected. It clearly is written to mean that you spend a full round, then if you then take a move action after, you increase the benefit to that SINGULAR blast. If you want to argue you can get the full benefit by using that singular blast then taking the move, fine, but the blast to which you are attempting to Gather for has already been expended. There is nothing in the ability to suggest that it should effect anything but A Wild Talent Blast, A meaning 1. You can divorce the sentences and pervert their meaning, but if you read the whole thing using logic, it is clearly referring to only a, one, single Blast.

Your issue is you were arguing from a point of making this fit into the rules, the "logical" outcome, and having it work as intended. Because as we've pointed there was plenty there to give the impression that it worked. Mark did a good job pointing out how the wording prevents the move action from working independently as it's own charge affecting its own separate singular blast.

You've failed to show how our approach of two separate gather energies were somehow being applied to the same blast.

My initial point was exactly what Mark said.

Secondarily I pointed out that if you wanted to take a very pedantic reading and try to shift around the intention of the words, that one would also have to contend that the ability only effect A WILD BLAST TALENT. Meaning it can only effect one. I was intentionally bending words in the same way you and others were. But, as Mark and I as well as possiblecabbage all pointed out, if you read the ability in it's entirety, using common sense English understanding, then clearly what was being suggested doesn't work.

The ability refers to a SINGULAR BLAST to be effected. It clearly is written to mean that you spend a full round, then if you then take a move action after, you increase the benefit to that SINGULAR blast. If you want to argue you can get the full benefit by using that singular blast then taking the move, fine, but the blast to which you are attempting to Gather for has already been expended. There is nothing in the ability to suggest that it should effect anything but A Wild Talent Blast, A meaning 1. You can divorce the sentences and pervert their meaning, but if you read the whole thing using logic, it is clearly referring to only a, one, single Blast.

I guess if you ignore the obvious meaning of words and ignore the obvious intent you can pervert it that way. However, if you want to pervert it that far I would argue we are still then talking about the same Singular burst, which you have already fired off and so the rest is wasted.

The ability clearly effects only A SINGLE BLAST per use. It states directly A Burst Wild Talent. A means single. Not multiple. For it to effect more than a single burst it wouldn't refer to A, as in the singular. The sentence does nothing to change that you are effecting a single blast, it simply is changing by how much you are effecting it.

"Reduce by a total of 3" is the wording. I think it is pretty clear that it is meaning that you spend a full round, then a move, then Blast. Either way nothing about that changes the fact that you can effect A Blast, not ALL Blasts.

Personally, I disagree. It refers to A Blast Wild Talent. Not ALL. A means singular. I think it is fairly clear that Gather Power effects a single Blast based on the very simple choice to say A Talent, nor All Talents.

Just a Polite Bump. Hoping for any more feedback/suggestions/etc. Thanks!

I would pick a single method of control. Otherwise it is going to get hazy real quick. For example, Wild Empathy is redundant with the ability to charm animals and with a good Handle Animal. You also have Charm, Command, and Dominate in addition to Pact, which means you could have a TON of animals, like a ridiculous amount.

I think you need to narrow the focus. I would recommend looking at the previously mention Archetypes as well as the 3.5 Prestige Class Beast Heart Adept.

I like that. So I will make that the 15th level ability, condense Morphic Immunity.

@Nerdamus: You could make it better than the Official Shifter and it would only be a decent martial instead of a poor one.

As for the Cleric/Paladin thing... what does the shifter get that makes up for NO spellcasting? The paladin has a much smaller list he can use less often, but has amazing class features to make up for it. Shifter did not get amazing class features. The only thing that really stands out is it's ability, far too late in the game to matter, to bypass DR/-

@Lunaramblings: My initial thought is that magic items shouldn't be better than a class feature at something, and that means the fortification enhancements shouldn't beat Morphic Immunity. Making both the Crit/Sneak Attack/Precision negation and the Poison/Disease Immunity scale would help a lot. I know the numbers seem big, but 25% + 5% every level(to total immunity at level 20, or capping out 75% at 15), and using the alchemist's poison resistance as a base for Poison/Disease resistance would go a long way I think.

I have no real issue with giving complete immunity to Crits/Precision and Disease/Poison, I think it is just trying to balance it out to make sense. I also hate dead levels. So I could change Morphic Immunity to grant say 25% at 5th then just increase by 5% every level, I could then grant Poison and Disease Immunity at 10th level, and that leaves it with a dead level at 15 unless I can think of something to go there.

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the feedback. I have altered some things significantly and will post an updated look below. But here are the changes in a nutshell:

- Realized I left out Weapon and Armor Prof. so corrected that.
- Mutable Appearance is now a Transmutation based effect, however not Polymorph so that it may be used in other forms. Still basing the effect off of Disguise Self, but with the caveat that the changes are physical not illusory.
- Morphic Armory was changed to allow more weapon types, though kept both the offensive and defensive as a single ability. Defensive now grants Natural Armor= to Con Mod.
- Changed Fluid Form and all improvements by adding the following:When this ability is gained the Shapesmith chooses one form they may assume with this ability, they are able to transform into this form At Will. If the Shapesmith wishes to shift into a different form they may do so 3+Wisdom Mod times per day, each such shift lasting for 1 hour per level. This should make it less over powered and still give a reason to have a preferred form.
- Changed Divergent Evolution by adding:You may call forth or dismiss these Evolutions as a Full Round Action. These Evolutions are chosen at the start of each day.
- Significantly adjusted Morphic Immunity starting at 10% going to 50% and moving complete Poison/Disease Immunity to 10th level.
- Removed Morphic Movement
-Added Morphic Evolution: At 14th Level you can use your Divergent Evolutions in any form. Not sure if this might come on too late? Maybe switch this and
-Made a change to Morphic Body adding the ability to roll twice against Fort Saves and choosing the better option.
-Made Totemic Personification also make all shifting gained from Fluid Form and its improvements At Will.

Updated Class:
Shapesmith:
The Shapesmith is a master of form and function. Able to alter their physical form to suit a variety of situations the Shapesmith is a dangerous foe. Be it taking the form of a mighty Tiger to maul an enemy, shifting to the form of a bat or bird for scouting, or something even more esoteric, the Shapesmith excels at being a master of their form. Throughout their career the Shapesmith becomes able to channel different and sometimes frightening forms, eventually being able to become a chimeric beast of their own creation.

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Wealth: 2d6x10(Average 70GP. In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills:

Acrobatics(Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Fly(Dex), Handle Animal(Cha), Heal(Wis), Intimidate(Cha), Knowledge(Int){Arcana, Dungeoneering, Local, Nature, Planes, Religion}, Perception(Wis), Ride(Dex), Sense Motive(Cha), Stealth(Dex), Survival(Wis), and Swim(Str).

Skills Per Level: 4+Int Modifier.

Base Attack: Full

Saves: Fort-Good Ref-Good Will-Bad

Armor and Weapon Proficiencies: A Shapesmith is proficient with Light Armor, however most choose to forego armor as it is often melded with their form due to their inherently mutable form. The Shapesmith is also proficient in the use of All Simple Weapons, as well as the following individual weapons: Light Pick, Light Hammer, Handaxe , Throwing Axe, Kukri, Machete, Trident, Great Axe, Great Club, Pickaxe, Scythe, Chakram, Short Bow, Spear-Sling, Harpoon, Bola, Brutal Bola, Boomerang, Lasso, Net, Snag Net, and Atl-Atl.

Mutable Appearance: At 1st Level you gain Disguise Self as an At Will ability with the following exceptions: This ability is a transmutation effect that can only target the Shapesmith. The changes made are actual physical changes rather than illusory.

Morphic Armory: At 1st Level you may choose to grow one of the following At Will: 2 Claws(1d4(x2)), Bite or Gore (1d6 (x2)),2 Slams(1d4(x2)), Sting (1d6(x2)), 2 Talons(1d4(x2)) as a Primary Natural Attack or You may choose to grow a Pincer or Tail Slap(1d8(x2), 2 Wings(1d4(x2)), 2 Tentacles(1d4)x2)), or 2 Hooves(1d4(x2)) as Secondary Natural Attacks. Alternately, the Shapesmith may toughen their natural skin to provide a great deal of protect from harm. If they do they may add Their Con Bonus as a Natural Armor Bonus to Armor Class. You may have only one of these active at any given time. These improve at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th levels, damage increases by one step, Natural Armor increases by +1 at the same rate.

Bonus Feats: Starting at 1st level and every 5 levels thereafter(6th, 11th, 16th) you gain a bonus feat.

Voice of All: For a number of Minutes equal to Wis + ½ Class Level Per Day you may speak to any creature as if you shared a common language. This ability may be used in 1 minute increments to a total of your maximum daily allotment.

Fluid Form: At 3rd Level you may take the form of nearly any creature. This ability functions as Alter Self, Beast Shape I or Monstrous Physique I depending on the form of the being chosen. When this ability is gained the Shapesmith chooses one form they may assume with this ability, they are able to transform into this form At Will. If the Shapesmith wishes to shift into a different form they may do so 3+Wisdom Mod times per day, each such shift lasting for 1 hour per level.

Divergent Evolution: Starting at 4th Level you gain a pool of Evolution Points that you may assign daily equal to 1+Wis Mod. Every 2 Levels thereafter you gain +1 Evolution Point. You may use these points to buy Evolutions as if you were an Eidolon of your Class Level. You gain no other benefits that an Eidolon gains such as free form Evolutions, Ability Scores, Feats, Etc. When you use any version of Fluid Form those changes overwrite your Evolutions. You may call forth or dismiss these Evolutions as a Full Round Action. These Evolutions are chosen at the start of each day.

Morphic Immunity: At 5th Level you have a 10% immunity to Critical Hits, Sneak Attack and other forms of Precision Damage. At 10th Level this improves to 25% Chance of Immunity to Critical Hits and Precision Based Damage and In addition you are immune to Poison and Disease. At 15th Level this improves to 50% Chance of Immunity to Critical Hits and Precision Based Damage.

Improved Fluid Form: At 7th Level you gain the ability to mimic Beast Shape II, Monstrous Physique II or Elemental Body Or Undead Anatomy in addition. When this ability is gained the Shapesmith chooses one form they may assume with this ability, they are able to transform into this form At Will. If the Shapesmith wishes to shift into a different form they may do so 3+Wisdom Mod times per day, each such shift lasting for 1 hour per level.

Greater Fluid Form: At 9th level you gain the ability to mimic Beast Shape III or Elemental Body II or Monstrous Physique III or Undead Anatomy II in addition. When this ability is gained the Shapesmith chooses one form they may assume with this ability, they are able to transform into this form At Will. If the Shapesmith wishes to shift into a different form they may do so 3+Wisdom Mod times per day, each such shift lasting for 1 hour per level.

Superior Fluid Form: At 11th Level you gain the ability to mimic Beast Shape IV or Elemental Body III, or Monstrous Physique IV or Undead Anatomy III in addition. When this ability is gained the Shapesmith chooses one form they may assume with this ability, they are able to transform into this form At Will. If the Shapesmith wishes to shift into a different form they may do so 3+Wisdom Mod times per day, each such shift lasting for 1 hour per level.

Majestic Fluid Form: At 13th Level you gain the ability to mimic Elemental Form IV, Form of the Dragon I and II, Form of the Alien Dragon I and II, Form of the Exotic Dragon I and II, or Giant Form in addition. When this ability is gained the Shapesmith chooses one form they may assume with this ability, they are able to transform into this form At Will. If the Shapesmith wishes to shift into a different form they may do so 3+Wisdom Mod times per day, each such shift lasting for 1 hour per level.

Morphic Evolution: At 14th Level your mastery of your form is now such that you may now use your Divergent Evolutions in any form you are able to assume.

Master Fluid Form: At 17th Level you gain the ability to use Shape Change in addition. When this ability is gained the Shapesmith chooses one form they may assume with this ability, they are able to transform into this form At Will. If the Shapesmith wishes to shift into a different form they may do so 3+Wisdom Mod times per day, each such shift lasting for 1 hour per level.

Morphic Body: At 18th Level your body is so adaptive that you may, if beneficial, count yourself as any creature type for the purpose of beneficial spells and effects. You also gain DR 5/- in all forms. You also gain the ability that whenever you roll a Fortitude Save you may roll twice, taking the better result.

Morphic Mind: At 19th Level your mind has become as malleable as your body. You are Immune to any non-beneficial Mind Effect, Fear Effect. You also receive a +4 Bonus vs non-Mind Effecting Enchantment and Illusion effects.

Totemic Personification: At 20th Level you cease aging and are immune to Death Effects. You also may choose to combine any two forms you are able to assume using Fluid Form or one of its variations to create your Totemic Personification. You compare the two chosen forms and choose the best values from each to form a single being. All changes using Fluid Form or it’s improvements are now At Will Abilities. While in this form you have a Frightful Presence that can affect any creature with 30 or less Hit Dice. The DC is 10 + ½ Class Level + Con Mod.

You don't add 1-1/2 your Strength modifier to a natural weapon's damage roll unless it's the only one you can make. The awkward text in morphic armory suggests you don't add Strength modifier to the claw attacks and that you add 1-1/2 your Strength modifier to damage rolls for the gore and bite, even if you have natural attacks from other sources. It's a bad idea to rewrite rules, even if you're trying to follow them. Not only is it unnecessary, but also you create ambiguity or unintentionally cause them to work differently in the event you make a mistake.

Cyrad, yeah I didn't like the wording but was trying to be as clear as possible. I will reword the ability. Editing now.

Might consider having Fluid form work like Wildshape with uses per day with a long duration. Then at a higher level allow mid-use changing of shape.

I could definitely change it to work like Wildshape, though my biggest issue is the limited number of changes per day. One of the most glaring issues of The Shifter class is the lack of being able to shift. And the most common suggestion to fix that has been to change shifting to at will.

A readied action to target-shatter an extract as it's being consumed is still possible, though. Which is pretty nasty, but not much more than the usual "ready-to-counterspell-with-a-bullet/arrow/bolt/magic missile" action against casters. No idea if pugwampi are patient enough for that sort of tactic, though.

Alternatively, you can target shatter against a single solid nonmagical object, regardless of composition, weighing up to 10 pounds per caster level.

It does specify NON-MAGICAL... pretty sure that Extracts count as magical??? Or am I missing something? Or are we saying that even though the Extract is magical, the container holding it isn't? I would think that by virtue of the filling being magical that it would count the entire object as the same. Right?? Maybe my interpretation is too liberal.

So in my next session the PCs (including a fairly standard bomb alchemist) are entering a pugwampi-infested ruin.

The pugwampis have a shatter spell-like ability. Even though it has a pretty low DC (10), some saves will probably fail due to the pugwampi unluck aura.

My question is: How should the shatter's area attack affect the alchemist? All of his extracts are stored in glass vials and the bombs are probably ceramic. Should he make a separate save for each extract and all remaining bombs? Only one save for all?

Shatter spell wrote:

Used as an area attack, shatter destroys non-magical objects of crystal, glass, ceramic, or porcelain. All such unattended objects within a 5-foot radius of the point of origin are smashed into dozens of pieces by the spell. Objects weighing more than 1 pound per your level are not affected, but all other objects of the appropriate composition are shattered.

It specifies that it effects UNATTENDED OBJECTS. Anything carried by the Alchemist would not be UNATTENDED. At least by my understanding.

It seems too strong off-the-cuff, but I like where you're going with it. Dotting for interest.

That was my initial concern. Though not sure where or what to trim. Would truly be appreciative of any and all suggestions to properly balance the class.

Hey folks. So I had been working on this for a while, then heard about Ultimate Wilderness so put it on the back burner. However, it appears that The Shifter was... less than stellar. So, I have decided to dust this off and get some opinions. Please let me know what y'all think. Table Omitted because it looked all messy. I am thinking I may have gone too far, but that is why I am posting here, to try to reign in issues and get opinions before I run it through a play test with my group.

Shapesmith:
The Shapesmith is a master of form and function. Able to alter their physical form to suit a variety of situations the Shapesmith is a dangerous foe. Be it taking the form of a mighty Tiger to maul an enemy, shifting to the form of a bat or bird for scouting, or something even more esoteric, the Shapesmith excels at being a master of their form. Throughout their career the Shapesmith becomes able to channel different and sometimes frightening forms, eventually being able to become a chimeric beast of their own creation.

Hit Die: d10.

Starting Wealth: 2d6x10(Average 70GP. In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills:

Acrobatics(Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Fly(Dex), Handle Animal(Cha), Heal(Wis), Intimidate(Cha), Knowledge(Int){Arcana, Dungeoneering, Local, Nature, Planes, Religion}, Perception(Wis), Ride(Dex), Sense Motive(Cha), Stealth(Dex), Survival(Wis), and Swim(Str).

Skills Per Level: 4+Int Modifier.

Mutable Appearance: At 1st Level you gain Disguise Self as an At Will ability.

Morphic Armory: At 1st Level you may choose to grow one of the following At Will: 2 Claws(1d4(x2)), Bite or Gore 1d6(1.5xStr, (x2)), or Natural Armor(Enhancement Bonus)+2. You may have only one of these active at any given time. These improve at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th levels, damage increases by one step, Natural Armor increases by +1.

Bonus Feats: Starting at 1st level and every 5 levels thereafter(6th, 11th, 16th) you gain a bonus feat.
Voice of All: For a number of Minutes equal to Wis + ½ Class Level Per Day you may speak to any creature as if you shared a common language. This ability may be used in 1 minute increments to a total of your maximum daily allotment.

Fluid Form: At 3rd Level you may take the form of nearly any creature. This ability functions as Alter Self, Beast Shape I or Monstrous Physique I depending on the form of the being chosen. This ability functions At Will

Divergent Evolution: Starting at 4th Level you gain a pool of Evolution Points that you may assign daily equal to 1+Wis Mod. Every 2 Levels thereafter you gain +1 Evolution Point, to a maximum of 10+Wisdom Modifier at 19th Level. You may use these points to buy Evolutions as if you were an Eidolon of your Class Level. You gain no other benefits that an Eidolon gains such as free form Evolutions, Ability Scores, Feats, Etc. When you use any version of Fluid Form those changes overwrite your Evolutions.

Morphic Immunity: At 5th Level you have a 25% immunity to Critical Hits, Sneak Attack and other forms of Precision Damage. In addition you are immune to Poison and Disease. At 10th Level this improves to 50% Chance of Immunity to Critical Hits and Precision Based Damage and at 15th Level this becomes complete immunity.

Improved Fluid Form: At 7th Level you gain the ability to mimic Beast Shape II, Monstrous Physique II or Elemental Body Or Undead Anatomy in addition.

Greater Fluid Form: At 9th level you gain the ability to mimic Beast Shape III or Elemental Body II or Monstrous Physique III or Undead Anatomy II in addition.

Superior Fluid Form: At 11th Level you gain the ability to mimic Beast Shape IV or Elemental Body III, or Monstrous Physique IV or Undead Anatomy III in addition.

Majestic Fluid Form: At 13th Level you gain the ability to mimic Elemental Form IV, Form of the Dragon I and II, Form of the Alien Dragon I and II, Form of the Exotic Dragon I and II, or Giant Form in addition.

Morphic Movement: At 14th Level you may use this ability to gain any movement form for 1 minute. You may use this for 1 minute per level, split up in 1 minute increments. The movement speed is 60. If Fly is chosen the maneuverability is Good. While using this ability it is in addition to the movement modes you already possess based on your current form.

Master Fluid Form: At 17th Level you gain the ability to use Shape Change in addition.

Force Shift: At 18th Level you gain the ability to force others to shift forms. You may make a Melee Touch Attack against a target, and if successful they are effected as if by Polymorph Any Object.

Morphic Body: At 18th Level your body is so adaptive that you may, if beneficial, count yourself as any creature type for the purpose of beneficial spells and effects. You also gain DR 5/- in all forms.

Morphic Mind: At 19th Level your mind has become as malleable as your body. You are Immune to any non-beneficial Mind Effect, Fear Effect. You also receive a +4 Bonus vs non-Mind Effecting Enchantment and Illusion effects.

Totemic Personification: At 20th Level you cease aging and are immune to Death Effects. You also may choose to combine any two forms you are able to assume using Fluid Form or one of its variations to create your Totemic Personification. You compare the two chosen forms and choose the best values from each to form a single being. While in this form you have a Frightful Presence that can affect any creature with 30 or less Hit Dice. The DC is 10 + ½ Class Level + Con Mod.

First, which Portland? There are a few. And depending on the one you want may open different ideas. For example, Portland, Maine has a long history of Fey lore. As such portaling from a Fey Realm may make sense. Also who's to say that the timelines are synced? Perhaps the realm your players are from are in year Bleh, but the time traits and evolution of the two realities are very different so our timeline on Earth may be our own modern day society.

Gray Render. It was 3.5, had a Kobold that rode on the back of his "Friend" whom he had raised from infancy.

Grandlounge wrote:

I like in harms way, a lot, mainly because it keeps the ac viable to level 20 by keeping heat off the barbarian or fighter who will be doing more damage and be a greater threat.

That is exactly how I built my elephant animal companion. Though I also took additional traits for helpful and Sacred Touch. The idea was a protector spirit animal. It's silly but I like the idea of an elephant reaching out it trunk and saving people.

The power of the build is action economy not only to you get the normal benefits of extra attacks you also get to buff your allies, and defend them with zero PC actions. In harms way also works with resinous skin.

Yeah, Bodyguard/In Harm's Way/Benevolent armor does seem like a cool tactic. Plus, I have one unused Mystic Past Life spot which I could grab Shield Other. I just have to figure out how an Elephant would be able to wear a Platinum ring. Maybe on a chain around it's neck? ;-)

So far we have:

1) Combat Reflexes
3) Power Attack? (Good for low levels to help increase damage. As a Samsaran, I can also cast Divine Favor/Power & Heroism on it)
4) Bump it's INT to 3.
5) Bodyguard
7) In Harm's Way
9) Additional Traits (grabbing Fate's Favored and Helpful)

I might just go with that. The Helpful Woolly Mammoth, lol.

A ring could be a piercing through the trunk? Or a band worn on their tusk?

One option for timing is that each "resident" is branded with a magical tattoo that fades or changes as the time is running out. For example, the residents receive a constellation of stars, each star fades or changes color at a set rate depending on the cooldown timer for the teleport. They may be an hour per star on one trip or a week per star on another. If you have someone that is into constellations or what have you, perhaps the nature of the constellation even relates to why the town has shown up in this particular location. For example, upon arriving in Randomville, the constellation takes on the form of a mythic predator, as the quest they are meant to find here relates to hunting down and killing a particularly nasty monster that is plaguing the countryside. Over time the constellations could even form a sort of story of their own to anyone with Harrow.

I will check that out. I believe the Gith cities moved due to the nature of the astral plane being fluid. I recently played through Planescape Torment again and the Gith have a ton of lore there. Definitely worth borrowing some ideas from.

The downside to people being tied there is that I like the idea that people can get left behind if they aren't careful. I also don't want people to be too afraid of leaving after the first 7 days and I'm unsure how to deal with that fear. You don't want a group of people who all refuse to step outside after 7 days otherwise no one will want to trade with them. I like the idea of some kind of warning, a 1 hour warning would give a hustled horse, if I'm reading travel rules correctly, exactly enough time...

One thing that you can play with is that perhaps the town has a Will of it's own? Perhaps it chooses who stays and goes whether anyone realizes it or not. Sort of a variation on a Geas. That to me would be a good reason why so many "normal" people are willing to stay on this plane hopping town, as the town needs them, not to keep the people alive, but to keep the town alive.

The farmers keep it fed and refreshed, the town guard keep it safe, the merchants keep fresh meat... er... I mean... new faces coming and going. Perhaps every now and then someone dies of "natural causes" as the town drains the life out of them to feed itself.

While not fantasy per say, there are a couple of comic book things that this reminds me of. There is a bar that serves as a waypoint between worlds in the DC Universe. The Oblivion Bar, which only magical beings could enter without invitation. Basically the bar can be entered from one of many realms, and folks can even get lost and leave into the wrong place. There are also a couple of sentient houses which are infinitely large on the inside, The House of Mystery and The House of Secrets. In the case of the Houses they each have a care taker, and loyalty to whomever "owns" the house at the time, generally listening to their directions or serving their needs, though sometimes the Houses have their own interpretation of what those are.

I would definitely check those out for some ideas. Particularly the Houses.

Also I seem to recall I think in 2nd Ed that the Githyanki and Githzerai had moving cities in the astral plane. Maybe see if you can get any ideas from there.

As far as leaving people behind, you could steal a trick from Fae legend. If anyone eats, drinks, or accepts gifts from the town, they are bound to it as a matter of hospitality. No matter where they go or what means they use, they will always be called back.

I would recommend Necrophidius. I just ran an encounter using 3 of them against a 5th level party and everyone seemed to like it, and the fact that they give off an undead feel but are constructs is a nice bonus.

Ngoga ( http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/magical-beasts/ngoga/ ) are large cyclopean like apes. That seems like it might fit the mutation theme. I believe they are CR 7ish? So a couple or 3 might be a sufficient challenge.

if you want i can give you backup the character he is our resident heal bot. when some one forgets their character sheet they get to play backup

That would be awesome.

Honestly, I wouldn't do this.

One trap parties fall into is the idea that every round their should be someone healing them. This encourages poor tactics, is wasteful of powerful casters that can be a lot more effective doing other things, and discourages people from playing clerics and oracles because they feel they will have to be a walking first aid kit, which most players don't really enjoy.

For most parties, most of the time, out of combat healing is a better choice. For your party, this is tricky since they don't even have access to cure light woulds, but if you make wands of infernal healing available (or if the evil getting on them is a problem a similar spell that doesn't have an evil side effect) that could deal with their 'normal' healing pretty well.

Having some emergency healing and some condition removal available is useful for a party, and the classes don't lend themselves too well to this, so an out of the box solution will be needed. Since you already have it in the story for an NPC healer, I'd stick with that for the next adventure, but I wouldn't keep them permanently. As an asside, using an NPC that is part of the party to drop plot information is especially tricky, it has a good chance of making the players feel like they are on a railroad or that the 'GMPC' will automatically solve their issues/problems etc for them. I would caution strongly against this. Find other ways to get the PCs this sort of information.

For the long term solution to your parties deficiencies, if it was a 4 player game I would say don't fix it, let them solve their own problems (or die because they didn't cover all the bases.) In a three player game, covering everything is a bit harder, so I would probably be kinder. What I would do is provide them with a magic item that can cast various cure and condition removal spells. I would make it intelligent (just for the flavor, restrictions I would want.)

First, any healing it would perform would require an action by the wielder.
Second, it...

Thank you for your thoughts. Personally I would prefer an ally roam around with them then have to muck about with an Intelligent Item, especially one I have to make up rules for. To me that seems more intrusive than a cleric that is traveling due to obligation. It seems more railroad-y to me to thrust an item as you describe on them, especially since it doesn't really solve the issue of them being A) a person/character or two short, hence action economy is going to be brutal anyway; B) Forcing them to take wealth by level to replace these missing characters seems a little heavy handed.

Different strokes and all that I suppose.

However, assuming I am sticking with the above info rather than either not giving them the NPC or making it an item, are there any other suggestions?

An NPC healer is unlikely to become the star of the show. The players will be grateful for the healing and buffs, but as long as the NPC doesn't do anything heroic, they won't hog the spotlight.

As for becoming reliant on the NPC, well, they're already reliant on external means of healing, so what does this honestly change? Just have the NPC along for one mission, then the NPC returns to town and becomes just another healer they can hire to patch them up.

You don't mention what level you're at, but here are some general tips:

1) Probably build it 2 levels behind the PCs.

2) A Reach metamagic rod is extremely helpful, because it lets you deliver buffs and/or desperately needed healing spells at range.

3) Standard heroic NPC stat array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, not counting racial bonuses, level bumps, and magic items. That should be ample for a healer.

4) If you build an NPC that can channel positive energy, be sure to give it Selective Channel and a decent Charisma score.

5) If you build a cleric, the healing domain is super helpful (free empower on cure spells after sixth level!)

Thanks. The NPC will be 5th level. Sorry, seems I left out some info.

5th Level, rolled stats: 15, 18, 14, 11, 13, 10. Racial Bonuses are +2 Wis, +2 Con, -2 Int. I am leaning toward the following:

11 Str
13 Dex
12 Con
13 Int
18 Wis (with Racials and level bump)
18 Cha

This way they can make use of both healing spells and channeling.

Would it be better to go Oracle or Cleric? Would it be worth mixing Oracle/Paladin to also get access to Lay on Hands and Mercies?

Any build suggestions would be more than welcome.

Hey there. I am currently running a home game in a custom setting. I have a party of 3 players, a Sorc, a Bloodrager, and a Brawler. As such, they have extremely limited means of healing. They have made friends with a powerful NPC that was convinced to send one of his healers with them while they undertake a potentially dangerous mission for him. The issue is that I have no idea what to make for a Healer NPC. Due to the party make up they have no access to anything Divine currently, but I do not want the NPC to become a star of the show. They are mainly going to be there to heal up the party, drop plot information from time to time and assist with the occasional support.

I do not want this to become a DMPC, I want to keep the focus on the players. The issue I keep running into is the potential for them to rely on the NPC overly in other situations. I was considering a Cleric or Oracle but don't want them to steal any thunder. I do want them to be a good healer and be able to occasionally throw out a buff here or there as the party is seriously lacking in that regard. Any suggestions are welcome.

Fluffwise, the NPC is a custom race that is the descendants of Lycanthropes and they worship Nature/Fey. Fey in this world are based heavily on European folklore.

Hey folks. I have a player that wants to play a Brawler, but they want to have Rage. I was looking at the Archetypes, but none seem to give Rage. If you were to allow a player to trade something out for Rage, what would it be?