I'd disagree with the rogue assessment. Their primary attack isn't based on teaming up, it's based on catching their opponent unaware, which any good fringe liver should excel at. It just happens that flanking provides a similar opportunity.
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"Template. He's got several, by the way." You sir are a genius. And evil. I salute you.
I'm currently running a campaign with APL around 18.5. On the GM side of things I offer the following: 1. If you're running spellcasters don't bother choosing all their spells, they'll probably only get a few rounds to cast anyway. In addition, pre-calculate their Spell Penetration, Concentration and base spell DC (I usually note this as DC=#+spell lv). 2. If you're running physical combatants with feats pre-calculate their attack bonuses factoring in Power Attack, Vital Strike, Deadly Aim, etc. and any combination of the above so you can quickly choose on the fly. 3. Note how many hit dice a creature has. I use custom stat blocks I designed with Excel and make sure to include this number. At high levels many things are HD dependent and knowing immediately how effective a spell, such as Dictum is can speed things up greatly. 4. Have a general idea of what high level spells can do. Wish and Miracle especially. Once players have access to them they will immediately search for ways to utilize them. 5. Figure out exactly how willing you and your party are to let PCs and enemies fall to save or die effects like Destruction or massive damage. As a corollary, decide how willing you are to fudge dice rolls to prevent a party member or NPC being obliterated or Soul Bound. 6. Know what resources are available in your campaign. At high levels PCs are able to buy or locate nearly anything. How much diamond dust is around (for Wish and True Res), where can they forge, buy or sell +9 weapons, who can tell them the deepest secrets of the world (assuming they don't have a high level bard)? Even just a few vague ideas can give you and your party a framework for what is possible. 7. Finally - try to be at least one or preferably two sessions ahead of your party in preparation. A clever high level party can blow through a huge amount of content quickly and leave you scrambling. Well...that's all I've got. Hope it was helpful. Good luck.
This one requires a good deal of DM fiat and screwing with the mechanics but it was too good to pass up. At one point in my latest campaign the party ends up playing a game (basically wizard's chess with them as pieces) against the Big Bad's animated board. They lose but, to see what would happen, rewind the game a couple moves. In this scenario they win. At this point one of the players starts arguing that under quantum mechanics both outcomes happened in alternate universes and with a plane shift and natural 20 on his Knowledge Planes check manages to transfer his character from the universe where they won to the universe where they lost. This is so incredible the two immediately high five. In return I point out that clearly one of them must be made of antimatter so when they touch they cancel each other out and take the universe with them. That in turn is countered by the request for a will save to withstand the end of all things, channel that force to his design and create the universe anew in his image. Sure, why not. Of course, natural 20 passes the save (Whose DC I had ad hocced to be unpassable) and the character becomes overgod of his own reality thankfully separate from the one I was running. The up shot of this for the party is that, though the character has been erased from their reality and now has never even been (which was strange for his brother), the only remaining reality is the one in which they won the challenge. So they take their victory and move on with the campaign. Is what happened technically possible under the rules? Heck no. Was it far too awesome not to happen? Heck yes.
Transport them to an isolated Halfling village in the wilds of Varisia that is under constant siege from an Orc/Ogre band by day and Drow by night. Arriving first to defend the villagers they have to overcome the halflings' inherent fear and fight off the invaders only to ultimately discover the leader of the aggressors is a psychotic halfling rogue who blames them for not helping when his mother was slain a dozen years ago and so convinced these two groups to go to war against his own people. Depending on the alignments involved they could also work to infiltrate the village and bring it down from within for the rogue. Either way in the end it turns out the whole thing was a secret test of character by the inquisitor's god to make sure they were ready for the invasion of extraplanar beings that's happening oh...about now just outside of town where a halfling cleric (the real big bad) has been constructing a permanent gate to allow the outsiders of your choice entry to the material plane and if it isn't stopped now it could spell doom for the region.
#1 Grease can make snakes fall to the ground. Snakes cannot be tripped because they have no legs. Grease is not a trip effect. Snakes can still fall to the ground if they fail that save. I would argue that snakes still need friction to move or stabilize themselves while they strike and since grease removes the friction it makes sense it can duplicate the effects of trip on a snake.
I have a drow PC in my campaign and have so far found her to be no better than her core race companions. A drow noble however would likely get a 1 or 2 level adjustment penalty if I allowed her at all.
+1 to the Loot-Keeper The Combat Professional: He knows his bonuses, has his attacks planned out and takes less time to roll four than the cleric takes to channel energy.
Play a Tengu Cavalier with points in linguistics that takes personal pride in always challenging an enemy in their native tongue. Cavalier even sort of fits the samurai theme with the banner and tactical training. I'd suggest either Order of the Dragon (for an honor based samurai), or Order of the Lion (for a feudal servant version).
Reach Spell. Though it's cool it does seem somewhat powerful as it bypasses the main danger in Touch Attack spells, namely, the squishy caster having to be in melee range. The first time one of my players broke it out on me the whole table just went wha....? It's not overpowered but it does change tactics as the caster no longer has to get close.
Don't worry, I've got a plan. Also: It's only DC 10...
I built a Gunman as an NPC using rogue levels, Combat Expertise and Improved Feint with Skill Focus Bluff. It let him make ranged sneak attacks every round and more than made up for the relatively low power of firearms in the Pathfinder Setting. You sacrifice your move but if the tank can keep the enemy occupied you can throw out serious damage.
As to what the PCs could be doing... Whatever you choose for allies could be enthralled by a binding circle or other magic item of some kind. A surgical strike by even a low level group of PCs while the rest of the fleet is offering a distraction could destroy the item, break the enthrallment and give the fleet a fighting chance. If you need additional NPC death just send one along and require them to die in order to destroy it or at least weaken the protections enough the PCs can finish it off. The latter keeps the players from being bystanders at a critical moment.
Slightly more esoteric but... Beyond Reality The Master Arcane and Godly Identification Codex By Will Alone Words of Power Rewriting the World
I'll Add more if I come up with anything better.
Basic Economics AKA supply and demand. A glut of any commodity in a location such as gems, will make each of them less valuable. Also you have to look at how many people would or could afford to buy such items and whether the region can support their resale. The PCs might be able to sell one batch of gems at full price but will the shops of the area be looking for more at so soon? Most of this will fall to the DM to manage but it can keep the infinite money plans in check. |