I've been using the official paper miniatures for my games so far, RotR and now Kingmaker, but upon buying the Rivers Run Red set I noticed that it lacked some of the miniatures I'd hoped to get and I can't find a set for The Varnhold Vanishing. I've already made my players custom paper minis and figured I could do so for some of the more memorable monsters and such in the Rivers Run Red and the future APs.
The easiest way would simply be to stick the official artwork in photoshop, scale it down a little and add a base of the appropriate size but I'm not sure how copyright and such would work with this.
Is it ok to edit the artwork like this as long as I'm not trying to make money of it?
Would it be ok to share my work here for others GMs to use?
Thanks for all the advice everyone!
I'm feeling more confident about running my next campaign with a balanced party now. :D
I guess OP parties aren't so bad when you know how to compensate but it's easier for me, as a novice GM, if I don't have to change the AP as much. Leaves more time to focus on the fun stuff. ^^
Name of PC: Xod
Class/Level: Lvl 14 abyssal sorcerer
Adventure: Spires of Xin-Shalast
Catalyst: Wendigo!
Story:
Spoiler:
The party was on their way back to the cabin after fetching the corpse of the Vekker brother. The wendigo conjured a blizzard as they approached the cabin and hovered nearby, waiting for a moment to strike. As the party was attacked by a band of three abominable snowmen the group's sorcerer made sure to stay behind the more durable characters, conveniently singled out for the Wendigo who now swoops down with a flyby attack. Since it doesn't roll a 1 it hits the AC 19 sorcerer and succeeds with it's grab just as easily. The party watches as this monstrosity flies of with their glass cannon who's at 12 hp after being hit.
One of the other character takes of after it and spots it just in time to see it take a large bite out of the halfling's throat before throwing the -24 hp corpse to the wind. Luckily he manages to catch the corpse and bring it to the cleric just in time for her to use her breath of life. Despite surviving the encounter the cocky Xod will probably not feel quite as cocky anymore.
@ James
Ok, thanks. I'll make sure they never know it's in the rules. Much as I'd like to think they're nice people they do love those magic items dearly.
@ Tryn
I'm starting preparations now so hopefully I'll have a good grasp when the time eventually comes. :P
@ Evil Lincoln
1. Thank you, that's precisely what I hoped to hear.
2. Oh, snap, I don't think I've ever looked properly at that chart. I always assumed it was just for people starting at lvls higher than 1, silly me. Thank you, you might've just fixed the biggest balancing issue in my game.
3. I've heard about that too somewhere and knowing my players they'll abuse it, hence I'm hoping someone has an elegant solution I can apply beforehand. :/
Rise of the Runelords, my current, and first campaign as a GM, is coming to an end. We've started The Spires of Xin Shalast and the players have just
Spoiler:
defeated the Wendigo.
Admittedly it will probably be quite some time yet but I just got the Kingmaker books so I'm too excited not to start planning for it already.
As stated this has been my first GM experience and I feel that I've fumbled a bit and made a few mistakes, as I assume most new GMs would, but over the course of the campaign I've grown more confident in my role. For our next campaign I would like to be the perfect GM, but that's not very probable so I'll just do my best instead, and that includes asking questions of all the PF players here!
One of my major problems so far has been that my PCs feel OP. PCs should certainly be extraordinary people of awesome doom but somehow they manage to beat encounters of the appropriate CR far too easily, I often fudge just to keep them challenged. I know part of the problem stems from me being an inexperienced GM, up until recently I didn't realize that certain bonuses don't stack and I don't know every combat rule perfectly but these are obvious problems I'm constantly working on. My questions are more about specific game mechanics and how to handle them.
Also, in case it's relevant, here's the party I'm currently working with.
Spoiler:
Xod. CN abyssal sorcerer 14
Enjoys fireballs, minions and a good barbecue.
Player: "Power! Minions! Fireballs!"
Braei. NG Cleric 4, fighter 2, holy vindicator 8.
Feels like the only sane person in the party.
Player: The only optimizer in the party, he's not the best at optimizing though so he doesn't outshine the rest.
Rathnin. CN alchemist 8, CG master chymist 6
Has adopted a goblin and a half-ogre. Motherly but fierce in combat.
Player: Despises optimizers and meta-gaming.
Steingrimmur. CN fighter 8, stalwart defender 6.
His highest ambition is to one day become as unmovable as a mountain.
Player: "This is a fun and cool concept, I'm going with it all the way."
In case one player is absent, usually Steingrimmur, the party's NPC companion fill the spot:
Yun. CN oracle of the dark tapestry 12.
Cynical and a little strange at times. Knows cure and inflict spells but no buffs, uses things like harm and boneshatter in combat.
Player: Well, that's me and I keep her in the background. I love making characters so if I let her have attention she'd become my little pet NPC far too easily, she already is to some extent. ^^'
I should also point out that I'm sometimes far too nice to my players so feel free to call me out on that.
1. My first question is about HDs. In the first two adventures of this campaign I was a player and I took over as the GM in the third adventure. I followed the previous GM's lead and let the players have full HDs with every lvl.
Does this make for OP PCs?
I don't like the idea of rolling your HD either as it feels like a bad roll could really put you in a bad spot so my current thought is to let the players have full HD first lvl then 0.5HD every lvl. Currently it feels like my PCs have hp to spare but this could be because of other factors making them unbalanced.
Are full HDs not actually a problem if characters remain balanced for their lvl?
2. Magic item creation, I've seen this one thrown around on the board. The sorcerer in the party can create wondrous items as well as arms and armour. His skill is really good so it's hard for him to fail at crafting stuff. It could be that there's something in the rules I'm missing that's making this easier for him than it should be but as it stands now it just seems OP. ~50% discount as long as you know the spell/can hire a spellcaster, have some time and can pass a skill check. The cost of one or more feats doesn't feel proportional to the massive gain for the party.
Is magic item creation OP in RAW?
Is there a simple fix?
If no, what's the complicated fix?
3. Moving on to actual Kingmaker stuff. Kingmaker has a lot rules not commonly seen in APs, kingdom building, army combat and such. I'm trying to fix problems before they occur so I'm wondering which, if any, of these rules are easily exploitable or unbalanced.
Hopefully there are simple fixes but if not I would appreciate being pointed to a good guide to making these rules great for play.
If there are any other issues with, or just fun tips for playing Kingmaker that you think I should know, don't hesitate to point them out! :D
