Malignor's page

Whipping up a quick speech on the fly...

"This Goblin is my prisoner, and it is my holy mission to accomplish a seemingly impossible task: to transform this little monster, named Gornak, into an agent of good. This will be a testament to the grace of Iomedae, and her favor granted unto me proves that this is a mission most worthy!

Some few among you may be corrupted by bloodlust, ignorance and cruelty, and might want to cheat me, a holy paladin, of my mission. You may want to harm Gornak simply because of what he is, rather than how he conducts himself. I implore you to resist your hatred, your selfishness, your ignorance! Learn grace and forgiveness where it is appropriate, as it is for Gornak who is my prisoner and my mission.

And fear not, because Gornak is under my watchful eye, and should he become a threat to you good people, he will meet a bloody end by these hands. First and foremost, I am a protector of the innocent, and a destroyer of evil, and rest assured I have proven my worth in combat: On my travels, many corpses have been left to fester in my wake and, with so much evil in this land, my righteous path will continue to be soaked in the blood of murderers and monsters alike.

But enough about violence and death and evil. If you wish for my favor, and for the blessings which Iomedae has kindly given me to share, please help me show Gornak how good and kind people behave. Help me to show him what generosity and hospitality and respect looks like, and how it inspires the same in return. With luck and the hand of Iomedae, Gornak may prove his worth, and understand the value of community, of family. This is something I know you good folk are suited for, because I look at your faces and I see good neighbors, loving families, diligent and proud workers. You can be the model for Gornak, the goal to emulate. I pray I am right in this, but ultimately that is up to you."

Hope that gives some ideas.

I thought the "big six" were the six Tomes +5.

actually I never heard of the big six, I just want to be obnoxious.

Crazy Tlabbar wrote:

Ooooo! What Skill Focus are you taking?

(hint:Bluff)
Tho if you feel strongly about it, or have a plan, there's also Acrobatics, Perception or Stealth.

I was thinking of Bluff actually, because it's the easiest way to guarantee a sneak attack. Although Acrobatics do have a lot of checks that might help me in combat.

But I am curious how skill focus works. It says that if i have more than 10 in a skill, it raises to +6. But does it mean that I have to put 7 points in a skill and it will be 13, because the +3 will trigger the raise, or will I need to push it to 10 to get the buff?

Skill bonus = [# ranks] + [charisma] + [class skill bonus] + [competence bonus] + [luck bonus] + ... etc.

Sooooooo

When you have 1 rank, 4 ranks, 9 ranks... then Skill Focus gives you a bonus of +3. So for level 2 (assuming you keep Bluff ranks maxed)...
Bluff = 2ranks + 2charisma + 3classSkill + 3skillFocus = +10
As soon as you put in that 10th rank, then the bonus from skill focus goes up to +6.
So at level 10 with max ranks...
Bluff = 10ranks + 2charisma + 3classSkill + 6skillFocus = +21

Ooooo! What Skill Focus are you taking?
(hint:Bluff)
Tho if you feel strongly about it, or have a plan, there's also Acrobatics, Perception or Stealth.

In my current campaign, two of the players made twin half-Elf sibling ninjas that use teamwork feats.

When they approached my Dwarven Ranger to also learn some of their "cool skills" so we could have an all-flanking party, I said what any self respecting Dwarf would say:

"F#(% OFF"

[everyone laughed]

Ehhh... The character is established Half-Elf and she is already been RPed. I will not change her race or anything during already ongoing RP. I have not used Drow Magic yet, so perhaps my GM will allow me to tinker with it.

I intend to pick Offensive Defense at level 2 and Combat Expertise at level 3. Then Bomber at 4, Improved Feint at 5 and Fast Stealth at 6. Dodge at 7.

Although until I level up and am forced to make the decision, nothing is certain. I might just as well pick something utterly different on level 2, as I have a habit of doing :D

Yeah. I always do a 20 level build, but as the game goes on I realize that this or that choice doesn't work as well for this campaign. Take my Dwarven Ranger for example... we've spent so much time fighting undead, and so much time in the woods, than I completely threw out my initial plans for Favored Enemy and Favored Terrain, and adjusted my choices to meet the pressures of the campaign.

But it's still very useful to have a plan. It gives you direction, and makes you think about how feats and abilities and skills interact and play off each other. Then as the game progresses, you tweak the plan. It makes you wiser each time you lay out the 20 levels of choices, and learn from how the choices work when theyre implemented.

Actually she's a Half Elf.

Her name is Elana, she is a Half Elf. Her Racial Traits are Low Light Vision, Keen Senses, Drow Magic and Elven Immunities.

Hey wait a minute...

Perhaps then a few levels in an INT or CHA based caster will help you out. Your INT and CHA can get you up to 4th level spells before needing an increase. That's up to level 8 in (Wizard or Witch), or level 9 in (Sorcerer or Oracle), or level 12 in (Alchemist or Bard or Summoner).

You could even build using Arcane Trickster:

From level 10 onward you get Advanced Talents... a total of 6.
Here are my favorites.

Skill Mastery: 5 or more skills can take 10 under any strenuous circumstance. Suggestions = Acrobatics, Bluff, Climb, Stealth, Use Magic Device.
Opportunist: Best when paired with Combat Reflexes feat.
Fast Tumble
Familiar: If you took the minor & major magic talents, this is pretty nice. Especially since a familiar has all the same skill ranks (just ranks) of their master. This means your familiar is an incredibly capable trickster in its own right. If you pick a Rat, you also get +2 on Fortitude saves as well. If you pick a scorpion familiar, you get +2 initiative, and its poison DC increases as you level up.
Crippling Strike: If you already have them bleeding and you already boosted your AC with Offensive Defense, here is a third sneak attack type - strength damage

Oh! I forgot...

A different way to go is the Minor/Major magic route, which is great too.
Minor Magic: Favorite choices for spells are Ghost Sound, Mage Hand, Message, or Spark
Major Magic: Great spell choices include Chill Touch, Color Spray, Expeditious Retreat, Grease, Icicle Dagger, Jump, Obscuring Mist, Shadow Weapon, Shield, Stone Fist, True Strike, Unseen Servant, Vanish

The damaging spells (Chill Touch, Icicle Dagger, Shadow Weapon, Stone Fist) are all spells that work for more that one attack and also can be used to deliver sneak attack. Spells like Burning Hands and Magic Missile don't have attack rolls, and thus can't deliver sneak attacks. The motto here is: Don't make selections that neglect your class abilities, because then you're spreading yourself too thin.

I've always loved Bleeding Strike and Offensive Defense.

Bleeding Strike is fun because you can hit an opponent once and then just hide (bluff to distract, stealth behind cover) and wait for them to bleed out.
If you're in a big battle, use Bleeding Strike once on each enemy.
To stop the bleeding, the target is forced to use an action (their own or someone else's) to heal. So the target is left with the choice: more damage, or lose a turn? Either way it's good for you, bad for them. Many creatures don't even have that option (like animals, or most magical beasts) and are doomed to bleed out... doomed creature is doomed.

Offensive Defense is great because as long as you're delivering sneak attacks, you're harder (for your victim) to hit. It's basically a "duel dominance" talent, especially mixed with (you guessed it) Improved Feint! Each round just Feint and Sneak Attack, and your AC is higher.

Both of these don't replace your sneak attack damage; they just add more effects to it. So if you manage to get two sneak attacks off on an opponent in one round, one will be Offensive Defense, and the other will have Bleeding Strike.

So those are combat.

If I were to pick two more talents, I would probably go with Trap Spotter (trap auto-detection) and Fast Stealth (no penalty when using stealth at full speed). I really like Ledge Walker, but the more I think about it, it wouldn't get used often. Fast Stealth would be used all the time, both in and out of combat. As for traps, most traps happen because you forget to search for them. With Trap Spotter, you never have to remember; the GM has to :D

Then you get into the Advanced Talents... which is another post

Careful with Dirty Trick.
It uses Combat Maneuver Bonus, not a skill.
Rogues usually have bad CMB for their level.
You may find yourself using a maneuver that almost never works and that can get frustrating.

For bombs, note that the Bomber talent is from the Pathfinder Player Companion: Ranged Tactics Toolbox Paperback. Not sure if that's allowed by your GM.

You also don't need any special feats to use a Smoke Pellet (LINK). They're 25gp apiece. If you get a +10 bonus on Craft Alchemy (or +8 bonus and masterwork alchemist tools) you can make your own for half price. Other items you can use/make include thunderstones and flash powder, to create the sort of results you're looking for.

Ironically, though, if you want to "smoke bomb escape"... well Bluff lets you get similar results that for free, at will, as per the Stealth skill
"Creating a Diversion to Hide: You can use Bluff to allow you to use Stealth. A successful Bluff check can give you the momentary diversion you need to attempt a Stealth check while people are aware of you."

I like to think of that as doing something subtle, like looking over someone's shoulder in a way that they think something's behind them. They glance, see nothing is there, and then when they look back at you, you've suddenly vanished!
Little mind games like that.

Yeah Weapon Focus isn't worth the +1 to hit.
Weapon Focus as a gateway drug to better feats is worthwhile.

Here's a hint: Go HERE and use CTRL+F to search the page for "weapon foc" to see all the feats that Weapon Focus is the prerequisite for.

Once you do that, you've don't your first "search for optimal feat path options"
You'll find that most of those Weapon-Focus feats are pretty sub-par for a Rogue (way better for Fighters), which means that as you level up, those feats will become more and more like dead weight.

This is why some of us are pushing so hard for Improved Feint.
- it doesn't use your base attack bonus ("BAB"), and thus doesn't suffer a -1 to -5 penalty compared to warrior types (who have higher BAB).
- it uses your Bluff skill, which is an incredibly useful skill for Rogues; it makes something very useful even more useful. Thus if you focus on your Bluff skill, your Feint combat maneuver benefits too (great investment). Taking Skill Focus - Bluff gives you +3 to bluff (and thus to feint)... +6 when you have 10 or more ranks. At level 20, you'll have (20ranks +3class +6feat) +29+CHA to bluff (and feint). Add some lesser items... a circlet or persuasion and a headband of +2 CHA and total bonus is +35.
Read this and look at the DC, then look at monster in the bestiary... your feint will work far more often than not. At level 20, you'll have a 75% chance to feint a Balor, and a 65% or higher to feint a Pit Fiend or ancient Red Dragon. Or take Skill Mastery [bluff] and feint 100% of the time because you can always take 10.
- it allows you to use your sneak attack (your most notable class ability in combat) more often and in more situations.
- it denies enemies their dexterity which makes you hit more often. If the target's DEX bonus is +3, then a successful feint is worth three times Weapon Focus for that attack.

See how all that makes it almost EXPONENTIAL in value? Whereas Weapon Focus is more linear... and its value (relative to everything else) diminishes the more you level up. When bonuses from spells and effects regularly become +4 or more (around level 11+) then Weapon Focus will be less relevant.

Some tips about teamwork and Rogues.

• As I mentioned multiple times, flankity flank flank. Ideally, the more tanky party member positions themselves in harms way ("behind enemy lines").
• Stunned, dex-denied, and blinded foes are your favorite prey. Talk to your casters about making regular use of spells like Grease, Widened Grease, Color Spray, Heightened Color Spray, Widened Color Spray, Blindness/Deafness, Bouncing Blindness/Deafness, Glitterdust, Widened Glitterdust, Heightened Glitterdust... you get the idea. They may not "GET DA KILLZ" but when the enemy is blind and/or stumbling around, they can be easily wiped out in 1-2 rounds and your entire party is unharmed. Even the fighter types will enjoy all the low-risk targets to power attack and deliver combat maneuvers on. That's the ultimate victory you should be looking for as a group.
• Monks are good combat buddies for the Rogue. They're even more nimble than you (so they can flank), and they can stun enemies, making them irresistible for "field surgery." I guess two wrongs can make a right...?
• Make sure that you're not the only stealther in the group. A party Monk, Ranger, Bard or stealth-capable caster should be able to be your scouting partner. In a perfect world, your Barbarian took the Highlander trait and has stealth ranks, and the party Fighter has a ring of invisibility, so the whole party can sneak, with you (the stealth specialist) a bit further ahead. Distance gives perception penalties, so if the group keeps pace (stealthily) at 100' back, the DC to notice them is 10 higher... functionally equivalent to +10 stealth.
• Wands and low level scrolls are great for a Rogue to have around. If your party has a crafter of these, get a good trade relationship and wish list going. It's in the crafter's best interests to help you be stronger, because ROI (return on investment) is measured in party effectiveness, not personal glory. For example if you had a steady supply of scrolls of Grease, then you can help the wizard out by adding a bit of extra battlefield control. Or you could do a "1-2 combo" where you use a scroll of Flaming Sphere and in the same round the Wizard casts Pyrotechnics using that sphere as fuel.

A little rant about Two-Weapon Fighting: ITS A TRAP

The notion of doing lots of attacks sounds all wonderful, but for the feat cost, and the demanding requirements (very high Dex) at high level, you have to think about what it takes to use TWF.

Full Round action.

This means you're standing there, fighting like a warrior type. Do you really want to be doing that? As a Rogue? How often will you be doing that while you are able to deliver multiple sneak attacks (which is the whole draw for the feat chain)?

The most common use for the full attack is when you flank with a buddy... except the majority of your flank buddies are warriors who are less mobile than you. This means that it's usually up to you, the more fragile one, to acrobatic your way to flanking position... where you are exposed, and possibly surrounded by the enemy, while you wait for next round to stand there again to do your full attack. And for this you burned up feats so you can hit 1-3 times more (assuming you even need those attacks to get the kill)? Remember that the round you tumbled in for a flank, you probably delivered a sneak attack already, and also your flank buddy got a hit (or did a full attack). How crucial are those 1-3 extra attacks at this point? Enough to burn 1-3 feats (30% feat expense) for?

Two-weapon fighting is a trap for Rogues.
Use your trap-finding skill and see it for what it is.

I need to plan ahead a little... As there are lots of feats I need to take...

1. Weapon Focus Shortsword
2. Dodge
3. Mobility
4. Iron Will (I have 10 Wis)
5. Improved Feint
6. Great Fortitude

That about right order?

As for talents, I will try the Bomber path. I like it and with 14 Int I get three bombs oer day. Should be enough. Grab a Smoke Bomb and Blinding Bomb fir sure. Fast Stealth sounds good, fir both combat and story use.

• Improved Feint (link) requires Combat Expertise
• Mobility is pretty much redundant when you have maximum Acrobatics (just tumble around your foes)
• Don't blow all your feats covering your weaknesses or you'll end up truly mediocre. Instead, focus on amplifying your strengths, and making them multi-purpose (so you don't become a 1-trick pony)

Let me provide an alternative list:
1. Combat Expertise
2. Improved Feint
3. Skill Focus - Bluff (make your feint all the more effective)
4. Combat Reflexes
5. Quickdraw
6. Greater Feint

This whole set will make you more flexible in combat, able to deliver sneak attacks under more circumstances: Feint+Attack combo, Deliver more attacks of opportunity, quickdraw+fullAttack.
Skill Focus will amplify the Bluff skill in all its wonderful uses (really, really read that skill closely).
Combat Expertise is not just a prerequisite. It will also let you do some "AC tanking," keeping an enemy at bay, to buy a round or two. Or if you have a "guaranteed hit" use this to make you better protected until next round. For example, against a low-AC target, you can use this on your opening surprise attack and you're better able to handle the counter-attack.
Quickdraw is not only fun for style, but also great for switching between melee and thrown (as per my previous post), and also it lets you full-attack with thrown weapons at level 9+. For example against a stunned target, you can throw a bunch of darts and deliver multiple Sneak Attacks without even being in melee.

Some more "mean tricks" you might want to think about is...
- Improved Unarmed Strike, which lets you deliver sneak attack even when unarmed, and also qualifies you for...
- Stunning Fist. Stunned foes are easy prey for sneak attack, and they drop held items to boot. But Stunned Foes are also easy prey for...
- Dastardly Finish, which lets you do a coupe de grace against stunned or cowering targets. Yes, the holy grail of sneak attacks, where they Fort save-or-die against your sneak attack damage. How fun!

By the way, click my name and you'll see my profile which includes a build I used a few years back. This build was very very fun to play because it was dynamic and took advantage of multiple opportunities.

For UMD, always have a Wand of Cure Light Wounds, so you can heal the party between fights. Other level 1 spells which make your life easier include: Disguise Self, Grease, Silent Image, Shield, Obscuring Mist, Expeditious Retreat. There are more, but this is a good place to start. Spells that do energy damage are also fun.

A wand of Acid Splash lets you do acid damage as a ranged touch attack within 25', and it ignores SR. Speaking of ranged combat...

For ranged combat, remember that you can use Sneak Attack (against any targets denied DEX vs. you) within 30' only. That said, I suggest always having some thrown weapons like Darts. If you rely on a bow, you will find many situations where you have to do the following:

• Put away your melee weapon
• Draw your bow
• Load and fire

Keep your Acrobatics high, so you can get around enemies and achieve Flank more often. Talk to your fellow players about how it's good for everyone if you work together to achieve flank (both in terms of the +2 bonus, and in terms of more dead opponents in less time, which reduces overall party risk).

If your campaign is a real one, where information is useful, keep a sap on hand so you can take prisoners for interrogation (mingled with your sneak attack, of course). Another word for the sap is "diplomacy stage 2"

Bluff is the best skill ever. Bluff to feint in combat, bluff to negotiate prices, bluff to distract people so you can achieve stealth, bluff to lie your way past security, bluff to communicate to party members secretly in the middle of a conversation... bluff is awesome. Oh and Feint lets you sneak attack anyone who "can't be caught flatfooted" because a Feint simply denies the target their Dex bonus. You might seriously want to consider Improved Feint.

It's a useful battlefield control spell, and battlefield control is pure tactical power. You can use it to "divide and conquer" enemies, cut off escape routes, prevent enemy movement, block pursuers, force enemies to move, and create hazards.

As a result, you can save your comrades-in-arms from being flanked or outnumbered, create opportunities for them to focus their attacks, etc. All this will enable everyone in your party to extract victory from the mangled corpses of your enemies, with far greater success, and at lower risk. Your party will love you, and your enemies (those who survive) will fear you.

It's a good spell.

If you want a tasty "one-two combo", consider spells or actions or affects which prevent enemies from escaping the swarm, such as Wall of Ice, or Grease... or even Silent/Minor/Major Image (an illusory "wall of stone") to limit which way the victims exit the swarm. Funneling weakened and damaged enemies into the eager clutches of the party butchers (warrior types, et al) is great stuff.

Also, something that also makes this spell fun is that it's only Somatic, so you can use it without making any noise.
Also, because all you're doing is creating a swarm, you can cast it as a non-offensive spell (puke it up in unoccupied space) and thus cast it while invisible and remain invisible.
Also, as a Conjuration (summoning) spell, it is susceptible to various feats such as Augmented Summoning (which increases distraction DC and poison DC by +2, and adds +2hp/HD).

Good spell.

Ehhhh splat books...

I have a hard time justifying anything that's not already available here on the Paizo PRD simply because of ready access to the player group. For example the Halfling Order of the Paw is in the PRD, so it's available to everyone whether they bought the book or not. Any GM can review it, any player can build it and reference it. It's freely available, it's publicly available, it's official Paizo content made available by Paizo. It's not restricted to people who paid for it, either. It's "free to play" material and so I don't consider that a "splat book", I consider it 100% legit.

I say this even though I've thrown quite a bit of money at Paizo for stuff I don't even use in any game >_<
(well, until it gets published to the PRD, then I'm all-in)
But I buy Paizo because I want to support a company whose products and corporate attitude are worth supporting. The fact that they have the PRD up there is the reason I keep buying their stuff... because after using the new PRD content, and enjoying it, I feel I should pay for it.

IMO the Cavalier has some advantages out of combat
(1) - All the "party face" class skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive) lets the Cavalier be an effective party face.
(2) - The mount (a Cavalier class feature) adds more eyes & ears to the party, plus scent. This can even allow tracking.
(3) - The mount (a Cavalier class feature) adds significant encumbrance relief to the party, and enables long distance travel.

Don't know why, but I always liked the Hezrou... in a homebrew campaign setting, I made demon lords out of advanced versions of each demon from the Bestiary. Something about the Hezrou compelled me to make it the highest demon lord, and the household name for "team evil"

(Hezrou Sorc20[aquatic bloodline], Barbarian20[wild rager archetype], Advanced, Colossal size)

... I should really update it with Mythic rules.

See my previous post, Kirth. I think I already kind of addressed the whole "being a dick" thing there in terms of real gaming tables. At least I hope I addressed it well enough...

Anyway...

The thing is that, using the core rules, you don't even have to try to be that guy. I had a cleric once who ended up nearly soloing an adventure by accident, just because the class, at mid- to upper levels, is that much more powerful and versatile than many of the others (there was also a cavalier and a scout of some kind, for that game).

• Mechanics alone can't account for all of it if playstyle and campaign planning are done well.
• Playstyle can and has caused this in my personal experience, even for a well-designed campaign and the reverse of those mechanics; When the guy playing the Cleric keeps preparing irrelevant spells, and spends 20 minutes deciding what to do every turn and then gives up and say "I waddle up my 20' and hit em with my hammer", even the Rogue is more useful. This exact thing has happened in 2 campaigns I've played
• Campaign planning can cause this to some degree, but player resourcefulness has been known to mitigate this heavily.

So I wouldn't say that your experience is the norm. It happens, yes, but the fact that it stands out in your memory should say something. That said, declaring it so much the default that it's a de facto argument isn't very helpful IMO.

All that aside, if your Cavalier and Scout had Leadership, I bet they would have had the resources to be more useful... wouldn't they! :}

Jiggy's list

It's not competition for a group of people who are putting their lives on the line to go with the best chance for success.

Not in real games, no. Only in hypothetical situations that are framed that way, usually by posters who are trying to win arguments on the interwebs.

In real games, a rogue and a stealthy wizard would both scout together, so there are 2 perception rolls, 2 sets of abilities, and additional backup in case things turn sour.

In my own group there is a Ranger, 2 Ninjas, a Barbarian with max ranks in stealth and the Highlander trait, a Gnome Sorcerer with some stealth ranks and Invisibility as a spell known, and a Life Oracle with a ring of Invisibility... a whole group of stealthies! We started being half-stealthies and half not, but the group tailored our builds as we leveled and now the entire group is a bunch of infiltration & ambush specialists, which is quite effective. So the "stealthy role" is irrelevant; whoever can sneak, sneaks.

In real games, the issue of one-upmanship only occurs among disruptive players. Otherwise, when both characters are good at something, they both do it. Nothing wrong with having 2 tanks, or 2 diplomats.

Malignor wrote:

The GM has complete control of how the encounter is designed, and can optimize or equip the NPC however necessary to make the encounter a good one.

Game balance is useful for anyone who wants to run a published adventure instead of spending their spare time balancing encounters around their group.

I was talking about CR10 NPC encounters in the context of elements like Simulacrum or Leadership (like comparing a CR fighter and a CR10 wizard). You're re-framing that exchange into something else.

Malignor wrote:

Tailoring encounters to be "just right" is part of that success. Too hard, and TPK ends the game (and likely the playrs' enthusiasm). Too easy, and the group gets bored, or insulted for being pandered to.

Totally disagree. Having every encounter "just right" is boring as HELL. "Yawn... gee we "just barely" won AGAIN... what is that, the 7,556th time in a row?"

As a DM and especially as a player, I like a mix of difficulties. I want a bunch of fights where the PCs stomp all over the opposition. I want an encounter every now and then when they have to retreat or hold back entirely until they can tip the scales in their favor. Every so often, an encounter where we barely win is fun -- but only if it's clear that we were close to an actual TPK, and not "barely" winning because that was the pre-determined outcome.

I should also note that one of my favorite adventures ever ("Spire of Long Shadows") was one that ended in not one, but two successive TPKs for us. The third party made it through by casting speak with dead on the bodies of our predecessors to get more intel. That kind of adventure doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's something you don't soon forget.

Well said.

I missed that as well - the most engaging games are ones where the GM finds that sweet spot I was talking about, but then also has some "OMG run away" encounters and some "Yea we totally crushed em! Did you see me? I was awesome!" encounters. To risk sounding cliche, Moderation in All Things... including moderation itself; By having a range of difficulties and a variety of encounter flavors you get a better game.

So yeah... I sit here corrected; you're right.
But I still stand by my views on game balance being a false virtue that people pursue far too zealously.

GM "GAH! I'm trying to let the rogue have the spotlight for once so that he's not feeling useless, but there's nothing I can throw that the rogue can do that someone isn't doing better."

Can Schrodenger's Wizard be in multiple places at the same time? How many spells is Schrodenger's Wizard willing to burn in order to fill a role that's already being covered by someone else? What kind of person is playing Schrodenger's Wizard who enjoys trying to be "better than everyone at everything"?

I'm sorry for anyone whose game table if full of rivals trying to make each other redundant. GMing them must be like babysitting.

Right, because the enemies that players face are never class leveled people. Meaning a fighter or wizard is never an enemy that players will face.

Since they never need to fight a cr 10 wizard or cr 10 fighter it doesn't matter that one of those fights would be significantly harder than the other even though they are rated at the same challenge.

Your sarcasm isn't helping your case.

The measure of a GM's success is defined by how much the players want to keep playing. Tailoring encounters to be "just right" is part of that success. Too hard, and TPK ends the game (and likely the playrs' enthusiasm). Too easy, and the group gets bored, or insulted for being pandered to. The GM has complete control of how the encounter is designed, and can optimize or equip the NPC however necessary to make the encounter a good one. Ironically, giving a CR10 fighter access the the fruits of leadership ("make me potions!" *drinks top quality potions just before fight* ... *brings cohort along*) can easily make the encounter more in line with the wizard.

Things which prevent PC contribution (and thus making them sit out or feel useless) is something to consider as well. Everyone needs to feel useful, and most of that is the responsibility of the player, but the GM has a strong influence in that department as well. Shoe-horning equality-of-outcome is going too far, letting people slip through the cracks into bitter obscurity is too little. Again things have to be "just right". Game balance isn't really a part of this, but many people mistakenly think it does.

That said: Leadership, Simulacrum, Create Undead, Planar Binding, and crafting intelligent magic gear are indeed "threats to game balance" ... but so what? Such imbalance won't ruin a well-run game. Don't obsess over it, just take it into consideration, keep up the collaboration with the players, and move forward.

Game balance is overrated.
So long as everyone walks away from the game session satisfied, it's a good game.
Most games in the last 20 years have been unbalanced, yet fun for all.
Those games which sucked, we not because of game imbalance.

There are good things to spend one's time focusing on, which actually make a game more enjoyable. Game balance is none of them.
This is not a PVP MMO.

DM: (rolls d20 and flinches) "Uhh... which hand did you use to open the door?"

How do you tell a satisfying story about an evil character (not just an antihero) who neither redeems nor pays for their misdeeds?

First, what's wrong about those endings?

Second, the only endings that remain are godhood, or happily-ever-after. Evil can do those too.

Just like how many folks confuse Paladin alignment as "Lawful Stupid", just like how many folks confuse Chaotic Neutral for "Chaotic Insane and Stupid", some folks confuse Evil with "Stupid"

Not every badguy gets caught or redeemed. Some do very bad things, get away with it, and then enjoy the rest of their lives.

Aloha,
I love how Eldritch Heritage can be sooooo cheesy. Using feats to get SLAs and supernatural abilities is quirky, can add flavor, and can cause outbursts of incredulity at gaming tables.

I would like to share a couple of Eldritch Heritage Cheese recipes that I've discovered.
If you can think of any other recipes, please share!

To start, here's...

The Demonically Dazzling Displayer
## Ingredients ##
1 Human, with the Focused Study racial trait.
1 Fighter - any will do, but I prefer Vanilla because of the dramatic contrast with the finished product.
1 Starting ability score array with Charisma score of 13 or higher.

## Recipe ##
1: Focused Study - Skill Focus (Intimidate), Weapon Focus 1, Dazzling Display
2: {DDB}
3: {DDB}
4: {DDB}, +1 Charisma if CHA < 14
5: {DDB}
6: {DDB}
7: {DDB}
8: {DDB}, Focused Study - Skill Focus (Know Planes), +1 Charisma if CHA < 15
9: Eldritch Heritage - Abyssal Bloodline (claws)
10: {DDB}
11: Improved Eldritch Heritage - Abyssal Bloodline (Strength of the Abyss; +2 STR)
12: {DDB}
13: {DDB}
14: {DDB}
15: {DDB}, Strength of the Abyss adds +2 more to STR
16: {DDB}, Focused Study - Skill Focus (pick a useful skill with 10+ ranks)
17: {DDB}
18: {DDB}
19: {DDB}, Strength of the Abyss adds +2 more to STR

All the instances of {DDB} just mean that you build for Dazzling Display. Keep your Intimidate ranks maxed out. There are many feat options available, from performance combat to (my personal favorite) the Deadly Stroke. I also like to take Improved Unarmed Strike, and Weapon Focus - Unarmed Strike, so when the Monk and Brawler brags about how awesome they are naked, I can Intimidate them and then beat their CON away the next round. You could instead use your flaming demon claws if you like being flashy. You can also pick Demon Resistances (electrical resist 10, and +4 vs poison) which isn't bad for a feat. Especially if you have a friendly party member who likes using electrical damage spells and you want to be fighting away in the thick of that zappy mess.
What I like most about this is that the Charisma investment looks like a suboptimal obsession with Intimidate... until level 11. Then the muscles start a-bulging. And again at levels 15 and 19, the muscles get an additional +2. So investing Charisma to 15 ends up adding +2, 4, then 6 to Strength... it's the long game, but it's great fun. Especially if you also build for strength at the start, and drop your Human bonus into Strength as well.

Next is...
The Ghoulish Grave Ganker
## Ingredients ##
1 Human, with the Focused Study racial trait.
1 Class with Sneak Attack class feature. As you may suspect I would use a vanilla Rogue for the lulz
1 Starting ability score array with Charisma score of 13 or higher.

## Recipe ##
1: Focused Study - Skill Focus (Stealth)
2:
3: Eldritch Heritage - Ghoul Bloodline
...

and that's all you need!

Ghoulish Claws (Su) : Starting at 1st level, you can grow claws as a free action. These claws are treated as natural weapons, allowing you to make two claw attacks as a full attack using your full base attack bonus. Each of these attacks deals 1d4 points of damage + your Strength modifier (1d3 if you are Small). At 5th level, creatures damaged with your claw attack are paralyzed for 1 round, as the ghoul ability (Fortitude negates). At 7th level, the duration of the paralysis increases to 1d4+1 rounds, and the claws are considered magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming DR. You can use your claws for a number of rounds per day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier. These rounds do not need to be consecutive.

Just add 2 to all the levels there (as Eldritch Heritage makes you as a sorcerer of 2 levels lower)... So at level 7 you can paralyze for 1 round, and at level 9 your paralysis becomes 1d4+1 rounds.

Anyone else got some juicy ones?

In a previous game, the PCs started off in a town and we were poor. One of the things we ended up doing was getting jobs, and saving up enough to start our own business, manufacturing a product, marketing it, etc.

This may seem boring, but it led to adventures such as capturing saboteurs (groups of Rogues), tracking thieves through the sewers and into the hidden ruins under the city, dealing with treacherous business rivals, expeditions to get more materials, and wiping out raiders harassing our trade routes. Plus some political intrigue, like stopping the assassination attempt on an aristocratic customer, and investigating a local murder cult. Each adventure gave us more stuff to use or to sell as novelty items in our shop.

If art were sold at full value, who the heck would ever trade in art?
There's no profit!

Hence my three examples above.

Right down the street is a foreign exchange place. They trade cash for cash, which is the IRL equivalent to exchanging trade goods for cash.
They don't do it for love. They don't do it for fun. They do it for profit - they are a business.

The way to do such exchanges at 100% is to do them on the street, and then it's hit & miss and take alot of time. Alternatively, you set up a shop in a marketplace and sell your goods. But that might require a license, or appeasing the local merchant guilds (with cash), or whatever.

It's about as easy to gloss over as encumbrance, managing food & water while travelling, and other "mundane" mechanics. Simplify it if you want, but acknowledge that you're glossing it over for your gaming table.

Just pushing an idea here: Look at how people do business.
How would a trader make a profit, without scaring away clientele? Three examples I might pull out of my sphincter include

• The bazaar charges a fee for a 1-day trading license. Then you can do all the trading you want that day at full price. 80% of the proceeds of the licenses gets distributed among those businesses who registered at the bazaar, weighted by the number of transactions they recorded in the formal ledgers. The other 20% goes to the city, whose representatives act as witnesses for those ledgers and are paid equally (to reduce corruption).
• Each transaction has a 2-5% fee, or a fixed fee, much like those privately owned foreign exchange places.
• Consignment stores - look em up

Also, the sunder maneuver is invalid, as per mythbusters.
Also, I'm pretty sure that people can't reliably fall 5000', land on their feet and walk away.
Also, different species can't breed... otherwise they wouldn't be different species.
Also, I find it difficult to believe that a creature that weighs 1-2 lb (like a Sprite) has enough brain mass to have Human level intelligence.
I also have a hard time believing that anyone can fight with full bonuses after receiving a critical strike from an axe. Ever seen what an axe does to a flesh and blood body?

So... where are you drawing the line?
In a fantasy world, why does magic have to be the only thing that doesn't follow the laws of physics?

A Sprite doing Sneak Attack damage is equivalent to a medium rogue doing sneak attack to a dragon. Are you going to deny that too?
Are you going to prevent Monks from leaping more than 8' up too?
Are you going to ban Sunder?
Are you going to use Rolemaster crit tables for every strike?
Are you going to make 200' falls lethal to 90% of (even level 20) characters?

How much realism are you willing to force into your game?

NOTE: All these things are not about magic. They are simply game mechanics.

Other ideas include:

Have this belt made diminutive for 1k

Donkeys are 8gp, and have a light load capacity of 100 lbs. Or train your own if you have time but no money

5th level party trying to get wish (or PolyAnyObj; 8th level spell), huh...
Good luck with that.

I know he just retrained, but retraining the Domain into an Animal Companion (who will carry gear) is probably the best solution right now. Or just change the domain to Animal Domain and get a companion anyway (3 levels behind). Or for 2000gp you can just get a custom haversack made (see below)

If you think there's a quick & easy way to get ahold of Wish at level 5, well... please share it if you find one, because such a solution would be game breaking H4X and I'd love to try it myself.
Not sure what you expect to find here; you read as not very receptive to suggestions, except to answer exactly what you want... and what you want (reliably getting access to Wish at level 5) is to break the game. Most folk here (self included) think that being a Sprite caster is actually pretty solid idea, even with a STR of 2. If your party can't work with such a character, to the point where you're turning to the boards community, why reject what the community offers regarding how to make the character work? Asking the boards community how to break the game isn't exactly the best route, when there are so many options being presented which will work.

Also... how could you not notice that you lost a Sprite for 2 days, when they shed light?

As for the bag of holding... that's a Medium sized BoH which is 2x4 feet in size. Where would a diminutive sprite even put it?
To carry gear, you can also just get a customized Haversack made Diminutive, and scale all the measurements (weight x1/4) as appropriate. I'm sure the crafter will happily take your 2000gp, and enjoy telling the story at the pub.
Such a haversack would weigh 1lbs (no matter how loaded up it is)
Main pouch can carry 20 lbs, and the side pouches each carry 5 lbs.

There's no "scientific explanation"
Nor is one necessary.
Zombies and Skeletons are mindless, so I always wondered how they could be evil.
Then I realized that insects are also mindless, yet insects have behavior.

So it would make sense if Skeletons and Zombies had behavior too... evil behavior, which one could observe just by the animator not controlling (or losing control of) their animated undead.

What behavior would that be?
Up to you, really.

I personally have my zombies fulfill ye olde "shamble and kill and eat brains" trope.

My skeletons function as silent, almost robotic, serial-killer versions of their old selves; soldiers wear soldier gear and go on murderous missions against the living. Horse trainers hunt & kill horses and their owners and riders, and "train" the horse corpses. Flower shop owners break into a flower shop and use it as their slaughterhouse, making bouquet arrangements of their victims' parts.

The Statue and Polymorph Any Object would not work. Per the spell:

"If the target of the spell does not have physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution), this spell grants a base score of 10 to each missing ability score. If the target of the spell does not have mental ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma), this spell grants a score of 5 to such scores."

Your new people would be very dim.

Dim or not, they could arguably reproduce dim children (who would be genuine, and not revert to stone from Disjunction).

Cast PolyAnyObj on these dim children to give them 10s across the board, and let these new "false" people have another generation.

The 3rd generation would be normal people.

So it would take 30-60 years, but it could be done.

Whenever you make up lore, don't try to shoehorn some concept and think that interesting lore will come from it.

Instead, come up with stories. Everything is a story. These stories will bring characters, and demand settings. These will prompt other stories in turn. Your world with flow from those stories, effortlessly.

Leverage existing mythology not as content, but as symbolism. Use iconography such as the divine family (mother, father, child, brother, sister) and use them to create gods or dragons that shaped the world and gave it meaning. Or use the elements or something equally "timeless". Create conflicts, rebellions, epic folly, ambition, hubris. Then fill in details to make the stories and settings colorful and rich. Work your way down to the say-to-day life of a villager in those times.

This is how you build momentum in building a world.

Divine casters would be all for the gods, that they are our guides and our protectors, and the representations of the universe. They see the arcane casters as heretics and ungrateful rebellious children doomed to folly and self destruction.

Arcane casters claim that the cosmos is there for the taking, by mortals. The gods are a crutch holding us back. To them, the divine casters are dooming their entire society to slavery and ignorance.

The divine casters' evil comes from fundamentalist extremism. Their good is devotion and community.

The arcane casters' evil comes from megalomania. Their good is independence and love for truth.

The divine faction is ruled by a circle of high priests who bicker and argue, as they each represent different gods.

The arcane faction is ruled by a structured hierarchy of archmages, but nobody knows who's actually on top of the power structure.

The truth is that the bloodline of dictators of the neutral faction is in charge of the arcane faction, and has been orchestrating this conflict nearly a century, keeping it at a stalemate. They also have spies influencing the high priests. Their "game" is to keep the conflict going for as long as possible and increase their family's wealth and power as much as possible. One day they'll get caught, but they're so well connected they're untouchable anyway. Worst case, they will forever have a place in legend.

Next you need

• Gods
• Religions
• Religious holidays
• Great moments in history
• Timeline/calendar
• 2-3 sub-factions in the arcane faction
• Cultural traditions for each religious and arcane subgroup

^-^

Ah, but no Malignar, you do not understand the purpose of the slaves at all.
The Aboleth are a densely urbanized, aquatic culture. Sewage treatment and removal is much more complex in an aquatic environment, and it would be a waste for even the least of the Aboleth to spend all of their time monitoring the process. The true goal of Aboleth "conspiracy" is to permanently alter all of reality so that their s**t don't stink.

I just figured that Aboleths, with their abilities, would be living in an eternal game of Pokemon Go.

When dealing with Demons, you may also want to consider getting an Ampoule of False Blood to change bloodline to, for example, Elemental-Air. This will let you use the 9th level ability (Elemental Blast) to add Electrical Vulnerability for 1 round before you hit them hard the next, and if you happen to select Sorcerous Bloodstrike as your 9th level feat, any corpses generated by that heavy hit gives you back your Elemental Blast for the day.

So that's an option. Not sure if anyone mentioned that one (too lazy to read). Think about other Ampoules of False Blood and how to H4X them. You might find some fun goodies.

Aside, picking a few battlefield control, debuff, or buff spells would really help your sorcerer out. Going all-blaster-all-the-time limits your options severely.

I always think of my sorcerers as Superheroes. They have the HP, skill ranks and BAB of a commoner, but they're charismatic, have better willpower, and have magical super powers. Each spell known or bloodline ability is like a new super power. If you make every super power just the same thing over and over again, your hero becomes inefficient, boring, and inflexible. Pick multiple powers within a theme. For the sorcerer you're talking about, imagine "The Blue Dragon Avenger", look at a Blue Dragon's abilities, and try to go with that feel: Fear effects, electrical stuff (duh), superhuman senses, illusions, combat buffs, desert-themed magic... there's plenty to pick.

And carry a longspear.

I like the skill boost feats.

• Persuasive and Skill Focus (Intimidate) for a Dazzling Display build is fantastic.
• Prodigy for a Bard (with Versatile Performance) is similarly awesome
• (skill improvement feat) for a (skill exploitation build choice) is good stuff

My rules-o-thumb for spells-known on spontaneous casters

• The first spell known of a spell level is one that can and will be "spammed". For example, once you reach 4th level, select Spiritual Weapon (have 2 "active" if you can in a fight).
• Spells known must be dependent on your casting stat (CHA), caster level and/or feats. If the spell isn't dependent on these things, then it's just as good if you use a scroll or wand... so get a scroll or wand instead
• Spells known should be ones you will use on a day to day basis. If it's a spell you "may need one day" (like remove blindness), then don't select it. That's what wands and scrolls are for.

• Spiritual Weapon: force damage bypasses all DR and affects incorporeal beings. It scales nicely with your level. Keep 2 going in a fight.
• Lesser Restoration: Remember that divine casters don't need to rest in order to regain spells. This means you can ignore the need for sleep by casting Lesser Restoration whenever you are fatigued.
• Divine Power: Now you're a warrior class

The Paladin is the deadly hand of lawfulness and goodness.
The Paladin is not Ghandi, the Paladin is a crusader who slays evil.

If a prisoner is evil, has done evil, admits to doing evil, and openly intends to to more evil, then executing that person for their crimes is a lawful act of good. Clear cut case.

It doesn't matter if they're "helpless". Otherwise any demon can just drop to its knees and pretend to submit and the Paladin can't touch it. Poof, Paladins are instantly worthless against anyone with half-decent problem solving skills.

Think about it, are all executioners evil by definition of their career choice? Obviously not. Not in a world where "the good guys" can storm a den of goblins, slaughter them wholesale, loot their corpses and homes, and still be considered heroes of truth and justice. This is a swords & sorcery fantasy world, not an episode of Law and Order SVU.

It seems obvious to me that your DM hates paladins, or is intent on making your game experience annoying or unpleasant.

Anyone who has True Sight or See Invisible can certainly attest to a magically invisible likeness.
Therefore it's a likeness.

There is no dependency on visibility... I mean, what if your painting were in an empty room? Or a dark room where nobody has Darkvsion?

There's also the problem that many GMs would see that use of Arcane Mark ("it's my likeness, so I can exploit it") as abuse, and simply not allow it.

The stamp idea is immune to the same claim.

Since you can talk & gesture from your image,

• have trained animals or undead, or dominated creatures near them, so you can give commands remotely.
• put ranks into Disguise so you can mimic voices, or Diplomacy to win people over from a safe distance, or other social skills. You may even be able to Demoralize (Intimidate) remotely this way.
• Get your likeness on an enemy, and make noise to help friendlies locate & track them

• Spectral Hand + Stone Shape to put your likeness in an existing stone
• Apport Object (level 2 spell!)
• get some sovereign glue and stick these "mini-me tokens" on the under-side of the table, or in a dark corner near the ceiling, or other places you would plant a bug in a spy movie.

Playing evil in a good campaign can be very fun, especially if you make it part of the drama.

I played a Neutral Evil, Dexter-inspired cleric of Oghma (Faerun campaign; Knowledge & Trickery domains) who had been torturing and murdering people since he was a youth. He hates himself for his "hunger" to kill, yet can't contain his rage when he sees badguys prey on the innocent, or apathetic people allow evil to thrive. So he kidnaps, interrogates, tortures and kills violent criminals and those who choose to help or ignore them (including those "innocents" who won't cooperate with the investigation). On the battlefield or on the road, he enjoys setting up situations where he is "forced" to kill prisoners "in self defense."

My buddy played the cleric's Lawful Good brother (a wizard, transmuter) who was in denial of the clues he's seen over the years, and as a result has been covering for his brother's actions without realizing it (oh the irony).

The party functioned primarily as investigators, hunting powerful and/or elusive badguy NPCs & bandits of the area. But they also did security work (bodyguards) and civil defense (go into the hills and crush the troll raiders that have been acting up).

A massive part of the fun for the campaign was playing cat and mouse, trying to find out who this serial killer is, that always seems one step ahead of them. The GM was very helpful in playing this out, and my buddy and I were constantly conspiring between games, laughing about how his wizard would "accidentally" misinterpret clues, or second-guess what he sees, or even sabotage evidence when it came to hunting the most elusive serial killer, his own brother.

Tell him to play a superhero RPG.
There are lots out there. Some are really good.
Try the d20 hero srd.

Then when he's gotten it out of his system, play Pathfinder.

Luck and shrewd judgment.
That's how real soldiers get to that age.