Marrack's page

+1 Stat bonus, just cut the cost for a +2 in half. 2000gp. I think the rp for the senario could just be simple. Each character feels a peaceful serenity, and sits down to contemplate their life for a moment. When they are finished, that one aspect of them is strengthened.

As far as where the lowest stat increase goes, let it be player choice or literally, their lowest stat.

I've always let my players use planar, material, etc. cohorts as long as they "make sense" in relation to the campaign. For instance, no Frost Giant cohorts in a desert campaign.

However, there was one player I had to deny; she wanted a sentient mini-gelatinous cube (2' X 2'), that she kept in a metal container, as a cohort. Not really an issue until she wanted to give it class levels to make up for its uselessness. I said she could keep it as a pet, but not as a cohort. Then she proceeded to research a spell to give the ooze an INT score...I had the mini-gelatinous cube "grow" and crawl out of the box and eat her research while she was out; she got angry and killed the ooze. Problem solved.

I don't see a problem with the Archon's teleport ability; like Marrack said, a cohort isn't a slave. Cohorts are just NPCs that really like the PCs (meaning you have control of them should you choose).

Ahh, the cube pet. It's just wants to slime you....seriously, how bad can it be. :)

So I have been running Kingmaker and due to the nature of the game I suggested Leadership as a useful feat. One of my PCs (a blind Oracle) asked if he could have a hound archon as a follower/seeing eye dog and I am a bit...apprehensive about letting him have it. I do have a slight idea as to how I could introduce it but I would like input on some things.

First from looking at the CR calculation table I see that an NPC that has X character levels has a CL of X-1. Would it be fair to treat a CL X monster as a X+1 level cohort then?

Second has anyone else let PCs take creatures (especially extra-planar ones) as followers before? Did it turn out okay or not so much?

Third I am pretty sure if I do allow it that I would remove it's ability to teleport at will (this happens to fit in with how it is introduced quite well). I just think it is an ability that could be abused too much, especially in a game like Kingmaker. Are there any other abilities that I may have overlooked that could cause problems?

The oracle would need to be at least 9th level in order to acquire the services of the Hound Archon. But they are listed in the Monster Cohort section.

It would work as per normal from the MM. You shouldn't need to adjust anything. Just make sure it has personality, it's not a slave to the pc.

A Dwarf, an Elf, and a Human walk into a tavern. The Dwarf orders a drink and starts chatting up the locals. The Elf hits on the waitress and works his way over to the entertainment to relax. The Human searches for a bulletin board, and failing that grills the bartender for rumors of dangerous creatures with bounties on their heads.

Obviously I play with a completely different crowd of people. When I run/play any kind of rpg it is a rule that everyone comes up with a unique character history, with motivations, quirks, interests, dislikes, etc. Whether it's a Human or a Non-Human character, players have a story behind their character sheet.

Are dwarves always drunk? No.
Are Elves always danty? No.

Come up with something unique to play that falls within the guidelines of the campaign and genre. If the genre doesn't have enough info, consult with your DM about what is appropriate.

How hard is that?

Also, try not to be the "Drow-Ranger-weilding-two-scimitars" special flower, because you think it's cool. Be creative, but don't be dumb.

There is a disagreement among the staff about the linking of immunities, vulnerabilities, and subtypes.

Of course, I am right, as are those who agree with me. :)

This disagreement is not agreeable.

@ Stabbity: They are using two different Immunity statements. If you look at both of them here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/index.html
and just use the search function, you will be able to see that the OP references the specific statement for the Elemental Immunity, not Immunity (Ex or Su). They are two separate rules.

Evil Lincoln wrote:

CRB wrote:

Energy Immunity and Vulnerability

A creature with energy immunity never takes damage from that energy type. If a creature has fire immunity, it also has vulnerability to cold. If a creature has cold immunity, it also has vulnerability to fire. Vulnerability means the creature takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from that energy type, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed or if the save is a success or failure.

Skeletons have Immunity to cold attacks.

Are they vulnerable to fire?

The text is pretty clear about it, but it's not sitting right with me.

No way! That's got to be a mistake.

In my games, they are not vulnerable unless their stat block specifically says they are.

Just because it's not in the stat block doesn't mean that it isn't part of the creature, as it obviously states that immunities have vulnerabilities. It's just an added redundancy to include it in the stat block.

CRB wrote:

Energy Immunity and Vulnerability

A creature with energy immunity never takes damage from that energy type. If a creature has fire immunity, it also has vulnerability to cold. If a creature has cold immunity, it also has vulnerability to fire. Vulnerability means the creature takes half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from that energy type, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed or if the save is a success or failure.

Skeletons have Immunity to cold attacks.

Are they vulnerable to fire?

The text is pretty clear about it, but it's not sitting right with me.

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/skeleton.html

Just look down the list at the Burning Skeleton. I think they just left it off the description, but Skeletons are in fact vunerable to fire.

I totally love the wondrous item "Folding Boat." But I didn't love it enough, apparently, to notice before now that neither form of the item (boat or ship, as the text seems to have settled on dubbing them) matches any of the forms of transport in the equipment section well enough to determine what its movement stats should be. Both forms seem to fall neatly between "Rowboat" (on the too-small end of things) and "Keelboat." Complicating things further, because of the design of the Keelboat, it moves slower than a Rowboat, so I can't even split the difference between the two speeds and call it a day. The "ship" form of the folding boat seems to be like a quarter-size version of the Sailing Ship, but that isn't really helpful in terms of determining its stats. Straying from pure Pathfinder goods, it comes closest in terms of size to the Pinnance as described in Stormwrack, and indeed both have the same complement (about 15 people), but the Pinnance is described as having more sails. Should I suck it up and use the Pinnance from Stormwrack, or has this been dealt with by some errata or official utterance somewhere already?

I'd edge towards the Keelboat and Sailing ship if you just want to reference the RAW. If you're open to pulling from other sources, then I'd say grab the more appropriate information that seems to fit the description of the magic item.

To be honest, I've noticed all of these tactics in games I've played, and I'll admit, that I've done it myself before.

The only way around this is to sit down and discuss it with them, come to some sort of compromise, or it's not going to be fixed.

As a DM and player in these situations, I've just learned to disconnect. If a new player doesn't heal me when I need healed, I'm not going to suggest it OOP, or yell at them when I drop. It doesn't make the game fun to stress out about always "winning." They will learn, and as a DM I tend to be more lenient on encounters when stuff like this happens.

Now, in your situation, if I had players metagaming/cheating. I'll point it out, and roll out the stops to drop the party if that's what it takes for them to learn a lesson.