Lyniaer's page

What if the owner of said item 'wants' to get rid of the item?
Like, say, a shackled prisoner who needs help breaking his bonds or a slave needed help removing his magicked collar? Is the item considered attended then?

What's everyone's thoughts on this?

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, some examples include;

Critical Fumble Charts/Decks

"Certs" or Item Certificates

Sanity Systems

Fridge Logic
I may have to explain this one.
Let's say you're playing the new Reign of Winter module. The book explains (have cold weather gear! duh!) but the GM explains (you're in a place of perpetual summer; why would anyone have cold weather gear for sale and why would you already have it if you're in a place where cold weather isn't expected?). Completely and soundly logical and that's not a problem. But if five minutes later you want to open a door and the GM has to ask you how you try to open it (whether you push or pull) only to have to make a reflex save to avoid face-planting into the door because you chose wrong...

All of these things are fine if your players are down with a good old fashioned shenanigan adventure. But if the characters are expected to behave as if they were in real danger, but consistently silly sh*t keeps happening around them; how can you take the game seriously or even begin to care? "Screw it" you think "I'm going to sneak attack the kindly old lady just see what the GM does to bring me in line".

Now, I'm a funny guy. I like funny stories and generally enjoy laughing like everyone else who's not a sociopath; but I'm in 4 pathfinder campaigns right now and only one them is actually taken fairly dramatic and seriously; of course, that's the game I'm currently running.

Anyone else have these problems, or is this just how roleplaying is done anymore where death is just a pratfall away?

#5. Really? Roflmao!

Guess I'm a dick DM then.

In 4E encounters I got that dick DM label for not allowing characters to use free heals from clerics in between sessions because they were "out of combat".

I'm a 31 year DM. In MY experience, splatbooks unequally increase power between characters. Meaning that some characters are awesome and some characters suck. This causes player frustration, interplayer friction and player apathy and people quit playing till the next game. It also unnecessarily increases encounter design difficulty and time required to construct encounters. Then the cycle repeats.

The splatbook powercreep happened in AD&D(Unearthed Arcana), 2nd Ed (kits) 3.X (splatbook of the month) 3.P (-sigh-), 4E (PHB 2 especially) and now I'm seeing it in the 5E playtest materials ( and it doesn't even have splatbooks yet!). You would think in 28 years we would figure out how to handle powercreep.

I really wish that all of the core classes were on equal footing with splatbook classes. But you you know what they say:" if wishes were horses then beggars would ride."

Now I wanna "Dick DM" t-shirt.

Try not to take it so personally.

As far as powercreep and PC's becoming too powerful... What is it that escapes these DM's who parade how many decades they've gamed and it still eludes them that, DUDE; YOU'RE F#$*ING GOD! That Power Gamer? Who thinks he can whoop up your monster? You see that monster's AC that your Power Gamer can hit on a 5? It just doubled. OOOH MAGIC! Come up with something cute:
"You do [that] at the monster for the third time; he's so used to your attack pattern now, that he's able to brush it off. However, he has to stay so focused on you, everyone else get's +5 to hit." The Power Gamer eats some damage and the other party members get to lay into the monster. If the Power Gamer looks on the verge of a fit; let him have the killing blow.
Lessons Learned.
I've been a DM for 6 months. *Throws arms in the air* Players are preferring to play in my game over our resident DM who also proclaims 30+ years of DMing/Gaming. My combat is fun, yet not a cake-walk; my story is intriguing and the goofballery that sometimes occurs is hilarious.
Oh, and the most important thing; I trust my players.

I've been in my share of groups. Over the course of my gaming life, I've had the misfortune of meeting LOTS of dick DMs. Because of this, I've grown incredibly paranoid of all GMs in general. I've also stayed to being the DM, which my players like because I'm more than fair. It's kind of like being the employee who's had so many terrible bosses that you want to become your own boss because you know you'll be 10x better than any of them.

Things that make me leery are:
1) House rules that make me completely question a GM's sanity.
2) Evil cackling and giggling whenever they know full well that they're about to kill a character off in a battle that none of us had a chance of winning.
3) Obvious favoritism towards a particular player. Namely their significant other, or their best friend they've known for forever, while the rest of us are destroyed regularly, or kept out of the loop for information. "Military" campaigns are especially bad for this (where their best friends are captain and lieutenant, but you're just a grunt who's not allowed to do anything unless your commanding officer says so).
4) Not being allowed to build your own characters. At all. Only the GM gets to roll your stats, pick your race, class, background history, etc. Because only he knows what'll fit in his campaign and you can't.
5) This is more for 3.5 but "Core Only". Why? Because everything else is broken and therefore not allowed. Bull. That's a stupid rule. Complete Warrior wasn't broken. You can't tell me that Samurai class was better than the fighter.

Another thing that's made me cautious is I've come to ask the group how many characters they've gone through before I joined. If the number is 2+ each, and they still haven't made it to session 10 yet, that's a valid concern.

Share your stories with the vast number of dickish DMs you've had to deal with in your lifetime? I've lost count how many I've had, but I know I've been in about six groups already.

I guess I'll punch-in on these, too.

I just left a campaign because the GM was constantly bragging about how many years they spent role playing.
The game seemed like it was tailored specifically for Power Gamers and Meta Gamers; the ones who know exactly the right questions to ask to get the Out Of Game Knowledge they know into game.
You also have to know exactly the right thing to do at the right time and be in a position to convince your party of those actions.
If you have a player or two that are hellbent to do exactly the opposite of what you do/want to do...then it's never going to be a successful campaign and with a GM who fails to recognize these problems of character-breaking or allowing players to play characters that will do nothing but undermine the party...then that's a bad/dick GM. Don't care how many years he's been playing.
This guy isn't that great on the other side of the screen, either.
He's one of those "Always Take the Third Option" type guys.
He goes out of his way to break the GM's game with ridiculous stunts, fully intent on being the One Man Party. If you don't follow him or do everything that he does, he can sick the whole world down upon you because he's gotten all the NPCs to fall right into his lap and the GM is too honest to break character.
I play two games with this guy as a player and in the one I actually had to turn my character into a walking joke. And I give it my all to be the Butt Monkey, too. Which also grants me hella pity points and when he acts like a dick to the character in-game and makes him cry, it gets NPCs and Players mad at him. Like picking on a child. I can't believe how it's working, but I've ruined the character for myself.

I'm having far more fun in the campaign I'm running. They just recently encountered a powerful enemy and I had given them plenty of forewarning. A PC nearly died and an NPC 'did' die (not an important one, but they had to protect him and his buddies in order to qualify for the Bonus XP at the end of the Part), but they STILL said they had fun. If you can drop a 10d6 fire breath weapon on a party of level 5 adventurers and still get kuddos, you're doing something right.

Yes, Ego, Yes. *Stroke, Stroke*

Fromper wrote:

I'd recommend a new thread for the new creed. After 100+ posts, I'd assume some people have stopped following this one.

Agreed, I didn't notice it until backpedaling after someone posted over a month after the 2.0 post.

Ma bad. /)_(\

Pretty much.

It doesn't help that most of your argument breaks down to "I don't want to have to take a feat because reasons." It's a feat tax, you can dislike it all you like, you need it to perform the task you're looking at.

I don't want to have to take Dodge in order to get Mobility, either, but at least it makes sense.

I'm having a hard time swallowing that certain penalties can apply to unqualified events (e.g. Throwing a Weapon with the Throw Anything Feat and taking the -4 into melee without Precise Shot) but certain boons cannot apply in the same respect (in other words; it's a double-effin'-standard!). I can understand balance reasons, but with the insane number of completely unnecessary feats out there (Childlike Feat for instance; the disguise skill should cover this; at best, it should be a Trait) you'd think one could be crafted for Magic Users casting into melee and Throwers throwing into melee: especially without having to eat the Tax of Point-Blank Shot.

As far as balance would be concerned; Wizards have a finite number of spells (especially ray spells) and people THROWING objects rarely have an infinite number of objects at their disposal. So it wouldn't be a balance issue for Throwers/Casters to be able to bypass Point-Blank Shot because they can't carry around 200 spells or 200 daggers as a ranger can with arrows in a quiver.

Here's another way to look at it.

A weapon has to have the "Throwing" ability to qualify for "Returning", regardless if you have the "Throw Anything" feat because the weapon does not qualify as a Ranged Weapon.
However, anything that can become a projectile (including houses as tornadoes are want to prove) qualifies as a ranged weapon when it comes to the penalties of launching said projectile into Melee.

It's clearly a double-standard and everyone's all right with this?
Am I on an island here?
I'm not "trying to get away with something" and the odds of my lone, little observation changing Pathfinder rules as a whole is a laughable concept in/of itself. All I want to hear is that my point holds water and I'll be happy to drop it.

No. No.

Throw Anything:
You can throw...anything...that is not normally throwable or not designed to BE thrown.
Normal: You take a -4 penalty for an Improvised Weapon and you take a -4 for throwing into melee.

(Or):
Duck!:
Prerequisite: Throw Anything, BAB +5
You communicate well with your party, able to toss objects into melee without injuring your party.
Normal: You take a -4 Penalty throwing into melee.

Im'ma Firin' Ma Lazor!:
You can cast your ray spells into melee without a penalty.
Normal: You take a -4 Penalty casting into melee.

My point is: FIRING, THROWING and CASTING are 3 very different things. I can't shoot a bow for anything, but I can easily throw a penny and nail you in the head from 30ft away every time.
Spellcasters should not need to take COMBAT feats for their spells. EVER! Because then you could take Two-Weapon Fighting and cast TWO Ray Spells in 1 action. It's only sensible! If we're gonna jump the shark, we may as well do it with authority!

[ooc: This seems like an excellent concept, something my character could really respond to.
The only qualification I don't meet is I have an 8 Con. But I feel like I offset that by having Cure Light Wounds as a spell and dropping my (+1 to HP or Skill) in HP, effectively having a ConMod of 0.
That being said, I'd still like to get in on this and flash my badge around in-game, see what kind of responses I get. ^^]

If I may have an opinion, my good Sir. I say the qualifications should be open to anyone simply of sound judgement. Perhaps a continuing qualification that one return here after each adventure and report their exploits that show their contribution towards the Lamplighter Code.
Ramifications for not adhering to this should be set forth so that we remain coveted and sincere.

A ranged attack, is a ranged attack.

Rays, improvised weapons, whatever.

This is why some Sorcerers will nab Precise Shot.

And that's my second gripe. Why would anyone force a Sorcerer to take Point Blank and Precise Shot just to cast their ray spells. There should be a separate feat for casters to cast into melees and a separate feat for dagger-throwers, scythe-throwers, whatever; to throw into melee.

I know this next point is DnD, but the feat speccs are still the same.
The SoulKnife. He gets the ability to Throw his Mind Blade. But if a GM starts taking into account Partial Cover from other players and Throwing into Melee...now you're at a -8 for using a (Su) Ability that comes with your class at 2nd level.

All I'm saying, it's heinous. It's Precise SHOT, not Precise Missile Object and throwing it does NOT automatically grant it a 10-30ft Ranged Increment because it is NOT a Ranged Weapon. Throw Anything should have Preciseness wrapped up with it. Bar None.

I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but I'm getting really tired of the overuse of "Precise Shot". It's basically a feat-robber if you plan to be successful with any sort of projectile.
But I'm taking this feat to Rules Court once and for all.

Throw Anything states simply that you don't suffer a -4 on Attack Rolls for chucking an Improvised Weapon.
Precise Shot states that you don't suffer a -4 on Attack Rolls for Shooting or Throwing -Ranged- Weapons into Melee.

Just to be an absolute jerk I can take all of this exactly at face value and say: "I have Throw Anything. I am going to Throw my Long Sword. It is NOT a Shooting or Ranged weapon. Throw Anything does not indicate that any item in your hand receives the -Ranged- modifier. It simply removes the penalty for throwing it et al."

I want to know if I have any ground to stand on because I plan to work this into a PFS character.

No other advice? O.o

I dunno, i mean why not. Inquisitors are "off the beaten path" to begin with, AND don't 'HAVE' to follow a god, then can alternatively follow and ideal, perhaps that ideal is the ways of a dead god?

Could be some good RP?

Agreed. But I think I'll stick with the classes I've got.

...

...

*Composed*

detective bard? commit sepkku and reroll an inquisitor, TADA!

Can the Inquisitor be set in the Old Ways and follow Aroden?

Hello. First time poster, here.
I think there's another thread about this, but my case is quite a bit different.

Bear with me as I have to explain a few things:

I've been in this group for a couple months, now.
The premise of the story is that it's taking place during the Leap Year in Absalom and the Pathfinder Lodge has opened enrollment for express entry.
Our characters are recruited into a Lodge that hadn't seen any active members in over 16 years when the original members had either disappeared or died all under mysterious circumstances.
My first character, an Anumus Monk, was part of the initial enrollment but due to The Plot he was put on a bus. His back story, among other things, caught up to him and caused him to return to Last Wall.

When the Campaign first started we had a player character that quit after two sessions; it's a long story - some kind of rivalry between that person and the GM, I couldn't tell you. But the player stopped returning to the table and their character was "set aside". The -character- returns many sessions later only to commit, almost literally, "Arson, Murder and Jaywalking". This sets off the local populace and rumors start to spread that this Lodge is Evil, Bad Luck, Nefarious, or all of the above.

This is where my new character comes in.
Everything below is entirely fictitious and thought up by me for the purpose of the character.
All of these events have triggered the interest of the Government and it was time to get to the bottom of things. They approach their...secret weapon within the First Guard.
Special Agent [My Character] of the "First; Branch of Intelligence" (yeah, you see where this is going?) is assigned the task of acquiring recruitment into this Lodge and investigating it's members for signs of a threat to Absalom. She is also tasked with looking into the events of 16 years ago.
Sheia (Shy-Yah) is a master of disguise and imitation. When not pretending to be someone she's not, her secondary performances are in seduction (a girl always gets what she wants) and air of authority (the skill she will mostly be using with her Bardic Performances).
She is 2 Bard (Detective) and 1 Fighter (Unarmed). I'm trying to set her up to be as close to what any "Investigator" would be trained at without jumping the shark too much. Smart and Wise, but can also either talk you down to the ground or physically put you there without having to openly exchange blows. I'll be taking feats like Imp Grap, Imp Disarm, Imp Trip, etc.

OR...not.
This is why I've come here. I want to hear from the community if there are any bright ideas on how to go about this better. Granted I'm only 3rd level and probably can't get away with much. I went with the Aasimar race because of the ability boosts they get and who doesn't want effing Dark Vision? I contemplated the Aasimar feat line, but you can't do much infiltrating with Wings on your back or shiny metal skin.

So far I have the feats Imp Init, Imp Grap, and Combat Exp.
I got Imp UAF from the Fighter Archetype and it also gave me the Kirin Stance. Not a bad thing to, as a swift action, make a knowledge check AS A BARD and get bonuses towards fighting the enemy AND be able to tell the group any pertinent information. And then Standard Action Bardic Performance, then go sit down somewhere for 3 rounds...

No, it doesn't sound like I'll be using the Imp Feats too much in combat. These feats DO come in handy for someone who is a Law Keeper, though. Leroy Jethro Gibbs' "Stare Down" ability may not come in handy when dealing with a Basilisk or a Dragon, but you wouldn't take it away from him.

Bottom Line:
Any ideas from the well-versed out there who might know of Feats or Traits or Whatevers that may work well with this concept?
I'm also looking for things to flesh out the...FBI. Things they probably can and can't do. People they would know. Those sorts of things. I have a few "How to be an FBI Agent" rules listed out already, like, you has no jurisdiction outside of Absalom..dur.

Sorry for the wall o' text. :(